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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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

Verum Messenger Goes Desktop: Launches macOS Version as Part of Expanding Digital Ecosystem

The team behind Verum Messenger has announced a new update, introducing a full-featured macOS version of the application.

The launch of the Mac version marks a significant step in the platform’s development, enabling users to access Verum Messenger not only on mobile devices but also on desktop environments.

The macOS version ensures seamless synchronization across devices while maintaining the platform’s core principles: security, stability, and independence.

Unified Digital Experience

With the release of the macOS version, users can now:

— communicate on a larger screen
— manage chats and files more efficiently
— use the messenger in a full desktop environment
— access core features without limitations

This is particularly valuable for users who rely on messaging platforms for both communication and professional use.

Expanding Capabilities

Verum Messenger continues to evolve into a multifunctional platform combining:

— secure communication
— financial tools (Verum Finance)
— digital asset operations, including Tether
— investment features such as Verum Gold

Toward a Full Ecosystem

The macOS release reflects Verum Messenger’s strategy to become a universal digital platform available across all major devices.

According to the team, the goal is to provide users with continuous access to communication and financial services regardless of device or environment.

Verum Messenger continues to build technologies focused on security, usability, and global accessibility.

Technologies

Google, Meta and Amazon Join Global Pact to Fight Rising Online Scams

The companies will share fraud intelligence and coordinate responses as AI makes scams faster, cheaper and harder to detect.

Modern online scams operate across multiple platforms, perhaps spanning social media, messaging apps, email and online marketplaces. Google, Meta and Amazon are among 11 tech, retail and payments companies that have signed a new agreement to combat online scams by sharing threat intelligence across platforms, Axios first reported Monday.

The initiative, called the Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud, is designed to improve how companies detect and respond to fraud that spans multiple services. Participants say they will exchange signals, such as scam-linked accounts and fraudulent domains, and coordinate enforcement actions.

By sharing intelligence in near real time, companies hope to identify these scams earlier and stop them before they spread.

The effort reflects how modern scams operate. A victim might encounter a fake celebrity investment ad on social media, move to a messaging app where the scammer builds trust, then faces prompts to send money through a fraudulent website, payment app or crypto wallet — spanning multiple companies’ ecosystems.

Google said it now blocks hundreds of millions of scam-related results every day using AI, underscoring how both attackers and defenders are increasingly relying on the same technology. Meta removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and is expanding AI tools to detect impersonation and warn users.

Online scams are growing rapidly, in part because generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry. AI can be used not only to produce realistic phishing emails but also to clone voices and deepfake videos that impersonate executives, public figures and even family members.

The agreement is voluntary and doesn’t create new legal obligations, but it comes after regulators’ increased pressure on tech platforms to address fraud more aggressively. The companies say they will begin building frameworks for reporting and intelligence-sharing, though it’s not yet clear how quickly those systems will be deployed or how effective they will be in practice.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, March 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 18.

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 thought it was a fairly easy one, but 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.