If you're looking to buy a cheap TV, you won't find much better than the incredible deals currently at Amazon. The retailer is offering stunning prices on its Fire TV lineup, and I'm rounding up the best offers below, with deals starting at just $89.99.
All of the TV deals below include the Fire TV experience, which allows you to stream movies and TV shows from apps like Netflix, Disney Plus, Prime Video, and more. The Fire TVs also feature a voice remote with Amazon Alexa, so you can use your voice to launch apps, search for titles, play music, and control compatible smart home devices.
Shop more of Amazon's best cheap TV deals below, and if you're looking for more offers around the web, check out our guide to this year's best March Madness TV sales.
Today's best cheap TV deals at Amazon
Insignia 32-inch F20 Series HD smart TV (2023):was $129.99 now $89.99 at Amazon Amazon's cheapest TV deal is this Insignia 32-inch HD TV for just $89.99—the lowest price we've seen this year. While the Insignia F20 Series lacks 4K resolution, it comes with the Fire TV experience built-in, so you can stream your favorite movies and shows, and it has a handy Alexa voice remote.View Deal
Amazon Fire TV 40-inch 2-Series HD smart TV (2023):was $249.99 now $178.99 at Amazon Another budget small display is Amazon's 40-inch 2-Series TV which is on sale for a record-low price of $178.99. Like the TV deal above, the 2-Series lacks 4K resolution but includes smart capabilities with the Fire TV experience and Amazon Alexa on board for hands-free control.View Deal
Amazon 50-inch Fire TV Omni Series 4K TV (2021):was $479.99 now $329.99 at Amazon
Amazon's highly rated Omni Series TVs feature 4K resolution support, Dolby Vision, HDR 10, and hands-free TV with Alexa. So, instead of using your remote, you can control the volume and launch channels completely hands-free. Today's deal brings the 50-inch model down to $329.99 - the lowest price we've seen this year.View Deal
Insignia 65-inch F30 Series HD 4K Smart Fire TV (2021):was $449.99now $329.99 at Amazon The best-selling Insignia 55-inch TV features 4K HD resolution, smart capabilities with the Fire operating system, and a voice remote with hands-free Alexa. Today's deal from Amazon brings the price down to a record-low price of $329.99. View Deal
Hisense 65-Inch U6 Series 4K Google TV:was $749.99 now $549.99 at Amazon Grab the top-rated 65-inch Hisense U6 Series 4K smart TV for just $549.99. In our Hisense U6 Series review, we praised it for its excellent picture quality at an affordable price. You're getting support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, plus the Google Assistant, hands-free voice control, and Game Mode Plus - all for $600.View Deal
Toshiba 75-inch C350 Series 4K UHD Smart Fire TV (2023):was $649.99 now $479.99 at Amazon This Toshiba 75-inch 4K smart TV is on sale for $479.99, which is an incredible price for a big-screen display. The 2023 display packs Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+, hands-free control with Amazon Alexa, and a bezel-less design, giving you a more viewable screen area.View Deal
Shop more of today's bestTV deals, and if you're looking for a premium display, you can see our guide to the bestOLED TV deals.
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It's time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off.
Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I'm still playing now, more than two years after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it's fun, but also difficult.
But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for today's Wordle answer, you'll probably need some hints for this game too.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #804) - hint #1 - Vowels
How many different vowels are in Quordle today?
• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #804) - hint #2 - total vowels
What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?
• The total number of vowels across today's Quordle answers is 7.
Quordle today (game #804) - hint #3 - repeated letters
Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?
• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.
Quordle today (game #804) - hint #4 - total letters
How many different letters are used in Quordle today?
• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 12.
Quordle today (game #804) - hint #5 - uncommon letters
Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?
• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.
Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar.
As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.
The website also includes a practice mode - which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! - and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements - specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.
Oh, and it's difficult. Really difficult.
What are the Quordle rules?
The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.
1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.
2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.
3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…
4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two.
5. Answers are never plural.
6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.
7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance.
8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle's Hard mode.
9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.
10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.
What is a good Quordle strategy?
Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can't blindly throw letters at it and expect to win - you'll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.
That's the case in Wordle too, of course, but it's even more important in Quordle.
There are two key things to remember.
1. Use several starting words
Firstly, you won't want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words.
The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.
For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options - you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe - but something like that should do the trick.
If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!
2. Narrow things down
Secondly, if you're faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options - for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH - you'll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options.
In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It's risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it's the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure - you simply don't have enough guesses.
In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.
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Our sister site Tom’s Hardware got the chance to try out a bunch of laptops that have the new ARM-based chip, while listening to claims from Qualcomm about how the Snapdragon X Elite will outgun both Intel’s Core Ultra (Meteor Lake) laptop CPUs and Apple’s M3 silicon (which is a rival ARM part).
According to Qualcomm’s testing – add a little seasoning as always with internal benchmarks, not that they’d be faked, of course, but they’re inevitably cherry-picked to present hardware in the best light – the Snapdragon X Elite easily beats Apple’s M3 SoC in Geekbench 6. In multi-threaded testing, the Snapdragon was close to 30% faster than the M3, in fact – although Qualcomm did not provide a single-threaded comparison.
Even more eye-opening was the race against Intel, which pretty much saw Team Blue eating Qualcomm’s dust. The Snapdragon X Elite proved 52% quicker in multi-threaded performance, and 54% faster than the Core Ultra 7 155H for single-threaded performance. That’s when both chips have the same power usage – alternatively, the Elite could match the 155H performance-wise while using 60% or 65% less power (for multi- and single-threaded respectively).
Turning to integrated graphics, the Snapdragon X Elite is apparently up to 36% faster than Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155H, although note the ‘up to’ and that this is a vague assertion (we’re not told what the benchmarking involved). That’s what we mean about cherry-picking, and in the case of integrated graphics, Qualcomm didn’t draw any comparison with the Apple M3 (or faster Intel silicon such as the Core Ultra 9).
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Gaming goodness
On the gaming front, we also have the hands-on experience of Digital Trends to draw on. The site found that on one of Qualcomm’s reference laptops, the Snapdragon X Elite was able to run Control fairly smoothly at 35 frames per second (at 1080p, with low to medium graphics settings). With the same settings, Baldur’s Gate 3 ran at 30 fps on average.
Those are pretty impressive results for contemporary games running under emulation (as it’s an ARM chip, remember, not x86).
One of the big hopes for Windows on ARM devices is that emulating software and games (that can’t be run natively as they’re x86) will reach a level where it’s more than palatable, and the Snapdragon X Elite seems to be a good step forward in that direction.
The beta version of Ubuntu 24.04 won’t be released on time, the developers have confirmed, following concerns about a major security threat.
Instead of launching on April 4, the latest Ubuntu version, which also holds the codename Noble Numbat, will now be released on April 11 after developers Canonical decided to push the release for a week because of the discovery of CVE-2024-3094, a critical vulnerability recently discovered in xz-utils.
XZ-utils is a set of data compression tools and libraries used by major Linux distros. The vulnerability was introduced to XZ version 5.6.0 by a pseudonymous attacker, and persisted throughout 5.6.1 as well.
Securing future versions
The majority of Linux distros seem to be affected by the flaw. Ubuntu 24.04 (but not older versions), Red Hat, Fedora Rawhide, and Fedora 40, as well as some Kali Linux versions, and some Arch Linux installation media, are affected.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) versions, stable Debian releases, as well as Linux Mint, Gentoo Linux, Alpine Linux and Amazon Linux are not affected, it was said.
In the Discourse post, Canonical said it will “remove and rebuild all binary packages that had been built for Noble Numbat after the CVE-2024-3094 code was committed to xz-utils (February 26th), on newly provisioned build environments." This should make the latest Ubuntu release safe from the vulnerability which was given a severity score of 10.0.
Tom’s Hardware speculates that the launch of the final 24.04 version - planned for April 25 - could also be delayed. A survey on Mastodon, set up by a former Canonical employee, showed that out of roughly 100 respondents, only a slim majority (56% versus 44%) expects the version to be released on time.
Earlier this week, Binarly released a free scanner to make hunting for the flaw faster, more seamless, and with fewer false positives.
The way that users get information from the web has evolved over the years. People used to rely on news sites and Google to keep abreast of what was going on in the world, but then Twitter arrived and cemented itself as an alternative (and often inaccurate) source of news. Although it’s facing the threat of being banned in the US, TikTok has become a major source of information for younger users, and AI chatbots have really come into their own as a valuable tool for delivering tailored, instant information.
The rise of voice-activated AI assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant has also revolutionized the way we access information, allowing users to simply ask for what they want to know, rather than having to search for it manually. However, with this evolution comes the responsibility of discerning reliable sources from misinformation, a skill that is becoming increasingly important in the AI age.
Recent surveys by Applause and Forrester indicate a significant shift in consumer behavior, with users increasingly favoring AI chatbots over traditional search engines for both research and basic queries.
Similar findings
Applause's 2024 Generative AI Survey reveals that 91% of respondents use chatbots for research, and 81% prefer them over search engines for basic queries. However, as is perhaps to be expected, concerns about data privacy, bias, and performance persist.
Applause found ChatGPT is the most popular chatbot, used by 91% of users, ahead of Google Gemini (63%) and Microsoft Copilot (55%). Despite worries about providing private information to chatbots, with 89% of respondents expressing concern, the practical applications of Gen AI are now widely acknowledged. However, only 19% of users believe that chatbots understand their prompts every time, indicating room for improvement.
Forrester's State of Consumer Usage of Generative AI 2024 echoes these findings, noting that GenAI has made AI more visible in consumers' daily lives. While companies race to incorporate AI, consumer adoption is still in its infancy due to concerns about its ethical implications. The report also highlights the demographic differences in GenAI adoption, with younger, male, and more highly educated consumers more likely to have used the technology. The report states that almost half of Millennial and Gen Z adults in the US, UK and France have used GenAI, compared with only 12% of Baby Boomers.
Forrester also found 34% of US consumers used GenAI, compared to 27% in the UK and 25% in France.
Work still needed
Despite widespread concerns, the benefit of GenAI is widely recognized. Among online adults who had heard of GenAI, 50% agreed that it would make it easier to find information online. However, 45% agreed that GenAI posed a serious threat to society, indicating a split in consumer attitudes towards the technology.
The surveys reveal that the golden era of search engines might be coming to an end, as consumers increasingly turn towards AI chatbots for their information needs. However, as Chris Sheehan, SVP Strategic Accounts and AI at Applause sums up, “Chatbots are getting better at dealing with toxicity, bias and inaccuracy – however, concerns still remain. Not surprisingly, switching between chatbots to accomplish different tasks is common, while multimodal capabilities are now table stakes. To gain further adoption, chatbots need to continue to train models on quality data in specific domains and thoroughly test across a diverse user base to drive down toxicity and inaccuracy.”
Apple could unveil a new and improved Apple Pencil, equipped with a brand-new “squeeze” gesture, providing additional control without taking your hand off the pencil.
According to 9to5Mac, there are references to a new gesture called “squeeze” in the code for iPadOS 17.5 beta, which was recently released to developers. This gesture appears to be used to add shapes, signatures, stickers, or a text field, thereby saving time for those writing notes or quickly annotating a sketch or document.
These squeeze gestures are unlikely to refer to the Apple Pencil 2, as it has pressure sensors only on its tip and not on the stylus' surface. This suggests that the gesture is for an as-yet-unannounced Apple Pencil 3 that could launch alongside some new iPads rumored to launch in May.
Other indicators of a potential new model include mentioning the Apple Pencil being supported by the Find My app, as current Apple Pencils cannot be tracked via this app. This feature will allow you to find the Pencil, just like you can track AirPods and AirTags, which is handy for something so easily lost as a pen.
Another possible clue that a new Apple Pencil is on the way is that iPadOS 17.4 has added an updated version of the PencilKit API, which developers use to make apps compatible with the Apple Pencil. However, the exact new features are unknown.
The Apple Pencil 3 will likely feature the return of pressure sensitivity, which was missing from the more scaled-down Pencil released in October 2023. This feature allows you to change the thickness of your strokes depending on how hard you press down on the screen and is invaluable for digital artists.
Tipster Majin Bu posted on X that the Apple Pencil 3 will come with interchangeable magnetic tips to aid drawing, technical drawing, and professionals such as digital artists and photo editors. While the most extreme rumor from MacRumors claims the Apple Pencil 3 will support the Apple Vision Pro and allow you to use your surroundings as a canvas instead of touching a tablet screen and will even still use pressure sensitivity.
Based on what my source reportedthe new Apple Pencil 3 will come with interchangeable magnetic tips(for drawing, technical drawing and painting) pic.twitter.com/AXUdpbZFVhSeptember 30, 2023
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Potential pricing is currently unknown but is expected to be similar to the Pencil 2 at around £139 / $129 / AU$199. Hopefully, Apple will opt for some color variations this time around rather than only having a white option, as we’d like to see black, silver, or gold options or any other color.
The original Apple Pencil was released on November 11, 2015, while the second generation Pencil was released on November 7, 2018. On October 17, 2023, Apple launched an entry-level Pencil model for USB-C-equipped iPads.
Go ahead and make fun of the Apple iPad on your favorite social network, I dare you. You will be swarmed by iPad fans, defending their favorite tablet to the death, which always seems to be just over the horizon for the tablet market. We got no new iPads in 2023, making it one of the hardest ever for iPad fanatics, but I say fear not! The iPad is healthy, and I see a brighter future than ever for Apple’s tablet.
Is the iPad really healthy? Well, according to Canalys, iPad sales declined year-on-year by quite a bit, as much as 24%. That still left Apple in a distant first place among tablet makers. Samsung’s sales declined only 11%, but it still shipped less than half of the tablets that Apple delivered, according to Canalys estimates.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is incredibly capable(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
That’s gotta be tough news for Samsung. The latest Galaxy Tab S9 series, including the more affordable Galaxy Tab S9 FE, are some of Samsung's best tablets ever. The entire lineup is IP68 water resistant, which is a first for tablets that aren’t sold as rugged business tablets. They come with an S Pen, which is a better stylus than the Apple Pencil, a $79 / £79 / AU$139 implement that doesn’t even work with every iPad.
The iPad didn't need an update to stay up-to-date
The iPad, on the other hand, has languished on shelves for a long time. There were no iPad updates in 2023. After endowing the iPad Pro with the M2 chip, and the iPad Air with the M1 chip, in late 2022, Apple left the tablet alone.
The base model iPad was updated in 2022, and it still uses a mobile A14 Bionic chipset, while the even older iPad mini, last updated in 2021, inexplicably uses a faster A15 Bionic. Apple also still sells the iPad 10.2-inch model from 2021 as a new device.
You can still buy this 2021 iPad 10.2 from Apple brand new(Image credit: TechRadar)
Here’s the thing – the iPad was already more than a year ahead of other tablets on the market. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S is a powerful, capable Android tablet with a fantastic display. Its Snapdragon processor can’t come close to the iPad Air’s M1 chip. The M1 chipset can power a professional laptop. The Snapdragon is strictly mobile.
Even the A14 Bionic chipset in the base model iPad gives the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, found in the Galaxy Tab S9, a run for its money.
The iPad is so overpowered it sticks around longer
How could Apple improve the iPad? Maybe a better question would ask, what improvements do we need? The iPad is already powerful, well-designed, and long-lasting. I mean it lasts a long time in battery tests, and it also lasts a long time as a product you’ll own. When it comes to longevity, the iPad puts the iPhone to shame, though maybe that should change.
I owned the very first iPhone, and I used it for at least six years before I broke it accidentally by dropping it. By then, it wasn’t worth fixing, but I felt I’d gotten plenty of value out of that purchase. On the last day it was alive, I was able to do everything I wanted, including playing games, watching movies, and browsing all of my favorite websites. A six-year-old iPone was completely capable, and I couldn’t have asked for more.
The original iPad lasted a very long time, years and years
A big reason why the iPad market has stalled is because the market is saturated. People keep iPads and tablets much longer than they keep phones. On inspection, we should probably all just hold onto our phones longer. A five-year-old iPhone is probably much more capable than we all imagine.
The difference is that Apple and our mobile carriers offer us financial incentives to trade in our old phones for new ones. That’s how we buy phones, on contracts and payment plans. That’s not how most people pay for tablets.
Do you really need a fourth screen? Of course you do
The iPad is the best of all of those worlds, and iPad fans know it
That’s the real problem with the iPad: it’s another expenditure on a device that replaces… well, nothing. If you have an iPhone, you can do everything the iPad can do, and more. If you have a laptop, too, then you really don’t need a third screen. What about that smart TV on your wall? Now, an iPad makes four screens, and there’s nothing it offers that your other screens can’t manage.
The iPad isn’t an impulse buy, either. It isn’t a hundred bucks or so. You can’t buy it with the gift card you won in a work raffle like you might buy an Amazon Fire tablet for $100. The iPad costs hundreds, and that’s before you add accessories like the Apple Pencil, a keyboard, or even just a nice folio cover.
Still, there is something undeniable about its appeal. The iPad is more powerful and capable than a smartphone. It’s more portable than a laptop. It’s more personal than the TV hanging on the wall. The iPad is the best of all of those worlds, and iPad fans know it.
The iPad's bottom line is much lower this year
Of course a new iPad Air with an OLED screen would be sweet(Image credit: Apple)
Here’s what truly made this past year a boon for iPad fans. Every iPad model can be found for the lowest price ever. The iPad 10.9 is $429 / £307.62 right now on Amazon, down from $449 / £499 at launch. The iPad Air is $449 / £438.02, down from $599 / £569. Sorry, Australian friends, Amazon isn’t giving you the same iPad discount these days.
The iPad Pro hasn’t dropped as much as the rest, but the 64GB M1 iPad Air now costs $150 / £120 less on Amazon than it did when it launched. That’s a 25% discount in the US. Maybe Apple was doing the right thing by delaying any iPad update as long as possible. The iPad didn’t need an update. It needed a price cut.
Apple iPad 10.2 (2021):was $329.99 now $249 at Amazon The iPad 10.2 is still available at Amazon for its lowest price ever this week. Apple's last-generation tablet may be slightly older tech, but the 10.2-inch Retina display and A13 Bionic chip ensure excellent picture quality and superior performance to this day. The entry-level slate can do it all without issue: whether that's browsing the net, streaming media, light work, or playing games. Ultimately, when it comes to powerful and affordable tablets that offer excellent value for money, it doesn't get better than the Apple iPad 10.2.View Deal
Apple iPad 10.9 (2022):was $449 now $349 at Amazon This offer on Apple's newest entry-level iPad brings it down to the lowest price ever – one we've seen a couple of times this year. It's terrific value for money at this price if you need an all-around tablet. We said Apple's latest base-level tablet is a big upgrade over the previous generation model in our iPad 10.9 review, with a larger Liquid Retina display, a new A14 Bionic chip, improved cameras, USB-C support, and a sleek design.View Deal
iPad Air (2022):was $599 now $449.99 at Amazon Amazon has the iPad Air available for a record-low price right now. As we said in our four-star iPad Air (2022) review, this model neatly sits in the middle ground between power and affordability while still offering many of the same features and capabilities as the more expensive iPad Pro. With an attractive 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display and M1 chip inside you get excellent picture quality plus fast performance, making it a great tablet for creative tasks, gaming, and general everyday use.View Deal
