Prime Day’s a dud so far
Navigating an unusually weak Prime Day
Plus: Walmart price tracker, an underrated Android tip, and reducing phone distractions
Jared Newman | 
Hey there! I’m Jared Newman, a longtime tech journalist, and you’re reading the free edition of Advisorator, my weekly tech advice newsletter. Did someone share this newsletter with you? Sign up to get it every Tuesday.
Amazon Prime Day is here, and it feels more muted than usual.
Maybe it’s the AI-driven memory shortages, or maybe it’s oversaturation from all the other sale events that Amazon and other retailers prop up throughout the year. Whatever the case, a lot of the Prime Day deals I’m used to seeing every year are now popping up at higher prices if they’re even available at all.
But, I’ve found some notable discounts anyway. Over at the Advisorator site, I’ve got a list of deals on quality tech products with prices that are actually better than usual, plus some advice on how to find your own deals without getting ripped off.
News in brief
- Chris Person reviews the Steam Machine, a great Linux desktop PC with terrible timing.
- Android 17 is arriving on Pixel phones now. You’ll be able to choose which specific contacts an app can access, provide one-time access to your precise location, and require face or fingerprint ID to unlock a lost phone, among other things. 9to5Google has a nice rundown.
- Wear OS 7 is also landing on Pixel phones now, with a new widget system, more control over media playback, and supposedly 10% better battery life. Wareable has more details.
- Google put its latest smart speaker up for pre-order, 10 months after announcing it.
- Using Firefox? Try adding some widgets to your home page.
- Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook warns that price hikes are coming. (Blame AI data centers.)
Try this app
Walmart price tracker: Somehow I missed that there’s finally a CamelCamelCamel equivalent for Walmart. Appropriately called Camelmart, it shows you the price history for any Walmart item and lets you set up email alerts for when the price falls below your required threshold.
Sadly Camelmart doesn’t work with the Camelizer browser extension, so you’ll still have to copy and paste product links into the Camelmart website, but it beats being in the dark about whether a deal’s actually a deal.
Keep reading …
The rest of this week’s newsletter is for Advisorator’s paying members. I’ve got an underrated tip for Android phones, a way to make your phone less distracting, and how to tell if you’re paying too much for internet. Hit the button below to get started, thank you!
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