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Early Prime Day deals are here. Amazon’s Prime Day sale doesn’t officially start until July 8, but as it’s usually the case with Amazon, early deals start appearing much earlier than the kick-off date.

Our Prime Day coverage starts now, giving you live access to the best deals our team of experts can find. We will always use price tracking tools to make sure the deals you see are actually good deals, and not just hype designed to fool you.

You will need to be a Prime Member to have access to all of Amazon’s Prime Day deals and to get free shipping. Prime membership starts at $14.99 per month ($139 per year) and comes with a lot more benefits than people think. It’s easy to figure out if yearly Prime membership is worth it for you, but remember you can always cancel your Prime membership once the sale is over. Amazon offers free 30-day trials, so you can shop for the whole event and still have time to cancel before you get charged. (Here’s how to sign up for a Prime account.)

If this is your first Prime Day, you need to know some basics:

• You can share your Prime membership with family members even if they don’t live with you.

• You can set price alerts for products you want, and your Alexa devices can notify you when they go on sale.

• There are usually some “Invite-Only” deals that you can sign up for.

• There are tools you can use to see if the deal you’re looking at is good or not.

• Getting in contact with a real person can be difficult, but this is the fastest way to do so.

You can check out our live blog of the event below, which features the whole team’s coverage of all four days of Prime Day. We’ll continue covering new deals as they are published, but scroll through the blog to check out all of the best deals so far.

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I am always surprised how fast July rolls around, and I often feel like I’m too late for new summer garden plantings. But that’s simply not true. Just a week ago, I seeded another round of succession vegetables, and I started a tray of cosmos and sunflowers for an early fall bloom. Even zinnia seed can still go in the ground.

I’m taking a hybrid approach to seeding this year, rather than seeding in my greenhouse or direct sowing everything. I’m still using seeding trays for plants I’m worried about germination or pests getting at, but I’m skipping the indoor heat mats and leaving the trays outside in the sunshine. This has proven incredibly effective already as long as you keep them watered daily, or use a bottom-watering tray—that is, a tray filled with water underneath the seed tray so the soil can always draw whatever water it needs. As soon as the seedlings are a few inches tall, they can go into their final spots in the garden.

Succession seeding

Most years, I get a little cocky this time of year and don’t stay on top of my succession planting—and then I regret it. This year, I’m starting “Succession Saturday,” where every week, I force myself to get out, evaluate what needs turnover, and make sure I plant a few lettuces, radishes, turnips, beets, and kohlrabi. In July, add carrots to this, so you have them this fall.

Get ready for fall

Hopefully, you now have all your fall planting seeds ordered and received and know what you need to plant. July is when you’ll want to get these starts going so they’re ready to get slotted into gardening spots in late August/early September. As your summer plants get cleared out, you’ll replace them with fall plants. Think about your winter-hearty vegetables (which, admittedly, is a little tough when it’s 100 degrees out)—cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, root vegetables, etc. 

Now, take it a step farther. Imagine a fall and winter garden as full and productive as your summer garden. So when thinking of cauliflower, don’t just choose white cauliflower; pick a few different kinds that will be ready at different intervals, and be sure to choose orange and purple and lime cauliflower, too. Add romansco to the mix.

The same is true for broccoli: Choose purple re-sprouting broccoli, alongside multiple varieties of regular heading broccoli, but also Chinese broccoli and broccolini. For cabbage, I prefer pointy headed types like Early Jersey Wakefield. For the hearty soups I crave this winter, as well as cabbage rolls, I want gorgeous, giant heads of savoy cabbage in my garden; and to make quick stir fries, I fill the spaces between with Napa cabbage.

Perennials

Spend a moment thinking about every expensive perennial you fawn over at the nursery. Even four-inch pots were almost seven dollars this year, and it adds up quickly. Skip the nursery and grow them yourself, either from seeds or from a clipping, right now. If you can find someone with one of these perennials, you can usually grab a healthy clipping, strip the end, dip it in rooting powder and get that little guy into some potting soil. You can also do this to duplicate your own plants. If not, get some seeds and get to work. Instead of paying $30 for a coneflower this summer, grow 10 of them for $5 in seeds. If you start now, you’ll have a four-inch pot plant by fall, which can go into the ground and be beautiful next year.

Annuals

I’m a sucker for fall flowers, and it’s not too late, I assure you. I always regret not getting a second sowing of sunflowers in, so this year, I’ve done precisely that. It’s not too late to sow some cosmos, and come late August, you’ll be rewarded with six foot tall bows of flowers that look like cupcake wrappers. Zinnias can last well into fall, so seed more of them now. I always remember the year I overplanted African marigolds and enjoyed a fall where my whole garden was crowded out by giant puffballs in oranges and yellows.

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Gentle giants, cuddly friends, vicious monsters, deadly dragons: Even the earliest film depictions of dinosaurs evidence our complicated relationship with Earth’s prehistoric thunder lizards. Windsor McCay’s puckish Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) might be stubborn, but she’s unlikely to eat you, and might even dance if you ask politely.

D.W. Griffith’s Brute Force, also from 1914, doesn’t bother with the distinction between the age of the dinosaurs and the age of humans—which is a recurring bit of willful ignorance. Who doesn’t kinda want to ride a dinosaur? Buster Keaton’s Three Ages introduced more cave-people into the world of dinosaurs, while 1925’s The Lost World truly brought them to onscreen life. (The latter drew a distinction between the friendlier-seeming vegetarian dinosaurs and their carnivorous cousins, a conceit that’s held up through Jurassic Park and beyond.)

There’s lots of variety in the dinosaurs-on-film genre, with movies featuring dinosaur cops, robot dinosaurs, and any number of entirely made-up dinosaur-ish creatures. Before the release of Jurassic World Rebirth, the 7th movie movie in the definitely not extinct franchise, let’s consider other cinematic depictions of dinos that don’t have the word “Jurassic” in the title.

The Lost World (1925)

Not the first dinosaur movie in cinema history, but the first totally stun in terms of story and special effects, with stop motion animation from Willis O’Brien, who’d go on to work even greater magic on King Kong eight years later. Closely following the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who has a cameo), the film sees Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) and company travel to a South American plateau that’s been cut off from the rest of the world and the advance of time, preserving an broad range of dinosaurs from the cretaceous and Jurassic periods (Pteranodons, Brontosauruses, T-Rexes, Allosauruses, and a Triceratops or two coexist the on the all-but-inaccessible plateau alongside ancient human species). As with Kong, the real trouble starts when the scientists attempt to bring a specimen back to a modern city; London, in this case. You can stream the 1925 version of The Lost World on Tubi, Kanopy, and MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.

Walking With Dinosaurs (1999, 2025)

Even 25 years later, the original Walking with Dinosaurs remains the gold standard in dino-themed documentaries, its primary innovation being that it relies on the formula established for live-action nature shows, allowing us to observe the long-extinct (computer generated) creatures in the wild. Though much of the science has been superseded (and some of it was speculative even at the time), the series remains watchable for the way it crafts narratives around individual dinosaurs. (Take the second episode, which follows the life of a female diplodocus from hatching.) The result is something more immersive and compelling than the average dino documentary, with expensive visual effects that hold up reasonably well. The 2025 reboot uses a similar format, but splits time between digital reenactments and modern-day segments with paleontologists. The results are mixed: it’s nice to see actual scientists get screen time, but the back-and-forth between past and present pulls you right out of the narrative. Still, advances in technology since 1999 make the living dinosaur segments that much more stunning. You can buy the original Walking with Dinosaurs on Prime Video here, and find the new series here.

The Land Before Time (1988)

The emphasis in Don Bluth’s gorgeously animated journey to the time of the dinosaurs isn’t in striking terror or even generating awe, but instead in reimagining a prehistoric world from a child’s point of view. Sweet, but not without moments of tragedy, it’s a brisk and charming trip to the past. The quality of the series (with 13 sequels and a short-lived TV show) falls off rather quickly, so you could be forgiven for just watching this one and calling it a day. You can rent The Land Before Time from Prime Video.

Prehistoric Planet (2022 – 2023, ten parts)

The indefatigable David Attenborough (96 when this was produced) hasn’t slowed down even a little bit—he’s got two movies out so far this year and is working on a new Blue Planet series. The natural historian’s late brother, actor/director Richard Attenborough, is probably best known to modern audiences as John Hammond of the Jurassic Park series, lending David’s dinosaur-themed projects an added bit of poignance, especially as Jurassic Park/World returns to cinemas yet again. He’s in top form in this Apple TV+ effects-heavy, narrating a series of vignettes related to the creatures (large, and slightly less large) living on Earth in the Late Cretaceous period, around 66 million years ago. It was the first major dinosaur-themed series from the BBC in over a decade, and provides a very welcome update in both modern science (check out those feathered Velociraptors) and visual effects. You can stream Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV+.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Moving just about as far away from documentary as possible, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms stars a Rhedosaurus, an entirely fictional dinosaur born almost entirely from the imagination of the great special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen. Based on a Ray Bradbury short story, its success helped to inspire waves of 1950s monster movies, but Beast is (for all its city-stomping action) quite a bit more serious than most of its later imitators, at least making nods toward scientific accuracy and treating its atomic-blast origin story as more than just perfunctory. You can rent The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms from Prime Video.

Planet Dinosaur (2011, six parts)

Though mostly focused on the Late Cretaceous period, Planet Dinosaur jumps around a bit in time (what’s 75 million years, give or take, when dealing with dinosaurs), spotlighting ancient life on different parts of the globe and creating a sense of place by examining the different dinosaurs living at different locations on the Earth and their (very roughly) modern-day equivalents. Dozens of species take the screen, with segments focused on locations as far-reaching as Egypt, Madagascar, Svalbard, and Oklahoma. You can buy Planet Dinosaur from Prime Video.

The Good Dinosaur (2015)

The film opens with the asteroid that would have formed the Chicxulub crater and ushered in the end of the era of dinosaurs passing safely by the Earth. From there, an alternate history unfolds, imagining a world in which the terrestrial dinosaurs stuck around, telling the story of an Apatosaurus named Arlo, who meets a human friend on his journey back home. The beautiful Pixar animation and photorealistic settings are highlights, but the real joy is in exploring the idea of humans and dinosaurs interacting—one of the great what ifs of geologic history and the whole raison d’être of the Jurassic Park/World series. It’s far from the best film in the Pixar canon, but it’s far better than its reputation as the studio’s first flop. You can stream The Good Dinosaur on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.

Dinosaur 13 (2014)

The novelty of Dinosaur 13 is that it eschews the big picture, as it were, in favor of a focus on one particular fossil: in this case, “Sue,” the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil up to the time of its discovery in 1990 in the South Dakota Badlands. Unlike that earlier doc, 13 is more interested in the complexities of archaeological research, and not just the scientific aspects: The fossil was seized by the federal government shortly after its discovery, leading to a decade-long battle that involved the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the FBI, and the owner of the land on which Sue was found. It’s a fascinating look at the point where scientific discovery runs up against politics and culture. You can stream Dinosaur 13 on Tubi and Prime Video with Ads.

The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

This weird western finds the crew of a struggling, circa-1900 rodeo show led by T.J. (Gila Golan) hoping for a break; they find one, sort of, when they come across a tiny horse that a paleontologist, rather conveniently encountered, confirms to be a long (long) extinct species: Eohippus, to be precise, having been thought wiped out since the Early Eocene, some 50 million years ago. Deciding that there might be more such wonders in a mysterious valley, T.J. and company head off in search of wonders, encountering a Cretaceous Pteranodon and a Styracosaurus, among others, as well as Gwangi himself, a vicious Jurassic Allosaurus. It’s all incredibly silly, but very entertaining, and Ray Harryhausen is at the peak of his powers in animating the dinosaurs. You can stream The Valley of Gwangi on Prime Video.

Nova: Dinosaur Apocalypse (2022)

Another David Attenborough joint, the Nova special examines the events surrounding the asteroid impact that (probably) helped to wipe out the dinosaurs. This very recent special (from just last month) incorporates the latest in scientific research focused on well-preserved fossils that speak directly to the impact and provide new clues about one of the most fateful days in Earth’s history. You can stream Dinosaur Apocalypse on PBS or buy it from Prime Video.

Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955)

A charming travelogue from legendary Czech director Karel Zeman, this film blends life-sized models with puppetry and stop-motion animation to tell a about several kids who take a trip on a literal “river of time,” sending them back through natural history until, eventually, they encounter (and are endangered by) various dinosaurs, including a Stegosaurus and a very impressive terror bird, the Phorusrhacos (please do not ask me to pronounce it). The film was meant to be educational as well as entertaining, and makes use of the best science of the time. There’s a re-dubbed, partly re-shot American version available on YouTube, but it’s not nearly as good as the original cut. You can stream Journey to the Beginning of Time on The Criterion Channel.

Dinosaur (2000)

Its story of an orphaned Iguanodon adopted by lemurs is fairly stock Disney, and its blend of tragedy and cuteness often jars, but Dinosaur is still an impressively animated adventure that vividly imagines the world of the late Cretaceous populated by friendly Ankylosaurs, Styracosaurs, and Brachiosaurs, all of them hunted by fearsome Carnotaurs and our old friends the Velociraptors. Disney was expecting big things from this one, but Walking With Dinosaurs beat it to the punch by a year, and it wound up only eking out a profit after it was released on DVD. You can stream Dinoaur on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

The 1959 version is fine, but this slightly schmaltzy Brendan Fraser remake is rather delightful, all the more so because it’s explicitly aimed at kids. Fraser stars as volcanologist Trevor Anderson, who winds up stuck watching his nephew (Josh Hutcherson) while researching the idea that Verne’s famous novel wasn’t a work of fiction so much a travelogue of the author’s journey into a hollow earth. It’s all bright, colorful action from there on out, but with the surprisingly sweet center that Fraser brings to these types of movies. Plus, the climactic confrontation does T-Rex movies one better by spotlighting the even larger, more recently discovered Giganotosaurus. You can rent Journey to the Center of the Earth from Prime Video.

The Lost World (2001)

Another adaption of Arthur Conan Doyle adventure (there have been several, not including the unrelated Jurassic Park sequel), this family-friendly BBC take is generally faithful to Doyle’s story about a modern(-ish) expedition to an isolated plateau that hosts an isolated community of creatures that’ve long-since gone extinct elsewhere. The long film (it was sometimes aired as a miniseries) fleshes out its characters fairly well, includes some genuinely exciting sequences, and smartly expands upon Doyle’s thesis that we should, to whatever extent possible, leave nature to do its thing without human interference. The great Bob Hoskins plays Professor Challenger, and he’s joined by James Fox, Peter Falk, Matthew Rhys, Tom Ward, and Elaine Cassidy. You can stream The Lost World on Prime Video.

Life on Our Planet (2023)

Steven Spielberg produced this high-end nature series narrated by Morgan Freeman and covering the history of life on Earth from the very beginning using a blend of CGI and live-action. It’s not all dinosaurs, of course, but, given their long reign, it’s not surprising that they take up a lot of space here: out of eight episodes, they feature prominently in half, their coming dominance first teased in episode three. As in many of these prestige projects, scientific rigor yields to a general sense of awe—but it’s very effective on those terms, and the live-action footage blends nearly flawlessly with the digital recreations. You can stream Life on Our Planet on Netflix.

Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)

Is Tammy and the T-Rex a cinematic masterpiece? Uh, no. But does it include dinosaurs? …also no, not technically. It is a campy cult horror comedy about a giant robotic Tyrannosaurus rex that was made because writer/director Stewart Raffill had access to an animatronic dinosaur for a couple of weeks. Denise Crosby plays cheerleader Tammy whose new boyfriend, Michael (Paul Walker in his first major role) has issues with bullies—to the extent that they toss him into a literal lion’s den at an animal park, where he’s promptly mauled. Enter Terry Kiser as mad scientist Dr. Gunther Wachenstein who, like the director of the film we’re watching, has an impressive robot T-Rex (for some reason) that needs a brain. Once Michael has a dino-body, he goes on a bloody rampage, only to be saved by the power of love and a well-timed striptease. I’m not sure that any of this is terribly scientific, but the title dinosaur is pretty impressive, especially given the film’s very low budget. You can stream Tammy and the T-Rex on Peacock and Kanopy.

It certainly seems like the theme for our current era is “everything costs more,” and our energy bills are no exception. Utility companies around the country are planning to hike prices (which are already high), and the cost of electricity and natural gas may go up even more in the coming months. If you’re already stretching to afford your utility bills, that’s ominous news, and you’re probably already doing the basic stuff to keep your bills under control (programming your thermostat, turning down the AC, etc).

If that’s not cutting those bills down enough, there are some easy things you can do around the house to cut your energy costs even further. All it takes is some thoughtfulness and a few minor lifestyle adjustments, and you can save a surprising amount of money on your next utility bill.

Unplug appliances

Your home is full of “energy vampires”: Appliances that are constantly sipping electricity even when they’re not being used. While some of these vampires need to be plugged in all the time, unplugging devices and appliances when they’re not in use can have an impact on your energy bills—as much as $100 a year. That’s not a ton of cash, but unplugging stuff like TVs, coffee makers, printers, and other stuff when you’re not actively using them is a tiny inconvenience that’s worth the reward.

Reduce detergent

Take a moment to consider how you do laundry. Do you just pour detergent in with reckless abandon? Then you’re not only wasting detergent (which costs money to replace)—you’re also wasting energy. Using too much detergent in your washer makes the machine work harder, uses more water, and might even require extra loads to get rid of that slick, slimy, too-much-soap feeling.

You can look up the guidelines for your specific washer, but as a general rule, less is more when it comes to detergent. A tablespoon of liquid detergent or a quarter-cup of powder per load is plenty. You can experiment, starting with minimal detergent and seeing how things go until you figure out the absolute least that gets your laundry clean.

Wash in cold

While some loads of laundry might come out better if you wash it in hot water, these days, you can wash just about everything in cold—and doing so can save you a lot on your energy bill. As much as 90% of the energy your washer uses goes to heating up the water, so there’s no doubt that washing as much as you can in cold water will make a dent in your bills.

Clean your fridge

A simple way to cut down your energy use is to thoroughly clean out your refrigerator. A fridge crowded with expired condiments and ancient leftovers won’t have the airflow necessary for efficient cooling, and a grungy fridge with clogged vents and dirty coils will have to work a lot harder to keep everything chilled. You should clean your refrigerator regularly (every few months, or any time you’d be embarrassed for guests to see the state it’s in) anyway, so if you’ve been neglecting this appliance, your energy bills are a good reason to get on that.

Check your filters

Your air conditioners, furnaces, and other appliances have air filters that keep particles, debris, and pet fur out of their inner workings. If you haven’t cleaned or replaced those filters in a while, your appliances might be working extra hard and extra hot, draining more energy. Change those filters (or at least clean them) regularly to make sure you’re not wasting money—changing air filters on your furnace can save you $150 annually, for example.

Skip heat-generating appliances

Every appliance you use generates heat as a byproduct—called “waste heat.” If you get up close to your TV or the back of your fridge, you can feel that passive heat, and appliances like dishwashers and dryers use heat to dry out your dishes and clothes. And then there’s your oven, which is obviously designed to generate heat.

All that heat has to be dealt with when you’re trying to keep your house cool, so using these appliances less or at different times can help save energy by making your home easier to cool down. Using heat-generating appliances (e.g., the oven or dishwasher) at night when it’s cooler and using alternative appliances (e.g., cook with the microwave instead of the oven when possible) reduces the waste heat your climate control has to pump out.

Hang laundry outside to dry

If you’ve ever used solar energy to charge anything, you know that it’s literally energy from the sky that you get for free. You don’t need fancy devices to use it, either—if you’ve just finished a load of laundry, hang it out to dry on a line or on a drying rack in the sun instead of running the dryer. Using a clothesline can save you up to 20% on your energy bill.

Extra tip: Don’t leave your clothes in the dryer for hours (or days) so they become a wrinkled mess that now need to be dried again or ironed, wasting additional energy. By grabbing freshly-dried clothes immediately and folding or hanging them, you can avoid that scenario.

Use the dishwasher

If you think hand-washing your dishes is cheaper because there’s no electricity involved, think again. A relatively new dishwasher will use less than half the energy that hand-washing does, and will use a lot less water, to boot. It seems counter-intuitive, but using the dishwasher will cut your energy bills and save you money (and conserve water at the same time).

Clear vents

Whether you’re heating or cooling a home, a central system using air ducts means there are vents throughout the house where the cold or hot air enters each zone. If these vents are blocked in by furniture or other home decor (like heavy curtains), they can’t do their job very well. Your furnace or air conditioning will have to work extra hard to maintain the temperature, using more power. Auditing your home to ensure that all the vents are clear will save you money in the long run.

You also shouldn’t close off vents. If there’s a room or area of the house that’s much hotter than the rest of the place, for example, you might think closing the vent will help—but most HVAc systems are designed for a specific square footage, and closing off vents can unbalance it, leading to less efficiency and higher costs.

Install motion sensor lights

Leaving lights on in a room you’re not using is just draining electricity from the grid and money from your account for no purpose. We all forget to turn off lights from time to time, and sometimes you need that light to stay on until you’re out of the room to see where you’re going. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that lighting accounts for about 6% of household energy use, so keeping those lights off as much as possible can have a big impact on your bills. Installing motion sensor lights where possible can help, because you won’t have to think about it: The lights come on when you’re using the room, and go off when you’re not.

Use blackout curtains

During the warm weather, your home heats up in a variety of ways. One of those ways is solar heat gain—the energy of the sun pouring in through your windows and turning the place into a sauna. Hanging heavy blackout-style curtains can block out the sun and reduce that heat gain by as much as 33%, making it easier (and cheaper) to cool down the house.

Turn down the water heater

If you’ve never paid attention to your water heater’s thermostat, now’s the time. If it’s set higher than 120º, you’re wasting energy. Not only does a higher setting increase your risk of getting burned, it’s hotter than you probably need, and it’s costing you as much as an extra $61 per year.

You should also consider insulating your water heater. If it’s warm to the touch, it’s bleeding heat and working harder to keep your water hot. Wrapping it in an insulating blanket can save you as much as 16% of the cost to operate the water heater.

Use off-peak energy

You can also contact your utility company to find out if they offer an “off-peak” or “time of use” plan. Under these plans, electricity costs more at peak times when people are using a lot of it—say, the middle of the day on a hot afternoon—than at lower-use times (at night, when temperatures cool and air conditioners are turned down). If you adhere to a rigid schedule and use your appliances only during the off-peak period, you can save as much as 40% off your energy bills.

In recent weeks, you may have come across the unfortunate story of the OneDrive user who found they were locked out of 30 years’ worth of work and data after Microsoft—apparently without any explanation or warning—revoked access to their cloud storage locker and everything inside it.

I’m not going to get into the details of that particular case here, but it’s a reminder that you really need more than one backup to be fully sure that your digital safety net is big enough. From hacks to floods, the number of ways that your files can be destroyed are many and varied, and we’ve written before about the dangers of relying on just one backup for the files that are most important to you.

As you might expect from someone who’s signed up to three music streaming services, I also pay for more than one cloud storage service. Admittedly it’s an extra cost, but if you think about how important your data is, you may find it worth the investment too—here’s the case for doing it and a few tips for making it work.

Choose your cloud storage services

Not all cloud storage services are created equal, and you’ll need to do a little planning when it comes to picking which ones to combine. Apple’s iCloud Drive service works perfectly on Apple devices, for example, but support is more patchy for Windows computers and non-existent for your Android phones and tablets.

Dropbox is one of the better choices for additional backups, because it’s not associated with any of the big three as far as mobile and desktop platforms go: Apple, Microsoft, and Google. It works efficiently and quietly in the background across Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS, and integrates neatly with all of them. Proton Drive is another good alternative to the big three.

When making your choice, I’d recommend looking at the desktop and mobile clients that are available, as well as the web interfaces: If you lose access to your main devices, you may have to rely on the web apps to get at your important data, so being able to open up files, share them, and move them around is important.

Look for the extras you get as well: Pay $20 per month for Google AI Pro (previously Google One AI Premium), and not only do you get 2TB of cloud storage to play around with, you also get access to the best Gemini AI models. With Microsoft OneDrive, meanwhile, you can pay $10 a month for both 1TB of storage and all the desktop Office apps.

Keep everything working together

Ideally you want a laptop or a desktop to be your main hub for multiple backups, because it’s a little easier to manage multiple apps and services than it is on a phone or tablet. Try and consolidate everything in one folder and its subfolders, so you always know what’s being backed up and what isn’t.

Check inside the settings for your chosen apps, and you should find you can configure which folders are included in the backup. The clients for Apple iCloud, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive can all sync files from your desktop as well as your user account folders, for example—it’s just a question of picking the right folders from a list.

Another feature common across most cloud storage services is the option to keep local copies of files as well as those in the cloud: You’ll usually be pushed to only use file placeholders on your laptop or desktop, in the interests of freeing up hard drive space, but if you have the room, it’s best to keep full copies of everything for all the reasons already mentioned (and if your internet goes down).

With two-way syncing configured on your selected cloud storage services, any changes made locally will be synced to the cloud, and vice versa. There’s always the danger of accidentally deleting files—which will delete copies in every location—but all the major cloud storage apps will warn you about mass deletions, and keep deleted files for several weeks in case you need to bring them back.

Try and keep costs down

I appreciate that we’re living in costly times, and you’re probably already paying for enough digital subscriptions as it is—adding another expense on top just in case Google’s cloud storage servers fail may seem excessive. But these problems do happen.

One way to try and keep costs down is to share one or more cloud storage services with other people. Many of the big providers offer family plans, so you can share the financial burden with a loved one—or maybe they can keep a second backup for you, and you can keep a second backup for them, to avoid paying twice over. Look out for bundled services too, like Apple One.

You can also make use of the free storage allocations that are available. These are pretty paltry—15GB for Google Drive, Google Photos and Gmail, for example—but if you’re using them as emergency rather than primary backups, there may be enough room to store your most important files, the ones that you absolutely can’t do without.

If you’re unable or unwilling to sign up for another cloud storage provider, consider creating a secondary backup on an external hard drive, and regularly refreshing the files on it: You’ll still be able to access it if something happens to your cloud storage. Just make sure it’s not in the same physical location as your laptop or desktop, because fire, flood, or theft could quickly wipe out both copies of your files in one go.

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If you have some big plans for yard work this summer to upgrade your outdoor space, or if you’ve decided to make the switch to cordless electric equipment, prices might be getting in your way. The cost of replacing landscaping equipment can be steep, but you can take advantage of seasonal deals to shrink your tool budget. Here are my favorite early Prime Day deals on landscaping and gardening tools from Amazon.

Cordless electric mower deal

Battery-powered landscaping tools have come a long way in the last few years, with higher capacity, higher output batteries, for a longer run time and more power—so they’re more convenient than they used to be. If you’re considering making the move to a cordless mower from a gas-powered one, it can save you some money on fuel over time, but the initial investment on an electric model can be expensive. Here are some deals ahead of Prime Day from Amazon on cordless electric lawn mowers.

• The Makita 36-volt, 18-inch cordless mower is on sale for $445, 26% off its regular price. This mower runs on two 18-volt batteries, and it comes with a set of four 4-amp-hour batteries and a charger, allowing you to have a fresh set of batteries on the charger for continuous operation. The 18-volt batteries that come with this tool are compatible with other 18-volt Makita tools, so it can be a good expansion for your existing kit.

• The Greenworks 40-volt, 16-inch cordless electric mower is on sale for $194.99, 35% off its regular price. This mower comes with a 40-volt, 4-amp-hour battery and a charger. This is a good basic cordless mower, but you’ll need to charge between uses, as it only comes with one battery.

• The EGO 56-volt, 21-inch self-propelled cordless electric mower is on sale for $599.99, 43% off its typical price. This mower comes with two rapid-charging, 56-volt, 7.5-amp-hour batteries and a rapid charger. The batteries will run for up to an hour between charges, and the rapid charger can replenish their charge in an hour, making this mower a good deal if you have lots of mowing to do, as you can use it continuously with what comes in the box.

Blowers

I’m not a huge fan of leaf blowers because, as an allergy sufferer, I find that they kick a lot of pollen into the air—and they also tend to be quite loud. However, battery-powered, cordless blowers are quieter, and there are times when a leaf blower is the right tool for the job, like clearing walkways to prevent slippery moss, for instance. There are some good deals on leaf blowers ahead of Prime Day on Amazon to tackle all your leaf-moving needs.

• The Makita 18-volt, 116MPH, 459 CFM blower is on sale for $140, 42% off its regular price. This is a tool-only deal, so you’ll need an 18-volt Makita battery and charger to use it. This is a good blower for general yard clean-up.

• The EGO 56-volt 200 MPH, 765 CFM blower is on sale for $186, 34% off its usual price. This blower is a tool-only deal, so you’ll need an EGO 56-volt battery and charger to go with it. This is a larger capacity blower and is powered to handle a large area.

• The Milwaukee 12-volt, adjustable-speed blower is on sale for $70, 40% off its typical price. This is a tool-only deal, so you’ll need a Milwaukee 12-volt battery and charger to use it. This is a compact tool for smaller job site cleanup.

Pruning and trimming

If you have hedges, shrubs, or trees in your yard, keeping them properly trimmed is crucial, not only for appearance but for safety as well. Untrimmed branches too close to your exterior walls can make your home more vulnerable in a fire, and can also shorten the lifespan of your siding by holding moisture near your home. But power tools for pruning can be expensive, so taking advantage of seasonal deals on cordless cutting and trimming tools is key. Here are some deals ahead of Prime Day on Amazon to help you successfully wrangle all your branches while keeping your budget in check.

• The Makita 18-volt, 14-inch cordless electric chainsaw is on sale for $399, 41% off its typical price. This saw comes with two 18-volt, 5-amp-hour batteries and a double charger. It accepts both batteries at once to produce 36 volts of power for cutting medium-to-large branches.

• The Makita 18-volt reciprocating saw is on sale for $100, 45% off its typical price. This is a tool-only deal, so you’ll need an 18-volt Makita battery and charger to use it. This is a good saw for trimming small to medium branches in tight spaces.

• The Greenworks 24-volt, 15-inch cordless string trimmer is on sale $169.99, 26% off its typical price. The trimmer comes with two 24-amp, 5-amp-hour batteries and a charger. The two batteries allow you to always have a fresh battery ready to go.

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If you’re trying to keep an eye on your home without running wires through your walls, this 3-pack of Ring’s battery-powered Stick Up Cams might be worth a look. It’s currently available for $149.97 ahead of Prime Day, which isn’t exactly a budget buy but still knocks $70 off the regular price. And because these are battery-powered and weather-resistant, they’re equally suited for indoor bookshelves or outdoor patios. You could easily mount one over your entryway, angle another toward the garage, and let the third watch your living room.

Video is sharp at 1080p, and motion detection is quick to respond, according to this PCMag review. You’ll get instant notifications when something moves, plus access to two-way audio to check in or talk. Night vision kicks in automatically and shows a decent view up to about 30 feet. You can also set motion zones and snooze alerts if needed. These cameras don’t pan or tilt on their own, but the 130-degree field of view gives you a wide enough look for most home setups. The app also lets you control settings, monitor battery levels, and integrate with Alexa or IFTTT, so you can link it with other smart devices like lights or locks.

That said, the biggest catch here is the cloud subscription. Without it, you’ll still see what’s happening live and get motion alerts, but nothing gets saved. The Basic Ring Home plan is $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year and supports one camera with up to 180 days of saved footage. The Standard plan costs $9.99 monthly or $99.99 yearly and covers all your cameras with added perks like extended live view and daily event summaries. And for those wanting around-the-clock recording and smart search features, the Premium tier runs $19.99 per month or $199.99 annually. It’s worth doing the math before jumping in, but for folks who want a clean, versatile security setup with minimal fuss, this kit checks most boxes.

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The JBL Xtreme 4 is massive, right at the limit of what I would consider a portable speaker, with powerful sound that can handle a large backyard barbecue party. Right now, it’s $130 off during Early Prime Day, bringing its price down to $249.95 (originally $379.95). That’s a record low price for this particular speaker, according to price tracking tools. Even though Prime Day doesn’t officially start until next week, I doubt this speaker will go any lower in price.

I’ve been using the JBL Xtreme 4 outdoor speaker for months, taking it with me to hang out in my backyard, in my office, and to host soccer games with Street FC. Since I have other JBL speakers, I am able to take full advantage of the Aurocast feature, which lets me connect it to other JBL speakers for a fuller sound. I also find the full EQ customization and presets useful.

The speaker is powerful, which makes sense for a speaker of this size. What stands out the most is its powerful bass, which is typical of JBL speakers. Since it is IP67 rated, it can be submerged underwater and resists dust, making it perfect for the beach. It also comes with a detachable carrying strap that makes carrying it much easier.

The battery can last about 27 hours, depending on your use, but I’ve managed to stretch it past that point by being conservative with the volume. Speaking of volume, it’s a directional speaker, meaning it’ll project to wherever it’s facing. In my backyard, I try to place it as far back as I can and pump up the volume, which has worked well for my gatherings of about 12 people.

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If you’re ready to upgrade from tracking your steps to something more performance-driven, investing in a running watch might be your best move. The Garmin Forerunner 255 running watch is designed to help runners optimize training and improve performance, and right now, it’s 43% off on Amazon, the lowest price it’s ever reached according to price trackers. With GPS tracking, comprehensive stats, free training plans, and training evaluations to monitor performance and provide feedback, it’s like a built-in running coach for your wrist.

This discounted model has a larger 46mm screen (compared to the 41mm version) and is the non-music edition, meaning it doesn’t store or play music, so you’ll still need your phone for playlists. It lasts up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and 30 hours in GPS mode, with accurate tracking via multiple satellite systems. At just 1.7 ounces, it’s lightweight despite its size, and features a sweat-resistant silicone band and Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The button-based interface (rather than a touchscreen) may also appeal to runners who want reliable control during a sweaty workout.

The built-in Garmin Coach feature offers free adaptive training plans for 5K, 10K, and half-marathon distances. You can also create custom workouts via the Garmin Connect app. The watch provides training tips and personalized workout suggestions that adapt based on your post-run performance and recovery, tracking heart rate and using SatIQ technology to balance GPS accuracy with battery life. It even evaluates your current routine to help you avoid under-training or overexertion.

When worn overnight, HRV status can track your heart rate during sleep and provide additional insight into your overall wellness. However, given the slightly bulky nature of the watch, it may not be comfortable for some people to sleep with. While it’s a favorite among runners, many Amazon reviewers also highlight its accuracy for open water and pool swims, making it a versatile watch for different kinds of fitness lovers.

While it’s ideal for runs and everyday use, its stainless steel casing isn’t as rugged as Garmin’s Fenix or Instinct series, and if you want built-in music, you may want to splurge on the brand’s upgraded model instead. If you don’t need those premium features, the Garmin Forerunner 255 running watch offers solid value with GPS accuracy, in-depth training insights, and a long battery life for runners who want to train smart without overspending.