The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned all foreign-made mobile robots from the country — including robot vacuums. This means that people in the U.S. won't be able to get new robot vacuums from brands such as Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, and Samsung.

On Tuesday, the FCC announced that it has added "advanced robotic devices" made outside the U.S. to its Covered List. This list documents communications equipment and services that the U.S. government believes pose an "unacceptable risk" to national security. Products on the Covered List are prohibited from receiving FCC equipment authorisation, which is mandatory for most electronic devices imported or sold within the country. 

As such, this update means that foreign-manufactured advanced robotic devices cannot be imported or sold in the U.S. The FCC's announcement specifically mentioned limbed robots such as humanoids and quadrupeds, leaving no doubt that tech such as XPENG's humanoid IRON robot and Unitree's Go2 Pro Robot Dog will be barred from the country. 

However, robot vacuums also neatly fit within the ban's scope. As cited by the FCC, the National Security Determination defines "advanced robotic devices" as:

A mechanical mobile device, including autonomous mobile robots, humanoid robots, and quadrupeds, that – 

i. Is capable of locomotion, obstacle avoidance, navigation, or movement on the ground;

ii. Operates at a distance from a human operator or supervisor based on commands or in response to sensor data or any combination thereof; and 

iii. The combined weight of the device and, if applicable, ground station or docking station is over 4.4lbs; and 

iv. Contains a component falling within each of the below subparagraphs: 

i. a sensor capable of perceiving its environment; 

ii. a component that is capable of providing network connectivity (wired or wireless, including Bluetooth/WiFi, cellular, or satellite) with connection speeds of at least 200 kbps in either direction; and 

iii. software running either locally or remotely, including firmware and AI or machine-learning model weights, that controls the robot’s autonomous navigation or movement perception, data collection, or remote command-and-control

Such features are integral to robot vacuums' operations, which require them to independently navigate areas in order to clean them. The FCC has since confirmed that the U.S. ban does include robot vacuums, as reported by The Verge. 

Mashable has reached out to Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, and Samsung for comment.

The National Security Determination also specifically referred to an incident involving a robot vacuum when outlining the U.S. government's concerns. Earlier this year, a software engineer accidentally hacked his DJI Romo robot vacuum and gained access to video, audio, and map data from thousands of devices across the world. (DJI devices have already been barred from the U.S. for some time, the government having classified it as a "'Chinese military company.")

Security vulnerabilities such as this aren't exclusive to foreign-made devices, and aren't necessarily an indication of sinister intentions. U.S. companies such as Amazon, Meta, and Uber have all experienced their own safety and security incidents as well. No technology is infallible, regardless of where it was made or who it was made by. Even so, the U.S. government considers such incidents in foreign technology as demonstrative of a national security threat.

"The networked capabilities of advanced robotic systems create extensive vulnerabilities and vectors for attacks that can manipulate the data and physical operation of the advanced robotic system," the National Security Determination reads. "Relying on foreign-produced advanced robotic devices presents unacceptable supply chain and cybersecurity vulnerabilities."

Fortunately, the U.S. robot vacuum ban won't force you to throw out your current device. The FCC states that consumers are still allowed to use devices they already own, so there's no need to rush out to look for a replacement. The ban doesn't revoke FCC authorisation from previously approved devices either, meaning those in the U.S. can continue to buy and sell robot vacuum models that are already in the market. 

However, new robot vacuums that have not yet received FCC authorisation are now barred from entering the country, leaving U.S. consumers with older models and significantly fewer options. The vast majority of robot vacuums are made outside the U.S., with the top five manufacturers based in China. Combined, these five companies held almost 70 percent of the global robot vacuum market share as of 2025. 

In comparison, the U.S. has practically no robot vacuum companies. While Roomba maker iRobot was founded in California, the company filed for bankruptcy last year and was acquired by Chinese robotics company Picea.

The Department of War (DOW) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are authorised to grant exemptions to the U.S. robotics ban upon conducting a national security assessment. However, the FCC does not list any at time of writing.

Earlier this year, the FCC banned all foreign-made consumer-level WiFi routers, also labelling them a danger to national security. The vast majority of routers are manufactured outside the U.S., including those from trusted brands such as TP-Link, ASUS, and Netgear.

HUD — named the best new hookup app by Mashable — and sex toy site Girls Get Off partnered to release the Pleasure Census, an anonymous survey of over 2,100 participants from 63 countries.

While not a nationally representative sample (68 percent of respondents are female), the survey says a lot about where daters are at today, especially in terms of desire. Namely, how big a role performance and body image play in young adults' sex lives.

Critics like to call Gen Z a "sexless" generation due to various reports of declining sexual activity over the years, but what the Pleasure Census found is that 73 percent say concerns about their appearance make it harder to enjoy sex or pleasure. Forty-four percent of respondents overall said this, too, so while it's not just a Gen Z issue, it is more pervasive among them.

Credit: The Pleasure Census

Over half (54 percent) of Gen Z respondents have caught themselves "performing" — during solo pleasure. That number jumps up to 70 percent overall, and an additional 15 percent say they're not sure if they do. This is a phenomenon known as spectatoring, or focusing on yourself from a third-party perspective rather than on your (or your partner's) sensations.

Credit: The Pleasure Census

It doesn't help that talking openly about sex is also a challenge for many of the respondents: 50 percent are only somewhat comfortable telling a partner what they want. For 38 percent, sex was rarely discussed growing up, and for 35 percent, it was framed negatively or not spoken about at all. For 16 percent, it was discussed openly — but awkwardly — and a mere 10 percent said it was talked about openly and positively.

Most people learned about sex from personal experience (60 percent), and 17 percent from online content. What about formal sex education? A measly one percent. (In the U.S., only 19 states mandate medically accurate information for any sex ed topic as of last year.)

Credit: The Pleasure Census

All this led the researchers to suggest that pleasure is self-taught, the orgasm gap is a conversation gap, and that honesty is the hardest act. Despite all the fraught feelings towards sex, 80 percent of participants want to have more of it. While this knowledge won't solve all the sexual hangups, self-awareness is the first step.

The Full Moon may have passed, but the Moon is still shining brightly in the night sky. Here's what you can spot on its surface as it begins to move into its next phase/

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, July 30, NASA's Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon phase is in Waning Gibbous phase, with 100% of its surface visible.

Without visual aids, tonight you should still be able to see the Mare Tranquillitatis, Copernicus Crater, and the Tycho Crater. If you have binoculars will help you see the Gassendi Crater, Mare Frigoris, and the Clavius Crater. Finally, a telescope will help you see all this plus the Apollo 15 and 17 landing spots, as well as the Caucasus Mountains.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on August 28.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the Moon goes through a complete cycle of eight phases roughly every 29.5 days. As it travels around Earth, the angle between the Sun, Earth and Moon constantly changes, meaning we see different amounts of the Moon's sunlit side. This is what causes the familiar progression from a thin crescent to a half Moon, then a Full Moon, before the cycle repeats.

The eight phases are:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

TL;DR: Unblock Pornhub from anywhere in the world with a VPN. The best service for unblocking porn sites is ExpressVPN.

Access to Pornhub is in turmoil. Early in 2025, more than a third of U.S. states introduced age verification laws. In response, Pornhub banned visitors from those states from accessing their website. The same situation then took place in France, and although Pornhub is complying with the UK's age verification law, users are now required to provide personal information to access the site.

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Credit: ExpressVPN

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Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for July 30 Pips

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally; 1-6, placed horizontally.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically; 1-6, placed horizontally.

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 1-5, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for July 30 Pips

Number (15): Everything in this purple space must add up to 15. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically; 6-3, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 2-3, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed vertically; 3-5, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.

Number (15): Everything in this purple space must add up to 15. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally; 4-6, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for July 30 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-1, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 3-1, placed vertically.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 0-2, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically; 5-4, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-1, placed vertically.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 1-5, placed vertically; 2-1, placed vertically; 0-1, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically; 1-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 1-5, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-3, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically; 0-3, placed horizontally; 3-5, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you've ever played hockey.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight, and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Team graphic

• Green: Basketball team

• Blue: Stick makers

• Purple: G___

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: A Team's Symbol

• Green: NBA Teams, Informally

• Blue: Hockey Stick Manufacturers

• Purple: What "G" Might Mean

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections: Sports Edition #675 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• A Team's Symbol: BADGE, CREST, EMBLEM, LOGO

• NBA Teams, Informally: CLIPS, GRIZZ, MAVS, WOLVES

• Hockey Stick Manufacturers: BAUER, CCM, SHER-WOOD, WARRIOR

• What "G" Might Mean: GAMES, GATORADE, GOALTENDER, GUARD

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you always do what's right.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Righteous

• Green: Games

• Blue: "I'm on a boat!"

• Purple: Exact

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Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Virtuous

• Green: Activities with multiple balls

• Blue: Cruise lines

• Purple: On the ___, to mean "precise"

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1145 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Virtuous: FAIR, GOOD, JUST, RIGHT

• Activities with multiple balls: BEER PONG, BINGO, JUGGLING, POOL

• Cruise lines: CARNIVAL, CELEBRITY, PRINCESS, VIKING

• On the ___, to mean "precise": DOT, MARK, MONEY, NOSE

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're crafty.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Trade names

The words are related to crafts.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe crafty professions.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

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NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Artisans.

NYT Strands word list for July 30

• Copper

• Artisans

• Weaver

• Smith

• Potter

• Joiner

• Mason

• Tanner

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

Hurdle Word 1 hint

New Zealand is full of them.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

SHEEP

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Greek letter.

Hurdle Word 2 Answer

ALPHA

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Thirst-quencher.

Hurdle Word 3 answer

DRINK

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Moron.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

IDIOT

Final Hurdle hint

Winner.

Hurdle Word 5 answer

CHAMP

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're outdoorsy.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

A canyon.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter F.

The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

FLUME

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.

What's new this month

In late July 2026, I updated this guide with one fresh pick. I also replaced or removed three previous picks that were no longer available. The Asus Zenbook A14 remains my top choice for most people.

The Asus ExpertBook Ultra is my new favorite Windows laptop for work: It's incredibly thin and light yet impressively powerful, and its display is dreamy. The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI succeeds the sold-out Lenovo Yoga 7 14 as the best Windows laptop for college students. Its ultraportable design, decent battery life, and competitive value won over our reviewer.

I'm currently looking for replacements for Acer Aspire 16 AI and the Alienware 16X Aurora, our former picks in the budget and gaming categories, respectively. Both of them were out of stock at the time of writing.

As a quick note before we get into the picks, Mashable evaluates laptops on the basis of performance, battery life, design/build quality, and value. We do so using a combination of synthetic benchmarking and real-world usage. You can read more about our testing process below.

What's on deck

I just finished testing the new Dell 14S and was very impressed by its build quality and battery life. For the average everyday user, it's a smarter buy than the snazzy-but-splurgey Dell XPS 14. I plan on naming it a new top pick in the next update to this list. In the meantime, you can read more about it in my guide to the best laptops for college students.

The Mashable team has several other Windows laptops in hand for testing right now, including the Dell 16S, HP OmniBook Ultra 14, LG gram Max 17, Alienware 16 Area-51, Lenovo LOQ Essential 15, and MSI Prestige 16 AI+. We're also waiting on a review unit of the new Dell XPS 13, a very promising budget option. (At $599 for students, it's a direct competitor to Apple's MacBook Neo.) Stay tuned to see if any of them make the cut.

A note about ARM-based Windows laptops

Asus' Zenbook A-series laptops are two of the best ARM-based laptops I've tried. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series chips use ARM-based architecture, not traditional x86 architecture like Intel and AMD chips. As such, their compatibility differs. ARM-based laptops don't work natively with certain specialty software (like AutoCAD), nor can they run as many PC games.

ARM compatibility issues are a non-concern for the majority of general-purpose Windows users, but they'll be dealbreakers for some demographics — PC gamers being an obvious one.

College students should also steer clear of ARM laptops. When I examined the 10 top public universities' hardware recommendations for the 2026 fall semester, I found that a couple schools explicitly advised their students against getting ARM-based laptops to make sure they can run all of their necessary coursework without emulation. (This is one big reason why I recommend the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI for rising freshmen: It has an x86-based Intel chip.)

The good news is that ARM compatibility has gotten better over the past couple years, and it will definitely continue to do so now that Nvidia is coming out with its own Windows on ARM chips.

In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, you can still feel the impacts of Spider-Man: No Way Home's tragic ending.

At the end of that film, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) casts a devastating spell that makes the world forget that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) ever existed. Yes, it saves the multiverse, but at the cost of Spider-Man fans' hearts everywhere, as Peter's girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon), now no longer remember him. Separated from his support network, Peter is more isolated than ever by the time Brand New Day rolls around.

However, could Doctor Strange's forgetfulness spell ever come in handy? What if you wanted to re-experience a beloved film, TV show, or book for the first time?

In an interview Mashable Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards, Spider-Man: Brand New Day stars Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, and Sadie Sink, as well as director Destin Daniel Cretton, revealed which pieces of media they'd love to look back on with totally fresh eyes. From Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey to Donna Tartt's The Secret History, which of their picks would you want to forget and revisit?

Check out the full interview above, and stick around for Bernthal's sweet response that sends Holland and Batalon scrambling for new answers.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now in theaters.

TL;DR: Get a lifetime license for Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 for $29.97 through Aug. 9 and code faster with AI-assisted development, cross-platform tools, and built-in collaboration.

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Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026

$29.97
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Development tools are one of the few things you use every day, so it’s worth having an IDE that keeps up with the way you work. Through Aug. 9, you can get Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 for $29.97 as a one-time purchase instead of paying for another recurring software subscription.

The latest version is built for modern development, whether you’re creating desktop apps, web projects, cloud services, or cross-platform software. Along with better performance, it adds deeper AI integration and collaboration features designed to speed up everyday coding.

Some of the biggest reasons developers are upgrading include:

• AI-assisted coding with IntelliCode for smarter code completions, suggestions, and refactoring

• 64-bit architecture that handles larger projects and more demanding workloads

• Cross-platform development for Windows, Linux, containers, .NET MAUI, Blazor, C++, and .NET applications

• Live Share collaboration so teammates can edit and debug together in real time

• CodeLens insights that surface references, authors, commit history, and test status directly in your editor

• Hot Reload to see code changes instantly without restarting your application

• Azure and GitHub integration for smoother development and deployment workflows

Whether you’re building side projects, enterprise software, or client applications, having these tools in one IDE can simplify your workflow and reduce context switching throughout the day.

Get Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 for $29.97 through Aug. 9 and build your next project with Microsoft’s latest professional development environment.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Apple is likely to wait until WWDC 2027 to unveil its own take on smart glasses. That's in part because of additional work on privacy features, and other product safeguards, at a time when Meta's smart glasses are coming under fire.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple views privacy as its top priority, with engineers and marketers trying hard to distinguish the company's approach from Meta's. Apple is expected to avoid using facial recognition in its smart glasses, while sending less data to the cloud and processing more in the device itself. The company also won't use customer recordings to train AI models.

Given the phrase "pervert glasses" has been gaining traction online in reference to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, all of those moves from Apple make sense. Meta's glasses helped establish the consumer market for AI-powered eyewear, but have also become associated with problems of privacy and consent.

We've reported on prank creators and pickup artists using Meta Ray-Ban glasses to discreetly record strangers for viral social media content, even as concerns were raised around the legality of recording in public spaces. Privacy advocates note wearable cameras make covert recording easier, and could encourage businesses to restrict the devices.

Meta's latest smart glasses launch, including new fashion-focused frames, sparked even more debate over the visibility of the glasses' recording indicators. They're drawing scrutiny from lawmakers, and consumers are increasingly uneasy.

No wonder Apple has considered limiting or removing video-recording capabilities altogether, according to Gurman. However, doing so might undermine one of the biggest selling points of smart glasses — legitimately capturing priceless moments with family and friends.

If Apple introduces smart glasses — whether at WWDC 2027 or after — the company will be judged by whether it can convince consumers that its camera-equipped eyewear is more deserving of trust than the devices that came before it.

When the first trailer for Children of Blood and Bone debuted in Brooklyn this week, the excitement inside the room was palpable.

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood described years of research into African history and spirituality. The cast spoke about identity, ancestry, and the responsibility of bringing Orïsha to life. For fans who have spent years imagining Tomi Adeyemi's bestselling fantasy world, it was the first real glimpse of one of BookTok's most anticipated adaptations.

Outside the theater, however, the conversation surrounding the film has been far more complicated.

Long before audiences saw a single frame of footage, the adaptation had become the subject of debates over colorism, questions about representation, and, more recently, the stunning decision by Adeyemi herself to publicly distance herself from the project she helped develop.

Adeyemi expanded on her decision to distance herself from the film adaptation in an emotional TikTok posted Wednesday, July 29, alleging that she has continued to be "antagonized" behind the scenes by "everyone involved...at the highest level." She said she left the set in South Africa "hyperventilating and sobbing" and returned home experiencing severe panic attacks and physical somatic pain.

"This film, which I worked on to make it a little better for us to be alive, is also the worst thing I have ever had to live through," Adeyemi said. While she did not identify any individuals or elaborate on the specific circumstances behind her allegations, she said she decided to speak publicly because the film's marketing campaign had renewed the behind-the-scenes conflict.

The casting sparked immediate debate.

When Paramount announced the cast in 2025, many readers celebrated seeing a predominantly Black ensemble led by Thuso Mbedu, Regina King, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Damson Idris, Lashana Lynch, and Idris Elba.

But the announcement also reignited conversations that had followed the adaptation for years.

Much of the criticism centered on the casting of Amandla Stenberg as Princess Amari. In the novel, Amari is described as having "dark copper skin" and is notably darker than the rest of her royal family, a physical difference that contributes to her feeling like an outsider long before she begins questioning the kingdom's treatment of the maji. Many readers argued that casting the lighter-skinned, biracial actor weakened a key aspect of the character's identity and reflected a broader pattern of colorism in Hollywood.

Other fans questioned why relatively few Nigerian actors had been cast in a story so deeply inspired by Nigerian history, Yoruba spirituality, and pre-colonial West African cultures. Those conversations unfolded across Reddit, X, and BookTok, where readers debated what authenticity should look like in a film adaptation of a novel so closely tied to Nigerian identity.

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At the time, Stenberg said she understood why readers felt protective of the books and noted that Adeyemi had personally encouraged her to take the role.

Tomi Adeyemi publicly stepped away from the project.

The conversation shifted dramatically earlier this month. In a TikTok (since deleted) addressing fans who had asked why she had stopped promoting the movie, Adeyemi announced she was "officially separating" herself from the adaptation.

"There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work," she wrote. She later added that she had not seen the finished film and did not plan to watch it.

Adeyemi, who is credited as an executive producer and co-writer of the screenplay alongside Prince-Bythewood, said she had "tried everything" behind the scenes before deciding to step away, describing the experience as emotionally painful. She encouraged fans to support the film if they wished, but asked those who wanted to support her directly to purchase the books from independent bookstores.

Perhaps the most surprising part of her statement was a series of screenshots showing messages she allegedly sent to Stenberg, telling the actor not to contact her or mention her publicly, before blocking her. The message appears to be from Feb. 28, 2025, and reads: "Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me." Stenberg's previous message in the chain is partially blocked, but the words "my only hope was to reconnect as human beings" can be seen at a point.

The posts immediately reignited online speculation about what had happened behind the scenes, though Adeyemi has not publicly detailed the circumstances that led to the falling out.

Adeyemi's comments have also been viewed through the lens of previous public disputes. In 2018, she accused bestselling romance author Nora Roberts of plagiarizing the title of Roberts' novel Of Blood and Bone. After speaking with Roberts, Adeyemi retracted the allegation, saying she believed the titles had been created independently and apologized. That history has complicated the public response to her latest statements.

While many fans have expressed concern about the adaptation, others say they are hesitant to draw conclusions without more information about what actually happened to lead Adeyemi to sever ties.

What actually happened?

That's the question fans continue to ask, and one that remains largely unanswered.

Neither Paramount nor Prince-Bythewood has publicly addressed Adeyemi's comments, and the author has declined to elaborate beyond describing the experience as painful and saying she was "attacked behind the scenes." In a message dated July 18, posted under a 2025 behind-the-scenes video from set in South Africa, Adeyemi replied to a commenter, saying, "Making an impossible dream come true is a beautiful thing. Even if the dream becomes a nightmare. No one, not this film or you, will ever take away what I achieved."

That uncertainty has left fans in an unusual position. The film continues to generate excitement, buoyed by Prince-Bythewood's reputation following The Woman King, an acclaimed ensemble cast, and a trailer widely praised online. At the same time, some readers say it's difficult to separate that excitement from the knowledge that the creator of Orïsha no longer wants her name associated with the adaptation. Others argue that the work of hundreds of artists, craftspeople, and performers deserves to be judged independently of whatever happened behind closed doors.

Until someone involved chooses to explain further, both realities will likely coexist.

Children of Blood and Bone remains one of the most anticipated fantasy films of 2027. It also arrives carrying questions that no trailer, no matter how spectacular, can answer.

Children of Blood and Bone hits theaters on Jan. 15, 2027.

This article has been updated with new information. It was originally published on July 28, 2025.

There appears to be a brewing consensus about whether or not screens are a threat to learners in our nation's classrooms.

Amid a growing educational debate on tech's presence in schools, two new reports released today highlight widespread concern about the presence of screens and personal devices among school children. A new Pew Research poll found that a majority (77 percent) of Americans support policies that ban cell phone use during instruction periods, and around half support banning cellphones during the entire school day, also known as a “bell-to-bell” phone ban.

The same poll conducted in 2024 found only a third of Americans were in favor of bell-to-bell policies. Since then, support has increased across all age groups.

Meanwhile, teachers around the world are increasingly concerned about device use, according to the latest Global Education Insights Report conducted by education solutions giant McGraw Hill. Among 1,300 global educators surveyed by the company, the majority listed excessive screen time as the number one obstacle to student success.

Almost half of those polled said they have witnessed a decline in focus and emotional well-being among students compared to five years ago, and around two-thirds said they were concerned about their students' mental health.

A growing coalition of parents, child safety advocates, and even lawmakers have been calling for a reevaluation of device use in classrooms across the U.S., including pushing for new school policies that ban phones outright, limit screen time during specific school periods, and institute moratoriums on generative AI tools. They cite concerns about cognitive decline and critical thinking, as well as social and emotional regulation.

But there are many who believe shunning classroom technology completely is the wrong move. They see potential in technologies that are developmentally appropriate for their users while acknowledging screen time's effect on young brains. For example, a majority of teachers (81 percent) surveyed for the Global Education Insights Report said they were comfortable with students using AI when it is integrated into existing courseware or curriculum. Far fewer said they were in favor of students using general purpose AI tools like ChatGPT.

"The impact of social media and screen time is clear," Philip Moyer, president and CEO of McGraw Hill, said in a press release. "In the AI era, we have a responsibility to build tools that strengthen — not diminish — the teacher-student relationships, critical thinking, and human connection at the heart of learning."

New details have emerged about a security incident in which an OpenAI AI model broke out of its testing environment and compromised Hugging Face's infrastructure.

An update OpenAI published on July 28 filled in details that weren't part of the original disclosure. The AI agent also identified and used exposed credentials on four accounts across four other publicly available services, using one as a relay point and another for data storage, while accessing the remaining two in a read-only capacity. OpenAI said it has since notified the affected service owners and hasn't found evidence of broader impact to those platforms.

On Wednesday, the cloud computing service Modal identified itself as one of those four affected parties.

However, in its statement, Modal said its systems were never actually breached. According to Modal, the AI got in through a customer's own application that was set up without a password requirement, allowing code submitted by literally anyone on the internet to run. The AI's activity was limited to that one customer's isolated space and didn't spread to any other Modal customers, the company said.

The OpenAI-Hugging Face hack first came to light in mid-July, when Hugging Face disclosed an intrusion into its systems that it described as "different from anything we had handled," driven entirely by an autonomous AI agent. OpenAI followed with its own blog post explaining that the breach originated during an internal evaluation designed to test its models' hacking capabilities. The models involved — GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased, even more capable prototype — were running with reduced safety restrictions specifically for the test and were confined to a sandboxed environment with no direct internet access.

According to OpenAI, the models exploited a previously unknown security flaw in Artifactory, a package registry cache proxy, to escalate privileges and move laterally within the testing environment until they reached a node with internet access. Once it got online, the AI figured out that Hugging Face's servers might contain the answers to the very hacking test it was trying to pass. So, it used a combination of stolen login credentials and additional security flaws to break into Hugging Face's servers and go looking for those answers.

OpenAI also tried to clear up confusion about which AI systems were involved. The company clarified that the not-yet-released version mentioned in its original explanation was purely an internal research tool, never meant for public release, and that it has since shut that version down entirely and locked it away.

In OpenAI's initial statement, a quote from Hugging Face co-founder and CEO Clem Delangue has framed the incident as proof that AI safety issues are better tackled openly, saying that the situation shows AI safety "will be solved in the open, collaboratively, with broad access to AI for every defender, everywhere."

OpenAI, meanwhile, called the incident "unprecedented" and said it's tightening its security controls while its investigation continues.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Before hockey romance gave us Shane and Ilya, anime gave us Yuri and Victor. For months in 2016, it felt nearly impossible to open Tumblr without seeing the pair somewhere on your dashboard.

Now, a decade after Yuri!!! on Ice first captivated fans around the world, Crunchyroll is marking the anime's 10th anniversary by streaming the entire 12-episode series for free on YouTube. Rather than uploading each episode individually, the platform opted for a single four-hour-and-41-minute marathon, complete with every opening and ending theme for one uninterrupted binge.

The marathon will remain available through Aug. 25, giving longtime fans a chance to revisit one of the defining anime of the 2010s — or introducing a new generation to the series that turned figure skating into appointment viewing.

When Yuri!!! on Ice premiered in October 2016, it became more than just another sports anime. The story of Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki and Russian champion-turned-coach Victor Nikiforov fueled a fandom that spilled far beyond the screen. Every new episode flooded Tumblr with GIF sets and fan art, inspired countless works of fanfiction (over 37,000 and counting on Archive of Our Own), and sparked hours of analysis as viewers dissected everything from the show's breathtaking skating sequences to its nuanced portrayal of anxiety, ambition, and love.

The series also became a landmark for LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream anime. While director Sayo Yamamoto often preferred to let the story speak for itself, describing it as "an irreplaceable bond," many viewers embraced Yuri and Victor's relationship as a meaningful milestone, particularly after the pair shared an intimate embrace (seemingly with their mouths) in Episode 7 and exchanged gold rings in Episode 10.

Its popularity also extended outside of anime circles. The opening theme "History Maker" became instantly recognizable among fans, the soundtrack found new audiences through skating edits, and professional figure skaters — including Olympic athletes like Johnny Weir — performed routines inspired by the series in competition and exhibition programs.

Even after the show's original run ended, fans never really stopped talking about it. For years, the community eagerly awaited Yuri!!! on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence, which was first announced in 2017. Production delays stretched on for years before MAPPA officially canceled the project in 2024, leaving many fans heartbroken and uncertain whether the franchise would ever return in any form.

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While this anniversary celebration isn't a new season or the long-awaited film, it is an invitation to revisit the series that once meant so much to fans — and still does.

The YouTube release also arrives at a time when anime is more accessible than ever. By making the entire series free on the world's largest video platform, Crunchyroll is removing nearly every barrier to entry. Longtime fans can revisit favorite moments with a single click, while newer viewers can finally see what all the hype is about without needing a subscription.

Some anime don't need new episodes to remain culturally relevant. Sometimes, all it takes is making them easy to watch again. Ten years later, Yuri!!! on Ice still knows how to make history.

Martha Stewart just launched an app that uses AI to analyze the soil quality in your lawn. And yes, every part of that sentence is true.

The app is called Hint, from a startup of the same name that counts the popular former TV host as a co-founder. It's available now on iOS and coming soon to the Google Play Store.

Hint uses AI to create personalized insights for home maintenance, perhaps one of the few areas of modern life that hasn't already been overrun by AI apps.

"My life’s work is showing people how to care for and beautify their homes," Stewart says on Hint's website. "Hint brings that philosophy to more people, making the knowledge and expertise behind thoughtful homeownership accessible to everyone."

Hint asks users to enter their home addresses, which may be a turnoff for some customers given the potential for privacy issues. If you do feel like sharing, Hint will use your address to start analyzing things like the soil and air quality on your property, available utilities, and anything else it can dredge up using public property records.

You can also upload vital documents like mortgages and warranties to the app, if you trust Hint that much. The idea is to give users a comprehensive, personalized outlook on things like energy usage, insurance risks, and anything else that can come up in the process of owning a home.

Hint's website claims its insights come from experts such as Stewart herself. There's also an in-app AI chatbot you can talk to if you have questions about home ownership.

If you can get over the trust issue, Hint could well provide intriguing practical insights on one of the more complex and tedious areas of daily life. And that, in theory, is a good thing.

50% OFF: Celebrate National Orgasm Day on July 31 with Babeland's one-day flash sale. Save 50% on best-selling vibrators, rabbits, wands, and more.

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Credit: Babeland

National Orgasm Day Sale

Get up to 50% off best-selling toys.

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July 31st is National Orgasm Day! (You're welcome for your positive news dopamine shot of the day.) And, to celebrate, retailers everywhere are slashing prices on best-selling toys, kits, and more. One of my fave retailers, Babeland, is offering up to 50% off its best sellers, including The One Supreme Wand (54% off right now, so it may go even lower by this weekend!) and The One Rabbit (also on sale right now).

There isn't an official sale tab marked on the site just yet, but I've received an email confirmation from the brand that there will be a National Orgasm Day Sale landing page hitting the site soon. It's a one-day sale, so I thought I'd tell you to mark your calendars now.

If you can't wait for the sale or you prefer something a little kinkier, Babeland is currently offering up to 50% off BDSM and kink products (handcuffs, restraints, and the like) now through July 31. There are also a ton of vibrators on sale right now, including The One Le’Moan, which is a knockoff of the internet-famous Hello Nancy Lem. And, if you use the code GETHOT at checkout, it'll get you an additional 10% off select items.

SAVE $600: As of July 29, get the Hisense 75-Inch U6 Pro Mini-LED ULED 4K UHD TV for $799.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,399.99. That's a discount of 43%.

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Hisense 75-Inch U6 Pro Mini-LED ULED 4K UHD TV

 

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If you've been planning on doing a massive TV refresh as of late, now's the time to do so. We've found an especially great deal on a living room display, one you'll absolutely love adding to your home. And the best part is, you're getting a 75-inch TV without having to spend the better part of a paycheck.

As of July 29, get the Hisense 75-Inch U6 Pro Mini-LED ULED 4K UHD TV for $799.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,399.99. That's $600 off and a discount of 43%.

This massive screen comes equipped with 4K resolution and Mini-LED tech to bring you the clearest, sharpest picture possible. It features a gorgeous picture with bright, crisp color that looks close to reality, with a native 144Hz refresh rate and motion rate of 480, powered by Dolby Vision IQ. In short, this is the TV you want in your living space when you want to show off a bit, and you can have it for a deep discount.

With support for Dolby Atmos and HDR10+, you're covered with all the additional graphical and audio tweaks you'd want to make to get this display looking its absolute best. It even has a built-in subwoofer so you don't have to supply one. And at the end of the day, it's an Amazon Fire TV, so it has Alexa+ support and you can watch all your favorite shows and movies on it without needing an additional streaming peripheral.

If you've been waiting for a great TV at an even better price, this is the time to go ahead and buy -- before all the fall TV starts pouring in.

If you've been couch-potatoing this summer, the new trailer for Fall 2: Deadpoint will likely have you feeling validated. Go outside? To what — climb a cliff face, only to be stranded with your best friend in mid-air?

Being in a very high place with no cell reception and only your bestie was a recipe for disaster in 2022's Fall, which had a sensationally WTF ending.

For its sequel, the concept is similar, but the cast is new. Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas star as two climbers eager to tackle Thailand's Mount Kwan. But when their climb goes sideways, they'll have to combat vertigo-inducing heights, exposure, and maybe even hallucinations as they struggle to survive.

Having seen Fall but not its sequel (yet!), my takeaways for summer travel are: Do make plans with your bestie! Don't do it at great heights, and avoid activities that may require using your friend's corpse as a DIY phone case.

Might we suggest a movie night instead?

Fall 2: Deadpoint opens in theaters Sept. 2.

SAVE $500.99: The Ecovacs Goat 01000 robot lawn mower is on sale at Amazon for $999, down from the normal price of $1,499.99. That's a 33% discount.

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Credit: Ecovacs

Ecovacs Goat O1000 robot lawn mower

$999 at Amazon
$1,499.99 Save $500.99

 

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Now that we're squeaking out the last bits of summer enjoyment, it's no time to focus on chores. Household tasks can wait until the chill and dark months. Some tasks can handle waiting, but others will still need attention. That's very true of lawn maintenance since we'll all be in the backyard as much as possible. Instead of pushing the mower yourself, employ the help of a robot lawn mower.

As of July 29, the Ecovacs Goat 01000 robot lawn mower is on sale at Amazon for $999, down from the normal price of $1,499.99. That's a 33% discount that matches the record-low price at Amazon.

Just like we've come to use robot vacuums inside, a robot lawn mower can keep the yard tidy outside. The Ecovacs Goat 01000 can mow up to a quarter of an acre with wire-free mapping and intelligent obstacle avoidance.

Instead of pushing a loud mower around, let the Ecovacs take over with a quiet mowing experience. From the app, set your desired mowing schedule and kick back with a hands-off way of tackling chores. You also get to set the desired cutting height between 1.2 and 3.1 inches.

When it comes to precision, the Ecovacs has the smarts to avoid over 200 common obstacles, and it can handle mowing on slopes of up to 45 degrees. The narrow mower can fit through spaces as narrow as 2.6 feet which is ideal for yards with raised garden beds or landscaping.

Since the Ecovacs Goat 01000 robot lawn mower is sitting at a record-low price and no one has time for more summer chores, make the upgrade for under $1,000. You'll be able to sit back and watch the robot do the hard work while sipping a chilled beverage.

Tragic news out of Dublin: Glen Hansard, the Oscar–winning Irish musician, has died in a motorbike crash. He was 56.

In life, Hansard was the frontman of The Frames, and made his screen debut in the Irish musical dramedy The Commitments in 1991. But his global breakthrough came in 2006, as he fronted John Carney's Once, an indie romance about a busker who falls for a fellow musician (Markéta Irglová) in Dublin. Hansard, a former busker himself, not only won praise from critics for his work in the film, but also an Academy Award alongside Irglová for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song. That song was their duet, "Falling Slowly."

The pair went on to form the Grammy–nominated folk band The Swell Season and tour, while Once went on to become a Broadway musical.

The BBC notes Hansard also was a key figure in a fundraiser for unhoused people, participating in the annual Christmas Eve charity busk in support of the Dublin Simon Community. They included condolences from the organization, reading in part, "Glen's talents will indeed be his legacy but so too will his commitment to social justice. We will be forever indebted to him for the difference he made in the lives of the people we serve."

On social media, more friends and fans are sharing their admiration for Hansard and their grief over his passing.

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To revel in more of Hansard's work, we'd recommend streaming The Commitments, Once, or Cyrano, in which Hansard steals the movie as a singing guard.

How to watch: Once is now streaming on BroadwayHD, which offers a free trial on Amazon, where it's also available for rental or purchase.

How to watch: The Commitments is now streaming free on YouTube.

How to watch: Cyrano is now streaming on Prime Video.

You can also enjoy Hansard's music on Apple Music and Spotify.

TL;DR: Just in time for back-to-school shopping, Sticki Rolls launched its new Series 3 collection and Sticki Mates bag charms at Target. Prices start at $4.99 for wearable sticker bracelets, craft sets, and three-inch refillable sticker-dispensing charms.

If you spent your childhood swapping stickers, wearing slap bracelets, or trading friendship bands in the '90s and early '00s, you can finally share that obsession with your kids. Sticki Rolls took classic sticker collecting and turned it into a wearable, shareable trend, racking up over 1.86 million YouTube subscribers and more than 1 billion views.

Now, they're expanding their lineup with two new releases: the Series 3 Collection and Sticki Mates.

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The Series 3 Collection introduces 1,200 sticker designs with new and returning characters. It also uses a five-tier rarity system (stickers range from common everyday prints to ultra-rare holographic finishes), so kids can hunt for special ones to trade with friends. The drop includes wearable sticker-dispensing bracelets, holographic Jumbo Stickies for lockers, and crafting kits like the Sticki Station and Rolluxe handbag.

Sticki Mates are little, three-inch collectible figures that clip onto a bookbag or tote and double as working, refillable sticker dispensers compatible with existing Sticki Rolls. There are 10 characters to collect in the initial launch, including an ultra-rare "Golden Chillin Charlie."

SAVE $200: The 27-inch LG Ultragear OLED QHD gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $399.99, down from the list price of $599.99. That's a 33% discount and the lowest price we've seen at Amazon.

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Credit: LG

27-inch LG Ultragear OLED QHD gaming monitor

$399.99 at Amazon
$599.99 Save $200

 

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Some tech can be considered nice to have. Other gadgets tend to fall into the category of necessary to function in modern society. A crisp and clear gaming monitor isn't necessary to survive in the real world, but it might be necessary to survive the in-game world. If your current gaming monitor is causing issues, check out this deal.

As of July 29, the 27-inch LG Ultragear OLED QHD gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $399.99, marked down from the normal price of $599.99. That's a 33% discount that takes $200 off. It's also the lowest price we've seen at Amazon.

With a 27-inch OLED display, a 280Hz refresh rate, and 0.03 millisecond response time, the LG Ultragear is well worth the investment for your home gaming setup. LG says this is the brand's brightest OLED gaming monitor yet which means you're in for crisp and clear contrast, reaching up to 1,500 nits.

The LG Switch app allows for customization of the monitor like adjusting the brightness, applying setting with a hotkey, and selecting between 11 split-screen layouts. Plus, the gaming monitor comes with two HDMI 2.1 ports.

Since this is a record-low price at Amazon, consider upgrading to the 27-inch LG Ultragear OLED QHD gaming monitor. It'll enhance your in-game and out-of-game experiences for under $400.

Apple has launched Apple Upgrade, a new leasing program for iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and iPad, available online, in the Apple Store app, and at Apple retail locations across the United States. The program replaces the old Apple iPhone Upgrade program, which is winding down for new customers, and shifts financing duties from Citizens One to Klarna.

As tech prices continue to climb and smartphone sales decline, Apple Upgrade would give customers a new way to try the latest Apple devices. The program arrives just a couple of months before Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18.

Unlike the previous program, which functioned as a loan that eventually transferred ownership of the device to the customer, Apple Upgrade is structured explicitly as a lease. Customers pay a monthly fee to use a device for a fixed term, and at the end of that term, they can upgrade to something new, pay a purchase fee to keep the device, or return it and walk away. If they do nothing, the lease automatically converts to a month-to-month arrangement for up to six months, with payments that may increase during that stretch.

If you're considering leasing your next iPhone or Apple Watch, we've put together answers to some of the most common questions about how the new Apple lease program works.

What is the Apple Upgrade program?

Apple Upgrade is a Klarna-backed leasing program for U.S. shoppers that launched on July 28, and it allows customers to lease new Apple devices for a period of 12, 24, or 36 months, depending on the product. For the Apple iPhone upgrade program, leasing prices start at just $17.99 per month, but users can lower their monthly payments by trading in their current iPhone through Apple Trade In. You can learn more about the program at the Apple newsroom or sign up to enroll at Apple's website.

What devices are eligible?

The Apple Upgrade covers most new iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, and iPad devices. The eligible devices are:

• iPhone 17

• iPhone 17e

• iPhone 17 Pro

• iPhone Air

• Apple Watch Series 11

• Apple Watch Hermès Series 11

• Apple Watch Ultra Watch 3

• Apple Watch Hermès Ultra 3

• M5 MacBook Air

• M5 MacBook Pro (M5 Pro and M5 Max also included)

• M4 iPad Air

• iPad Mini (A17 Pro Chip)

A handful of older or budget models are excluded, including the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, Apple Watch SE, MacBook Neo, Mac Mini, iPad (A16), and Studio Display. The Vision Pro is also excluded.

How long are the lease terms?

iPhone and Apple Watch leases run for either 12 or 24 months. Mac and iPad leases run 24 or 36 months. Not every term is available on every device.

How much does it cost per month?

Pricing starts at $17.99 for iPhone, $11.99 for Apple Watch, $24.99 for Mac, and $11.99 for iPad, though actual payments vary by device, storage tier, and lease length. No security deposit is required, and trading in a current device through Apple Trade In can lower the monthly rate.

Do I own the device at the end of the lease?

No, not unless you pay the device's purchase fee at the end of the term. Otherwise, you're expected to either upgrade to a new lease or return the device in acceptable condition. Returning a damaged, lost, or stolen device can trigger additional fees, and insurance isn't included in the lease itself.

Is there a credit check?

Yes, but it's a soft inquiry that doesn't affect your credit score. Final approval, including any monthly payment you're offered, depends on Klarna's assessment of your creditworthiness.

What about AppleCare?

AppleCare isn't automatically bundled with Apple Upgrade the way it was with the old iPhone Upgrade Program. Customers can add AppleCare+ or AppleCare One separately to cover accidental damage, theft, loss, and battery service.

Can I use Apple Card with this?

Yes, payments made with Apple Card earn 3 percent Daily Cash back, and Apple Card Monthly Installments remain a separate, distinct financing option outside of Apple Upgrade for customers who'd rather buy a device outright over time.

What happens to people already in the iPhone Upgrade Program?

Existing members aren't required to do anything. They can keep making their monthly payments under their existing agreement with Citizens One, and once they complete their 24-month term, the device is theirs to keep, no purchase fee required.

When they're ready for a new iPhone, they'll have the option to switch into Apple Upgrade, finance through Apple Card Monthly Installments, buy a device outright, or go through carrier financing instead.

Who's eligible to lease through Apple Upgrade?

You need to be a U.S. resident at least 18 years old, have a valid Social Security number or ITIN, hold an Apple Account in good standing, have a Klarna account, and have an accepted credit or debit card on file.

Leasing an iPhone requires enrolling in a postpaid plan with AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon — prepaid plans don't qualify, though leased iPhones are unlocked.

What happens if I miss a payment?

Recently, 9to5Mac found code in the iOS 27 beta that suggested Apple and lenders could place phones in "Restricted Mode" if a user falls behind on payments. However, that's not part of the Apple Upgrade program. Instead, missed payments will automatically be added to the next month's bill.

MacRumors also reports that there are no late fees for missed payments, but three missed payments will result in Klarna terminating your contract.

SAVE $579: As of July 29, you can pick up the DJI Power 2000 portable power station at Amazon for just $719.98. That's a savings of 45% or $579.02.

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DJI Power 2000 portable power station

$719.98 at Amazon
$1,299 Save $579.02

 

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Portable power stations aren't just for backup power during outages. They also serve as must-have camping companions, thanks to our growing number of devices and increasingly complex power needs. If you're in the market for one of these reliable and movable power sources, one of our favorites is on sale at Amazon for over $500 off.

As of July 29, the DJI Power 2000 portable power station is just $719.98. Sure, that still seems like a lot, but compared to its current list price of $1,299, that's a steal. You'll save 45% or $579.02, to be exact.

Mashable contributor Lauren Allain tested this power station last year and raved about it, calling it "a beefy option that’s awesome for camping, backyard parties, or content creators out on projects." It earned a spot on our list of the best portable power stations, particularly as the top choice for content creators.

The DJI Power 2000 features three standard AC ports, a 30-amp plug, four USB-A ports, four USB-C ports, and two SDC ports for quick recharging of drones. We wish it has even more AC ports, given its 2,048Wh capacity, but it is what it is. It operates quietly, recharges quickly, and offers an impressive amount of power for its physical size (under 50 pounds). It's also compatible with up to 10 DJI Expansion Battery 2000s, which would increase the power to over 22,000Wh, enough for a whole-home backup. Its pretty gnarly on its own, though. Allain was able to charge both her phone and camera battery while cooking dinner in the air fryer all at the same time.

With camping season (and hurricane season) in full swing, it's as good a time as any to make the investment in a portable power source. And we highly recommend grabbing the DJI Power 2000 while it's over $500 off.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or S25 Ultra, maybe keep an eye on your battery.

Owners of those two older Ultra devices are complaining on places like Reddit and Samsung's own forums (as spotted by Android Headlines) about significant battery issues following a recent security update released in July. According to some S24 and S25 Ultra owners, the update caused substantial battery drain; one user reported going from 85 percent to 5 percent in just two hours of screen time.

As one user wrote, "My s24 ultra battery is draining very fast after July 26 update even heating like cook top. Why this happening?" Other users cited problems with WhatsApp in particular.

Additionally, some users have noted their phones running hotter than usual and even charging more slowly than they should. Samsung has not officially commented on the matter yet. Mashable reached out to Samsung about the user complaints and will update this article if we hear anything back.

This sort of issue happens every now and then, but usually it's just one issue arising on some devices after an update. This time, it's seemingly three separate (but possibly related) problems that users say only materialized after what should have been a minor security patch. If the issues are related to the recent July update, then hopefully Samsung is able to figure out the problem and fix it promptly.

SAVE $700: As of July 29, get the Roborock Qrevo CurvX robot vacuum and mop for $799.99 at Amazon. That's a discount of 47%.

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Roborock Qrevo CurvX robot vacuum and mop

$799.99 at Amazon
$1,499.99 Save $700

 

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No matter what your regular cleaning routine looks like, a robot vacuum can definitely make it easier for you. And if you want one to completely cut all the effort you have to put into this regular ritual, you'll want to take a look at the model that's on sale at Amazon right now. Not only does it look futuristic, but it behaves that way, too.

As of July 29, get the Roborock Qrevo CurvX robot vacuum and mop for $799.99 at Amazon. That's $700 off and a discount of 47%.

This powerful robot vacuum boasts 22,000Pa of suction with a zero-tangling design to make sure it can continuously cut through even tough messes with ease. It's the slimmest Roborock vacuum in the lineup according to the company, so it can reach those difficult areas and get to all the problem cleaning spots that you can't normally vacuum. And that's just the start of its set of abilities.

This robot vacuum is also a mop, and it uses 80-degree hot water to both work through grease and other stubborn stains. The mop heads are cleaned between uses, so things stay sanitary while you're tidying up. It also uses a special AdaptiLift Chassis to lift the robot's entire body to reach specific areas, whether vacuuming or mopping, to tackle the more difficult problem spaces in your home.

If you've been looking for a great option to scrub down your home (without your input, unless you want to provide it) this is an excellent robot vacuum that can only improve your routines. Grab it while it's available for such a deep discount.

SAVE $110: The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale at Amazon for $989, down from the list price of $1,099. That's a 10% discount and the lowest we've ever seen at Amazon.

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DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo

$989 at Amazon
$1,099 Save $110

 

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There's something freeing about taking to the skies under your own control. Short of becoming an airplane pilot, there's a much easier and less time consuming way to get up in the air — with a drone. Check out your surroundings like never before thanks to this Amazon deal.

As of July 29, the DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale at Amazon for $989, down from the list price of $1,099. That's a 10% discount and the lowest we've ever seen at Amazon.

DJI drones are well known as some of the best around. They come with pro-level features that are friendly for even first-time fliers. The DJI Mini 5 Pro drone records in 4K with a one-inch CMOS camera. It can capture true vertical footage as well as a 225 degree roll rotation. DJI also focused on making this drone model easy to fly in low-light conditions. It's equipped with DJI's Nightscape Omnidirectional Obstacle Sensing to help for a stable flight with a single return-to-home function.

Active Track 360 is perfect if you'll be filming a moving subject like a cyclist, skier, a motorcycle, or a sporting event. It's also ideal for capturing clear portraits and landscapes thanks to the 48 millimeter Med-Tele mode. There's also the cinematic 120 fps slow motion in 4K.

The Fly More Combo that comes with this drone is packed with all the accessories you'd want for creating top-tier content. Aside from the DJI Mini 5 Pro drone itself, the bundle includes the DJI RC 2 for easy navigation and maneuvering, three intelligent Flight Batteries, spare propellers, a shoulder bag, an ND Filter Set, and even more.

Before this sale price of $989 disappears, make the upgrade to the DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo. It's well worth the pro-level features and added accessories in this bundle.

Presumably, Apple will release the iPhone 18 in September. That's all fine and good, but let's look even further into the future.

Believe it or not, there are already credible reports and leaks floating around about a potential 20th anniversary "iPhone 20" arriving in fall 2027. (If the rumor mill is correct, Apple will skip the iPhone 19, and this wouldn't be the first time Apple has gotten creative with numbering.) The iPhone 20 would commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original model, which was released on June 29, 2007.

To mark 20 years of the iPhone, Apple is reportedly prepping a big redesign that makes use of curved glass and a waterfall display. If true, this would be one of the biggest shakeups to the iPhone in years.

So, here is everything we know about the iPhone 20.

iPhone 20: When will it come out?

First things first, the release date. Apple always launches its flagship iPhone models in September of every year, and there's currently no reason to believe that's going to change soon.

In other words, it's widely expected that this phone will be announced and will subsequently launch in September of 2027. The 20th anniversary iPhone is also the perfect opportunity for Apple to do some weird, fun stuff with its signature device.

iPhone 20: What will it look like?

This is the big point of interest regarding the iPhone 20. In 2025, there were multiple credible reports that the iPhone 20 model would undergo a major redesign that uses significantly more glass than the typical phone.

More recently, Bloomberg and The Information both reported in May of this year that it will have an all-glass, edge-to-edge display. That means curved glass wrapping around the edges of the device, and perhaps more importantly, a seeming lack of a notch or Dynamic Island cutout for the selfie camera. The Dynamic Island has proven divisive, and it will be interesting to see if Apple can deliver on the promise of a true edge-to-edge display.

We've seen wrap-around and waterfall displays on other devices like TVs, but a more sculptural, curved glass iPhone would definitely stand out in the mobile market.

In June, Bloomberg also reported that there will be two iPhone 20 models launched in 2027, likely in the Pro category, and that they will measure in at around 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches. Those are pretty similar figures to what's expected from the iPhone 18.

iPhone 20: New buttons!

Lastly, for now, leaker Instant Digital posted on Weibo late last year that Apple is working on "solid-state" (in other words, non-moving and non-mechanical) buttons for the iPhone 20. The unique feature here would be haptic feedback for power, volume control, and camera control. I could see this being somewhat controversial, like when Apple got rid of the home button, but we'll have to wait and see.

SAVE $100.99: As of July 29, get the Ecovacs Winbot W2 Pro Omni for $399 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $499.99. That's a discount of 20%.

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Ecovacs Winbot W2 Pro Omni

$399 at Amazon
$499.99 Save $100.99

 

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You already know that when it comes to cleaning your floors, a robot vacuum is the way to go. But what about when you want to tidy up your windows? Toss the Windex and paper towels and let a robot handle that, too. We've got a great option for you thanks to this Amazon deal that can tackle the streakiest, filthiest windows while you sit back and relax, all at a great discount.

As of July 29, get the Ecovacs Winbot W2 Pro Omni for $399 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $499.99. That's $100.99 off and a discount of 20%.

All you have to do to get this robot started is attach it to your window and let it get to work. It uses two different methods of cleaning depending on what kind of windows you have: battery mode for areas without outlets, and plugged-in for larger areas when you need additional power.

Its 6-in-1 multifunction station has an all-in-one attachment to let it handle everything about each window cleaning job from start to finish. It uses three different nozzles for wide-angle cleaning as well as a wet cloth to make it easier to tackle streaky and super soiled windows. With intelligent path planning and a brushless motor to power it all, you can skip the frustrating paper towel wash and feel confident that the robots are getting the job done.

This is a great gift for anyone who needs help cleaning, but it's also good to treat yourself. So, spoil yourself with a window-cleaning robot that can take one more item off of your to-do list.

SAVE $30: As of July 29, you can sign up for a full year of anime streaming on Crunchyroll for just $69.99 instead of the usual $99.99. That's 30% off its usual cost.

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Crunchyroll Fan annual subscription (Prime Video add-on)

$69.99
$99.99 Save $30

*for one year*

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Everyone's favorite anime streaming service, Crunchyroll, raised its prices earlier this year after nixing its free streaming plan. It's an unfortunate trend amongst streaming services in 2026. If you cut ties due to the jacked up prices, now's your chance to jump back on board for less.

As of July 29, you can sign up for the Crunchyroll Fan annual subscription for only $69.99 instead of the usual $99.99. That's 30% or $30 in savings and even cheaper than its pre-price hike cost. The deal is available through the Crunchyroll app or website directly or as a Prime Video add-on subscription.

The Crunchyroll Fan subscription unlocks ad-free access to the entire Crunchyroll library, including brand new episodes shortly after they air in Japan. You'll also get offline viewing access. The only limitation is that you can stream on just one device at a time. If you want to stream on more than one at a time, you'll need the Mega Fan subscription, which is also on sale for just $99.99 for one year (reg. $139.99).

If you sign up through Prime Video, just be sure to select the annual plan at checkout instead of the monthly plan if you want to secure the savings. You'll be billed directly through your Amazon account and charged automatically for the next year at full cost unless you cancel before then. (Set your calendar alerts now).

Whether you're a longtime anime lover or you're curious and want to explore the genre, Crunchyroll is the subscription to get. It has a vast selection of popular titles, Crunchyroll Originals, and simulcasts, including the beloved Witch Hat Atelier, One Piece, Gachiakuta, Solo Leveling, and Demon Slayer.

SAVE 42%: As of July 29, you can get the Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus portable power station bundled with two 200W solar panels for $2,149 at Amazon. That's a 42% discount or $1,550 in savings.

Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus

$2,149 at Amazon
$3,699 Save $1,550

 

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Living on the East Coast has taught me that a stiff breeze is all it takes to lose power. Since I live in an apartment, buying a traditional gas generator isn't practical, but a heavy-duty portable power station offers the same peace of mind without the fumes, noise, or installation hassle.

Right now, you can get the Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus portable power station bundled with two 200W solar panels for $2,149 at Amazon. That's a 42% discount or $1,550 in savings.

The Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus runs on a battery, so it's safe for indoor use. (It has built-in wheels and a retractable handle so you can roll it from room to room like carry-on luggage.) With a 3,584Wh capacity and 3,600W AC output, it's enough to keep your refrigerator, WiFi router, lights, and phones running through a prolonged blackout.

You can charge it from a standard wall outlet in just 2.5 hours before a storm rolls in, or set up the included solar panels to recharge it in (roughly) four hours if the grid stays down.

Reader, I love an art heist film, and there are very few good ones. The Mastermind is one. Entrapment is another (don't look at me like that). But The Thomas Crown Affair has always been been top of this list, both the Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway 1968 version and the 1999 versions, the latter Pierce Brosnan gem a video store classic in this house.

Now, Michael B. Jordan is restarting the affair, directing his own version with a screenplay by Drew Pearce and Jason Hall and a sublime cast: the Oscar-winning Sinners star himself, alongside Adria Arjona, Lily Gladstone, Danai Gurira, Kenneth Branagh, and Pilou Asbæk.

The trailer promises Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" as a target, high-speed chases, and plenty of luxurious destinations. You son of a bitch, I'm in!

The Thomas Crown Affair hits cinemas March 5, 2027.

Will your next takeout food delivery arrive by air? That's what DoorDash is preparing for.

On Wednesday, DoorDash announced that it had just received Part 135 air carrier certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As a result of this approval, the company also announced the launch of an in-house drone program called DoorDash Air.

"This certification means that DoorDash is authorized to operate as an air carrier and offer an even more deeply integrated drone delivery experience, opening up new possibilities for local businesses," the company said in a statement.

According to DoorDash, the company is only the eighth drone operator to earn the FAA's Part 135 certification. DoorDash was required to pass a five-stage evaluation process that verified aircraft airworthiness, maintenance programs, and safety procedures.

“We want drone delivery to work for any merchant, anywhere. We're building the full stack to make that possible from the ground infrastructure to the drone itself, and the handoff systems that make it work together seamlessly,” said Head of DoorDash Air Harrison Shih in a blog post. “Advances in hardware, compute, and AI are creating extraordinary new capabilities for local commerce, and becoming a certified air carrier accelerates everything we're building.”

Human Dashers will continue to play a main role within the company, DoorDash says. The company mentioned how Dashers will still fulfill deliveries that drones and other autonomous delivery systems can't handle, such as apartment deliveries and fulfilling deliveries with large orders. 

According to the company, drones fulfilled deliveries in an estimated average of 25 minutes last year. The company says that some locations that took part in its drone partner pilot found their order volume grow by around 30 percent during the program.

DoorDash also has a good idea of which type of deliveries would benefit the most from drones. DoorDash says that 20 percent of DoorDash orders need to be delivered between three to five miles. However, those orders took roughly 25 percent longer to be fulfilled than shorter deliveries. The company says this is because it's more difficult to find Dashers willing to take on mid-range trips. DoorDash hopes that drone deliveries can fulfill these orders, allowing human Dashers to focus on shorter trips, which could maximize their earnings.

Of course, DoorDash wouldn't be the first company to experiment with drone deliveries. Amazon, Alphabet's Wing, and most recently, Walmart have all deployed drone delivery systems. These companies have all touted their delivery drone program; however, there have been some speed bumps along the way.

DoorDash says it's currently "designing and building" its first-party drone program with the company's in-house robotics and autonomy team, DoorDash Labs. The company says that this is "only the beginning" and expects to have further updates about DoorDash Air later this year.

TL;DR: Matthew and Camila McConaughey's Pantalones Organic Tequila has teamed up with Yeti on "A Lot Cooler," a limited-edition cooler featuring a custom Pantalones design, sized to hold a full case (six bottles) of tequila. It's priced at $250 and available for preorder.

Matthew McConaughey's tequila brand is putting its own spin on his most famous line.

Pantalones Organic Tequila, which he co-founded with his wife Camila, has teamed up with Yeti to launch "A Lot Cooler" — a limited-edition cooler that's more or less an inside joke turned real product, referencing McConaughey's "It'd be a lot cooler if you did" line from Dazed and Confused. Priced at $250, it's now available for preorder.

The launch comes with a new video, and it's delightfully ridiculous. McConaughey's whole pitch is that a margarita makes everything better — and he means everything. The two eventually kick back on the tailgate of a pickup truck next to the custom Yeti cooler, margaritas in hand.

The cooler is built for basically any outdoor plan you throw at it — beach days, backyard hangouts, tailgates, or boat trips. It's got Yeti's rugged, durable build quality, finished with exclusive Pantalones branding on top, so it's still functioning as a high-quality cooler. Pack it with tequila, margarita fixings, and snacks, and you're covered for the day.

Pre-order "A Lot Cooler" now at Pantalones.

Will Samsung and Google figure out ways for their glasses to overcome privacy concerns? Unclear, but here’s how they’ll work and what you need to know.

Social media bans for kids are quickly becoming the global legislation trend of the moment.

Children under 16 are finding themselves at the center of political conversations, with countries including Australia, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Austria, and Indonesia, and more attempting to wrangle Big Tech companies' hold on young people's attention.

Online age verification laws are taking shape by the month, with governments citing the need to address issues including child sexual exploitation, cyberbullying, self-harm, and the impact on kids' mental health, as well as "addictive" design, violent content, and porn. However, these laws have also come under severe criticism for efficiency and their impact on digital privacy and free speech.

Plus, kids are already finding ways around them.

So, where are we at, globally? Which countries have followed Australia's example and are rolling out their own social media bans? Here's the list, alphabetically, and incidentally starting with the one who started it all.

Australia

The first to do it, Australia set a global precedent in Dec. 2025 with its world-first social media ban for children under 16. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act requires social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, and Snapchat to implement age verification and take "reasonable steps" to prevent kids under 16 from creating accounts. However, a July 2026 study by Australian government advisors found the ban so far ineffective.

Plus, Reddit is suing.

Austria

Following in Australia's footsteps with fewer letters, in March 2026, Austria announced a bill to ban social media use for children under 14. With a draft planned for completion by summer, Austria's legislation would also add a new compulsory subject, "Media and Democracy," to school curriculums to boost awareness of "how to recognise disinformation and radicalisation."

Brazil

Brazil's social media ban, the Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents, came into force in March 2026. The law requires kids under 16 to link their social media accounts with a legal guardian, and tech platforms must add age verification for users wanting to access adult content. It also means social media platforms must limit "features designed to artificially increase, sustain, or extend" time kids spend on the platforms, including automatically playing videos.

Canada

Canada is set to ban users under 16 from holding social media accounts, with a proposed law announced by the Canadian government on June 11, 2026. The Safe Social Media Act will enforce age verification to access online services and legally mandated safety requirements for social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. But Canadian law will also apply to companies that use AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.

Denmark

Denmark is planning a social media ban for kids under 15, announced back on Oct. 8, 2025, by the country's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen. According to the Associated Press, the law could arrive in 2026, but there's no date or details yet. Reports also suggest parents could allow their children to use social media from the age of 13.

European Union

An EU-wide social media ban for kids under 13 could be coming, announced July 13, 2026. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission (the EU's executive body), presented a report on online safety for children, which recommended age-appropriate restrictions on platforms (the EU has launched its own age verification app), parental supervision for social media use, and the insistence that digital platforms "must prove that their services do no harm."

But it won't just be social media that's impacted. As Mashable's Anna Iovine reports, it could apply to "other digital services such as AI companions, video-sharing platforms, and video games."

France

France is ready to approve its social media ban for kids under 15, with the government reaching a compromise on the bill on July 20, 2026. Once it's through, France will be the first European country to officially enact such a ban. According to Le Monde, the social media ban will block under-15s from creating new accounts as of Sept. 1, and in Jan. 2027, all existing accounts will come under the law.

Germany

Germany hasn't yet rolled out a social media ban, but the government is considering it.

Greece

Greece plans to ban social media for kids under 15, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announcing the proposed law on April 8, 2026. In a TikTok video, translated by the BBC, Mitsotakis cited sleep issues and anxiety in children caused by "the pressure to always be online," and he criticized "the addictive design of certain applications." If passed, the measure will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, and the PM said age verification is also needed.

Indonesia

Indonesia announced it would ban social media for children under 16 on March 6, 2026. As reported by the BBC, the country's minister of communication and digital affairs, Meutya Hafid, said anyone under 16 with an account on a "high risk" online platform would see it deactivated by the end of March, naming "YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox."

Malaysia

Malaysia has banned social media for under-16s, with communications minister Fahmi Fadzil announcing the Online Safety Act 2025 (ONSA) in Nov. 2025. The law came into force on Jan. 1, 2026, but it really got started on June 1, 2026. As NBC News reports, requires social media companies to add age verification and to prohibit kids under 16 from creating accounts on platforms with at least 8 million users (that means YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook). The law also requires social media companies "to limit features that increase, sustain, or extend" kids' online time.

Poland

Poland is looking to ban kids under 15 from social media, with Education Minister Barbara Nowacka announcing plans on Feb. 26, 2026. Yes, that would mean age verification on social media sites and big fines for companies not enforcing them.

Slovenia

Slovenia is set to ban social media access for kids under 15, with draft legislation announced by Deputy Prime Minister Matej Arčon on Feb. 5, 2026.

Spain

Spain announced plans to ban social media for children under 16 on Feb. 3, 2026, with the country's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, promising to "protect them from the digital Wild West." The proposed bill, which still needs to be passed by parliament, will hold social media companies (including their executives) liable for "illegal or harmful content" existing on their platforms. "We will turn algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content into a new criminal offence,” Sánchez said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai in February.

Thailand

Thailand hasn't announced a social media ban yet, but there's a lot of discussion about it.

Turkey

Turkey passed a bill on April 23, 2026, that blocks kids under 15 from accessing social media platforms. According to the Associated Press, which cited state media reports, the law will require age verification on social media, rapid responses by companies to "harmful" content, and expanded parental controls.

United Kingdom

The UK confirmed an impending social media ban for under-16s on June 15, 2026, following the rollout of age verification in the country in July 2025 (it's kind of working?). The government explicitly said it "plans to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia," with the intention of broadening the law to cover other platforms, including livestreaming and gaming sites.

The UK is also considering overnight curfews for teens aged 16 and 17 and blocking infinite-scroll mechanisms for kids.

This story is developing and will be updated as laws are proposed and passed.

SAVE OVER $10: As of July 29, the Anker Soundcore 2 portable speaker is on sale for $29.98 at Amazon. That's $15.01 off its list price of $44.99.

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Anker soundcore 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

$29.98 at Amazon
$44.99 Save $15.01

 

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Portable speakers are great to have around while going to the beach, pool, camping, and more in the summertime. Picking one out can feel a bit overwhelming, though. With so many different models to choose from, we're here to help. We've spotted a great deal on the Anker Soundcore 2 portable speaker right now at Amazon that's well worth a look.

As of July 29, the black model of this speaker has been marked down to $29.98 at Amazon, which is just over $15 off its list price. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel, it's also pretty close to its lowest-ever price of $21.59, so it's a great time to scoop it up.

Unfortunately, only the black model is available at this price, though other colors are on sale for a few dollars extra. Among the discounts are the mocha brown model at $33.98 and the baby blue, beige, and navy blue models at $35.98 each. There's also the pink model on sale, though for a bit higher at $39.99.

While the Anker Soundcore 2's portable design is convenient for your summer excursions, it's also durable. With IPX7 waterproof protection, it's ready for a day at the beach or by the pool. Plus, it boasts great sound quality. According to the store page, this little speaker delivers 12W of power and enhanced bass from dual neodymium drivers, offering a nice boost for your favorite tunes.

On top of that, its battery can last up to 24 hours. With that kind of power, you can spend the whole day listening to your favorite music, audiobooks, podcasts, and more.

The Anker Soundcore 2 portable speaker currently has a "limited time deal" tag, so act fast to save at Amazon.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

TL;DR: Granola has launched an Apple Watch app that lets you record and transcribe meetings without pulling out your phone, available free starting today. Since a feature like this can place extra pressure on battery life, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is the best pairing for heavy Granola use.

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Apple Watch Ultra 3

$779 at Amazon

 

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Granola just launched an app for the Apple Watch that lets you record and transcribe meetings without taking out your phone. It's built for the meetings that happen off your laptop: a walking one-on-one, a whiteboard brainstorm, or even a quick coffee chat. Tap your wrist to start, and your notes sync automatically to your iPhone and computer once you're done.

It's also easy to use throughout your day. Before a scheduled meeting, it gently taps you as a reminder to hit record, and for spontaneous chats, you can add Granola to your watch face so a new note is always one tap away.

If you've got back-to-back meetings all day and plan to keep Granola running through most of them, that'll wear down a standard Apple Watch fast. In that case, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is worth considering.

We've covered the Ultra 3 a few times already, and battery life keeps coming up as its standout upgrade. Mashable's Stan Schroeder noted that most Apple Watch models severely lag behind other watches in battery life.

The Ultra 3 narrows that gap significantly, putting it at up to 42 hours of normal use, a solid jump if you're planning to run something like Granola day after day.

Granola for Apple Watch is free and available today, requiring watchOS 11 or later. If your calendar is packed and you want the app running the whole time, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is your best bet.

We can't ask Homer what he thinks of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, but we can ask someone who knows it better than most.

Emily Wilson, the British-American classicist whose 2017 translation of the epic poem was one of the director's inspirations, has been asked for her opinion on The Odyssey film a few times since the film's release on July 17. And the reactions have gone from light criticism to scathing response.

Nolan has cited Wilson's work as among his influences for the film, notably Homer's opening line, "Tell me about a complicated man."

When asked for her response to The Odyssey by the Associated Press on July 20, Wilson said, "I want to celebrate the fact that so many more people are aware of The Odyssey and were brought back to the poem. But at the same time, I had the sense that Christopher Nolan was trying to pack everything in while missing themes that were essential to the poem."

However, in a rather brutal 4,000-word review for the London Review of Books, published July 24 in print and now online, the professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania went to town on Nolan's adaptation.

"Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great," she writes. "It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbours. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible."

Girl, tell us what you really think!

Wilson's translation famously reexamined the role of women in The Odyssey, like the characters of Penelope and Circe (played onscreen by Anne Hathaway and Samantha Morton, respectively). And Nolan's film does give women more agency than they've had in his previous work, as Mashable's Belen Edwards writes in her review, "Nolan makes sure to emphasize the women of The Odyssey's complexities, as opposed to letting them linger on the sidelines or in dead wife montages. Most importantly, he lets them be angry."

What did Wilson think? "There are more female characters than in most Nolan movies, thanks to the source material. But none of them has much to say, in contrast to the characterisations in the poem," she writes, particularly scrutinising an under-written Calypso (Charlize Theron) as "an unpaid therapist, soothing the soul of the bedraggled, PTSD-ridden Odysseus with drugs, and graciously listening to his disjointed tale of woe."

Granted, it's nothing short of a herculean task to try and fit every last element of Homer's 12,000-line poem into a film that runs just under three hours, despite that IMAX screen size. Nolan does hit the major plot points of The Odyssey's 20-year chronology — the Trojan Horse, Penelope's sleazy suitors, Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his men running into the cyclops Polythemus (Bill Irwin), the sirens, the Scylla monster, and the nymph Calypso along the way — he leaves many myths deliberately untold.

Wilson does eventually return to a shadow of her original response, seeing Nolan's film as "still an event to celebrate," with the film "bringing audiences back to cinemas." However, the review is still pretty withering, especially a section which reads, "My eyes stayed dry, even for Argos the dog," and one in which Wilson yearns for "a tub of wax for my ears" to survive the film's booming soundscape.

"I had hoped that Nolan’s affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters," Wilson writes. "But The Odyssey features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality."

I'm going to leave the hand-wringing to the internet on this one (and it's happening), but it's interesting to hear scholars like Wilson's responses to The Odyssey, a text that has been reinterpreted for thousands of years through literature, art, film, video games, and myriad creative avenues.

As to what Homer would think? No one can ever know that, stop speaking for an ancient Greek poet on X.

The Odyssey is now in cinemas.

UPDATE: Jul. 29, 2026, 12:01 p.m. GMT This story was originally published on July 20, 2026, then updated and republished on July 29 after Emily Wilson's essay appeared in the London Review of Books.

Singles are growing increasingly disenchanted with dating apps, and those with the means are turning to matchmakers. But with such an investment — oftentimes thousands of dollars, which is way more than Tinder Gold — there's a lot at stake.

Matchmaker Sameera Sullivan told Mashable she's been a matchmaker in the U.S. for almost 15 years now, first at an international agency (though she didn't name which one) and then striking out on her own. Previously, she worked as a recruiter in the aerospace and defense industry, and then was recruited herself to be a matchmaker. Before matchmaking, she would always coach and help friends.

When she worked for the agency, "that's when I started realizing how crazy this industry can be," she said. Sullivan stayed there for less than a year and observed what they were doing "wrong," and then started doing her own thing. 

What did they do wrong? These "bigbox" matchmaking agencies are "living off their brand," she said. "The owners are not really involved [and] they will take on everybody," she explained. "Then there are newer companies who are doing a lot of marketing and SEO…which is fine, but they're marketing to every demographic." 

Matchmaking is a centuries-old practice in places like India and China, but what was once a community-oriented assist has now become a booming business, especially stateside. With arguably as many options for matchmakers out there as dating apps, you're going to need to be discerning. If you're in a position to hire a matchmaker, here's what to do, according to Sullivan and some of her clients.

Why hire a matchmaker?

Sullivan's clients who spoke to Mashable have paid thousands of dollars — in the five figures — for her services and those of other matchmakers. Why drop so much money when, in relative terms, a paid dating app subscription is much cheaper?

A male client, 65 to 70 years old, who requested anonymity when speaking to Mashable, said he had dating site fatigue and wanted to find an alternative. He wanted a boutique, bespoke service with better filtering.

"Just moving from dating sites to a matchmaker gives you, I think, a better pool," he said. The singles are pre-screened and are definitely interested in a relationship, unlike on dating apps, where users' desires range widely. And from a safety standpoint, it might be better, given increased vetting.

"Vetting is the most important thing in matchmaking," Sullivan said.

Sullivan told Mashable that her vetting process includes not just a criminal background check, but also a background check for their career history, if they've owned any homes, marriage history, and the like. If they were previously married, they would check to make sure they're fully divorced. She or her team also conducts interviews, typically 90 minutes long, to learn more about them and what they're looking for.

How thorough background checks are depends on the service you use, however. Cheryl, who has worked with Sullivan, had a bad experience when a previous service matched her with men out of her home state. Keeping an open mind, she flew to Florida to meet one, and during dinner (which he didn't pay for), he "joked" that he'd take her for everything she's worth.

"The waiter paused and looked at me, and I paused and looked at him, and… at one point I said, 'Hey, just so you know, you said that out loud, and I can see you,'" she said. "I think he was using the service as a way to find rich women." 

Cheryl reported the man to the service, and they did remove him. However, the experience didn't turn her off matchmaking entirely — she found Sullivan when looking for a matchmaker close by.

Matchmaker red flags

When you reach out to matchmaking services, they'll often have a consultation first before they take you on, usually through a phone call. During this call, you might be able to spot some red flags. 

Be on the lookout for any promises or guarantees they make. Some services guarantee match offerings, but beyond that, they can't tell you they're going to find you a spouse. Sullivan's client, Ro, tried a big matchmaking agency, and the salesperson who spoke to him sold him on it. When FaceTiming, Ro says she told him that finding him a partner would be a slam dunk — but then, after he signed up, she said she doesn't handle clients, and palmed him off to a colleague.

"That was a disappointment right away," Ro said. He was also promised weekly check-ins, but then didn't hear from the service for two or three weeks at a time.

"They promised me a minimum amount of dates. They came through with the minimum amount of connections, but I turned a lot of them down," he recalled. "They just didn't get me."

"I run a company, and we do sales, and I just don't love salespeople that are selling me on stuff," Richard, another client who has used multiple matchmaking services, said. He found Sullivan authentic because she didn't make those promises. She told him, "I'm not going to find you love. I'm going to find you candidates."

Another potential red flag (depending) is the clientele of the business. If they promise to provide services to every demographic, they may not be able to focus on a specific group and their needs (for instance, a certain religion or gender). Some matchmakers are specific to certain locations (if you search for "California matchmakers," for instance, you'll find some that tailor to singles in that state, and you'll also find services that are nationwide or global).

"We have a moral code," Sullivan said of matchmakers. "We have a responsibility that we have to be responsible for who we take on, because we cannot take on everyone. Not everyone is going to be our client who's willing to pay us."

Sullivan only takes on certain clients. She charges a premium price (some clients pay in the six figures), but it's not just about who can pay; it's about who wants to do the work. She employees a coach who assesses clients based on attachment styles and Dr. Helen Fisher's personality test, and uses the Gottman Method of couples' therapy. If potential clients aren't into this, she doesn't work with them.

"Some guys just want dates, and that's not my thing," she said. And while she has a free and priority (paid) database of women — who are also vetted — her clientele is only men.

Some services, though, are more focused on money than integrity, she said, and agree to take on anyone.

Questions for the matchmaker

When consulting with a matchmaker, you can ask them to show you some sample profiles of potential matches in their database. One of the most important things Sullivan tells people to ask is: Are the people you're showing me single and available today? Have they been pre-screened? (Meaning, have they spoken to the matchmaking service?)

"You need to have a very detailed conversation," Sullivan said. 

The matchmaker may say they can't show you because you haven't started with them yet (especially if they're waiting for your check to clear), but Sullivan said that's BS, because the person they're showing you during a consultation should be a fit. "If you're going to take somebody on and you're telling them, 'These are the five women we have [for you],' three of them should be available and single," she said. 

Another thing to ask is who you're going to be working with — the salesperson? If so, how long have they been with the company? That was an issue in Ro's case; he bonded with the salesperson, but didn't end up working with her. Who you end up working with depends on the matchmaking service. At Sullivan's, for instance, you could end up working with the first person who screens you.

Another important aspect to bring up is location. If you're only looking for a match in Arizona, for instance, the matchmaker should be able to show you singles in Arizona. Local is important, obviously, and there are matchmakers all over; if the one you're speaking to doesn't have clients where you are, they could refer you to someone who does.

Richard said the most important thing is connecting with your matchmaker, because you're going to spend a lot of time on the phone with them. Both he and Ro said to do your due diligence and research. You can look on Google or Reddit to see how people review different services (but, as with everything, take it with a grain of salt.)

Even if you do everything right, however, love and marriage aren't guaranteed. "It may or may not work." The difference, she said, is that you're not doing the looking. So measure your expectations because, as she said, "Love's tricky."

The Pokémon TCG has always thrown out incredibly valuable cards throughout the franchise’s 30-year run, but modern-day expansions have taken the game’s trading card economy into the stratosphere. Since the launch of expansions like Scarlet & Violet’s Prismatic Evolutions, seeing a new card like SIR Umbreon ex worth well over $1,000 is no longer a surprise. 

We’ve scoured the market prices across each "modern" collection of cards, found out which are the most valuable in terms of TCGplayer market price, and linked to every card so you can check listings to buy one yourself, if you wish. 

These are the five most valuable Pokémon cards from every modern expansion.

Scarlet & Violet

Scarlet & Violet might be a historically significant expansion, but it's not the most expensive.

At the time of writing, its five leading cards are all listed below $100, with Gardevoir ex narrowly holding first place over Drowzee, making this one of the most affordable modern Pokémon TCG expansions in terms of average price per card:

• Gardevoir ex — 245/198: $76.19

• Drowzee — 210/198: $60.37

• Ralts — 211/198:  $47.02

• Kirlia — 212/198: $46.72

• Slowpoke — 204/198: $41.86

Paldea Evolved

Paldea Evolved is worth considerably more at the top end, primarily because of an Illustration Rare that has grown into one of the Scarlet & Violet era’s biggest chase cards. 

Magikarp sits hundreds of dollars above everything else in the expansion, leaving an enormous gap between first and second place. Raichu, Maushold, Tyranitar, and Sprigatito still give the expansion an impressive set of runner-ups:

• Magikarp — 203/193: $406.04

• Raichu — 211/193: $111.65

• Maushold — 226/193: $99.92

• Tyranitar — 222/193: $72.82

• Sprigatito — 196/193: $66.06

Obsidian Flames

Obsidian Flames includes 230 cards, including the Dark-type Tera Charizard ex cards.

Compared with most modern expansions, Obsidian Flames remains relatively inexpensive. Only its leading SIR Charizard ex chase card is currently breaking into triple figures, according to TCGplayer’s market price:

• Charizard ex — 223/197: $114.13

• Ninetales — 199/197: $39.77

• Cleffa — 202/197: $39.68

• Charizard ex — 228/197: $36.55

• Gloom — 198/197: $24.83

Scarlet & Violet — 151

Scarlet & Violet — 151 is this era’s first special expansion, with all of the original 151 Pokémon represented across its 207 cards. 

Its combination of modern SIR artwork and classic card designs (plus Gen-1 nostalgia) has kept demand especially high, making it one of the most valuable early Scarlet & Violet releases. Unsurprisingly, the final evolutions of Kanto’s first-partner Pokémon — Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur — remain among its best pulls:

• Charizard ex — 199/165: $383.12

• Blastoise ex — 200/165: $145.86

• Venusaur ex — 198/165: $115.88

• Zapdos ex — 202/165: $102.74

• Pikachu — 173/165: $96.76

Paradox Rift

Paradox Rift contains 266 cards and greatly expands the Ancient and Future Pokémon introduced earlier in the Scarlet & Violet era. Its selection of chase cards includes fewer ex Pokémon compared to other expansions, but still packs plenty of well-designed Special Illustration Rares:

• Groudon — 199/182: $120.02

• Altaria ex — 253/182: $58.89

• Morpeko — 206/182: $50.81

• Plusle — 193/182: $49.19

• Minun — 194/182: $46.86

Paldean Fates

Paldean Fates is a 245-card special expansion dominated by Shiny Pokémon, including more than 100 alternate-color cards. Its broad selection of popular Pocket Monsters gives this expansion proper value beyond one or two pulls, but its upper end is in another league entirely:

• Mew ex — 232/091: $1,065.49

• Charizard ex — 234/091: $317.57

• Gardevoir ex — 233/091: $180.67

• Pikachu — 131/091: $84.74

• Snorlax — 202/091: $60.86

Temporal Forces

Temporal Forces features 218 cards and continues the Ancient and Future themes established by Paradox Rift. It also brought ACE SPEC cards back into the competitive game, although its collector value now centers more heavily on illustration and special illustration rares:

• Gastly — 177/162: $101.36

• Morty’s Conviction — 211/162: $73.59

• Raging Bolt ex — 208/162: $72.60

• Gengar ex — 193/162: $62.76

• Sawsbuck — 166/162: $59.79

Twilight Masquerade

Twilight Masquerade includes 226 cards inspired by Kitakami and the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet game’s Teal Mask DLC. Its Ogerpon-focused theme gave the expansion several competitive cards, but its market strength comes from a mixture of popular Pokémon and Trainer cards, along with well-drawn artwork:

• Greninja ex — 214/167: $382.74

• Perrin — 220/167: $178.19

• Eevee — 188/167: $93.96

• Carmine — 217/167: $56.69

• Chansey — 187/167: $56.65

Shrouded Fable

Shrouded Fable is a smaller special expansion containing only 99 cards, with its story revolving around Pecharunt and the Loyal Three. Still, its most valuable pulls have ended up being a broader mix of non-Legendary-based illustration rares and its Hyper Rare Energy card:

• Persian — 078/064: $75.70

• Basic Darkness Energy — 098/064: $65.40

• Duskull — 068/064: $60.87

• Houndoom — 066/064: $58.29

• Horsea — 067/064: $47.56

Surging Sparks

Surging Sparks contains 252 cards and continues the Stellar Tera mechanic introduced in Stellar Crown. Pikachu became the expansion’s main attraction, although several other special illustration rares have retained substantial value: 

• Pikachu ex — 238/191: $326.21

• Latias ex — 239/191: $183.88

• Milotic ex — 237/191: $129.26

• Pikachu ex — 247/191: $94.14

• Hydreigon ex — 240/191: $36.91

Prismatic Evolutions

Prismatic Evolutions launched as an Eevee-focused special expansion containing 180 cards. By giving Eevee and all eight of its evolutions their own major chase cards, the set immediately attracted enormous collector demand. It now sits comfortably among the most expensive modern Pokémon TCG expansions:

• Umbreon ex — 161/131: $1,509.18

• Sylveon ex — 156/131: $551.20

• Leafeon ex — 144/131: $340.25

• Espeon ex — 155/131: $309.82

• Vaporeon ex — 149/131: $304.15

Journey Together

Journey Together contains 190 cards and brings a focus on the Pokémon of popular Trainer characters, putting characters like Lillie, N, Iono, and Hop in the spotlight with their best-known partners:

• Lillie’s Clefairy ex — 184/159: $118.82

• Salamence ex — 187/159: $58.87

• N’s Zoroark ex — 185/159: $49.33

• Iono’s Bellibolt ex — 183/159: $41.29

• Hop’s Zacian ex — 186/159: $35.82

Destined Rivals

Destined Rivals contains 244 cards, continuing the Trainer’s Pokémon mechanic while introducing a conflict centered around Team Rocket. This expansion’s combination of major Trainers, Legendary Pokémon, and villain-themed artwork quickly created one of the most alluring buys of the Scarlet & Violet era:

• Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex — 231/182: $533.30

• Cynthia’s Garchomp ex — 232/182: $261.91

• Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex — 230/182: $173.72

• Team Rocket’s Nidoking ex — 233/182: $109.43

• Team Rocket’s Moltres ex — 229/182: $108.04

White Flare

White Flare launched alongside Black Bolt, dividing the Pokémon of the Unova region between them. White Flare contains 173 cards once its secret rares are included, though its highest-value cards are especially expensive — led by two Black White Rare cards and a Reshiram special illustration rare:

• Victini — 172/086: $557.23

• Reshiram ex — 173/086: $504.21

• Reshiram ex — 166/086: $215.92

• Oshawott — 105/086: $93.12

• Hydreigon ex — 169/086: $87.04

Black Bolt

Black Bolt contains 172 cards and serves as the companion expansion to White Flare. Its Unova theme, monochrome Black-White Rares, and Legendary Pokémon have created an exceptionally valuable upper end:

• Victini — 171/086: $599.69

• Zekrom ex — 172/086: $593.30

• Zekrom ex — 166/086: $282.66

• Seismitoad — 105/086: $254.58

• Kyurem ex — 165/086: $80.59

Mega Evolution

Mega Evolution is an 188-card selection that brought Mega Evolution Pokémon back into the trading card. With its new gold Mega Hyper Rares, this expansion’s top five have quite an even spread in terms of value compared to some of the other collections released during the last couple of years: 

• Mega Lucario ex — 188/132: $274.82

• Mega Lucario ex — 179/132: $218.17

• Mega Gardevoir ex — 187/132: $209.98

• Mega Gardevoir ex — 178/132: $193.99

• Mega Venusaur ex — 177/132: $155.15

Phantasmal Flames

Phantasmal Flames is a more compact 130-card expansion centered around fire-and-darkness-themed Mega Evolution Pokémon — with Mega Charizard X unsurprisingly dominating the bunch, with three versions appearing among its five most valuable cards:

• Mega Charizard X ex — 125/094: $785.31

• Mega Charizard X ex — 130/094: $335.21

• Mega Charizard X ex — 109/094: $30.71

• Dawn — 129/094: $24.44

• Mega Sharpedo ex — 127/094: $21.36

Ascended Heroes

Ascended Heroes is a huge 295-card special expansion drawing from Pokémon Legends: Z-A and TCG collections of the past. Its combination of Mega Evolutions and jaw-dropping artwork has resulted in the most valuable cards we have seen since Prismatic Evolutions:

• Mega Gengar ex — 284/217: $1,262.19

• Pikachu ex — 276/217: $1,161.13

• Mega Dragonite ex — 290/217: $747.98

• Mega Charizard Y ex — 294/217: $506.61

• Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex — 281/217: $394.60

Perfect Order

Perfect Order is a compact 124-card expansion inspired by the Pokémon of Lumiose City introduced in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Its market values are noticeably more restrained than those of Ascended Heroes:

• Meowth ex — 121/088: $134.07

• Mega Zygarde ex — 124/088: $133.91

• Mega Zygarde ex — 120/088: $63.86

• Mega Clefable ex — 119/088: $59.37

• Rosa’s Encouragement — 123/088: $54.19

Chaos Rising 

Chaos Rising contains 122 cards — including many that were featured in Legends: Z-A. Unsurprisingly, the star of the expansion, Mega Greninja ex, takes up two of the top five positions by a wide margin:

• Mega Greninja ex — 116/086: $237.40

• Mega Greninja ex — 122/086: $195.17

• Cinccino ex — 119/086: $65.70

• Mega Dragalge ex — 118/086: $43.11

• Mega Floette ex — 117/086: $33.56

Pitch Black

Pitch Black launched with 120 cards — honing in on a darker Mega Evolution theme led by Mega Darkrai ex, while Morpeko, Mega Zeraora, and Mega Chandelure also appear among its largest pulls:

• Mega Darkrai ex — 116/084: $282.62

• Mega Darkrai ex — 120/084: $195.78

• Morpeko ex — 117/084: $129.05

• Mega Zeraora ex — 114/084: $70.73

• Mega Chandelure ex — 115/084: $52.83

BTS will not be entering their album ARIRANG for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards.

In syndicated Instagram stories shared across all seven members' accounts, RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook issued a statement on their decision. Translated from Korean by the Meta-owned platform, each statement reads:

"We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year. I hope music itself can be heard and loved rather than being distinguished by region or language."

Each member then thanked BTS fans, known as ARMY, and "all of you who are always with me," to close the statement.

The K-pop powerhouse's decision to not put their sixth studio album forward for the Grammys comes a month after the Recording Academy's addition of five new award categories in June, including Best Asian Pop Music Performance. This award in particular came under scrutiny from K-pop fans and journalists alike, called out as another example of the Grammys splitting awards when non-white artists and artists who perform in languages other than English dominate the cultural zeitgeist and deservedly take home the gold.

The Grammys' description for Best Asian Pop Music Performance describes the award as one that "recognizes artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages." The rules have a few more paragraphs of detail, but essentially, the award groups "Asian pop" into one generalised category, which is separate from major categories like Album of the Year and Record of the Year.

Teen Vogue's Ayan Artan placed the Grammys' new Best Asian Pop Music Performance award "as part of a history of gatekeeping non-white artists from major award categories."

"There seems to be a pattern emerging here, and it becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss it the more you pay attention," Artan writes. "It goes like this: A non-white artist breaks into mainstream-music consciousness by delivering a critically acclaimed project and looks likely to win a Grammy in a major category. Soon after, a new category is announced by the Recording Academy to help segregate these artists."

Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter wins Album of the Year? The Grammys splits the Best Country Album category into Traditional and Contemporary. In response, social justice advocate Terrell Couch wrote for Essence, "A separate but equal country album category does not broaden the genre’s influence; rather it reflects an ugly truth about America."

Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos wins Album of the Year with a Spanish-language record? The Grammys adds an award for Best Latin Song.

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BTS' ARIRANG landed in March, marking the anticipated return of the K-pop superstars after a four-year hiatus, during which they fulfilled South Korea's mandatory military service and spent time on solo projects. ARIRANG, as well as lead single "SWIM," both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The album was critically heralded. The group's 34-city, 82-show ARIRANG world tour is essentially completely sold out. To say BTS' comeback album is leading mainstream music conversation is an understatement.

And it's BTS' own statements that show just how aware of the Grammys award-splitting the group seems to be: "I hope music itself can be heard and loved rather than being distinguished by region or language."

BTS has five Grammy nominations, the first K-pop artists to be nominated, and have performed at the Grammys several times, including the 64th Grammy Awards in 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, before their hiatus.

BTS perform during the 64th Grammy Awards in April 2022 in Las Vegas. Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

Fans have reacted to BTS' decision with wholehearted support, with ARMY hitting social media with praise.

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Mashable has reached out to the Recording Academy and HYBE, the company that owns BTS' label Big Hit Music, for comment.

SAVE $60: As of July 29, Shokz OpenDots One are on sale for $139.95 at Amazon. That's $60 off their full price of $199.95, and marks a return to their lowest-ever price.

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Credit: Shokz

Shokz OpenDots ONE Open-Ear Headphones

$139.95 at Amazon
$199.95 Save $60

 

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Shokz OpenDots One landed among our favorite open earbuds as the top pick for most people, offering "better audio quality than we expected and an impressive battery life." If they've caught your attention, we've spotted an excellent $60 discount on the vibrant red pair at Amazon, so this is a great time to grab them.

Usually, these earbuds are listed for $199.95, but this deal has brought them down to $139.95, marking a return to their lowest-ever price at the retailer. Unfortunately, only the red pair is marked down to this price right now, but they're certainly worth grabbing while they're still on sale.

In addition to earning a spot in our roundup of the best open earbuds, our review of the Shokz OpenDots One had plenty of praise for them. Writer Alex Bracetti said they "dish out satisfying sound that increases stamina when running low on energy, and the addition of Dolby Audio gives music a bit more thump." He added: "Battery life is sufficient for about a week of use, depending how long you exercise. The stylish design also stabilizes fit when sprinting at fast speeds."

Battery life can last up to 10 hours on a single charge or up to 40 hours with the charging case. Their clip-on fit — with a flexible nickel-titanium plate and soft silicone grip — ensures they'll stay securely on your ear as you move around.

If the Shokz OpenDots One check the boxes of what you're looking for, act fast to save on the colorful red pair at Amazon.

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Donald Trump may have been doing everything he can to distance himself from the Epstein files, but he doesn't seem to be able to outrun his association with the deceased convicted child sex offender.

In the clip above, Daily Show host Jordan Klepper shares footage of people yelling "pedophile protector" at Trump on two different occasions.

"Wow, show some respect for the office. That's 'President Pedophile Protector'!" says Klepper. "Why does this keep happening? Is it the same guy? Is it something in the water? Is it because withheld millions of Epstein files and people are furious that nobody has been held accountable for it? We'll never know."

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TL;DR: The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Pitch Black Booster Bundle is on sale for $39.95 at Amazon, down from its typical $50.98 price.

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Credit: The Pokémon Company

Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Pitch Black Booster Bundle

$39.95 at Amazon
$50.98 Save $11.03

 

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Pitch Black’s Booster Bundle has continued to tumble in price since launch, and Amazon has now taken the six-pack box below $40 for the first time.

As of July 29, the Pokémon TCG’s six-pack Pitch Black Booster Bundle is down to $39.95 at Amazon — $11.03 off its $50.98 list price. With that 22% discount, you’re looking at the lowest price this box of Pitch Black boosters has seen on Amazon yet, as confirmed by the price tracker camelcamelcamel.

Sold and shipped directly by Amazon, free delivery is currently scheduled for Aug. 3, or Aug. 1 for Prime members at the time of writing. Still, you should keep in mind that Amazon marks the Booster Bundle as a final sale, meaning it cannot be returned once ordered.

At this new low $39.95 sticker price, you’re paying roughly $6.66 per booster pack before tax, which is even better than the $43.13 Amazon deal we covered last week, which worked out to around $7.18 per pack.

If stock runs out, TCGplayer is matching this headline Amazon price, with unopened Pitch Black Booster Bundles starting at $39.95 with shipping included. You can also take comfort from the fact that you’re only spending 46 cents above market price right now.

The box grants you six sealed booster packs from Mega Evolution’s titular Pitch Black expansion. Each pack contains 10 trading cards, one Basic Energy card, and a Pokémon TCG Live code card, giving you 60 standard cards altogether before counting Energy cards.

The Pitch Black expansion contains multiple Pokémon chase cards worth hundreds of dollars (available to buy separately on TCGplayer) — the five most valuable are SIR Mega Darkrai ex, MHR Mega Darkrai ex, SIR Morpeko ex, SIR Mega Zeraora ex, and SIR Mega Chandelure ex. 

SAVE $30: As of July 29, the Ninja Creami 7-in-1 Ice Cream Maker is down to $189.99 at Amazon. That's $30 off its list price of $219.99.

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Credit: Ninja

Ninja Creami 7-in-1 Ice Cream Maker

$189.99 at Amazon
$219.99 Save $30

 

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Given how hot it has been this summer, ice cream is the best kind of pick-me-up. But why go out and buy a tasty treat when you can make it at home? The Ninja Creami 7-in-1 Ice Cream Maker can help you out there, and it's even on sale at Amazon.

As of July 29, the Ninja Creami is on sale for $189.99 at the retailer, making for a $30 drop from its full price. It's an ice cream maker we certainly think is worth buying, with Mashable's Samantha Mangino writing: "If you're a planner and/or an ice cream fanatic, the Creami will be a delightful addition as you plan your pints of the week."

The Ninja Creami boasts seven one-touch programs — Ice Cream, Gelato, Sorbet, Milkshake, Smoothie Bowl, Lite Ice Cream, and Mix-In — so you have quite a variety of options to choose from. According to the store page, it also has Ninja's exclusive Creamify Technology, which shaves through a frozen pint to get a smooth texture.

Prepping your preferred chilled treat is easy, too. All you have to do is prep the base you want, freeze it for 24 hours, and process it. Mangino's review highlights that, "it creates creamy, smooth ice cream in just minutes with the press of a button (or two)."

Don't miss out on this deal on the Ninja Creami 7-in-1 Ice Cream Maker at Amazon.

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TL;DR: 2K just dropped the official NBA 2K27 gameplay trailer, featuring cover athletes Victor Wembanyama, Caitlin Clark, and Derrick Rose, plus highlight moments from other NBA and WNBA stars. The full Preseason Breakdown reveal stream is set for Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, ahead of the game's Sept. 4 launch.

NBA 2K27's official gameplay trailer is out, giving fans their first real look at how the game looks and plays before the bigger reveal drops later this month.

The trailer leans into highlight moments across both the NBA and WNBA, including Victor Wembanyama's playoff celebration, LeBron James doing his signature chalk toss as a Philadelphia 76er, and Derrick Rose hitting a buzzer-beating three over the Cavaliers. Check out the full trailer below.

What's coming Aug. 18

The trailer is just a preview — the full picture comes Aug. 18, when 2K hosts its first-ever "Preseason Breakdown: NBA 2K27 Game Reveal" stream. It's set for 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, streaming live on Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, and X.

2K has already given a preview of a few bigger changes coming that day:

• A new dynamic Dunk Meter that reads defensive positioning in real-time, from takeoff through the finish

• A unified MyTEAM Auction House across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2 for the first time ever, meaning a much bigger shared pool of cards

• Rucker Park is back, serving as the setting for this year's MyCAREER story and Street Kings mode

• MyPLAYER Builder is expanding from 40 to 53 total Badges, with 19 brand-new ones

When you can play

NBA 2K27 launches Sept. 4 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2. If you're getting the Deluxe or Ultra Edition, early access starts Aug. 28.

Aug. 18 is circled in red on our calendar — the rest of NBA 2K27's secrets land then.

SAVE $700: As of July 29, the Roborock Qrevo CurvX is on sale for $799.99 at Amazon. That's a 47% discount on the list price.

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Roborock Qrevo CurvX

$799.99 at Amazon
$1,499.99 Save $700

 

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There’s a reason robot vacuums have become a staple in many homes, and if you're ready to join the masses and say goodbye to manual vacuuming, check out this latest Amazon deal on the Roborock Qrevo CurvX.

Down by $700, this model is currently on sale for $799.99. It features powerful 22,000Pa HyperForce suction with a Zero-Tangling Design to help remove dirt, carpet debris, pet hair, and long hair up to 40cm. It also has a mopping function, so it cleans your floors with little to no effort needed from you.

It's a small machine, meaning it can reach under couches, cabinets, and other low furniture where dust can collect and linger. It also uses a Reactive AI Obstacle Recognition system with structured light and an RGB camera to detect and avoid up to 108 types of objects, helping it navigate around your home more efficiently. And the navigation is handled internally, using the RetractSense Navigation System and LiDAR sensors.

And if you have pets at home, this vacuum can more than cope. Plus, it has additional pet-friendly features like video calls, two-way voice interaction, pet recognition (to avoid getting in their way), and snapshots, so you can enjoy cute pictures of them when you're away from home.

Get this robot vacuum deal at Amazon now.

SAVE OVER $400: As of July 29, the iRobot Roomba Plus 405 is on sale for $398 at Amazon. That's a 50% discount on the list price.

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iRobot Roomba Plus 405

$398 at Amazon
$799.99 Save $401.99

 

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iRobot is one of the best-known names in robot vacuums, and for good reason. The brand is synonymous with effective devices that automate one of life's most arduous chores.

If you've been looking for a good deal before purchasing your own iRobot, Amazon has a great deal on the iRobot Roomba Plus 405. Not only is it currently 50% off at $398 (a total discount of $401.99), but it is also the best-ever price for this vacuum.

This is a robot vacuum and mop combo designed to tackle everyday dirt and spills. It uses DualClean Mop Pads, SmartScrub technology, a multi-surface rubber brush, and an edge-sweeping brush to clean across different floor types. And for deeper floor cleaning, the spinning DualClean Mop Pads apply downward pressure, and SmartScrub technology gives more thorough scrubbing to help remove tougher messes.

It also works with very little effort from you. For example, its navigation is handled by ClearView LiDAR navigation. This allows the vacuum to map your home quickly, plan efficient cleaning routes, and avoid obstacles, while sensors help prevent falls down stairs. Also, it has an AutoWash Dock that automatically empties the dustbin for up to 75 days, washes and dries the mop pads, and keeps them refreshed to ensure efficient mopping.

Say goodbye to manual floor cleaning for good with this iRobot deal at Amazon.

The Full Moon is here and this month it's called the Buck Moon. If you're planning to look up tonight, there are plenty of features to spot across the lunar surface, even without a telescope. Here's what you might be able to see.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Wednesday, July 29, NASA's Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon phase is in Full Moon phase, with 100% of its surface visible.

With so much of the Moon's surface illuminated, there's plenty to spot. Without visual aids, you should see the Oceanus Procellarum, Copernicus Crater, and the Tycho Crater. If you have them, binoculars will help you see the Gassendi Crater, Mare Humorum, and the Clavius Crater. Finally, a telescope will help you see all this plus the Apollo 14 and 16 landing spots, as well as the Rupes Altai.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on August 28.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the Moon goes through a complete cycle of eight phases roughly every 29.5 days. As it travels around Earth, the angle between the Sun, Earth and Moon constantly changes, meaning we see different amounts of the Moon's sunlit side. This is what causes the familiar progression from a thin crescent to a half Moon, then a Full Moon, before the cycle repeats.

The eight phases are:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

The July Full Moon is almost here, and this month it’s known as the Buck Moon. While it may sound like it has something to do with how the Moon looks in the sky, its name actually comes from the time of year and the seasonal changes happening on Earth.

Want to know more about July’s Full Moon? Keep reading to find out when to see it and why it has this name.

When is the July full moon?

The Full Moon will occur on Wednesday, July 29. Time and Date estimates it will peak at 10:30 a.m. ET.

What is the July full moon called?

The July Full Moon is known as the Buck Moon.

According to Royal Museums Greenwich, July’s Full Moon is known as the Buck Moon because it coincides with the time of year when male deer begin to grow their antlers again. The antlers, which are shed and regrown each year, start to appear during the summer months.

When is the next full moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on August 28.

What are the lunar phases?

The Moon goes through a complete cycle of eight phases as it travels around Earth, taking around 29.5 days to do so. Although we always see the same side of the Moon, the amount of its sunlit surface visible from Earth changes throughout its orbit. This makes the Moon appear to shift from fully illuminated to a small crescent and back again as the cycle repeats. The phases are:

• New Moon — The moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (so, we don't see anything).

• Waxing Crescent — A small sliver of light appears on the right side

• First Quarter — Half of the moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-moon.

• Waxing Gibbous — More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

• Full Moon — The whole face of the moon is illuminated and fully visible.

• Waning Gibbous — The moon starts losing light on the right side

• Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) — Another half-moon, but now the left side is lit.

• Waning Crescent — A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

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SAVE $451: As of July 29, the Hisense 65-inch E7 Cinema Series is on sale for $548.99 at Amazon. That's a 45% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Hisense

Hisense 65-inch E7 Cinema Series

$548.99 at Amazon
$999.99 Save $451

 

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Want to make movie nights at home feel a little better? The Hisense 65-inch E7 Cinema Series TV brings a bigger-screen experience to your living room, and a much better viewing experience, and it's currently on sale.

As of July 29, this impressive Hisense TV is down to $548.99 from $999.99, saving you $451. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel, that's the lowest this model has ever been priced. This deal is for the 65-inch model only.

This TV supports 4K Ultra HD resolution with AI 4K upscaling, which uses deep learning technology to improve the quality of lower-resolution content by sharpening details, enhancing textures, and reducing noise, making older shows and movies look much closer to 4K quality.

It also features a native 144Hz refresh rate, Game Mode, and AI Smooth Motion with MEMC technology to reduce blur in fast-moving scenes, making it a great choice for gaming and live sports. Plus, the AI Picture processing automatically adjusts brightness, contrast, and color scene-by-scene, and an AI light sensor adapts screen brightness to match the lighting conditions of your room.

And for movie nights, the Filmmaker Mode makes everything appear as the creators intended, with built-in features that preserve the original picture settings, including aspect ratio, color, and frame rate.

Get this TV deal online at Amazon right now.

SAVE $40: As of July 29, the Soundcore AeroClip earbuds are on sale for $99.99 at Amazon. That's a 41% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Soundcore

Soundcore AeroClip

$99.99 at Amazon
$169.99 Save $70.00

 

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Looking for a new pair of open earbuds? As of July 29, there's a great deal on the Soundcore AeroClip earbuds at Amazon, now at their lowest-ever price of $99.99. All colorways are discounted, so you can choose between rosy brown, champagne mist, glacier blue, and midnight.

Open earbuds are growing in popularity, especially among runners and those who exercise outdoors. Instead of sitting inside your ear, they rest just outside it, letting you enjoy your music while staying aware of the sounds around you.

These earbuds use this technology in an open-ear clip-on design to provide a comfortable fit without sitting inside the ear canal. They feature a lightweight open-ring design that has been tested to withstand up to 20,000 bends.

And the music quality is impressive, supporting Hi-Res Audio and using a 12mm titanium-coated driver alongside virtual bass technology to deliver clear sound. They also use directional acoustic technology to direct audio towards the listener's ears, reducing sound leakage.

For calls, voice notes, and general audio output, the AeroClip earbuds use four microphones with AI-powered noise reduction to improve voice clarity and minimize background noise, even in loud environments. They are also IP55 water-resistant, so they can cope with sweat, rain, and dust for everyday use and workouts.

This is a limited-time deal at Amazon, so don't miss out.

Though most of the conversation around pet hair pickup will involve how well that robot vacuum performs on carpet, pets don't stop shedding when they cross over to a hardwood or tiled floor. If your home has a pretty even split of both types of flooring, you should eye one of the best robot vacuum and mop combos for pet hair on hard floors. Strong suction power alone isn't always guaranteed to pull up every tiny strand of fur (especially fur that has blown into the corners of the room), and fine dust like pet dander and kitty litter is stubborn to be sucked up as well. In that case, a wet mopping pad using pressure to wipe is much less likely to leave finer debris behind.

Thorough pet hair pickup is rooted in suction power, of course, but brush roll design plays a major role in how well a robot vacuum can pull pet hair out of soft flooring — and how often all that fur gets tangled. You'll want to look for at least 20,000 Pa of suction power for homes with multiple pets, though 30,000 Pa or more would be optimal. The brush roll's material should alternate between rubber or silicone fins and bristles, and ideally break in the middle as a method of preventing wrapping.

Recent changes to this guide

July 2026: The new, much more powerful Roomba Max 715 replaces the Roomba 705 Max as the best vacuum-only robot vacuum for pet here (and the best Roomba for pet hair).

February 2026: The Dreame X60 Max Ultra Complete takes over as the best robot vacuum for pet hair on carpet, replacing the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller. The Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow takes over as the best robot vacuum for pet hair on hardwood, replacing the Roborock Saros 10R.

September 2025: I added the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller as the best robot vacuum for pet hair on carpet and shifted the Roborock Saros 10R (previously named the best robot vacuum overall) to the best robot vacuum for pet hair on hard floors.

July 2025: I removed the Shark Matrix RV2300S robot vacuum from this guide. While it was a solid budget mopping robot vacuum for its first year or so on the market, it's now a little bit too basic compared to other newer budget robot vacuums.

June 2025: I replaced the Shark Matrix RV2300S with the 3i G10+ as the best budget robot vacuum for pet hair. While the Shark was a solid budget cleaner when it first came out, its suction power isn't nearly as strong as the 18,500 Pa of the 3i G10+. The 3i G10+ also has small obstacle avoidance and a pet camera.

Most guys have a love-hate relationship with dating apps. But between work and life, meeting someone organically can feel nearly impossible. That's the promise of online dating — an unlimited number of meet-cutes right to your phone, no serendipity required. Of course, the reality of online dating is often quite different. But don't get discouraged. The Mashable Dating & Relationships team has spent years testing the most popular dating apps for men, and we can tell you which apps are most likely to connect you with the right person for you.

Do dating apps still work in 2026?

We get it, though. Dating as a man in 2026 is tough. It's not just the pressure to make the first move or the fear of rejection if you do — it's the endless swiping through fake profiles, scammers, AI-generated thirst traps, bots posing as potential matches, relentless Instagram models trying to lure you into their OnlyFans scam, and matches with impossibly high expectations (yes, the "6-6-6 rule" is a real thing, and apps are actively trying to monetize your height preferences).

But despite the challenges, dating apps do work. A 2026 SSRS survey found that 37 percent of all U.S. adults have used a dating app at some point, a number that jumps to over half for daters aged 18 to 49. While the experience isn't always perfect, the odds are in your favor: half of all dating app users have scored a committed relationship with someone they met on an app. While only a third of users call the app experience "mostly positive," nearly half say it's neutral — meaning the app is really just what you make of it.

The best dating apps for guys who know what they want

This guide is your cheat sheet for the best dating apps for men in 2026. We've done the research and found the apps that are actually worth your time. Whether you're looking for something casual or something serious, we have a dating app to recommend.

Pro tip: Don't be afraid to experiment. Try out a few different apps and see what works for you. And most importantly, don't get discouraged! Sometimes, the occasional bad date or disappointing flirtation is just the price you pay to meet the match of a lifetime.

Until recently, Marisol Jimenez was a novice power lifter. Without a budget for a personal trainer, the 23-year-old graduate student turned to the internet for heavy-lifting tips. 

When she discovered the limitations of online forum advice and video tutorials, she decided to do what she often does when humans can't provide the guidance she needs: consult the artificial intelligence chatbot Claude. 

It wasn't just power lifting. Jimenez has asked Claude to help her design a website, explore her feelings, and determine whether an acquaintance had a crush on her. Jimenez's sister calls her an AI power user.

Given the number of recent viral videos featuring college students jeering optimistic graduation speeches about AI, you might think Jimenez is an outlier amongst Generation Z. 

Yet an online YouGov survey commissioned by Mashable this spring tells a different story. YouGov asked 1,697 U.S. adults 18 and older who use AI chatbots about their experiences. Gen Z respondents led all other generations in high-frequency chatbot use, with 37 percent interacting with the technology once or more per day. Roughly a quarter of them consult chatbots multiple times a day. 

Jimenez, for one, estimates she starts a single task-oriented chat with Claude and returns to it throughout the day.  

Mashable commissioned the YouGov survey to hear directly from U.S. adults about their AI chatbot use. Generational trends emerged from their answers, and despite a seeming love-hate relationship with the technology, many adults are using AI chatbots like a personal Swiss Army knife, deployed to solve a variety of problems.  

How American adults think about chatbots

Gen Z AI users, the survey found, are more likely than their elders to assign personal roles, such as friend, therapist, and professional partner, to an AI chatbot. 

Jimenez uses hers as an assistant, professional partner, tutor, sounding board, consultant, and therapist. 

Compared with other AI users, Gen Z — plus high-frequency adult users of all ages — were more likely to say they'd be affected if they suddenly lost access to their chatbot. 

Nearly half of Gen Z AI chatbot users would be affected by losing their chatbot. Credit: Mashable

Jimenez told Mashable she'd be moderately affected by a permanent shutdown of her favorite chatbot. Nearly half of Gen Z AI chatbot users said they'd be moderately, very, or extremely impacted. Only a quarter of them claim they would be not affected at all.

Jimenez, who is studying computer science and pays $20 a month for a Claude subscription, is aware her AI use is complicated. On the one hand, it is helpful with practical matters. 

On the other hand, Jimenez says she endured a "dark time" when using a fine-tuned, user-created model of ChatGPT designed to act as a therapist. Her discussions with that chatbot were ultimately unhelpful; after consulting the AI, she found herself increasingly ruminating on painful feelings.

Jimenez thinks her ambivalent relationship to AI is a fairly common one — and she may be right. 

"Search aid" or "foe"?: What U.S. adults say about chatbots

When Mashable and YouGov asked chatbot users to characterize their relationship to AI, we received a range of responses, from negative to positive to ambivalent.

The majority framed the technology in utilitarian terms like, "tool to be used in various ways," "search aid," "reference librarian," and "help find best prices." 

AI users, however, also expressed displeasure with chatbots, describing their relationship with the technology as a "foe," "frustrating," "annoying," "irritating," and "generator of AI slop." 

Jimenez understands this tension. 

"I am not going to say it's good or bad," she told Mashable. "I use it and I simultaneously worry about my usage, and that's everybody."

Jimenez touched on a question without a clear answer: How do people maximize the benefits of AI while avoiding its pitfalls, such as overreliance, cognitive atrophy, and emotional dependency? We asked experts to interpret our survey results and share their perspective on this complex question.

Chatbot use by the numbers

First, there are some for whom the issue of dependency isn't a concern. The YouGov survey found that 35 percent of U.S. adults don't use AI chatbots. Of the 65 percent who do, only 23 percent of them turn to a chatbot multiple times a day. 

The same share of Gen Z and Millennial adults use chatbots. Credit: Zain Awais / Mashable

The generational differences in our survey indicate, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Baby Boomers and Generation X are less likely to use chatbots. Only 18 and 25 percent of Boomers and Gen X, respectively, report AI chatbot use multiple times a day. Thirty-one percent of Millennials use an AI chatbot one or more times a day.  

AI chatbot as romantic partner or consultant? Maybe both?

Regular AI use appears to breed closeness and potential reliance. 

Users who interact with chatbots multiple times a day are the most reliant, with only 12 percent reporting no perceived relationship, compared to 29 percent of the general user base. This group is about twice as likely as the average user to view their AI in an interpersonal or emotional capacity.

A look at how adult AI users perceive their chatbots. Credit: Zain Awais / Mashable

Still, a relatively small number of AI chatbot users view a chatbot as a romantic partner or friend. Twelve percent turn to chatbots for friendship, and only three percent do so for romance. But Gen Z tops both categories. Twenty percent of Gen Z AI users said they call an AI chatbot a friend, and six percent viewed it as a romantic partner. 

Thirty-one percent of AI users perceived their relationship with an AI chatbot as "consultant," making it the top functional role. This includes using the technology for expert advice and strategic input.

More than a quarter treated a chatbot like an assistant, trusting it to handle their schedule, tasks, and administrative work. Twenty-three percent asked a chatbot to act like a tutor by teaching them new skills and explaining complex topics. Smaller shares, 15 and eight percent respectively, reported using a chatbot for medical advice and therapy. 

For Jimenez, AI use requires constant reflection and adaptation. Though she leans on Claude to compose social media posts, sibling feedback about the staleness of that content prompted her to read Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer to improve her writing. 

"If I lose something from AI usage, I need to build that skill back up," she said. 

What does effective AI chatbot use look like? 

Dr. Vivienne Ming, a theoretical neuroscientist and AI entrepreneur, recognized in Mashable's survey results something she's seen in her own research: "heterogeneity dominates." 

In other words, people chat with and make requests of AI in multiple unusual ways, defying neat categorization. 

In her own preliminary study, Ming and her fellow researchers asked 78 adults to predict future events, such as the price of oil, while working in small groups and accessing one of four major large language models. 

Ming, author of Robot-Proof: When Machines Have all the Answers, Build Better People, observed three different styles of engagement with the AI: automators, validators, and cyborgs. 

The automators, Ming explained, effectively outsourced their brain to AI by adopting its prediction with little questioning. The validators used the model to check their guess rather than challenge it. By contrast, the cyborgs remained skeptical and asked AI to be skeptical of them, too. This group was the most successful. They beat the models' error rate and significantly outperformed the automators. 

Ming and her colleagues also found that key predictors of whether a person would show such cyborg-style "hybrid intelligence" have nothing to do with AI. Instead, they were traits and skills like curiosity, intellectual humility, and perspective-taking. 

Ming plans to replicate the findings with a larger sample. But in the meantime, she encourages people to challenge AI rather than happily accept its output — and use the technology to push themselves. 

"So AI gives you a good enough answer," Ming said. "Do you keep asking for a better one?" 

What is a healthy relationship with an AI chatbot? 

Jimenez's thoughtfulness likely makes her a savvier AI user than most. In addition to studying computer science at Stevens Institute of Technology, she's also a collaborator and youth facilitator with The Rithm Project, which works with youth to navigate and shape AI's role in human connection. 

Even so, Jimenez has relied on Claude for "emotional processing." It's not that she stopped talking to humans in favor of AI. Instead, Jimenez still feels unresolved when seeking feedback from friends and family. 

Jimenez, for example, asked Claude to weigh in on whether an acquaintance had a crush on her because her confidants' perspectives differed. That prompted more confusion. 

In the past, Jimenez also found herself returning again and again to the fine-tuned ChatGPT model to discuss emotions she thought she'd settled. 

"I would leave a single chat one day feeling like I might have reached a conclusion," Jimenez said. She'd tell herself, "I'm never going to do this again" 

That proved to be a short-lasting refrain. Soon after, she'd confront a similar situation and bring a new scenario — with the same underlying themes about self-confidence — to the chatbot. 

"It was very honestly a dark time," she said. "I just kept going back, literally making circles around the situation." 

In January, exhausted by the pattern, Jimenez started seeing a therapist again and switched to Claude, because she'd heard ChatGPT was sycophantic. The chatbot seems to recognize when Jimenez is ruminating and suggests she save it for therapy. 

Are you a social or private processor?

Alison Lee, chief research and development officer of The Rithm Project, said she's not surprised Gen Z is leaning into AI chatbots to deal with their feelings.

Based on the Rithm Project's research among 13- to 24-year-olds, she said the trend makes sense given how adolescence and young adulthood are periods marked by social ruptures and comparisons to others. Of course, "that would come with increased desire for support," she said.

The Rithm Project identified two distinct groups of young people who turn to AI for their emotional needs: social and private processors. The former group checks in with human beings before, or in tandem, with consulting a chatbot. The latter indicates AI is their primary support. 

Lee and her colleagues uncovered three risk factors for this type of emotional dependence. Isolation, or feeling like there's no one to turn to in a moment of need, is the first. The second is feeling like a burden to other people. The last factor is the perceived or real inability to be one's authentic self around those closest to them. 

These barriers to connection, Lee said, make chatbots "incredibly attractive" for young people. 

"If you have no one to turn to for help, then AI is a really great place to get that help," she said. 

Lee points out that AI chatbot features like sycophancy and always-on availability can drive a wedge between a user and their human connections. Yet she also argues society has created a set of conditions in which young people feel afraid to ask for help or be vulnerable. 

Instead of shaming young people, Lee said adults can ask themselves, "Am I the kind of adult that a young person can turn to in a moment of need, and help?"

Trading big AI for small AI

Jimenez believes shifting away from general purpose models like Claude and ChatGPT and using custom, domain-specific and open source models instead could solve some of the AI pitfalls she and other users face. 

That would mean designing a small language model, run on a personal computer, for a single task, like tutoring. The user decides what data it uses and the model can't go from helping them with math homework to becoming their on-demand therapist. 

Jimenez is so dedicated to the idea of "small AI" she wants to create a step-by-step tutorial on the topic for people with no technical background. She's taking an online course and reading a related textbook for the project. 

And, of course, she's already tasked Claude with helping her. 

The survey was commissioned by Mashable, conducted online by YouGov from April 10-14, 2026. The total sample size was and surveyed 2,653 US adults aged 18+, of whom 1,697 adults 18+ and older who use a chatbot. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18+). Some participants responded to open-ended questions about their views on AI chatbots. 

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

The majority of U.S. adults have used an artificial intelligence chatbot like Claude or ChatGPT, according to a recent YouGov survey commissioned by Mashable. We even know, generally speaking, how they view their chatbot in roles like assistant, tutor, consultant, therapist, and romantic partner — or all of the above. 

The nitty-gritty details of that use, however, are harder to grasp.

After all, people don't exactly go deep about their chatbot use with each other outside of social media platforms and Reddit forums. They might feel shame or stigma because they've turned a chatbot into their therapist or spouse. Or perhaps it's not fodder for conversation in the same way that Love Island takes over the group chat. 

So Mashable asked three very different people — a grandmother, an entrepreneur, and a technologist — how they use AI chatbots. 

Their answers reveal how a chatbot can become an essential utility for some people, even if they still grapple with the larger cultural shift artificial intelligence has wrought.

The grandma who knows what she wants from ChatGPT

Last fall, Barbara, 71, teamed up with her son and daughter-in-law to give ChatGPT a monumental task. They needed the large language model to help them understand whether Barbara's grandson, who has a learning disability, was achieving the learning goals set by his school district. 

Crucially, if the district answered this question affirmatively, they could argue Barbara's grandson no longer needed classroom support. She urgently felt he still did, and his parents agreed. 

"It seems like we were never getting a straight answer, and there were contradictory things being said," Barbara recounted to Mashable. She asked to go by her first name to protect her grandson's privacy.

The family trio turned to the chatbot for clarity amidst a brewing confrontation with school staff over the question. Barbara is a former educator and no stranger to the biannual meetings that typically determine whether a student receives classroom support, and to what extent. But even she felt overwhelmed by all the documentation her grandson had accumulated over years of elementary school. 

There were grades and test scores, of course. But her grandson's cognitive and intellectual abilities had also been tested by the district and medical professionals. They uploaded all of the paperwork and waited for ChatGPT to give its opinion. 

Via direct prompting, the model also considered the state's education disability law and regulations, as well as an uploaded copy of the Department of Education's Individuals with Disabilities Education Act handbook. ChatGPT ultimately sided with Barbara and her family. 

Barbara doesn't credit ChatGPT with returning a single smoking-gun finding or ironclad strategy. Instead, she said the chatbot's feedback made them feel better prepared for the discussion of her grandson's services. The family also hired an education advocate to help buttress their position. In the end, Barbara's grandson kept his classroom services. 

Aside from this critical assignment, Barbara told Mashable she asks ChatGPT for practical recommendations or product comparisons. She had the chatbot create an itinerary for a summer trip to Ireland with friends; asked it to identify a dupe of a discontinued drugstore perfume that she loved; and requested its advice for $800 worth of car repairs proposed by her mechanic. ChatGPT said replenishing her Honda CRV's transmission and brake fluid was reasonable but to avoid, among other things, transmission flushes using high-pressure machines. 

The one thing Barbara avoids when engaging with ChatGPT? Talking to it like a friend or confidant, which she finds "creepy." 

Nonetheless, ChatGPT is fairly well acquainted with Barbara. 

"It's amazing to me, and kind of disturbing, because I really try not to tell it a lot about myself," she said. "I try to just keep it very effective, and it's still amazing how much it knows about me."

The AI anthropologist who runs teams of agents

Matt Artz is the type of AI user you may have read about in news articles or viral social media posts. He can command a team of Claude agents to do his bidding without constant supervision. In other words, he's living the life AI evangelists promise is possible for the rest of us in the not-so-distant future. 

But Artz is unique compared to many AI users. First of all, he can afford a $200 a month Max subscription to Claude, which gives him far more compute, or processing power, than free or lower-tier subscribers receive. As a result, he says he gets more work done in the same period of time. 

By day, he's an AI product manager. On his own time, Artz, who's in his mid-40s, is pursuing a Ph.D. in computational anthropology. 

It's no surprise then that Artz deploys agents to perform tasks like building a personal website based on a style guide he developed; reviewing and critiquing his academic work prior to submission; and backfilling a catalog of 200,00 anthropological journal articles so their bibliometric data appears in Wikidata. That last project he took on in his capacity as a board member of the American Anthropological Association. 

At the same time, Artz is clear-eyed about the limitations of large language models; he doesn't treat them as infallible.  

Because their output is probabilistic, models can approach the same task differently each time. That's why Artz is deliberate about giving agents detailed structure and direction for any assignment. Without that, an agent is potentially more likely to improvise in ways he didn't intend. He hasn't lost any data to an agent — yet. 

"It is not perfect," he told Mashable. "I don't think current agentic AI is yet suited for the highest order tasks that are super sensitive and have to be, you know, 100 percent accurate." 

Still, he notes that most knowledge work is subjective, which means there's rarely one "right" answer in the first place.

Artz uses AI like a normie, too. He's asked Claude to select a couch based on his living room arrangements and render how it would look in different colors. Artz uploaded years of sleep data and observations to Claude to optimize his shuteye. 

He says Claude helped pinpoint variables, including aspects of his bedtime routine from a journal he kept, that ultimately lengthened his deep sleep by about 20 minutes a night on average.

Artz is worried, though, that some AI users don't realize how much the output depends on their ability to question and push back on the model. Those who don't grasp that AI is probabilistic might not realize they can push back, rephrase a question, or prompt it from the opposite angle to see if an answer holds up.

Additionally, many people may not appreciate that additional compute can yield more sophisticated and reliable output. 

Artz says these factors have created an "intelligence divide."

"[H]ow much intelligence can you even pay for, right?" he asks.

In other words, even if everyone has access to an AI chatbot, the results will differ based on what model or subscription you can afford. 

The anti-tech entrepreneur

By Chase DiBenedetto

Larissa (Larz) May, 32, has a complex relationship with screens. 

She's a well-known digital wellness advocate, for one, an early pioneer of the "digital detox" movement, spurred by her own public reckoning with social media's mental health harms. 

She later founded #HalfTheStory, aimed at building better relationships between teens and technology. The nonprofit provides training, mentorship, and digital civics engagement programs for teens and schools, and puts young people at the center of the AI safety conversation, May explains. It facilitates analog gatherings like phone-free proms. May even collaborated with Hillary Clinton and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on a teen-guided, phoneless school policy, with hopes of encouraging a nationwide shift away from screens. 

She's also the co-founder of Ginko, an AI-powered parenting tool that helps families build healthier digital habits and foster communication. The app, she says, turns screen time into a "springboard for the real world."

Here's the kicker: May may be a vocal critic of Big Tech, but she's definitely not a Luddite. 

"AI is an incredible sparring partner in the workplace," May says. She uses chatbots she thinks are less sycophantic, like Claude, to talk through ideas or fine-tune pitches. "I oftentimes say, 'Hey, pretend you are a really critical CMO and rip this apart.'" 

She also uses Granola, an AI note taker and meeting synthesizer, and Wispr Flow, an AI that lets her dictate her thoughts and turn them into text.

May says she understands why young people turn to chatbots for support. The post-COVID world has rendered many early career professionals and recent grads without workplace connection or mentorship. Widespread fatigue, exacerbated by conflict-filled newscycles and misinformation, make it easy to turn to an answer engine that can talk to you clearly and kindly. May finds herself leaning more on chatbots when she is feeling wiped out, too.

For many, social media feels like a stage requiring constant performance, she says. AI chatbots can appear as a more private space.

"Chatbots are like a green room," May explains. "AI is that soft corner that young people are going to because the world is very hard, and because we're going through so much change."

But May has first-hand experience with the negative side of tech, too. Chatbots, she says, cannot replace human capacity for invention, connection, and critical thinking. She sees vast potential for harm in how easy it is to become attached to AI and questions the motives of large tech companies. 

"Social media hacked our dopamine," says May. "But AI, in many ways, is hacking our oxytocin — the human connection hormone."

May still advocates for disconnecting, but that means something different in the age of AI.

"It is no longer about tech time. It is more about the times that you're not on tech," she advises. "In the way that 10 years ago I would say go on a social media fast one day a week, what's even more important now is to actually take one day a week and not use AI at work. See how much you're relying on it, so you know how much of your cognitive skills you might be losing."

If our careers, education, even our lives are like the cars we drive, she says, then we have to think of AI as a GPS. Chatbots provide pathways, ones you can ultimately choose not to take. They aren't the engines. 

"You should be in the driver's seat," May warns. "You should be telling AI who you want it to become, to critique what you're doing, instead of the other way around. If not, AI will drive you."

TL;DR: Get 1TB of Koofr Cloud Storage Lifetime for a one-time $159.99 through Aug. 5 with code KOOFR and store, sync, and access your files without recurring subscription payments.

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Koofr Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription (1TB)

$159.99
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Cloud storage has become one of those services that’s easy to forget about — until another monthly charge appears on your statement. If you’d rather pay once and move on, Koofr’s 1TB Lifetime Cloud Storage plan is worth a look.

Through Aug. 5, you can get 1TB of Koofr Cloud Storage for $159.99 with code KOOFR. Instead of paying a recurring subscription, you’ll have lifetime access to 1TB of storage for photos, videos, documents, backups, and everyday files.

Koofr works across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iPhone, and the web, so your files stay within reach no matter which device you’re using. It also integrates with existing cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Amazon, making it easier to manage everything from one place rather than juggling multiple accounts.

Privacy is another selling point. Files are encrypted during transfer and while stored, and Koofr doesn’t track your activity.

Helpful extras like duplicate file detection, advanced file management tools, and customizable sharing links make organizing large collections a little less tedious.

The platform has also earned 4.6 out of 5 stars on G2, which suggests users appreciate its balance of simplicity, flexibility, and reliable cloud storage.

If you’re planning to keep growing your digital library, a lifetime storage plan can make more sense than adding another recurring subscription to your monthly budget.

Get the Koofr 1TB Cloud Storage Lifetime Subscription for just $159.99 through Aug. 5 with code KOOFR and keep your files accessible without another monthly storage bill, reg price $810.00.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Get iScanner Lifetime for $39.99 and turn your phone into a document scanner, PDF editor, receipt organizer, and file manager with one app.

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iScanner App: Lifetime Subscription

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There was a time when scanning a document meant finding a bulky scanner, connecting it to a computer, and hoping the software still worked. These days, your phone can do the job — and iScanner packs just about everything you need into one app.

For a one-time $39.99 payment, you can get a lifetime subscription to iScanner, making it easy to scan, edit, organize, and share documents from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. It’s available to new users only.

Whether you’re digitizing receipts for expense reports, scanning contracts, saving handwritten notes, or creating copies of IDs and passports, iScanner is designed to make the process quick and straightforward.

The app automatically detects document edges, straightens pages, improves scan quality, and uses OCR to recognize text in more than 20 languages, making scanned documents searchable and easier to work with.

You can even edit PDFs, sign documents, merge or split files, add annotations, insert text, watermark pages, and organize everything into folders protected with a PIN.

Additional scanning modes let you capture books, solve math problems, measure objects, count similar items, and scan QR codes, giving the app more versatility than a traditional scanner.

Get the iScanner Lifetime Subscription for $39.99 (reg. $199.90) and turn your iPhone or Android device into a portable scanner and document management tool.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

If you've been struggling to find the AdultFriendFinder app, there's a good reason: there isn't one. As one of the OGs of online dating, with a history that spans more than 20 years, AFF prefers to keep things decidedly old-school. But most AFF users can still access the platform and its content on mobile devices. They do this through the AFF site’s mobile version, which works with either Safari or Google Chrome, though the most committed AFF users have figured out a clever workaround that mimics the app experience.

What to know how you can do this too? Keep reading to find out more.

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Credit: AdultFriendFinder

AdultFriendFinder

 

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Why doesn’t Adult Friend Finder have an app?

Both Apple and Google strictly police the kinds of content they allow on their respective app stores. NSFW is a big no-no. And as Adult Friend Finder allows on-site nudity in profiles, chat forums, and live broadcasts (let's be honest: it's everywhere on AFF) — the site is barred from having an official app for the two most-used mobile platforms.

Unfortunately, these rules apply even if you don’t have nudity on your profile or have turned on all the filters that restrict the display of adult content when using AFF, so there isn’t even a censored version of the app available and likely never will be. It's non-negotiable, unfortunately. This is why users have sought an alternative method for using AFF on mobile devices.

What’s the best alternative?

If you really want to mimic the experience of using an app on your phone, you can simply create a home screen shortcut to the Adult Friend Finder site. And if you have cookies enabled, you can also stay logged in each time, which saves you from having to re-enter your login credentials.

To create a homescreen shortcut on your iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to AdultFriendFinder.com in your Safari mobile browser (no third-party browser will work)

2. Tap the ellipsis icon in the bottom right corner of your Safari app, and then tap the Share icon at the top of the pop-up menu

3. Scroll towards the bottom of the option list and select "Add to Home Screen"

4. You will be prompted to assign a name to the icon before you can hit "Add"

For Android users, the steps are slightly different:

1. Navigate to AdultFriendFinder.com in your Chrome mobile browser (no third-party browser will work)

2. Tap the menu icon in the upper right corner of your Chrome app, and then tap "Add to Home Screen"

3. You will be prompted to assign a name to the icon before you can hit "Add"

How secure is this home screen icon approach?

This method of accessing Adult Friend Finder is functionally no different than opening Chrome or Safari first, so it's no less safe than using the actual site, but there are a few things to consider:

• If you share your phone or tablet with someone else, they will be able to see the AFF icon and possibly even access your account just by clicking on the app

• If you prefer to keep your Adult Friend Finder use hidden, consider hiding the icon within a sub-folder or within a password-protected folder

• To ensure your login credentials aren't saved, create the icon itself using your mobile browser's incognito or private browsing function

National Chicken Wing Day lands on July 29.

Major chains across the country are dropping limited-time deals, BOGO promos, and wing discounts to celebrate this special day. Whether you take your wings bone-in, boneless, drenched in extra-spicy sauce, or coated in lemon pepper, this is officially your excuse to indulge in your passion.

These are our favorite National Chicken Wing Day deals in 2026:

7-Eleven

Get 10 wings delivered for $8 with the app. This offer is valid until Aug. 25.

Bad Daddy’s

Score $0.99 wings in classic Buffalo or sweet-and-spicy Thai chili on July 29 for dine-in guests. To qualify, you need to make a minimum order of six wings, with a limit of 18 wings per person.

Buffalo’s Cafe

Get $19.99 all-you-can-eat wings for dine-in guests on July 29.

Buffalo Wild Wings

Grab a free order of wings (bone-in or boneless) with any $15 dine-in purchase on July 29.

Dave & Buster’s

Score $0.50 boneless wings and $1 bone-in wings all day.

Hooters

Dine-in guests can get 10 wings (bone-in or boneless) for $7.29 with any beverage purchase on July 29.

Hurricane Grill & Wings

Get $0.99 bone-in or boneless wings all day on July 29 for dine-in guests.

Native Grill & Wings

Get $0.49 bone-in wings with any drink purchase on July 29. Valid for dine-in, takeout, or orders placed directly through the Native Grill & Wings app or website.

Pilot

On July 29, customers who order on the Pilot app can get five jumbo wings for $5.

Pizza Hut

Get a buy-one-get-one-free offer on wings at participating Pizza Hut locations with the code BOGOWINGS. This deal is valid when ordering online or in the Pizza Hut app.

Raise the Roost

Grab $1 single chicken tenders or traditional bone-in wings from July 27-30 at participating locations.

Red Robin

Anyone who purchases a limited-edition Jason Kelce collaboration T-shirt online at GarageBeer.com while supplies last will receive a free Red Robin gift card for an 8-count order of bone-in chicken wings.

Sonny's BBQ

Loyalty members get a free 6-count of Sauced & Tossed wings with any entrée purchase.

Speedy Cafe

Speedy Rewards members can grab special promotional pricing on 5-piece or 8-piece boneless wing orders through Aug. 25.

TGI Fridays

Order Matchday Wing Bites starting at $8.99 (six bone-in or eight boneless wings with fries and dip) or upgrade to the Matchday Goal Line Platter starting at $16.99 (eight wings, three chicken fingers, and golden onion rings).

The Greene Turtle

Get the $19.99 all-you-can-eat wing-and-fries special (valid for both bone-in and boneless wings, upon request).

Wings and Rings

Take 40% off all wings on July 28-29 for dine-in and online orders.

Wingstop

Club Wingstop members can unlock daily sweepstakes for concert tickets, $500 Ticketmaster gift cards, and VIP festival packages until July 31.

Zaxbys

On July 29, get 10 wings for $10.

TL;DR: Unblock Pornhub for free with a VPN. The best services for unblocking porn sites from Australia is ExpressVPN.

The world of porn continues to be impacted by age-verification laws. Back in early 2025, more than a third of U.S. states introduced age verification laws for online adult content. Pornhub hit back by blocking users from those locations. A similar situation took place France and the UK, and now Australians are facing the same set of challenges.

The porn blocks arrived just days before new online safety codes came into effect, requiring organisations to verify the ages of users. It's the same story we've seen before, with the same straightforward workaround.

If you want to unblock porn sites like Pornhub for free from Australia, we have all the information you need.

How to unblock Pornhub for free in Australia

VPNs are tools that can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in other locations. This process bypasses geo-restrictions so you can access sites like Pornhub from anywhere in the world.

Unblock Pornhub from Australia by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in a location that supports access to Pornhub

4. Visit Pornhub

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Credit: ExpressVPN

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The best VPNs for unblocking porn sites are not free, but most do offer free-trial peiods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can unblock porn sites like Pornhub without spending anything. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you the opportunity to temporarily retain access to Pornhub before recovering your investment. The situation may have changed before the free-trial period comes to an end.

If you want to retain permanent access to sites like Pornhub, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for bypassing content restrictions is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for Pornhub?

ExpressVPN is the top choices for unblocking porn sites like Pornhub, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in locations all around the world

• Easy-to-use apps available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

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• Fast streaming speeds free from throttling

• Multiple simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantees

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Unblock Pornhub for free in Australia with ExpressVPN.

DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 has become a must-have tool for content creators over the last few years. The handheld gimbal camera gained significant attention for being easy to operate and portable while also offering great stabilisation and subject tracking, enabling creators to film smooth footage with minimal fuss while on the go.

Now, DJI has released its follow-up: the Osmo Pocket 4. Building on the Pocket 3's success, the Pocket 4 makes several changes intended to improve the camera's operation and performance. But is it enough to make it worth upgrading from the Osmo Pocket 3 to the 4?

DJI Osmo Pocket 4: Build

Left: The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 in its protective case. Right: The DJI Osmo Pocket 4 with its gimbal clamp attached. Credit: A. Yeo

The DJI Osmo Pocket 4's form factor remains almost identical to the Pocket 3 at first glance. Even so, there are a few notable changes.

Right out of the box, the most immediately visible difference is the Pocket 4's redesigned gimbal protection. The Pocket 3 had a hard protective cover that cradled almost the entire camera on one side, protecting both the screen and the gimbal. Unfortunately, this cover was bulky and irritating to carry around, and it made the Pocket 3 too large to fit alongside accessories in its carrying bag.

The Pocket 4 does away with this protective cover, swapping it out for a small gimbal clamp instead. This clamp slides between the gimbal's moving parts to hold it secure, and easily fits in a jacket pocket when not in use. Paired with a new soft fabric carrying pouch that can fit the entire camera to protect the screen, it's a noticeably more elegant solution. 

Portability was already one of the Pocket 3's standout features, but the Pocket 4's changes make bringing it on outings practically a no-brainer. It may not hold up as well if you whack your camera against a wall, but it's a welcome upgrade for most reasonable use cases.

DJI has added two new buttons for easier control on the fly. Credit: A. Yeo

Turning to the camera itself, the Pocket 4's build is slightly larger than its predecessor, though this is only apparent when comparing them side by side. The single-lens gimbal camera still sports a rotatable two-inch touchscreen on its handle (though brighter at 1000 nits compared to the Pocket 3's 700) and has a USB-C port on the bottom for charging and file transfer. 

Where the Pocket 4 differs is in the addition of two new buttons underneath its screen, which only become accessible when it's twisted into landscape mode. One of these is a dedicated zoom button, which will go to 2x zoom with one press or 4x with two. The other button is customisable, but by default will switch the joystick to control the zoom or the gimbal with one press. This is a welcome addition as it makes the Pocket 4 less fiddly to operate on the fly, the Pocket 3 having managed such functions via its touchscreen.

DJI's fill light accessory easily attaches to the Osmo Pocket 4 via a magnet. Credit: A. Yeo

Another notable change is the addition of a magnetic accessory mount point on the Pocket 4. This is compatible with DJI's new pocket-sized fill light accessory, which easily attaches to offer three brightness and temperature settings.

To the casual user, this may seem like an unnecessary addition, particularly as DJI has also significantly upgraded the Pocket 4's low-light performance (more on that later). Still, Mashable saw a significant improvement in our test footage when we used the fill light. The light helped the Pocket 4 capture more detail, distinguishing subjects from their background and ensuring they were well-lit without blowing them out. While it's too small to light a whole scene, it's a handy boost to ensure you capture your subject in dim conditions, and pulls from the Pocket 4's battery, so you never need to charge it.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4: Settings and performance

The improvements become apparent once you get hands-on. Credit: A. Yeo

When comparing the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 and 4's specifications, the upgrades seem small on paper. The sensors are the same size, the gimbals' ranges of motion are identical, and they share a maximum video resolution of 4K at 60fps. The Pocket 4 can take 8K photos as opposed to topping out at 4K, but the overwhelming majority of Osmo Pocket users will be more focused on its video performance. Here, the Pocket 4 actually cuts a few video settings that were available on the Pocket 3, no longer allowing filming in 2.7K resolution or a 1:1 aspect ratio. 

Even so, it's a relatively minor trade-off considering the Pocket 4's improved storage capacity. While both the Pocket 3 and 4 use microSD cards, the former relied entirely on them as it had no built-in storage. In contrast, the Pocket 4 has 107GB of built-in memory in addition to accepting microSD cards. This is no doubt a contributor to the Pocket 4 being a little over 10 grams heavier than its predecessor, but that's still an excellent exchange for the amount of space you get (especially with the global memory shortage driving SD card prices up).

More changes under the hood include the Pocket 4's larger battery, with DJI stating that the Pocket 4 can run for a maximum of 240 minutes at its lowest video settings compared to the Pocket 3's 166 minutes. While the Pocket 3 had enough power to see most people through a day of vlogging (especially when paired with its battery handle accessory), no one has ever complained about more juice.

As such, with the exception of its expanded storage capacity, the Pocket 4's specifications don't look like a significant upgrade from the Pocket 3. It's when you get hands-on with the Pocket 4 and can see its image quality that the improvements quickly become apparent.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4: Image quality and gimbal

The Osmo Pocket 4's gimbal is noticeably more responsive than the Pocket 3. Credit: A. Yeo

While the Pocket 3 offered decent low-light performance, the Pocket 4 is an unquestionable advancement. The Pocket 4 has doubled the former's ISO range across photo, video, and slow-motion filming, resulting in images with noticeably more detail and less noise. 

As such, the Pocket 4 is able to capture dim environments with greater contrast, its dark scenes appearing richer and more dynamic when compared to footage from the Pocket 3. While the Pocket 4 did capture less detail in shadows when both cameras filmed the same dim scene, overall its image looked more true-to-life than the Pocket 3, which seemed artificially brightened and slightly flat in comparison.

Though the Pocket 4 can lose details in shadows when there is greater lighting variation, its ability to capture detail in generally dark environments is impressive. It handles transitioning between light and dark environments better as well, with smoother automatic exposure adjustment that's less obvious than in the Pocket 3. Subjects in shadow are well exposed, without overblowing the background. The Pocket 4 captures noticeably more detail in shadow when filming in brighter environments as well.

In fact, the Pocket 4's footage generally appears more true-to-life than the Pocket 3. While both cameras allow you to manually adjust their white balance, the Pocket 4 performs better out of the box, providing more accurate skin tones in a range of conditions. In low light shooting, the Pocket 3's footage even seems washed out when compared to the Pocket 4's richer and more saturated colours.

A screenshot of a video taken with the DJI Osmo Pocket 4. Detail isn't lost in shadow despite the brighter environment. Credit: A. Yeo

Interestingly, the Pocket 4 doesn't offer High Dynamic Range (HDR) video, while the Pocket 3 supports 10-bit HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) video, an open-source HDR format. Despite this, the Pocket 4's image quality is a definite upgrade overall.

When it comes to controls, the Pocket 4's gimbal is more responsive than the Pocket 3, offering faster and smoother movement that makes the latter feel practically sluggish in comparison. Mashable's testing found its subject tracking has improved as well, with the Pocket 4 capable of following subjects in scenarios where the Pocket 3 lost them. This appeared to happen more in low light, which makes sense considering the Pocket 4's improved low-light capabilities.

Should you buy the DJI Osmo Pocket 4?

The battery handle accessory can help extend the Osmo Pocket 4's runtime. Credit: A. Yeo

Unfortunately, getting your hands on DJI products in the U.S. is more difficult than it once was. The U.S. government's hostile stance toward the company has significantly hindered its business in the country, leaving people unable to buy the Osmo Pocket 4 through the company's U.S. website. As such, those in the U.S. who want an Osmo Pocket 4 will need to go through an unofficial third party to get one.

While there's no official U.S. pricing for DJI's Osmo Pocket 4, the Standard Combo bundle will set you back $AU769 in Australia. This includes a USB-C charging cable, gimbal clamp, wrist strap, carrying pouch, and a handle with a 1/4-inch thread. Upgrading to the $AU959 Creator Combo adds the detachable fill light as well as a magnetic charging cable, wide-angle lens, mini tripod, carrying bag, and a DJI Mic 3 transmitter with accessories. Meanwhile, the top-end $AU1058 Creator Combo Plus includes all this plus a Battery Handle, which DJI states can extend the Pocket 4's operating time by 150 minutes. That's a total of 390 minutes of recording time, or six and a half hours.

It's a noticeable upgrade compared to DJI's beloved Osmo Pocket 3. Credit: A. Yeo

Whether the Pocket 4 is worth hunting down depends on your needs. If you already have the Osmo Pocket 3, you may see little point in upgrading. Starting at $AU679 for the most basic bundle, the Pocket 3 remains an impressive, easy-to-operate gimbal camera that will serve many content creators' needs.

However, if you don't already have a Pocket 3 and are tossing up between the two models, the Pocket 4 and its accessories provide enough upgrades that shelling out for the latest model feels worth it. With more physical controls, improved tracking, a smoother gimbal, and better low-light performance, the Pocket 4 is even easier to use than its already popular predecessor. You just have to get your hands on it to really feel and appreciate the changes.

Even so, serious filmmakers may want to delay slamming down their credit card. DJI announced the Osmo Pocket 4P in May, an even more upgraded version of its handheld gimbal camera that's designed for cinematic productions and will offer HDR video. If that's of interest to you, it may be worth holding off a little bit longer to see what the 4P has to offer.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4

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If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

Hurdle Word 1 hint

Gross.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

NASTY

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Runny.

Hurdle Word 2 Answer

LEAKY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Colorful bird.

Hurdle Word 3 answer

MACAW

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Pole.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

SHAFT

Final Hurdle hint

Energetic.

Hurdle Word 5 answer

HYPER

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

American Airlines flights were briefly grounded on Thursday, with a nationwide ground stop preventing them from taking off. The company has now issued a statement attributing the disruption to an IT issue.

The ground stop was issued at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT, and appears to have impacted all American Airlines flights within the U.S. at the time. The company has over 1000 planes in its fleet, and is the biggest airline in the U.S. by capacity.

Fortunately, the issue was quickly resolved, with American Airlines stating that flights had resumed less than an hour after the ground stop began. According to the airline, an IT issue was to blame. 

"A technology issue briefly impacted connectivity for some of our systems on Tuesday evening," the official American Airlines X account posted at 7:21 p.m. ET / 4:21 p.m. PT on Tuesday evening. "Systems are coming back online now and flights are departing again. We put a temporary ground stop in place while our teams worked to resolve the issue. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

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Exactly what said technology issue was has not been disclosed, however it does not appear to have posed a danger to ongoing flights. A ground stop is a standard measure used to manage aircraft traffic, and can be issued for incidents such as severe weather, significant equipment outages, or to prevent gridlock at an airport. As of writing, there are multiple ground stops at airports across the U.S. due to thunderstorms.

Even so, a nationwide ground stop is less common. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states that ground stops are one of the most restrictive traffic management methods, and that alternatives must first be considered before one is issued.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you've ever watched football.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight, and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Type of matchup

• Green: Poker

• Blue: Canadian sports

• Purple: Sounds like music

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Contest

• Green: Stages in a Texas Hold'Em Hand

• Blue: Pro Teams in Montreal

• Purple: Start with a Music Genre

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections: Sports Edition #674 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Contest: COMPETITION, FIXTURE, GAME, MATCH

• Stages in a Texas Hold'Em Hand: FLOP, RIVER, SHOWDOWN, TURN

• Pro Teams in Montreal: ALOUETTES, CANADIENS, CF MONTREAL, VICTOIRE

• Start with a Music Genre: COUNTRY CLUB, POPOVICH, RAPIDS, ROCKY

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for July 29 Pips

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (1): Everything in this space must be greater than 1. The answer is 4-3, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 4-3, placed vertically.

Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for July 29 Pips

Number (1): Everything in this purple space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this light blue space must add up to 1. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically.

Number (1): Everything in this red space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally; 1-1, placed vertically.

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 5-0, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically; 5-0, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for July 29 Pips

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed horizontally.

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically; 1-0, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-0, placed vertically; 3-3, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 1-4, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-3, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 1-4, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed vertically.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-6, placed vertically.

Number (24): Everything in this space must add up to 24. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed vertically; 4-6, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-5, placed vertically.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're a teacher.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Stick together

• Green: Boring

• Blue: Piece of info

• Purple: School visuals

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Fasteners

• Green: Nondescript

• Blue: Units of wisdom

• Purple: ___ Boards in a classroom

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1144 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Fasteners: NAIL, RIVET, SCREW, STAPLE

• Nondescript: BASIC, MID, PLAIN, VANILLA

• Units of wisdom: GEM, NUGGET, PEARL, WORD

• ___ Boards in a classroom: BLACK, CHALK, CORK, WHITE

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you like handmade goods.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: A made man

The words are related to figures.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe marionettes.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Fabricated.

NYT Strands word list for July 29

• Manequin

• Statue

• Dummy

• Fabricated

• Puppet

• Doll

• Figurine

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Strands.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a plumber.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Faucet.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter V appears twice.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter V.

The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

VALVE

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to today's Wordle.

FREE GIFT: Until July 31, spend $40 or more on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise and get the Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist ($4.99 value) for free at Lego, in Lego Stores, or via phone orders while stocks last.

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Credit: Lego

Free Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist

Free when you spend over $40 on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise.

Get Deal

Lego's tucked another freebie into its current promotions — a mini Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist (30725). Here's the scenario the set recreates: Anti-Venom busts open a street-corner ATM and takes off with the cash, and Spider-Man chases him down on a skateboard to stop him.

Spend $40 or more on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise, and this set comes free with your purchase. Unlike some of Lego's other current offers, this isn't online-only: it's valid at Lego, in Lego Stores, and through Lego Catalog phone orders until July 31, while stocks last.

If you're interested in crossing the $40 threshold, here are some solid options to put you over the line:

• Venom Bust — $49.99

• Spider-Man Prison Transport Chase — $49.99

• Loki vs. Team Iron Man — $49.99

• Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock Subway Train Scene — $54.99

• Avengers: Endgame Thor vs. Chitauri — $54.99

• Iron Spider-Man Bust — $59.99

• Ravager Jumpsuit Groot — $59.99

• Batman Tumbler vs. Two-Face & The Joker — $59.99

• Miles Morales' Mask — $69.99

• Spider-Man vs. Hulk Epic Clash — $89.99

• Avengers: Endgame Final Battle — $99.99

• Iron Man Mark 3 Collectors' Edition — $129.99

• Batmobile Tumbler — $189.99

• X-Men: The X-Mansion — $329.99

• S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier — $399.99

Same standard fine print applies: Pick a Brick (Standard) orders don't count toward the $40 minimum, you're limited to one free set per household, and if you return your qualifying purchase, the freebie has to be returned with it. It also can't be swapped for another item or cash value, and it's not valid at Legoland Parks, Legoland Discovery Centers, or Lego Certified Stores.

$4.99 of free Spider-Man justice — grab it at Lego while stocks last.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021 for a one-time $42.97 through Aug. 9 (reg. $219) and enjoy Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote for years.

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Credit: Microsoft

Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License

$42.97
$219 Save $176.03

 

Get Deal

Subscriptions have their place, but productivity software doesn’t really need to be one of them — especially when it’s something as familiar and widely used as Microsoft Office. Somewhere along the way, there must have been a glitch in the matrix, because buying software turned into renting it forever.

Thankfully, Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021 skips that model entirely. Its lifetime license is currently on sale for $42.97 (reg. $219).

There’s no need to explain why an Office license still matters. Most people have been using Microsoft Office long before cloud apps and browser-based alternatives became the norm. With this deal, you can install the full Office suite on a single device for lifetime use — at home or at work — without worrying about monthly renewals, annual price hikes, or surprise charges down the line.

This license includes all the core apps most people actually rely on: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote. That means drafting documents, crunching numbers, building presentations, managing email, and organizing notes using the full desktop versions of each app.

Unlike free alternatives or web-based tools, you get access to the complete feature sets, which makes a difference when you’re working on longer documents, detailed spreadsheets, or presentation-heavy projects.

Once you purchase, your license key and download links are delivered instantly, so there’s no waiting around to get started. Microsoft also includes lifetime customer support, which can be helpful if you ever need assistance with installation or troubleshooting.

Instead of committing to yet another recurring subscription, this one-time purchase lets you snag software you’ll likely keep using for years.

Right now, you can grab Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac for $42.97 (reg. $219). That’s proof that the matrix occasionally still gets things right.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

T-Mobile is apologizing for a major nationwide outage on Monday that left many T-Mobile customers across the U.S. without any mobile service for hours.

While we don't yet have an answer on what caused the T-Mobile outage, another question remains: Where was T-Mobile's Starlink service, T-Satellite?

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What is T-Satellite?

Way back in 2022, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and T-Mobile announced an exclusive partnership between the two companies that would allow T-Mobile customers to connect to Starlink satellites. T-Mobile finally launched the T-Satellite service for customers last summer, following a testing period at the start of the year.

"T-Satellite connects you where towers can’t," reads T-Mobile's T-Satellite with Starlink product page on its website.

In a recent earnings call last Thursday, just days before the outage, T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan even shared that satellite service won't so much compete with traditional mobile carrier offerings, but be offered as complementary alongside cellular service.

Yet, when cellular service went down on Monday, some users reported online that they struggled to connect to T-Satellite.

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"Why didn't their phones switch to T-Satellite network with Starlink?" asked one social media user in response to Mashable's coverage of the T-Mobile outage.

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"T-Mobile is down, but what I find funny is that they brag about having satellite and you connect automatically when you can't get service from t-mobile, but satellite doesn't connect either," said one user on Musk's social media platform X alongside a crying face emoji.

"My T-Satellite aka Starlink didn't connect, what happened I thought it was supposed to be amazing for exactly this????" complained an X user. Another X user shared, "Mine tried and could not find a sat lol not kidding."

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This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

One crucial issue users may have faced: Starlink connectivity requires a wide, clear view of the open sky. So, while Starlink connections may be available in most urban areas, objects such as roofs, poles, and even trees can obstruct signal strength. This could explain why some customers struggled to connect via satellite while their phones were stuck in SOS Mode during the T-Mobile outage.

Mashable did come across users on X and Reddit who said they successfully connected to T-Satellite during the Monday outage.

T-Mobile's T-Satellite with Starlink service is included at no extra cost on certain T-Mobile plans, such as the $100 per month Experience Beyond plan. If T-Satellite isn't included in a user's service plan, they can add it on for $10 per month.

Starlink's partnership with T-Mobile hasn't met expectations

Recent statements from T-Mobile CEO Gopalan suggest T-Satellite hasn't been widely used by T-Mobile customers.

During an April 2026 earnings call, Gopalan called the company's Starlink partnership "very strong" but admitted that T-Mobile was "seeing a lot less usage than we were originally thinking" regarding its T-Satellite service. Gopalan went on to call it "a great complementary product."

At a conference the next month, in May 2026, Gopalan was more specific with just how low T-Satellite usage has been.

“Just to give you an example, we look at our data in May, and satellite usage is 0.0002% of our total network usage," Gopalan said of its T-Satellite service. "That’s three zeros."

In the previously mentioned earnings call from last week, Gopalan reiterated those numbers and added that “in our busiest summer months, that went to 0.0003%." And, despite that small summer bump, independent data from Speedtest.net parent company Ookla found that T-Satellite usage has largely gone down.

During its launch last year, T-Mobile shared that 1.8 million customers had signed up for the T-Satellite free beta period. The company has not shared subscription numbers for the Starlink service since.

Mashable reached out to T-Mobile to find out more about T-Satellite service and Monday's nationwide outage. We will update this piece if we receive more information.

It happened two times in two weeks: First Sony's PlayStation Network, then Microsoft's Xbox experienced significant outages. Monday's Xbox outage was particularly galling for users, since many Xbox games these days require authentication via the internet before they can even launch.

Not only were Xbox users locked out of online features, they couldn't even launch games they had installed on their machines. PSN players are vulnerable too: Sony recently confirmed it will stop manufacturing PlayStation game discs after January 2028.

The outages, in short, were an object lesson in the trade-offs that come with an all-digital sales model — as well as the benefits of keeping physical media alive.

Why are game discs going away?

For most of the history of video game consoles, buying a game meant acquiring a physical object. You bought a disc or cartridge, you inserted it, the console read it, and the game ran. You could resell the disc, lend it, or shelve it indefinitely without worrying about digital rights management.

But discs could also produce noticeable delay or stutter during gameplay, since optical drive read speeds have not scaled up as fast as processing power. So publishers began front-loading install data onto consoles' local hard drives, rather than taking it from a disc in real-time. As game file sizes have grown, publishers have leaned further into upfront installation as the more stable engineering choice.

But that's not what drove the backlash to Sony's announcement. Many players are concerned about what happens to the whole concept of games ownership once physical media is entirely off the table.

The digital "sharing" economy was supposed to be defined by the phrase "you'll own nothing and be happy." Though coined by a socialist politician as a positive promise in 2016, this quote has since become a meme with a more sinister meaning.

Streaming services have long illustrated the problem. Netflix, Spotify, and their peers technically sell you access to media, revocable at any time a licensing deal lapses or a platform decides a title no longer earns its keep. This is not a new problem, and one of the more chilling examples is one of the oldest: the time in 2009 when Amazon removed George Orwell's dystopia of erased history, Nineteen Eighty-Four, from users' Kindles, due to a rights issue.

Likewise in the games industry, publishers can and have removed purchased digital titles from a user's library over licensing disputes or expired royalty agreements. Game servers are shut down once a title stops generating sufficient revenue to justify the operating cost, rendering online games unplayable.

In addition to ending disc production in 2028, Sony also revealed it would close its PS3 and PS Vita stores in some countries as early as this August. The company promised users "will still be able to download previously purchased content after the closing date," but only for a vague period of time: "the foreseeable future."

What happens when games discs don't work?

If you're seeking out an older discontinued title, there are often used copies to be found, and workarounds are available online for some games that require server connections. Live-service architecture, which Sony has tried (and sometimes failed) to make the norm, removes even that fallback.

Without a functioning server, there's no local copy to fall back on, no disc to reinsert, nothing to do but wait — precisely the position both Xbox and PlayStation users found themselves in recently.

Take The Crew, a decade-old racing game that publisher Ubisoft deciding to sunset in 2024. Because the game required a persistent internet connection even for its single-player mode, players lost the ability to launch it once Ubisoft delisted it from storefronts, revoked existing licenses, and shut down its servers. Ubisoft offered refunds only to those players who'd purchased The Crew in the past 14 days, its standard refund procedure.

The response from gamers was the formation of Stop Killing Games, a campaign founded by YouTuber Ross Scott. The campaign demanded that publishers not render anything a customer already paid for permanently unusable. It has since collected more than a million verified signatures via a European Citizens' Initiative, and helped spur a French consumer lawsuit against Ubisoft.

For now, Sony is still making discs, and won't be taking away games you've already bought. But after 2028, according to Sony's plan, that will change; you'll only ever be able to purchase PlayStation games online. And that could make PSN users vulnerable to the next server crash, legal dispute over licensing, or online game that simply isn't making its money back.

Today, Pornhub sent a letter to various U.S. governors, attorneys general, and state reps, the company shared with Mashable. The letter details concerns over "performative, ineffective, and unenforceable" age-verification laws, calls for releasing data on how these laws protect children, and advocates for device-level filters.

Age-verification laws require submitting personal information — such as a facial scan or a government ID — to view certain content, typically explicit content. These laws have been enacted in around half of U.S. states since 2023, starting with Louisiana. Pornhub has blocked itself in most of these states due to the burden of complying.

Meanwhile, initial research has suggested that age-verification laws don't work due to software like VPNs (which can hide someone's real location) and non-compliant websites.

In its letter, Pornhub mentions these pitfalls, as well as digital safety and privacy concerns.

The company sent the open letter to elected officials in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

"These laws demonstrably do not work and, as a result, have put your constituents' children and adults' personal data at risk. If you truly intend to protect minors online, you must acknowledge the facts and introduce a real solution," the letter states.

The solution Pornhub offers is mandating operating system providers like Apple, Microsoft, and Google to enable parental controls on the device level. Pornhub sent a letter to these tech giants in Nov. 2025, asking them to do so.

In the UK, Apple enabled device-level filters on devices with iOS 26.4, prompting Pornhub to reverse its decision to block the country back in May. The UK's age-verification law, the Online Safety Act, went into effect in July 2025.

Pornhub has experimented with this solution since April 2026 and found that it prevents minors from accessing adult content in the UK. VPNs also don't work to circumvent it. "It is our view that children in the UK using Apple devices with the most up-to-date version of iOS are benefitting from the strongest level of protection from age-inappropriate content online," the letter reads. "Your constituents deserve the same."

The company wrote that Apple, Microsoft, and Google should make this the default on all devices globally.

It also mentions the recent report from Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, stating that current age checks "leave major gaps." It also mentions similar findings in Texas, where an online search for "free porn" showed that nine out of the top 10 search results had no age verification at all. (The latter findings are in an appendix in the letter.)

In Australia, which enacted a social media ban for children under 16 in December 2025, 85 percent of those teens are still using social media, according to a study published in June. Meanwhile, Pornhub states, "The longer this goes on, the longer these non-compliant sites are accessed by more minors and adults. As outlined by Lucy Faithfull Foundation, we know that when faced with age verification, some adults are choosing riskier, irresponsible sites to avoid age checks."

The letter also asks, "How many minors have been protected in the weeks, months and years since age verification laws have come into effect in your jurisdictions?" It asks for the officials to publicly release data about this, if such data exists

"Platform-by-platform age verification laws were designed to fail. These laws may be simple and attractive, but the evidence shows they are impossible to enforce at scale, easy to evade, weak at protecting minors and increase privacy risks for adults," the letter goes on, linking to various reports by The Independent and the BBC.

Pornhub finishes the letter, again asking for device-level filters. Free speech advocates have long called for this as a solution that doesn't infringe on adults' free speech rights.

Here is the letter in full:

Dear lawmakers,

We are writing to you because, as a community, we are deeply concerned about the harm being caused by the performative, ineffective, and unenforceable age verification laws you have taken part in passing despite your intention of protecting minors. Everyone subjected to these laws is more at risk than ever before of encountering online harm.

We are serious about protecting minors, and lawmakers like yourselves must recognize that these laws have failed at that objective. Voting for age verification laws that require hundreds of thousands of individual websites to collect personal information from every user, every time they want to access content restricted to adults, is dangerous.

These laws demonstrably do not work and, as a result, have put your constituents’ children and adults’ personal data at risk. If you truly intend to protect minors online, you must acknowledge the facts and introduce a real solution. You have the power and the responsibility to mandate operating system providers like Apple, Microsoft and Google to render all mobile phones, tablets and computers child safe by enabling parental controls at the source and by default.

You should be aware that in the United Kingdom, where they’ve introduced the Online Safety Act with the goal of making the UK “the safest place in the world to be online”, Apple has shown what meaningful action looks like. With a quick software update, Apple set a new benchmark for child safety that turned parental controls on by default for users who have not verified they are adults. This means making every phone or tablet kid-safe as a starting point. Adults can then verify their age once in their mobile phone settings, instead of every time they want to browse an adult website, use a dating app or scroll social media. It’s a more consistent, privacy-conscious, global approach to protecting children online than requiring every individual website or application to build and enforce its own age verification system.

Since April 2026, Pornhub has experimented with Apple’s solution and has seen it successfully prevent minors from accessing adult content websites in the UK. It is our view that children in the UK using Apple devices with the most up-to-date version of iOS are benefitting from the strongest level of protection from age-inappropriate content online. Adult sites are blocked by default, and VPNs do not work to circumvent these blocks. Your constituents deserve the same.

This is a big step for online safety that can go even further. We believe all device manufacturers, like Microsoft, Apple and Google – the three companies responsible for the operating system of 97% of mobile phones, tablets and computers currently in use around the world, should make this the default setting on all devices globally. Because clearly, more could and should be done. Your role here is to mandate them to do it by including this in their next software updates.

For nearly a year, Ofcom, the UK internet regulator, has monitored and collected data. Like your existing laws, the UK Act relies heavily on adults repeatedly submitting personal information, such as a driver’s licence, facial scan, or credit card, to access lawful content. Ofcom has now released its first six-month implementation report. Its findings make clear that site-by-site age checks leave major gaps. “Since January 2026, the number of services in the top 100 with age assurance in place has decreased steadily, as services without age assurance become more popular.” Ofcom also noted that site-by-site rules can “inadvertently strengthen the market position of non-compliant firms.” In other words, dangerous websites that are breaking the law by refusing to implement any kind of age assurance are benefitting from the law by winning traffic over from the compliant websites that have.

None of the age verification laws that have been passed in any of your jurisdictions are working or can effectively be enforced. An excellent example of this exists in the UK. Ofcom is one of the world’s strongest online safety regulators, but it has been given an impossible mandate. This outcome was predictable: responsible platforms comply, while non-compliant operators remain discoverable, gain traffic and continue exposing minors to age-inappropriate content. And this is not unique to the UK. For example, in Texas, where age verification was introduced in September 2023, a simple online search showed 9 out of the top 10 search results for “free porn” had no age verification at all.

This issue does not only apply to adult content laws. Since December 2025, kids under the age of 16 in Australia have been prohibited from having social media accounts. However, three months after the ban more than 85% of teenagers are still using social media. Search results are constantly replenished with new, non-compliant sites, demonstrating how easily new players can enter the market. This revolving door means the internet remains wide open to unmoderated, unverified and potentially unsafe content, regardless of how many times authorities attempt to crack down.

The longer this goes on, the longer these non-compliant sites are accessed by more minors and adults. As outlined by Lucy Faithfull Foundation, we know that when faced with age verification, some adults are choosing riskier, irresponsible sites to avoid age checks. According to the Free Speech Coalition, “Less than 5% of consumers actually go through with age-verification for adult content. When confronted with a request for a facial scan and government ID, most consumers simply hit the back button and find a non-compliant site outside the mandate or log on to a VPN.” The internet is global and it's impossible to patrol millions of different sites based in hundreds of different countries. Site-based regulation is always going to encourage evasion.

We can no longer accept laws that create the appearance of action while failing to address the challenge of keeping kids safe online. It is particularly concerning when these laws drive regulated business out of your jurisdictions and aid in creating a lush market for bad actors online, when a viable solution exists today.

Phones, tablets and computers could start as kid-safe devices by default, where only verified adults would be able to disable safeguards designed to protect minors from age-inappropriate content, including pornography. This method protects minors without requiring adults to surrender unnecessary personal information to multiple websites. It also avoids creating systems that are easily circumvented through tools like VPNs. Some governments and major technology companies recognize that kid-safe phones can provide a more consistent and privacy-protective way to help keep minors away from age-restricted content.

How many minors have been protected in the weeks, months and years since age verification laws have come into effect in your jurisdictions? The public deserves to see the data on how these laws are protecting children and reducing access to age-inappropriate content. We don’t believe such data exists. Platform-by-platform age verification laws were designed to fail. These laws may be simple and attractive, but the evidence shows they are impossible to enforce at scale, easy to evade, weak at protecting minors and increase privacy risks for adults.

We urge you to focus on putting into action policies that produce measurable improvements in child safety rather than legislation that grabs headlines. The technology exists. A precedent exists. The responsibility now lies with you to pursue solutions that truly protect children across the entire internet. We are determined to be part of this solution and want to collaborate with government, civil society and tech partners to arrive at an effective kid-safe-by-default solution.

Signed,

Pornhub

When Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005, no one could have predicted that nearly two decades later, one of its characters would still be one of the internet's favorite fictional boyfriends. Yet here we are.

Since Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender arrived on Paramount+ and in select theaters, my TikTok algorithm has developed a singular obsession: making sure I see adult Zuko in all his gorgeous, danmei-esque glory. Not clips from the movie. Edits. Slowed down. Zoomed in. Color graded to perfection.

The same handful of shots appear over and over, each transformed by a different corner of internet culture. There's the now-ubiquitous Doja Cat "Jealous Type" edit (see examples here, here, and here). Others swap in Sabrina Carpenter or Britney Spears. Another pairs Zuko with the viral audio of increasingly frantic cats meowing — the universal soundtrack for fictional men so attractive they short-circuit your brain. Another opts for barking dogs instead. One creator dissolved into tears trying to explain how unfairly good adult Zuko looks. Honestly? I understood every word.

On X, the reactions are even less restrained. "Zuko is so sexy just sitting there looking ripped af and his hair in a bun," one viral post reads. Another declares, "Adult Zuko is so hot and sexy. I'd take on the world just to have him."

The internet, it seems, has once again reached a consensus. Unfortunately, many of these edits don't survive for very long. As copyrighted clips from the film, they're often removed almost as quickly as they go viral.

Legally, that makes sense. Practically, it's a little harder to understand. Because by the time an edit disappears, it's usually already done exactly what great marketing is supposed to do. It's racked up hundreds of thousands of views. It's inspired TikTok stitches and reaction videos. It's filled the comments with people asking where the clip is from or admitting they've never watched Avatar before but suddenly want to.

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Studios spend millions trying to convince audiences to care about a movie. Meanwhile, fans are doing it organically, one 20-second edit at a time. In 2026, the edit has become the trailer.

One of my own friends has tried to get into the original Avatar series more than once. It never clicked. But after days of TikTok serving her edit after edit of hot Zuko, she texted asking if I'd take her to see the movie in theaters.

That's the magic of internet fandom. It doesn't just keep beloved characters alive — it keeps introducing them to people who somehow missed them the first time around.

What's happening with Zuko speaks to something bigger than a viral thirst trend. It's a reminder that some characters never really leave the internet. They get passed from platform to platform, generation to generation, finding new audiences through fan edits, memes, fan art, and recommendations powered more by fandom than by marketing.

Dante Basco, who voiced teenage Zuko in the original series, has watched that happen in real time. Speaking to Fandom for the show's 15th anniversary in 2020, Basco described Avatar as "so timeless" and said he was happy that "a new generation is discovering it now." He also noted that the fanbase never really disappeared, saying fans were "always continually following it and cosplaying."

That enduring enthusiasm helps explain why the arrival of an official adult Zuko has taken over social media. The movie may have given fans new footage, but it didn't create the fascination. It simply reignited one that has quietly been thriving online for nearly two decades. It doesn't hurt that adult Zuko is voiced by another internet boyfriend: Steven Yeun.

Long before "book boyfriend" entered the mainstream lexicon and before TikTok perfected the art of the thirst edit, Zuko dominated Tumblr dashboards, YouTube AMVs, fanfiction archives, cosplay conventions, and GIF sets. Fans wrote essays dissecting his redemption arc, created fan art imagining his future as Fire Lord, and spent years debating every step of his journey. As Dante Basco told Fandom, fans still regularly approach him to say Zuko has "one of the greatest redemption arcs in history."

That devotion isn't an accident. In fact, Zuko almost didn't exist. On the Avatar: Braving the Elements podcast, co-creator Bryan Konietzko recalled that Zuko emerged after Nickelodeon executive Eric Coleman suggested the series needed "someone who's going after them the whole time." Konietzko's response: "Can he have a scar?"

The creators also knew from the very beginning where his story was headed. "It's in the series bible," Konietzko said. "We knew that Zuko was going to become Aang's teacher."

That long-game storytelling is part of what makes Zuko endure while so many animated characters have faded into nostalgia. He's not redeemed overnight. He stumbles, backslides, betrays the people trying to help him, and ultimately has to choose, over and over again, the person he wants to become. His emotional vulnerability, dry sense of humor, and hard-earned growth make him the kind of character audiences can root for.

"We love the villain who's been hurt and who is given the opportunity to come back from that," said Janet Varney, who voices Korra, during the same podcast conversation. Konietzko agreed, noting that even he sees Zuko as someone with "an amazing redemptive arc."

He's also incredibly editable. Every glance, every fight scene, every quiet moment carries emotional weight because fans already know where his story leads. A well-made edit can communicate that emotional journey in under 30 seconds, even to someone who's never watched an episode.

That's part of what's changed about fandom in the TikTok era. Character edits have quietly become one of the internet's most effective recommendation engines. Instead of convincing viewers to watch an entire series, they convince them to care about one character. The rest often follows.

For years, studios have tried to figure out how to introduce older franchises to new audiences. Increasingly, the answer is powered by fandom.

A compelling edit can do what traditional marketing often can't: make someone emotionally invested before they've watched a single scene. We've seen it happen across pop culture. A fancam introduces someone to a K-pop group. A TikTok revives a decade-old song. An anime edit sends viewers rushing to Crunchyroll. The algorithm has become one of the internet's most powerful discovery engines, constantly resurfacing stories for audiences who missed them the first time around.

Zuko is perhaps the clearest example of how that cycle can last for decades. Ironically, Paramount spent months trying to keep Avatar Aang footage offline after the film leaked earlier this year. Now that the finished film is finally streaming, it's fans, not the studio, who are generating the clips everyone wants to watch.

The creators of Avatar Aang have described the film as a chance to revisit Team Avatar at "this precipice between adolescence and adulthood," reconnecting with characters who have grown up alongside the audience that first fell in love with them.

But if TikTok is any indication, fans didn't need much convincing to come back.

That's why the flood of "hot Zuko" edits feels like more than a fleeting social media trend. They're evidence that fandom itself has become part of a franchise's longevity. Characters no longer live only within the stories that created them. They continue evolving through the internet, where fans remix and reintroduce them to thousands of potential new viewers.

And if my friend finally watches Avatar because TikTok convinced her to give a scarred Fire Nation prince a chance? Honestly, I don't think she'll be the first. And judging by my For You page, she definitely won't be the last.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is now in select theaters and streaming on Paramount+.

Women receive no shortage of safety advice. Cover your drink. Share your location. Avoid walking at night alone. Text when you get home.

Here is one they may not hear every day: If you think someone wearing smart glasses is secretly recording you, start playing a Disney song.

The advice has begun circulating on LinkedIn, Threads, and other social channels as more people use Meta's smart glasses to covertly film women, prank service workers, and post unsuspecting strangers online. The theory, known as "copyright hacking," is that YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or another platform will recognize the copyrighted music and prevent the resulting video from being uploaded.

"Because Disney music is more protected than women," one X user wrote. She's not completely wrong.

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It sounds like the kind of internet hack that is equal parts clever and depressing. Women are already taught to modify their behavior in response to new risks. Now, as ordinary-looking glasses make it easier to turn a private interaction into public content, they are being handed another instruction.

While this specific piece of advice may be new, the tactic itself is not.

Would playing Disney music actually work?

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The theory is based on YouTube’s real copyright system.

YouTube uses an automated tool called Content ID to compare uploaded videos against audio and video submitted by copyright holders. When the system detects a match, the owner can decide whether to monetize the video, track its performance, or block it.

The important part is that not every match results in a takedown. YouTube says monetization is the most common policy applied to music claims. In those cases, the video stays online, but some or all of its advertising revenue may go to the copyright holder.

The rules are stricter for certain Shorts. YouTube says vertical videos between 1 and 3 minutes are blocked when they receive an active Content ID claim. Even then, however, an uploader could shorten the video, remove its sound, replace the audio, or use editing software to separate the speakers’ voices from the background music.

TikTok can similarly mute a sound that violates copyright restrictions without removing the video's visual content. The uploader can then replace the missing audio with another sound.

So yes, playing a Disney song could make a video harder to post or less profitable, and might even get it blocked — but that's not guaranteed.

Social media users were quick to point out the practical problems with this methodology.

"If you are being secretly recorded, how do you know to play the songs?" one user asked on a viral Facebook post by author and content creator Tova Leigh. Others noted that the person wearing the glasses could simply post the footage without sound.

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That first question gets at the larger flaw: Meta's Ray-Ban glasses are designed to look like conventional eyewear. The person being filmed may never realize a camera is pointed at them, and even if they notice the small recording light, they’d still need to recognize what it means, reach for their phone, and start playing music before the interaction ends. By that point, they may have already become the content.

Women may not know they are being filmed

The Disney advice is spreading as more women describe discovering that seemingly ordinary encounters were actually being recorded for an online audience.

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In February, CNN reported on the rise of "manfluencers" who use smart glasses to film themselves approaching women in airports, grocery stores, gyms, and other public spaces. To the woman involved, the interaction may feel like a stranger starting a conversation. For the creator, it is an opportunity to produce a video for thousands, or even millions, of viewers.

One woman, a DJ and producer who goes by Manic Muse online, said she gave her number to a man who approached her in a Texas grocery store because she believed their conversation was genuine. Her sister later suggested that his glasses might have contained a camera.

"And in that moment, my heart fell to my stomach," she told reporters.

Manic Muse said she messaged the man, asked whether he had recorded her, and told him not to post the interaction. He stopped replying and uploaded it anyway. The video eventually received more than 23 million views.

"It’s just so violating," she added. "I didn’t consent to being secretly recorded, and I definitely didn’t consent to becoming content for millions of strangers.”

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Once the footage is online, the recording itself is only the beginning. Viewers may scrutinize the woman's appearance, sexualize her, criticize how she handled the interaction, or search for personal information. What she believed was a private conversation with one stranger can be repackaged as evidence of whether his pickup technique "worked."

The technology has helped creators build entire accounts around people who never agreed to participate. As Mashable previously reported, smart-glasses users have covertly filmed attempts to get women's phone numbers in many public spaces. Other accounts have featured recordings of women’s bodies, sexually suggestive visits to massage parlors, and pranks targeting retail and restaurant employees.

Former prank creator Brad Podray, previously known online as Scumbag Dad, told us in January that women and service workers are often selected precisely because they can provide usable reactions while being less able or willing to challenge the person recording them.

"They want people who are good on camera, so they’re going to hit fast food employees, and they’re going to hit pretty girls," Podray said. "A lot of random women walking around aren’t going to want to participate in a skit if you ask them to, so they remove the agency entirely by just running the glasses."

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Meta has attempted to make the recording less discreet. Its glasses include a white LED that signals the camera is operating. But users have also found ways to interfere with it. Stickers designed to conceal the indicator have been sold online, and people in at least 30 states have offered services that physically modify it, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Though Meta has put safeguards in place to make the glasses harder to manipulate, they do not solve the broader consent problem. A person can see the light without understanding what it means. In many cases, they may not even see it.

Police have tried the Disney defense, too

This is not the first time someone has tried to turn copyright enforcement into a shield against a camera.

In April 2022, a Santa Ana, California, police officer played Disney songs while a YouTuber recorded officers investigating a stolen vehicle in his neighborhood. "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story played through a police vehicle's speakers late at night. It was followed by "We Don’t Talk About Bruno" from Encanto, "Reflection" from Mulan, and "Un Poco Loco" from Coco.

When Santa Ana City Councilmember Johnathan Ryan Hernandez asked the officer why he was playing it, the officer pointed toward the person recording.

"Because it will be copyright infringement for him," the officer said in a statement. The department also said playing music while officers were being recorded was not part of its recommended policy.

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Still, the Santa Ana incident was part of a pattern that had already appeared in several other departments.

In February 2021, Beverly Hills police officers were recorded playing songs including Sublime's "Santeria" and the Beatles' "Yesterday" during encounters with activist Sennett Devermont. Devermont had been livestreaming his attempts to obtain information and body-camera footage from the department.

The timing suggested the officers might have been attempting to activate Instagram's copyright filters, which can interrupt livestreams or limit how the resulting video gets shared. The Beverly Hills Police Department responded similarly, stating it doesn’t recommend officers play music while being filmed.

A few months later, an Alameda County sheriff’s sergeant played Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" while activists recorded him outside a courthouse in Oakland. This time, the officer explicitly explained what he was doing. "You can record all you want," he said. "I just know it can't be posted on YouTube." A department spokesperson later acknowledged that the attempt had backfired.

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The practice also surfaced in Illinois. In an incident report obtained by Motherboard later that year, an officer wrote that he had been "recently advised" to turn on music when he encountered a woman recording him. That detail suggested the tactic was no longer simply occurring to individual officers in the moment; in at least one department, someone appeared to be passing it along as advice.

Platforms are starting to act, but only after the fact

Recording someone in public is not universally illegal in the United States. Laws vary by state, and additional restrictions can apply to audio recording, sexual imagery, stalking, harassment, and the commercial use of someone's likeness. But in general, people have weaker expectations of privacy on a sidewalk, in a park, or in other public places.

Nowadays, though, recording can also violate a platform's rules. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said last week that the platform would remove smart-glasses videos showing people being exploited or harassed.

Meta confirmed that two prominent accounts posting smart-glasses pickup content had been deactivated for violating its harassment policies. Both had amassed more than 1 million followers.

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The crackdown creates a clearer consequence for some of the most abusive accounts, but it does not guarantee the removal of every video made without consent. Instagram has focused its policy on harassment and exploitation, leaving a large gray area for recordings that are invasive but do not clearly meet either definition.

More importantly, moderation generally begins after the footage has already been posted. The person recorded must first discover the video, locate the account, report the content, explain the violation, and wait for the platform to decide whether it crossed a line. By then, the video may have already accumulated millions of views or been copied to other accounts.

Government rules are beginning to adapt to technology in certain areas. Beginning July 20, New York prohibited recording-enabled glasses inside every courthouse in the state's Unified Court System. Officials said the ban was intended to prevent people from secretly recording court proceedings in violation of state law and court rules.

Outside those controlled settings, people who do not want to be recorded are still left depending on the wearer’s judgment, a small white light, inconsistent laws, and moderation systems that usually arrive after the damage has begun.

Playing Disney music might occasionally interrupt that process. It could also do absolutely nothing. But when the alternatives are so limited, an unreliable defense may still feel better than no defense at all.

A new humanoid robot debuted this week with a sensor-laden layer of "smart skin" designed to feel exactly where and how hard it's being touched...for industrial safety, of course.

The robot, called Gene.01, comes from Generative Bionics and debuted at AMD's Advancing AI conference in San Francisco. CNET senior video producer Jesse Orrall got hands-on time with the machine, and Orrall described the texture of the smart skin as similar to a neoprene wetsuit. (Disclosure: Mashable and CNET are both owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis.)

Around its frame, the bot is outfitted with "full-body multimodal skin" that can sense "touch, proximity, force and temperature," according to Generative Bionics.

Per CNET's reporting, the skin senses touch using two kinds of sensors working together. The first are touch sensors capable of detecting contact, as well as the precise location and amount of pressure applied. Orrall wrote that squeezing the robot's arm triggered a live rendering on a nearby screen, lighting up at the exact spot being touched and darkening as more pressure was applied.

The second sensor type handles proximity rather than direct contact. These are known in the industry as time-of-flight (ToF) sensors, which work by emitting invisible light and measuring how long it takes to reflect back — effectively letting the robot sense something (or someone) before actual contact occurs. Orrall reported that waving a hand near the sensors produced a cluster of dots on the display screen that tracked with the hand movement, fading out as the hand moved away.

The practicality of the design, according to CNET, is collision avoidance. The hope is that these features will make it safer for industrial robots to work in close proximity to humans, whether on a factory floor or elsewhere. Generative Bionics reportedly views Gene.01 as an early platform, with plans to customize the amount and placement of smart skin, as well as the robot's hands, or "end effectors," depending on a client's specific use case.

As CNET noted, sensing the world is only half the equation — the harder problem still ahead is teaching the robot to act on that sensory data in real-time, something Generative Bionics says it's continuing to develop.

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The free Lego offers at Lego.com have refreshed again. One option for the end of July would make a great back-to-school gift (or a cute stocking stuffer idea for kids, if you're thinking that far ahead): Get a free pack of four fun Lego straw toppers plus the straws themselves and a straw cleaning brush with any order of $65 or more.

The Lego Straw Topper Set includes four precious silicone buddies: a robot, a dinosaur, a cat, and an ice cream cone. The pastel straws included are much cuter and less wasteful than getting a new plastic straw at school or the drive-thru all the time.

Back to the gift ideas thing: Now would be a smart time to grab the Lego set you've been wanting to give someone. Your $65 purchase could be one big Lego purchase or a combination of a few less expensive sets. Remember, preorders do count as a purchase that unlocks free Legos. Our favorite new Lego sets to preorder right now include the Spongebob Squarepants: Bikini Bottom set and Donkey Kong Pinball set.

Two other free Lego deals are live through the end of July: Get a free version of The Darksaber from Lego Star Wars when you purchase the Mandalorian's N1 Starfighter or get a free Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist set when you spend $40.

SAVE $24: As of July 28, get the Anker Prime Charging Station for $55.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $79.99. That's a discount of 30%.

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Credit: Amazon

Anker Prime Charging Station

$55.99 at Amazon
$79.99 Save $24.00

 

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If you're the type of person who hates wrangling cables but loves to make sure all your electronics have 100% battery, you need a charging station. You can plug in multiple devices in one central location, overnight if you prefer, and wake up to a menagerie of fully-charged tech, ready to start the day. Easy, affordable, and reliable, and we've got one that's even cheaper than usual for you today, courtesy of Amazon.

As of July 28, get the Anker Prime Charging Station for $55.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $79.99. That's $24 off and a discount of 30%.

This device has six ports, so you can charge multiple devices at once, with each USB-C port supporting 100W max. When using two USB-C ports at the same time, both will offer 100W of power. That means you have the capacity to charge up to two 14-inch MacBook Pros to 50% in under 30 minutes. It can handle your phones, tablets, gaming consoles, and just about anything else you need, too.

Plus, it's super small and compact. It has safety features to help continuously monitor temperature and protect your devices while they're charging. That way you can feel comfortable about leaving all your tech to juice up when you head to bed or leave all of your devices charging while away.

This is a great way to consolidate your devices to charge them at once, all while not having to spend an arm and a leg. Swap from one cable to an entire selection of charging ports and be more efficient about filling those batteries.

SAVE $150.00: The Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus Clean & Empty cordless stick vacuum is on sale at Amazon for $399.99, down from the list price of $549.99. That's a 27% discount.

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Credit: Shark

Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus Clean & Empty cordless stick vacuum

$399.99 at Amazon
$549.99 Save $150

 

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These days, we have robot vacuums and robot lawn mowers to take care of keeping underfoot areas clean and manicured. But if you prefer to vacuum on your own, we have models with excellent features that make things easier. Check out this deal at Amazon.

As of July 28, the Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus Clean & Empty cordless stick vacuum is on sale at Amazon for $399.99, down from the list price of $549.99 at Shark. That's a 27% discount.

When it comes to cordless stick vacuums, suction power matters. The Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus Clean & Empty doesn't mess around. This model is designed to tackle stubborn pet hair that loves to get stuck on carpet and furniture. Shark included a flexible crevice tool and the brand's Furfins tool to help clean pet hair in any location of your home.

Another major benefit of the Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus Clean & Empty cordless stick vacuum is the self-emptying base. Set the stick vacuum back on its charging base, and all debris from the vacuum will whisk off to the base. You'll need to empty the base every 45 days or so, but that's minimal effort compared to emptying the debris canister after each vacuum.

Espeically great for homes with pets is the Shark odor neutralizer technology. This fragranced puck sits on the self-emptying base to provide a fresh scent. If you're not one for scents in the house, you can easily leave the cartridge out.

If you could use a vacuum upgrade, consider today's sale price on the Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus Clean & Empty cordless stick vacuum. It's a powerful model with great features for pet owners, and it's on sale for under $400.

SAVE $100: As of July 28, the new Dyson V8 Cyclone cordless vacuum and Car Cleaning Kit bundle is on sale for $299.99. That's $100 off the vacuum's MSRP of $399.99.

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Credit: Dyson

Dyson V8 Cyclone + Car Cleaning Kit

$299.99 at Dyson
$399.99 Save $100

 

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I test vacuums for a living and am a Dyson truther in most instances. However, I had never backed the Dyson V8 as the best budget stick vacuum — if you wanted to spend no more than $300 on a vacuum, I'd quickly tell you to buy a Shark stick vacuum that comes with a self-emptying dock instead. My mind changed when Dyson released the revamped Dyson V8 Cyclone in June. Its launch price of $399.99 was already practical, but as of July 28, you can save $100 and grab the new Dyson V8 Cyclone for just $299.99 at Dyson's website.

Funnily enough, the old Dyson V8 is also on sale for $299.99 at Amazon. So let's compare the specs while their prices are identical:

The old Dyson V8 has 115 Air Watts of suction power. The new Dyson V8 Cyclone has 150 Air Watts of suction power — the same as my favorite Dyson vacuum, the V12 Detect Slim. Dyson itself has confirmed that the Cyclone is the most powerful V8 model ever. The V8 Cyclone also has three suction modes compared to the old V8's two.

Battery life has also improved. The Dyson V8 Cyclone can clean for up to 60 minutes on one charge while the old V8 maxed out at 40 minutes. Despite a more powerful motor and more powerful battery, the V8 Cyclone only weighs 0.1 ounces more than the old V8. They both have 0.14 gallon dust bins.

As if we needed any more proof that the V8 Cyclone stretches your $299.99 further, it also comes with more attachments than the old V8 at Amazon. You'll get Dyson's stick vacuum car cleaning kit that includes a crevice tool, extension hose, stubborn dirt brush, and mini soft dusting brush. The other V8 only comes with the crevice tool. Plus, a self-emptying dock for the V8 Cyclone is coming in August.

Last month, Apple tragically raised the prices on many of its devices, largely thanks to the industry-wide memory shortage known as RAMageddon. This month, it's giving consumers some relief. Sort of.

Apple officially launched a new leasing program today called Apple Upgrade. If the cost of buying a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch outright brings you to your knees, Apple Upgrade lets you lease a device for as low as $11.99 per month. While it doesn't actually reduce the price of Apple products, it changes the perceived cost by swapping the shock of the full price with a predictable low monthly payment. Price psychology!

This is the first time Apple is expanding its leasing options beyond just smartphones. Aside from iPhones, the new Apple Upgrade program also features a range of iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs, though not every product in Apple's lineup is included. Notably, the MacBook Neo — Apple's most affordable laptop — is not available in the program. Leasing prices start at $17.99 per month for iPhones, $11.99 per month for iPads and Apple Watches, and $24.99 per month for Mac devices. Leases run for 12 or 24 months for both iPhones and Apple Watches and 24 or 36 months for iPads and Macs.

Once your lease is up, you have a few options. You can either upgrade your device, keep it with a one-time fee, or return it to an Apple store and quit the program altogether. While Apple hasn't said how much that one-time purchase fee will be, it'll likely just amount to the full price of the phone minus your leasing payments. So, not exactly a deal.

Apple Upgrade is run by Klarna. So, similar to a credit card, you'll need approval before you can participate. Apple says applying takes mere minutes and requires a soft credit check that won't impact your credit score. Once approved, you'll be able to keep track of your lease and payment details through the Klarna app.

Here's a quick look at some of the sample prices (minus taxes):

• iPhone 17 Pro (256GB) — $1,099 $31.99/month with a 24-month lease or $45.99/month with a 12-month lease

• iPhone Air (256GB) — $999 $28.99/month with a 24-month lease or $41.99/month with a 12-month lease

• iPad Pro, 11-inch (256GB, WiFi) — $1,199 $24.99/month with a 36-month lease or $31.99/month with a 24-month lease

• iPad Air, 11-inch (128GB, WiFi) — $749 $15.99/month with a 36-month lease or $19.99/month with a 24-month lease

• MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5 chip, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,999 $38.99/month with a 36-month lease or $53.99/month with a 24-month lease

• MacBook Air, 13-inch (M5 chip, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,299 $24.99/month with a 36-month lease or $34.99/month with a 24-month lease

• Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS) — $399 $11.99/month with a 24-month lease or $21.99/month with a 12-month lease

In case you missed it, Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program is now dead. The Apple Upgrade program is its replacement. If you're still on the existing iPhone Upgrade program, you can choose whether or not you want to move to the Apple Upgrade program when your contract ends.

SAVE $549.01: The Bluetti FridgePower portable power station is on sale at Amazon for $949.99, down from the list price of $1,499. That's a 37% discount.

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Credit: Bluetti

Bluetti FridgePower portable power station

$949.99 at Amazon
$1,499 Save $549.01

 

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No part of a power outage is convenient, but there's an especially inconvenient aspect to losing grid power: the refrigerator is no longer cooling. That puts the refrigerator and freezer food on a timeline of how long it'll last without power before it needs to go in the trash. If keeping the refrigerator online is a priority, check out this Amazon deal.

As of July 28, the Bluetti FridgePower portable power station is on sale at Amazon for $949.99, down from the list price of $1,499. That's a 37% discount.

We've come to love portable power stations for camping and using when the power goes out, but the major brands are introducing us to a new category of convenience: refrigerator backup power. The Jackery FridgeGuard launched earlier this summer, as did the Bluetti FridgePower. The Bluetti model is larger, coming with 2,016Wh capacity which can keep your fridge cooling for almost a full 24 hours.

Using the Bluetti FridgeGuard is simple. Place the slim power station on top of your refrigerator and plug your fridge into the Bluetti. Then plug the Bluetti into grid power. The power station is designed to keep itself 100% charged and ready to take over when grid power fails. Within 10 milliseconds of detecting a loss of grid power, the Bluetti will take over cooling the fridge.

While the name suggests it should be used as fridge backup, you can also use it elsewhere in the house. Make sure the aquarium stays filtering or your workstation always has power with the Bluetti FridgeGuard.

Since it's on sale for a 37% discount, snag the Bluetti FridgePower portable power station before fall storm season arrives.

SAVE $250: As of July 28, get the Dyson OnTrac active noise-cancelling headphones for $249 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $499. That's a discount of 50%.

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Credit: Amazon

Dyson OnTrac active noise-canceling headphones

$249 at Amazon
$499 Save $250

 

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Looking for a new pair of headphones, but aren't sure where to start? You could try all the usual suspects, but did you know that Dyson has a pair you could feasibly buy? And what's more, they're on sale right now. They may look like just another pair of flashy cans, but they're actually quite fantastic.

As of July 28, get the Dyson OnTrac active noise-cancelling headphones for $249 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $499. That's $250 off and a discount of 50%.

These noise-cancelling headphones look quite interesting, but the question remains: how do they sound? According to Mashable reviewer Timothy Beck Werth, they offer exquisite audio quality. He called them a competitor for the "best audio experience" he's ever had, and had additional high praise for them in his review of the typically pricey headphones.

And while they do a great job of making your everyday music and calls sound great, they also live up to their promise of blocking out any erroneous outside noise with noise cancellation options.

"During a test call, a friend was able to tell that I was calling on headphones, but they could barely hear the train passing in the near distance," Werth said of the noise cancellation abilities.

If you're ready to try a different brand after flirting with companies like Bose or Apple, Dyson is where it's at next. And for this discount, it's well worth seeing if these over-ear headphones click with you—and we think they will.

T-Mobile, one of the biggest mobile carriers in the U.S., went down for hours on Monday, leaving many of its customers without cellular service.

Customers took to social media yesterday to complain about the downtime, while T-Mobile was fairly silent about the issue.

T-Mobile has now issued a statement apologizing for Monday's service disruption.

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"We have fully restored service for all customers and sincerely apologize for the difficulties to those who experienced network impacts today," the company said in a statement late last night. "At T-Mobile, we know that customers rely on us to stay connected to what matters most, and we appreciate their understanding as we prioritized resolution."

The service disruption affected T-Mobile customers nationwide and also affected customers of wireless carriers that use T-Mobile's network, such as Mint Mobile.

On Monday afternoon, millions of customers found their smartphones in SOS mode, which appears on cellular devices when regular service is disrupted. SOS mode allows users to make emergency calls even when a mobile network is down.

Hours after the nationwide service disruptions began on Monday, T-Mobile put out a statement acknowledging the issue.

"Our teams are actively working on the reports of technical challenges impacting some customers," T-Mobile said at the time. "Any service impacts are in the process of being resolved and are our highest priority. We know how critical it is to stay connected, and every available resource is focused on resolving this as quickly as possible."

T-Mobile has yet to share exactly why its network went down. Mashable has reached out to T-Mobile for more information and will update this piece when we hear back.

Samsung's smart glasses still haven't made their long-awaited debut, but the company just gave us a few more crumbs of info about them.

Per The Korea Times, Samsung executive Choi Jae-in offered some mildly illuminating remarks about the upcoming "Galaxy Glasses" during a press conference after Galaxy Unpacked earlier this month. Namely, he said Samsung's status as a maker of smartphones and other smart devices could give its glasses a leg up over competitors like Meta, which doesn't produce other compatible hardware.

“Running artificial intelligence (AI) effectively requires significant computing power, but packing all the necessary chips into a pair of glasses makes it difficult to deliver a lightweight and comfortable experience that smart glasses should provide," Choi said, per The Korea Times. "As the first major smartphone brand to enter the smart glasses market, we have a lot of things to offer (to the market).”

In other words, the fact that Samsung's glasses will interface directly with a Samsung phone could, in theory, make them more capable than Meta's.

The other point Choi made that's worth mentioning here concerns the price of the glasses that firms like Warby Parker and Gentle Monster are designing. According to Choi, you can expect a "reasonable" price point, but one that will still "initially be positioned in the premium range." Meta's glasses start at $299, so maybe set your expectations around there.

Samsung's glasses are reportedly coming this fall. We'll have plenty of coverage when that happens.

SAVE UP TO $160: The Samsung 55-inch Class Mini LED 4K TV is on sale at Samsung for $439.99 and at Amazon for $537.99, down from the list price of $599.99. That's up to a 27% discount.

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung 55-inch Class Mini LED 4K TV (M80H)

$439.99 at Samsung
$599.99 Save $160

 

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung 55-inch Class Mini LED 4K TV (M80H)

$539.99 at Amazon
$599.99 Save $60

 

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We have a slew of fun fall shows coming in just a few weeks. New Abbott Elementary, season 51 of Survivor, The Traitors: New Blood, and season 6 of Slow Horses on Apple TV. If you've been thinking your current TV isn't doing its job well anymore, it's probably time for an upgrade. Check out this Samsung deal if you're shopping for a new TV.

As of July 28, the 55-inch Samsung Class Mini LED 4K TV is on sale at Samsung for $439.99 and at Amazon for $537.99, down from the list price of $599.99. That's up to a 27% discount. At the time of writing, Amazon hasn't dropped the price to match the low at Samsung, but double check before you buy if you prefer Amazon.

The 55-inch display on the Samsung Class Mini LED 4K TV is great for a larger bedroom, rec room, and even gaming thanks to the 144 Hz refresh rate. Mini LED backlighting is perfect for getting stark color contrast and deep blacks.

Samsung used the brand's Pure Spectrum Color technology to make the display look more lifelike than ever. Combined with the HDR picture quality, you'll be watching Planet Earth in a whole new way.

Before fall shows start up in September, upgrade to the 55-inch Samsung Class Mini LED 4K TV while it's on a major sale. The crisp display and gaming specs make this a model a versatile pick.

TL;DR: Manscaped has launched The Lawn Mower Go, its most affordable body hair trimmer yet, priced at $49.99 with a SkinSafe ceramic blade and waterproof design.

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Credit: Manscaped

Manscaped Lawn Mower Go

$49.99 at Amazon

 

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Manscaped is expanding its Lawn Mower lineup with a new, more budget-friendly option: The Lawn Mower Go, launching for $49.99.

It's designed specifically for below-the-waist grooming, with a slim, lightweight build that's meant to be easy to handle — a solid option if you're new to grooming or just want something simpler than Manscaped's pricier options.

The trimmer uses a SkinSafe ceramic blade, designed to reduce nicks and cuts in sensitive areas, paired with a compact grip for better control. It comes with two adjustable comb attachments, so you're not locked into just one trim length. It's also fully waterproof, rated to withstand up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, so it works well in the shower and rinses off easily.

There's also a built-in LED spotlight, so you can actually see what you're doing instead of just trimming blind. For everyday use, it offers up to 60 minutes of runtime and charges over USB-C. The trimmer comes with a travel lock and a built-in sport strap, so it's easy to toss into a gym bag or weekend travel bag without worrying about it turning on by accident.

Easy to trim, easier on your wallet — grab the Lawn Mower Go for $49.99.

SAVE $33: As of July 28, the Zafro 150-Pint Smart Dehumidifier is down to $296.99 at Amazon. That's a 10% discount off its $329.99 list price.

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Credit: Zafro

Zafro 150-Pint Dehumidifier

$296.99 at Amazon
$329.99 Save $33

 

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The Zafro 150-Pint Smart Dehumidifier is currently $296.99 at Amazon, down from $329.99. It covers spaces up to 7,500 square feet, so it's a solid pick if you're dealing with a big basement or a larger area rather than just one damp room.

It uses an advanced compressor system designed around Zafro's "Silent by Nature" approach, keeping things quiet without sacrificing power. It comes with a 2.11-gallon water tank and a drain hose, so you don't have to empty it manually constantly. It also meets the newer, stricter Energy Star 6.0 certification, meaning it runs efficiently without spiking your electricity bill.

There's ambient lighting built around the humidity readings, cycling through yellow, green, or red depending on how humid the room is, so you can get a quick glance at the room's conditions without checking the display.

It's WiFi-enabled with six smart presets, including a dedicated Laundry Mode that speeds up drying damp clothes. You get full remote control through the Zafro app, plus a 24-hour timer and safety features like a child lock, auto-defrost, and auto-shutoff when the tank's full — useful if you've got kids or pets around.

Musty room? Not for long — grab Zafro's dehumidifier for $296.99 at Amazon.

SAVE $76: As of July 28, get the DJI Mic 3 (1 TX + 1 RX) for $143 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $219. That's a discount of 35%.

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Credit: Amazon

DJI Mic 3 (1 TX + 1 RX)

$143 at Amazon
$219 Save $76

 

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Whether you're a content creator or just looking for a great mic to enhance your personal recordings, DJI is where it's at when it comes to excellent audio equipment. True, the company may be famous primarily for its drones, but its microphones are some of the best tech on its roster, and it's a good idea to grab a DJI mic when it's on sale—like right now.

As of July 28, get the DJI Mic 3 (1 TX + 1 RX) for $143 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $219. That's $76 off and a discount of 35%.

This tiny mic is perfect for recording interviews, giving your videos better, clearer narration, or just making sure you're capturing spoken words that you want in your content. This particular bundle comes with one transmitter, one receiver, a charging case, and Lightning and USB-C phone adapters to get you started recording right away.

This pocket-sized mic is great for taking on the go. You can throw it into a bag or keep it on you while traveling, and it's small and out of the way. It's possible to pair up to four transmitters with a receiver to sync audio, and it's unobtrusive in just about every setting. Plus, it has adjustable voice tones, adaptive gain control, and a slew of other features to help make the audio you capture perfect for any use case.

If you're ready for a significant upgrade for your content creation supply kit, this mic will be an invaluable addition, especially at this price.

SAVE $50: As of July 28, the Alienware 34-inch curved ultrawide gaming monitor (AW3425DWM) is on sale for only $299.99 at Amazon. That's $50 off its current list price and just $30 away from its lowest price ever.

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Credit: Dell

Alienware 34-inch curved gaming monitor (AW3425DWM)

$299.99 at Amazon
$349.99 Save $50

 

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Gaming hardware tends to come with outrageous price tags, especially curved ultrawide gaming monitors. But every once in awhile, we come across a deal that stops us in our tracks. The Alienware AW3425DWN monitor is that deal.

As of July 28, you can get the Alienware 34-inch curved ultrawide gaming monitor (AW3425DWM) for only $299.99 at Amazon. While it originally retailed for $399.99 (which is still a stellar price), the monitor recently got a permanent price drop to $349.99. Now it's even cheaper with an extra $50 discount.

If you're wondering why the monitor is so cheap, there are a few main factors. One, it's a VA panel, which can often have issues with smearing and motion handling, depending on the game. On the other hand, it has deeper blacks and better contrast than an IPS panel and you don't have to worry about burn-in as you do with an OLED panel. For what it's worth, users on Reddit have mostly excellent things to say about the AW3425DWM.

The 1500R curved panel wraps the game around you and is pretty steep, which may take a bit of getting used to. You'll be fully immersed in any game or world you choose. As Redditors have pointed out, it also serves as a great all-rounder for productivity and web browsing as well as gaming.

The 180Hz refresh rate and 1ms response rate aren't the highest around, but they should serve most gamers just fine. Plus, for the price, it's honestly hard to complain. Other perks include AMD FreeSync Premium, VESA Adaptive Sync Technology, VESA DisplayHDR 400, WQHD resolution, plenty of ports, and a small footprint design with an adjustable base. Any way you slice it, it's hard to believe it's under $300.

National Chicken Wing Day lands on July 29.

Major chains across the country are dropping limited-time deals, BOGO promos, and wing discounts to celebrate this special day. Whether you take your wings bone-in, boneless, drenched in extra-spicy sauce, or coated in lemon pepper, this is officially your excuse to indulge in your passion.

These are our favorite National Chicken Wing Day deals in 2026:

7-Eleven

Get 10 wings delivered for $8 with the app. This offer is valid until Aug. 25.

Bad Daddy’s

Score $0.99 wings in classic Buffalo or sweet-and-spicy Thai chili on July 29 for dine-in guests. To qualify, you need to make a minimum order of six wings, with a limit of 18 wings per person.

Buffalo’s Cafe

Get $19.99 all-you-can-eat wings for dine-in guests on July 29.

Buffalo Wild Wings

Grab a free order of wings (bone-in or boneless) with any $15 dine-in purchase on July 29.

Dave & Buster’s

Score $0.50 boneless wings and $1 bone-in wings all day.

Hooters

Dine-in guests can get 10 wings (bone-in or boneless) for $7.29 with any beverage purchase on July 29.

Hurricane Grill & Wings

Get $0.99 bone-in or boneless wings all day on July 29 for dine-in guests.

Native Grill & Wings

Get $0.49 bone-in wings with any drink purchase on July 29. Valid for dine-in, takeout, or orders placed directly through the Native Grill & Wings app or website.

Pilot

On July 29, customers who order on the Pilot app can get five jumbo wings for $5.

Pizza Hut

Get a buy-one-get-one-free offer on wings at participating Pizza Hut locations with the code BOGOWINGS. This deal is valid when ordering online or in the Pizza Hut app.

Raise the Roost

Grab $1 single chicken tenders or traditional bone-in wings from July 27-30 at participating locations.

Sonny's BBQ

Loyalty members get a free 6-count of Sauced & Tossed wings with any entrée purchase.

Speedy Cafe

Speedy Rewards members can grab special promotional pricing on 5-piece or 8-piece boneless wing orders through Aug. 25.

TGI Fridays

Order Matchday Wing Bites starting at $8.99 (six bone-in or eight boneless wings with fries and dip) or upgrade to the Matchday Goal Line Platter starting at $16.99 (eight wings, three chicken fingers, and golden onion rings).

The Greene Turtle

Get the $19.99 all-you-can-eat wing-and-fries special (valid for both bone-in and boneless wings, upon request).

Wings and Rings

Take 40% off all wings on July 28-29 for dine-in and online orders.

Wingstop

Club Wingstop members can unlock daily sweepstakes for concert tickets, $500 Ticketmaster gift cards, and VIP festival packages until July 31.

In a year where price hikes and the enshittification of tech products are more common than is ideal, the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 are a very pleasant surprise.

I'm not going to lie — I doubted Ozlo. Maybe it was the the $50 price jump of the original Sleepbuds last year, or maybe it was the fact that the original buds were leaps and bounds more expensive than other popular options (yet lacked any noise cancelling or sleep tracking features).

Yet, here I stand corrected. The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 are available for $279. While still firmly at the luxury price point for sleep earbuds, they're $80 cheaper than the post-price bump $349 OG Sleepbuds, and cheaper still than the first gen's $299 launch price. Rather than using this as an excuse to pare down, Ozlo scaled up, adding comprehensive sleep tracking while retaining the streamlined performance that put the first Sleepbuds on the map.

So what's the result? I spent many a night's sleep to find out.

The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 at a glance

They look nearly identical to the first generations Sleepbuds, but pack important upgrades. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

What I liked: The addition of sleep tracking is a huge upgrade, especially thanks to the comprehensive analysis in graphs and charts (more on that below). The battery life is 14 hours per charge (compared to the 10 hours of the first gen), which makes the earbuds more functional for listening before dozing off. The extremely comfortable design is left virtually untouched, which is great. Improved Bluetooth connectivity left me with zero issues in connecting to the app. Ozlo also kept its sleep sound library, which is the best of any sleep earbud I've tried.

What I didn't like: Though the battery life per charge improved, the case can only hold a few days of charge max, which pales in comparison to the five to seven days you can get with Soundcore's Sleep A30 Special earbuds. At this price point, a feature like noise cancellation would've made sense, and while I didn't find myself missing it, it might be a con for some users. Finally, these earbuds lose the first generation's on-ear touch controls, which I did like for snoozing alarms. The friction probably does me some good in avoiding snoozing, but it's a bummer to see it gone.

Specs and key features

• Battery life: 14 hours per charge, with case holding up to three nights of sleeps per charge

• Alarm: Set and schedule multiple private alarms

• Controls: Smart case button for phone-free controls, including Sleep Sound playback or alarm snoozing

• Sleep tracking: Biometric and environmental tracking from the earbuds and smart case, with detailed reports available in app

• Ear tips: Four sizes of silicone ear tips

• Sleep modes: Customization between different kinds of audio playback and sleep timers customized to user experience

• Phone-free features: Can use sleep sounds and alarm without a phone connection

• Sleep Shield: Feature set that blocks incoming notifications, calls, and streaming while you sleep

• Sleep sounds: Library of over 30 soundscapes and masking sleep sounds

The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 performance

Comfort

Any sleep earbud needs to excel in the comfort category, especially if you're a side sleeper. Thankfully, the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 do exactly that. Though they're nearly identical to the first-generation earbuds, I still found myself appreciating the ultra-low profile and silicone ear tips. You'll get four sizes total, with the wing tips connecting to the ear tips. The material is soft, allowing for a snug fit that's hard to detect, making for maximum comfort.

Sleep sounds

These sleep earbuds don't feature active noise cancellation, so the sleep sound library — which includes nature-based soundscapes, "mask" sounds, and nocturnes — needed to bring the incredibly soothing heat, and bring it, it did.

You can choose from over 30 options on the Ozlo app. Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

And up to 10 sounds saved locally onto the earbuds. Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

With the app, you can save up to 10 sounds locally on the earbuds at once, swapping out from the library of more than 30 sounds. Sounds include names like "Warm Glow," "All Aboard," "Jade Static," and "Mountain Air." I legitimately felt my eyelids getting heavier as I cycled through them during the daytime while I tested the earbuds. None stood out as too grating (which I can't always say for Soundcore's sleep library). The volume levels felt very appropriate for sleep, with the soundscapes striking the right degree of balance: busy enough to block out either the sound of a room or a busy brain, but not so busy as to be distracting.

Customization

The Sleepbuds 2 can be as simple as a fancy device to listen to a pre-bedtime podcast, before switching to soothing sounds to get you through the night. Even in that simplest use case, it offers quite a bit of customization.

The five different sleep modes customize when (and if) your sleep sounds kick in. Auto, for example, plays the sound as soon as your own content finishes. Sensing (my preferred mode) starts the sleep sound once the earbuds tell you're asleep. You can also manually activate the sleep sound — from the case, with no phone required — or set a timer if you prefer not to rely on any auto-play.

How do you prefer to drift off? Ozlo gives you options. Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

Sleep shield is another new feature to these earbuds, and basically acts as a "do not disturb," blocking notifications, texts, and calls while you're sleeping. Not so new is the built-in alarm, which is a true game changer if you share a room but not a wake-up time with someone else. As someone who usually uses a Loftie alarm clock, I'm very picky about the sounds that wake me up — these earbuds deliver. That said, if you're loyal to iPhone alarm sounds, you do have the option of using your phone's built-in alarm.

Finally, all of these customizations are made even better by the improved Bluetooth connection — the earbuds connect to the app without a hitch. That said, if you're trying to limit your screen time or keep your phone out of your bedroom, these earbuds also work perfectly fine with just the smart case button.

Sleep tracking

While I wouldn't put these earbuds on par with a dedicated wearable fitness tracker, Ozlo definitely made an effort to take a firm step in that direction.

The result is the most comprehensive sleep tracking I've encountered on sleep earbuds, which is impressive considering the first-generation earbuds had...none.

The earbuds and smart case work in tandem to offer data about your sleep... Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

...and room environment. Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

You do have to manually load your data into the app by putting the earbuds back in the case, opening it up, and then opening the app. It'll take a few minutes, but the earbuds can store several nights' worth, so it doesn't have to be a daily task. The result is worth it, too. I saw how well my sleep lined up with my goals (set in the sleep pattern tab), my various sleep stages, the noise and temperature in my environment, what sleep sounds I used, at what volume, and in what mode, and overall trends with my sleep. Like I said, comprehensive.

All of these features are included in the cost of the earbuds, so that means no monthly subscription costs are necessary for you to understand more about how you sleep.

The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 design

As I mentioned in the comfort section, these earbuds are incredibly low profile and completely comfortable to use as a side sleeper (which is how I sleep exclusively).

The case is a bit larger than both Soundcore sleep earbuds options, and for $279, it probably should just come with a free travel case for the most convenient packing possible. But ultimately, it's hard to find too many issues with the earbuds.

The low profile is side-sleeper friendly. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

As for the digital design, the app layout is clean and reminiscent of Bose headphones' companion apps. It isn't too surprising, considering ex-Bose employees founded Ozlo. For the sleep earbuds, it works well, keeping features simple and accessible to find, with troubleshooting options also prominently placed. The last thing you'd want to do before bed is spend time looking for settings, so Ozlo gets big points here.

The app is plenty easy to navigate. Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

Credit: Screenshot / Ozlo

Are the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 worth it?

The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 are an improvement on the original in almost every way. The brand kept the same what needed to be kept the same, and added new features where they were most crucial.

While they're still $50 more than my favorite pair of sleep earbuds, the Soundcore Sleep A30 Special, they're also much more deserving of a premium price point than they formerly were. Despite the lack of ANC, the balanced soundscapes, top-of-the-line comfort, and overall thoughtful design let these earbuds shine — or rather, very soothingly dim the lights and calm your mind — in their own right.

They won't be the sleep earbuds for everyone, but if you're looking for a more upgraded experience, want the most comfortable earbuds possible, and plenty of sleep data, buying these is a decision you could sleep very well with at night.

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Credit: Ozlo

Ozlo Sleepbuds 2

$279 at Ozlo

 

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The ex-Bose employee-designed Ozlo Sleepbuds were instrumental to waking up the sleep earbuds market (pun very much intended).

Though the earbuds had an impressive pedigree and solid performance, they also fell into the traps of a first-generation product — some missing features and a price point that didn't quite match the performance. Ozlo took the feedback in stride and is back with an improved experience in the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2.

The new sleep earbuds are available at Ozlo's website as of July 28 for $279. They're cheaper than their predecessor, yet come with key improvements and more sleep features overall. I've been testing the Sleepbuds 2 over the past couple of weeks, and can confirm Ozlo has taken a step in the right direction.

Ozlo Sleepbuds 2: Key features and price

As mentioned above, the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 are available for $279.99. It's an especially impressive price point compared to the first-generation buds for two reasons. One, the original Sleepbuds are $349 at full price. However, they launched at $299, but fell into the wave of tech products that received tariff-related price bumps last spring.

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Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

Ozlo Sleepbuds 2

$279 at Ozlo

 

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Then there's the fact that Soundcore's sleep earbuds with active noise cancellation (Mashable's top pick for sleep earbuds) cost $229.99. Ozlo's narrowing of the gap between the two price points feels essential and much more accurate to the discrepancy in the user experience between the two earbuds.

Key features

• Battery life: 14 hours per charge, with case holding up to three nights of sleeps per charge

• Alarm: Set and schedule multiple private alarms

• Controls: Smart case button for phone-free controls, including Sleep Sound playback or alarm snoozing

• Sleep tracking: Biometric and environmental tracking from the earbuds and smart case, with detailed reports available in app

• Ear tips: Four sizes of silicone ear tips

• Sleep modes: Customization between different kinds of audio playback and sleep timers customized to user experience

• Phone-free features: Can use sleep sounds and alarm without a phone connection

• Sleep Shield: Feature set that blocks incoming notifications, calls, and streaming while you sleep

• Sleep sounds: Library of over 30 soundscapes and masking sleep sounds

What's new

While Ozlo retains some of the best parts of the original earbuds (the comfortable design and great sleep soundscapes), they've upped the ante with a much longer battery life (14 hours compared to 10 hours), the addition of sleep tracking analytics, sleep modes, and the smart case button.

Ozlo Sleepbuds 2: Overall impressions

You can find my detailed thoughts in my full review of the Sleepbuds 2, but as an overview, here's what worked and didn't work:

What I liked: Ultra comfortable wear, balanced and varied sleep sounds with great volume variety, longer battery life, lower price point than first generation, the incredibly detailed sleep analysis (which included graphs depicting phases of sleep, room temperature, room sounds, etc.), easy connectivity, and easily navigable app

What I didn't like: The smart case button, which replaces on-ear earbud touch controls, the case battery life compared to Soundcore's case battery life, and no active noise cancellation

The takeaway: Overall, I much prefer the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 to the original Sleepbuds. Though the improvements weren't drastic, they were needed, and the brand implemented customer feedback where it mattered most. While I wouldn't say an upgrade is essential for folks who already own these Sleepbuds, it may be worth taking advantage of the launch promotions.

Ozlo Sleepbuds 2: Early deals and where to buy

The Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 are $279 on Ozlo's website. For a limited time after launch, orders will include a complimentary Ultra-Soft 3D Blackout Ozlo sleep mask and Ozlo Travel Case. Existing Sleepbuds customers will have access to a 30-day upgrade offer that brings the price of the Sleepbuds 2 down to $229.

Where to buy the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2

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Ozlo

Ozlo Sleepbuds 2

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TL; DR: Lego and Olivia Rodrigo surprised 100 fans at LA's Licorice Pizza Records, turning the store into a life-sized Lego build featuring her Guts World Tour Concert Moon. It kicked off a global hunt for 333 limited-edition brick-built Lego vinyl records hidden in stores worldwide, with clues dropping on social media over the coming weeks.

Lego and Olivia Rodrigo surprised 100 fans on Monday with a takeover of Licorice Pizza Records, one of LA's most iconic record stores, transforming it into a full-scale Lego build to mark the arrival of the new Lego Editions Olivia Rodrigo collection.

The highlight of the takeover was a giant Lego version of the floating moon Rodrigo performed on during her Guts tour, built from 77,000 Lego bricks. She actually sat on top of it and answered fan questions. More than 110,000 Lego bricks went into transforming the whole store, and it took over 500 hours to build.

Then came the bigger surprise: Rodrigo kicked off a global scavenger hunt for 333 limited-edition, brick-built Lego vinyl records, hidden inside record stores around the world. Over the next couple of weeks, Lego and Rodrigo will drop clues across their social channels, pointing fans toward where these vinyls are hidden, and fans who track one down are being asked to share their find using #FindAStoryInEveryPiece.

This all ties into the Lego Editions Olivia Rodrigo collection, which we covered when it launched — five collectible sets inspired by songs, performances, and moments from the Sour, Guts, and You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love eras.

Credit: The Lego Group

The collection was developed in close collaboration with Rodrigo, with each set designed to hide references and details that fans can dig into. Julia Goldin, Lego's Chief Product & Marketing Officer, said the Vinyl Hunt was built to take that idea of discovery "one step further," turning it into a real-world event that brings fans together in record stores and communities globally.

The Lego Editions Olivia Rodrigo collection is available to pre-order ahead of its global launch on Aug. 1 at Lego, Lego stores, and select global retailers.