Technologies

Amazon Prime Day Drops Fitbit Ace LTE Kids Smartwatch to a New Record-Low Price

Score nearly 40% off this Fitbit smartwatch for your kids on Prime Day’s final day.

Many of us have smartwatches as they’re helpful for so many tasks, like tracking your steps or making phone calls — all without taking your phone out of your pocket. Parents also often find that they make great alternatives to their kids’ mobile phones. While they tend to be rather expensive, you can find discounts throughout the year.

This Prime Day, you can score a Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch for its lowest price ever at only $114, which is perfect if you want to start shopping early for the holidays. Slashing the cost by almost 40% off its regular price of $180, this is a record-low deal that you won’t want to miss. And since Prime Day ends tonight, this deal isn’t going to stick around much longer.

The Fitbit Ace LTE is equipped with 4G for connectivity on the go, and it’s designed to be set up as a standalone device without the need to be paired to a phone — ideal for parents who want to be able to communicate with or track younger kids who aren’t ready for a mobile phone of their own. It does require a subscription to enable the call and text service via the Fitbit Ace app, as well as location tracking and on-device games. The watch offers some innovative features, including games that encourage kids to move and watch bands that unlock different features.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

The watch is designed to make movement more sustainable for kids. According to former CNET Editor Lisa Eadicicco, «With the Fitbit Ace LTE, Google is trying to strike a balance of encouraging kids to move without pushing them to overexercise. Activity rewards hit a limit each day to prevent kids from exercising too much just to unlock new content.» With a battery life of up to 16 hours, kids can enjoy their games and stay in touch with family during school and other activities. Other features like Tap to Pay via supported kids’ debit cards are also super useful for kids on the go.

Don’t want to shop at Amazon? That’s fine, this deal along with many others is available at Walmart, too.

SMARTWATCH DEALS OF THE WEEK

Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS, 46mm, Black, M/L Sports Band):

$329 (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 Vivoactive 5 GPS Smartwatch With AMOLED Display:

$200 (save $100)
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (Wi-Fi, LTE, 47mm, Titanium Silver):

$500 (save $150)

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

Why this deal matters

Smartwatches don’t come cheap, whether they’re for you or your child. Fitbit is one of the first ones in the game, making top trusted fitness watches for everyone. Amazon Prime Day has knocked the price down to a record low we haven’t seen before. During Amazon’s last Prime Day event, we saw this watch go to a record low of $171. This is a much better deal. But since Prime Day ends today, don’t spend too long thinking about it.

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Technologies

AI Trusted Less Than Social Media and Airlines, With Grok Placing Last, Survey Says

More Americans are concerned about the loss of personal interaction from AI than they are about potential job loss.

Google Gemini is the most trusted AI platform among its competition, but many people still have concerns about the technology, according to an American Customer Satisfaction Index poll released Thursday.

In ACSI’s results, AI scored an overall customer satisfaction score of 73 on a scale of 0 to 100, which the authors noted was slightly below social media (74), airlines and mortgage lenders, but in line with energy utilities.

Of the five platforms mentioned in the survey, Google Gemini led with 76, followed by Microsoft Copilot (74), Claude and ChatGPT (both 73), and Grok and Perplexity (both 71). Meanwhile, TikTok (77) and YouTube (78) both scored better than the AI platforms.

Gemini is one of the most prolific AI services, with access via smart speakers, TVs, phones and computers, while most ChatGPT users access the AI tool via the ChatGPT website or mobile app, and Grok via social media platform X.

The ACSI poll found that 43% of respondents said reduced human-to-human interaction is their main concern, followed by job loss for future generations (37%) and their own job risk (31%), based on interviews with 2,711 US adults.

Baby Boomers were the most skeptical generation in the poll, with 35% saying they are very concerned about AI’s effects, compared to just 6% who view it extremely favorably.

Disconnect between AI adoption and perception

While platforms such as ChatGPT have up to 1 billion weekly users, there is still a disconnect between AI’s adoption and public perception of it, which is driven by concerns over privacy, the spread of misinformation and the loss of jobs.

«Consumers spent the last decade learning to distrust how social media platforms handle their data, and AI’s privacy scores suggest they’re carrying that skepticism forward,» said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI.

21% reported an «extremely favorable» outlook toward AI, while an equal 21% said they are «very concerned about the consequences.»

These results were in line with another poll published by YouGov this week, which found that only 29% think the positive effects of AI outweigh the negative ones, while 36% think its net effects are negative.

It’s worth noting that more than half of the people interviewed (56%) had no recent experience with AI, but of the 44% who did, half of them use AI at least once a day, and the usage went up with people who earned over $100,000 a year.

Last month, an NBC poll suggested that AI was one of the least-liked things in America, but it was still more popular than the Democratic Party.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 18, #1042

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 18, No. 1,042.

Looking for the most recent 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, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features a fun purple category that’ll require you to spot certain beverage names. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

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

Yellow group hint: Wow!

Green group hint: Plug it in.

Blue group hint: Cinderella team.

Purple group hint: Drink up.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Look at with awe.

Green group: Basic electricity terms.

Blue group: Unexpected winner.

Purple group: Starting with soda brands.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is look at with awe. The four answers are goggle, marvel, stare and wonder.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basic electricity terms. The four answers are AC, DC, power and voltage.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is unexpected winner. The four answers are dark horse, long shot, sleeper and underdog.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starting with soda brands. The four answers are crushworthy, Fantagraphics, frescade and pepsinogen.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 18, #572

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 18, No. 572.

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.

Hockey fans, today’s Connections: Sports Edition is for you. All four categories are hockey-related. 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: Fire it into the net!

Green group hint: Lord Stanley’s hardware.

Blue group hint: Where hockey teams play.

Purple group hint: Put the biscuit in the basket.