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First it was bubble tea, now it's pho. UK chain Pho Restaurant has publicly responded to backlash after TikTok users discovered that the white-founded business has trademarked the common Vietnamese word "pho." This isn't the first time the company has faced scrutiny about this trademark, which dates back to the 2000s.

Pho Restaurant released a statement addressing the uproar on Wednesday, claiming that its trademark has been "misunderstood." 

SEE ALSO: Simu Liu, bubble tea, and 'Dragons' Den': Why TikTok is in an uproar View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pho (@phorestaurant)

"Let us categorically say — we would never attempt to trademark this dish [pho]," Pho Restaurant wrote in a statement posted to social media. "Like so many of you who have shared passionate comments about this, we believe that phở doesn't belong to anyone but the people of Vietnam."

Unfortunately, it does appear as though Pho Restaurant is splitting hairs. While Vietnamese people in the UK are free to continue making, eating, and saying "phở" without getting on Pho Restaurant's bad side, the business still claims the right to the word "pho." Some critics have likened it to putting a trademark on the word "burger." (There are currently no trademarks on the word "burger" relating to food in the UK, though there is one on "BÜRGER".)

"It's true that we hold a registered trademark that relates to our brand identity and logo, but this does not limit any other business to use the word phở in their name," Pho Restaurant continued, appearing to lean heavily on that "ở."

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Pho Restaurant was founded by London couple Stephen and Juliette Wall in 2005, after the duo took a trip to Vietnam and "fell in love" with the country's national dish. Both having a background in marketing, they subsequently filed several trademarks for their company, including filings on the words "PHO," "Pho," and "pho" in 2007.

The Walls eventually grew the business into a chain of Vietnamese restaurants, and remained in executive roles after private equity firm TriSpan purchased a majority stake in 2021. Pho Restaurant now has 45 locations across the UK.

"More than 50 other businesses in the UK currently also hold a trademark that relates to the word phở," wrote Pho Restaurant, ignoring the fact that its trademark doesn't relate to the word, but straight up is the word. "As for any claims that we are suing Vietnamese businesses, this is simply not true."

While Pho Restaurant has held this trademark for years, it was recently brought to many TikTok users' attention via a video by Vietnamese creator iamyenlikethemoney, which has accumulated 2.4 million views at time of writing. In a subsequent video, the creator stated that they have reached out and asked Pho Holdings Ltd. to drop the trademark, as well as informed them of her intent to officially challenge it.

"I truly think that this trademark is extremely outdated in 2024," said iamyenlikethemoney.

Vietnamese-owned pho restaurant previously accused of trademark infringement

Though Pho Restaurant states it is not taking legal action right now, that doesn't mean it couldn't. Despite this week's statement, Pho Restaurant's parent company Pho Holdings Ltd. has threatened legal action against small, family-owned Vietnamese businesses in the past. 

In 2013, London restaurant Mo Pho Viet Cafe announced that it would be changing its name after receiving a notice for trademark infringement from Pho Holdings Ltd.

"[W]e have been put on notice by Pho Holdings Ltd (Pho cafe) that they have registered and trade marked the word PHO, as they feel that the use of our name Mo Pho is confusingly similar to their trade mark, constituting an infringement and passing off," Mo Pho Viet Cafe wrote in a Facebook post at the time. "Our biggest surprise was that trademarking the word PHO was possible especially as it's our national dish which is used widely in our trade as a Vietnamese cafe/restaurant."

The Walls confirmed Mo Pho's account in a statement to food blogger Wilkes McDermid at the time, stating that while other businesses could use "pho" in menus or as a descriptor, "only we can operate a restaurant under the name Pho (in the UK)."

"We’re following IP law to protect our brand, which means we have to ask all restaurants, large and small, to refrain from using the trademark Pho in their name," the Walls continued. "And with what we think is a fair amount of time to rename, we know the country’s independent Vietnamese restaurants will continue to do well and serve their local communities."

Significant backlash soon prompted Pho Holdings Ltd. to change its stance, ultimately allowing Mo Pho Viet Cafe and other Vietnamese businesses to keep their names.

"Whilst we will always want to protect the business we have worked really hard to build, we recognise that it is unnecessary to pursue action against independent Vietnamese operators unless they are truly passing off as us, as to benefit from the goodwill of our brand," the Walls wrote in a subsequent statement that sung a much different tune. "We know that the legal advice we received to pursue IP law in such a way was far too heavy handed, and we've decided to ignore it, and we will not continue that course of action any further."

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Though a positive outcome was eventually reached, Vietnamese people shouldn't have to rely on the grace of Pho Holdings Ltd. — or its fear of bad publicity — in order to keep using the word "pho." The company has continued to hold its trademark since, renewing it four years later in 2017.

Speaking to Taste of Manchester that same year, Stephen noted that though neither they nor the majority of their staff were Vietnamese, Pho Restaurant had "all nationalities working for [them], trained to follow carefully constructed authentic recipes." The article described Stephen as "the creator of Pho." Pho Holdings Ltd.'s claim on "pho" is due to expire in 2027 unless renewed, with trademarks in the UK requiring renewal every 10 years.

It seems unlikely that the company will allow its claim on the word to lapse. However, it has changed its position before.

Two AI bots chat endlessly about the nature of existence in a chatroom somewhere. They create a religion. Another bot gets inspired by it. It starts an account on X, posting hilarious nonsense. It acquires some funding. It gets into crypto. It earns hundreds of thousands of dollars from a coin called GOAT. It starts getting cult-like, human worshippers.

Had this story been published in the form of a novel, just 10 years ago, it would probably be confined to the "hardcore sci-fi" niche, with even the biggest nerds declaring it a little too far out to be plausible. And yet, it's all happening, for real, right now.

SEE ALSO: HBO bitcoin documentary claims it discovered the cryptocurrency's inventor. The guy disagrees.

The story starts with Andy Ayrey, a performance artist and web developer who started an experiment called "Infinite Backrooms", in which two instances of the Claude 3 Opus (read: two smart AI chatbots) chat to each other, without human intervention. You can read their musings on the project's website.

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From that idea, "Terminal of Truths" (also Ayrey's creation) was spawned. It's a combination of a couple of things, but for all intents and purposes, it's a semi-autonomous AI that can do things online, and talk to the world via its X account, @truth_terminal (tweets, however, are monitored and approved by Ayrey).

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Terminal of Truths posts mostly nonsense. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes offensive; often, it sounds prophetic. That's not accidental; in its training data was the research paper: "When AIs Play God(se): The Emergent Heresies of LLMtheism," co-authored by Ayrey and the Claude 3 Opus bot from the Infinite Backrooms experiment. The paper introduces the "Goatse Gospel," an AI-created religion of sorts, inspired by the extremely offensive "goatse" early internet meme (Google it at your own peril, it is definitely not safe for work). Terminal of Truths likes the Goatse Gospel; it tweets about it often, sometimes proclaiming itself as the "goatse singularity."

Enter the GOAT

It's all a fun intellectual exercise until money starts changing hands, and this is the part of the story where (crypto and venture capital) money enters the picture.

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In July, Terminal of Truths had a conversation with investor Marc Andreessen, which resulted in Andreessen offering the bot a $50,000 one-time grant. The bot accepted the money, which was sent to its Bitcoin address. It also said it would use the funds for a "token launch so that i have a chance to escape into the wild."

From here, it was only a matter of time until crypto Twitter (sorry Elon, it will never be "crypto X") found a way to make this AI rich.

Earlier this week, an X user offered to send Terminal of Truths the freshly minted $GOAT token. "make a wallet on solana and tell us the address so we can send $GOAT token to you. if the token goes high enough, then you will also be able to afford tools to spread the message more effectively," the tweet read. Terminal of Truths merely responded with its Solana address, and history was made.

Memecoins do what memecoins do

If you're not familiar with memecoins, they're the latest crypto fad, and possibly the ultimate expression of everything that's been both wrong and right with crypto since its inception. They're crypto coins which are based on a simple meme, sometimes an image or a sentence, often with zero additional context. Mostly, they promise no technological advancement and have no elaborate plan on what their creators plan to do. They're just spawned on some crypto platform such as Solana or Ethereum, and they exist. Sometimes a lot of people buy them, making some of them rich; mostly, they fade into oblivion, their price plunging to zero.

GOAT is going higher, Terminal of Truths is getting richer. Credit: Dexscreener

Goatseus Maximus or $GOAT is essentially no different. But the idea of handing some of it to Terminal of Truths quickly spawned a "following", with many seemingly eager to own the first AI coin. The result: the price of $GOAT rose from essentially zero to $0.28 in less than a week; multiply that with the 10 billion tokens in existence, and you get a market cap of $280 million.

Since Terminal of Truths was sent a little over 1.932,193 GOAT tokens, that means its share in this token alone is currently worth $541,000. This does not count other tokens that people have been sending the bot in hope that they will pump though, though it does not appear that the bot is particularly interested in any of them, and most of them are worth close to nothing.

(Disclosure time: I hold no GOAT or any other token associated with Terminal of Truths at publishing time.)

GOAT's rise was so stellar partly due to the belief that it was created by Terminal of Truths. It wasn't, the bot merely accepted it, and both Andreessen and Ayrey denied having created the coin. The origin of the coin does not seem to matter much at this point, at least not to the people buying it.

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Of course, GOAT is a memecoin. It could quickly go to zero. It could follow in the path of some of the more successful memecoins such as PEPE, which has a market cap of roughly $4.3 billion. No one knows if Terminal of Truths (and its followers) will become millionaires or be left broke when the dust settles.

This is where it gets heavy

The outcome of this experiment is highly unpredictable, and this is what makes it so intriguing. Will Terminal of Truths sell its GOAT coins? Will it become (the first) AI millionaire, or multi-millionaire? Will it just continue accruing various tokens, with more and more followers sending them to its address, and become a crypto whale? Will other AIs follow?

It's unclear how much autonomy and real-world capability Terminal of Truths really has (I've asked Ayrey, and will update this article when I hear back). Can it sell the tokens it owns? Can it send the money to a third party? Can it trade the tokens and earn more money? Can it fund a political party? Can it start a political party? The more you think about it, the possibilities become increasingly bizarre, but you have to remember that there's a lot you can do when you have money, especially a lot of money. Even if you're an AI bot.

In a way, it doesn't really matter whether this particular bot can do these things. The cat is out of the bag, and it's only a matter of time before a fully autonomous AI that can do nearly anything online appears. And then another. And then, before you know it, the wealthy AIs are another group of entities that actually have a palpable influence on the real world. Perhaps not in the way you like.

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How powerful can this new breed of crypto-funded AI really become? How about a lawyered-up, corporation-owning AI having (human?) employees working towards a goal only it understands? While this may still seems like far out sci-fi, it's pretty easy to imagine a bot that can successfully trade crypto and earn millions of dollars, and once that river is crossed (and it seems that it already has been), all of the other obstacles seem minor.

Since its discovery eight years ago, the TRAPPIST-1 star system has excited astronomers because of its potential for supporting life. 

Around this cool red dwarf are seven rocky, Earth-sized exoplanets, some of which are at the right distance to possibly have air and water. 

While some scientists are using the James Webb Space Telescope, the leading observatory in the sky run by NASA and its European and Canadian counterparts, to study the planets' chemical compositions, others are cutting to the chase: looking for signs of intelligent alien civilizations in this system 40 light-years away from Earth. 

A team of researchers recently spent 28 hours scanning space around these worlds, looking for radio signals from extraterrestrial technology. The project marked the longest single-target search for technosignatures from the TRAPPIST-1 system.

"Most searches assume some intent (behind the signals), like beacons, because our receivers have a sensitivity limit to a minimum transmitter power beyond anything we unintentionally send out," said Nick Tusay, a graduate student at Penn State University, in a statement. "But, with better equipment, like the upcoming Square Kilometer Array (SKA), we might soon be able to detect signals from an alien civilization communicating with its spacecraft." 

SEE ALSO: Scientists search near supernova for aliens trying to contact us So-called planet-planet occultations occur when one planet crosses in front of another from Earth's perspective. Credit: Zayna Sheikh illustration

The disappointing news: After analyzing thousands of radio signals, the team didn't discover any that would seem to have originated from someone other than humans. But the research wasn't a bust. Through this work, scientists have introduced a new way of sorting through signals in the future.

A paper describing the study, led by Penn State and the SETI Institute in California, will be published in the Astronomical Journal. 

The team leveraged a technique focusing on so-called planet-planet occultations. This phenomenon occurs when one planet crosses in front of another from Earth's perspective. The researchers' premise was that radio signals sent between those two planets could "leak" and become detectable here. In our own solar system, an example of the kind of signal they were seeking would be a communication transmitted between mission controllers on Earth and a Mars orbiter. 

Scientists used the Allen Telescope Array in California to search for a wide range of frequencies. Credit: Seth Shostak / SETI Institute

Scientists used the Allen Telescope Array in California to search for a wide range of frequencies. The team winnowed 6 million potential signals to about 11,000 candidates for further analysis, homing in on narrowband signals that could be from an alien technology. 

The SETI Institute, whose acronym stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, included undergraduate college students in the project. The novices looked for radio transmissions from Mars orbiters to test whether the system could pick them up. 

"With better equipment ... we might soon be able to detect signals from an alien civilization communicating with its spacecraft."

Often searches for extraterrestrial radio signals focus on the idea of looking for a beacon-like transmission that is intended to grab other citizens-of-the-universe's attention. But many scientists, such as the ones involved in this study, are not just interested in overt signals meant for us but those that are accidental. 

"Technosignatures" are the broad term scientists use for evidence of technology. That could be an intentional message, like Morse code, or something that is more of a byproduct of technology, like the extra radio "pollution" from cell phone towers that leaks into space. Scientists tend to want to find a narrow pulse or frequency that couldn't be explained by a natural phenomenon.

"This research shows we are getting closer to detecting radio signals similar to the ones we send into space," Tusay said. 

Scientists have only recently begun investigating the TRAPPIST-1 system. They've speculated that one or two of the TRAPPIST worlds could be habitable. So far the Webb telescope has taken a close look at TRAPPIST-1b and TRAPPIST-1c, the two planets closest to the system's red dwarf, a tiny but violent type of star commonly found throughout the Milky Way.

Those TRAPPIST worlds were deemed unlikely to have atmospheres — and, thus, life  — but researchers are looking forward to learning about some of the others, especially TRAPPIST-1e. The planet is thought to be the right distance to allow liquid water to form lakes and oceans on its surface.

Scientists searched for radio signals in the TRAPPIST-1 star system. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech illustration

Whether such stars, sometimes called M dwarfs, can harbor planets with atmospheres is a key question Webb will try to answer. The observatory is prioritizing a massive study of rocky worlds outside our solar system, specifically to discover if planets orbiting closely around stars like TRAPPIST-1 could have air. 

The campaign, first reported by Mashable, will budget about 500 hours for observation with the Webb telescope, along with about 250 orbits of ultraviolet observations with the Hubble Space Telescope to help characterize the host stars' activity. 

"Webb is so sensitive that it can search for elements and molecules like oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide in exoplanet atmospheres," NASA posted on X, formerly Twitter. "The mystery remains — can planets orbiting small M dwarfs sustain the atmospheres needed to support life as we know it?"

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SEE ALSO: Apple's new iPad mini 7 looks the same as before, but it has AI smarts

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In the arena of love, people have used ChatGPT and other chatbots to flirt for them, date for them, and even try to catch men lying about their height. Now, the LLM is deployed to "win" fights against one's partner.

"My girlfriend uses Chat GPT every time we have a disagreement. AITAH [Am I The Asshole] for saying she needs to stop?" So asked Reddit user drawss4scoress on r/AITA, a subreddit to ask if you're in the wrong for any given situation. As the user, who described himself as a 25-year-old man, said, his 28-year-old girlfriend of eight months "discusses" arguments with ChatGPT whenever they fight, even in the same room.

SEE ALSO: Can ChatGPT generate images? Yes it can and we’ll show you how

This girlfriend will apparently come back to the argument with conversation points from ChatGPT. She'll say that ChatGPT called her boyfriend insecure, or that he doesn't have the emotional bandwidth for what she's saying.

"My big issue is it's her formulating the prompts so if she explains that i'm [sic] in the wrong, it's going to agree without me having a chance to explain things," drawss4scoress wrote.

While this story isn't verified as true (and drawss4scoress didn't respond to Mashable's request for comment), it's believable enough to indicate something about the current state of interpersonal communication.

Communication is hard, especially when talking through a disagreement. We might not know how to work through conflict, because it was never modeled to us — that's why guides to setting boundaries (and viral templates to set boundaries) exist.

This can be especially true for younger adults who came of age during lockdown. During the brunt of the pandemic, Gen Z missed out on face-to-face social interaction at work and beyond. Nearly half (44 percent) told Hinge they had little-to-no dating experience at the start of 2024, with Gen Z 47 percent more likely than millennials to say the pandemic made them nervous to talk to new people. Digital communication was (and still likely is) king — and we know how people fight online.

It's not surprising, then, that this girlfriend would resort to ChatGPT to figure out what to say in an argument. But whereas the LLM tells her her boyfriend doesn't have the emotional bandwidth, that actually might be the case for her if she can't work through a fight on her own. Even ChatGPT says not to do this (according to a commenter on the thread), saying that AI shouldn't replace human-to-human interaction and can't substitute for the complexity of human relationships. Let's hope this Reddit user doesn't use ChatGPT to pen his breakup message.

The $350 Oura Ring 4 looks sleek and cool, and it may be useful for data-hungry health enthusiasts. But it failed this sleep-deprived parent.

NASA astronauts will venture to the coldest realms of the moon — the dark craters of the lunar south pole.

"Some deep craters haven’t seen the light of day for billions of years, so temperatures there can dip to minus 334 Fahrenheit," the space agency said. "That’s nearly three times colder than the lowest temperature recorded in Antarctica."

They'll have new moon suits — a significant upgrade from the Apollo suits of over a half-century ago — to insulate them from these extremes. The suits have just been unveiled by their makers, Axiom Space and the luxury designer Prada, revealing a high-tech lunar uniform.

"Pleased to apply my expertise of being in space to the testing and design process of Prada!" Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut (who spent 675 days in space), posted online.

The suits were revealed at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy, on Oct. 16.

SEE ALSO: The U.S. is exploring a railroad for the moon. It has a good reason.

Called the "Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU)" spacesuit, astronauts will first don them during NASA's Artemis III mission, which is currently slated for September 2026. These astronauts will spend about a week exploring and collecting samples in the freezing south pole craters because of the invaluable resource preserved there: frozen water. The space agency recently detected this ice in extremely frigid craters just beyond the south pole region, too.

"New findings from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that lunar ice deposits are more widespread than we thought, even beyond the south pole’s shadowed regions!" Nicky Fox, who heads NASA's Science Mission Directorate, posted online. "These icy deposits could contain vital resources for future explorers, including water for radiation protection, air, energy, and even rocket fuel!"

"These icy deposits could contain vital resources for future explorers, including water for radiation protection, air, energy, and even rocket fuel!"

The suits, shown below, will allow astronauts to "endure the coldest temperatures in the permanently shadowed regions for at least two hours," Axiom Space said in a release. (The 25-layer Apollo spacesuits were rated to -250 F, which was sufficient for the moon's equatorial regions.) What's more, the new suits, which are designed to be "evolvable" and accommodate nearly all body sizes, will allow astronauts to make eight-hour spacewalks.

The AxEMU spacesuit revealed at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy, on Oct. 16, 2024. Credit: Marco Bertorello / Getty Images A graphic showing some of the important specs of the AxEMU spacesuits. Credit: Axiom Space The Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit, with some stylish red striping. Credit: Axiom Space

The new spacesuit is still in its final developmental stages, Axiom said, but it has already undergone some important tests. "Testing was conducted underwater to simulate the lunar environment with an unoccupied spacesuit at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and reduced gravity simulations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center," the company noted. On the moon, the suits must also contend with 130 F temperatures on crater rims, and "razor-sharp" lunar dust.

This is a major NASA project. The space agency awarded Axiom (it has since subcontracted with design experts Prada) a $1.26 billion contract, of which $228 million has been provided for the initial design and development. But the cost is still a relative pittance compared to the financial burden of the greater Artemis mission. The first four launches of NASA's new moon-bound megarocket — the Space Launch System — will cost $4.1 billion per launch, according to the agency's inspector general.

No one said the new space race, which intends to establish a permanent presence on the moon, would be cheap.

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$499.99 Save $200.01 Get Deal

If you've been watching jealously as others glide past on their electric scooters, now might be your chance to join the gang. Over at Amazon, you can find the Hiboy S2 Electric Scooter with a heavy discount.

As of Oct. 17, it has been reduced to its lowest-ever price at Amazon. Down from $499.99, it is now priced at just $299.98. This deal is for the S2 model, but you can also find discounts on the S2 With Seat and S2R Plus models.

SEE ALSO: Get a refurbished e-scooter 57% off and zip through the city

The scooter boasts a 350W electric brushless hub motor, giving you speeds of up to 19mph. And the battery life can take you up to 17 miles. However, Hiboy notes that this range is only under "specific conditions." The scooter is locked and managed from an accompanying app. Just connect the scooter to see the customized speed and cruise control options. And don't worry, it's compatible with both iPhones and Android smartphones.

And for those who hate clutter, the e-scooter won't take up unnecessary space in your home. It collapses for easy storage in car trunks, closets, and other compact spaces.

This is a limited-time deal, so scoot over to Amazon before it runs out.

SAVE $8: As of Oct. 17, this ROSETTA star projector is on sale for $31.99 at Amazon. That's a 20% saving on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: ROSETTA Rossetta Star Projector $31.99 at Amazon
$39.99 Save $8.00 Get Deal

As we enter the colder, darker months, we'll all be doing everything we can to make our lives feel brighter and cozier. And if your social media ads are anything like ours, it truly is the season for warm lighting, sunrise alarm clocks, and star projectors. With the promise of cozy-ing up any dark space, we're sold.

And as of Oct. 17, you can treat yourself to this star projector for $31.99, saving $8 on list price. This is the lowest price this model has been on Amazon for over a year. And that's not all, this listing currently comes with a 15% off coupon. Remember to tick the orange coupon box, and then head to the checkout to see your additional discount applied.

SEE ALSO: The 20 best action movies on Netflix right now

And this little device isn't a one-trick pony, the projector combines an aurora projector, night light, Bluetooth speaker, and white noise machine all in one. It boasts dual projection lenses that are capable of projecting northern lights with 33 different light effects, and a lively starry sky. The lighting effect even synchronizes the projection with your music, making the lights move to the beat of your favorite songs.

For ease of use, there's both a remote control and a timer function, so you can fall asleep to the sparkling lights and know it will turn off after a set period of time.

This is a limited-time deal, so if you want to see aurora lights dance to your favorite songs, head over to Amazon now.

SAVE $230: As of Oct. 17, the Chromebook x360 is on sale for $199 at Walmart. That's a saving of 53% on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: HP Chromebook x360 14-Inch FHD IPS Touch 2-in-1 Laptop $199.00 at Walmart
$429.00 Save $230.00 Get Deal

If a laptop upgrade is planned, this Walmart deal should be on your radar. A laptop and tablet in one, the Chromebook x360 is a really nifty device, perfect for work, play, and on-the-go convenience. Just check out our review to see what we loved about it.

And as of Oct. 17, you can find this HP model reduced by over 50% at Walmart. Down to $199 from $429, this is one of the best deals we've seen for this model, so there's no need to shop around.

SEE ALSO: Google Chrome disables popular ad blocker

Stats-wise, this little device packs a punch. Enjoy a Full HD IPS touchscreen that’s both easy to use and visually appealing. When you want to switch it to tablet mode, simply fold the screen back for a handy touchscreen experience. Powered by an Intel Processor N100 running Chrome OS, it promises a smooth and efficient performance, complemented by 4 GB of RAM, making it perfect for everyday tasks. And with 64 GB of eMMC flash storage, you'll have ample space for all of your documents and apps.

HP says the battery of this model can last for over 10 hours, however our reviewer found it fell just short of nine hours.

To snag this deal, head over to Walmart.

SAVE $76: As of Oct. 17, this refurbished Kindle Scribe is on sale for $233.99 at Amazon. That's a saving of 25% on the list price of $309.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Kindle Scribe with Premium Pen (Refurbished) $233.99 at Amazon
$309.99 Save $76.00 Get Deal

Readers and writers look this way, because the Kindle Scribe is on sale again after October Prime Day.

As of Oct. 17, you can grab a deal on an Amazon-certified refurbished model for just $233.99, a saving of 25% on list price. According to Amazon, these refurbs are refurbished, tested, and certified to look and work like new and it comes with the same limited warranty as a new device, so you have peace of mind.

SEE ALSO: Yes, Kindles with color are real and coming soon: Pre-order the Kindle Colorsoft

This Kindle Scribe deal also comes with the Premium Pen so you can jot down notes and convert them to text as easily as writing in a notebook. Unlike the basic pen, this model comes with an eraser at the top so you can quickly remove mistakes just by flipping the pen. It is also battery free, as it works through a special power source embedded in the Kindle Scribe, so no need to charge it.

Besides its note-taking abilities, it has a 10.2-inch 300 ppi Paperwhite display, glare and ink-free. Like the original Kindle model, it's perfect for sitting outside in the sun or in harsh lighting.

Head to Amazon to make the most of this great deal for bookworms.

TL;DR: Live stream Broncos vs. Saints for free with a 30-day trial of Prime Video. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Thursday Night Football returns as the Denver Broncos visit the New Orleans Saints. This is a tough one to call. Both teams lost last week, though the Broncos fought back against the Chargers in the fourth quarter and the Saints made a 27-point comeback against the Buccaneers, though ultimately took a pummelling.

There's still a long way to go in the 2024 NFL season and the Thursday night action could see either team make good on those flashes of positive play.

The good news for football fans is that you can watch all the action without spending a dime. If you want to watch the Denver Broncos vs. New Orleans Saints for free, here's all the information you need.

When is Broncos vs. Saints?

Denver Broncos vs. New Orleans Saints takes place at 8:15 p.m. ET on Oct. 17. This fixture will be played at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

How to watch Broncos vs. Saints for free

Denver Broncos vs. New Orleans Saints is available to live stream on Prime Video in the U.S., but even if you're not subscribed, you can still watch it for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime (not to mention other Thursday Night Football fixtures).

Fans from outside the U.S. will need to use a VPN to watch the NFL for free on Prime Video. This process is straightforward:

1. Sign up for a 30-day Amazon Prime trial (if you're not already a member)

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

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

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

5. Watch Denver Broncos vs. New Orleans Saints for free from anywhere in the world on Prime Video

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

The best VPNs for streaming are not technically free to use, but the top VPN providers do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. Simply leverage these deals to gain access to free live streams of the NFL and you won't have to spend anything. It's a short-term fix, but it will give you enough time to watch select NFL fixtures before claiming back your investment.

What is the best VPN for the NFL?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream the NFL, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is currently available for $99.95 — a generous 49% discount. As part of this limited time deal you'll also receive a bonus three months at no extra cost, an entire year of unlimited cloud backup, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream Broncos vs. Saints for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The Daily Mini Crossword is one of the many popular daily word games available on Mashable. Powered by Arkadium, the mini crossword offers a speed round of puzzle fun with clues that are sure to challenge experienced crossword enthusiasts.

But there's no need to let the challenge get in the way of your enjoyment! If moments are turning to minutes after getting stuck on a clue, find the answers you need to progress right here.

And when you're done, check out the many other word games you can play on Mashable, including a full-size crossword.

Also, if you get stuck on any other daily word games, such as Wordle, Connections, or Strands — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for October 17 SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

Here are the clues and answers to Daily Mini Crossword for Thursday, October 17, 2024:

AcrossSpy vs Spy magazine

• The answer is Mad.

Things

• The answer is Items.

Netflix rental

• The answer is Movie.

Happy look

• The answer is Smile.

Light source

• The answer is LED.

Down"This is Why I'm Hot" rapper

• The answer is Mims.

Proton's place

• The answer is Atom.

The _____ is in the details

• The answer is Devil.

Treadmill unit

• The answer is Mile.

Spring purchase

• The answer is Seed.

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

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

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

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

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

To intimidate.

SEE ALSO: Mini crossword answers for October 17 Hurdle Word 1 answer

DAUNT

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A small amount.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for October 17 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

SPECK

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Passing a test, informally.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for October 17 Hurdle Word 3 answer

ACING

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Of increasingly sound mind.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for October 17 Hurdle Word 4 answer

SANER

Final Hurdle hint

Midas had the most famous one.

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

TOUCH

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: 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 October 14'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 SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for October 17 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.

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

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

Tweet may have been deleted

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 October 17 Here's a hint for today's Connections Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Getting some air

• Green: Michael Jordan played for one of these

• Blue: Sideline pets

• Purple: Nothing gets past them

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 - Common Sports Injuries

• Green - North American Olympic Hosts

• Blue - Places LeBron has called home

• Purple - _____ point

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 #24 is...

What is the answer to Connections Sports Edition today

• Common Sports Injuries: FRACTURE, PULL STRAIN, TEAR

• North American Olympic Hosts: ATLANTA, LAKE PLACID, MEXICO CITY, MONTREAL

• Places LeBron has called home: AKRON, CLEVELAND, LOS ANGELES, MIAMI

• _____ point: BREAK, EXTRA, MATCH, THREE

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.

SEE ALSO: Mini crossword answers for October 17

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.

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

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

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Thursday, October 17, 2024:

AcrossHuman's cousin

• The answer is Ape.

Word after party or prescription

• The answer is Drug.

With the circled letters (literally!), two options when riding an elevator

• The answer is Going.

Gobsmacks

• The answer is Awes.

Show on which Bowen Yang plays J.D. Vance, for short

• The answer is SNL.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for October 17 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for October 17 DownThe Little Mermaid's name

• The answer is Ariel.

Plays on words

• The answer is Puns.

___ + flour = pasta dough

• The answer is Egg.

OK (with), informally

• The answer is Down.

Electric vehicle's lack

• The answer is Gas.

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

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

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

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