I tested all the major webcams across the price spectrum in attempts to find the very best. Here's what I learned.

Send the pool guy packing. One of these robotic buddies can maintain your water quality instead. Cleaning swimming pools is not fun. I learned this simple logic as a kid growing up in and around pools--it's the only way to survive summer in Houston, Texas. Four years ago, I became a pool owner myself, and I found that the rule still holds. Jumping into the pool on a hot day remains a rare treat, but if the pool is filled with leaves and dirt, that treat becomes a lot less delightful. And when the thermometer is reading over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the thought of laboring on the pool deck, scooping out debris with a net, is downright cruel.

These are my favorites, whether you're new to fitness, an athlete, or a parent shopping for your kid. It's been five years since Google officially acquired Fitbit for a reported $2.1 billion, grabbing hardware and software teams that also absorbed assets from Pebble, which Fitbit itself acquired in 2016. So, how have things changed? Well, for starters, Fitbit is now Google Fitbit. It's not the most imaginative of name changes, and it hasn't stuck in consumers' minds, but the good news is that Fitbit devices remain some of the most user-friendly and welcoming fitness trackers available.

I've recently introduced a few friends to the power of a great robot vacuum. One of my friends calls hers a marriage saver, while the other was both thrilled and horrified by how many stains the vacuum's AI found on her floors. Personally, my robot vacuums keep me from wanting to set the litter box on fire, since my cat is on a mission to create his own navigational trail of litter through my home. The best robot vacuums these days aren't just vacuuming your floors, nor are they blindly bumping around your house like they used to. These gadgets are mopping, scrubbing away stains, lifting themselves off of obstacles, and even reminding you to clean the dirtier areas in your home more frequently. A good robot vacuum can cost a pretty penny, but it doesn't have to, depending on what you're looking for. I've been testing every new robot vacuum I can in my three-story home filled with three adults, a preschooler, and a cat who's on a mission to get litter all over the house.

In a world of plastic water filter pitchers, I tested two of the new generation of stainless-steel filter systems. I will admit that the popularity of those giant, stainless steel, gravity-fed water filters remained a mystery to me for some years--even as multi-gallon water filter systems from brands like British Berkefeld and Berkey seemed to proliferate equally among lovers of doomsday prepping and holistic wellness retreats. I have been testing much different breeds of water filters for more than a year now, including reverse osmosis filters and water pitchers. But often, the big water filter tanks have seemed as much like status symbols as functional items. If you see a big gravity-fed filter, you know the person in question is serious about wellness, survival, or both. What changed my mind about these big stainless steel filters was microplastics . Most water filter pitchers are made of BPA-free plastic. But as new research shows that bottled-water drinkers ingest tens of thousands of excess microplastic particles, wellness lovers have begun to look askance at water filters that are themselves made of plastic.

TVs are bigger and better than ever. These are my favorite screens that come in extra-large sizes, from affordable to ostentatious. TVs have (literally) never been bigger. TV brands like LG, Samsung, TCL, Sony, and others have gotten the message buyers have been sending for some time now: Go big or go home. The demand has led to exponential growth for the big-screen TV--virtually every brand I talk to cites this as their fastest-growing segment--and thanks to a dizzying array of major leaps in display technology across brands, the best large TVs have never looked better cost less.

A growing collection of pocket-sized gadgets lets you record your meetings and extract value from them. Whether sitting in class, a meeting, or an interview, I've never been fond of taking notes, and I'm far from alone. Not only does the process of scribbling something down cause me to miss what was said immediately after, but I also suffer from awful handwriting, meaning that I can rarely read the notes anyway. Recording interviews has long been a solution, but transcribing interviews is another step (with extra cost) that can leave you with thousands of words of material to sift through, much of it irrelevant. AI notetakers--massively popular at CES 2026 --have emerged to offer a new way of making IRL notetaking easier and faster, putting the power of AI into (or at least adjacent to) a portable device that evokes the microcassette recorder of yesteryear.

Light up and secure your driveway, backyard, or porch with a floodlight security camera. Floodlight security cameras are a great way to light up your property. Shady areas around your home can make life easier for would-be burglars, and make it harder for you to plug in the car or take out the trash. Motion-triggered lighting is an essential minimum, but with a floodlight security camera, you get that a videofeed. Floodlight cameras are also far more configurable and reliable than lights; they let you check in on your property from the office or bed, and they can alert you to intruders. While this guide covers floodlight security cameras, we also have guides to the Best Outdoor Security Cameras, Best Indoor Security Cameras, and Best Video Doorbells .

WIRED brought 10 of the most popular artificial Christmas trees into a studio and got three interior designers to pick the best through blind judging. For extra trimming, we checked in on how those trees fared once they were taken home and decorated. Shopping for an artificial Christmas tree can be overwhelming, especially when you're doing it online. You'll find yourself staring at product photos, wondering: How realistic does it look? Will it shed all over my living room? Can you see daylight through the branches? Are the branches strong enough to hold that lopsided homemade macaroni ornament you've hung on your tree since 2004? We got tired of guessing, so we did a little experiment. We brought 10 of the most popular artificial trees from three top brands (Balsam Hill, King of Christmas, and National Tree Company) and hauled them to a photo studio in Kansas.

The chef's knife is the workhorse of the kitchen. We sliced, diced, and minced to find the best for every home chef. A Close Second Chef's Knife (Made From High-Carbon Stainless Steel) Zwilling Four Star 8-Inch Chef's Knife Not all knives are created equal, and a chef's knife is given that name for a reason. Like the proverbial dog to man, a chef needs their knife. Arguably the most important multipurpose tool you can find in a kitchen, it's the chef's main weapon--it can slice, dice, and chop ingredients with speed and precision. A chef's knife generally has a super-sharp end point and a curved, sloping edge. This curve is what makes the chef knife stand out, as it's designed to work with the natural rocking motion for quick chopping that also allows for finer cuts. With technology like ovens with cameras inside and AI-enabled refrigerators, the chef's knife remains the simple tool necessary for any kitchen.