If you’re a fan of Amazon’s ecosystem, whether that’s asking your Alexa speaker to tell you about the weather or compulsively checking the video feed from your Ring doorbell, then it makes sense to expand and build onto the system. It’s always easier to keep to one ecosystem as much as you can with smart home gear, letting you stick to a single app and single subscription if you decide to invest in one.

While we’ve liked Ring’s cameras and home security products fine enough, they’re hard to recommend at the top of our guides since Ring is reintroducing a policy to enable local law enforcement to request footage directly from Ring users. It’s up to you if that’s something you want to invest in, and if you already have Ring products, it might make the most sense to continue adding onto that ecosystem than diving into a new one.

No matter the reason, if you’re looking to add a Ring product to your home, don’t get one without using our Ring coupon codes to get it for a better price.

50% Off Ring Cameras, Doorbells, and Outdoor Cameras

Ring is running a deal all month long with up to 50% off different products and bundles. You can get all kinds of Ring cameras and security accessories for a variety of discounts, from Ring’s video doorbell to indoor and outdoor cameras.

Save $150 on Wired Doorbell Pro and Floodlight Cam

If you’re looking for an outdoor combination, you can get both Ring’s Starter Pro Kit, which includes the Wired Doorbell Pro and Floodlight Cam, for $150 off the set. It’s a great option if you want to get a camera feed both at your doorstep and over your garage.

Bundle and Save on Ring Whole Home Basic Kit

Looking to deck out your whole home? Ring’s Whole Home Basic Kit is also discounted for $59 off. It includes Ring’s Outdoor Cam Plus Battery, Battery Doorbell, and the Alarm Security Kit, so you can get everything from video surveillance around the outside of your home and sensors to pair with the alarm system for inside of it.

Ring has a variety of subscription plans, which you’ll want since there’s no option to locally store your video footage. That means in order to play any video back to see what set off the camera or who was at the door, you’ll need one of these plans. Here’s a quick breakdown. Basic Ring Plan: Get the basics with video event playback and smart notifications for one camera. $5 per month or $50 per year. Standard Plan: All the core Ring experience with enhanced features for all your devices. $10 per month, or $100 per year. Premium Plan: Ring home the best of the best with our most advanced AI and recording features. $20 per month or $200 per year.

Stay Connected With $29 Off Pet Basic Kit + Pet Tag

Ring has a pet package you can get for a discount, too. You’ll get both Ring’s Indoor Cam and the Pet Tag, which has a QR code that lets anyone who finds your pet scan it and get your information to contact you. It’s 50% off right now, so if you’re looking for new tags and a camera to keep an eye on your favorite furry companion, this is your moment.

Students can take many possible routes through MIT’s curriculum, which can zigag through different departments, linking classes and disciplines in unexpected ways. With so many options, charting an academic path can be overwhelming, but a new tool called NerdXing is here to help.

The brainchild of senior Julianna Schneider and other students in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Undergraduate Advisory Group (UAG), NerdXing lets students search for a class and see all the other classes students have gone on to take in the past, including options that are off the beaten track.

“I hope that NerdXing will democratize course knowledge for everyone,” Schneider says. “I hope that for anyone who’s a freshman and maybe hasn’t picked their major yet, that they can go to NerdXing and start with a class that they would maybe never consider — and then discover that, ‘Oh wait, this is perfect for this really particular thing I want to study.’”

As a student double-majoring in artificial intelligence and decision-making and in mathematics, and doing research in the Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Schneider knows the benefits of interdisciplinary studies. It’s a part of the reason why she joined the UAG, which advises the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing’s leadership as it advances education and research at the intersections between computing, engineering, the arts, and more.

Through all of her activities, Schneider seeks to make people’s lives better through technology.

“This process of finding a problem in my community and then finding the right technology to solve that — that sort of approach and that framework is what guides all the things I do,” Schneider says. “And even in robotics, the things that I care about are guided by the sort of skills that I think we need to develop to be able to have meaningful applications.”

From Albania to MIT

Before she ever touched a robot or wrote code, Schneider was an accomplished young classical pianist in Albania. When she discovered her passion for robotics at age 13, she applied some of the skills she had learned while playing piano.

“I think on some fundamental level, when I was a pianist, I thought constantly about my motor dynamics as a human being, and how I execute really complex skills but do it over and over again at the top of my ability,” Schneider says. “When it came to robotics, I was building these robotic arms that also had to operate at the top of their ability every time and do really complex tasks. It felt kind of similar to me, like a fun crossover.”

Schneider joined her high school’s robotics team as a middle schooler, and she was so immediately enamored that she ended up taking over most of the coding and building of the team’s robot. She went on to win 14 regional and national awards across the three teams she led throughout middle and high school. It was clear to her that she’d found her calling.

NerdXing wasn’t Schneider’s first experience building new technology. At just 16, she built an app meant to connect English-speaking volunteers from her international school in Tirana, Albania, to local charities that only posted jobs in Albanian. By last year, the platform, called VoluntYOU, had 18 ambassadors across four continents. It has enabled volunteers to give out more than 2,000 burritos in Reno, Nevada; register hundreds of signatures to support women’s rights legislation in Albania; and help with administering Covid-19 vaccines to more than 1,200 individuals a day in Italy.

Schneider says her experience at an international school encouraged her to recognize problems and solutions all around her.

“When I enter a new community and I can immediately be like, ‘Oh wait, if we had this tool, that would be so cool and that would help all these people,’ I think that’s just a derivative of having grown up in a place where you hear about everyone’s super different life experiences,” she says.

Schneider describes NerdXing as a continuation of many of the skills she picked up while building VoluntYOU.

“They were both motivated by seeing a challenge where I thought, ‘Wait, we have the tech skills to build that. This is something that I can envision the solution to.’ And then I wanted to actually go and make that a reality,” Schneider says.

Robotics with a positive impact

At MIT, Schneider started working in the Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory of Professor Sangbae Kim, where she has now participated in three research projects, one of which she’s co-authoring a paper on. She’s part of a team that tests how robots, including the famous back-flipping mini cheetah, move, in order to see how they could complement humans in high-stakes scenarios.

Most of her work has revolved around crafting controllers, including one hybrid-learning and model-based controller that is well-suited to robots with limited onboard computing capacity. It would allow the robot to be used in regions with less access to technology.

“It’s not just doing technology for technology’s sake, but because it will bridge out into the world and make a positive difference. I think legged robotics have some of the best potential to actually be a robotic partner to human beings in the scenarios that are most high-stakes,” Schneider says.

Schneider hopes to further robotic capabilities so she can find applications that will service communities around the world. One of her goals is to help create tools that allow a surgeon to operate on a patient a long distance away. 

To take a break from academics, Schneider has channeled her love of the arts into MIT’s vibrant social dancing scene. This year, she’s especially excited about country line dancing events where the music comes on and students have to guess the choreography.

“I think it’s a really fun way to make friends and to connect with the community,” she says.

Comparing Our Favorite Linen Sheets

Honorable Mentions

Not all sheets are created equal. The linens below are good but not as great as our picks above.

Avocado Natural Linen Sheets for $549: These were our previous organic pick, but they’re no longer GOTS-certified or marked organic by Avocado. These are still great, heavyweight linen sheets, and still have an Oeko-Tex certification to confirm no toxic materials were used during production.

Brooklinen Washed Linen Core Set for $359: This is the updated version of these linen sheets, but they feel similarly to the previous edition; a little itchy at the start compared to our other picks, and felt a little warm to sleep on too. They’re solid linen sheets, and often have new colors available (seasonal colorways do sell out fast) but all of our picks are softer, and some are cheaper, too.

Buffy Belgian Linen Sheet Set for $279: These sheets feel rough if you touch them with just your hand or sit on the sheets, but lying down entirely on these, they felt much more comfortable. These are solid, breathable linen sheets with flax sourced from Belgium. Both my husband and I had insane dreams the week we slept on these sheets, so if you’re looking for more fun dreams, give these affordable linen sheets a whirl.

Company Store Legends Hotel Washed Linen Sheet Set for $357: If you’re looking for something with a little more heft but don’t want to drop $500+, then The Company Store’s Legends Hotel Washed Linen Sheets sit nicely in the middle of price and weight. These sheets have a little more weight than The Citizenry and Pottery Barn, but don’t feel as heavy as Cultiver and Rough Linen. Many colors and sizes are currently out of stock, though.

Cozy Earth Linen Duvet Cover for $288: This cover has a great softness to it and feels ideal for summertime, but the zipper on my set broke almost immediately. It could just be bad luck, since we usually love Cozy Earth’s home goods.

Ikea Dytag Duvet Cover: My favorite linen duvet cover and pillowcase set from Ikea has been replaced with a few different cheaper lines, including the Angslilja ($40) and Strandlummer ($65). My Dytag lasted me a few years, though cheaper linen sets might not last as long as that set did.

Naturepedic Organic Linen Fitted Sheet & Pillowcases Set for $305: This set is heavy, but still manages to be really breathable; it was downright chilly to sleep on alone in the winter. It’s also a rare organic set, with GOTS-certified organic flax used. There’s no top sheet available right now, but you can get a fitted sheet and two pillowcases together, or separately.

Rough Linen Orkney Sheets for $498: WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson loves these super heavyweight linen sheets, and says they’re best for confirmed linen lovers with how heavy and rough they are. They’re completely sold out, otherwise they’d be a pick in the guide. We’ll reinstate them once they’re back in stock.

Rough Linen Smooth Linen Sheets for $498: These linen sheets live up to the name with a silky, smooth feel, like a linen twist on sateen. They were a little heavy for my liking, but if that’s up your alley, it’s a beautiful set of sheets that will last.

Slumber Cloud Performance Linen Blend for $329: This is a blend set that uses Slumber Cloud’s patented Outlast fiber, which is part of what makes the brand’s cooling Tencel lyocell sheets so good. These linen blend sheets were soft to the touch, but didn’t pack as cooling of an experience compared to regular linen and Slumber Cloud’s other sheets.

Thuma Flax Linen Sheet Set for $315: These linen sheets from the famed Thuma were solid all-around linen, keeping me nice and cool. (So cool that they’re a pick in our cooling sheets guide.) They also had a good weight and structure to them. They’re not quite as soft as our picks above, but were still a little softer than other options like Brooklinen.

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