Maybe the best monitor deal I've ever seen

It's an ultra-high-resolution 27-inch screen for just $93. PLUS: A $3 Disney/Hulu bundle and more!

DISCLAIMER: Some of the links included herein are affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase via one of them, I may get a small commission. I promise you, now and forever, that I won’t choose deals based on whether there’s an affiliate option available.

Good morning, friends! This is going to be a quickie, because I’m currently running on battery power! (Well, my house is; I’m running on caffeine.) Woke up today to a storm outage, and while I’m grateful to have a partial-home battery backup, I’m also acutely aware that it’s barely going to give us a full day’s coverage. At least it’s not producing the noise or emissions of a gas-powered generator.

QUICK HITS

A steal at $113. Seriously.

🎧 Last issue, I shared a deal on Sony’s XM4 headphones. Now, from the same source, an even more amazing deal on earbuds: Secondipity via eBay has the certified-refurbished Sony WF-1000XM5 active noise-cancelling wireless earbuds for $113. These are top-rated premium earbuds, priced $300 new, in like-new condition and with a 2-year warranty. Exceptional deal. (Read my Yahoo review if you want to learn more.)

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🖨️ While you’re at eBay, another smoking-hot deal: The refurbished AnkerMake M5 3D printer for $205. This thing was $800 when it first launched, then $700 for a long while. And it’s the printer I’ve owned and used regularly for over two years. It’s fast and gives me way less grief than every other model I used before it. Once again, it’s a certified refurb with a 2-year warranty; impossible to beat at this price. And, once again, I have a review you can check out to learn more. (It’s a little dated, but as noted here, I’m still very happy with this thing.)

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Even in this economy, $3/month is a steal for these two streaming services.

📺 I’m starting to tighten my streaming-service belt, which means canceling a few of my less-used services until a good deal comes around. Like this one: For a limited time, you can get Disney+ and Hulu Basic for just $2.99/month for the first four months — plenty of time to get your binge on. These are both “with ads” plans, so you’ll have to sit through commercials, but that is just so cheap for a considerable amount of content.

Speaking of canceling, I was just reminded of another way to save on streaming: By actually canceling. What I mean is, these services want to keep you, so they’ll often cut you a deal to stay or rejoin. I recently pulled the plug on Max ($15/month), for example, and immediately received an offer to stay on for $8.49/month (a 50% savings) for the next six months.

Similarly, Peacock offered me $1.99/month for six months. Even if you don’t want to cancel a particular service, it’s worth going through the process to see if they’ll give you a lower price. (If you’ve been through this with something other than Max or Peacock, leave a comment and let me know what deal you scored!)

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🤖 Lots of people are interested in AI but concerned about privacy. If you want to take some of these tools for a spin while remaining totally anonymous, check out Duck.ai. From the folks behind the popular “private” search engine DuckDuckGo, it provides quick and easy access to five different AI models — including ChatGPT — and promises complete privacy. It’s free to use.

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Years back I upgraded to a high-resolution desktop monitor, and I’ve never looked back. I don’t mind telling you, it cost me $300. Which makes this insane: For a limited time, and while supplies last, the KTC QHD 27-inch monitor drops to just $93 when you clip the on-page $40-off coupon and then apply promo code 05DMKTC38 at checkout. This ticks all the boxes (and then some) for a basic desktop monitor, most notably the 2,560x1,440 resolution. (I’d argue the standard 1,920x1,080 is too low for this size.) Amazing deal… can’t recall a better one on a monitor, actually.

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PLAYLIST

A well-crafted, suspenseful story (based on a novel) ruined by bad casting and a horrifically bad ending.

📺 Day of the Jackal (Peacock): Rarely has a TV show made me so angry. While watching this Eddie Redmayne cat-and-mouse spy show with my wife, I frequently remarked, “Am I supposed to root for this guy? He’s a cold-blooded murderer!” Sure, we’ve championed plenty of anti-heroes in the past (Walter White, anyone?), but Redmayne’s flat performance and the woefully unlikeable British agent chasing him sucked all the fun out of it. And the ending? You know how spoiler-averse I am, so I won’t say what happened — but I sure as hell don’t need TV shows in which the bad guy wins. Getting enough of that in real life. Rick’s Rating: D-

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Thanks for reading Deal Secrets! Questions? Comments? Shoot me an e-mail. I’ll do my best to respond to all inquiries! Want to show your support? Buy me a coffee!

There's also my book: Everything I Need to Know, I Learned Playing Pickleball. And check out my curated book list at Bookshop.org, which donates to local bookstores with every purchase.