It’s becoming clearer that we are in a perilous financial situation globally. Fears over an “AI bubble” are being cited by the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund and the boss of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon.
If you want a sense of how insane the narrative is around AI investments, consider this: Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup, recently raised $2bn funding on a valuation of $10bn.
The company has zero products, zero customers and zero revenues. The only thing it made public to its investors was the resume of its founder, Mira Murati, formerly chief technology officer at OpenAI. If that’s not hubris meeting market exuberance, what is?
But narrative is crucial here because it’s what’s driving all this insane investment in the future of AI or so-called artificial general intelligence (AGI), and it’s important to examine which narrative you believe in if you are to protect yourself for what’s to come.
If I were to pick between the views of a politician such as UK prime minister Keir Starmer, and a writer such as Cory Doctorow, I’d put my bet on Doctorow. Contrast these two statements and see which you feel more comfortable with…
Doctorow suggests the AI bubble needs to be punctured as soon as possible to “halt this before it progresses any further and to head off the accumulation of social and economic debt”.
He suggests doing that by taking aim at the basis for the AI bubble – namely, “creating a growth story by claiming that AI can do your job”.
AI is the asbestos we are shovelling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations Cory Doctorow
Claims about jobs disappearing to AI have been around since 2019 with Sam Altman, then leader of venture capital (VC) fund Y Combinator, speaking about radiology jobs disappearing in the future: “Human radiologists are already much worse than computer radiologists. If I had to pick a human or an AI to read my scan, I’d pick the AI.”
Fast forward six years to 2025 and look how that worked out. According to a recent report by Works in Progress, despite the fact that radiology combines digital images, clear benchmarks and repeatable tasks, demand for human radiologists is at an all-time high.
The report authors’ conclusions drive a horse and cart through the current AI/AGI narrative that if left unstopped will cause severe global economic pain: “In many jobs, tasks are diverse, stakes are high, and demand is elastic. When this is the case, we should expect software to initially lead to more human work, not less. The lesson from a decade of radiology models is neither optimism about increased output nor dread about replacement. Models can lift productivity, but their implementation depends on behaviour, institutions and incentives. For now, the paradox has held – the better the machines, the busier radiologists have become.”
Across other sectors too, the mythology around job losses is slowly being interrogated – for example, Yale University Budget Lab found no discernible disruption to labour markets since ChatGPT’s release 33 months ago.
The research goes on to state: “While this finding may contradict the most alarming headlines, it is not surprising given past precedents. Historically, widespread technological disruption in workplaces tends to occur over decades, rather than months or years. Computers didn’t become commonplace in offices until nearly a decade after their release to the public, and it took even longer for them to transform office workflows. Even if new AI technologies will go on to impact the labour market as much, or more dramatically, it is reasonable to expect that widespread effects will take longer than 33 months to materialise”.
Normal technology
In other words, AI is just, well, technology as we have always known it – or as experts Aryind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor call AI, just “normal technology”.
Importantly in their paper, AI as normal technology – An alternative to the vision of AI as a potential superintelligence, they identify key lessons from past technological revolutions – the slow and uncertain nature of technology adoption and diffusion; continuity between the past and future trajectory of AI in terms of social impact; and the role of institutions in shaping this trajectory. They also “strongly disagree with the characterisation of generative AI adoption as rapid, which reinforces our assumption about the similarity of AI diffusion to past technologies”
A good example of AI as normal technology without all the hype, hyperbole and billion-dollar burn rate, is the City of Austin, Texas. Here, an on-premise AI system helped the local government process building permits in days instead of months.
According to David Stout, CEO of WebAI, this was done “with no spectacle. No headlines. Just efficiency gains that will outlast the market cycle. He said, “That’s the point too often missed in the frenzy. Mega-models attract headlines, consume billions in capital, and struggle to demonstrate sustainable economics. Meanwhile, smaller, domain-specific systems are already delivering efficiency gains, cost savings and productivity improvements. The smart play isn’t to abandon AI, but to pivot towards models and deployments that will endure”.
Technology like we have always known it to be – not the insane fantasy of “superintelligence” that is powering this dangerous bubble.
The question to ask is, given the prediction of at least a 33-month lag before any return on investment, however small, will the markets wait another 33 months for their returns to materialise?
Protracted crisis
A recent report on MarketWatch suggests the AI bubble is now ”seventeen times the size of the dot com frenzy and four times the sub-prime bubble”. MarketWatch quotes financial analyst Julien Garran, who previously led UBS’s commodities strategy team, who said “AI now accounts for over four times the wealth trapped in the 2008 sub-prime mortgage bubble, which resulted in years of protracted crisis across the globe”.
Warnings from the Bank of England in its semi-annual Financial Policy Committee report are equally stark: “Uncertainty around the global risk environment increases the risk that markets have not fully priced in possible adverse outcomes, and a sudden correction could occur should any of these risks crystallize.”
The bank also warned of “the risk of a sharp market for global financial markets amid AI bubble risks and political pressure on the Federal Reserve.”
What a sudden correction means is that a collapse of the AI investment bubble will take trillions of investment with it, impacting us all.
Even more worrying is the issue of debt financing among those competing in the AI race – that is, all the tech bros. It now appears, according to Axios, that these companies are turning to private debt markets and special purpose vehicles for cash, which means this kind of borrowing does not have to show on their balance sheets.
Meta, for example, recently sought $29bn from private capital firms for its AI datacentres. This off-book debt financing should ring more alarm bells that something is terribly wrong with the AI growth narrative.
After all, as pointed out by the Axios analysts, “If hugely profitable tech companies need to mask their borrowings to fund AI spending, it signals they’re not confident that they’ll soon get the returns needed to justify such investments. That suggests the very spending powering today’s earnings boom can’t last forever.”
Unit economics
To go back to Cory Doctorow’s argument, we are not in the early days of the web, or Amazon, or other dot com companies that lost money before becoming profitable: “Those were all propositions with excellent unit economics. They got cheaper with every successive technological generation and the more customers they added, the more profitable they became”.
AI companies do not have excellent unit economics – in fact they have the opposite, according to Doctorow: “Each generation of AI has been vastly more expensive than the previous one, and each new AI customer makes the AI companies lose more money”.
[Only] about 5% of tasks will be able to be profitably performed by AI within 10 years Daron Acemoglu
And if that’s not sobering enough for the VC and private equity firms, then the circular investing going on between these tech firms should be a huge concern.
Microsoft is investing $10bn in OpenAI by giving free access to its servers. OpenAI reports this as an “investment,” then redeems these tokens at Microsoft datacentres, which Microsoft books as $10bn in revenue.
Bain & Co says the only way to make today’s AI investments profitable “is for the sector to bring in $2tn by 2030,” which, according to the Wall Street Journal, is more than the revenue of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia and Meta – combined.
Taking a closer look at US economic growth is surely more cause for concern.
According to Harvard economist Jason Furman’s analysis, GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was driven almost entirely by investment in information processing equipment and software. This spending was largely tied to the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure and datacentres.
While these tech sectors only made up 4% of total GDP, they contributed a staggering 92% of growth. Absent this investment, Furman estimates US GDP growth would have hovered around 0.1% on an annualised basis – barely above zero.
There is a lot riding on a technology that’s supposed to be godlike and all powerful but which, according to MIT Institute professor Daron Acemoglu, is far less likely to achieve the insane hyperbolic claims being made by the tech bros in an effort to win an unwinnable race.
Acemoglu estimates the 10-year effect of AI in the US will be that only “about 5% of tasks will be able to be profitably performed by AI within that timeframe,” with the GDP boost likely to be closer to 1% over that timespan. If that’s not a recipe for stock market collapse, what is?
Emperor’s new clothes
Going back to the AI booster narrative and how it’s driving things, Doctorow is again incisive: “The most important thing about AI isn’t its technical capabilities or limitations. The most important thing is the investor story and the ensuing mania that has teed up an economic catastrophe that will harm hundreds of millions or even billions of people. AI isn’t going to wake up, become super intelligent and turn you into paperclips – but rich people with AI investor psychosis are almost certainly going to make you much, much poorer”.
I’m not an economist, so I did what we are all supposed to do now for our enlightenment. I gave the machines built by the tech bros all the same prompt: “What fable best encapsulates the current AI bubble?”
Gemini, Perplexity and ChatGPT were all in agreement with nearly the same explanation of why they all picked the same story: “The emperor’s new clothes remains the best classic fable to explain the AI bubble, as it encapsulates the collective willingness to believe in – and profit from – an imagined reality, until facts and external shocks eventually break the spell.”
Amazon steeply discounts its hardware from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, and you can still grab best Amazon and Kindle Cyber Monday deals right now. Thank goodness, because in this economy, we’ll take every discount we can get this holiday season. If you’re hoping to pick up a new Amazon device, whether it be a new Kindle for your favorite book-lover or a new Echo speaker for your smart home, this is the last great sale event of the year and the time to buy. Lots of Amazon devices we recommend are on sale, and these are the Amazon device and Kindle Cyber Monday deals you don’t want to miss.
Updated 5 pm ET December 1: We’ve added deals on the Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen), Echo Spot, and Kids Edition Fire tablets.
Best Kindle Deals
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation)
The Kindle Paperwhite is our long-time favorite Kindle. It’s got a 7-inch screen that has an auto-adjusting warm light you won’t find on cheaper Kindles, with solid resolution, dark mode, and three months of battery life. Both the regular Paperwhite and the Paperwhite Signature are on sale, and the latter offers wireless charging and an upgraded 32 GB of storage.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Kindle Scribe (2024)
This is the Kindle I find myself going back to over and over again because I love the digital notebook feature. The Kindle Scribe also has a massive (at least in the world of e-readers) 10-inch screen with an auto-adjusting front light and three months of battery, and comes with a magnet-attaching stylus to scribble notes and highlights. There’s a new Kindle Scribe due out this winter, so this might be one of your last chances to get this generation for this cheap.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Kindle Colorsoft and Colorsoft Signature Edition
Kindle finally introduced a color e-reader last year, and while it’s not our all-time favorite, it’s still a good color e-reader for anyone in the market. There are both a base model and a Signature model similar to the Paperwhite, and both models are on sale. The color screen gives your digital bookshelf and highlights a whole new life, and it’s an especially a great choice for graphic novel readers.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Amazon
Kindle Colorsoft Kids
If you want a color Kindle for your kiddo, then this is the one to get. It comes with a fun cover to keep it safe, and a full year of Amazon Kids+ content that will give your child access to tons of age-appropriate books and other content. Honestly, if anyone should get a color e-reader, it’s kids. They’re much more likely to enjoy the color benefits than your everyday novel readers.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Kindle (2024, 11th Generation)
If you’re looking for a cheap Kindle that’s still great, the base Kindle will more than do the job. It’s smaller than the Paperwhite and Colorsoft with just a 6-inch screen, but performance is snappy and a clear upgrade to older models. You’ll still get an adjustable front light (though not warm), dark mode, 16 GB of storage, and up to six weeks of battery life.
Best Amazon Echo Deals
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Amazon has four new Echo devices, and one of the best also happens to be on a small discount. The Echo Dot Max looks like a miniaturized version of the new Echo Studio, with the dust cap-style front panel and round body. Compared to past Echo Dots, the sound is seriously impressive. It comes with a higher price to match, but this small discount makes it more appealing.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Amazon
Looking to spend even less? The previous reigning Echo Dot was the fifth-generation model, and it’s still a great smart speaker. You’ll get better bass than most other speakers this size, and all the benefits of Alexa in a single tiny package.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Amazon didn’t just drop new Echo speakers this year, but two new Echo Show devices as well: the fourth-generation Echo Show 8 and the Echo Show 11. Both are the same device, but the Show 11 has the larger, 11-inch display. It’s a new size for Amazon (so far, there’s been a Show 10 and a Show 15 on the larger end), and it’s already on sale. We’re still testing it, but if you think an 11-inch Alexa display would be perfect for your home, this is the perfect chance to buy.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Amazon
Echo Studio (2nd Gen)
If you’re looking for the best sound from Amazon’s arsenal, the newly updated Echo Studio has a new look but maintains the impressive sound we loved about the first generation. Not only does it have great clarity and impressive volume for its size, but it also packs spatial audio and Dolby Atmos capabilities, a built-in smart home hub, and early access to Alexa+ right out of the box.
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Echo Dot Kids (5th Gen)
If you want a smart speaker for your kid’s room, the Echo Dot Kids is a perfect choice. It’s our favorite speaker for kids with its fun covers, free year of Kids+ content, parental controls, and solid sound quality that has made the Echo Dot an all-around favorite for adults and kids alike.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen)
If you want a good smart display without spending too much, my still-favored Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) has a great discount. It’s the older model but still works great with the new Alexa+, has a built-in smart hub, and actually has better musical depth than the newer version. It’s my budget smart display pick in my guide to the Best Alexa Speakers, and it’s even cheaper right now.
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Amazon
This handy little partial smart screen is my favorite Alexa for bedside tables. The Echo Spot has a customizable clock face and can show you certain things, like the time of your next alarm and what song is playing, but doesn’t have a camera or a distracting slideshow like a true Echo Show device, so it’s a great in-between of a display and speaker.
Fire Device Deals
Courtesy of Amazon
Amazon
Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Generation)
If you’re an Amazon Prime Video lover, then this is the streaming device—and the sale—for you. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max still lets you access other streaming apps, but is tailored for Amazon Prime. This second-generation model has 16 GB of storage and is easy to set up and use.
Courtesy of Amazon
If you’re in the market for an Amazon-powered tablet, the Fire HD 8 is our favorite value option, and that’s before it went on sale. It has improved RAM at the level of our favorite Fire tablet, the HD 10, and the smaller size makes it good for traveling.
Courtesy of Amazon
Fire HD 8 Kids Edition (2024)
If you want a Fire tablet for your kids to stream their latest obsession (my son’s is the Pokémon movies), there are two different Kids Edition Fire tablets that are both different sizes to suit different age groups. The regular Kids Edition is for younger ones with a thicker cover and a good size for little hands, while the Pro model is best for older kids and has fun additions like Music Maker, a kid-friendly music editing app. Both models have a great sale right now.
Norway is the world’s largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon and a top exporter of seafood, while the United States remains the largest importer of these products, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Two MIT students recently traveled to Trondheim, Norway to explore the cutting-edge technologies being developed and deployed in offshore aquaculture.
Beckett Devoe, a senior in artificial intelligence and decision-making, and Tony Tang, a junior in mechanical engineering, first worked with MIT Sea Grant through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). They contributed to projects focusing on wave generator design and machine learning applications for analyzing oyster larvae health in hatcheries. While near-shore aquaculture is a well-established industry across Massachusetts and the United States, open-ocean farming is still a nascent field here, facing unique and complex challenges.
To help better understand this emerging industry, MIT Sea Grant created a collaborative initiative, AquaCulture Shock, with funding from an Aquaculture Technologies and Education Travel Grant through the National Sea Grant College Program. Collaborating with the MIT-Scandinavia MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives) program, MIT Sea Grant matched Devoe and Tang with aquaculture-related summer internships at SINTEF Ocean, one of the largest research institutes in Europe.
“The opportunity to work on this hands-on aquaculture project, under a world-renowned research institution, in an area of the world known for its innovation in marine technology — this is what MISTI is all about,” says Madeline Smith, managing director for MIT-Scandinavia. “Not only are students gaining valuable experience in their fields of study, but they’re developing cultural understanding and skills that equip them to be future global leaders.” Both students worked within SINTEF Ocean’s Aquaculture Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ACE-Robotic Lab), a facility designed to develop and test new aquaculture technologies.
“Norway has this unique geography where it has all of these fjords,” says Sveinung Ohrem, research manager for the Aquaculture Robotics and Automation Group at SINTEF Ocean. “So you have a lot of sheltered waters, which makes it ideal to do sea-based aquaculture.” He estimates that there are about a thousand fish farms along Norway’s coast, and walks through some of the tools being used in the industry: decision-making systems to gather and visualize data for the farmers and operators; robots for inspection and cleaning; environmental sensors to measure oxygen, temperature, and currents; echosounders that send out acoustic signals to track where the fish are; and cameras to help estimate biomass and fine-tune feeding. “Feeding is a huge challenge,” he notes. “Feed is the largest cost, by far, so optimizing feeding leads to a very significant decrease in your cost.”
During the internship, Devoe focused on a project that uses AI for fish feeding optimization. “I try to look at the different features of the farm — so maybe how big the fish are, or how cold the water is … and use that to try to give the farmers an optimal feeding amount for the best outcomes, while also saving money on feed,” he explains. “It was good to learn some more machine learning techniques and just get better at that on a real-world project.”
In the same lab, Tang worked on the simulation of an underwater vehicle-manipulator system to navigate farms and repair damage on cage nets with a robotic arm. Ohrem says there are thousands of aquaculture robots operating in Norway today. “The scale is huge,” he says. “You can’t have 8,000 people controlling 8,000 robots — that’s not economically or practically feasible. So the level of autonomy in all of these robots needs to be increased.”
The collaboration between MIT and SINTEF Ocean began in 2023 when MIT Sea Grant hosted Eleni Kelasidi, a visiting research scientist from the ACE-Robotic Lab. Kelasidi collaborated with MIT Sea Grant director Michael Triantafyllou and professor of mechanical engineering Themistoklis Sapsis developing controllers, models, and underwater vehicles for aquaculture, while also investigating fish-machine interactions.
“We have had a long and fruitful collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and SINTEF, which continues with important efforts such as the aquaculture project with Dr. Kelasidi,” Triantafyllou says. “Norway is at the forefront of offshore aquaculture and MIT Sea Grant is investing in this field, so we anticipate great results from the collaboration.”
Kelasidi, who is now a professor at NTNU, also leads the Field Robotics Lab, focusing on developing resilient robotic systems to operate in very complex and harsh environments. “Aquaculture is one of the most challenging field domains we can demonstrate any autonomous solutions, because everything is moving,” she says. Kelasidi describes aquaculture as a deeply interdisciplinary field, requiring more students with backgrounds both in biology and technology. “We cannot develop technologies that are applied for industries where we don’t have biological components,” she explains, “and then apply them somewhere where we have a live fish or other live organisms.”
Ohrem affirms that maintaining fish welfare is the primary driver for researchers and companies operating in aquaculture, especially as the industry continues to grow. “So the big question is,” he says, “how can you ensure that?” SINTEF Ocean has four research licenses for farming fish, which they operate through a collaboration with SalMar, the second-largest salmon farmer in the world. The students had the opportunity to visit one of the industrial-scale farms, Singsholmen, on the island of Hitra. The farm has 10 large, round net pens about 50 meters across that extend deep below the surface, each holding up to 200,000 salmon. “I got to physically touch the nets and see how the [robotic] arm might be able to fix the net,” says Tang.
Kelasidi emphasizes that the information gained in the field cannot be learned from the office or lab. “That opens up and makes you realize, what is the scale of the challenges, or the scale of the facilities,” she says. She also highlights the importance of international and institutional collaboration to advance this field of research and develop more resilient robotic systems. “We need to try to target that problem, and let’s solve it together.”
MIT Sea Grant and the MIT-Scandinavia MISTI program are currently recruiting a new cohort of four MIT students to intern in Norway this summer with institutes advancing offshore farming technologies, including NTNU’s Field Robotics Lab in Trondheim. Students interested in autonomy, deep learning, simulation modeling, underwater robotic systems, and other aquaculture-related areas are encouraged to reach out to Lily Keyes at MIT Sea Grant.
If you’ve been dreaming all year of saving serious cash on a new mattress, you have a few more hours before the alarm goes off. From the best mattresses for back pain to our favorite cooling options, these are the top deals on mattresses the WIRED Reviews team has tested in their own homes. We also track prices all year to see where the best sales are really happening. And Cyber Monday brings some of the best sleep deals you’ll see all year.
If it’s on this list, it’s genuinely a good deal on a product someone from our team has tested and approved of. While the prices listed below are for queen sizes, the deals should apply to all mattress sizes. Your dreams of a new king mattress are still going strong.
Updated 2 pm ET December 1: We’ve added new sales from Sleep Number and Thuma, and ensured up-to-date links and prices.
WIRED Featured Deals
Bear
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Bear
The WIRED Reviews team has crowned the Bear Elite Hybrid as the best mattress for back pain we’ve tested to date. It comes in three firmness options, including Soft, Medium, and Firm. WIRED testers have found Firm helpful for spinal alignment, and you can also add a Celliant cover for a fee, designed to help with muscle recovery. In addition to the sale, Bear is also throwing in a free accessories bundle (two pillows, a sheet set, and a mattress protector). Use WIRED40 for 40 percent off, which is an additional 5 percent off the offer you’ll see on the site.
Helix
Courtesy of Helix Sleep
Helix Sleep
Midnight Luxe Hybrid Mattress (14-Inch)
We test many, many mattresses—so it’s saying something that the Helix Midnight Luxe has been our favorite overall mattress for seven years running. This specific model is designed for side sleepers, but the brand’s slogan is “designed for every body,” and there are plenty of options for every sleeping position. Helix’s Cyber Week sale is underway, but you can get additional savings by using our exclusive coupon code WIRED27 for 27 percent off.
Saatva
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Saatva
Saatva mattresses strive to be the intersection of luxury, natural materials, and support for many sleepers. One model in particular that we’ve tested, the Saatva Rx, offers serious pressure relief for even the most persistent aches and pains. It incorporates micro coils and pressure-relief foam, so the price is usually on the higher side. However, Saatva’s holiday sales promo should take some strain off your wallet, as you can save $400 off purchases of $1,000 or more. Use our link below.
Sleep Number
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Photograph: Julia Forbes
If you’re trying to decide between a sleep tracker or a new mattress, I’ve got news for you—Sleep Number can do both. The p6 is a smart bed that lets you adjust your preferred firmness; pressure relief levels; and, paired with an adjustable base, the angle of the head and foot of the bed. It also tracks your sleep, noting any changes in your heart rate, breathing, and deep sleep. Sleep Number is offering free shipping plus discounts for bed and base bundles. Free shipping’s a big deal because it’s usually a separate fee from Sleep Number for a team to come set up the bed for you. Now, it’s just part of your purchase.
Casper
Courtesy of Casper
Casper
Original Hybrid Mattress (12-Inch)
Amazon’s current price on this Casper hybrid is slightly lower than we saw for Prime Day, at just over $1,000 for a queen from Amazon. Casper was one of the original American mattresses-in-a-box makers, though the company has been bought and sold a few times. We like this mattress for pressure relief but it has heightened support thanks to the coils. There’s also a sale on a Casper pillow we like below.
Birch
Courtesy of Birch
Birch
Luxe Natural Mattress
If you’re looking to get memory foams and other man-made materials out of your bedroom in favor of an all-organic mattress, the Birch Luxe Natural has been a consistent winner for us. It has an organic cotton Euro top that gives your pressure points a cushioned surface to slightly sink into. Layers of natural wool are incorporated underneath for breathable temperature control. Latex is pressure-relieving, like memory foam, but without any chemicals involved. It’s also organic, with Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) certification. Pocketed coils help support you where you need it most. Birch is also throwing in two free pillows with every mattress purchase. To make it even better, you can use code WIRED27 for even more savings.
Airweave
Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Airweave
Airweave Advanced (Queen)
There is a significant savings on a mattress we really liked for its firmness and portability, while balking at the price in our review. The Airweave’s filling is made from a unique ultrafine woven polyethylene, which looks like uncooked glass noodles or a tangle of fishing line. It functions like super micro coils and offers a somewhat stiff but very. supportive sleeping surface. Best of all, it can be disassembled for easy moving, and the cover is washable.
Silk & Snow
Courtesy of Silk & Snow
Silk & Snow
S&S Organic Mattress
Canadian brand Silk & Snow uses high-quality materials and thoughtful construction in its mattresses, with prices that are hard to argue with. In the S&S Organic hybrid’s case, there are several organic certifications too. With GOLS-certified organic cotton, organic wool, and GOLS-certified latex atop pocketed coils, it eliminates any guesswork about materials and focuses solely on support. For holiday shoppers, Silk & Snow is offering up to $300 off on mattresses, no code needed.
Avocado
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Photograph: Melissa Krused/Avocado Mattress
Avocado
Green Organic Hybrid Mattress
Avocado takes the notion of “all-natural” mattresses very seriously, with an extensive list of certifications to back its claims. The Avocado Green hybrid mattress comes in Firm (base model), Medium (pillow top), and Plush (box top, which is an even thicker version of a softer pillow top). Medium and Plush cost a bit extra, but we previously tested the Firm model and loved it. Its organic latex and coil construction provided lumbar support, temperature regulation, and pressure relief to the point where it got a near-perfect score. For Avocado’s holiday mattress sale, you can take 20 percent off your purchase, no code needed.
Wolf
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Wolf
Memory Foam Hybrid Premium Firm Mattress
Wolf mattresses are not ones you should overlook. Each time our team has tested a Wolf mattress, we were impressed with its quality and performance. The Wolf 13-Inch Memory Foam Hybrid Premium Firm Mattress is quite a name, but this hybrid mattress excels with temperature control thanks to a cooling cover, foams, and coils. It’s just firm enough that you can move around without feeling stuck, and it also maintains spinal alignment. Wolf’s Cyber Week mattress sale is now live, with 15 percent off on your purchase.
Tiami
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Tiami
Luxury Hybrid Mattress
Tiami’s Luxury Hybrid has a firmer feel with cushioning memory foam layers and unique, foam-capped coils that help relieve pressure around your joints. It’s a specialty mattress through and through, which makes Tiami’s current mattress sale even more enticing. It’s the lowest price we’ve seen all year, thanks to its Cyber Monday promo at 40 percent off, no code needed.
Essentia
Courtesy of Essentia
Essentia
Tatami Organic Mattress
You’re searching high and low for an organic mattress, but not just any organic mattress will do—it has to be vegan as well. (Many organic mattresses aren’t vegan due to the inclusion of wool.) For those who aim to live (and sleep!) by vegan protocols, Essentia’s Tatami mattress is right up your alley. It’s got organic cotton, organic latex, and organic foam all meant for pressure relief, temperature control, and strong lumbar support. Essentia is offering 25 percent off mattresses plus two free pillows as part of its holiday mattress sale. (Discount reflected in cart.)
Naturepedic
Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Courtesy of Naturepedic
Naturepedic
EOS Classic Organic Mattress
Naturepedic checks a lot of boxes with its EOS Classic mattress. It’s got customizable firmness on each side of the mattress. It’s one of the best mattresses we’ve tested to date. It’s also made with organic materials, making it one of the best organic mattresses we’ve come across. Naturepedic is offering 20 percent off sitewide and throwing in a free accessories bundle (organic mattress protector and pillows) on orders of $699 or more.
Leesa
Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Courtesy of Leesa
Leesa’s Sapira Chill Hybrid ranks as one of the best mattresses by our account (more specifically, the best hybrid mattress), thanks to its cooling and lumbar support. It features a quilted pillow top with a cooling cover, along with pressure-relieving foams and pocketed coils. There are three firmness levels to choose from, but if you have back pain, you may want to opt for something firmer to support spine alignment. Plus, the Sapira Chill’s pillow top will soften things out a bit. While the price for this mattress isn’t the lowest we’ve seen this year, Leesa’s holiday sale is pretty good. You can take 30 percent off select mattresses, including the Sapira Chill.
Plank
Courtesy of Plank
For those who feel like a mattress is never quite firm enough, the Plank Firm is one of the team’s favorite beds that delivers a truly firm feel. It’s actually dual-sided, with one side “firm” and the other “extra firm,” so you can get the utmost, unyielding support. It’s been a hit with some of our testers who have back pain and look to firm beds to maintain spine alignment. To keep your wallet balanced, too, Plank is offering 30 percent off with code BFRIDAY30.
Cyber Monday Bedding Deals
No new mattress setup would be complete without sheets, pillows, bed frames, and sleep accessories. Cyber Monday is the time to get the best of the best, and these are deals we’re pretty hyped about.
Thuma Signature Bed Frame
Courtesy of Thuma
We’re big Thuma fans around here, from the Thuma Hybrid mattress to its Classic Bed frame (review coming soon!). We wish these two items were on sale for Black Friday, but Cyber Monday is a new day with new opportunities, like a sale on Thuma’s Signature Bed frame. Just like the Classic Bed, the Signature Bed frame is a cinch to set up and comes in either soft Italian felt or performance linen. Thuma is offering up to 22 percent off the Signature Bed as part of its Cyber Monday sale.
Casper Sleep Hybrid Snow Pillow
Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft
Casper
Hybrid Snow Pillow (Standard)
Another Casper sale you’ll find on Amazon, reviewer Nena Farrell found this pillow had a lower loft paired with a firmer feel. These are both aspects that stomach sleepers need from their pillows to prevent disturbing their neck’s cervical alignment and causing trouble with their lower backs.
My Green Mattress
Courtesy of My Green Mattress
My Green Mattress
Organic Latex Topper
You’re looking for a quick hack to revitalize your mattress’s support—before your guests arrive for the holidays. Mattress toppers can help buy you some time while increasing pressure relief, support, and overall comfort. This organic latex mattress topper from My Green Mattress has two inches of firmer-feeling, GOLS-certified Dunlop latex. For the holiday, you can get 15 percent off sleep accessories, including this organic latex topper.
Helix
Photograph: Wired
Helix Sleep
GlacioTex Premium Mattress Topper
Here’s another hypothetical for you, based on personal experience: You know someone living in a dorm, and their mattress just straight-up sucks. Sleep’s crucial for these scholars, and Helix’s GlacioTex Memory Foam Topper is designed to provide pressure relief and temperature regulation to help elevate the lowliest of dorm-room beds (aka, a glorified piece of foam wrapped in a tarp). Use code WIRED27 for 27 percent off this topper.
Cozy Earth
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Courtesy of Cozy Earth
Cozy Earth
Bamboo Sheet Set
We’re covering all sorts of Cozy Earth deals right now. But these bamboo sheets are so lovely, we’re giving them a shoutout twice. If you’re still struggling with gift ideas, these sheets are a cooling, luxurious option the recipient will use often (at least, I’d sure use them). Plus, the limited edition seasonal patterns are too whimsical to pass up. These sheets are currently 45 percent off and are selling out quickly.
Brooklinen
Courtesy of Brooklinen
Photograph: Louryn Strampe
Brooklinen
All-Season Down Comforter
If you crave the experience of being wrapped in something similar to a fluffy cloud, chances are you’d really like a down comforter. WIRED reviewer Louryn Strampe likened Brooklinen’s all-season down comforter to something you’d see in a hotel, with its starchy cover and fluffy fill. Brooklinen is continuing its 25 percent off sitewide sale from Black Friday through Cyber Week.
Coop
Photograph: Julia Forbes
Coop Sleep Goods
Original Adjustable Crescent Pillow
The first time I technically tested this crescent pillow was in a friend’s guest room, and I’ve been a fan ever since. This adjustable pillow’s bottom has an arch, allowing your shoulders to press into the pillow and providing more cushion around your neck. You can also add fill (which comes in a separate bag) to make it firmer, or take some out to increase softness. You can take 25 percent off as part of its current sitewide sale.