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TL;DR: OneAir Elite Membership offers lifetime access to premium flight deals and personalized alerts, perfect for planning your dream honeymoon — get lifetime access for $69.99.
After you have the perfect wedding, you want the honeymoon of your dreams, too. But finding the right flights can be stressful and expensive. That’s where a OneAir Elite membership comes in, offering a wide selection of business, first, premium, and economy class flight deals to make your post-wedding getaway the best it can be without spending your whole budget on airfare.
Through July 21, you can get a lifetime subscription to a OneAir Elite Plan on sale for $69.99.
OneAir stands out with its AI-powered technology, scanning millions of fares in real time to bring you the best deals quickly and accurately. Personalized deal alerts allow you to tailor your preferences and receive destination-specific notifications, making it easier to find the perfect honeymoon flight for you and your new spouse.
The OneAir mobile app for iOS and Android simplifies searching and booking flights, providing a seamless experience. Unlike other services that redirect you off-site, OneAir keeps everything in one place so you can stay organized.
Backed by customer service and accredited by the International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN), OneAir offers peace of mind and reliability. With the option to choose up to 10 departure airports and get personal flight planning support, OneAir makes your honeymoon travel effortless and enjoyable.
Check one thing off your wedding planning list by taking advantage of this great deal on a lifetime subscription to a OneAir Elite Plan, on sale for $69.99 until July 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Opens in a new window Credit: One Air OneAir Elite Plan: Lifetime Subscription (Save Big on Flights, Hotels & More) $69.98 at The Mashable ShopTL;DR: Save on Microsoft Windows 11 Pro with AI and Copilot capabilities, available for $22.97 through July 21.
Opens in a new window Credit: Retail King Microsoft Windows 11 Pro $22.97 at The Mashable ShopMicrosoft Windows 11 Pro is more than just an operating system — it's a powerful tool designed to boost productivity, security, and user experience. Featuring the advanced Microsoft Copilot, an AI-powered assistant that replaces Cortana, Windows 11 Pro leverages GPT-4 Turbo for natural language interaction, making it feel like you have the premium version of ChatGPT integrated into your system for free!
Upgrade to Windows 11 Pro for just $22.97 through July 21 and take advantage of all these features.
With AI features, Copilot helps you handle a wide range of tasks through simple voice commands. Whether you need to adjust system settings like enabling Bluetooth or dark mode, or launch applications without typing, Copilot has you covered. It also enhances the Paint and Photos apps by allowing you to remove image backgrounds with a click, create AI-generated images, and blur or replace backgrounds. In Microsoft Edge, Copilot can summarize web pages for you, write your emails, and even organize your browser tabs.
For those with refurbished PCs that usually don't come with the latest operating system, Windows 11 Pro brings versatility and upgraded features great for both business and personal use. It offers fast performance, security features like BitLocker encryption and Windows Information Protection, and continuous updates.
Particularly if you're using this OS for business purposes, Windows Hello for Business provides advanced security with multi-factor authentication and support for certificate-based authentication.
Don't miss this opportunity to save on Windows 11 Pro, which is on sale for $22.97 until July 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Looking for more Microsoft deals? Check out these products.
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TL;DR: Give your living room a classy touch with the Dreamscreens 4K Digital Art Gallery on sale for $32.97 (reg. $49.99) through July 21.
Opens in a new window Credit: Dreamscreens Dreamscreens: Turn Your TV into a 4K Digital Art Gallery $32.97 at The Mashable ShopYou're finally throwing that fancy dinner party you've been thinking about since you moved into your house. If you're looking for a way to impress your guests even more, you could turn your TV into an art gallery.
That's exactly what Dreamscreens does, displaying over 500 iconic paintings in 4K quality right on your TV. Through July 21, you can get it on sale for $32.97 (reg. $49.99).
All you need to do is plug the Dream Art Collection drive into the USB slot of your Smart TV, and you can start enjoying an artsy slideshow of timeless masterpieces. Whether you choose to display one painting at a time, play them as a video with background music, or run a continuous slideshow, the crisp 4K images will make you feel like you’re standing in front of the originals at a museum.
With Dreamscreens, you get versatility and ease of use. The collection includes both standard and widescreen versions of each painting, ensuring the best fit for your TV. You can enjoy the paintings in their original size, which might have black bars around them, or opt for the widescreen version that fills your entire screen.
The dual-screen feature enhances compatibility across different devices, making it work seamlessly on smart TVs and digital frames. Just make sure your TV supports NTFS-formatted USB drives, or you can use a media server app to play the slideshow effortlessly.
Show your artsy side with the Dreamscreens 4K Digital Art Gallery available for $32.97 until July 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
TL;DR: Beef up your résumé by learning a new language with Babbel. A lifetime subscription is on sale for $129.97 until July 21.
In today's competitive job market, standing out is crucial. Adding language proficiency to your résumé can significantly increase your marketability. Babbel's lifetime subscription offers access to 14 languages, giving you the tools to learn at your own pace and begin the journey of improving your professional prospects.
Through July 21, you can get lifetime access to Babbel Language Learning discounted to $129.97. The lifetime access means that you can use this program forever, even as you advance in your language learning journey and utilize travel or conversation groups to get you closer to fluency.
Babbel's language courses are designed by experts and tailored to real-life situations, helping you gain practical communication skills. With interactive lessons, speech-recognition technology, and engaging exercises, you can build confidence in your language abilities.
Balancing work, life, and learning can be challenging, but Babbel makes it easier with flexible, self-paced courses. Whether you have 15 minutes or an hour, Babbel's lessons are accessible anytime, anywhere so you can enhance your skill-set without disrupting your busy schedule.
Knowing multiple languages can open doors to international job markets and roles that require bilingual skills — though that's a long journey, you can easily start it today thanks to Babbel. Employers highly value candidates who can communicate effectively with diverse teams and clients. With Babbel, you can gain the linguistic proficiency needed to excel in various industries, from business to tech to customer service!
Ready to start your language learning journey?
Score a lifetime subscription to Babbel Language Learning on sale for $129.97 until July 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Want to keep shopping? Shop for more language-learning deals here.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Opens in a new window Credit: Babbel Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages) $129.97 at The Mashable ShopTL;DR: Set your creativity free with this deal on a MacBook Pro refurb on sale for $369.97 until July 21.
If you're a graphic designer, video editor, or any other type of creative professional or hobbyist, you've probably worked on an Apple computer for most, if not all, of your projects. From the simple interface to the stunning graphics, it's no secret that Macs are the go-to choice.
MacBook Pros, in particular, uphold a high standard for Mac computers in terms of performance and reliability, in addition to the perks that come along with having most Apple products. This refurbished MacBook Pro from 2015 may have a few years on it, but still works just like new. Through July 21, you can get it on sale for $369.97 (reg. $441).
Powered by a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 processor and equipped with 16GB of RAM, this refurbished laptop handles multitasking with ease. Whether you're editing videos, creating graphics, or running demanding applications, the MacBook Pro offers a smooth and efficient workflow. Its 256GB SSD provides fast boot times and ample storage for all your important files and projects.
Its large 15.4-inch Retina display offers stunning visuals with vibrant colors and sharp details, making it a great option for creative professionals and entertainment enthusiasts alike. The integrated Intel Iris Pro Graphics delivers impressive performance for both everyday tasks and intensive graphic work. With its sleek aluminum design, durable structure, and advanced features like the Force Touch trackpad and a long battery life, this MacBook Pro combines style, durability, and functionality.
This MacBook Pro received a grade "B" rating, meaning it may show some cosmetic signs of wear-and-tear, but has been certified to function properly.
Hurry and grab this refurbished 2015 15.4-inch MacBook Pro on sale for $369.97 until July 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Pro (2015) 15.4", i7 2.2GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD (Refurbished) $369.97 at The Mashable ShopScientists have long suspected the moon may harbor dark labyrinths. They now have proof one exists.
In 2010, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a satellite orbiting the moon, captured imagery of an intriguing pit on the moon's surface, in the same region where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed. It was unknown if this was part of greater caverns, but planetary scientists have reanalyzed the spacecraft's observations and determined it is indeed a cave. And elsewhere on the moon, there could be many more.
"We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg," Wes Patterson, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory who coauthored the new research in Nature Astronomy, told Mashable.
SEE ALSO: The U.S. is exploring a railroad for the moon. It has a good reason.These caverns are most likely a lava tube, a geologic phenomenon created by volcanic eruptions. Found in regions around Earth, lava tubes are created by molten rock, or magma, leaking up near or onto a world's surface, and forming these natural tunnels. Tubes form from crusted-over lava, and the conduits are emptied when lava drains out or is diverted elsewhere. You can walk though giant lava tubes on Earth.
To determine if the pit was part of a greater tunnel system, the researchers looked at other data collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, specifically from a radar instrument called the Miniature Radio-Frequency. While flying over the pit in the volcanic plains of Mare Tranquillitatis (popularly called the "Sea of Tranquility"), the spacecraft sent a signal into the opening, which bounced back, ultimately providing (with the help of geometry and computer simulations) evidence of a tunnel at least some 130 feet (40 meters) wide and perhaps as much as 80 meters, or some 260 feet, long. It turns out the pit is actually a skylight.
"This is our first direct evidence of a conduit associated with one of those pits," Patterson said.
To buttress their lunar results, the researchers performed a similar analysis on a lava tube here on Earth. Their process worked.
Different pits observed by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The middle pit in the top row, labeled for the region "Mare Tranquillitatis," leads to the recently identified cave. Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State UniversitySuch a tunnel isn't simply an intriguing geologic find. It could prove vital for future moon exploration, or colonization.
"It is a place that can protect us," Patterson said.
On the moon's surface, astronauts from NASA and other agencies will be threatened by a quadruple whammy of micrometeorites, extreme cold, extreme heat, and radiation — particularly from the sun. The moon lacks an atmosphere, meaning, for example, humans would be exposed to temperatures reaching some 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 Celsius) on the moon's illuminated side. They'll need shelter. (The space agency plans to return astronauts to the moon as soon as late 2026.)
"It is a place that can protect us.""We could build things on the moon that would be just as safe as sitting in a lava tube, but it would take a lot more infrastructure to do so," Patterson noted.
Lava tubes might not be the only caverns on the moon. Conduits created by intense, heat-generating impacts might exist in other regions of the moon, near the poles. But this large lava tube in the Sea of Tranquility might be necessary for a future moon base, or landing area.
And there could be much bigger, or interconnected, caverns out there. What else will future observations, perhaps from future moon-orbiting spacecraft, reveal about the moon's lava tubes?
"They may create extensive networks," Patterson said.
In the latest season of The Bear, cousin Richie insults chef Carmy with a memorable dig during one of their rapid-fire kitchen fights, calling him a "baby replicant who's not self-actualized."
The line, which appears to be a Blade Runner reference, gets a laugh. It also sums up not just Carmy's trajectory over the show's three seasons, but also the frustrating nature of its latest outing. Season 3 leaves its terrific actors and their superbly flawed characters flailing in a tedious study of professional trauma.
In order for Season 4 of The Bear to succeed, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) has to evolve beyond his stunted identity as a tortured chef. His desperation to achieve culinary genius — while ignoring his many psychic wounds — is poisoning everyone else around him, including Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach); his second-in-command, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri); and chef Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas).
In his own way, Carmy could even experience post-traumatic growth, putting him in the company of countless people who've endured hell but over time made something meaningful of their journey.
SEE ALSO: How to watch 'The Bear' online for free: when does Season 3 start streaming?This could be The Bear's plan, but this loyal viewer would be grateful if Season 4 relied far less on heavy-handed repetition, and I'm not alone in that criticism.
The Bear's ambitious stylistic treatment of workplace hazing and its psychological toll, for example, doesn't enlighten. The plot frequently stalls with flashbacks to Carmy's experience in a kitchen where an abusive chef berates and belittles him. These and other scenes from his past play in loops, blurring past and present. He's otherwise personally frozen with fear, unable to apologize to his former girlfriend for cruelly abandoning their relationship.
The redundant flashbacks drag the viewer into a thematic cul-de-sac from which there is no escape. Not even the charming weirdo Fak brothers (Matty Matheson and Ricky Staffieri) or Jon Cena's delightful cameo as a floor-buffing pro can save the most plodding episodes. (Don't say Mashable entertainment reporter Belen Edwards didn't warn you in her expectation-lowering review.)
Carmy does little more than painstakingly assemble dishes only to throw them in the garbage. Viewers could be forgiven for wanting to do the same with the series after this season's 10 episodes.
Feeling trapped may indeed be the point. As Smriti Joshi, chief psychologist at the mental health platform Wysa and a fan of The Bear, pointed out to me in an email, Season 3 begins right after Carmy is freed from the walk-in refrigerator where he spent the final moments of Season 2 temporarily imprisoned by a broken door.
Everything that went wrong during his meltdown there — accidentally rejecting his girlfriend, alienating his family and staff, unwillingly disappearing on the most important night of his life — has plunged Carmy right back into his past trauma.
Joshi, who felt the season's repetitiveness was warranted given Carmy's mental state, told me that his standstill can't realistically come to a quick end. Instead, his icebox reflections result in him feeling even more "haunted" than he did before. In Season 3, being haunted is played for laughs by the Fak brothers, but the idea is clearly more than just comic relief. Intrusive thoughts like the ones Carmy experiences again and again are like ghosts, too.
"Trauma doesn't have a neat resolution, and Carmy's character reflects the messy, often stagnant nature of living with unprocessed pain," Joshi said.
As someone who covers the depiction of mental health in popular culture, I have admired The Bear's handling of the subject. I applauded the first season's sensitive treatment of suicide loss. Watching the second season, I was struck by how certain storylines subtly pressed chaotic characters into a state of mindfulness.
Trauma doesn't have a neat resolution, and Carmy's character reflects the messy, often stagnant nature of living with unprocessed pain. - Smriti Joshi, chief psychologist for WysaI think the effort to take viewers deep inside Carmy's mind was brave, but the season didn't need to pivot so obsessively around his memories for those of us watching to understand that he's stuck in damaging ways, or that he's plagued by intrusive thoughts.
You needn't look farther than the summer blockbuster Inside Out 2 to see a wholly original and moving depiction of emotional and physiological paralysis. The movie's culminating scene, in which a teen girl experiences a panic attack observed both from the outside and from within her own mind, doesn't take more than a few minutes to make its point.
Of course, an animated feature is not a 30-minute television "comedy," but every form of entertainment can draw power from trusting its audience.
I am personally rooting for The Bear's next season to claw its way out of the claustrophobic world it has constructed for its characters. Though permanently trapping Carmy in arrested development may be truer to reality, The Bear's biggest champions watch because they believe that something beautiful can be salvaged from the mess of every character's life.
Hollywood seems to understand the brilliance of The Bear's past seasons, too. On July 17, the show earned a record 23 Emmy nominations for a comedy.
Because of the eligibility calendar, those accolades recognize Season 2, which aired profound episodes of television. These include "Forks," in which Richie arguably becomes self-actualized, and "Fishes," a masterful if tense portrayal of family dysfunction guest starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Carmy's mother, who misuses alcohol in ways that devastate her children.
Barring a couple standout episodes in Season 3, including the return of Curtis in "Ice Chips," I would be surprised if The Bear garners the same awards-season praise next year.
The show is at a crossroads. Liberating it from the oppressive tendencies of Season 3 could look like cutting a path toward post-traumatic growth for Carmy. Joshi said she'd love to see him reframe negative thoughts so that they're more positive and compassionate, and to make the space to process his trauma.
Frank conversations with his mother, Richie, and his sister, Sugar (Abby Elliott), about their difficulties with self-compassion could help too, along with individual grief therapy to fully grapple with the death of his brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal).
"Although it might not make for explosive TV, if Carmy experienced post-traumatic growth, viewers would gain valuable insight into the genuinely difficult work it takes to overcome intertwined grief and trauma," Joshi said.
This may sound too prescriptive, or like a recipe for turning The Bear into a predictable show about the virtues of therapy. But I hope its creators and writers ultimately transform Carmy, slowly but surely, into a fully integrated human being, as Richie might say.
The blueprint for that surfaced this season if you squinted hard enough. Every time Carmy or another character discussed their legacy, in the kitchen or in life, you could see Carmy registering and then suppressing a flicker of recognition that interpersonal conflict could be what he leaves behind, even to those he loves.
But at some point, The Bear has to stop dancing around the menacing titular beast that makes an occasional appearance in Carmy's nightmares.
"In order to grow, Carmy must face the bear in the cage and let him out," Joshi said.
TL;DR: For a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription to SwiftScan VIP, an app that turns your phone into a real-life scanner, on sale for only £37.16 (reg. £154.86) when you use the code SAVENOW.
Opens in a new window Credit: Maple Media SwiftScan VIP: Lifetime Subscription £37.16 at The Mashable ShopGone are the days when your desk looked like an office supply store. Tools like typewriters, calculators, and fax machines have all been booted out by sleek laptops and smartphones. Scanners should have faced the same fate, though, let's be real, the default scanning apps on your phone are subpar at best.
For a limited time, you can get a lifetime subscription to SwiftScan VIP, an app that turns your smartphone into a real-life scanner, on sale for only £37.16 (reg. £154.86). Just be sure to use the discount code SAVENOW at checkout to get this newly discounted pricing.
Highly rated on both the App Store and Google Play, SwiftScan turns your phone into a high-quality scanner. It can handle everything from important printed documents to receipts and the messy notes your professor made on the whiteboard to doodles on a sketchbook. SwiftScan even scans QR codes and barcodes to save contacts, find locations, open websites, and more. It takes only a single tap to create digital files, which you can then export as PDFs or JPGs and easily send via email, upload to the cloud, or even fax.
With a built-in PDF editor, SwiftScan is also capable of annotating notes on a document, adding signatures, redacting or highlighting sections, and removing, adding, or rearranging the order of pages. Plus, with its OCR technology, your scans are searchable, making it easy to find exactly what you need in the digital haystack. You can also organise your scans in folders and rename them with predefined placeholders to make everything clutter-free, even if the files just live inside your phone.
Ditch your clunky scanner. A lifetime subscription to SwiftScan VIP normally goes for £154.86, but you can get it on sale for only £37.16 using the discount code SAVENOW.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.
If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for July 20'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.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.
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 used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.
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 long, narrow part of an arrow or tool.
Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?There are no letters that appear twice.
Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...Today's Wordle starts with the letter S.
SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. 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...
SHAFT.
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 Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
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If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game.
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.
SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer hints for July 20 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for July 20If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: A seat the tableHard to eat without these.
Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explainedThe clue refers to table settings.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.
NYT Strands spangram answer today:Today's spangram is PlaceSetting.
NYT Strands word list for July 20Fork
Plate
Saucer
Spoon
PlaceSetting
Glass
Knife
Napkin
Looking for other daily online games? Find one you might like – or hints for another game you're already playing – on Mashable's Games page.
Connections is the latest New York Times word game 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 July 20'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.
Tweet may have been deletedEach 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.
Tweet may have been deletedPlayers 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 categoriesWant a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Not hard for someone
Green: Putting your all into something
Blue: Charging up
Purple: Interpretations of pop
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Effortless
Green: Exertion
Blue: Energy for an Electronic Device
Purple: What "Pop" Might Mean
Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today's Connections #405 is...
What is the answer to Connections todayEffortless: FLUID, GRACEFUL, NATURAL, SMOOTH
Exertion: EFFORT, LABOR, SWEAT, WORK
Energy for an Electronic Device: BATTERY, CHARGE, JUICE, POWER
What "Pop" Might Mean: BURST, DAD, MAINSTREAM, SODA
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday's Connections.
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Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS, 41mm, Midnight, S/M, Sports Band) — $279.99 (List Price $399.00)
Editor's note: Check out our oft-updated live blog for all new developments about the Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage
Hospitals, airlines, television networks, banks – you name it, it was likely disrupted, delayed, or canceled due to a massive global tech meltdown that took down many companies' systems on Friday.
The worldwide outages began in the very early morning hours in the U.S. and it became very clear right away that the issue was only affecting Windows-based computers and networks. But as it turns out, Microsoft wasn't to blame.
Who was behind the outage? A cybersecurity company out of Austin, Texas called CrowdStrike.
How CrowdStrike took down the Windows computers around the worldCrowdStrike is a well-known company in the cybersecurity space. The company was co-founded by George Kurtz, who was the chief technology officer at the antivirus company McAfee. CrowdStrike is publicly traded and has more than 8,000 employees.
However, CrowdStrike isn't a household name – at least not to the average consumer. That's because the company provides cyberattack protection to businesses. CrowdStrike has emerged as a leading name in cybersecurity, serving many of the world's largest companies. This widespread client base is why the current issue impacts numerous businesses and their customers.
CrowdStrike's mission is to ensure that a company's critical data remains secure from malicious actors and to prevent hackers from disrupting business computer systems through cyberattacks. Yet, as it turns out, a mistake made by CrowdStrike itself ended up taking down the computer systems of many of its global customers.
According to CrowdStrike, an error in a recently pushed out update for one of its products servicing Microsoft Windows computers ended up resulting in a global tech meltdown. The issue appears related to its cloud-based Falcon platform, specifically the Falcon Sensor product, which CrowdStrike says "blocks attacks on your systems while capturing and recording activity as it happens to detect threats fast."
As of publication, we don't yet know exactly how CrowdStrike's error was deployed on live client systems. However, based on the information that is available, cybersecurity experts believe the CrowdStrike update issue is related to a kernel driver-related error. A kernel is essentially the core software component of your computer's operating system.
Usually, if there is an error in an application, a user will find that just that application won't work. However, due to the nature of cybersecurity software requiring deep access to your computer to run efficiently, an error in this type of software could result in your entire computer going down. And that appears to be exactly what happened.
Computer systems around the world are now experiencing the dreaded Windows "blue screen of death."
How long will the CrowdStrike outage last?Once the error was discovered, CrowdStrike actually patched the issue fairly quickly. However, the update was already pushed out and any computer that automatically installed it was quickly affected.
CrowdStrike also provided a fix for those Windows systems that already installed the update. But CrowdStrike can't push out an automatic fix to these computers either. Each affected system must be dealt with individually.
Because each computer needs this individual fix, CrowdStrike CEO Kurtz is warning that it might be awhile before the outage is completely mitigated.
Mashable will continue to monitor the CrowdStrike / Microsoft outage and provide updates as we have them.
Editor's note: Check out our oft-updated live blog for all new developments about the Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage.
It was a truly awful day for CrowdStrike.
There's almost zero chance you missed it, but, in case you did, an issue with a software update from the cybersecurity firm caused a meltdown of the world's IT infrastructure, putting countless Microsoft machines into the Blue Screen of Death. Nearly every industry was affected. Thousands of flights were canceled, hospitals turned away patients, and banks were affected.
Toward the end of the day Friday, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz put out a statement. Though hardly his first for the day, he did delve into a few new territories.
"I want to sincerely apologize directly to all of you for today’s outage," Kurtz wrote in a statement. "All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority."
The apology seems pointed, considering that Kurtz and CrowdStrike were criticized early on Friday for the lack of an apology over the massive issue.
Later, Kurtz noted there could be danger ahead.
He wrote:
"We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives. Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates.
Nothing is more important to me than the trust and confidence that our customers and partners have put into CrowdStrike. As we resolve this incident, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and steps we’re taking to prevent anything like this from happening again."
While the issue on Friday was not a cyberattack, it's interesting to note that the CrowdStrike CEO warned of potential bad actors in the future.
Amandla Stenberg pulls off the ultimate switcheroo in The Acolyte.
Throughout The Acolyte's first season, Stenberg's dual performance as twins Mae and Osha Aniseya walked the line between the Dark Side and the Light. Osha begins the season as a supporter of the Jedi, even though her intense emotions and grief over losing her family led her to be kicked out of the Order. Her sister Mae, on the other hand, starts off as a devotee to a Sith master, hellbent on gaining justice on the Jedi.
SEE ALSO: 'The Acolyte' sticks the landing with a banger of a finale — and I need more, statBut by the end of The Acolyte's showstopping finale, the twins have swapped places. Osha has turned to the Dark Side, killing Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) and becoming the Stranger's (Manny Jacinto) acolyte. In support of her sister's new path, Mae agrees to have her memories wiped, only to wind up in service to the Jedi.
It's a game-changing finale, one that never loses sight of the relationships that drives it. So much of that is owed to Stenberg, who grounds the series in the connection between Osha and Mae. In an interview with Mashable, Stenberg discussed the catharsis the finale offers both twins, direction from showrunner Leslye Headland, and the already beloved ship between Osha and Qimir/the Stranger.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Mashable: The finale of The Acolyte has so many moment that made me stop and go, "Wow, I can't believe we're actually seeing this." So I'd love to know, when you were reading the script, what was the moment that stuck out to you as the showstopper, something you couldn't wait to dive into?
Amandla Stenberg: I think it had to be Osha killing Sol. Leslye said to me, from the very beginning of the show, when we were in pre-production, "It's very important for a woman in a narrative arc to kill her father." [laughs] I was like, "What does that mean?"
At first I didn't understand it. But then, as we continued speaking on it, and I went on Osha's emotional journey with her, it made so much sense to me, because I think it's the metaphorical father that she's facing. It's the things that she has been told that she is, the things she's been told she's not capable of, the suppression of self that she has partook in for most of her life, the emotional repression. All of that is coming to a head in a moment in which it's able to release itself, and it takes the form of this tragedy. Knowing that's where Osha was arriving was always such a rich thing for me to get into as I constructed her arc over the season. How does a person arrive to that point? It just became such a fun question for me to delve into.
SEE ALSO: 'The Acolyte's Darth Plagueis tease raises a huge, silly questionSol's death is also the first moment we see Osha wield a lightsaber and the Force. What did it mean to you to finally take up these iconic elements of Star Wars in this very emotionally charged context?
Oh my God, it was so much fun. I freaked out. In the finale, I get to use a lightsaber and pilot spaceships. That was a dream come true for me; that was all I wanted to do.
It really felt like a culmination of all the work that I've done to sort of graduate — kind of like how Osha is graduating into using a saber.It was very gratifying, because I spent so many of those months training with knives or doing kung fu stunt choreography. So it really felt like a culmination of all the work that I've done to sort of graduate — kind of like how Osha is graduating into using a saber.
Amandla Stenberg in "The Acolyte." Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.I love how in that moment, Mae's reaction to Osha killing Sol is more gentle and understanding than what we've seen from other Dark Side turns in Star Wars. What does her presence and her reaction mean to Osha as she starts down this new path?
I'm so happy to hear that. That was something that felt really important to me when approaching Mae's role in those moments. Whenever you're playing someone, you have to think of them as a person. And I always felt that Mae was driven by a profound sense of loyalty and emotionality and identification with her family and where she comes from. So I kind of had that in my back pocket throughout the season, even when it wasn't revealed why she does the things that she does.
I think that Mae has this deep sense of gratification and release [when Osha kills Sol], both in gaining justice through Osha and also by allowing her sister to be the empowered one in their dynamic. She is used to, since childhood, controlling the power dynamic in their relationship, and she sort of relinquishes that control in that moment. There's a lot of beauty in his death.
SEE ALSO: 9 burning questions we have for 'The Acolyte' Season 2Then there's that wonderful parting moment between Osha and Mae at the tree on Brendok. When it came to shooting, I'm curious to know which side of the scene you chose to perform first, and why.
I think I chose Mae first, because Mae's perspective at that moment just felt very clear to me. I wanted there to be the opportunity for there to be a softness in her. Both sisters, they, in this really satisfying way, get to have these parts of themselves that variables out of their control were preventing them from having until that moment. And I just wanted to think about, "Okay, when Mae has experienced this retribution and this release, what parts of her do we get to see?" It felt very important to me that there was a softness and a protectiveness that she felt over her sister, because she's always been motivated by her love for her family. That just felt very simple to me.
Both sisters...get to have these parts of themselves that variables out of their control were preventing them from having until that moment.And then Osha is going through it. [laughs] Homegirl is in the trenches. I knew that Mae was going to be the supportive, guiding force in that moment, so I let that performance guide what Osha did.
Osha is going through such quick successions of change, while also being embodied. For me, it really felt like her embodiment was going to look like her allowing herself to feel things, which is just what the Dark Side is. It's unchecked emotionality. Her journey is her having this stifled sense of self and being so afraid of her emotions, to then getting to the place where she's allowed to feel and release.
Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto in "The Acolyte." Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.Speaking of the Dark Side and emotions, I know a lot of viewers have latched onto the Oshamir ship. I know I was really excited to see that hand-hold play out. What are your thoughts on how things shake out for them here, and what the future might hold?
It's been really cool to see how into Oshamir people are, because we didn't necessarily know how people were going to respond to it.
Originally, the romantic arc was a much more significant part of the finale. We had this whole debate around, "Should they kiss? What should happen?" And we just wanted to prioritize Osha's choice of going to the Dark Side feeling more autonomous. That was something that Leslye always spoke to. She said, "I don't want it to feel like Osha was manipulated into making this choice. I don't want it to feel like it was something that was out of her control. I want it to feel like this was a choice that he made for herself, after she had all the information finally available to her."
We just wanted to prioritize Osha's choice of going to the Dark Side feeling more autonomous.So it became more important for us to prioritize the ideological alignment that's happening between Osha and Qimir, and that Osha is finally acknowledged and seen in a deep way, allowed to be who she truly is by this other person. To me, that felt so much more romantically significant than any sort of physical intimacy could be.
There's a little violin melody in that final moment, and I know that you play the violin. Were you approached to play that?
No, I wish I could say that was me; that would be so cool!
I got the chance to play a piece by John Williams on my violin, which was just a piece of video that we made as we were promoting the show. But I don't think anyone was really aware I played violin up until that point. Then our music supervisor came up to me at the premiere and was like, "What the hell! I would have gotten you into the studio months ago!" So if we have the opportunity to go back, maybe that would be something we could explore.
All episodes of The Acolyte Season 1 are now streaming on Disney+.
Editor's note: Check out our oft-updated live blog for all new developments about the Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage.
Updating your system is imperative to keeping it safe from cyber attacks and other threats. But sometimes it goes wrong — like it did late this week.
CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company that protects companies and users from cyberattacks, made a mistake, leading to a global meltdown. Users with Windows computers saw the "blue screen of death", flights were grounded, banks went dark, and websites shut down.
"This was an update to the software that got pushed out to its company's clientele around the world, but particularly those that were using Windows servers, and within a certain time period," Derrick Cogburn, a professor at American University, the Executive Director of the AU Institute on Disability and Public Policy, and the Faculty Co-Director of the Internet Governance Lab, told Mashable. "So it wasn't everybody that uses CrowdStrike, but a pretty sizable set of the community."
Cogburn said it affected a connected network of companies that were just trying to do the right thing and protect themselves and their users. But "when a provider like CrowdStrike has a problem with an update, it can ripple throughout the industry globally."
"As we have raised awareness about cybersecurity, more companies and organizations have worked to protect themselves," Cogburn said. "CrowdStrike is one of the best companies out there at protecting companies and organizations from a variety of cyberattacks."
This was, of course, not a cyberattack — it appears to have been a mistake in an update — but these are the same kinds of issues that could arise from a cyberattack. Since CrowdStrike has positioned itself as the leading third-party company that provides safeguards against cyberthreats, many companies have adopted its services. Cogburn argues that CrowdStrike does a good job at combating those attacks — but it made one grave mistake that caused widespread mayhem. Too many companies are integrated with the same tool. When it fails, an entire global network of companies are affected.
How did one software update silence so many systems?"The incident is a great example of the cascading failures that can occur given our relatively homogenous systems that comprise the backbone of IT infrastructure," Gregory Falco, cybersecurity expert and assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University, said over email.
Rory Mir, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Associate Director of Community Organizing, told Mashable that these digital systems can't be perfect all the time. We rely on them to safeguard our sites, but they "are going to fail at some point," whether from deliberate attack or a simple mistake.
"The problem is that we're really stuck in a digital monoculture, where decades of anti-competitive practices have created it so that just one system is responsible for so much of what we rely on from everything from airlines to hospitals to schools," Mir said. "One mistake that creates a big failure, it happens, it's an inevitability. But for it to have this sort of impact is a policy failure."
Who does this affect most?Every time a disaster occurs, we're reminded that those most at risk are also those who are affected the most deeply by these kinds of systemic failures.
"Something we regularly see with any sort of system failure, things like malware attacks and data breaches, even if the nature of the failure affects everyone across the board, frankly people's resiliency and ability to cope with these things do have a disparate impact," Mir said. "People that have enough money to have backup systems and maybe can get another hotel so they can wait for another flight or something are more able to make it through this sort of disaster."
Ultimately, access to technology is expensive. And knowing how technology works is, as Mir says, "privileged knowledge."
"When you have something like this that's so widespread, you sometimes don't think about all of the unintended consequences," Cogburn said. You think about airlines and TV stations, but you might not immediately think about how SNAP EBT is affected (it was shut down for hours) or food services and educational services. While some people are able to pivot easily and drive to the office instead of working from home, others don't have that luxury.
"For people that have more limited options, if they're relying on connected devices [and] connected services, and those are shut off they may not have the kind of flexibility to pivot into a more face-to-face environment or face-to-face space," Cogburn said. "So I think that's one of the ways that underserved populations are being affected."
Smaller businesses might be hit harder than larger companies who can "weather the storm a little bit easier," Cogburn explained, because they don't have the same kind of resources to draw from.
Inevitably, it might lead to some people not trusting systems like CrowdStrike at all which, Cogburn argues, is "really dangerous." Think about how often you don't want to update your phone, but are then vulnerable to bugs and attacks — then scale that up by 100.
"You leave yourself incredibly vulnerable to the reason that the patch was developed in the first place," Cogburn said.
How can we make sure this doesn't happen again?These kinds of failures are a bit of an inevitability, but their effects on society doesn't have to be. Mir argues that the widespread nature of this issue is due to a lack of antitrust enforcement by the likes of the DOJ and state attorneys general.
"So far, antitrust laws have really been focused on lowering prices for consumers, which is great and all, but it's also created this monoculture where it might just be one big company that offers a cheap deal, but then it becomes this huge single point of failure. And we can get this Y2K like scenario," Mir said.
Mir is hopeful that this massive and unprecedented failure will lead to legislative change.
"This is largely a failure from the antitrust enforcers themselves — the DOJ, the FTC, the Attorneys General — but I think hopefully this disaster will be a wake up call for all of them and potentially for legislators to make sure antitrust laws are working in the consumers and for reasons beyond lowering prices," Mir said.
Ultimately, this was an unprecedented failure. But, in some ways, we were lucky — it wasn't a cyberattack. We might not be so lucky next time, so we need to address it now — before it's too late.
Instagram is cluttering up our feeds again as the app expands its Notes feature directly to grid posts and Reels. Why? Because apparently commenting on posts isn't enough.
SEE ALSO: Microsoft outage updates: Crowdstrike issue still wreaking havoc despite fixNow users can add tiny floating Notes bubbles, which disappear in three days unless deleted, on top of videos and photos. The somewhat hidden Notes appear above comment sections and have a customizable audience. Users can choose who can see their Notes on posts — like only their Close Friends or followers that follow them back — which means the feature is well suited for those inside jokes or personal opinions you may not want to appear on public comment sections.
But this also means that others can post Notes on your posts (and even tag their friends or hold conversations) without the poster's knowledge, the Verge reported.
Credit: Screenshot / InstagramInstagram Notes were first introduced in 2022 as a way to encourage users to interact with their friends and followers beyond posts and stories, and to match the blueprint of Myspace and AIM away messages. Traditional Notes appear at the top of your chat log and disappear in 24 hours.
The feature was slow to gain hype among users, however, with the latest update prompting concern among some. Several accounts on Twitter have reported the surfacing of both consensual and nonconsensual pornographic Reels on their timelines, allegedly because posts with added Notes are getting an early launch algorithmic boost. Others have reported more content from strangers appearing on their feeds, most likely because they have unseen connections with other followers or commenters.
Just last month, a Wall Street Journal investigation found that the app was still recommending sexual content to minors via Reels, despite content control limits.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedFor users at large, such highly incentivized private engagement has others concerned about the feature's potential for online harassment or cyber bulling.
Earlier this year, Instagram expanded Notes with new music features and later added the ability to reply to Notes with follower prompts — both bids to get more users engaging with the feature.
How to use new Notes on Reels Credit: Instagram Credit: InstagramClick on the airplane icon on the bottom left corner of the post.
Tap "Add Note" in the bottom left corner.
Type your Note. Manage audience preferences by selecting the drop down arrow next to "Share with."
Hit share.
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