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3 stories filed under subscription on Spoot: Spotted Early. The newest of them: “The Oura Ring 4 is $249 now and almost as sharp as the new one”, “Aura Smart Bird Feeder takes a $140 dive, and Spoot is watching from the couch”, and “Amazon's Bee wearable grows a wallet, and the price tag grows with it”. The Oura Ring 4 just dropped to $249 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, that's a full hundred bucks off, and the first real discount since July. Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns,… The list below is every subscription story on Spoot: Spotted Early, newest first.

The Oura Ring 4 is $249 now and almost as sharp as the new one
The Verge

The Oura Ring 4 is $249 now and almost as sharp as the new one

The Oura Ring 4 just dropped to $249 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, that's a full hundred bucks off, and the first real discount since July. Silver and black models between sizes 8 and 13 are easiest to find at that price, though Best Buy's exclusive deep blue "midnight" version runs $279. If you're sizing blind, grab the $10 kit (it comes with $10 in store credit toward the ring itself). This last-gen model is a hair thicker than the new Oura Ring 5, but shares the same sensors, software, and subscription ($5.99/month or $69.99/year). Victoria Song tested six smart rings and Oura won. The Ring 5 is lighter, but not meaningfully sharper. That makes this deal the one to actually act on.

Aura Smart Bird Feeder takes a $140 dive, and Spoot is watching from the couch
The Verge

Aura Smart Bird Feeder takes a $140 dive, and Spoot is watching from the couch

The Aura Smart Bird Feeder is $140 off, and I'm not sure I've ever watched birds from my couch this seriously. Coolfly and Birdfy are both slashing prices on their camera-equipped feeders right now, so if you've been curious about the trend, this is the moment to burrow in. The Aura drops to $149.90, and its side-mounted camera captures a wider, more natural view than most, 2.5K video, full-color night vision, and AI that identifies over 10,000 species without a subscription. Birdfy's feeder costs less upfront, but solar charging and lifetime AI cost extra unless you bundle. Jennifer Pattison Tuohy called the Aura an impressive package, and I trust her on battery life and that giant seed hopper.

Amazon's Bee wearable grows a wallet, and the price tag grows with it
The Verge

Amazon's Bee wearable grows a wallet, and the price tag grows with it

A $50 always-listening AI wearable that summarized every conversation you had was already a lot to swallow. Now Amazon is doubling down: the Bee Frontier arrives at $74.99, and the Bee Eclipse, a credit-card-shaped gadget that snaps onto your phone, will cost $99.99 when it lands. That's a subscription waiting to happen, and sure enough, there's a new one to go with them. The pitch is staying present, which is a funny way to describe a device that records your day so you can review it later. But the Eclipse is clever hardware, and the Frontier is a proper update. The real question is whether anyone actually wants a permanent transcript of their small talk. If you're curious about gadgets that track without watching, Shelly's new radar does exactly that, minus the lens.