Technologies

I Almost Missed This Deal Within a Deal for Baseus’ Bose-Infused Headphones and Earbuds

Baseus’ new Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 models with Sound by Bose are 23% to 33% off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But Baseus throws in its BC1 clip-on earbuds or other «free» bonus items to make the deal even sweeter.

I gave CNET Editors’ Choice awards to Baseus’ Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XH1 headphones and Inspire XP1 earbuds because they’re well designed and sound decent for what they cost. I also liked Baseus’ Inspire XC1 clip-on earbuds, which have dual- drivers and earned a spot on CNET’s best clip-on earbuds list.

Last week all three models were selling for around $110 (though they have higher list prices), but they’re now discounted to around $100 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s a deal I’d highlight on its own, but if you click through to any of those models’ Amazon product pages an look closely you’ll see that each is eligible for «one free item» with purchase.

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025

You have to click the «how to claim link» and then add one of the three products to the your cart. Once one of the headphones or earbuds is added to your cart, you can click a button on the left side of screen (above the stars for average ratings) that switches the view from «qualifying items» to «benefit items.» You can then add Baseus’s BC1 clip-on earbuds, which list for $40, to your cart as a free item. Baseus’ step-up Basues MC1 Pro ($48 for Black Friday) and Inspire XC1 clip-on buds sound better, but the BC1 are fine for casual use.

If the BC1 earbuds option doesn’t thrill you, there are other freebies you can opt for. Just go back to the Amazon product page for the Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 and you’ll see options for one free item with $100, $90, $51 and $46 purchases. The $90 benefit item is a 30W dual-port fast charger (list price $20), which is decent, and the $51 benefit item is a retractable USB-C cable ($19 list) that’s useful. Don’t bother with the $46 benefit item.

You can read my full reviews of the Inspire XH1 headphones here and the Inspire XP1 earbuds here. And here’s my quick take of the Inspire XC1 earbuds:

Like Baseus’ noise-isolating Inspire XP1 earbuds that I rated highly, the Inspire XC1 feature «Sound by Bose» and a more premium design than earlier Baseus earbuds. The XC1 don’t sound as good as the XP1, but they sound good for open earbuds and are equipped with dual drivers, one of which is a Knowles balanced-armature driver that helps improve treble performance. While they don’t produce as much bass as noise-isolating earbuds like the Inspire XP1, their bass performance is better than I expected. The buds’ sound is pretty full, especially in quieter environments, though they do better with less bass-heavy material (I did notice a bit of distortion at higher volumes with certain tracks with harder driving bass).

While I prefer the design and fit of Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds (as well as the design of their case) and think the Bose buds sound more natural and a tad better overall, the much more affordable Inspire XC1 fit comfortably and offer top-tier sound for clip-on open earbuds (and they play louder than the Bose), as well as decent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction.

HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones (Black):

$248 (save $152)
Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$170 (save $181)
Apple AirPods Max ANC Wireless Headphones (USB-C Charging, Midnight):

$400 (save $150)
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones:

$298 (save $131)
Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones:

$199 (save $150)

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

Read more: Best Black Friday headphones deals

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.

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

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. Read on for all the answers.. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME

5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC

7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO

8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER

9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS

2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN

3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA

4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER

6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It

This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.

The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.

The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.

How and where to see Quadrantids

Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.

For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.

As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.

To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.

The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 24, #1649

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 24, No. 1,649.

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 is a little tricky, with a double letter that could confuse players. 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.