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Better than birdsong, this Birdbuddy Pro Prime Day Deal soars to new heights and takes you up close and personal with our feathered friends for less

βœ‡TechRadar - All the latest technology news
By:lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)

There's an unwritten rule that when you hit 50, you start noticing birds. First, you hear their songs, and then you start spotting them in the trees and flying overhead. They've been there your whole life, but some part of your amygdala opens up at the half-century, and then you're on your way to becoming a birder like me.

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And for birders, there's no better gadget than BirdBuddy Pro, which is now featured in a 44%-off sale ( now $168.00, was $299) for Amazon Prime Day. In the UK, you can drop by John Lewis, which has a Β£200.00 deal on the same webcam smartfeeder.

Today's best Birdbuddy deals

This update to the popular Birdbuddy feeder and webcam ups the number of solar panels (you'll never have to plug in again), increases the image capture resolution (2k), and even adds slo-mo. It's the best way to feed and get up close with birds without actually getting too close.View Deal

The John Lewis deal on the Web Cam bird feeder might not be as good as Amazon's, but they are promising a price match. Of course, Amazon in the UK is not currently selling the Bird Buddy Pro. Even so, it's still an attractive price for the popular Birdbuddy feeder. This model ups the number of solar panels, and ups the image capture resolution (2k)View Deal

Back when my family gifted me a Birdbuddy (pre-Pro version), I called it my favorite gadget. Like this OG version, Birdbuddy Pro is a combo webcam and bird feeder.

The model on sale here is similar to mine in that it has a solar panel on the roof to keep the webcam charged up. The Pro version actually has two panels, one for each side of the roof. I have to say that, for as much as I love my Birdbuddy, I really wish it had two panels because every once in a while, mine gets stuck facing away from the sun for too long, and then I need to pull the webcam module and charge it indoors.

The Pro model also raises the video resolution to 2k and has a larger sensor for better photography. It can even shoot in slow motion.

The app helps you keep track of visitors, and the onboard AI automatically identifies most bird species. You can even pay a monthly subscription fee to have the system name and identify specific birds (among other perks like unlimited storage and sharing your Birdbuddy live feed with guests), so you know when Cara the Cardinal returns for more seed,

BirdBuddy Pro ships with a simple hook so you can hang it, but other accessories let you attach it to a pole or bolt it to, say, a shed. I have mine hanging from my shed and have captured (and shared) so many great images and videos of visiting cardinals (male and female), grackles, pigeons, mourning doves, blue jays, and house sparrows.

Squirrels sometimes drop in and dump most of the seed. In fact, if I had any criticisms of the device, it would be that the seed holder is too small (though the Pro enlarged it to 3.8 cups of seed, 0.3 cups more than what I get) and that there's no easy way to protect it from unwanted critters. But that's about it when it comes to any cons.

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The modern version of a fly trapped in amber: 3D printing your Gaussian Splat is one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long time

βœ‡TechRadar - All the latest technology news
  • Crysta can make a 3D printed model of a Gaussian Splat
  • The detail level is quite remarkable
  • It doesn't come cheap, but nonetheless, this is jaw-dropping stuff

Ever wanted to take a scene from real life and shrink it into a snow globe-style model (minus the snow) to sit on your shelf, preserved forever?

Well, maybe not forever, but you get the idea, and it's possible to do this now thanks to a firm called Crysta.

As Dany Bittel explains on Patreon, Crysta offered to turn one of their 'Gaussian Splats' – of a bee – into a real-world representation of the insect courtesy of a 3D printer.

@Crysta_AI printed one of my bees as a present! pic.twitter.com/HENIVMXaMJJune 18, 2026

The result, as you can see in the post on X above, is pretty spectacular. But wait a minute, I hear you ask (probably): a Gaussian what-now? If you're not familiar with the concept of a Gaussian Splat, it's a 3D model of a real place or thing, built from video footage that you've filmed on your camera (or maybe a drone for more adventurous constructs).

We've previously covered how this works in an in-depth article where we used a cloud-based service called Splatica to make our Splat, and suffice it to say, it's a very cool process with impressive results.

Going a step further with the impressiveness, though, is taking that Gaussian Splat model and 3D printing it. (Crysta can also do this with an alternative process, Neural Radiance Fields, or NeRF).

How is the model turned (back) into a physical rendition? Bittel notes that: "The Gaussian splat is first voxelated, a bit like a Minecraft level. Each voxel has a mix of inks and can be more or less transparent. This then gets printed on [a] special 3D printer, layer by layer."

Cubic cost

Crysta 3D printed cube of bee being designed in Studio software

(Image credit: Dany Bittel)

As Bittel observes, this is like a modern version of the fly trapped in amber, except it's an entirely artificial construct, built from an artificial model. I absolutely love the idea, and if you do too, you might be wondering how much it costs.

The truth is that it isn't cheap, as you might guess. You'll need to fork out for a Splatica subscription if you go the same way TechRadar did, which is quite pricey (or use an equivalent service or app).

The actual printing of the model by Crysta will run to something like $140 in the US for a 30mm cube, according to Bittel as a guide price (they got one for free, as a present, in case you were wondering). You can go up to a 300mm cube if you want an ornament with a real impact on your room (and likely your wallet, too).

The company ships the 3D printed models globally, although of course, it'll cost more to send outside of the US.

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The LG UltraGear 5K2K is my dream ultrawide gaming monitor β€” but there’s one big reason why I’m holding off from upgrading

βœ‡TechRadar - All the latest technology news

The gaming monitor market is filled with high-quality displays that offer enough features to provide the most immersive gaming experience. OLED monitors are right at the forefront of monitors in achieving the latter, with exceptional deep black levels thanks to their high contrast ratio.

It's not all just about the panel type, though. The display resolution, refresh rate, response times, and brightness levels all play a significant part in allowing monitors to blossom, and all of those aspects also determine pricing (outside of potential market condition changes).

That's exactly where the LG UltraGear 45GX950A-B comes into play. It's a 5K2K ultrawide OLED monitor, which means its display resolution is 5120x2160, with even sharper image quality than a 4K display. It's easily one of the best gaming monitors in 2026, and is the kind of monitor that would define an 'ultimate endgame' gaming experience in terms of visuals.

Despite the obvious and eventual GPU upgrade I'll have to make when using a 5K monitor, it hasn't stopped me from keeping my eyes peeled for it, particularly whenever it receives a significant price drop.

The LG UltraGear 45GX950A-B is one of the most immersive gaming monitors on the market, and arguably the best OLED ultrawide money can buy, with an immersive 800R curvature and 5K2K resolution,View Deal

Expand your gaming immersion with the LG UltraGear 45GX950A-B 5K2K OLED ultrawide, ready to completely enhance gaming experiences across the board, thanks to its 800R curvature and 5K display resolution.View Deal

Fortunately, it's Prime Day, which means you can find it for $1,429.69 (was $1,999.99) on Amazon in the US, and for Β£1,472.49 (was Β£1,649) in the UK. However, the competition on the horizon is enough to make you consider waiting a little while before jumping all in on the UltraGear display.

Having used the LG UltraGear 45GS95QE OLED ultrawide β€” which is very similar to the GX9, with the only difference being its 3440x1440 resolution β€” I can say that the step up in resolution would make LG's 5K2K display worth every cent, despite its high price.

Render of Alienware AW3926QW ultrawide

(Image credit: Dell / Alienware)

With the new Alienware AW3926QW 5K2K OLED ultrawide slated for launch by the end of June, LG's top-of-the-line monitor might have its money's worth. Thanks to the AW3926QW's 39-inch display size, there's a higher pixel density at 5K2K, meaning image quality will be much sharper than what the LG GX9 has to offer.

It is an RGB stripe tandem OLED panel, which reduces text fringing and provides significantly higher and more consistent brightness compared to other OLED monitors.

Most importantly, the big takeaway is that the AW3926QW's price is rumored to be at $1,100 (around Β£824 / AU$1,572). That's a very generous and affordable price tag, since other monitors with the same specifications are far more expensive.

The great thing is that more details on pricing should be coming very soon, so there's a good reason to weigh the options between the two monstrous displays.

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Corsair’s weird Xeneon Edge 14.5-inch touchscreen is sold out at Best Buy – but it’s still available and $50 off from Corsair itself

βœ‡TechRadar - All the latest technology news
By:matthew.hanson@futurenet.com (Matt Hanson)

Want a weird and wonderful way to upgrade your gaming PC? Then you might want to consider the Corsair Xeneon Edge, which has had a $50 price cut from a variety of retailers, and is still in stock on Corsair's own website.

I mention that it's still in stock as Best Buy also had the same deal, but has now sold out.

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The Corsair Xeneon Edge is a slim 14.5-inch touchscreen display with a 2560 x 720 resolution, and can plug into your PC via USB-C or HDMI. It can show off various apps and widgets, and also displays important information about your PC, such as the temperatures of your components.

You can even mount it in your PC's case (Corsair make compatible cases, but you can do a bit of DIY and attach it to any case) for an eye-catching visual, and a great way to keep an eye on your PC's vitals whilst playing.

The fact that it's so versatile makes the Corsair Xeneon Edge a popular, if niche, product, and the new price (down from $249.99 to $199.99) seems to have given it a boost in popularity, so don't hang about if you're looking for a cool new way to make your PC stand out (whilst also being genuinly useful).

Today's best Corsair Xeneon Edge deal

With a 2560 x 720 60Hz 14.5-inch LCD touchscreen, the Corsair Xeneon Edge is a cool addition to your PC gaming setup. You can use it to display app shortcuts (handy for live streamers), show vital statistics of your PC, and if you have a lot of Corsair products you can control them via its iCUE integration. It's sold out at Best Buy, so other retailers might run out as well.View Deal

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