7/16/2024: Prime Day picks

The Advisorator guide to Prime Day 2024
Plus: Another AT&T hack, Samsung’s gadget news, and simple sports scores
Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, a veteran tech journalist, and this is the free edition of Advisorator, my weekly tech advice newsletter. If someone shared this newsletter with you, consider signing up to get it every Tuesday. Thanks for reading!

Amazon’s annual ode to consumerism is here, bringing with it the usual mix of dubious deals, run-of-the-mill discounts, and occasionally special sale offers. In 2024, the sale runs from July 16 through July 17, with most deals only available for Prime subscribers. I’ve posted my picks over at the Advisorator website.
Here at Advisorator, we do things a little differently for these types of events. Unlike most sites, I never collect an affiliate fee (the industry term for a sales commission) when you buy something I’ve written about. That means I have no incentive or pressure to push deals that aren’t worth your attention. (This is possible thanks to Advisorator’s paid subscribers, to whom I’m grateful for seeing the value in unbiased tech advice.)
While I approach Prime Day with a skeptical eye, I do enjoy the act of deal hunting and the thrill of finding a great discount. This time around, I’ve shared just the offers that seem unique to Prime Day and aren’t regularly available throughout the year.
If I see any notable additions later today or tomorrow, I’ll add them to the guide accordingly. Got questions? Feel free to reach out!
News in brief
Another AT&T breach: Hackers have stolen nearly every AT&T customer’s text and call records between May and October 2022. It’s part of a bigger attack on cloud data provider Snowflake, which in recent months has led to a steady drip of companies disclosing their own security breaches (including Ticketmaster in late May).
If you’re an AT&T customer, you can request a list of stolen details through AT&T’s website, but don’t expect much in the way of relief. As Brian Krebs notes: “there is little holding companies accountable for sloppy security practices,” which is why these hacks keep happening.
Samsung gadgets galore: In lighter news, Samsung announced a slew of new gadgets last week. The big new thing is a $400 fitness ring that counts steps, tracks heart rate, and measures sleep. The Galaxy Ring is a subscription-free alternative to the likes of Oura, but it only works with Android phones, and requires a Samsung phone for key features such as daily energy scores and wellness tips.
Other Samsung highlights:
- The Galaxy Z Fold6 has a wider and less-rounded outer screen, so it’ll feel more like a regular phone when it’s not unfurled into tablet mode. The smaller Z Flip6 has a vastly-improved camera system, putting it on par with the Galaxy S24. Engadget has a nice summary.
- The Galaxy Watch7 and Watch Ultra will detect signs of sleep apnea, with the latter having a larger screen and programmable button in a nod to the Apple Watch Ultra.
- The Galaxy Buds3 and Buds3 Pro look more like AirPods than ever, though I like the silver color option.
Some more news tidbits:
- Sonos’ privacy policy no longer says that it won’t sell your personal data.
- Great story on how AI providers have co-opted the sparkle emoji.
- Apple allows a PC emulator into the App Store, so you can install Linux or Windows XP on an iPad. Just don’t expect it to work well.
- iOS 18’s first public beta is available if you’re feeling experimental.
Try this app

Simple sports scores: When I bemoaned the lack of cool indie sports score apps a couple months ago, PlainTextSports.com is just the kind of thing I had in mind. As the name implies, this free site delivers scores and stats with nothing but ASCII characters and links. It’s the opposite of flashy, but it’s super fast and information-rich, with no ads or other distractions, and you can always bookmark specific teams or leagues just like any other web page.
Thanks for reading!
In the name of transparency, I was preparing a couple of other feature columns for this week that had nothing to do with deal hunting, but pulling them both together just became too unwieldy on top of all the Prime Day coverage. I’m excited to share both of those columns with you in next week’s newsletter.
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Until next week,
Jared