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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 August 2's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

Where did Wordle come from?

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

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

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

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.

Is Wordle getting harder?

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

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for August 2 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Something a reptile may shed.

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...

SCALE.

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer hints for August 3 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for August 3

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.

NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: A night at the museum

The hint for the theme is that they are eras.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

The answers are related to artistic periods.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is ArtHistory.

NYT Strands word list for August 3

• Classical

• Medieval

• ArtHistory

• Baroque

• Modern

• Romantic

Looking for other daily online games? Find one you might like – or hints for another game you're already playing – on Mashable's Games page.

If deals are struck, Meta may incorporate the actors’ voices into a digital assistant product called MetaAI, people with knowledge of the effort said.

TL;DR: Improve your CV with the Ultimate Cybersecurity and IT Career Certification Pathway Training, on sale for £23.40 as of Aug. 2.

As the majority of the world migrates from physical offices to virtual ones, companies depend more than ever on IT professionals who can help employees communicate, collaborate, and automate routine tasks. They provide teams with the functionality and security needed to actually do their jobs — plain and simple.

If you’re looking to join these computer superheroes in keeping the workforce working, you’ll need to have some certifications and skills under your belt. This IT career training from experts David Bombal and Total Seminars can help. 

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

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for August 3's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections?

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

Tweet may have been deleted

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 August 3 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Elation

• Green: Being civil with someone you don't like

• Blue: That's BS

• Purple: Things you press

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: Bit of Excitement

• Green: Tolerate

• Blue: Nonsense

• Purple: Things to Click

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 #419 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Bit of Excitement: HIGH, KICK, RUSH, THRILL

• Tolerate: BEAR, STAND, STOMACH, TAKE

• Nonsense: BALONEY, BULL, BUNK, TRIPE

• Things to Click: HEELS, MOUSE, REMOTE, TOUNGE

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.

Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday's Connections.

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

Apparently using Google Gemini to write a fan letter in the voice of a little girl doesn't sit well with people.

Google has pulled its "Dear Sydney" ad after major backlash that criticized Google for misjudging how much the public values genuine human expression.

The ad features a father using the Google Gemini chatbot to help his daughter write a fan letter to Olympic track and field star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. "I'm pretty good with words," says the father, "but this has to be just right." Cue Gemini, and a fan letter written entirely by a bot that, being a bot, can't possibly understand concepts like admiration, inspiration, or just the experience of being a human child.

"We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it," said a Google spokesperson in a statement to Mashable. "Our goal was to create an authentic story celebrating Team USA. It showcases a real-life track enthusiast and her father, and aims to show how the Gemini app can provide a starting point, thought starter, or early draft for someone looking for ideas for their writing."

SEE ALSO: The new iPad ad essentially flips AI-weary creatives the bird

But given the negative reaction online, Google missed the mark. The ad's message is offset by a recurrent theme in the generative AI era: companies have eagerly adopted generative AI in the hopes of attracting users. But in a classic case of a tech solution in search of a problem, they've sometimes repulsed consumers, and have struggled to find applications that prove genuinely useful. Earlier this week Meta scrapped its celebrity AI personas, while Taco Bell has expanded its AI voice automated ordering system despite McDonald's failings with a similar experience.

Even if Gemini nailed the tone and successfully mimicked the tone and age-appropriate literacy of the little girl, people online were horrified by the premise of using AI to write a fan letter. "It is one of the most disturbing commercials I’ve ever seen," posted Shelly Palmer, professor of advanced media at Syracuse University Newhouse School. "This is exactly what we do not want anyone to do with AI. Ever."

Tweet may have been deleted

"I cannot think of a less inspiring ad. What is even the point of sending that letter," posted X user @chikkadee.

Tweet may have been deleted

"Re: Google’s 'Dear Sydney' AI Ad - much like Apple’s Crush, the question we need to ask ourselves isn’t 'what can AI/texhn do for us?'" wrote another user @Aerocles referring to a similarly tone-deaf ad from Apple that literally crushed creative tools. "But 'what role do we want it to play in our lives?' Just because AI can do something, doesn’t mean we want it to."

Tweet may have been deleted

Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri was so infuriated that she wrote an entire column about it saying, "This ad makes me want to throw a sledgehammer into the television every time I see it."

It's hard to summarize all the ways the public feels Google's ad fell short. Whether it's coming under fire for implying that automated text is more valuable than children's expression, or discouraging kids doing their own writing, or simply signaling to parents that this is a good use of generative AI, there are so many issues. But the Los Angeles Times's Ryan Faughnder encapsulated the overall mood pretty well in a post on X: "Turns out it's really hard to market apocalyptic A.I. technology."

Tweet may have been deleted

"The home of unlawful social media piracy."

That's what some of the biggest football leagues in the world are calling Elon Musk's X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in a letter obtained by the Associated Press.

The letter from soccer leagues like Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, and Serie A, which was sent to X CEO Linda Yaccarino, demands that the company take more action against copyrighted content being illegally published on the platform.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk spreads doctored Kamala Harris campaign video on X

Since Elon Musk took over X, then known as Twitter, in October 2022, pirated content has run rampant. Almost immediately after Musk's acquisition, users began sharing full-length films from major companies with little-to-no oversight. The company seemingly made matters worse by rolling out new updates and features, like the ability to upload longer videos, that seemed to further enable the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content.

The football world calls out X

Along with the Premier League and LaLiga, the letter to X was also signed by major soccer governing bodies like UEFA and CONMEBOL. 

Potentially even more concerning for X is the fact that networks and platforms that air the leagues' games signed the letter too. Companies like DIRECTV, Sky, Movistar Plus+, beIN, and DAZN – all of which signed the letter – have distribution rights to a variety of sports, not to mention entertainment events and shows, in addition to soccer.

In the letter, these organizations specifically call out X for its "persistent failings" in moderating unlawful distribution of copyrighted material. The letter makes it clear that this problem is unique to the platform since Musk's acquisition.

"X’s approach to taking down unlawful live content notified to them is woefully insufficient and inadequate," reads the letter sent to Musk, Yaccarino, and X. "This makes our respective intensive efforts to tackle this problem hugely inefficient. Critically, since you acquired the platform, we have witnessed a demoralizing reduction in technical support making it ever more difficult to engage with the platform in any kind of meaningful discussion on this topic."

The letter mentions how X under Musk has severely lacked in providing support for these companies, an issue the letter says has been exacerbated by the fact that X's content moderation resources were recently decreased by 20 percent. The letter also says that X "lacks many of the features which other responsible social media operators deploy to combat piracy.”

All of these issues combined have resulted in "an increased perception among pirates that they can do as they wish on X with impunity," according to the letter, which provides examples of illegal live streams being broadcast on X. 

Mashable noticed such livestreams spreading on X during the recent 2024 Copa América and Euros tournaments as well, and monitored some of these streams. These streams were rarely taken down on X. When one was removed, often a new feed would just be shared in its place.

Mashable has reached out to X about these streams, and the others mentioned in the letter, and will update if we hear back.

Will this affect X's sports dominance?

X has lost users from various online communities to competitor platforms like Threads and Bluesky over the past few years.

However, one user base that's continued to hold strong on X are sports fans. 

X is still the place for real-time discussion of the biggest games and matches on social media. Because X is where the fans are, many sports leagues and teams have remained active on the platform. Right now, for example, X is filled with not only Olympics-related content but also paid advertising from the networks currently airing the 2024 summer games in Paris.

However, X's relationship with sports leagues and broadcasters could certainly be affected by the company's blasé response to the publication of pirated content. X is already very familiar with advertiser boycotts as a result of Musk's leadership or even his own behavior. 

The leagues and organizations behind the letter sent to X says that they "urgently call for a meeting with X’s representatives to address this unacceptable situation."

Porn site BangBros has allegedly exposed user and model information, cyber security site Cybernews reported.

In June, the research team at Cybernews discovered more than eight gigabytes of sensitive information about BangBros users. This information included IP addresses, usernames, messages, countries and geolocations, and model names, ages, and descriptions.

SEE ALSO: Should I use a VPN to watch porn?

"Although the credentials were not leaked directly, hackers can associate the IP addresses with the identity from other leaks," explained Cybernews information security researcher Mantas Kasiliauskis in its reporting.

The sensitive information had been stored on an unprotected instance of Elasticsearch, a searchable distributed document storage system typically used for high-volume data. The largest file of the leak contained nearly 11 million records. Cybernews researchers claim this data was likely left unprotected because of an "inadvertent configuration error."

Cybernews contacted BangBros, and the error was fixed. According to Cybernews, however, there's still a risk to users if adversaries accessed the data.

"If bad actors managed to get their hands on this data, they might trace and link adult content viewers' habits to specific individuals," Kasiliauskis said. "Combined with other private information, this could lead to significant privacy issues, cause personal embarrassment, and result in social stigma in places with conservative attitudes."

Mashable has reached out to BangBros for comment and will update if we hear back.

Big technology companies show no signs of slowing their spending on artificial intelligence, even though a payoff still looks a long way away.

Lawyers for Tesla have asked a Delaware judge to reverse her decision to void a multibillion-dollar pay package for Mr. Musk after shareholders approved it a second time in June.

A new fight has popped up in the ongoing battle between TikTok and the U.S. government, but this time, it's about children's online privacy.

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, alleging that the social media platform violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by allowing children to create accounts and interact with adults — and collecting and retaining their data without getting consent from their guardians. COPPA, which was passed over two decades ago, requires social media platforms and other websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13. In response, most social media platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat — simply don't allow anyone under 13 to make an account. TikTok, on the other hand, offers a view-only experience for children under 13.

SEE ALSO: Here's how the TikTok ban will likely play out in the courts

"This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control," Brian M. Boynton, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, told the Associated Press in a statement.

This comes after the FTC sued Musical.ly, the app that would later become TikTok, for violating COPPA in 2019, the AP reported; Musical.ly paid $5.7 million to resolve the allegations at the time.

"TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country," FTC Chair Lina Khan said, according to NBC News. "The FTC will continue to use the full scope of its authorities to protect children online — especially as firms deploy increasingly sophisticated digital tools to surveil kids and profit from their data."

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable.

Simone Biles dunked on Donald Trump, and it didn't take long for LeBron James to join in.

Some context: Biles, the undisputed gymnastics GOAT, won the all-around gold in women's artistic gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday. This followed Team USA gold earlier in the week. All that winning — and likely more to come in individual events — elevated Biles to a standing all her own in modern artistic gymnastics.

SEE ALSO: How women’s gymnastics is scored at the Olympics, and how Simone Biles pushes those boundaries

In the wake of the golds, Biles took a pretty clear jab at former President Donald Trump. Ricky Davila posted on X: "Simone Biles being the GOAT, winning Gold medals and dominating gymnastics is her black job." That was a reference to Trump saying migrants were "taking Black jobs."

Biles quote-tweeted Davila, saying, "I love my black job."

Tweet may have been deleted

It was a quick shot at Trump after his comments at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention, and apparently, James approved. He quote-tweeted Biles with "Black [goat emoji]."

Tweet may have been deleted

James, who some folks argue is the basketball GOAT, has taken a shot at Trump on Twitter before, calling him "U bum" back in 2017. Biles, meanwhile, has clearly made it a point to enjoy the Paris Olympics her way after getting lots of hate following her decision to withdraw from the 2021 Tokyo Games due to "the twisties." She previously went out of her way to shade her former teammate MyKayla Skinner, who had questioned the talent and dedication of Team USA.

So look out world: Simone Biles is not just winning golds, she's settling scores.

AI music startup Suno has admitted that its AI model is trained on copyrighted music, but insists it's legally protected by the fair use doctrine.

On Thursday, Suno fleshed out this argument in a legal filing responding to a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America on June 24. RIAA, which represents major record labels Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, is suing Suno and AI music company Udio for copyright infringement based on claims that they used music owned by the record labels to train their AI models.

In the generative AI era, numerous murky copyright battles have cropped up with no clear resolution. Media organizations like the New York Times Company have sued OpenAI and Microsoft alleging copyright theft. But AI companies claim their practice of using mass corpora of data scraped from the internet is fair use.

SEE ALSO: All the media companies that have licensing deals with OpenAI (so far)

Suno had been vague about how it trained its AI music generator, despite damning note-for-note comparisons of RIAA copyrighted songs and Suno-generated songs included in the lawsuit. But now, Suno is claiming that this is perfectly legal according to fair use guidelines. "We train our models on medium- and high-quality music we can find on the open internet," said Suno CEO Mikey Schulman in a blog post accompanying the legal filing. "Much of the open internet indeed contains copyrighted materials, and some of it is owned by major record labels."

In response, RIAA posted a statement on X, saying "[Suno's] industrial scale infringement does not qualify as 'fair use.' There's nothing fair about stealing an artist's life's work, extracting its core value, and repackaging it to compete directly with the originals."

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According to the U.S. Copyright Office, fair use "promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances." Such circumstances include "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research."

In the blog post, Schulman goes on to say Suno's neural networks learn "like a kid learning to write new rock songs by listening religiously to rock music," and therefore, "learning is not infringing." However equating synthetic intelligence to human intelligence is very much unresolved in the eyes of the law. Currently the Copyright Office says AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted, which pretty clearly distinguishes artificial intelligence from human intelligence when it comes to the final product. But the "learning process," i.e. training data is entirely new territory.

Suno's legal filing alleges the RIAA lawsuit is essentially a David and Goliath situation where major record labels are trying to stifle competition. "Where Suno sees musicians, teachers, and everyday people using a new tool to create original music, the labels see a threat to their market share," the filing said.

Mashable has reached out to Schulman for additional comments and will update if we hear back.

The Justice Department said that TikTok illegally collected children’s data and knowingly allowed users under the age of 13 to create accounts.

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As a content creator, having an adapter that can work with a variety of devices and drives is crucial, whether you're uploading videos for TikTok, transferring important blog files to your computer, or doing work for just about any other creative medium.

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Enjoy an impressive array of features without the clutter. Optimize your creative workspace and keep everything you need within reach with this 13-in-1 docking station with dual HDMI, on sale for $44.97 through August 4.

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FREE $15 GIFTCARD: As of August 2, spend $50 on select cleaning supplies at Target and get a free $15 Target GiftCard.

Opens in a new window Credit: Target Free $15 Target GiftCard with $50 of Select Cleaning Supplies Get Deal

Fall is just about here. Why not take some time to tidy up your home? It's a great time to do so, especially since there are deals like Target's that practically reward you for picking up some paper towels and cleaning that bathroom or for tackling that sink full of dishes you've been neglecting. And if you're the type of person who needs a reward in order to handle tasks like that, we've got just the deal for you.

As of August 2, you can get a free $15 Target GiftCard when you spend $50 on select cleaning supplies. This deal is for those with a Target Circle membership and you must activate it by heading to the deal page. You can use the coupon once per Target Circle account, and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.

You can choose from a wide variety of goodies you'll need to tackle just about every cleaning need, from Target's up&up brand paper towels to Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and everything in between. There are also sandwich storage bags, Tide Pens, Scrub Mommy sponges, plastic forks, toilet paper, and other home goods to choose from. All you need to do is buy at least $50 of it and add it all to your cart, then check out with the deal activated.

This deal is only available for a limited time, and it's only good for one use. Make it count and get ready to fall into some serious savings on things you're probably going to be buying for your home anyway. Now you just get a treat for doing so that you can put back into, you guessed it, buying more of the things you need.

SAVE $23.53: As of August 2, get the Samsung 15W Wireless Charger for just $36.46 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $59.99. That's a discount of 39%.

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Tired of dealing with a jumble of charging cables for each one of your mobile devices? Remove your Samsung smartphone from the equation and grab a charging pad that can boost your Galaxy phones and devices back up to 100%. You won't ever have to worry about fiddling with a cord, plugging it in, or finding the right cable. And right now, you can get the charger for a great price.

As of August 2, you can get the Samsung 15W Wireless Charger for just $36.46 at Amazon. That's a 39% discount and $23.53 off the normal price of $59.99.

SEE ALSO: Get a 1TB Samsung T7 portable SSD for just $100

This proprietary Samsung charging pad is a convenient option for making sure all your devices are powered up when you need them. Just drop your phone or other device on this fast charger and go. It's compatible with a litany of models from Samsung's Galaxy lineup, including Flip and Fold phones. Just put your phone on the charging pad and thanks to USB PD and Samsung's Adaptive Fast Charging features, you'll be back up to speed in no time.

The charging pad has a built-in cooling system with a fan as well to keep it from overheating. And you don't have to check your actual device to see where you are in terms of a full battery. It has an LED light that gives you the charging status with green, red, and yellow lights that give you an idea of progress. Plus it's small, compact, and easy to use.

If you're looking for an easier, quicker charging solution, be sure and snag this one while it's still in stock.

Intel has announced a substantial reduction in its global workforce.

The computing giant will lay off somewhere between 15,000 and 19,000 employees, according to The Verge. Intel hopes to implement $10 billion in cost savings for 2025, and will reduce marketing and research spending substantially over the next couple of years. It will also strive to stop "non-essential" work, but didn't elaborate on what that meant.

SEE ALSO: It’s not just PlayStation: 6 other gnarly gaming layoffs in 2024 so far

Intel reported losses of $1.6 billion for the previous fiscal quarter. There are many factors contributing to this, but companies like Apple and Microsoft abandoning Intel in favor of chips created either in-house or by Qualcomm hasn't helped. Intel has also failed to make significant in-roads on AI development compared to some of its contemporaries.

Tens of thousands of tech workers have already been laid off before the end of summer 2024. Major companies like Microsoft, Google, Riot Games, and others join Intel in having recently slashed jobs. The wave has hit several sectors, from computing to gaming and others.

Fingers crossed this is the last story like this that we see for a while.

Hey, do you want to have to pay even more money for yet another streaming service? Boy, are you in luck: Venu — the joint sports streaming offering from Disney (ESPN), Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery — has officially set its price-tag and outlined when it plans to launch.

It'll cost $42.99 per month and launch in the fall, with no exact date set just yet. At least on it's surface value, that's a tough ask, considering it's much more expensive than pretty much any other streaming service. But sports, and live broadcast rights, are big business and one of the few remaining things on TV that are appointment viewing. In short: sports, typically speaking, get folks to pay-up.

It seems the goal from Venu — which by the way, is pronounced like the word Venue, which is just wrong — is to get younger customers who loves sports but don't want to pay for a cable package.

"We're building Venu from the ground up for fans who want seamless access to watch the sports they love, and we will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages," Venu CEO Pete Distad said in a statement.

So, what'll be on Venu? You get all the sports offerings on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV, and ESPN+. The press release, and pretty much every write up of the news, notes the service will include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, NASCAR as well as college sports, golf, tennis, and soccer offerings.

The big question here, however, is the NFL because, well, it is by far the most popular thing on TV in the U.S. With ESPN and Fox onboard, you have a decent amount of the NFL offerings on Venu. But, if you're an NFL completist, as most American sports fans are, Venu won't be enough. NBC, CBS, Amazon, and the NFL Network and also air a fair number of NFL games, meaning you'll need to pony up for other streaming services or a YouTube TV/cable subscription if you want to watch every game.

So, no matter what decision you make, watching sports is going to continue to cost a lot of money.

GET $300 OFF: As of August 2, the OmniBook X is $899.99, down from $1,199.99 at Best Buy. That's a $300 discount.

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It’s back-to-school season, and retailers are celebrating the new semester with discounts on Echo devices, laptops, and more. Best Buy, in particular, is having a 48-hour flash sale where you can save hundreds on your favorite games, electronics, and small home appliances.

SEE ALSO: 60+ best back-to-school deals for students on a budget

One of the best deals we’ve found is on the OmniBook X, a powerful laptop that rivals the MacBook in performance and battery life. According to Mashable’s Kimberly Gedeon, this laptop “will have Apple shaking in its boots.”

And as of August 2, you can get it for $899.99 — $300 off the original price and $100 less than it was during Best Buy’s July sale.

The OmniBook X is a Copilot+ PC, which means it features on-device AI capabilities and an enhanced security system to protect your data. It has a 14-inch display, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a Snapdragon X Elite processor with a Qualcomm Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU). With a fast-charge battery that powers up 50% in just 30 minutes, you can take this laptop to class, the office, or anywhere on the go without worrying about running out of juice.

Bonus: The OmniBook X comes with one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so you can stream hundreds of games at no extra cost during the trial period.