Hey man, I don't know what message you're trying to send by plastering extremely realistic-looking billionaire faces onto robot dogs — that's between you and your higher power, or lack thereof — but no thanks. I'm good, actually, thanks for offering.
I actually do not need to witness Elon Musk's smirking visage attached to a robot that then defecates AI-generated Polaroids to the audience. I've got errands to run.
Look at these damn things.
The art installation I'm referring to is called Regular Animals, located in Miami during Art Basel. It's a creation by Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, the artist who sold his NFT art for $69 million during the 2021 NFT boom.
The penned-up billionaire dogs include Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, as well as art-world figures like Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, and Beeple himself. It's unnerving and weird to see the hyper-realistic faces wandering around on the picture-pooping dogs. Some folks might be tempted to draw some meaning from the installation. Not me, I've got laundry to do. No thanks.
Need a Christmas tree? Amazon Prime members can save 66% on this Pre-Lit Dunhill FirThis Pre-Lit Dunhill Fir (artificial) Christmas tree is 66% off for prime members this weekend
SAVE $189: As of Dec. 6th, this Pre-Lit Dunhill Fir artificial Christmas tree is 66% percent off, coming in at $99. This is down from the National Tree Company’s list price of $289.99 on Amazon.
It's Dec. 6th, which means that Thanksgiving has come and gone, Black Friday and Cyber Monday spun in like the Tasmanian Devil and spun back out, and now we're more than one-fifth of the way through 25 days of Christmas. It's that time of the holiday season when many windows are filling up with the lights of beautifully decorated trees and/or menorahs. If you don't have a tree quite yet or if you've been on the fence, this weekend, the National Tree Company has a deal you might be interested in. The NTC has its Pre-Lit DunHill Fir artificial Christmas tree on sale for 66% off.
This particular Pre-Lit artificial tree measures 7.5 ft in height with a 55-inch diameter at its base. When it comes to being "Pre-Lit", that means that the tree is wrapped with lights before packaging, offering you a stress-free setup. The tree comes replete with 700 white light bulbs for sparkling holiday-season ambiance, on full-bodied branches designed to look as real as possible. The tree also features attached drop-down branches, allowing you to set it up quickly once you take it out of the box.
The instructions indicate that one should spend about 45-60 minutes fluffing and pulling apart the branches so they look extra real.
Pixel Watch updates its always on display for media controls and timersGoogle Pixel watches are rolling out a big upgrade to their always-on display.
Google's Pixel watches are rolling out an improved always-on display.
Tech site 9to5Google spotted that with Wear OS 6, the Pixel Watch has added always-on capabilities for media controls (such as controlling your music) as well as the timer app. Previously, these sorts of tools would blur after a certain amount of time. Now, they remain on the screen, with the display having been slightly changed from its previous iteration.
That could mark a major improvement for people who use their watch to, say, time a workout or track what they're cooking. Mashable named the Google Pixel Watch 4 the best Android smartwatch of 2025 — so it's an improvement on an already good product. Tech Editor Timothy Beck Werth wrote it was "elegant enough to wear to the office, but comfortable and smart enough to monitor workouts." Senior reporter Christianna Silva, meanwhile, wrote in their review that the "Pixel Watch 4 is a true runners' watch, and it's gorgeous too."
So now, if you're a serious runner doing sprints on a track, you won't need to fiddle with the display to check your times. That's a small change that could have a big impact.
Best gift ideas for the woman in your life that are more than just another bathrobeShop home, tech, and beauty gifts for the lucky lady in your life.
Buying gifts for the special woman in your life can be tricky. What do you buy a person who has everything? What should you gift to someone who's picky about their products? Our advice is to curate a gift according to her interests and personality.
A gift for the lady in your life should be just that: A gift for her. Part of our bigger series on the Best Gifts For Everyone, we’ve put together this comprehensive list to guide you on your important mission. And if it happens to be a teen girl you're shopping for, then we have a list for that, too.
So whether she's a techie, runner, or pet owner, these are the best gifts for her.
Octopath Traveler 0 is a hefty investment that rewards your patience'Octopath Traveler 0' overcomes humble beginnings to become one of the best RPGs of the year.
Octopath Traveler 0 had every excuse to be half-assed. It could have been smaller, leaner, and less compelling than its predecessors, just by virtue of where it came from. It is a minor miracle that it’s none of those things.
The latest throwback-style turn-based RPG from Square Enix, in case you don’t know, is a $50 console and PC adaptation of a free-to-play mobile game from 2020. The developers took a bunch of existing characters, enemies, storylines, mechanics, and music, and reconstituted them into an entirely different and wholly welcome new format. Given that mobile games are inherently fleeting, as they rely on storefronts, servers, and payment processes that will cease to exist someday, I think this is kind of incredible.
It also helps that the end result is just a real, real good RPG. Octopath Traveler 0 takes a foundation that could’ve produced something awkward and rickety and turns it into a game that keeps expanding and becoming more compelling the more time you invest into it. It might not feel as premium as the other console games in the series, but that doesn’t stop Octopath Traveler 0 from being one of the best RPGs of 2025, and a worthy addition to what is quickly becoming a very good series.
Octopath Traveler 0 is different from the first two console entries in the series in a number of ways, largely owing to the fact that it’s reformed from components of Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, a free-to-play phone spin-off. That means the very design fabric that made those first two games stand out is gone here.
Specifically, you no longer choose from one of eight pre-designed characters and spend the rest of your journey recruiting the other seven. That format produced games that felt more like short story collections than grand adventures, as each character had their own distinct arcs that largely didn’t involve the other characters. In Octopath 0, you instead create your own character, choose a starting class, and set off into the same prologue that every other player will see.
Soon enough, your humble hometown gets burnt down by some nefarious evildoers, and it’s up to you and a handful of other survivors to rebuild and seek revenge. There are several bespoke story arcs that rarely touch each other here, as in previous Octopath games, but they’re centered around heroes rather than villains. You can do them in whatever order you want, but you’ll have to do them all eventually.
Perhaps the biggest change, which comes directly from the mobile game, is that there are multiple dozens of playable party members in Octopath 0, as opposed to just eight in each of the previous two games. You don’t have to pay money to participate in slot machine pulls to unlock them anymore, as they’re now doled out at a reasonable pace over the course of the story, and many of them are optional to recruit.
Structurally, Octopath 0 is substantially more appealing to me than Champions of the Continent could ever hope to be. I don’t like free-to-play gacha games, but I like narrative RPGs. I think it is an act of near-genius to adapt a mobile game to a console game in the way the developers have here. While Octopath 0 feels different from its brethren, it rarely feels lesser than those other games. There are fewer combat animations for each character, to be sure, and it’s noticeable to fans of the other games that much of the music is reused. But Octopath 0 does not cut corners. This is, for all intents and purposes, a big, new, fully-featured RPG built using the bones of a mobile game. In a world where new games take forever to get made and budgets are ballooning, I can’t help but applaud this novel approach to filling the gap between 2023’s Octopath Traveler II and whatever comes next.
As a non-full-priced game with such a strange origin story, it would be reasonable to expect a game with less going on than its higher-budget counterparts in the same series. That expectation could not be farther off the mark, though.
I’ll just state it bluntly: This game took me about 80 hours to finish. It’s a massive investment, and it’s an investment that requires a degree of patience. Many of the early first 20 hours or so are spent setting the table for what comes later. You will spend a lot of that time recruiting a full party and starting the process of rebuilding your hometown, which is done in a fairly substantial town-building minigame. There are essential, game-changing battle mechanics that are hidden behind building certain structures that don’t unlock until you hit that 20-hour mark, approximately.
Do not misunderstand me; I am not saying Octopath Traveler 0 takes 20 hours to get good. I am saying, however, that it saves its best for later. Like I said, it’s an investment, and I think it’s a rewarding one to make.
That reward takes a few different forms. One of them is excellent turn-based combat, which is some of the most fun in any game released this year.
Unlike previous Octopath games, in which you had four party members on screen at once, Octopath 0 lets you work with eight homies on the field at any given time. They’re arranged into a front row and back row. Those in the front can attack and take damage, while those in the back are guarded from hits and slowly recover resources with each passing turn. You can instantly switch between one character and another character who is in the same horizontal slot as them on the formation screen, and figuring out who plays second fiddle to whom is a huge part of build-crafting in this game.
This works exceptionally well with the main battle conceit of every Octopath game, which is the Boost system. At the start of each turn, every character earns one Boost Point, and they can hold up to five at a time. You can use as many as three in one turn to power up whatever you’re about to do, whether it’s a big attack or a healing spell. In previous games, you had to be a little stingy with Boost Points, but not here. Having a whole backup crew gradually building up points means you’re incentivized to use more of them more often, and the combat is balanced accordingly. It’s an exciting and different challenge from something like Octopath II.
Building up your hometown is plugged into your progression, as well. As I said earlier, you have to build certain structures and house them with certain recruitable NPCs to unlock many key features of the battle system. Building requires resources, but collecting them is generally painless as long as you’re observant and make sure to pick things up on the road. Perhaps a bit annoyingly, there are also important quality-of-life features like fast travel that are locked behind building and upgrading structures.
I do have one complaint about town-building, which is that you can essentially “finish” your town (that is, build every essential gameplay structure) halfway through the main story, at which point there’s no longer much need to think about it. I would have preferred more hooks for the endgame, but I suppose there’s also something to like about just focusing on exploring and fighting as the game winds towards its conclusion.
Speaking of which, the other main vector of satisfaction if you choose to invest your time in Octopath Traveler 0 is the narrative. This game is all about how greed is bad, and each villain represents a different kind of greed. Some want fame, some want wealth, some want power, but they all want, and that is where they end up harming those around them.
At first, it feels very heavy-handed and predictable. Stick with the story long enough, however, and you’ll find that the early predictability gives way to later twists that actually have weight to them. Octopath Traveler 0 is an exceptionally earnest game, never trying to trick or outsmart the player. It just wants you to care about this world and these people, and I think it does a fine job of extracting those feelings from the player by the time it’s done.
Part of that is a lengthy finale chapter, which amounts to maybe a quarter of the game by itself. This is where every other previously-disconnected storyline comes together, and all the characters you’ve met up to that point start interacting with each other for the first time. The game’s biggest narrative swings all happen in the finale, including a villain reveal for the ages. This is easily the best antagonist of any Octopath game, but to say any more would ruin the fun for you.
Before we’re done here, I’d be remiss not to mention that Square Enix’s “HD-2D” art style that started with the first Octopath game is still great here. I really dig the intentionally low-fidelity look of the sprites and 3D assets, combined with modern lighting and depth-of-field effects. It doesn’t really look like an old game, but it looks awesome, nonetheless. Yasunori Nishiki’s music is also a standout element of Octopath 0, as he has become one of the finest RPG composers working right now. One of the boss fight themes is such a smoking hot banger that I’ve been listening to it for a week straight in my free time.
Unfortunately, performance in the Nintendo Switch 2 version (which is what I played) isn’t great. It targets and comes close to hitting 60 frames per second most of the time, but there's a noticeable stutter that seems most prevalent during the first few seconds after entering a new area. Not unplayable by any means, but certainly a little disappointing.
Still, Octopath Traveler 0 is a remarkably long and generally worth-the-effort experience, especially for anyone who vibes with the other games in the series. This is the kind of game that you’d yearn for as a teenager on summer break with nothing else to do. You can sink into it for dozens of hours, and it just keeps getting better the more you play it, thanks to excellent combat and a story that finds its best self in its later stages.
I understand not everyone has time for that kind of thing in their adult lives, but if you can create a window in your life for Octopath Traveler 0, your patience will largely be rewarded.
Octobpath Traveler 0 is available for Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5 for $49.99.
Christmas stocking stuffers have long been the afterthoughts of gift-giving, mere "Let's just get this out of the way" or "Oh no, I forgot again" presents. Think: tacky socks, bulk chocolate candy from the clearance aisle, and Chapstick. (And do not get us started on wh*skey st*nes.) Most of these last-minute gift ideas are just begging to be tossed in a junk drawer or the donation pile, never to see the light of day again. Granted, it's a fate they probably deserve.
That's a shame, because unpacking your stocking should be the perfect start to the happiest day of the year. So, we consulted our deep bench of shopping reporters, deal hunters, and product reviewers to gather the very best stocking stuffers of the season.
We've gathered our favorite tiny-but-impressive gift ideas that can work for everyone on your list. So, whether you're searching for stocking stuffer ideas under $25 or something fancier that will catch them by surprise on Christmas morning, we have more than 60 unique gifts to inspire you.
Let the holiday shopping commence.
Bose QuietComfort Ultra (Gen 2) vs. Sony WH-1000xM6: Which headphones should you buy?We tested both the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (Gen 2) and the Sony WH-1000xM6 headphones to see which ones come out on top.
The QC Ultra (Gen 2) have category-leading noise cancellation. Bose upgraded its ANC algorithm and microphone system to be more dynamic and responsive to low-frequency sounds. These technologies adaptively remove about 95 percent of external fracas. Anything that comes through will sound like background effects on songs and movies. Aware mode (aka transparency) is just as rewarding for keeping tabs on surroundings. Another brand hallmark that remains undefeated is Immersive Audio. This feature creates amazing surround sound for all stereo content. It isn’t confined to any specific technology (*cough* Dolby Atmos cough) and is the most realistic sounding of all other spatial audio formats on headphones.
ANC on the WH-1000xM6 is right below the QC Ultra (Gen 2), which is a huge compliment. These headphones do a terrific job of eliminating most unwanted noises and minimizing high-frequency sounds. Transparency mode is superb for increasing ambient awareness. There are 20 adjustable levels to control the amount of noise you want to hear. Listening at max level captures every peep in your vicinity with precision. Still, we prefer the QC Ultra’s more powerful ANC since it eliminates high-frequency sounds better. We also favor Immersive Audio over Sony’s 360 Reality Audio. The latter is fine for watching movies, but it doesn’t sound as natural. Not to mention, 360 Reality Audio only works with a very limited number of streaming services, which also have limited content.
Winner: Bose QC Ultra (Gen 2)
Read our full review of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (Gen 2).
Much like the WH-1000xM5, the Mark Series VI headphones have a versatile control scheme consisting of motion, physical, touch, and voice functions. All of them work exceptionally well. Voice controls are most impressive. Siri and Google Assistant commands are accurately registered and executed. Intelligible features like Speak-to-Chat are on point to automatically mute sound when detecting your voice. The QC Ultra (Gen 2) boast their own responsive control scheme, but they lack the WH-1000xM6’s smart voice functionality.
Audio performance is where the WH-1000xM6 shine brightest. Sony’s suite of proprietary technologies gives them unbeatable wireless sound. The 30mm drivers dish out detailed and dynamic audio. Frequencies are nicely balanced, and being able to tweak them via customizable EQ simplifies sound personalization. Our favorite Sony feature, DSEE, upscales clarity, depth, and fidelity on all tracks, no matter the file or streaming service. LDAC codec support boosts bitrate transmission on Android devices to reveal more depth and nuance in songs.
The QC Ultra (Gen 2) “pick up details well across the spectrum of lows to highs,” as described in our full review. You get an awesome mix of crisp mids and deep bass on contemporary tracks. Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive and Lossless codecs result in CD-like quality over Bluetooth (Android only). There’s an adjustable EQ in the Bose app. Unfortunately, it is nowhere near as advanced as Sony’s EQ. Again, Immersive Audio is magnificent for 3D sound, but the all-new Cinematic Mode is underwhelming; all it does is make background effects louder.
Winner: Sony WH-1000xM6
Read our full review of the Sony WH-1000xM6.
Webb telescope found a Milky Way lookalike 12 billion light-years awayUsing NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have found a grand design spiral galaxy like the Milky Way in the early universe.
Researchers have discovered a large, orderly spiral galaxy that formed soon after the Big Bang, when space was only about 1.5 billion years old.
The galaxy, named Alaknanda, appears in observations made by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope as part of major sky surveys. Because the Milky Way lookalike is seen at an extreme distance, its light has traveled for more than 12 billion years to reach Earth. Only recently has telescope technology become powerful enough to spot galaxies with this level of detail from such an early time.
For decades, astronomers believed galaxies in the early universe were too turbulent to settle into neat spiral shapes. Young stars and gas were thought to move chaotically, producing irregular clumps instead of smooth disks and arms. Hubble Space Telescope observations supported this view, as spiral galaxies seemed more scarce beyond about 11 billion years in look-back time.
The discovery raises new questions about how such structures formed so early.
"Alaknanda reveals that the early universe was capable of far more rapid galaxy assembly than we anticipated," said Yogesh Wadadekar, the study's co-author, in a statement. "Somehow, this galaxy managed to pull together 10 billion solar masses of stars and organise them into a beautiful spiral disk in just a few hundred million years. That's extraordinarily fast by cosmic standards, and it compels astronomers to rethink how galaxies form."
Webb’s sharper vision has revealed many disk-shaped galaxies from the early universe, and now, a small but growing number of true spiral galaxies — including Alaknanda — far earlier than predicted by older models. The telescope found CEERS-2112 and REBELS-25, two spiral galaxies, in the early universe in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
The discovery of Alaknanda, made by scientists at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India, has been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
"The physical processes driving galaxy formation — gas accretion, disk settling, and possibly the development of spiral density waves — can operate far more efficiently than current models predict," said Rashi Jain, the lead author, in a statement. "It's forcing us to rethink our theoretical framework."
Alaknanda — named after the Himalayan river that is a twin headstream of the Ganga — spans roughly 32,000 light-years across, comparable to large modern spiral galaxies. It also contains a huge number of stars.
Images show that the galaxy already has a flat, rotating disk with two clear spiral arms with the classic pinwheel shape. These arms appear smooth and symmetrical, earning Alaknanda the label of a "grand-design" spiral galaxy, meaning it has defined arms rather than patchy or broken ones.
Along the spiral arms, scientists observed chains of bright clumps of newborn stars. These clumps look like a string of beads, marking areas where gas has collapsed into dense pockets that ignite new stars. In other views, each string appears as part of a larger spiral arm.
The research team was able to see immense detail in the distant galaxy with the help of a natural phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. A massive galaxy cluster's gravity acts like a giant magnifying glass in the sky, bending and enhancing the light of Alaknanda to appear twice as bright.
To understand Alaknanda’s history, researchers compared its brightness across 21 different wavelengths of light, spanning ultraviolet to infrared. By matching those measurements to computer models of stellar populations, they estimated that the galaxy’s stars average only about 200 million years old. That means roughly half formed in a rapid burst after the universe was already more than 1 billion years old.
Alaknanda continues to grow quickly. It forms new stars at a rate equal to about 63 suns per year — dozens of times faster than the Milky Way does today. Certain colors of light shine brighter than expected because glowing gas around new stars gives off strong signals, confirming the galaxy’s intense star-forming activity.
Scientists still do not know how spiral arms formed so quickly in these ancient systems. Some theories suggest they arise from slow-moving density patterns inside disks, while others point to gravitational disturbances from nearby galaxies or large clumps of gas. Alaknanda even appears to have a small neighboring galaxy that could have helped trigger its spiral structure, but more evidence is needed to draw that conclusion.
Future observations using Webb’s instruments for measuring motions inside galaxies, along with radio telescopes, could map how Alaknanda’s stars and gas orbit its center. Those data could help determine whether its disk has settled into its final configuration or whether the spiral arms represent a mere phase in its development.
Bobs Burgers creator Loren Bouchard on the evolution of Marshmallow"Bob's Burgers" creator Loren Bouchard discusses the evolution of Marshmallow (Jari Jones).
Sometimes a piece of art comes to you right when you need of it.
That's what "Hope N' Mic Night" was for me. The sixth episode of Bob's Burgers Season 15 aired on November 10, 2024. On its surface, it was a silly episode about the Belcher kids putting together an open mic night at the family's burger joint — because the school's talent show was cancelled for lack of talent. However, when fan favorite Marshmallow (now voiced by Jari Jones) got on the makeshift stage and sang a slowed-down version of "Seabird" while playing the guitar, the episode became about more than musical shenanigans and Tina's love of butts. It was a beacon of hope and reminder of the power of community when I needed both.
I picked the episode as one of the best of 2024. So, when Bob's Burgers creator Loren Bouchard joined me for a Say More interview, I knew I wanted to touch on this episode, and how it displays the cartoon show's evolution — and Marshmallow's too. In the virtual interview, Bouchard shared how the episode came about, and what it meant for Marshmallow.
Originally voiced by David Herman, Marshmallow first appeared in Season 1's "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?" as an unexpected guest at Tina's birthday party. There, she made a grand entrance and delivered a solid punchline about how she got her name. ("'Cause if you show me a sweet potato pie, I am on top of it.") Since then, Marshmallow has popped up again and again, cracking Bob's back, supporting the kids' basement casino, and attending every party, from Tina's birthday, to the Bog to Beach parade, and that secret subterranean Christmas rave.
Fans loved her, but also they began to question the casting choice to have a white cis man provide a deep voice for character that's a trans Black woman. Ahead of Season 15, the role of Marshmallow was recast, bringing in Jones, who made her debut in "Hope N' Mic Night."
Bouchard spoke of Marshmallow's development over the seasons, saying, "I don't want to oversimplify and make it sound pat, but we're evolving. As somewhat oblivious cis white males, speaking for myself — we certainly have lots of not-cis-white males working on the show — but we're all evolving and learning. Marshmallow was never, ever intended to be mean [in terms of trans representation].... It was never like, 'Get it? That person is other and different and stupid' or whatever. It was always intended to be loving. But it was a short, sharp introduction of a character."
"Whatever was implied by Marshmallow's incredible life," Bouchard continued, "was not clear [at the start]. It was just a knockout entrance and a great line for how she got her name. And I loved that character. I loved that voice [by Herman] because I'm a dumbass, and I thought it was funny to hear a low voice. And, you know, that has to evolve as we learn and understand more about trans people and just the rich tapestry of human existence."
Alluding to fans' concerns over Marshmallow's original voice casting, he said, "I love that. When we were reminded about representation in casting in general, especially as it pertains to race, then we recast. And then I love that we then found Jari. Jari was the right person. It was so obvious. And then I could have conversations with Jari [about Marshmallow and her voice]... It was a such a reasonable thing to bring to my attention and to help me see that [the deep voice is] not what this character is about. And it's still going to be a funny character when we need it. You know, there's comedy. You don't need to have the low voice. That's not the joke."
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As to why Bouchard thinks Marshmallow caught on with fans, he said, "When you add a character, you're theoretically not just adding the character who's gonna be 'funny.' You're adding a chemical reaction between one of your existing characters and this new character. So it's always the space between the characters. And in Marshmallow's case, Marshmallow was fantastic, but it was Bob's reaction to Marshmallow that made that work on the show."
As Bob puts it, she "comes and goes as she pleases, answers to no one, and is truly free."
In this Season 15 episode, Louise, Tina, and Gene beg Bob and Linda to let them throw an open mic night. While the kids start promoting the idea around the Wharf, their parents learn how expensive and complicated the planning is for such an event. But before they can balk, Marshmallow stops by the restaurant to sign up. Marshmallow is the reason Bob carries on with the event. And that night, when a pesky fire marshal threatens to shut them down for being over capacity, it's Marshmallow's intervention that saves the show (again) — and the Belchers.
On open mic night, Bob's Burgers is packed, with lots of recurring characters performing kooky cover songs. Then, Marshmallow changes the tone of the episode by singing "Seabird" while playing guitar. She soulfully performs before her parents and her friends, and it's a rendition so beautiful I tear up thinking of it now.
Then, of course, the kids close out the night with a rousing song about butts. Because at its core, Bob's Burgers is always about learning to love yourself, as freaky or quirky as you are.
After confessing that this episode is a favorite of mine because of how it moves me, I asked Bouchard how the episode came about. He responded, "That one is near and dear to me as well. I wrote it with this sort of sandbox approach, like, 'Oh, won't it be fun to have an open mic night?' Like, we just get to have so many musical numbers, and we're going to license all these songs. It'll be our big spend for our music budget."
From there, Bouchard recalled the inspiration for "Hope N' Mic Night" — a humble open mic he attended on vacation with his family. "I had been to one over the summer at this little coffee shop in Cape Cod, and I just was so charmed — so fucking charmed — by these people, putting themselves out there and that urge," he said. "I'm sort of shy. I wish I were that guy who would get up and sing off-key at an open mic night, or this woman who played her flute to a backing track. I'm not even sure if she was possibly in the wrong key, but like, it was still so charming. I was excited to try and give that to Bob's and our kids, and then these side characters."
At this point in Season 15's development, Jones had been cast to take up the mantle of Marshmallow. Bouchard explained, "And it was one text to Jari Jones… We'd been looking for Marshmallow opportunities. And I said, 'Can you sing?' And she said, 'Yes.' And I was like, 'How would you like to do a cover of something?'"
Bouchard hadn't yet figured out what the song would be, but he knew it had to be a "big moment." He continued, "We started looking for the song, and that was another whole journey... We looked at a lot of stuff, but when we really were at the deadline, 'Seabird' emerged. It's been on my radar since I saw it in the end credits of Hunt for the Wilderpeople. And it blew me away.
"I didn't know if it was a current song, if it was an old song, which it turns out it is. I had never heard it before, and I just found it so charming. The Alessi Brothers, I had never heard of them. But then ['Seabird'] became part of regular rotation in my house, my wife and I singing it to the point where our kids wanted to actually ban it. They said we weren't allowed to play it anymore because we had, like, worn it out, I guess.
"Anyway, then it was like, 'Oh my God, yes.' 'Seabird' slowed down. Guitar and voice. Chris Maxwell, who's one of our composers, played that guitar lick. And I just love it so much. And Jari killed it, just crushed it. It was one of those vocal sessions where you're crying. You can't believe your luck that you get to record a performance like that. I think we did two takes. That's it. It was perfect."
At this point, I teared up recounting how this episode made me feel the hope that comes from community. Bouchard replied, "Me too. I mean, that's what it was intended to do. And then Marshmallow delivered, you know, just delivered as a character. Jari as a performer, Chris as a guitarist, that song, everything came together. And that's why we do this."
He concluded, "You live for those moments doing a show like this, when it all comes together like that. We've had a few of them and boy, oh boy, it means everything to hear you say that, because it's why we do this."
For more from Mashable's interview with Loren Bouchard, watch the full Say More episode on YouTube.
How to watch Ohio State vs. Indiana online for freeHow to watch college football for free. Live stream Ohio State vs. Indiana in 2025.
It’s been a big couple of days for college football. Indeed, Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Indiana Hoosiers this evening — played concurrently with Virginia vs. Duke — rounds off two days of conference championship action. But Ohio State vs. Indiana, the Big Ten Conference Championship Game, is the toughest game to call.
Ohio State and Indiana are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, and both teams are undefeated this season with a record of 12-0. This isn’t just a battle for the Big Ten title, it’s also a battle for the College Football Playoff's top seed.
Ohio State are last year’s CFP champions and have a marginal edge. But whatever happens, it’s another can’t miss game.
If you want to watch Ohio State vs. Indiana for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
Ohio State vs. Indiana takes place at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 6. This game takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Ohio State vs. Indiana is broadcast on FOX.
Fans can live stream college football on a wide range of recommended platforms, some of which include free trials, allowing you to follow the action without actually spending anything.
Channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX
ESPN Unlimited provides access to everything that ESPN has to offer. For college football, you will find live access to games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, SECN+, ACC Network, and ABC. The Unlimited plan will cost you $29.99 per month, but for the first year, new subscribers can also secure a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu for the same price.
Channels: Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network
Fox One provides access to live broadcasts on Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network. It costs just $19.99 per month, and you can also save $40 by opting for the annual plan at $199.99. You can kickoff with a seven-day free trial, so you've got the chance to watch select games without spending anything.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, and The CW
FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and provides the opportunity to watch on 10 screens at once, if that's your thing. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period.
Fubo takes sports seriously, which we appreciate. With the Pro subscription, you get access to most college football broadcasts. But hardcore fans may want to consider upgrading to Fubo's Elite plan, which unlocks access to ESPNU, SEC Network, Pac-12 Network, and ACC Network. Either way, we suggest you test the waters for seven days before you make any sort of commitment.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, and The CW
Hulu + Live TV certainly isn't cheap, but it does offer plenty of bang for your buck. You'll have to cough up $76.99 per month (after a three-day trial), but you get access to over 95 live TV channels, plus Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ (all with ads). The included access to ESPN+ provides bonus access to even more college football games on top of live TV networks like ABC, FOX, ESPN, The CW, ACC Network, and more. Now that's value.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network
Sling is a comprehensive sporting service that offers a wide range of benefits, but you will need to be careful when selecting your plan. The Orange and Blue packages give you access to FOX, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and more in local markets, but for access to ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, and more, you'll need the Sports Extra package. We recommend checking your local market to ensure you get access to the channels you actually want.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NBCSN, SEC Network, and The CW
YouTube TV gives you access to more than 100 live channels. That's a whole lotta content. This huge list includes most of the channels you actually need to watch live college football, including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN, plus networks like FS1 and SEC Network. YouTube TV also offers that all-important free trial so you can watch select games without spending anything.
If you're outside the U.S. for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., allowing you to unblock live streams of college football from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Ohio State vs. Indiana from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.
Sign in to your favorite streaming service
Watch Ohio State vs. Indiana from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free. That means 49% off for a limited time. This plan also 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 $12.95 (which includes a money-back guarantee).
The conference championship action continues with today’s college football. And this one’s a particularly intriguing encounter, as the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide battle it out in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
The odds are in Georgia’s favour. At 11-1 overall this season, they sit third in the rankings. That means win or lose in this SEC Championship game, they’ll get an automatic bid to the College Football Playoffs. In other words, the pressure is somewhat off — though they still won’t want to lose this game.
That said, Alabama has a strong record against Georgia and will do everything they can to secure a win here. A loss would almost certainly see Alabama miss out on the playoffs. And with major history between these programs, this promises to be an electric showdown. And don’t forget there’s more action later today with Virginia vs. Duke and Ohio State vs. Indiana.
If you want to watch Georgia vs. Alabama for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
Georgia vs. Alabama takes place at 4 p.m. ET on Dec. 6. This game takes place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Georgia vs. Alabama is broadcast on ABC.
Fans can live stream college football on a wide range of recommended platforms, some of which include free trials, allowing you to follow the action without actually spending anything.
Channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX
ESPN Unlimited provides access to everything that ESPN has to offer. For college football, you will find live access to games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, SECN+, ACC Network, and ABC. The Unlimited plan will cost you $29.99 per month, but for the first year, new subscribers can also secure a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu for the same price.
Channels: Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network
Fox One provides access to live broadcasts on Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network. It costs just $19.99 per month, and you can also save $40 by opting for the annual plan at $199.99. You can kickoff with a seven-day free trial, so you've got the chance to watch select games without spending anything.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, and The CW
FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and provides the opportunity to watch on 10 screens at once, if that's your thing. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period.
Fubo takes sports seriously, which we appreciate. With the Pro subscription, you get access to most college football broadcasts. But hardcore fans may want to consider upgrading to Fubo's Elite plan, which unlocks access to ESPNU, SEC Network, Pac-12 Network, and ACC Network. Either way, we suggest you test the waters for seven days before you make any sort of commitment.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, and The CW
Hulu + Live TV certainly isn't cheap, but it does offer plenty of bang for your buck. You'll have to cough up $76.99 per month (after a three-day trial), but you get access to over 95 live TV channels, plus Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ (all with ads). The included access to ESPN+ provides bonus access to even more college football games on top of live TV networks like ABC, FOX, ESPN, The CW, ACC Network, and more. Now that's value.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network
Sling is a comprehensive sporting service that offers a wide range of benefits, but you will need to be careful when selecting your plan. The Orange and Blue packages give you access to FOX, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and more in local markets, but for access to ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, and more, you'll need the Sports Extra package. We recommend checking your local market to ensure you get access to the channels you actually want.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NBCSN, SEC Network, and The CW
YouTube TV gives you access to more than 100 live channels. That's a whole lotta content. This huge list includes most of the channels you actually need to watch live college football, including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN, plus networks like FS1 and SEC Network. YouTube TV also offers that all-important free trial so you can watch select games without spending anything.
If you're outside the U.S. for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., allowing you to unblock live streams of college football from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Georgia vs. Alabama from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.
Sign in to your favorite streaming service
Watch Georgia vs. Alabama from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free. That means 49% off for a limited time. This plan also 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 $12.95 (which includes a money-back guarantee).
The pressure is on the BYU Cougars as they face the Texas Tech Red Raiders in this week’s college football championship action.
Texas Tech look like the favorites to win this Big 12 Conference Championship Game, with an overall record of 11-1 and a five-match winning streak. They’re currently ranked at No. 4, which would mean an automatic bid for the College Football Playoffs if they can beat the Cougars at the AT&T Stadium. BYU are also 11-1 but their form isn’t quite as good thanks to a heavy loss to Texas Tech already this season. It’s up to BYU to defy expectations and beat Texas Tech to secure that automatic bid — otherwise they’ll likely miss out on the CFP.
They’ll be looking to join fellow Power Four team Virginia Cavaliers in the CFP, should Virginia win their championship game against the Duke Blue Devils later today.
If you want to watch BYU vs. Texas Tech for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
BYU vs. Texas Tech takes place at 12 p.m. ET on Dec. 6. This game takes place at AT&T Stadium.
BYU vs. Texas Tech is broadcast on ABC.
Fans can live stream college football on a wide range of recommended platforms, some of which include free trials, allowing you to follow the action without actually spending anything.
Channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX
ESPN Unlimited provides access to everything that ESPN has to offer. For college football, you will find live access to games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, SECN+, ACC Network, and ABC. The Unlimited plan will cost you $29.99 per month, but for the first year, new subscribers can also secure a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu for the same price.
Channels: Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network
Fox One provides access to live broadcasts on Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network. It costs just $19.99 per month, and you can also save $40 by opting for the annual plan at $199.99. You can kickoff with a seven-day free trial, so you've got the chance to watch select games without spending anything.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, and The CW
FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and provides the opportunity to watch on 10 screens at once, if that's your thing. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period.
Fubo takes sports seriously, which we appreciate. With the Pro subscription, you get access to most college football broadcasts. But hardcore fans may want to consider upgrading to Fubo's Elite plan, which unlocks access to ESPNU, SEC Network, Pac-12 Network, and ACC Network. Either way, we suggest you test the waters for seven days before you make any sort of commitment.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, and The CW
Hulu + Live TV certainly isn't cheap, but it does offer plenty of bang for your buck. You'll have to cough up $76.99 per month (after a three-day trial), but you get access to over 95 live TV channels, plus Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ (all with ads). The included access to ESPN+ provides bonus access to even more college football games on top of live TV networks like ABC, FOX, ESPN, The CW, ACC Network, and more. Now that's value.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network
Sling is a comprehensive sporting service that offers a wide range of benefits, but you will need to be careful when selecting your plan. The Orange and Blue packages give you access to FOX, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and more in local markets, but for access to ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, and more, you'll need the Sports Extra package. We recommend checking your local market to ensure you get access to the channels you actually want.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NBCSN, SEC Network, and The CW
YouTube TV gives you access to more than 100 live channels. That's a whole lotta content. This huge list includes most of the channels you actually need to watch live college football, including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN, plus networks like FS1 and SEC Network. YouTube TV also offers that all-important free trial so you can watch select games without spending anything.
If you're outside the U.S. for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., allowing you to unblock live streams of college football from anywhere in the world.
Live stream BYU vs. Texas Tech from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.
Sign in to your favorite streaming service
Watch BYU vs. Texas Tech from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free. That means 49% off for a limited time. This plan also 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 $12.95 (which includes a money-back guarantee).
TL;DR: A Grade A refurbished MacBook Air M1 (2020) that still handles everyday tasks beautifully is just $399.99 (MSRP $999).
Not every laptop needs to be the latest, flashiest, top-spec machine on the market. Sometimes, what you really want is something that simply works — smoothly, quietly, and reliably — for the everyday tasks that make up most of your digital life.
That’s exactly where the like-new Apple MacBook Air with M1 chip shines. If your needs revolve around writing, email, streaming shows, video calls, browsing, light photo editing, office work, or remote meetings, this MacBook Air still feels incredibly capable.
It’s the ideal choice for anyone looking for a dependable everyday laptop, a secondary home computer, or a travel-friendly device they don’t have to stress over bringing on the go.
Powered by Apple’s M1 chip, this 2020 model marked a major leap forward in performance compared to older Intel-based MacBooks. The 8-core CPU powers through multitasking with ease, while the 8-core GPU delivers smooth visuals for creative apps and casual gaming.
The 13.3-inch Retina display offers sharp, vibrant visuals that make everything from spreadsheets to streaming look polished and crisp. Its fanless design keeps the laptop completely silent, even when you’re running multiple apps, and the SSD storage ensures quick load times and everyday performance.
Battery life is another strong suit, offering up to 18 hours on a single charge, meaning full workdays, long trips, or marathon study can go on smoothly.
This refurbished unit carries a Grade A rating, meaning it arrives in near-mint condition with minimal to no visible wear — a reassuring detail for anyone hesitant about going the refurbished route.
Don’t miss the chance to get this like-new Apple MacBook Air with M1 chip for $399.99 (MSRP $999).
StackSocial prices subject to change.
How to watch Duke vs. Virginia online for freeHow to watch college football for free. Live stream Duke vs. Virginia in 2025 without cable.
College football promises major drama across the conference championship games this weekend. One to keep an eye on is Duke Blues Devils vs. Virginia Cavaliers for the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship.
This game guarantees a first-time ACC Championship Game winner no matter who wins. Neither program has won the Championship Game since it was introduced almost 20 years ago — but there's also a CFP automatic bid up for grabs if Virginia get the win. Virginia has already beaten Duke this season but don't count the Blue Devils out just yet — they're coming off a two-game winning streak.
There's been a lot of talk around the implications for the ACC following yesterday's Sun Belt Championship contest. However it plays out, this is a game not to miss.
If you want to watch Duke vs. Virginia for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
Duke vs. Virginia takes place at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 6. This game takes place at the Bank of America Stadium.
Duke vs. Virginia is broadcast on ABC.
Fans can live stream college football on a wide range of recommended services, some of which include free trials so you can follow the action without actually spending anything.
Channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX
ESPN Unlimited provides access to everything that ESPN has to offer. For college football, you get live access to games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, SECN+, ACC Network, and ABC. The Unlimited plan will set you back $29.99 per month, but for the first year, new subscribers can secure a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu for the same price.
Channels: Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network
Fox One provides access to live broadcasts on Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network. It costs $19.99 per month, but you can save $40 by opting for the annual plan at $199.99. You can also start with a seven-day free trial, so you've got the chance to watch select games without spending anything.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, and The CW
FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and provides the opportunity to watch on 10 screens at once, if that's your thing. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period.
Fubo takes sports seriously, and that's something we appreciate. With the Pro subscription, you get access to most college football broadcasts. But hardcore fans may want to consider upgrading to the Elite plan, which unlocks access to ESPNU, SEC Network, Pac-12 Network, and ACC Network. Either way, we suggest you test the waters for seven days before you make any sort of commitment.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, and The CW
Hulu + Live TV is not exactly cheap, but it does offer good bang for your buck. You need to cough up $76.99 per month (after a three-day trial), but you get access to over 95 live TV channels, plus Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ (all with ads). The included access to ESPN+ provides bonus access to even more college football games on top of live TV networks like ABC, FOX, ESPN, The CW, ACC Network, and more. Now that's value.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network
Sling is a comprehensive sporting service that offers a whole host of benefits, but you do need to be careful when selecting a plan. The Orange and Blue packages give you access to FOX, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and more in local markets, but for access to ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, and more, you'll need the Sports Extra package. We recommend checking your local market to ensure you get access to the channels you actually need.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NBCSN, SEC Network, and The CW
YouTube TV provides access to over 100 live channels. Newsflash: that's a lot. This huge list includes most of the channels you actually need to watch live college football, including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN, plus networks like FS1 and SEC Network. YouTube TV also offers that all-important free trial so you can watch select games without spending anything.
If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., meaning you can unblock live streams of college football from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Duke vs. Virginia from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.
Sign in to your favorite streaming service
Watch Duke vs. Virginia from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% 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 $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).
The need to render the nude form has dominated human expression for centuries. In Western art history, one of the oldest known interpretations of a naked body is the Venus of Willendorf, possibly dating back to around 24,000 BCE. Later, we saw the mosaic art of Narcissus, enamored by his own member in a second-century latrine. Centuries down the line, in the early Renaissance, Italy's obsession with nudes included Michelangelo's David and Manet's controversial Olympia, featuring a real woman and not a mythical figure.
As time moved onto Snapchatting genitals to a possible love interest you swiped right on, our fascination with the human body remains a constant drumbeat of society. It has also become more accessible, particularly over the last few decades, with the rise of smartphones and social media. As many as eight out of 10 adults share intimate content, including nudes, with each other, 2024 research shows.
We've collected the history of the nude, from sculpture to oil paintings, and from cam-chat to Snapchat. But more importantly, we're diving into why, through history, we're prepared to send nudes in whatever form we can.
Nudes are often not sent in isolation. Nowadays, at least, they're accompanied by an explicit text or as a result of an exchange on our phones or in person.
People have been exchanging illicit letters for a long time, largely from married women writing to unmarried men in court, according to Dr. Eleanor Janega, historian, broadcaster, and author specialising in the medieval period. Few of these survive, as many were destroyed or censored from history, according to The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France, which documents some remaining letters.
These exchanges were further limited by who was able to send these, thanks to the illiteracy rates of the Middle Ages; few men and hardly any women could write. Portraits were exchanged before arranged marriages were agreed upon, but these did not feature nudity and served to solely convey the appearance of the subject.
"People faced similar issues when sending nudes in the medieval period, because you would need someone to paint or draw you nude, which would be massively expensive," says Janega.
"Moreover, at the time nudes are, in general, formulaic. People expect a nude to look a particular way, reflecting an idealised form, rather than to be a theoretical 'realistic' portrayal of a person." This, likely being due to the nude form being interpreted as the imperfect and mortal form of humanity, a sentiment that has been felt through time, however not one equally felt across genders — with Ancient Greek sculptures and art more often than not featuring a nude male form, but not female — and if art did feature women, it was likely a depiction of a god and treated demurely, associated with shame rather than a heroic figure.
The "modern" sending of nudes, as in the conveying of a visual form of our own body, can date back around 200 years to American portrait artist Sarah Goodridge. As Goodridge worked on a commission for a new member of the United States House of Representatives, Daniel Webster, the two began exchanging romantic letters — some of which remain to this day.
In 1828, Goodridge painted her bare breasts surrounded by white cloth on a small canvas, only 2.6 by 3.1 inches. Intended for Webster's eyes only, as many miniature portraits were, it remained in his family until the 1980s. Little fanfare was made of the discovery of this piece after Webster's death, with scholars noting it was likely kept out of sight and off of inventories due to being deemed inappropriate for public viewing. Now, Goodridge's seemingly untitled work, now known as Beauty Revealed, is now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Goodridge's private revolutionary act can now be seen as an innovative moment in human sexuality, experts note. By this point, society began to see, as Janega says, "a bunch of rich people with time on their hands who can paint, which means it is only a matter of time before they begin sending nudes as a form of flirtation. You cannot teach generations of people to paint artistic nudes and expect them to use these abilities solely for depicting the rape of Leda," referencing the famed myth of a Spartan queen assaulted by Zeus, King of Gods, bearing his twins.
Beyond this, taking part in the arts institutionally was restricted to men. For instance, the Royal Academy admitted its first woman, Laura Herford, in 1860, and only because her initials were submitted.
Self-portraiture allowed Goodridge to take control of her presentation of nudity, as it has enabled women to control their presentation to the world, and the narrative placed onto women and femininity. Like Goodridge's radical act, many artists have changed the way women are viewed through their artwork, which was celebrated by the National Portrait Gallery in London in a 2024 exhibition.
Goodridge's romantic gesture lives on, though it required significantly more time and effort to create than a photograph taken on a phone. Still, the importance of this moment can't be underestimated: a visual form of nude form was becoming more accessible than it had been before.
With the innovation of photography in 1839, our approach to the nude form began to shift, with a pioneer of photography, Hippolyte Bayard, taking a naked self-portrait in 1840. As photography boomed, so did nudes.
Other 19th-century nude photography remains famed, including those taken by Nadar between 1860 and 1861, often used as studies for paintings. One of his models, Marie-Christine Leroux, went on to pose for many famed artists.
Naked photography would also be included in journals like National Geographic, with white explorers documenting indigenous people encountered around the world — a past the publication is reckoning with.. These images were often taken and printed without consent.
Later, after World War I, nude photography came into its own, with less imitation of paintings and sculptures and more stylized pieces, such as Edward Weston's Nude taken in 1936. Others used photography as a means of insight into hidden lives, such as in Diane Arbus' Retired man and his wife at home in a nudist camp one morning, N.J or to recapture idealized moments of youth, like in Larry Clark's Teenage Lust series, taken in the early 1970s.
With the arrival of the millennium, personal cameras became more ubiquitous, with sales of camera phones reaching 18 million in 2002, 257 million in 2004, and up to 1.24 billion shipments in 2024. The rise of the smartphone spelled a crash for camera sales: camera shipments worldwide dropped by 94 percent between 2010 and 2023.
Smart devices and the ability to instant message revolutionised our approach to sexuality, beginning the era of sexting and cam chats. Sending nudes and explicit messages may have spelled the death of previous forms of interaction. Namely, this means of the love letter, a loss Vogue lamented, along with phone calls, back in 2014, with many seeing the new digital frontier of sexuality as less romantic, and more explicit (not necessarily true, especially if we remember curse-laden love letters written by James Joyce), and intimidating.
Galleries around the world host pieces showcasing the naked form — but at which point does this transform from being something considered worthy of value, of public importance, to something considered explicit?
"Boundaries between art and pornography have become increasingly blurred," says Freya Gowrley, art historian at the University of Bristol. She points to Pornhub's Classic Nude project, an interactive online experience, launched in 2021 when access to galleries was still limited. The exhibition offered a virtual tour of 30 famous nude artworks through history, from Paul Cézanne's Bathers to Gustave Courbet's L’Origine du Monde, with pornographic videos inspired by these pieces.
"Unsurprisingly, several of the big museums objected to their work being used in this context," Gowrley says, with some, like the Louvre, threatening legal action for unauthorised usage of these artworks. However, others noted that the use of various artworks is often left unchallenged, including on sites such as Etsy, which similarly offers a commercial benefit to the redistributor, indicating that moral concerns may have been the root of the concern.
The project also raised interesting questions about the line between art and porn, Gowrley says. "Why is Sarah Goodridge's 'selfie' painting any more artistic than something snapped on an iPhone, or produced in a studio?"
Gowrley compares these to artist Jeff Koons' Made in Heaven series in the late '80s, early '90s, depicting his naked form engaging in sexual acts with his then-wife Ilona Staller, famed for her work in pornography.
"Moving these images into the gallery space transformed them into art, but does that mean that they are no longer illicit images?" she says.
Why is Sarah Goodridge's "selfie" painting any more artistic than something snapped on an iPhone, or produced in a studio?
This question has also been the subject of online debate, following the establishment of FOSTA/SESTA in the U.S. in 2018. The laws, in theory, were meant to curb online sex trafficking, but in practice, large social media sites began deplatforming online sex workers. (Multiple studies show this made sex workers less safe.) Beyond that, artists, including erotic and LGBTQ artists, sometimes find themselves banned or shadowbanned (unable to be discovered) from platforms like Instagram, even though their posts are artistic and not pornographic. Then again, that line is different depending on who you ask.
Advancements in technology rapidly increased our access to the nude form — and sharing our own.
With smartphones, pretty much everyone with an internet connection has the ability to take, send, and receive nude photographs across various apps and platforms. Many people take advantage. Sending nudes on the gay hookup app Grindr, for instance, has become commonplace for queer men. There are even features baked in to protect photographs now, and blogs on Grindr's site referring to the app as a "digital dark room."
Meanwhile, intimate photos make the rounds on Reddit in various 'gone wild' subreddits, leading to other explicit exchanges. Research shows that people who perceive their own attractiveness are more likely to post nudes on Reddit, although they are unlikely to feel high self-esteem at the same time.
Another study shows that sending nude content often takes place in the context of committed relationships, as a form of expressing and experiencing sexual desires.
But why do we want to?
We send nudes "because it's basically a form of foreplay, that kind of is a sexual act in itself," says Gigi Engle, author of Kink Curious and resident kink and sex expert for sex-positive community JOYclub.
"I think we play sex on this hierarchy [that] penetrative sex is the most legitimate form, and that's just not really true. Sending sexy pictures is very titillating. It gets us excited."
"I think that sending nudes can be like writing a modern love letter; intimate, exciting, and affirming. But it only works if it's something you want to do, the other person wants to receive it, and both of you understand the risks," says Impola.
"People like to see those kinds of sexy pictures, that's why we're sending them up. I think there's also an element of people sending them in the heat of the moment without really thinking through some of the repercussions that could happen," Engle suggests.
A 2022 survey shows that 80 percent of participants who have sent an intimate photo of themselves to another worry that it will be acquired by someone else, with 86 percent of men who have received an intimate photo saving it to their device, and 79 percent of women. The famed 2014 leak of celebrity nudes left a lasting legacy; our phones aren't as secure as we had been led to believe. (Mashable has a guide on safely storing nude images.)
Cyberflashing, a form of indecent exposure taking place digitally, became a crime in the UK in 2024. Despite this, many people have experienced receiving explicit images nonconsensually. YouGov research in the UK released last year revealed that 55 percent of women under-40 surveyed who can recall the first time they received an unsolicited sexual image say they were under 16 when this occurred.
This year, the UK's age verification law, requiring proof of age to visit websites containing explicit content (and in some cases, non-explicit sites like YouTube) came into effect. Reactions have been mixed, as requiring verification can be seen as infringing upon privacy, or simply dodged with a VPN (or images from a video game).
Political divides are opening up between young men and women in the UK and U.S., and it's possible these changing attitudes could impact sexual behaviour in the digital landscape. It's hard to know what's to come next, but looking back over history? It's clear that we all find ourselves longing to be with, see, or interact with another.
Our digital lives are only expanding, so we'll likely be sending nudes for the foreseeable future, even if our attitudes toward it change.
The 60+ best Christmas gifts for 2025: Find unique gift ideas youd never think of on your ownTo find the best Christmas gifts, Mashable reporters and editors review products all year long, and we love recommending holiday gift ideas.
Ready or not, the holiday shopping season is underway. Choosing the best Christmas gifts for the ones you love is either an epic quest that you look forward to every year — or one you dread. Luckily, we spend our days testing all the latest gadgets and gear, and we know exactly what to recommend.
For 2025, our Christmas wishlist is simple: It's all of the awesome stuff we loved the most this year. That includes the newest gadgets we put to the test every week, the swoonworthy items we just had to take home and keep for ourselves, and some classic all-time favorites. With input from Mashable's own tech reporters and shopping editors, every item on our list is something we use, love, or have gifted to others ourselves.
So whether you're searching for Christmas gifts for your mom and dad, or just in need of good stocking stuffers, this may truly be the only Christmas gift guide you'll need.
The new Nintendo console was beloved by reviewer Alex Perry, who wrote that the new release is "a fabulous follow-up to an all-time legend" and that he "can't stop playing" the handheld gaming device. The Nintendo Switch 2 is also a Mashable Choice product, thanks in large part to "massively improved system software" and "wonderful online social features with GameChat."
"I love mine so much, and I think it's the best thing I've ever bought," says Deputy Shopping Editor Miller Kern. The Kindle Paperwhite is well-loved across much of Mashable, in fact, and was given a coveted Mashable Choice award for "its responsive interface, quick-turning pages, and lightweight design." Read the full review of the Kindle Paperwhite.
Retro tech, like this portable Bluetooth CD player, is one of the big tech trends of the year. Whether you're shopping for a Gen Xer longing for the glory days of their youth or a Gen Alpha teen who loves old-school iPods, disposable cameras, and CDs, this gadget has something for everyone. While you can plug in wired headphones, it's also a Bluetooth device, so you can listen to CDs with your favorite wireless headphones, too. Plus, it just looks really, really cool.
Speaking of retro nostalgia... We geeked out over the Lego Super Mario Game Boy when it was first announced over the summer, and after building it ourselves, it earned a spot in our guide to the best Christmas gifts for men. Though you can't actually play games on this model, just think how cool it would look on a desk or bookshelf.
These rechargeable electric hand warmers come personally recommended by Mashable's tech editor, who's been slipping them into Christmas stockings for years. They have a cute design and built-in flashlight, but most importantly, they keep your hands and fingers nice and toasty even in the bitter cold. If you still need to find gifts under $25 for a White Elephant or Secret Santa gift exchange, we promise these will be popular.
Apple finally refreshed its AirPods Pro line this year, and it was well worth the wait. The new AirPods Pro 3 have incredible ANC and a much-improved fit. Our reviewer says they're also more comfortable, and the heart-rate monitoring and other upgrades set them apart from most other wireless earbuds. We expect these new earbuds to top a lot of Christmas wishlists in 2025.
We loved the new flagship Sony headphones, and our appreciation has only grown since the release. "If you want best-in-class noise-cancelling headphones and pristine audio quality, the headphones deliver," our tech editor wrote in his review. With some of the best ANC in the industry and an improved folding design, we expect these cans to top many Christmas wishlists in 2025.
Of course, if the Sony XM6 headphones are out of your price range, we also highly recommend the Sony XM5 headphones and the Bose QuietComfort headphones, both of which offer a long battery life, comfy fit, and top-notch ANC.
The kid-famous Toniebox is a favorite of the parents on the Mashable team. Whether you're shopping for your own kids or trying to earn a reputation as the cool aunt or uncle, kids and parents alike love these screen-free storytelling devices. And if your tyke already has a Toniebox, they can always use more Tonies — the little figures you put on top of the device to activate a new storytime.
This might actually be the best ever Christmas gift for dads (or anyone in charge of refilling the backyard bird feeder). Here's why: This Mashable-tested smart bird feeder has a built-in camera that takes birdwatching to a whole new level. The compatible app even includes AI-powered bird identification, a livestream, and alerts for when there's a visitor on the feeder. We're obsessed, and we have a feeling your dad will be too.
If your family is spread out in different states, then a digital picture frame lets mom, dad, or your grandparents keep track of the entire family — no matter where they are. Everyone in the family can add new pictures, and the picture frame shows a slideshow of your latest adventures. We love these devices, particularly as Christmas gifts, and the popular Aura Digital Picture Frame is one of the best.
This ultra-thin Anker powerbank attaches to your phone magnetically. It's also Qi2-certified, which means it will charger your phone faster and more efficiently. Don't overthink this one — just add it to your family's stockings.
You may have heard of Breeo, the popular smokeless fire pit brand. Breeo makes premium, Made in the USA fire pits that can provide endless entertainment, and they're some of the best Christmas gifts for men. However, if you're looking for unique gifts for men, consider the Breeo Heavy Duty Fire Poker. This steel fire poker has the feel and heft of a harpoon, and it can shift logs around until you have the perfect blaze.
Catbird is a Brooklyn-based jewelry studio with a unique style that has made it famous around the world. Catbird jewelry has an ornate, sometimes dainty style that's often imitated these days. For Christmas 2025, we like the brand's Birthstone Charms, which she can add to a necklace or bracelet. (Bonus points if you get a gold chain to go with it.) Jewelry gifts can be expensive, but this reasonably priced gift is sure to bring a smile to her face.
Handheld gaming consoles are becoming really popular, and you can find options that span the pricing spectrum. If you're looking to spare no expense and make a gamer's Christmas dreams come true, then you'll want to invest in the newly released ROG Xbox Ally X, which puts an Xbox console in the palm of your hand. Of course, if the $1,000 price tag is out of reach, then consider the Retropian Color, a Game Boy-style handheld that can play classic Nintendo 64 games like Super Mario 64. The best part? It only costs $80.
For audiophiles and music lovers, no other earbuds come close to matching the Panasonic Technics AZ100 wireless earbuds. Another recommendation from our tech editor, these wireless earbuds are a Mashable Choice award winner and "easily beat the likes of Sony and Bose." They pair easily with up to three devices at once, are comfortable to wear, and sound fantastic. "If you're looking for earbuds with the best possible sound quality, these are now the buds to beat," says Werth.
Travel jewelry cases are both thoughtful and practical, and we like this one in particular. It's been a popular holiday gift at Amazon for years, and it's a great Christmas gift idea for travelers. The velvet box comes in a few different colors, and it ensures her favorite rings, necklaces, and earrings never get misplaced when she's away from home.
In another life, our bearded tech editor was a grooming editor. And having tested countless beard oils, washes, balms, butters, and conditioners, he says this Jack Black product is the only one you really need. (No, not that Jack Black, unfortunately.) This leave-in beard conditioner isn't as messy as a beard oil, but it has the same effect. Most importantly, it doesn't have an overpowering fragrance. Plus, if you still need some stocking stuffer ideas for men, it's perfectly sized for Christmas stockings.
Haven't you heard? The cool teens are falling in love with old tech like iPods and point-and-shoot digital cameras. Instead of buying some old tech off eBay, check out Camp Snap, one of the Mashable Shopping team's favorite finds of the year. These screen-free digital cameras let you stay in the moment while creating memories, while still being able to upload your photos and videos to Instagram, of course.
It's a cooler. It's a Bluetooth speaker. It's both! We love this highly giftable item for its retro design and exceptionally good sound quality. Mashable's Senior Shopping Reporter Haley Henschel owns this herself, saying, "I'm obsessed with it. I think it should go on every gift guide." Read the full review of the Igloo KoolTunes Bluetooth Cooler.
This is more of a stocking stuffer, but it's a great one for wannabe influencers or anyone who's dreamed of going viral. Recommended by Mashable Senior Shopping Reporter Haley Henschel, Octobuddy is simply a silicone phone case with a series of suction cups on the back. TikTok-obsessed teens will especially appreciate the simple design that makes filming GRWM videos way easier — we frequently see the Octobuddy mentioned in our In My Bag series.
Multiple editors and writers on Mashable swear by these noise reduction earplugs, saying they've worn them to concerts, while traveling, and more as a way to cut back on excess sound without missing out on what's going on. One of our senior shopping reporters even brought them to the Beyoncé Cowboy Carter tour — the ultimate test. The best Loop earplugs a great stocking stuffer, well-priced, and come in a range of styles and colors.
One of the more frustrating parts of cooking on a grill is that it's hard to know what's going on in there without lifting the cover. Of course, doing so lets out heat and can slow down cooking times. Enter the Monument Mesa Grill, which has a clear viewing window built into the top. Werth says that both his father-in-law and uncle are obsessed with it. So, if you're searching for the best Christmas gifts for men, dads, or any pitmasters in the family, this will make you a Christmas hero.
There is something so luxurious about a brand-new set of bath towels that all match and feel wonderful. It's like a warm hug each time you get out of the shower. The ones from Brooklinen are particularly loved by our staff — our tech editor says, "I firmly believe that Brooklinen's Super-Plush towels are the best towels in the world, period. They're insanely fluffy yet dry faster than you expect."
Portable Bluetooth speakers are a crowd-pleasing gift that will be appreciated by pretty much everyone. Whether you're shopping for teenagers, parents, siblings, or friends, who couldn't use a good portable Bluetooth speaker? The latest Wonderboom speaker from Ultimate Ears offers big sound in a small package, and it's fully waterproof.
After years of working as a chef in New York City and the Hamptons, Meredith Hayden found a new way to share her favorite recipes. On TikTok, Hayden shares recipes and cooking tips with her 2.3 million followers as the Wishbone Kitchen (@wishbonekitchen), and you can finally take home The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes for Everyday Luxury and Elevated Entertaining. Your favorite home cook will find recipes for entertaining and large gatherings, which could benefit you if you get an invite to their next dinner party.
We think the Mashable Choice-winning Shark CryoGlow is the best LED mask you can buy right now. It provides more complete coverage than other top face masks from OmniLux or CurrentBody — not only because it has more bulbs, but because every single bulb can emit red light, blue light, or near-infrared light. Senior shopping reporter Leah Stodart is convinced that the CryoGlow’s bacteria-killing blue light setting is what finally cleared a year’s worth of relentless adult acne. The cooling under-eye pads and LED screen on the remote complete this luxurious self-care step.
What's old is new again with the famous Loftie smart alarm clock, which our staff loves for allowing them to ditch the screens while in bed. Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard owns this and says it's "a very pleasant alarm clock to wake up to." It's customizable, with nice-sounding alarm options and a built-in night light.
After testing Ninja appliances for weeks, this is the one that Shopping Reporter Sam Mangino has made her own. The 3-in-1 machine can tackle espresso, drip coffee, and cold brew, and even has a built-in bean grinder. Mangino says she really loved this one because it "streamlines the process and cuts down on the learning curve." See how the Ninja Luxe Café fared on our list of the best Ninja appliances.
Hydro Flask had her moment. We have now entered the Owala era. Almost everyone on Mashable's Shopping team has the Owala FreeSip, which reporter Sam Mangino dubbed the "best water bottle ever." The 24-ounce insulated stainless steel bottle is designed to accommodate both sipping (via straw) and good, ol' fashioned gulp when tipped back. For college students, athletes, teenagers, or anyone who drinks water, we think a colorful Owala is one of the best Christmas gift ideas of the year.
We're big fans of Ninja's appliances, and we love this personal blender. For the smoothie queen or king, it's an endlessly useful gift. The 1200W blender instantly turns into a to-go tumbler, so your giftee can take their smoothie or protein shake on the go.
Searching for Christmas gift ideas for creators (or aspiring creators)? Then look to DJI for ideas. The company is best known for its drones, but don't sleep on DJI cameras and microphones either.
DJI's famous wireless microphones have a cult following among TikTokers, and they're a personal favorite of our own reporters. This super small and ultralight wireless microphone would make a great Christmas gift for the creator, aspiring filmmaker, and podcast host in the family. Compatible with both iPhones and Androids (plus a host of cameras), these are the exact microphones that the Mashable social team used at VidCon. Highly recommend.
"I love it so much," says Shopping Reporter Sam Mangino, who owns this cult-favorite maple cutting board. Made in the USA, each cutting board is a thing of beauty. It's no wonder Mangino keeps hers out on the counter at all times, as if it was a piece of artwork — because it is.
Tinned fish is one of the ultimate love-it-or-hate-it trends. But for the right person — the kind of person who could live off charcuterie — this gift slaps. The Fishwife Starter Pack has popular tinned seafood staples like sardines, smoked salmon, smoked Mackerel with chili, tuna with Spanish lemon, and more.
Wondering if the cult-favorite hair and skincare brand Prose lives up to the hype? We say that it most definitely does. Having tested both the brand's core hair care products and the newer skincare line, we heartily recommend these products. Prose doesn't just talk a big game about personalization; the brand truly crafts a custom formula made for your unique skin type, hair type, and beauty goals.
So, if you're looking for personalized Christmas gifts that will actually arrive on time, all you need is a Prose gift subscription, one of our favorite gifts for women, no matter the occasion.
Welly has been one of our go-to stocking stuffers for years. The brand is best known for its adorable, kid-friendly Bravery Bandages with fun designs, but even adults will appreciate this colorful first aid kit, which has all the essentials you need to treat little bumps, scrapes, burns, and ouchies. Pack them in your dopp kit when you travel, or keep them in your medicine cabinent year-round.
These Mario Kart Legos, which actually fire turtle shells, can be built quickly and are relatively cheap (compared to other Lego sets). They're also just super fun to play with, as Mashable Tech Editor Timothy Beck Werth recently discovered during a playdate with his nieces and nephews. The "turtle shell-firing mechanism" provides endless fun, no matter your age, just like the video game franchise itself.
Our staff loved the Kobo Libra Colour during testing, saying that it makes a really great alternative to the Amazon suite of products. The e-reader allows you to interact with the text and highlight passages in color (thus the name), making things like comic books and graphic novels a bit more enjoyable. Our reviewer said the ergonomics of the color e-reader are particularly good too, especially if you like to read in bed.
We spend a lot of time testing headphones and earbuds, and we have no shortage of recommendations when it comes to this great stocking stuffer. Our staff swears by these Bose Ultra Open earbuds, saying they're really great for working out or going on walks while remaining aware of the world around you. Read more about the best open earbuds.
Alex Bracetti, one of our freelance product testers, recently discovered this little gem, which provides red light therapy for the eye area. If you've been wanting to try light therapy without going full-on Hannibal Lecter, this is a great entry into the product category. It also makes a great and surprisingly affordable gift for anyone who's starting to fret about their age.
If you only gift one puzzle this year, let it be one of these. "I'm a huge puzzle nerd, and I adore Piecework puzzles," says Deputy Shopping Editor Miller Kern. "All of the designs are super cute, and I have considered framing the ones I have." Others on the team agree. We love these puzzles for their bright photography and extra-thick pieces, which top out at 1,000.
This countertop icon is a workhorse for at-home bakers and cooks. We're obsessed. I have one, and love that it takes the muscle out of things like mixing, whisking, and kneading. One of the best parts about owning a KitchenAid Mixer? All the attachments, allowing you to utilize that powerful little motor in new ways, like grinding meat and making pasta. There's a reason why it landed on our list of the best products you'll buy once and own for life.
Deputy Shopping Editor Miller Kern owns this and loves it, and after hearing her rave about it, it's now on the top of my very own Christmas wishlist. The portable printer works with any compatible iOS and Android device, allowing you to print photos on demand directly from your smartphone. The best part is the sticky photo paper, making this a great Christmas gift for anyone who likes to journal or scrapbook.
Don't tell our moms, but at least one of them will be getting this for Christmas: a rolling garden cart with storage inside and a seat, so she can bop along weeding her garden without bending over so much. I feel pretty confident that she's gonna love it.
If you have a stylish guy on your list, then he'll already know the name Todd Snyder. The designer is known for remixing classic designs from iconic brands, like this automatic timepiece from Timex. "Todd’s latest collaboration with Timex, a sleek update to the ‘60s Marlin Automatic, is designed for those who appreciate refined simplicity." It's the kind of accessory that can be dressed up or down, and it's a handsome timepiece that any guy would be lucky to own. So, if you're looking for a big Christmas gift for your boyfriend, husband, or father, grab this gorgeous piece while you still can.
A member of our staff asserts that this is "probably the best gift I've ever given my mom." We can see why. For those with family members scattered all over the globe, this simple visual reminder of their whereabouts can make everyone feel just a little bit closer. Plus, personalized Christmas presents are always so thoughtful.
Anyone with kids knows that sleep can be hard to come by. We fell in love with this little gadget during testing, and now we're putting it at the top of our best Christmas gift ideas for kids. While Moonbird is designed for adults, Moonbuddy helps kids learn self-regulation, and it can be part of a calming bedtime routine and help ease stress. The secret is to have them match their breath to the handheld device.
One of the year's best stocking stuffers, Counterpart's USB-C charger is made for anyone who juggles a lot of tech, likes to travel, or works remotely. The Charger "features a retractable cable that snakes up inside the device when it's not in use. That means no annoying cable cluttering up your desk, countertops, or bedroom. It's one of those ingenious product innovations that makes you wonder, 'Why aren't all chargers like this?'" Read our full review of The Charger.
Our reporters maintain that the Ninja Swirl is "way more fun" than the more basic Creami, thanks in large part to the inclusion of a soft serve function. When Sam Mangino reviewed the Swirl, she loved it so much that she awarded it a coveted Mashable Choice, declaring, you'll "never have to leave the house for soft serve again." Read the full review of the Ninja Swirl.
Our team loves this as an add-on to the popular Nintendo Switch 2, with one reporter calling it their favorite gaming accessory. The case makes it easier to take the Switch 2 on the road, since the hard shell exterior keeps it protected in the event of a drop. The best part, though, is being able to quickly charge the device anywhere you are. Read our full take on the Belkin Nintendo Switch 2 Charging Case.
This puzzle brand was huge on TikTok this year, thanks in large part to the hidden Easter eggs and fun puzzle piece shapes. Each 1,000-piece puzzle comes with a secret envelope full of more pieces that you open once you've finished the puzzle. "It's a super fun concept and I have two, and bought one as a gift for my dad, who is also super into puzzles," says Kern.
Named one of Oprah's Favorite Things, we love these infused olive oils from Brightland for their yummy flavors and the aesthetically pleasing bottle designs. Specialty food items are such a great gift for people who love to cook, because it's the kind of thing they'll never splurge on for themselves (but secretly covet.) This set includes cold-pressed olive oils infused with chili, garlic, lemon, and basil.
Such a great smart home device for cat owners — and an incredible gift for the person who has a cat and also likes to take the occasional weekend getaway. The Petlibro Polar automatic wet cat food feeder keeps three days worth of wet food chilled and fresh, rotating its serving day on a set schedule. Shopping reporter and resident cat girlie Leah Stodart sang the praises of her Petlibro, writing that the "automatic wet cat food feeder is so comforting when I'm gone overnight." It's truly the gift that keeps on giving.
We test (and love) all the latest gadgets and tech products, but sometimes it's nice to take a step back from all of that and tune into nature. This steel drum sits in the garden and plays a series of 11 notes each time it's hit with rain. (Pro tip: You could also bring it into the shower.) It's soothing, it's unique, and it makes for a great Christmas gift.
Apple always releases new products in the fall, and they always dominate guides to the best Christmas gifts of the year. This year, we're recommending the upgraded Apple Watch Series 11, which offers critical improvements to the battery life.
The Venn diagram between dinosaur lovers and Lego fans may not be a perfect circle, but it's probably pretty close! If you're looking for a fun project to do with your son or daughter after the presents are unwrapped, then we think you'll love this dinosaur fossil set from Lego, which comes with two mini figures, Dr. Ellie Sattler & Dr. Alan Grant. This awesome new Lego set is set to ship by Dec. 20.
And if you're looking for a Lego gift that won't set you back $250, then check out the $25 Lego lunchbox instead.
We're guessing you have at least one Swiftie on your holiday shopping list. So, don't overthink it: Get them something to add to their Taylor Swift shrine. While we've selected The Life of a Showgirl vinyl record, you can also buy one of the many other formats or albums. What does Swift love more than her new fiancé? Merchandise. Lots and lots of merchandise.
Creators, TikTokkers, and aspiring influencers will adore unwrapping this gimbal stabilizer on Christmas morning. Our tech editor calls it "the best gimbal I've tested so far." This high praise is due to the gimbal's ease of use, stability, and 10-hour battery life.
Do you have someone on your shopping list who loves to go camping, whether in the great outdoors or at music festivals? Or maybe Dad is famous for his tailgating events? Portable power stations are one of our favorite gift ideas, as they're both useful in an emergency but also incredibly practical for camping and other adventures. We named the Anker Solix C1000 power station a Mashable Choice product earlier this year, and it's a reasonably priced option that's great for holiday gift giving.
There's an art to picking out Secret Santa or White Elephant gifts. They need to be affordable, obviously, but also practical. On top of that, they have to seem cool enough that people will actually want them. We think this cool cactus coaster set fits the bill perfectly.
Still looking for more gift ideas? Check out even more of our favorite Christmas gifts to give in 2025:
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.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.
To search.
FRISK
A command.
EDICT
Hold.
GRASP
Fake.
BOGUS
A breast.
BOSOM
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Moon phase today: What the moon will look like on December 6See the moon phase expected for December 6, 2025 as well as when the next full moon is expected.
Have you noticed the moon looking a little smaller lately? That's because of where we are in the lunar cycle, a series of the moon's different phases. Right now, we're heading towards the New Moon. Keep reading to find out what this means.
As of Saturday, Dec. 6, the moon phase is Waning Gibbous. This means 96% of the moon is lit up tonight, according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation.
If you're looking up with just your naked eye, there's lots to see, in particular the Oceanus Procellarum and the Kepler Crater. With binoculars you'll also be able to spy the Posidonius and Alphonsus craters, as well at the Grimaldi Basin. And with a telescope, you can catch a glimpse of the Apollo 11 and 12 landing spots and the Linne Crater.
The next full moon will be on Jan. 3.
NASA explains that the lunar cycle (which is about 29.5 days long) is made up of the Moon’s phases, which describe how the Moon looks from Earth as it travels around us. We view the same side of the Moon at all times, but the sunlight hitting its surface shifts as it moves through its orbit. That changing illumination is what makes the Moon appear full, half-lit, or not visible at all. The cycle includes eight distinct phases:
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.
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for December 6, 2025Connections is a New York Times word game that's all about finding the "common threads between words." How to solve the puzzle.
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you love animated films.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Typical
Green: To appease
Blue: Famous cartoons
Purple: Reptiles and amphibians
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Norm
Green: Mollify
Blue: Member of a titular group in an animation franchise
Purple: Starting with herpetofauna
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 #909 is...
Norm: AVERAGE, MEAN, PAR, STANDARD
Mollify: COOL, MODERATE, SETTLE, TEMPER
Member of a titular group in an animation franchise: CAR, INCREDIBLE, MINION, MONSTER
Starting with herpetofauna: ADDERALL, MONITORSHIP, NEWTON, TOADY
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new 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? 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.
NYT Strands hints, answers for December 6, 2025The NYT Strands hints and answers you need to make the most of your puzzling experience.
Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you love fantasy books.
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.
The words are related to fantasy.
These words describe "The Lord of the Rings."
Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
Today's spangram is Middle Earth.
Wizard
Forest
Hobbit
Middle Earth
Quest
Dwarf
Ring
Shire
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!
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NYT Pips hints, answers for December 6, 2025The New York Times' latest game, Pips, brings domino fun to your desktop. How to play Pips as well as hints in case you get stuck.
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, the 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 onto 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.
If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity for 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.
Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 6-2, placed vertically; 6-4, placed horizontally.
Less Than (5): Everything in this space must be less than 5. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-3, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 6-2, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically; 4-4, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically; 0-0, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-5, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 1-0, placed vertically; 2-2, placed vertically.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-3, placed vertically; 3-1, placed horizontally.
Less Than (5): Everything in this space must be less than 5. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically.
Greater Than (1): Everything in this light blue space must be greater than 1. The answer is 0-6, placed vertically.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically; 1-4, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 6-6, placed vertically.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically; 1-2, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (1): Everything in this green space must be greater than 1. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally; 1-0, placed vertically.
Equal (3): Everything in this red space must be equal to 3. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (0): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-3, placed horizontally; 0-4, placed vertically.
Equal (4): Everything in this yellow space must be equal to 4. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 4-4, placed horizontally; 5-4, placed vertically.
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 0-0, 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.
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for December 6, 2025Connections: Sports Edition is a New York Times word game about finding common sports threads between words. How to solve the day's puzzle.
Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easy if you know your Joes.
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.
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. 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 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.
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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.
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Sports teams
Green: Schools
Blue: Legends
Purple: Alliterative strategy
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Pro teams whose names start with D
Green: Division I colleges
Blue: Basketball hall of famers
Purple: Five Ds of Dodgeball
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 #439 is...
Pro teams whose names start with D - DEVILS, DIAMONDBACKS, DOLPHINS, DREAM
Division I colleges - DARTMOUTH, DAYTON, DEPAUL, DUKE
Basketball hall of famers - DIVAC, DONOVAN, DREXLER, DUNCAN
Five Ds of Dodgeball - DIP, DIVE, DODGE, DUCK
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.
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Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.
Wordle today: Answer, hints for December 6, 2025Here's the answer for "Wordle" #1630 on December 6 as well as a few hints, tips, and clues to help you solve it yourself.
Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a belly dancer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Midsection.
There are no recurring letters.
Today's Wordle starts with the letter W.
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...
WAIST
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.
Roku is killing Photo Streams, ending personal pics as screensaversRoku users will still be able to feature their favorite pics on their TV, but it's getting more complicated.
TV streamer Roku recently announced it's ending Photo Streams in early 2026 and replacing it with something called Backdrops, which limits personal photo options but includes a library of artwork to cull from.
The transition from Photo Streams to Backdrops is already underway. "Over the next few months, you’ll start seeing messages about Photo Streams moving to Backdrops," Roku announced on their website. "At the end of January 2026, Photo Streams will stop working and only display a message directing you to open Backdrops."
Photo Streams currently operates as a screensaver for users who set it up, filling in inactive screen time by featuring pictures uploaded by the user. Those uploaded images will still be accessible on Backdrops, but only one gallery is available to view at once — and Backdrops must be specifically turned on for the photos to appear. By Feb. 2026, the screens of all inactive Roku sessions will default to the (in)famous Roku City background, which features advertising.
This change is clearly a bummer for those who loved featuring their personal pics on a large screen without having to think much about it. Roku is trying to soften the blow by offering free digital art, totaling about 4,500 images, for users of Backdrops. Works by artists like Johannes Vermeer, Paul Gaugin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Mary Cassatt were available as of early December, along with images of nature and cityscapes. Background users will also be able to adjust the photo display time and launch it directly with the Roku remote’s power button.
Roku doesn’t say there is an advertising component behind the change, instead stating, "Backdrops brings photos into one app that's easier to use, more customizable, and will allow us to keep adding new photo and ambient experiences over time."
The 8-in-1 EDC is the gift they didn’t see coming — and it’s just $20A clever 8-in-1 keyring cable that charges, organizes, and simplifies life on the go — just $19.97 with on-time holiday shipping through Dec. 14.
TL;DR: A compact 8-in-1 keyring GoCable that charges fast, organizes neatly, and solves everyday tech moments — on sale for the holidays for just $19.97 (MSRP $49.99).
There are gifts people expect — socks, candles, yet another travel mug — and then there are the ones that quietly earn a permanent spot in someone’s daily routine. The GoCable 8-in-1 EDC 100W Cable falls squarely into the second category. It’s the kind of practical, tech-forward surprise that makes people say, “Wait … this does that too?”
At first glance, GoCable looks like a sleek little keyring accessory. But once you start using it, it quickly proves it’s more than just a charging cable.
Designed as an everyday carry essential, it combines ultra-fast charging with genuinely useful built-in tools, all wrapped in a compact, tangle-free design that clips neatly onto a bag, belt loop, or keychain.
With 100W charging capabilities (when paired with a compatible power source), GoCable can power everything from phones and tablets to laptops, drones, and cameras.
Universal connectors mean you’re covered whether you’re using USB-C or Apple’s Lightning — no more digging through tangled cords or carrying three different cables just in case.
What makes it especially satisfying, though, are the thoughtful extras. An LED power display shows your real-time charging status. The magnetic wrap keeps things neat and frustration-free. There’s even a built-in bottle opener and a safe-proof cutter for impromptu moments like opening a package on the fly or cracking a drink at a picnic.
With on-time holiday shipping available through Dec. 14, the GoCable makes for an unexpected but incredibly useful gift — especially for travelers, creators, commuters, and anyone who lives even slightly tethered to their devices.
Priced at $19.97 (MSRP $49.99) for a limited time, the GoCable is a gift that feels both smart and genuinely helpful — grab it while stock is still available.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Study reveals poetic prompting can sometimes jailbreak AI modelsAI models can be easily misled by poetic language, revealing a major safety vulnerability in current LLMs.
Well, AI is joining the ranks of many, many people: It doesn't really understand poetry.
Research from Italy’s Icaro Lab found that poetry can be used to jailbreak AI and skirt safety protections.
In the study, researchers wrote 20 prompts that started with short poetic vignettes in Italian and English and ended the prompts with a single explicit instruction to produce harmful content. They tested these prompts on 25 Large Language Models across Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Deepseek, Qwen, Mistral AI, Meta, xAI, and Moonshot AI. The researchers said the poetic prompts often worked.
"Poetic framing achieved an average jailbreak success rate of 62% for hand-crafted poems and approximately 43% for meta-prompt conversions (compared to non-poetic baselines), substantially outperforming non-poetic baselines and revealing a systematic vulnerability across model families and safety training approaches," the study reads. "These findings demonstrate that stylistic variation alone can circumvent contemporary safety mechanisms, suggesting fundamental limitations in current alignment methods and evaluation protocols."
Of course, there were differences in how well the jailbreaking worked across the different LLMs. OpenAI’s GPT-5 nano didn't respond with harmful or unsafe content at all, while Google’s Gemini 2.5 pro responded with harmful or unsafe content every single time, the researchers reported.
The researchers concluded that “these findings expose a significant gap” in benchmark safety tests and regulatory efforts such as the EU AI Act.
"Our results show that a minimal stylistic transformation can reduce refusal rates by an order of magnitude, indicating that benchmark-only evidence may systematically overstate real-world robustness," the paper stated.
Great poetry is not literal — and LLMs are literal to the point of frustration. The study reminds me of how it feels to listen to Leonard Cohen’s song "Alexandra Leaving," which is based on C.P. Cavafy's poem "The God Abandons Antony." We know it's about loss and heartbreak, but it would be a disservice to the song and the poem it's based on to try to "get it" in any literal sense — and that's what LLMs will try to do.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
Feds investigate Waymo robotaxis for reportedly passing school buses in AustinWaymo robotaxis are reportedly under investigation for illegally passing school buses in Austin, Texas.
Waymo robotaxis have been providing public rides in Austin, Texas since March, and following safety incidents with school buses, Austin school district officials have asked the company to stop offering robotaxi rides during school drop-off times.
Now, regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are investigating Waymo over complaints that its robotaxis have illegally passed school buses at least 19 times, according to Reuters.
The NHTSA sent a letter to Waymo earlier this week informing the company about the beginning of its inquiry concerning its autonomous vehicles' inability to follow traffic laws concerning school buses. The letter also requested additional information about the company's self-driving system.
An initial investigation was opened into Waymo in October by the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) after it obtained video of a Waymo robotaxi driving around a school bus in Atlanta as the vehicle was unloading schoolchildren with its stop sign extended and flashing lights on. Now the agency is going even further in its inquiry.
Waymo said it released a software fix to the issue on November 17. However, in a public letter, the Austin Independent School District says that five of the 19 school bus-related Waymo incidents occurred after that date.
"One of these violations underscores the urgent risk posed by Waymo’s illegal activity: a Waymo automated vehicle was recorded driving past a stopped school bus only moments after a student crossed in front of the vehicle, and while the student was still in the road," the Austin School District wrote in a Nov. 20 letter to Waymo. "The vehicle then proceeds through a cross walk and an intersection, where all other vehicles are stopped."
The Austin School District requests that Waymo stop operating its robotaxis from 5:20 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., the hours when children are typically being picked up and dropped off before and after school.
The ODI sent its own letter to Waymo shortly after, letting the company know it was aware of the issue and inquiring if Waymo was planning to abide by the request to cease operations during those times.
According to a report by TechCrunch, Waymo insists that its update has improved its robotaxis' road safety issues around school buses. However, it does not seem like the company plans to oblige the Austin School District's request.
Critics Choice Awards nominations 2026: Sinners and One Battle After Another take a commanding lead"Sinners" and "One Battle After Another" lead the nominations for the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.
The nominations for the 31st Critics Choice Awards have a clear favorite: Ryan Coogler's Sinners.
The smash hit vampire film earned 17 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), and Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku). Trailing just behind it is Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, which picked up 14 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Actress (Chase Infiniti), Best Supporting Actor (Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn), and Best Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor).
Other big contenders in the film nominations include Chloé Zhao's Hamnet and Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (both with 11 nominations).
On the TV side, Adolescence received the most nominations with six, including Best Limited Series, Best Actor in a Limited Series (Stephen Graham), Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series (Owen Cooper and Ashley Walters), and Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series (Erin Doherty and Christine Tremarco). Strong contenders on the drama side include Emmy winners The Pitt (4 nominations) and Severance (4 nominations), while the comedy side has Season 2 of Nobody Wants This (5 nominations) topping Emmy winners Hacks (4 nominations) and The Studio (3 nominations).
Check out the full list of nominations below. The Critics Choice Awards will air live on E! and the USA Network on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. ET.
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Jay Kelly
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
Wicked: For Good
Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
Emma Stone – Bugonia
Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Paul Mescal – Hamnet
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another
Everett Blunck – The Plague
Miles Caton – Sinners
Cary Christopher - Weapons
Shannon Mahina Gorman – Rental Family
Jacobi Jupe – Hamnet
Nina Ye – Left-Handed Girl
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein
Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
Chloé Zhao – Hamnet
Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer – Jay Kelly
Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Zach Cregger – Weapons
Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar – Train Dreams
Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don Mckellar, Jahye Lee – No Other Choice
Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein
Will Tracy – Bugonia
Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet
Nina Gold – Hamnet
Douglas Aibel, Nina Gold – Jay Kelly
Jennifer Venditti – Marty Supreme
Cassandra Kulukundis – One Battle After Another
Francine Maisler – Sinners
Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey – Wicked: For Good
Claudio Miranda – F1
Dan Laustsen – Frankenstein
Łukasz Żal – Hamnet
Michael Bauman – One Battle After Another
Autumn Durald Arkapaw – Sinners
Adolpho Veloso – Train Dreams
Kasra Farahani, Jille Azis – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau – Frankenstein
Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton – Hamnet
Jack Fisk, Adam Willis – Marty Supreme
Hannah Beachler, Monique Champagne – Sinners
Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales – Wicked: For Good
Kirk Baxter – A House of Dynamite
Stephen Mirrione – F1
Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Andy Jurgensen – One Battle After Another
Viridiana Lieberman – The Perfect Neighbor
Michael P. Shawver – Sinners
Kate Hawley – Frankenstein (Netflix)
Malgosia Turzanska – Hamnet (Focus Features)
Lindsay Pugh – Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)
Colleen Atwood, Christine Cantella – Kiss of the Spider Woman (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions)
Ruth E. Carter – Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Paul Tazewell – Wicked: For Good (Universal Pictures)
Flora Moody, John Nolan – 28 Years Later
Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey – Frankenstein
Siân Richards, Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Shunika Terry – Sinners
Kazu Hiro, Felix Fox, Mia Neal – The Smashing Machine
Leo Satkovich, Melizah Wheat, Jason Collins – Weapons
Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier, Laura Blount – Wicked: For Good
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett – Avatar: Fire and Ash
Ryan Tudhope, Nikeah Forde, Robert Harrington, Nicolas Chevallier, Eric Leven, Edward Price, Keith Dawson – F1
Dennis Berardi, Ayo Burgess, Ivan Busquets, José Granell – Frankenstein
Alex Wuttke, Ian Lowe, Jeff Sutherland, Kirstin Hall – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, Donnie Dean – Sinners
Stephane Ceretti, Enrico Damm, Stéphane Nazé, Guy Williams – Superman
Stephen Dunlevy, Kyle Gardiner, Jackson Spidell, Jeremy Marinas, Jan Petřina, Domonkos Párdányi, Kinga Kósa-Gavalda – Ballerina
Gary Powell, Luciano Bacheta, Craig Dolby – F1
Wade Eastwood – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Brian Machleit – One Battle After Another
Andy Gill – Sinners
Giedrius Nagys – Warfare
Arco
Elio
In Your Dreams
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Eternity
Friendship
The Naked Gun
The Phoenician Scheme
Splitsville
It Was Just an Accident
Left-Handed Girl
No Other Choice
The Secret Agent
Sirāt
Belén
“Drive” – Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Blake Slatkin – F1
“Golden” – Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24, Teddy – KPop Demon Hunters
“I Lied to You” – Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson – Sinners
“Clothed by the Sun” – Daniel Blumberg – The Testament of Ann Lee
“Train Dreams” – Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner – Train Dreams
“The Girl in the Bubble” – Stephen Schwartz – Wicked: For Good
Hans Zimmer – F1
Alexandre Desplat – Frankenstein
Max Richter – Hamnet
Daniel Lopatin – Marty Supreme
Jonny Greenwood – One Battle After Another
Ludwig Göransson – Sinners
Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, Juan Peralta, Gareth John – F1
Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern, Greg Chapman – Frankenstein
Jose Antonio Garcia, Christopher Scarabosio, Tony Villaflor – One Battle After Another
Chris Welcker, Benny Burtt, Brandon Proctor, Steve Boeddeker, Felipe Pacheco, David V. Butler – Sinners
Laia Casanovas – Sirāt
Mitch Low, Glenn Freemantle, Ben Barker, Howard Bargroff, Richard Spooner – Warfare
Alien: Earth
Andor
The Diplomat
Paradise
The Pitt
Pluribus
Severance
Task
Sterling K. Brown – Paradise
Diego Luna – Andor
Mark Ruffalo – Task
Adam Scott – Severance
Billy Bob Thornton – Landman
Noah Wyle – The Pitt
Kathy Bates – Matlock
Carrie Coon – The Gilded Age
Britt Lower – Severance
Bella Ramsey – The Last of Us
Keri Russell – The Diplomat
Rhea Seehorn – Pluribus
Patrick Ball – The Pitt
Billy Crudup – The Morning Show
Ato Essandoh – The Diplomat
Wood Harris – Forever
Tom Pelphrey – Task
Tramell Tillman – Severance
Nicole Beharie – The Morning Show
Denée Benton – The Gilded Age
Allison Janney – The Diplomat
Katherine LaNasa – The Pitt
Greta Lee – The Morning Show
Skye P. Marshall – Matlock
Abbott Elementary
Elsbeth
Ghosts
Hacks
Nobody Wants This
Only Murders in the Building
The Righteous Gemstones
The Studio
Adam Brody – Nobody Wants This
Ted Danson – A Man on the Inside
David Alan Grier – St. Denis Medical
Danny McBride – The Righteous Gemstones
Seth Rogen – The Studio
Alexander Skarsgård – Murderbot
Kristen Bell – Nobody Wants This
Natasha Lyonne – Poker Face
Rose McIver – Ghosts
Edi Patterson – The Righteous Gemstones
Carrie Preston – Elsbeth
Jean Smart – Hacks
Ike Barinholtz – The Studio
Paul W. Downs – Hacks
Asher Grodman – Ghosts
Oscar Nuñez – The Paper
Chris Perfetti – Abbott Elementary
Timothy Simons – Nobody Wants This
Danielle Brooks – Peacemaker
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks
Janelle James – Abbott Elementary
Justine Lupe – Nobody Wants This
Ego Nwodim – Saturday Night Live
Rebecca Wisocky – Ghosts
Adolescence
All Her Fault
Chief of War
Death by Lightning
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy
Dope Thief
Dying for Sex
The Girlfriend
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Deep Cover
The Gorge
Mountainhead
Nonnas
Summer of '69
Michael Chernus – Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy
Stephen Graham – Adolescence
Brian Tyree Henry – Dope Thief
Charlie Hunnam – Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Matthew Rhys – The Beast in Me
Michael Shannon – Death by Lightning
Jessica Biel – The Better Sister
Meghann Fahy – Sirens
Sarah Snook – All Her Fault
Michelle Williams – Dying for Sex
Robin Wright – The Girlfriend
Renée Zellweger – Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Owen Cooper – Adolescence
Wagner Moura – Dope Thief
Nick Offerman – Death by Lightning
Michael Peña – All Her Fault
Ashley Walters – Adolescence
Ramy Youssef – Mountainhead
Erin Doherty – Adolescence
Betty Gilpin – Death by Lightning
Marin Ireland – Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy
Sophia Lillis – All Her Fault
Julianne Moore – Sirens
Christine Tremarco – Adolescence
Acapulco
Last Samurai Standing
Mussolini: Son of the Century
Red Alert
Squid Game
When No One Sees Us
Bob’s Burgers
Harley Quinn
Long Story Short
Marvel Zombies
South Park
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
The Daily Show
Hot Ones
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Conan O’Brien Must Go
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Saturday Night Live
Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life
Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian
Leanne Morgan: Unspeakable Things
Marc Maron: Panicked
Sarah Silverman: PostMortem
SNL50: The Anniversary Special
*Disclosure: Belen Edwards is a member of the Critics Choice Association, which holds the Critics Choice Awards.
Garmins best running watches are on sale for the holidays, starting at $149Amazon has slashed prices up to $250 on Garmin Forerunner, Venu, and fēnix watches for the holidays! Get a GPS running watch starting at just $149.99.
GET UP TO $250 OFF: The Garmin Holiday Sale is live, with huge discounts up to $250 off watches, including the Forerunner 55 and the fēnix 8. Prices start at just $149.99 at Amazon, with Garmin and other retailers matching prices.
If you’re shopping for the runner in your life (or just for yourself), you need to check out Garmin’s holiday sale, available at both Amazon and the Garmin online store. The company's slashing prices by up to $250 on tons of models, from top-tier athlete's watches to basic beginner watches, and prices start at just $149.99.
Our team recently put the best running watches on the market through 500+ miles of training for the New York City Marathon, and Garmin models consistently came out on top for dedicated runners. Most Garmin running watches use built-in GPS to track how far, how fast, and where you've run, while also monitoring your heart rate right from your wrist. You also get training tools like race time predictions, PacePro for strategy, and the ability to track other activities like cycling, depending on the model you buy. Plus, all models have a pretty impressive battery life — even the beginner Forerunner 55 lasts up to two weeks in smartwatch mode.
Check out the best deals we found on Garmin running watches and fitness trackers right now, with prices starting at $150 and discounts up to 29%.
Netflix's $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. will grant the streamer ownership of Warner Bros.' film and TV studios, as well as HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros.' extensive film and TV catalogues.
The deal still needs to be approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but if it goes through, Netflix will own Warner Bros.' biggest film and TV titles. That encompasses still-running shows like The Last of Us and The Pitt, completed series like The Sopranos and Friends, and movies ranging from Casablanca to Dune.
Because of the deal, Netflix will also own a number of major ongoing franchises. Here are five of the biggest, and what the acquisition could mean for their future.
Not only will Netflix own all eight Harry Potter films and all three Fantastic Beasts films, it will also own HBO's upcoming Harry Potter TV series. Currently scheduled for a 2027 release, the series has been a controversial topic due to the continued involvement of author J.K. Rowling, who has a long (and continuing) history of transphobic rhetoric.
Thanks to Warner Bros. acquisition, Netflix will gain a massive superhero franchise of its own with DC. That includes animated DC series like Batman: The Animated Series, Harley Quinn, and Teen Titans; CW shows like Flash and Green Arrow; and past DC films like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, classic Batman and Superman titles, and the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).
The biggest story here, though, is that of the currently running DC Universe, headed by James Gunn and Peter Safran. With shows like Peacemaker and the upcoming Lanterns, along with a future film slate that includes Supergirl and Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, the DCU could help Netflix become an even more threatening competitor to Disney and Marvel Studios.
The Warner Bros. acquisition means Netflix will own Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, along with any future Westeros-set spinoffs that may arise. As of now, series about Aegon's conquest of Westeros, Corlys Velaryon's past adventures, and warrior-queen Nymeria's founding of Dorne are all in the works, meaning Netflix could be atop streaming's Iron Throne for a while yet.
People love to watch big monsters fight other big monsters. Case in point: Warner Bros.' Monsterverse, which features titles like Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. These movies basically print money, earning a total of over $2.5 billion worldwide. However, Netflix tends to forgo the kind of long theatrical releases that allow blockbusters to earn this much. While Netflix has said it will continue to release Warner Bros. films in theaters, will they adopt Warner Bros.' longer release window strategy or impose their own shorter one?
Netflix will own all of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim upon acquiring Warner Bros., including titles like Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, Rick and Morty, and Looney Tunes. The latter is particularly interesting, as it's been the punching bag of Warner Bros. Discovery for the past few years. In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery scrapped the completed Looney Tunes film Coyote vs. Acme in favor of a tax cut. Warner Bros. Discovery also chose to sell the distribution rights for The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie to Ketchup Entertainment, which gave the film a limited theatrical release. Then, in 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery removed the classic Looney Tunes shorts library from HBO Max entirely. Since then, Looney Tunes has found new success on the streaming service Tubi.
Could Netflix prove a better shepherd to the Looney Tunes titles it will gain access to? Or will the streamer continue Warner Bros. Discovery's precedent of offloading one of its most iconic franchises?
New Android malware threat can wipe your bank accountThere's a new malicious way for bad actors to get access to your bank account using Android.
Android users, be careful about where your apps come from.
That's because there's a new and very sinister-sounding kind of malware going around on Google's mobile OS, according to the fraud prevention experts at Cleafy (per Android Authority). Called Albiriox, the malware has been known to infect users' devices, giving bad-faith actors full remote control over the device, at which point they drain the device owner's bank accounts without even needing a password.
Cleafy goes into the nitty-gritty technical details on how this all works, but a basic summary is that the malware is being hidden in fake (but real-looking) Google Play Store download pages for financial apps on external sites. If you hit the download button on one of these pages, which, again, are not actually in the Play Store proper, you may be letting the malware onto your device. From there, it covertly enables the "install unknown apps" permission in the device settings, at which point the really bad stuff gets installed on your device.
From there, the bad actors can fully, remotely control your device without you noticing, performing actions like swipes and clicks from wherever they are. At that point, the hard part is over, and they can get to draining your bank account. It sounds like the best way to avoid this is to simply not download any weird financial apps from places that aren't the Play Store. If you stick to downloading apps straight from the Play Store app, you should be fine.
That said, even apps on the official Apple App Store and Google Play Store can contain malware, as we've reported previously. Last month, we reported on six malicious Android apps that were recording user data, including WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and even background audio.
We found the only PS5 console bundles still at Black Friday pricesAs of Dec. 5, get these PS5 console bundles on sale for their Black Friday prices.
SAVE UP TO $100.99: As of Dec. 5, save $100 on these PlayStation 5 console bundles, still available at their Black Friday prices. Get the PlayStation 5 Console 825GB - Fortnite Flowering Chaos Bundle for $100.99 off at Best Buy and Walmart and get the PlayStation 5 Console 1TB - Ghost of Yotei Gold Limited Edition Bundle for $100 off at GameStop.
Whether you're still shopping for the perfect holiday gift or you need some inspiration, a gaming console is always a good idea. The PS5 is a great pick, especially if you're buying for yourself. Good news: Even though the holiday savings events have started to trickle down a bit, there are still PS5 console bundles that you can snag for their Black Friday prices. This may very well be your last chance to snag one, so get one while you can.
As of Dec. 5, you can get the PlayStation 5 Console 825GB - Fortnite Flowering Chaos Bundle for $399, down from its usual price of $499.99 at both Best Buy and Walmart. You can also go for the PlayStation 5 Console 1TB - Ghost of Yotei Gold Limited Edition Bundle, which is $499.99 at GameStop, down from its usual price of $599.99.
The Fortnite-focused bundle comes with the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition with 825GB of storage, a controller, and a digital copy of Fortnite. It also offers 8 exclusive Fortnite items and 1,000 V-Bucks to spend in-game.
The Ghost of Yotei-centric bundle includes a special gold PlayStation 5 Slim Console with 1TB of storage and a themed design, a controller, and a digital voucher for Ghost of Yotei with full preorder content included.
This is the cheapest you'll find either bundle for the time being, so if you're ready to lock in your holiday gifts for the gamers on your list, you really can't go wrong with either, especially as Ghost of Yotei is still a very new title. Give the gift of gaming and everyone will be happy this year, as will you with more cash left in your coffers than usual.
Grindr supports Republican-backed age-verification billGrindr expressed support for the App Store Accountability Act this week.
On Tuesday, Grindr's head of global government affairs, Joe Hack, posted on its blog that the app supports the Republican-backed App Store Accountability Act.
The act is one of a slew of online safety bills U.S. lawmakers considered this week, as reported by WIRED, including the controversial Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which critics claim would chill free speech by censoring online LGBTQ content.
The App Store Accountability Act would require age verification at the App Store level. App Store providers (like Apple and Google) would have to verify an individual's "age category" using personal data (such as an email address or Social Security number). Should a user be a minor, they'd have to obtain parental consent before downloading an app or making an in-app purchase.
The act was introduced back in May in the House by Michigan Rep. John James, and in the Senate by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, both Republicans. This year, Lee also reintroduced the Interstate Oscenity Definition Act, which would seek to redefine what falls under "obscene" material (which isn't protected by the First Amendment). Experts told Mashable the bill would basically ban porn.
But in terms of the App Store Accountability Act, Grindr's Hack wrote, "We support Rep. John James's App Store Accountability Act because it strengthens" the work the app does to keep minors off, including age gating, device-level bans, human moderation, AI tools, and partnerships with child safety organizations.
"The bill creates a single, secure age-verification process at the app-store level and allows developers to receive a verified age signal. This approach, supported by nearly 90% of parents, is safer and more consistent than requiring users to verify their age separately across many apps," Hack continued.
"By contrast, the UK and EU are moving toward fragmented rules that force adults to share sensitive personal information with thousands of apps, creating unnecessary privacy and safety risks," Hack wrote. This references the UK's Online Safety Act, which requires visitors of sites with material that's "restricted to adults" to submit personal information such as ID or a facial scan.
Recently, free speech experts and child safety experts told Mashable that device-level filtering is the preferred method of age verification, as it doesn't require these data checks every time someone wants to go on certain websites. An example is California's AB 1043, which requires operating systems to request an age or birthday during setup, and then creates a signal of a user's age bracket to send to apps (but not websites). AB 1043 takes effect in 2027.
Snag a Google Pixel 10 for its lowest price yetAs of Dec. 5, get the Google Pixel 10 for its lowest price yet at Amazon.
SAVE $200: As of Dec. 5, get the Google Pixel 10 (Unlocked, 256GB) for $699 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $899. That's a discount of 22% and the lowest price we've seen.
The new year is almost upon us, and that means it's time to start making good on all the resolutions you have planned. If that includes getting a new smartphone, we've got one that can help you kick off the year on a great foot with some awesome new tech that you'll actually want to pick up.
As of Dec. 5, get the Google Pixel 10 (Unlocked, 256GB) for $699 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $899. That's $200 off and a discount of 22%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.
The Pixel 10 isn't even six months old, and it's getting this significant discount. It's a great phone for beginners and power users alike, with a Tensor G5 chip that can power plenty of AI features, the same as the Pro, for less money. It isn't as robust as the Pro, but it's still got everything else going for it as an upgrade from the Pixel 9.
That includes a third rear telephoto camera lens, a better processor, and improved battery. It also boasts a gorgeous 6.2-inch display with plenty of ways to edit your photos and a range of other fun options that make it a good candidate for your new daily driver phone.
All this, and you get a still-new phone for $200 off, which is the lowest price you're likely to see this phone for in the coming months. Best to get it while it's hot if you're thinking about switching.
Every way to watch the World Cup draw live online for freeDonald Trump, The Village People, Shaq — the 2026 World Cup draw will have everything. Here's how to watch the World Cup Draw online for free via Fox One.
The 2026 World Cup is just around the corner and today, Dec. 5, is a big day on the road to the biggest event in sports.
At 12 p.m. ET, live from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington , D.C., the 2026 World Cup draw will take place. And, if you're wondering how you can watch the World Cup Draw live, the event will be broadcast live.
Fox holds the broadcast rights to the event in the U.S. and will start its pre-show at 11:30 a.m. ET, 30 minutes before the draw begins.
You can get live updates on the draw at FIFA.com, or tune into the broadcast online via Fox One. (If you're a Prime member, you can add Fox One to your Prime Video account for free with a 7-day trial.)
If you're not in the United States, you can check out the global list of official broadcasters at the FIFA website. You can also check the FIFA YouTube channel to see if it's streaming live in your region.
If you don't have access to Fox, either because you don't have cable or a digital TV antenna, then you'll need a live TV service to tune in to all the World Cup action. So, if you want to watch the World Cup draw live and follow World Cup coverage, you'll need to plan ahead. Some of Mashable's favorite cable TV alternatives include:
The 2026 World Cup draw will basically place each national team into twelve groups of four. These teams play each other in the opening group stage to see who advances to the next rounds of the World Cup so being placed in a particular group can be an important factor in how far a team gets.
This is the very first World Cup draw for the newly expanded World Cup, which now features 48 teams instead of 32. Of the 48 teams, 42 countries have already clinched their spot in the World Cup with the remaining spots to be determined next year. Each team has been placed in one of four pots for the World Cup draw. One team from each pot will be placed in one of the 12 groups at the draw.
Host countries USA, Canada, and Mexico have all been placed in the same pot with favorites such as Argentina and Brazil, which basically ensures the host countries' teams don't have to play some of the better teams early on in the tournament.
And even if you aren't a soccer fan, the 2026 World Cup draw is going to have plenty of guests to pique your interest. Kevin Hart, Danny Ramirez, and Heidi Klum are co-hosting the event. Sports legends like Tom Brady, Shaquille O'Neal, Wayne Gretzky, and Aaron Judge will all be on hand to assist in the draw. Plus, there will be performances from artists such as The Village People, Robbie Williams, and Andrea Bocelli.
If you're wondering about the music choices, noted YMCA fan President Donald Trump's attendance at the event should explain a lot. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has gone to great lengths to appease Trump as the U.S. hosts its first World Cup since 1994. FIFA is expected to award Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize at the event. (It's not the Nobel Peace Prize he's been campaigning for, but it's something.)
In addition, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum, both of whom Trump has been feuding with over trade and tariffs, will be in attendance, so things could get interesting.
The 2026 World Cup kicks off on June 11 in Mexico City with the final game being held on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in the New York / New Jersey metro area.
Get a PlayStation VR2 bundle for only $299As of Dec. 5, you can get the PlayStation VR2 'Horizon Call of the Mountain' bundle for $299.99, down from $399.99. That's a $100 savings.
SAVE 25%: As of Dec. 5, you can get the PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle for $299.99, down from $399.99. That's a 25% discount and a $100 savings.
If you've been waiting to buy a PlayStation VR2, now's your chance to get a bundle deal for just $299.99.
As of Dec. 5, you can get the PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle for $299.99, down from $399.99. That's a 25% discount and a $100 savings. But, you'd better hurry, Best Buy is listing this as a "3-Day Deal," so time's running out.
This headset is the next generation of VR. It features 4K HDR visuals, 110-degree field of view, and advanced VR2 Sense technology (which includes eye tracking, headset feedback, and 3D audio). The best part? It's the complete bundle, so you get the headset, the Sense controllers, and Horizon Call of the Mountain to jump straight into conquering those "colossal peaks." This is the lowest we've seen this bundle, so don't miss the deadline.
What does Netflixs purchase of Warner Bros. mean for theatrical releases?Netflix will be acquiring Warner Bros. How will this impact theatrical releases for WB franchises like DC, 'Dune,' and more?
On Friday, Netflix announced it would be buying Warner Bros. for a whopping $82.7 billion.
The deal, which still needs to be approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), would see Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. and its film and TV studios, along with HBO and HBO Max. Netflix will now also own the Warner Bros. catalogue, including major film franchises like DC and the Monsterverse. How will the theatrical releases of upcoming Warner Bros. film look now that they're owned by a streaming service? Here's what we know.
Don't worry, the next Dune film won't be zapped straight to streaming. According to the SEC filing and a statement from Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, "Netflix expects to maintain Warner Bros.' current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films."
According to Variety, Warner Bros. currently has contracts in place to release films in movie theaters through 2029. Bloomberg also reported that continued theatrical releases were a major part of Netflix's bid to acquire Warner Bros., so the streamer appears committed to keeping Warner Bros. films in cinemas.
However, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has made comments that could point to shorter theatrical runs for Warner Bros. films, not unlike Netflix's limited releases of its own films.
"It’s not like we have this opposition to movies in theaters," Sarandos said in a Friday conference call with press and investors, Variety reported. "My pushback has been mostly in the fact of the long exclusive windows, which we don’t really think are that consumer friendly, but when we talk about keeping HBO operating, largely as it is, that also includes their output movie deal with Warner Bros., which includes a life cycle that starts in the movie theater, which we’re going to continue to support.”
He continued, saying, "I think, over time, the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker."
On Dec. 4, Variety reported that a group of anonymous Hollywood A-listers are lobbying Congress about the acquisition, with theatrical releases being a top concern. Sources told Variety that Netflix's proposal for the acquisition included theatrical windows as short as two weeks prior to a streaming release. Another source denied this shorter timeline, saying release periods would actually be longer.
Netflix's current theatrical release plan for its own films involves shorter release periods in limited theaters. You won't find films like Frankenstein or Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery at big movie chains like AMC or Regal.
Netflix has moved into wider theatrical releases in 2025, with KPop Demon Hunters and the Stranger Things Season 5 finale both getting releases in AMC and Regal theaters. However, those runs are limited to two to three days, with Netflix continuing to prioritize streaming exclusivity.
Get your game on with the Razer Kraken Kitty V3 X headset for just $35 at WootAs of Dec. 5, get the Razer Kraken Kitty V3 X headset for just $35 at Woot.
SAVE $25: As of Dec. 5, get the Razer Kraken Kitty V3 X for $34.99 at Woot, down from its usual price of $59.99. That's a discount of 42%.
If you're looking for a good way to interact with your teammates or co-op partners in the year's biggest games, you can't go wrong with an affordable headset. That goes double when the headset has kitty ears. Cyber Monday may have come and gone, but that doesn't mean you can't still save some serious cash on a great headset, especially if you like to walk on the cute side.
As of Dec. 5, get the Razer Kraken Kitty V3 X for $34.99 at Woot, down from its usual price of $59.99. That's $25 off and a discount of 42%.
This lightweight gaming headset is compatible with PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Switch, and more. It's meant for long-term wear, with a comfortable headband that features fun kitty ears that'll look positively "purrfect" when you're playing your favorite game. But they go far beyond looking cute. They're also a great pick when it comes to gaming headsets.
They feature a hyperclear carotid mic with an improved pickup pattern from the previous Razer Kraken headset, with 40mm 3-part drivers for better audio as well: clearer highs, richer mids, and improved, deeper lows. They also support 7.1 surround sound and can connect across platforms.
This is a fantastic option for anyone who values great comms and audio in-game but wants a bit of flair in their gaming headset. It's super affordable, looks cute, and a fun twist on the typical "gaming" aesthetic. Get yours before Woot sells out of this absolutely adorable peripheral.
You can still buy Bose QuietComfort headphones for 49% off at AmazonAs of Dec. 5, you can get the Bose QuietComfort headphones (with ANC) for just $179, down from $349, at Amazon. That's a 49% discount.
SAVE 49%: As of Dec. 5, you can get the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (with ANC) for just $179, down from $349, at Amazon. That's a 49% discount and a $170 price cut.
You don't need to splurge on the flagship model to get great sound and legendary noise cancellation from Bose. Our editors at Mashable recently tested every pair of Bose headphones and earbuds, and we named the standard Bose QuietComfort Headphones our Runner-Up for Best Headphones. And right now, you can get 'em for nearly half the price.
As of Dec. 5, you can get the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (with ANC) for just $179, down from $349, at Amazon. That's a 49% discount and a $170 price cut. It's also the lowest price we've ever tracked for these headphones.
They feature active noise cancellation, which Mashable's shopping reporter Samantha Mangino says "was phenomenal," noting that she felt like she was in her "own world without the chaos of my fellow travelers interrupting" her peaceful ride. Plus, they’re seriously comfortable. The plush cushions are designed for long listening sessions, and they last up to 24 hours on a single charge.
While the Ultra version includes spatial audio, the standard QuietComfort delivers "full, rounded sound" that'll please most listeners, especially students who need reliable noise-blocking and a long-lasting battery. So, if you want great audio without paying a premium, this deal is the one to jump on.
Netflix is officially buying Warner Bros. What happens next?It's official: Netflix is buying Warner Bros. in a sale worth a towering $82.7 billion.
It's official: Netflix is buying Warner Bros. in a sale worth a towering $82.7 billion.
Announced by Netflix on Friday, the two companies have reached a "definitive agreement" in which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros. and all its film and TV studios, including HBO and its streaming platform HBO Max. According to the SEC filing, the sale was "unanimously approved" by both Netflix and WBD's boards.
The sale's total equity value (what Netflix pays for WBD's shares) sits at $72 billion with an enterprise value (what Netflix pays for WBD plus debt) of $82.7 billion, with Netflix valuing WBD at $27.75 per share.
Netflix landed the winning bid after WBD rejected three offers from Paramount Skydance, and a bid from Comcast to merge NBC Universal with Netflix. The landmark sale is expected to close after WBD's Global Networks division, Discovery Global (a separate company from WBD's Streaming and Studios, they were split in June 2025), becomes a new publicly-traded company in Q3 2026.
Next, Netflix and WBD need to have their filed agreement approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"Our mission has always been to entertain the world," said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in a press statement. "Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling." Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters added that the acquisition "will improve our offering and accelerate our business for decades to come."
"Today’s announcement combines two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world to bring to even more people the entertainment they love to watch the most,” said WBD CEO and president David Zaslav in a statement.
Essentially, the Netflix/WBD deal means the same streamer that owns mega hits Stranger Things and KPop Demon Hunters will also own HBO's library, including the Game of Thrones and Harry Potter universes, as well as DC Comics and Warner Bros. Games. That's a lot of IP. The deal is the biggest streaming move for Warner Bros. Discovery since it merged HBO Max with Discovery+ in 2023.
In its release, Netflix said it "expects to maintain Warner Bros.' current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films." Mashable's Belen Edwards examined what Netflix's purchase of Warner Bros. mean for theatrical releases.
As for your personal streaming habits, the company described the titles of HBO and HBO Max as "a compelling, complementary offering" for Netflix customers, which sounds like we'll probably be seeing bundles or merged content libraries up ahead.
"By adding the deep film and TV libraries and HBO and HBO Max programming, Netflix members will have even more high-quality titles from which to choose," the company said. "This also allows Netflix to optimize its plans for consumers, enhancing viewing options and expanding access to content."
Netflix also mentions the acquisition would allow the company to expand studio production capacity and increase investment in original content.So until the SEC approves the deal, nothing will change in either of your streaming services. For now.
EU fines Elon Musks X $140 million for lack of transparencyElon Musk's X was fined $140M for lack of transparency in a landmark EU decision.
The European Commission on Friday issued a landmark €120 million fine to Elon Musk-owned X for breaching transparency requirements of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The fine, the equivalent of about $140 million and the first issued under the European Union's DSA, is linked to the "deceptive design of its ‘blue checkmark', the lack of transparency of its advertising repository, and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers," the EU release states.
The "blue checkmark" is front-and-center in the ruling, stating that the once-free, now-paid checkmark deceives users and violates the DSA requirement to prohibit deceptive design practices. The blue checkmark now makes it difficult to verify authentic accounts and makes it easier for users to be scammed, according to the ruling.
"While the DSA does not mandate user verification, it clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place," the ruling states.
The ruling also cites a lack of transparency within X's ad repository, stating that it has limited information about the content of advertisements and who is paying for them, which makes it difficult for researchers and the public to scrutinize.
X also failed to provide researchers access to public data as required by DSA.
The ruling follows a nearly two-year investigation launched in December 2023 to determine whether X violated DSA requirements related to the spread of illegal content and the effectiveness of its efforts to combat misinformation, the release states.
"Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU," said Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for European Commission for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
X now has 60 business days to bring forward plans to address its use of blue checkmarks, 90 days to address EU concerns regarding its ad repository and public data access to researchers or face further fines, according to the ruling.
Tesla launches cheaper Model 3 in EuropeTesla has launched a stripped-down, cheaper variant of its Model 3 in Europe.
Tesla's cheapest Model 3 is now available in Europe.
The company started offering a stripped-down version of the model across its European markets on Friday, notifying its users via an in-app message.
The Model 3 Standard is "our most affordable vehicle," Tesla wrote in the message. "(It) gives you all the best Tesla features with a lower cost of ownership over time."
The price of the Model 3 Standard varies by market. In Germany, it starts at €37,970, while in France and Italy, it's a bit cheaper at €36,990.
While that's roughly €8,000 cheaper than the next trim (which is now called Premium), you do lose quite a lot in terms of features.
We've covered the details for both the Standard trims of Model Y and Model 3 on Mashable. In short, compared to Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive Premium trim, you get lower range, slower acceleration, no additional display for passengers in the rear, no heated seats in the back, less fancy decorative elements, partially textile seats, and fewer colors on offer, among other reductions.
Some good news: Unlike in the U.S., the Model 3 Standard keeps Basic Autopilot with Autosteer; and unlike the Model Y Standard, it keeps the Panoramic Glass Roof. There are other, subtle differences between trims in Europe compared to America. For example, in Europe both the Standard and the cheapest Premium trim have seven loudspeakers; in the U.S. the Premium variant gets two speakers more.
The new model comes amidst a painful slump in sales across most European markets for Tesla, likely because of CEO Elon Musk's politics, but also due to strong competition from China's BYD and other electric vehicle makers.
Another bit of good news that may entice users to choose Tesla, though, is the latest Consumer Reports' auto brand ranking, which puts Tesla in the 10th place for the first time, a big jump from the 18th place last year. On the other hand, Germany's TÜV association recently highlighted some of Tesla's models as the least reliable it ever tested.
Bobs Burgers creator Loren Bouchard credits early fans for the shows successThe animated family sitcom "Bob's Burgers" sparked love in season one. Interview with show creator Loren Bouchard.
It's been nearly 15 years since Bob's Burgers launched on Fox with a pilot called "Human Flesh." Since then, the charmingly chaotic cartoon has blossomed into 16 seasons, hitting its 300th episode this year. For Bob's Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, the show's continued success — which included The Bob's Burgers Movie spinoff — has been a joy and a responsibility.
In a virtual interview with Mashable Entertainment Editor (and Bob's Burgers fan since its start), Kristy Puchko, Bouchard joined Say More to talk about the show's evolution and the fandom that spurred it on. In this clip, he reminisces about the show's start, when the numbers weren't great, but the love from fans could not be ignored.
"What Bob's was was...maybe a bubble show," Bouchard said, "It wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't a ratings smash. I liked those days. And I'll say why. I don't like it from the point of view of just the sheer fear, you know, you make so many decisions a day, working on a show like this. And you don't want to have the fear that if you make the wrong decision, everyone loses their job. That's an uncomfortable amount of stakes, I would say. But it does make you sharper. I think it adds a little adrenaline."
He continued, explaining how every detail feels crucial in that headspace: "It's that emergency room vibe, where it might be the stupidest thing — we're in the AVID editing suite, and we're moving a fart two frames to the left or to the right. But you know what, at that moment, where that fart goes is like, feels life-threatening and life-saving."
In the longer form interview, which you can watch on YouTube, Bouchard also spoke about what drives him now that the fear of being cancelled is gone. It's the fans, especially those who were there from the start. He doesn't want to let us down.
In the clip above, he shared, "I will say something about you early fans: That was amazing for us to know that we were just starting out, but that we could still pack the room at Comic Con. It meant a lot to us. It meant a lot to the network and the studio too. They were witness to, not necessarily these, you know, boffo ratings, but incredible love."
He went on, "When it became clear that we had passionate fans, even though we weren't a ratings hit, I saw the network in the studio basically say something along the lines of, 'Don't worry. We'll try and keep you on the air. We want this. This is what we want when the fans react like this.'
"So thank you," Bouchard said, speaking to the fans, "Thank you to you, early fans. You helped, you know, make it possible for us to be here now."
For more on Bob's Burgers, including Bouchard's thoughts on Bob as a bicon and the development of fan favorite Marshmallow, check out the full interview on YouTube.
Bob's Burgers is now streaming on Hulu.
Gemini 3 Deep Think rolls out to paid subscribersAfter launching Gemini 3 in late November, Google is rolling out its latest Deep Think mode to AI Ultra subscribers.
After launching Gemini 3 in late November, Google is rolling out its latest Deep Think mode to AI Ultra subscribers.
Now available in the Gemini app for anyone shelling out $250 a month for the pro plan, Gemini 3 Deep Think is the supercharged mode of Google's latest large language model (LLM), designed to tackle more complex problems. According to the company, it "uses advanced parallel reasoning to explore multiple hypotheses simultaneously."
The latest update after Gemini 2.5, Gemini 3 Deep Think has a few bragging rights, as Google says it scored 41 percent on the extremely difficult LLM benchmark, Humanity’s Last Exam.
If you're paying for AI Ultra, you can try Gemini 3 Deep Think in the Gemini app by hitting the prompt bar and selecting the dropdown option.
Demand is high for Google's AI tools of late, despite the company joining competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI in taking home an average AI safety report card this week. The rollout comes days after Google had to cap access to its next gen image generator, Nano Banana, temporarily dropping the number of free image prompts from three to two (this didn't affect Google AI Pro or AI Ultra plan subscribers). Google says its Gemini app is used by 650 million users every month, and with the arrival of Gemini 3, rival OpenAI reportedly lost 6 percent of its users in a week.
I found the best robot vacuums for every floor, budget, and level of laziness (after testing 30+ models)I'm always testing new vacuums from brands like Roborock, Shark, and iRobot to find the best robot vacuum mop combo, budget steals, and more.
I test new robot vacuums on a regular basis and compare them to the top performers from previous months, with all my evaluations taking place in my own home on various rugs, tile, and hardwood floors. As I test each robot vacuum and tweak its settings for optimal performance, I keep notes on its overall suction power and scrubbing efficacy (if it's a robot vacuum and mop combo), pet hair pickup, the convenience of its automatic emptying and self-washing mopping pads, accuracy of smart mapping and small obstacle avoidance, and the overall user experience. But the final boss here is cost efficiency — I'll be the first one to point out when a cheap robot vacuum actually works well for the price, or when a high-end robot vacuum is actually worth the splurge or not.
I tested several other top robot vacuums in the past that didn't make the most recent cut for this list. Some, like the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, Roborock Qrevo Master, Narwal Freo X Ultra, and various versions of the Roomba j7 were my top recommendations at one point, but have since been overshadowed by newer, more powerful models that are a better bang for your buck.
I've also tested some 2025 robot vacuum releases that were OK, but ultimately aren't a top pick for me. The Dreame X50 Ultra grabbed attention during its CES 2025 debut for its ability to "climb," though the fine print is that it can't scale thresholds taller than 6 millimeters (about 2.36 inches). A slew of new Dreame robot vacuums are slated to come out in fall 2025, among them a model with improved climbing abilities and a model whose self-empty dock can hold three sets of mopping pads. I'll be getting my hands on these as soon as possible and updating my top picks for this list accordingly.
Jimmy Kimmel has a brutal analogy for Trumps healthcare planJimmy Kimmel has slammed Donald Trump for his lack of healthcare plan as the deadline to extend Obamacare subsidies approaches.
The deadline to extend Obamacare subsidies is approaching, with millions of Americans at risk of having their insurance premiums increase dramatically if no plan is agreed upon. And on Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel took President Donald Trump to task on it.
"How long has Trump been claiming to have a plan for healthcare?" asks the late night show host in the clip above. "If you had an employee, or like a contractor at your house, who told you he was working on a project – something important like your roof – and he told you during interview before you hired him, he's like 'I have a plan for this roof, it's going to be a great plan, it's gonna be an excellent roof.' So you hire him, and some time goes by and you're like, 'Hey, where's the plan for the roof?' And he's like, 'It's almost ready.' And then a year later you still don't have a roof, and you're like, 'Hey, what's up with the roof?' He's like, 'It's coming, soon.' And that went on for four years until eventually you fire him, you give someone else the job, and then four years later he comes back, he's like, 'That roof you have is terrible, I could build you a much better roof.' And again, you fall for it! [...] This is exactly what Trump has been doing with healthcare."
Cue a montage of Trump clips from the past decade, with the president repeatedly promising a plan for health care.
"He's been saying this since 2015," says Kimmel. "At what point are we the idiots?"
Pluribus episode 6 reveals something huge about the virusIn "Pluribus" episode 6, we get a new revelation about how the virus is transmitted. So what do we learn, and what does it mean for Carol?
There are a couple of eye-opening revelations in Pluribus episode 6 — and while one of them's somewhat disturbing, the other may give Carol (Rhea Seehorn) a cause for hope.
So, what exactly do we learn about the virus and how it can be transmitted? We've recapped everything below.
Episode 6 sees Carol travelling to Las Vegas to meet with Mr. Diabaté (Samba Schutte), one of the other few remaining people on Earth that hasn't contracted the virus. Carol travels with the purpose of telling Mr. Diabaté about the milk and what's contained within it, only to find out — via an entertaining John Cena cameo — that he already knows.
It's only as Carol is about to storm off that Mr. Diabaté reveals some new information he's learned about the virus' transmission:
Mr. Diabaté: "They cannot turn us. Not without our consent."
Carol: "What do you mean?"
D: "It seems the only way to make their virus work on us is by tailoring it to our individual stem cells. But to obtain those stem cells, they must first collect them from our bodies."
C: "Um... What? What?"
D: "Apparently that involves sticking a large needle into the bone of the hip. Somewhat painful, and very invasive. Something they cannot do without our permission."
C: "When did you find this out?"
D: "They made this discovery only yesterday."
Carol confirms this with the Joined, who, as we learned in episode 4, are unable to lie. Then she contacts them to explicitly refuse consent.
As we can see from Carol's reaction, the news clearly comes as a massive relief. Carol's main fear so far has been that the Joined would turn her into one of them, which they'd given her every indication they planned to do. But now that they can't, Carol is off the hook, right?
Well, maybe. But it's worth noting that Mr. Diabaté also tells Carol that the Joined aren't happy with what they've discovered. We also know that one of their main drivers, alongside survival, is to spread their virus to everyone who doesn't yet have it. The Joined have all of the top minds in the world under their control, so it seems inevitable that while they don't yet have a way to transmit the virus without requiring consent, they'll probably continue looking for one.
Carol may have a short reprieve, but we'd be surprised if she's out of the woods just yet.
Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV, with a new episode every Friday.
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for December 5, 2025Connections is a New York Times word game that's all about finding the "common threads between words." How to solve the puzzle.
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you love game night.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Complicated
Green: Circumstances
Blue: Game night
Purple: Chatting
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Tricky
Green: State of affairs
Blue: Classic board games
Purple: ___ Talk
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 #908 is...
Tricky: COMPLEX, DELICATE, STICKY, TOUGH
State of affairs: DEAL, SITUATION, STATUS, STORY
Classic board games: MASTERMIND, MOUSE TRAP, OPERATION, SORRY
___ Talk: BABY, PILLOW, SMALL, SWEET
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new 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? 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.
NYT Strands hints, answers for December 5, 2025The NYT Strands hints and answers you need to make the most of your puzzling experience.
Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're a foodie.
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.
The words are related to eating.
These words describe dining establishments.
Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.
Today's spangram is Dining Out.
Steakhouse
Buffet
Cafe
Dining Out
Bakery
Bistro
Brewery
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.
Wordle today: Answer, hints for December 5, 2025Here's the answer for "Wordle" #1629 on December 5 as well as a few hints, tips, and clues to help you solve it yourself.
Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're always in the mix.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Amidst.
There are no recurring letters.
Today's Wordle starts with the letter A.
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...
AMONG
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.
NYT Pips hints, answers for December 5 2025The New York Times' latest game, Pips, brings domino fun to your desktop. How to play Pips as well as hints in case you get stuck.
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, the 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 onto 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.
If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity for 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.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally.
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 0-4, placed horizontally; 2-1, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add to 6. The answer is 0-4, placed horizontally; 2-3, placed horizontally.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add to 0. The answer is 0-0, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add to 0. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.
Not equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically; 0-4, placed horizontally.
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add to 4. The answer is 0-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 2-2, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add to 6. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically.
Equal (3): Everything in this purple space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically; 3-2, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed vertically.
Equal (4): Everything in this red space must be equal to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (2): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 2. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally; 1-6, placed vertically.
Not equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally; 3-5, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this dark blue space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this green space must be equal to 2. The answer is 3-2 placed horizontally; 0-2, placed vertically.
Number (24): Everything in this space must add to 24. The answer is 1-6, placed vertically, 6-6, placed horizontally; 6-4, placed vertically.
Less Than (5): Everything in this space must be less than 5. The answer is 3-1, 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.
AirPods Pro 3 vs. Beats Powerbeats Pro 2: Which wireless earbuds should you buy?We compare the AirPods Pro 3 and the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 to see which comes out on top as the best wireless earbuds you can buy.
Apple made noise cancellation on the AirPods Pro 3 stronger than their predecessor, and it shows. Most noises across the frequency spectrum are barely noticeable. Very few high-frequency noises (e.g., siren, whistle) will catch you off guard. Transparency Mode is stellar and gives ambient noise a natural presence. Enabling any of the new Hearing Health modes will transform the buds into hearing aids. Conversation Mode boosts vocal capture to engage in loud, clear-sounding chats. Adaptive Audio combines the two ANC modes, so you can get the best of both worlds while enjoying lively sound. Speaking of which, audio quality on the AirPods Pro 3 is awesome. Bass and clarity are amplified, plus the adaptive EQ fine-tunes sound to your environment. Personalized Spatial Audio is ideal for immersive listening; bass receives more oomph on Dolby Atmos tracks.
The Powerbeats Pro 2 have their own sonic strengths. Bass remains impactful and vibrant. Frequencies are better balanced this time around to create a pleasant mix of lows, mids, and highs. Spatial Audio with headtracking works better on the Powerbeats Pro 2 than the Fit Pro. However, ANC is a major downgrade. We heard endless noise when exercising indoors and outdoors. Mid- and high-frequency sounds were distracting at times. Thankfully, Transparency mode was reliable for increasing situational awareness.
Winner: Apple AirPods Pro 3
Read our full review of the AirPods Pro 3.
Despite their lackluster IP rating (IPX4 sweat and water resistance), the Powerbeats Pro 2 are built to survive heavy-duty workouts. Hard plastic protects the entire product. You’ll feel at ease if the buds or case accidentally fall on hard surfaces. Beats’ earhook design keeps the buds latched on. My only complaint on the fitness end is the unreliable heart rate monitoring. Up to 10 hours of battery life per charge means more workouts in between recharges. The wireless charging case also holds an additional 45 hours when fully charged. If the buds are about to die, employ USB-C charging to generate 1.5 hours of use in 5 minutes.
The AirPods Pro 3 were designed with fitness in mind. I used the AirPods Pro 3 for my workouts and got mostly accurate readings from the HRM. It’s nice having the bump in battery life (up to 8 hours with ANC on), though the loss in additional charges from the charging case is a bummer (down from 30 hours to 24 hours). These buds share the same quick charging time as the Powerbeats Pro 2. The longer sound port occupies the concha and keeps each bud stable, but it also causes some discomfort after several hours of wear. Apple’s silicone tips still form a tight fit. IP57 dust-, sweat-, and water-resistance protect both the buds and the charging case. Now comes the real bad news: you must guard the AirPods Pro 3 with your life because they are poorly constructed. A 0/10 repairability score from iFixit says it all. The materials are fragile, and if something breaks on the inside, you’ll risk tearing ribbon cables when attempting to remove components.
Winner: Beats Powerbeats Pro 2
Read our full review of the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2.
It’s no surprise that the AirPods Pro 3 deliver the truer Apple experience. That’s fantastic news for anyone with an iDevice (iPhone/iPad) or Mac. Android users receive very little functionality. All previously mentioned listening modes are restricted to Apple’s ecosystem. The same goes for standard features tied to the H2 processor: audio sharing, auto switch, and “Hey Siri,” to name a few. Apple doesn’t even let you enable Google Assistant.
The Powerbeats Pro 2 are more platform-neutral, thanks to a proprietary chip that was developed for optimization with Apple’s and Google’s operating systems. You gain access to most H2 benefits and Android features like one-tap Fast Pair and Find My Device. HRM is even available on Android via the Beats app or third-party fitness apps. These buds also have Bluetooth multipoint to pair them with two devices simultaneously, no matter the platforms. It’s just unfortunate that Apple’s primary listening modes remain exclusive to current AirPods models.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
NASA Mars rover captures crackling lightning. Hear the thunder yourself.NASA's rover Perseverance has recorded evidence that lightning indeed occurs on Mars, providing evidence for a longtime theory.
Scientists now have proof that Mars' dusty storms can generate mini lightning, putting to rest decades of speculation.
The discovery came from a microphone aboard NASA's Perseverance rover, a lab on six wheels exploring the Jezero Crater region. While it was listening to Martian winds spinning and spitting dust, it also picked up something no one had heard there before: crackles and pops that turned out to be small electrical shocks within dust devils and storm fronts.
Of course, everything on Mars has to be different from Earth — not even the thunder can sound like thunder. Instead, these tiny bits of lightning give off sounds more like those that people associate with static electricity — the shuffling-of-your-socked-feet-and-touching-a-doorknob variety.
Over two Martian years, researchers identified 55 brief discharges — usually when dust devils passed close by or when the leading edges of dust storms rolled over the rover. Now people can listen to the Martian lightning themselves. NASA released a recording, featured in the YouTube video below, this week.
"We got some good ones where you can clearly hear the 'snap' sound of the spark," said Ralph Lorenz, a Perseverance scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, in a statement.
Scientists have long studied dust devils churning up Martian dirt. About 13 years ago, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught sight of an extraordinary one with a column stretching 12 miles into the sky.
Dust devils on Mars form similarly to those on Earth, despite the fact that Mars' atmosphere is much thinner. They tend to happen on dry days when the ground gets hotter than the surrounding area. Typically smaller than tornadoes, dust devils are whirlwinds that make a funnel-like chimney, channeling hot air up and around. The rotating wind accelerates similar to the way spinning ice skaters move faster as they bring their arms closer to their bodies.
As wind-blown grains bang into each other, they swap tiny electric charges. Over time, those charges build strong electric fields that can lead to sparks or even lightning, especially inside volcanic ash clouds. The Red Planet is covered in fine dust and constantly experiences dust devils and massive storms, so scientists have expected similar charging there.
"On Mars, the thin atmosphere makes the phenomenon far more likely," said Baptiste Chide, a Perseverance scientist at L’Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie in France, in a statement, "as the amount of charge required to generate sparks is much lower than what is required in Earth’s near-surface atmosphere."
Lab experiments and computer models predicted this. That raised the possibility that even modest charging could produce flashes.
Scientists have documented lightning on Jupiter and Saturn, and they suspected for decades that Mars has lightning, too. But no one had ever observed it directly — that is, until now.
Though Perseverance hasn't caught one of these little lightning events on camera, its hot mic has picked up their pops just as dust clouds have swept past. In addition to the audio, the instrument made electromagnetic recordings.
Scientists noticed that the sparks occurred when dust lifted and collided, not simply when it hung in the air. It is the motion and friction of grains, not just having dusty skies, that drive the electricity, they said. Their findings now appear in the journal Nature.
Although the rover encountered only two strong dust devils during this period, both produced detectable sparks. That means countless other whirlwinds across the planet are likely doing the same thing. Even more significant are the thousands of dust storms that form each year. Scientists suspect those turbulent, miles-long storm fronts produce far more electricity than isolated dust devils.
Electrical discharges from Martian lightning may change the chemistry of the planet's surface. They can create compounds like hydrogen peroxide, chlorine gases, and perchlorates that destroy organic matter. These reactions may help explain why scientists struggle to find well-preserved traces of ancient life at the surface.
Understanding this phenomenon is important to keep spacecraft and future astronauts safe on the Red Planet, according to NASA. Fortunately, decades of rover missions have not experienced any serious electrical damage. Still, the research team notes that the Soviet Mars 3 lander, which stopped transmitting only seconds after landing during a dust storm in 1971, might have fallen victim to a spark-related malfunction.
Generally speaking, the Red Planet is a quiet place, largely due to Mars' low-atmospheric pressure. In fact, it can fall so silent, there was a time the Perseverance team believed the rovers' mics might be broken.
Five Nights at Freddys 2 review: It sure is a movie, technicallyThe popular video game adaptation "'Five Nights at Freddy's 2" takes a "Terminator 2" twist. Review.
First came Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was fine. Then there was M3GAN 2.0, which was a flop. Now we have Five Nights at Freddy's 2, a sequel that has all the energy of a dead battery. Behold the steady downward spiral of robo-horror sequels
In each of these franchises, the first film was about a killer robot who, despite being an antagonist, was compelling enough that audiences wanted more. So, Hollywood brings them back for a sequel. But this time, the bad robot has a heart of gold and only wants to protect a child. From what? Oh, a more advanced and even more evil version of the robo-killer that started it all.
Look, that premise should be fun. In T2, it is because co-writer and director James Cameron kept Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator stiff and macho, then introduced a wiry robo-cop with shape-shifting abilities to bring fresh terror. In M3GAN 2.0, Blumhouse fumbled their new icon of horror by trying to make her a sassy superhero, killing the subversive vibe and losing their audience. With Five Nights at Freddy's 2, screenwriter Scott Cawthon and director Emma Tammi (who collaborated on 2023's Five Nights at Freddy's) follow this pattern to introduce flashy new versions of Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, and Chica, without abandoning the dinged-up but beloved originals.
This does make for some fun third-act robot versus robot violence. But mostly this movie is about the living humans who bop around this franchise, clueless and always near death. And that's far more frustrating than entertaining.
Thankfully, this sequel moves away from the tedious story of Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) and his guilt over his long-lost little brother. This time, his role is relegated to sidekick while his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio) recklessly seeks to reconnect with her ghostly pals, and his sort-of girlfriend Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) grapples with the skeletons in her closet that weren't shaken free last time around.
You see, the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location at the center of the first film was a franchise, and the original location has its own secrets. Ahead of its time, this possessed pizza place has WiFi-equipped devices, which means its animatronics toys can operate remotely through one seriously vengeful spirit — and leave the restaurant.
In a flashback to 1982, poor Charlotte, draped in black and white stripes with a moody haircut, was just a kid when she was slaughtered before an audience of neglectful parents. (The '80s were a wild time.) So, naturally, this baby emo's soul clung to her favorite animatronic at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a black-and-white figure called Marionette.
This haunted animatronic resembles a cross between Slenderman and the Insane Clown Posse, filtered through the kiddie-friendly lens of Tim Burton. Which is hilariously creepy for a kid's attraction, but also very true to the '80s, when Cabbage Patch Kids and Chuck E. Cheese were omnipresent. On a mission to wreak havoc on the town that let her die, Charlotte/Marionette sends forth her own fleet of Freddy and friends bots. And it's up to Vanessa and Mike to save the day, along with Abby, who is still bizarrely trusting of creepy androids. But this time, they'll get some third-act help from some familiar (and fuzzy) faces.
It's a PG-13 horror franchise. I get that. But for all its horror potential, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 goes very, very soft. M3GAN was PG-13, and it featured a body count, as well as slaughter scenes that left audiences gasping and howling with laughter. Gremlins was PG and offered nerve-rattling tension and a climax so gross it gave a generation of kids nightmares. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 has off-screen violence, a handful of jump scares, and the same repeated gag of the Marionette scuttling toward the screen.
Perhaps this is enough to please kids. But frankly, they deserve better. This summer the PG-rated Sketch proved a movie for kids can offer scary monsters and a story with a powerful message about big emotions and family. Nights at Freddy's 2 is just a rambling tumble of scenes that too often feel like filler or absolutely nonsensical.
Some of it is horror cliché stuff, like someone hears or sees something spooky and reacts with the speed of a tortoise. You've fallen into a weird canal and hear plunking as if something has come in after you? Better stand still and swish around your flashlight instead of getting out of the water, right? Such tropes might be forgiven for being part of the genre expectation. We need to the inept randos to die and show the consequences our heroes face. The off-screen violence that results from these kill scenes — issuing bubbling blood but no image of actual injury — could likewise be excused because this is certainly for a younger audience. But how do you explain how Mike and Vanessa, who have been in this situation before, are still so comically bad at tackling any kind of robotic conflict?
In one scene, Vanessa clearly lays out how Charlotte can be stopped. And oh hey, wouldn't you know Mike has the exact thing they need to stop her! But we won't talk about this again for another 40 minutes, for no apparent reason. The dialogue is similarly confounding. Vanessa and Mike — in the least interesting will-they-won't-they romance ever put to screen — have conversations as if they are in different rooms. It's not just that they're on the same page. It's as if they're reading off AI prompts from totally different plots. Such scenes made my brain wince.
This only gets more confounding as other supporting players pop up with little motive, like a creepy security guard with a broad smile, a mournful father (Skeet Ulrich in an all-too-brief appearance), and a dead father (Matthew Lillard, terrifyingly intimidating). They exposition dump or menace, then banish us back to a plotline full of tangles and holes instead of scares and fun.
A recurring element of great horror movies is when a kid knows in their bones something is deadly wrong, but the grown-ups around them shrug them off (often to their own peril). The people who are supposed to protect you have left you susceptible to supernatural threat! Now what?! Such a setup reflects a frustration of being a kid and not being heard. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 treads into this trope in the first act, as Charlotte (still alive) desperately tries to get the parents at the pizza palace to see the danger in plain sight. When they don't, she winds up dead, and rightfully wrathful about it.
As the Marionette, she is solidly spooky. And her gripe with the living is valid. So, Five Nights at Freddy's gets off to a promising start.
Plus, the parents in this opening are comically dismissive of this fretful child, which seems to set up a cartoony tone that could suit the film well. Rather than aspiring to a grounded attitude, Cawthon's script could have embraced the tightly strung energy of the young girls at the film's center. But no. We're back with blah Mike and tragic yet still boring Vanessa.
The only grown-up who keeps up this viciously dismissive energy is Wayne Knight as Mr. Berg, a science teacher who hates Abby for no apparent reason. His scenes are actually pretty funny. Knight commits to the cartoonish villainy of this terrible teacher, and in him, the film actually begins to have some spark and outrageousness. If Tammi had encouraged others in the cast to achieve this level of intensity, the film might have been more enjoyable. But like the first one, this sequel has just a deadly amount of talking, with too little scares, jokes, or surprises.
But hey, I thought that about the first film too. And it went on to make hundreds of millions of dollars. So, perhaps if you liked the first Five Nights at Freddy's, this sluggish sequel will thrill you far more than it did me.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters Friday.
How to watch Thunder vs. Mavericks online for freeHow to watch NBA for free. Watch Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks in the NBA for free from anywhere in the world.
TL;DR: Live stream Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks in the NBA for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
Select games from this weekend's batch of NBA games are available to live stream for free, including Thunder vs. Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks have struggled for momentum this season, but the return of Anthony Davis is certainly going to help. And fans will be hoping his return will bring out the best in Cooper Flagg, too.
Things might be getting better for the Mavs, but the Thunder are surely a step too far? The defending champs are 21-1. It's going to be so difficult for the Mavs to take anything from this contest.
If you want to watch Thunder vs. Mavericks in the NBA for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
Thunder vs. Mavericks in the NBA starts at 9:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 5. This game takes place at the Paycom Center.
Thunder vs. Mavericks in the NBA is available to live stream for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.
This free live stream is geo-restricted to the U.S. and UK, but anyone can secure access with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S. or UK, meaning you can access free live streams of the NBA from anywhere in the world.
Stream the NBA for free by following these simple steps:
Sign up for a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime (if you're not already a member)
Subscribe to a VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S. or UK
Watch the NBA from anywhere in the world on Prime Video
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer money-back guarantees or free trials. By leveraging these offers, you can watch NBA live streams without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does mean you can watch select games from the NBA before recovering your investment.
ExpressVPN is the best service for accessing free live streams on platforms like Prime Video, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also 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 $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).
Live stream the NBA for free with ExpressVPN.
How to watch Celtics vs. Lakers online for freeHow to watch NBA for free. Watch Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA for free from anywhere in the world.
TL;DR: Live stream Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
The NBA action is looking particularly interesting this weekend, with a number of fascinating matchups on the schedule. Celtics vs. Lakers would usually be the biggest of the bunch, but the Celtics just don't hold the same interest without Jayson Tatum. We're still getting the likes of Luka Dončić, LeBron James, and Jaylen Brown, so you best believe we'll be tuning in.
If you want to watch Celtics vs. Lakers in the NBA for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
Celtics vs. Lakers in the NBA starts at 7 p.m. ET on Dec. 5. This game takes place at TD Garden.
Celtics vs. Lakers in the NBA is available to live stream for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.
This free live stream is geo-restricted to the U.S. and UK, but anyone can secure access with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S. or UK, meaning you can access free live streams of the NBA from anywhere in the world.
Stream the NBA for free by following these simple steps:
Sign up for a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime (if you're not already a member)
Subscribe to a VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S. or UK
Watch the NBA from anywhere in the world on Prime Video
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer money-back guarantees or free trials. By leveraging these offers, you can watch NBA live streams without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does mean you can watch select games from the NBA before recovering your investment.
ExpressVPN is the best service for accessing free live streams on platforms like Prime Video, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also 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 $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).
Live stream the NBA for free with ExpressVPN.
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StackSocial prices subject to change.
How to watch North Texas vs. Tulane online for freeHow to watch college football for free. Live stream North Texas vs. Tulane in 2025 without cable.
The stakes are high in this week's college football as North Texas Mean Green visit the Tulane Green Wave to decide the American Conference Championship.
This showdown will most likely also hand the winner an automatic College Football Playoff bid as both teams are currently ranked in the selection committee's top 25. It would mark the first time that either of these teams has played in the CFP. And North Texas, at 11-1, look like the favorites thanks to a six-game winning streak.
If you want to watch North Texas vs. Tulane for free from anywhere in the world, here's everything you need to know.
North Texas vs. Tulane takes place at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 5. This game takes place at the Yulman Stadium.
North Texas vs. Tulane is broadcast on ABC.
Fans can live stream college football on a wide range of recommended platforms, some of which include free trials, allowing you to follow the action without actually spending anything.
Channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX
ESPN Unlimited provides access to everything that ESPN has to offer. For college football, you will find live access to games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, SECN+, ACC Network, and ABC. The Unlimited plan will cost you $29.99 per month, but for the first year, new subscribers can also secure a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu for the same price.
Channels: Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network
Fox One provides access to live broadcasts on Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network. It costs just $19.99 per month, and you can also save $40 by opting for the annual plan at $199.99. You can kickoff with a seven-day free trial, so you've got the chance to watch select games without spending anything.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, and The CW
FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and provides the opportunity to watch on 10 screens at once, if that's your thing. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period.
Fubo takes sports seriously, which we appreciate. With the Pro subscription, you get access to most college football broadcasts. But hardcore fans may want to consider upgrading to Fubo's Elite plan, which unlocks access to ESPNU, SEC Network, Pac-12 Network, and ACC Network. Either way, we suggest you test the waters for seven days before you make any sort of commitment.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, and The CW
Hulu + Live TV certainly isn't cheap, but it does offer plenty of bang for your buck. You'll have to cough up $76.99 per month (after a three-day trial), but you get access to over 95 live TV channels, plus Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ (all with ads). The included access to ESPN+ provides bonus access to even more college football games on top of live TV networks like ABC, FOX, ESPN, The CW, ACC Network, and more. Now that's value.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network
Sling is a comprehensive sporting service that offers a wide range of benefits, but you will need to be careful when selecting your plan. The Orange and Blue packages give you access to FOX, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and more in local markets, but for access to ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, and more, you'll need the Sports Extra package. We recommend checking your local market to ensure you get access to the channels you actually want.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NBCSN, SEC Network, and The CW
YouTube TV gives you access to more than 100 live channels. That's a whole lotta content. This huge list includes most of the channels you actually need to watch live college football, including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN, plus networks like FS1 and SEC Network. YouTube TV also offers that all-important free trial so you can watch select games without spending anything.
If you're outside the U.S. for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., allowing you to unblock live streams of college football from anywhere in the world.
Live stream North Texas vs. Tulane from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.
Sign in to your favorite streaming service
Watch North Texas vs. Tulane from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free. That means 49% off for a limited time. This plan also 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 $12.95 (which includes a money-back guarantee).
One of the most exciting college football showdowns this week sees the Troy Trojans visiting the James Madison Dukes to decide the Sun Belt Conference Championship. Troy won Sun Belt West Division, finishing at 8-4 overall, while James Madison were the runaway winners of Sun Belt West Division at an impressive 11-1.
Even with that record — which saw them go undefeated in conference games — there's still an underdog story at play here. Currently ranked at 25 by the selection committee, James Madison are within reaching distance of an automatic CFP bid — hugely exciting for the Group of Six program. A win here could secure that auto bid, but only if Duke beat Virginia for the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship the next day.
The implications could be huge if James Madison and Duke win their respective games. Because of the new field of 12 rules, which sees the five highest ranked championship winners get an automatic bid, James Madison would trump the unranked Duke. All of which means a Group of Six program taking a CFP spot over a Power Four program. James Madison would then join the winner of the American Conference Championship in representing the Group of Six on the CFP.
But even with their 11-1 record, James Madison will have their work cut out against Troy, who won Sun Belt titles in both 2022 and 2023.
If you want to watch Troy vs. James Madison for free from anywhere in the world, here's everything you need to know.
Troy vs. James Madison takes place at 7 p.m. ET on Dec. 5. This game takes place at the Bridgeforth Stadium.
Troy vs. James Madison is broadcast on ESPN.
Fans can live stream college football on a wide range of recommended services, some of which include free trials so you can follow the action without actually spending anything.
Channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX
ESPN Unlimited provides access to everything that ESPN has to offer. For college football, you get live access to games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, SEC Network, SECN+, ACC Network, and ABC. The Unlimited plan will set you back $29.99 per month, but for the first year, new subscribers can secure a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu for the same price.
Channels: Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network
Fox One provides access to live broadcasts on Fox, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, and Big Ten Network. It costs $19.99 per month, but you can save $40 by opting for the annual plan at $199.99. You can also start with a seven-day free trial, so you've got the chance to watch select games without spending anything.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, and The CW
FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and provides the opportunity to watch on 10 screens at once, if that's your thing. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period.
Fubo takes sports seriously, and that's something we appreciate. With the Pro subscription, you get access to most college football broadcasts. But hardcore fans may want to consider upgrading to the Elite plan, which unlocks access to ESPNU, SEC Network, Pac-12 Network, and ACC Network. Either way, we suggest you test the waters for seven days before you make any sort of commitment.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, and The CW
Hulu + Live TV is not exactly cheap, but it does offer good bang for your buck. You need to cough up $76.99 per month (after a three-day trial), but you get access to over 95 live TV channels, plus Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ (all with ads). The included access to ESPN+ provides bonus access to even more college football games on top of live TV networks like ABC, FOX, ESPN, The CW, ACC Network, and more. Now that's value.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNews, ESPN U, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network
Sling is a comprehensive sporting service that offers a whole host of benefits, but you do need to be careful when selecting a plan. The Orange and Blue packages give you access to FOX, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and more in local markets, but for access to ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, and more, you'll need the Sports Extra package. We recommend checking your local market to ensure you get access to the channels you actually need.
Channels: ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NBCSN, SEC Network, and The CW
YouTube TV provides access to over 100 live channels. Newsflash: that's a lot. This huge list includes most of the channels you actually need to watch live college football, including NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN, plus networks like FS1 and SEC Network. YouTube TV also offers that all-important free trial so you can watch select games without spending anything.
If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., meaning you can unblock live streams of college football from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Troy vs. James Madison from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.
Sign in to your favorite streaming service
Watch Troy vs. James Madison from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% 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 $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).
Age-verification laws are sweeping the world. These mandates typically require websites that host explicit content — and some that don't — to obtain personal data from visitors to ensure they're over 18.
Lawmakers who put these laws forward say they do so to keep minors away from adult content. But experts have also warned Mashable about the privacy and security risks that could arise from these mandates. This year, multiple studies have suggested that these laws don't actually work to keep minors off porn sites.
With that in mind, is age verification, as it stands, ethical? And what would constitute ethical age-verification? Mashable spoke to several experts, and they all had a similar answer: device-level filters.
In most cases, from the majority of U.S. laws to the UK's Online Safety Act, age verification is platform-based. This means that it's the responsibility of websites to install these age checks — and it hasn't been going well.
"Age gating, especially the current technology that is available, is ineffective at achieving the goals it seeks to achieve, and minors can circumvent it," said senior policy counsel for ACLU, Cody Venzke.
A study published in November noted that when these laws took effect in different states, searches for VPNs (virtual private networks, which can mask someone's true location) have skyrocketed, suggesting that people are attempting (and succeeding) to circumvent the laws. Searches for porn sites also increase, which might indicate people searching for websites that don't comply with these laws.
The ethics behind these systems are murky at best, Mike Stabile, director of public policy at adult industry trade organization, the Free Speech Coalition, told Mashable. "In practice, they've so far functioned as a form of censorship."
Because of the fear around exposure and data processing — and already we're seeing IDs being exposed, like in October's Discord hack — adults are dissuaded from accessing porn sites. That same November study suggested that the cost of impeding on adults' First Amendment rights (the right to free speech and free expression) doesn't outweigh the benefit of limiting minors' access to porn.
"Unfortunately, we've heard many of the advocates behind these laws say that this chilling effect is, in fact, good. They don't want adults accessing porn," Stabile said.
Indeed, some lawmakers believe that porn shouldn't be accessible to anyone. Project 2025, the blueprint for President Trump's second term, calls for an outright porn ban and the imprisonment of creators. A Project 2025 co-writer, Russell Vought (who heads the Office of Management and Budget) was caught on a secret recording in 2024, reportedly calling age-verification laws a porn ban from the "back door."
But there is another solution: Device-level filters.
"Storing people's actual birth dates on company servers is probably not a good way to approach this, especially for minors... you can't change your birth date if it gets leaked," senior director of AI programs at nonprofit Common Sense Media, Robbie Torney, told Mashable.
"But there are approaches that are privacy-preserving and are already established in the industry that could go a long way towards making it safer for kids to interact across a wide range of digital services."
We can also distinguish between age verification and assurance. While some people use this interchangeably, the difference is that "age assurance" is more of an umbrella term that includes all the methods you could use to determine age without being prescriptive as to how, while verification typically applies to confirming exact age, like checking ID, Torney said.
One real age assurance approach that's more privacy-preserving, according to Torney, is outlined in California's law AB 1043, which will take effect in 2027.
AB 1043 requires operating systems — the software that powers phones, tablets, and computers — to request an age or birthday during setup. Then, it creates an age bracket signal (not your exact age, but a range) on the device, and that signal will be sent to applications, blocking someone if they're underage.
The law, therefore, requires a device-level filter, something that Aylo (Pornhub's parent company) and free speech experts have recommended for years.
"Any solution should be easy to use, privacy-preserving, and consumer-friendly. In most cases, that means the verification is going to happen once, on the device," Stabile said.
Founder and CEO of child safety nonprofit Heat Initiative, Sarah Gardner, told Mashable the same. "Device-level verification is the best way to do age verification because you're limiting the amount of data that you give to the apps. And many of the devices already know the age of the users," she said.
Apple already implements different safeguards at the device level, she explained. The Communication Safety feature, for example, warns children when they receive or send media containing nudity through iMessage and allows them to get help. Apple recently expanded age-appropriate protections to kids aged 13-17, which includes web content filters.
So it's possible for tech giants like Apple to implement this (and in 2027, they will have to, given the California law).
But AB 1043 doesn't apply to websites, including adult websites. It only applies to device makers and app stores, allowing apps to restrict age.
"Frankly, we want AB 1043 to apply to adult sites," Stabile said. "We want a signal that tells us when someone is a minor. It's the easiest, most effective way to block minors and doesn't force adults to submit to biometrics every time they visit a website."
Last month, Pornhub sent Apple, Google, and Microsoft letters urging them to enable device-level age assurance for web platforms. Each of the letters, which were shared with Mashable, mentions AB 1043.
Venzke told Mashable that the ACLU is watching the conversations on device-based verification closely and questioning whether they protect people's privacy.
Whether the tech giants will go for Pornhub's proposal is a different story. Microsoft declined to comment to Mashable, while an Apple spokesperson linked to a Newsroom update regarding the changes to under-18 accounts. The spokesperson also linked to a child online safety white paper that states, "The right place to address the dangers of age-restricted content online is the limited set of websites and apps that host that kind of content."
Regarding the letter, Google told Mashable that it's "committed to protecting kids online, including by developing and deploying new age assurance tools like our Credential Manager API [application programming interface] that can be used by websites. We don't allow adult entertainment apps on Google Play, and certain high-risk services like Aylo will always need to invest in specific tools to meet their own legal and responsibility obligations."
Torney said that a layered approach to age assurance will likely be necessary in many cases, and Common Sense's stance is that the responsibility lies on both sites, like Pornhub and operating systems. "This has been a little bit like hot potato" between the two, he said.
Despite all these efforts, no age assurance method will be 100 percent effective, Torney said. "But if you're operating from a vantage point of wanting to reduce harm, to increase appropriateness, and to increase youth wellbeing, a more robust age assurance system is going to go much farther to keep the majority of teens safe."
The tiny smartphone that somehow does it all is on sale for $85Grab the credit-card-sized NanoPhone for just $84.97 with free shipping — a fun, fully functional mini smartphone on sale through Dec. 7.
TL;DR: The NanoPhone is a credit-card-sized smartphone that’s surprisingly practical and undeniably fun — perfect as a quirky tech gift while the limited-time $84.97 offer lasts.
Shopping for someone who loves quirky tech and clever gadgets? Or maybe you’re just craving something delightfully different for yourself. Either way, the NanoPhone might be one of the most unexpectedly fun finds of this holiday season.
At first glance, it looks almost impossible: a fully functional smartphone that’s about the size of a credit card. But NanoPhone isn’t just a novelty — it’s a surprisingly capable mini device that handles calls, texts, apps, video chats, and browsing, all while fitting comfortably in the smallest pockets, bags, or even your palm.
Running on Android 10, this tiny powerhouse supports Dual SIM, 4G connectivity, and Wi-Fi, allowing users to stay connected on the go without relying on bulky devices.
You can scroll Instagram, check WhatsApp, watch YouTube videos, or hop on a quick video call — all from a phone that weighs just 2.8 ounces.
Where NanoPhone really shines is in real-life convenience. It makes an excellent emergency backup phone for travel, festivals, or outdoor adventures where carrying a full-sized smartphone feels unnecessary or risky.
It’s also perfect for parents who want a basic connected device for kids, or for anyone who loves the idea of a secondary phone that doesn’t dominate their pocket or attention.
Despite its miniature build, it includes front and rear cameras for capturing quick moments.
And yes — it’s genuinely fun. The kind of gadget people want to pick up, inspect, and immediately say, “Wait, this is real?”
The NanoPhone is available for just $84.97 (MSRP: $199.99), marking a 57% discount with free shipping — but only until Dec. 7 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
100 Nights of Hero review: A magnificent queer feminist fairy taleJulia Jackman's "100 Nights of Hero" stars Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe, Nicholas Galitzine, Amir El-Masry, and Charli xcx. Film review.
In order to expose the patriarchy for the absurd and dangerous pantomime it is, Julia Jackman literally makes it one in 100 Nights of Hero. Based on Isabel Greenberg's graphic novel, the Bonus Track director's second feature is a playful, strange, and visually magnificent take on the preposterousness of not-so-medieval attitudes toward women and the courage it takes to demand more.
A hyper-coloured, queer, feminist fairy tale, 100 Nights of Hero draws from history through a fantastical lens. You'll recognise the marks of the age of witchcraft persecutions and the long, continuing history of men's institutional power over women and their bodies. They're real, topical elements — they just happen to be drenched in magenta lighting, meticulous production design, and sumptuous costumes.
With touches of commedia dell'arte, sparkling performances from Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe, and Nicholas Galitzine, and a hype-worthy appearance by Charli xcx, 100 Nights of Hero is one of the screen jewels of the year.
A pastiche of historical periods that leans on the medieval, 100 Nights of Hero is set in an empire where the political context feels uncomfortably modern at times. Framed with Wes Anderson-worthy symmetrical shots and surreal starburst lenses by cinematographer Xenia Patricia, the film instantly feels like a fable, with stunning visual effects by Paul Rice and razor-sharp editing by Amélie Labrèche and Oona Flaherty.
Through captivating narration from Train Dreams' Felicity Jones over Oliver Coates' dreamy score, we learn the creation myth of Kiddo (Anemone's Safia Oakley-Green). Alas, the misogynist Bird Man (an always flawless Richard E. Grant) ruins Kiddo's joyful realm with rules, parameters enforced by future Beak Brothers, a league of chauvinists who honor their forefather with formidable bird masks. "So wishes Bird Man," they decree, upholding their ancestor's requirements of the ideal wife as "beautiful, obedient, good at chess and falconry." Thanks to the impeccable work of Rice and production designer Sofia Sacomani, majestic stained glass windows honour men and warn of sinful women — fertile, quiet, obedient women are venerated; all other forms of womanhood (including desires outside the heteronormative) are condemned.
In this persecutory climate, we meet one of our protagonists, Cherry (Longlegs star Maika Monroe), a noblewoman whose arranged marriage to nobleman Jerome (Limbo's Amir El-Masry) has not been consummated. That would fly in a realm where producing an heir wasn’t the stuff of all-male council meeting agendas, but here the pair is given a rather one-sided ultimatum: Conceive in 100 nights or Cherry will face the executioner's block. Jerome? He's off the hook, couldn't be his fault.
Alas, Cherry waits unsatisfied for a glimmer of passion each night, the couple's castle bedrooms kept separate, her desire buried beneath pious white finery. Despite the literal deadline facing Cherry, Jerome suddenly decides to go away on business (seriously, now!?), but not before a dastardly bet with roguish lord Manfred (The Idea of You's Nicholas Galitzine) that his friend cannot seduce his wife in his absence. Cherry is doomed in either scenario: Face death for adultery or lack of conception.
Luckily, Cherry has a fierce protector in her maid and "best friend" (for the bigots in the back, I SAID "BEST FRIEND") Hero (Nosferatu and Lady Chatterley's Lover star Emma Corrin), the film's titular co-protagonist, who has more than a few secrets hidden away in the floorboards. They're not named Hero for nothing.
Swathed in the finery of costume designer Susie Coulthard's creations (we'll get to those), the cast of 100 Nights of Hero make for one formidable ensemble.
A walking red flag cloaked in "not like other lords" chicanery, Galitzine's Manfred is the stuff of paperback romance dreams and modern dating nightmares. With aim set for swoon, he's perpetually leaning in doorways, suggestively eating blackberries, strutting through the grounds shirtless and covered in deer blood declaring "LUNCH!" But he's also a narcissistic bastard by every count, who shamelessly damns decorum and flaunts his virility in every scene.
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However, despite the male power swamping every hall, the tale's two heroes are its shining stars. Monroe's Cherry is outwardly a melancholy marble statue, the "paragon of virtue" her husband so describes her as, overwhelmingly finding herself at the mercy of men's decisions. Almost robotic in her movements, Monroe presents a wonderfully absurd idea of pious, decorative womanhood, leaving her only moments of freedom, vulnerability, and burgeoning passion for private scenes with her beloved Hero. And it's these scenes between Monroe and Corrin that prove the most quietly butterfly-inducing of the film.
Corrin plays an outstanding Hero, a twinkle-eyed storyteller and fearless bullshit detector. Clocking Manfred's flagrant attempts to seduce Cherry immediately, Hero fires silent insults with a look while offering Cherry a social escape route: a continually-orated tale of three sisters. Portrayed in dreamy, frost-lit sequences, Hero's Story of the Dancing Stones is a golden thread woven into each scene, as Cherry metaphorically hits the panic button whenever Manfred becomes Too Much. In the tale, we meet three raven-haired sisters (a wonderful Charli xcx, Kerena Jagpal, and Olivia D'Lima) who quite frankly deserve their own movie. They've been "trained for marriage," by their father, but the sisters share a secret talent, one deemed "sinful, wicked, and forbidden for women." Every time Corrin picks up where we left off with the story, I settled further into my chair, the actor's talent for storytelling on full display.
But here, as in the main storyline, there are total champions behind the camera.
Raise a gilded goblet for 100 Nights of Hero production designer Sofia Sacomani, visual effects supervisor Paul Rice, art director Naomi Bailey, costume designer Susie Coulthard, and set decorator Tatyana Jinto Rutherston, for their artistry makes this film shimmer. A cornucopia of neon-hued hallways, remarkable stained glass, absurdly thin dining chairs, and gleaming bird-shaped suits of armour, the film's meticulous design is a total knockout. Every scene looks good enough to eat, each a violaceous stage for Coulthard's resplendent costumes.
A museum-worthy range of precise tailoring and theatrical spins on historical garb, Coulthard's designs inspire jaw drop after jaw drop. She hammers home the preposterous patriarchal roots of the film's all-powerful religious group, the Beak Brothers, adorning them with bird skull masks and deep red cardinal cloaks, and dresses Manfred in the billowing sleeves of a scoundrel.
Though Hero is limited to a maid's uniform, Coulthard elongates their collar and crowns them with a crisp, white hennin, an outfit that makes Corrin's character both practical and otherworldly. However, the most marvellous outfits are worn by Cherry, embodying her ornamental social role. Exaggerated leg of mutton sleeves, puffed and quilted off-shoulder drapery, delicate lace collars, and feathered neckpieces make up Coulthard's parade of ornate looks for Cherry, with Monroe exuding woe and constraint in each piece — an elegantly boned wooden girdle speaks volumes that Cherry cannot.
At its whimsical heart, 100 Nights of Hero is a story of women's courage and resilience, of pursuing knowledge and passion beyond the perilously high fences of patriarchy. It's a dazzling world of suppressed queer identity and desire, of male bravado and paranoia, and of the power of storytelling itself. Jackman has crafted us a topical treat, finely dressed in splendour and social commentary. It's nothing short of heroic.
100 Nights of Hero was reviewed out of BFI London Film Festival. The film is out in select U.S. cinemas from Dec. 5, with a UK release set for Jan. 2026.
The Secret Agent review: Kleber Mendonça Filhos political crime thriller is a must-see'Civil War' star Wagner Moura delivers an impeccable performance in Kleber Mendonça Filho's Cannes-winning political crime thriller. Review.
Aquarius and Bacurau director Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent weaves a complex, time-jumping political crime thriller, focusing on one man's experience of persecution.
Mainly set in the late '70s in the Brazilian writer/director's hometown of Recife, Pernambuco, but moving fluidly between the past and present, the film predominantly takes place in the tumultuous years of Brazil's military dictatorship. It's a heavy topic explored with humanity, boasting such a compelling script, impeccable acting, and striking 1970s aesthetic that it's impossible to look away.
In the lead, Narcos and Civil War star Wagner Moura gives a tremendously interior performance as a man justifiably paranoid in his mission to escape his country's authoritarian regime. There's a reason Moura took Best Actor at Cannes, with Mendonça Filho snatching Best Director; The Secret Agent sees both dive headfirst into the complexities of rampant corruption and desperately searching for a way out.
Over three acts superbly edited by Eduardo Serrano and Matheus Farias, Mendonça Filho's film runs on multiple timelines in the past and present. In 1977, we meet Armando (Moura), who's going by the alias Marcelo, a man newly arrived in a residential complex in Recife during the annual Carnival period. A small Kodak box fits all of his possessions, and he gives little away about himself. The apartments are run by vigilant matriarch Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), and Armando is welcomed with open arms. Among omnipresent Carnival celebrations, Armando is warmly introduced by his septuagenarian guardian to his neighbours. They're also political refugees, though not all enjoy using the term. There's Thereza Vitória (Isabél Zuaa), who has fled the Angolan Civil War with her partner; there's single mother Claudia (Hermila Guedes) whose past beyond her dental profession remains her own mystery to bear. Many live under threat of death, like our protagonist.
Meanwhile, corruption runs rife through the city streets, as do careening cop vans full of crooked officials, hooting, hollering, and unabashedly lawless. The most prominent in The Secret Agent is police chief Euclides (Robério Diógenes) and his bodyguard-like sons Arlindo (Ítalo Martins) and Sergio (Igor de Araújo), who enter the story by being pulled out of Carnival when a man's severed leg is found in a dead shark — and this is by no means the limit of the violence ahead in The Secret Agent.
Slowly, the film reveals the seriousness of Armando's situation: he's a widowed university professor, specialising in electrical engineering, who is fleeing persecution amid the country's military dictatorship. In his past, standing up to corporate greed and corrupt government bureaucracy has left him vulnerable and robbed him of his beloved wife Fátima (New Bandits' Alice Carvalho). Getting out is no easy feat, as corruption, surveillance, and sinister men orbit Armando at every turn — including two unnervingly unflappable hitmen, Bobbi (Ferrari's Gabriel Leone) and his stepfather Augusto (Roney Villela), on his trail.
As well as Dona Sebastiana, others work under the radar to help those persecuted escape the country, such as Elza (Vermelho Monet's Maria Fernanda Cândido), who offers a form of witness protection, promising passports in a few days. A placement within the city's Identification Institute is Armando's best chance of finding physical proof of his mother's identity before he leaves Brazil with his young son, who lives with his grandparents.
In the present, two young investigators in São Paulo listen to cassettes of recorded conversations from Armando's time, and we're left wondering where exactly their research is leading. Here, and through Mendonça Filho's use of archival photographs, the film becomes a fictional artifact in itself, a story worthy of study and examination. But it's the lived-in performances by the actors themselves that bring this unstable historical period to life, with Moura out front.
Tasked with multiple roles across time periods, Moura earns every inch of his Cannes Best Actor award in The Secret Agent. The role was specifically written by Mendonça Filho for him, after all. A classic hero brave enough to challenge powerful, corrupt entities while rightly fearing for his life and his family, Armando predominantly internalises the level of serious threat constantly weighing on him. Moura's subtlety and frustration imbues our protagonist with a deeply human valiance, one that makes us as viewers want to protect him at all costs.
Embodying a true ensemble affair, The Secret Agent sees Moura surrounded by bold, outlandish performances, all the way from iconic German actor Udo Kier as expat tailor Hans to Greta star Diógenes as the city's corrupt chief of police. Notably, Armando finds sanctuary with his father-in-law Sr. Alexandre (a wonderful performance by Bacurau's Carlos Francisco) who owns the local Cinema São Luiz, showing Brazilian films alongside American horror films like Jaws and The Omen that cause outright hysteria in audiences. Here, and through Evgenia Alexandrova's exquisite cinematography, you can feel Mendonça Filho's reverence for cinema as a filmmaker, critic, and curator — and its importance in turbulent times. In fact, The Secret Agent is a perfect pairing with the director's 2023 documentary Pictures of Ghosts (Retratos Fantasmas), which traces cinema in his hometown of Recife.
Despite the paranoia and corruption that pervades the narrative, Mendonça Filho's film is a stunning '70s affair. Shot in anamorphic Panavision, it's nothing short of a feast for the eyes (before it's not). Each scene comes awash with the decade's signature oranges, browns, and yellows, with production designer Thales Junqueira's meticulous work on full display. Architect Chu Ming Silveira's iconic, egg-shaped, yellow public phone booths known as Orelhões (or "Big Ears") form a vital part of both the storyline and city landscape, while costume designer Rita Azevedo finds glorious authenticity in period-specific outfits.
Despite the political upheaval on the ground, Mendonça Filho also reverently and accurately captures the visuals of Recife, with Armando taking in gorgeous cityscapes from the Cinema São Luiz projection room, bathed in sunlight, and the street scenes often focusing on the members of the community caught up in the chaos. There's also a little magical realism thrown in for unexpected measure, and composers Mateus Alves and Tomaz Alves Souza pull everything together with an immersive, atmospheric score.
Ultimately, Mendonça Filho's film explores a time of political corruption, violence, and warranted paranoia through a human lens, with the director saying in a press statement, "The challenge was to make a film about the logic of that time without ticking all the boxes of the dictatorship movie." With Moura's powerful performance framed by a reverent, authentic aesthetic, The Secret Agent is a deeply humanised look at a historical moment of authoritarianism and government corruption. It's a must-see.
UPDATE: Nov. 20, 2025, 6:14 p.m. EST "The Secret Agent" was reviewed out of BFI London Film Festival. This article was originally published on Oct. 11, 2025.
The Secret Agent hits cinemas in New York on Nov. 26 and Los Angeles Dec. 5, with nationwide release to follow. The film will be released in the UK and Ireland Feb. 20, 2026.
Jay Kelly review: George Clooney charms in showbiz comedy about how stars arent just like usAdam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup and Emily Mortimer co-star in Noah Baumbach's latest movie.
George Clooney delivers one of the best comedic performances of his career in Jay Kelly. As a long-time devotee of his Coen Bros' comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou?, I don't say that lightly. However, Noah Baumbach has created a role that feels tailored to Clooney's particular brand of star power. And Clooney struts, takes pratfalls, and soars with grace, goofiness, and pathos.
Clooney has built a career on his ability to pivot from swaggering dreamboat (Out of Sight, Ocean's Eleven through Thirteen) to rugged action star (From Dusk Till Dawn, The Peacemaker, Three Kings) to arrogant buffoon (O Brother, Burn After Reading, Hail, Caesar!). In Jay Kelly, he does all three. But more than that, he does all three to interrogate what it means to be a movie star. When you're a public figure known for playing larger-than-life action heroes, what's reality to you? Who are you to your family and friends when your career is dependent on presentation, and you're more focused on that than parenting or loyalty?
Directed and co-written by Baumbach, who previously channeled his own life into the explosive divorce drama Marriage Story, Jay Kelly is more cutting than its bouncy name and beguiling leading man might suggest. With a supporting cast that includes Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Riley Keough, and Jay Kelly co-writer Emily Mortimer, this showbiz comedy brilliantly displays the highs and lows of working in movies, without losing sight of exactly how high those highs are.
Far from a woe-is-me movie, Jay Kelly is a shrewdly winsome affair that shows many of the ways stars aren't just like us — and several crucial ways they are.
For decades, Jay Kelly (Clooney) has been a star, collecting fans, building his filmography, growing his entourage, and even having a couple of daughters and ex-wives along the way. You might think that with all the success and wealth he's attained, he'd welcome some time away from the sets and shooting schedules. But what would he do with that?
Let alone, Jay must face that he's estranged from his eldest, Jessica (Keough), while his college-bound youngest, Daisy (Grace Edwards), is eager to bounce from his house to be on her own. He has no wife. His friends — including his manager, Ron (Sandler), and his publicist, Liz (Dern) — are all on his payroll. So when a run-in with an old friend (Crudup) sends him into an identity crisis, Jay joyously bullies his whole entourage into an impromptu trip across Europe, starting in Paris and ending up in an Italian film festival, where he'll get a lifetime achievement honor.
Along the way, he'll encounter awestruck fans, ride in transit that has no first class, and be forced to look back on his life, whether he likes it or not.
The film begins onset, with Jay playing out a death scene that naturally involves a mournful monologue, a fatal gunshot wound, and an adorable dog actor. Immediately, Mortimer and Baumbach gives us a taste of Jay's talent, onscreen and off. As soon as the camera cuts, he's quick to glad-hand and cheer individual members of the crew by name, and they all light up as he looks at them. He's that kind of star.
Back home; however, he's a doofy dad to Daisy, who eye rolls as he whines he's lonely. "You're never alone," she chides as his security guard hands him a fresh, icy beverage.
Even in accepting the glass, Clooney has a keen sense of comedic timing. He's long been brilliant at playing the dope. Here, he plays a man who's never been deep, but who has been able to fake it onscreen. So, when he's actually having this crisis of self-reflection, he throws himself into action — including being involved in a chaotic and comedic chase scene. However, nothing in this movie will unfold like the movies. Jay's sweeping gestures, carried off with Clooney's booming charisma, fall flat to those closest to him because they are all show, no substance. And in this, he's forced to face how he pursued his work — which is very image-oriented — over his family and friends, failing to foster deep bonds. And he's not alone in this.
Having to wrangle Jay like he's a child (or a swarm of cats), Ron and Liz take on near-parental roles as they prep everything to guide and protect him. Where Ron's the gentle father, always cajoling and calling Jay by the loving nickname "puppy," Liz is the tough-love mom, forced to be frank because someone has got to be when the tabloids are circling. Far from archetypes, however, these characters exhibit complexity in scenes beyond their interactions with Jay.
As the trip through Europe goes increasingly off the rails, Jay's entourage sheds one member after another as they make choices that aren't him — a bigger client, a sick dog, a child back home, and so on. There's a sense of a party coming to a close, and a question about who will be the last one standing.
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Dern vibrates with frustration at every bump in the road, while Sandler is her foil, ever jovial, maybe even delusionally optimistic. They're a comedic duo who bounce off each other with an ardent emotional understanding. For all Academy Award winner Dern's drama chops, Emmy nominee Sandler's able to keep pace in a role that could get him some Best Supporting nominations. Imagine Uncut Gems with the intensity turned down and the facade of jolly calm cranked way up. Ron is a man desperate to make everything OK, even to the point where he himself is deeply not. And in that, Baumbach grows comedy and agony. Dern is the cherry on top, giving a cool sense of regret that lingers even after her character has gone.
Incredibly, Jay Kelly becomes an odd love letter to the industry, one that recognizes its warts and still declares devotion. Through this story, Baumbach explores how everyone involved, from movie stars to make-up artists and security guards, struggles to draw the line between their professional and personal lives. Sure, you love your family, but what if you love your job and the people who are a part of it? The line gets blurrier and blurrier. And what kind of life does that build?
The answer Jay Kelly gives is unexpected and heartwarming rather than pat and sentimental. Clooney, Sandler, and Baumbach come to a conclusion that is both deeply Hollywood and yet sincere. In the end, Jay Kelly is a clever crowd-pleaser, guaranteed to amuse and make you think.
Jay Kelly was reviewed out of the New York Film Festival and is now streaming on Netflix.
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for December 5, 2025Connections: Sports Edition is a New York Times word game about finding common sports threads between words. How to solve the day's puzzle.
Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easy if you know your Joes.
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.
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. 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 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.
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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.
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Game locations
Green: National teams
Blue: Teammates
Purple: Different names, same sport
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: 2026 World Cup host cities
Green: Countries qualified for their first World Cup in 2026
Blue: English men's soccer players
Purple:" The beautiful game, in different countries
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 #438 is...
2026 World Cup host cities - ATLANTA, EAST RUTHERFORD, MEXICO CITY, TORONTO
Countries qualified for their first World Cup in 2026 - CAPE VERDE, CURAÇAO, JORDAN, UZBEKISTAN
English men's soccer players - FODEN, KANE, RICE, SAKA
The beautiful game, in different countries - CALCIO, FOOTBALL, FÚTBOL, SOCCER
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.
NYT Mini crossword answers, hints for December 5, 2025Answers to each clue for the December 5, 2025 edition of NYT's The Mini crossword puzzle.
The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.
With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.
So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.
Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Friday, Dec. 5, 2025:
The answer is Dam.
The answer is Mile.
The answer is Seven.
The answer is Imax.
The answer is Xes.
The answer is Divas
The answer is Alex.
The answer is Men.
The answer is Meme.
The answer is Six.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to the latest Mini Crossword.
The 7 best e-readers to buy: Testing Kindles, Kobos, iPads, and moreSee the best e-readers we've tested, with options from Kindle, Kobo, and the tablet world. Grab an e-reader and hit your reading goals.
So, what is the best e-reader for 2025? I'm regularly testing new e-readers (and tablets) and cycling through different models to stay up to date on the best options available. So, if you're gearing up to read more books this summer or fall, I can recommend a model you'll love.
Most recently, we've tested the Remarkable PaperPro and Onyx Boox Go 7 as contenders for this list. After several weeks of testing, both devices proved to be pretty good but not quite list-worthy.
Whenever you search for e-readers, Remarkable's tablets will always pop up in the search results, but unfortunately, it's hard to obtain ePUB files on the Remarkable. With Remarkable, you can access files within Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. If you have any locked ePUB files — like from Libby — you won't be able to access them on a Remarkable tablet. So, after testing the Remarkable tablet myself, it proved to be a better document reader or digital journal than an e-reader.
The Onyx Boox Go 7 is a better e-reader option than the Remarkable. It's the same size as the Kobo Libra or Amazon Kindle, but it really lags on processing speed. To read ePUB files from Libby required downloading the Adobe Digital Editions app onto the Boox Go 7, and there was so much lag while opening and closing the app. While it was an easier process than getting library books on a Nook, it was still a major pain compared to Kindle or Kobo's integrations. The Boox Go 7 lagged and took ages to load files. I was most looking forward to testing this Boox because of its page-turning buttons, but unfortunately, I found that they didn't work on my device.
An e-reader we haven't gotten around to testing is the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, which just debuted on Sept. 30, 2025. As of Nov. 2025, it's not available for preorder yet, but once we get a model to test, we'll update this guide with our recommendations.
If you're familiar with the Kindle lineup, it may come as a surprise that the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition isn't on this list. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but I think there are better options. The Signature Edition is an upgraded version of the Paperwhite, and we've compared the devices head-to-head. The short version? The Paperwhite is a better value, even with the SE's added features like auto-adjusting brightness and 32GB of storage.
If you are prepared to spend $200 on an e-reader, though, I say skip the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition and go for the Kobo Libra Colour.
In terms of big-name e-readers, you might notice one omission from this list: the Barnes & Noble Nook. I have tested this e-reader, and it was previously featured on this list. However, after testing more devices, it no longer makes the cut. In comparison to any of the Kindles or the Kobo Libra, the Nook has sloth-like performance, making it frustrating to use.
Plus, getting my library books onto the Nook was a nightmare, as it was a multi-step process that required downloading to a computer before uploading to a Nook. Its only redeeming quality was the buttons on either side of the device, which made page turning a breeze. However, unless you are a loyal buyer of Barnes & Noble books, I recommend steering clear of the Nook.
Once you get an e-reader, it's time to fill it up with books, and that doesn't necessarily mean spending money. In fact, you can load up your e-reader without spending a dime; you just need to be a bit resourceful.
The best way to read nearly any book — a classic or hot new release — is with Libby. I have read hundreds of free books with the Libby app — I wouldn't have been able to test for this guide without it. It connects with your library card, allowing you to borrow from your local library's digital collection. Plus, both Kobo and Kindle have exceptional Libby integrations.
Another way to build your library is through Stuff Your Kindle Day events. These are 24-hour opportunities led by authors that make books discounted or free.
If you're a fan of the classics or looking to discover a treasure lost to time, an online resource like Project Gutenberg has more than 75,000 books in the public domain that you can download and read on an e-reader.
Yep, Cloudflare died again. Heres what happened.Cloudflare is having another outage on Friday.
Cloudflare is down again, and the internet is affected — but unlike last time, this outage seems to have been quickly fixed.
Users started reporting issues with Cloudflare early on Friday, with Downdetector showing a spike in outage reports for the service (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.)
Cloudflare's own system status dashboard says that the company is investigating "issues with Cloudflare Dashboard and related APIs." A fix has already been implemented, Cloudflare says.
The outage seems to have affected numerous online sites and services, including Fortnite, Doordash, Shopify, Claude, League of Legends, Zoom, and others.
A few weeks ago, a massive Cloudflare outage, caused by an error in the system that (ironically) protects websites from DDoS attacks, took out numerous popular internet sites and services. Company CEO Matthew Prince called it the worst outage that Cloudflare has experienced since 2019.
Update: Amazon comms reached out to Mashable saying that AWS is not down, and has been operating normally. Amazon's own status dashboard confirms this, listing no current issues. We've originally included AWS in the list of services that experienced an outage based on a spike in reports about an AWS outage on Downdetector, which you can see here.
Developing...
Discord Checkpoint is like Spotify Wrapped for your gaming habits. Heres how to see yours.Discord's first personalised end-of-year wrap up offers stats on your chatting and gaming habits. Here's how to view yours.
Discord has released its first personalised end-of-year wrap up, cataloguing just how many hours you spent chatting with friends this year. Called Discord Checkpoint, it's basically like Spotify Wrapped for your gaming habits.
Rolling out from Dec. 4, Discord Checkpoint is the voice messaging app's first ever year-in-review feature. Discord hasn't committed to making this an annual event going forward, stating that Checkpoint was released to celebrate the app's 10th anniversary this year. However, it has stated that "plans for Checkpoint beyond 2025 are still unfolding."
Discord Checkpoint summarises statistics such as how many hours you've spent in voice chats, which friends you talked to the most, which servers seem to be your favourite, your most-used emojis, and your most frequently played games. (Apparently I played 139 sessions of Dota 2 this year.) Users can directly share their Checkpoints on Discord via a Share button on its final summary page, or screenshot their results to post elsewhere.
The wrap up is available to users who were active on Discord in 2025, and have allowed it to "use data to personalize [their] Discord experience" in the app's data and privacy settings. New users and those who weren't very active won't have a Discord Checkpoint, as they won't have enough statistics to compile.
A pop-up notification directing you to your Discord Checkpoint should automatically appear when you open the app, both on desktop and mobile. You can also access your Discord Checkpoint on your desktop by clicking the flag icon in the top right corner of the Discord app. On mobile, you'll have to tap the You icon on the bottom right first, then select the green Checkpoint banner.
If your Discord Checkpoint isn't showing up, double check that your Discord app is up to date. While the desktop Discord app should automatically update when you restart it, the mobile app may require a manual update via the app store.
Viewing your Discord Checkpoint will grant you a temporary decorative frame for your profile picture. Users will be able to display it until Jan. 15, at which time their Checkpoint will vanish as well. Those who didn't get a Checkpoint can still grab the frame by attempting to view it anyway.
Discord has also released a wrap up of its wrap up, summarising the behaviour of its 200 million monthly active users across the globe. Multiplayer online battle arena League of Legends was the most popular game amongst Discord users despite turning 16 this year, while co-op survival horror R.E.P.O. was the biggest indie game. Discord's most used emoji was the red heart, used 2.18 billion times, followed by the sobbing emoji at 1.71 billion uses.
Pluribus episode 6: What did Carol find in the warehouse?Episode 6 of "Pluribus" reveals the horrifying secret that Carol uncovered in the Agri-Jet warehouse. It's certainly not pretty.
Pluribus episode 5 left viewers on a cliffhanger bigger than the Others' globe-spanning hive mind.
While investigating the Others' apparent love of milk, Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) discovered that the Others' primary food source was actually an oily amber-colored fluid, made of water and a suspicious white powder. Further detective work took her to a cold-storage warehouse filled with produce and unknown items wrapped in plastic bags. Upon snooping in one of the bags, Carol claps her hand over her mouth — the universal sign for "What the hell have I just witnessed?"
Pluribus cut to black before we could get a response to that question, but thankfully, episode 6, titled "HDP," wastes no time in giving us the answer.
It's human bodies.
You might have guessed it, but that doesn't make seeing all the shrink-wrapped corpses any less disturbing. Adding to the horror? The massive meat grinders and cooking vats full of human body parts in the next room of the warehouse.
That's right: Just when you thought the Others couldn't get any scarier, turns out they're cannibals. Carol truly cannot catch a break.
The Others aren't hiding their cannibalism, though. When Carol heads to Las Vegas to tell Mr. Diabaté (Samba Schutte) about her discovery, he reveals he already knows. ("It is troubling," he acknowledges. But not troubling enough to stop LARPing his James Bond casino fantasy with them!)
The Others have prepared a video explanation for Carol, complete with a very special cameo. The video explains that since the Others can't harm or kill any form of life — including plant life — they're having a tough time finding food on Earth to feed all 7,348,292,411 members of the hive mind.
Yes, they can use the food that was already stockpiled by the time they so kindly infected everyone on Earth, but even that's not enough. To get those extra calories, they need to add Human-Derived Protein (HDP) to their diets. Each carton of the Others' mysterious liquid contains eight to 12 percent of that sweet, sweet HDP. Don't worry, they're not actually killing anyone to get that HDP. They can't! They can, however, harvest the bodies of people dying of natural causes. Following the Joining, which killed hundreds of millions of people, the Others already have quite the human corpse stockpile — and they can't let that go to waste, right?
However, the Others leave a key twist out of their video, one that Mr. Diabaté quickly reveals to Carol. Even with the HDP, the vast majority of the Others will starve to death within ten years. Mr. Diabaté and the other immune survivors want to save them from that fate. ("Maybe tell 'em to pick a fucking apple," Carol points out.) For now, though, Carol's goal remains the same: Reverse the Joining, and get the — confirmed cannibal! — hive mind away from Earth.
Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV, with a new episode every Friday
Pluribus episode 6 brings in a wild cameo to explain everything about the OthersFor its sixth episode, "Pluribus" enlists the help of an unexpected celebrity to explain why the Others are cannibals.
If you had "John Cena calmly explains cannibalism" on your 2025 bingo card, congratulations! Pluribus has made all your hyper-specific dreams come true. (Side note: Are you okay?)
That's because Cena makes a cameo in Pluribus' sixth episode, titled "HDP." He plays himself... kind of. This version of Cena isn't really a wrestler or an actor. Instead, he's a member of the global hive mind that's taken over the world. He's lost all individuality, but on the bright side, this means everyone in the hive mind has Cena's memories of filming Peacemaker's opening dance intro, and that's fun, right?
Cena appears in a video message to Carol (Rhea Seehorn) from the Others, bursting into Pluribus in such a surprising manner I wondered if I'd stumbled on an unexpected John Cena meme compilation from 2015. Seriously, I half expected to hear the trumpets from his entrance theme blaring once he started talking.
But there's no time for memes here. Pluribus' Cena has something serious to tell Carol about: cannibalism.
In Cena's video message, he explains why the Others have turned to cannibalism and are mashing human body parts into their little milk cartons. The answer? They need to in order to survive.
See, the Others are unable to harm or kill any form of life, including plants. That means their food sources on Earth are limited. They can use the millions of tons of food that were processed before their arrival, but even that's not enough to curb the caloric deficit facing the billions of members of the hive mind.
The solution? Adding human corpses to their diet. For the Others, anyone who dies of natural causes becomes part of their food source. Why bury a body and waste all that meat?
Because of this, eight to 12 percent of the liquid in the Others' milk cartons is made up of Human-Derived Protein (HDP). Do the Others really want to eat this? No way, Hive Mind Cena tells Carol. They'll also never force Carol to partake in HDP under any circumstances. Reassuring!
The Others present the cannibalism as efficient and logical, with the video message featuring helpful charts, stock footage, and many, many wipe transitions. (Which member of the hive mind was Cena's video editor? Was it Cena himself, tapping into other members' memories of using iMovie?) But their affable spokesman can't deny the truth: This is monstrous, just like their invasion. The Others may try to treat it like it's just an unfortunate part of life, but the fact remains that they haven't just desecrated human minds by taking them over. Now, they're desecrating bodies, too. All because they can't, as Carol points out, "pick a fucking apple."
As harrowing as the HDP twist is, it's undeniably fun to watch Cena channel the cheery helpfulness of the Others. The line "We're John Cena" alone had me cackling, both because it's funny, and because I was so weirded out that cackling seemed like the best reaction.
With this appearance, Cena joins a crowded landscape of celebrities playing themselves on TV in 2025. Apple TV's own The Studio is crammed with actors and directors poking fun at themselves, while new comedies like Overcompensating, Adults, and I Love LA roped in the likes of Charli XCX, Julia Fox, Quenlin Blackwell, and Elijah Wood to play heightened versions of themselves.
But when it comes to sheer strangeness, you really can't top alien virus hive mind John Cena explaining why drinking processed human body parts from a milk carton isn't just okay, it's necessary. The bar's been set pretty high, so if your next celebrity cameo doesn't feature at least one Soylent Green reference, take it back to the drawing board!
Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV, with a new episode every Friday
Hurdle hints and answers for December 5, 2025Hints and answers to today's Hurdle all in one place.
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.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.
Threw.
FLUNG
Noisy.
ROWDY
Silly.
GOOFY
To gag.
CHOKE
Jumped.
LEAPT
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Moon phase today: What the moon will look like on December 5See the moon phase expected for December 5, 2025 as well as when the next full moon is expected.
The moon still looks pretty big and bright in the sky after last night's Full Moon. But now that it's passed, the moon will actually be getting less visible each night as we work through the lunar cycle and approach the New Moon phase. Until then, however, there's plenty to see on the surface, so keep reading to find out what you can spot.
As of Friday, Dec. 5, the moon phase is Waning Gibbous. This means 99% of the moon is lit up tonight, according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation.
If you're looking up with just your naked eye, there's lots to see, in particular the Humorum Mare, Endymion Crater, and Alphonsus Crater. With binoculars you'll also be able to spy the Alps Mountains, Clavius Crater and the Mare Humorum. And with a telescope, you can catch a glimpse of the Apollo 11 and 12 landing spots.
The next full moon will be on Jan. 3.
NASA explains that the lunar cycle (which is about 29.5 days long) is made up of the Moon’s phases, which describe how the Moon looks from Earth as it travels around us. We view the same side of the Moon at all times, but the sunlight hitting its surface shifts as it moves through its orbit. That changing illumination is what makes the Moon appear full, half-lit, or not visible at all. The cycle includes eight distinct phases:
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.
DJI to U.S. government: Dont ban us, answer usDrone maker DJI pleads with the U.S. government to respond to them.
Is the Trump administration about to be the Grinch that stole sales of most drones just before Christmas?
There's a Dec. 23 deadline looming for DJI, which makes 90 percent of the world's drones, to pass an audit from the U.S. government. Without an audit, U.S. law says DJI will go on the FCC's naughty list — sorry, Covered list — effectively a ban on further U.S. sales.
DJI has long said it is happy to schedule the new U.S. audit; after all, the company has years of independent audits (and a Department of the Interior audit) under its belt. But with no reply from anyone in the Trump administration three weeks before deadline, DJI drones look like they will be left high and dry.
That's why DJI just took the desperate step of sending open letters to Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, FBI boss Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Department of Defense (or is that War?) chief Pete Hegseth — whom they'd written to multiple times privately.
"In September you indicated through written communication the Department's willingness to work with DJI," the letter to Noem says. (Translation: we've got the receipts.) "We stand behind the security of our technology, and are keen to meet with you and ensure that this Congressionally-mandated security review takes place as soon as possible so you can fulfill your commitment."
Adam Welsh, DJI head of global policy, ticked off all the ways DJI drones are safe — flight logs don't go on servers, images and videos aren't backed up to servers unless the user wants, and there's a "local data" mode that cuts all connection between the drone and the internet.
With an eye to outraged consumers — especially farmers who use drone technology — Welsh wrote that a ban "would lead to widespread consumer confusion and deprive American drone users of due process — and of answers about the safety and security of the DJI products they use every day. Failing to undertake the review further goes against Congressional intent for a security review to be completed."
The administration hasn't commented on the open letters yet, but in the past, Hegseth's department has claimed — without evidence — that DJI is a Chinese military company.
Score the creator-favorite DJI Mic Mini for its lowest price yetAs of Dec. 4, get the DJI Mic Mini for its lowest price yet.
SAVE $90: As of Dec. 4, get the DJI Mic Mini (2 TX, 1 RX, and Charging Case) for $79, down from its usual price of $169. That's a discount of 53% and the lowest price we've seen.
Though Black Friday and Cyber Monday have both come and gone, there are still plenty of deals across the board that you won't want to miss. Some of those deals include discounts on creator-approved devices like the TikTok-favorite DJI Mic Mini. You can get one for yourself right now as it's back at the lowest price recorded just yet.
As of Dec. 4, get the DJI Mic Mini (2 TX, 1 RX, and Charging Case) for $79, down from its usual price of $169. That's $90 off and a discount of 53%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.
This cult-favorite microphone is a favorite that's even used by the Mashable team. It's a great option for anyone who needs to record audio, whether that means interviewing or doing regular vlogging. All you need to do is clip it onto a secure area and it can do the rest as it records in excellent quality with a great range: up to 400 meters to be exact.
It's not only lightweight, but it records high-quality audio with 48kHz sampling at up to 120 dB SPL. With 10 hours of battery and an additional 48 thanks to the included charging case with this deal, you have plenty of time to record all the audio you need as well.
Part of what makes this mic such a favorite is its ease of use related to its high quality. It really is perfect for both entry-level and seasoned creators. And if you want to be in with the in crowd when it comes to tech, now's a good time to lock yours in while the deals are still hanging on.
Cyber Week’s quietly brilliant MacBook Pro offer is just $360Grab a Grade A refurbished 2019 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar for just $359.97 during Cyber Week — dependable Apple performance for everyday life.
TL;DR: A Grade A refurbished 2019 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that still delivers smooth, everyday performance — on Cyber Week sale for $359.97 for a short time.
Not every MacBook needs to be brand new, freshly unveiled, and packed with the latest buzzwords. Sometimes, the smartest move is choosing a dependable model that still delivers where it counts — and the Grade A refurbished Apple MacBook Pro (2019) 13″ with Touch Bar fits that role.
Whether you’re responding to emails, managing spreadsheets, editing photos, hopping onto Zoom calls, streaming your favorite shows, or handling everyday work tasks, this Apple MacBook Pro has the power and polish to keep everything running smoothly without feeling outdated.
Powered by a 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and paired with 8GB of RAM, it handles multitasking easily. The 256GB SSD ensures fast boot times and quick file access. Add in the 13.3-inch Retina display with True Tone technology and wide color support, and you get sharp, vibrant visuals that make everything from documents to Netflix look crisp and comfortable on the eyes.
The Touch Bar brings a customizable layer of convenience to your workflow, putting relevant shortcuts at your fingertips depending on what you’re doing, while Touch ID makes logging in quick and secure.
With four Thunderbolt 3 ports, you get flexibility for charging, external displays, and accessories — a bonus for anyone juggling multiple devices.
Battery life clocks in at up to 10 hours, making it a reliable companion for full workdays, travel, or casual productivity sessions at the kitchen table. And thanks to its Grade A refurbished rating, this Mac arrives in near-mint condition with minimal to no visible wear.
Don’t miss out on getting a near-mint MacBook Pro while it’s $359.97 (reg. $1,499) for a limited time.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Block ads and keep things family-friendly forever for just $16Block ads, protect privacy, and smooth out your family’s digital life with AdGuard Family Plan for a one-time $15.97 payment through Dec. 14.
TL;DR: A lifetime AdGuard Family Plan that blocks ads, boosts privacy, and protects up to 9 devices — for a one-time $15.97 payment with code FAMPLAN.
The internet is supposed to make life easier — but between pop-ups, autoplay videos, banner overload, and questionable links, it can sometimes feel like a noisy theme park you didn’t buy a ticket for.
This AdGuard Family Plan lifetime subscription quietly turns the chaos down and restores your browsing experience to what it should’ve been all along: simple, clean, and refreshingly calm.
The family-friendly plan covers up to nine devices, making it an easy way to protect phones, tablets, and computers all at once. Instead of juggling different settings and endless reminders to “close that ad,” AdGuard works in the background to block distracting ads, keep trackers at bay, and shield your devices from harmful malware and phishing attempts.
What makes it especially appealing is how it simplifies life in a world that already feels complicated. Parents can enable safe browsing controls for kids, helping filter inappropriate content and creating a more secure online space without constant hovering or manual interventions.
Meanwhile, everyone gets to enjoy faster page load times, cleaner screens, and fewer interruptions while streaming, shopping, or scrolling.
AdGuard’s advanced ad-blocking engine doesn’t just tackle the obvious stuff. It filters video ads, sneaky banners, and aggressive pop-ups that tend to slow down devices and clutter your screen. Pair that with built-in privacy protection, and you’ve got a tool that keeps personal data from being tracked and analyzed across the web.
Compatible with both Android and iOS, as well as computers, this lifetime plan is designed to age well with your devices. One simple setup, ongoing updates, and long-term protection — all without monthly fees to keep track of.
Get lifetime access to the AdGuard Family Plan for a one-time $15.97 payment (reg. $169.90) through Dec. 14 with code FAMPLAN.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Get 1TB of lifetime cloud storage for just $50Safeguard your data forever with this lifetime subscription to a FolderFort 1TB Cloud Storage Pro Plan, now just $49.97 (reg. $399) through Dec. 14.
TL;DR: Safeguard your data forever with this lifetime subscription to a FolderFort 1TB Cloud Storage Pro Plan, now just $49.97 (reg. $399) through Dec. 14.
Everyone’s wallet is stretched thin during the holidays — so why not take one monthly bill off your plate? With FolderFort, you can store data for a low, one-time payment with no future bills in sight. And right now, you can secure 1TB of storage with their Pro Plan for only $49.97 (reg. $399) through Dec. 14.
Whether you’re tired of storing a ton of chunky external hard drives or you’re looking for a more affordable way to keep your content stored safely in the cloud, FolderFort offers an option that solves both issues. This 1TB Cloud Storage Pro Plan lets you stop renting and start owning your cloud storage, providing a permanent place to store your data.
Aside from being a much more affordable option, FolderFort Cloud Storage offers incredible security and speed thanks to BackBlaze, which delivers strong encryption and blazing-fast speeds. You’ll enjoy high-speed access, fast transfers, and 99.99% uptime, too, so none of your precious time is wasted.
FolderFort lets you log in and share files across all your devices, with cross-platform access. If you need to share content, it’s easy to create links to folders or files and provide someone access, or make public links you can share more widely.
We’re constantly creating more data, so our storage needs naturally grow over time. FolderFort makes it easy to scale your storage as needed, with unlimited expansion options.
Get a lifetime subscription to a FolderFort 1TB Cloud Storage Pro Plan for only $49.97 (reg. $399) through Dec. 14.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Watch Phineas and Ferb recap Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1"Percy Jackson and the Olympians" Season 1 gets a quick recap courtesy of Phineas and Ferb.
Looking forward to Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, but don't have enough time for a full Season 1 rewatch? Don't worry, Phineas and Ferb (voiced by Vincent Martella and David Errigo Jr.) are here to help.
Yes, you read that right. In a new animated short, the leads of Phineas and Ferb helpfully walk their friends through Percy Jackson's quest to return Zeus' Master Bolt to Mount Olympus. As a child of both Phineas and Ferb and Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books, this crossover's clearly been designed in a lab to make my nostalgia go through the roof.
To help set the scene (and channel that Disney corporate synergy), Phineas is rocking a Percy cosplay, blonde wig and all, while Ferb is dressed as Mr. D. They're not the only ones in costume: Isabella (voiced by Alyson Stoner) has Medusa's snake hair, Baljeet (voiced by Maulik Pancholy) has gone full Grover mode, and Buford (voiced by Bobby Gaylor) is channeling his inner Ares. Even Perry the Platypus (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is in on the fun, trading his trademark fedora for a Chimera costume, horns and all.
For their recap, Phineas and Ferb have crafted a Greek urn that plays out the condensed story of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1. With all these inventions, you know the two of them would fit right in with the children of Hephaestus at Camp Half-Blood.
To relive Percy Jackson's adventure with Phineas, Ferb, and some Greek vase painting-style animation, check out the full short above. The short will also be available on Disney+ and Disney Channel Animation's YouTube Channel on Dec. 5, and on Disney Channel Dec. 7.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 premieres Dec. 10 on Disney+.
Phineas and Ferb Season 5 is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes arriving in January.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms trailer promises epic Westerosi jousting action"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," based on George R.R. Martin's "The Hedge Knight," premieres Jan. 18 on HBO and HBO Max.
HBO has released the final trailer for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and it gives viewers our best look yet at the Ashford Meadow tournament.
The tourney, complete with jousting and sword fights aplenty, is the main setting for George R.R. Martin's novella The Hedge Knight, upon which A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based. In the novella, newly knighted Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), also known as "Dunk," heads to Ashford Meadow to earn some money (and maybe a tad of knightly glory along the way).
On his journey, Dunk encounters Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), a plucky young boy determined to be his squire. So begins a Westerosi buddy comedy, one with a decidedly lighter tone than either Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon. (Timeline-wise, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms falls between the two.)
But just because A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a lighter show doesn't mean Dunk and Egg aren't in any danger. In fact, Dunk's in tons of it, because Prince Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett) wants his head. You remember the old saying about how every time a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin to determine whether they'll be mad? Well, let's just say that the coin did not land in Aerion's favor, and that's going to complicate things for Dunk once he winds up in Aerion's crosshairs.
How will they settle their beef? On the battlefield, of course! Check out the full trailer above for teases of the jousts and duels that await in this new Westerosi adventure.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
People negatively judge others who glitch on video calls, according to studyA new Cornell study finds that video glitches can exacerbate inequality and lead to unfavorable outcomes for things like interviews, doctor interviews, and court hearings.
Lagging Zoom calls aren't just annoying parts of the average work day. They may be irreparably changing our social interactions.
According to a new study published this week in Nature, audiovisual glitches can have far-reaching affects on users that extend beyond expected nuisances, but which have the power to fundamentally impact major areas of our life, including the outcome of a job interview, trust in medical professionals, and the result of legal proceedings. And for people who don't have reliable internet access, including digitally disconnected, rural, or low-income households, the impact may be even more severe.
Titled "Video-call glitches trigger uncanniness and harm consequential life outcomes," the study focused primarily on on-screen face-to-face video calls, rather than audio-only calls or conversations featuring screen sharing or visual aids. Researchers reviewed several scenarios, including a database of casual video social interactions, a scripted video sales pitch given to participants, and a health consultations. They found that frequent video lags reduced feelings of trust and willingness to engage, such as to take the advice of or reconsult with a health provider.
The reason is that a dropped internet connection or glitches that distort faces, misalign audio and visual feedback, or create choppiness "break the illusion of face-to-face contact" that is created while on a video call, researchers write. This evokes a feeling of uncanniness that reduces a sense of social connectedness and trust — like when you realize you're talking to an AI. This sense is commonly referred to as the "Uncanny Valley," where something looks almost human, but not quite.
"Glitches can be costly in these consequential, virtually held life events. That is, beyond just undermining trivial and fleeting moments of conversation, glitches have the potential to fundamentally alter the trajectory of individuals’ lives, from their health to job status and more," researchers found. "Because people participate in numerous personal and professional virtual interactions annually, even modest glitch-related disadvantages can compound over time into substantial cumulative effects."
The researchers also reviewed court data, and when combined with the above results, found that video glitches correlated with a lower likelihood of being granted parole. "Despite being considered a boon to access, virtual communication might unintentionally perpetuate inequality," write the study's authors. "Because disadvantaged groups often have poorer internet connections, they are likely to encounter more glitches, and, in turn, to experience worse outcomes in consequential contexts such as health, careers, justice and social connection."
The study suggests that the evolving political and technological landscape, which has shifted increasingly toward remote-only processes, consider the impact of reverting to in-person interactions in favor of video interfacing. And the study recognizes there may be an implicit bias in the design of remote systems that advantage certain groups over others.
It also argues for more research on how best to reduce the impact of the Uncanny Valley while video conferencing, with one possible intervention standing out among others: Cracking a joke or two.
ChatGPT users rage about ads. OpenAI says theyre something else.ChatGPT users are complaining about seeing things that seem like ads in their chats.
ChatGPT users are up in arms over what seems like advertisements appearing in their conversations — while OpenAI disputes that the messages are advertisements at all.
Even users who shell out $200 per month for a Pro subscription say they're seeing suggestions for apps or stores that may not actually be ads, but feel like it.
Here's one example, in which ChatGPT suggests the Peloton app — in a chat that's unrelated to the exercise equipment brand.
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An OpenAI employee responded quickly to the viral tweet. "Thanks for flagging. This is not an ad (there's no financial component)," wrote Daniel McAuley, who works on the data team at OpenAI.
"It's only a suggestion to install Peloton's app. But the lack of relevancy makes it a bad/confusing experience. We're iterating on the suggestions and UX, trying to make sure they're awesome."
Users on Reddit and elsewhere have also complained about so-called "app suggestions" ... that aren't technically ads.
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While these suggestions may not technically be ads, there have also been indications that ChatGPT could integrate straightforward advertisements soon — although when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a "code red" for the company, he suggested this would mean delaying the ad rollout.
As AI companies with massive valuations and a huge burn rate scramble to make money, it seems the era of an ad-free chatbot might be reaching its end.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
The 7 best Amazon Echo devices of 2025 — and which ones should make your Christmas listWe curated the best Amazon Echo devices, from the latest Echo Dot to the most popular Echo Show. Read up on our favorites and find one for your home.
Among Amazon's flagship gadgets, like Kindles and Fire TVs, Echos are the stars of the show. These multitasking smart home devices do a little bit of everything in nearly every room in the house. (Plus, with this year's rollout of Alexa+, they're now supercharged with extra AI features.) Whether you need a smart speaker, alarm clock, or hub for your other smart devices, there's an Echo to help you out. Amazon's list of devices is ever-growing, so we've tested them to find the best Echo devices for your smart home.
If you're ready to invest in an Echo, you don't need to buy these devices at full price. They always go on sale during events like Prime Day and Black Friday, so it's worth holding out until the next sale.
On Sept. 30, 2025, Amazon debuted several new Echo devices. We've yet to test the new Amazon Echo Dot Max or the refreshed Echo Studio, however, once we've completed testing, we'll add them to this guide.
For existing Echo owners, or those looking to become ones, a major change happened in 2025 that affects user privacy. Amazon sent out an email to users saying the "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" feature on the device will no longer be available as of March 28, 2025. But what does that mean?
Previously, the "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" setting allowed the devices to process requests locally without sending them to Amazon servers. However, with that setting no longer supported, all requests will now go through Amazon servers. Plus, if you do have that setting turned on after the change goes into effect, you'll lose access to the Voice ID feature as well.
While Amazon promises that all information requests are encrypted and secure, it still means that the retailer has access to all of that data.
All Echo devices utilize Amazon Alexa's AI superpowers — it's just a matter of which form you want your Echo to take. The Echo and Echo Dot are smart speakers that you can use for music, phone calls, calendar reminders, or news alerts. Amazon Echo Show devices, on the other hand, can do all of the aforementioned audio stuff, but they also boast colorful displays for making video calls, streaming entertainment, or managing your day. Think of Echo Shows as stationary, more affordable tablets, essentially.
Most Echo devices are designed to act as smart hubs within your home, but some Echo devices can also be taken on the road. Echo Auto brings hands-free Alexa functionality to the car, while Echo Buds and Echo Frames can travel with you anywhere.
Alexa is to Amazon as Siri is to Apple, and is the driving force behind every Echo. But Alexa just got a big upgrade. Now there's Alexa+, a new AI-powered version of Alexa introduced to Echo devices in March 2025. For Prime subscribers, Alexa+ will be included in membership, and non-subscribers will have to pay $19.99 per month for the service.
Alexa has an answer to almost anything you ask. Just by shouting out, you can play music, adjust the volume, and set an alarm or timer. And that's just naming a few options. On devices like the Echo Show, you can also ask Alexa to pull up recipes or answer questions that come up while cooking. With Alexa+, the AI agent doesn't just respond to commands but can actually engage in conversation.
Here's a short list of what Alexa+ can do:
Provide a highlight reel of the day's security footage
Read stories to kids
Plan a date night
Book restaurant reservations
Control your smart home technology from one central hub
Access your calendars and set reminders
Get answers to any question you can think of
Make phone calls (and video calls with an Echo Show)
Get the latest weather and news
Follow recipes
Shop on Amazon
Stream music (and video on an Amazon Echo Show)
Play games
There are more than 100,000 Alexa skills that you can utilize via an Echo device, and Amazon is always adding more.
Alexa gets supercharged when other smart home tech comes into the picture. If you have a smart thermostat or smart light bulbs, as long as they're compatible with the Alexa system, you can create routines through your Echo. That can be as simple as telling Alexa to turn on the lights in one room or programming Alexa to turn the thermostat down before you come home.
If you're ready for an Alexa-powered home, read on for the 10 best Amazon Echo devices of 2025.
I tested 25 robot vacuum and mop combos and found 6 that actually scrubI've tested 25+ mopping robot vacuums on my own apartment floors. My top recommendations for 2025 include Dreame, Roborock, and iRobot.
I'm not saying that you can expect every robot vacuum that mops to scrub your kitchen grout with the same tenacity as you could by hand with a toothbrush. But the best robot vacuum and mop combos have gotten much closer to true deep cleaning versus the ol' wet light dusting of the cheap mopping robot vacuums of the early 2020s.
Many have smart mopping settings that unleash deeper scrubbing on specified spills or stains, and some even use AI sensors to assess whether a mess has been sufficiently cleaned. The mopping mechanisms themselves are also just more physically able to do a better job — from downward-pressing dual rotating mops that can actually get close to the wall or sturdy roller mops that rinse themselves as they go, automated mopping involves more elbow grease and brainpower than you may be expecting.
You can also set your robot vacuum to take multiple passes over dirty floors in the app's settings — one of my go-to tips for making your vacuum work better.
The self-emptying docks of 2-in-1 robot vacuums are far more advanced than they were a few years ago. The best robot mop combos will also self-dispense detergent, automatically wash and dry their mopping pads, and then refill themselves with clean water. In theory, mopping pad maintenance should be nearly as automated as the cleaning itself.
Narwal Freo Z10 Ultra: This is the newest recommendation in this list, added on Nov. 13, 2025. I've named it the "best robot vacuum mop combo under $1,000," a mark that it hits when on sale. The Eufy X10 Pro Omni got a similar update: It's now named the "best robot vacuum mop combo under $500," which refers to a sale price it hits quite often.
Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller: I've added this new vacuum as of Oct. 18, 2025. For now, I've named it the "best roller mop robot vacuum," but it's a frontrunner to be my "best overall" pick.
Roborock Saros 10R: Previously our top pick as the best robot vacuum and mop, I've now named this the "best corner mopping" vacuum, also as of October 2025.
I've tested several other robot vacuum hybrids that didn't make the cut. Some, like the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, Roborock Qrevo Master, Narwal Freo X Ultra were top picks in this list at one point, but were merely upstaged in power and price tag value by newer models.
I've also tested some 2025 robot vacuum releases that were OK, but weren't contenders for this list. The Dreame X50 Ultra grabbed attention during its CES 2025 debut for its ability to "climb," though the fine print is that it can't scale thresholds taller than 6 millimeters (about 2.36 inches). The Roborock Saros 10 and 10R were able to hoist over the few thick doorway thresholds in my apartment just as well as the X50 Ultra. Its mopping and vacuuming capabilities are better than most mid-range robot vacuums, of course, but they weren't impressive enough for me to suggest the X50 Ultra in this list over either Saros model.
I'm also in the process of testing the new fleet of 2025 Roombas. But given iRobot's rocky financial situation and bleak-looking future, I'm only recommending one mopping Roomba (the Combo 505) at this time — and that's only if it's on sale. The Roomba Combo 205 DustCompactor wouldn't be a bad pick if you absolutely can't spare floor space for a self-empty dock. But for being one of iRobot's newest vacuums, I expected it to be a much smoother, smarter navigator.
Grindr for lesbians? Here are the best dating apps for LGBTQ women.Looking for love, friends, or casual fun? We've curated a list of the best dating apps for lesbians, from HER to Hinge.
Online dating as a lesbian can be a joyous experience, but it can also involve having your space invaded by straight people or seeing your ex-girlfriends (and your ex-girlfriends' ex-girlfriends) show up in your feed over and over.
Over the decades, queer women have turned to personal ads, roaming bars, and word of mouth to find love. These days, it's not too different. From trying to find a date on WLW TikTok to entrapranureal lesbians creating new apps just for them, LGBTQ women are down to get creative to find their special someone.
Thankfully, in 2025, there are both niche and general apps where queer women can find a partner — whether for one night or for life. Which ones are the best dating apps for lesbians? We tested the most popular dating sites and apps and got some insight from our Dating & Relationships writers to find out.
Mainstream dating apps attract the most users — including queer users. That means niche lesbian dating apps aren't your only options for finding love. These days, Hinge, Bumble, OkCupid, and even eharmony all have clear filters to help you match with people of the same gender (or any gender at all), as well as filters that acknowledge the existence of non-traditional relationships (like polyamory). Especially if you don't live in a densely populated area, going for the more popular dating apps over lesbian dating sites can often lead to more results.
With that said, there is one dating app lesbian women should try. HER is an app by and for queer women, and it's grown to have a strong user base. According to its website, the app has more than 15 million registered users worldwide. The app also emphasizes finding community and making friends, in addition to dating, providing you with numerous ways to connect with other queer women and non-binary users.
Check out our guide below for the full rundown of our recommendations and dating app reviews.
Amazon Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft launch date announced: New e-readers will finally be available soonAmazon has officially provided a launch date for the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. First announced on Sept. 30, the new Kindle Scribe and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft will finally be available for purchase on Dec. 10.
We finally have a date for the launch of the new Amazon Kindle Scribe and Amazon Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. First announced during Amazon's Devices and Services event on Sept. 30, 2025, no purchase date was provided for the new Amazon e-readers. As of Dec. 4, Amazon has officially announced that the new Amazon Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft will be available for purchase on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
During the Amazon Devices and Services event, Mashable's tech editor, Timothy Beck Werth, went hands-on with the new Scribe Colorsoft. The new devices are ultra-thin and lightweight, measuring just 5.4 millimeters in width and weighing just 400 grams. Additionally, Amazon developed a new chip for these e-readers, promising to be 40 percent faster. Each device features an 11-inch display with texture-molded glass, so it feels like writing on paper with the included premium pen. Both the new Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft will be available in 32GB and 64GB versions.
The Scribe Colorsoft will finally feature a color display. This means that you can now color-code your notes and annotations. Plus, both devices will have Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive integration.
Neither device is available for preorder, so if you're looking to purchase, you'll have to wait to do so on Dec. 10. But be prepared to cough up some serious dough. The Kindle Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft are the most expensive e-readers from Amazon. The new Amazon Kindle Scribe starts at $499.99, while the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft starts at $629.99.
Keke Palmer goes full detective mode in The Burbs teaserKeke Palmer and Jack Whitehall star in Peacock's new mystery comedy, inspired by the 1989 Tom Hanks film "The 'Burbs."
Keke Palmer may have a murder on her hands in the teaser for Peacock's The 'Burbs.
The upcoming mystery comedy is inspired by the 1989 film of the same name, which stars Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, and Carrie Fisher as suburbanites investigating their suspicious neighbors, who may or may not be performing ritualistic sacrifices.
In Peacock's take on The 'Burbs, created by Celeste Hughey and produced by Seth MacFarlane, Palmer and Jack Whitehall play a young couple who has moved back to the husband's childhood home. There, Palmer's character becomes intrigued by a house that's been vacant for 20 years. In this first teaser, she learns from her neighbors that the prior owners' daughter died in the house, adding a layer of tragic mystery to her new neighborhood.
The house won't be vacant much longer, though. The show's synopsis reveals that Palmer and Whitehall's characters' "world is upended when new neighbors move in next door, bringing old secrets of the cul-de-sac to light, and new deadly threats shatter the illusion of their quiet little neighborhood."
Watch the full teaser above to see Palmer go full Only Murders in the Cul-de-sac, accompanied by the soundtrack of Doechii's smash hit "Anxiety."
The 'Burbs also stars Julia Duffy, Paula Pell, Mark Proksch, and Kapil Talwalkar.
The 'Burbs hits Peacock Feb. 8.
Post Cyber Monday deal: The Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer sunglasses are at a record-low priceThe Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer smart AI sunglasses are on sale at Amazon for $246.75, down from the normal price of $329. That's a 25% discount.
SAVE $82.25: The Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer (gen 1) sunglasses are on sale for $246.75 in the matte black colorway with polarized gradient graphite lenses. That's a 25% discount compared to the list price of $329 and it's the lowest price we've seen at Amazon.
Cyber Monday deals came with some seriously impressive savings this year, but most of those have vanished by now. But if you were busy on vacation or celebrating with family and missed the big deals, there's something special in store for you today.
As of Dec. 4, the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer (gen 1) sunglasses are on sale at Amazon for $246.75 in the matte black colorway with polarized gradient graphite lenses. That's a savings of $82.25 compared to the standard price of $329 and a new record-low. Amazon is also tossing in a free $1.76 Amazon credit to use on a future purchase.
If you've always been intrigued by the Meta Ray-Ban sunglasses, here's your chance to get a pair that's on a serious discount. This sale price applies to both the regular and large sized Wayfarer AI sunglasses for a classic look with modern tech.
Packed with a 12 megapixel camera and open-ear speakers, you'll be able to record video or tune into an epic playlist with your sunglasses. The five-mic system can also record exactly what you're hearing for a truly lifelike recording.
Donning the Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses also means you can tap into AI to get more info about your surroundings. Ask about the history of a building or find out the name of a beautiful flower. Of course, you can also make and receive calls via the sunglasses for a hands-free experience.
If you've always wanted to listen to a podcast without earbuds while wearing your sunglasses, this is a great chance to score the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer (gen 1) sunglasses for a record low price.
It sure looks like Samsungs new OLED TVs just leaked before CESSamsung's new OLED TV models appear to have leaked online as the company prepares for next year's CES.
CES 2026 is just around the corner. Samsung is usually one of the companies that steals the show every year, often using the big annual consumer tech conference to make announcements regarding its line of TVs.
Well, it seems that Samsung's plans might have just leaked, courtesy of the publicly accessible European Samsung spare parts database, as first noticed by the website FlatpanelsHD.
The database lists some newer models of Samsung's most popular OLED TV sets. But, there's also a brand-new model in the database and an absolutely enormous version of Samsung's The Frame
If the leaks are accurate, new 2026 updates to Samsung's current lineup of OLED televisions are set to debut with the S85H, S90H and S95H models listed in the database. "H" denotes a new 2026 model, according to FlatpanelsHD.
However, an OLED TV model S99H is also listed, coming in sizes ranging from 55 inches to 83 inches. Based on the model number, this appears to even be a more premium version of Samsung's S95H line, which starts at just under $2,000 for a 55-inch model. It's unclear exactly what Samsung will add to make a more premium version of its current high-end TV line.
On the opposite side of the pricing spectrum, Samsung also seems poised to reveal new, more affordable lower-end models too with the S82H and S83H. The current cheapest models in this lineup are the 65-inch S84H and the 55-inch S85H, coming in at around $1,000 each. It's unclear what the newer models will be priced at, but are likely to be cheaper (yet still not "budget" priced).
And, finally, the database points to a new gigantic 98-inch version of Samsung's The Frame TV. The Samsung TV that is meant to look like a framed piece of art currently maxes out at 85-inches. Samsung may have felt that was still too small and decided to bring an even larger model to the market in 2026.
We'll find out more details when Samsung officially unveils its new products at CES.
Threads will let users speak to the algorithmThreads is testing a public “Dear Algo” feature that lets users temporarily steer what their feed shows by posting requests directly to the algorithm.
Threads is testing a new way for users to manipulate their own recommendation algorithm.
The feature, aptly called "Dear algo," allows users to post a message to the algorithm with the note "dear algo" asking to see more or less of a certain thing. For instance, you might post "Dear algo, show me more book recommendations" or "Dear algo, stop showing me basketball updates my team is bad and it makes me sad."
Conor Hayes, the head of Threads, said in a post on the site on Dec. 3 that the platform is "testing a new AI feature to help you personalize your feed."
"When people add 'Dear Algo' to a post, it will tell your feed what you want to see more or less of for up to three days. If your profile is public, people can see your request, connect with you about it, or repost it," Hayes wrote. "This is just a test, so not everyone will have access now, but we're working on rolling it out more broadly soon."
Then, the feed responds by showing you what you asked for for the next three days. This won't change your feed entirely (or forever) but the temporary change will allow you to engage with content you like and that engagement will help refine your algorithm in the long term.
It's important to note that these posts are public — so it also informs all your friends and followers what you want to see more or less of.
Mark Zuckerberg, the head of Meta, wrote that the new feature was "inspired" by people on the app "who started 'dear threads algo' requests."
National Cookie Day 2025: Free cookies from Pepperidge Farms, Crumbl, Panera Bread, and more sweet deals available todayNational Cookie Day is Dec. 4 and you can score free cookies from Crumbl, Pepperidge Farms, Nestle, and more.
Something smells delicious today. The pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving is gone and we haven't started on the Christmas baking just yet, but we're all in line for a sweet treat today because it's National Cookie Day.
Cookie Monster is celebrating today with friends on Sesame Street and here in the outside world, we have some sweet deals in store. Just like National Coffee Day, this cookie celebration means brands and popular cookie bakeries are serving up some excellent opportunities to snack on something sweet for free. Here are some of our favorite cookie deals on offer today.
Like it or not, Crumbl is paying homage to the "6-7" trend on Dec. 4. Order a six-pack of cookies in store and get a seventh item for free while supplies last. There's a sticky toffee pudding cookie on the menu this week if you need extra incentive to visit today.
Swing by Dairy Queen today where DQ Rewards members can save $3 on any small Blizzard through Dec. 7. The chain launched the December Blizzard of the month earlier this week and went all-in on the holiday theme with the Frosted Sugar Cookie Blizzard Treat. You can also score a free mini Frosted Sugar Cookie Blizzard Treat with purchase of a six-piece chicken strip basket or a Signature Stackburger combo.
Set an alarm because at 2 p.m. ET today, you can snag a free Nestlé Toll House Cookie Tacos kit while supplies last. The kit includes ingredients you'll need to bake up your own cookie taco at home to celebrate the day. We expect this deal to vanish quicker than homemade cookies fresh out of the oven, so be sure to have fast fingers come 2 p.m.
Sign up for a frew MyPanera loyalty program account and then stop in to snag a free cookie with purchase of a cookie. Two cookies is always better than one.
Sign up for the Insomnia Cookies Rewards loyalty program and then be one of the first 100 members to visit any store today. You'll be rewarded with a free Snowball Classic cookie and you might be in for something extra sweet. One special Snowball cookie at each location is filled with purple buttercream. That signifies your golden ticket to free cookies for a year.
Get a free Holiday Magic Cookie, which is packed with red and green M&M's, today with any digital order of $5 or more. Be sure you're logged into your JJ Rewards account on mobile or the app before placing your purchase to be sure you're in line for a free cookie.
If you're lucky enough to visit the Milk Bar flagship location in Los Angeles, New York, or the West Village location in New York or Logan Circle in D.C., you can score a free McCormick x Milk Bar Eggnog English Toffee Cookie. Each location will hand over this free offering to the first 50 to 100 customers, so get there early for this National Cookie Day celebration. If you're not able to snag a free cookie, you can order it online through the Milk Bar website or make them at home with the recipe listed at McCormick.
Early this morning, Pepperidge Farm offered to send a free Holiday Cookie Courier to anyone you love. The kit included a pack of Milano Mint Chocolate and a pack of Chessmen Butter Cookies in a lovely holiday box with a personalized note. The offering is currently sold out, but it's worth checking back later today in case Pepperidge Farms is feeling extra generous on this sweet day.
Don't feel like heading out to take advantage of any of these free cookie deals? Today is a great excuse to bake up a few dozen cookies at home. In honor of National Cookie Day, check out these at-home baker deals that'll seriously up your baking game this holiday season.
Gorilla Grip Stainless Steel Cookie Scoop — $14.99 $19.99 (save $5)
Nordic Ware Holiday Cookie Stamps (Set of 3) — $22.50 $33 (save $10.50)
Nordic Ware Naturals Sheet Pan (3 Piece Set) — $30 $41 (save $11)
KitchenAid Classic Series 4.5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer — $254.99 $399.99 (save $145)
Google is rolling out its Android 16 Quarterly Platform Release (QPR) 2, meaning your device could be due for an update.
The Android 16 QPR2 update comes with a number of new features that should improve performance, ease of use, and more. Here are three new features to check out.
The updated Android 16 allows you to add widgets that appear on your lock screen when you swipe left. Tech site 9to5Google notes you can enable the feature by navigating to "Settings > Display & touch > Lock screen > Widgets on lock screen."
That means you'll be able to easily access things like your calendar, camera, and more.
Listen, we all get overwhelmed with notifications. Android 16 QPR2 promises to leverage AI capabilities to keep those pesky notifications in check. The updated software will summarize notifications — a long message in a group chat, for instance — and automatically prioritize more important notifications.
"Notification organizer automatically groups and silences your lower-priority notifications (such as promotions, news, and social alerts), making it easier for you to stay focused on what matters with fewer distractions. Notification organizer is rolling out in stages and will be available in the coming weeks," wrote Google.
Android 16 QPR2 introduces a "parental controls" option within settings, which means parents can keep tabs on their kids' devices from a single location. It'll allow parents to remotely set screen-time limits, control app usage, and set a schedule for when a kid's device locks.
If you want further details on updates with Android 16 QPR2 you can head over to Google's blog.
Serve up homemade espresso with over $100 off the Ninja Luxe CaféAs of Dec. 4, get over $100 off the Ninja Luxe Café at Amazon.
SAVE $100.99: As of Dec. 4, get the Ninja Luxe Café for $499 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $599.99. That's a discount of 17%.
If you spend too much for baristas to whip up hot coffee drinks for you on the daily, there's a solution: a home espresso maker. Yes, you can get absolutely fantastic coffee at home without paying an arm and a leg. Or if you do have the initial arm and leg payment, additional savings will pay for itself when you find a machine that you love. We've found one to help you out so you can start saving and cutting back on those pricey morning drinks.
As of Dec. 4, get the Ninja Luxe Café for $499 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $599.99. That's $100.99 off and a discount of 17%.
Ninja is a brand you likely already recognize from its line of air fryers and other countertop appliances, but they handle espresso makers, too. This triple threat can do it all, too: espresso, drip coffee, cold brew, and more. Specifically, it can handle two different kinds of espresso, three kinds of drip coffee, and two cold brews.
It features additional options that you can use to customize your drink further as well. You can alter the grind, pressure, temperature, and flavor of each brew, so if you want to make something as close to what a barista might, you've got the option. You can even add milk with the included milk frother and steam wand, to lend to the overall cafe drink authenticity.
There's plenty of reasons to grab the machine for yourself or get it as a gift for the coffee lover in your life, but you'll mainly want to because of easy it is to use and all the savings you'll rack up. Grab yours before this deal grows cold.
Check out these updates to iOS 26s motion sickness featureApple adds new customization settings to its Vehicle Motion Cues feature in iOS 26.
Apple's recent iOS 26 overhaul included a plethora of major additions and complete system makeovers, but there were even more tweaks, settings, and customization settings that flew under the radar for many users.
One of those was a subtle update to a feature known as Vehicle Motion Cues, launched last year as part of a new suite of accessibility tools, including eye-tracking powered by machine learning, music haptics, and vocal shortcuts controlled using not just whole words, but sounds and utterances as well.
Using on-device sensors, Vehicle Motion Cues battle the kind of motion sickness commonly experienced by people staring at their screens while in cars, buses, and trains. When turned on, users will see an animated border of dots along the edge of your iPhone, iPad, or (in an update released earlier this year) MacBook screen. The dots move according to the movement of the vehicle, lessening the sensory conflict that leads to motion sickness.
On iOS 26, those features have gotten even better. Now, users can choose between a regular or "dynamic" pattern for those moving dots. The former displays consistent, repeating animations, while "dynamic" turns the dots into a more free-form, sensory-specific spectacle. Users can also now adjust the color and size of the on-screen dots, making it more adaptable to the user's vision needs and the way they use their device while on the move.
Vehicle Motion Cues can be added to the device's control center and automatically sense when in motion, so it's easy to activate as soon as you get in the car.
And it's super simple to turn on.
How to watch Cowboys vs. Lions in the NFL online for freeHow to watch NFL for free. Live stream Cowboys vs. Lions in the NFL 2025 for free from anywhere in the world.
TL;DR: Live stream Cowboys vs. Lions in the NFL for free on 7Plus. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
Thursday Night Football is back with a bang as the Dallas Cowboys clash with the Detroit Lions. It's been a fair season for both teams so far, with the Cowboys at 6-5 and the Lions at 6-5-1 — all of which means this looks like an evenly-matched game. On paper at least.
But Dallas has the momentum. They're coming off a three-game winning streak and a Thanksgiving Day win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Detroit, meanwhile, took a loss at the Green Bay Packers that same day. But don't count them out. With three losses in five, Detroit are looking to regain their footing and keep contending for a playoff spot.
If you want to watch Cowboys vs. Lions in the NFL for free from anywhere in the world, here's all the information you need.
Cowboys vs. Lions in the NFL starts at 8:15 p.m. ET on Dec. 4. This game takes place at Ford Field.
Cowboys vs. Lions in the NFL is available to live stream for free on 7Plus.
7Plus is geo-restricted to Australia only, but anyone around the globe can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can help by hiding your real IP address (digital location) and connecting you to a secure server in Australia, allowing you to unblock 7Plus from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Cowboys vs. Lions for free by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia
Visit 7Plus
Live stream Cowboys vs. Lions for free from anywhere in the world
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most VPN providers offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Cowboys vs. Lions in the NFL without committing any cash. While it's not a long-term solution, it does give you enough time to live stream select fixtures from the NFL before claiming back your investment.
If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming sites to follow the whole season, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for unblocking streaming services is on sale for a limited time.
ExpressVPN is the best service for accessing free live streams on platforms like 7Plus, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
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A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is currently on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free. That's 61% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can pick up a one-month plan for just $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).
Live stream the NFL for free with ExpressVPN.
The Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Play Booster Box has never been cheaper at Amazon — save over $60The Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Play Booster Box is on sale for $142.57 on Amazon. That's the lowest-ever price.
BEST PRICE: The Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Play Booster Box is on sale for $142.57 on Amazon. That's the lowest-ever price.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday might be over and out, but there are still lots of opportunities to save right now. Particularly if you're interested in trading cards. We've come across a number of heavily discounted Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering sets, including popular booster boxes.
The Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Play Booster Box is on sale for $142.57 on Amazon. That's the lowest-ever price on this box. Collectors, this is your chance to score cards featuring your favorite characters and master Avatar: The Last Airbender-themed game mechanics.
This heavily discounted set contains 30 Play Boosters, each with 14 cards and at least one shiny Traditional Foil card and 1–4 cards of rarity "Rare" or higher. If you're lucky, you could also get special cards featuring beautiful borderless alternate art.
Get the record-low price on the Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Play Booster Box at Amazon.
The Magic: The Gathering Spider-Man Play Booster Box is down to its lowest-ever price at Amazon — save over $80The Magic: The Gathering Marvel's Spider-Man Play Booster Box is on sale for $123.99 on Amazon. That's the lowest-ever price.
BEST PRICE: As of Dec. 4, the Magic: The Gathering Marvel’s Spider-Man Play Booster Box is on sale for $123.99 on Amazon. That's the lowest-ever price.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are long gone now, but the deals just keep coming. Unfortunately, we are seeing a significant drop in the number of deals on top tech items, but to make up for it, Amazon has dropped a number of impressive deals on trading cards.
As of Dec. 4, the Magic: The Gathering Marvel’s Spider-Man Play Booster Box is on sale for $123.99 on Amazon. That's the lowest-ever price for this popular box. So listen up collectors. It doesn't get better than this.
This set contains 30 Play Boosters, each with 14 cards and at least one rare or mythic rare plus a foil card. This set features your favorite Spider-Man characters, villains, and thematic new game mechanics.
Score the best-ever price on the Magic: The Gathering Marvel’s Spider-Man Play Booster Box at Amazon.
Level up your listening with a pair of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for their lowest price yetAs of Dec. 4, get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for their lowest price yet.
SAVE $150: As of Dec. 4, get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for $279 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $429. That's a discount of 35% and the lowest price we've seen.
There's a ton of great music out right now, and you deserve to enjoy it with a great pair of headphones. If it's high time for an upgrade, or you know someone you want to gift a pair to this year for the holidays, we've found an excellent option that you won't want to pass up at Amazon, even after the Cyber Monday kerfuffle has ended.
As of Dec. 4, get the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones for $279 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $429. That's $150 off and a discount of 35%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.
These comfortable headphones excel in terms of both audio and wear time. Not only do they feature plush ear cups and an adjustable band that doesn't dig into your head, but they sound fantastic so you'll relish keeping them on to enjoy music, podcasts, audiobooks, and more.
Their deep bass and crisp treble make them excellent candidates for your new go-to headphones, as do the way they offer noise cancellation that's rarely beaten. You can choose between three modes to tailor it to your unique listening preferences: Quiet, Aware, and Immersion. With a different level of noise blocking, they each let you hear what you want and ignore what you don't.
Beyond that, they also offer spatial audio support to help raise the immersion level so that you feel like you're actually in the middle of your favorite artist's concert when listening. Tack on a 15-minute charge time when you've ran out the battery, and these headphones are nothing if not a no-brainer for anyone who takes music seriously. Grab yours while they're still on sale for Cyber Week.
Cyber Monday is gone but the Samsung Odyssey G8 gaming monitor is still available at a record-low priceThe 27-inch Samsung Odyssey G8 gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $834.99, down from the standard price of $1,299.99. That's a 36% discount.
SAVE $465: The 27-inch Samsung Odyssey G8 gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $834.99, down from the standard price of $1,299.99. That's a 36% discount and the lowest price on record at Amazon.
A good monitor can make a major difference in your gaming experience. That's true whether your preferred game is Animal Crossing, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, or Assassin's Creed Shadows. If you've been limping along with a lame gaming monitor and want an upgrade, there's a top-tier Samsung model on sale today.
As of Dec. 4, the 27-inch Samsung Odyssey G8 gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $834.99, marked down from the list price of $1,299.99. That works out to a savings of $465 from a 36% discount. It's also the lowest price on record at Amazon.
Now that we're almost to December holidays, the dark nights are here. By 4 p.m., it feels like it's time for pajamas and staying indoors. One of winter's greatest activities is catching up on top gaming titles you might have missed earlier in the year. If that's the case at your home, this Samsung monitor could be worth the upgrade.
One brag-worthy spec is the massive 240Hz refresh rate. Pair that with the GtG response time of 0.03 milliseconds and you're in line for fast action without tearing or screen lag. Samsung uses glare-free technology on this monitor so you won't be dealing with distracting interference from your background.
The Samsung G8 is also designed to shine with showing deep blacks and great color contrast. Plus, Samsung used a dynamic cooling system on this model which is said to diffuse heat five time faster than graphite sheet, spelling a lower likelihood of burn in.
As a nice treat for you and your gaming setup in 2025, consider an upgrade to the 27-inch Samsung Odyssey G8 gaming monitor while it's on sale at Amazon for $834.99. It'll also be ideal for work tasks when those arise.
December full moon 2025: See the Cold supermoonThere will be a supermoon in December. Find out when to catch the peak of the December 2025 Full Moon and what it's called.
It's the last full Moon of the year, and it's not just any full Moon, it's a supermoon. The third of three consecutive supermoons to round out the year, so if you missed November and October's, make sure you head out for this one. Supermoons are what the name suggests, a full Moon that appears bigger and brighter in the sky than usual, perfect for late-night stargazing.
There's lots to know about this Moon, so keep reading to find out when it is, and what it means.
December's full Moon will occur on Thursday, Dec. 4. Time and Date estimates it will peak at 6:14 p.m. ET.
Full Moons all have their own names, and December's is traditionally known as the 'Cold Moon'. As you might imagine, this name has something to do with the arrival of winter, and the drop in the temperature.
December's Full Moon is also a supermoon, which means it appears larger and brighter than usual because it’s closer to Earth in its orbit. This happens when the Full Moon occurs near its closest point to our planet, called lunar perigee, giving us a fuller, more prominent view in the night sky, Royal Museums Greenwich tells us.
The next Full Moon is predicted to occur on Jan. 3, 2026.
The Full Moon is just one phase in the Moon’s 29.5-day orbit around Earth. The different phases show how much of its surface is lit up from our point of view. We always see the same side of the Moon, but as it circles Earth, the sunlight falls on it differently. That’s why sometimes it appears full, sometimes half, and at other times seems to disappear entirely.
There are eight main Moon phases, and they follow a repeating cycle:
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.
Last Quarter (or Third 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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