Technologies
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.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK
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$248 (save $152)
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$170 (save $181)
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$398 (save $62)
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$200 (save $250)
CNET’s key takeaways
- You can get these amazing earbuds for just $135 right now at Woot.
- My teenager loves everything about them.
- The sound quality is exceptional.
- The noise cancellation can help give you some peace, even in a busy home.
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.Â
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.
Technologies
Trump strikes deal with Putin to supply Russian diesel to U.S. and global markets
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Technologies
Major League Baseball proposes shortening its regular season as it pushes for a salary cap
Major League Baseball proposed a return to a shorter 154-game regular season schedule as it attempts to convince players to approve a salary cap.
Major League Baseball proposed shortening its regular season to 154 games from 162 as it attempts to convince players to approve a salary cap in the league’s next collective bargaining agreement. The new shortened schedule would begin in 2029.
MLB’s CBA expires Dec. 1, after the conclusion of this season’s World Series. The most contentious issue is the introduction of a salary cap on players. MLB is the only major American sports league without a cap. The league has failed to convince the players’ union to adopt one in several previous CBA negotiations.
A 154-game season was used between 1904 and 1960, except for 1918 and 1919 when the schedule was abbreviated because of World War I. For the past 66 years, 162 regular season games has been the standard, though some seasons have been shortened.
Lopping off eight games “is good for player health, while also creating a new national broadcast window to showcase our most exciting teams and players,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “A shorter regular season unlocks making October even better for our fans — with fewer weekday afternoon games, a longer Division Series, and more opportunities to see the game’s best pitchers on the biggest stage.”
As part of the proposal, MLB wants to cement Monday as an exclusive broadcast window for one or two games to “increase national exposure for the sport.” The league could conceivably sell a package of Monday-only games to a streaming service looking to increase subscriber and advertising revenue. Every team not playing in the national game or games would have an off day.
Teams that play Monday would be off on Thursday, MLB said.
In addition to lowering the number of regular season games, MLB would extend the divisional round of the playoffs to seven games from five and would allow the higher-seeded teams in both the wild card round and in the divisional round to choose their lower-seeded opponent.
The Major League Baseball Players Association responded to the MLB’s proposed changes by claiming the league “once again made clear that all of its proposals are contingent on players’ agreement to a salary cap, a system that guts player rights and compensation, as well as its other anti-player proposals.”
An MLB spokesperson confirmed that Thursday’s proposed changes are contingent on adopting a cap – and a salary floor, which would force teams to spend a certain amount on players. Still, the MLBPA said it would review the proposed changes. “Players will weigh in on these proposals and we will respond at the bargaining table,” MLBPA said in a statement.
Technologies
Hurricane Isaias disrupts U.S. oil production in Gulf of Mexico, threatens refineries
The hurricane could tighten a fuel market that is already facing big disruptions from the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Hurricane Isaias is disrupting U.S. crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and could limit about 2% of the country’s refining capacity, at a time when fuel markets are already tight around the world.
Isaias is churning toward Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle as a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center, and is expected to make landfall Friday night or early Saturday.
As of Thursday, oil companies had shut in about 1.3 million barrels per day, or roughly 63% of total U.S. production in the Gulf, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
The hurricane appeared to be veering away from the dense refining region in southern Louisiana near New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
But the storm could affect Chevron
“Of course, losing any refinery capacity when diesel supplies are at their lowest level for this time of year since the EIA began reporting in 1982 is not a good thing,” Lipow wrote in a Friday note, referring to the Energy Information Administration.
Chevron’s refinery at Pascagoula remains operational, spokesperson Ross Allen said Thursday. Vertex officials weren’t immediately available for comment about its Saraland refinery.
″The biggest risk to these two refineries are a loss of electricity or flooding damage,” Lipow wrote in a note Friday. If the refineries do shut down, it would take one to two weeks to restart them if they did not sustain damage, he said.
Refineries on the Gulf Coast are running at 95% of their capacity, so there is no slack in the system to make up for lost production, Lipow said.
Diesel prices have soared as the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East knock out refining capacity. Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries forced Moscow to ban diesel exports. Iran and its Houthi allies have also attacked refineries in the Middle East.
U.S. refiners have stepped in to take advantage of wide profit margins to export diesel around the world, particularly to Europe.
In the past, fuel prices rose while crude prices fell during outages at Gulf refineries, said Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners. That’s a result of those refineries not demanding crude and not producing fuel for consumers, Book told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.
Lipow warned that tanker traffic will also be disrupted.
“Tankers will be delayed delivering crude oil to the refineries while other tankers are delayed loading gasoline, jet fuel and diesel out of the refineries,” the analyst said. “Florida will experience delays in receiving gasoline, jet fuel and diesel.”
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