Technologies

Best iPad Deals: Save $30 on Latest iPad, $79 on iPad Air and More

You can save between $30 and $199 on an Apple tablet at Amazon going into the holiday season.

The most recent addition to Apple’s iPad lineup is the iPad Air, which was released in the spring, bringing an update to the only iPad that missed a 2021 refresh. The new iPad Air features Apple’s M1 chip, found in the company’s iPad Pros, along with 5G and a wider-angle, front-facing camera with the Center Stage autofocusing video feature.

What it didn’t get was expanded storage: The new iPad Air models offer the same 64GB and 256GB capacities as the current versions at the same prices. You can save $79 right now at Amazon on the base iPad Air model — that only $1 away from the biggest discount we’ve seen for it.

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Which tablets have the best price?

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The most affordable iPad remains the ninth-gen iPad, and it’s even more affordable right now at its current $30 discount at Amazon. The 10.2-inch iPad features the A13 Bionic chip, Apple’s True Tone display, an improved front-facing camera and an increase in internal storage.

The small iPad Mini is $99 off right now at Amazon and selling for only $1 more than its lowest price ever. Like the ninth-gen iPad, the sixth-gen iPad Mini was released last fall. It features an 8.3-inch display, the A15 Bionic chip, a USB-C charging port for a quick charge and a power button with Touch ID.

The 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pros are now the oldest of Apple’s tablets. They were the first non-Mac devices to be made with Apple’s own M1 chip when they hit the scene last spring. You can save $99 on the 11-inch model and a hefty $199 on the bigger 12.9-inch model.

Read more: Best iPad for 2022

With Black Friday just around the corner, we expect the iPad deals to increase in both frequency and quality so be sure to check out the below list for some of the best prices of the season. Some of these deals are better than what we saw during Amazon’s October Prime Day.

Note that «all-time» means the best price that we’ve seen at an Apple-authorized retailer in the product’s lifetime.

Best iPad deals

Which tablets have the best price?

Use our CNET Shopping extension to compare top products or find coupon codes before buying your next tablet.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Oct. 14

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 14.

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.

Today’s Mini Crossword has an odd vertical shape, with an extra Across clue, and only four Down clues. The clues are not terribly difficult, but one or two could be tricky. Read on if you need 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: Smokes, informally
Answer: CIGS

5A clue: «Don’t have ___, man!» (Bart Simpson catchphrase)
Answer: ACOW

6A clue: What the vehicle in «lane one» of this crossword is winning?
Answer: RACE

7A clue: Pitt of Hollywood
Answer: BRAD

8A clue: «Yeah, whatever»
Answer: SURE

9A clue: Rd. crossers
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Things to «load» before a marathon
Answer: CARBS

2D clue: Mythical figure who inspired the idiom «fly too close to the sun»
Answer: ICARUS

3D clue: Zoomer around a small track
Answer: GOCART

4D clue: Neighbors of Norwegians
Answer: SWEDES

Technologies

Watch SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 11

Technologies

New California Law Wants Companion Chatbots to Tell Kids to Take Breaks

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new requirements on AI companions into law on Monday.

AI companion chatbots will have to remind users in California that they’re not human under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The law, SB 243, also requires companion chatbot companies to maintain protocols for identifying and addressing cases in which users express suicidal ideation or self-harm. For users under 18, chatbots will have to provide a notification at least every three hours that reminds users to take a break and that the bot is not human.

It’s one of several bills Newsom has signed in recent weeks dealing with social media, artificial intelligence and other consumer technology issues. Another bill signed Monday, AB 56, requires warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those required for tobacco products. Last week, Newsom signed measures requiring internet browsers to make it easy for people to tell websites they don’t want them to sell their data and banning loud advertisements on streaming platforms.

AI companion chatbots have drawn particular scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators in recent months. The Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into several companies in response to complaints by consumer groups and parents that the bots were harming children’s mental health. OpenAI introduced new parental controls and other guardrails in its popular ChatGPT platform after the company was sued by parents who allege ChatGPT contributed to their teen son’s suicide.

«We’ve seen some truly horrific and tragic examples of young people harmed by unregulated tech, and we won’t stand by while companies continue without necessary limits and accountability,» Newsom said in a statement.

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One AI companion developer, Replika, told CNET that it already has protocols to detect self-harm as required by the new law, and that it is working with regulators and others to comply with requirements and protect consumers.

«As one of the pioneers in AI companionship, we recognize our profound responsibility to lead on safety,» Replika’s Minju Song said in an emailed statement. Song said Replika uses content-filtering systems, community guidelines and safety systems that refer users to crisis resources when needed.

A Character.ai spokesperson said the company «welcomes working with regulators and lawmakers as they develop regulations and legislation for this emerging space, and will comply with laws, including SB 243.» OpenAI spokesperson Jamie Radice called the bill a «meaningful move forward» for AI safety. «By setting clear guardrails, California is helping shape a more responsible approach to AI development and deployment across the country,» Radice said in an email.

One bill Newsom has yet to sign, AB 1064, would go further by prohibiting developers from making companion chatbots available to children unless the AI companion is «not foreseeably capable of» encouraging harmful activities or engaging in sexually explicit interactions, among other things.