Feed aggregator

Save 30% with a water flosser deal that will impress your dentist

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 04:59

SAVE $21.04: As of Oct.25, the Waterpik Pearl Water Flosser is on sale at Amazon for $48.95. This is a 30% saving on list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Waterpik Waterpik Pearl Water Flosser $48.95 at Amazon
$69.99 Save $21.04 Get Deal

Water flossers are having their moment, and that's not a bad thing. After trending on TikTok, we can only imagine that dentists are all taking a huge sigh of relief that we're finally taking flossing seriously.

A water dental flosser is a fantastic way to remove plaque and debris from hard-to-reach areas between teeth and along the gum line, and as of Oct. 25 you can score a great deal on the Waterpik Pearl Water Flosser at Amazon. Reduced by 40%, it's now $48.95 down from $69.99. This deal is specific to the White model, however you can snag the Black flosser for just $49.99.

SEE ALSO: The best water flosser for cleaning up your oral hygiene

This is a great all-rounder water flosser, featuring four tips for a variety of dental needs, a rechargeable battery, and a portable design that makes it handy for travel. Waterpik is also the first water flosser brand to earn the American Dental Association (ADA) Seal of Acceptance for safety and effectiveness.

This flosser works by using PrecisionPulse technology to deliver a combination of water pressure and pulsations, removing plaque and bacteria from the teeth and gums. This helps reduce the risk of issues such as gingivitis, cavities, and bad breath.

This deal is only available for a limited time at Amazon, so don't miss out.

Liven up your next party with this sweet-sounding karaoke machine deal

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 04:54

SAVE $12: As of Oct.25, the YLL Mini Karaoke Machine is on sale for $24.99 at Amazon. That's a 32% saving on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: YLL YLL Mini Karaoke Machine $24.99 at Amazon
$36.99 Save $12.00 Get Deal

Whether you partake or observe, you have to admit, karaoke can give you some of the funniest memories and the best nights. Is there anything better than embarrassing yourself in a room full of strangers? Yes, watching your loved ones embarrass themselves in a room full of strangers.

But for those times when you're feeling the need to burst into song alone, judgment-free at home, or you want to liven up your next party, you need the YLL Mini Karaoke Machine.

A stylish, portable machine that you can take to your friend's house or your next family gathering, the two-microphoned machine is ideal for a night full of laughs. And as of Oct. 25, it's on sale at Amazon for just $24.99. This deal is specific to the Pink, Two Mics model, but there are discounts available on all product variations.

SEE ALSO: Upgrade your sound system for less with this powerful soundbar deal

The microphones are wireless, connected to the speaker via an advanced digital signal processor, so if you feel the need to spontaneously burst into dance, the space is your dancefloor. Connect your phone or other device to the speaker via Bluetooth, so you can sing along to your top songs on Spotify, Apple Music, or Deezer.

When the party really gets going, enjoy the colorful LED lights that flash in beat to the music. Who needs stage lighting? You can even alter your voice with different effects including monster, baby voice, male voice, and female voice. And don't worry, the party won't stop because of battery issues, this little machine has a battery life of 5-10 hours, with fast charging.

This is a limited-time deal at Amazon, so be quick so you don't miss out.

Upgrade your sound system for less with this powerful soundbar deal

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 04:48

SAVE $100: As of Oct. 25, the Ultimea 5.1 Surround Sound System is on sale for $99.99 at Amazon. That's a 50% saving on the original list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Ultimea Ultimea 5.1 Virtual Surround Sound System $99.99 at Amazon
$199.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal

If you're on the hunt for a new sound system, you'll find some great offerings at Amazon. And we love this incredible deal on the Ultimea 5.1 Surround Sound System, currently reduced by 50% on list price.

As of Oct. 25, you can treat yourself to this epic sound system for just $99.99. This bundle includes a 5.1-channel TV soundbar, two rear speakers, and one subwoofer to bring you a truly amazing cinematic experience. A 19.6-foot cable is used to connect speakers to the subwoofer so you can place surround sound speakers anywhere in your room.

SEE ALSO: The best soundbars for upgrading your home entertainment

If you're a sound connoisseur, this system uses SurroundX technology to convert 2.0 PCM to a 5.1 surround signal, making sound travel dynamically around you. It also uses aerospace-grade magnets to ensure precise and clear surround sound.

To deliver rich, powerful bass, the system integrates BASSMX technology, an enhanced magnetic circuit, and a larger cabinet. You can even adjust the bass and surround settings for a personalized listening experience. You’ll also find tailored audio modes for movies, dialogue, and music, all easily changed with a single button on the remote.

This is only a limited-time deal at Amazon, so be quick so you don't miss out.

'Venom: The Last Dance' mid-credits scene, explained

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 04:00

The title Venom: The Last Dance suggests this wacky and wild Spider-Man spin-off franchise could be coming to a close. However, much of this sequel (too much even) is devoted to setting up a big bad dead set on wiping the symbiote out of existence. So, barring a box office bomb on par with Morbius or Madam Web, it seems Venom 4 could rise. And the mid-credits scene for this third entry into this freaky franchise lays out how.

Written and directed by Venom: Let There Be Carnage scribe Kelly Marcel, Venom: The Last Dance unveils Knull, a big bad who doesn't really get a chance to shine. But there are clues early on he's being set up to wreak havoc.

In an early scene in the film, a frustrated bartender (Ted Lasso's Cristo Fernández) is explaining to Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) about the terrors galactic titan Thanos brought down on the MCU's timeline. Then Eddie and Venom (also played by Hardy) get jettisoned back to their own dimension. Could this conversation be a hint of what's to come back on Eddie's home planet?

Who is Knull?

Both in the comics and Venom: The Last Dance, Knull is the creator of the symbiote. Depicted in the movie as a gray figure with long locks and a grumbling voice, this ancient god of darkness saw his creations turn on him and imprison him. And he's ready to get them back for their betrayal.

First, he sends out his monstrous xenophages, giant bug-like beasts who can track the codex key that could free Knull's binds. Ultimately, Venom manages to keep him bound through a grand act of self-sacrifice. But the post-credits scene suggests this wily symbiote might resurrect. And the mid-credits scene promises Knull isn't out of the fight yet either.

What's the mid-credits scene inVenom: The Last Dance?

If you stay through the playful montage of various Venom-animal combinations, you'll see Knull once more on his throne, grumbling about his quest to take down his symbiote children once and for all.

Andy Serkis plays Knull, which might seem like a cheeky Easter egg as he directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage. However, Serkis is a pioneer in mo-cap acting, bringing to life Caesar in the recent Planet of the Apes movies and Gollum in the Lord of the Rings film franchise. So, if Marcel is bringing in this heavy hitter to play her CGI villain, you can bet Sony has big plans for Knull.

In fact, in an interview with Games Radar, Marcel said of Knull, "[He's] way too big to be one and done. So, [his role in The Last Dance] is just a little introduction to him. It's just a kind of taster of where he might potentially be able to go with his own movies, in the same way that they introduced Thanos very carefully through the Marvel movies." 

There it is. The Thanos allusion is confirmed. Watch out, Eddie. Your war is just beginning.

Venom: The Last Dance opens exclusively in theaters Oct. 25.

'Venom: The Last Dance' post-credits scene, explained

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 04:00

Venom: The Last Dance promises in its tagline "Til Death Do They Part." But is Sony really ready to end the adventures of their most popular Spider-Man villain? That seems unlikely when Madame Web and Morbius failed to catch on. And if you're wondering how Eddie Brock and Venom can go on after that world-rocking ending, look no further than the post-credits scene.

In the third Venom entry, a new problem is foisted upon Eddie and Venom (both played by Tom Hardy). They discover they carry a codex that could be the key to free Knull, a ruthless villain older than time itself. Determined to escape his throne/prison, Knull (Andy Serkis) unleashes deadly xenophages upon the earth to hunt the codex down, whatever the it takes. In a heroic move, Venom destroys the codex at great personal cost. But then what?

Well, the mid-credits scene promises this may have worked to shut Knull down for now. But it's not the last we'll see of this grumbling extraterrestrial warlord. What other questions are addressed in the post-credits scene?

What happened to the bartender from Ted Lasso? Cristo Fernández and Chiwetel Ejiofor co-star in "Venom: The Last Dance." Credit: Screenshot / YouTube

Cristo Fernández first popped up as a bewildered bartender in the mid-credits of Spider-Man: No Way Home. There, he tried to explain to an incredulous Eddie the horrors of Thanos' genocidal snap. But before Eddie can make sense of all that, he got snapped back to his dimension. That scene is recreated in Venom: The Last Dance, with Eddie and Venom popping into a similar bar where the bartender is also played by Cristo Fernández. This poor guy not only witnesses the drunken symbiote make a mess of his bar while trying to make a cocktail, he also gets abducted by the U.S. military, simply because he's a witness to the strange wonder that is Venom.

This bartender — who gets stun-gunned by order of solider Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) — is taken to Area 51, along with a sample of Venom's ooey-gooey flesh. While the film's finale shows Area 51 get razed, it's not clear what becomes of the handsome unnamed bartender. But the post-credits scene reveals his fate.

Cautiously coming out of a cavern, the bartender has survived the obliteration of Area 51. While around him lie the ruins of buildings and the corpses of various extraterrestrial and terrestrial beings, he runs for the hills. But he's not alone in this sun-beaten desert.

What's in the vial at the end of Venom: The Last Dance?

The post-credits scene ends on a small, broken glass vial lying in the dirt. Inside is a bit of purple glue that lets off a lighting-like spark of electricity. This is the shedding of the purple symbiote who joined with Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) to save her assistant Christmas (Clark Backo). This is a flickering reminder that there's still a powerful symbiote alive and kicking on Eddie's Earth. As shown by Teddy flexing her formerly paralyzed left hand, her symbiote is inside her and strengthening her. But what else might this shot mean?

Could it suggest the bartender's time with symbiotes is not over? After all, we saw in the white rapids scene how a symbiote can use various hosts to leapfrog across a rough terrain.

The key to Venom's return is in The Last Dance's post-credits scene.

Sure, Venom sacrifices himself to destroy the codex that had Knull chasing Eddie. In doing so, he saves his friend and the Earth. But is that really the end for Venom? Eddie's tip for the bartender in the opening sequence suggests not. When he leaves a coin on the bar, a closer look reveals he's also left behind a bit of Venom's slippery black goo.

Strickland takes both man and symbiote back to Area 51. And if that bartender, with his very penetrable human flesh, could make it out of there alive, it seems certain Venom's shedding could too.

The glint of that vial in the end may have been purple, suggesting it might be Agony, not Venom. But it is nonetheless a remind that Venom's shedding might also have survived the explosion and escaped its glass bonds. And we did see a cockroach scurrying about. Could that shiny black bug be how Venom begins his long trek back to Eddie?

For now, all we can do is speculate. But here's hoping Venom 4 will bring the big guy back, wild as ever.

Venom: The Last Dance opens exclusively in theaters Oct. 25.

'Venom: The Last Dance' ending, explained: What happened to [redacted]?

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 04:00

Did you walk out of Venom: The Last Dance with your head spinning, your heart racing, unsure how to feel? Well, welcome to feeling like Eddie Brock. And we hear you.

Sure, it's a pretty happy ending, all things considered. Writer/director Kelly Marcel even offers fans a finale montage of BFF moments between Eddie Brock and Venom (both played by Tom Hardy) set to sentimental music. It's a real Fast and Furious-style moment of macho reflection. But is this really —as the title promises — Eddie and Venom's last dance?

Following Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Venom: The Last Dance pitches these gruff but affable anti-heroes up against an array of obstacles and foes. While road-tripping on a half-assed mission to clear his name of a murder allegation, Eddie discovers he and Venom are being chased by an elite military squad, dedicated to locking them up in Area 51. They're also the key that could unlock an ancient evil upon the Earth, so the target on their backs is now multiverse-wide. Amidst battling extraterrestrial beasts and surly soldiers, they also need to keep their weirdness in check while bumming a ride from a relatively normal human family of van-living hippies.

But once the big battle has led to explosions and much death, what are we left to look forward to if there is to be another Venom-verse movie? Let's dig into it.

Obviously, spoilers below.

Venom flies in style. Credit: Sony Pictures Is Venom really dead?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie discovers that because Venom brought him back from the dead on a past misadventure, they'd forged a codex. That convenient MacGuffin works as a key that could unlock the merciless Knull, who once ruled over the symbiotes until they locked him up and ran away from his prison.

To retrieve this codex/key, Knull (Andy Serkis) sends out his version of hunting dogs — gigantic, scorpion-like creatures called xenophages — to Earth. These gnarly monsters can track the codex, but only when Venom fully takes over Eddie's body. Of course, as established in Let There Be Carnage, Venom doesn't like being kept in the Eddie closet!

SEE ALSO: Surprise! Venom is the superhero who defines this pandemic moment

However, the codex will vanish if Eddie or Venom die, meaning Knull's escape plan would be foiled. For soldier Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the answer to avoiding alien invasion and Earth's annihilation is simple: execution.

Initially, Eddie and Venom reject this annihilation option, teaming up with hordes of freed symbiotes and scientists to try to battle back the xenophages. But in the end, Venom realizes there's only one way to keep his friend — and the planet he loves — safe. So, using his powers, his shiny shapeshifting sludge ropes in all the attacking xenophages, dragging them to what is essentially a matter-melting acid shower. With the help of Strickland, Venom sacrifices himself to save Eddie. But is he really gone?

The movie would have you think so, ending with Eddie in New York City, where he'd promised to take Venom. In a bittersweet moment, he bids farewell to his friend while looking at the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of welcome to aliens arriving in this storied city. But hey, remember that first sequence in the bar in Mexico?

When tipping the bartender (Ted Lasso's Cristo Fernández), Venom shed a little bit of himself on the coin he left behind. When Strickland recovers this "shedding," the soldier notes this is how the species survives. The sample is then taken to Area 51, where it's placed under the care of Dr. Teddy Payne (Ted Lasso's Juno Temple). In the ensuing battle between symbiotes and xenophages, it's not totally clear what happens to the tiny glass vial holding Venom's shedding. But there could be an answer in the post-credits scene.

What's the deal with Dr. Teddy Payne and Agony? Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, and Clark Backo in Columbia Pictures' "Venom: The Last Dance." Credit: Laura Radford / Sony Pictures

It seems Marcel is combining some characters from the comics. There, Dr. Thaddeus Paine is a Venom foe who ironically can feel no physical pain, but conducts inhumane experiments on others who definitely can. In The Last Dance, Teddy Payne seems to be a gender-swapped spin on the character. Or perhaps Teddy's twin brother — struck down by lightning in their youth — was this dimension's Theodore? In either case, the movie's version of Payne doesn't seem a villain at all. She is very empathetic to the symbiotes in her care, and eventually joins their ranks.

In the finale, Teddy watches her colleagues either be swept up by symbiotes or volunteer to join them in the battle against the xenophages. But she has something up her sleeve, or, well, in her pocket. When it seems her assistant nicknamed "Christmas" (Clark Backo) is at risk of death by fiery explosion, Teddy breaks the glass vial she'd pocketed, which contains a small, purple symbiote. Immediately overtaking her body, it appears she becomes Agony, a symbiote who has feminine curves, purple skin, and long, flowing hair. Agony has the same enhanced strength, impenetrability, and speed of her brother Venom. Plus, this purple symbiote also has lightning powers, making her unique — and tying back to Teddy's tragic past.

Though many of the other symbiotes introduced for the climactic fight are wiped out, Agony slithers back into Teddy at the end of the battle. And we can tell her influence remains by the fact that Teddy's left arm, formerly paralyzed from her childhood brush with death and lightning, can now move and flex without issue. What will this mean, should there be a Venom 4? Will Agony and Teddy Payne be allies to Eddie and Venom? Will they be enemies? Will they double-date?

We're eager to find out.

Has Knull been defeated for good?

No. But that's a matter for a mid-credits explainer.

What happened to Cristo Fernández's bartender?

Well, that's definitely a matter for a post-credits explainer.

Venom: The Last Dance opens exclusively in theaters Oct. 25.

Are you ready for Apple's Mac week?

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 03:02

Apple is launching new Macs next week.

While we already sort of knew that, based on numerous reports and a leaked MacBook Pro, Apple's SVP of Marketing Greg Joswiak made it official by pre-announcing the announcements on X.

"Mac (😉) your calendars! We have an exciting week of announcements ahead, starting on Monday morning," he wrote. "Stay tuned…"

Tweet may have been deleted

A whole week of Apple announcements sounds swell, though one of those announcements could simply be Apple's earnings results, which are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 31.

Still, this style of hyping up product launches before they happen is new for Apple, which typically either hosts a big event in which it shows all the new products, or simply drops the products via a newsroom post (as the company recently did with the iPad mini).

SEE ALSO: The real AI update: Apple launches iOS 18.2 developer beta

So what's coming next week? M4 MacBook Pro devices are nearly certain, and a redesigned Mac mini and iMac (also with an M4 chip inside) are very likely. But given how Joswiak is framing this as a "week" of announcements, perhaps the company has more in stock? We'll (start to) find out on Monday.

Pho Restaurant drops trademark on 'pho' after TikTok outrage

Mashable - Fri, 10/25/2024 - 02:56

Pho Restaurant has given up its trademark on the Vietnamese word "pho" after receiving widespread international condemnation online. After almost two decades, Vietnamese businesses in the UK are finally able to have "pho" in their names without risking legal reprisal.

As per the UK's Intellectual Property Office, Pho Restaurant filed a request to surrender its trademark on the word "pho" this Monday. The process was officially completed two days later on Wednesday, meaning the Vietnamese word is now free and available for all businesses in the UK to use.

SEE ALSO: Restaurant chain which trademarked 'pho' responds to TikTok backlash

Pho Restaurant's trademark surrender was first reported by Daily Mail's Femail, with a spokesperson telling them that the chain had "been listening to the comments from the past week" and "understand[s] the concerns that have been raised." 

Vietnamese TikTok creator iamyenlikethemoney confirmed the news as well, stating that Pho Holdings Ltd. informed her that it had filed to surrender its trademark. The controversy was initially brought to many TikTok users' attention via one of her videos, which has 2.7 million views at time of writing. She stated in a subsequent video that she'd reached out to ask Pho Restaurant to drop their trademark.

"This was a community effort," iamyenlikethemoney said in her latest TikTok on the matter. "I truly believe in the power of community. Every single comment, every single video that was produced on this matter has helped us in reaching the goal of dropping the trademark of 'pho'."

The uproar surrounding the UK restaurant chain began earlier this month, after TikTok users became aware that the white-founded business held the trademark to the Vietnamese word "pho." Pho Restaurant trademarked the words "PHO," "Pho," and "pho" in 2007, and even threatened legal action against at least one Vietnamese business for using the word in 2013.

Social media outrage caused Pho Restaurant to back down at the time, though it still retained its legal grip on the word "pho." Now almost a decade later, this issue is finally being rectified. It seems as though this time the fury was loud enough that Pho Restaurant couldn't just wait it out or explain it away.

"We did it," said iamyenlikethemoney. "I hope they learn from their mistakes."

Pages

Subscribe to Page Integrity, Inc. aggregator