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Cyber Monday tech deals: ,000 off OLED TVs,  off DJI drones

Cyber Monday tech deals: $1,000 off OLED TVs, $60 off DJI drones

As Mashable’s tech editor, I get early access to a lot of really cool products. I also have a pretty deep knowledge of the coolest new gadgets of 2025, from the latest virtual reality tech to under-the-radar brands and new Apple laptops. I’ve also been covering Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales since 2019, so I know what discounts to expect and which Cyber Monday deals you can safely skip.

As of Sunday, Nov. 30, retailers are officially kicking off their Cyber Monday sales. In this guide, you’ll find all the best Cyber Monday tech deals I’d actually recommend to friends and family. Before recommending a Samsung OLED TV, a popular new PS5 game, or award-winning Bose earbuds, I’ll first make sure that the price is actually a good deal. Online retailers are notorious for exaggerating their sales, but I’ve done the work for you to find the biggest genuine discounts at Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and beyond.

Keep checking back as I add new discounts on the season’s best new gadgets, toys, wearables, and tech gifts. I’ve personally tested many of the products in this guide, while others have been tested by other Mashable reporters. If you see a deal in this story, it’s because I’d truly recommend that product — and at that price — to my loved ones.

Recommended deals for you

Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds

—
$219.99

(List Price $249.00)

Apple iPad 11″ 128GB Wi-Fi Retina Tablet (Blue, 2025 Release)

—
$271.29

(List Price $349.00)

Dell 14 Premium Intel Ultra 7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 2K Laptop

—
$999.99

(List Price $1549.99)

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones

—
$248.00

(List Price $399.99)

Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Security Camera (5-Pack)

—
$159.99

(List Price $399.99)

Fire TV Stick 4K Streaming Device With Remote (2023 Model)

—
$24.99

(List Price $49.99)

Shark AV2511AE AI Robot Vacuum With XL Self-Empty Base

—
$249.99

(List Price $599.00)

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band)

—
$339.00

(List Price $399.00)

WD 6TB My Passport USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive

—
$136.45

(List Price $179.99)

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 64GB Wi-Fi 11″ Tablet

—
$139.99

(List Price $219.99)

A fancy new smartwatch

Whether you prefer Android or Apple, two of the best smartwatches released so far this year are on sale for Cyber Monday. In fact, the Galaxy Watch 8 is now cheaper than it was during Black Friday, and we rarely see further price drops after Black Friday ends. The Galaxy Watch 8 won a Mashable Choice award after its release, and we praised its bright display and improved UI. If you’re a Gemini user, it also has direct integration with Google Gemini.

And for Apple fans, the new Apple Watch Series 11, which features a much-improved battery life, is also on sale at Amazon for its best-ever price.

$249.99
at Amazon

$349.99
Save $100

 

apple watch series 11 in black

$339
at Amazon

$399
Save $60

Lowest price ever 🔥

The new Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

Our favorite noise-cancelling wireless earbuds are on sale. You can now buy the second-generation Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds for $216 for $249, a $50 discount, at both Amazon and Best Buy.

Seriously, we love these earbuds. The active noise cancellation works so well that I wear them while I work, even when I’m not listening to music. Plus, they really are the most comfortable wireless buds we’ve ever tried.

$249
at Amazon

$298
Save $49

Mashable tested ✅

My favorite Kindle

I literally collect rare books, so when I tell you I’m a book nerd, you can believe me. And this is the Kindle that stores my digital library — the Kindle Paperwhite. For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s on sale for $124.99, but I actually recommend paying a little more for the version without lockscreen ads. That way, you’ll see gorgeous black-and-white photos on the lockscreen instead of ads for romantasy books I’ll never read.

$144.99
at Amazon

$179.99
Save $35

Editor’s pick ✅

$124.99
at Amazon

$159.99
Save $35.00

Lowest price ever 🔥

Screen-free digital cameras

Camp Snap is one of our favorite finds of the year. These trendy cameras feature old-school designs and keep you in the moment while you’re making memories. You can buy these stylish point-and-shoot digital cameras starting at just $55 for Cyber Monday, and they make great gifts for teens.

$55
at Huckberry

$65
Save $10

 

$179
at Huckberry

$199
Save $20

 

Rechargeable Electric Hand Warmers

Alexa informed me that New York City faces its first freeze warning of the season, and now I’m mad at her. However, I do have something to keep the chill away. I’ve been using and recommending these cute electric hand warmers for years, and they’re one of my favorite undiscovered gems at Amazon. They’re one of my go-to stocking stuffers, and they’ll keep your hands toasty and warm all winter long. If you’re looking for tech deals under $25, this is my personal recommendation.

$15.99
at Amazon

$29.99
Save $14.00

Mashable tested ✅

A cult-favorite phone grip

Mashable has an ongoing series called “In My Bag,” where we interview creators, vloggers, and social media stars about their favorite gadgets and gear. The Octobuddy has been a frequent call-out, and it’s an ingenious little grip that lets you stick your phone securely to mirrors and other hard surfaces.

$13.59
at Amazon

$16.99
Save $3.40

 

Last-chance: A DJI drone

Have you heard about the upcoming ban on DJI drones? If not, then we have very bad news: DJI drones are almost certainly set to be banned in the U.S. by year’s end, which means this is your last chance to buy one. So long as you’re already flying, the potential ban shouldn’t affect you, a DJI representative recently told me. Unfortunately, you can only buy these drones from third-party sellers at retailers like Amazon, but we think the risk is worth the reward in this case.

$239
at Amazon

$299
Save $60

Lowest price ever 🔥

A new Echo speaker

Amazon devices are up to 55% off for Cyber Monday, including the best Alexa smart speakers. The Echo Spot is a smart speaker that doubles as an alarm clock, and it’s a favorite of ours. However, Amazon just refreshed its Echo line to make way for Alexa+, its new AI version of Alexa. I was at the launch event where Amazon debuted the Echo Dot Max, a smarter smart speaker with bigger sound and a fun Death Star-like design.

$89.99
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $10

 

$49.99
at Amazon

$79.99
Save $30.00

 

The best TV in the world

I’ve said it before: Samsung’s cult-favorite art TV, The Frame, is the best TV in the world. This super-thin TV doubles as an art gallery for your living room, adding to your home’s decor instead of distracting from it. The 2025 model of The Frame has a fancy new AI processor, as well as a magic-like matte, anti-glare display. While you can catch this TV on sale at any retailer you like, Amazon currently has the best price.

For Cyber Monday, this TV is now $100 cheaper than it was during Black Friday, a price drop we weren’t expecting.

$797.99
at Amazon

$1,197.99
Save $400

New price drop!

A new Apple laptop

We think the M4 MacBook Pro is the best MacBook for most people, and this is a fantastic price for a 2025 model Apple laptop. Powered by M4 silicon, it’s also lightning fast. The M4 chip is faster than anything you’ll find in the Windows world, which means this laptop is faster and more efficient than the competition. Its $749 price at Amazon is a record discount, and we’re not expecting the price to drop any lower (though Apple could surprise us).

$749
at Amazon

$999
Save $250

Lowest price ever 🔥

The best tech deal for parents (and cool uncles)

The Toniebox is a popular gadget for young kids. Parents love it because it’s engaging but doesn’t have a screen, and kids love it because it’s interactive, talks to them, and tells cool stories. I got this for my niece last Christmas, and I’m officially the favorite uncle. Am I her only uncle? Doesn’t matter.

If your favorite kiddos already have a Toniebox, you can get five Tonies for the price of four during Cyber Monday. My recommendation? The Miss Rachel and Llama Llama Tonies.

$59.99
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $40.00

 

A portable Bluetooth speaker from Beats

We recently named the Beats Pill the best portable Bluetooth speaker to buy on sale. And, what do you know, it’s on sale. You can pick up this powerful water-resistant speaker for just $79 at Amazon. Released in 2024 as part of a collaboration with Kim Kardashian (don’t let that stop you from scoring a great deal), it plays well with Android and iOS devices.

$79
at Amazon

$99.95
Save $20.95

Lowest price ever 🔥

DJI’s cult-favorite wireless microphones

Some of this year’s best Cyber Monday tech deals are on DJI products, which are getting harder and harder to find. If you’re a content creator or vlogger, then you’ve probably heard of DJI’s famous pocket mics, currently 45% off at Amazon. These wireless mics replace the awkward wired lavaliers of the past, and they clip on to your shirt or collar magnetically. There’s a reason you can spot these microphones all over TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube. I’ve personally tested these microphones, and they’ve been a huge help to the Mashable video team at live events.

$66
at Amazon

$119
Save $53

Lowest price ever 🔥

The best coffee maker I’ve ever owned

I think this sleek coffee maker is what you’d get if Apple designed a coffee maker. I’ve been using it for about a year, and I love it.

Mashable Light Speed

Fellow has a cult-following among coffee snobs, but you don’t need to be an expert to use the Fellow Aiden 10-cup coffee maker, which is exactly why I like it. , and I love how easy it is to set schedules. Plus, it tells you exactly how much coffee to add. Simply set the number of cups you want and whether you’re using light, medium, or dark roast, and it will tell you just how many grams to scoop into the pot. I’ve never seen this coffee maker go on sale before, and it’s currently at its lowest-ever price at Amazon.

$319.95
at Amazon

$399.95
Save $80

Lowest price ever 🔥

A viral 1TB flash drive

Usually, some of the best Cyber Monday tech deals include 50% discounts on portable hard drives, SD cards, and flash drives, but not this year. Personally, I blame the AI industry for hogging all the vital computer components this year. But there is one deal of note, and on a popular new product.

The holographic 1TB Extreme Fit USB-C Flash Drive from Sandisk is shockingly small, and it made major waves in the tech world when it debuted recently. While it doesn’t have a huge discount, I’ll take what I can get on memory products this year. Just look how small it is!

$109.99
at Sandisk

$117.99
Save $8

 

Re-up on Apple AirTags

Just before Black Friday, the Apple AirTags dropped in price to $62.99, the lowest-ever price for these popular trackers. Look, the best Black Friday deals aren’t always super exciting, but this is your chance to stock up on products you need. Using ultra-wideband technology and Apple’s Find My network, there’s no better way to track lost items.

Apple AirTag Tracker (4-Pack)

$62.99
at Walmart

$99
Save $36.01

 

Stocking stuffers they’ll actually use

Anker PowerBanks are the ideal stocking stuffer, and not just because they start at $15 and fit perfectly in a stocking. They’re also extraordinarily useful, especially for folks with older phones that are constantly dying.

$15.59
at Amazon

$25.99
Save $10.40

 

Eufy robot vacuums

Eufy may not have quite the name recognition as iRobot in the vacuum space, but you’ll find Eufy robot vacuums all over Mashable shopping guides. If you’re looking for a premium robot vacuum and mop combo, try the Eufy S1 Pro, which has a roller mop, self-cleaning, self-drying, and a 50% discount. Our vacuum expert, Leah Stodart, has also been impressed by Eufy’s innovation when it comes to cleaning features past the robot vacuum itself. The Eufy E28 is a powerful roller mop robot vacuum with 20,000 Pa suction power that comes with a portable carpet cleaner. Leah says it fully removed stains from a rug and a couch, making it one of the best vacuums for pet owners.

$699.99
at Amazon

$1,499.99
Save $800

Lowest price ever 🔥

$699.99
at Amazon

$999.99
Save $300

Lowest price ever 🔥

A shockingly affordable flatscreen TV

As much as I love Samsung’s The Frame, I know not everyone can afford to drop $1,000 on a new TV. Fortunately, you can count on Cyber Monday doorbuster deals if you need a TV on the cheap. Over at Amazon, grab smart TVs starting at just $99. Head to Best Buy to find the most budget-friendly QLED TV deals.

$99.99
at Amazon

$149.99
Save $50.00

 

$329.99
at Best Buy

$499.99
Save $170

 

A Roku streaming stick

If a new smart TV isn’t in your budget this year, that doesn’t mean you have to be locked out of the latest streaming apps. Access everything from Amazon’s Prime Video to Apple TV and Spotify using this affordable streaming stick from Roku. You’ll still have to pay for all those apps, but it’s still a lot cheaper than buying a new TV.

$19
at Amazon

$39.99
Save $20.99

 

The Samsung Galaxy XR Headset Explorer’s Pack

This is the ultimate splurge this holiday season — Samsung’s new AR/VR headset, the Galaxy XR. It’s Samsung’s answer to the Apple Vision Pro, and it’s significantly more affordable, though still extremely pricey. If you buy the device during the holiday shopping season, Samsung will throw in $1,140 worth of freebies, including a year of Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium, and NBA League Pass. You’ll also get access to exclusive XR experiences and more premium apps. This offer ends Dec. 31.

A Nintendo Switch 2 bundle

Over the summer, it was almost impossible to find the new Nintendo Switch 2 console in stock. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. While we haven’t found any official discounts on the Switch 2 console yet, you can find some Switch 2 bundles in stock at Amazon, Walmart, and GameStop. We expect this handheld to top many Christmas gift wishlists this year, so grab these while you can.

A Blink home security camera

Amazon always discounts its devices for big sales, and right now you can grab the popular Blink Mini 2 security camera for just $17.99, a 55% discount. We don’t expect this product to get any cheaper come Thanksgiving, so go ahead and stock up and protect your home.

$17.99
at Amazon

$39.99
Save $22.00

 

A powerful portable power station

I’ve tested several Jackery Explorer power stations over the years, and I’ve never had a bad experience. The brand helped popularize this product category in the United States, and it’s easy to see why. They make rugged power stations that are easy to use, have a variety of ports, and connect easily to your devices (not to mention solar panels, if you have them). If you live in fear of the power going out — or just want to charge your phone during a camping trip or tailgate — these devices are a must-have.

$349
at Amazon

$448.98
Save $99.98

Lowest price ever 🔥

Sony noise-cancelling headphones

Just like Bose, Sony also released a sequel to its flagship headphones this year. The new XM6 headphones are elite, truly. But having tested them against the previous-gen XM5 model, I’m strongly recommending you buy the XM5s now that they’re finally back on sale. Here’s the truth: They’re more alike than different. And right now, you can get the Sony WH-1000XM5 Noise Cancelling Headphones for just $248, a record-low price. Compare that to the $428 price tag on the new model, and your choice is simple.

Sony WH-1000XM5 The Best Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones with Auto Noise Canceling Optimizer, Crystal Clear Hands-Free Calling, and Alexa Voice Control, Midnight Blue

$248
at Amazon

$399.99
Save $151.99

Lowest price ever 🔥

Google Pixel Watch 4

The new Google Pixel smartwatch is my favorite Android smartwatch of the year, and in our review, we called it a true runner’s smartwatch. And to prove it, one of our reporters recently trained and ran a marathon while using it. So, when I say it’s a good smartwatch for running, you can really believe me. For Black Friday, this smartwatch got its first-ever discount.

$349.99
at Amazon

$399.99
Save $50

Lowest price ever 🔥

A flagship Samsung OLED TV

If you want to splurge on a flagship OLED TV, then can we interest you in $1,000 off the Samsung S95F Series OLED Smart TV? Now that Amazon’s deal on the LG C5 OLED TV is over, this is the best Cyber Monday deal on an OLED TV, courtesy of Best Buy. Best Buy is also providing $100 e-gift cards with your purchase, just for fun.

$2,299.99
at Best Buy

$3,299.99
Save $1,000

Free $100 gift card with purchase

The best robot vacuum of the year

If you want to buy a robot vacuum during Prime Day, then we recommend steering clear of Roomba. I’ve already recommended Eufy’s popular budget and mid-range vacuums, but if you’re looking for the best of the best, our favorite robot vacuum of the year is currently on sale. Our resident robot vacuum tester has tested so many robot vacuums, and this year, none outperformed the Roborock Saros 10R, a robot vacuum and mop combo. With sophisticated mapping, mopping, self-cleaning, and obstacle avoidance, it does it all. It can even act as a pet camera.

$999.99
at Amazon

$1,599.99
Save $600

Editor’s pick ✅

Save on PS5 video games

A ton of PlayStation 5 games are still on sale from Black Friday. At various times Walmart, Amazon, and Target have all had the best price on NBA 2K26, but as of this writing, Target has the best price. Check out all the lingering Black Friday deals on PS5 games still live.

$22.99
at Target

$69.99
Save $47

 

$27.99
at Walmart

$69
Save $41.01

 

A virtual reality headset at a great price

If only the Apple Vision Pro cost $249.99. Alas, we don’t live in that world. However, you can buy a Meta Quest 3S VR Headset bundle for that very reasonable price. With 128GB of storage and instant access to over 40 games, this solid Cyber Monday VR deal lets you discover an entirely new type of gaming. Though, personally, I prefer to use VR for watching 3D movies and other types of VR video content.

$249.99
at Amazon

$299.99
Save $50

 

Lenovo LOQ 15 gaming laptop

I’ve been waiting patiently for gaming laptop deals to pop off for Black Friday, and they finally did. The Lenovo LOQ 15 has gone on sale for as little as $864.49 in the past, but it’s currently on sale for $799.99. That’s a new all-time low and a great price on this gaming laptop with an AMD Ryzen processor and Nvidia GeForce graphics. This is the gaming laptop you’ll find on my own desk right now, and it’s a good entry-level model.

$799.99
at Lenovo

$1,189.99
Save $390

 

Oura smart rings

We’re big fans of Oura smart rings at Mashable, and the brand’s Cyber Week knocks $100 off the Oura Ring 4. Our reviewer praised Oura for its great balance of health, fitness, and sleep tracking metrics, and there’s a reason these smart rings are beloved by many pro athletes.

Oura Ring 4

$249
at Best Buy

$349
Save $100

 

Apple AirPods 4

We waited so patiently for the Apple AirPods 4 to finally drop in price, and the deal is even better than we expected. The latest AirPods are now on sale for $69, their lowest price ever. Previously available for $69, the price on the AirPods 4 has now gone up to $77.99, which is still a great deal on new Apple earbuds.

Apple AirPods 4 Wireless Earbuds

$79.99
at Walmart

$200.29
Save $120.30

 

The Nothing CMF Watch 3 Pro

This is the year we fell for British brand Nothing. In our review of the Nothing CMF Watch 3 Pro, we said that Nothing could be charging three or four times as much for this AMOLED smartwatch. For Black Friday, this watch finally dropped down to $79 just as we hoped. This smartwatch has an incredible display and excels as a fitness and sleep tracker, but it really puts the competition to shame when it comes to battery life.

$79
at Amazon

$99
Save $20

Editor’s pick ✅

Even more Kindle and e-reader deals

We love Kindles here at Mashable, and we’ve tested them all. I already told you my personal favorite is the Kindle Paperwhite, but the truth is all of Amazon’s e-readers are fantastic. For bargain hunters, the best deals on Kindles are the basic Kindle and the Kindle Colorsoft. Amazon’s basic Kindle is a perfectly pocket-sized device that reached its lowest price ever of $79.99, while the Kindle Colorsoft got an astounding price cut down to $169.99, the first time the device has ever dipped under $200.

As much as we hype up Kindles, you can’t forget there are other e-readers out there. The only brand that can truly compete is Kobo, which makes a delightful collection of color e-readers. For Cyber Monday, the only Kobo on sale is the Libra Colour, which is our favorite color e-reader. It’s down to $199.99, back down to the low price it was during Black Friday 2024.

$169.99
at Amazon

$249.99
Save $80

Lowest price ever 🔥

$199.99
at Rakuten

$229.99
Save $30

 

A well-priced iPad Air

To be honest, the Black Friday-Cyber Monday deals on iPads have been pretty weak this year. However, the model I recommend for most people is on sale, and at a record price.

The newest and best iPad is the iPad Pro with M5 chip, but the best Cyber Monday iPad deal is on the Apple iPad Air with M3 chip. I’ve tested both models, and the iPad Air is the right choice for 99% of shoppers. It’s back to its lowest price ever of $449, making it an affordable yet powerful device. With the latest iPadOS, the iPad Air is closer to a laptop than ever, but still a fraction of the cost. This is another device I’ve personally tested and highly recommend, especially at this price.

$449
at Amazon

$599
Save $150

Lowest price ever 🔥

Whoop 5.0 and MG health trackers

While Oura might be the buzzier fitness tracker, Whoop still makes great trackers. Mashable’s Christianna Silva just wore seven fitness trackers while training for the NYC marathon and determined that the Whoop MG was the best overall pick for marathon training. But even for the average Joe, it’s a smart pickup, not to mention our favorite sleep tracker. Ahead of Cyber Monday, Whoop 5.0 and MG trackers are 17%, getting you up to $40 or $60 off.

$299
at Amazon

$359
Save $60

 

A PlayStation 5 bundle

PlayStation and PS5 console Black Friday deals are very popular this year, and while the prices aren’t as low as I’d hoped, they are as low as I expected, given the ongoing tariff and price hikes we’ve seen in this sector. A lot of PS5 bundles are on sale right now, but I’d recommend the Fortnite bundles in particular, available now at Amazon.

$449
at Amazon

$549
Save $100

 

A fancy espresso machine

Frankly, if you buy an espresso machine at any time of year besides Prime Day or Black Friday, you’re leaving hundreds of dollars on the table. This brushed stainless steel espresso machine from Breville gets a $200 price drop this time around, and it has everything you need to satisfy your caffeine fix. This is the lowest price we’ve seen on this high-tech kitchen appliance in years.

$499.99
at Amazon

$699.99
Save $200

 

The world’s first electric flosser

Have you heard of Flaus? It’s at the top of my Xmas list this year and comes personally recommended by one of our shopping reporters. This electric flosser takes the pain and inconvenience out of flossing your teeth. For Cyber Monday, it now has an extremely gift-friendly price tag. Not only did this product appear on Shark Tank, but it was named one of Oprah’s Favorite Things this year.

$89.99
at Amazon

$129.98
Save $39.99

 

Stock up on boring tech essentials

As a seasoned Black Friday expert, I always tell people to use this sale as a chance to stock up on boring but essential items. And that includes batteries, light bulbs, lens cleaners, etc. This won’t be the most exciting addition to your shopping cart, but you’ll be glad you have them.

$14.28
at Amazon

$23.98
Save $9.70

 

Even more Cyber Monday tech deals

Apple 2025 MacBook Pro Laptop with M5 chip with 10‑core CPU and 10‑core GPU: Built for Apple Intelligence, 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR Display, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD Storage; Space Black

$1,349.99
at Amazon

$1,599
Save $249.01

I reviewed this laptop when it first came out, and it’s much more impressive now that it’s on sale. This may just be the finest laptop ever made, in fact. For pro users who need the latest Apple silicon, this is the laptop you’re looking for.

$149.49
at Amazon

$229.99
Save $80.50

Shopping for someone with an Apple Watch, AirPods, and iPhone? Or maybe you are that person. Either way, this 3-in-1 charging stand will keep all their Apple gadgets charged up and ready to go.

$379.99
at Best Buy

$499.99
Save $120

Are you a hobbyist who’s been dreaming of owning your own 3D printer? Use Cyber Monday tech deals as your excuse to take the plunge.

$21.99
at Amazon

$39.99
Save $18.00

Amazon device deals are starting to arrive at the Everything Store (still no Kindle deals, sadly). Pick up this cute Alexa speaker while it’s 45% off.

$399.99
at Walmart

$729.99
Save $330

Our favorite Dyson vacuum is on sale, but not at Amazon. Head to Walmart to save $330 on this laser-equipped stick vac.

$44.99
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $55.00

This popular kids’ tablet is ridiculously cheap at Amazon right now. Not only does it have a durable built-in protective case, but Amazon promises, “If it breaks, we will replace it.”

$88
at Amazon

$179.99
Save $91.99

Sony’s mid-range noise-cancellers may have a boring name, but these Mashable-tested headphones won’t let you down.

$139.63
at Amazon

$219.99
Save $80.36

One of the best Android tablets gets a price drop at Amazon. While you can get Amazon Fire tablets for less, we think you’ll like this one a lot more.

$149.99
at Amazon

$249.99
Save $100

Samsung’s answer to the AirPods have everything you want in a pair of wireless earbuds: a slick design, advanced AI features, and impressive ANC.

$31.99
at Amazon

$59.99
Save $28.00

Amazon device deals are always a Cyber Week staple, and we love the look of this kid-friendly Echo Dot smart speaker.

Apple Watch SE 3 40mm GPS Smartwatch (Starlight Aluminum Case, Starlight Sports Band)

$199
at Walmart

$249
Save $50

Lowest price ever 🔥

Live

Latest Updates




20 minutes ago | December 1, 2025

Black Friday is behind us, but Cyber Monday is up and running.

The even better news is that we’re here to help you find the best prices already available, from $1,400-plus discounts on mega LG OLED TVs to 55% markdowns on Amazon devices. Our professional deal hunters know exactly where to find the top deals. We’ve been tracking prices across the internet all month long in anticipation of Cyber Monday, and now we can help you find the lowest possible prices on AirPods, Apple Watches, Kindles, Legos, Ninja appliances, and Samsung TVs. Cyber Monday is here, and we’re actively seeking out deals better than the ones we saw on Black Friday.

19 hours ago | November 30, 2025

20 hours ago | November 30, 2025

Black Friday deals on AirPods keep disappearing. While Amazon no longer has the AirPods 4 in stock, so far today, they’ve been available at Walmart for their $69 price. At least, they were. Walmart has now raised prices to $79.99, which is still a good price for new AirPods.

20 hours ago | November 30, 2025

20 hours ago | November 30, 2025

21 hours ago | November 30, 2025

Sling’s Day Pass is a solid way to tune into live sports, events, and shows without having to splurge on a full subscription. Sometimes you just want to watch a single game and be on your way. It’s usually $4.99 for a day, but for Black Friday, Sling is offering its Orange Day Pass for only $1 through Dec. 1 at 3 a.m. ET. The Orange package includes ESPN and all its affiliates, TNT, TBS, AMC, IFC, and more. That means you’ll be able to tune into live college football rivalry games on ESPN this weekend for just a buck.

22 hours ago | November 30, 2025

23 hours ago | November 30, 2025

Black Friday is dead. Long live Cyber Monday.

We’re fully focused on finding you the best deals left over from Black Friday and early opportunities to snag the best discounts ahead of Cyber Monday. Check out our enormous breakdown of everything on offer in Cyber Monday 2025.

9:19 am ET | November 29, 2025

We’ve removed the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones from this guide, as they’re almost entirely sold out. As of this writing, only the limited-edition magenta colorway is still in stock at Amazon.

8:06 am ET | November 29, 2025

The four-pack of Apple AirTags is no longer sitting at its lowest-ever price, but the deal is still strong. Score this bundle for under $65 in the Amazon early Cyber Monday sale.

7:12 am ET | November 29, 2025

5:04 am ET | November 29, 2025

Samsung may sell the most TVs in the world, but LG’s C Series OLED TVs are certainly the most award-winning TVs in the world. Ever since the C1 OLED debuted in 2021, these OLED TVs have been collecting “Best TV of the year” awards. While the LG G5 Series OLED is now considered the flagship, its high sticker price puts it out of reach for most shoppers.

Our competitors have been writing about a “Black Friday deal” on the C5 for days, but we’ve been holding out. While Best Buy claims you can save $1,300 on this TV by paying $1,399.99, that price has been available at Amazon since October. So, we’ve been holding out in the hopes that this TV would finally get a new price drop on Black Friday, and our patience has been rewarded.

Read more here. Head directly to the deal here.

6:52 pm ET | November 28, 2025

We’ve noticed Apple AirPods deals start to shoot back up in price as stock gets lower. So, take advantage of the $69 AirPods 4 while you still can. The deal is still live at Walmart, Target, and Amazon.

3:53 pm ET | November 28, 2025

Best Buy’s Bambu Lab deals prove that 2025 is the year that 3D printing can officially become a casual hobby for anyone. The Bambu Lab A1 Combo is easily the best 3D printer for most people, including beginners: It doesn’t require any previous design skills and can calibrate a pattern from a premade model you choose in the app. Snag this solid 3D printer deal at Best Buy for less than $400.

$379.99
at Best Buy

$499.99
Save $120

 

1:17 pm ET | November 28, 2025

Giant-size TVs — 75 inches, 85 inches, and even 100 inches — are getting surprisingly affordable. For Black Friday 2025, you can buy 75-inch TVs starting at just $378, though you can also score discounts of $1,000 and up on premium OLED TVs in this category. Here are some of the top deals on giant TVs we’ve found so far:

  • Hisense 75-inch H5 QLED 4K TV — $378 $499 (save $121)

  • Insignia 75-inch QF Series 4K QLED Smart Fire TV — $399.99 $649.99 (save $250)

  • Hisense 75-inch QD7 Mini LED QLED 4K TV — $597.99 $799.99 (save $202)

  • Samsung 85-Inch Class Crystal UHD U8000F 4K Smart TV — $799.99 $897.99 (save $98)

  • Roku 75-inch Pro Series Mini LED QLED 4K TV — $997.99 $1,699.99 (save $702)

  • Samsung 85-inch Q6F QLED 4K TV — $997.99 $1,297.99 (save $300)

  • Samsung 85-inch QN90F Neo Mini LED QLED 4K TV — $2,299.99 $4,499.99 (save $2,200)

  • TCL 98-inch Q55K Series QLED 4K TV — $999.99 $2,499.99 (save $1,500)

  • Sony 98-inch Bravia 5 Mini LED QLED 4K TV — $3,999.99 $5,999.99 (save $2,000)

  • Hisense 100-inch QD7 Mini LED QLED 4k TV — $1,699.99 $2,999.99 (save $1,300)

11:17 am ET | November 28, 2025

This morning, between 10 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET, the Best Buy website and app began experiencing an outage, as reported by thousands of users and our own reporters. The outage may have been related to a rare deal on a Lego Zelda set that dropped at 11 a.m., but we don’t know the exact cause.

8:32 am ET | November 28, 2025

The new Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) have been on sale for a while, but as of this morning, they’ve gotten an additional $30 price drop at Amazon and Best Buy. You can now buy them for $216, a 28% discount from the usual $299 price.

8:30 am ET | November 28, 2025

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is finally on sale, completing the trifecta of new Apple Watches. That means the Apple Watch SE 3, Series 11, and Ultra 3 are all at record prices at Amazon. So, while I still think the $199 SE 3 is the better choice for most people, serious athletes should look closely at the Ultra 3 while it’s $100 off.

7:44 am ET | November 28, 2025

6:13 am ET | November 28, 2025

Now that it’s officially Black Friday 2025, Apple AirTags have reached a new record price: $62.99 for a 4-pack.

5:49 am ET | November 28, 2025

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (1st Gen) have been one of our most-recommended Black Friday deals, and it’s almost gone. At both Amazon and Walmart, popular colors like Black are already out of stock. If these headphones aren’t available, we’ve also tested and loved the Bose QuietComfort Headphones and the new flagship Gen 2 version.

5:44 am ET | November 28, 2025

5:43 am ET | November 28, 2025

After weeks of early sales, Black Friday has finally arrived. While all the major retailers had launched their sales by Nov. 25, we are seeing a handful of additional price drops now that Thanksgiving has come and gone. Keep checking back as we add more deals and updates on inventory as items go out of stock.

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#Cyber #Monday #tech #deals #OLED #TVs #DJI #drones

What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?  

The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details. 

The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there. 

This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.  

Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.  

Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?  

“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.” 
 
Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.  

There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around $12.1 billion out of the $14.8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me. 
 
That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.  

Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.  

Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a $3.3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.  

“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.” 

This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?  

The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details. 







The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there. 

This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.  

Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.  

Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?  

“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.”  Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.  


There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me.  That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.  

Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.  

Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.  







“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.” 

Image Credits:Phoenix Court

Top founders want to stay 

Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said.  Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.  

“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said.  Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia. 

Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said. 

Image Credits:Synthesia

Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.  

Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up. 

“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK
Image Credits:Phoenix Court

Top founders want to stay

Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said. 
 
Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.  

“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said. 
 
Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia. 

Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said. 

Image Credits:Synthesia

Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.  

Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.

U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up. 

“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK">This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?  

The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details. 







The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there. 

This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.  

Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.  

Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?  

“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.”  Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.  


There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me.  That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.  

Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.  

Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.  







“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.” 

Image Credits:Phoenix Court

Top founders want to stay 

Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said.  Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.  

“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said.  Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia. 

Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said. 

Image Credits:Synthesia

Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.  

Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up. 

“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK

European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.  

Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.  

Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?  

“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.” 
 
Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.  

There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around $12.1 billion out of the $14.8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me. 
 
That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.  

Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.  

Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a $3.3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.  

“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.” 

This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?  

The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details. 







The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there. 

This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.  

Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.  

Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?  

“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.”  Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.  


There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me.  That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.  

Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.  

Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.  







“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.” 

Image Credits:Phoenix Court

Top founders want to stay 

Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said.  Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.  

“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said.  Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia. 

Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said. 

Image Credits:Synthesia

Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.  

Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up. 

“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK
Image Credits:Phoenix Court

Top founders want to stay

Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said. 
 
Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.  

“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said. 
 
Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia. 

Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said. 

Image Credits:Synthesia

Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.  

Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.

U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up. 

“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK">This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch

What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?  

The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details. 

The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there. 

This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.  

Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.  

Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?  

“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.” 
 
Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.  

There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around $12.1 billion out of the $14.8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me. 
 
That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.  

Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.  

Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a $3.3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.  

“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.” 

This former notorious red-light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs | TechCrunch
What every U.K. AI startup wants to know these days is, how can I get office space in King’s Cross?  

The area is so hot that a VC firm allegedly recently won a deal by promising a founder office space in the neighborhood. “We stop at nothing to win deals [for] and to support” founders, “including helping them source office space when needed,” the firm told me when asked about the rumor, declining to confirm or deny any details. 







The neighborhood’s popularity began back in 2016 when DeepMind — then newly acquired by Google — moved in. Soon after, a flood of AI startups followed, wanting to be around the Google DeepMind magic. Today, they hope to take advantage of the cluster of AI talent there. 

This has transformed King’s Cross into one of the world’s top AI hubs, rivaled only by San Francisco and Beijing. Around London, it’s known by the sobriquet “Knowledge Quarter,” as it’s home to names like OpenAI, Meta, Isomorphic Labs, Cusp AI, Wayne, Recursive, and, a little farther down the road, Synthesia and Anthropic. The European Technology Network (ETN) just moved into a glossy new office nearby, while University College London sits around the corner.  

Mixed in with the new developments are trendy food spots like Hoppers and BAO. Hop a train from King’s Cross, and founders can be in Cambridge in 45 minutes to source talent or can be in Paris in two hours to strike a deal.  

Who would have guessed that a little more than 20 years ago, this was one of the seediest areas in London?  

“In the ’80s, crack and heroin made the area a major narcotics market,” Hussein Kanji, an investor at Hoxton Ventures, said, recalling syringes in tree trunks and gangs patrolling the streets. “In 1982, the local church was occupied by the English Collective of Prostitutes for 12 straight days.” Then, in the early 2000s, a real estate developer had a dream and, well, “now it is the AI hotbed of the United Kingdom,” Kanji said. “What a change.”  Around 18 months ago, his portfolio company BioCorteX moved from the neighborhood Holborn to the Jellicoe building in King’s Cross, hoping to be near the action. “Lots going on in London right now,” Nik Sharma, co-founder of BioCorteX, told me. “Lots of hyperscalers moving in.” That includes, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’ AI company Prometheus, which is also said to be in talks to move into the Jellicoe.  


There are around 3,600 AI startups in London, which, together, have raised around .1 billion out of the .8 billion raised in the city since late July, according to Dealroom. Since the start of June, AI-related startups have leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in London, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. With that, prime rents in King’s Cross have risen 18% over the past three years, Chris Dunn, a commercial insight associate at the firm, told me.  That percentage represents only the largest leases encompassing at least 10,000 square feet, like the ones OpenAI and Prometheus are signing. The shorter deals go for even more, he said, and now the vacancy rate for conventional office space is just 0.9%. “Demand has outstripped supply,” he continued.  

Today, one of the big topics of the area is sovereignty. It was a wake-up call for many when Anthropic shut off access to Mythos and Fable this summer, leaving some in the ecosystem to conclude: “We’d better look after ourselves,” Saul Klein, co-founder of the VC firm Phoenix Court, told me.  

Phoenix Court is located in the King’s Cross area and has three portfolio companies in the vicinity, including Olix (which just announced a .3 billion valuation), Early Health and CoMind. Robin Klein, co-founder of the firm, said the shutdown of Fable and Mythos access was a “small but sharp reminder that Europe can’t simply rent its AI capabilities and capacity; it needs to build and hold some of its own.” King’s Cross, he said, is where much of this building is actually happening.  







“The bigger question,” he continued, “is whether the U.K. builds the infrastructure, compute, energy, capital, to make this self-reliance durable, rather than just hosting outposts of U.S. labs.” 

Image Credits:Phoenix Court

Top founders want to stay 

Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said.  Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.  

“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said.  Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia. 

Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said. 

Image Credits:Synthesia

Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.  

Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up. 

“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK
Image Credits:Phoenix Court

Top founders want to stay

Simon Kohl, founder of Latent Labs, has offices in King’s Cross and San Francisco. The London office, at the moment, is growing faster, and he’s more bullish than ever on the ecosystem, he said. “The mood right now feels less like London trying to catch up and more like London becoming one of the default places to start a serious AI company,” he said. 
 
Look around and you are likely to see Wayve testing its autonomous cars. Founded in 2017 by co-founder Alex Kendall, the unicorn is one of London’s biggest success stories.  

“Ten years ago, building a frontier AI company from London felt like an unusual choice,” Kendall told me. “Now it feels like an obvious one.” Wayve moved into King’s Cross in 2018 looking for a space that could double as a garage — “a rare combination in Central London,” Kendall said. He has watched the ecosystem mature around him — and it’s now evident that a startup can stay in London, raise serious capital, hire world-class AI talent, and remain globally competitive, he said. 
 
Down the street from Anthropic’s new 158,000-square-foot office is the AI agent builder Sierra and the AI video platform Synthesia. 

Laura Gonzalez Florez, Synthesia’s chief of staff and head of people, says the company moved into its glossy new office building a year ago to accommodate its growing team. They were drawn to the area for the same reason as everyone else: “It’s very close to the airport … very close to where a lot of investors are,” she said. 

Image Credits:Synthesia

Around two-thirds of Synthesia’s engineers are remote, Gonzalez Florez said, letting the company tap into an affordable, international, and diverse talent pool and helping it scale faster. “From London, we can hire and work, without any problem, people from anywhere, from Slovenia to Portugal,” she said.  

Unsurprisingly, London’s AI boom is also causing a talent war.

U.K. AI job postings have skyrocketed in the past few years, per data from PwC. When Anthropic announced it moved into town earlier this year, it listed, for example, a salary range of £260,000 to £630,000 for a machine learning research engineer when the average salary in London for the same role is around £102,000. Some founders in the U.K., like those in Silicon Valley, are being forced to raise more and bigger rounds to keep up. 

“The real test is whether more globally significant AI companies are founded, funded, and scaled from the U.K., while continuing to attract the world’s best talent to build them here,” Zain Ali, founder of the King’s Cross-based AI legal firm Centuro, told me. “If that continues to happen, King’s Cross won’t just be an AI hub. It’ll become one of the U.K.’s most important strategic assets.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Thisformernotorious #redlight #districtis #nowone #worlds #top #hubs #TechCrunchUK
Why Remote Server Access Is a Common Attack Vector

Every cloud server exposes at least one remote access point – usually SSH on port 22 – and that port is scanned constantly by bots looking for weak credentials. Password-based login is the most common way a system can be attacked by brute force, and it is quite common with a standard setup that the system is left in a state where an admin/user of that system – “root user” – can log in directly by guessing the user ID and the password combination. Add in shared team credentials, forgotten firewall rules from old projects, and staging servers left publicly reachable, and it’s clear why misconfigured remote access – not zero-day exploits – is behind most cloud server compromises. The fix is simple, though you’ll need to do some setup yourself instead of trusting the default setting.

How to lock down SSH access in the right way

The best way to secure remote access is through a series of small improvements rather than one major overhaul. The following is a real working method:

  1. Switch to SSH key authentication, then turn off password login completely in the same location: sshd_config. Keys are far harder to brute-force than passwords.
  2. Disable root login over SSH and require a non-root user with sudo privileges instead; this is a security advantage that even without any change, one key compromising would limit the impact.
  3. Change the default SSH port away from 22 to cut down on automated scanning noise (not a security measure on its own, but it reduces log clutter).
  4. Restrict access by IP using your firewall or security group, allowing SSH only from known office or VPN IP ranges rather than the entire internet.
  5. Add a VPN as a connection layer for anyone accessing servers from outside a trusted network – a VPN like Planet VPN’s free VPN service can encrypt the connection between a remote worker’s laptop and the server before SSH traffic ever leaves their device, which matters especially on public wi-fi or shared networks.

Every step you take closes the doors that the attacker may open slightly, and when you combine everything, you would have a door to a series of locked gates.

Why Do I Need a Bastion Host?

When it comes to teams working with many servers, deploying a bastion host (jump box) may be a clean and effective way to solve the long-term problem. With this method, you only expose SSH to the bastion, and the other servers accept it only when it’s from the bastion’s internal IP. This centralizes logging and makes auditing access far simpler.

Using a virtual private network (VPN) and a bastion host together is perfectly fine – and many solutions use both: a safe way to access the private network via a VPN, followed by use of a bastion host to restrict which servers can be accessed. Some teams may decide to forgo the bastion because they don’t have the manpower to manage one, and so use a combination of a VPN and a set of firewall rules that still quite a bit lowers the exposure, but without the extra effort.

Mistakes Leading to Leaving Cloud Servers Open

The Mistakes That Cause Leaving Cloud Servers Open: Even the safest development teams may have slip-ups from time to time. One of the most frequent is leaving staged, or test servers with relaxed firewall rules equivalent to those of the production environment – hackers don’t concern themselves with which environment they first land on. Another frequent error is reusing the same SSH key on several servers and clients, causing one hacked laptop to compromise all servers that key has access to.

Another common human error is not removing or changing access when someone leaves the team, so stale credentials remain valid and accessible. At last, putting trust in the strategy of “security through obscurity” – meaning one thinks that setting up the unusual port or hiding the hostname from the public is actually sufficient security – creates a wrong impression of security. This is mostly true; in reality, modern-day attackers scan all ports anyway, and there is no way to hide from them.

System Administrators Guide to Secure Remote Access 

Prohibit SSH password logins totally and depend exclusively on key-based authentication

  • Surely no one wants to type in the password every time; because of this, use only key-based authentication 
  • Deter the user from logging in as root by default and instead use the sudo command to do root tasks
  • A firewall or security group rule can provide great help with IP address-based restrictions on SSH logins 
  • For access that comes from untrusted sources or external networks, use a secure tunnel like a vpn or bastion host
  • Periodically change SSH keys and inspect access lists
  • Maintain records of login attempts and detect brute-force attacks as quickly as possible

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the principal means by which cloud servers suffer break-ins through remote access?

By far the biggest reason why this can happen is unauthorized password-based SSH logins that have been cracked by brute force. The scenario is most likely to develop where the administrator allows root login via password and leaves the default port open.

Sufficient security measures for the server via SSH keys: Do you think it is safe to rely only on key authentication? 

It is true that SSH keys drastically decrease the danger of a successful brute-force attack. However, if there is only key authentication on the server, there are still risks – the server administrator can always enable root login or disable the IP-based login restrictions. So it is recommended to always have these three in the server configuration: disabled root login, restricted access to known IPs, and rotating the keys regularly as the main components of meaningful protection. 

Is it really necessary to set up a separate VPN network while I am able to connect via SSH keys? 

A VPN gives extra security by first encrypting your computer traffic before it reaches your network, where the SSH connection will be used. This is mostly important when working on untrusted networks – like public wi-fi – where there is a threat of a potential hacker in your local network looking at your data.

Bastion host vs VPN as methods of accessing the server? 

The bastion host works by funneling SSH sessions from many users through a single, carefully monitored server point while the rest of the network (and mostly the servers) remains protected from the internet. At the same time, a vpn will fully encrypt the communication between the user and the corporate network or servers. The combination is very common among larger security teams as a part of the defense-in-depth principle. 

How often should SSH keys be rotated? 

The ideal period to change your SSH keys depends on the security practices of your organization, but generally a good practice is to change SSH keys between 90 and 180 days, or in the case that the user who had access with the key leaves or is no longer able to be contacted, such as when a team member leaves.

Why is only changing the port number for SSH enough to secure that port?

Changing the port reduces automated scanning noise in your logs but isn’t a real security control on its own — port scanners check all ports, so it should never replace key-based auth and firewall rules.

#Secure #Remote #Access #Cloud #ServerCloud,remote access">How to Secure Remote Access to Your Cloud Server in 2026
	
Protection against unauthorized remote logins to your cloud server is a matter of SSH key-based authentication, a strict security policy on the firewall, two-factor authentication, and a secure communication channel – no individual component will give adequate protection by itself. The major risk point in breaches is not the server but the open door to remote login. To patch that vulnerability, you need a series of countermeasures, not a magical setting.





Why Remote Server Access Is a Common Attack Vector



Every cloud server exposes at least one remote access point – usually SSH on port 22 – and that port is scanned constantly by bots looking for weak credentials. Password-based login is the most common way a system can be attacked by brute force, and it is quite common with a standard setup that the system is left in a state where an admin/user of that system – “root user” – can log in directly by guessing the user ID and the password combination. Add in shared team credentials, forgotten firewall rules from old projects, and staging servers left publicly reachable, and it’s clear why misconfigured remote access – not zero-day exploits – is behind most cloud server compromises. The fix is simple, though you’ll need to do some setup yourself instead of trusting the default setting.



How to lock down SSH access in the right way



The best way to secure remote access is through a series of small improvements rather than one major overhaul. The following is a real working method:




Switch to SSH key authentication, then turn off password login completely in the same location: sshd_config. Keys are far harder to brute-force than passwords.



Disable root login over SSH and require a non-root user with sudo privileges instead; this is a security advantage that even without any change, one key compromising would limit the impact.



Change the default SSH port away from 22 to cut down on automated scanning noise (not a security measure on its own, but it reduces log clutter).



Restrict access by IP using your firewall or security group, allowing SSH only from known office or VPN IP ranges rather than the entire internet.



Add a VPN as a connection layer for anyone accessing servers from outside a trusted network – a VPN like Planet VPN’s free VPN service can encrypt the connection between a remote worker’s laptop and the server before SSH traffic ever leaves their device, which matters especially on public wi-fi or shared networks.




Every step you take closes the doors that the attacker may open slightly, and when you combine everything, you would have a door to a series of locked gates.



Why Do I Need a Bastion Host?



When it comes to teams working with many servers, deploying a bastion host (jump box) may be a clean and effective way to solve the long-term problem. With this method, you only expose SSH to the bastion, and the other servers accept it only when it’s from the bastion’s internal IP. This centralizes logging and makes auditing access far simpler.



Using a virtual private network (VPN) and a bastion host together is perfectly fine – and many solutions use both: a safe way to access the private network via a VPN, followed by use of a bastion host to restrict which servers can be accessed. Some teams may decide to forgo the bastion because they don’t have the manpower to manage one, and so use a combination of a VPN and a set of firewall rules that still quite a bit lowers the exposure, but without the extra effort.



Mistakes Leading to Leaving Cloud Servers Open



The Mistakes That Cause Leaving Cloud Servers Open: Even the safest development teams may have slip-ups from time to time. One of the most frequent is leaving staged, or test servers with relaxed firewall rules equivalent to those of the production environment – hackers don’t concern themselves with which environment they first land on. Another frequent error is reusing the same SSH key on several servers and clients, causing one hacked laptop to compromise all servers that key has access to.



Another common human error is not removing or changing access when someone leaves the team, so stale credentials remain valid and accessible. At last, putting trust in the strategy of “security through obscurity” – meaning one thinks that setting up the unusual port or hiding the hostname from the public is actually sufficient security – creates a wrong impression of security. This is mostly true; in reality, modern-day attackers scan all ports anyway, and there is no way to hide from them.



System Administrators Guide to Secure Remote Access 



Prohibit SSH password logins totally and depend exclusively on key-based authentication




Surely no one wants to type in the password every time; because of this, use only key-based authentication 



Deter the user from logging in as root by default and instead use the sudo command to do root tasks



A firewall or security group rule can provide great help with IP address-based restrictions on SSH logins 



For access that comes from untrusted sources or external networks, use a secure tunnel like a vpn or bastion host



Periodically change SSH keys and inspect access lists



Maintain records of login attempts and detect brute-force attacks as quickly as possible




Frequently Asked Questions



What is the principal means by which cloud servers suffer break-ins through remote access? By far the biggest reason why this can happen is unauthorized password-based SSH logins that have been cracked by brute force. The scenario is most likely to develop where the administrator allows root login via password and leaves the default port open.  Sufficient security measures for the server via SSH keys: Do you think it is safe to rely only on key authentication?  It is true that SSH keys drastically decrease the danger of a successful brute-force attack. However, if there is only key authentication on the server, there are still risks – the server administrator can always enable root login or disable the IP-based login restrictions. So it is recommended to always have these three in the server configuration: disabled root login, restricted access to known IPs, and rotating the keys regularly as the main components of meaningful protection.   Is it really necessary to set up a separate VPN network while I am able to connect via SSH keys?  A VPN gives extra security by first encrypting your computer traffic before it reaches your network, where the SSH connection will be used. This is mostly important when working on untrusted networks – like public wi-fi – where there is a threat of a potential hacker in your local network looking at your data.  Bastion host vs VPN as methods of accessing the server?  The bastion host works by funneling SSH sessions from many users through a single, carefully monitored server point while the rest of the network (and mostly the servers) remains protected from the internet. At the same time, a vpn will fully encrypt the communication between the user and the corporate network or servers. The combination is very common among larger security teams as a part of the defense-in-depth principle.   How often should SSH keys be rotated?  The ideal period to change your SSH keys depends on the security practices of your organization, but generally a good practice is to change SSH keys between 90 and 180 days, or in the case that the user who had access with the key leaves or is no longer able to be contacted, such as when a team member leaves.  Why is only changing the port number for SSH enough to secure that port? Changing the port reduces automated scanning noise in your logs but isn’t a real security control on its own — port scanners check all ports, so it should never replace key-based auth and firewall rules.  





#Secure #Remote #Access #Cloud #ServerCloud,remote access

  1. free VPN service can encrypt the connection between a remote worker’s laptop and the server before SSH traffic ever leaves their device, which matters especially on public wi-fi or shared networks.

Every step you take closes the doors that the attacker may open slightly, and when you combine everything, you would have a door to a series of locked gates.

Why Do I Need a Bastion Host?

When it comes to teams working with many servers, deploying a bastion host (jump box) may be a clean and effective way to solve the long-term problem. With this method, you only expose SSH to the bastion, and the other servers accept it only when it’s from the bastion’s internal IP. This centralizes logging and makes auditing access far simpler.

Using a virtual private network (VPN) and a bastion host together is perfectly fine – and many solutions use both: a safe way to access the private network via a VPN, followed by use of a bastion host to restrict which servers can be accessed. Some teams may decide to forgo the bastion because they don’t have the manpower to manage one, and so use a combination of a VPN and a set of firewall rules that still quite a bit lowers the exposure, but without the extra effort.

Mistakes Leading to Leaving Cloud Servers Open

The Mistakes That Cause Leaving Cloud Servers Open: Even the safest development teams may have slip-ups from time to time. One of the most frequent is leaving staged, or test servers with relaxed firewall rules equivalent to those of the production environment – hackers don’t concern themselves with which environment they first land on. Another frequent error is reusing the same SSH key on several servers and clients, causing one hacked laptop to compromise all servers that key has access to.

Another common human error is not removing or changing access when someone leaves the team, so stale credentials remain valid and accessible. At last, putting trust in the strategy of “security through obscurity” – meaning one thinks that setting up the unusual port or hiding the hostname from the public is actually sufficient security – creates a wrong impression of security. This is mostly true; in reality, modern-day attackers scan all ports anyway, and there is no way to hide from them.

System Administrators Guide to Secure Remote Access 

Prohibit SSH password logins totally and depend exclusively on key-based authentication

  • Surely no one wants to type in the password every time; because of this, use only key-based authentication 
  • Deter the user from logging in as root by default and instead use the sudo command to do root tasks
  • A firewall or security group rule can provide great help with IP address-based restrictions on SSH logins 
  • For access that comes from untrusted sources or external networks, use a secure tunnel like a vpn or bastion host
  • Periodically change SSH keys and inspect access lists
  • Maintain records of login attempts and detect brute-force attacks as quickly as possible

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the principal means by which cloud servers suffer break-ins through remote access?

By far the biggest reason why this can happen is unauthorized password-based SSH logins that have been cracked by brute force. The scenario is most likely to develop where the administrator allows root login via password and leaves the default port open.

Sufficient security measures for the server via SSH keys: Do you think it is safe to rely only on key authentication? 

It is true that SSH keys drastically decrease the danger of a successful brute-force attack. However, if there is only key authentication on the server, there are still risks – the server administrator can always enable root login or disable the IP-based login restrictions. So it is recommended to always have these three in the server configuration: disabled root login, restricted access to known IPs, and rotating the keys regularly as the main components of meaningful protection. 

Is it really necessary to set up a separate VPN network while I am able to connect via SSH keys? 

A VPN gives extra security by first encrypting your computer traffic before it reaches your network, where the SSH connection will be used. This is mostly important when working on untrusted networks – like public wi-fi – where there is a threat of a potential hacker in your local network looking at your data.

Bastion host vs VPN as methods of accessing the server? 

The bastion host works by funneling SSH sessions from many users through a single, carefully monitored server point while the rest of the network (and mostly the servers) remains protected from the internet. At the same time, a vpn will fully encrypt the communication between the user and the corporate network or servers. The combination is very common among larger security teams as a part of the defense-in-depth principle. 

How often should SSH keys be rotated? 

The ideal period to change your SSH keys depends on the security practices of your organization, but generally a good practice is to change SSH keys between 90 and 180 days, or in the case that the user who had access with the key leaves or is no longer able to be contacted, such as when a team member leaves.

Why is only changing the port number for SSH enough to secure that port?

Changing the port reduces automated scanning noise in your logs but isn’t a real security control on its own — port scanners check all ports, so it should never replace key-based auth and firewall rules.

#Secure #Remote #Access #Cloud #ServerCloud,remote access">How to Secure Remote Access to Your Cloud Server in 2026

Protection against unauthorized remote logins to your cloud server is a matter of SSH key-based authentication, a strict security policy on the firewall, two-factor authentication, and a secure communication channel – no individual component will give adequate protection by itself. The major risk point in breaches is not the server but the open door to remote login. To patch that vulnerability, you need a series of countermeasures, not a magical setting.

Why Remote Server Access Is a Common Attack Vector

Every cloud server exposes at least one remote access point – usually SSH on port 22 – and that port is scanned constantly by bots looking for weak credentials. Password-based login is the most common way a system can be attacked by brute force, and it is quite common with a standard setup that the system is left in a state where an admin/user of that system – “root user” – can log in directly by guessing the user ID and the password combination. Add in shared team credentials, forgotten firewall rules from old projects, and staging servers left publicly reachable, and it’s clear why misconfigured remote access – not zero-day exploits – is behind most cloud server compromises. The fix is simple, though you’ll need to do some setup yourself instead of trusting the default setting.

How to lock down SSH access in the right way

The best way to secure remote access is through a series of small improvements rather than one major overhaul. The following is a real working method:

  1. Switch to SSH key authentication, then turn off password login completely in the same location: sshd_config. Keys are far harder to brute-force than passwords.
  2. Disable root login over SSH and require a non-root user with sudo privileges instead; this is a security advantage that even without any change, one key compromising would limit the impact.
  3. Change the default SSH port away from 22 to cut down on automated scanning noise (not a security measure on its own, but it reduces log clutter).
  4. Restrict access by IP using your firewall or security group, allowing SSH only from known office or VPN IP ranges rather than the entire internet.
  5. Add a VPN as a connection layer for anyone accessing servers from outside a trusted network – a VPN like Planet VPN’s free VPN service can encrypt the connection between a remote worker’s laptop and the server before SSH traffic ever leaves their device, which matters especially on public wi-fi or shared networks.

Every step you take closes the doors that the attacker may open slightly, and when you combine everything, you would have a door to a series of locked gates.

Why Do I Need a Bastion Host?

When it comes to teams working with many servers, deploying a bastion host (jump box) may be a clean and effective way to solve the long-term problem. With this method, you only expose SSH to the bastion, and the other servers accept it only when it’s from the bastion’s internal IP. This centralizes logging and makes auditing access far simpler.

Using a virtual private network (VPN) and a bastion host together is perfectly fine – and many solutions use both: a safe way to access the private network via a VPN, followed by use of a bastion host to restrict which servers can be accessed. Some teams may decide to forgo the bastion because they don’t have the manpower to manage one, and so use a combination of a VPN and a set of firewall rules that still quite a bit lowers the exposure, but without the extra effort.

Mistakes Leading to Leaving Cloud Servers Open

The Mistakes That Cause Leaving Cloud Servers Open: Even the safest development teams may have slip-ups from time to time. One of the most frequent is leaving staged, or test servers with relaxed firewall rules equivalent to those of the production environment – hackers don’t concern themselves with which environment they first land on. Another frequent error is reusing the same SSH key on several servers and clients, causing one hacked laptop to compromise all servers that key has access to.

Another common human error is not removing or changing access when someone leaves the team, so stale credentials remain valid and accessible. At last, putting trust in the strategy of “security through obscurity” – meaning one thinks that setting up the unusual port or hiding the hostname from the public is actually sufficient security – creates a wrong impression of security. This is mostly true; in reality, modern-day attackers scan all ports anyway, and there is no way to hide from them.

System Administrators Guide to Secure Remote Access 

Prohibit SSH password logins totally and depend exclusively on key-based authentication

  • Surely no one wants to type in the password every time; because of this, use only key-based authentication 
  • Deter the user from logging in as root by default and instead use the sudo command to do root tasks
  • A firewall or security group rule can provide great help with IP address-based restrictions on SSH logins 
  • For access that comes from untrusted sources or external networks, use a secure tunnel like a vpn or bastion host
  • Periodically change SSH keys and inspect access lists
  • Maintain records of login attempts and detect brute-force attacks as quickly as possible

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the principal means by which cloud servers suffer break-ins through remote access?

By far the biggest reason why this can happen is unauthorized password-based SSH logins that have been cracked by brute force. The scenario is most likely to develop where the administrator allows root login via password and leaves the default port open.

Sufficient security measures for the server via SSH keys: Do you think it is safe to rely only on key authentication? 

It is true that SSH keys drastically decrease the danger of a successful brute-force attack. However, if there is only key authentication on the server, there are still risks – the server administrator can always enable root login or disable the IP-based login restrictions. So it is recommended to always have these three in the server configuration: disabled root login, restricted access to known IPs, and rotating the keys regularly as the main components of meaningful protection. 

Is it really necessary to set up a separate VPN network while I am able to connect via SSH keys? 

A VPN gives extra security by first encrypting your computer traffic before it reaches your network, where the SSH connection will be used. This is mostly important when working on untrusted networks – like public wi-fi – where there is a threat of a potential hacker in your local network looking at your data.

Bastion host vs VPN as methods of accessing the server? 

The bastion host works by funneling SSH sessions from many users through a single, carefully monitored server point while the rest of the network (and mostly the servers) remains protected from the internet. At the same time, a vpn will fully encrypt the communication between the user and the corporate network or servers. The combination is very common among larger security teams as a part of the defense-in-depth principle. 

How often should SSH keys be rotated? 

The ideal period to change your SSH keys depends on the security practices of your organization, but generally a good practice is to change SSH keys between 90 and 180 days, or in the case that the user who had access with the key leaves or is no longer able to be contacted, such as when a team member leaves.

Why is only changing the port number for SSH enough to secure that port?

Changing the port reduces automated scanning noise in your logs but isn’t a real security control on its own — port scanners check all ports, so it should never replace key-based auth and firewall rules.

#Secure #Remote #Access #Cloud #ServerCloud,remote access

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