For 12 years now, Google's Street View cars have traversed roadways around the globe with that unmistakable camera rig affixed to the roof which bit by bit has captured sprawling megacities, less populated towns and hamlets and everything in between. On Friday, the search giant pulled back the curtain a little more on its ongoing effort to map the globe, revealing the breathtaking amount of the planet the company has now mapped and photographed.

To date, the company says its Steet View cars (and trekkers, which are camera rigs that are manually lugged where cars can't go) have captured so many billions of images that Google has now collected more than 10 million miles of Street View imagery. To put that in perspective, that amount of Google Street View imagery would circle the globe more than 400 times.

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2. 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Saturday: 99¢ Echo Dot, last Nintendo Switch deal of 2019, $15 Wi-Fi extender, more

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Google reveals the breathtaking amount of Earth it has now mapped and photographed originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 15:11:54 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Would you have ever thought even just a few short years ago that a wildly popular standalone VR headset would be priced so low that it's basically an impulse buy? We sure wouldn't have thought that, but here we are on Saturday and the Oculus Go Standalone Virtual Reality Headset is on sale at its lowest price ever starting at just $129.99! To put that in perspective, you could buy FIVE of these popular VR headsets and still spend $50 less than you would on Apple's cheapest iPhone 11 model! Definitely grab one while they're on sale and make someone's holiday this year... even if it's your own!

Oculus Go Standalone Virtual Reality Headset - 32GB: $129.99

Oculus Go Standalone Virtual Reality Headset - 64GB: $199.00

Here's the scoop from the product page:

• Personal Viewing: The littlest, big screen. Crystal clear optics and state-of-the-art 3D graphics make your headset feel more like a personal theater
• Viewing with Friends: Watch with friends. Meet up in VR with friends and fans from around the world to catch live sports, concerts, or just your favorite TV show
• Portable & Easy to use: Ready when you are. Experience portable, all-in-one VR. That means no PC, phone, wires or hassles
• Controller: Effortless control. Whether it's navigating to your favorite shows or to a far-off land, the intuitive controller makes getting there a cinch
• Built-In Audio: Surrounded by sound. Spatial audio drivers are built right into the headset, providing dramatic, immersive sound without the need for bulky or tangled headphones. Oculus Go also features a 3.5 mm audio jack

Oculus Go Standalone Virtual Reality Headset - 32GB: $129.99

Oculus Go Standalone Virtual Reality Headset - 64GB: $199.00

BGR Top Deals:

1. Sony’s true wireless earbuds crush AirPods Pro, and today they’re on sale for $50 less
2. 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Saturday: 99¢ Echo Dot, last Nintendo Switch deal of 2019, $15 Wi-Fi extender, more

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Oculus Go VR headset just dropped to its lowest price ever – only $129.99 originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 14:22:06 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As I alluded to in last year's list of my most anticipated games of 2019, this year was for all intents and purposes the last full year of the generation. Next holiday season, Sony will launch the PlayStation 5 while Microsoft will launch the Xbox Series X, and although both are expected to be backwards compatible with games from the current generation, many game studios have already begun to redirect their efforts to next-gen development.

But there are still plenty of games to look forward to next year, even if the generation is winding down. Below, we've collected our 12 most anticipated games expected to launch within the next twelve months.

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3. 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Saturday: 99¢ Echo Dot, last Nintendo Switch deal of 2019, $15 Wi-Fi extender, more

The 12 most anticipated video games of 2020 originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 13:33:52 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Aside from the Apple Watch — which is somehow on sale right now on Amazon for less than it was on Black Friday — there's no question that the Fitbit Versa 2 is the hottest smartwatch out there. It packs all the features people loved in the original model, but it's also sleeker, has better battery life, and has Alexa built in! It's a terrific value indeed at $200, but it's available again on Amazon at its Black Friday price of just $129.95. Definitely check it out!

Fitbit Versa 2 Health & Fitness Smartwatch with Heart Rate, Music, Alexa Built-in, Sleep & Swim…: $129.95

Here are the highlights from the product page:

• Use Amazon Alexa Built in to get quick news and information, check the weather, set timers and alarms, control your smart home devices and more all through the sound of your voice (third party app may be required; Amazon Alexa not available in all countries)
• Based on your heart rate, time asleep and restlessness, Sleep Score helps you better understand your sleep quality each night; Also track your time in light, deep and REM sleep stages and get personal insights
• Control your Spotify app, download Pandora stations and add Deezer playlists plus store and play 300+ songs on your wrist (subscription required; Pandora is US only)
• With a larger display and an always on option, your information’s always a quick glance away (always on display requires more frequent charging)
• Track heart rate 24/ 7, steps, distance, calories burned, hourly activity, active minutes and floors climbed
• Works around the clock with 6 plus day battery life (varies with use and other factors)
• Get call, text, calendar and smartphone app notifications when your phone is nearby; Plus send quick replies and voice replies on Android only

Fitbit Versa 2 Health & Fitness Smartwatch with Heart Rate, Music, Alexa Built-in, Sleep & Swim…: $129.95

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1. Amazon’s big Bose sale today has deals that weren’t even available on Black Friday
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Fitbit Versa 2 smartwatch is back down to its Black Friday price originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 12:44:19 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is just a few days away, but the movie is hardly able to match the excitement and buzz that surrounded Avengers: Endgame. Thanks to Infinity War, Avengers 4 was the most talked-about piece of entertainment in town, in a year that brought us not only the end of Marvel’s Infinity Saga but also the final season of Game of Thrones — and now, the last movie in the third Star Wars trilogy.

With nearly eight months gone since the Endgame’s premiere, we’re still talking about it, as we’ve been getting plenty of new information in the past few weeks. The film premiered on Disney+, complete with an exciting bundle of deleted scenes that are still fun to watch, even though they didn’t make it to the final cut — especially one that would have significantly altered the course of events. At the same time, Disney is pushing the film for award considerations, which means we now have the full script available online and it's another source of exciting Endgame Easter eggs. Like the fact that a different major MCU villain was supposed to have a cameo in the film at one point before Marvel decided it to cut it from the final version.

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‘Avengers: Endgame’ script reveals a major MCU villain was supposed to have a cameo originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 12:05:27 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple's AirPods Pro were discounted for the first time ever during Black Friday and Cyber Week this year, and you should definitely be happy if you got them on sale. If you didn't already buy a pair though, we have excellent news: the Sony WF1000XM3 Noise Cancelling True Wireless Earbuds are back on sale today for the first time since Cyber Monday. For $50 less than AirPods Pro, you get buds with far better sound quality, deeper bass, a more comfortable fit, and immeasurably better noise cancelling tech. We're not sure any decision has ever been easier, to be honest.

Sony WF-1000XM3 Industry Leading Noise Canceling Truly Wireless Earbuds, Black: $198.00

Here's more info from the product page:

• Industry leading noise canceling with HD Noise Canceling Processor QN1e
• 24bit Audio signal processing delivers dramatically improved sound quality
• Battery life up to 24 hours with carrying case (with 10min quick charge for 90min of play time
• Truly wireless design with uninterrupted L/R simultaneous Bluetooth transmission
• Smart listening by adaptive sound control automatically switches to ambient sound mode based on your activity
• Quick attention mode and wearing detection make conversations effortless. Frequency Response (Bluetooth Communication):20 Hz–20,000 Hz
• N the box: Charging case, Triple comfort earbuds (S, M, L × 2) long hybrid silicone rubber earbuds (stainless, S, M, L × 2), card, operating instruction, Reference guide, USB Type C cable (Approx. 20cm)

Sony WF-1000XM3 Industry Leading Noise Canceling Truly Wireless Earbuds, Black: $198.00

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Sony’s true wireless earbuds crush AirPods Pro, and today they’re on sale for $50 less originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 11:12:48 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It’s particularly crowded everywhere this time of year, not just because of the moody weather, but also because everyone is going places. Traveling during the holidays can be a massive chore, especially if it involves lots of driving. And while there are at least a couple of great apps to help you out with directions and all sorts of relevant navigation data, it turns out they have a massive flaw, one that a newcomer is looking to fix.

Sure, Waze will warn you about all sorts of incidents, snowy roads included, and Google Maps will show you great places to eat, and tell you whether the next train is crowded. But neither will tell you when it’s best to stop to make the most of your journey while on a drive. There's one app that will, and that's why you’re probably going to want to check out Nexit on the iPhone this Christmas.

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1. Video shows off a massive iPhone 12 redesign that’s too good to be true
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3. Black Friday never really ended at Walmart – here are today’s 10 best deals

This new navigation app has smart features you won’t find in Waze or Google Maps originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 10:33:18 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The silver Apple Watch Series 5 in 44mm was the best-selling Series 5 model we covered during this year's big Black Friday and Cyber Week sales, which makes sense because it was down to its lowest price ever... until now. Amazon is currently selling this wildly popular model for just $384, which is $45 less than you'll pay if you buy one from Apple or pretty much anywhere else right now. Definitely snag one on sale while you can, and get a bunch of silicone Sport Bands in different colors while you're at it for as little as $5.99 a piece!

Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS, 44mm) - Silver Aluminum Case with White Sport Band: $384.00

Here's some additional info from the product page:

• GPS
• Always-On Retina display
• 30% larger screen
• Swimproof
• ECG app
• Electrical and optical heart sensors
• Built-in compass
• Elevation
• Emergency SOS
• Fall detection

Apple Watch Series 5 (GPS, 44mm) - Silver Aluminum Case with White Sport Band: $384.00

BGR Top Deals:

1. Amazon’s big Bose sale today has deals that weren’t even available on Black Friday
2. Today’s best deals: Crazy $0.99 Echo Dot sale, $15 Wi-Fi extender, $30 off Nintendo Switch, Bose blowout, more

Trending Right Now:

1. Video shows off a massive iPhone 12 redesign that’s too good to be true
2. Black Friday never really ended at Walmart – here are today’s 10 best deals
3. Final ‘The Witcher’ trailer shows us exactly why everyone’s calling it Netflix’s ‘Game of Thrones’

Apple Watch Series 5 is somehow on Amazon right now for less than it was on Black Friday originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 14 Dec 2019 at 09:44:27 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The winners of the 45th annual competition showcase a spectacular blend of science and artistry under the microscope.

In case wringing your hands over the tax man weren’t enough, criminals are out there trying to swipe your hard-earned cash and personal information from right under your nose.

The daughter's name is Nicarri.

Jeb Bush's love of Apple products has been widely documented, and the Republican presidential candidate continues to wear his Apple Watch on the campaign trail. Yesterday, in a meeting with The Des Moines Register editorial board documented by USA Today, Bush stumbled upon a feature he didn’t realize his smartwatch was capable of: taking phone calls. Somehow Bush managed to take a call without picking up his iPhone, and the sound of a person’s voice saying hello breaks through the meeting noise, to which Bush responds, “My watch can’t be talking.”

1. 'I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here': Graham predicts Trump impeachment will 'die quickly' in Senate  CNN
2. House Judiciary Committee approves articles of impeachment  ABC News
3. Here's why Trump's impeachment is not like Nixon's  CNN
4. Jessica Tarlov: Trump should be impeached – Republicans who blindly support him are profiles in cowardice  Fox News
5. Opinion | Impeach Donald Trump  The New York Times
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. Jill Biden says Trump is a bully and 'afraid' to run against her husband  NBC News
2. Biden confronted on Ukraine but doesn't answer, later links Trump to El Paso massacre  Fox News
3. A Smashing Victory for Conservatives in the U.K.  National Review
4. One-term Joe? Voters might like the sound of that.  The Washington Post
5. A hug and a ‘hey man.’ Uncle Joe Biden endures  The Boston Globe
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. Supreme Court to Rule on Release of Trump’s Financial Records  The New York Times
2. Supreme Court to hear 3 cases for Trump's financial records  Fox News
3. Justices to take up dispute over subpoenas for Trump records  AOL
4. The Supreme Court just jumped into the political deep end with Trump taxes lawsuit  CNN
5. US Supreme Court takes up Trump bid to shield financial records  Al Jazeera English
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. Democrats rip McConnell after he vowed 'total coordination' with Trump White House on impeachment trial  USA TODAY
2. Impeachment vote goes to full House: what to expect  CBS This Morning
3. Democrats concerned about McConnell's White House impeachment coordination  CNN
4. Is a trap being set for Trump in the Senate trial? | TheHill  The Hill
5. On impeachment, Democrats can put Republicans on defense. Here’s how.  The Washington Post
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. White House defends Melania Trump's silence on Greta Thunberg attack  The Guardian
2. Melania Trump responds to POTUS attack on Greta Thunberg; she says she communicates 'differently'  USA TODAY
3. Trump Campaign Bizarrely Edits His Head Onto Greta Thunberg's Body on Her TIME Cover  PEOPLE.com
4. Autistic young people deserve serious respect and attention — not dismissal as the pawns of others.  The Washington Post
5. Why is the president of the United States cyberbullying a 16-year-old girl?  The Guardian
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. Gov. Newsome Says PG&E's Bankruptcy Plan Is 'Woefully Short' Of What's Needed  NPR
2. California governor rejects $13.5 billion PG&E settlement with wildfire victims  USA TODAY
3. California governor rejects PG&E bankruptcy reorganization plan  Reuters
4. Ratepayers are already on the hook for PG&E’s liabilities. They should get a piece of the pie  Sacramento Bee
5. California Governor Says No to PG&E Bankruptcy Plans After It Fails to Meet Wildfire Safety Regulations  The Daily Beast
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. Shots fired in fight at crowded Atlanta mall spark panic; 1 injured  NBC News
2. Terrifying VIDEO shows nightmare of shooter in American mall  RT
3. Shooting at Cumberland Mall started during argument in food court, police say  WSB Atlanta
4. ‘Pure pandemonium’: Cobb police investigating shooting at Cumberland Mall  Atlanta Journal Constitution
5. Atlanta mall shooting: 'Two gunmen open fire' as shoppers flee in 'stampede'  Daily Star
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. A 13-year-old suspect told police he watched as friends slashed Barnard freshman, report says  CNN
2. Police search for accomplices in deadly stabbing of Barnard College student | ABC News  ABC News
3. A 13-Year-Old Boy Has Been Arrested In Connection With The Stabbing Of A Manhattan Student In A Park  BuzzFeed News
4. Tessa Majors: NYPD divers search Morningside Park pond for clues in Barnard murder  New York Post
5. Slain Barnard College student fought her attackers in robbery, police say  NBC News
6. View full coverage on Google News

1. Mom whose baby was ripped from her arms by officers in NYC to get $625K settlement  NBC News
2. Woman whose child was ripped from her arms by police awarded $625,000  The Independent
3. Lawsuit: NYC to pay mom $625k after police ripped son from her arms in video  USA TODAY
4. New York pays $625,000 to mother whose child was snatched by police  The Guardian
5. View full coverage on Google News

How to remove your data

      

Guilted into giving?

      

Disney+, iPhone 11

      

Talking Tech

      

Add everything possible to the cart, and you could end up spending twice or more on the starting price of the product. Such is life with trendy tech.

      

Busted Christmas string lights can darken your holidays. Here's how to make simple repairs to burned-out bulbs, fuses, and other common problems.

      

If you thought the Trump Facebook feuds that raged in 2016 were bad, just wait. The 2020 presidential election has a message for us: 'Hold my beer.'

      

Some 50 homes are in the process of being built. It takes up to 24 hours to print the building materials.

      

We’ve officially entered the mid-December hardware doldrums. Obviously no major hardware maker in its right mind is going to be announcing anything major in the next few weeks, for fear of preemptively cannibalizing holiday sales. Things will, however, heat up immediately after the new year with the kick off of CES. Then, a little over a month later, comes MWC.

Sandwiched somewhere in there is the launch of Samsung’s next flagship. This is the device that sets the tone for the company for the whole year. Samsung’s six month flagship release cycle (S series, followed by the Note) affords the company the ability to offer more frequent refreshes, but this first one is really a standard setter for both the company and the industry at large.

A February 18 launch date has been floated for the next flagship. The timing certainly makes sense. Samsung has broken away from MWC — and big tech shows in general — for its biggest announcements. Doing so puts the spotlight on its own devices and beats the MWC news glut for a few weeks. Likely available for the devices will begin the following month.

As for the name — there’s no reason to believe the company would use this opportunity to break away from the S11/S11+ scheme this time out. So we’re going to stick with that until credibly informed otherwise.

The recently announced Snapdragon 865 will be powering the device in a number of markets, making the S11 among the first devices to launch with the latest flagship SoC. A recent report also suggests that the configuration will be available in even more markets, including, potentially its native South Korea. Standardized 5G seems possible across the board, though that’s likely going to mean an even more prohibitively expensive starting price. It’s a big jump, especially with a still-spotty rollout in many markets.

An under-screen front-facing camera has been rumored, but the more familiar hole punch seems a lot more likely for this gen. Renders (courtesy of OnLeaks) of the device point to a design similar to the most recent Note, only with an even more trypophobia-inducing design than the most recent iPhone and Google Pixel (which is saying something). The camera bump appears downright massive, monopolizing an impressive portion of the rear.

An impossible large 108 megapixel camera has been rumored for the device, along with 8K video. Either way, imagining is no doubt going to once again be a major focus for the line. So, too, is a healthy battery increase.

EVLeaks, meanwhile, is suggesting an EVEN LARGER screen, with the S11e measuring either 6.2 or 6.4 inches, the S11 at 6.7 inches and the S11+ at a huge 6.9 inches. Plenty more leaks sure to come between now and mid-February. Stay tuned. 

New Orleans declared a state of emergency and shut down its computers after a cyber security event, the latest in a string of city and state governments to be attacked by hackers.

Suspicious activity was spotted around 5 a.m. Friday morning. By 8 a.m., there was an uptick in that activity, which included evidence of phishing attempts and ransomware, Kim LaGrue, the city’s head of IT said in a press conference. Once the city confirmed it was under attack, servers and computers were shut down.

While ransomware was detected there are no requests made to the city of New Orleans at this time, but that is very much a part of our investigation, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said during a press conference.

Numerous local and state governments have been plagued by ransomware, a file-encrypting malware that demands money for the decryption key. Pensacola, Florida and Jackson County, Georgia are just a few examples of the near-constant stream of ransomeware attacks over the past year. Louisiana state government was attacked in November, prompting officials to deactivate government websites and other digital services and causing the governor to declare a state of emergency. It was the state’s second declaration related to a ransomware attack in less than six months.

Governments and local authorities are particularly vulnerable as they’re often underfunded and unresourced, and unable to protect their systems from some of the major threats.

New Orleans, it appears was somewhat prepared, which officials said was the result of training and its ability to operate without internet. The investigation is in its early stages, but for now it appears that city employees didn’t interact with or provide credentials or any information to possible attackers, according to officials.

“If there is a positive about being a city that has been touched by disasters and essentially been brought down to zero in the past, is that our plans and activity from a public safety perspective reflect the fact that we can operate with internet, without city networking,” said Collin Arnold, director of Homeland Security, adding that they’ve gone back to pen and paper for now.

Police, fire and EMS are prepared to work outside of the city’s internet network. Emergency communications are not affected by the cybersecurity incident, according to city officials. However, other services such as scheduling building inspections are being handled manually.

New Orleans’s Real-Time Crime Center does work off the city network, however the cameras throughout the city record independently, so right now all of those cameras are still recording regardless of connectivity to the city’s network, Arnold added. 

Federal, state and local officials are now involved in an investigation into the security incident.

Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2019 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We’re here to help! We’ll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December. You can find our other guides right here.

Remote working has become a new normal in the life of an employee. Spurred by ubiquitous broadband and mobile connectivity, lighter and smaller computers, and everything you need in the cloud, a lot of people have felt a lot less of a need to be in the same physical space as everyone else, day in day out, to get things done.

And yet, there remains a critical mass of people in and near big towns and cities who continue to commute.

For this guide, we’re focusing on commuters who eschew cars for all the obvious reasons — traffic, parking, gas costs, and more traffic — and instead opt for buses, trains, subways and bikes to travel to their “offices” — be they actual offices, or cafes or other workspaces — on a regular or semi-regular basis.

Daily commutes around most of the world’s metro areas can stretch into more than an hour per day on average, according to research from Moovit. In other words, these are presents that go to the heart of how your special people spend significant chunks of their days, weeks, months and years.

This gift guide is to help make that time more well spent. 

These products are the epitome of the genre-crossing, “prosumer” lives many of us seem to live today: they straddle the worlds of practicality and of fun, presents that might help them work during their commute, or get their minds off work, or to make their work trip a little safer or easier. Happy shopping (and hopefully, happier commuting).

This article contains links to affiliate partners where available. When you buy through these links, TechCrunch may earn an affiliate commission.

Smart bike lights

There’s been a big shift in these over the last decade or so. The bike lights of yesterday were barely-visible front and rear lights, semi-permanently attached to your handlebars and backseat, powered by batteries that always seemed to run out. Today, you can buy much brighter LED-based lights, which work on USB chargers to keep doing their job and easily attach and detach wherever you choose to buckle them.

Smart lights are the next gear up on that trajectory, with app-based controls and so.much.more. UK company See.Sense’s version packs a strong punch: on top of the being brighter, easier to remove and recharge, the lights link up with an app to alert you when someone appears to be stealing your bike, and they sense when you are cycling faster and slower and blink more rapidly when there’s more traffic to make sure the cyclist is better seen. The downside is that hills won’t be the only steep thing on your horizon.

Price: $120 on Amazon for a Front/Rear set

Bike-mounted speaker

A worrying number of cyclists get around the streets with headphones in their ears to pick up navigation instructions, listen to music or podcasts, or talk on the phone. This is not ideal, though, as it means they cannot fully hear the noise of traffic in their midst. A bike-mounted speaker is a way to let the rider continue to listen to their audio, but not at the detriment of hearing other important traffic noises.

This Celtic Blu speaker is one of the more fancy of the dozens of bike speakers that are on the market today. Alongside the basics of offering a Bluetooth connection to play music or other media from your phone and being waterproof, it doubles as a charging bank for other devices, can work as a microphone to take calls, and has an additional set of controls that you access from the handlebars to adjust sound, answer calls and other actions more safely. The downside is that it’s one of the bigger of the speakers,  potentially taking up space you migh have mounted a water bottle.

Price: $80 on Amazon

Streaming, podcast or audiobook gift cards

Streaming services from Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others have been growing in ubiquity by leaps and bounds, but if your commuter isn’t already subscribing to one of these, or if they’re only using the free tier, giving them a chance to test out the premium service with a giftcard could be a welcome present. It can also be one to personalise: find a mix of podcast programs you think your commuter might like to hear, or pick out a selection of books for the listening, to give alongside the card. (See some book recommendations here and here.)

Price: Audible starts at $15/month; Spotify Gift Cards are widely available from retailers including Amazon.

Wireless ear buds and headphones

I personally worry about how safe these are for cycling, so I won’t endorse them for bike usage. But they have quickly become one of the must-haves for commuters on other transportation modes who are mad as hell about tangled cords and not going to take it anymore. Apple’s Air Pods Pro, at $249, are a noticeable improvement on the previous generation of their wireless buds, and the world has noticed: they have been a huge sell-out success, with orders now only shipping in January. There are dozens of others now on the market if you don’t want to wait, or pay the premium to own an Apple product.

Price: Airpods Pro, $249 on Amazon | For a more classic (and cheaper) headphone style, try these from Sony.

E-Reader

No, not everyone has one of these. Yes, they are still a huge seller for Amazon, underscoring their enduring popularity. We like the Kindle Paperwhite (pictured above) or the Kindle Oasis, the latter of which is around $145 more but brings in a bigger screen, an adjustable-warmth backlight, and physical page turning buttons.

Read some of our book recommendations here.

Price: Kindle Paperwhite, $105 on Amazon | Kindle Oasis, $250 on Amazon

Panniers

I’m a bike commuter myself and have been toughing it out (literally and figuratively) with a pair of Ortlieb Back-Roller Classics for years. These monsters are so durable that the set I have now are as old as my oldest child (14) and they still look nearly new.

But I’m going to be honest. They’re not beautiful, and even with two inside pockets, they can be hard to peer inside when you’re looking for something smallish. (The blood has rushed out of my hands more than once thinking I’d somehow lost my wallet or phone, only to find them deep down inside the bag.)

The cool thing is that there is now a huge range of options on the market for new bags, whether you want them for leisurely use, for work commuting, for a fashion statement, to make them easier to carry when you’re off your bike, or all of the above.

Arkel’s bag is laptop-focused (but sells as a single); Timbuk2 (pictured above) if you’re after a “tandem” style; and if you are looking for a stylish pannier to replace purely functional ones used by your commuter, you can consider the Norfolk model from Brooks or the Sac from Linus.

Price: Arkel Commuter bag, $189 | Timbuk2 Tandem bag, $129 on Amazon | Brooks Norfolk, $120 on Amazon | Linus Sac, $70

Activity tracker

These are not just for the people who cycle, run or walk to work. While a lot of a commuter’s journey might take place sitting or standing on public transportation, there is actually quite a bit of walking that comes at the start and finish of the route. A good activity tracker can help a person track how they rack up the miles and feel a little better about all the hours they subsequently spend sitting at a desk.

You can go for a premium Apple Watch starting at around $400, or you can opt for a basic Fitbit at under $100.

Price: Apple Watch, from $384 on Amazon | Fitbit Inspire, $80 on Amazon

Privacy Screen

Borrowing one from Zack, who has a much more extensive list of privacy-related gifts, to draw one out for those who pull out their laptops during their morning commutes, whether it’s to work or do something else. Whatever it is: wandering eyes sitting nearby can see what you’re doing. A special screen that blocks all angular views except straight on in front on the machine is a good way to keep the nosey parkers out of your business.

Price: Around $17 on Amazon.

Touchscreen gloves

Not strictly (nor even loosely) a gadget, but something that will help you keep using your screen-based companions as the weather turns cooler. You can buy beautiful leather, cashmere-lined versions of these; or you can buy them in acrylic. You can go colourful or stay basic in black. People lose or rip gloves all the time, so even having an extra pair is not a bad thing.

Price: Downholme Leather/cashmere gloves, $60 on Amazon here | knit gloves (a little more modest but still perfectly good),  $8 on Amazon.

Recently released documents revealed the FBI has for years secretly demanded vast amounts of Americans’ consumer and financial information from the largest U.S. credit agencies.

The FBI regularly uses these legal powers — known as national security letters — to compel credit giants to turn over non-content information, such as records of purchases and locations, that the agency deems necessary in national security investigations. But these letters have no judicial oversight and are typically filed with a gag order, preventing the recipient from disclosing the demand to anyone else — including the target of the letter.

Only a few tech companies, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, have disclosed that they have ever received one or more national security letters. Since the law changed in 2015 in the wake of the Edward Snowden disclosures that revealed the scope of the U.S. government’s surveillance operations, recipients have been allowed to petition the FBI to be cut loose from the gag provisions and publish the letters with redactions.

Tech companies have used “transparency reports” to inform their users of government demands for their data. But other major data collectors, like credit agencies, have failed to publish their figures altogether.

Three lawmakers — Democratic senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren, and Republican senator Rand Paul — have sent letters to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, expressing their “alarm” as to why the credit giants have failed to disclose the number of government demands for consumer data they receive.

“Because your company holds so much potentially sensitive data on so many Americans and collects this information without obtaining consent from these individuals, you have a responsibility to be transparent about how you handle that data,” the letters said. “Unfortunately, your company has not provided information to policymakers or the public about the type or the number of disclosures that you have made to the FBI.”

Spokespeople for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion did not respond to a request for comment outside business hours.

It’s not known how many national security letters were issued to the credit agencies since the legal powers were signed into law in 2001. The New York Times said the national security letters to credit agencies were a “small but telling fraction” of the overall half-million FBI-issued demands made to date.

Other banks and financial institutions, as well as universities, cell service and internet providers, were targets of national security letters, the documents revealed.

The senators have given the agencies until December 27 to disclose the number of demands each has received.

Apple may dominate the wearable conversation here in the States, but things look a fair bit different on the other side of the world. In Asia, Xiaomi is the giant in the room. According to new numbers form Canalys, the Chinese manufacturer was the key driver in global growth.

Wearable band shipments grew 65%, year over year for Q3. Xiaomi continues to top the list, with an even more impressive 74% versus this time last year. That puts gives the company 27% of the total global wearable band market — its highest number since 2015.

Low prices have been the key to the company’s success, which have helped grow shipments in China by 60% overall. The company’s strategy has also rubbed off on competitors like Samsung and Fitbit (soon to be counted among Google’s numbers), which have sought to offer low cost devices in order to appeal to those users, particularly in Asia.

Huawei saw substantial growth for the quarter, as well, at 243% year over year, courtesy of strong sales in its native China. Those numbers helped the company hold onto third place globally, just ahead of Fitbit.

Even Apple is offering up lower cost devices by keeping older model Apple Watches around, hitting the $200 price point The company’s new, premium devices continue to dominate, however. The Series 5 comprise upwards of 60% of the company’s global shipments for the quarter.

Welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the week’s noteworthy startups and venture capital news. Before I jump into today’s topic, let’s catch up a bit. Last week, I wrote about U.S. VC activity in Europe. Before that, I noted Chinese investor activity in Africa.

Remember, you can send me tips, suggestions and feedback to kate.clark@techcrunch.com or on Twitter @KateClarkTweets. If you’re new, you can subscribe to Startups Weekly here.

Hello from Berlin, where we’ve just wrapped our annual conference, TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin. Top investors shared insight into European venture capital, well-known individuals and firms made announcements (large and small), and entrepreneurs pontificated about the future of startups in their respective regions.

As I spoke with various early-stage startup founders presenting at the event, chatted with U.S. and European venture capitalists and brain-stormed with my colleagues, I reflected on my last 12 months inside the tech bubble. Soon, I’ll be publishing an extended look at what I see as the 10 biggest themes in startups and VC in 2019. But for now, here’s a sneak peek at my top picks.

1. SoftBank screw ups. From WeWork to Wag to Fair.com, SoftBank made headlines over and over again this year—for all the wrong reasons.
2. WeWork woes. SoftBank’s star portfolio company struggled the most. This was the biggest story of the year and its complete with drugs, private jets, burned cash and upset employees.
3. CEO exodus. From Away co-founder Steph Korey to WeWork’s Adam Neumann, a whole lot of executives exited their posts this year.
4. Unicorn IPO struggles. Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, Zoom and more unicorns went public this year. Some fared better than others.
5. The fight for seed. There was more competition than ever at the earliest stage of venture capital. As a result, investors got creative, hired fresh faces, raised new funds and even gave founders lavish gifts.
6. Y Combinator growth. Everyone’s favorite accelerator got a whole lot bigger this year. Not only did its cohorts swell, but its president, Sam Altman, stepped down and the firm cemented changes to its investment process.
7. VCs + direct listings = <3. When venture capitalist weren’t busy gossiping about WeWork and SoftBank, they were debating a new and innovative path to the public markets: direct listings.
8. Every startup is a bank. Brex raised hundreds of millions, Stripe launched a corporate card, credit card startup Deserve nabbed $50 million. 2019 was the year that consumer banking upstarts became the new e-scooter businesses.
9. VC isn’t the only option. While VCs were going crazy for consumer financial services, companies like Clearbanc and Capital expanded to give founders alternatives to venture capital, like revenue-based financing and venture debt.
10.   The diversity disaster persists. Women still only raise 2.8% of venture capital in the U.S., up from 2.2%. Enough said.

If you like this newsletter, you will definitely enjoy Equity, which brings the content of this newsletter to life — in podcast form! Join myself and Equity co-host Alex Wilhelm every Friday for a quick breakdown of the week’s biggest news in venture capital and startups.

This week, I sat down with Chris Mayo, head of primary markets at the London Stock Exchange, to discuss the rise of direct listings.

Amazon Alexa can now play podcasts from Apple, making Amazon’s line of Echo devices the first third-party clients to support the Apple Podcasts service without using AirPlay. Before, this level of support was limited to Apple’s HomePod. According to Amazon, the addition brings to Alexa devices Apple’s library of more than 800,000 podcasts. It also allows customers to set Apple Podcasts as their preferred podcast service.

The move is the latest in a series of partnerships between the two rivals, which also included the launch of the Apple TV app on Amazon’s Fire TV platform, as well as the launch of Apple Music on Echo devices and Fire TV. Amazon, in response, has expanded its assortment of Apple inventory to include Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and more.

To get started, Apple users who want to stream from Apple Podcasts will first need to link their Apple ID in the Alexa app. Customers can then ask Alexa to play or resume the podcasts they want to hear. Other player commands, like “next” or “fast forward,” work, too. And as you move between devices, your progress within each episode will also sync, which means you can start listening on Alexa, then pick up where you left off on your iPhone.

In the Alexa app’s Settings, users will also be able to specify Apple Podcasts as their default player, which means any time they ask Alexa for a podcast without indicating a source, it will stream from the Apple Podcasts service.

Not to be outdone, Spotify also today announced its support for streaming podcasts on Alexa in the U.S.

Of course, Spotify Premium users have been able to use Spotify Connect to stream to Echo before today.

But now, Spotify says that both Free and Premium U.S. customers will be able to ask Alexa for podcasts as well as set Spotify as their default player.

Alexa’s support for Spotify podcasts was actually announced in September (alongside other news) at Amazon’s annual Alexa event in Seattle, so it’s less of a surprise than the Apple addition.

At the time, Amazon said it was adding support for Spotify’s podcast library in the U.S., which would bring “hundreds of thousands” of podcasts to Alexa devices. That also includes Spotify’s numerous exclusive podcasts — something that will give Echo users a reason to set Spotify as their default, perhaps.

Shortly after that announcement, Spotify said its free service would also now stream to Alexa devices, instead of only its paid service for Premium subscribers.

As the holiday slowdown looms, the final U.S.-listed technology IPOs have come in and begun to trade.

Three tech, tech-ish or venture-backed companies went public this week: Bill.com, Sprout Social and EHang. Let’s quickly review how each has performed thus far. These are, bear in mind, the last IPOs of the year that we care about, pending something incredible happening. 2020 will bring all sorts of fun, but, for this time ’round the sun, we’re done.

Pricing

Our three companies managed to each price differently. So, we have some variety to discuss. Here’s how each managed during their IPO run:

• EHang priced at the bottom of its range, selling shares for $12.50 apiece
• Sprout Social priced mid-range at $17 per share after targeting a $16 to $18 per-share price interval
• Bill.com priced above its raised range, selling shares at $22 apiece after raising its interval from $16 to $18 to $19 to $21

How do those results stack up against their final private valuations? Doing the best we can, here’s how they compare:

• EHang was worth around $680 million at its IPO price. The company’s final private valuation (likely set during its $42 million Series B) is unknown. However, we’d guess that the IPO was at a higher price, given the time between the private round and the IPO.
• Sprout Social managed to slightly raise its valuation in its IPO. Worth around $814 million in the liquidity event, Sprout had been worth just over $800 million when private.
• Bill.com was valued at around $1.6 billion in its IPO, comfortably above its final private valuation of $1.0 billion.

So EHang priced low and its IPO is hard to vet, as we’re guessing at its final private worth. We’ll give it a passing grade. Sprout Social priced mid-range, and managed a slight valuation bump. We can give that a B, or B+. Bill.com managed to price above its raised range, boosting its valuation sharply in the process. That’s worth an A.

Performance

Trading just wrapped, so how have our companies performed thus far in their nascent lives as public companies? Here’s the scorecard:

• EHang’s Friday closing price: $12.90 (+3.2%)
• Sprout Social’s Friday closing price: $16.60 (-2.35%)
• Bill.com’s Friday closing price: $38.83 (+76.5%)

You can gist out the grades somewhat easily here, with one caveat. The Bill.com IPO’s massive early success has caused the usual complaints that the firm was underpriced by its bankers, and was thus robbed to some degree. This argument makes the assumption that the public market’s initial pricing of the company once it began trading is reasonable (maybe!) and that the company in question could have captured most or all of that value (maybe!).

Bill.com’s CEO’s reaction to the matter puts a new spin on it, but you should at least know that the week’s most successful IPO has attracted criticism for being too successful. So forget any chance of an A+.

Image via Getty Images / Somyot Techapuwapat / EyeEm