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Miss Cyber Monday? The Teen-Approved AirPods Pro 2 Are Still Down to $135

These earbuds met my teen’s impossibly high standards — and this might be your last chance to get them at a record-low price.

Cyber Monday deal: While they’re no longer the latest model, the Apple AirPods Pro 2 are still among the best earbuds you can buy. Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 are generally better, but they’re also a lot more expensive, and plenty of people can still get a lot out of the Pro 2.

They get even more appealing today thanks to this steep post-Cyber Monday discount. You can still grab them for just $135 at Woot, the lowest price we’ve seen yet. That makes them a way better value and a truly fantastic pickup for anybody hoping for an audio upgrade. This discount might not return, so get it while you can.

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HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

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

CNET’s key takeaways

My 13‑year‑old daughter loves her music and her privacy, and for years she wanted a pair of AirPods. They’re not cheap, so I kept buying her more budget options, like the Amazon Echo Buds. Those kept disappearing, though, so I finally ponied up for the AirPods Pro 2.

I picked them up during last year’s sales, and they were definitely well‑received. She’s happy, she uses them every day, and she hasn’t lost them yet. The AirPods Pro 2 are currently on sale at Woot for $135, a great price for a high‑quality pair like these, and one of the lowest we’ve ever seen.

What about the AirPods Pro 3?

The AirPods Pro 3 weren’t available when I bought the Pro 2, but they were rumored. As CNET’s resident headphone expert David Carnoy summarized in his AirPods Pro 2 vs. Pro 3 comparison, the newer model is “significantly improved in the four most important areas: fit, sound quality, noise cancellation and battery life.” They also add heart‑rate monitoring, like the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2.

While those upgrades are impressive, a lot of people won’t notice the differences or make the most of the new features. And with the AirPods Pro 3 currently on a smaller sale at Amazon for $220 ($30 off list), the Pro 2 at $135 is a much better value.

Why I didn’t get the AirPods 4 instead

Why did I choose AirPods Pro 2 instead of the AirPods 4 with ANC? First, as I mentioned in another article about a different pair of earbuds I bought, I think sealed, in‑ear buds are better than open‑design models like the AirPods 4. The seal creates another layer of noise isolation and contributes to superior sound quality. And if you want to pay attention to the world, you can always engage ambient sound mode — Apple calls transparency mode. 

Also, at the time, Carnoy considered the Pro 2 the best Apple noise-canceling wireless earbuds: “While we’re quite impressed with those new models — and with the AirPods 4 ANC in particular — the AirPods Pro 2 remain arguably the best Apple AirPods you can buy if you don’t mind having silicone ear tips jammed in your ears,” he said.

My daughter uses earplugs all the time to help her sleep, so she definitely qualifies as someone comfortable putting things in her ears. Like her fingers, when I start using words like “sigma,” “skibidi” and “relatable” to try to connect with her.

I asked Carnoy about the Pro 2s potentially not fitting in her kid‑size ears, and he reassured me that the range of eartips that come with the Pro 2s “now include XS, so they should fit.”

Do AirPods make a great gift?

It took me years to finally understand, but yes, for someone looking for wireless earbuds, AirPods — especially the Apple AirPods Pro 2 — make the perfect gift. And that’s true whether you’re a teenage girl or not.

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Technologies

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt Trade Blows in Latest AI Slop Video, and Hollywood Won’t Stand for It

While some Hollywood icons are feeling doom and gloom over the AI-generated clip, labor unions are fighting back with legal threats.

Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are trading blows in a viral AI-generated clip on social media, sparking backlash from the film industry. Chinese company ByteDance’s new video generation model, Seedance 2.0, allowed people to create fictional videos of real likenesses with short prompts. Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson used two lines to generate the clip of Pitt and Cruise fighting.

If ByteDance sounds familiar to you, it’s because the company also owns TikTok internationally, though it recently sold its US ownership of the social media and video-sharing platform to US companies. Oracle, MGX and Silver Lake each hold a 15% stake. 

The actors in this latest viral AI slop video still don’t look like perfect re-creations — close-up shots of the fake Brad Pitt’s face, especially, have an «uncanny valley,» dreamlike AI look where the cuts blend into his flesh a little too smoothly. However, a CNET survey from earlier Tuesday showed that while 94% of US adults believe they encounter AI slop on social media, just 44% say they’re confident they can tell real videos from AI-generated ones.

One of the most inflammatory parts of the Pitt-Cruise video is the dialogue, as the computerized facsimiles of the actors fight over a supposed assassination plot regarding Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who maintained ties to rich and powerful people worldwide. The two actors’ likenesses became a vehicle to push conspiracy theories that have been picking up steam as the millions of pages of redacted emails, receipts and other documents that make up the Epstein files continue to trickle out of the US Department of Justice.

Hollywood is fighting back as AI-generated content consumes and spits out actor likenesses and copyrighted content alike. Major studios and their labor forces alike have united to push back against the precedent set by the viral AI video.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Motion Picture Association demanded that ByteDance «immediately cease its infringing activity» through Seedance. SAG-AFTRA, the labor union that represents Hollywood performers, released a statement on Friday saying it «stands with the studios» in condemning the Seedance video generation model.

The Screen Actors Guild specifically pointed to Seedance’s unauthorized use of members’ faces, likenesses and voices as a threat that could put actors out of work. 

«Seedance 2.0 disregards law, ethics, industry standards and basic principles of consent,» the actors’ guild said in its statement.

Representatives for the MPA and SAG-AFTRA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Similar videos generated by Seedance have depicted Star Wars characters dueling with lightsabers as well as Marvel superheroes Spider-Man and Captain America brawling. Disney issued a cease-and-desist order to ByteDance on Friday in response to these videos, which it alleges constitute copyright infringement, according to the BBC.

A representative for ByteDance didn’t immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment, but issued a statement to the BBC saying it is «taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users.»

Following the viral incident, ByteDance updated its tool to prevent people from uploading images of real people for AI-generated content, but it remains to be seen how effective that policy will be. Certainly, it won’t curb the output of videos depicting fictional masked or anthropomorphic characters like Spider-Man or Mickey Mouse. 

As AI models continue to create mediocre copies of cultural icons, this won’t be the first — or last — legal battleground for AI video generation.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 18, #983

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 18 #983.

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 was great fun for me, as I’m the co-author of two pop-culture encyclopedias, one about the 1970s, and 1980s and the other about the 1990s. Two of the categories are retro-themed! 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: Farrah hair.

Green group hint: Totally tubular!

Blue group hint: Bock-bock!

Purple group hint: Can refer to a dairy product or a cosmetic.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Retro hair directives.

Green group: Retro slang for cool.

Blue group: Chicken descriptors.

Purple group: ____ cream.

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 retro hair directives. The four answers are crimp, curl, feather and tease.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is  retro slang for cool. The four answers are bad, fly, rad and wicked.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is chicken descriptors. The four answers are bantam, crested, free-range and leghorn.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ cream.  The four answers are heavy, shaving, sour and topical.

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Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Feb. 18, #1705

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Feb. 18, No. 1,705.

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 answer is a word I thought I’d seen in Wordle before, but I guess not. The letters aren’t super common, so it may take a few guesses. 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.

Read more: New Study Reveals Wordle’s Top 10 Toughest Words of 2025

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with M.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with L.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to an important or powerful person.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is MOGUL.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, Feb. 17, No. 1704 was SQUAD.

Recent Wordle answers

Feb. 13, No. 1700: MOOCH

Feb. 14, No. 1701: BLOOM

Feb. 15, No. 1702: SKULL

Feb. 16, No. 1703: ROOST

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