Robot vacuums are some of the pricier smart home gadgets you can get, which is why waiting until a sale like Amazon Prime Day is a smart shopping move. Prime Day deals have typically brought record-low prices on robot vacuums, combo vacuum-and-mop machines and even standard, cordless stick vacuums as well. Amazon Prime Day 2024 is no different: we're seeing some of the lowest prices of the year on many of our top picks for the best robot vacuums you can get today, including models from iRobot and Shark. Here are the best Prime Day robot vacuum deals, and a few cordless stick vacuums, that you can get. If you're looking for even more Prime Day deals, check out Engadget's Prime Day hub where you'll find all of the best tech deals you can get for the shopping event this year.

Black Friday is a great time to pick up big-ticket items while they're deeply discounted, and robot vacuums fit that bill this year. It's not hard to drop hundreds on an autonomous dirt-sucker at any other time of the year, but Black Friday deals have discounted a bunch of our favorite models. Before snagging a deal, think about the type of home you have and how you'll use the machine: do you have carpet or mostly hard flooring? Do you have pets who shed constantly? Do you want a combo vacuum-and-mop machine?

Some investors are looking for a fast-track to building wealth, and that pursuit sometimes leads them toward penny stocks. After all, these stocks look inexpensive, and the payoff could be huge, right? The problem with this investing strategy, if you can call it that, is that penny stocks are notoriously volatile, and their businesses are often murkier than those of other publicly traded companies. And most importantly, you're far more likely to lose money buying a penny stock than buying stocks in good companies and holding onto it for years. If you're tempted to go the penny stock route, reconsider that decision by first looking at how Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Square (NYSE:SQ) have generated solid long-term returns for their investors and set themselves up for future growth. Microsoft may seem like a boring tech stalwart, but the company is a leader in emerging tech trends, including cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

Beyond gaming, NVIDIA is using its GPUs in an array of other tech, including artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles.

Over the last 20 years, the growth of the internet and the subsequent emergence of mobile and cloud computing have disrupted IBM (NYSE:IBM). As IT spending at companies has shifted to the cloud, Big Blue has scrambled to shed old assets and invest in new technologies to pave the way for growth. But the damage has been done: Over the last five years, shares of IBM have badly trailed the broader market, down 24% compared to the S&P 500 return of 51%. On the other side, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has emerged as one of the most dominant companies in the world. The stock has doubled in the last five years, beating the broader market.

When Apple gathered the world to look at its new phone, something went wrong. It was fixed immediately, but in the briefest, most awkward moment, it might have showed exactly why you want to buy its most boring phone. As Craig Federighi came to the stage to demonstrate the facial recognition that is the headline feature of the new, premium – and very expensive – iPhone X, it seemed to fail him. "Unlocking it is as easy as looking at it and swiping up," he said, swiping at the phone. But nothing happened; the facial recognition wasn't letting him in.

The two largest semiconductor companies in the world, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), share a long rivalry, even though they specialize in and dominate different areas of the global processor market. So let's examine Qualcomm and Intel in three important areas to find which stock looks like the better buy today. Through the power of their business franchises, Intel and Qualcomm each earn a clean bill of financial health. The companies excel in these measures of financial fortitude in different regards. When it comes to net cash -- financial shorthand for cash and investments minus debt -- Qualcomm's $17.1 billion in net cash is miles ahead of Intel's $8.4 billion in net debt.

Bill Gates calls this market the "holy grail" of computer science. There are currently 1,031 AI start-ups listed on AngelList, with an average valuation of $5.2 million -- which equals nearly $5.4 billion in venture capital investments. The three most-followed companies on that list are robotics company Autonomous, team productivity software maker Crux, and AI social news aggregator Zero Slant. Leo is a Tech and Consumer Goods Specialist who has covered the crossroads of Wall Street and Silicon Valley since 2012. His wheelhouse includes cloud, IoT, analytics, telecom, and gaming related businesses.