Technologies

This Razer Headset for Xbox Is Next to Nothing at Amazon While This Deal Lasts

Pick up this headset for $10 when you redeem the coupon code — but don’t wait. This deal may not last.

If you’re a gamer and you have an Xbox you desperately need a decent gaming headset. And while high-end models can set you back a couple of hundred, there are plenty of options well below that price point. And even better, with this deal we spotted, you can pick up a $50 pair for essentially $10.

Right now, the Razer BlackShark V2 X Xbox wired gaming headset is discounted at Amazon for $40. When you redeem the on-page coupon RZR30, you will get a $30 digital credit toward future Amazon purchases. That means that you are getting this headset for only $10.

This price is for two of the four colors: pink or white. Black is discounted to $40 currently but the coupon code is not redeemable on that color. Once you purchase the headset at $40, as long as you’ve clipped the on-page coupon, your $30 digital credit will be confirmed via email within 24 hours after shipment is completed. For Prime members in many parts of the country, this headset is deliverable in a day or two.

The Razer BlackShark V2 X has thick cushioned earcups to cover ears and isolate sound better, giving you a more intense, immersive experience. The cardioid mic is bendable for ideal placement and features improved pickup patterns for clarity. And note that this is not a wireless gaming headset. The wired headset has a 3.5 mm jack that is compatible with Xbox as well as other platforms. At this price, it’s well worth considering picking one up as backup for an additional device or future use.

CHEAP GAMING LAPTOP DEALS OF THE WEEK

Dell G15 Intel i5 13th Gen RTX 3050 512GB SSD 8GB RAM 15.6-inch Laptop:

$600 (save $300)
Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 Ryzen 7 RTX 3050 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 14-inch Touch Laptop:

$1,000 (save $355)
HP Omen Intel Ultra 5 RTX 4050 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 16-inch Laptop:

$856 (save $564)
Gigabyte G6 Intel i7 13th Gen RTX 4050 1TB SSD 16GB RAM 16-inch Laptop:

$899 (save $100)
Acer Nitro V Intel i5 RTX 4050 512GB SSD 8GB RAM 15.6-inch Laptop:

$738 (save $43)

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

Why this deal matters

Although you’ll have to spend the $40 upfront, the redeemable $30 coupon makes this a deal hard to pass up. Because the headset is already down to $40, with the $30 coupon you’re essentially paying only $10. Unless you have no intention of future purchases on Amazon, this deal just makes sense if you’re in the market for a new headset. But this is the kind of deal we expect to disappear rather quickly, so don’t hold back if you’re ready to buy.

Technologies

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Leak Claims Nov. 14 Release Date, No Switch 2 Version Yet

What new conspiracies will be revealed in Black Ops 7?

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will be the next entry in Activision’s military shooter series, which typically comes out in October every year, making it one of the last big game releases before Black Friday. A leak suggests that the new CoD might come out a little later than usual, but still in time for the big shopping day.

Black Ops 7 will reportedly be released on Nov. 14, according to a leaker who goes by the name billbil-kun from a post on the French website Dealabs. Along with the supposed release date, the leak says there will not be a Switch 2 version when the game launches.

A spokesperson for the franchise said in an emailed statement that details about Black Ops 7 will be revealed at Gamescom Opening Night, which is this coming Tuesday, Aug. 19.

The Call of Duty series release dates typically straddle the late October and early November period. The last CoD game to come out mid-November was Black Ops Cold War, which was released on Nov. 13, 2020. It’s unclear if the later release was due in part to Battlefield 6 coming out on Oct. 10, which would allow for some time between the releases of the two popular military FPS games.

The lack of a Switch 2 version at launch could mean that the team working on that version of the game needed some more time before its release. While the original Switch has become too underpowered for modern games, Nintendo boosted the performance of the Switch 2, which makes it capable of running more graphics-intensive games, potentially including Call of Duty. Black Ops 7 will still likely be released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X and Series S on launch day as it is every year.

In Black Ops 7, players will jump into the role of David Mason, played by Milo Ventimiglia. The year is 2035, and Mason is struggling with hallucinations of enemies from his past. The character was first introduced in 2012’s Black Ops 2 and was also in 2024’s Black Ops 6.

While other Call of Duty games tend to focus on certain eras of warfare, such as World War II and the Iraq War, the Black Ops series focuses on secret missions typically conducted by the US and range from the Cold War era to more modern and even futuristic times. Black Ops 2 took place in 2025, while Black Ops 6 was set in 1991.

Technologies

Beijing’s ‘Robot Olympics’ Are Off and Running (and Falling)

Strike up the Chariots of Fire theme and grab a flag, the futuristic Games are on.

China just turned a pair of Olympic venues into a playground for robots.

The inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games, running from Aug. 15-17, opened Friday with soccer, sprints, kickboxing and table tennis, as well as a healthy number of face-plants. The games feature 280 robot teams from 16 countries and hundreds of bipedal bots vying for medals and whatever passes for bragging rights to robots.

Events are split between two 2022 Winter Olympics landmarks: China’s National Stadium and the National Speed Skating Oval. On the schedule: track and field, football (soccer to Americans), table tennis, and «scenario» trials such as medicine sorting, cleaning services and industrial handling—the kind of practical skills that robot-makers actually care about.

The highlight reel revealed more chaos than control: robots colliding mid-match, sprinters crumpling mid-stride and kickboxers needing a reboot. But there were bright spots, too. Some bots popped back to their feet unassisted and even finished middle-distance runs as handlers puffed behind them. There was even a 1,500-meter race. Tickets ran 128–580 yuan (about $18–$81).

The robot athletes are supplied by a combination of academia and industry, including China’s Unitree and Fourier, with squads also from the US, Germany, Brazil, Japan and more. Organizers pitch the weekend as data collection under pressure, with sports forcing the robots to demonstrate balance, vision and decision-making, all of which later will translate over to the robot’s work in factories, logistics and as home helpers.

China is using the Games to showcase its bet on embodied AI — software linked to machines that can navigate human spaces. The country has poured billions of dollars into robotics and is planning a 1-trillion-yuan ( about $137 billion) fund for startups as part of a push to counter an aging-workforce crunch and compete in advanced manufacturing.

Rules vary by event, but organizers say competitions span autonomous control and remote operation: either way, no mid-match «player swaps» for fresh robots are allowed. That means lots of stress testing on robot batteries, heat management and recovery behaviors in real-time chaos.

The Associated Press has streamed some of the Games if you want to check it out.

The event runs through Aug. 17.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Aug. 16, #1519

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle, No. 1,519 for Saturday, Aug. 16.

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

Today’s Wordle puzzle was a puzzler for me. I know the answer word, and the letters aren’t super-rare, but I didn’t seem to be able to put them in the right places. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.