The Out-of-Touch Adults' Guide to Kid Culture: Incels and the 80/20 Rule

The real 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, is a saying that asserts 80% of outcomes come from 20% of all causes. You can use it to organize your to-do list, among other things. But to many young men, 80/20 means something very different.

Young men are not alright. Masculinity is growing more toxic by the day. Online incel communities are growing, and the most receptive audience to poisonous ideas about gender seems to be children. This week's column isn't going to be fun: I'm explaining one of the guiding principles of the incel movement, and discussing a TikToker devoted to changing her red pill son's mind. And I can't talk about toxic masculinity without mentioning Elon Musk!

Spray some deodorizer and let's jump into the dank, upsetting world of incel beliefs.

What is the 80/20 rule?

The Netflix series Adolescence, is currently the buzziest show on streaming, a harrowing exploration of the inner world of an angry young boy accused of murdering one of his classmates, a girl who spurned him. One of the teenage characters mentions the “80/20 rule” as a way of explaining the incel/red pill culture that's central to the murder plot. Put simply, the 80/20 rule is an axiom that states 80% of women are attracted to only 20% of men, and understanding the pervasiveness of this belief is essential to understanding online misogyny.

Different communities of toxic dudes believe different weird things—many "looksmaxxers" think breaking your own facial bones can make you more attractive; red pill dudes believe men have to psychologically manipulate women into liking them—but the 80/20 rule is nearly universally accepted.

The idea seems to have originated in a post on Medium that was written 10 years ago. Taken on its own terms, the article is a fairly interesting, though methodologically flawed, look at the distribution of “likes” on dating site Tinder. Incel types ignored the problems with the research, ignored the context (it’s only about Tinder likes), and accepted the 80/20 Rule as a hard-to-swallow truth that explains how women relate to men. Even though the Medium post concludes that most men who want to meet women would be “better off just going to a bar or joining some coed recreational sports team” than using Tinder, incels decided the 80/20 rule meant something like "all women are shallow," and/or "it's not my fault that no woman wants to spend time with me."

For 10 years, incels and the incel-adjacent have expanded on the theory and repeated it to each other so many times that it’s rarely questioned in those spaces. If anyone you're talking to mentions the 80/20 rule in an affirmative context, you know you’re talking to someone who has a specific set of (wrong) beliefs, and who doesn’t have a large enough social circle to compare what they read on the internet to the way people act in real life. But is there anything you can do about it? Maybe.

Viral video of the week: De-pilling a red pill son

The creator of in this week's viral video, IAmRchlPrkr, is a mother trying to deprogram her teenage son. He has accepted some beliefs of the "red pill" community, a branch of incels, and she is not into it.

She first saw the problem when her child told her "all women are gold-diggers." There's a lot going on with that phrase. Despite bristling and yelling "not all men!" when anyone generalizes their own gender, the toxic male community is dominated by the idea that women are all the same: a Borg-like collective looking for the most attractive 20% of men, or the men with the most gold to dig.

This isn't new. In her 1998 book Intercourse, Andrea Dworkin could have been describing the incels of 2025 when she wrote, "the first tenet of male supremacist ideology is that men have a self and that women must, by definition, lack it." The difference is how sexist ideas that were once relegated to obscure corners of society have infiltrated the mainstream to the extent that literal children are repeating them to their mothers. (As with most of societal ills, we can thank the internet for that.)

Maybe this TikToker mom has the right approach to returning some sanity: When her son tells her, "all women are gold-diggers," she responds with "Which women?" and "name one woman who is a gold-digger." Of course he can't. Because the incel philosophy falls apart in the face of actual relationships with real humans.

What is "serious hat Soyjack?"

A fitting response to me quoting Andrew Dworkin in an earnest post about online masculinity is serious hat Soyjak:

Credit: SoyGemVault - Deviant Art

Created by DevianArt user SoyGemArt, Serious Hat is a Wojak posted to comment on people who are, well, too serious online.

(If you're asking "what's a wojak?" I have previously covered the subject.)

Elon musk gamer drama continues

Speaking of toxic men: Elon Musk! If you’re an adult, you probably know Musk best as the CEO of an electric car company or as a dedicated public servant with creative ideas about how forks work. But kids know a different Elon Musk: Gamer Elon. Gamer Elon is seen as the ultimate sweat, and Gamer Elon recently mixed it up on X with the official account of video game Assassin’s Creed and got roasted like a Costco chicken.

The online dust-up started when ex-game developer @grummz made a post about streamer Hasan Piker, who he labeled a terrorist (because that’s what you do on X when you disagree with someone about public policy):

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This led Musk, who is a grown adult, to post:

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And then:

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At this point, the official account of the video game at the center of the fight Assassin’s Creed: Shadows brought gasoline to the flame war.

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The Assassin’s Creed post was viewed over 52 million times. It references the all-but-confirmed rumor that Elon Musk, a grown adult with a major position of power within the United States government, pays someone so gamers will think he’s really good at Path of Exile 2, a video game where you pretend to be an elf.

What does "come eat lobster with a monster" mean?

I don't want to leave you with all these toxic men, so let's end with a funny meme.

Back in 2020, then-Twitter user @blanketm9 changed the world forever when they tweeted:

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Their post lay dormant until 2023, when a user (whose original post and name has been lost to history) added the context of a text conversation, complete with a "straight man."

Credit: iFunny

Things were quiet for a couple years, then, for reasons unknown, the meme started truly taking off this month. I guess the time is right for posts like these:

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What's New on Prime Video in April 2025

While Prime Video hasn't released a full list of content coming to the platform in April, the streamer is dropping a handful of original series and films throughout the month. Étoile (April 24), a new series from the creator of Gilmore Girls and Prime Video's hit The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, is a drama/comedy about the competitive world of dance set in New York and Paris. The eight-episode show also stars The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel cast members Luke Kirby and Gideon Glick.

Fans of horror and gore (and Kevin Bacon) may want to catch action series The Bondsman (April 3), in which Bacon plays a murdered bondsman who has been resurrected by the devil and sent on a mission to collect demons that have escaped from hell. Also in the action genre (and for fans of Die Hard) is new original film G20 (April 10), in which Viola Davis stars as the U.S. president trying to save the world when the G20 summit is taken over by terrorists.

Prime Video's April lineup includes new seasons of two reality shows, starting with the second installment of America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation (April 1). The culinary competition hosted by Jeannie Mai and judge Dan Souza pits 11 aspiring cooks against each other for a spot on America's Test Kitchen. At the end of the month, fashion personalities Clinton Kelly and Stacy London—of What Not To Wear fame—will reunite for Wear Whatever The F You Want (April 29), a reimagining of their original style-makeover show.

Here are all the originals coming to Prime Video in April.

What’s coming to Prime Video in April 2025

Available April 1

• America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation

Available April 3

• The Bondsman

Available April 8

• Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

• Spy High

Available April 10

• G20

Available April 13

• Godfather of Harlem

Available April 17

• #1 Happy Family USA

• Leverage: Redemption (US + UK only)

Available April 18

• LOL: Se Rir, Já Era!

Available April 24

• Étoile

Available April 29

• Wear Whatever The F You Want

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You Can Now Make WhatsApp the Default Calling and Messaging App on Your iPhone

In the iOS 18.2 update, Apple gave users a dedicated Default Apps tab, finally letting us pick our own default apps for messages and calls. Unfortunately, not many apps have been updated to take advantage of this yet. I previously talked about DefaultSMS, which takes over the default messaging app and redirects it to WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram, but at least one of those now has an official option that you can use instead.

Yes, WhatsApp has finally been updated the to support the Default Apps feature. This means you can now make WhatsApp the default Calling and Messaging app on iPhone. But does this mean you can stop using the Phone app and Messaging app altogether? Not exactly.

Think of it more like a shortcut. When applicable, you can use this feature to quickly call someone using WhatsApp Audio, or open up a text conversation in WhatsApp, directly from the Phone app or anywhere you see a phone number.

How to make WhatsApp the default app for calls and messages

First, let's talk about how to make this happen. On your iPhone running the latest iOS 18 build, go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Scroll to the Messaging and Calling sections. Here, choose WhatsApp as the default.

How the iPhone's default calling and messaging app features work

The default feature doesn't mean that you can simply replace the Phone app and Messages app. When you get an incoming SMS or Apple iMessage, it will still show up in the Messages app. And when you get a phone call, you'll still see it in the Phone app.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

In this context, "default app" means that when you tap the Message button or the Call button for a contact in your Phone app or Contacts app, it will now open a call or message with them via WhatsApp app directly. This essentially serves as a shortcut, rather than a full replacement for the apps that come with your phone.

After you change your default calling or messaging app, when you open a contact card and tap the Call button or Message button for the first time, you'll get an overflow menu where WhatsApp will be the first and default option. You can pick another option to change your default if you like. From then on, tapping the Call button will directly call the contact using WhatsApp Audio (or whatever you changed your default to), unless you change your default again in your iPhone settings.

From there, you're all set... mostly. If your contact doesn't have WhatsApp, WhatsApp will simply tell that they're not on WhatsApp, at which point you'll have to manually open the Phone or Messages app to reach out instead.

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The 60 Best Classic Movies You Can Stream Right Now

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What exactly makes a movie a “classic” varies wildly and with the viewer, as does the appropriate timescale. For some, a movie from a decade ago might be eligible (I call these movie fans “children”). For others, you have to go back much further.

Today, I’m going to do the latter, taking a look at some of the great (or, at least, greatly entertaining) movies that were released no later than the tail end of the 1970s. (Even if I find it personally distressing to label movies younger than I am “classics.”) Quibbling over semantics aside, these offerings prove how deeply rewarding it is to dig through the back catalog of motion picture history now and again.

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In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Virgil Tibbs’ (Sidney Poitier) entry into Sparta, Mississippi, at the outset of this steamy, socially conscious cop thriller unfolds like a scene from a horror movie, making clear the peril of a Black man in a southern town after dark. That’s of course before the sheriff realizes that Mr. Tibbs is the only one who can solve a murder. Though its politics are dated, this Norman Jewison-directed Oscar winner remains a landmark film of the Civil Rights movement. You can stream In the Heat of the Night on Pluto TV and MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

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Rocky (1976)

The long-running franchise has had its ups (the Creed films) and downs (that robot butler in Rocky IV), but the original remains one of the ultimate sports movies, with a ton of heart buoyed by characters who feel like real people. (It beat out Network and Taxi Driver for Best Picture and it’s hard to be mad about it.) You can stream Rocky on Pluto TV or rent it from Prime Video.

Rocky (1976)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

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All About Eve (1950)

I’m not sure that Hollywood ever turned out a sharper, funnier script than this one. If Bette Davis had only done All About Eve, she’d still be a legend. Is it one of the best black-and-white movies ever made? Yes. You can rent All About Eve from Prime Video.

All About Eve (1950)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

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Sounder (1972)

Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield are phenomenal in this drama about a family of deep South, Depression-era sharecroppers struggling to survive and to stay together. You can stream Sounder on Pluto TV, Prime Video, and Peacock.

Sounder (1972)

at Peacock

at Peacock

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Casablanca (1940)

Everybody’s favorite golden-age Hollywood movie came by its reputation fairly: Bogart and Bergman have tremendous chemistry, and the film blends the doomed romance vibes with real suspense and a sense of humor that keeps the wartime atmosphere from getting too heavy. You can stream Casablanca on Max or rent it from IFTTT

My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Dangbei Freedo Portable Projector

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Amazon's Big Spring Sale is almost over, but there are still deals you can take advantage of, including Lifehacker Associate Tech editor Michelle Ehrhardt's favorite tech deals. One deal you can take advantage of right now is the Dangbei Freedo, a portable projector with an official Netflix license and a 1080p resolution. You can get it for $399 (originally $549), the lowest price it has ever been, according to price-tracking tools.

Dangbei Freedo

1080p resolution, 2.5 hours of battery, a display of up to 180 inches, 450 ISO lumens of brightness.

$399.00 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $150.00

$399.00 at Amazon

$549.00 Save $150.00

Portable projectors, obviously, must work independently of an outlet and be easy to carry around. They don't get the best brightness, since they're meant to be light and portable and rely on a limited battery, so keep that in mind. This projector does all of the basics well. It's light, portable, has a 2.5 hours of battery life, which is on par with the competition, has 450 ISO lumens of brightness, which is good for its price, and has Dolby Audio and HDR10, nice perks that not all portable projectors have.

With 450 lumens of brightness, you'll need to keep a room relatively dark to get the best picture. However, it is usable in a backyard with some low ambient light (with some sacrifices in color and contrast). Since it's officially licensed by Netflix, the app comes pre-installed, and it uses the Google TV operating system, which is my favorite because it means you get to cast your phone using Chromecast.

The Dangbei Freedo has a full HD 1080p resolution, but it supports 4K, meaning it'll receive the signal but it will scale it down to 1080p. It's also impressive that it can cast a screen of up to 180 inches. The auto focus and keystone correction automatically kick in and work well, which is important for a portable projector.

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The Best Deals on Fitness Equipment in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

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Amazon's Big Spring Sale is a good excuse to pick up some fitness equipment. Read on for the best deals I've seen so far, including on NordicTrack treadmills, folding WalkingPads, and even the infamous Assault Bike. Plus, Peloton's original and upgraded bikes are available at a great price, and Powerblocks are on a rare sale.

The best deals on rowing machines

• The Hydrow Pro is $1,745 today, originally $2,195.

• The Peloton Row is $3,095 today, originally $3,295.

The best deals on exercise bikes

• Peloton’s original Bike is on sale for $1,195, or $250 off the regular price. This is a great price, as our own Meredith Dietz points out here. (Check that link for a breakdown of what the Bike really costs to own, and what else you get with your subscription.) 

• Peloton’s Bike+, with a swiveling screen, auto-resistance, and nicer tech inside the screen, is $2,145, or $350 off. Read more about the differences between the Bike and Bike+ here. 

• For a budget option, this YOSUDA spin bike, normally $249, is now $199. 

• The Assault AirBike Elite, your old nemesis from Crossfit class, is $799, down from $1,400—a steal at nearly half off. 

ASSAULTFITNESS Assault AirBike Elite, Grey

$799.00 at Amazon

$1,499.00 Save $700.00

$799.00 at Amazon

$1,499.00 Save $700.00

The best deals on adjustable dumbbells

Adjustable dumbbells are a great way to fit a wide variety of hand weights into a small home gym. The nicer brands tend to be expensive, and it’s a rare find to encounter them on a good sale—as far as I can tell, Powerblocks haven’t been on sale at all since Black Friday. (I’ve written before about best adjustable dumbbell sets, if you’d like to check out the pros and cons of different brands.)

• Powerblock Elite EXP sets are on sale, with the 1-50 pound Stage 1 going for $299 (down from $359). The Stage 2 expansion set that brings them up to 70 pounds is on sale too, for $143 (down from $199).

• Powerblock’s Sport 24 dumbbells, a lighter set that goes from 3 to 24 pounds, are $169 today, down from $199.

• The Powerblock Pro 100, a single dumbbell that goes up to 100 pounds, is $464 today, down from a regular price of $549. 

• CAP Barbell’s 55-pound adjustable dumbbells are $239 for a pair today, down from $299 regular price.

Powerblock Elite EXP Dumbbell Pair

$299.98 at Amazon

$359.99 Save $60.01

$299.98 at Amazon

$359.99 Save $60.01

The best deals on treadmills and walking pads

• NordicTrack’s T series 6.5S treadmill is $669 today, down from $799. 

• The NordicTrack T series 10 treadmill, a beefier model that supports speeds up to 12 mph, is $999, down from $1,299.

• WalkingPad’s Z1 folding walking pad is $279 today, instead of the normal $399. It’s meant for walking (hence the name) and supports speeds up to 4 mph.

• WalkingPad’s R2 folding treadmill can handle walking and jogging, with a top speed of 7.5 mph. It still folds in half for storage, and also has a handrail. It’s $699 today, normally $899.

WALKINGPAD R2 Treadmill Running and Walking Folding Treadmill Manual Automatic Modes Foldable Walking Pad Non-Slip Smart LCD Display Fitness Equipment 0.5-7.5MPH (Black)

$699.00 at Amazon

$899.00 IFTTT

These Are the Best Deals on Tech Products During the Spring Sale Season

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Cyber Monday is long gone, but with spring sales popping up this week in response to Amazon's Big Spring Sale event, there's still plenty of good tech to be found for cheap.

Across Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and more, gadgets from laptops to TVs are seeing deep discounts. Shopping these sales can be a bit difficult unless you know how to track an item’s price history, but fortunately, I’ve already done all of the work for you. Keep checking in here throughout the week for the best deals on laptops, TVs, tablets, video games, and more. Prices are accurate as of time of writing, but you can expect them to fluctuate and for inventory to sell out, so you may not want to hesitate if you see a sale that grabs you.

The best deals on laptops

Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch with M4 Chip

$949.00 at Best Buy

$999.00 Save $50.00

$949.00 at Best Buy

$999.00 Save $50.00

Sales events are a great time to buy laptops, as they're one of the most frequent items to go on sale during these periods. Here are some of my favorite picks for the best laptop deals available now.

• Apple MacBook Air 13-inch with M4 Chip: $949 at Amazon (was $999). Released earlier this month, Apple's M4 MacBook Air is already on sale. At time of writing, the discount only applies to the 13-inch model with 16GB of RAM, but that's still enough for plenty of users.

• Apple MacBook Pro with M4 Chip: $1,399 at Amazon (was $1,599). For a more powerful Apple computer, the MacBook Pro is the obvious choice. As time of writing, sales are present across all chip options (the M4 has multiple upgrades available), as well as across multiple RAM and storage loadouts, but you will need to stick to a 14-inch screen.

• Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360: $1,475 at Amazon (was $1,699). A Windows-based alternative to the MacBook Air, although with power potentially rivaling the Pro at points, this lightweight laptop is a touch more expensive, but comes with a higher resolution OLED screen with a higher refresh rate, plus the ability to convert into a tablet.

• Microsoft Surface Laptop: $921 at Amazon (was $1,400). A cheaper alternative to the MacBook Air, the Microsoft Surface Laptop offers a familiar form factor and, thanks to its Qualcomm chip, higher battery life and greater AI compatibility, although at the cost of some performance.

• Lenovo IdeaPad 1i: $420 at Best Buy (was $600). This is a more basic, "get the job done" kind of laptop, but with a respectable mid-range chip, surprisingly generous storage for the price, and a touchscreen, there's quite a bit of value to be had here.

• HP Victus 16 Gaming Laptop: $900 at Best Buy (was $1,500). The HP Victus 16 is a tremendous deal below $1,000, getting you a respectable chip, 16GB of RAM, and enough storage to get by, but also the RTX 4070 GPU, which is typically reserved for much more expensive machines.

The best deals on tablets

Apple 11-Inch iPad Pro with M4 Chip

$899.00 at Amazon

$999.00 Save $100.00

$899.00 at Amazon

$999.00 Save $100.00

Good tablets are a bit rarer to find deals on during sales events, since iPads so overwhelmingly dominate the space, and Apple can be a little more stringent with supply. Still, there are good opportunities to be found if you're willing to look.

• Apple 11-Inch iPad Pro with M4 Chip: $899 at Amazon (was $999). Apple's first iPad with an OLED screen, the M4 Pro is now available for less than four figures, with deals available for all storage configurations.

• Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+: $680 at Amazon (was $1,000). A premium Android tablet from Samsung, this rectangle boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, 12GB of memory, 256GB of storage, a 12-inch 2,800 x 1,752 AMOLED screen, and comes with a stylus.

• Microsoft Surface Pro 13-Inch: $999 at Best Buy (was $1,200). This pick blurs the line between a tablet and a laptop, coming equipped with Windows 11, which gives it a full desktop ecosystem of apps to explore. Plus, this particular model also has a few Copilot+ goodies thrown in. Storage is 512GB and RAM is 16GB.

• Google Pixel Tablet: $279 at Amazon (was $399). A more affordable tablet, this device uses the same Tensor G2 chipset as the Pixel 7 line, has 8GB of RAM, and features a 2,560 x 1,600 display. That means it's on the humbler side, but as a positive, it can also double as a smart display.

The best deals on phones

Google Pixel 9 (Unlocked)

$629.99 at Amazon

$799.00 Save $169.01

My Favorite Robot Vacuum Is Half Off During Amazon's Big Spring Sale

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I test and review a lot of robot vacuums and mops. Usually, they're premium or flagship models, which makes the Switchbot K10+ an outlier, but it still impresses me every time I use it—so much that it is one of the few vacuums I've held onto to use myself. When Switchbot upgraded the K10+ to the K10+ Pro, it got even better (they made the vacuum suction more powerful and dropped the mop attachment). Right now, during Amazon's Big Spring Sale, it's $300, which is half off its regular price.

Switchbot K10+ Pro Robot Vacuum

Mini Robot Vacuum

$299.99 at Amazon

$599.99 Save $300.00

$299.99 at Amazon

$599.99 Save $300.00

What makes it so special? It's tiny. About 2/3 the size of normal robot vacuums, it can get between and under spaces no other robot can. The radius it makes around chair legs and furniture is tiny, as well. It's quiet, and it doesn't get stuck on larger debris, or trapped in places because it's so small it can escape any spot most robots get stuck in.

Despite having about half the suction of premium robots, it works spectacularly across carpet, hardwood, tile, or rugs. The tower is petite, and is self-emptying. The Switchbot app is simple and easy to navigate, too. You can still create complicated maps and schedules.

While, generally speaking, I think most people should get a combo vacuum and mop these days, I've gifted the K10+ Pro to a number of people for their offices or smaller homes, and they've all raved about the machine. The current sale puts it below $300, and at that price, it is the best robot vacuum deal out there.

The Best Amazon Spring Sale Deals You Can Get Now

Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds — $169.99 (List Price $249.00)

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced — $169.00 (List Price $189.99)

soundcore by Anker Q30 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones with Multiple Modes, Hi-Res Sound, Custom EQ via App, 40H Playtime, Comfortable Fit, Bluetooth Headphones, Multipoint Connection — $55.99 (List Price $79.99)

Blink Mini 2 (White, 2-Pack) — $37.99 (List Price $69.99)

2024 Apple iPad mini A17 Pro chip, Built for Apple Intelligence, Wi-Fi 128GB - Blue — $399.00 (List Price $499.00)

Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS, 42mm, Black, S/M 130-180mm, Sports Band) — $299.00 (List Price $399.00)

Sonos Era 100 Wireless Speaker - White — $199.00 (List Price $249.00)

Fire TV Stick 4K Max Streaming Player With Remote (2023 Model) — $39.99 (List Price $59.99)

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