Technologies

Amazon Deals of the Day: Keep Track of Your Health and Your Items With a New Low on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and SmartTag Bundle

Plus, the Apple AirPods Pro 2 are over 30% off and the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Pro is down to a record-low price.

Amazon sells a wide array of products, with new ones arriving daily. The retail giant has everything from home essentials to tech gear and wellness items. As much as it loves adding new products, Amazon also loves cutting prices. But deciding which deals are worth grabbing (and which aren’t) is a full-time job — our job, specifically. That’s why we scope out the top deals for you.

Today, we spotted a bundle of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and the Samsung SmartTag 2 for just $200. We also found the AirPods Pro 2 down to $169, a nice 32% off. And finally, we found the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Pro robotic pool cleaner down to a new low price.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is packed with features like built-in LTE, the latest version of WearOS 5 and, of course, a wide range of health and fitness tools. These specs help set it apart from other Android smartwatches. It also has improved heart rate accuracy compared to previous models. This watch normally runs for $330 but it’s on sale for $200 right now. But that’s not all. You also get a Samsung SmartTag 2 thrown in for free.

This SmartTag can help you keep track of everyday important items like your keys or wallet. You can even throw it into your luggage in case it gets lost. This item tracker normally lists for $30. So technically, you’re saving $160 with this bundle. Since the Watch 7 itself is discounted to $200, why not pay the same price for the bundle and get a free SmartTag too?

We all know that deals on Apple products are hard to come by, especially for some of the best wireless earbuds on the market, the AirPods Pro 2. These earbuds are powered by Apple’s famous H2 chip. This allows the earbuds to deliver immersive sound with active noise cancellation that removes up to two times the background noise. The battery can last up to six hours alone while using them with ANC. If they are in the charging case, the battery will last up to 30 hours. The earbuds are rated IP54, which means they are dust-, sweat- and water-resistant. Normally, you’d have to shell out $249 for these buds but if you act quick you can score them for $80 off, bringing them down to $169.

A lot of us are getting good use of our pools right now. If you’re a pool owner, I don’t need to tell you how tiresome cleaning the pool can be. One of the best pool accessories out there is a robot pool cleaner. Beatbot makes top of the line robot pool cleaners, and the five-in-one AquaSense 2 Pro cleans the pool’s floor, walls and waterline while also clarifying the water and getting rid of debris. Not to mention that it uses AI to make sure every spot of the pool has been taken care of. Plus the 9.5-hour battery life ensures you get a couple uses out of it before it needs a charge. It normally runs for $2,899 but for a limited time you can score a wild $800 discount, bringing it down to $2,079, a new record low.

SMARTWATCH DEALS OF THE WEEK

Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS, 42mm, Black, S/M 130-180mm, Sports Band):

$299 (save $100)
Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (Bluetooth, 40mm, Cream):

$200 (save $100)
Amazfit Active 42mm Smartwatch With 14 Day Battery Life (Black):

$85 (save $25)
Garmin Forerunner 165 Running Smartwatch (Black):

$200 (save $51)
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (Wi-Fi, LTE, 47mm, Titanium Silver):

$400 (save $250)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

With so many deals on Amazon, deciding which ones are worth your money can be difficult. But CNET’s combed through what the world’s largest online retailer has to offer and gathered the best deals for you to peruse.

Technologies

Google Rolls Out Latest AI Model, Gemini 3.1 Pro

Starting Thursday, Gemini 3.1 Pro can be accessed via the AI app, NotebookLM and more.

Google took the wraps off its latest AI model, Gemini 3.1 Pro, on Thursday, calling it a «step forward in core reasoning.» The software giant says its latest model is smarter and more capable for complex problem-solving.

Google shared a series of bookmarks and examples of the latest model’s capabilities, and is rolling out Gemini 3.1 to a series of products for consumers, enterprise and developers.

The overall AI model landscape seems to change weekly. Google’s release comes just a few days after Anthropic dropped the latest version of Claude, Sonnet 4.6, which can operate a computer at a human baseline level.

Benchmarks of Gemini 3.1

Google shared some details about AI model benchmarks for Gemini 3.1 Pro.

The announcement blog post highlights that the Gemini 3.1 Pro benchmark for the ARC-AGI-2 test for solving abstract reasoning puzzles sits at 77.1%. This is noticeably higher than Gemini 3 Pro’s 31.1% score for the same test.

The ARC-AGI-2 benchmark is one of multiple improvements coming from Gemini 3.1 Pro, Google says.

3.1 Pro enhancements

With better benchmarks nearly across the board, Google highlighted some of the ways that translate in general use:

Code-based animations: The latest Gemini model can easily create animated SVG images that are scalable without quality loss and ready to be added to websites with a text prompt.

Creative coding: Gemini 3.1 Pro generated an entire website based on a character from Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, if she were a landscape photographer showing off her portfolio.

Interactive design: 3.1 Pro was used to create a 3D interactive starling murmuration that allows the flock to be controlled in an assortment of ways, all while a soundscape is generated that changes with the movement of the birds.

Availability

As of Thursday, Gemini 3.1 Pro is rolling out in the Gemini app for those with the AI Pro or Ultra plans. NotebookLM users subscribed to one of those plans will also be able to take advantage of the new model.

Both developers and enterprises can also access the new model via the Gemini API through a range of products, including AI Studio, Gemini Enterprise, Antigravity and Android Studio.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 20 #719

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Feb. 20, No. 719.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a bit tricky. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: True grit

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: You might find this in a wood shop.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

SAND, CART, SCAR, SCAT, PAPER, HAVE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

COARSE, HARSH, SCRATCHY, ROUGH, PRICKLY, ABRASIVE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is SANDPAPER. To find it, start with the S that’s the farthest-left letter on the very top row, and wind down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 20, #515

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 20, No. 515.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features a category all about my favorite football team. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: We’ll be right back…

Green group hint: Run for the roses.

Blue group hint: Skol!

Purple group hint: