Did you have Ninja releasing a whole ass microwave on your 2026 product release bingo card?

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you actually did. Nearly every countertop appliance you could think of has already gotten the Ninja treatment by now — since Ninja has already cemented itself as a household name for air fryers, it feels correct to finally extend those crisping skills to the humble microwave. Released July 16, the Ninja Crispi Microwave combines these two staple time-saving appliances into one 14-in-1 oven.

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Credit: Ninja

Ninja Crispi Microwave

$449.99 at SharkNinja

Comes in silver or black

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The Ninja Crispi Microwave's FusionCrisp technology aims to solve the texture issues that come with microwaving. Right after regular reheating concludes, automatic air frying kicks in to leave food crispy rather than soggy. With 1700 Watt power and up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit of circulated airflow, Ninja claims that you'll be able to take food from frozen to crispy in 10 minutes. That's up to 60 percent faster than a conventional oven, no agonizing preheating window required.

The inside of the Crispi Microwave is glass, not plastic. Credit: Ninja

The included 5.5-quart glass basket can feed up to 10 people. Credit: Ninja

There's little that can't be cooked in the Crispi Microwave. There are eight microwave presets: popcorn, potato, defrost, beverage, soup, frozen dinner, frozen vegetables, and soften butter. The five air fry presets are similar to what you'd see in an air fryer toaster oven: max crisp and normal crisp, air roast, air bake, and air broil.

The Crispi Microwave features a PFAS-free glass cooking cavity with up to 40 percent more usable cooking space than your average turntable microwave. Instead of having to transfer fridge leftovers into an air fryer basket, the flatbed design can hold several containers or bowls. You're even getting a nice new baking dish out of it: a 5.5-quart PFAS-free glass basket that can hold an 8-pound chicken, four slices of pizza, or a 9 x 11 casserole. A stainless steel crisper basket is also included.

Updated on Thursday, July 16 at 12:30 p.m. ET — OnePlus has confirmed that it will cease operations in the West, according to our colleagues at CNET. That means the OnePlus 15 will be the final OnePlus phone released in the U.S. or Europe. Existing OnePlus devices in those markets will continue to receive software support for as long as was promised at launch, but users will be shifted from Oxygen OS to parent company Oppo's Color OS.

Moving forward, OnePlus will merge operations with its parent company Oppo, which makes consumer electronics and smartphones for the global market.

Keep scrolling for our original story on this news.

We may need to pour one out for OnePlus in the very near future.

German news outlet WinFuture (via PCMag) reports that OnePlus, which has carved out a niche by offering more affordable phones with flagship specs over the years, will soon cease operations in the U.S. and Europe.

The announcement is reportedly expected from Chinese parent company Oppo as soon as this week.

No reason for the cessation of OnePlus has been mentioned. However, messaging around OnePlus, in reporting and in official company statements, has been moving in this direction for months now.

AndroidHeadlines first reported the surprising news back in January, before OnePlus told PCMag back in April it was "evaluating its regional roadmap and product strategy" in North America.

Now it seems that evaluation has concluded.

For Android enthusiasts in the west, this is a real bummer. While the likes of Google and Samsung still produce quality handsets, OnePlus would regularly swoop in and offer phones of a similar quality for under $1,000, with last year's OnePlus 15 being a good example.

Perhaps the brand just never found footing in such a competitive market, and surely RAMageddon didn't help OnePlus's quest to offer semi-affordable devices, but taking away one of the best Android alternatives in the west isn't going to help anybody.

If this is the end, it's been good, OnePlus. Perhaps Oppo can find another way to sell its wares in the U.S. and Europe soon.

It appears that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 will look very similar to its predecessor. So, if these leaks prove accurate, don't expect any radical changes to the Galaxy Z Flip 7.

We expect Samsung's new foldables to debut on July 22 at a Galaxy Unpacked event in London. Mashable will be attending that event live, so check back to hear about all the announcements.

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 shell design, display, camera, as well as the vast majority of its other specs, are pretty much the same as the generation that came before it, according to new leaks from WinFuture (as reported by 9to5Google).

What is upgraded? The Galaxy Z Flip 8 will have a more powerful processor. 

The upcoming Flip 8 model is powered by the Samsung Exynos 2600 whereas the current generation is powered by the Exynos 2500. While a more powerful processor is always a welcome upgrade, as 9to5Google points out, consumers were hoping for a much more substantive upgrade to a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip for the Flip 8. According to WinFuture, that's not the case.

Other than that, the leaked specs state that the Flip 8 will add 45W wired support for charging and will be 8 grams lighter than its predecessor. However, it does appear to be slightly thicker, also according to the leak.

Not every generation of a device needs to be game-changing. Sometimes these iterative upgrades are a nice draw for new buyers, and existing users can wait until next year's offerings. However, this news can be disappointing for those who were looking to upgrade from the Flip 7 — especially considering the speculation that Samsung may have to raise its prices with the Galaxy Z8 series.

Of course, none of this is official yet. Samsung Galaxy Unpacked will likely make the Flip 8 and its specs official next week, along with a slew of other new mobile products.

SAVE $200: The Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 robot vacuum and mop is on sale for $799.99, down from the list price of $999.99. That's a 20% discount.

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Credit: Roborock

Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 robot vacuum and mop

$799.99 at Amazon
$999.99 Save $200

 

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Back-to-school season is upon us. It's always a busy time mixed with trips to Target, checking supplies lists, and keeping up with classroom announcements. At the same time, we're trying to squeeze the last bits of enjoyment out of summer gatherings. If there's no time left for keeping the floors clean at home, this robot is happy to take over, and it's on sale.

As of July 16, the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 robot vacuum and mop is on sale for $799.99 at Amazon, marked down from the normal price of $999.99. That's a 20% discount and a savings of $200.

Ideal for busy households, the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 is ready to take over the tasks of vacuuming and mopping the house. The robot vacuum and mop has a unique roller mop, and Mashable's expert robot vacuum reviewer, Leah Stodart, has ranked this as the best model under $1,000. Thanks to today's deal at Amazon, it's now under $800.

"The Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow is a solid roller mop option for busy households that see a lot of liquid spills," according to Stodart. "Its impeccable small obstacle avoidance makes it similarly well-suited for busy folks who don't have time to tidy up the floor before vacuuming."

In technical terms, it has 20,000 Pa suction power. In Stodart's testing of the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2, it worked well on removing debris from medium and thick-pile rugs. It also avoided sucking up a USB-C cable Stodart left on the floor as an intentional obstacle.

Since Amazon's sale price brings this combo model under $800, it could be a great gift for college students moving into their first apartment.

Before we see the sale vanish, gift your home the capable Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 robot vacuum and mop. You'll be able to save time, effort, and hassle by letting the robot take over floor cleaning.

SAVE $900: As of July 16, the Samsung 77-inch S85F OLED 4K TV is down to a new record low of $1,297.99 at Amazon, Samsung, and Best Buy. That's a massive 41% in savings from its latest list price.

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung 77-inch S85F OLED 4K TV

$1,297.99 at Amazon
$2,197.99 Save $900.00

 

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If your requirements for a new TV include a big screen and a brilliant picture, this Samsung 77-inch S85F OLED TV will be right up your alley. And since it's a 2025 model, it's down to an astoundingly low price.

Since OLED TVs offer the most advanced lighting on the market, they're typically the most expensive. This is Samsung's entry-level OLED model, and it originally carried a $2,999.99 price tag, for instance. However, its list price has dropped significantly to $2,197.99 now that 2026 models have hit shelves. And as of July 16, it's reached a new record low of just $1,297.99 at Amazon, and $1,299.99 at Best Buy and Samsung itself. That's a 41% discount from its latest list price.

The star of the show with Samsung's 2025 OLED TVs is AI (shocker). The S85F features AI tools like Click to Search, Live Translate, Adaptive Sound Pro, and Real Depth Enhancer to enhance your viewing experience. Of course, it will also deliver tons of content recommendations. It's equipped with Samsung's Tizen 9.0 smart TV platform, which offers smooth and speedy navigation. Plus, its massive 77-inch screen offers brilliant picture quality with vivid colors and deep contrast.

As far as gaming goes, it's pretty basic. You'll get a 120Hz refresh rate, HDMI 2.1, and FreeSync Premium. For casual gamers, this will do just fine, but more advanced players will likely want to upgrade to a better refresh rate.

It's no longer the newest TV in Samsung's OLED lineup, but the S85F is still a strong contender and an excellent value — particularly now that the price is the lowest it's ever been.

Whether you studied the Great Uprising of 1381, sometimes referred to as the Peasant's Revolt, at school or not, the trailer for Andrew Garfield's new historical action-drama will have you geared up for a lesson.

Directed by Paul Greengrass, The Uprising follows one of the defining moments of English radicalism in history, when the commoners staged a rebellion against the tyranny of 14-year-old King Richard II. The Black Death had halved the population of England. The Hundred Years' War was draining the country's coffers. And the monarchy leaned on an already lean feudal system, heavily taxing common folk to pay for a war in a country far away. They'd had enough.

In the film, Garfield plays a farmer who becomes a key figure in the Uprising, alongside real legendary leaders Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis) and John Ball (Jamie Bell). We don't have many screen depictions of the revolt, aside from a 1969 film starring Anthony Hopkins. So Greengrass' The Uprising is a rare insight into a pivotal moment for social resistance in British history, of the common people finding their voice. But it didn't come without cost.

Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Thomasin McKenzie, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman, Katherine Waterston, and Sky Yang also star.

The Uprising hits cinemas Sept. 11.

TL;DR: July 16 is Free Tea Day at participating McAlister's Deli locations. No purchase is necessary, and you can order online, in the app, or drop by a location to get free tea.

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Credit: McAlister's Deli

Free Tea Day at McAlister's Deli

 

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It's hot outside, some of the nation is trapped in smokey air, and we only have two World Cup matches left. If you're feeling a touch of the summer blues, McAlister's Deli is offering a free cheer-me-up.

For all of July 16, stop by participating McAlister's locations to take part in Free Tea Day. Yes, you read that right. Today only, you can get a free tea with no purchase necessary.

With a desire to bring people together, McAlister's Free Tea Day started back in 2009. This year, Free Tea Day takes place on July 16, and the timing couldn't be better with heat and poor air quality in some of the nation.

The free tea deal applies to Big Tea only, including sweet tea, unsweetened, tea/lemonade, flavored teas, and one flavor shot per tea. If you stop by a participating McAlister's Deli location, the deal is valid for one free tea per customer. You can also order online on the the McAlister's Deli app with a limit of four free teas.

While sipping your free tea, consider how you'll celebrate National Ice Cream Day coming up on Sunday, July 19.

SAVE $654: The 45-inch LG Ultragear OLED curved gaming monitor is on sale for $1,345.99, down from the standard price of $1,999.99. That's a 33% discount.

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Credit: LG

45-inch LG Ultragear OLED Gaming Monitor

$1,345.99 at Amazon
$1,999.99 Save $654

 

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When it comes to tech that involves spending a big chunk of money, it's best if that tech has multiple purposes. For those who spend time gaming, watching movies, and working from home, a high-quality monitor is well worth the investment. If you fall into any or all of those categories, check out this deal.

As of July 16, the 45-inch LG Ultragear OLED curved gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $1,345.99, marked down from the usual price of $1,999.99. That's a 33% discount that takes a major $654 off the price.

With a stunningly crisp OLED display, the LG Ultragear is the upgrade we all deserve for gaming. The curved display brings on an immersive in-game feel, and the 45-inch display is a great size, as long as your desk can accommodate the upgrade.

LG says this is the world's first 5K2K OLED gaming monitor. The 125 pixels-per-inch will give a great gaming experience, as well as prove worthwhile when streaming movies and sports. The display can reach up to 1,300 nits and there's a 0.03 millisecond response time.

Adding to its gaming stats are the dual HDMI 2.1 ports and a USB-C. Of course, it also has AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility. The curve is rated at 800R, and LG took the extra steps to add anti-glare, flicker-free, and low-blue light performance.

If you've been considering a gaming monitor upgrade, consider today's sale price on the 45-inch LG Ultragear OLED curved monitor. You'll be saving over $650 thanks to Amazon.

SAVE UP TO $90: As of July 16, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 and Sennheiser Accentum noise-cancelling headphones are on sale at Amazon for $217.33 (down from $299.99) and $99.95 (down from $189.95) respectively.

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Credit: Sennheiser

Sennheiser Accentum

$99.95 at Amazon
$189.95 Save $90.00

 

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Credit: Sennheiser

Sennheiser Momentum 4

$217.33 at Amazon
$299.99 Save $82.66

 

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Sennheiser is known for its premium audio products, which tend to be accompanied by premium price tags. But today, Amazon has slashed the price of two of the brand's best-selling headphone offerings. If you've been searching for high-quality noise-cancelling headphones that won't wreck your bank account, your search is over.

As of July 16, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 noise-cancelling headphones are down to just $217.33 from $299.99. That's a savings of 28%. Still too pricey? The Sennheiser Accentum headphones are also on sale for just $99.95, down an impressive 47% from their list price of $189.95.

The Momentum 4s are a Mashable favorite. They've earned a spot on our list of the best noise-cancelling headphones for flying and the best headphones overall for 2026, mostly due to their outstanding battery life. Fully charged, these babies will last you 60 hours with ANC turned on. For comparison, the Sony XM6 headphones (another favorite) last for only half of that time. The Momentum 4s also sound excellent right out of the box, but do offer EQ adjustments in the app if you desire. The noise-cancellation isn't the best on the market, but it's fair for the price point.

The Accentum headphones are significantly cheaper at under $100, but still offer a massive 50-hour battery life, hybrid noise cancellation, rich and well-balanced HD stereo sound, and an in-app EQ to fine-tune your music to match your preferences. They're a little less impressive than their more expensive sibling, but honestly, you can't go wrong with either one.

If you're looking for audiophile-approved sound, long lasting battery life, decent noise cancellation, and an affordable price tag, these headphones practically sell themselves.

Samsung Unpacked is right around the corner, and with it, we'll be getting new Samsung Galaxy Watches. The pressure is on with this generation for Samsung, so here's what we know, what we expect and what we want from the company's latest wearables.

TL;DR: iClever’s Q950 Kids Headphones are now on Amazon for $69.99. They pack hybrid ANC, an 80dBA volume limit, 60-hour battery life, and a kid-proof design.

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Credit: iClever

iClever Q950 Kids Headphones

$69.99 at Amazon

 

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iClever has launched the Q950 Kids Headphones, a new pair of wireless over-ear headphones designed to make listening safer for younger users. Available in the U.S. from iClever and Amazon for $69.99, the Q950 comes in two colors: blue and purple.

The headphones are built around iClever’s SafeSound technology, which keeps volume capped at 80dBA while adding noise cancellation to help kids hear clearly without needing to turn the volume all the way up.

What makes the Q950 stand out is its TÜV Rheinland Hearing Care certification, a third-party certification that recognizes the headphones’ focus on safer listening and hearing-friendly design. For parents, that adds an extra layer of confidence that their kids are using headphones designed with hearing health in mind.

Beyond hearing protection, the Q950 packs features you’d usually expect from adult headphones. Wear Detection automatically pauses audio when the headphones are removed, Transparency Mode lets kids hear what’s happening around them without taking the headphones off, and Bluetooth Audio Sharing allows two headphones to connect to the same device for shared listening.

Battery life reaches up to 60 hours on a single charge, while ANC still works when using the included wired AUX connection. Built for everyday use, the Q950 includes an adjustable headband, soft ear cushions, and rotating ear cups for a comfortable fit as kids grow.

Grab the iClever Q950 Kids Headphones on Amazon for safer listening on the go.

TL;DR: Spotify's Managed Accounts are now free for more families. Parents can create kid-friendly Spotify accounts with parental controls, private profiles, and personalized music recommendations without needing a Premium Family subscription.

Spotify is making it easier for parents to give younger listeners their own music experience without handing over the keys to the entire app. Previously available only with a Premium Family subscription, Managed Accounts are now free for parents on any Spotify plan in the U.S., UK, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and several other supported regions.

Spotify says more countries, including Canada, New Zealand, and much of Europe and Latin America, are already live or will be added soon.

What is a Spotify Managed Account?

A Managed Account is a kid-friendly version of Spotify designed for listeners under 13. It gives children their own Spotify profile while letting parents stay in control through built-in parental settings.

Instead of opening up the full Spotify experience, Managed Accounts focus on music. Kids can listen to Spotify's music catalog, create playlists, and discover new artists, but podcasts, audiobooks, video content, and Canvas visuals aren't included by default.

Kids still get personalized recommendations through features like Discover Weekly, Daylist, and Made for You mixes. They'll also get their own Spotify Wrapped, so the whole family doesn’t end up with one giant mashup of music tastes.

Every new account starts with explicit content filtering turned on automatically, and parents can also block specific artists or songs through Spotify's Parental Controls Hub. Profiles are private and can't be searched by other users, messaging features are disabled, and kids use preset avatars instead of uploading profile pictures.

The idea is to give younger listeners a more independent way to enjoy music while still keeping parents in the driver's seat.

How to create a Spotify Managed Account

Parents can set up a Managed Account directly from the Spotify app in just a few steps:

1. Open Spotify and tap "add account" from the app's side menu

2. Select "add a child"

3. Select "create a managed account"

4. Complete the parental consent process

5. Choose your child's settings and parental controls

As children get older, Spotify also lets them transition from a Managed Account to a standard Spotify account, giving families a smoother way to grow with the service over time.

Ready to set it up? Learn more about Spotify Managed Accounts here.

The explicit tube site Pornhub is now blocked in 25 U.S. states — half of the country.

This is due to age-verification laws. These laws vary state by state, but typically require visitors to a site with over a third of explicit content to submit a government ID or other form of age authentication. Louisiana was the first state to enact such a bill a couple of years ago, and now others have followed suit. In June 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas's age-verification law was constitutional, setting a precedent for similar bills that came before and after.

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According to one preliminary study, age verification won't work to keep minors off porn sites. This is because of software like VPNs that allow someone to appear to be in a different location, and because of non-compliant websites. (The Florida attorney general is suing foreign-based porn sites for not instituting age verification.) Yet, these laws keep getting passed — and are encroaching on non-explicit websites as well, experts told Mashable.

While Pornhub is not blocked in Louisiana, it is blocked in these states as of July 2026:

• Alabama

• Arizona

• Arkansas

• Florida

• Georgia

• Idaho

• Indiana

• Iowa

• Kansas

• Kentucky

• Mississippi

• Missouri

• Montana

• Nebraska

• North Carolina

• North Dakota

• Oklahoma

• South Carolina

• South Dakota

• Tennessee

• Texas

• Utah

• Virginia

• West Virginia

• Wyoming

Pornhub isn't blocked in Ohio despite the state's age-verification law, due to a clause stating that establishing age verification methods doesn't apply to a provider of an interactive computer service (Aylo considers itself one).

In Louisiana, where users must submit ID to view Pornhub, the site has seen traffic decline by around 80 percent, Aylo (Pornhub's parent company) told Mashable.

"These people did not stop looking for porn. They just migrated to darker corners of the internet that don't ask users to verify age, that don't follow the law, that don't take user safety seriously, and that often don't even moderate content. In practice, the laws have just made the internet more dangerous for adults and children," Aylo stated when asked for comment by Mashable back in Jan. 2025.

In a statement to Mashable, Aylo continued:

First, to be clear, Aylo has publicly supported age verification of users for years, but we believe that any law to this effect must preserve user safety and privacy, and must effectively protect children from accessing content intended for adults.

Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous. Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws.

Industry experts say that, in addition to not working for their intended purpose, age verification laws also raise concerns about privacy protection and safety since websites now have to host (even more of) people's personal information. It will be harder to be anonymous online, which experts warn is dangerous to free speech. Adult industry experts Mashable spoke to in an explainer on age-verification laws advocated for device-level filters, as did Aylo in its statement.

Some in the adult industry worry about what Trump's second presidential term will bring due to the conservative policy outline, Project 2025, and its measures to ban porn. One of Project 2025's authors, Russell Vought, was caught on a secret recording stating that age-verification laws are the "back door" to a broader porn ban.

This article was first published in 2025 and updated in July 2026.

Home Depot Halloween 2026 lineup:

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5-foot Wicked Woods Wishing Well

$149 at Home Depot

Shop Now

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3.5-foot Wicked Woods Hell Hound

$159 at Home Depot

Shop Now

---

4-foot Animated Flying Monkey

$199 at Home Depot

Shop Now

---

11-foot Giant-Sized LED Mummy

$299 at Home Depot

Shop Now

---

8-foot Wicked Woods LED Perilous Plant Monster

$299 at Home Depot

Shop Now

---

8-foot Grave & Bones Zombie Velociraptor

$299 at Home Depot

Shop Now

---

12-foot App Controlled Skelly with LCD LifeEyes

$379 at Home Depot

Shop Now

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8.5-foot LED Knight Frostbane

$399 at Home Depot

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July may not scream Halloween, but Home Depot clearly didn’t get the memo.

The retailer’s 2026 Halloween collection is here, with nearly 30 new decorations and animatronics landing online and in the Home Depot app — including a new app-controlled 12-foot Skelly that takes the iconic lawn skeleton to a whole new level.

The spooky drop is live from July 16, with products available while supplies last. Some decorations will arrive in stores in August, though the most popular animatronics could disappear much sooner.

11-foot Giant-Sized LED Mummy

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Credit: The Home Depot

11-foot Giant-Sized LED Mummy

$299 at The Home Depot

 

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If Skelly feels a little too mainstream for your haunted yard, this 11-foot mummy brings a different kind of creepy energy. The towering Grave & Bones Giant-Sized LED Mummy lights up with glowing eyes and a decayed, illuminated chest, while its adjustable shoulders let you adjust its zombie-like stance. Motion activation triggers three spooky sound effects and includes cloth strips that add a worn, just-escaped-from-the-tomb look. It’s rated for both indoor and outdoor use, so it can guard your front yard, entryway, or Halloween party setup all season long.

8-foot Grave & Bones Zombie Velociraptor

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Credit: The Home Depot

8-foot Grave & Bones Zombie Velociraptor

$299 at The Home Depot

 

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Forget skeletons and ghosts — this year, Home Depot is bringing a prehistoric monster to the lawn. The 8-foot Grave & Bones Zombie Velociraptor adds a creepy fossil-inspired twist to your Halloween setup with glowing LED eyes and a lit-up mouth, plus a moving jaw and sound effect triggered by motion. It comes with adjustable volume, a built-in timer that can run on a 6-hour on/18-hour off schedule, and ground stakes to keep this oversized predator planted. It takes just one person and about 15 minutes to assemble, so you can spend less time building and more time scaring the neighborhood.

12-foot App-Controlled Skelly

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Credit: The Home Depot

12-foot App-Controlled Skelly

$379 at The Home Depot

 

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If you’re only buying one giant Halloween decoration this year, this is the one to check out. This 12-foot Skelly is built to do more than just stand around. Using the Decor Pro app, you can pick from 20 different LCD eye effects, record up to 30 custom voice lines, or talk through Skelly live with built-in voice-changing effects.

Its head moves, its mouth matches your audio, and it can help make your yard the Halloween stop everyone remembers. Designed for indoor and outdoor use, Skelly takes about 60 minutes to put together with two people.

8.5-foot LED Knight Frostbane

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Credit: The Home Depot

8.5-foot LED Knight Frostbane

$399 at The Home Depot

 

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The 8.5-foot skeletal knight arrives on a ghostly horse, complete with glowing eyes, a lit-up chest, and three synchronized movements that bring the whole scene to life. The knight’s arm moves, its jaw drops while it speaks five spooky phrases, and the horse’s head sweeps back and forth for a dramatic entrance. Motion-activated and ready to haunt, Frostbane plugs in for power and can be assembled by one person in about 30 minutes.

Not every Halloween setup needs a 12-foot skeleton. Here are all the other new decorations joining Home Depot’s 2026 lineup:

• 2-Piece Grave & Bones Animated LED 'Til Death Duo — $99

• 2-Piece Wicked Woods Animated LED Burlap Twins — $99

• 3.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Baby Troll — $119

• 3.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Plague Rat — $129

• 5.5-Foot Grave & Bones LED Gargoyle — $129

• 3.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Hell Hound — $159

• 7-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Macabre Witch — $159

• 6.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Stalking Scarecrow — $159

• 5-Foot Dead Water Animated LED Rotwing Parrot — $179

• 6-Foot Grave & Bones Animated LED John the Last Call Mixologist — $179

• 6-Foot Wicked Woods Color Changing LED Scowling Sapling — $179

• 3.5-Foot Animated LED Mohawk — $179

• 7.5-Foot Grave & Bones Animated LED Soul Stealing Reaper — $199

• 3-Foot Animated LED Stitch — $199

• 5.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Evil Pixie — $199

• 2-Piece Dead Water Animated LED Duo — $199

• 6.5-Foot Grave & Bones Animated LED Grave Robber — $199

• 4.5-Foot Grave & Bones Color Changing LED Groundbreaker — $199

• 6-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Creeping Spider — $249

• Animated LED Gremlins 3-Piece — $249

• 7-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED App-Controlled Lethal Lily — $299

• 9-Foot Wicked Woods Giant-Sized LED Dry Rot Dennis — $299

The scares don’t stop here — explore the full Home Depot Halloween 2026 lineup before popular picks sell out.

Earlier this week, Apple launched the first public beta of iOS 27. With it comes the new, smarter Siri, which is now both a standalone app, and a set of features embedded into various apps across the operating system.

The new Siri truly is smarter, but the name confusion (Siri is now called Siri AI) as well as the fact that some features are baked into other Apple apps can make things overwhelming for users. Let's check out which new Siri AI features are truly worth trying out.

Before we start, one caveat: Almost none of these features are available in China and Europe due to issues with regulators. While it appears that the problems in China have been resolved, Apple still doesn't have a timeline for Siri AI launch in Europe.

Also, for instruction on how to install the public beta and get your hands on the new features, Mashable's published a guide.

Siri, the app

For the longest time (since 2011 actually, when Siri was first introduced) Apple refused to give Siri a proper body. The idea is that it's the invisible helper, the voice you interact with, but not something you want to tap and chat with.

Then came the OpenAI ChatGPT era, and everything changed. It took Apple a few years, but the company relented, and with iOS 27, the company launched Siri as a standalone app.

So what's the experience like? Well, think ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. You start the app, and you're welcomed by a grid of your previous convos with Siri. Start a new one, either by voice or by typing, and Siri will answer. Since this is a smarter Siri, you needn't be afraid of asking something more complex than "what's the weather like tomorrow." And it's not just general purpose queries such as "will the yellow cards in the World Cup semifinal carry over to the final" — you can also ask personal questions, including mentioning the content from your past emails, notes, and events.

Visual Intelligence

This is, indeed, a traditional cricket ball. Credit: Apple

This is a really useful one, because it ties to the way you use your iPhone in ways that weren't possible before. Say you're on YouTube, and a video showing a moment from a famous TV show pops up; the problem is, you just can't remember the show's name. No problem; invoke Siri by long-pressing the side button on your phone, and ask it about the content you're watching on the display right now. Pretty cool, right?

You can do that in various contexts; whatever's on your screen at the moment, Siri can tell you something about it.

Same goes for the stuff that's in front of you, in real life. The new Siri mode in the Camera app lets you point your lens at anything and get Siri to provide some information on what you're seeing.

Image Playground

This feature has been here before but it's been...well, maybe not a complete joke, but definitely a cartoon version of the real thing; that is, the only type of images it could generate were cartoon-looking ones.

With Siri AI, this has changed. You can now get realistic photos such as futuristic cityscapes and beautiful landscapes, or combos such as a bear dancing on a massive block of cheese.

Even better, once an image has been generated, you can tweak it with additional prompt. If you want a sign saying CHEESE above that image you've just created, tell Siri to add it and it'll show up in the next iteration.

It's not the most advanced AI-based image generation out there, but it does the job and for many users, it'll be the quickest and most convenient option.

Photo editing

The image is good, I just need more space around the subject. Credit: Apple

Open a photo, tap the edit button, and you'll see an option on the bottom right called Tools. Tap that, and you'll see three options. The Clean Up lets you tap or circle an unwanted object to make it disappear. That feature already existed (it might work a little better now), but the other two are new.

Extend will use Siri AI to make the picture bigger. Pinch to zoom out, and the AI will analyze the photo and add more stuff at the edges to make the photo larger. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it does feel a little magical.

The other new option is Reframe, which lets you change the perspective of the photo after you've taken it. Don't expect miracles here (I'd only use this on photos that desperately need it) but again, when it does work it's pretty cool.

Writing with Siri

Siri AI is now baked into various writing and communication tools across iOS. For example, in the Notes app, just above the keyboard, you'll see an option called "Write with Siri." Tap that, and write by using a prompt instead of actually entering text.

This can be pretty powerful. Let's say you want to sum up an entire trip itinerary, or write a movie plot (without spoilers!), but you don't actually want to type all that. Well, instead, just tell Siri what you want and it'll generate the text for you.

You can also highlight a chunk of text and tell Siri to generate an image that relates to it, or use it to solve math problems.

Smarter Calendar and Reminders entries

Sometimes you'll need to tap on things and provide additional context, but the new Calendar is way better than before. Credit: Apple

Siri is baked into Apple's Calendar app, too, allowing for natural language recognition. For example, you can create a new event and describe what you want to do (dinner with wife at Joe's tomorrow at 7 p.m.), and the Calendar app will automagically recognize the right people from your Contacts, and create the event at the right time.

Same goes for Reminders, which is an app I feel I should use more but it just never clicked for me. Once again, describe what you need to be reminded of, and details such as location, time, and date will be picked up automatically.

Shortcuts that you'll actually want to use

Let's face it: Shortcuts is the best iOS feature that almost no one uses, simply because the idea of turning a chain of events/commands into a single command sounds too intimidating for a lot of people.

Now, thanks to Siri AI, you can just describe the shortcut and have it created automatically. To access this feature, open Shortcuts, tap New Shortcut, and describe what you want the Shortcut to do. Want the iPhone to audibly tell you that it's been charged to 90 percent? Just type that down into the Shortcuts app, and you're done.

Want to get started? Here's how to get try the Siri AI beta.

TL;DR: The Samsung 27-inch Odyssey G5 G53F QHD gaming monitor is on sale for $169.99 at Amazon, down from its $249.99 list price.

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung 27-Inch Odyssey G5 (G53F)

$169.99 at Amazon
$249.99 Save $80

Get Deal

A decent QHD gaming monitor no longer has to push your setup close to premium OLED price brackets, and Amazon has now dropped one of Samsung’s faster Odyssey G5 models well below $200.

As of July 16, the Samsung 27-inch Odyssey G5 (G53F) gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $169.99. With $80 removed from the $249.99 list price, that’s 32% off the display price — the lowest price we've seen since April (confirmed with price tracker camelcamelcamel).

The listing is shipped and sold directly by Amazon, with free delivery currently set for July 21. Prime members can get it sooner, with delivery showing for July 17 at the time of writing. Thankfully, Amazon is also including its standard 30-day return or replacement window, which is ideal if anything goes wrong with your order. 

This Samsung monitor’s 27-inch IPS panel with 2560 x 1440 resolution gives you a stunning jump above standard 1080p. It’s a nice middle ground since it doesn’t push your PC’s graphics card nearly as hard as when trying to hit full 4K. 

These types of monitors are best in rigs where you’re trying to prioritize the smooth gameplay that comes with higher FPS, and the G5’s 200Hz refresh rate will more than have you covered for high-speed games like League of Legends, Rocket League, Marvel Rivals, Overwatch, and of course — Fortnite. 

If you’re a single-player gamer who’s catching up on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced or you’re looking for a new monitor for Grand Theft Auto VI, the G5’s HDR10 will make these games look amazing — courtesy of the feature adding brighter highlights and more detailed shadows, while the IPS panel offers a wide 178-degree viewing angle and more consistent color across the screen. 

Samsung has also added a few practical gaming tools. Black Equalizer can brighten darker areas to make enemies easier to spot, Virtual Aim Point puts an adjustable crosshair on-screen, and Auto Source Switch+ automatically changes inputs when a newly-connected device turns on. 

SAVE OVER $40: As of July 16, the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 portable speaker is on sale for $51.44 at Amazon. That's $48.55 off its list price of $99.99.

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Credit: Ultimate Ears

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4

$51.44 at Amazon
$99.99 Save $48.55

 

Get Deal

If you're looking for a good portable speaker for your summer festivities, the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 is one of our favorites. Right now, it's 49% off at Amazon.

As of July 16, the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 portable speaker has dropped from its list price of $99.99 to $51.44, saving you just over $48 in total. Not to mention, this deal price is incredibly close to its lowest-ever price of $49.39, so why not pick it up now?

We have a lot of love for the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4. In our roundup of the best portable Bluetooth speakers, it landed as the top pick under $100. It's "a powerhouse for its size and price." When it comes to the sound profile, it's "well-rounded and can get loud."

Our roundup highlights that "you can drop it from heights of up to five feet without worrying about destroying it." And on top of that, "It’s also waterproof with an IP67 rating. If you drop it in water, it can float for up to 30 minutes and come out the other side working completely fine." Perfect for a day at the pool or beach. Plus, it has a battery life that can keep you listening for up to 14 hours.

If its caught your eye, don't miss out on this chance to save on the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 portable speaker at Amazon.

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

TL;DR: The Magic: The Gathering The Hobbit Play Booster Box is available to pre-order for $199.70 at Amazon, down from its $209.70 list price.

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Credit: Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Jumpstart Booster Box

$199.45 at Amazon
$209.70 Save $10.25

Pre-order Here

There’s still almost a month to go before Magic: The Gathering returns to Middle-Earth, but Amazon has now made the expansion’s biggest standard booster product slightly cheaper ahead of launch.

As of July 16, the Magic: The Gathering The Hobbit Play Booster Box is available to pre-order at Amazon for $199.70 via Kings Games. That takes $10 off its $209.70 list price, bringing the complete 30-pack display down by around 5% — ahead of the expansion’s release date of Aug. 14. 

At that price, you’ll be paying roughly $6.66 per Middle-Earth-centric Play Booster before tax. The listing is sold and shipped directly by Amazon, comes with its pre-order price guarantee, and is currently marked as final sale, so it can’t be returned, refunded, or replaced once purchased. 

Walmart has the same Play Booster Box listed for $159.99, while TCGplayer’s lowest shipping-included listing is $160.99. That means both deal prices are lower than The Hobbit Play Booster Box’s market price of $161.65. 

Keep in mind that Walmart’s listing is sold and shipped by third-party marketplace seller Cataclysm Games rather than Walmart itself. It’s also marked as non-returnable, although free shipping and a pre-order price guarantee are included.

Whichever retailer you choose, the sealed display includes 30 Magic: The Gathering The Hobbit Play Boosters and one traditional foil Middle-earth Box Topper card. Designed for drafting, Limited games, and building decks, each booster contains 14 cards, including one to three cards of rare or higher rarity, three to five uncommons, seven to nine commons, one land, and one traditional foil card of any rarity. 

When teens talk to Meta AI about suicide or self-harm, the conversation will trigger a parental notification, Meta said in a blog post Thursday.

The new policy expands on existing teen measures designed to inform parents about how their child is using Meta AI. Only parents using Instagram supervision controls will receive the notification. Eventually, caregivers using parental controls for other Meta apps will receive alerts as well.

"We worked with parents and experts to understand which AI conversations warrant an alert — such as those where a teen makes a clear reference to hurting themselves, even if that reference is subtle," Meta said.

How do Meta AI crisis alerts work?

Meta AI already cites crisis helplines and encourages teens considering suicide or self-harm to seek help from a trusted adult. Now, parents will get an alert about such conversations. Meta said it would err on the side of caution for the time being.

While concerning chats are flagged by artificial intelligence, Meta manually reviews them before sending an alert. The parent also receives expert-developed suggestions for discussing self-harm and suicide with their child.

Parents will receive the alert via an app notification and a separate email, text, or WhatsApp message, depending on the contact information they provided.

Meta alerts parents whose child may have discussed suicide or self-harm with Meta AI. Credit: Courtesy of Meta

The types of alerts parents can receive from Meta. Credit: Courtesy of Meta

In February, Meta launched a similar notification feature for Instagram.

Dr. John Ackerman, clinical manager for the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital, told Mashable at the time that he welcomed expanded protections for teens. He noted, however, that such a feature could amount to "lip service" if notifications are inaccessible, difficult to navigate, or don't lead to "actionable change."

Meta will send alerts to parents in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. It will be globally accessible by the end of the year.

"Meta's claim that it will alert supervising parents if their teen's AI chat suggests they may be at risk of self-harm is a step in the right direction, but the announcement should be greeted with skepticism," Brendan Bouffard, staff attorney for the children's advocacy nonprofit Fairplay, told Mashable in a statement.

Bouffard said Fairplay's 2025 research on Meta's Teen Accounts found ineffective or nonexistent safety tools. Meta said the report misrepresented how its safety tools work.

New limited content setting for Meta AI

Meta also announced Thursday the addition of a limited content setting for Meta AI. It debuted that feature for Instagram last year.

That setting enables Meta's strictest filters. Meta AI is already trained not to engage in sexual or romantic conversations with teens, or provide alcoholic drink recipes, for example, according to the company.

When the limited content setting is turned on, Meta's models become even more aggressive in identifying problematic prompts and decline to answer a broader range of queries. Meta said the approach further reduces "the chance of potentially inappropriate conversations."

Teen safety concerns

Child safety advocates have criticized Meta's recent parental control updates as insufficient.

In April, Meta gave parents some insight into their child's conversations with Meta AI. The feature highlights broader topics, such as school, entertainment, writing, health, and wellbeing. Parents can click on the topic for additional but limited detail.

Fairplay executive director Josh Golin said the feature burdens caregivers with monitoring their child's online activity in lieu of "building a safe product to begin with."

Meta continues to face legal scrutiny for its performance on child safety. Earlier this year, Meta lost two separate landmark trials related to child safety protections and the allegedly addictive design of its products. The company said it will appeal both verdicts, but hundreds of pending lawsuits alleging child harm have yet to be tried.

UPDATE: Jul. 16, 2026, 10:29 a.m. PDT This story has been updated with additional information from Meta and Fairplay.

If you're feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. You can reach the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text "START" to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. If you don't like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat. Here is a list of international resources.

AI really, really, really wants to write your emails for you, and with Google's AI Gemini now in your inbox, your Gmail can feel a little out of your hands.

If you're worried about privacy, feel like your writing skills are becoming too reliant on AI, or simply don't need Gemini features, it's pretty easy to disable Gemini in Gmail, as well as other Google platforms like Drive, Calendar, Meet, Maps, and more.

Here's a handy guide to switching it off.

How to turn off Gemini in Gmail

Total Time

• 5 min

What You Need

• Laptop
• desktop or smartphone
• Gmail

Step 1: Open Gmail.

Step 2: Go to Settings.

It's the icon that resembles a cog.

Step 3: Click "See all settings."

Step 4: In the "General" section, scroll to "Google Workspace smart features."

Step 5: Click "Manage Workspace smart feature settings."

Credit: Mashable screenshot / Google

Step 6: Toggle smart features on or off.

If you're looking to turn off Gemini in Gmail, toggle off "Smart features in Google Workspace." This will also turn off the AI for Drive, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet. The second toggle for "other Google products" will switch Gemini off for Maps, Wallet, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app itself.

Credit: Mashable screenshot / Google

Step 7: Click "Save" at the bottom right of the pop-up.

If you want to turn Gemini on again in Gmail, follow the same steps. It's your life.

What happens when you turn off Gemini AI in Gmail?

Switching off Gemini will remove the "Help me write" prompt, AI Overviews, email summaries, search personalisation, and other AI features. Hitting the "/" key will no longer trigger a Gemini AI prompt.

It won't quite clear all traces of Gemini from Gmail, however. You'll still see the sparkle icon at the bottom of all of your emails. 

But clicking that icon or using the "Help me write" keyboard shortcut (Ctrl-H on Windows; Option-H on Macs) will result in a pop-up window explaining that you'll need to turn on Gmail smart features again in order to use Gemini.

Lego's Art line is gaining a huge new addition, which is great news if you've been looking for a serious challenge this summer.

The Lego Art Gustav Klimt – The Kiss is coming soon. It's the largest Art Masterpiece set ever released, totaling a whopping 4,000 pieces. Priced at $299.99, preorders aren't live just yet, but it's not long until you can order. According to a press release, Lego Insiders will get early access from Aug. 1, while everyone else will be able to grab it from Aug. 4. Make sure to mark your calendars!

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Credit: Lego

Lego Art Gustav Klimt – The Kiss (31221)

$299.99 at Lego

 

Learn More

This Art set was made in collaboration with the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, where the original painting is kept. Stephanie Auer, a Curator of 19th- and 20th-Century Art at the museum, worked with Milan Madge, Master Model Designer at the Lego Group, to help bring it to life.

Speaking on the collaboration, Auer notes that "Working as a curator for the adaptation of Klimt’s The Kiss into a Lego Art set was a once-in-a-lifetime experience." She continues: "Together with Milan Madge, we had extensive discussions about Gustav Klimt’s symbolism, ornamentation, and artistic techniques, as well as how these could be represented using Lego bricks. Distinctive features such as the flatness and composition were carefully translated into LEGO bricks — always with the goal of staying true to the spirit of the original work.”

Credit: Lego

With 4,000 pieces, it uses creative elements such as circles, spirals, studs, flowers, and gold metallic bricks to create the iconic piece. It's a build that's sure to keep you busy. It's important to note that it's a set recommended for adults, but the whole family might need to get involved to tackle this monster set.

Credit: Lego

Lego Insider? Aug. 1 is your time to shine. Everyone else — you'll just have to wait a few extra days for it to drop on Aug. 4.

SAVE $49: As of July 16, the Anker Solix C300 is on sale for $249.98 at Amazon. That's a 16% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Anker

Anker Solix C300

$249.98 at Amazon
$298.99 Save $49.01

 

Get Deal

From keeping your gadgets powered on camping trips to providing peace of mind during unexpected outages, a portable power station can be an incredibly useful bit of kit.

There are options of all sizes to choose from, but if you're looking for something compact to keep your most-used devices powered, then this latest Amazon deal on the Anker Solix C300 is definitely something to check out. As of July 16, it's priced at $249.98. That's a $49 discount. It can power laptops, phones, cameras, and drones, so if you're heading on an outdoor adventure, this will keep you connected.

This unit delivers 300W of continuous power (with a 600W surge) from its 288Wh battery. It features eight charging ports in total, including three AC outlets, a car socket, two 140W USB-C ports, an additional USB-C port and a USB-A port.

It can be recharged in a number of ways, including via a wall outlet, car charger, USB-C PD 3.1, or through compatible solar panels (sold separately). The battery is built to last, thanks to its LiFePO4 batteries that are rated for up to 3,000 charge cycles. That equates to around 10 years of use.

Head to Amazon to get this Anker power station deal.

TL;DR: The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Display Box is on sale for $227.20 at Amazon, down from its $254.99 typical price.

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Credit: The Pokémon Company

Pokémon TCG Perfect Order Booster Display Box

$227.20 at Amazon
$254.99 Save $27.79

 

Get Deal

Perfect Order has been one of the more affordable Pokémon TCG expansions to come out recently, but we still love deals.

As of July 16, the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution set’s 36-pack Perfect Order Booster Display Box is available at Amazon for $227.20. That's 11% of its $254.99 list price — totalling a $27.79 discount. This third-party listing from Collectors Edition will get to you between July 22-23 at the time of writing, and its new low price means you’ll only be paying $6.31 per pack. That's $2.68 cheaper than buying individual Perfect Order Booster Packs for $8.99.

First launched in March 2026, Perfect Order brought lots of Pokémon and Mega evolutions from the hit Pokémon Legends: Z-A video game to the TCG — with over 120 cards in the expansion. Each booster pack contains 10 random trading cards, giving you 360 cards to open across the entire display before accounting for duplicates. 

For any trading card collectors willing to shop outside Amazon, you can save even more at TCGplayer — listings now going as low as $191.86 with shipping included for sealed boxes. 

You can also buy individual cards on TCGplayer, including the MHR Zygarde ex, SIR Meowth ex, SIR Mega Zygarde ex, SIR Mega Clefable ex, and SIR Rosa’s Encouragement. 

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 Thursday, July 16, 2026:

Across

"In summary …," in internet shorthand

• The answer is TLDR.

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

___ Valley (French wine area)

• The answer is Loire.

With 7-Across, aspirational state to achieve in one's work email

• The answer is Inbox.

See 6-Across

• The answer is Zero.

"Right away!"

• The answer is ASAP.

Down

Sounds before going to voicemail

• The answer is Tones.

Zodiac sign in early autumn

• The answer is Libra.

Sag

• The answer is Droop.

Pet name on a par with Fido and Rover

• The answer is Rex.

Actress/singer Minnelli

• The answer is Liza.

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 yesterday's Mini Crossword.

Kylie Jenner's latest fashion campaign is selling more than a pair of sunglasses.

In the ad for Meta's new "Kylie Edition" AI-powered glasses, Jenner moves through an unusually glamorous version of an ordinary morning. She touches up her manicure, looks through her closet, drinks green juice, and briefly inspects the work being done around her home. She eventually slips away from her assistants, drives to a billboard bearing her own face, and spray-paints "XO Kylie" across it.

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Meta's fashion-first approach for the June 2026 campaign extended far beyond the ads, though. The company also introduced 26 combinations of frames, colors, and lenses, launched a dedicated Instagram account, plastered Jenner's face on billboards in New York and Los Angeles, and hosted a star-studded launch event. Fashion heavyweights and creators like Law Roach, Nara Smith, and Peggy Gou attended the debut.

It's clear that this rollout doesn't position the glasses, which Meta and Ray-Ban have been selling in some form since 2021, as some complicated new gadget. Instead, it's selling them as a fashion accessory...and a trendy one at that.

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Meta isn't alone in this approach. Tools powered by artificial intelligence have quietly woven themselves into beauty routines, shopping apps, and podcasts, all targeted toward female consumers. The Cut called this phenomenon the "Girlbossification of AI" in a May 2026 article, and the marketing tactic is still gaining momentum in the industry.

It isn't coincidental. A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found 27 percent of men said they used chatbots daily, compared with 20 percent of women. Men were also more likely to use them for work and to say the technology improved their productivity.

Lean In, the workplace-empowerment nonprofit founded by former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg, found a similar divide. Sandberg’s 2013 book of the same name helped define the “girlboss” era. In the organization’s survey, 33 percent of men said they used AI daily or constantly at work, compared with 27 percent of women. Men were also more likely to receive encouragement and opportunities to experiment with the technology.

For AI companies, women represent an untapped market — they know the technology exists but haven't woven it into their daily lives. That creates a clear opportunity: build products that integrate AI into activities women already do, like shopping, getting ready, creating content, and managing their day-to-day tasks.

Early demand, according to Meta, suggests the demographic can indeed be accessed this way. At one creator event shortly after the release, every colorway of the Kylie glasses had sold out before many reporters arrived, while other women at the event were asking for the same frames by name.

The interest extended beyond the room. In the week surrounding the launch, Glossy reported data from Dash Social showing that Meta Glasses generated 275 million social media impressions, 9 million engagements, and 97,000 mentions. Jenner’s 3 dedicated Instagram posts promoting the collection received a combined 5.5 million likes, while the new @metaglasses account approached 100,000 followers within 11 days of going live.

Other celebrities have helped promote the tech, including model and F1 “WAG” Alexandra Saint Mleux, Blackpink’s Jennie, performer Doja Cat, and Oscar-nominated actress Teyana Taylor.

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Together, those efforts place the glasses in front of audiences that care as much (or more) about who is wearing them as the technology inside, helping the product circulate online like any other popular accessory.

Influencers offer another opportunity for AI companies

Influencers are another marketing conduit for AI products — as seen through the beauty AI company, Swan Beauty.

The startup sells a $795 smart mirror that can analyze a user's skin, recommend products, guide makeup application, and record content. Though it's been available since 2023, the company shot to internet fame after placing the mirror in the center of an event that young women were probably going to watch anyway.

Back in April 2026, Swan AI flew content creator Brigette Pheloung — better known online as Acquired Style — and 16 of her closest friends to a villa in St. Barth's for a bachelorette weekend dubbed "Acquired A Husband."

Pheloung and her twin sister Danielle (also an influencer) documented the trip across social media, where the mirror made appearances alongside coordinated outfits, makeup routines, friendship content, and a private plane. Several guests, including Lauren Wolfe and Kit Keenan, were creators with substantial followings of their own.

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The exposure paid off. The company reported its TikTok profile views rose by 140,000 percent and saw a 650 percent week-over-week increase in mirror sales, a 4,535 percent increase in iOS app downloads, and a 4,900 percent increase in subscriptions following the trip.

Like Meta’s Kylie campaign, the partnership pitched the product as both aspirational and accessible (well, as accessible as a $795 mirror can be).

Entrepreneurs Phoebe Gates (daughter of Bill Gates) and Sophia Kianni have also found a different way to market their AI shopping platform, Phia, to female consumers: by creating a parallel podcast targeting entrepreneurial women.

The former Stanford roommates launched Phia in April 2025. Its browser extension and app help shoppers compare prices, find secondhand alternatives, and estimate whether an item is likely to retain its resale value. The company says it has since reached 1.5 million users and partnered with 9,600 brands.

Phia’s public identity, however, extends well beyond the shopping tool. Gates and Kianni also host The Burnouts, a weekly podcast about building a company in their 20s while navigating friendship, dating, money, and, as the title suggests, burnout.

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Guests have included Paris Hilton, Kris Jenner, Chelsea Handler, and Karlie Kloss.

This forward-facing, founder-focused approach has made Gates and Kianni part of Phia’s appeal. Listeners follow their friendship, the company’s growth, and the complications of building both at the same time. Their profiles have risen alongside the startup — the pair were named to the TIME100 Next list, and they both received Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition.

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That cultural reach has helped the start-up attract serious funding — and serious scandal (more on this below). The company raised a $35.5 million Series A in 2026, bringing its total funding to $43.5 million. Its backers include a litany of famous women: Khloé Kardashian, Mindy Kaling, Sydney Sweeney, Paris Hilton, Alix Earle, Jessica Alba, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Rachel Zoe (to name a few). Gates told Vogue that Phia deliberately sought out cultural figures who "reflected the customers it wanted to reach."

Celebrity can be appealing — and many prominent women are using their own platforms to encourage followers to adopt the technology through both organic and paid promotion.

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Reese Witherspoon became one of the loudest voices back in April, when she told her 30 million Instagram followers in a (now-deleted) Instagram post that only three of the 10 women in her book club had tried AI, and just one felt confident using it. Critics accused her of repackaging pressure to adopt the technology as empowerment, particularly after her company, Hello Sunshine, partnered with Purdue University on AI courses for young women.

She also told Glamour in September 2025, “It’s so, so important that women are involved in AI because it will be the future of filmmaking...you can be sad and lament it all you want, but the change is here."

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Mel Robbins made a similar case through a paid partnership with Microsoft Copilot. She encouraged women, in an Instagram post that was also deleted, to use the chatbot to organize their finances by uploading bank statements, bills, and debt information. She also filmed a podcast episode about the topic, interviewing AI leader Allie K. Miller titled, "How to Use AI to Make Money, Save Time, and Be More Productive".

Privacy experts and social media users quickly filled the comments warning against sharing sensitive records without understanding the risks, and Robbins later clarified she should have explained those risks more clearly.

Other celebrities have presented AI less as a career requirement than as an unavoidable part of modern life. Sandra Bullock has urged people to understand the technology and find constructive ways to use it. Demi Moore made a similar argument at the Cannes Film Festival, saying, “AI is here. To fight it is a battle that we will lose,” and urging people to find better ways to work with the technology.

Paris Hilton has dove deep into the AI waters: she was Android’s first “icon-in-residence,” using Gemini Canvas to build Iconic Ideas, uses an AI model trained on her past interviews, appearances, and creative work to help develop new ideas and content, and hosted an Android Innovation Challenge where young women used AI tools to create apps aimed at improving their lives or communities.

Even Sophia Moruso, the entrepreneur who helped popularize the term “girlboss,” has called on more women to begin using AI.

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The messages are different, but the promises are broadly the same: AI can help women work faster, manage their money, create more content, and protect the societal progress they have already made.

“These differences — which are not that small, but are smallish now—will compound over time, which is why we think it’s so important for people to understand them and acknowledge them,” Sandberg told Fast Company back in April.

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These celebrities may be selling different products, partnerships, or personal philosophies, but they're all peddling AI less like a specialized technology and more like another skill all women should add to their lives. "Evolve or get left behind," as the saying goes.

Not everyone is taking the bait

The effort to make AI feel fashionable, useful, and accessible hasn't eliminated the fact that many women still approach it with caution — and for good reason.

Privacy, job displacement, misinformation, bias, and the rapid pace of development continue to shape how people view the technology. A 2026 study found that women were roughly twice as likely to expect AI to harm them personally as they were to anticipate any benefits.

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Those concerns aren't hypothetical, especially when AI shows up in sunglasses, beauty tools, or shopping apps.

Meta glasses, for example, can take photos and videos from the wearer’s point of view, raising privacy concerns, especially amongst women: some male creators have used the glasses to secretly film women in public and then uploaded the footage for content.

Meta has also faced reports of users deliberately hiding the small white light that turns on during recording, and you don't have to look far for ways to circumvent this crucial privacy feature. The company has addressed these concerns and, in July, announced another update that shuts off the camera if the light has been damaged or tampered with. Still, concerns persist.

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Phia has also faced scrutiny, especially in the past week. A July 9 Bloomberg investigation found that the extension could insert Phia’s affiliate tracking information into purchases the company had not helped generate. In some tests, it replaced the referral code belonging to the publisher or advertisement that originally sent the shopper to the retailer. That could allow Phia to receive credit, and potentially a commission, for a sale driven by someone else.

Impact.com, one of the affiliate platforms used by Phia, suspended the company while it reviewed the activity. Phia said the behavior resulted from code introduced in a recent update, affected only a subset of users, and was fixed after the company was alerted. But it was already too late, as the revelation quickly spread across social media, where users questioned whether Phia’s explanation was enough to restore trust.

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Though, some also defended Gates as a 23-year-old, first-time founder.

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Swan has also raised questions: an Allure reviewer discovered that the mirror counted her smile lines and under-eye lines as wrinkles, which lowered her skin score before suggesting ingredients and products. She wrote that the product, in some ways, lowered her self-esteem.

The app’s own disclosures say it may collect personal information, photographs, videos, and other user data, adding another concern to a device that already combines facial analysis, personalized advertising, shopping, and content creation.

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None of those concerns means these AI products have no use. Meta’s glasses offer translation, communication, and accessibility features. Phia can help shoppers compare prices. Swan can guide users through makeup tutorials and track changes in their skin.

But as AI is packaged for women in prettier and more familiar ways, the question is whether products are actually making women's lives better...or simply finding a better way to sell to them.

Join us as we dive into the world of foldable phones and pontificate about what's on the horizon for Samsung at its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked summer event. CNET's mobile team will be taking your questions live and breaking down Samsung's newest foldable screen tech.

GET UNLIMITED PASTA: Starting Thursday, July 16 at 2 p.m. ET, Olive Garden's Never-Ending Pasta Pass goes on sale for $100. Passes unlock unlimited pasta at Olive Garden for 13 weeks. The sale window closes once all passes are claimed.

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Credit: Olive Garden

Never-Ending Pasta Pass

$100 at Olive Garden

 

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We hope you're hungry. After six long years of waiting, the Never-Ending Pasta Pass has returned alongside the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl.

Olive Garden is once again offering customers 13 weeks of unlimited pasta for a $100 flat fee. Only 10,000 passes will be available, and they're expected to sell out quickly, as they did in previous years. So, here's how you can ensure you're one of the customers who gets to enjoy towers of pasta in the coming weeks.

The Never-Ending Pasta Pass goes on sale precisely at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 16 at PastaPass.com. It costs $100, plus tax, and unlocks unlimited dine-in pasta meals, with a choice of homemade sauces and protein topping, as well as unlimited soup, salad, and glorious signature breadsticks. The Pasta Pass lasts from Aug. 24, 2026 through Nov. 22, 2026 and cannot be shared. The never-ending pasta is yours and yours alone to enjoy.

The Never-Ending Pasta Bowl is available starting Aug. 31, so Pasta Pass holders get a week of unlimited pasta before the general population. If you don't secure the Pasta Pass before it sells out, you can still enjoy the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl promotion starting at $14.99 per person.

Set your calendar alerts now for 2 p.m. ET on Thursday if you want to be among the lucky pass holders this season. My stomach is growling already.

SAVE $230.50: As of July 16, the Aiper Scuba S1 is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon. That's a 36% discount on list price.

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Credit: Aiper

Aiper Scuba S1

$499.99 at Amazon
$799.99 Save $300

 

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Keeping your pool clean and ready to use can be a full-time job, especially during the summer months. But if spending hours a week scooping up leaves and cleaning tiles doesn't appeal to you, there's another answer: a robot pool cleaner.

Similar to the ever-popular robot vacuums, these devices automatically keep your pool clean and maintained for regular use, with very little assistance needed from you. And as of July 16, there's a great deal on the Aiper Scuba S1 at Amazon, currently reduced by $200.

It's a handy pool cleaner that you can control through the app, with different cleaning modes for different needs. For example, Eco Mode provides up to 240–270 minutes of daily maintenance cleaning, while Auto, Floor, Wall and Scheduled modes offer up to 180 minutes for more intensive cleaning. You can also use the Scheduled mode to create a weekly cleaning plan.

And for navigation, the cleaner uses 11 high-precision sensors and dual-path algorithms to map the pool and follow an optimized WavePath cleaning pattern. This helps it to cover areas systematically, reducing the chance of missed spots or unnecessary overlap.

The Aiper Scuba S1 is currently priced at $499.99 at Amazon.

SAVE $100: As of July 16, the Garmin Venu Sq 2 is back to its lowest-ever price of $149.99 at Amazon. That's $100 off its full price of $249.99.

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Credit: Garmin

Garmin Venu Sq 2

$149.99 at Amazon
$249.99 Save $100

 

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A smartwatch is worth buying if you like keeping a close eye on your health stats and activity throughout the day. If you've been thinking about grabbing something, Amazon has an excellent deal on the Garmin Venu Sq 2 right now. As of July 16, it's back to its lowest-ever price for a limited time.

Amazon currently has the Garmin Venu Sq 2 on sale for $149.99. That's a $100 cut from its list price of $249.99, though it's worth keeping in mind that it has a "limited time deal" tag right now. That means it may not be around for long, so now is the time to make a move on this offer.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2 features a bright AMOLED display that makes reading your stats nice and easy on the eyes. It also has quite a beefy battery life that will last you up to 11 days when it's in smartwatch mode, which is great news for tracking throughout the day and into the night.

Speaking of tracking, this smartwatch covers quite a lot across health and fitness. It offers a sleep score, respiration tracking, hydration, stress, heart rate, Body Battery energy levels, and more. And when it comes to fitness, it has an activity tracker and over 25 built-in indoor and GPS sports apps.

You'll want to be quick to take advantage of this offer. Act fast to save on the Garmin Venu Sq 2 at Amazon.

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

SAVE $700: Roborock’s RockMow X120H LiDAR robot lawn mower launches with a limited-time discount on Amazon. From July 16 through Aug. 6, it's on sale for $2,499.99 from $3,199.99 — a 22% discount on the company’s premium wire-free mower.

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Credit: Roborock

Roborock RockMow X120H

$2,499.99 at Amazon
$3,199.99 Save $700

 

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Roborock is launching its newest premium robot lawn mower in the U.S. with a limited-time $700 discount. Roborock's new RockMow X120H LiDAR officially goes on sale in the U.S. from July 16, and early shoppers can grab it on Amazon for $2,499.99 through Aug. 6 before it returns to its $3,199.99 list price.

Designed for lawns up to one acre, this premium robot mower skips perimeter wires by using LiDAR navigation, automatic mapping, AI obstacle avoidance, and four-wheel drive. The goal is simple: less setup, smarter navigation, and fewer weekends spent pushing a mower around the yard.

Unlike other robot mowers that require buried boundary wires, the RockMow X120H LiDAR can map your yard without the extra installation work. It can automatically create a lawn map using its sensors, or you can manually guide it through the Roborock app to set precise boundaries around gardens, pathways, and other tricky areas.

The RockMow X120H LiDAR uses a combination of LiDAR and camera-based navigation to stay on track, even in areas where signals can be tricky, like under trees or near tall fences. It can navigate narrow spaces as small as about 2.3 feet wide, helping it cover more of your yard without getting stuck or losing its way.

Uneven terrain is where many robot mowers struggle, but the RockMow X120H LiDAR is designed to handle slopes up to 45% and small obstacles up to 1.57 inches. Its floating cutting deck adjusts to changes in the ground, helping maintain a more consistent cut across bumpy areas. For cleaner edges along fences and borders, an optional cutting module can add closer trimming precision.

Ready to retire the push mower? Grab the RockMow X120H LiDAR on Amazon for $2,499.99 through Aug. 6.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is here, and you know what that means: It's time to take a climb into the very tangled branches of the Targaryen family tree.

Over the first two seasons of House of the Dragon, some of these branches have been pruned. (RIP to the many Targs who've perished in this bloody show.) However, Season 2 also added its fair share of new offshoots, further complicating the knotted web between Houses Targaryen, Velaryon, and Hightower. Season 3 has complicated it even further, with new deaths and the face reveal of one Daeron Targaryen. If you're looking for a refresher on that web as you head into the second half of Season 3, we've got you covered.

Below, you'll find the Targaryen family tree as it stands as of House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 4, as well as a rundown of the characters and how they connect.

Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

Which Targaryens have died since Season 2?

There were two key deaths in the Targaryen family in Season 2: one on the Greens' side and one on the Blacks'.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) camp lost Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best), also known as the Queen Who Never Was. Meanwhile, King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) lost their young son Jaehaerys when gold cloak Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and rat catcher Cheese (Mark Stobbart) assassinated him on Prince Daemon's (Matt Smith) orders.

There are still plenty of Targaryens left standing, though. Here's who to watch out for in Season 3.

The Targaryen family tree: Rhaenyra, Daemon, and their children

Matt Smith, Phoebe Campbell, Emma D'Arcy, Harry Collett, and Bethany Antonia in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Rhaenyra heads up the Team Black branch of the Targaryen family tree, with her husband/uncle Daemon by her side. (It was touch and go for a minute in Season 2, but after a life-changing study abroad trip to Harrenhal, complete with witches and visions, Daemon is finally ready to accept Rhaenyra as his queen.)

Their two young sons, Aegon and Viserys, are on their way to Pentos for protection after a brief pit stop in the Vale. However, Rhaenyra and Daemon's children from their prior marriages are still in Westeros and locked in on Rhaenyra's fight for the throne.

Rhaenyra's son Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and Daemon's daughter Baela (Bethany Antonia) are both dragonriders. Daemon's other daughter, Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), doesn't have a dragon, which is why she was sent off as Aegon and Viserys' guardian. However, when they went to Pentos, she remained behind in the Vale, hoping to tame its wild dragon Sheepstealer. As of Season 3, she's successfully claimed Sheepstealer, but at a cost: He went rogue during the Battle of the Gullet, and his interference helped lead to Jace's tragic death. Now, Rhaenyra wants Sheepstealer's rider's head, and only Daemon and Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin) know the truth of her identity.

The Targaryen family tree: Alicent Hightower and her children

Tom Glynn-Carney, Olivia Cooke, Phia Saban, and Ewan Mitchell in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) remains the matriarch of Team Green, although she's growing increasingly regretful about her role in the war for succession. (So regretful, in fact, that she's offered to surrender the Iron Throne to Rhaenyra.) She had four children with the late King Viserys (Paddy Considine).

The eldest, Aegon, remains King of Westeros. His younger brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) attempted to kill him in a dragon dogfight at the Battle of Rook's Rest, and once Aegon recovered from his worst injuries, he fled King's Landing with the help of Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). Now Aemond is Prince Regent, and Alicent is trying her best to get herself and her daughter Helaena out of harm's way.

Alicent's youngest son Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) makes his official House of the Dragon debut in Season 3, episode 4, although he's been hiding in plain sight since the Season 3 premiere. He's a ward of House Hightower and squire to Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton), who's engineering his own plot — involving a fake Daeron — to place him on the throne.

The Hightower family tree: Otto, Gwayne, and Ormund

James Norton, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, and Freddie Fox in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

In addition to Alicent, the rest of House Hightower continues to be a major player in House of the Dragon. Her father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), former hand of the King, was the first Green loyalist to be executed under Rhaenyra's reign. Elsewhere, Alicent's brother Gwayne (Freddie Fox) has been traipsing around the Seven Kingdoms with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), a nightmare we wouldn't wish on even our worst enemies.

House of the Dragon Season 3 also introduces a new member of the Hightower family: Lord Ormund, head of House Hightower. His late father Hobert (Steffan Rhodri) was Otto's oldest brother, making Ormund Alicent and Gwayne's cousin.

The Velaryon family tree: Corlys and his sons Alyn and Addam

Steve Toussaint, Abubakar Salim, and Clinton Liberty in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Rhaenyra's Hand is Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), also known as the Sea Snake due to his naval prowess. Over the course of House of the Dragon, he's lost his wife Rhaenys, as well as their children Laena (Nanna Blondell) and Laenor (John Macmillan).

However, Season 2 revealed that Laena and Laenor weren't Corlys' only descendants. He also has two bastard sons, Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) and Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty). Their mother Marilda, unseen in the show, was a shipwright. House of the Dragon primarily refers to Marilda in the past tense, implying she is dead, hence why she's greyed out in our family tree. However, by this point in Fire and Blood, she is still alive.

While Corlys didn't truly acknowledge Alyn and Addam prior to Season 2, the pair are now a much more prominent part of his life — and the show. Alyn is a notable sailor in Corlys' fleet, and Addam became a dragonrider. Thanks to his Valyrian blood, he now rides Seasmoke, Laenor's old dragon.

The dragonseeds: Addam, Ulf the White, and Hugh Hammer

Kieran Bew, Tom Bennett, and Clinton Liberty in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Addam isn't the only new dragonrider to join Rhaenyra's ranks in Season 2. Smallfolk Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) also claimed dragons. Ulf rides Silverwing, the dragon of Rhaenyra's grandmother Alysanne, while Hugh rides Vermithor, the dragon of Rhaenyra's grandfather Jaehaerys. The pair, like Addam, are bastards of Valyrian blood, earning them the nickname of "dragonseeds." While they haven't been legitimized as Targaryens, they will certainly have a large role to play in the battles to come.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

UPDATE: Jul. 12, 2026, 10:00 p.m. EDT This article has been updated to reflect the events of the first four episodes of Season 3.

UPDATE: Jun. 26, 2026, 4:02 p.m. EDT A previous version of the family tree did not show Rhaenys, Hobert, or Marilda as deceased the way they are in the show. It has since been updated.

SAVE $400: As of July 16, the ASUS ROG Swift 32-inch gaming monitor is down to $899 at Amazon. That's a 31% discount from its $1,299.99 list price.

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Credit: Asus

ASUS ROG Swift 32-Inch 4K OLED Gaming Monitor (PG32UCDMR)

$899 at Amazon
$1,299.99 Save $400.99

 

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The ASUS ROG Swift 32-inch 4K OLED gaming monitor is back at its record-low price at Amazon, dropping to $899 from $1,299.99. That’s a $400 discount, or 31% off one of ASUS’s premium gaming displays. This deal brings its QD-OLED panel, ultra-fast 240Hz refresh rate, and 0.03ms response time to a much more approachable price.

The ASUS ROG Swift 32-inch gaming monitor is built around a 4K QD-OLED panel that delivers sharper visuals, deeper blacks, and more vibrant colors than a typical LCD display. With a 240Hz refresh rate and ultra-fast 0.03ms response time, it’s designed for fast-paced games where smoother motion and quick reactions matter.

This monitor isn’t just for gaming. ASUS says it covers 99% of the DCI-P3 color range and supports true 10-bit color, making it a solid option for photo editing, video work, and other creative tasks where accurate colors matter. It also supports HDR with deeper contrast and brighter highlights for more realistic-looking scenes.

ASUS has also built in features to help the OLED panel stay in top shape over time. A custom cooling system with improved airflow and graphene film helps manage heat, while OLED Care tools work in the background to reduce the risk of burn-in.

Your GPU deserves better. Give it an ASUS ROG Swift 32-inch 4K OLED gaming monitor for $899.

SAVE $140: As of July 16, the Breville Barista Express is on sale for $549.95 at Amazon. That's a 20% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Breville

Breville Barista Express

$549.95 at Amazon
$689.99 Save $140.04

 

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If your morning cup of coffee is more than just a shot of caffeine to get you through the day, investing in a quality coffee machine can make all the difference.

From perfectly pulled espressos to milky drinks that have been foamed to perfection, a good machine can help you recreate barista-quality drinks at home. And that's exactly what you get with the Breville Barista Express. It's an impressive machine with a built-in grinder and steam wand, and it's currently on sale for $549.95. There's even different colors to choose from, so it can blend in with your kitchen aesthetics. Pick from stainless steel, black sesame, or black truffle.

We weren't kidding when we said this machine makes barista-quality drinks: from bean to pour it is meticulously planned. It has an integrated conical burr grinder that gives you freshly ground coffee directly into the portafilter, and the adjustable grind size dial lets you fine-tune each shot to suit your preferred beans. It also has a low-pressure pre-infusion and precise PID temperature control to help make sure each espresso is balanced and flavorful.

Plus, it comes with a range of barista accessories, including a stainless steel milk jug, tamper, filter baskets, and cleaning tools, so you can start brewing coffee as soon as it arrives.

Get this espresso machine deal at Amazon now.

UPDATE: Jul. 16, 2026, 5:00 a.m. EDT After a four-day delay, Tiny Vinyl's new record player and accessories are now available for purchase at Target (both in stores and online). A representative for the company attributed the wait to "typical site updating processes." Our original story follows.

Shop Tiny Vinyl's new accessories:

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Tiny Vinyl Player

$49.99 at Target

Shop Now

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Tiny Vinyl Crate

$19.99 at Target

Shop Now

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Tiny Vinyl 2x2 Frame

$14.99 at Target

Shop Now

The miniature record maker Tiny Vinyl has announced some tiny accessories for its pocket-sized singles, including a new Tiny Vinyl Player ($49.99), storage crate ($19.99), and display frame ($14.99). The lineup is available exclusively at Target starting today, July 12.

Tiny Vinyl debuted last August as a new way for music lovers to enjoy some of their favorite artists' singles in physical format. (For my fellow Millennials out there, they're basically a new take on HitClips.) Each four-inch, fully functional Tiny Vinyl record has one song per side and is numbered, making them highly collectible. The current Tiny Vinyl catalog features releases from several dozen artists, including BTS, Chappell Roan, Doechii, Kid Cudi, Noah Kahan, and Zara Larsson.

In a press release, Tiny Vinyl co-founder Neil Kohler said the company's new accessories are a direct response to fan requests. Co-founder Jesse Mann added: "These new products give music fans and collectors everything they need to build out their own little Tiny Vinyl universe, a setup as fun and personal as the music they love."

Hands-on with Tiny Vinyl's new player and accessories

Tiny Viny's new accessories range in price from $15 to $50. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Tiny Vinyl records are playable on many standard turntables at 33 1/3 RPM, making the Tiny Vinyl Player an inessential novelty purchase for most adults who are already into the vinyl-collecting hobby. I think it has much more appeal as a "baby's first record player" that parents buy for their kids. My younger self would've had her American Girl Dolls DJing with it. (American Girl actually sells a toy turntable for the same price already, but it's not functional.)

The player is a manual belt-drive turntable in a box with a faux leather exterior. It's about the size of a loaf of bread. Inside, there's a small storage pocket, a simple control panel, and built-in speakers. It has Bluetooth support if you'd prefer to pair it with a nicer wireless speaker or headphones instead. You can also plug in a wired speaker on the back.

The storage pocket can comfortably fit about six Tiny Vinyl records — preferably, ones you're not precious about. When the player's lid is shut, it hits the corners of their gatefolds unless they're pushed to the back of the pocket.

They are, indeed, tiny vinyl. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The player's control panel features a power button, an audio output selector with an LED indicator light, and a volume slider. When it's on, its silicon platter doesn't start spinning until you unlock its plastic tonearm, raise it with its cue lever, and move it over the platter. The tonearm and its lock are a little delicate; those are the only parts I'd be worried about a child accidentally breaking.

Tiny Vinyl sent me three different mini-records to test on the player. It offers the kind of audio quality you'd expect for $50: pretty tinny, muffled, and a little distorted. (I also played the records on my regular turntable for comparison's sake, and they sounded 10 times better.) On the upside, I couldn't hear the player's interior mechanisms at all when it was on — it runs really quietly.

The Tiny Vinyl Player supports Bluetooth and wired speakers. (That blue indicator light means it's paired with my JBL Charge 5.) Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The Tiny Vinyl Player comes with a USB cord and power adapter. A company representative told me that it should only be plugged into an outlet, as hooking it up to a laptop or another device with a USB port won't give it enough juice to work.

The Tiny Vinyl Crate can hold up to 30 Tiny Vinyl records. It has the same pebbled pleather finish as the player and is designed to sit beneath it. There are four indents on its surface where the player's feet are supposed to go.

The Tiny Vinyl Storage Crate can hold up to 30 mini-records. (I only had three on hand.) Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Tiny Vinyl's new 2x2 Frame is meant to showcase your four favorite Tiny Vinyl covers. Its build quality is also on par for the price: It's made with MDF (medium-density fiberboard) and an acrylic pane. Right out of the box, my initial review unit was splitting in several spots and had dried adhesive on some of its corners. (Update: It was probably a pre-production fluke. Tiny Viny's rep sent over two replacements that were both in perfect condition.)

The display frame comes with four clear plastic sleeves bearing the Tiny Vinyl logo. The company rep confirmed that these are made from polypropylene, which won't damage your records with off-gassing over time like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sleeves.

Vinyl is back in a not-tiny way

Tiny Vinyl records work on many standard turntables. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The press release noted that Tiny Vinyl's inception was motivated by two recent trends: miniature collecting and vinyl collecting. The former gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, largely thanks to videos of miniature builds on social media. They tap into viewers' desire for control, fascination with craft, and penchant for the adorable, experts told NPR last spring.

The vinyl revival, meanwhile, has been brewing for nearly two decades now. According to a report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), U.S. vinyl sales have seen 19 years of consecutive growth. Last year, they hit $1 billion in revenue for the first time. (That's not even counting pre-owned vinyl.) Call it the Taylor Swift effect: The singer-songwriter's 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, sold over 1.6 million copies on vinyl last year, per a report from Luminate, an entertainment industry analytics company. That's 5.5 times as many units as the second-bestselling vinyl release of 2025, Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend, which sold 292,000 copies.

There are several factors behind the vinyl resurgence, two being mere nostalgia and consumers' growing interest in owning physical media. Another is because popular artists like Swift (and their labels) are embracing the format alongside their fans.

In recent years, this has increasingly involved a strategy of releasing multiple vinyl variants of the same album as a means of driving sales, according to another Luminate report. These special, often limited-edition pressings boost the collectible factor and fuel fan FOMO. (For her part, Swift released 11 different vinyl variants of TLOAS, including nine webstore exclusives that were only available for a short time.) Tiny Vinyl records, which are chart-eligible with the RIAA and Billboard, are yet more variants to hunt down.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is right around the corner, with the event scheduled for July 22 in London. This means that we will soon have all of the official details surrounding Samsung's next generation of foldable smartphones, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the Galaxy Z Flip 8.

One of the big questions remaining amid the steady stream of rumors and leaks: How much will the Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 cost? And will they arrive with price increases, like so many other recent product launches?

Unfortunately, it seems very likely that the global RAM shortages affecting the entire tech industry will also affect Samsung's pricing for its new mobile devices.

South Korean outlet SEDaily reports that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 256GB base model will likely go on sale at launch for $2,199, a $100 price increase over its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The outlet also reported that the new Galaxy Z Fold Ultra Wide model, which matches the rumored specs of the unreleased iPhone Ultra Fold, will start at $1,899.99, also with 256GB.

As for the Samsung Z Flip 8, consumers could also face a roughly $100 price increase for the base model when compared to its predecessor as well. According to leaker Lanzuk (as reported by Phone Arena), the Flip 8 may launch with a starting price of $1,199. The Flip 7 with 256GB of storage launched at $1,099 in July 2025.

Earlier this year, Samsung already set price hikes in motion when it raised the price on its new Galaxy S26 line of smartphones when compared to its predecessors. The Galaxy S25, for example, launched at $799, whereas the Galaxy S26 made its debut at $899, or a $100 increase. The company also effectively raised the starting prices on the S26 Plus and S26 Ultra by $100 by eliminating lower-storage configurations of the phone, a move we've also seen from Apple. Samsung also eliminated a long-standing promotion that let customers who pre-ordered new phones get double the storage at no extra cost.

The global RAM shortage spurred by the AI boom has left the wider tech industry scrambling to meet demand for products ranging from laptops to smartphones to gaming consoles. Dubbed RAMageddon, the memory crisis has led to widespread price increases across the tech industry, and as we've reported previously, the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.

We'll find out next week. Mashable will be attending the Galaxy Unpacked event in London, so check back for our live coverage of all the announcements.

After a bruising attempt in May, SpaceX will push new engine fixes, a revised flip maneuver, and fresh heat-shield experiments on its 13th test flight of Starship.

This time, engineers want the rocket booster to separate cleanly from the ship in the air, swing around the right way, fire its engines again, and splash down gently in the Gulf of Mexico. They've changed how engines light and tweaked the landing sequence, which plops the ship into the Indian Ocean. The modifications follow the 12th flight's botched flip and several engine restarting failures.

Starship also has a new job: carrying 20 real satellites as opposed to dummies. The payload includes Starlink V3 internet satellites, some of which are wired with cameras and sensors to monitor the rocket's heat shield during its fall back to Earth. 

The launch, which could occur Thursday, July 16, is the latest step in SpaceX's long campaign to turn the most powerful rocket ever built from a spectacular one‑off into a reusable workhorse — one that can haul heavy cargo into space, survive the fiery plunge home, support NASA's moon landings, and eventually execute Elon Musk's Mars ambitions.

"The thing that separates us from a lot of other companies is that we test fast and we test often, and that includes launches," said Tim Southerton, director of Starship launch engineering, in SpaceX's latest mini documentary. "We want to make sure the vehicle's all ready to go. We want to make sure the ground's all ready to go, but we also don't want to be caught in analysis paralysis."

SpaceX says it will stream the South Texas launch on its website and X, the social media platform owned by Musk. The broadcast is expected to start about 30 minutes before liftoff, which could happen as early as 5:45 p.m. CT.

As always with Starship, the schedule is more of a moving target than a promise. Weather, high winds, boats drifting into the safety zone, or a finicky valve could pause the countdown. 

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But once it gets off the ground, Starship will try to behave more like a future deep‑space ship. It will deploy its satellites, then attempt to restart a single engine while coasting, a skill SpaceX says it will need for future missions that change course or head to the moon. 

The satellites themselves are not meant to last. They will follow Starship's short arc through space and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes after they separate.

While waiting for ignition, viewers can watch SpaceX's short documentary, called "Critical Path," below. The film follows engineers and pad crews through the final days before the previous flight, which included aborted countdowns, an arm that refused to retract, and even a massive tower chain that snapped and had to be replaced in roughly 1.5 days. 

During the film, Musk appears in the firing room, peering at consoles over shoulders, but speaks little. Justin Styer, the company's senior Starship launch director, says the founder is "actually" good at quickly absorbing information and understanding the stakes. 

"I personally have never felt any pressure from Elon of like, 'It doesn't matter, hell or high water, we're flying this rocket.' Like, absolutely not. That's not his style," Styer said. "And, like I said, the critical path to Mars is not blowing up rockets."

If you want to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey the way he intends it to be seen, you're going to want to see it in IMAX. But if you're looking at that price tag and the amount of sold-out sessions, there are a few things to know.

Based on Homer's epic poem, Nolan's new star-studded fantasy adventure is two hours and 52 minutes' worth of otherworldly oceanic struggle, strange mythical monsters, and brutal battles, as Odysseus (Matt Damon), king of Ithaca, tries to get his men home after the Trojan War.

Here's what to know before forking out for big screen tickets.

The Odyssey is the first movie entirely filmed on IMAX 1570 cameras.

Matt Damon and Zendaya filming "The Odyssey." Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

It's a first. The Odyssey is the first feature film ever shot entirely on IMAX 1570 cameras, the highest resolution film in the game. Nolan has long loved this format, shooting sequences on these colossal cameras for Oppenheimer, Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. But The Odyssey is completely shot on 1570s, which means Nolan and director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema set sail through a laborious shoot.

IMAX 1570 cameras are behemoths, weighing up to 270 kilograms, needing at least five people to lift around the set onto dollies, and they constantly have to be changed — according to the Guardian, The Odyssey film reels had to be reloaded every three minutes on set. And with all that mechanical engineering, they're also loud, which means filming actors' dialogue up close can be tricky.

To fix this, The Odyssey production team tasked IMAX with developing a special 65-millimetre camera called the "Keighley," which is equipped with camera-muffling housing called a "blimp." You can see it in action below:

All this is to say that you should watch The Odyssey in IMAX to fully appreciate the sheer technological feat.

IMAX tickets to The Odyssey are expensive and hard to get.

Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland in "The Odyssey." Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

Now, getting tickets is another thing.

First things first, IMAX tickets are not cheap. Ranging between $18 and $33 in the U.S. depending on the cinema, they're obviously more expensive than a regular session.

Secondly, IMAX tickets have flown out of the U.S. box office for The Odyssey, with most opening sessions sold out or close to it. Cinemas are even adding 1 a.m. screenings in some cities to meet demand. The Odyssey is predicted to earn an opening $85 million to $100 million domestic at the box office, per Variety, with global numbers sending the figure to $200 million. So, good luck.

This is the image you'll see for many of "The Odyssey" first week IMAX sessions. Credit: Fandango / Mashable screenshot.

In London, the film broke the BFI IMAX record with $1 million in ticket sales in 24 hours, and the cinema's been sold out for weeks.

I was lucky to see The Odyssey at the press screening at BFI IMAX in London, and it was nothing short of immersive. In any IMAX venue, make sure you get a seat in the middle or higher in the auditorium for a better eye level, as the screen can feel warped and engulfing the further down you sit. As for the seats on the sides, they're not great.

The Odyssey is epic in every way in IMAX.

Watching the Sack of Troy on a massive screen is brutal. Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

But if you're looking for one major reason to justify the ticket price and perhaps a wait to see The Odyssey in IMAX, consider the scale of the whole thing. Chaotic battle scenes in Troy, furiously edited by Jennifer Lame and shot up close by van Hoytema, feel unrelenting and first-hand. The key moments in Odysseus' journey, such as his terrifying meeting with cyclops Polyphemus (Bill Irwin), feel extraordinary and all-encompassing, with the dark maw of the creature's cave overwhelming the audience as much as it does Odysseus' men.

Another reason is sound. The Odyssey re-recording mixers Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O'Connell, supervising sound editor Craig Henighan, production sound mixer Willie D. Burton, the superb foley team, and composer Ludwig Göransson throw an armada of audio at you over the film's nearly three-hour runtime. You're going to want to hear every creak of the ship, every visceral sword attack, every slurp of stew, every booming drum and harmonious horn turned up to 11 in that IMAX theatre. If you have sensitive hearing, bring your earplugs.

In summary, it's worth it, if you can get a seat.

The Odyssey hits theaters July 17, including IMAX.

TL;DR: Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 is on sale for $42.97 (reg. $219), a lifetime license with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote.

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Credit: Microsoft

Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License

$42.97
$219 Save $176.03

 

Get Deal

At some point, “buying” software turned into “renting” it, and most of us just went along with it. Every app wants a monthly cut now, even the ones you’ve had installed since college. Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 is one of the holdouts. Its lifetime license is on sale for $42.97 (regularly $219), and it works on Mac or Windows.

Office doesn’t really need an introduction at this point. Most people were opening Word docs and building Excel spreadsheets long before “cloud-based” and “browser app” entered the vocabulary. This deal lets you install the full suite on one device and use it indefinitely, at home or at work, without a monthly charge, an annual price bump, or a renewal email showing up right when you forgot to cancel.

The license covers the apps people actually open every day: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote. That’s the full desktop version of each, not a trimmed-down web app, which matters once you’re deep into a long document, a spreadsheet with more tabs than you’d like to admit, or a deck due in an hour.

Purchase it and your license key and download link show up right away, so there’s no waiting around before you can start using it. Microsoft also backs it with lifetime customer support if installation or setup gives you trouble.

Rather than adding one more line item to your monthly subscriptions, this is a single purchase for software you’ll likely still be using years from now.

Right now, you can pick up Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac or Windows for $42.97 (reg. $219) before the offer ends July 19.

TL;DR: A Costco Gold Star Membership costs $65 a year. New members who enroll in auto-renewal can receive a $50 Digital Costco Shop Card* after sign-up.

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Credit: Costco

Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + a $50 Digital Costco Shop Card

$65

 

Get Deal

A Costco Gold Star Membership can help households manage everyday costs, particularly on groceries and gasoline. Members shop at more than 500 warehouses across the U.S., along with Costco.com, and gain access to Kirkland Signature™ products alongside brand-name products across grocery, home, and technology categories.

Credit: Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + a $50 Digital Costco Shop Card

New Gold Star Members who enroll in auto renewal can receive a $50 Digital Costco Shop Card* after sign-up. A Costco Gold Star Membership costs $65 a year.

A Costco Gold Star Membership includes:

• Shopping at Costco warehouses and Costco.com

• Kirkland Signature™ products across grocery, home, and other categories

• Member pricing at the Costco Gas Station

• Access to Costco Optical and Costco Pharmacy

• One free Affiliate Card for an individual age 18 or older living at your address

This promotion may be available to new members, or to members whose accounts (Primary and Affiliate) have been expired for at least 18 months. It is not valid for renewal or upgrade of an existing membership. Members must provide a valid email address at sign-up and enroll in auto renewal to receive the Digital Costco Shop Card*, which is emailed within two weeks after enrollment.

Join as a new Gold Star Member and enroll in auto renewal to receive a $50 Digital Costco Shop Card.

Looking for something great to watch at home? Streaming subscribers are spoiled for choice between Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Apple TV, Prime Video, Shudder, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. And that's before you even look at the vast libraries of movies and television programs within each streamer!

Don't be overwhelmed or waste an hour scrolling through your services to determine what to watch. We've got your back, whatever your mood. Mashable offers watch guides for all of the above, broken down by genre: comedy, thriller, horror, documentary, and animation, among others. But if you're seeking something brand new (or just new to streaming), we've got you covered there, too.

13. The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, Season 4

A staple of Netflix's vast dating show catalogue, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On returns this week to wreak more havoc on couples who are definitely ready to make lifelong commitments to one another. Each couple has one person who wants to get married and another who has cold feet. Instead of encouraging healthy communication to get to the bottom of this conflict, the show has another idea: Get the couples to explore potential "married" lives with other members of the cast. As always, brace yourself for maximum drama, minimum confidence in the current dating scene. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

Starring: Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey

How to watch: The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On Season 4 is now on Netflix.

12. The Real Wolf of Wall Street

In 2013, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio turned the 2007 memoir of stockbroker turned convicted fraud Jordan Belfort into the hilarious The Wolf of Wall Street. Now, this new documentary on Paramount+ explores what Scorsese got right, and where the real story was stranger than fiction.

Through archival interviews, never-before-seen footage, thousands of internal FBI documents, and new interviews with Belfort's circle — including his ex-wife, Nadine Caridi — The Real Wolf of Wall Street explores the bizarre story of great fortune, great misfortune, fucking around, and finding out. — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

How to watch: The Real Wolf of Wall Street is now streaming on Paramount+.

11. Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro

Any Dancing with the Stars fan will tell you that the show is as much about its professional dancers as the stars they're paired with. Now, the pros take the solo spotlight in new spin-off Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, an elimination series about finding the next pro to add to the main show's troupe. Hosted by Dancing with the Stars Season 34 winner Robert Irwin and judged by Mark Ballas and Shirley Ballas, The Next Pro is sure to satisfy Dancing with the Stars fans' desire for glitzy ballroom in the wait for Season 35. — B.E.

Starring: Robert Irwin, Mark Ballas, and Shirley Ballas

How to watch: Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro began airing on Disney+ on July 14.

10. Scott Peterson: The New Evidence

When Laci Peterson went missing in December of 2002, national news locked onto the story. She was young, pregnant, and gone. Her husband, Scott Peterson, was soon a person of interest, especially once his extramarital affair was revealed. In 2004, he was convicted of first-degree murder for Laci's death, and second-degree murder for the death of their unborn child. So, what's left to understand about this story? Well, what if Scott Peterson is innocent?

In 2024, the L.A. Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, began petitioning for DNA testing in the Peterson case. Could this change our understanding of what happened to Laci? Could it change Scott's fate? A&E is airing this four-hour, two-part documentary, Scott Peterson: The New Evidence, to explore these questions. — K.P.

How to watch: Scott Peterson: The New Evidence premieres July 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and July 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on A&E.

9. The East Palace

If you're looking for something that's a little bit Alchemy of Souls, a little bit The Witcher, and a lot historical K-drama with a potential enemies-to-lovers situation, The East Palace is for you. Directed by Choi Jung-kyu, this South Korean fantasy horror series sees Twenty-Five Twenty-One's Nam Joo-hyuk as Gu-cheon, a reluctant spirit hunter who is dragged to the royal palace to sort out its ghosts, becoming a feng shui master. Here, he's helped by court lady Saeng-gang (Our Blues' Roh Yoon-seo), who has a few secrets of her own. There's plenty of ghost-busting, ritual, and flirty banter afoot, with some genuinely scary sequences. — Shannon Connellan, Senior Editor

Starring: Nam Joo-hyuk, Roh Yoon-seo, and Cho Seung-woo

How to watch: The East Palace debuts on July 17 on Netflix.

8. They Fight

Want some hard-hitting drama? Hulu's got you, thanks to the sports drama They Fight.

Moonlight's André Holland stars as a formerly incarcerated man named Walt Manigan, who seeks his second chance by coaching a motley crew of boys in boxing. Their goal is the National Championship. But along the way, Manigan will try to find other victories, like reconnecting to his family and rediscovering himself. — K.P.

Starring: André Holland, Wendell Pierce, Samira Wiley, Anthony B. Jenkins, Toussaint Francois Battiste, and Mykelti Williamson

How to watch: They Fight premieres on Hulu on July 17.

7. Ride or Die

Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham team up for action-comedy Ride or Die, in which they play longtime BFFs Debbie (Spencer) and Judith (Waddingham). After spending so many years as friends, you'd think they'd know everything about one another, right? Wrong. To Debbie's surprise, Judith is an international assassin. And after a hit goes wrong, she's on the run, with Debbie in tow. Can their bond survive this massive reveal, not to mention the trained killers hunting them down? Either way, get ready to watch Waddingham's Judith kick butt and see Spencer's Debbie learn to embrace her inner badass. — B.E.

Starring: Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham, and Bill Nighy

How to watch: Ride or Die is now streaming on Prime Video.

6. The Hawk

If I had a nickel every time a streaming service put out a comedy about a washed-up golfer trying to regain his former glory, I'd have two nickels. The first example of these golf-coms is Apple TV's 2025 Owen Wilson-led Stick, and the latest is Netflix's Will Ferrell-fronted The Hawk. Ferrell plays Lonnie "The Hawk" Hawkins, a former top-ranked golfer whose career has since gone down the drain. But as his son Lance (Jimmy Tatro) rises in the PGA rankings, Lonnie takes one last swing at the tour and at winning a career grand slam.

The Hawk goes big and broad, with its ensemble cast — which also includes Molly Shannon and Fortune Feimster — making the most of its gross-out, slapstick comedy. But the show tends to be too mean for its own good, and its attempts at redemption, when they come, mostly fall flat. — B.E.

Starring: Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Jimmy Tatro, Fortune Feimster, Chris Parnell, Katelyn Tarver, Gabriel Hogan, Luke Wilson, and Aida Osman

How to watch: The Hawk is now streaming on Netflix.

5. Lucky

Anya Taylor-Joy embraces her inner con woman in Apple TV's new limited series Lucky. Based on the novel by Marissa Stapley, the show introduces Lucky Armstrong (Taylor-Joy), a young woman who's just pulled off a $10 million heist with her husband, Cary (Drew Starkey). But when the heist goes awry and Lucky is left holding the (very empty) bag, she'll have to scramble to outrun the FBI and the dangerous mob bosses on her tail.

Lucky's many escape plans and cons are thrilling to take in, but the rest of the show's broader criminal conspiracy lacks the same spark. As I wrote in my review, "[Lucky's] conclusions and twists along the way are fairly predictable, but it offers up some slick summer fun in the meantime. When you're done, though, Lucky's impact is like that of a good con man: gone before you even know it." — B.E.

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Drew Starkey, Clifton Collins Jr., and William Fichtner

How to watch: The first two episodes of Lucky are now streaming on Apple TV.

4. Obsession

Audiences went feral for writer/director Curry Barker's ultra-creepy Obsession. The film turns rom-com expectations on its head by presenting a lovelorn protagonist named Bear (Michael Johnston), who might seem like a nice guy but is actually the movie's villain.

Obsessed with his friend Nikki (a riveting Inde Navarrette), he makes a wish that she'll not only notice him, but will love him more than anyone else. In the way of the mythic monkey's paw, this wish goes horribly wrong, transforming Bear's dream girl into a nightmare. Obsession is thoroughly chilling, especially thanks to Navarrette's harrowing performance. But Barker's exploration of sexual politics ultimately feels juvenile because of a flubbed final act. As I explained more in-depth in my review, "This makes the finale of Obsession unnerving — not so much for what it shows, but for the empathy it ultimately lacks."* — K.P.

Starring: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, and Andy Richter

How to watch: Obsession streams exclusively on Peacock starting July 17.

3. Marc by Sofia

American director Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Priscilla, The Bling Ring) offers her first non-fiction film with Marc by Sofia. Here, she employs her close personal relationship with American fashion designer Marc Jacobs to explore his work in the lead up to his 2024 runway show.

The film becomes about fashion, Jacobs' life, and the friendship of two artists who inspire each other. — K.P.

How to watch: Marc by Sofia is now streaming on HBO Max.

2. Normal

English filmmaker Ben Wheatley has previously thrilled action fans with the shoot-'em-up Free Fire. And now, he's bringing that energy into a satire about a "normal" American town, where everyone has guns — and has them aimed at the interim sheriff, played by Bob Odenkirk.

Sure, the folks of Normal, Minnesota, seem friendly. But beneath their smiles lies a dark conspiracy. And while they welcome newcomer Ulysses as the face of law in their town, they won't stand for him sticking his nose where it's not wanted.*

In my review out of SXSW, I cheered, "Wheatley delivers an action comedy that is wildly entertaining, hilariously twisted, and ultimately shockingly feel-good." —K.P.

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey, Ryan Allen, Billy MacLellan, Brendan Fletcher, Peter Shinkoda, and Jess McLeod

How to watch: Normal is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video.

Best of streaming this week: Heartstopper Forever

Prepare to happy-cry, friends. Three years since Season 1 hit Netflix, followed by two sublime seasons, Heartstopper ends with a movie to send the Paris Crew into the future. A joyous exploration of queer identity and teen romance, Alice Oseman's graphic novels have provided wondrous material for Netflix's sweet LGBTQ+ series, and now, it's time for high school to make way for whatever comes next.

In the most grown-up chapter of Heartstopper yet, Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) prepare to go long distance as university looms. They've been through so much together; surely this can work? But they're not the only ones making big decisions, with their friends all figuring out how to move into adulthood too. Prepare for Oseman's signature animated leaves to swirl into frame and too many recognisable moments from your own adolescence rendered onscreen. Here's to Heartstopper, your week's must-watch and a triumph of a teen series for years. — S.C.

Starring: Joe Locke, Kit Connor, William Gao, Yasmin Finney, Tobie Donovan, Corinna Brown, Kizzy Edgell, Rhea Norwood, and Jenny Walser

How to watch: Heartstopper Forever debuts on Netflix on July 17.

(*) denotes a blurb came from a prior list.

SAVE $25: As of July 16, Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones are on sale for $99.95 at Amazon. That's a 20% discount on the list price.

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Credit: SHOKZ

Shokz OpenRun Pro

$99.95 at Amazon
$124.95 Save $25

 

Get Deal

If it's time to upgrade your running headphones, the Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones have just dropped to their best-ever price at Amazon. They've dipped below $100 for the first time. This deal is for all color options, so you can choose from black, beige, blue, or pink.

These headphones use something called bone conduction technology. This means the headphones deliver vibrations through your cheekbones straight to the inner ear, opposed to directly through your ear. Your ears stay open, and you can listen to music or podcasts and still hear what’s happening around you.

And it's not just this technology that makes them a great choice for runners; their design also means they stay in place even during tough workouts. This is thanks to the lightweight titanium wraparound frame that provides a secure, comfortable fit that just won't budge.

Plus, the battery life will keep you going for hours on your longest runs. You can expect up to 10 hours of battery life on one charge, and when you're short on time, a quick five-minute charge gives you an extra 1.5 hours of listening time.

Get this headphones deal at Amazon now.

Senator Lindsey Graham's death felt sudden, so it's not surprising that a lot of people had questions about it — and President Donald Trump provided some confusing answers.

In the Late Night clip above, Seth Meyers reacts to Trump telling Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly, "We've had great doctors, and they talked about, you know, a certain part of his body literally blew up."

"I'd argue they weren't great doctors if they were using language like 'literally blew up,'" says Meyers. "If a surgeon came out to the waiting room and said, 'There's no easy way to say this, your father exploded,' you would ask to speak to someone else. 'Literally blew up.' Was the doctor Wile E. Coyote? He graduated from the American College of Medical Examiners, you probably know it as ACME. Why can't the president just be normal and have some decorum in a situation like this?"

Want more of the best of late night? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter.

It's been 10 years since Stranger Things premiered on July 15, 2016, immersing viewers in '80s nostalgia and encouraging a resurgence of interest in both Dungeons & Dragons and Kate Bush. To mark the occasion, Netflix has released a 26-minute video of the cast looking back at their experience making the series — and for many of them, growing up across its five seasons.

Taking turns sitting under the iconic alphabet wall from Stranger Things' first season, the YouTube video features a slew of cast members going through behind-the-scenes Polaroid photos and reminiscing. These include Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Sadie Sink, Cara Buono, Noah Schnapp, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, and Jamie Campbell Bower.

The actors share a few stories and a lot of praise for their castmates (as well as Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers), generally just spreading good vibes all around.

The Moon is starting to reappear on its right side (this will be the left side if you're in the Southern Hemisphere). This means we're in the Waxing Crescent portion of the lunar cycle.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, July 16, NASA's Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon phase is in Waxing Crescent phase, with just 5% of its surface visible.

Even with visual aids, this is too small a surface area illuminated for us to be able to make out any surface features on the Moon.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on July 29.

What are Moon phases?

The Moon completes one full cycle around Earth in about 29.5 days, moving through eight different phases along the way, NASA explains. Although the same side of the Moon always faces our planet, the amount of sunlight reflecting off its surface changes as it travels around Earth. This changing angle of illumination is what makes the Moon appear to transform throughout the month, from a thin crescent to a half-lit Moon and eventually a fully illuminated Full Moon, before starting the cycle again.

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.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you watch Indiana sports.

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

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

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

What is Connections: Sports Edition?

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Yellow: Indiana

• Green: Big dogs

• Blue: Horse riding

• Purple: Famous domes

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Indiana Teams

• Green: Bulldogs

• Blue: Equestrian Equipment

• Purple: ___Dome

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 #661 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Indiana Teams: COLTS, FEVER, HOOSIERS, PACERS

• Bulldogs: BUTLER, GONZAGA, MISSISSIPPI STATE, YALE

• Equestrian Equipment: BIT, REINS, SADDLE, STIRRUPS

• ___Dome: ASTRO, FARGO, GEORGIA, SUPER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to play Pips

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easy difficulty hints, answers for July 16 Pips

Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically.

Number (16): Everything in this space must add up to 16. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-3, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 0-0, placed vertically; 1-4, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for July 16 Pips

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

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 1-5, placed vertically; 5-4, placed vertically.

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

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically; 6-0, placed vertically.

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

Hard difficulty hints, answers for July 16 Pips

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

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 2-0, placed vertically.

Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 4-4, placed vertically; 2-4, placed vertically.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-4, placed vertically.

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

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically; 0-1, placed vertically.

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

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 3-1, placed horizontally.

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

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-1, placed horizontally; 3-5, placed horizontally; 3-0, placed horizontally.

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

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally; 6-0, placed horizontally; 4-0, placed vertically; 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.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're precise.

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

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

What is Connections?

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

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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.

Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Beauty regimen

• Green: Dark colors

• Blue: Exact

• Purple: A speck

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Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Skincare products

• Green: Shades of black

• Blue: Associated with precision

• Purple: Starting with tiny marks

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 #1131 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Skincare products: CLAY MASK, EYE CREAM, PEEL, TONER

• Shades of black: CHARCOAL, INK, JET, PITCH

• Associated with precision: BULLSEYE, CLOCKWORK, LASER, NEEDLE

• Starting with tiny marks: DOT MATRIX, PERIOD PIECE, POINT BREAK, SPOT REMOVER

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

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

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

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you don't have a good sense of direction.

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

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

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

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: "Rerouting..."

The words are related to directions.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe a detour.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

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NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Change Course.

NYT Strands word list for July 16

• Zigzag

• Deviate

• Change Course

• Veer

• Pivot

• Tack

• Swerve

• Turn

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

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

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

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

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

Where did Wordle come from?

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

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

What happened to the Wordle archive?

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

Is Wordle getting harder?

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

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

A steep hill.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter T appears twice.

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

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter B.

The Wordle answer today is...

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

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

BUTTE

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.

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

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

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

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

Hurdle Word 1 hint

A throat infection.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

STREP

Hurdle Word 2 hint

How butter is made.

Hurdle Word 2 Answer

CHURN

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Perfect.

Hurdle Word 3 answer

IDEAL

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Wildlife

Hurdle Word 4 answer

FAUNA

Final Hurdle hint

Inactive.

Hurdle Word 5 answer

INERT

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

Close to a year after the enactment of the UK's age assurance law, the Online Safety Act, Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, has released a report on its progress.

The Online Safety Act requires robust age checks for sites that have content "restricted to adults," which extends from pornography to non-explicit content like the r/stopsmoking subreddit.

UK age verification, one year later

Ofcom has found that these age checks are now being deployed on an "unprecedented scale" across various sectors: porn, social media, dating, and gaming. Between July 2025, when the law went into effect, and Jan. 2026, the proportion of children "being asked to prove their age who encountered highly effective age checks" increased from 25 to 43 percent.

Between July and Dec. last year, 69 million age checks were completed across a sample of 32 services, which Ofcom says is a 23-fold increase on the previous six months.

According to Ofcom's Children's Passive Online Monitoring study, eight percent of children aged 8 to 14 who participated visited porn providers. Half of them only reached sites with age checks in place. The majority, 87 percent, of these porn site visits were for under 30 seconds, and 65 percent were for less than 10 seconds.

Shortcomings of the Online Safety Act

Ofcom also found that all of the UK's top 10 porn sites, and 64 out of the top 100 most popular porn sites in the country, have installed age assurance as of last month, and 10 have geo-blocked UK users. Despite this, though, Ofcom stated that "too many porn sites still don’t have age checks in place." It's opened 23 investigations into providers of 88 adult services.

Another result of the report is that children are finding porn sites without age checks via search. A third (33 percent) of Google Search results on the first page were porn sites without age checks or geo-blocking, while this was the case for 54 percent of first-page Bing results.

Ofcom stated that Google and Bing are working with it "to tackle the discoverability of porn sites without age checks via their services," though the Online Safety Act doesn't require search providers to use age assurance to prevent minors from viewing porn.

The report also stated that over 10 percent of 15 to 17-year-olds accessed three popular dating apps in Dec. 2025, despite age checks, so these services need to ensure their age checks are effective.

Finally, the report also casts doubt on age-inference methods, which estimate a user's age from their behavior.

"Our message to social media companies is clear: those which use age inference models to comply with their child protection duties should switch to other methods listed in our guidance as highly effective without delay," Ofcom stated in a press release shared with Mashable. 

This will become increasingly relevant as the UK bans social media for children under 16. The UK government is planning to use similar age-assurance methods as the Online Safety Act. A recent study on Australia's social media ban found it ineffective, partly because age estimations don't require younger users to undergo additional checks.

Ofcom states it will deliver an assessment of what "highly effective age checks" will look like to determine someone is over 16 to Parliament by the end of Oct. It will also publish a report on app-store-level age verification by Jan. 2027.

In addition to the broad social media ban for under-16s, the UK also just announced a social media curfew for teenagers aged 16 and 17.

If you were on TikTok in the early 2020s, you're probably deeply familiar with the GE Profile Opal Nugget Ice Maker. It went super viral as creators made content about their iced coffee concoctions, sodas, and even water recipes.

But for most people, the price and size of the Opal ice maker made it an impractical purchase. At a press event with GE Profile in New York City, André Zdanow, executive director of Small Appliances, FirstBuild, and CoCreate at GE Appliances, told me that the most common suggestion his team hears from customers is to make a smaller version of the Opal. So, they listened.

As of July 14, the brand has launched the GE Profile Opal Mini Nugget Ice Maker. It's 30 percent smaller than the Opal Ultra ice maker, shaving off two inches from both the height and the width, making it easier to store on a countertop.

"The Opal Mini lineup delivers the same craveable nugget ice customers know and love — now in a more compact design, with meaningful performance improvements, easier maintenance, and new finishes," Zdanow said in a press release.

Opal Mini Nugget Ice Maker price and specs

There are three versions of the new ice maker: the Opal Mini ($279 to $299), Opal Mini Pro ($379), and Opal Mini Pro+ ($399).

The Opal Mini features a top-fill water reservoir, ditching the side tank design for a smaller footprint. However, the Mini Pro and Mini Pro+ feature a large-capacity side tank in addition to the top-fill reservoir for fewer refills.

The Mini Pro models include a side tank. Credit: Miller Kern / Mashable

The Opal Mini produces up to 36 pounds of ice per day, and can hold up to two pounds of ice at a time, compared to the Opal Ultra's three pounds. Zdanow said the idea is that two people can fill up a 40-ounce Stanley cup with nugget ice from the machine at the same time. So, you won't have to fight your roommate or partner over who gets a cup full of deliciously cold and crunchy bev in the morning.

While the larger versions are obviously better for hosting large groups, the Mini Pro models bring a new life to the party. They're compatible with GE's SmartHQ app, where you can control a color-changing light in the ice bin. Within the app, you're also able to schedule when you want the ice maker to produce ice.

At launch, the Opal Mini is available in stone grey, charcoal grey, steel grey, and stainless steel finishes. Color expansions are coming this fall, with peony pink, moss green, and moonstone blue options available, likely in October. They're all super cute, and I'm definitely eyeing the moss green one for my kitchen.

The Opal Mini will be available in peony pink, moss green, and moonstone blue color options this fall. Credit: Miller Ken / Mashable

Where to buy the GE Profile Opal Mini Nugget Ice Maker

As of July 14, the GE Profile Opal Mini in stone grey ($299) is available on geappliances.com and other retailers as stock becomes available. The Opal Mini in charcoal grey ($279) is available on geappliances.com and exclusively at Walmart. The Opal Mini Pro in steel grey and Mini Pro+ in stainless steel are available on geappliances.com and at select retailers as they receive stock.

GE Profile Opal Mini Nugget Ice Maker (stone grey)

$299 at Amazon

 

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GE Profile Opal Mini Nugget Ice Maker (charcoal grey)

$279 at Walmart

 

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GE Profile Opal Mini Pro Nugget Ice Maker (steel grey)

$379 at Amazon

 

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GE Profile Opal Mini Pro+ Nugget Ice Maker (stainless steel)

$399 at GE Appliances

 

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OpenAI's long-anticipated entry into consumer hardware has arrived, but it's not the Jony Ive collab everyone has been waiting for.

The company has launched Codex Micro, a $230 mechanical keypad developed with peripheral maker Work Louder, sold through OpenAI's "Supply Co." storefront as part of a "Work Louder Co-Lab" collaboration.

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The device is a compact 13-key controller designed to work alongside OpenAI's Codex coding assistant. It features a rotary dial to adjust the AI's "reasoning level," a joystick to trigger coding workflows such as reviewing pull requests or debugging errors, programmable command keys for actions like accepting or rejecting suggestions, and RGB backlighting that changes color to reflect what an active Codex session is doing.

Credit: OpenAI

It ships with 32 interchangeable keycaps, connects via Bluetooth or USB-C, and is compatible with Mac and Windows. Pre-orders list an estimated ship date of July 24.

The launch stands in contrast to OpenAI's other hardware effort: a screenless, "humanlike" AI companion device in development with former Apple designer Jony Ive, whose startup io OpenAI acquired last year. That product, described in recent reporting as capable of tracking a user's surroundings and habits, has yet to reach the market. Previous AI devices, including Humane's AI Pin and the Friend pendant, both struggled to gain traction after launch.

Reaction to Codex Micro has been mixed online, with some on Reddit questioning whether the release was a joke and criticizing its price as steep for a peripheral aimed at a narrow set of developer workflows.

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

Professional cyclist Willie Smit went 14 years without being disqualified from a race. Then he put on a pair of smart glasses.

The 33-year-old South African veteran cyclist was removed from the opening stage of the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai after officials determined that his video-recording glasses violated Union Cycliste Internationale rules governing onboard technology. Smit, who was racing for China’s Anta-Mentech Cycling Team, announced the disqualification on X and posted footage captured from the glasses during the race.

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“Today I was disqualified for the first time in my cycling career,” Smit wrote. He said he had not known about the restriction and argued that “a warning, fine or yellow card” would have been enough.

Why did smart glasses break the rules?

The rule is fairly simple once the technical language is stripped away: Cyclists can record races, but the camera generally has to be attached to the bicycle. Riders cannot wear a recording device on their bodies unless the rules for that particular type of cycling specifically allow it.

Smit’s camera was built into his glasses, though, which meant it was sitting on his face rather than mounted on his bike. The UCI confirmed that newer smart glasses capable of recording video are therefore prohibited during its sanctioned competitions. Breaking the rule can result in a rider being prevented from starting, eliminated, or disqualified. Smit was disqualified after completing the first stage.

Smit described the restriction as a new rule introduced in April. The section of the UCI rulebook covering onboard technology was first added in 2021, although the organization has continued updating its equipment rules as cameras, GPS computers, sensors, and other devices have become more advanced.

He also questioned why cyclists at the Tour de France have been allowed to film during stages while his glasses produced an automatic disqualification. Smit pointed to footage of Lidl-Trek rider Toms Skujiņš interviewing fellow cyclist Victor Campenaerts in the middle of a Tour de France stage.

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There was one crucial difference, though: The camera used for Skujiņš’s video was mounted to his bicycle, placing it within the UCI’s rules, while Smit’s camera was sitting on his face.

Smit maintained that he used the glasses only to record his view of the race. He said their AI capabilities did not work without a connected phone and that, while he was riding, the glasses could “do nothing but record video.” There is no indication that he used them to receive coaching, performance information, or help from anyone outside the race.

Social media users immediately noticed the irony and criticized the response.

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Smart glasses are also only the latest highly specific piece of equipment to get a rider in trouble. Cyclists have recently been disqualified over an underweight bike, handlebars that were too narrow, a prohibited riding position, and clothing that did not comply with UCI rules.

Meta designed the glasses for sports

The unusual part of Smit’s disqualification is that the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses were created specifically for athletes. Meta describes them as “Performance AI glasses” for high-intensity sports and says their wraparound shape is designed to fit underneath cycling helmets. The company even promoted the glasses during the 2026 Super Bowl, with iShowSpeed and former NFL player Marshawn Lynch wearing the Vanguard model in its ad campaign.

The glasses contain a 12-megapixel camera that can record video in up to 3K resolution, along with microphones and speakers that allow the wearer to listen to audio and speak to Meta AI. When connected to a compatible Garmin device, they can provide spoken updates about a cyclist’s heart rate, speed, and pace. They can also automatically record clips when an athlete reaches certain distances, speeds, elevations, or heart-rate levels, and add Strava data to photos and videos afterward.

Oakley Meta HSTN 3K Recording Smart AI Glasses (Light Curry, Transitions Brown Lenses)

$459.84 at Amazon

 

Shop Now at Amazon

None of that means Smit was using every feature during the race. The UCI did not accuse him of receiving AI coaching or using live fitness information. Under its rules, officials did not need to prove that he was using those tools, just that he was wearing the device.

The incident comes as Meta is trying to make smart glasses more common both in sports and everyday life. In June, the company introduced 26 versions of its new Meta-branded frames, including an oval pair designed with Kylie Jenner, while continuing to sell its Ray-Ban and Oakley models.

This release has brought attention to the glasses’ ability to record people nearby. Meta says a white light on the front of every pair blinks while the camera is taking a photo or recording video and has no off switch. But those safeguards haven't been entirely effective — three women told CNN that men secretly recorded conversations with them and later uploaded the videos to social media without their consent. One said footage of her being approached in a grocery store received nearly 20 million views, even though she had asked the man not to post it.

Concern has produced restrictions. The College Board prohibits smart glasses during the SAT, the New York State court system is banning eyewear containing recording equipment beginning July 20, and a Florida school district has prohibited students from bringing the devices onto campuses or school buses. South Korean prosecutors have also brought a criminal case against a man accused of using AI-powered glasses to cheat on a national licensing exam.

On the pop-culture beat, Lorde has also criticized smart glasses from the stage at Madrid’s Mad Cool festival, calling them "not sexy."

Ultimately, the Oakley Meta Vanguard may have been built for cycling, but during a UCI race, its safest position appears to be inside the team car.

A New York school district is piloting a humanoid robot teacher to help students with summer school classes.

Announced earlier this year, Salamanca City Central school district, located in Salamanca, New York, and Toronto-based robotics company Realbotix have partnered to integrate a new AI teachers' assistant into classrooms — and potentially debut a fleet of robot tutors this fall.

The AI, called Optio, will be available for students in classrooms and outside school hours, including 24/7 homework support. The robot, part of Realbotix' M-Series and named Sally, will be present in select Salamanca City Central high school AI and Robotics courses.

The company explains Sally uses natural language processing, facial expressions, and live feedback to provide classroom support, with "education-specific safety guardrails" in place. The robot has a human-like appearance and will remain seated at a desk, with partial upper-body movements. Students must provide Sally with their student ID number, which the robot uses to bring up personalized student learning data.

The school is part of the the Woz ED STEM Pathway curriculum program, started by Apple founder Steve Wozniak to boost STEM education.

"This deployment in a working school district represents a landmark moment for both AI and humanoid robotics,” Realbotix CEO Andrew Kiguel, said in a press release at the time. "We are moving beyond lab demonstrations and pilots to deliver real, embodied AI directly into classrooms — supporting teachers, engaging students, and proving that advanced robotics can thrive in live educational environments. Salamanca marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent AI assistants become standard tools in STEM education."

Realbotix, formerly known as Tokens.com, rebranded after acquiring the hyperrealistic sex doll company RealDoll in 2024. The company recently debuted a new line of unsettlingly lifelike robot companions.

While AI embeds itself deeper in classrooms, tech watchdogs have warned that the technology may exacerbate bias and worsen inequality, especially among already underserved populations. Critics of classroom AI also warn that the technology could be used as a subpar replacement for human educators in districts with strained resources.

Notably, the Salamanca City Central district is located in part of the Seneca Nation of Indians Reservation, and more than a third of its students are Indigenous. Around 79 percent of the district's students are economically disadvantaged, New York Focus reports.

"This partnership gives all students controlled, equitable access to safe and powerful AI resources while fostering learning — not replacing it," said district Superintendent Mark Beehler.

Firmly grasp it — your wallet, that is. Lego unveiled two new SpongeBob Squarepants-themed building sets this week, its first in nearly 15 years.

The new Lego Icons SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom set marks the inaugural SpongeBob Lego kit geared toward adults, while the new Lego BrickHeadz SpongeBob SquarePants Figure is the latest entry in its blocky line for kids. Both sets are slated for release on Sept. 1 and available for preorder now exclusively at the Lego Store.

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Credit: Lego

Lego Icons SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom (11386)

$219.99 at Lego.com

 

Pre-order Here

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Credit: Lego

Lego BrickHeadz SpongeBob SquarePants Figure (40858)

$12.99 at Lego.com

 

Pre-order Here

According to a company press release, the Bikini Bottom set was made in partnership with Paramount Products & Experiences in honor of the first-ever SpongeBob Day on July 14. That's SpongeBob’s birthday in his eponymous show; this year, he turns 40. (The SpongeBob Squarepants franchise is owned by the Nickelodeon Group, a Paramount subsidiary.)

Priced at $219.99, the set contains 1,794 pieces that build into the iconic homes of Sponge boy me Bob and his neighbors, Patrick and Squidward. Each one has a decked-out living space on the inside with tiny beds, TVs, and furnishings. Squidward even gets his own bubble bath, tanning bed, clarinet, and sheet music stand.

The gang's all here. Credit: Lego

The set comes complete with minifigures of the aforementioned characters, plus SpongeBob's pet snail, Gary, and 2D evil twin, DoodleBob. Lego also throws in a brickified Boatmobile, a patch of the Jellyfish Fields, a Bikini Bottom city sign, and a bubblestand.

SpongeBob voice actor Tom Kenny showcased the set in videos posted to the official @spongebob TikTok account on Tuesday. "Whether you're an old-school collector like me or looking for a great holiday gift, this set bursts with nautical nonsense!" he said in one clip.

The minifigures come with accessories, like a jellyfishing net and an ice cream cone. Credit: Lego

Take that net on over to Jellyfish Fields. Credit: Lego

Heads up that shoppers who preorder the SpongeBob Squarepants: Bikini Bottom set before July 23 will receive a free Tom Nook and Flying Present set with their order. If you're a member of the Lego Insiders loyalty program — it's free to join — you'll also get a bonus Restaurants of the World: Japan set featuring a tiny sushi bar. They're worth $4.99 and $19.99, respectively.

He's ready. Credit: Lego

The BrickHeadz figure of The Sponge is geared toward ages 10 and up. It contains 72 pieces, including a jellyfishing net, and stands a little over three inches tall. It'll cost you $12.99.

2026 isn't just the year SpongeBob celebrates the big 4-0. It also marks two decades since Lego released its very first SpongeBob-themed set: a 295-piece build of the Krusty Krab. The company came out with at least two new SpongeBob sets every year through 2012 before putting the series on hiatus — until now.

England and Argentina are playing for a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, and just as they did before Spain versus France, the internet’s astrologers are looking for clues about what might happen next.

The predictions are not perfectly aligned, pun intended. Several forecasts give Argentina the edge, with some pointing to the Leo moon and England’s weaker planetary support. Others predict an England victory, while at least one reading found the chart almost evenly divided, with only a slight advantage for the Three Lions.

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England supporters also have a larger omen to hold onto. The country’s only World Cup victory came in 1966, a Fire Horse year in the Chinese zodiac, and 2026 marks the Fire Horse’s first return in 60 years. Whether that means football is coming home or merely bringing more stress with it remains open to interpretation.

The moon and Jupiter are both in Leo on July 15, a sign astrologers associate with confidence, leadership, and players rising to a major occasion. Mercury remains retrograde in Cancer, however, which could make the match less predictable and communication more fuzzy.

Astrology cannot tell us who will score, save a penalty, or advance to the final. But it can offer another way to look at how each player may respond to the pressure of the match. Here is what the birth charts of six key players suggest about England versus Argentina.

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The players’ birth-chart information and planetary placements were sourced from Astro-Charts and Astrotheme. Because the birth times of several players are unknown, rising signs were not included. Astrology is interpretive and cannot reliably predict the result of a match.

England

Harry Kane: Leo sun, Sagittarius moon

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Harry Kane has 6 goals at this World Cup, according to Google, tying Jude Bellingham for the most on England and leaving both players two behind Messi. The 32-year-old’s Leo sun suits the visibility and pressure that come with captaining the team, while his Sagittarius moon points to confidence and the ability to keep believing even when a match gets difficult. Mars in Virgo adds discipline and precision, which fits a striker who can finish chances but also move back toward midfield to help create them.

Kane enters the semifinal with several favorable parts of his chart working in his favor. Jupiter is moving almost directly over his Leo sun, a connection astrologers often link with opportunity and recognition, while the moon and Mars also give his natal Jupiter some support. The picture is not entirely easy, though. Mercury is putting pressure on his Uranus and Neptune, which could bring confusion or sudden shifts in momentum, and Pluto sits opposite his sun, adding even more weight to the moment. Kane may have chances to shape the game, but he will likely have to manage plenty of pressure along the way.

Jude Bellingham: Cancer sun, Cancer moon

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Jude Bellingham scored both of England’s goals in its 2–1 quarterfinal win over Norway, including the winner in extra time. At 23, he has already become the player England looks to when a match needs to shift. His sun, moon, Mercury, and Saturn are all in Cancer, which points to a player who relies heavily on instinct and reads the mood of the game quickly. His Mars sits close to Uranus in Pisces, giving him a sudden, hard-to-predict quality that fits his ability to move from midfield into scoring positions.

Bellingham is also at the start of his Jupiter return, a cycle often linked with expansion and major opportunities. On Wednesday, Uranus makes a tense angle to his natal Mars and Uranus, which could bring sharp changes in pace or another unexpected moment. He has already shown that he can appear in the right place before anyone else sees the opening, and this chart suggests that ability could matter again.

Bukayo Saka: Virgo sun, Aries moon

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Bukayo Saka, 24, has 3 assists at this World Cup, and remains one of England’s biggest attacking threats. He plays on the right side, where he tries to get past defenders before either passing the ball into the middle or cutting toward goal himself. Norway often sent two players to stop him in the quarterfinal, but he still found ways to create chances. His Virgo sun fits the careful, controlled side of his game, while his Aries moon adds speed, confidence, and a willingness to take defenders on.

Wednesday’s astrology could help bring out both sides of his game. The Leo moon falls close to Saka’s Venus and connects well with his Aries moon, which astrologers may link to creativity and better teamwork. Mars adds more energy, although it could also make him frustrated if Argentina keeps blocking his path.

Argentina

Lionel Messi: Cancer sun, Gemini moon

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Lionel Andrés Messi, 39, has scored 8 goals and added two assists at this World Cup, bringing his career tournament total to a record 21 goals. His Cancer sun, Mercury, and Mars reflect his instinctive style, while his Gemini moon points to quick thinking and adaptability. Messi can change direction, find a pass, or create a shot before defenders ever have time to react.

Wednesday’s sun falls almost exactly on Messi’s natal Mars, the planet astrologers connect with competition, energy, and taking action. Mercury retrograde is also close to his natal Mercury and Mars, making that part of his chart especially active. Astrologers may see this as a sign that Messi will be heavily involved (as usual), although the retrograde could also make the match harder to control.

Julián Álvarez: Aquarius sun, Sagittarius moon

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Julián Álvarez, 26, is one of Argentina’s main forwards and plays close to goal, where he looks for open space and chances to shoot. He can also move deeper or toward either side of the field to help create an attack, making him difficult for defenders to track. His Aquarius sun fits that versatile style, while his Sagittarius moon points to boldness and a willingness to keep making runs toward goal.

Álvarez also has some of the strongest astrology in the match. Right now, Jupiter sits almost exactly on his North Node at 3 degrees Leo, a point astrologers connect with destiny and major opportunities. Along with Mars supporting his sun, that could help him break through England’s defense, force an error, or appear in the right place when Argentina needs a goal.

Alexis Mac Allister: Capricorn sun, Pisces moon

Alexis Mac Allister, 27, plays in the center of Argentina’s midfield, where he helps win the ball and pass it forward to the team’s attackers. His Capricorn sun fits his steady, disciplined style, while his Pisces moon points to strong instincts and an ability to read where the game is moving.

On Wednesday, Mars sits directly opposite Mac Allister’s Mercury, which astrologers may connect with quick thinking, sharp passes, and faster decisions. It could also make him rush or become frustrated under pressure. Venus makes a more supportive connection to his sun, however, which may help him stay composed and work smoothly with his teammates.

Yesterday, Hinge founder Justin McLeod shared more details about his next venture, an AI matchmaking service called Overtone.

McLeod announced his departure from Hinge back in Dec. 2025 to focus on Overtone, which he plans to launch later this year in select locations. (You can put yourself on the waitlist if you're interested.)

"Overtone is not a dating app," McLeod wrote in the latest blog post. "By that I mean it's not a social platform with profiles that reduce people to stats, quotes and photos. There are no opaque, algorithmic feeds trained on split-second impulses. And there’s no juggling likes, matches and chats across many people at once."

Rather, the post goes on, Overtone is a service. McLeod promises Overtone will make only introductions "worth making" and will explain why someone is a match. He wants to bring back matchmaking, a longtime practice. These days, it's pretty limited to those who can spend thousands of dollars on a personal matchmaker, like in the movie Materialists.

"But this time with the reach and diversity of modern networks, the collective wisdom of relationship science, and the conviction that when it comes to options, all you need is less™," he wrote (yes, including the trademark).

Details of what Overtone will look like are scarce, but McLeod also announced the company has raised $18 million from FirstMark Capital, Pace Capital, and Match Group. The latter is the dating app conglomerate that owns Hinge.

Additionally, Match Group and Tinder CEO Spencer Rascoff has joined the board, as have executive leadership adviser and founder of The Signal Institute, Diana Chapman, and famed relationship psychotherapist Esther Perel (who partnered with Hinge last year).

Overtone will come at a time when some daters are skeptical about using AI to find them a match. When Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd announced earlier this year that Bumble is killing the swipe and ushering in an AI matchmaker, the reaction online was largely negative. But there are budding AI matchmakers out there, such as Sitch Matchmaking and Ditto AI.

Asus will sell a standalone version of its upcoming OLED Xbox Ally X20, according to a report from The Verge, walking back earlier plans that would have required buyers to purchase the handheld bundled with a pair of Xreal AR glasses.

An Asus spokesperson confirmed the change to The Verge, saying, "We are actively discussing the release schedule for a standalone version of the new Ally. Please stay tuned for upcoming announcements."

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Credit: Asus

The Verge's Sean Hollister, who spent two hours testing the device at Asus's California offices, wrote that the OLED Ally could prove competitive with the recently released MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus. The review also highlighted ergonomic upgrades over last year's Xbox Ally X, including new rubberized grips, quieter face buttons, and a reworked cooling system. Hollister singled out a "transforming" D-pad that can rotate between eight-way and four-way configurations, saying it made a noticeable difference in games like Hollow Knight: Silksong.

The Verge did not report specific pricing or a release date for the standalone OLED Ally, though Hollister noted the device will likely cost more than the current $1,000 Xbox Ally X. The bundle with the ROG Xreal R1 Gaming Glasses could cost up to $2,000, though no price or launch date has been confirmed yet.

Internet, meet the nine brand new emoji that will be coming to your keyboards.

The Emoji Standard and Research Working Group at the Unicode Consortium will soon introduce nine new emoji, and these additions are now being revealed ahead of World Emoji Day on July 17. (Why is July 17 known as World Emoji Day? If you check the calendar emoji, you'll see the 17th date of the month is displayed.)

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The new emoji class of 2026 includes:

• Lighthouse

• Eraser

• Leftwards Thumb Sign

• Rightwards Thumb Sign

• The Cracked Smiling Face

• Net with Handle

• The Meteor

• The Pickle

• The Monarch Butterfly

Here are the nine new emoji coming to your keyboard by next Spring. Credit: Did Someone Say Emoji? Substack

A sneak peek at the designs was shared by Unicode Emoji Subcommittee-Chair Jennifer Daniel on her Substack newsletter, "Did Someone Say Emoji?" Daniel says they should arrive on your keyboard by next spring.

Some of these new emoji additions are interesting. For example, it's hard to believe that there wasn't already a Lighthouse or Eraser emoji. Pro wrestling fans will likely get some use out of the leftwards and rightwards thumb signs, as they are perfect for Rob Van Dam's infamous signature pose when used in tandem. The phallic Pickle is sure to be popular for sexting.

However, the Cracked Smiling Face will surely run away as the true crowd-pleaser of the bunch, just like Hairy Creature (aka Bigfoot) was a fan favorite in the new 2025 emoji. Cracked Smiling Face looks like the perfect emoji to sum up 2026. Yes, the emoji won't come out until next year. But that'll be perfect timing for the emoji to sum up 2027, 2028, and then every year beyond that as well. Interestingly, the Cracked Smiling Face is the absolute newest even among its debuting peers. When these nine new emoji were proposed by Unicode earlier this year, the Cracked Smiling Face was originally a completely different emoji known as Smiley Face with Squinting Eyes.

Variations of the Smiley Face with Squinting Eyes from the Unicode Consortium's proposal for the emoji. Credit: Unicode Consortium

Some of these new additions might look familiar. You may be checking your keyboard for the Pickle, Monarch Butterfly, and Meteor emoji. You won't find them. But you will find a Cucumber, a Morpho Butterfly, and a Comet emoji.

As Daniel writes in her Substack, these are all very different emoji, and some changes will be made to the existing emoji to make them all much more visually distinct. For example, the Morpho Butterfly is just a blue butterfly, whereas the Monarch Butterfly will actually look like the majestic orange-and-black butterfly. The Comet emoji and Meteor emoji will also be distinct, with the former showing as a blue streak rocketing through the sky and the latter looking like a flaming meatball.

SAVE $501.99: As of July 15, get the Ecovacs Goat A2000 Robotic Lawn Mower for $1,498 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,999.99. That's a discount of 25%.

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It's summer, the grass is growing higher than your kneecaps, and you don't have the energy to deal with it. If you want a great-looking lawn without all the muss and fuss, it's time to outsource your grass-cutting needs to a robot lawn mower. It's the same great strategy as using a robot to vacuum your floors, only this time it's happening outside with your grass.

As of July 15, get the Ecovacs Goat A2000 Robotic Lawn Mower for $1,498 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,999.99. That's $501.99 and a discount of 25%.

This wire-free robot lawn mower is all about getting things done, and it has a wide range of features to ensure you aren't the one doing them. Just set it up and let it go on its own, as its HoloScope 360-degree Dual-LiDAR system can automatically map your yard and figure the rest out. It uses 2 cm positioning to figure out where it should and shouldn't be as it makes its way through your yard.

It has built-in edge trimming for clean borders as well as a high-power 32V platform to cut through even thicker grasses that less powerful robot lawn mowers can't. Whether it's uneven terrain, thick grass, or other challenges, this model can handle just about everything and then some. Plus, it charges up quickly back to 100% in about 50 minutes, so you aren't left waiting for it to be usable again.

This machine can truly handle it all, and you won't have to lift a finger to have great grass. Be sure and snatch yours up while it's still affordable, since it's one of the higher-end models out there.

TL;DR: Live stream England vs. Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN, an Official Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has delivered some absolutely huge moments, and we're expecting more of the same from the second semi-final matchup between old rivals England and Argentina. Both sides made it through tough quarter-final contests after extra-time, and now they're set to battle it out at the Atlanta Stadium.

England are being carried by the brilliance of Jude Bellingham, but they've not yet faced a team as tough as Argentina. The defending champions haven't looked at their best, but any team with Lionel Messi, Julián Alvarez, and Enzo Fernández can pull through and overcome adversity. It's going to be a real scrap for a spot in the showpiece event at the weekend.

Want to watch this fascinating contest without spending anything? We can help. If you want to watch England vs. Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is England vs. Argentina?

England vs. Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off at 3 p.m. ET on July 15. This fixture takes place at the Atlanta Stadium.

How to watch England vs. Argentina for free

England vs. Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock BBC iPlayer to live stream the 2026 World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream England vs. Argentina for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)

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

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Visit BBC iPlayer

5. Watch England vs. Argentina for free from anywhere in the world

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The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the 2026 World Cup without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream England vs. Argentina (plus more World Cup fixtures) before recovering your investment.

ExpressVPN's regular 30-day money-back guarantee is not available for any subscriptions purchased during the Summer Tech Sweepstakes promotional period (July 11 to Aug. 11), but you do have a chance of winning an iPhone 17 Pro. ExpressVPN remains our top pick for sport, but you will need to pay the monthly rate. Alternatively, Proton VPN still offers that all-important money-back guarantee.

What is the best VPN for BBC iPlayer?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on BBC iPlayer, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including the UK

• 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 10 simultaneous connections

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99. That covers you for the duration of the World Cup.

Live stream England vs. Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free.

The latest reason to side-eye the salad aisle is microscopic.

Cases of an intestinal illness that can leave people sick for weeks are rising across the United States, and health officials still do not know exactly what people are eating or drinking that is causing the infections. So far, the investigation has produced thousands of cases, several possible leads, and one deeply unhelpful answer for anyone standing in the produce section: The culprit is still unclear.

Since May 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received reports of 1,645 confirmed domestically acquired cases of cyclosporiasis across 34 states. The agency is also reviewing more than 5,100 additional cases that may be connected. At least 141 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.

The official count may represent only a fraction of the illnesses. The confirmed total is already significantly higher than it was at the same point last year, when 249 cases had been reported nationally. People with milder symptoms may never seek medical care, cyclosporiasis requires a specific laboratory test, and several weeks can pass before illnesses appear in federal data.

Michigan has emerged as the center of the surge. The state reported 3,762 cases as of July 15, a remarkable increase for a state that typically records only 40 to 50 cases during an entire year.

Health officials believe more than 400 infections across Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia may be part of one connected multistate outbreak. Other clusters are being investigated separately, meaning several contaminated foods or sources may be circulating all at the same time.

The outbreak appears to be spreading through produce, while uncertainty—and memes—spread just as quickly across the internet.

What is cyclosporiasis?

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal illness caused by Cyclospora cayetanensis, a microscopic parasite. People generally become infected after consuming food or water contaminated with the parasite, which has frequently been associated with raw fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

The parasite is tiny, but the illness it causes can be anything but brief. Its hallmark symptom is prolonged watery diarrhea, but people may also experience stomach cramps, bloating, nausea, fatigue, gas, loss of appetite, and weight loss. Some people develop body aches, vomiting, or a low fever, according to the CDC.

Symptoms usually begin about one week after exposure but can appear anywhere from two days to two weeks later, making it particularly easy to mistake for a stomach bug that has finally packed its bags. Without treatment, they can continue for several weeks or more than a month, making cyclosporiasis considerably more persistent than the average short-lived stomach bug.

The parasite does not usually pass directly from one person to another. After leaving an infected person’s body, Cyclospora must remain in the environment before it becomes infectious, so health officials are focusing on contaminated food and water rather than casual contact with sick people.

Lettuce and other produce are under scrutiny

Investigators have not identified a specific food, farm, processor, supplier, restaurant, or grocery store responsible for the increase. In Michigan, however, early interviews with people who became sick have repeatedly pointed investigators toward lettuce and salad greens.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has completed more than 1,000 interviews with people who tested positive. Lettuce regularly appeared in their recent food histories, although officials have stressed that other foods remain possible and that no particular variety, grower, or supplier has been identified.

Tracing the source is complicated by the parasite’s incubation period. Someone may not develop symptoms until two weeks after eating a contaminated product and may not get tested until even later. By the time an investigator asks what that person ate, they may be trying to recall an unremarkable salad or sandwich from nearly a month earlier.

Produce distribution adds another hurdle. The same lettuce may be sent to restaurants, grocery stores, cafeterias, and other businesses across several states, exposing people with no obvious connection to the same product.

The Food and Drug Administration currently lists several active Cyclospora investigations involving products not yet identified. The agency has begun tracing products through their supply chains, but it has not announced a recall or issued a nationwide warning against a specific item connected to the broader spike.

Previous U.S. outbreaks have been tied to raspberries, basil, cilantro, snow peas, lettuce, bagged salad mixes, and other fresh produce. In 2018, McDonald’s pulled salads from thousands of restaurants during an outbreak eventually traced to a salad supplier.

State, federal health officials probe possible Taco Bell link

Taco Bell entered the story before health officials publicly named any restaurant. Last week, customers began sharing photos of notices posted at locations around Metro Detroit saying the restaurants were unable to serve lettuce, cilantro-onion blends, pico de gallo, and guacamole because of a “nationwide recall.” The signs quickly circulated on Reddit and through local news reports, even though the FDA had not announced a nationwide recall involving those ingredients.

That discrepancy immediately raised questions. The company did not initially identify which locations were affected, where the ingredients had come from, or why the action appeared concentrated in Michigan, the state at the center of the outbreak.

The local speculation became a national story on July 14, when The Washington Post reported that federal and state health officials were investigating whether Taco Bell restaurants played a role in at least part of the outbreak. The report cited two people familiar with the ongoing investigation, one of whom said some patients had told investigators they ate at Taco Bell before becoming sick. Others had not, indicating that the chain could not account for the broader surge even if investigators eventually establish a connection.

The Taco Bell lead also lined up with what Michigan investigators were finding elsewhere. After interviewing more than 1,000 people who tested positive, state officials said lettuce or salad greens repeatedly appeared in their food histories. That does not identify Taco Bell’s lettuce, or any specific lettuce, as the source, but it does explain why they “voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants” as a precaution.

Still, the combination of a recognizable fast-food chain, mysterious “recall” signs, and a reported federal investigation was enough to send Crunch Wrap Supreme-fans into a frenzy. Shares of parent company Yum Brands fell as much as 4.5 percent after the Post report.

Can washing produce remove Cyclospora?

Health officials are not advising everyone in the country to stop eating fresh produce. Instead, they recommend extra care, particularly for lettuce and salad greens, in areas with high case numbers.

The CDC recommends washing fruits and vegetables under clean running water before eating or preparing them, including produce labeled prewashed. Firm items such as cucumbers, melons, and potatoes can be rubbed by hand or scrubbed with a clean produce brush.

Washing may reduce contamination, but it cannot guarantee that Cyclospora has been removed, particularly from leafy greens, herbs, and delicate berries. Soap, bleach, detergent, and household cleaning products should not be used on food, and the parasite can resist some chemical sanitizers.

Michigan officials recommend purchasing whole heads of lettuce rather than precut lettuce, bagged mixes, or salad kits. Consumers can remove the outer two or three layers and wash the remaining inner leaves under running water.

Cooking offers more protection. Heating food to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) kills Cyclospora, making cooked vegetables a lower-risk choice than raw produce. Peeling fruits and vegetables after washing them can also help remove potentially contaminated outer surfaces.

What to do if you develop symptoms

People who experience persistent or recurring watery diarrhea should contact a healthcare provider, especially if they are also dealing with dehydration, severe fatigue, nausea, appetite loss, or weight loss.

Patients may need to mention cyclosporiasis specifically. Standard tests for diarrhea do not always include Cyclospora, and the parasite can be difficult to detect in a single stool sample. The CDC has asked clinicians to request Cyclospora testing when they suspect an infection, particularly for patients with prolonged or relapsing symptoms during the spring and summer.

The recommended treatment is a seven- to 10-day course of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic combination commonly sold under the brand names Bactrim and Septra. Staying hydrated is also important because frequent diarrhea can lead to dehydration.

Officials expect case numbers to continue rising while investigators work backward through weeks of meals and complex supply chains for produce. Until they identify the source, washing a salad is still worthwhile, but cooking dinner may offer a little more peace of mind.

Where to find the latest case numbers

The CDC’s cyclosporiasis surveillance page provides the latest national case count and the number of states reporting infections, while its outbreak page tracks the cluster currently linked to cases in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Because federal numbers can lag behind state reporting, readers should also check their state or local health department’s website for more recent regional totals.

The FDA’s active outbreak-investigation table is the best place to check whether officials have identified a food, launched a traceback investigation, or announced a recall.

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With summer heat taking over, it's time to cool down. Get out of the house and into a shady forest, sit next to the lake-side breeze, or take to the local pool for some cooling relief. In addition to the cool air, pack the chilled beverages along in a Yeti cooler.

One of the top outdoor brands makes a worthwhile range of coolers, and Amazon has a handful of models on sale for 20% off. Snag one of these before your next outing and you'll have cool drinks and snacks ready to go. Check out some of our favorite deals.

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Why we like it

A fan favorite, the Yeti Hopper M backpack is packed with functional design elements. The closed-cell foam keeps items chill while the external kangaroo pocket is perfect for keys, wallet, or a phone. Plus, the soft backpack straps make it comfortable for carrying around in the heat.

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While it's on sale for $40 off, upgrade to the Yeti Ranchero Backpack. The 18-liter model is on sale for $160, down from the normal price of $200. It has quick-access zippers to everything you packed along for the day, and it can stand up on it's own. Keep in mind, this model isn't designed to keep items cold, but instead is a well-designed backpack.

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Designed to hold up to 12 cans plus ice, the Hopper Flip is great for keeping drinks cool for a day spent outside. The leak-proof HydroLok zipper means a drip-free experience. Plus, the high-density fabric is UV-resistant and can handle punctures.

GET $40.99 OFF: Right now, you can get the Namii 2 clitoral suction stimulator and vibrator for $119, down from $159.99, at biird and Hello Nancy.

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If you're not a sex toy nerd (like I am), you probably didn't notice that around seven-ish months ago, one of biird's most popular products (the Namii) disappeared from its website. I was devastated, of course. The Namii has always been one of my favorite clitoral suction toys, so when it was no longer available on the site — or anywhere else for that matter — I reached out to their PR team but couldn't get a concrete answer.

Now, nearly a year after its release, the Namii 2 (the upgraded version of the Namii) is available on both the biird site and Hello Nancy (also the makers of one of my other favorite clit suckers), and it's on sale for $119. That's a $40.99 price cut, and a damn good deal for a toy that you will literally never get tired of.

I kid you not, this toy has permanent residence on my nightstand. Not only is its mood light charger super cute, but its performance is well beyond that of other toys I've tested. It's ideal for foreplay (especially if you struggle with getting warmed up), edging, having an all-day solo sesh, pleasuring yourself while you give your partner head... the list goes on.

There are seven suction intensities and six vibration modes, and with its wider mouth, it covers every inch of your clit in the best way possible. It also comes with a travel charger (you WILL need that; I accidentally broke my first mood light charger while traveling with it), a storage pouch, and the cutest packaging you'll ever see a sex toy come in.

SAVE UP TO $180.04: As of July 15, two pairs of Beats headphones worn by World Cup star Erling Haaland are on sale for up to 51% off. His Beats Studio 4 are marked down to $149.95 (typically $199.99), while his Beats Studio Pro are as low as $169.95 (normally $349.99).

Beats Solo 4

$149.95 at Amazon
$199.95 Save $50

 

Get Deal at Amazon Get Deal at Walmart Get Deal at Best Buy

Beats Studio Pro

$169.95 at Walmart
$332.01 Save $162.06

 

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Norwegian striker Erling Haaland may not have gone home from the FIFA World Cup with the Golden Boot, but he did score a legion of new fans (... and a taxidermy raccoon). The 25-year-old footballer was the breakout star of this year's tournament, juxtaposing an intimidating on-pitch presence with off-duty charm and goofiness — not to mention, some major style moments. If you're coveting Haaland's Birkin collection, you've got some serious saving to do. But if you want to own his go-to headphones, you only need around $150.

Haaland is a Beats by Dre ambassador who's been seen wearing the brand's Solo 4 and Studio Pro headphones. At the time of writing, both pairs happened to be on sale for up to 51% off, depending on the color and retailer.

Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart have the Solo 4s marked down to just $149.95, or 25% off their usual price of $199.99. Each retailer has at least three colors in stock at that discount; for his part, Haaland seems to be partial to the Matte Black ones.

Meanwhile, the Matte White Studio Pros that Haaland donned before a game last spring were going for just $169.95 at Walmart. (That's over half off their regular sticker price of $349.99.) The Navy, Black, Brown, and Sandstone pairs were down to $199.95 at Amazon and Best Buy — a 43% savings.

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The Solo 4s are our favorite Beats headphones for shoppers on a budget and those who value long battery life: At up to 50 hours of listening time per charge, they have the most stamina of any Beats cans. Mashable contributor Alex Bracetti liked their "sleek" on-ear design and thought they "[delivered] a prominent midrange that extends vocals on instrumental-heavy recordings."

Reporter Alex Perry reviewed the over-ear Beats Studio Pro a couple years ago and rated them an excellent 4.5/5 for their "fantastic" sound quality and "tremendous" noise cancellation. They're winners of our coveted Mashable Choice Award, the honor we dole out to the absolute best products we test.

Perry was especially impressed by the Studio Pros' almost-perfect parity across iOS and Android. In other words, you don't miss out on any features if you don't have an iPhone. (Beats is owned by Apple, hence Perry's surprise.) "It's hard to find a pair of over-ear headphones with a better all-around experience than Beats Studio Pro," he wrote.

For what it's worth, Haaland curated an official Apple Music playlist of all the classical tunes he listens to during workouts. But might I also suggest Solomun's 2015 Boiler Room set?

Firehouse Subs just became the Official Sub of Major League Baseball, which means two things. First, you'll likely start seeing more Firehouse Subs logos while you're watching baseball games and, more importantly, you can score free subs.

To celebrate the brands' first national sports league deal in its 31-year history, as well as the start of the back half of baseball season, Firehouse Subs is launching a season-long "Extra Innings, Extra Subs" promotion. Starting Friday, July 17, fans can buy a medium sub and get another medium sub for free any time an MLB game goes into extra innings on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. The freebie is redeemable the following Monday through Wednesday through the app or website using the promo code EXTRA.

Chief Marketing Officer Carolina Berti calls the promotion "a way for us to share more of our delicious subs back to the communities that show up for us all season long" in a press release.

Credit: Firehouse Subs / MLB

Beyond the free sub promotion, Firehouse Subs will also serve as Official Partner of the MLB PLAY BALL initiative and Presenting Partner of MLB Pitch, Hit & Run. "Through MLB's youth programs – PLAY BALL and Pitch, Hit & Run – we get to invest in the next generation of fans across the U.S. and Canada," Berti adds.

By getting more eyes on Firehouse Subs every week via baseball games, more subs will be sold, which means more money will be put towards the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. A portion of every purchase goes into supplying lifesaving equipment and resources to public safety organizations.

I, for one, will be taking advantage of this deal as much as possible. That sweet and spicy meatball sub is calling my name.

SAVE $50.25: As of July 15, get the Anker Prime Foldable MagSafe Charger for $99.74 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $149.99. That's a discount of 34%.

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Credit: Amazon

Anker Prime Foldable MagSafe Charger

$99.74 at Amazon
$149.99 Save $50.25

 

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If you've got multiple devices to charge, you know the unique annoyance that is looking for an outlet for each one. In 2026, it's all about thinking smarter, not harder, so you can either stay at home or travel with everything you need to make charging a breeze, even if you use multiple Apple products at once. We've found just the product to help you accomplish all of that.

As of July 15, get the Anker Prime Foldable MagSafe Charger for $99.74 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $149.99. That's $50.25 off and a discount of 34%.

This folding charger is perfect for travel, but it's also great for anyone with a cluttered nightstand. It's a 3-in-1 charging station that can juice up your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all at once, all around the size of an iPhone 17 Pro Max. Set it up in your bedroom with a permanent spot or pack it in your bag for your next outing, and you'll be good to go.

It uses special AirCool temperature control to keep all of your devices charging at once, and remains very quiet. It offers up to 25W of magnetic wireless charginig with Qi2.2 technology so it can juice up your phone to 50% in just 26 minutes, and that's up to 5 tims faster than usual 5W chargers. All you have to do is drop everything on the pad, and your tech will be back to usable charges in no time.

If you're ready to simplify a multi-item charging situation, pick up this gadget while it's heavily discounted. You'll be glad you did.

TL;DR: Owala is giving shoppers a free water bottle with any Sun-Day Tote purchase from July 15-22.

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Credit: Owala

Sun-Day Tote

$89.99 at Owala

Comes with free Owala bottle.

Get Deal

If your summer plans involve beach days, farmers' markets, road trips, or simply carrying way too much stuff around, Owala has a new reason to grab a tote.

The brand is launching a limited-time offer that bundles its new Sun-Day Tote with a free Owala bottle, giving shoppers a chance to score one of its popular hydration essentials at no extra cost.

Owala’s FreeSip bottles have gained a loyal following for their unique dual-drinking design, which lets users sip through a straw or drink from a wide-mouth opening.

Credit: Owala

How to get Owala bottle for free

Getting the freebie is pretty simple: from July 15-22, shoppers who purchase any Sun-Day Tote will receive a free Owala bottle with their order. The offer is available exclusively through Owala’s website, so you’ll need to shop directly to claim the bonus.

Consider the Sun-Day Tote as the bag you grab when you’re not sure what the day has planned. Owala designed it as an all-purpose carry-all that can hold up to 40 pounds and has enough room for up to six beach towels, three bags of groceries, three outfits, or two yoga mats.

The tote is made with durable, water-friendly materials that make cleanup easier after sandy beach days or accidental spills. A removable splash-resistant pouch helps keep smaller essentials like your phone, wallet, and keys organized, while soft-touch handles and an adjustable shoulder strap make it easier to carry when the bag is packed.

Summer carry upgrade unlocked: Grab the Sun-Day Tote and claim your free Owala bottle.

Christopher Nolan is an exceptional genre-hopper.

The filmmaker has dabbled in everything from science fiction (Interstellar) to biographical dramas (Oppenheimer), superhero stories (The Dark Knight trilogy) to thrillers (Memento). At each step, he manages to make a genre undeniably his own, infusing it with his trademark sleekness and dedication to scale. Even his period pieces — The Prestige, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer — feel cut from the same cloth as his more future-leaning works.

But with The Odyssey, Nolan lands upon his greatest genre challenge yet: a fantasy epic that's arguably the most influential story of all time. Homer's Odyssey comes with the baggage of thousands of years of scholarship, myriad translations, and a legion of anyone who's ever had a Greek mythology phase having very strong opinions about how each of the poem's iconic moments should play out. And that's all before we get to the meat of The Odyssey itself, with its monsters and sorceresses and battles.

So, how does Nolan approach his first foray into epic fantasy? How does he fare when turning his lens to antiquity and one of its foundational myths?

The answer, in a word, is spectacularly. Nolan eschews the sleek modernity that's come to define his filmography. Instead, he gives himself up to a grimy, haunting take on The Odyssey that weaves myth and history into a devastating, unforgettable reckoning for Odysseus (Matt Damon) himself.

How does Christopher Nolan adapt The Odyssey?

Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

Nolan's signature non-linear storytelling fits perfectly with the structure of Homer's Odyssey, which sees multiple narrators take over the epic with their own recollections. The film focuses on two primary storylines, from which Nolan flashes back liberally.

In the first, Ithaca's Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and her son Telemachus (Tom Holland) wait for King Odysseus' return, all while weathering a storm of unwanted suitors, including walking slimeball Antinous (Robert Pattinson). They've been hounding Penelope's halls for years, taking advantage of her hospitality in the name of Zeus' law, a tenet that reminds hosts to respect and provide for their guests, as any of them could be a god in disguise. Naturally, the suitors abuse this mandatory hospitality with their constant drinking, feasting, and harassing of the locals, leaving Penelope and Telemachus in an impossible situation. Do they continue to accept these indignities? Or do they push back and risk angering the gods?

As Penelope and Telemachus wait out their eternal nightmare, they, along with Odysseus's loyal swineherd Eumaeus (John Leguizamo), recall the king who has been missing for almost 20 years. This is how we first meet Odysseus: not as a cunning warrior, but as a family man and an honorable mentor to Ithaca's youth. Later, when Telemachus visits King Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) in Sparta, he'll hear stories about his father's Trojan Horse scheme, and how he ended the Trojan War.

These are the bits and pieces we get of Odysseus, meted out bit by bit by Nolan and deft editing from Jennifer Lame. But what of the man himself? Who is the reality behind the myth?

By the time we meet the true Odysseus, not someone filtered through memory or oral storytelling, he's an aimless man. He's stranded on the island Ogygia with the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron), with little memory of what came before. He's restless, though, and as Calypso prompts him to recount his journey, out spill the most iconic events of The Odyssey: cyclopes, sirens, and more.

The Odyssey's fantasy is both extremely Nolan and extremely grotesque.

Matt Damon in "The Odyssey." Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

The challenges Odysseus' faces on his journey have become familiar cultural touchstones, across thousands of years in art, film, TV, literature, video games, theatre, and more. Yet Nolan, in 2026, still manages to put his own twist on them.

In Inception, the dreams Nolan conjured up never shifted too far from our reality, instead warping familiar landscapes. The same goes for The Odyssey's understated fantasy elements, which blend into the film's rocky crags and vibrant shrubbery. (Seriously, this is Nolan's lushest film, brought to life by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema.) Sirens are glimpsed from afar. The monster Scylla's true form appears in fragments. The Earth-feared gods appear only as natural phenomena — claps of thunder, raging storms — leaving viewers to wonder whether these are truly acts of providence or not. The exception here is Zendaya's goddess Athena, who counsels Odysseus, but even she isn't carrying out acts of divine intervention willy-nilly.

While this more grounded approach to fantasy is pure Nolan, what really sets his Odyssey apart, especially in his own filmography, is his willingness to lean in to the grotesque absurdity of the myth.

You heard me right: Nolan gets grotesque. Once, I would have found this unthinkable. For the most part, Nolan's films shine with a clean composure. Men in sharp suits. Glossy tech. Even the soldiers in Dunkirk aren't overly bloodied, and Interstellar's dust storms don't stick to the protagonists for long.

Yet The Odyssey revels in the muck and oddity of its mythic Bronze Age. The Trojan Horse wait leaves soldiers silently trapped in filthy water and their own waste. During a trip to Hades, shades rise from dark sands and drink sacrificial blood, delivering hard truths with dirtied faces. The Goya-inspired cyclops Polyphemus' (Bill Irwin) twisted face and disconcerting movements turn him into a creature not just to be feared, but to be fascinated by, even empathized with.

However, this willingness to get weird and gross elevates The Odyssey's fantastic elements. Look no further than Odysseus' crew's standout encounter with Circe (Samantha Morton), a sorceress who turns unwelcome visitors into animals. Circe wields no wand here. Instead, she transforms through sculpting, kneading, and molding men's flesh like clay. The sequence is visceral body horror, unlike anything Nolan has done before.

Does The Odyssey fix Christopher Nolan's woman problem?

Mia Goth and Anne Hathaway in "The Odyssey." Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

The meeting with Circe, while brief, also proves that Nolan has comes leaps and bounds when it comes to the role of women in his films, a weak point across his work. (Granted, he's drawing from source material that features several complicated women. He's also using a translation by Emily Wilson, who reckoned with women's role in The Odyssey.) Here, Nolan makes sure to emphasize the women of The Odyssey's complexities, as opposed to letting them linger on the sidelines or in dead wife montages. Most importantly, he lets them be angry.

Morton is extraordinary as Circe, simmering with magic and a rage that suggests deeper wounds, all without Nolan feeling the need to graphically spell out her trauma. Elsewhere, Lupita Nyong'o burns in her twin roles of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, two queens who have been grievously wronged, and Hathaway is magnificent as Penelope. Forced to remain polite to her suitors, Penelope simmers with a quiet fury, and her moment of catharsis, when it comes, is show-stopping.

The characters of Athena and Calypso are outliers here. The latter role is fairly underwritten, while the former's quiet presence doesn't truly coalesce until the end. But both Zendaya and Theron bring a deep gravity to these roles, worthy of each character's otherworldliness.

Matt Damon is tremendous, as is the rest of The Odyssey's cast.

Matt Damon in "The Odyssey." Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures

Rounding out his already starry ensemble, Nolan has assembled the most "who's-who" of casts since the powers combined of Barbenheimer. None of his stars rest on their laurels or their A-list status. All deliver.

Holland's boyishness is the perfect fit for Telemachus' princely woes, and a nice foil for Pattinson's scummy turn as the craven Antinous. Himesh Patel is an astounding, grounding force as Odysseus' second-in-command Eurylochus, and Leguizamo gives a heartbreaking performance as the ever-loyal Eumaeus.

But The Odyssey, of course, belongs to Odysseus. And what an Odysseus Damon is. He plays all shades of Odysseus: the king, the myth, the broken man. Often, he shifts between these aspects in the blink of an eye, one change in posture carrying years' worth of history. At once mesmerizing and human, it's a performance worthy of such a legendary character.

Notably, both Nolan and Damon refrain from lionizing Odysseus as an almighty hero. They brilliantly pick at his pride, his errors, his guilt over leaving his family and the steady loss of his crew mates. This remorse compounds over the course of the film, building to a shattering moral reckoning that turns The Odyssey on its head.

The Odyssey's magnificent conclusion would not work if Nolan didn't hold audiences close to the action every step of the way. Yes, the film is a glorious spectacle, boasting vast ocean vistas, armies of giants, and even the occasional sea monster. But Nolan doesn't just want The Odyssey to be epic. He wants it to be human, too. There's been so much pre-release discourse about Telemachus calling Odysseus "Dad," and the film's language not being archaic or formal enough. (Again, likely influenced by Wilson's straight-shooting translation.) But this familiar language is more symbolic of Nolan's broader mission. He has no desire to mystify an already deified text with overly formal language. Instead, he takes us right into the heart of The Odyssey, fantasy, muck, and all. The result is nothing short of masterful.

The Odyssey hits theaters July 17.

Our stomachs are still recovering from National French Fry Day, but there is no rest for the free-food obsessed. No, it's time to dust off the crumbs and go again, this time for National Hot Dog Day.

Wednesday, July 15, is National Hot Dog Day. By all means, stay home and make yourself a stunning hot dog to celebrate the occasion. But you should know that a lot of leading retailers will offer free deals and limited-time promotions to mark this special date. We're keeping close tabs on everything on offer so that you can celebrate in style.

These are our favorite National Hot Dog Day deals in 2026.

Circle K

Get two roller grill hot dogs for $1 using the Circle K app on July 15.

Dog Haus

Rewards members can get a free Haus Dog in-store on July 15. From July 16-31, Dog Haus is offering a BOGO deal on hot dogs. 

Love’s Travel Stops

You can score a free hot dog on July 15, but deals are running through the week. On July 16, buy one hot dog to get another for $1. On July 17, get two hot dogs for just $3.

Philly Pretzel Factory

Score $1 pretzel dogs on July 15. You can also score one free pretzel dog by download the app.

Shake Shack

Until July 19, get a classic hotdog and classic fries or a classic lemonade for $7 using the code SUMMERDOG.

Sheetz

Get two free hot dogs with standard toppings when filling up with 10 gallons of fuel or more. Just scan your Sheetz mobile app at checkout (valid through July 22).

Wienerschnitzel

Get four Chili Dogs for $4 every wednesday in July.

Tomb Raider is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, marking three decades since Lara Croft first strapped on her thigh holsters and went searching for ancient artefacts around the world.

To mark the occasion, game developer Crystal Dynamics has partnered with glasses company Gunnar to create a pair of spectacles inspired by one of Lara's most iconic looks.

Gunnar has unveiled its new Tomb Raider Croft glasses, the eyewear company's own version of Lara's signature accessory from her 1996 debut. These glasses aren't a 1:1 recreation of the pair in the game, with Gunnar having updated the design for a more modern aesthetic. However, they do take some clear cues from Tomb Raider's original design, such as its rounded shape and metal frames. It also includes details such as patterning around the rim, which wouldn't have been possible to render with '90s video game graphics.

Credit: Gunnar

The Tomb Raider Croft glasses are available with Gunnar's Amber, Amber Max, or Sun lenses, as well as their Amber Sun Shift transition lenses. Of these, the orange Amber Max lenses are by far the closest in appearance to Lara's original red aesthetic. The glasses come with a microfibre pouch, a cleaning cloth bearing the Croft coat of arms, and a case reminiscent of a utility pouch. You'll also get a fortunately less functional Dagger of Xian pin, the artefact at the centre of Tomb Raider II.

Credit: Gunnar

These glasses aren't just for looks though, as Gunnar specialises in spectacles that make staring at a screen for hours a bit more comfortable. As such, while all of the Tomb Raider Croft glasses' lens options offer 100 percent UV protection, they also block varying levels of blue light.

Blue light is a type of electromagnetic wave generated by the sun, light bulbs, and LED screens — including those found in computer monitors and mobile phones. Long hours at your desktop can suppress your body's melatonin, disrupting your circadian rhythm and making it harder to sleep.

If you're unwilling to cut back your late night gaming, at least partially blocking blue light should help you maintain a healthier sleep cycle. Gunnar claims that its Amber Max lenses block the most blue light at 98 percent, recommending it for managing migraines and helping to improve sleep, while the Amber lenses block 65 percent and are more geared toward general computer use.

Both the Amber and Amber Max lenses also have "Gunnar Focus," which is simply an +0.2 diopter lens. This gentle power is intended to give your eyes a little extra help focusing, helping relax muscles and reduce eye strain. Gunnar states that this option is suitable for anyone with 20/20 vision, or who wears contact lenses.

Credit: Gunnar

Crystal Dynamics sells an official version of Lara's sunglasses as well, offering both her round red lens look and her black Angel of Darkness pair for $39.90 each. However, these appear to be more geared toward cosplay, as the product description offers no information regarding their effectiveness against UV light, much less blue light. No matter how dark a pair of glasses' lenses are, they still require UV-blocking treatment to be effective as sun glasses. As such, Gunnar's glasses offer a more functional, elevated option for Tomb Raider fans.

Gunnar's Tomb Raider Croft glasses start at $99 for Amber, Amber Max, or Sun lenses, or $135 for Amber Sun Shift transition lenses.

SAVE 22%: As of July 15, you can preorder the unreleased Bluetti Elite 100 V2 solar generator kit (which comes with a 200W solar panel) for $698.98, down from $899.

Bluetti Elite 100 V2

$698.98 at Amazon
$899 Save $200.02

 

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There's nothing quite as panic-inducing as a sudden summer storm knocking out your power (and possibly your trees), only to leave you sweating in the dark and praying that your phone battery holds out and the milk in your fridge doesn't rot. The only way to make sure this doesn't happen is to buy a generator.

And, right now, you can get Bluetti's newest solar generator kit for just $698.98, down from $899, at Amazon. It hasn't even officially hit the market yet (it releases on July 20), so getting it for 22% off right off the bat is a pretty good deal.

It features a 1024Wh capacity and a 1800W output, which is enough to run 90 percent of your everyday essentials — think laptops, mini-fridges, drones, or a coffee maker when you're desperate. It also has a built-in 10ms UPS switchover, meaning if the power grid fails while you're working from home, it automatically takes over fast enough to keep your WiFi router and PC from crashing. Plus, it only takes 70 minutes to reach a full charge.

If you're completely off-grid or dealing with an extended blackout, you can plug in the included 200W solar panel to get it to an 80 percent charge in about four hours.

SAVE $200: The Ninja Prestige Smart XL countertop oven is on sale for $199.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $399.99. That's a 50% discount and the lowest price we've spotted at Amazon.

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Credit: Ninja

Ninja Prestige XL Countertop Oven and Air Fryer

$199.99 at Amazon
$399.99 Save $200

 

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Now that we're in the heat of summer, it's time to consider whether you really need to turn on the oven to make dinner. Instead of contemplating another deli sandwich or dishing out the money on delivery, consider the convenience of an air fryer. There's a versatile model on a great discount today.

As of July 15, the Ninja Prestige Smart XL countertop oven is on sale for $199.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $399.99. That's a 50% discount and the lowest price we've spotted at Amazon.

Instead of heating up the house with your oven, let the Ninja Prestige cook dinner without causing a temperature spike. The Ninja is capable of 10 cooking functions including air fry, roast, bake, broil, and reheat. It also has specific foods settings like pizza, toast, and bagel, so you can get the perfect crisp each time. Plus, it has smart surround convection heating for even baking.

Not only is the Ninja countertop oven great for regular kitchens, it's a perfect solution for tiny homes, apartments with a mini kitchen, or a cabin in the woods. The Ninja comes with the air fryer itself, two sheet pans, two wire racks, one air fry basket, a crumb tray, and a recipe guide.

Ninja mentions the extra large size of this model allows you to cook a six-pound chicken with veggies at the same time. It can also handle a 12-pound turkey or 20 cookies. Ninja makes some of Mashable's favorite kitchen appliances, and the air fryer is no exception.

Since it's on sale for a record-low price, consider making the upgrade to the Ninja Prestige Smart XL countertop oven. It's perfect for cooking on hot summer days.

The original LCD Steam Deck is a great value, if you can still find one. If you need to repair it, though, you might run into some trouble.

A Reddit post from earlier this week (via Tech PowerUp) showcased a customer support email from iFixIt, one of the most popular purveyors of repair parts for tech products. According to iFixIt, which partners with device manufacturers to source high-quality replacement parts, batteries for the Steam Deck LCD are out of stock, and "it is looking less likely that we will continue receiving OEM Steam Deck LCD batteries."

Our big Guessing Game is back! Enter now for a chance to win an Apple Watch.

A further comment from an iFixIt representative said Valve is sunsetting parts for the original Steam Deck, which is unsurprising if you've been following the news lately.

Valve's popular gaming handheld has been hard to get for months now, thanks to RAMageddon, as Valve discontinued production on the LCD model and has only maintained limited production of the newer OLED model. Of course, the Steam Deck OLED also got a massive price increase as part of this whole deal.

As Tech PowerUp noted, there are third-party alternatives available on other e-commerce platforms like Amazon, so iFixIt may still be able to facilitate Steam Deck repairs before too long that way. Still, you'd rather have Valve provide the parts itself.

For gamers, it's the latest in a string of bad news related to affordability. Not only are major console makers all raising prices, but new handheld gaming consoles can cost as much as $1,500.

The 2026 World Cup final is almost here. One spot in the showpiece event has been decided, and now it's down to England and Argentina to battle it out. We're expecting something special from the Atlanta Stadium.

It all kicks off at 3 p.m. ET. Here's all the information you need to watch this semi-final fixture.

FIFA World Cup schedule today: July 15

• Semi Final: England vs. Argentina (Atlanta Stadium) — kickoff at 3 p.m. ET

How to watch FIFA World Cup games today

Watch England vs. Argentina

England have struggled at times in this competition, but after coming through tricky contests with Mexico and Norway, they're building some solid momentum ahead of this semi-final clash. Argentina are the defending champions, but they've had some lucky breaks to reach this stage. They looked very shaky against Egypt and Switzerland in the last two rounds.

It's difficult to predict the winner from this matchup. It could well be decided by a big moment from the likes of Bellingham or Messi.

Live coverage will be on Fox and Fox One. Peacock will carry the live Spanish-language coverage.

More live streaming options

Live TV cable replacement

Not interested in signing up for a standalone streaming service like Fox One or Peacock? You can sign up for a live TV cable replacement service, like YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV.

These services carry over 100 live channels, but run off a WiFi connection. You'll get live access to Fox and FS1, plus a whole lot more. Here are some options to consider:

• YouTube TV — 10-day trial, then $67.99/month for 3 months

• Fubo Sports — 1-day trial, then $45.99/month for 1 month

• Hulu + Live TV — 3-day trial, then $89.99/month

Watch the World Cup for free with a VPN

It's possible to watch the World Cup for free on international services like ITVX, BBC iPlayer, NOS, or RTÉ. Our global World Cup watch guide can walk you through the process.

You will need a VPN to live stream the World Cup on these free streaming services. We recommend ExpressVPN — a Mashable-tested service and an Official Tournament Supporter of the FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Europe — as our VPN of choice for sport. It offers servers in 105 countries, a user-friendly app available on all major devices, a speedy connection, and up to 10 simultaneous connections.

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Credit: ExpresVPN

ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan)

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TL;DR: All 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup are available to watch for free on BBC iPlayer/ITVX. Access these free live streams from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN, an Official Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The world is watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The best international sides from around the world are competing for arguably the biggest prize in sport. The final is now fast approaching. Spain have already booked their spot in the showpiece event. England now face Argentina in the second semi-final matchup.

If you're interested in watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

What is the FIFA World Cup?

The World Cup is an international football competition between senior men's national teams. The 2026 World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams, split into 12 groups of four teams. The top two teams in each group and the eight best third-placed teams will progress to the knockout rounds.

The defending champions are Argentina. They won their third title at the 2022 World Cup after defeating France in an epic final.

When is the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

The 2026 World Cup is the 23rd edition of this famous competition. This year's tournament takes place from June 11 to July 19.

How to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free

A number of streaming platforms are offering free coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup:

• Australia — SBS

• Austria — ORF and ServusTV

• Belgium — RTBF and VRT

• France — M6

• Germany — ARD and ZDF

• Ireland — RTÉ

• Italy — RAI

• Norway — NRK

• Netherlands — NOS

• Spain — RTVE

• UK — BBC iPlayer and ITVX (recommended)

These streaming services are geo-restricted, 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 another location, meaning you can livestream the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.

Livestream the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free by following these simple steps:

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

2. Download the app to your device of choice

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Visit BBC iPlayer or ITVX (recommended)

5. Watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free from anywhere in the world

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Credit: ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan)

$12.99 only at ExpressVPN

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The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup without committing your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream this tournament before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to the best free streaming services from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for the FIFA World Cup?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, 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 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free with ExpressVPN.

SAVE $301: As of July 15, the Hisense 50-inch E7 Mini LED QLED 4K TV is on sale at Amazon for only $397.99. That's 43% off its list price of $699 and its lowest price on record.

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Credit: Hisense

Hisense 50-inch E7 Mini LED QLED 4K TV

$397.99 at Amazon
$699 Save $301.01

 

Get Deal

Hisense is one of our favorite budget TV brands for its wallet-friendly models that don't skimp on quality. And the E7SF Mini LED is proof. While the 50-inch option is typically priced at a relatively low $699 on a normal day, its current sale price knocks it down below $400.

As of July 15, the Hisense 50-inch E7 Mini LED QLED 4K TV is down to a mere $397.99 at Amazon. That's a huge 43% or $301 discount from its $699 list price and its best price on record. That's some pretty impressive savings for a TV that's only been out since May.

The E7 is illuminated by Mini LED backlighting for deep contrast and features a native refresh rate of 144Hz, quantum-dot color, AI-driven processing, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos audio, Filmmaker mode, and Freesync Premium for gaming. It's a solid mid-range model that'll boost your viewing experience by bringing the depth of Mini LED picture quality to everyday entertainment.

It's powered by Fire TV with Alexa+, so you can seamlessly access all of your favorite apps, use your voice to navigate, and discover new content all in one spot. And if you're already a Fire TV user, your profile will already be personalized how you like it once you sign in.

If you're in need of a new TV, but don't want to break the bank, the Hisense E7 Mini LED should get the job done — and then some. Snag the 50-inch model while it's under $400.

SAVE $400: The 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That's a 44% discount that matches the best price we've seen at Amazon.

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Credit: LG

27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor

$499.99 at Amazon
$899.99 Save $400

 

Get Deal

Summer is the perfect season to make home gaming upgrades. Even if you love the summer heat, gaming provides an occasional indoor reprieve. If you've been getting by with a less-than-ideal gaming setup, check out this gaming monitor deal.

As of July 15, the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor is on sale for $499.99 at Amazon, down from the standard price of $899.99. That's a 44% discount that matches the best price we've seen at Amazon.

Once you go OLED, you won't go back. The 27-inch LG Ultragear is perfect for smooth gameplay, getting a 240Hz refresh rate and a 0.03 millisecond response time. Your days of dealing with lag and ghosting will be long gone with this fresh upgrade. Plus, it comes with VESA DisplayHDR True Back 400 certification.

LG equipped the monitor with an anti-glare screen that helps minimize bothersome reflections that could spell a distraction. The 27-inch display means it'll fit well on most desks without taking over the space.

The included stand can tilt and pivot to your desired position, and you can adjust the height. In addition, the monitor has a borderless design. Since not everyday can be filled with gaming, the monitor will also be great for work tasks or streaming a movie.

While it's sitting at the record-low price from Amazon, make the upgrade to the 27-inch OLED LG Ultragear gaming monitor. It's currently under $500 which is close to a 50% discount.

The UK government announced plans to establish a social media curfew for teens aged 16 and 17, the BBC reported. The news comes a month after the UK announced a ban on social media for children under 16, and days after the EU announced a similar ban for children under 13.

The curfew would restrict use of social media apps like Instagram and YouTube, and would be from the hours of midnight to 6:00 a.m. But there will apparently be a way to opt out of this.

Currently, the UK is under the Online Safety Act, an age assurance law that requires proof of age to see content deemed "restricted to adults," such as pornography, but also extends to non-explicit content like forums about addiction.

The law, which went into effect in July 2025, is often circumvented by software such as VPNs, which mask a person's real location. While the UK considered a VPN ban for children, the BBC reported that that's no longer on the table.

"We have decided not to limit VPNs today and that's the primary conclusion for now but it is something we will continue to review," the UK's online safety minister, Kanishka Narayan, said on BBC Breakfast, referring to research on VPNs that suggested there wasn't much evidence they were being used by children to get around age checks.

Narayan also discussed the potential curfew as well as limiting autoplay features, saying, "Britain is already going to be the most robust place in the world when it comes to regulating" tech companies.

Critics, meanwhile, told the BBC the plan wasn't comprehensive. Andy Burrows, chief executive of the suicide prevention organization, the Molly Rose Foundation, said in a BBC interview, "While we welcome these measures for older teens, this latest move is yet another piecemeal set of announcements, not the comprehensive plan for children's safety that's required."

A social media ban for minors under 16 was enacted in Australia in Dec. 2025, but a recent study suggests it doesn't prevent under-16s from logging onto these platforms.

SAVE $502: As of July 15, get the Toshiba 65-inch Z670R Mini LED 4K TV for $1,197.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,699.99. That's a discount of 30%.

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Credit: Amazon

Toshiba 65-inch Z670R Mini LED 4K TV

$1,197.99 at Amazon
$1,699.99 Save $502

 

Get Deal

If you're thinking about rearranging your living room or other entertainment spot in your home, a new TV is more than warranted. But they can be expensive, and it's understandable to want to shop around for a decent fit before taking the plunge. We've found a particularly great deal that can not only help you save some money, but add a quality viewing experience to your home, wherever you decide to put this new TV.

As of July 15, get the Toshiba 65-inch Z670R Mini LED 4K TV for $1,197.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,699.99. That's $502 off and a discount of 30%.

Though Toshiba generally offers a wide variety of budget TVs, this Z670R Mini LED line is more than worth checking out if you're looking for something offering high quality. It offers a great blend of features and performance at a great price, especially since you can get it for a significant price cut right now. It uses Mini LD tech with full-array local dimming, which gives you excellent color and contrast. That means it has tiny LEDs to give the TV more accurate control over brightness and, by extension, improved lighting.

As far as its other options go, it offers support for all the usual suspects, including Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HLG, and more. It also boasts a 144Hz refresh rate in addition to HDMI 2.1 with eARC and AMD FreeSync Premium with VRR and ALLM. That makes it an excellent candidate for gaming, if you don't plan to watch a lot of TV or movies.

Whatever your plans for use, it's a good time to pick this TV up right now, with a deep discount that makes it especially enticing.

SAVE 31%: As of July 15, you can get the Soundcore Liberty 5 noise-cancelling earbuds for $89.99 at Amazon, down from $129.99. That's a 31% discount or $40 savings.

Soundcore Liberty 5

$89.99 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $40.00

 

Get Deal at Amazon

Not having a pair of reliable earbuds is a nightmare (not to be dramatic, but it is). Without them, I feel like I can't go to the gym, work in coffee shops, or sit on hold with customer service without feeling weirdly exposed.

If you're in the same boat (I lost my AirPods about a month ago), and you can't afford to spend $200 on a replacement pair, the Soundcore Liberty 5 noise-canceling earbuds are on sale for $89.99 at Amazon. That's a 31% discount or a $40 savings.

These buds feature an adaptive noise-cancellation algorithm that adjusts every 0.3 seconds to block out whatever's happening around you. Plus, they're the first Soundcore earbuds to feature Dolby Audio, so your music and podcasts should sound super clear.

You'll also get up to 12 hours of playback on a single charge, and up to 48 hours total with the charging case. (A quick 10-minute charge will get you an extra five hours of playtime.)

When Apple announced major changes to its Apple Intelligence set of features in June, it came with a big caveat: Almost none of the features were available in the European Union and China.

This has now changed – at least in China.

According to Reuters, Apple Intelligence has been registered with China's cyberspace regulator. The new features are coming in iOS 27 and other new Apple platforms which are currently in beta; this development paves the way for them to launch in September, when iOS 27 is scheduled to launch proper. However, Reuters says that the regulator's statement did not give a precise launch date for the AI features in China.

Additionally, Alibaba said its Qwen AI model will be integrated into Apple Intelligence in iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Vision Pro devices in China. Furthermore, Baidu said it's working with Apple to develop Apple Intelligence features for Chinese iPhone users.

The report doesn't mention the European Union, where new Apple Intelligence features are mostly unavailable. In June, Apple said that the features were delay in the EU for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 due to Europe's Digital Markets Act (DMA). At the time, the company said it does "not currently have a timeline for Siri AI’s availability on iOS and iPadOS in the EU.”

TL;DR: Samsung's new 990 SSD is now available with 1TB ($269.99) and 2TB ($529.99). The PCIe Gen 4 NVMe drive promises read speeds of up to 7,250 MB/s and write speeds of up to 6,450 MB/s.

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung 990 SSD

$269.99 at Samsung

 

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We know upgrading your PC hasn't been exactly cheap lately. Between RAMageddon and electronics price hikes across the board, everything from SSDs to laptops have become more expensive in 2026. But if you're looking to add more storage, Samsung has a new option on the table.

Samsung has officially launched the Samsung 990 SSD, a PCIe Gen 4 NVMe drive built for everyday users who want fast, responsive storage for gaming, creative work, and daily computing. Available now in 1TB ($269.99) and 2TB ($529.99) capacities, the new drive focuses on delivering high performance while using less power than Samsung's flagship 990 Pro.

What does the Samsung 990 SSD offer?

The Samsung 990 SSD is designed to speed up everyday tasks, whether you're loading games, moving large files, or managing creative projects. It delivers sequential read speeds of up to 7,250 MB/s and write speeds of up to 6,450 MB/s, helping reduce load times, speed up installations, and transfer high-resolution photos and videos quickly.

Samsung says the drive reaches random read and write speeds of up to 850K and 1,200K IOPS, which can help keep everyday workloads running smoothly and responsively. The new drive is positioned as an easy upgrade for existing PCs or a dependable option for new desktop builds.

More speed without the price tag

Beyond raw speed, Samsung is putting a big emphasis on efficiency. Samsung says the 990 SSD offers up to 38% better performance per watt than the 990 Pro, making it its most power-efficient SSD so far. That efficiency helps the drive deliver fast speeds while keeping power consumption lower, which is useful for laptops and everyday computing.

Samsung also bundles its Magician software, which lets you monitor drive health, install firmware updates, and manage security features from one dashboard.

Grab the Samsung 990 SSD starting at $279 and give your setup a much-needed upgrade.

I went inside Samsung's display headquarters in South Korea, where the company is building the next generation of smartphone screens and pushing them to their limits.

Buy the Bowers & Wilkins new colorway lineup:

---

Vintage Maroon

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3

$479 at Bowers & Wilkins

Shop Now

---

Dark Burgundy

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

$499 at Bowers & Wilkins

Shop Now

---

Pearl Blue

Px8 S2 Over-ear noise-canceling headphones

$799 at Bowers & Wilkins

Shop Now

Black headphones are everywhere, but Bowers & Wilkins is making a case for something a little more interesting. The premium audio brand just rolled out new colorways across its Px7 S3, Px8 S2, and Pi8 earbuds, adding richer shades like Vintage Maroon, Midnight Blue, Pearl Blue, Pale Mauve, and Dark Burgundy to its lineup.

While the colors are the headline, these are still the same high-end headphones and earbuds travelers already know for their noise cancellation, premium builds, and high-quality sound. If you’re upgrading your carry-on tech, here are the new shades to know about.

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3

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Credit: Bowers & Wilkins

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3

$479 at Bowers & Wilkins

 

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The new Vintage Maroon Px7 S3 gives Bowers & Wilkins’ premium over-ear headphones a fresh look, but the focus remains on the same high-end listening experience. The headphones use Bowers & Wilkins’ latest audio technology, backed by nearly 60 years of engineering experience, to deliver detailed sound with deeper bass and improved clarity compared to the previous Px7 S2e model.

The Px7 S3 comes with adjustable active noise cancellation powered by eight microphones to help block out everything from airplane noise to busy commutes. The headphones also feature a slimmer design with refined earcups and an updated headband for a more comfortable fit during longer listening sessions.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

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Credit: Bowers & Wilkins

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

$499 at Bowers & Wilkins

 

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Bowers & Wilkins’ flagship Pi8 true wireless earbuds are getting two new finishes: Pale Mauve and Dark Burgundy. As Bowers & Wilkins’ flagship earbuds, the Pi8 use carbon-cone drive units to reduce distortion and bring out more detail in your music, from vocals and instruments to subtle nuances you might miss with standard earbuds.

The earbuds come with four ear tip sizes and offer up to 6.5 hours of battery life, with additional power from the charging case. The Pi8 also comes with adaptive noise cancellation that adjusts based on your surroundings, plus three microphones per earbud for clearer calls.

Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2

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Credit: Bowers & Wilkins

Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2

$799 at Bowers & Wilkins

 

Shop Now

The flagship Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 headphones are now available in two new finishes: Midnight Blue and Pearl Blue. The color refresh adds more style options to the brand’s premium over-ear headphones, while keeping the same focus on detailed sound, comfortable materials, and noise cancellation. The Px8 S2 delivers rich, detailed audio with custom-built drivers and high-resolution sound support.

It uses eight built-in microphones to improve call quality and power its active noise cancellation, helping block outside distractions while keeping your music sounding natural. The headphones also offer up to 30 hours of battery life, with a quick 15-minute charge adding around seven hours of playback.

Head to the Bowers & Wilkins website to explore the new Px and Pi color options.

TL;DR: The Samsung 27-inch Odyssey OLED G5 gaming monitor is on sale for $349.54 at Amazon, down from its $499.99 list price.

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung 27-inch Odyssey QD-OLED G5 Gaming Monitor (G50SF)

$349.54 at Amazon
$499.99 Save $150.45

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OLED gaming monitors are becoming easier to find below $500, but getting one from a major brand with QHD resolution and a genuinely fast response time can still cost plenty. Amazon’s latest Samsung deal makes that jump much easier to justify. 

As of July 15, the G50SF version of Samsung’s 27-inch Odyssey OLED G5 gaming monitor is on sale at Amazon for $349.54 — with a sizable 30% cut taking $150.45 from its $499.99 list price. Shipped and sold directly from Amazon, and arriving at your door as soon as July 16 at the time of writing (if you’re a Prime member), the OLED G5 grants you a fantastic QHD panel with a 2560x1440 resolution for just under $350.  

Whether you’re watching movies on Netflix or playing the latest single-player titles, like Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, this will make any desktop experience far sharper and more immersive than standard HD. That’s thanks to Samsung’s display combining deep OLED black levels with HDR10, brighter highlights, and more detailed shadows. It's even Pantone Validated, with support for more than 2,100 colours and over 110 skin-tone shades.

What’s more, its 180Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms GtG response time are built for smoother motion and faster reactions in multiplayer games like Fortnite, Marvel Rivals, and Overwatch. NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility and AMD FreeSync are included as well, helping the screen stay in sync with your GPU to reduce tearing, lag, and choppy-looking action.

Plus, Samsung’s Glare Free coating is designed to cut reflections from external light, while OLED Safeguard uses thermal modulation, logo and taskbar detection, and a screen saver to help reduce burn-in risks. Black Equalizer, Virtual Aim Point, and Auto Source Switch+ round out the gaming extras.

TL;DR: The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Chaos Rising Booster Display Box is on sale for $219.55 at Amazon, down from its $279.99 list price.

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Credit: The Pokémon Company

Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Chaos Rising Booster Box

$219.55 at Amazon
$279.99 Save $60.44

 

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Chaos Rising has already seen its Booster Display Box tumble through several price points, but Amazon has now made it so you can grab the expansion’s biggest sealed product for under $220, while stocks last.

As of July 15, the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Chaos Rising Booster Display Box is available at Amazon for $219.55. That cuts $60.44 from its original $279.99 list price, taking 13% off the complete 36-pack display. Although it is being shipped and sold by a third-party seller, this box still comes with Amazon’s 30-day refund or replacement window. At the time of writing, free delivery is currently listed for July 17-21.

At $219.55, each of those 36 Chaos Rising boosters will cost you roughly $6.09 before tax, and Walmart’s lowest listing has matched that as well — also $219.55 with free shipping.

TCGplayer sellers have gone even lower, with unopened boxes available for $206.94 shipped from Health Points TCG. That’s even under the current $208.03 market price. 

Like other Booster Display Boxes, Chaos Rising's contains 36 booster packs from the Mega Evolution expansion. The set has more than 120 cards to collect, over 25 Trainer cards, and more than 35 Pokémon and Trainer cards featuring special illustrations.

If it’s the high-value chase cards you’re looking to pull, you can also buy them individually from TCGplayer — including SIR Mega Greninja ex, Mega Hyper Rare Mega Greninja ex, SIR Cinccino ex, Mega Dragalage ex, and Mega Floette ex. 

If you've been on a dating app, your friend has likely stolen your phone to swipe for you or change your profile. Now, a new Hinge feature lets them officially do the latter.

Today, Hinge launches Friend's Take, a feature where users can invite their loved ones to add a text prompt, voice note, or image to users' profiles. The point is for your friends (or co-worker, family members — whomever) to reflect and share their thoughts about you that potential matches can see.

According to internal Hinge data, 79 percent of users rely on friends and family for advice about their dating lives. Now, there's a way for them to literally add their opinion to daters' profiles.

"Until now, there hasn't been an easy way for the people who know you best to be part of creating your Hinge profile," Hinge's chief product and technology officer, Ben Celebicic, said in a press release shared with Mashable. "Friend's Take makes room for those who are always alongside you as you date and gives potential matches a richer, more authentic sense of who someone is before they meet."

Users can send a unique link to anyone to add a Friend's Take. No Hinge account is required on the other person's end, but they do have up to 72 hours to add their take before the link expires (or, until up to 10 people add a take).

The user can then pick and choose which takes to add to their profile, and have up to three displayed at one time.

Credit: Hinge

In a preview of Friend's Take attended by Mashable, Hinge representatives discussed how a dater's friends may be able to speak to their positive qualities better than the person themselves. In response to a question of whether someone can technically add their own take, pretending to be someone else, they said yes. (Though, like any dating profile fakery, the buck would stop when you meet someone IRL and realize their profile wasn't truly representative of them.)

"Your friends see you clearly, often more clearly than you see yourself," Hinge's lead relationship scientist, Logan Ury, said in the press release. "They know the qualities you'd never think to mention, like 'She's the sweetest dog mom' or 'He’d never admit this, but he's the person everyone calls in a crisis.'"

Hinge is introducing Friend's Take shortly after the official launch of the purple heartbeat feature, Signals, a literal signal of "thoughtful" dating behavior of the app. Hinge also recently released Date Ideas to make planning a meetup easier.

Friend's Take launches globally today, excluding India.

How to add a Friend's Take to your Hinge profile

Spooky season starts now — at least according to the Home Depot. Today, the hardware superstore unveiled nearly 30 new Halloween decorations and animatronics for 2026, including an app-controlled version of "Skelly," its iconic 12-foot skeleton prop.

The full Home Depot Halloween collection will be available online and on the Home Depot app this Thursday, July 16, while supplies last. There's no set start time, but past drops have gone live between 6 and 7 a.m. ET. Select products will arrive in stores sometime in August.

The new 12-foot App-Controlled Skelly costs $100 more than the 6.5-foot Ultra Skelly, which has similar smart features. Credit: The Home Depot

The new 12-foot Giant-Sized Animated LED App-Controlled Skelly marks the biggest update to the oversized lawn decoration since its viral debut in 2020. You can talk to trick-or-treaters through it in real time using a voice modulator on a companion mobile app. You can also record up to 30 voice lines for it to play. Servo motors make its head and jaw move, and LED lights inside of its ribcage produce a colorful glow. Additionally, its LCD LifeEyes can cycle through 20 different effects.

The Home Depot has introduced smaller upgrades and new accessories for Skelly over the years, but the big guy has never been this interactive or high-tech before. Last year, the retailer released a prototype of sorts with the 6.5-foot Ultra Skelly, which also had app-controlled voice effects, movements, and lighting. It will return this year as a web exclusive at the same price of $279.

The 12-foot app-controlled Skelly will cost $379 and also be sold online only. For those who don't want to splurge, the Home Depot will continue to sell the standard Skelly in stores and online at its usual price of $299. It has eight eye settings but is otherwise a static prop.

Skelly is getting some new giant-sized friends

The Home Depot's 11-foot mummy is $50 cheaper than its 12-foot counterpart at Lowe's. Credit: The Home Depot

The Home Depot's 2026 Halloween collection features five more new giant animatronics. An 11-foot Mummy ($299) has motion-activated lights, posable shoulders, and removable cloth wrappings. It's a clear answer to the popular 12-foot mummy sold by competitor Lowe's for $349.

Ah!!! Credit: The Home Depot

The new eight-foot Perilous Plant Monster ($299) is a viny, tricephalous beast with motion-activated head movements and sound effects. It joins the Home Depot's "Wicked Woods" decor line, along with an evil nine-foot tree named Dry Rot Dennis ($299).

The 8-foot Perilous Plant Monster and 9-foot Dry Rot Dennis animatronics are both embedded with bones. Credit: The Home Depot

Dry Rot Dennis has color-changing lights inside of his eyes, mouth, and chest. Credit: The Home Depot

The new eight-foot-long, motion-activated Zombie Velociraptor ($299) is tailor-made for a Jurassic Park-themed display.

Clever girl. Credit: The Home Depot

Finally, the 8.5-foot Knight Frostbane is a headless horseman with a skeletal steed. It has three different animations and five preset voice lines. At $399, it's the most expensive new giant in the Home Depot's 2026 Halloween lineup, and you can only buy it online.

Knight Frostbane's noble steed has a moving head and a light-up ribcage. Credit: The Home Depot

Other fresh additions to this year's Home Depot Halloween collection include a five-foot Rotwing Parrot ($179) that answers yes or no questions, a 7.5-foot Soul-Stealing Reaper ($199), a six-foot Creeping Spider ($249), and an app-controlled version of the seven-foot "Lethal Lily" witch animatronic ($299) it sold in 2023 and 2024.

A few of these props were briefly up for grabs in April during the Home Depot's annual Halfway to Halloween sale. Most others will be available for purchase for the first time this week, and they'll probably sell out fast. The retailer's Halloween animatronics have a zealous fandom on Facebook, where users discuss new releases and flag annual restocks with "Code Orange" alerts.

The new five-foot Rotwing Parrot responds to yes or no questions. Credit: The Home Depot

Check out the full list of the Home Depot's new Halloween decorations below:

• 12-Foot Giant-Sized Animated LED App-Controlled Skelly — $379, online only

• 11-Foot Grave & Bones Giant-Sized LED Mummy — $299

• 9-Foot Wicked Woods Giant-Sized LED Dry Rot Dennis — $299

• 8.5-Foot Grave & Bones Giant-Sized Animated LED Knight Frostbane — $399, online only

• 8-Foot Wicked Woods Giant-Sized Animated LED Perilous Plant Monster — $299

• 8-Foot-long Grave & Bones Giant-Sized Animated LED Zombie Velociraptor — $299

• 7.5-Foot Grave & Bones Animated LED Soul Stealing Reaper — $199

• 7-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED App-Controlled Lethal Lily — $299

• 7-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Macabre Witch — $159

• 2-Piece Dead Water Animated LED Duo — $199

• 6.5-Foot Grave & Bones Animated LED Grave Robber — $199

• 6.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Stalking Scarecrow — $159

• 6-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Creeping Spider — $249

• 6-Foot Grave & Bones Animated LED John the Last Call Mixologist — $179

• 6-Foot Wicked Woods Color Changing LED Scowling Sapling — $179

• 5.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Evil Pixie — $199

• 5.5-Foot Grave & Bones LED Gargoyle — $129

• Animated LED Gremlins 3-Piece — $249

• 5-Foot Dead Water Animated LED Rotwing Parrot — $179

• 5-Foot Wicked Woods LED Wishing Well — $149

• 4.5-Foot Grave & Bones Color Changing LED Groundbreaker — $199

• 4-Foot Animated LED Flying Monkey — $199

• 3.5-Foot Animated LED Mohawk — $179

• 3.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Hell Hound — $159

• 3.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Plague Rat — $129

• 3.5-Foot Wicked Woods Animated LED Baby Troll — $119

• 3-Foot Animated LED Stitch — $199

• 2-Piece Grave & Bones Animated LED 'Til Death Duo — $99

• 2-Piece Wicked Woods Animated LED Burlap Twins — $99

SAVE OVER $10: As of July 15, the Lego Botanicals Succulents have hit a new low price of $36.49 at Amazon. That's $13.50 off its full price of $49.99.

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Credit: Lego

Lego Botanicals Succulents (10309)

$36.49 at Amazon
$49.99 Save $13.50

 

Get Deal

The Lego Botanicals Succulents are a fun pick-up if you're someone who wants plants in your home, but aren't exactly an expert at caring for the live kind. That's the beauty of Lego's Botanicals line, after all. If this brick-built display has caught your attention, now is actually an excellent time to grab it. You can now buy for a new low price at Amazon.

The Lego Succulents are usually listed for $49.99, you can pick it up for $36.49 right now at the retailer. That's a discount of $13.50 on list price.

This Lego Succulents display is sure to add a nice little pop of color into your home. It's a 771-piece set, recommended for adults ages 18 and over. That creates nine little plant models that you can arrange however you like. Since they each come in their own container, you can move them around for different displays, whether you want them bunched together or to show them off individually.

This is an excellent offer to jump on, so don't miss out on the Lego Botanicals Succulents on sale right now at Amazon.

If you're hoping to find even more Lego sets to piece together this summer, check out our rundown of the 10 best Lego sets of 2026 so far.

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

We're always looking for new and inventive ways to hit you with big savings on popular items. We cover hundreds of deals every month. You can find these deals on site, on socials, and on our newsletter. We've also launched a Mashable Deals text group. The daily deals that we send to this group are researched and assessed by the team with the same level of care that we dedicate to the rest of our shopping content.

You can find a live hub for those deals right here.

TL;DR: The new Motorola Razr is free with T-Mobile. Activate a new line on an Experience More plan to qualify for this limited-time promo.

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Credit: Motorola

Motorola Razr

Free when you activate a new line on an Experience More plan.

Shop Now

Foldable phones are all anyone can talk about. Samsung has confirmed that new foldables will be announced in the upcoming Samsung Unpacked, Apple's foldable iPhone Ultra is on track for a September release, and Motorola has edged ahead of the competition by launching a range of nostalgia-inducing flip phones.

If you simply can't for Samsung and Apple to get involved, Motorola is your best bet. And better yet, mobile carriers like T-Mobile are giving away some of the best foldables from Motorola for free.

For a limited time, T-Mobile is giving away the new Motorola Razr for free. You don't need to trade anything in to qualify. You simply need to activate a new line on T-Mobile's Experience More plan. It's that easy.

It's important to note that T-Mobile isn't simply handing you the phone without a few strings attached.

Each month, your statement will display a standard finance charge for the phone, immediately followed by an equal promotional credit that balances that charge. What's happening here is you are entering a two-year commitment with the network. If you decide to cancel your service, move to a competing carrier, or upgrade to something else before the end of the 24-month period, the remaining unpaid balance on the phone's retail value will become due immediately.

So why the Motorola Razr? It offers a massive 3.6-inch Extreme AMOLED cover screen with a 90Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 1,700 nits. It also packs a massive 50-megapixel main sensor alongside a highly capable 50-megapixel ultrawide lens. It's all powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7450X processor, with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of built-in storage, and a robust 4,800mAh battery.

Score the new Motorola Razr for free with T-Mobile.

TL;DR: The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Pitch Black Booster Display Box is available to pre-order for $254.95 at Amazon, down from its $279.99 list price.

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Credit: The Pokémon Company

Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Pitch Black Booster Display Box

$254.95 at Amazon
$279.99 Save $25.04

 

Get Deal

Pitch Black is almost ready to bring Mega Darkrai ex out of the shadows, and Amazon has cut the expansion’s biggest sealed booster product by more than $20 just before launch.

As of July 15, the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Pitch Black Booster Display Box is available to pre-order at Amazon for $254.95. That’s $25 off its $279.99 list price, taking around 9% off the full 36-pack box ahead of the Mega Evolution expansion’s July 17 release. At that price, you’re paying roughly $7.08 per booster pack before tax. While that’s still a sizeable upfront spend, the per-pack cost here is far lower than either buying six-pack Booster Bundles or buying individual booster packs. 

This Amazon listing is sold and shipped by third-party seller CCGCastle rather than Amazon directly. However, it still includes free delivery, currently listed for July 22, alongside Amazon’s 30-day refund or replacement window. 

Each Pitch Black Booster Display Box contains 36 packs, with 10 random trading cards inside each. The expansion has more than 115 cards to collect, including over 20 Trainer cards and more than 35 Pokémon and Trainer cards featuring special illustrations.

Mega Darkrai ex leads the set, with Mega Zeraora ex, Mega Chandelure ex, and Mega Excadrill ex also joining the lineup. Special Illustration Rare and gold Mega Hyper Rare versions of Mega Darkrai ex are among the major pulls collectors will be looking for when the expansion arrives.

You can buy individual Pitch Black cards right now on TCGplayer. To get even more out of the expansion, you can also pre-order the Pitch Black Elite Trainer Box for around $100 on Amazon.

The best ice cream maker deals at a glance:

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Best Chefman Deal

Iceman by Chefman Trio Ice Cream Maker

$169.99 (save $80)

Get Deal

---

Best Ninja Deal

Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl Soft Serve Ice Cream Machine

$279.99 (save $70)

Get Deal

---

Best BLACK+DECKER Deal

BLACK+DECKER Ice Cream Maker

$149.99 (save $70)

Get Deal

This summer is a hot one, but the good news is National Ice Cream Day is right around the corner on Sunday, July 19. And honestly, what better time to enjoy some tasty, chilly treats?

Better yet, why bother going out for ice cream when you can whip it up right at home? That's where an ice cream maker comes in handy, and thankfully, there are some great models on sale right now at select retailers.

To help you bring the Ice Cream Day festivities into your home, we've gathered up some of the best ice cream maker deals available at the moment. These include the Ninja CREAMi Scoop and Swirl Soft Serve machine, the Iceman by Chefman Trio ice cream maker, and a few more that you can see below.

We'll be keeping an eye out for any more offers that pop up, but if there's something below that catches your eye, now is the time to shop.

Best ice cream maker deal

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Credit: Chefman

Iceman by Chefman Trio Ice Cream Maker

$169.99 at Amazon
$249.99 Save $80

 

Get Deal

Why we like it

The Iceman by Chefman Trio Ice Cream Maker has received a huge $80 price drop at Amazon. This has brought its price down from $249.99 to $169.99. It's actually not terribly far away from its lowest-ever price at the retailer, either. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel, that was $149.99. There's also two colors available at this price right now, so you can choose between the delightful aqua model or the pistachio model.

As for its ice cream making capabilities, this machine can whip up ice cream, frozen yogurt, or Italian ice without needing to pre-freeze ingredients. It features a sleek touch panel with presets, so you can easily get it started churning your favorites.

More ice cream maker deals

• Cuisinart FastFreeze Ice Cream Maker — $79.95 $99.95 (save $20)

• NutriBullet Chill Ice Cream Maker — $149.62 $199.99 (save $50.37)

• Ninja CREAMi 7-in-1 Ice Cream Maker — $199.99 $229.99 (save $30)

• Instant Pot InstantChill Ice Cream Maker — $219.99 $249.99 (save $30)

• Ninja CREAMi Deluxe Ice Cream Maker Pint Bundle — $259.99 $277.96 (save $17.97)

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

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 Wednesday, July 15, 2026:

Across

___ shrimp (classic oxymoron)

• The answer is Jumbo.

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

Love, to a Frenchman

• The answer is Amour.

Tale from Aesop

• The answer is Fable.

Friend, to a Spaniard

• The answer is Amigo.

Provokes, with "up"

• The answer is Riles.

Down

Disney villain between Gaston and Scar

• The answer is Jafar.

The so-called "fifth taste"

• The answer is Umami.

Gas brand that merged with Exxon

• The answer is Mobil.

Stick out noticeably

• The answer is Bulge.

Milkshake mix-ins that might get stuck in your straw

• The answer is Oreos.

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 today's Mini Crossword.

Donald Trump has already shared his rambling and confusing response to the death of Lindsey Graham, but now he's also given his thoughts on the senator's cause of death too — and they're just as bizarre.

"According to President Trump, Lindsey died from a specific medical— you know what, let's let the president just delicately explain it," says Daily Show host Michael Kosta in the monologue above, before playing a clip of Trump telling Newsmaxx's Greg Kelly that "a certain part of his body literally blew up."

"That's right, part of his body blew up," says a deadpan Kosta. "The New England Journal of Medicine calls it 'Spontaneous Kablooey Syndrome.'"

For what it's worth, Graham died of a tear in his main artery, according to a Washington DC medical examiner's preliminary findings.

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TL;DR: IKEA’s Kompishäng collection includes 11 lightweight furniture pieces designed for frequent movers, from college students to renters. Made with materials like solid pine, powder-coated steel, and canvas, the lineup arrives in IKEA U.S. stores July 31 and online Aug. 15.

Moving into a new apartment is exciting. Moving all your stuff? Less so. IKEA’s new Kompishäng collection is designed for those who are constantly in-between spaces — whether that’s a college student moving into a dorm, a renter switching apartments, or a young professional relocating for work.

The 11-piece collection focuses on lightweight, easy-to-carry furniture that can move with you rather than be left behind. Made with materials like solid pine, powder-coated steel, and durable canvas, the pieces are designed to fit into smaller spaces, assemble quickly, and adapt as your living situation changes.

Credit: Ikea

Credit: Ikea

IKEA says the collection was shaped by spending time with young adults from 20 to 28 living in central London, where designers saw the realities of rental life: moving boxes used as makeshift furniture, limited storage, and a small group of items people carried from one home to the next.

Credit: IKEA

The result is a collection built around portability, without making a space feel like a temporary stop.

The 11-piece collection includes:

• Kompishäng Desk — $99.99
  Solid pine desk with a built-in handle designed for easier moving.

• Kompishäng Stools — $60 for a set of 2
  Stackable birch stools that can also create a compact surface when combined.

• Kompishäng Side Table — $39.99
  Solid pine side table designed for smaller spaces.

• Kompishäng Mirror — $29.99
  Pine mirror with side grooves for adding photos, notes, and keepsakes without wall mounting.

• Kompishäng Back Cushion — $29.99
  Foldable cushion with a washable polyester cover that can be used against a wall, on a bed, or on the floor.

• Kompishäng Plant Pot — $49.99
  Jute plant pot designed with handles and a protective cover to make moving plants easier.

• Kompishäng Door Hanger — $19.99
  Powder-coated steel hanger with polyester pockets for extra storage.

• Kompishäng Door Hanger — $14.99
  Solid pine and steel hanger with 12 hooks.

• Kompishäng Hanging Storage — $9.99
  Hanging organizer designed to add storage without taking up floor space.

• Kompishäng Shopping Bag — $12.99
  Rolling storage bag with a maximum load of 33 pounds.

• Kompishäng Bookend — $11.99
  Powder-coated steel bookend designed for keeping books organized without a traditional shelf.

Credit: Ikea

Credit: Ikea

Pricing and availability

The IKEA Kompishäng collection will be available exclusively in IKEA U.S. stores from July 31 through Aug. 14, before launching online on Aug. 15.

Prices range from $9.99 to $99.99, with each piece designed to be packed up, carried, and reused wherever you move next.

Apple's flagship smartphone hasn't taken a year off from its updates since 2007, and barring a massive surprise, 2026 won't be any different.

The Cupertino-based tech giant is widely expected to launch a new lineup of iPhones later this year, including the new iPhone 18, the 18 Pro, and the rumored iPhone Ultra, the company's first-ever foldable.

As we await the iPhone 18 — and its updated operating system, iOS 27 — tidbits of news and rumors continue to trickle out. The pace of leaks on the iPhone 18 Pro in particular is likely to increase after a massive hack exposed thousands of Apple's internal documents, reportedly including iPhone 18 Pro suppliers and tests.

Still, we won't see any of the new Apple phones in the wild for months — but we can at least bring you the most substantiated and most likely updates in one place.

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

iPhone 18 release date and pricing

If you're in the market for a new iPhone, you should circle September in your calendar. That has been the month for Apple's big showcase event for a very long time, and there's no reason to believe Apple will change that in 2026.

Expect to see new Apple CEO John Ternus take the stage to introduce it; his term of office officially begins Sept. 1.

What he'll be introducing, alas, may put more of a dent in your wallet. Thanks to the ongoing RAM shortage caused by the AI industry (also known as RAMageddon), tons of smartphones, laptops, and gaming consoles are seeing huge price hikes. Experts who've spoken to Mashable say that trend isn't going to stop anytime soon.

As the world's number one smartphone maker, Apple has some advantages over its rivals, but a price increase is definitely coming. We had hoped otherwise — Apple raised prices on its new MacBooks earlier this year, while also introducing a low-cost $599 laptop that put big pressure on its Windows rivals.

But then outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook took the unusual step of preparing us for a pricier iPhone. "Price increases are unavoidable," Cook told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. The Journal quoted an analysis showing that the memory chip components in the iPhone 18 Pro will cost Apple $150 more than those in the iPhone 17 Pro.

So should you expect the phones to cost just $150 more than their predecessors (see the iPhone 17 prices here)? You wish. There's the pesky fact that Apple is a for-profit company, and the iPhone is the #1 smartphone in the world for a reason, even though it's already pricier than Samsung's.

How much of an increase will Apple fans bear? We may be about to find out, but the Journal estimated $1,299 for the iPhone 18 Pro ($200 more than last year).

iPhone 18 models

Barring a huge turn under Ternus, Apple will release a base iPhone 18, an iPhone 18 Pro, and an iPhone 18 Pro Max in late September or early October. One thing that might be a surprise (depending on how much tech news you follow) is that Apple may launch or announce a foldable iPhone alongside the normal iPhone 18 models.

That phone is rumored to be called the iPhone Fold, or iPhone Fold Ultra. It's not strictly a member of the iPhone 18 family, at least by name, so head to our hub for all things iPhone Fold/Ultra to read more about it.

iPhone 18 and iPhone 18 Pro design

Again, Apple has not released any official teasers or other imagery for the iPhone 18 lineup yet, so anything reported to date could be wrong. Still, from the sum total of all reports, it sounds like Apple isn't really reinventing the wheel, design-wise. But Ternus, a hardware guy, is reportedly bringing the company's industrial design group into the center of the Apple fold.

Looking further into the future, the iPhone 20 is said to bring big changes, including a curved waterfall display.

Per our friends at CNET (Mashable and CNET are both owned by Ziff Davis), the display sizes will be roughly the same as last year:

• iPhone 18: 6.3 inches

• iPhone 18 Pro: 6.3 inches

• iPhone 18 Pro Max: 6.9 inches

However, the display quality might be a little different this year. Prominent leaker Instant Digital shared on Chinese social media that Apple's brightness demands are unusually high this year, so it would be reasonable to expect much brighter displays than in previous years.

The base iPhone 18 could also have a smaller camera bump compared to previous models. There are reports of a slightly redesigned Dynamic Island on the screen itself, with the pill-shaped notification hub potentially being made smaller in the iPhone 18 models. One alleged leaked image purports to show an iPhone 18 Pro with a downsized Dynamic Island cutout.

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Wondering about the iPhone 18 color options? For the iPhone 18 Pro, at least, it seems the color options have already leaked. Previous rumors indicated Apple was experimenting with a "deep red" color for the iPhone 18 Pro, and a new report from MacWorld backs that up. According to their reporting, the color lineup for the iPhone 18 Pro will be silver, gray, light blue, and a color called "dark cherry" — likely the deep red previously reported.

Sadly, we think fans of black iPhones are out of luck again.

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iPhone 18: rumored hardware features

So we know the software the iPhone 18 will run: iOS 27, introduced at WWDC 2026. Time to start talking about some of the internal hardware changes Apple is reportedly making to the iPhone 18 lineup.

For starters, it sounds like the lineup will have a standardized 12GB RAM count across the board. In previous years, the Pro models had 12GB of RAM, while the base model had only 8GB. According to Korean outlet The Bell, Apple will be upgrading the base model so that it matches the Pro models in that regard. It's also widely expected that Apple will adopt new A20 and A20 Pro chips for the base and Pro models, respectively.

It's also expected that the new iPhones will have a new C2 modem for improved cellular connectivity, and they may also have 5G satellite support. Also reported: a new N2 chip for better WiFi performance.

Latest iPhone 18 Pro rumors

For the iPhone 18 Pro, the current expectation is that Apple will improve the battery size in the premium iPhone 18 models this year.

Leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo reported that the batteries could exceed 5,000mAh, which would be an improvement over the iPhone 17 Pro.

In addition, the smaller camera cutout reportedly applies only to the base model. It's expected that Apple will retain the bigger plateau seen on the iPhone 17 Pro last year for the iPhone 18 Pro.

Instant Digital posted in a separate Weibo leak that the back glass of the iPhone 18 Pro has been altered, resulting in a new unified look, as opposed to the two-tone look of the iPhone 17 Pro. Whether that change will affect durability (or if it's just an aesthetic difference) remains to be seen.

What about the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

Several reports out of China say the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a much larger battery — and be a bit of a chunky boy as a result.

We're not talking about a huge increase in weight and width: a quarter of a millimeter thickness and 7 grams more respectively. Still, every gram counts on the heftiest iPhone model you can get — so iPhone 17 Pro Max upgraders may want to check that their pocket linings can bear the larger bulk of the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

The iPhone 17 Pro has helped Apple break sales records in 2026. Credit: Stan Schroeder / Mashable

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iPhone 18 camera rumors

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a source of many spot-on iPhone reports, says the iPhone 18 Pro, in particular, will have "some of the biggest camera hardware upgrades in the lineup's history."

Why? First, the telephoto camera has a larger aperture. But more important is the variable aperture.

First reported by Digital Chat Station on Weibo, variable aperture is a huge deal. It would let the iPhone 18 Pro camera capture different amounts of light for different situations — potentially leading to a huge leap in photo quality, if you know what you're doing.

For instance, the bokeh effect famously associated with portrait mode on iPhones would be possible in-camera rather than through software processing, resulting in more natural and generally better-looking shots.

What about AI Siri?

Of course, one of the first things many users will want to know about the iPhone 18 when they get their hands on one: what is the new, revamped, AI-upgraded Siri experience like?

We've been waiting for the answer for some time. Apple first promised users a newer, smarter, Apple Intelligence-powered Siri two years ago, and the company has since faced lawsuits after it failed to deliver. (The company settled a class action suit related to these claims for $250 million.)

Well, post-WWDC, we know a lot more about Apple Intelligence in general. We know Siri will understand what's on your screen. We know Siri will be smarter in general, powered by Gemini. And as Apple daddy Craig Federighi has been at pains to point out, AI Siri will not try to suck you into conversations and be your friend.

"Siri really wants to say, 'I can help you get things done. I can help you learn about the world," Federighi said. "But if you try to engage Siri as a romantic partner, Siri's not up for that. Siri's 100 percent not into that."

There you have it: If you want to fall in love with an Apple product, fall in love with the all-new iPhone 18, not its chatbot.

The best refurbished phone deals at a glance:

---

Best iPhone deal

Apple iPhone 16 (256GB)

$749.99 (save $30)

Get Deal

---

Best Google Pixel deal

Google Pixel 8 (128GB)

$279.99

Get Deal

---

Best Samsung Galaxy deal

Samsung Galaxy A16 (128GB)

$134.44 (save $45.55)

Get Deal

---

Best Motorola deal

Motorola Moto Razr (256GB)

$237.78 (save $181.01)

Get Deal

If you've been thinking about upgrading your phone, you've probably noticed one thing: it's getting expensive. Between Ramageddon driving up memory costs, Apple raising prices across parts of its lineup, and electronics becoming pricier across the board, buying a brand-new flagship isn't as easy on the wallet as it used to be.

People aren't rushing to buy new phones right now — and higher prices are a big reason why. If you're looking for an upgrade without the sticker shock, a refurbished phone is one of the easiest ways to save.

We've rounded up the best refurbished phone deals available right now, so you can upgrade without paying full price for a brand-new device. However, some of the deals below are sold by trusted third-party retailers on Amazon. We've prioritized offers from sellers with strong ratings and clear return policies.

Best iPhone deal

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Credit: Apple

Apple iPhone 16 (256GB)

$749.99 at Amazon
$779.99 Save $30

 

Get Deal

Why we like it

The iPhone 16 still feels like a modern flagship without the flagship price. It packs Apple's A18 chip with Apple Intelligence support, a sharp 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, and a capable 48MP main camera that handles everything from everyday snapshots to 4K video. Since it's unlocked, you can use it with virtually any major carrier, and this refurbished model comes with 256GB of storage, giving you plenty of room for apps, photos, and videos. It's an easy pick if you want a recent iPhone experience while saving hundreds compared with buying new.

More refurbished iPhone deals

• Apple iPhone 12 — $194

• Apple iPhone 14 — $299.98

• Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max —$809

Best Google Pixel deal

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Credit: Google

Google Pixel 8 (128GB)

$279.99 at Amazon

 

Get Deal

Why we like it

The Google Pixel 8 gives you a lot of what people still look for in a modern phone without the usual flagship price. It has a 6.2-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, Google’s Tensor G3 chip, 8GB of RAM, and a dual-camera system with a 50-megapixel main sensor and Google’s photo tools like Magic Eraser and Night Sight. You also get an unlocked phone that works with major carriers, plus Google’s security and Pixel Drop updates.

More refurbished Google Pixel deals

• Google Pixel 7 — $188.77

• Google Pixel 8 — $256.91

Best Samsung Galaxy deal

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy A16 (128GB)

$134.44 at Amazon
$179.99 Save $45.55

 

Get Deal

Why we like it

Not everyone needs a $1,000 phone. The Galaxy A16 5G gives you a bright AMOLED display, dependable all-day battery life, 5G connectivity, and expandable storage for photos, videos, and apps. Add years of software support and a refurbished price, and it's an easy pick for anyone who wants a reliable refurbished Android phone without overspending.

More refurbished Samsung Galaxy deals

• Samsung Galaxy S23+ — $314.99 $449.84 (save $134.85)

• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra — $419.99

Best Motorola deal

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Credit: Motorola

Motorola Moto Razr (256GB)

$237.78 at Amazon
$418.79 Save $181.01

 

Get Deal

Why we like it

Foldables are still expensive, which makes buying renewed a much smarter way to try one. The Motorola Razr (2024) gives you a large 6.9-inch OLED display that folds into a compact design, plus a handy 3.6-inch outer screen for checking notifications, replying to messages, and using apps without opening the phone. You also get a solid 50MP camera, all-day battery life, fast wired charging, and wireless charging, making it one of the best-value foldable phones you can buy for hundreds less than new.

More refurbished Motorola deals

• Motorola Moto G Power — $159.99 $275.50 (save $115.51)

• Motorola Moto Razr+ — $394 $599.99 (save $205.99)