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The online forum’s pseudonymity lets them vent, share information and find solace. Unpaid moderators, like David Carson, are working overtime to keep up.

Amazon recently confirmed that Alexa users will no longer have the ability to process requests locally, meaning your voice recordings will be stored in Amazon's servers, no matter what you think about it. That's...not great.

The good news is there are a couple of major alternatives you can use that have better privacy settings. The settings aren't necessarily ideal in every case, as you're still talking into a microphone that's connected to the internet. But they're still better than what Amazon is doing. Here are your options.

SEE ALSO: Google's new AI model is being used to remove image watermarks Apple

Apple's HomePod line of smart devices work similarly to Amazon Echo devices. You can ask questions and Siri will answer them, among other things. There's good news and bad news regarding how all of this works, privacy-wise.

According to Apple, some requests will be processed on-device, while others will be sent to Apple's servers, with a visual indicator letting you know which one is which. If you want to keep away from Apple's servers at all times and do everything locally, it doesn't seem like that's an option here. However, the privacy policy does promise that your audio data is not stored by Apple unless you specifically opt into that, which is the main thing we're looking for here.

If you want to feel even better, Apple doesn't associate any of your request data (be it text transcripts or voice recordings) with your name. It uses a random identifier instead, and your requests are decoupled from that identifier after six months.

Google

Google Nest devices also give users a decent amount of control in this regard. You can go into your activity settings and choose what is and isn't saved to your Google account, and that includes voice activity. It should be noted that Google does not retain audio recordings on its servers by default. There are also auto-delete options in Google's privacy suite, in case you want to keep things around temporarily.

If you use a voice-based smart home device, there are inherent security risks that can't really be avoided. But, at least in the specific case of having a company hoard your audio requests against your will, Apple and Google are both a better bet than Amazon at this point.

One evening, Holly,* then 22, was sitting on the sofa with her boyfriend, Harvey, 22, in his family home, when he mentioned that his ex, Harmony, had an OnlyFans account. Holly joked that she was going to subscribe to Harmony's page, and they both laughed. 

Holly, however, wasn't joking. Back home, she found Harmony's page and subscribed. She'd already looked at Harmony's Instagram, flicking through old photos of her and Harvey at prom, in school uniform, on holiday together. But scrolling through her OnlyFans account felt like she'd unlocked something else, like she was "meeting a different character altogether."

SEE ALSO: How to protect your mental health while using dating apps

"I would study photos of her boobs, bum, vagina, etc., and tally up where I stood in relation," Holly told me. "I just wanted to see her nipples compared to mine."

In our digitally mediated worlds, we have our partners' entire romantic histories at our fingertips. For the curious (or forensically-obsessed) among us, the proximity to all this information is intoxicating. We find ourselves lying in bed, alone, stroking our iPhones, scouring our partners' ex-flings' LinkedIn credentials, Substacks, and sepia-tinged selfies from 2011. Obsessing over a partner's ex feels dirty and salacious, shameful and delicious. Like scratching an inflamed mosquito bite, the sensation is sweet and stinging, always leaving us wanting more. So why do we do it?

A gendered problem?

"A lot of information on this subject is really poor," said psychotherapist Toby Ingham, who has written a book about "retroactive jealousy" (a term used to describe fixating on a partner's romantic history). While there has been little written on the subject, Ingham makes the case that retroactive jealousy is an "obsessional problem" fueled by "old injuries, things that really predate any kind of dating history by a long time." In other words, the compulsive feeling is less about our partner's ex or even our partner but "attachment type problems" from our childhoods.

When I floated my (anecdotally-driven) theory with Ingham — that retroactive jealousy was more common in women than men — he pushed back. "It seems to me that it's more typically men who become obsessed about their partner's previous partners," he said, explaining that he'd seen more male clients about this issue. 

This surprised me: I'd come to think of the compulsive feeling as a distinctly female one (the way I've masochistically compared every inch of my body to my friends' bodies since I was 11). When I asked my male friends how often they thought about their partners' exes, they seemed baffled by the question. They might take interest in who their ex dates after them, they told me, but not who they dated before.

"I have not found a man who has experienced this," Camille Sojit Pejcha, a New York City-based writer who runs the Substack Pleasure Seeking, told me. Sojit Pejcha has written about creeping on her ex's exes in Document Journal. "Women are so socialized to be so sensitive about their appearance and the appearance of others."

In 2006, a psychoanalyst named Dr Darian Leader used the term "Rebecca Syndrome" to describe the act of obsessing over a partner's ex. "It is a genuine question of feminine identity," he told The Independent. "It's as if the woman who came before holds the key." He'd coined the term from Daphne du Maurier's 1938 Gothic novel, Rebecca, in which the protagonist becomes fixated on her lover's widow. "I thought of Rebecca, lively and beautiful, arranging everything," she says towards the start of the novel, "What must people think about me?" 

While no published studies have specifically focused on whether "Rebecca Syndrome" is more common in women or men, research indicates that women are more likely to compare themselves with others on social media and are more likely to engage in "upward comparison." This is hardly surprising — my Instagram Explore page is filled with ads for rhinoplasty, face lifts, lip fillers, and Botox while my (straight) male friends tell me theirs are filled with women with big breasts. 

Being fascinated by our partner's exes didn't begin in the 21st century, but it's likely that profit-driven social media apps have added fuel to the fire. Capitalism feeds off insecurity, instilling us with the belief that something about us is suboptimal but fixable, that there is a better version of ourselves in reach. Social media, programmed to suck our attention, turbocharges this Sisyphean striving: the more time we spend on the apps, the more we scrutinize our appearance, the more we hate ourselves, the more time we spend on the apps.

The ex as a mirror

Across interviews with self-professed "ex fanatics," women described imagining their partner's exes as if seeing them through their partners' eyes. What made him fall in love with her? They'd wonder, tracing the bump on their nose, the gap between their front teeth. What does he love about me? 

Sarah, a 24-year-old writer, told me that she set up a burner account to survey her boyfriend's ex, and the more she looked at her profile, the more she felt uneasy. She began noticing eerie similarities between the ex and herself: their ethnicity, their music taste, even the topics of their undergrad thesis. "I was just a little bit scared that I am just a rebound because the similarity was very jarring."

This male-centric perspective reminded me of art critic John Berger's (albeit heteronormative) description of what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal world: disembodied "by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another." He wrote, "Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at." In a world in which our attention is constantly being monetized, these acts of being and being perceived take on new meaning. We linger and lurk on the profiles of other women with an internalized male gaze, and the more we look, the more the tech overlords profit.

In a world in which our attention is constantly being monetized, these acts of being and being perceived take on new meaning.

For Sojit Pejcha, spending years looking at her partner's ex through a quasi-male gaze led her somewhere unexpected. When her ex's ex revealed that she'd had a crush on her, she realized that she'd misinterpreted her own compulsive behavior. "For me, the motivation was gay," she told me. "It manifested as a perceived comparison thing but really it was about a sapphic pull that I felt toward these women… It was like I was able to hide behind the dynamic of triangulation with a man."

Holly was also jolted into a confrontation when her boyfriend's ex contacted her on OnlyFans, asking if she wanted personalized content. It made her feel guilty, like she'd taken it all too far. Obsessing over Harmony's virtual self was "a false sense of control," she now realized. "You learn more about what you hate about yourself than what they're like." 

As is so often the case with obsession, the feeling is more about the subject than the object: less about the person you are obsessed with and more about what they evoke in you and why. "It becomes far more an exercise in holding a mirror up to your own insecurities," Holly said.

* Names have been changed.

TL;DR: Get hands-on hacking practice in the All-in-One Super-Sized Ethical Hacking Bundle on sale for $34.97 through March 30. 

Opens in a new window Credit: Aleksa Tamburkovski The All-in-One Super-Sized Ethical Hacking Bundle $34.97
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How do you learn to hack? As useful as it is for cybersecurity jobs, hacking is kind of hard to practice without an instructor and a controlled lab where you can test out what you've learned.

If you want a structured, hands-on approach to the practicalities of hacking in the industry, then check out the All-in-One Super-Sized Ethical Hacking Bundle while it's on sale for $34.97 (reg. $1,098). 

What's on the menu

This bundle has 18 courses and a lot to show you. There's no set progression path, so you pick where you want to start. If you're a total beginner, you can start with entry-level courses like the Complete Python 3 Ethical Hacking Course. That one has a full eight hours of lessons showing you everything from how to hack Windows machines to setting up an email scraper. 

Other courses take a more focused approach. Website Hacking in Practice and Server Security with BitNinja both teach you new skills and tools that are common in the industry. 

If you want a little hands-on experience, check out Hacking Wireless Networks. That's where you learn how to prepare your own training environment so you can actually practice safely and legally. There's even a 180-page course handbook to study. 

There's a lot to learn, but no rush to study. All course material is yours for life, so take your time. 

The only rush is to get access before the price goes up. 

You have until March 30 at 11:59 p.m. PT to get the All-in-One Super-Sized Ethical Hacking Bundle on sale for $34.97. 

StackSocial prices subject to change. 

TL;DR: Ditch the tiny screens — project your favorite content anywhere with the CinéMini HD Portable Projector while it's only $129.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: CinéMini CinéMini 720P HD Portable Mini Projector with Speaker $129.99
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Who says you need a massive budget (or even a TV) to enjoy cinema-quality entertainment at home? The CinéMini 720P HD Portable Mini Projector transforms any room, backyard, or blank wall into a full-on big-screen experience — and it's on sale now for $129.99.

Whether you’re streaming the latest blockbuster, binge-watching your favorite show, or giving a work presentation, this compact powerhouse has you covered. With a bright 160 ANSI lumen display and 720P HD resolution, the CinéMini delivers sharp, vibrant visuals on a screen up to 200 inches. Its built-in speaker provides room-filling sound, so you don’t need extra gear for an immersive viewing experience.

Tired of dealing with cables and clunky setups? The CinéMini makes streaming ridiculously easy. Built on Android 11, it comes with popular apps like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and Disney+ preloaded, so you can start watching right away once you log in. You can also mirror your phone or tablet using AirPlay or Miracast for quick screen sharing.

If you’re a fan of wired connections, no problem. The CinéMini supports HDMI, USB, and Bluetooth — you can quickly hook up a laptop or gaming console.

At just 2.78 lbs, the CinéMini is made for easy transport. Set it up in your living room, backyard, office, or classroom — wherever you need a big screen on demand. It’s also plug-and-play, so there’s no complicated installation — just plug it in, adjust the focus wheel, and you’re good to go.

Whether you're hosting an outdoor movie night, gaming with friends, or leading a meeting, this mini projector (which was featured at CES 2025) delivers serious performance in a small package.

What’s included:

• CinéMini 720P HD Portable Mini Projector

• AC power cable (runs on outlet, no internal battery)

• HDMI cable

• USB-C to HDMI adapter

• Remote control

If you’re still huddled around a laptop screen for movie nights, squinting at tiny presentations, or stuck without a TV in your dorm or Airbnb, it’s time for an upgrade. 

Get the CinéMini Portable Projector for just $129.99.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Stop wasting time doomscrolling — use Headway Premium to unlock quick, digestible insights from the world’s top nonfiction books for just $47.99 (reg. $299.95) with code LEVELUP20.

It happens daily. You have a few free minutes between meetings, waiting in line, or winding down before bed, and somehow, you end up on your phone — scrolling through another depressing news cycle or watching a 10-minute video about a dog that learned to surf. We can all agree it's a waste of our precious time.

You don't have to get up and clean the bathroom or garage to feel productive. Headway Premium is the app that replaces mindless scrolling with bite-sized, actionable learning in just 15 minutes a day.

For a limited time, you can get lifetime access for just $47.99 with code LEVELUP20 through March 30 — no subscriptions, no recurring fees, just unlimited knowledge at your fingertips.

Headway distills the best nonfiction books into engaging, easy-to-digest summaries that you can read or listen to anywhere. Whether you want to master productivity, improve your leadership skills, level up your finances, or just win more trivia nights, Headway has you covered. This means you can keep learning without setting aside hours for full-length books.

Headway curates content based on your interests and goals — so you get the most relevant insights without the fluff. Plus, with gamification elements like streak tracking, challenges, and progress badges, staying motivated is easy.

What You Get

• Unlimited access to thousands of 15-minute nonfiction summaries.

• Personalized recommendations tailored to your interests.

• Audio summaries so you can learn while commuting, exercising, or cleaning.

• Offline mode for learning on the go, no Wi-Fi needed.

• New summaries added every month, keeping your knowledge fresh.

• A gamified experience to help you stay motivated and keep learning.

Stop telling yourself you’ll read more and start actually learning — but on your schedule, at your pace.

This lifetime subscription to Headway Premium for just $47.99 (with code LEVELUP20) ends after March 30, so grab it before it’s gone.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Headwa Headway Premium: Lifetime Subscription $47.99
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TL;DR: For a limited time, grab a 1-year BJ’s Club+ Membership for just $40 (reg. $65) and start saving on groceries, gas, and everyday essentials.

Opens in a new window Credit: BJ's Wholesale 1-year The Club+ Card Membership with BJ’s Easy Renewal $40
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If grocery bills are getting out of hand, this offer may be your ticket to serious savings.

You can now score a 1-year BJ’s Club+ Membership for just $40 (regularly $65), but only through May 3. That’s a whole year of discounts, rewards, and perks to help you stock up and spend less without cutting corners on quality.

BJ’s doesn’t just offer big savings — it also works hard to bring you more ways to save, shop, and stock up without stress. Their everyday prices beat grocery stores by up to 25 percent on national brands, and they’re the only wholesale club that accepts manufacturer’s coupons on top of their own discounts. 

Your Club+ Membership also unlocks 2 percent cash back on most purchases, $.05 off per gallon at BJ’s Gas, and up to 3x rewards during special events. Whether shopping for weekly essentials, throwing a big party, or just trying to keep up with a hungry household, BJ’s aims to help you spend less while getting more.

Forget the stress of crowded checkouts and endless grocery trips. BJ’s offers ExpressPay, which lets you scan and pay right from the mobile app (so you can skip the checkout line). Plus, curbside pickup, online ordering, and same-day delivery mean you can shop your way without the hassle.

With fresh produce, premium meats, deli selections, and bakery items, you’ll find top brands at wholesale prices and everything you need to feed the whole family for less. And there are always other finds like clothing, electronics, and seasonal items (hello, holiday shopping) to peruse while in the store.

Don't miss spending $40 (reg. $65) for a year of BJ's Club+ Card savings while it's available through May 3.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

It's almost been a year since Target launched its Target Circle 360 membership. What better way to celebrate than with a sale?

Unsurprisingly, this one-year anniversary celebration happens to fall alongside Amazon's Big Spring Sale. Coincidence? Never. We knew the mega-retailer wouldn't pass up the chance to compete with Mr. Bezos. Enter: Target Circle Week.

"We are thrilled to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Target Circle 360 with our best Target Circle Week yet," said Cara Sylvester, Target's executive vice president and chief guest experience officer, in a press release. "Target Circle members will receive the biggest deals on thousands of items from the latest in spring style to everyday favorites that are always on the checklist."

Target Circle Week is an exclusive savings event for Target Circle members, held multiple times a year. Non-coincidentally, it tends to occur at the same times as major shopping events at Amazon, like Prime Day and Black Friday. Here's everything you need to know about the competing spring sale at Target.

When is Target Circle Week?

As a shock to nobody, Target Circle Week will overlap with the Amazon Big Spring Sale (which runs March 25 to 31). Circle Week officially kicks off on March 23 at 3:00 a.m. ET and runs through March 29, delivering seven days of exclusive deals. The discounts will be available to Target Circle members on the Target app and website, as well as in stores.

How to sign up for Target Circle

Target Circle Week requires a membership to shop, but unlike Prime or Walmart Plus, Target Circle is free to join. Here's how:

1. Head to Target.com/circle and choose "Create account."

2. Enter your full name, email address, and phone number.

3. Choose whether to use a password or passkey (fingerprint, face ID, or pin) to sign in.

4. Select "Create account." You are now a Target Circle member and are free to shop the savings event when it goes live.

Early access for Target Circle 360 members

For the first time, Target Circle 360 members will get early access to select deals 24 hours before they open to all Target Circle members.

Target Circle 360 members can shop the following deals before anyone else: 

• 40% off Deal of the Day for Performance for the family

• 30% off Deal of the Day for all Heyday electronic and tech accessories

• 30% off tees, tanks, dresses and shorts for the family 

• Gourmia Digital Air Fryer (6-quart) — $39.99 $69.99 (save $30)

• Beats Solo Buds (Target-exclusive Arctic Purple) — $49.99 $79.99 (save $30)

• Up to 30% off select Lego 

Target Circle 360 is a paid membership that offers unlimited same-day delivery from Target, access to a curated marketplace of other retailers and grocers via Shipt.com, free two-day shipping on eligible items, and other exclusive benefits and experiences. Typically $99 for the year, memberships are on sale for just $49 from March 16 through 29. That's 50% in savings.

Opens in a new window Credit: Target Target Circle 360 one-year membership $49
$99 Save $50 Get Deal Best deals to look out for during Target Circle Week 2025

Target Circle Week will feature deals on "must-have spring items," which coincidentally encompasses just about everything from home essentials and beauty products to books and toys. Here's a sneak peek at some of the best featured deals to look out for.

Peacock Premium deal

Another first for Target Circle Week: three free months of Peacock Premium. Thanks to a special, limited-time partner perk, new and returning Peacock subscribers can sign up for the ad-supported tier at no cost from March 9 through March 29. Conveniently, Wicked starts streaming on March 21 on Peacock — just saying.

Of course, once the three-month promotional period expires, you'll be charged full price (currently $7.99 per month), and your subscription will auto-renew monthly. You can cancel anytime to avoid further charges.

Opens in a new window Credit: Peacock Peacock Premium Get 3 free months free with Target Circle Get Deal Target's Deal of the Day

As stated in the press release, Target Circle Week will bring back the customer-favorite "Deal of the Day." Limited-time unique deals will pop up (and then disappear) for members to shop. Similar to Amazon's Lightning deals, they'll only stick around for 24 hours. In previous Circle Week events we saw Acer laptops under $300 and 15% off an assortment of gift cards as Deals of the Day. Keep an eye out for these exclusive discounts once the event is live.

Gift card rewards

There are several opportunities to score Target gift cards during the Circle Week event. Here are a few to look out for:

• Spend $50 on household essentials and get a $15 Target gift card

• Spend $40 on select beauty and self-care items and get a $10 Target gift card 

• Spend $30 on select Ulta Beauty at Target products and get a $5 Target gift card 

Mashable's shopping team will be following the Target Circle Week sale closely and updating this list with new deals that drop once the event officially kicks off on March 23. However, here's a preview of the biggest savings expected.

• 30% off tees, tanks, shorts, and dresses for the family 

• 30% off patio furniture and accessories 

• 25% off select Pillowfort, teen bedding and decor 

• 25% off Threshold and Casaluna bedding 

• 20% off Brightroom plastic storage bins and closet organization 

• Up to 40% off kitchen and floorcare essentials, including Instant Pot, Ninja, and Shark appliances 

• Up to 30% off select Lego 

• Save up to $200 on select Apple devices

• Buy two, get one free on books, movies, and music 

Elon Musk loves wearing his TECH SUPPORT T-shirt in the White House. He wore it to his Oval Office interview; he wore it to his first Cabinet meeting. "I actually just call myself Humble Tech Support here," Musk told heads of departments whose computer systems he'd already accessed.

Acting like the IT guy: this wasn't really Musk trying to be cute, or somehow downplaying all the chaos his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had unleashed in its first month of existence. It's a stark reminder of how he had secured, so fast, enough power to terrorize the federal government from within: literally, using nothing but the access provided by the White House's IT department.

Which, in all probability like your company's tech team, has a "god mode" level of access to many key computer systems. The kind of access that could do a lot of damage at any organization anywhere in our hyperconnected world, let alone inside the two million employee-strong U.S. government.

SEE ALSO: What Elon Musk could do with the digital keys to the kingdom

If we learn anything from what DOGE has done and what DOGE still has the power to do, experts say, it's this: If the IT department wants to unleash hell and the CEO doesn't want to stop them, the IT department unleashes hell — no matter how humble they claim to be.

"The best analogy might be Nick Burns the computer guy, but make him evil," says Kurtis Minder, founder of GroupSense, a threat intelligence business. Minder specializes in cyber espionage and ransom negotiations with corporate cybercriminals.

Burns, played by Jimmy Fallon on SNL, was an obnoxious tech support guy who bellowed at employees to move away from their computers — a character who may seem much less funny in the age of Musk.

The IT guy 'could sort of disappear them'

For example, "an IT person with any kind of administrative computer privileges would absolutely be able to mess with payroll in any number of ways," Minder says — such as going into payment system software and, uh, zeroing out your paycheck. It would be "trivial" for an IT guy to install keylogger software that literally let him spy on everything employees typed on a company machine.

And if an IT guy wanted to effectively "shadow fire" someone, perhaps forcing them out by cutting access to any internal software or system that let them their job? "Absolutely," Minder says. The IT guy could "sort of disappear them."

What is DOGE doing next?

As concerned as he is by DOGE flexing its IT muscle, Minder is — like all the experts we spoke to for this article — far more concerned with what could happen now because of its rampage through a patchwork of government computer systems.

"Going in and saying we're going to re-architect all these systems when we haven't bothered to to assess and secure the ones that exist ... is bad," Minder says, struggling for words. And that's about as far as he goes with speculation.

"What should be a priority: let's digitally secure the country. Then let's talk about how we can make things more efficient!" The mild-mannered Minder takes note of his own tone, but he means it: "This is the stuff I live every day, and it makes me angry."

SEE ALSO: Crypto scammers are using Elon Musk's DOGE to defraud people

So if the country is less digitally secure under DOGE — and to be clear, with foreign actors now able to hack the U.S. government via the insecure laptops of Musk's Humble Tech Support team such as the 19-year-old known as Big Balls, that's what experts agrees it is — what's the worst that can happen?

After all, as Minder says, he sees bad actors "on the dark web selling stolen U.S. government classified information every day, so we're already losing that battle."

But the "neutering" of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where Musk has embedded another of his 19-year-old IT guys, who is also a graduate of a cybercriminal social network known as the Corn, according to this veteran reporter's expose — this, for Minder, accelerates the whole crisis.

"The most terrifying [outcome] is that we regress even further, that we don't pay attention to what I believe is a major national security issue," Minder says. Instead of working to plug existing leaks, in other words, the DOGE-riddled government becomes a sieve — a very lucrative one for the Rivages of the world.

Can anything be done to stop the work of a leaky IT guy? Minder is pessimistic. Musk has his team firmly in control of computer systems at the Office of Personnel and Management, which in corporate terms would mean that the IT department basically runs the HR department. "I don't know if any guardrails are left" inside the U.S. government, Minder says. Musk's DOGE "tested the fences, and they found out nobody cares about them."

How DOGE can wreck U.S. cybersecurity

Well, not nobody, exactly — but those that do care are demoralized and heading for the exits, says Dr. Richard Forno, Assistant Director of the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute. Forno is as much of a Washington D.C. veteran as you'll find in this area; his 20-year career includes building the first cybersecurity programs for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Among his friends and contractors in the government, "There is panic about the security of federal systems," Forno says. "People are basically saying, well, why am I even bothering with this any more? What's the point in fighting the good fight? They're starting to look for other jobs. They're fed up."

This is one sense in which DOGE is worse than the average company IT department — because your IT guys probably have more cybersecurity training than Musk's team. "They may be brilliant engineers and programmers, but they don't have a lot of experience in the workplace, let alone the government," Forno says.

"Some of [Musk's team] would not pass a government security clearance, and yet they've been given administrator access to both read data and update software."

Ideally, the IT guy has to understand and respect the software in the first place. The arrogant Silicon Valley mantra of "move fast and break things" — which was coined at Facebook, but which even founder Mark Zuckerberg abandoned in favor of the less destructive "move fast with stable infra[structure]" — is a recipe for disaster in a government setting.

"I mean, this isn't like a single server in your basement," Forno says. "These federal systems, whether it's Social Security or Medicare, they've been built over 30 and 40 years" — often using COBOL, a programming language from the 1950s that isn't even taught in schools any more.

"There are workflows, there are processes, there's patchwork stuff that DOGE doesn't know about. And if that breaks, there will be ramifications."

SEE ALSO: DOGE tech employees jointly resign in protest of Elon Musk

Experts like Forno don't even know what systems DOGE has accessed, and to what degree. The "god mode" of IT access has two levels: one where you can read and write data, another known as "read only." But even the latter isn't as safe as it sounds.

Reportedly, DOGE has read-only access to the government's HR department, the OPM. Those computers don't just contain payroll, salary and tax-withholding information for U.S. government employees, but their insurance plans, whether they've paid for counselling, and what their security clearance is.

"If I'm a Russian or Chinese hacker, I would want to target the people at DOGE inside OPM," says Forno. IT experts like him have literally spent a decade trying to shore up OPM computers that were hacked in 2015, exposing the social security numbers of nearly 20 million applicants for security clearances.

And then there's the payroll department, a.k.a. the U.S. Treasury, whose computers contain the bank details, social security numbers, and tax payment history for most Americans. Read-only access, which is what the Treasury secretary has assured us DOGE has, is bad enough.

"I don't think it's a conspiracy, I think it's stupidity," Forno concludes. "These people are shooting first, and they're not giving people fair warning about dramatic changes, and one false move could crash the economy."

How DOGE could hurt the U.S. economy

According to the January 20 executive order that renamed the U.S. Digital Service after Musk's favorite meme, DOGE's job was "modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity." That hardly sounded like the most dangerous-sounding weapon in history.

But given that government in the 21st century relies entirely on software and technology, that mandate allowed DOGE to became in effect the most powerful U.S. agency overnight. And now experts are struggling to find metaphors to explain just how bad the reign of tech support could be.

"This is like Revenge of the Nerds meets Animal House meets War Games." That's the movie-based metaphor favored by Emerson Tan, Chief Innovation Officer at Financial Empowerment Partners, which builds payment technologies for emerging markets — and saw DOGE's destruction of USAID up close.

A decade ago, as the research head of a company that made cyberwarfare tools for the U.S. intelligence community, Tan's job was to figure out, as he puts it, "how to implode a government." His strategy papers are still secret, but their conclusion? "You do what DOGE is doing," Tan says. "You do it through the IT systems" — especially those of the country's payroll department.

"If a company's IT department doesn't function for a day, you can shrug that off," Tan says. "Government in general, especially financial functions like the Treasury, cannot do that ... if you interrupt the system, the system will have a heart attack."

Treasury is especially vulnerable because it services the U.S. government debt, a constant process where bonds are always maturing and investors must be paid precisely on time. If this move-fast-and-break-things IT department were to try to fix the ancient COBOL code at the Treasury — and so far as we know, there has been no oversight that would prevent Musk pushing out a fix — they can induce a technical default.

Should the U.S. default on its debt, that would have a knock-on effect throughout the financial world. "If the overnight interbank lending market blows up," Tan says, "you wake up in the morning and ATMs have stopped working."

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk killing USAID would hurt America's future. Here's why.

This is one IT team that has opted "to basically smash stuff up," Tan adds," but at a rate where they don't understand what they're blowing up. So, the odds are pretty good that at some stage they're going to step on a landmine and blow something important. I mean, the consequences could be everything from milk prices going up to a coup."

Even DOGE's meddling so far constitutes "a system administrator's end-run around the Constitution," Tan believes. When USAID was folded into the State Department, its computer systems were put in the hands of tech teams who don't know how to run it.

The Supreme Court agreed with a lower court judge who ordered the government to restore $2 billion in USAID funding, but whether that is even possible is an open question.

"The systems have all been disintegrated," he says. "Even if the courts says they have to restart it, if you've turned the system off to actually administer it, you can't restart it. The end. the Constitution doesn't matter anymore."

Not to mention all the other potential knock-on effects. Tan predicts famine in South Sudan, at the very least, will result from the end of USAID — and worse, a general breakdown in the international order. Tan's company, Financial Empowerment Partners, is looking to abandon its Washington D.C. HQ for "somewhere more trustworthy," likely in Europe.

"The developing world has heard the message loud and clear, and that is America is our enemy," Tan says. "Not our friend, not a development partner, our enemy."

A U.S. federal judge has ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) likely violated the Constitution "in multiple ways." While this doesn't mean USAID is back up and running, the order does put a temporary halt to DOGE head Elon Musk's plans to scrap the agency.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk killing USAID would hurt America's future. Here's why.

In an 68-page opinion filed in the Maryland District Court on Tuesday, judge Theodore Chuang granted a preliminary injunction preventing DOGE from further dismantling USAID. A vital foreign aid organisation, USAID offered humanitarian assistance to other countries on behalf of the U.S. government, including disaster and poverty relief. Unfortunately, billionaire Musk apparently considered such spending wasteful, shutting down USAID, reportedly reducing a workforce of over 10,000 to 611, and abruptly cutting off billions in foreign aid shortly after President Donald Trump's inauguration.

The temporary injunction doesn't restore USAID to what it was prior to DOGE's intervention. However, it does mean that DOGE cannot fire any more USAID employees, end its contracts or grants, or shut down its offices and IT systems. The court further ordered DOGE to reinstate all current USAID employees' access to their email, payments, security, and other electronic systems, as well as restore deleted emails.

Why was DOGE shutting down USAID potentially unconstitutional? Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

The case was brought by 26 USAID employees and contractors, some of whom the court noted had been stranded overseas without vital security software or funds for basic living expenses when DOGE shut down USAID's systems. In his ruling, Chuang agreed with the plaintiffs' assessment that Musk and DOGE violated the U.S. Constitution on more than one occasion, finding that their case was likely to succeed.

Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the Constitution's Appointments Clause was breached because Musk operated as an Officer of the United States without being appointed as such.  The defence refuted this, claiming that Musk was merely acting in an advisory capacity, and wasn't the one actually calling the shots. Chuang found this unconvincing.

"To deny [this claim] solely on the basis that, on paper, Musk has no formal legal authority relating to the decisions at issue, even if he is actually exercising significant authority on governmental matters, would open the door to an end-run about the Appointments Clause," wrote Chuang.

"Musk's public statements and posts on X, in which he has stated on multiple occasions that DOGE will take action, and such action occurred shortly thereafter, demonstrate that he has firm control over DOGE…. [T]he present record supports the conclusion that Musk, without having been duly appointed as an Officer of the United States, exercised significant authority reserved for an Officer…"

The plaintiffs further argued that Musk and DOGE breached the separation of powers because USAID is a federal agency that can only be created or abolished by Congress. As such, DOGE's shutdown of USAID allegedly exceeded the authority of the executive branch to encroach upon the legislative branch. Chuang also considered this argument strong.

"Congress has made clear through statute its express will that USAID be an independent agency, and that it not be abolished or substantially reorganized without congressional approval," said Chuang. "[Musk and DOGE's] present actions to dismantle USAID violate the Separation of Powers because they contravene congressional authority relating to the establishment of an agency."

Predictably, Musk quickly took to X to decry the ruling, questioning Chuang's integrity as well as sharing and agreeing with posts claiming a "judicial coup." He did not specifically address any of the legal and factual issues raised in the case. 

The White House has also alleged a political motivation for the judgement, confirming that it will appeal the decision. Appearing to employ a "no you" approach to the situation, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly bizarrely accused Chuang of breaching the separation of powers himself, claiming that "rogue judges are subverting the will of the American people in their attempts to stop President Trump from carrying out his agenda." Under U.S. law, the judiciary has the power to assess the constitutional validity of federal laws as well as the actions of the executive branch.

TL;DR: Watch the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix for free on ServusTV. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Fans are expecting big things from the 2025 F1 season, and largely, they got what they wanted from the first race. Sure, Lando Norris winning wasn't a huge surprise, but we got competitive racing from an open field. And you get the feeling that there is a lot more to come. At least, that's what Lewis Hamilton will be hoping for.

If you're interested in watching the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix for free from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

When is the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix?

The 2025 Chinese Grand Prix takes place over 56 laps of the 5,451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit. The full schedule can be found here:

• Practice — 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST on March 21

• Sprint Qualifying — 3:30 to 4:14 p.m. CST on March 21

• Sprint — 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. CST on March 22

• Qualifying — 3 to 4 p.m. CST on March 22

• Race — 3 p.m. CST on March 23

The good news for fans is that it's possible to live stream the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix without spending anything.

How to watch the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix for free

The 2025 Chinese Grand Prix is available to live stream for free on ServusTV. This free streaming service is offering coverage of the entire weekend.

ServusTV is geo-restricted to Austria, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Austria, meaning you can access free live streams of F1 from anywhere in the world.

Unblock ServusTV from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

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

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

4. Connect to ServusTV

5. Watch the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix from anywhere in the world

Please be aware that Formula 1 take the view that the use of a VPN to watch content from another territory may be a breach of the relevant broadcasters’ terms of service and may constitute copyright infringement. It is your responsibility to ensure that your use of a VPN is legal and Mashable does not encourage any illegal use of a VPN.

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (2-Year Subscription + 4 Months Free) $139 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading services do tend to offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch F1 live streams without actually spending anything. This is clearly not a long-term solution, but it does mean you can stream the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming sites from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming F1 live is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for F1?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for live streaming F1 for free, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Austria

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is protected

• Fast streaming speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Watch the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix for free with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers on Sling TV.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs face off a couple of times this week in the MLB Tokyo Series, which marks the start of the 2025 regular season. All eyes are on Shohei Ohtani and Rōki Sasaki, with fans eager to see both Japanese natives play in their home country.

Even though the games take place in Tokyo, you can easily watch them in the US. We've also got you covered on how to watch from anywhere else in the world.

When is Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers?

The second Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs game of the series takes place at 6:10 a.m. ET on March 19.

The two teams will face off at the Tokyo Dome. The game will air on FS1.

How to watch Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

The second Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game of the MLB Tokyo Series can be streamed using Sling Blue and Sling Orange + Blue subscriptions on Sling TV.

Opens in a new window Credit: Sling Sling TV Sports Plan Shop Now

Sling TV offers its Orange & Blue package of 48 channels at $55 per month. Sign up to enjoy a first-month discounted rate of $27.50.

Sling TV’s sports channels feature ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, FS2, NBC, NFL Network, and SEC Network.

How to watch Cubs vs. Dodgers from anywhere in the world

If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., meaning you can unblock live streams of the MLB from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Cubs vs. Dodgers from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:

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

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

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

4. Sign in to your favorite streaming service

5. Watch Cubs vs. Dodgers from anywhere in the world

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

• Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

TL;DR: Identify plants for life with Plantum — a plant identification AI app — now only £11.58 through 30 March. Just head to the Mashable Shop and use the code SAVE5 at checkout for unlimited access.

Opens in a new window Credit: Plantum - AI Plant Identifier Plantum - AI Plant Identifier Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription (For iOS Only) £11.58
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Imagine walking through a garden or forest and being able to name every plant you see. With Plantum AI Plant Identifier’s premium lifetime subscription on sale for £11.58 (reg. £46.40), you’ll have access to a powerful plant identification tool that makes every nature walk an adventure. Just snap a picture, and Plantum will instantly tell you the species, care tips, and fun facts about your leafy find.

Perfect for both plant newbies and green thumbs, Plantum uses AI to recognise thousands of plant species, offering detailed insights right on your phone. This app isn’t just for wild plants — it’s great for identifying houseplants, too. Whether you’re unsure about that new succulent or just curious about a flower you spotted, Plantum has the answers.

And with a lifetime subscription, you won’t need to worry about monthly fees or renewals. You get unlimited access to plant IDs, plant care guides, and a personal plant collection feature. Plus, with Plantum’s accurate care tips, you can keep your houseplants thriving without having to guess their needs.

This tool is a great gift for anyone who loves the outdoors (including yourself!), wants to learn more about the plants around them, or simply wants to take better care of their indoor garden. So, whether you’re on a hike, at the park, or just browsing your local nursery, Plantum makes plant identification fun and easy.

Until 30 March at 11:59 p.m., take advantage of this sale on a lifetime subscription to a Plantum AI Plant Identifier Premium Plan for £11.58 (reg. £46.40) — just use code SAVE5 at checkout.

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TL;DR: Save on flights with a 1-year Dollar Flight Club Premium membership for £7.73 (reg. £53.37). Get personalised deal alerts and book your dream trips for less.

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Picture this: You’re sipping a cocktail on a beach in Majorca, strolling the streets of Paris, or hiking through the mountains of Japan — and you paid way less than everyone else on the plane. That’s the magic of Dollar Flight Club.

This £7.73 annual subscription to the Dollar Flight Club Premium Plan does the hard work of finding cheap flights for you. Just set your departure airports, and you’ll get email alerts when prices drop on domestic and international flights.

Recent deals have included roundtrip flights to Hawaii for £125, Spain for £230, and France for £220. These aren’t just random discounts — they’re curated deals designed to help you travel more while spending less.

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Connections: Sports Edition is a new version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

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

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

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections Sports Edition?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Yellow: How good is the QB?

• Green: Rounds of March Madness

• Blue: Alternative baseball

• Purple: Science-related

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Stats for a QB

• Green: First words of NCAA tournament rounds

• Blue: Baseball leagues

• Purple: Periodic table meets sports

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

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

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections Sports Edition #177 is...

What is the answer to Connections Sports Edition today

• Stats for a QB - ATTEMPTS, RATING, TOUCHDOWNS, YARDS

• First words of NCAA tournament rounds - ELITE, FINAL, FIRST, SWEET

• Baseball "leagues" - CACTUS, GRAPEFRUIT, INTERNATIONAL, PACIFIC COAST

• Periodic table meets sports - GOLD MEDAL, LEAD RUNNER, MERCURY, SILVER SLUGGER

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.

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

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

If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game.

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

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

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

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for March 19 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for March 19 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Upright and grand

The words are parts of a whole.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words are put together to form one instrument.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is PianoParts.

Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for March 19

• Hammers

• Frame

• Strings

• Cover

• Pedals

• Keyboard

• PianoParts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

A long-necked flute.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

SITAR

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A military freshman.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for March 19, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

PLEBE

Hurdle Word 3 hint

To move slightly.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 19 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for March 19, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answer

BUDGE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

An uncool person.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for March 19 Hurdle Word 4 answer

DWEEB

Final Hurdle hint

A Spanish shawl.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

MANTA

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for March 19 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: To indicate

• Green: Functions in Google Chrome

• Blue: Street parts

• Purple: The first word is the same

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Signify

• Green: Web browser buttons

• Blue: Parts of a road

• Purple: À/A la ___

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 #645 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Signify: CONVEY, EXPRESS, MEAN, SPELL

• Web browser buttons: BACK, EXTENSIONS, FORWARD, REFRESH

• Parts of a road: DIVIDER, LANE, MEDIAN, SHOULDER

• À/A la: CARTE, KING, MODE, PLANCHA

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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 19

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

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

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

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 today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for March 19 Where did Wordle come from?

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

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

What happened to the Wordle archive?

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

Is Wordle getting harder?

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

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for March 19, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

A glimmer.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no reoccurring letters.

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 is...

SPARK.

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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 19

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

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

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

Top congressional staffers met with Oracle on Tuesday to talk about TikTok, which faces a ban in the United States unless it is sold to a non-Chinese owner by early April.