File this one under “things that might have a shot after the midterms.” On Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act. The bill would require an immediate pause on data center construction until specific new regulations are passed.

The legislation aims to address the problem that AI is advancing faster than Washington’s regulatory response (basically none) has kept pace. Despite its benefits, the technology poses grave threats to the job market and the environment. Rapidly advancing deepfakes could soon leave people unable to determine truth from fiction. (That is, more than online propaganda already has.) AI also makes mass surveillance easier than ever, potentially giving unelected tech leaders unfettered control over society.

“Last year alone, AI was responsible for over 54,000 layoffs nationwide,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said in a press conference. “And when we talk about those jobs, it’s not just a number. These are industries. These are communities. These are families… All of this harm has occurred not in spite of, but because of, the absence of federal legislation to regulate AI.”

SOPA Images via Getty Images

The bill would mandate not only an immediate pause on new data center construction but also on the upgrading of existing ones. This moratorium would only be lifted after one or more laws were passed to provide federal oversight of AI products.

First, AI products would need to be proven safe for humanity. (That includes not just physical safety, but also areas like civil rights, privacy and public health.) The wealth AI generates would need to be shared with the American people, not just the billionaire tech bros pulling the strings. Protections would need to be in place to safeguard against mass unemployment. (Increasingly, companies are flat-out admitting that their layoffs are due to AI automation.)

The legislation would also require future data centers to be environmentally safe. They would need to avoid increasing electricity or other utility bills for Americans. AI data centers would have to create union jobs “with strong labor standards.” Communities affected by them would be empowered to approve or reject their construction or upgrades. And no government subsidies could be provided for them.

“A moratorium will give us time,” Sen. Sanders said. “Time to understand the risks. Time to protect working families. Time to defend our democracy. And time to ensure that technology works for all of us, not just the few.”

Tom Williams via Getty Images

On the one hand, these could be popular proposals. In a December poll, 60 percent of Americans — including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents — said they supported more AI regulation.

However, in Washington’s current environment, well, don’t get your hopes up. AI companies are pouring enormous sums of money into campaigns for both political parties. The industry spent at least $83 million in federal elections last year — and that was an off-year without national elections. And of course, anti-regulatory Republicans currently control the presidency, both chambers of Congress and (essentially) the Supreme Court.

So, fat chance it goes anywhere right now. But depending on how the 2026 midterms (and beyond) shake out… who knows? One can dream, anyway.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/sanders-and-ocasio-cortez-introduce-a-bill-to-pause-us-data-center-construction-174451974.html?src=rss

Text generated by artificial intelligence often has a particular vibe that gives it away as machine-generated, but it has become harder to pick out those idiosyncrasies as the tech has improved. We may be seeing a similar evolution of generative AI audio. Google has announced a new AI audio model called Gemini 3.1 Flash Live—as the name implies, it’s designed for real-time conversation. It’s rolling out in some Google products starting today, and developers will be able to start building their own chatty robots with the model, too.

Google says this AI is much faster and produces speech with a more natural cadence, aiming to solve a long-running issue with AI-generated speech. Like a chatbot, there’s always a delay between input and output in generative audio systems. Longer delays and unnatural inflection make conversations feel sluggish and harder to follow. Researchers generally believe 300 milliseconds of latency is about the limit for optimal speech perception, but Google has not specified any particular delay for Gemini 3.1 Flash Live. It just vaguely has the speed you need.

But benchmark numbers? Google has plenty of those, which it claims show that 3.1 Flash Live will be a more reliable way to have audio-to-audio AI conversations. For example, a big gain in the ComplexFuncBench Audio shows the new model is better at complex, multi-step tasks. Gemini 3.1 Flash Live also tops the charts in the Big Bench Audio test, which evaluates reasoning with a set of 1,000 audio questions.

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English Wikipedia has banned the use of generative AI when writing or rewriting articles. The platform says it came to this decision because using AI to whip up copy “often violates several of Wikipedia’s core content policies.”

There are a couple of minor exceptions. Editors can use large language models (LLMs) to refine their own writing, but only if the copy is checked for accuracy. The policy states that this is because LLMs “can go beyond what you ask of them and change the meaning of the text such that it is not supported by the sources cited.”

Editors can also use LLMs to assist with language translation. However, they must be fluent enough in both languages to catch errors. Once again, the information must be checked for inaccuracies.

“My genuine hope is that this can spark a broader change. Empower communities on other platforms, and see this become a grassroots movement of users deciding whether AI should be welcome in their communities, and to what extent,” Wikipedia administrator Chaotic Enby wrote. The administrator also called the policy a “pushback against enshittification and the forceful push of AI by so many companies in these last few years.”

There is one thing worth noting. Wikipedia is not a monolith. Each Wikipedia site has its own independent rules and editing teams. Some may decide to embrace LLMs. However, others may go even further. Spanish Wikipedia, for instance, has fully banned the use of LLMs, with no exceptions for refinement or translation.

Also, identifying text written by LLMs is not an exact science so Wikipedia’s human moderators could miss some spots of slop every now and again. This is more likely on pages with less frequent moderation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/wikipedia-has-banned-ai-generated-articles-173641377.html?src=rss

WhatsApp just announced a slew of updates for iPhone users, playing catch-up with some of the features that have existed on Android for years. With this update, iPhone users can expect multiple accounts, easy cross-platform transfers, an option to only clear the media from chats, and, of course, a couple of Meta AI features to round things off. According to WhatsApp, the update is rolling out now and will be available to everyone soon—though as it’s a slow rollout, it might take time before it’s live on your iPhone.

iPhone users can finally have two WhatsApp accounts at once

The biggest update here is the addition of multi-account support, something that WhatsApp has been testing on iPhone since last January, and a feature that has been live on Android since 2023. Now, just like Android, you can use two WhatsApp accounts on your iPhone: perhaps one for work, and one for personal use. But because this is WhatsApp, the second account will need a separate phone number (that’s when eSIM is going to be helpful). Once they are set up, you will get notifications and messages from both accounts, and you can switch between the active account from the Profile menu in the tab bar.

iPhone to Android chat transfer gets easier

WhatsApp just made transferring your chats between two phones much easier. It all happens over wifi now (previously you needed to connect using a USB-C cable). On your iPhone, go to Settings > Chats > Transfer chat history > Transfer to Android to get started. Make sure that your iPhone is unlocked, and when prompted, scan a QR code, and connect to a stable wifi network.

Free up space without deleting complete chats

Usually, it’s the photos and videos that take up the most space on WhatsApp. The app has a dedicated storage management tool that will delete images and videos in bulk, but now, WhatsApp is bringing it directly into your conversations. Following the update, you’ll find a Manage Storage option in every thread. You can select all the media to delete with a tap, while keeping all your text messages, links, and documents safe.

WhatsApp has new sticker suggestions

WhatsApp wants you to switch from regular emojis to its animated stickers. When you type commonly used emojis (say, the heart emoji), it will suggest stickers instead (a pulsating, red heart). You can tap on a sticker to swap out the emoji.

WhatsApp has new AI features for you to ignore

It wouldn’t be a Meta update without the addition of new Meta AI features. WhatsApp is updating its Writing Help feature, which it introduced last year. Writing Help takes your message and suggests a couple of revised versions to replace it with, each in different tones, and all processed locally using WhatsApp’s Private Processing feature. Now, WhatsApp can directly draft a reply to a message based on the conversation. This too happens locally, and the chat remains private. Lastly, you can now use Meta AI to touch up photos before sending them off in WhatsApp. You can remove distracting objects, change the background, or apply a different style to the photo.

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If you’re eyeing a new pair of over the ear headphones, you have no shortage of options. But if you’re looking for something that fits neatly into the Apple ecosystem without costing the same as a MacBook Neo (looking at you, AirPods Max), your best bet might just be the Beats Studio Pro. Right now, they’re up to 35% off for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale—so long as you don’t mind the color grey.

Beats Studio Pro

$159.99
at Amazon

$246.62
Save $86.63

$159.99
at Amazon

$246.62
Save $86.63

Beats Studio Pro come with features you’d expect from headphones with “Pro” in the name. That includes Active Noise Cancelling, of course, a must for over-the-ear headphones, but also Transparency mode, which pumps in external sounds so you don’t need to take off your headphones to hear what people are saying to you. Beats says the Studio Pro have up to 40 hours of battery life, and reduce distortion by up to 80% when compared to Beats Studio. The headphones have a built in DAC, which makes them a great for listening to lossless music when connected via USB-C.

While all Beats are designed to work with both iOS and Android, Apple users will find the experience more ideal. Apple owns Beats, and, as such, integrates the headphones into their ecosystem just as they do with their own AirPods. When you turn on Beats Studio Pro, it will automatically pair with the first Apple device you have open—say, your iPhone. Once paired, it’ll be able to automatically connect to any other Apple device you have under that iCloud account. You can switch to your Mac, play something in Apple Music, and hear it in your Beats, without having to manually pair them first. They even work with Find My, so you can locate your Beats with your Apple device if you misplace them.

As of now, the only color that gets Amazon’s Big Spring Sale deal is Sand Gray. Amazon has discounts on the other colors as well, but they’ll run you $199.95. If you aren’t married to a particular color, Sand Gray is the best value as of this writing.

Ancient Slashdot reader wiredog writes: Tracy Kidder, author of “The Soul of a New Machine,” has died at the age of 80. “The Soul of a New Machine” is about the people who designed and built the Data General Nova, one of the 32 bit superminis that were released in the 1980’s just before the PC destroyed that industry. It was excerpted in The Atlantic.

“I’m going to a commune in Vermont and will deal with no unit of time shorter than a season.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Many of our graphics card reviews early last year and in the early 2020s focused on the difficulties of reviewing and recommending graphics cards when the manufacturer-suggested price points effectively didn’t exist. Now, reviews of any new PC component have to contend with the much more broadly awful market for consumer PC parts as AI data center-fueled demand for RAM and flash memory chips drives up prices for DDR5 kits, SSDs, and GPUs.

In our August 2025 system guide, 32GB of DDR5 and a decent 2TB SSD would run you less than $200. Today, you’d pay between three and four times as much for similar components.

This is the context that Intel’s Core Ultra 200S Plus chips—the $199 Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and $299 Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, still codenamed Arrow Lake just like the originals—have launched into. They’re solid performers, they’re reasonably power-efficient, and for heavy multi-threaded workloads, they’re a better value than what AMD can offer for the same price (though even years-old non-X3D AMD chips retain a small edge in games).

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Following backlash, OpenAI won’t be rolling out an erotic version of ChatGPT any time soon.

According to the Financial Times, the controversial plan has been shelved “indefinitely” as OpenAI “refocuses” its attention on “core products.”

Insiders told FT that OpenAI mulled scrapping the “adult mode” plan entirely, as even its own advisors warned that ChatGPT users could form unhealthy attachments, which might harm their mental health. One advisor chillingly suggested that the tweak risked turning ChatGPT into a “sexy suicide coach.”

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Garmin’s Vivoactive watches are some of my favorites for casual fitness tracking. The Vivoactive 6 is the newest version, but right now you can get a steal on the Vivoactive 5 for just $179.99 in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale. 

Garmin vívoactive 5 Health and Fitness GPS Smartwatch

$179.95
at Amazon

$194.85
Save $14.90

$179.95
at Amazon

$194.85
Save $14.90

The Vivoactive 5 originally launched at $299.99 in 2023. When the Vivoactive 6 came out, the 5 dropped to $229.99. It’s been hovering around the $200 mark since the holiday season, but is now at $179.99, give or take a few dollars depending on which color you choose. 

For more about why I like the Vivoactives, check out my comparison of the Vivoactive 5 with the Pixel Watch 3, where the Vivoactive pulls off an underdog win. It’s cheaper, the fitness features are faster and easier to access, and it has more than a week’s worth of battery life. While I don’t have a dedicated review of the Vivoactive 5, I’d recommend reading my review of the Vivoactive 6, a similar watch. The 6 added more coaching options, and a more robust navigation system, but otherwise the differences are mostly superficial. The core features are the same on both. 

Those core features include a 42-millimeter body (that’s on the smaller size for smartwatches); a touchscreen for most features but physical buttons to start, stop and lap workouts; Garmin’s always-excellent workout tracking and analytics; and everyday conveniences like hydration and relaxation reminders, a morning report, weather forecasts, and incident detection. The Vivoactive watches also have a mode for wheelchair users that counts pushes rather than steps, and includes wheelchair and hand-cycling activities. 

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Valerie Cherish is back, and not a moment too soon. Twenty years after a modestly rated but absolutely brilliant first season, mega-cringe Hollywood satire The Comeback has returned to HBO for one more painfully embarrassing season (complimentary) Co-created by and starring Lisa Kudrow, it’s the hilarious, dark, and occasionally moving story of a C-list celebrity determined to stay in the limelight at whatever cost.

Valerie Cherish—clueless, egotistical, and all-too-human—is one of TV’s indelible characters, simultaneously a victim of ageism, misogyny, and celebrity culture, and also a woman who doesn’t care about any of that provided she can find a way to scrabble to the top. Likewise, these 10 shows spotlight women (mostly) of a certain age navigating career challenges with…mixed results.

Hacks (2021 – )

On the surface, Valerie Cherish and Deborah Vance don’t have all that much in common, but they often feel like two sides of a coin in the ways in which they battle, and concede to, the pressures of being a woman in modern show business. Hacks finds 25-year-old writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) struggling to get her career back one track after getting cancelled over a tweet. She reluctantly takes a job with Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a comedy trailblazer who remains popular with an older Vegas crown, but whose career is largely on autopilot. They’re an entirely mismatched pair, but their chemistry is ultimately explosive, with Jean Smart doing some of the best work of her incredible career as the often deeply unlikeable Vance, and Einbinder more than holding her own in return. It’s funny, bitchy, and surprisingly moving when it wants to be. Stream Hacks on HBO Max.

Hacks (2021 – )

Girls5eva (2021 – 2024)

The premise is very much about a comeback: A very ‘90s group (Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, and Renée Elise Goldsberry) who made it big very briefly with exactly one hit song gets its own shot at a career resurgence (they’re Girls5eva because they expected to be in the game “longer than 4 ever”—turned out, not so much; also there used to be a fifth member, but she died in a tragic infinity pool accident). After an up-and-coming rapper samples one of their old hits, the band reunites to try to find new relevancy in the 2020s. It doesn’t go great! Tina Fey is one of the executive producers, and the (very fun) ’90s-inspired original music was composed and written for the show by the creators. Stream Girls5Eva on Peacock and Netflix.

Girls5eva (2021 – 2024)

at Peacock

at Peacock

Veep (2012 – 2019)

There’s a sweet vulnerability to Valerie Cherish absent from pretty much anyone in Veep, but the air of cringeworthy desperation hangs heavy over both shows. Veep asks: What if the very worst people imaginable had control of all the levers of power in America? What would that be like? In the highly satirical and in no way politically relevant series, Julia Louis-Dreyfus brilliantly plays Vice President Selina Meyer: part icon, part worst-case-scenario for the feminist dream. The supporting cast consists almost entirely of entitled rich people climbing over each other for infinitesimal extra bits of power while trying to appear as folk heroes to the rubes (us voters). It’s one of the funniest shows ever on TV, with the nastiest put-downs…if you can handle the fact that history has overtaken it in favor of a reality that’s even more absurd. Stream Veep on HBO Max.

Veep (2012 – 2019)

at HBO Max

at HBO Max

The Studio (2025 – )

Industry exec Matt Remick (Comeback vet Seth Rogen) loves movies, and when he signs on for a high-profile role at the fictional Continental Studios, he feels like his time has come. He aims to make a real difference in returning an increasingly IP-driven movie industry to its creative roots.—until about a minute into his new job, when the CEO (Bryan Cranston) reveals his first order of business will be marketing the Kool-Aid Man Movie. Hollywood satires of yore have focused on the industry as one that eats people up and spits them out, but the spin here is that Remick yearns for those good old days, much as Valerie can never quite seem to move forward. The late Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies), and Kathryn Hahn also star, and like The Comeback, the show boasts a long list of celebrity cameos. Stream The Studio on Apple TV+.

The Studio (2025 – )

at Apple TV+

at Apple TV+

Enlightened (2011 – 2013)

Before The White Lotus, Mike White co-created (with star Laura Dern) this beloved, if short-lived, comedy-drama about a middle-aged woman who has a complete mental breakdown following a demotion at the job to which she’s devoted her life. Following a two-month stay in an holistic treatment facility, Dern’s Amy Jellicoe becomes determined to approach life with a new perspective, focusing on meditation and positive change at work and at home. The results are mixed, but there’s also a rather beautiful sense that change is absurd and difficult, but also entirely possible. Stream Enlightened on HBO Max.

Enlightened (2011 – 2013)

No Good Deed (2024)

I’m adding this one largely for the Lisa Kudrow of it all, but there’s a similar vein of dark comedy here—plus, No Good Deed is a pretty great show that a lot of people missed. The setup sounds like a juicy crime thrillers: Kudrow is retired pianist Lydia; Ray Romano is her husband, Paul. The two are in rather tricky financial straits and need to sell their home without wanting to seem too desperate to prospective buyers—and also hide a secret involving a death a few years prior. For all that, it’s very much a comedy, with a great supporting cast that includes Linda Cardellini, Luke Wilson, O-T Fagbenle, and Teyonah Parris. Stream No Good Deed on Netflix.

No Good Deed (2024)

Younger (2015 – 2021)

Rather than a young woman seeking to make a name for herself, Younger follows Liza Miller (Sutton Foster), a recently divorced woman in her 40s who finds that age is a barrier to reentering the publishing industry she left years earlier. After a compliment convinces her that she could pass for a younger woman, she lies that she’s just 26 (must be nice) in order to land an entry-level job. Misadventures ensue. Think of it as a story of coming-of-age, again. Stream Younger on Netflix.

Younger (2015 – 2021)

at Netflix

at Netflix

Hot in Cleveland (2010 – 2015)

In contrast to The Comeback’s reality TV style and structure, this is very much a traditional three-camera sitcom, albeit one with a stacked cast of legends, though it approaches the challenges of being a middle-aged woman in entertainment in many of the same ways. Writer Melanie (Valerie Bertinelli), beautician Joy (Jane Leeves), and soap diva Victoria (Wendie Malick) wind up spending a wild night in Cleveland after a plane to Paris is diverted, discovering in the process that, while they’re seen as over-the-hill back in Los Angeles, they’re all Ohio 10s—though the sassy caretaker of their house, Elka (Betty White), might not agree. Stream Hot in Cleveland on Paramount+.

Hot in Cleveland

at Paramount+

at Paramount+

Grace and Frankie (2015 – 2022)

Close female friendships are hard to come by for the driven, slightly clueless Valerie, a woman focused on staying on top. Jane Fonda’s Grace, a cosmetics mogul, isn’t much different at the start, but she finds a different path when she makes a truce with her arch-nemesis Frankie (Lily Tomlin), a quirky artist with whom she has nothing in common—other than the fact that their husbands left them for one another. (Valerie might take some notes.) Stream Grace and Frankie on Netflix.

Grace and Frankie

at Netflix

at Netflix

Call My Agent! (2015 – 2020)

International sensation Call My Agent! shifts its focus between four talent agents at a prestigious firm who are forced to take the reins following the sudden death of the agency founder, all of them getting a second chance in mid-career—or beyond. The cast is lead by Camille Cottin as Andréa Martel, while Liliane Rovère’s Arlette Azéma is in her ’80s. They navigate their messy personal lives while catering to the needs of their real celebrity clients (Juliette Binoche, Monica Bellucci, Isabelle Huppert, and Sigourney Weaver are just some of the name guest stars playing faintly exaggerated versions of themselves). It’s soapy, addictive showbiz fun, a dishy delight even if you know not a lick of French. Stream Call My Agent! on Netflix.

Call My Agent! (2015 – 2020)

at Netflix

at Netflix

Chinese authorities have barred two Manus executives from leaving the country while investigating whether Meta’s reported $2 billion acquisition of the Singapore-based AI startup violated foreign investment reporting rules. “Manus was founded in China but last year relocated its headquarters and core team to Singapore,” notes the Financial Times. “Meta acquired it for $2 billion at the end of last year.” The Financial Times reports: Manus’s chief executive Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao were summoned to a meeting in Beijing with the National Development and Reform Commission this month, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. They said Xiao and Ji were questioned on potential violations of foreign direct investment rules related to its onshore Chinese entities.

After the meeting, the Singapore-based executives were told they were not allowed to leave China because of a regulatory review, while they remain free to travel within the country, two of the people said. No formal investigation has been opened and no charges have been brought. Manus is actively seeking law firms and consultancies to help resolve the matter, said a person with knowledge of the move.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The European Commission (EC) accused four porn platforms of not doing enough to prevent minors from accessing their content. In its preliminary findings of a 10-month investigation, the European Union’s regulatory arm said Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The EC said the platforms have an ineffective “self-declaration“ measure — they only require users to make a single click to state they are over 18. Nor do efforts like content warnings, page blurring and “restricted to adults” labels “effectively prevent minors from accessing harmful content.” As such, the EC said the platforms are failing to protect the wellbeing and rights of minors, and it demanded that they put privacy-preserving age verification systems in place.

Furthermore, the EC said the quartet did not use objective and thorough methodologies to fully assess the risks to minors accessing content on their platforms. The regulator determined Stripchat, Xvideos and XNXX either misrepresented or failed to take into account consultations with organizations that specialize in children’s rights and age verification systems in their risk assessments. It also suggested that the platforms’ risk assessments “disproportionately emphasized business-centric concerns, such as reputational damage, rather than focusing on the societal risks to minors.”

The platforms now have the chance to review the EC’s preliminary findings and respond to them. They can implement measures to remedy the alleged DSA breaches as well. However, if the Commission confirms that the platforms failed to adhere to the DSA and it decides to issue a non-compliance decision, the porn providers could be on the hook for fines of up to six percent of their global annual turnover.

“In the EU, online platforms have a responsibility. Children are accessing adult content at increasingly younger ages and these platforms must put in place robust, privacy-preserving and effective measures to keep minors off their services,” Henna Virkkunen, the European Union’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a statement. “Today, we are taking another action to enforce the DSA — ensuring that children are properly protected online, as they have the right to be.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/eu-says-pornhub-and-others-failed-to-stop-minors-accessing-adult-content-155632108.html?src=rss

AMD just revealed the Ryzen 9950X3D2 Dual Edition desktop processor, which is a beastly follow-up to last year’s 9950X3D. This is the company’s first desktop processor where both chiplets have been equipped with AMD’s proprietary 3D V-Cache technology, which seems like a boon for gamers. Each chiplet includes 104MB of cache, offering an incredible 208MB total on-chip cache.

“208MB of cache means more game data, more assets and more working data sitting right next to the CPU cores,” AMD Senior VP Jack Huynh explained in an announcement video.

Just like last year’s release, the 9950X3D2 features a 16-core processor based on the Zen 5 architecture. This new release has increased to a 200W TDP, compared to the 170TDP of the original. This could indicate an increase in speed and performance, but with more heat output. 

AMD

AMD says the chip will be great for both gaming and for creative workloads, like compiling game engines, running AI models and rendering 3D objects. The company says it can deliver a five to 10 percent performance boost when using applications like Unreal Engine, Chromium, Blender and DaVinci Resolve.

Last year’s 9950X3D chip was already an absolute powerhouse, so we are looking forward to putting this one through its paces. The Ryzen 9950X3D2 chip will be available on April 22, though we don’t have a price just yet. The standard 9950X3D currently costs around $675.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amds-ryzen-9950x3d2-chip-features-an-incredible-208mb-of-on-chip-cache-154137156.html?src=rss

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When you’re shopping around for a massage gun, you want to focus on features that justify the price. Specifically, I focus on features like speed settings (both intensity and versatility), noise and ease of use, battery life, and size. I’ve learned the hard way that when you’re looking for a travel-sized massage gun, you have to be extra shrewd.

I was once gifted a mini massage gun that, according to the holiday gift exchange rules, must have cost less than $30. It ran out of battery within one or two minutes of weak “massaging.” All of that is to say, a cheap massage gun isn’t worth it. Even if you’re looking for “mini,” you still need to invest in one up to the task of hammering away the pain. And do I have the guy for you: Normally $99.99, this mini massage gun is currently on sale for $78.82 as part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale.

Bob and Brad Mini Massage Gun

$78.82
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $21.17

$78.82
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $21.17

At barely one pound, the Bob and Brad Q2 Mini certainly lives up to its name. Luckily, this massage gun still packs a lot of punch, in terms of both literal vibrations and my overall user experience. For me, the real selling point of this massage gun—which I review in-depth here—is the effectiveness of its heat therapy. Plus, its compact size makes it perfect for travel or bringing to the gym—something I never considered with my full-sized TheraGun Therabody. Even if you already own a larger massage gun, the Q2 Mini’s heat therapy and sweet size could make it a worthwhile addition to your recovery toolkit.