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Smart TVs Gift Guide 2024

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Smartphones Gift Guide 2024

Smart TVs are always a great gift to pick up, no matter the holiday. And these days, good TVs are getting cheap, and expensive TVs are getting even better. In fact, the expensive TVs are leaving little reason to go to the theater to watch any type of movie. In this gift guide, we’re going to aim to bring you the best smart TVs you can buy right now, so you spend your money wisely. 

Best Smart TVs

These are the two absolute best Smart TVs that you can buy this holiday season. So if money is no object, then these two will provide you with the best picture quality on the market.

Samsung S90D OLED

samsung oled tv

The Samsung S90D is perhaps the best TV that money can buy right now. Particularly when you factor in the cost. The S90D starts at $1,397 and does go as small as 42 inches. But for all of these TVs, we will be comparing the 55-inch model which is the most popular size. At 55 inches, the S90D does go for $1,797. However, it is often on sale for cheaper than that. 

With the S90D, you’re getting a stunning OLED TV that does have a refresh rate of 120Hz but it can go up to 144Hz, making it great for watching sports and playing games. 

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Like most 4K TVs, Samsung is also using 4K AI Upscaling so that your HD and FHD content look great on this incredible OLED TV. Samsung has included Dolby Atmos and Object Tracking Sound Lite, giving you 3D surround sound straight from the speakers inside the TV. Now, unfortunately, there is no Dolby Vision included with this TV or any Samsung TV. Instead, Samsung prefers to support HLG, the open-source alternative to Dolby Vision. 

This is all powered by the NQ4 AI Gen2 processor, which utilizes 20 specialized networks to drive the intuitive smart TV hub, Dolby Atmos sound, and the upscaled 4K content. 

Buy at Amazon

Sony Bravia 8

Sony Bravia 8 Review AM AH 10

The Sony Bravia 8 is about the same price as the Samsung S90D OLED, but it does offer better sound, without a soundbar. The 55-inch Bravia 8 is normally priced at $1,799, however it is also often on sale for less. 

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With the Bravia 8, Sony said they were “bringing cinema home,” and when we reviewed the Bravia 8, we agreed that they did just that. This is a stunning TV, with incredible picture quality, great viewing angles, and of course Google TV built-in. 

Having Google TV built-in means that Sony is able to run all sorts of apps like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and much more. Bravia Core is also included. Sony has also made the Bravia 8 use less power. In fact, it has also included a ton of different power saving features, so you’re electric bill doesn’t go through the roof while you’re watching TV on the Bravia 8. 

Since this is an OLED TV, that means that the colors are true-to-life, and the blacks are actually black. However, this does also get pretty bright, which isn’t always true for OLED TVs. It is also supporting Dolby Vision and Atmos, along with IMAX Enhanced. Making it great for watching all sorts of TVs at home. 

Buy at Amazon

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Best TVs under $1,000

If you have a budget of $1,000 for a new TV, then you really can’t go wrong with either of these options. They aren’t quite as good as the Samsung and Sony options above. But for under $1,000, you are still getting a fantastic TV.

TCL QM7 QLED 4K TV

tcl qd mini led

The TCL QM7 QLED 4K TV is a QD-Mini LED TV, which means that you’re getting a lot of the same advantages as using OLED, but it’s much brighter. This TV is actually probably one of the best that you can buy for $799, and TCL does sell it in other sizes, up to 98-inches. 

One of the main advantages that the TCL QM7 has is the amount of dimming zones it has, which is 1,500+. This allows the TV to change color more accurately, instead of giving you gray instead of black. Similar to OLED, but there’s two major advantages that QD-Mini LED have over OLED which is the brightness and no screen burn-in. 

For 2024, TCL’s TVs all use Google TV as the software (next year, it’ll be all Roku, as they do switch back and forth to support both platforms). Which means you get the Google Assistant, Cast, and all of your favorite apps built into the TV, saving you a HDMI port. 

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This is an incredible value for under $1,000, and even at its regular price this does tend to go on sale quite often as well. 

Buy at Amazon

Sony Bravia 3

sony bravia 3

Also announced this year is the Sony Bravia 3, which is Sony’s entry-level TV. Which, as you likely know, Sony’s “entry-level” is still really good. This is a 4K LED TV, so it’s not Mini-LED or OLED like its other models, which is what brings the price down considerably. This 55-inch TV is $699. Sony does also sell it in 43-, 50-, 65-, 75- and 85-inch models, up to $1,098.

This TV is also part of Sony’s “Bring the Cinema home” marketing, and while it is an LED TV, it is still a really good option. For those who aren’t looking to spend a ton but still want good picture quality, this is a great option. 

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The Bravia 3 supports Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos, giving you a great movie-watching experience. Sony also includes some other features for the PlayStation 5, like Auto HDR Tone Mapping and Auto Genre Picture Mode. It does also have HDMI 2.1 for 4K120 gaming. 

Buy at Amazon

Best TVs under $600

Looking for a good TV on a budget? We’ve got you covered, with two great TV options that are under $600. And during the holiday season, they are typically even cheaper.

Amazon Omni QLED

Amazon Fire TV omni QLED series AM AH 11

It’s still pretty surprising that you can get a QLED TV for under $600. The 55-inch model is normally priced at $599, though it is also sold in 43-, 50-, 65- and 75-inch models. 

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With this being an Amazon TV, you get Fire TV built-in. Of course, that gives you tons of apps to use on the TV, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and much more. Alexa is also included for voice support and controlling smart home products. Amazon claims that there are over 1.5 million movies and TV episodes available on Fire TV, so you’ll definitely find something to watch. 

Amazon is supporting Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ Adaptive, HDR10, and HLG for HDR content, which is going to provide a really incredible picture for watching TV and movies. Unfortunately, the Amazon Omni QLED does not support HDMI 2.1, but it does have three HDMI ports. There are two HDMI 1.4 and one HDMI ARC port, so you can toss in a soundbar if needed. 

Buy at Amazon

TCL S5 Series

tcl s5 tv

Rounding out our gift guide for TVs is the very comparable TCL S5. This is a cheaper TV, coming in at $329 for the 55-inch model. TCL sells this TV in sizes ranging up to 75 inches. This would be a great TV gift to give to someone going to college or to put in a spare bedroom. 

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The TCL S5 is a 2024 model, and uses Fire TV built-in. Giving you access to a ton of apps like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and much more. TCL has also been able to add support for Apple AirPlay 2 as well as Google Cast. So no matter which ecosystem your smartphone is using, you’ll be able to cast content to this TV with ease. 

It also has support for Dolby Vision and HDR PRO+. On the audio front, there’s Dolby Atmos available too. While the TCL S5 does not support HDMI 2.1 for gaming, it does have Auto Low Latency Mode or ALLM. Which TCL actually calls “Auto Game Mode”. 

For the price of this TV, it’s pretty hard to find a better value. 

Buy at Amazon

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Google’s November Pixel update is rolling out

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Google’s November Pixel update is rolling out

The November update for Google Pixel devices running Android 15 is rolling out now. This batch doesn’t include exciting new features, like the AI-powered theft protection in the October update, but it has bug fixes and the latest security patches to tighten things up.

The new software includes fixes for known intermittent issues with Bluetooth range, camera tilt when zooming between cameras and unexpected flashing or flickering of white dots or screen brightness. It also has fixes for adaptive brightness not activating, the keyboard dismiss button not working correctly and the performance and stability of some UI transitions and animations.

Android 15 arrived last month for Pixel devices, following the Pixel 9 lineup’s debut in August. The annual software jump focuses on security and privacy, like AI-powered theft detection lock and extra authentication requirements for removing SIMs and deactivating Find My Device.

Google says the November Pixel update is rolling out today and will continue in phases over the next week. You should see a notification when it’s ready for your device and carrier.

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Block (SQ) earnings Q3 2024

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Block (SQ) earnings Q3 2024


Block shares tumbled 11% in extended trading on Thursday after the company reported third-quarter revenue that trailed Wall Street expectations.

Here is how the company did, compared to analysts’ consensus estimates from LSEG.

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  • Earnings per share: 88 cents adjusted vs. 87 cents expected
  • Revenue: $5.98 billion vs. $6.24 billion expected

Block, formerly known as Square, posted $2.25 billion in gross profit, up 19% from a year ago. Analysts tend to focus on gross profit as a more accurate measurement of the company’s core transactional businesses.

The company reported net income of $283.7 million, or 45 cents per share, after losing $88.7 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier.

The Cash App business, the company’s popular mobile payment platform and a significant contributor to overall profitability, reported $1.31 billion in gross profit, a 21% year-over-year jump. Block, run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said its Cash App Card monthly active users increased 11% year over year to more than 24 million.

The company said gross profit for the fourth quarter will increase 14% to $2.31 billion.

Block’s third-quarter earnings call starts at 5 P.M. Eastern time.

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Mistral AI takes on OpenAI with new moderation API, tackling harmful content in 11 languages

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Mistral AI takes on OpenAI with new moderation API, tackling harmful content in 11 languages

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French artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI launched a new content moderation API on Thursday, marking its latest move to compete with OpenAI and other AI leaders while addressing growing concerns about AI safety and content filtering.

The new moderation service, powered by a fine-tuned version of Mistral’s Ministral 8B model, is designed to detect potentially harmful content across nine different categories, including sexual content, hate speech, violence, dangerous activities, and personally identifiable information. The API offers both raw text and conversational content analysis capabilities.

“Safety plays a key role in making AI useful,” Mistral’s team said in announcing the release. “At Mistral AI, we believe that system level guardrails are critical to protecting downstream deployments.”

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Mistral AI’s new moderation API analyzes text across nine categories of potentially harmful content, returning risk scores for each category. (Credit: Mistral AI)

Multilingual moderation capabilities position Mistral to challenge OpenAI’s dominance

The launch comes at a crucial time for the AI industry, as companies face mounting pressure to implement stronger safeguards around their technology. Just last month, Mistral joined other major AI companies in signing the UK AI Safety Summit accord, pledging to develop AI responsibly.

The moderation API is already being used in Mistral’s own Le Chat platform and supports 11 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. This multilingual capability gives Mistral an edge over some competitors whose moderation tools primarily focus on English content.

“Over the past few months, we’ve seen growing enthusiasm across the industry and research community for new LLM-based moderation systems, which can help make moderation more scalable and robust across applications,” the company stated.

Performance metrics showing accuracy rates across Mistral AI’s nine moderation categories, demonstrating the model’s effectiveness in detecting different types of potentially harmful content. (Credit: Mistral AI)

Enterprise partnerships show Mistral’s growing influence in corporate AI

The release follows Mistral’s recent string of high-profile partnerships, including deals with Microsoft Azure, Qualcomm, and SAP, positioning the young company as an increasingly important player in the enterprise AI market. Last month, SAP announced it would host Mistral’s models, including Mistral Large 2, on its infrastructure to provide customers with secure AI solutions that comply with European regulations.

What makes Mistral’s approach particularly noteworthy is its dual focus on edge computing and comprehensive safety features. While companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have focused primarily on cloud-based solutions, Mistral’s strategy of enabling both on-device AI and content moderation addresses growing concerns about data privacy, latency, and compliance. This could prove especially attractive to European companies subject to strict data protection regulations.

The company’s technical approach also shows sophistication beyond its years. By training its moderation model to understand conversational context rather than just analyzing isolated text, Mistral has created a system that can potentially catch subtle forms of harmful content that might slip through more basic filters.

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The moderation API is available immediately through Mistral’s cloud platform, with pricing based on usage. The company says it will continue to improve the system’s accuracy and expand its capabilities based on customer feedback and evolving safety requirements.

Mistral’s move shows how quickly the AI landscape is changing. Just a year ago, the Paris-based startup didn’t exist. Now it’s helping shape how enterprises think about AI safety. In a field dominated by American tech giants, Mistral’s European perspective on privacy and security might prove to be its greatest advantage.


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A whole bunch of Sega classics are being delisted

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A whole bunch of Sega classics are being delisted

Sega is planning to delist a lot of its classic games from digital storefronts as of December 6th at 11:59PM PT.

Steam will be affected the most, losing 62 titles including Crazy Taxi, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS into Dreams, and Sonic 3D Blast. Sega is pulling 12 titles from the Xbox store. The Nintendo eShop and the PlayStation Store will “just” lose SEGA Genesis Classics — but that title includes more than 50 old Genesis games, so it still means a lot will be unavailable. You can see the full lists of what’s getting pulled on a Sega support page.

Any games that you have purchased will still be available to download and play after they’re delisted from the storefronts, so if you’ve had your eye on any of them, you might want to buy them before they’re gone.

The delistings are happening ahead of Sega’s planned reboots for Jet Set RadioShinobi, Golden AxeStreets of Rage, and Crazy Taxi, but those revivals aren’t expected anytime soon. And it wouldn’t be the first time Sega has delisted games ahead of releasing them in a different form: the company pulled the vast majority of classic Sonic games from digital stores before it launched Sonic Origins.

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Hopefully, the games getting removed in December will be available to buy again at some point down the line — keeping video game classics alive is already hard enough.

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Google TV will require more RAM for future upgrades – which might leave older TVs and streaming boxes behind

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A man holding an Android phone looking at the Google TV app.


  • Google TV will need 2GB of RAM in new TVs and related hardware
  • Android TV is unchanged with a 1GB minimum spec
  • It won’t affect your current streamer in the short term

One of the most common criticisms of Google TV is that it isn’t always very smooth on more modestly priced televisions. That’s largely because Google’s system requirements aren’t very demanding, so a TV can meet the minimum spec with some pretty unimpressive components. That’s about to change, though, which is good news for new buyers but a possible worry for existing owners.

As Android Authority reports, Google has submitted a change to the Android open-source project regarding Google TV minimum requirements. The change says that the minimum RAM must be 2GB, which is more than the RAM in the Chromecast with Google TV.

What does this change mean for your TV or streaming device?

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Battery-like device made from water and clay could be used on Mars

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New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.
New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

The new supercapacitor could be assembled from Martian materials

NASA

When pushed into the smallest of cracks, water can be used in unexpected ways. A new battery-like device that relies on tiny amounts of water confined within layers of clay could eventually offer sustainable power in places as extreme as Mars.

Vasily Artemov at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and his colleagues built the supercapacitor, a type of battery-like energy storage device, with components similar to those of conventional batteries, including two electrodes, one with a negative and one with a positive charge. But instead of making these electrodes out of…

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