Running gear for the new year, a TP-Link wireless router , the 5-in-1 RAVPower Filehub , and more lead Sunday’s best deals.
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ExceptionalSheets’ bamboo mattress pads do three things to improve your sleeping experience:
Today only, Amazon’s marking every size down by $20-$30. This is a Gold Box deal though, so don’t sleep on it.
Doing the whole “new year, new me” thing? Maybe you should take advantage of Amazon’s one-day deal on running gear. Everything from cold weather clothing to wearables is marked down. But don’t delay, since this is a Gold Box, it’ll run away at the end of the day.
If you’re in the market for a router that’s a million times better than the one the cable company doles out when you sign up for internet, this one may be your answer. The TP-Link AC1200 boasts dual band 1200Mbps WiFi for all your gaming and internetting needs for only $60.
Right now, you can get RAVPower’s Filehub today for its best price ever (at least in black), which is actually two travel-friendly devices in one: A 3,000mAh USB battery pack, and a file streamer that can let you access files on USB flash drives and SD cards wirelessly from your phone or tablet. That’s perfect for, say, watching movies on a plane when your tablet is low on space.
A wall charger with QuickCharge is something you should always have lying around (if your device is compatible). So for $5 with the code ITSVP356, it’s pretty stupid not to buy this Mpow charger.
If you don’t have room for a full at-home gym, this folding treadmill is a great option. With ProShox cushioning to help your knees and iPod connectivity to make you hate running just a little less, it’s a great solution to hitting your resolution target of working out more.
Inflatable hot tubs might look a little bit cheap, but for $300 , I’m willing to forgive it. This model has great reviews, can accommodate 4-6 people (depending on how much you like them, I guess) and normally sells for around $400.
Who doesn’t like saving money with their khakis (I bet Jake from Statefarm does). Dockers giving you an extra 50% off all sale styles with the code EXTRA50. Grab work pants, chinos, and maybe cross off working about what you’ll be wearing for the holidays next month, all in one shot.
A lot of people are reflexively appalled by the idea of a bidet, which makes no sense, because they’re amazing. Today on Amazon, you can score a Luxe Bidet Neo 120 that will work with just about any toilet for just $32. That’s nothing for a product you’ll use just about every day, and it’s particularly good for a model with a self-cleaning and retracting nozzle, let alone one with over 4,000 reviews. This deal could sell out any time though, so purchase or get off the pot.
Back down to its lowest price ever, this handy $20 wall charger from Aukey not only features four USB ports, but has an added USB-C port as well. You’ll be able to charge all your devices at once without fiddling with any special adapters. No one likes to fiddle. Plus, it supports everyone’s favorite Quick Charge capability.
PUMA has made some very strategic moves to stay relevant, but they also have managed to stay pretty true to what they’re known for. So when they launch their Semi-Annual Sale full of staple styles of clothing and sneakers , it’s a win-win. Up to 50% off stuff that isn’t weird and celebrity-backed? Count me in.
The Bonavita BV1800 was your favorite coffee maker , and you can snag one with a stainless steel carafe for $121 today. It occasionally gets a little bit cheaper, but this is the best deal we’ve seen in over a month.
We sell a lot of cold brew coffee makers (the Takeya being the most popular) but the coolgear BRU is something pretty different. With its 21oz double wall tumbler fitted beneath the carafe, you can take your coffee with your immediately after it’s done brewing. And it’s on sale today for only $32.
With this $12 Mpow Streambot Bluetooth receiver, you can turn everything from your dusty old iHome to your legacy home theater system into a Bluetooth speaker. Just plug in the AUX jack, connect up to two devices, and start streaming.
If you missed out on all of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday console discounts this year, it’s not too late to get a great deal on a PS4 Slim. Today on eBay, $249 gets you the Uncharted console bundle , plus free shipping and no tax for most places (sorry California and Georgia).
We see our fair share of water-resistant Bluetooth speaker deals, but the Mpow Buckler has been one of our readers’ favorite models to date , probably thanks to its ingenious suction cup design that you can stick to your shower wall.
It may say 30% off on the Levi’s site, but enter the code SALE40 at checkout, and you’re in for a treat. Levi’s ramped up their sale discount from 30% to 40% off all sale styles. And the great thing about the Levi’s store is that it isn’t just denim.
I finally got my hands on a pair of the infamous Wedgie jean , and I love them (the Joshua Tree wash is on sale for $42 ). My most recent purchase was this really comfy sweater that I have worn at least three times in the past two weeks.
If you didn’t get your denim fill during the Levi’s sale, maybe check out Uniqlo’s crazy-good deal on jeans. All women’s styles are $30 and all men’s are $40 , including selvedge denim and HEATTECH jeans.
Around these parts, it’s starting to get uncomfortably cold. So, if you haven’t stocked up on winter essentials, this one’s for you. Not only is Moosejaw marking down a bunch of The North Face stuff , use the code NACHO10 and get an additional 10% off.
I have painful, yet fond memories of my college’s Athletic Trainer using one of these on my thigh after I suffered a strained quad. They are hell while using it, but heaven afterwards. And for $10 when you use the code Naipo604, this muscle roller can help further your love-hate relationship with working out.
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Chicken under a brick isn’t a new dish, and it’s most often prepared on the grill, but this method from Bon Appetit combines everything I love about a 30 minute roast chicken: the time saved, the crispy skin, and of course, the hands-off preparation. In just a little time, you have a meal for the family.
The centerpiece technique of this method is, as you may have seen us discuss before , spatchcocking, where you break or remove the bird’s backbone so you can cook the whole thing flat—and more quickly. In fact, the last time we talked about chicken under a brick , one of the first comments suggested doing just this to speed up the cooking time and get more crispy skin. Well, that’s exactly what Bon Appetit does here.
They start off spatchcocking the bird, then seasoning it liberally with salt and pepper. While they’re doing all of this, they have a large pot and a cast iron pan in the oven preheating. When they’re all finished, the bird goes in, skin side down, to get that great sear on it that’ll lead to shatter-crisp, flavorful chicken skin. Put the pan on top, and pop the whole affair into the oven for a half-hour (this is where you could use a brick wrapped in foil, if you prefer.)
In that half-hour, you could prep a side dish or make a salad, or cook something entirely different if you’re cooking for a crowd. When your half hour is up though, you’ll have a bird—after resting it, of course—ready to serve, and you can even make a pan sauce from the drippings. Hit play on the video above to see the whole thing from start to finish.
You Too Can Make Chicken Under a Brick Indoors | Bon Appetit (YouTube)

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There are so many language learning resources available now it can feel a bit overwhelming. Rosetta Stone and Duolingo are two of the most popular choices, but they each have their own perks and quirks. Let’s translate their key features so you can pick the right tool for your language studies.
This language learning showdown is truly a battle of two generations and two ideals. In one corner we have a company that has been around since the early 90s, selling effective language learning software to people for 25 years. In the other corner is the new kid on the block, championing the belief that learning language should be freely available to everyone. Let’s take a closer look at our contenders before we ring the bell:
Both options can also be used in-browser, depending on what services you choose to use. And while Rosetta Stone’s steep price tag may immediately turn you off, it doesn’t make Duolingo an automatic winner by any means. It won’t be ideal for everybody, but there are still plenty of reasons to shell out the cash.
Both platforms have more than 20 languages for you to learn, but there’s a few key differences in their offerings. Let’s break it down.
Rosetta Stone’s 28 languages include :
Duolingo’s 21 languages include :
As you can see, Duolingo has a nice set of popular languages. But do you notice anything when you compare the two? Duolingo has almost no Asian languages, save for Vietnamese. In fact, it has very few languages that use non-English, non-Latin alphabets. That means if you want to learn Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Tagalog, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Pashto, Turkish, or Urdu, you’ll have to go with Rosetta Stone or another program. Granted, it’s hard to complain about it too much when Duolingo isn’t charging you a cent.
As mentioned, Duolingo’s biggest boon is the fact that it’s 100% free to use. All you have to do is make a Duolingo account and you can access just about everything it has to offer on your computer, iOS, or Android device. There are some paid offerings on Duolingo, but they’re mostly cosmetic items, or things like a “Streak Repair” when you break a lesson streak.
Rosetta Stone, on the other hand, offers two pay-to-learn options:
If you want to access lessons on the go, the subscription plan is your only option. It’s also cheaper if you think you can make your way through an entire program in a certain amount of time. If you’ll be learning casually, and don’t mind doing all of your lessons on your computer, the download/CD option is best.
No matter what, Rosetta Stone is going to be pretty expensive compared to Duolingo. But it’s not hard to find deals on Rosetta Stone that reduce the pricing quite a bit. For example, I just purchased a 12 month subscription to all levels of Japanese for only $114 instead of $179. And Rosetta Stone offers payment plans if you don’t want to pay it all up front, as well as a 30-day money back guarantee if you don’t like it. Still, Duolingo is free… Free!
The real question on your mind is probably “Which one of these works better?” Well, like most forms of education, it depends on how much effort you put in. They’re both very effective tools for learning language. But if you want something more concrete, a study in 2012 found that people actually learned faster with Duolingo. The study suggests it takes 34 hours of Duolingo lessons to learn the equivalent of one college semester, but 55 hours of study with Rosetta Stone. However, the study included only one language, Spanish, and both tools dramatically increased the Spanish speaking ability of participants.
Before you stop reading and choose Duolingo because it’s free and won in a single comparative study, it’s important to consider how they teach. Both share some similarities, but they teach differently, and one style may be more conducive to your learning preferences.
Duolingo’s gamified lessons focus on direct translation of words and phrases, and your studies remain primarily in the bilingual field—meaning you’re almost always translating from one language to your native language, or vice versa. This makes learning quicker and simpler, but less immersive. Rosetta Stone stops holding your hand almost immediately, forcing you to piece together and describe what’s happening in various photos. It can be frustrating at times, but it’s the closest thing to a real life scenario and it forces you to start thinking with the language you’re learning. And using the target language in the thought process is one of the major cornerstones of learning it.
Rosetta Stone is also a bit more feature rich than Duolingo. For example, it has an adjustable speech recognition engine you can tweak to increase or decrease the difficulty of pronunciation tests. As you progress through your lessons, you can make the speech recognition judge harder. Rosetta Stone is also particularly useful when you’re learning a language with a different alphabet because it will abandon the English alphabet right from the start. Not only are you deciphering what’s in a photo, when you see the words, you see them the way you need to know them. You learn to decipher, pronounce, and identify words and characters.
If you’re not sure which approach you’d like more, you can try both. Duolingo is free to use, and Rosetta Stone offers a free trial to give you a taste for the way it teaches. Give them both a go and see if one grabs you more.
Truth is, both of these tools are great for different reasons. In my opinion, it all depends on why you’re interested in learning a language.
If you’ve never tried learning a new language before, go directly to Duolingo, do not pass Rosetta Stone, do not pay $250. It is a fantastic introduction to the languages it offers and it gives you a lot to work with for no charge. It’s also a ton of fun. They’re always updating with new features , lesson types, and ways to keep you motivated. And Duolingo is super easy to use anywhere on your smartphone or tablet. It’s perfect for the on-the-go traveler that wants to get a basic grasp on a language. You’ll learn enough to get around and have simple conversations. Just try it. You have nothing to lose.
If you are super serious about becoming fluent in a language, or the language you want to learn isn’t available on Duolingo, Rosetta Stone is a solid choice. It’s immersive teaching method forces you to learn the language from the ground up instead of merely becoming a soundboard of common words and phrases. People shun it because of the price tag, but it’s effective—I’ve used it for French and now Japanese—and things like timed subscriptions and payment plans make it more affordable than the sticker price implies. It’s ideal for dedicated students who aim to know a language inside and out. And there’s something to be said about paying for your lessons. When there’s money on the line—or a time limit—you’ll be more motivated to actually go through with your lessons. Make no mistake, Rosetta Stone won’t make you fluent, but I think it provides the conceptual building blocks you’ll need on the long road to fluency.

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Nokia could be about to introduce a smart, AI-powered assistant app of its own called Viki, if a trademark application just unearthed by Dutch blog GSMinfo is anything to go by.
If and when Viki turns up at the party, it will be joining a crowded field: Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana and Alexa are all well established, and Samsung apparently has something similar in the pipeline called Bixby.
The trademark is for „software for the creation and monitoring of mobile and web digital assistants working with knowledge and combining all data sources into a single chat and voice based interface“, according to the paperwork.
If you’re confused about what exactly Nokia is up to these days, we don’t blame you: the smartphone parts of the company were picked up by Microsoft in 2013, but that deal never really worked out for anyone involved.
Nokia carried on as a telecommunications and technology company and late last year it got back the rights to use its name on mobile phones again. Finnish company HMD Global has since inked a deal to produce handsets with the Nokia badge on them.
That means new Android phones under the Nokia name during 2016, and they may well come running their own AI assistant called Viki. We’ll have to wait and see whether it has enough smarts to stand out from the rest.

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Samsung’s 4D VR rides tilt you every which way — including upside down — as they simulate space racing and other demos.
If you’re going to soar over Sydney in a plane, don’t wear a dress — at least not if your flight is one of Samsung’s wild 4D VR demos.
I learned that the hard way when I showed up this past week at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES. I wanted to try out Samsung’s demos that have seemingly endless lines of conference attendees, but I quickly found out that some of those demos have a dress code.
Samsung’s made a huge push over the past couple years with its $99 Gear VR headset. You slide a newer Samsung phone into the headset, put it over your eyes and are instantly transported to new places. So far, there are 5 million Gear VR headsets in use globally, and people have watched more than 10 million hours of video in Gear VR.
To show people even more what virtual reality can do, Samsung’s been offering 4D VR rides at trade shows, its New York office and other venues that make you physically feel the virtual reality videos you’re watching on a Gear VR. You strap on the VR device as you sit in a special seat that uses hydraulics to physically simulate the virtual twists and turns of a roller coaster or Santa’s sleigh. You get jerked back and forth, making it feel like you’re on a real ride.
Brian Tong takes a ride on the only VR experience worth waiting in line for at CES 2017.
When I and the rest of CNET’s team tried the roller coaster simulation at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last year, it felt so real some of us couldn’t help but scream as the roller coaster careened down the track.
Let me just say that Samsung’s newest 4D VR rides make its roller coaster demo look downright tame. The problem with these new 4D rides is they sometimes, well, turn you upside down. That doesn’t quite work with a dress (even with the blanket Samsung staffers offered me to help cover up).
A boat race simulation is the closest to the roller coaster, tilting you here and there as you speed through South Australia’s Murray River. I started to duck virtual water splashes, forgetting for a moment that I wasn’t actually on a 12-foot dinghy.
For the skeleton winter sports simulation, you lie flat on your stomach as a Samsung booth worker tightens a strap around your legs. Since I was wearing a skirt, this one was a little dicey. That’s where the blanket came in. With this demo, you race 1450 meters down a skeleton track in Vancouver, Canada. Since this was VR, I knew that I wasn’t going to crash, but that didn’t stop my heart rate from racing. I gripped the handlebars beside me tighter as the sled sped down the ice track.
The last two demos were out for me, at least with my current wardrobe. One, called air show, straps users into chairs that move every which way. You’re a passenger on a high-powered stunt plane flying over Sydney harbor toward Bondi Beach. You’re flipped upside down during an acrobatic air show above the beach.
The last moving ride, space racing, features three seats in a sort of gyroscope. The seats look more like actual roller coaster seating than something for a tech demo. Check out video from CNET’s Brian Tong to see what that’s like.
As for that flight over Sydney, I guess that will just have to wait. Next time, I’m wearing pants.

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In a corner of LG’s sprawling, dripping-with-technology booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center sat a circular table populated by a group of small, futuristic snowmen. Each of them sported a black touchscreen display showing a pair of electronic eyes that would intermittently squint as if they were smiling at you.
On a large screen nearby, a video showed one of these gizmos, the LG Hub Robot , calling out in a soothing tone: „Hello. I’m your personal assistant at home. I learn your lifestyle to better serve you. “
This year’s CES tech show in Las Vegas highlighted how our technology is finding its voice, with makers of cars, appliances and speakers starting to let people control their products simply by talking to them. A big catalyst for this trend is Amazon, whose Alexa voice assistant was announced as a new addition to dozens of devices at the show , including the LG robots, which are expected to go on sale this year.
At CES, people say hello to LG’s new talking robots, which can play music, read you a book or activate an LG robot vacuum.
All this voice-enabled stuff points to a future in which people can interact with their devices without even having to get off the couch to grab a remote control. Adding more voice to technology could make complicated systems, like an automated home, easier to use than they’d be with a busy touch display or a remote bristling with buttons. The ubiquity of Alexa at the show — even if Amazon didn’t have a booth here — underscores the importance of these assistants, which include Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana.
„In the end, the assistant is going to be pervasive when you’re at work, when you’re in the car, when you’re at school, whatever it might be,“ Rishi Chandra, vice president of product management for Google Home, said during a smart-home panel Thursday.
People, though, will have to weigh the positives of these digital helpers against potential drawbacks, including privacy worries about Wi-Fi-enabled microphones that are always listening for an activation word like „Alexa. “ Also, making some functions too easy may cause new headaches, as proved by an intrepid 6-year-old who used an Alexa-powered Amazon speaker to buy a $160 dollhouse and sugar cookies.
Bankowski shows off Ford’s chattier features.
Soon after I met the LG robots Friday, I found myself sitting in a Ford C-Max sedan parked at another section of the convention hall. There, Ford apps expert Stefan Bankowski demonstrated the car’s Alexa-powered capabilities. Hitting a microphone button on the dashboard touchscreen, he asked Alexa to play Jeopardy, tell him a joke and get him directions to the nearest Starbucks. The same friendly Alexa voice used in Amazon’s Echo speaker, the first device to use Alexa, responded to each question.
„You take the commute and enhance it. These are things you just couldn’t do before,“ Bankowski said, noting that he now likes to play Jeopardy in the car on the way to work.
Integrating these features aren’t just for fun. Adding more voice functions to the car can make it safer, Bankowski added, since drivers won’t have to fumble around as much with the control panel. By summertime, all Ford and Lincoln vehicles in the US that use Ford’s Sync 3 system will get upgraded with Alexa.
Discussing another deeper value for voice assistants, Pamela Fahrendorf, a former professor from Durant, Oklahoma, visiting the show, said she could use a voice assistant to ease some of the physical difficulties she has from Parkinson’s Disease.
„My fingers don’t always work as well,“ she explained.
At Dish’s booth, I went into a glass-enclosed room, where a spokeswoman told an Amazon Echo Dot speaker to change the channel on a TV to the Cooking Channel. „Tuning to the Cooking Channel, showing ‚ Pizza Masters ,'“ Alexa responded.
The Alexa integration with Dish ’s Hopper 3 set-top box, available by midyear, can also let people search for movies by genre or actor, skills the Apple TV already has using Siri.
A Whirlpool Cabrio dryer will soon be able to connect with an Amazon Echo to start, stop or pause cycles.
At the Sands center, Whirlpool internet of things designer Mike Jakeway explained how Alexa will be able to control the company’s new washers, dryers , ovens and refrigerators, with the features rolling out sometime this year. Need to preheat the oven? Just ask your Echo. Want to check how much time is left on the wash in the basement? Alexa will know that one, too.
„It’s all about taking friction out of people’s lives,“ Jakeway said, standing by a washer and dryer set next to an Echo speaker at the Whirlpool booth.
Mike George, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa, told me Thursday that his company is working on teaching Alexa to become more conversational, allowing people to talk more naturally to the assistant instead of using it just for quick, one-off voice commands.
„She will become smarter and use that information to have much more natural interactions with you,“ he said.
While Alexa has taken a clear lead in voice partnerships , we’re still in the early stages of creating chatty devices. That means Amazon, Google, Apple and others will have to keep pushing to convince customers these features will make their lives easier, not just filled with more technology.
„If people can get more control and offload some of the mundane hassles of daily life,“ John Curran, an Accenture senior executive, said ahead of the show, „I think they’re going to be thrilled, and I see that as a real potential for growth. “
You’ll soon be able to ask Alexa to start Whirlpool’s Smart Care Washer and Dryer Combo.

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