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How to choose the best Bose headphones

Overall, Bose's headphones prioritize comfort and audio quality, and you really can't go wrong with any model. There are truly no bad products here. Having tested every product in this guide (and plenty more high-end audio products), we can verify that they're all high-performing options. And with Black Friday and the holiday season just around the corner, it's good to get a sense of which might best suit your needs before you add a pair to your cart simply because it's on sale.

So, the bulk of your decision comes down to your personal preferences and budget. If you care deeply about audio quality and want a personalized experience, you'll want a pair of headphones that offers adaptive noise cancellation and spatial audio. For athletes or commuters who need to be aware of their surroundings, a pair of open earbuds that provide rich audio while letting you hear the world around you is great. And if you don't want to spend $450 on flagship headphones, Bose still has a few great options for a lot less.

So, here are the best Bose headphones of 2025, hands-on tested by Mashable staff:

SEE ALSO: The 7 best Sony headphones, tested for noise cancellation, sound, and cool factor

In the Venn diagram of tablets and books, our favorite e-readers fall perfectly in the middle. They're thin and portable like a tablet, but without the distraction of the internet. The best Kindles and e-readers stuff thousands of books — a full library, really — into a tiny frame.

And having tested a lot of e-readers for Mashable, I can tell you the Amazon Kindle lineup comes closest to perfecting the devices. All over the internet, you'll find TikTok users enthusiastically singing the praises of the Kindle and how to make the most of it. For parents, Kindles are a screen you don't have to feel guilty about. For avid readers, Stuff Your Kindle Day lets you fill up your summer reading list. You can even buy Kindle accessories like remote page-turners and gooseneck stands so you don't have to hold your Kindle while reading.

If you're ready to invest in a Kindle, look through our guide to find the best one for you. And, with Black Friday coming up on Nov. 28, 2025, it pays to do your research ahead of time. Amazon is conservative when it comes to deals on Kindles, only marking down its e-readers during the big shopping events like Prime Day or Black Friday. We expect to see new Kindles discounted during Black Friday, but the deals will go quick. If you're not precious about getting a new device, Amazon already has a deal on like-new Kindle Paperwhite e-readers.

Meet the newest generation of Kindle e-readers Can't decide between the Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite? We put them head-to-head.. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable SEE ALSO: I read over 50 books a year. Here are my favorite e-readers.

A lot has changed since the Kindle first debuted in 2007. While it was released just a few months after the first iPhone, the Amazon Kindle has received fewer updates. As of 2025, we're on the 12th generation of Kindles; the latest arrived in October 2024. Every model — the basic Kindle, the Paperwhite, Signature Edition, Scribe, and Kids models — all got upgrades. And unfortunately, the Kindle Oasis, a waterproof model with page-turning buttons, was discontinued.

Kindle's first color e-reader arrived in late 2024, and as of July 2025, the Colorsoft lineup includes three models. The Colorsoft is the second most expensive option among Kindles, and after finally getting our hands on a model, we've added it to this guide.

As of Sept. 30, 2025, Amazon also announced a revamped Kindle Scribe. The new model is exceptionally thin and has a front light for a brighter display. Plus, the new Colorsoft edition of the Scribe lets you annotate, journal, or sketch in color. However, as of November 2025, neither the Kindle Scribe nor Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is available for preorder yet, but we'll update this guide once we've fully tested the devices.

No matter which model you choose, all of the latest Kindles are lightweight, easy to use, and compatible with Libby, so you can support your local library (and get free books, of course). Basically, it's hard to make a bad decision in this product category.

So, what's the best Kindle for you? Let me help you decide.

Which Kindle is right for you?

If you're concerned about buying the newest tech, that's not an issue. There are six updated Kindle models for sale, as well as older editions still in stock.

Before you choose a Kindle, you need to ask one question first: Do you want it to be waterproof? If you prefer reading near a body of water — whether in the bath, by the pool, or at the beach — that immediately narrows down your options. Since the Kindle Oasis is no longer available, your waterproof options are the Kindle Paperwhite, Paperwhite Signature Edition, Colorsoft Signature Edition, and Paperwhite Kids.

The Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition settings screen. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Beyond water resistance, here are a few other features to consider:

• Display size: The basic Kindle has a 6-inch display, while the largest has a 10.2-inch display.

• Storage capacity: Kindles range from 16GB to 32GB of storage capacity.

• Battery life: The new Kindles generally have outstanding batteries. On the low end, they last up to six weeks per charge, while others last up to 12 weeks.

• Writing capability: The Kindle Scribe is the only model that allows you to write with the included stylus. 

The latest Kindles all boast a maximum brightness of 94 nits and a 300 ppi, high-resolution display with zero glare, so you can enjoy sharp text and images at any viewing angle. Kindles are also equipped with WiFi connectivity, allowing you to download all the reading material you could ever want. Plus, you can listen to audiobooks on Audible via the built-in Bluetooth connection.

Not to mention, out of all the e-readers I've tested, Kindles have the best compatibility with Libby. I love the digital platform because I can read for free and support my local library. Some other e-readers require you to download your library e-book to a computer and then upload it to an e-reader, but with Kindles, your e-books are sent straight to your device with a click.

And if you were a die-hard Kindle Oasis fan and are attached to page-turning buttons, you may need to stray from the Kindle line-up. Now, your best bet will be the Kobo Libra Colour.

How to get free e-books on Kindle With just a click, transfer your Libby e-book to your Kindle device. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable Your Libby ebook will automatically populate in your Kindle library. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The best way to read free e-books on a Kindle is with Libby. Libby allows you to borrow e-books through libraries, and all you need is a library card. Through the Libby app, borrow books and then select the "read with Kindle" option, which allows you to send these e-books to your Kindle library.

Another option for finding free e-books is through Stuff Your Kindle events. These are author-driven events that offer limited-time deals on e-books, often making them heavily discounted or totally free.

How to make the most of your Kindle

Through our testing and daily use, we've spent a lot of time with Kindles, learning how to make the most of them. We've written extensively on all the ways to maximize your Kindle, so be sure to browse through our guides and explainers:

• How to make the most of your Kindle: 8 features you need to use

• The best Kindle accessories for reading in luxury

• What is Stuff Your Kindle Day? The best way to fill your e-reader with free books

• I've read hundreds of free Kindle books with Libby. Here's how.

• What is Kindle Rewards? Earn free credits when shopping the Kindle store

• What is Kindle Unlimited? A library of books at your fingertips for just $12 a month

• Where to get free e-books: Load up your e-reader without spending a dime

• Prime members can get a free e-book every month with Amazon First Reads

• How to download EPUB files on your Kindle

• 8 Kindle features you should be using

• How to delete books from Kindle
  

NASA’s Perseverance rover has identified an exotic rock on Mars that may be an iron-nickel meteorite, according to scientists on the mission team.

The oddly sculpted rock, nicknamed Phippsaksla, measures more than 2.5 feet across and drew researchers’ attention because it jutted above the surrounding flat, fractured terrain. Perseverance targeted the object for closer study while working outside Jezero crater, the river-carved basin the rover has explored since landing in 2021.

The rover, a car-size mobile laboratory, photographed Phippsaksla on Sept. 2 and Sept. 19. But the public is only now learning of the find. A prolonged federal government shutdown delayed routine communications from the U.S. space agency, and NASA did not post details of the detection — along with other mission updates — until Nov. 13.

If confirmed as a meteorite, Phippsaksla would be the first such discovery for Perseverance. The Curiosity rover has cataloged several metal-rich meteorites during its exploration of Gale Crater roughly 2,000 miles away, and earlier rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, found these foreign rocks as well. Their absence along Perseverance’s route has puzzled mission scientists.

"It has been somewhat unexpected that Perseverance had not seen iron-nickel meteorites within Jezero crater," said Candice Bedford, a Purdue University research scientist, in a delayed Oct. 1 mission update, "particularly given its similar age to Gale crater and number of smaller impact craters suggesting that meteorites did fall on the crater floor, delta, and crater rim throughout time."

SEE ALSO: NASA has a broken giant antenna that could upend its 2026 plans

Initial readings from Perseverance’s SuperCam, an instrument that fires a laser to analyze a rock’s composition, revealed high levels of iron and nickel, a combination commonly found in meteorites that originate deep inside large asteroids. The chemistry suggests the rock formed elsewhere before landing on Mars.

Meteorites are common in the solar system, but harder to spot on Earth. Scientists estimate that about 48.5 tons of this debris reach the planet each day, most of it burning up in the atmosphere or falling into oceans. Only about 60,000 meteorites have been identified on Earth to date.

The oddly sculpted rock, nicknamed Phippsaksla, measures more than 2.5 feet across and drew researchers’ attention because it jutted above the surrounding flat, fractured terrain. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU

Most known meteorites come from asteroids, though a small number originate from the moon or Mars. At least 175 Martian meteorites have been found on Earth — all igneous rocks that once crystallized from magma.

On Mars itself, iron-nickel meteorites tend to survive well in the thin atmosphere and harsh environment. Since 2005, The Meteoritical Society, an international organization that tracks such finds, has formally recognized 15 Martian meteorites spotted by rovers. Curiosity’s 2023 discovery of a foot-wide rock nicknamed Cacao, also believed to be metal-rich, is not yet among them.

Phippsaksla, possibly a meteorite, sits on Martian terrain outside the Jezero crater rim in the upper left corner of this image. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU

Scientists suspect iron meteorites might be able to resist erosion on Mars, which may explain why some appear perched on flat ground rather than embedded in craters. In other cases, a crater may have weathered away long ago, leaving only the rock behind.

Perseverance is now operating on older bedrock mottled by past impacts outside Jezero crater, a setting where meteorites may be more likely. Mission researchers are planning further analysis to determine Phippsaksla’s origin.

"If this rock is deemed to be a meteorite," Bedford wrote, "Perseverance can at long last add itself to the list of Mars rovers who have investigated the fragments of rocky visitors to Mars." 

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows on sale for $39.97 through Nov. 16 — a one-time purchase for lifelong access (reg. $219.99).

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License $39.97
$219.99 Save $180.02   Get Deal

This is your last chance to ditch Microsoft 365’s subscription fees for good. Until tomorrow, Nov. 16, at midnight, you can grab a lifetime license to Microsoft Office 2021 for 81% less than its usual retail price. Simply pay once, download the full software suite, and never worry about renewals again.

We know what you’re thinking, but rest assured, this isn’t some stripped-down lite version either. It’s the real deal. Whether you’re writing reports, crunching numbers, building presentations, managing emails, or wrangling databases, the lifetime version of Microsoft Office has you covered.

SEE ALSO: Get Microsoft Office for life at $60, so you don’t need Microsoft 365

It’s a one-time download for one Windows PC, so once it’s yours, it’s yours. The full pro-level toolkit, minus the stress of a subscription. Plus, with instant license delivery and free customer support, getting started is as painless as your new spreadsheet workflow.

No more “trial expired” pop-ups. No more surprise charges. Just the latest versions of Microsoft’s best apps, ready to support all of your work and personal needs.

Download Microsoft Office for Windows while it’s on sale for $39.97 until Nov. 16 at 11:59 p.m. PT (reg. $219.99). No coupon is needed.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Through Nov. 20, get an AdGuard Family Plan lifetime subscription for $18.97 with code FAMPLAN at checkout (reg. $169.99). Block ads on nine mobile and desktop devices forever.

Opens in a new window Credit: AdGuard AdGuard Family Plan: Lifetime Subscription $18.97
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Imagine an internet without interruptions — no video ads, no pop-ups, no trackers monitoring what you click. AdGuard makes that possible, blocking ads and protecting your data across nine of your devices with a single lifetime subscription. Act before Nov. 20 to get a steep discount with code FAMPLAN at checkout.

Want to browse the web without the jump scare of pop-up ads? Wouldn’t it be nice to watch a YouTube video without having to sit through a boring video ad beforehand? AdGuard rids your internet experience of both of these things, easily blocking ads from your internet experience for good.

SEE ALSO: Score £15 off this streaming-friendly VPN for Black Friday

Aside from blocking ads, AdGuard also doubles as a privacy protection tool. It can protect you from cyberattacks, like malware and phishing sites, while also keeping your information hidden from trackers and activity analyzers.

This AdGuard Family Plan lets you protect up to nine devices, allowing them to enjoy an ad-free, safer internet experience. It works seamlessly on both Android and iOS, so you can cover smartphones, laptops, and tablets.

If you have kids at home, the parental control feature can also come in handy. It restricts children’s access to inappropriate online content, serving as their own internet babysitter.

Use code FAMPLAN at checkout to get your AdGuard lifetime subscription for $18.97 through Nov. 20 at 11:59 p.m. PT (reg. $169.99).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

It might come as a surprise that "roomba" isn't the universal term for a robot vacuum. It is, in fact, a capital "R" that denotes Roomba as a proper noun — just one brand — rather than a generic trademark. Roombas are robot vacuums made by iRobot, and looking for the best Roomba to buy is a much more specific task than assessing the best robot vacuums to buy in general, all brands included. But a recent announcement about iRobot's financial situation hints that the Roomba may not be the Band-Aid or the Kleenex of robotic vacuum cleaners for much longer.

SEE ALSO: How to make your robot vacuum work better: 3 setup tips to do right now After an unprofitable 2025, it might be the end of an era for iRobot

Next year at this time, the question may not be which iRobot vacuum you should buy. It might be whether or not iRobot still makes vacuums at all.

Amazon and iRobot called it quits with their pending acquisition back in 2024, and things have only gone downhill for iRobot from there. Soon after that, iRobot randomly overhauled the Roomba lineup in March 2025 — an interesting deviation from its usual release schedule, in which the biggest Roombas of the year typically come out in August. It felt like a last-ditch effort to keep the company afloat after struggling to profit in 2024.

More than 20 Roombas have come out since the first Roomba hit homes in 2002, but the newest wave of Roombas saw the ingenuity that made its predecessors stand out. As someone who tests robot vacuums for a living, I've been saying for a year now that Roombas are struggling to stay relevant in a sea of smarter, stronger, more fairly-priced robot vacs from the likes of Roborock and iRobot's biggest Google search competition, Shark. Like sure, it's great to finally see a mopping Roomba with spinning mopping pads or a Roomba self-washing and -drying mopping pad dock that's relatively affordable. But the best robot vacuum mop combos from other brands have been on top of that for years.

Which robot vacuum should I buy on Black Friday?

If you're still Roomba-curious after that warning, you should definitely aim to buy a Roomba on Black Friday. I'll give iRobot credit for the surprising affordability of the 2025 Roombas, but I wouldn't tell anyone to pay full price for one of them. Fortunately, most of the best Roombas have stayed on sale since October Prime Day, and are likely to drop even further in price this Black Friday season. Despite the botched acquisition with Amazon, Roomba deals consistently make up a solid portion of the best Black Friday robot vacuum deals at Amazon.

SEE ALSO: My cats and I found the 8 best vacuums for pet owners, from powerful hair pickup to livestream cameras

But as long as the Roomba legacy is still on the market, the same old question remains: "Which Roomba is the best?" I've tested nearly every Roomba released since 2019, and I'm regularly updating this guide as I test the 2025 models in my own apartment. After comparing suction, pet hair pickup, mopping, smart mapping, small obstacle detection, and price, I chose the Roombas that offer the best value for different types of households.

How to tell the difference between the Roomba models

The iRobot Roomba 105. The Roomba Combo i5+. The Roomba Combo j7+ (not to be confused with the Roomba j7). The arbitrary numbers and letters of the Roomba family tree are confusing at face value, but we can teach you.

When shopping for a Roomba, you'll choose from what I call iRobot's core lineup: the group of three to five Roomba series sold on iRobot's website. Any Roomba whose title includes a letter and a number (like j9+ or i5) or the word Max is more advanced than a Roomba with just numbers in the title (like 105, 205, or 692) or just words (like Roomba Vac or Essential).

A plus sign (like j9+) denotes that the model comes with a self-emptying dock, and Roombas that mop will have "Combo" in the title. "Max" is a new Roomba term introduced with the Roomba Combo 10 Max — it refers to the ability of a hybrid Roomba to wash and dry its own mopping pad within the self-empty dock. On the other end of the spectrum, "Essential" means "most basic" in the Roomba family, meaning no smart mapping.

Other Roombas I've tested

I've tested several Roombas that are no longer main players in the Roomba guide for 2025. The Roomba Combo j9+ doesn't wash or dry its mopping pad, and is simply too expensive to be worth buying over its siblings like the Roomba Combo 10 Max, Roomba Plus 505. or Roomba Max 705. Plus, the j9's increasing obsoleteness has pretty much halted its ability to get a noteworthy discount nowadays.

I have also removed any 600 series Roombas from this guide for a similar reason: They just can't compete with the newer cheap Roombas that have stronger suction and smart mapping. When I tested the Roomba 694, it pissed me off more than it impressed. The Roomba 694 and Roomba 692 are hard to find in stock, anyway, and it's rarely for less than the Roomba 105 (my new top pick for the best cheap Roomba).