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AirPods deals are kicking off ahead of October's Prime Day — even on the new AirPods 4

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 13:46

The best AirPods deals are already pouring in ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. Check out our top picks:

Best AirPods deals ahead of Prime Day 2 Best noise-cancelling AirPods deal Apple AirPods Pro 2 $189.99 at Amazon (Save $59.01) Get Deal Best AirPods under $100 AirPods (2nd generation) $89 at Amazon (Save $40) Get Deal Best over-ear deal Apple AirPods Max (Lightning) $429 at Amazon (Save $120) Get Deal

Apple's AirPods are notoriously expensive — but they're popular for a reason. If you want to see what all the fuss is about without (completely) breaking the bank, shopping events like Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days can be a great time to pick up a pair of the headphones.

Though the October Prime-member exclusive sale doesn't officially kick off until Tuesday, Oct. 8, the AirPod deals are already rolling in — even on the newly released AirPods 4.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about Amazon's October Prime Day sale: Official dates, the competition, and more

Older models are also getting some pretty decent deals — the AirPods Pro are down to $189.99, while the AirPods Max with a Lightning charger are down to $429. Neither are at their record-low prices, but both discounts are still significant, and not likely to induce too much buyers' remorse if their prices drop down even further.

Below, you'll find our complete list of the best AirPod deals ahead of Prime Day. For folks who aren't married to the fruit brand, you'll also find plenty of more deals on headphones ahead of Prime Day here.

Best AirPods deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods Pro 2 $189.99 at Amazon
$249.00 Save $59.01 Get Deal Why we like it

Check out our full review of the AirPods Pro.

The AirPods Pro may no longer be the only Apple earbuds with active noise cancellation, but we still think they're the best from the line. At $189.99, they're just a little over $20 more than the AirPods 4 with noise cancellation, but offer the seal of an in-canal fit (and interchangeable ear tips), which helps with both getting the most out of noise cancellation and the sound quality. "Sealed-off ear canals make for better audio balance and bass response, period," writes Tim Gideon at our sister site PCMag (also owned by publisher Ziff Davis). Plus, the Pros offer more battery life per charge.

More early AirPods deals

Meta Unveils New Virtual Reality Headset and Other Products

NYT Technology - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 13:45
At an event in Silicon Valley, Meta exhibited a range of products meant to blend the real world and virtual reality, with a healthy dose of A.I.

Save up to 36% on mesh WiFi systems and routers ahead of October Prime Day

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 13:40

A new router or a mesh WiFi system can be a solution if you deal with an unreliable internet connection, or you've noticed areas of your home that don't get solid coverage. If you're in the market for an upgrade, here are some deals already live before the official kickoff of Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days.

Best routers and mesh WiFi deals at Amazon Best router deal Google Nest WiFi Pro (Fog) $134.99 at Amazon (save $65) Get Deal Best mesh WiFi system for performance Netgear Orbi Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi System (WiFi 6, 2-pack) $397 at Amazon (save $227.99) Get Deal Best mesh WiFi system under $100 TP-Link Deco X15 Mesh WiFi System $99.99 at Amazon (save $20) Get Deal

Amazon's third major sale of the year, Prime Big Deal Days, is set for Oct. 8 and 9. We're expecting to see some nice deals on Amazon devices, headphones, Kindles, and more — but it's unlikely that you'll need to wait until the official date to get some serious savings.

If you're shopping for a mesh WiFi system or need an updated router that supports quicker speeds, we've spotted a few deals that are worth checking out even before the big sale kicks off.

Best router deal Opens in a new window Credit: Google Our pick: Google Nest WiFi Pro (Fog) $134.99 at Amazon
$199.99 Save $65.00 Get Deal Why we like it

The Fog colorway of the Google Nest WiFi Pro router is on sale at Amazon for just $134.99, which works out to a 33% discount off the usual price of $199.99. As long as you don't mind the pale blue tone, you're in for a great savings.

The Google Nest WiFi Pro is a tri-band router that provides coverage over an area of up to 2,200 square feet. The router is designed to automatically adjust performance and speed to give priority to important tasks like video calls. Plus, it can support speedy 6E coverage.

With help from the free Google Home app, setting up the router should be a simple process. You can also run speed tests through the app or monitor connected devices while you're not at home.

Best mesh WiFi system for performance Opens in a new window Credit: Netgear Our pick: Netgear Orbi Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi System (WiFi 6, 2-pack) $397.00 at Amazon
$624.99 Save $227.99 Get Deal Why we like it

Mashable's roundup of the best mesh WiFi systems notes performance doesn't get any better than with the Netgear Orbi Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi system. Mashable clocked speeds of nearly 900 Mbps in close range and 666 Mbps while 75 feet away.

The two-pack system comes with one satellite extender and can cover an area of up to 5,000 square feet and 100 devices. Netgear mentions that set-up take just minutes, connecting to your existing modem.

This system usually sells for $624.99, but thanks to this early October Prime Day sale, it's just $399.

Best mesh WiFi system under $100 Opens in a new window Credit: TP-Link Our pick: TP-Link Deco X15 Mesh WiFi System $99.99 at Amazon
$119.99 Save $20.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Need a better connection while staying within the budget? Check out the TP-Link Deco X15 Mesh WiFi system which is on sale for just $99.99 for a 17% discount off the normal price of $119.99. For that sale price, you'll get coverage that can extend up to 3,900 square feet on 5 GHz or 2.4 GHz. The system comes with two Deco X15 gigabit ports, supporting up to 120 devices in total. Plus each port contains two Ethernet connections, so you'll have flexibility with the mesh system should you prefer to plug in your PC or gaming console.

Samsung Galaxy deals are already popping off ahead of October Prime Day

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 13:05

Explore the best Samsung Galaxy deals already live at Amazon ahead of Prime Big Deal Days:

The best early October Prime Day Samsung Galaxy deals at a glance: BEST GALAXY BOOK DEAL Samsung 16-inch Galaxy Book4 Pro (Intel Core 7 Ultra, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) $1,399.99 at Amazon (save $350) Get Deal BEST GALAXY BUDS DEAL Samsung Galaxy Buds FE $67.99 at Amazon (save $32) Get Deal BEST GALAXY PHONE DEAL Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 AI (Unlocked, 256GB) $1,499.99 at Amazon (save $400) Get Deal BEST GALAXY TAB DEAL Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ (512GB, WiFi) $819 at Amazon (save $300.99) Get Deal BEST GALAXY WATCH DEAL Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 (Bluetooth, 40mm) $195.86 at Amazon (save $104.13) Get Deal

The second Prime Day event of the year, dubbed Prime Big Deal Days, is around the corner. It officially kicks off Oct. 8, but in the typical Amazon fashion, there are already plenty of deals to shop — especially on Samsung Galaxy products.

It's no surprise, really, as Samsung is one of the brands we usually see major discounts on during big shopping events. July's Prime Day aligned with Galaxy Unpacked, which made the perfect recipe for heavily discounted Samsung products. This time around, we're hoping some of those new product launches from July will get the Prime Day treatment — particularly the near-perfect Galaxy Ring. We'll also be keeping our eyes peeled for new lows on the Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6.

We're tracking the best Samsung Galaxy deals below ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, which includes the Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Book, Galaxy Buds, Galaxy Watch, and of course, Galaxy phones. As the official savings event nears, we'll be updating the list with the latest and greatest deals — so stay tuned.

Best Galaxy Book deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Our pick: Samsung 16-inch Galaxy Book4 Pro $1,399.99 at Amazon
$1,749.99 Save $350.00 (Intel Core 7 Ultra, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) Get Deal Why we like it

Released early this year, the Samsung 16-inch Galaxy Book4 Pro packs all the bells and whistles (an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU with Intel Arc Graphics, a 3K AMOLED touchscreen, AKG Quad speakers, a new Knox security chip). The 16-inch base model has 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 21-hour battery life and typically retails at a staggering $1,749.99. Ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, however, you can slash $350 off and pick it up for $1,399.99. That's just $50 more than the current price of the 14-inch base model, which means you get two extra inches of screen real estate, a faster processor, and double the storage for just $50 extra.

More Galaxy Book deals

While there are currently no other Galaxy Book deals live at Amazon, we're expecting more to pop up as Prime Big Deal Days approaches. Stay tuned.

Best Galaxy Buds deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Our pick: Samsung Galaxy Buds FE $67.99 at Amazon
$99.99 Save $32.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Mashable's RJ Andersen reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE and was pleasantly surprised, noting that even Apple users should consider them. "The sound quality from the Galaxy Buds FE is unmatched for earbuds at this price range," they wrote, adding that the customizable fit, solid battery life, and great active noise cancellation are all major selling points for these buds. Usually $99.99, you can grab a pair ahead of October Prime Day for only $67.99. That's 32% in savings and their lowest price on record.

More Galaxy Buds dealsBest Galaxy phone deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Our pick: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 AI (256 GB) $1,499.99 at Amazon
$1,899.99 Save $400.00 Unlocked Get Deal Why we like it

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a beast of a phone. It keeps the same winning formula from the Z Fold 5 (which we loved) when it comes to fundamentals, but makes a few tweaks and adds extras that improve on the design. Those include a thinner, wider, and brighter display with enhanced resolution, a boost in Snapdragon power, and a boat load of AI-powered tools from the Galaxy AI suite. It usually starts at $1,899.99, but ahead of the Prime Big Deal Days event, you can slash the price on the 256GB, unlocked model down to $1,499.99 instead.

More Galaxy phone dealsBest Galaxy Tab deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Our pick: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+ $819.00 at Amazon
$1,119.99 Save $300.99 (512GB, WiFi) Get Deal Why we like it

Samsung's second most powerful tablet (the first would be the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra), the Galaxy Tab S9+ with 512GB, is sitting at a record-low $819 at Amazon ahead of the major shopping event. The 12.4-inch tablet features the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, a new Dynamic AMOLED 2X 12.4-inch display, and an IP68 water- and dust-proof rating (a first for the Galaxy Tab S). Our sister site at PCMag (we share the same publisher, Ziff Davis) tested out the S9+ and dubbed it a "great alternative to the iPad Pro, especially for Windows users."

More Galaxy Tab dealsBest Galaxy Watch deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Our pick: Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 $195.86 at Amazon
$299.99 Save $104.13 (Bluetooth, 40mm) Get Deal Why we like it

Since it's no longer the latest and greatest smartwatch in the Samsung Galaxy lineup (that would be the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra), we've been seeing some pretty sweet deals on the Galaxy Watch 6. Ahead of the October Prime Day event, you can pick up the 40mm version with Bluetooth for only $195.86, which is 35% in savings and a new record-low (by about $1). The sixth installment of the Galaxy Watch was named the "king of the Android smartwatch mountain" by Mashable Tech Reporter Alex Perry when it launched last year. It features improved sleep and fitness features over its predecessor, including a nuanced breakdown of sleep habits, sleep coaching, personalized heart rate zones, and irregular heart rate notifications. It also lasts longer on a single charge and has a 20 percent larger display than previous models.

More Galaxy Watch deals

YouTube's new AI chatbot: Ask what videos are about so you don't have to watch them

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 13:01

A little over a week after Google’s “Made by YouTube” event, the company is starting to roll out its conversational AI chatbot on the platform.

Dubbed the “Ask” button, this new generative AI feature is currently available exclusively to YouTube Premium subscribers on Android.

First teased late last year, the "Ask" button is a mobile-only tool that allows users to interact with the videos they're watching in a whole new way. According to a demo posted by YouTube on X (formerly known as Twitter), the AI can, for instance, pull up an ingredient list from a cooking tutorial or provide more details about a music video.

Tweet may have been deleted How to access the YouTube 'AI ask' feature

For anyone eager to try out YouTube’s new AI feature, there’s a catch: it’s not available on every video. According to YouTube’s support page, the “Ask” button only works on “select English videos,” which means it’s accessible on just 28% of the platform's nearly 3.9 billion videos — so good luck tracking those down.

On the bright side, if you’re not a YouTube Premium subscriber, the AI tool is still available on some academic learning videos, giving non-paying users a limited chance to experience it firsthand. The Ask button appears below the video player as a pill-shaped option next to the Share button. However, it has also been spotted as a swipeable option within the comments box.

As mentioned above, the tool is also only available on Android devices, with no word yet on whether it's coming to web or iOS.

Is Google Fitbit in trouble? Website shutdown revitalizes concern about the brand's future

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 12:48

Is Fitbit in trouble?

9to5Google spotted that Fitbit.com, the official website for the popular brand of wearable fitness trackers, is not long for this world. At the top of the page is a new message stating that the site's functions will move to the Google Store on Oct. 1.

This came only about six months after Google updated the site's branding to read "Google Fitbit" instead of "Fitbit by Google."

SEE ALSO: We're already seeing price drops on select Fitbit models ahead of October Prime Day Is FitBit in danger?

Back in July, Google shut down the popular web interface for looking at Fitbit health metrics, forcing users to use a mobile app that, at least at the time, didn't have as many features as the web interface.

In mid-August, Engadget claimed that Google is demoting the Fitbit brand to focus on minimalist, fitness trackers with long battery life instead of high-end smartwatches that are full of wide-ranging features. A few days later, TechRadar claimed that Google "quietly confirmed" that it will stop producing FitBit Versa and Sense models.

However, in a statement to Ars Technica, Google claimed that TechRadar's reporting was "inaccurate," adding the following:

"We are very committed to Fitbit, and even more importantly to the customers that use and depend on those products and technology. It's also worth noting that many of the health and fitness features we launched in Pixel Watch 3 were because of Fitbit's innovation and ground-breaking fitness advancements. In addition, we just launched Fitbit Ace LTE, and you’ll continue to see new products and innovation from Fitbit."

Based on these reports, it appears that Google is prioritizing the Pixel Watch series while gradually shifting away from the Fitbit "smartwatches," focusing instead on simpler Fitbit fitness trackers. As such, FitBit.com is likely getting shutdown because it'd be redundant; Google can simply sell Fitbit wearables via the Google Store.

Google bought Fitbit for $2.1 billion in 2019 and hasn't manufactured any new Fitbit watches since 2022. If you go to the Fitbit product page in the Google store, the Pixel Watch 3 (which is made to work with the Fitbit Premium subscription service) takes precedence over actual Fitbit models.

This is speculation, but it looks like the move here is to encourage Fitbit users to buy Pixel Watches instead. That's Google's prerogative, but longtime Fitbit users also have the right to be unhappy about it.

The best early October Prime Day tablet deals highlight Fire models, Galaxy Tabs, and some sneaky iPads

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 12:45

Scope out the best tablet deals from Apple, Amazon, and Samsung ahead of Prime Big Deal Days:

The best early October Prime Day tablet deals at a glance: Best Apple iPad deal Apple iPad, 10.2-inch (A13 Bionic, 64GB, WiFi) $199 at Amazon (save $130) Get Deal Best Amazon Fire tablet deal Amazon Fire HD 8 (64GB) $59.99 at Amazon (save $70) Get Deal Best Samsung Galaxy Tab deal Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE (WiFi, 128GB) $349.99 at Amazon (save $100) Get Deal

Amazon has released an opening wave of official early offers ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, its members-only "October Prime Day" sale (set for Oct. 8 and 9), and it includes a small selection of tablet discounts.

The biggest markdowns so far are going to Amazon's own Fire tablets (not at all shocking), two of which have fallen to all-time lows. They're even cheaper now than they were during the retailer's flagship Prime Day sale in July.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about Amazon's October Prime Day sale: Official dates, the competition, and more

We've also spotted deals on two Samsung Galaxy Tabs: At the time of writing, Amazon was undercutting the actual Samsung website's pricing on both of them. That said, we've seen them get even cheaper before, so consider waiting to add them to your cart until Prime Big Deal Days actually starts (unless you desperately need a new tablet stat).

iPad deals are, of course, the elephant in the room. While Amazon hasn't technically included any Apple tablets in its formal pre-Prime Big Deal Days programming yet, four models are separately on sale there at record-low prices this week, so we think they're worth mentioning. (Branding aside, a bargain's a bargain.) Read on to learn more about them and all the other tablets deals up for grabs ahead of Prime Day 2.0.

Note: Deals marked with a 🔥 have dropped to an all-time low price.

Best Apple iPad deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Our pick: Apple iPad, 10.2-inch (A13 Bionic, 64GB, WiFi) $199.00 at Amazon
$329.00 Save $130.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Apple's ninth-generation iPad has a lightweight design that includes a bright 10.2-inch Retina display, an A13 Bionic chip, Touch ID, and a 12MP Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage support. If you're someone who doesn't need the oomph of a current-gen tablet, and you don't mind carrying around a spare lightning charging cable, it's a decent value — now more than ever.

The 64GB base configuration is currently on sale on Amazon for $199, which is 40% off and its lowest price ever. (Best Buy was matching it when we last checked.) Apple devices rarely see discounts that high, so it's tough to imagine this guy getting any cheaper come Prime Big Deal Days.

More Apple iPads on saleBest Amazon Fire tablet deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Our pick: Amazon Fire HD 8 (64GB) 🔥 $59.99 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $70.00 Get Deal Why we like it

This 8-inch Fire tablet from 2022 features a clear HD display, a battery life of up to 13 hours, and a built-in Alexa assistant that responds to voice commands. It's certainly not the most powerful tablet out there, but it's a good option for shoppers who prioritize portability (and affordability).

Amazon has the 64GB model on sale for just $59.99 in the lead-up to Prime Big Deal Days. (The 32GB base model is only available used.) That's a whopping 54% off its usual sticker price of $129.99 and its biggest discount since launch; it now costs the same as the 16GB Amazon Fire 7, which has a dinkier non-HD display and a 10-hour battery life.

More Fire tablets on saleBest Samsung Galaxy Tab deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE (WiFi, 128GB) $349.99 at Amazon
$449.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Samsung's 10.9-inch Android mid-ranger has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance and supposedly lasts up to 18 hours per charge. It also comes with an S Pen stylus, so you can use it for doodling and note-taking (without needing to spend more money on extra accessories).

The Galaxy Tab S9 FE is stuck at full price on Samsung's website, but Amazon currently has the 128GB base variant on sale for $349.99, or $100 off. (Note that Best Buy is matching that offer.) Keep in mind that it fell to around $330 earlier this month, so you may want to off on buying it until Prime Big Deal Days begins in case it returns to that pricing.

More Samsung Galaxy Tabs on sale

Need a printer? Amazon's early October Prime Day prices are worth a look.

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 12:31

Shop the best early Prime Big Deal Days printer deals now:

Early Prime Day printer deals: Best printer deal overall HP DeskJet 4255e $69.99 at Amazon (save $30 ) Get Deal Best for business HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e $159.99 at Amazon (save $65) Get Deal Best budget pick Canon PIXMA TS6420a $59 at Amazon (save $70.99) Get Deal

It’s that time of year again — Amazon’s gearing up for Prime Day ~fall edition~ (aka Prime Big Deal Days), which means there will be deals and discounts on hundreds of items leading up to the big event.

October’s Prime Day event is officially October 8 and 9, but the retailer’s already running early discounts on everything from laptops to home goods, including some pretty sweet deals on printers. Whether you need a simple, basic printer for occasional home use or something to help you run your side hustle or small business, now’s a good time to shop for a new one.

Here are the best early Prime Day printer deals we could find this week:

Best printer deal overall Opens in a new window Credit: HP Our pick: HP DeskJet 4255e $69.99 at Amazon
$99.99 Save $30.00 Get Deal Why we like it

The HP DeskJet 4255e all-in-one wireless color inkjet printer can print, scan, copy, and fax. It also comes with three months’ worth of ink through HP+. You just have to activate your subscription to get it; it's pretty easy to do through the app.

This compact printer is ideal for at-home printing or dorm room use. The sheet tray holds 60 sheets at a time and can print color pages at up to five pages per minute.

Best for business Opens in a new window Credit: HP Our pick: HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e $159.99 at Amazon
$224.99 Save $65.00 Get Deal Why we like it

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is a more serious printer. This all-in-one model can print, scan, copy, and fax. It also has auto two-sided printing to help save paper.

With an auto document feeder, 225-sheet input tray, and a printing speed of up to 10 color pages per minute, it can handle everything from making fliers to printing client documents. The touchscreen display makes it easy to use and the HP Wolf Essential Security helps protect sensitive info.

You’ll get three months’ worth of ink with this one, too, through HP+.

Best budget pick Opens in a new window Credit: Canon Our pick: Canon PIXMA TS6420a $59.00 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $70.99 Get Deal Why we like it

The Canon PIXMA TS6420a is a seemingly basic printer, but it’s still an all-in-one model that works with Alexa. You can copy, print, and scan with this one. It also has auto two-sided printing, a nice feature to have for under $60.

It has a print speed of six pages per minute, is Apple AirPrint-compatible, and can connect wirelessly via WiFi or Bluetooth so you can print on the go.

If you want to save a little more, the Canon PIXMA MG3620 is only $49 and comes in black, red, or white. It's an all-in-one color inkjet printer with mobile and tablet printing capabilities.

More printer deals

October Prime Day is just around the corner: Here are the Apple Watches you can already grab on sale

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 12:05

The best Apple Watch deals ahead of Prime Big Deal Days are here:

Best Apple Watch deals ahead of Prime Day Best Series 9 deal Apple Watch Series 9 (45mm, GPS) $329 at Amazon (Save $100) Get Deal Best Series 10 deal Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm, GPS) $369 at Amazon (Save $30) Get Deal Best Ultra deal Apple Watch Ultra 2 $734.89 at Amazon (Save $64.11) Get Deal

Prime Big Deal Days (aka Prime Day part two) is nearly back again, officially kicking off on Oct. 8. As in years past, we're noticing some early savings drops on major categories, including Apple Watches.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about Amazon's October Prime Day sale: Official dates, the competition, and more

Though the sale is still a few weeks away, the new Series 10 watch dropped $30 in price. We're also seeing $100 discounts on both GPS models on the Series 9 watch, which will likely be phased out after this round of fall sales (as has happened historically with older Apple Watch generations following a newer gen's release).

We'll be updating this page often, so be sure to check back if you're interested in grabbing the best Apple Watch deals ahead of October's Prime Day. And in the meantime, check out our full list of early Prime Day deals (and even more Apple deals).

Best Apple Watch deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm, GPS) $369.00 at Amazon
$399.00 Save $30.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Read more from Mashable about the Apple Watch Series 10.

The Series 10 officially hit the market about five days ago, and already Amazon marked it down $30. That's the magic of a fast-approaching sitewide sale. Why should you grab the latest Apple Watch? You'll get a slightly larger watch face than other models, a new colorway, a brighter display from all angles, faster charging, and a new sleep apnea sensor. They're not huge changes, but if you've been hanging on to on an older model, the small upgrades along with the discount might be your reason to jump on this deal. Or it might be your reason to go for the Series 9 on sale, which offers many similar features, but starts at $299.

More early Apple Watch deals

Series 10

Series 9

SE

Ultra

Why OpenAI Is Trying to Raise So Much Money?

NYT Technology - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 11:48
The San Francisco A.I. start-up believes there is not enough computing power on Earth to build the artificial intelligence it wants to create.

Improve your home security for up to 44% off with early October Prime Day sales

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 11:47

If you're in the market for a security system or a video doorbell, Amazon has discounted prices on some great products ahead of the official Prime Big Deal Days sale on Oct. 8 and 9. Here are some of our favorite home security deals at Amazon:

October Prime Day home security deals Best video doorbell deal Google Nest Doorbell (battery, snow) $99.99 at Amazon (save $80) Get Deal Best home security system deal eufy Security eufyCam 2C (3-cam kit) $199.99 at Amazon (save $130) Get Deal Best single security camera deal TP-Link Tapo MagCam $59.99 at Amazon with on-page coupon (save $60) Get Deal

Amazon's second massive sale is set to take place on Oct. 8 and 9 this year, so if you're shopping for some good deals this fall you'll want to tune into Prime Big Deals Days. Last year we saw nice discounts on kitchen appliances, Amazon devices, Apple products, and plenty more.

You might be thinking you have a wait until Oct. 8 to cash in on the savings, but Amazon would never make us wait that long. The retailer has already dropped prices on some great items, including home security systems and video doorbells, so you can start shopping today.

Of course, you should check in when the official Prime Big Deal Days event starts, since we're bound to see thousands of additional deals drop. But if you're looking to upgrade your home security this week, here are some early Prime Day deals to shop.

Best video doorbell deal Opens in a new window Credit: Google Our pick: Google Nest Doorbell (battery, Snow) $99.99 at Amazon
$179.99 Save $80.00 Get Deal Why we like it

As long as you're cool with the Snow colorway, you can grab a battery-powered Google Nest Doorbell for just $99.99 at Amazon, which works out to a 44% discount compared to the normal price of $179.99.

The Google Nest Doorbell uses a vertical field of view, which means you'll be able to see packages left on the porch or people from head to toe. It can also detect if it's a human at the door, the neighbor's dog coming to say hello, or a friend's car that just parked in your driveway. In all cases, you'll get an immediate alert in the Google Home app, which is free to download and use.

From the app, you'll be able to check in on the doorbell camera anytime with live HD video and HDR night vision. You can also use the app to speak to visitors, giving delivery instructions or telling your friend you'll be right out.

Best home security system deal Opens in a new window Credit: eufy Security Our pick: eufy Security eufyCam 2C (3-cam kit) $199.99 at Amazon
$329.99 Save $130.00 Get Deal Why we like it

If you're looking for a home security system instead of a single video doorbell, the eufy Security euftCam 2C kit could be perfect. This set comes with three cameras and an in-home hub for local storage of footage. Each of the three cameras included in the set are built to weather any summer storm or winter blizzard. They capture footage in 1080p resolution, so you'll clearly be able to make out details, and the 135 degree field of view gives you a great view of what's happening around your home.

The cameras are also designed with detailed night vision and will only alert you when they detect human activity. All cameras are battery powered and get up to 180 days of life before needing a recharge. That means you'll only need to recharge once every six months.

While the eufy Security eufyCam 2C three-camera kit usually costs $329.99, it's on sale at Amazon for just $199.99, which means you'll get a 39% discount.

Best single security camera deal Opens in a new window Credit: TP-Link Our pick: TP-Link Tapo MagCam $59.99 at Amazon
$119.99 Save $60.00 with on-page coupon Get Deal Why we like it

If you only need a single security camera, the TP-Link Tapo MagCam is a reliable choice. The Tapo camera has an impressive 150-degree wide frame of view so you'll have a great eye on your home. The camera uses clear 2K HD video for crisp images, allowing you to see more details like license plate information.

Coming with a 1000mAh battery, you can get up to 300 days of power before needing to recharge, and the camera comes with a magnetic mounting base, which gives you the versatility of easily attaching it to metal surfaces.

The TP-Link Tapo MagCam security camera usually sells for $119.99, but thanks to today's sale at Amazon and the on-page coupon, you can get the camera for just $59.99.

Why do we obsessively watch our own Instagram Stories?

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 11:31

When you think of the term "Instagram stalking," what kind of scenarios come to mind? Is it vetting an upcoming Hinge date’s profile to ensure they tick all the critical boxes: they have friends, they like to travel and they look the same in their tagged photos as they do the ones on their profile? Is it to suss out whether a couple has broken up? Is it being sucked into a black hole of scrutinising the fashion (and lifestyle) choices of your high school arch nemesis? 

As evidenced above, when we imagine ourselves digital sleuthing, it always involves other people. But look inward, and you might realise that you — yes you — are your own most dedicated viewer. For many on TikTok, it’s common practice: we share an Instagram story – a supposed 24-hour-only glimpse into our lives – and we find ourselves in a deadly cycle of replaying it and monitoring the viewer list. While the latter exists for a reason (allowing us the privilege of knowing if that person who we wanted to see the story, saw it), what is it that drives us to watch our content back? It’s not like we’ll find anything new – we’re the ones who published it, after all. 

This behaviour isn’t limited to stories, either. I’ll admit it: sometimes when I’m feeling down, I’ve found myself looking back over my grid, pausing on holiday photos, snapshots from nights out, birthday celebrations, and sometimes, a selfie where I know I look great. I’m not the only one, either: while some flick through their social media profiles for a morale boost, others, like @xoxotatianaa on TikTok, state the facts: she watches her content repeatedly because she can, and she doesn’t care (and neither do the 667k others than agree with her). 

SEE ALSO: Why some people on dating apps just want to be 'pen pals'

So, why do we do it? Is it because we’re perfectionists, obsessed with our content fitting in with the digital version of ourselves we present to the world? Are we so hyper-aware of being perceived that we try to view ourselves through someone else’s eyes? Or are we just in love with ourselves?

"Say I get some new followers, I like to view my profile from the perspective of what they’re seeing..."

I posed the question to my own Instagram followers (via a story which, yes, I watched back a few times). "Say I get some new followers, I like to view my profile from the perspective of what they’re seeing, even if I know what my profile looks like," one friend, Tom replied. "When someone follows me, I wonder what they’re looking at, so I check through it to see what they see." Another friend, Kat, said: "I pretend I’m someone else because I want to see how other people perceive me and if they’d think I have a cool grid (I just cringed typing that out)."

Seeing ourselves from other people's POV

According to Eloise Skinner, a psychotherapist and author specialising in existential identity, there are several factors as to why we stalk ourselves – one being a desire to see ourselves from an external perspective (think Ariana Grande’s song POV). "The desire to understand how we’re perceived has been present in human instinct for generations," she explains. "As we try to understand ourselves – answering the timeless question of ‘who am I?' – we often draw on the opinions and reflections of others to guide us." She continues that when we don’t have that information handy, we take it upon ourselves to decipher the thoughts and opinions of others by imagining what they might see when they look at our profiles. 

Psychologist Zoe Mallet agrees, and says that evolution has shaped our innate desire for social acceptance and status, ingraining a "deep-seated need for social approval" into our being. "The tendency to present oneself favourably is a direct offshoot of this, online and offline," she says. "It’s a subconscious attempt to enhance our social standing, increase our chances of belonging and create a positive self-image, which is part of our survival coping mechanisms as humans." 

"The desire to understand how we’re perceived has been present in human instinct for generations."

Both Skinner and Mallet note that our attempts to control how we’re perceived existed long before the arrival of Instagram – like how we spend time picking out an outfit for an event, or what we say in a conversation with an acquaintance. Social media, then, has become a digital platform to project this onto – it’s an attempt to reflect the identity we want people to perceive us as embodying. Although it may seem like stalking ourselves is the best way of ensuring that we keep this identity in check, Skinner points out that for some, self-stalking is rooted in perfectionism. 

Take journalist and content creator Mared Perry, for example, who tells me that she watches her stories repeatedly for two reasons. The first is to make sure "content looks slick" in case of potential work opportunities, and secondly "because of the paranoia that other people may find something cringe, or that I’m oversharing". "Self-stalking could stem from a feeling of insecurity about our sense of identity, how we appear to others, or even a critical feeling about what we post and where we should improve," Skinner continues. "There’s a greater awareness of how we compare to others online – in other words, it’s easier to hold up our digital lives against someone else’s, to see what we like or don’t like." 

How am I presenting myself online?

It’s important to remember that not everyone uses social media in the same way. Some use it to maintain relationships and stay connected ("If this is the case, it might seem less important to present in a certain way," Skinner says), whereas for others, like Perry and journalist David Chipakupaku, it’s deeper than that – it’s an extension of who they are. "I want to show all the different facets of who I am on my social media, and I don’t want to be known for just one thing," Chipakupaku tells me. "I’ll share the different sides of myself – I’ll post a meme and I’ll share news posts. It’s about getting the balance right. Am I being too funny? Too serious? Too weird? Too much?"

He says that he’ll check his content over and over again due to a mix of "anxiety and sense-curating". "When someone taps on my story, are they going to come away with a full understanding of who I am? If yes, I’ve done it right. If not, I’ll add something or take it away. It sounds so insidious and weird, but it’s true." Mallet points out that this phenomenon is unique only to social media. "Think about how we show up in real life – there are limits to how many sides of ourselves we can show per situation or experience. We can’t go back and curate it. But online you can, which adds to this mounting pressure of wanting to present as perfect," she says. Skinner adds that while this pressure could be internal (the same impulse that makes us reflect on how we presented ourselves at a work event, for example), it can also be external: "For instance, the demands we put on ourselves to have a certain image, following or level of popularity on social media." 

There’s a host of reasons why we trawl back through our content (so it’s not just because we’re in love with ourselves, which isn’t always a bad thing). But does a distinction exist between this behaviour being normal and unhealthy? As of September 2024, Instagram has 2 billion active users globally, all of whom produce a lot of content. Skinner believes It’s pretty normal, then, that we’d want to look back over our content from time to time, like how we’d flick through a photo album, journal or scrapbook. "Social media can act as a storage unit for older versions of ourselves and our identities, so reflecting with appreciation, nostalgia or thoughtfulness can be a supportive, beneficial activity."

The signs to spot when we might be going too far? Other than if it’s taking focus away from other important parts of our lives, Skinner urges us to be aware of how the act of self-stalking makes us feel, in the moment and afterwards. If we find it motivating or comforting, great. But it also risks making us more critical of ourselves or leaving us wrapped up in the past. "If it makes us more self-conscious, self-absorbed or distracted from whatever we’d like to use social media for, it’s worth rethinking the habit," she advises.

Last year, research from Bournemouth University found that young adults who use social media passively (by browsing the content of others) are more likely to experience mental health problems such as anxiety and depression than those who share their own content (active users). Self-stalking puts a spanner in the works, though: we’ve posted this content ourselves, but we’re now the ones viewing it passively, too. While research into self-stalking doesn’t exist (yet), Mallet urges us to remember that from the start, social media was designed to be addictive. "When we post, we’re validated by the responses we receive and get a hit of dopamine. We want that hit again and again, so of course we’ll head back to the source where we experienced it before," she says. "It’s not that we’re addicted to looking at our own Instagram. We’re addicted to the feeling we get when we do."

Tons of books are on sale at Amazon ahead of October Prime Day

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 11:02

Prime Big Deal Days isn't till October 8 and 9 — but many deals are already here. Check out the best book deals at Amazon already live before the sale even officially begins.

Early Prime Day book deals: Best book deal overall 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear $13.79 at Amazon (save $13.21) Get Deal Best book bundle deal Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Book Boxed Set Collection $26.47 at Amazon (save $23.48) Get Deal Best Kindle deal 'Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals' $2.99 at Amazon (save $17) Get Deal

Prime Day is here yet again — the bi-annual shopping event (this time known as Prime Big Deal Days) is coming up on October 8 and 9, and Amazon’s already offering discounts on countless products across all categories. One category you probably wouldn’t expect to see a lot of deals on is books, but that's exactly what we're seeing on Amazon's website right now. (Amazon did start as an online bookstore, so it kind of makes sense.)

We’ve found tons of book titles from a wide variety of genres that are currently on sale, from bestselling novels to nonfiction and children's books. Kindle and e-book editions are up to 80% off their typical list prices, while hardcover and paperback books are seeing discounts of up to 50% off. And this is before the official start of Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days.

Here are just a few of the book deals that’ve caught our eye so far:

Best book deal overall Opens in a new window Credit: Avery Our pick: 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear $13.79 at Amazon
$27.00 Save $13.21 Get Deal Why we like it

If you’re not into self-help books, James Clear’s Atomic Habits might not be on your radar. But this is one of the best nonfiction titles to come out within the past few years, and it's currently 49% off in hardcover.

This book is all about teaching yourself to build good habits, break bad ones, and generally become more focused, productive, and successful in your daily life. And at just $13.79 for the hardcover, it’s a steal.

Best book bundle deal Opens in a new window Credit: Random House Books for Young Readers Our pick: Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Book Boxed Set Collection: 'The Cat in the Hat'; 'One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish'; 'Green Eggs and Ham'; 'Hop on Pop'; 'Fox in Socks' $26.47 at Amazon
$49.95 Save $23.48 Get Deal Why we like it

Whether you have kids or you’re an adult who’s looking to add another classic book series to your collection, the Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Book Boxed Set Collection: The Cat in the Hat; One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish; Green Eggs and Ham; Hop on Pop; Fox in Socks is on sale for just $26.47.

That’s five iconic Dr. Seuss books for less than $30, which is an awesome deal considering each of these books typically sells for around $9 to $12 individually.

This book set is the perfect gift for new parents, birthdays, holidays, or just to add to the family home library.

Best Kindle deal Opens in a new window Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Our pick: 'Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals' by Oliver Burkeman $2.99 at Amazon
$19.99 Save $17.00 Get Deal Why we like it

If you’ve ever mumbled that 24 hours just wasn’t enough time in a day, Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals — currently 84% off the Kindle edition price — might be just the book for you.

This book has a ton of “life hacks” that can help you prioritize your time and figure out what's really worth doing — it's kind of an anti-productivity productivity book. If you're overwhelmed by the constant demands on your time and attention, this e-book promises to help you take back control and get more done.

You can get it for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, or pay just $2.99 to own it outright.

More book deals

Amazon deal of the day: The Blink Video Doorbell is already back down to its Prime Day price

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 10:25
Check out the best Amazon deals of the day as of Sept. 25: OUR TOP PICK Blink Video Doorbell $29.99 at Amazon (save $30) Get Deal BEST TV DEAL LG 48-inch C4 OLED evo 4K TV $1,096.99 at Amazon (save $503) Get Deal BEST ECHO DEAL Amazon Echo Frames (3rd gen) Sunglasses $199.99 at Amazon (save $130) Get Deal

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days is less than two weeks away and deals are already abundant. We've been keeping our eyes peeled for the best ones to shop ahead of the big event. The early bird gets the worm, as they say. Or, in this case, the early shopper gets to take home great deals before everyone else.

Here are our top picks for the best Amazon deals of the day for Sept. 25, so you can be an early bird. If none of these catch your eye, check out our picks from Sept. 23 and Sept. 24, and keep your eyes peeled for brand-new selections each day this week.

Our top pick Opens in a new window Credit: Blink Blink Video Doorbell $29.99 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $30.00 Get Deal

The Blink Video Doorbell is already down to $29.99 at Amazon, which is 50% off its retail price and matches its Prime Day price from July. There's a chance it could drop even more on Prime Big Deal Days, but this might be the lowest price we'll see. Either way, you can rest assured you're getting an awesome deal if you shop early. This smart doorbell lets you see who's at your door even when you're not home with a 1080p HD live view and two-way audio, plus infrared night vision after the sun goes down. Get it for half price as of Sept. 25.

Opens in a new window Credit: LG LG 48-inch C4 OLED evo 4K TV $1,096.99 at Amazon
$1,599.99 Save $503.00 Get Deal

Bring the magic of cinema home with a high-end TV like LG's C4 OLED evo 4K TV. A newer version of our favorite TV for gaming, the C4 features an updated processor, upgraded software, a 144Hz maximum refresh rate (vs. the previous model's 120Hz), and an even brighter and more dynamic screen. It also features a nearly invisible bezel and the ability to display artwork and photos like Samsung's The Frame TV. Basically, if you want the best possible viewing experience when you're watching and the option for it to blend into your space when you're not watching, the C4 OLED evo is for you. As of Sept. 25, you can even save 31% on the 48-inch model and get it for $1,096.99 at Amazon. That's a $100 drop from its most recent sale price and its lowest price to date.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Echo Frames Sunglasses (3rd gen) $199.99 at Amazon
$329.99 Save $130.00 Get Deal

If you prefer your tech to be discreetly disguised into everyday glasses, check out the Echo Frames. These babies are equipped with Alexa, so you can use them to control your smart home devices and ask important questions. Plus, you won't have to worry about taking out your phone or popping earbuds in and out to take calls, listen to tunes, or stream podcasts. They'll last you up to 14 hours on a charge and come in five unique styles, depending on the lens type. The sunglasses are currently on sale for just $199.99 at Amazon, which is a 39% price drop from the usual $329.99. Last Prime Day we saw them drop to $169.99, so we'll be keeping an eye out in the coming weeks. In the meantime, this is still a pretty great deal.

None of these deals catching your eye? Check out Amazon's daily deals for even more savings.

'Apartment 7A' clip shows evil lurks beyond the Bramford

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 08:00
An "Apartment 7A" clip features Julia Garner pushed to her breaking point in "Rosemary's Baby" prequel.

'The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom' review: Princess Zelda shines in her protagonist debut

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 08:00

In 1986, it was weird that The Legend of Zelda was about a guy named Link. In 1998, Nintendo reinvented the series in 3D, but didn’t mess with the franchise’s fundamental contradiction. In 2017, Zelda was reinvented yet again with Breath of the Wild (and further expanded in 2023 with Tears of the Kingdom), but still, the series' namesake has frustratingly almost always sat in the margins.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Nintendo and developer Grezzo finally addressed the elephant in the room and made a new, mainline 2D Legend of Zelda game where you actually play as Princess Zelda. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a pleasant surprise on a number of fronts; I didn’t expect to see a new Zelda game before Switch 2 launched, I didn’t expect Zelda to actually take the starring role anytime soon, and I certainly didn’t think Nintendo would find a way to successfully marry what Zelda used to be with what Zelda is now.

But it has, and for that we should all be thankful. Echoes of Wisdom is a mostly delightful synthesis of Zelda’s classic puzzle box sensibilities with a more open-ended design ethos, similar to Breath and Tears. It doesn’t close the loop on every idea it has, but that doesn’t stop it from being extremely fun.

Even if it wasn’t those things, it would still be rad just to finally play as Zelda for a full game.

Echoes of Wisdom asks Link to step to the sideline Sorry, little guy. Credit: Nintendo

Almost every Legend of Zelda game up until now has been about Princess Zelda being kidnapped or otherwise vanishing for nefarious reasons, leaving Link to go save her, usually from Ganon or someone adjacent to the series’ famous villain. Nintendo has occasionally veered away from this in the past (Majora’s Mask being the most successful example), but one thing that took me a bit by surprise in Echoes of Wisdom is how straightforward a Zelda story it is.

Mysterious purple rifts have begun opening up around Hyrule, sucking any nearby terrain, buildings, and people into an off-putting place called the Still World. Echoes opens with Link attempting to save Zelda (in this incarnation, the two have never met before), but instead, he gets pulled into a rift and it's up to Zelda to essentially do Link’s job for him.

Aside from the role reversal between Link and Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom plays out pretty much like any other game in the series. You’ll travel from one region of Hyrule to the next, interacting with Gorons, Zoras, Deku Scrubs, and other classic Zelda entities on your journey to save the kingdom. Each area has some underlying problem Zelda needs to solve, which always winds up with Zelda attempting to clear a dungeon of some sort.

Echoes of Wisdom is clearly meant to be more slight in the storytelling department than either of its two most recent predecessors. There is no voice acting, cutscenes are generally pretty quick, and the plot is mostly bereft of huge, shocking twists and turns. It’s humble and respectable, though I wish there was a tiny bit more here. 

It’s hard to explain why without getting into spoiler territory, but I’ll say that the final hour or so of gameplay in Tears of the Kingdom got me feeling teary-eyed and sentimental about Zelda, while Echoes never elicited a similar response in me. It’s frequently charming and funny enough that I’m fine with that, though. 

Echoes of Wisdom bridges old and new Tri is a cool little fella. Credit: Nintendo

Echoes of Wisdom may not be particularly adventurous with its narrative elements, but it more than makes up for that mechanically.

As has been covered by pre-launch marketing and my own hands-on piece a couple of weeks ago, this game is all about makin' stuff out of thin air. Zelda quickly meets a magical floating friend named Tri who gifts Zelda with a staff that can absorb the essences of inanimate objects and monsters. Once you’ve done so, you can spawn copies (or echoes) of that object or monster to your hearts’ content.

Well, almost. Tri has an energy meter that puts a strict limitation on how many (and what kinds of) echoes you can conjure. For example, a powerful Lizalfos monster is so expensive to make that you can only have one out at a time, but basic objects like tables are cheaper, so duplicating those is possible. Tri’s capabilities level up over time, adding to a nice sense of progression that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom didn’t necessarily have.

I would say the most impressive thing about Echoes of Wisdom is that I believe it has something for every kind of Zelda fan. If you love the improvisational problem-solving of the more recent games, there’s plenty of that here. If you love a smaller, more structured and linear adventure with actual dungeons, that’s also what Echoes of Wisdom is, and it has plenty of those.

Beds are very useful. Credit: Nintendo

Unlike Breath and Tears, you can’t just go wherever you want after the tutorial. There’s a mild illusion of non-linearity in parts of the story, but for the most part, you will go where the designers want you to go. Echoes also mostly lacks survival elements like needing to prepare for extreme temperatures, while totally eschewing the complicated physics engine of the other two Switch games. Sure, some echoes can float on water and some can’t, but generally speaking, everything behaves very predictably. 

By gatekeeping certain regions behind story progress and carefully placing new echoes near places where they might come in handy, Echoes of Wisdom’s designers have adeptly recreated the feeling of finding the hookshot or boomerang in an old Zelda without sacrificing player creativity in the process. Sure, that echo you just found outside the room you’re in might be the way to solve the puzzle, but there’s usually a faster and easier way if you really think about it.

Quickly, I’d also like to acknowledge the incredible addition of lock-on targeting to a 2D Zelda game. It works exactly how you think it should and makes aiming at faraway objects so much easier than it used to be. 

Echoes of Wisdom doesn’t always ask enough of the player The bind/reverse bond system isn't as necessary as it could be. Credit: Nintendo

I would estimate that roughly 80 to 90 percent of the moment-to-moment puzzle solving in Echoes of Wisdom is delightful and clever. There was usually at least one room in a dungeon where, after figuring out the solution, I’d think “oh man, that’s really neat!” to myself. 

Unfortunately, that other 10 to 20 percent is a problem. Echoes of Wisdom actually, at times, has too many ideas going on and doesn’t always know how to best deploy them. The "bind" mechanic is a great example of this. You can use it to telekinetically move objects and monsters around (not unlike Ultrahand in Tears of the Kingdom), which definitely comes in handy all throughout the adventure.

However, there’s another side of "bind" called "reverse bond" that will make Zelda mimic the object or monster’s movements, rather than the other way around, and that’s where Echoes of Wisdom starts to disappoint. This seems really cool in the tutorial, where you use reverse bond to clear gaps by floating underneath moving platforms. Strangely, though, the game almost never requires the player to use this mechanic again. I was able to clear the story and a decent number of side quests without reverse bonding to almost anything unless I forced myself to use it.

Even the echo system isn't without its faults. Over time, I found myself gravitating towards a small handful of very useful echoes for every situation at the expense of the literally dozens of others I’d found. By the second half of the game, I had a massive roster of echoes and regularly used about seven or eight of them. It's not that the opportunities for creativity aren’t there, but the game doesn’t always force you to be creative as much as I’d like.

Combat is another area where an abundance of ideas actually feels a little limiting. Creating echoes of monsters to fight on your behalf is the main method of taking out enemies, and I would say it’s also the most enjoyable. At its best, it feels like they’ve turned Zelda into Pikmin, with the player desperately avoiding enemies while ordering minions to protect them. 

You can change costumes, too. Credit: Nintendo

Sadly, Echoes of Wisdom doesn’t commit all the way to this idea. Not long into the adventure, Zelda unlocks "Swordfighter Form," which basically turns her into a ghostly version of Link with access to a sword. This upgradeable form is limited by an energy meter that becomes easier and easier to refill over time, meaning that by the end of the game, this was the only way I handled any combat encounter.

On top of that, Zelda eventually gets the ability to craft and deploy robotic automatons with powerful and unique combat abilities. This is a cool idea that is nonetheless totally optional and adds next to nothing to the game. Despite very much wanting to use them, I never found a single situation where throwing an automaton out into the field felt necessary. 

I can see how these are tricky problems to solve from a game designers' perspective. The uber-mainstream and family-friendly nature of any big-name Nintendo game is going to necessarily limit the difficulty level. Creating too many puzzles that absolutely require the use of one certain ability, echo, or automaton would be dissonant with the game’s mechanics, too.

But there’s still sometimes a noteworthy disconnect between the number of options you have at your disposal and the simplicity of the problems you need them for. I just never felt like there was a single dungeon or puzzle that brought all of these ideas together at the same time.

That Link’s Awakening art style is still adorable Zoras! Credit: Nintendo

Visually, Echoes of Wisdom uses the same lightly Funko Pop-looking art style as the 2019 Link’s Awakening Switch remake. Characters have big heads, little bodies, and beady little black eyes that are shockingly expressive for how simplistic they look.

It was a charming aesthetic in 2019 and it remains charming now. Most notably, Echoes of Wisdom actually runs a bit better than that Link’s Awakening remake did. The latter rapidly oscillated between 60 frames per second and 30 FPS depending on if you were indoors or outdoors. Echoes of Wisdom is sadly still pretty inconsistent relative to other games (it still varies between those two target frame rates), but it’s not quite as egregious as Link’s Awakening. 

Zelda always brings the noise

Would you be shocked if I told you a Legend of Zelda game has great music?

This is so unsurprising that it barely warrants a mention, but Echoes of Wisdom’s audio presentation is excellent. They gave Zelda her own little overworld theme song that will be stuck in your head for weeks. I also appreciate the occasional incorporation of "Zelda’s Lullaby" from Ocarina of Time, but Nintendo has been doing that for decades, so it’s not really new.

The tunes themselves are catchy and atmospheric, but the sparse instrumentation drives the soundtrack home. These aren’t giant, swelling orchestral productions; songs will usually sound like they could’ve been recorded by just a few people. It fits nicely with the less grandiose nature of the game.

Is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom worth getting?

There are a couple of areas in which Echoes of Wisdom is a slight disappointment. Its story isn’t quite as ambitious as it could have been given the historic opportunity to make the first Zelda game starring Zelda. Mechanically, it bites off a tiny bit more than it can chew, leaving players with more options than they need or can even realistically use.

But everything else about it rules. Its aesthetic and music are endearing, the echo system creates tons of really clever puzzle solutions, and it harkens back to old Zelda games without abandoning what makes the newer ones special. The total playtime, even if you do a lot of side quests, also tops out at 25 to 30 hours, so it's a fulfilling adventure that doesn't monopolize too much of your free time.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom may not be a big Switch 2 blowout launch title, but it is a mostly delectable late-in-life treat for Switch owners.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch on Sept. 26.

'Daily Show' has a blunt response to Trump's attempt to win over women voters

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 07:27
"Daily Show" host Desi Lydic has responded to Trump's attempts to win back women voters during a recent rally in Pennsylvania.

'Heartstopper’s Joe Locke and Kit Connor talk teenage vulnerability

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 07:16
"Heartstopper" Season 3: Joe Locke and Kit Connor discuss teenage vulnerability, eating disorders, and the art of saying "hi!"

X just released its first transparency report in years. Here's what they aren't saying.

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 07:00

For the first time since CEO Elon Musk's takeover of X (formerly Twitter), the social media platform is taking the public behind the scenes of its increasingly opaque reporting and moderation practices. Sort of.

Released today, the 15-page Global Transparency Report is the first public report on internal enforcement data beyond Dec. 2021 (Musk took over Twitter in Oct. 2022). It covers the first six months of 2024, and attempts to paint a picture of the platform's new enforcement ethos. According to the data, X received more than 224 million user reports, suspended more than 5 million users, and took down more than 10 million posts between January and June.

Previously, Twitter issued twice-yearly reports on its enforcement mechanisms via its Transparency Center. The practice began in 2012, and didn't stop until new ownership took hold over the platform's reigns. At the time, Musk spoke openly about fighting the government's "bullying" of social media platforms and tech leaders, which included shutting out researchers from internal data like transparency reports.

SEE ALSO: Blocking users will soon be banned on X

Now, the platform has changed its tune. "Our policies and enforcement principles are grounded in human rights, and we have been taking an extensive and holistic approach towards freedom of expression by investing in developing a broader range of remediations, with a particular focus on education, rehabilitation, and deterrence," the report reads. "These beliefs are the foundation of 'Freedom of Speech, not Freedom of Reach'— our enforcement philosophy, which means we restrict the reach of posts, only where appropriate, to make the content less discoverable as an alternative to removal."

The report is notably more scarce than previous iterations. It features a brief run down of user reporting and corresponding company action, covering a variety of policy areas, including child safety, abuse and harassment, platform manipulation, and suicide and self-harm. It depicts a hybrid machine-learning and human moderation process, featuring an "international, cross-functional team with 24-hour coverage," making enforcement decisions.

What "rehabilitation" looks like is not explained — although previous reinstatements of some of the platform's worst offenders, and the focus on account suspensions in the report, suggest X is moving away from outright banning.

X sent 370,588 reports of child exploitation, required by law, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)'s CyberTipline in the first half of the year. The platform says it also suspended more than 2 million accounts actively engaging with child sexual abuse media (CSAM). In 2021, X/Twitter reported 86,000 cases to NCMEC. The number increased to 98,000 in 2022, and then saw a massive jump to 870,000 in 2023.

An X spokesperson explained the jump in numbers in a statement to Mashable. "In 2023, X updated its enforcement guidelines to also suspend users who engaged with actioned CSAM content (Like, Reply, Share, Bookmark, etc.) and added additional proactive defenses. We saw a spike in enforcements after these changes (catching and cleaning up an existing problem), and we believe that those changes have been effective at discouraging users from either sharing CSAM or looking for it (the actions trending down over time, even though we continue to improve defenses)."

The report also offers (limited) information on government data requests and removals, formerly a major focus of Twitter's reporting as it then championed for a more "open" internet. At the time of the 2021 report, X/Twitter said it had fielded 11,460 requests for information from 67 countries, complying with 40.2 percent of them. In 2024, the platform reported more than 18,000 requests for information and 72,000 requests for content removal from an undisclosed amount of countries. X reportedly disclosed information in 52 percent of cases and complied with 70 percent of removal requests.

The report drops as the platform is subtly revamping itself and its generative AI offerings pre-election. In previous months, X has quietly reinvested in its safety and security teams, with Musk simultaneously redefining the notion of site wide "transparency" and supporting content moderation tools. The CEO also announced this week that the company will soon shutter the site's block feature.

Which streaming service should you cancel? All of them (most of the time).

Mashable - Wed, 09/25/2024 - 06:35

For those of us TV fans who cut the cable cord ages ago, it's time again to cut... something. I don't honestly know what we're cutting this time exactly. But it's time to cancel all your streaming services. To use the industry term, churn out every month, and don't churn back in unless a particular service has something you just can't miss.

That's right: go cancel them all.

After all, how many of these ever-increasing monthly fees are you already tolerating? The average is reportedly four, and depending on whether or not you pay for the ad-free options, that could set you back about $75 per month. And four services isn't enough to keep you in the loop about everything buzzy on TV. If you just pay for four of the most popular ones — perhaps Netflix, Max, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ — you missed awards juggernaut Shōgun on Hulu (the ad-free version of which now costs an eye-watering $18.99 per month). And how have you survived 2024 without the Olympics on Peacock? Oh, and you're on track to miss out on Severance season 2 if you're not an Apple TV+ subscriber.

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The sneaky price spiral just goes on and on until you're paying more than the cost of cable — and there's a good chance you are.

Then again, you probably don't just watch your favorite shows. If you're like a lot of people, you often fire up a streaming service app, browse to whatever you've seen talked about online, and give it a try. And what's your reward for such open-mindedness? Perhaps you watched streaming services dump some of your favorite characters into festering swamps like they did in Secret Invasion, or Velma. Maybe you tuned into The Circle season 6, which featured the unwatchably try-hard plot twist of an "AI" contestant. Maybe you checked out The Idol, or Deep Fake Love, which you'd heard were so bad they're good, but they turned out to be so bad that you just want those precious hours of your life back.

Millions of Americans are already quitting in 2024. In response to password-sharing crackdowns, rising costs, and the proliferation of ads on streamers like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime — which one day decided to turn ads on for you by default — consumers in 2024 are cancelling streaming services in record numbers. 

But don't just make a mental note to cancel when the offerings on one service or another feel exceptionally dire; go cold turkey right now. The best part of streaming à la carte instead of paying all the time is the newfound freedom you'll feel not to watch the next big thing if you don't really want to. You'll soon notice that other, cheaper, better ways of consuming TV and movies have just become strangely attractive.

SEE ALSO: Netflix is axing its cheapest ad-free tier How streaming arrived at its cut-the-cord moment so fast

Cord cutting the first time around was a no-brainer because it felt like everyone agreed that cable was a drag. Watching TV in the '90s sometimes meant clicking around the upper channels of your cable package, waiting for something — anything remotely interesting, please — to come back from an epic commercial marathon. It certainly wasn't what you wanted as a paying consumer, but it was obviously the experience the pay TV industry wanted you to have. 

For millions of cord cutters (not to mention "cord nevers") that experience is gone forever, but the feeling of time and money flushed down the toilet, supposedly in the name of "entertainment," is back with a vengeance. 

A decade ago, it felt like the Silicon Valley disruptors had arrived to fix the entertainment industry. House of Cards showed up on Netflix in 2013 like a precision-guided missile of politically charged melodrama straight to the cerebral cortexes of "discerning" viewers like myself. (It turned out we weren't all that discerning; we were just TV gluttons at our first all-you-can-eat buffet). Netflix's addictive grand slam during its first at-bat was astonishing. The networks could never. HBO could sometimes, but who can remember what HBO's first-ever drama even was? (Answer: Philip Marlowe, Private Eye. Yeah, me neither). 

Netflix was defying the very laws of entertainment industry physics. The stream-and-binge TV era had begun, and it felt like nothing would ever be the same. The Big Data guru Rick Smolan told the New York Times' David Carr in 2013, "Programmers have been wandering out and shooting a shotgun into the night sky and hoping they hit something, and I end up paying $150 for channels full of nothing I want to watch. These guys know what they are aiming at." 

But the TV industry has fully reverted to its old ways in the decade since that House of Cards moment. The business is once again all about getting people to overpay for tons and tons of ad-saturated mediocrity. Dan Goman, CEO of the video software company Ateliere Creative Solutions, told Forbes earlier this year that, "For many years, streaming services offered subscriptions at rates that were enticingly low," but that, "We’re now seeing the industry gravitating toward familiar models — ads and bundles."

You already know the highlights here: One after another, streaming services are hiking their prices, in a series of moves designed to push consumers to cheaper ad-supported tiers which generate more revenue than the premium ones. Meanwhile, the services themselves kill programming users expect to be there in an effort to cut their spending on library content, all while degrading cherished brands, abandoning quality in favor of quantity, and — perhaps oddest and most irksome of all — cutting corners on audio, making it hard to literally hear the content we're paying our hard-earned money for. 

The term "enshittification" is overused these days, but this sort of thing is exactly what its coiner, Cory Doctorow, had in mind when he came up with it. As Doctorow wrote last year:

Why is Netflix putting the screws to its customers? It’s part of the enshittification cycle, where platform companies first allocate surpluses to their customers, luring them in and using them as bait for business customers. Once they turn up, the companies reallocate surpluses to businesses, lavishing them with low commissions and lots of revenue opportunities. And once they’re locked in, the company starts to claw back the surpluses for itself.

Do streaming services deserve your passive, monthly dollars?

Regardless of how you feel about the overall degradation of the streaming experience, maybe you just like knowing the content you love is available anytime you want, and that makes keeping your subscriptions worthwhile. But time and again, you've opened up a streaming service hoping to see something you could have sworn was there, and it was just... gone. It's not your imagination. On top of everything else, Streamland has become a messy place where it's never clear how to find what you want, and what you can count on today might be gone tomorrow.

Think the trashy reality show that binds your friend group together will always have a home on Peacock? Think your Disney+ subscription is a parenting must-have because it houses the whole Disney and Marvel animated universes? Think the long-awaited streaming service Venu (assuming it's ever allowed to exist) has the makings of the mythical stable home for sports programming that all sports fans have been dreaming of? 

Think again. Fire up any given streaming service, and what you'll see is the confusing result of behind the scenes wheeling-and-dealing, with no apparent thought given to reliability or viewer convenience.

As an illustration of this convenience problem, look at Sex and the City. The intuitive place to watch all things Sex and the City is Max, the service formerly known as HBO Max, but Sex and the City's availability on Max may well be in danger. Yes, SATC is safe on Max for now, but starting this past April, it became available on Netflix too. A bit confusing, but as soon as the dollars and cents penciled out, Max's parent company gave up exclusivity and let Netflix in on the action. If you can keep track of all this in your head, no big deal, but it gets worse: you'd better believe that one day soon, Max may very well stop streaming Sex and the City. If that sounds implausible, it shouldn't. You already can't watch the movie Sex and the City 2 on Max.

Max, like all streaming services, will unceremoniously dump its most treasured content if it feels like it. I cannot watch my personal favorite COVID-era movie, An American Pickle, on Max — nor on literally any streaming service whatsoever — even though it was an HBO Max exclusive when it debuted. And remember HBO's hit show Westworld? You already can't watch it at all on Max even though it bagged Emmys and was by some measures HBO's biggest hit of all time. Want to stream Westworld on a monthly service? As far as I can tell, there is one streaming service with exclusive streaming rights to Westworld: DIRECTTV's "Premier" streaming package, which will set you back — are you sitting down? — $149.99 per month.

This brand of chaos is the most reliable attribute in the streaming universe. Not even bundling Hulu and Disney+ together guarantees access to all things Marvel. To wit: Marvel's Runaways, a Hulu original is now exclusive to Apple TV+. The Office — a longtime NBC hit which achieved cultural critical mass only when it became a Netflix staple, is no longer on Netflix. For that you have to go to Peacock, the NBCUniversal streaming service, which is making itself a major destination by becoming the only place to stream the likes of Yellowstone, the biggest hit on the Paramount Network, but which doesn't stream on Paramount+. So you might assume you need the all-powerful Peacock for that other NBC mega-hit, Friends, right? Not so much. Friends is only available on... Netflix? Nope, for heaven only knows what reason (money), Friends is only available on Max. Netflix is no longer your destination for legendary NBC shows. Oh, except Seinfeld. For the next two years. And after that who knows? 

The promise of streaming in the first place was instant gratification, and subscribing to upwards of eight streaming services doesn't guarantee any gratification at all. What's a content addict to do?

Watch whatever you want. You're free.

After you cancel them all, you'll find that in a manner of speaking, you have more access to the programming you want, not less.

In the barbaric bygone days of content consumption, everyone tolerated something called "video rental." Before Netflix came along and started mailing people discs in paper sleeves (yes, that was once the entire Netflix business model), this way of consuming movies and TV involved the very real hassle of physically getting off your duff and going to a store. It also meant an even worse hassle that seems totally alien now: late fees. But in terms of content-for-money, this terrible system was vastly superior to what we have today. The viewing possibilities felt truly limitless. If your local chain video store didn’t have what you were looking for, you could hunt for it elsewhere in town, or — if it was really obscure — fork over the extra money and buy it, even if that meant importing a disc from another country.

That feeling of boundless possibility is partly why some people — mostly nostalgic film buffs — are still video store partisans. But you don't have to take on any such affectation to get the benefits of the pre-streaming lifestyle (and none of the drawbacks) thanks to this one weird trick: just watch TV and movies à la carte. À la carte video rental is admittedly a form of streaming, but without the subscription. And it couldn't be easier to get started: You can just Google the exact movie or TV show you want to watch, find a site that lets you rent or "buy" that piece of content for viewing on your preferred device or smart TV, and enjoy your truly personalized entertainment experience. 

Forking over these small amounts can feel like a splurge or even a defeat if you already pay the standard American $75 per month to access "unlimited" streaming content on a bunch of streaming services, but if you cut ties with those monthly fees, you'll instantly have a nice à la carte budget. Most movies will set you back somewhere between $2 and $5 (fresh-from-theaters new releases like Blink Twice can set you back $19.99, but that sort of extravagance isn't really part of the à la carte equation), and watching a single TV show episode can look like a $0.99 rental or a rather steep $2.99 "purchase" with no option to rent.

And à la carte is, in fact, essentially the only way to watch some of those favorites I mentioned earlier, like Westworld and An American Pickle. The freedom of being a streaming service cord cutter, then, means you're in a charmed position in which you can just not sweat the shrinking archives at the streaming services at all.

Not relying on streaming services changes how you watch, but only a little Tweet may have been deleted

Canceling your streaming services and getting yourself used to à la carte streaming are just two steps on the path to maximizing your entertainment dollar. While you're at it, an antenna and a blu-ray/DVD player are good investments that will pay for themselves in a hurry. What's more, your local library has discs you can bring home for free, and if you're honest with yourself, you probably have some movies and box sets collecting dust around the house that you could watch instead of chasing a new shiny object on one of the streamers. 

Now that you're free, you can make a bucket list of every movie and TV show you've ever hoped to watch, and just work your way through it.

As for me, I've started thinking about TV somewhat differently, but I don't feel nearly as cut off as one might think. I subscribed to Max recently so I could watch Curb Your Enthusiasm's final season, and while I had that subscription, I scratched a couple movies from the Max archive off my watchlist before canceling. When White Lotus season 3 comes out, this cycle will begin again.

Sports were a problem when I had streaming services, and it's certainly still a problem now that I don't, but I have an antenna for in-market games, and I watch baseball in bars — where other fans are — instead of at home.

But the best way to summarize my new TV outlook is my attitude toward the Star Wars franchise. I've completely avoided all the Star Wars shows, and I have no regrets, but I'm considering watching Andor. I might, and I might not. As a streaming cord cutter, I still enjoy taking risks on new streaming shows from time to time like White Lotus and The Curse, but I mostly prefer bucket list classics, or shows where I'm more or less guaranteed to get what I want, like Law & Order: Organized Crime (available for free with my trusty antenna). In short, I rarely involve myself in shows with those deliciously intriguing opening episodes, which might turn out to be genius, but let's face it, usually turn out to be the TV equivalent of low-effort clickbait.

So if the second and final season of Andor jumps the shark, I'll have dodged a bullet. If it gets the same rapturous response as the first season, then I'll know it's a good bet. I'll subscribe to ad-free Disney+ for exactly one month, and I'll watch the whole thing at my own pace. 

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