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On Thursday, Google announced new search-related updates. In addition to the broad rollout of the redesigned AI Overviews feature, which makes links to publications more prominent, along with — whomp, whomp — ads on AI Overviews, Google touted some entirely new features.
Here's what's happening with Lens, Circle to Search, and Google's entirely new experience for searching for recipes
1. Video and voice search with LensThe Lens tool that's handy for searching visual elements can now process videos and voice. It works in the Google app by pointing the camera at something that's best understood with a moving image (like a school of fish swimming in a circle, as Google demonstrated in the demo). Hold down the shutter to record the video and ask Lens a question, like "why are they swimming together?" Lens will process the video and your question to give you a response in the form of an AI Overview, plus relevant resources to click on.
SEE ALSO: Google explains why AI Overviews immediately got weirdLens for video is currently only available for those with access to Google's testing ground, Search Labs. Lens for photos with voice prompts is live for Android and iOS users through the Google app.
Lens now let users ask questions about videos with voice prompts. Credit: Google 2. Circle to Search for musicCircle to Search is another visual search tool that debuted earlier this year. Android users can circle or scribble over an object in an image and look something up on the page without having to switch apps. But now they can also search for a song in a video on social media or a streaming app in the same manner. Obviously, you can't physically circle a song, so instead, you click on the musical note icon next to the search bar at the bottom of the page. Google's AI model will then process the audio and pull up information about the song. Circle to Search for music is available to Android users with compatible Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices.
3. AI-organized search resultsGoogle's search results are going to look a little different. With recipes and meal inspiration for starters, open-ended queries will show search results that have been organized by Google's AI models. Starting this week in the U.S. on mobile, users will start to see the full page of results broken down in subcategories of the initial query. The feature combines Google's Gemini AI models with its core Search algorithm to surface relevant topics based on a request for, say, vegetarian appetizer ideas. AI-organized search results are available on the mobile Google app.
Google will now use its AI models to surface top results related to your search. Credit: GoogleDenim shorts aren't the only shorts getting longer. On Oct. 15 YouTube will allow users to upload three-minute Shorts, an increase from the previous 60-second limit.
SEE ALSO: YouTube announces new AI tools for its creators: Veo, Communities, auto-dubbing, and moreAccording to a press release, longer Shorts were "a top requested feature by creators," likely because it will make it easier to cross-post content across TikTok and Shorts. TikTok launched three-minute videos in 2021 and now has a 10-minute limit, while its other competitor Instagram Reels currently has a 90-second limit.
TikTok's expansion to 10-minute-long video was seen as a move to compete with YouTube's longer videos and now YouTube is tailoring its Shorts even closer to TikTok. Social media platforms' circular battle for dominance leads us to a group of platforms that all want to be each other.
YouTube announced longer Shorts alongside "templates," a trends page on mobile, and the option to show fewer Shorts. Templates offers a shortcut to recreating a trend — Reels launched templates last year. To use the feature, select "Remix" on a Short you'd like to emulate and then "Use this template." You'll also be able to incorporate clips from other Shorts and YouTube videos into your Shorts directly in the app. Additionally, in the YouTube app you'll be able to select "Show fewer Shorts" to customize your experience.
First Google gave us AI overviews of search results, now it's using AI to organize those search results.
On Thursday, Google announced the rollout of full-page search results organized by AI. Instead of traditional rankings-based search, Google will now organize the results into buckets of subcategories based on your query.
The update is only on mobile for now, and starts with recipes and meal inspiration first, but will expand to other categories later on. So if you're looking for vegetarian appetizer ideas (as shown in Google's example), search results will be grouped by deeper queries, like top recipes, easy recipes, and recipes categorized by specific ingredients.
SEE ALSO: Google searches will now detect origin of AI-manipulated images What AI-organized search results look like for vegetarian appetizer ideas. Credit: GoogleThe AI in all of this is Google's family of Gemini models. According to a Google spokesperson, Gemini for Google Search doesn't replace Google's traditional ranking and quality systems, but works on top of it, "to deliver high quality results efficiently." On that note, the spokesperson reassured publishers and SEO professionals that they don't have to do anything differently about their SEO strategy, though whether or not they should be worried about their bottom lines in the wake of the update remains to be seen.
In a press briefing, VP of user experience Rhiannon Bell shared how the change is designed to make search results more meaningful and valuable to users, compared to a more traditional search experience where users have to sort through large volumes of content to find what they were looking for. "We can start categorizing this content for you in ways that we previously could not have, and not only that, but we can also create a lot more density in terms of content as well," said Bell.
"From a user perspective, this is a pretty dramatic shift from where we were before," added Bell. Indeed, in the example, you can see how the new experience differs from the traditional search. The results are broken down into modules of categories suggested by AI, which you can side swipe to see more of. Using AI to organize search results may not sound like such a dramatic shift, but it's significant in the sense that Google is relying even more on its generative AI models for its core business.
So Google is investing deeper in AI for its search engine, but that doesn't mean you have to use it if you don't want to. In May, the company introduced a "web" filter that lets users switch back to the traditional search results format without AI features.
Yes, there is a way to turn off the touch screen on your Chromebook. However, as of this writing, it's an experimental feature.
To access it, you'll need to navigate to "chrome://flags" in the Chrome browser. Don't worry; we'll give you a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to disable your Chromebook's touch screen in no time.
SEE ALSO: The best Chromebooks for kids in 2023 How to turn off touch screen on Chromebook Total TimeStep 1: Open the Chrome browser.
Type in "chrome://flags."
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableStep 2: Search for the word 'keyboard' in the Experiments window.
Find "Debugging keyboard shortcuts" and select "Enable" in the drop-down menu.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableStep 3: Click on 'Restart.'
Wait for your Chromebook to reboot.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableStep 4: Turn off touch screen with Shift + Search + 'T' combo
On some keyboards, the Search key is a white dot. On others, it's a magnifying glass. Now, if you try to touch your Chromebook's screen, it should be unresponsive.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableNote: We used the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 for this how-to.
Opens in a new window Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Acer Chromebook Spin 514 Get DealIf you still feel a little overwhelmed by the fact that October Prime Day (aka Prime Big Deal Days) exists, and that the holiday shopping season starts in October, we see you and we understand.
SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about Amazon's October Prime Day sale: Official dates, the competition, and moreWe will say, though, that the major advantage of having a few sitewide shopping events pre-November and not post-Thanksgiving is that you can stock up on any holiday travel essentials like Apple AirTags. Bluetooth trackers may not feel like an essential, but finding yourself the last person standing at baggage claim can certainly make you change your tune.
AirTags are especially great for Apple users, as they're easy to set up, and give you more range thanks to the way the tracker uses any Apple device with Find My to calibrate its location, even when it's far away from your particular device.
SEE ALSO: Amazon just dropped a new Fire HD 8 tablet — and it's already 45% off for October Prime DayWe do want to note there many people had concerns that these devices could easily (and quietly) track people without their knowledge, but Apple has worked with Google to make sure that anyone — AirTag user or not — is notified via their device that an unrecognized AirTag is traveling with them.
Obviously, these safety concerns aren't limited to just AirTag users, but we always think it's best to go in with as much knowledge about a product as possible before buying. With that said, here are the best AirTag deals live ahead of Prime Big Deal Days.
Best AirTags deal overall Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTags (4-pack) $79.99 at Best BuyWhile typically Amazon has the best deals ahead of their sale, they actually sold out of this four-pack of AirTags. They had it priced at $79.98, but if paying one cent more isn't a dealbreaker for you, Best Buy still has the set in stock. The price of $79.99 puts each AirTag at about $20, netting you about $5 in savings per AirTag if you were to buy them individually instead. Plus, having multiple AirTags gives you the flexibility to use them on your luggage, your keys, your pets — basically, your options open up.
Best individual AirTag deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTag $24.99 at AmazonYou might already own several AirTags and just want one more, or you might have never owned a Bluetooth tracker before and want to try one out before you invest in four of them. Whatever your reason, $5 off an AirTag is a nice bonus, if not a huge markdown. We typically don't see them fall much lower than $25, even in the midst of shopping holidays, so buying one now before the Prime Day madness begins isn't a bad idea.
More Apple AirTag dealsApple AirTag key ring (mulberry) — $25 $35 (save $10)
If you're counting down the days until Amazon's October Prime Day (only five), we've got good news: there's no need to wait. You can start shopping today, Oct. 3, and take home some early Prime Day deals with major savings.
Here are our top three picks for the best Amazon deals of the day. If these don't particularly catch your eye, check back at our picks from Oct. 1 and Oct. 2. Many of those are still live and ready to add to your cart, including the newer Echo Buds at their record-low Prime Day price and a $50 price drop on the Shark FlexStyle. Be sure to check back tomorrow as well for all new picks and follow along with all of our Prime Day content as the shopping extravaganza nears.
Our top pick Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet (2024) $54.99 at AmazonAmazon sneakily released a brand new Fire HD 8 tablet yesterday, just in time for Prime Big Deal Days, and it's already on sale. Through Oct. 9 (the second day of the Prime shopping event), you can snag this brand-new tablet for just $54.99 instead of its full price of $99.99. The biggest upgrades over the previous generation from 2022 include 50 percent more RAM for enhanced performance (3GB instead of 2GB), a better camera (5MP instead of 2MP), new generative AI-powered features, and a better price. Otherwise, it features the same display, storage options, and battery life (if it ain't broke...).
Opens in a new window Credit: Oura Oura Ring Gen3 Horizon $349.00 at AmazonWith the Oura Ring 4 about to hit shelves later this month, it only makes sense to see a discount on the previous generation. The Oura Ring 3 rarely gets discounts, so it's certainly worth a spotlight on today's list. Depending on the color you choose, the third-generation smart ring is on sale for anywhere between 10% and 22% off. For instance, the stealth and brushed titanium models are 22% off, coming in at $349 down from $449. The gold and rose gold models, on the other end of the price spectrum, are $449 after a 10% discount. Regardless of the colorway, the Oura Ring is a low-profile fitness tracker that gives you in-depth info about sleep, workouts, recovery, mindfulness, and more. As Mashable Senior Editor Chris Taylor noted in his review, sleep tracking is truly where it shines.
Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Echo Amazon Echo Buds with active noise cancellation $34.99 at AmazonOriginally released in 2021, the Amazon Echo Buds offer a comfortable design, effective noise cancellation, and solid sound quality. While the battery life isn't anything to write home about, they're basically a no brainer if you're looking for budget earbuds with the ability to quiet the world around you. As Mashable's Alex Perry wrote in his review, they're "a really solid pair of noise-cancelling earbuds that will go easy on your wallet." Ahead of Prime Day 2, they're back down to their record-low $34.99 at Amazon. That's 71% off their original price.
None of these deals catching your eye? Check out Amazon's daily deals for even more savings.
SAVE $119.99: The Shark Detect Pro self-emptying robot vacuum is just $480 during the Walmart Shark Days sale event, marked down from the standard price of $599.99. That's a 20% discount.
Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Shark Detect Pro self-emptying robot vacuum $480.00 at WalmartWelcome to busy season. Somehow every weekend between now and 2025 will be packed with get-togethers, soccer games, dinner parties, and holiday events. Chores start to pile up because sitting on the couch just sounds so much more appealing during this chaotic era. If this sounds familiar, a robot vacuum can save you time and energy, and thanks to Walmart's Shark Days event, you can grab one for much less.
As of Oct. 3, the Shark Detect Pro self-emptying robot vacuum is just $480 at Walmart, down from the usual price of $599.99. That's a savings of $119.99 or a 20% discount.
Instead of wondering if the robot vacuum will get stuck under the couch (again) today, rest assured knowing floors will be sparkling clean with the Shark Detect Pro. Through the Shark app, send the robot vacuum on an exploratory trip around your home to create an accurate map. Then schedule the vacuuming times and frequency, selecting which rooms you'd like to get the cleaning treatment.
Shark designed the Detect Pro to clean both carpets and hardfloor. Floor Detect senses the floor below the vacuum, adjusting the brushroll to the flooring type to get the best cleaning.
Another major benefits of the Detect Pro is the self-emptying base that also serves as the robot's charging dock. With a sealed HEPA system, the robot will return to the base to empty debris. Shark mentions the base can store up to 60 days worth of debris before you'll need to empty it. That means you might not have to think about floor maintenance more than once every two months.
If you're too busy to sweep and vacuum the floors, offload the task to the Shark Detect Pro. Thanks to today's jaw-some deal at Walmart, the robot vacuum can be yours for just $480 during the Shark Deal Days event.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has finally stopped playing coy about one of its biggest mysteries: the identity of the Stranger (Daniel Weyman).
Ever since the Stranger fell to Middle-earth in Season 1, he and his Harfoot traveling companion, Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), have been trying to figure out who he is. But while they've been in the dark, viewers familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien's work and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies will have recognized several not-so-subtle hints at the Stranger's true nature. From his gray robes and beard to his status as an Istar, or wizard, the Stranger has been giving off Gandalf vibes since day one. Need more proof? How about his affection for Harfoots, aka ancestral Hobbits? Or the fact that he full-on quotes Gandalf from The Fellowship of the Ring in the Season 1 finale?
SEE ALSO: 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' cast on the return of Sauron in Season 2Now, in its Season 2 finale, The Rings of Power finally confirms what the audience has guessed for quite some time, officially revealing that he is Gandalf.
How do we know the Stranger is Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? Daniel Weyman in "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." Credit: Courtesy of Prime VideoThe Gandalf name reveal comes after the Stranger defends the Harfoots and Stoors from the still-mysterious Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds). While the Dark Wizard claimed to know the Stranger from their time before arriving in Middle-earth, even promising to tell him his true name, it's the Stoors who give the Stranger his new name as thanks for his help.
Stoor leader Gundabale Earthauler (Tanya Moodie) kicks things off, thanking him as "Grand-Elf." As the thanks continue down the line of Stoors, "Grand-Elf" gets warped into something closer to "Gandalf." Think of it like one big game of Tolkien telephone.
SEE ALSO: Cynthia Addai-Robinson breaks down Míriel's sea trial in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'Gundabale calling the Stranger "Grand-Elf" didn't come out of nowhere. In episode 4, when Nori and Poppy (Megan Richards) first encounter the Stoors, they describe the Stranger as a giant.
"What, like an Elf?" Merrimac (Gavi Singh Chera) asks.
"Bigger than that," Poppy says.
"So he's a great big Grand-Elf," a skeptical Gundabale retorts.
This exchange isn't the first time The Rings of Power hinted at the Stranger's name being Gandalf. A discussion in episode 2 about him needing to find a "gand" — from the Old Norse "gandr," meaning "staff" or "wand,"— pays tribute to the fact that the name "Gandalf" means "Elf with a wand."
Of course, Gandalf isn't actually an Elf, but in The Rings of Power, like in Tolkien's legendarium, he doesn't seem to mind the name. "That's what they're going to call me," he tells Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), realizing that Gandalf is the given name he's been searching for all season. (He also found the perfect "gand" in the aftermath of the fight, so it's a great day of discovery all around!)
Like many elements of The Rings of Power, the Stranger's — let's just call him Gandalf now, shall we? — name reveal differs from Tolkien's lore, while still keeping its spirit alive. In Tolkien's Unfinished Tales, he writes that "Gandalf" is the name given to the wizard by the Men of Middle-earth. Other names he has include Mithrandir, from the Elves; Tharkûn, from the Dwarves; and Olórin, his original name in Valinor, and likely the name the Dark Wizard wished to share with him.
However, given Gandalf's deep connection to Hobbits in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, him receiving a name from their ancestors is a sweet gesture towards what's to come. The added focus on the linguistic journey of his name, from the hints at "gand" to the evolution of "Grand-Elf" to "Gandalf," also feels like a further tribute to Tolkien, himself a language nerd.
Gandalf's official arrival in The Rings of Power still raises a few questions. First off, this isn't the Gandalf we know from the Third Age, at least not yet. What will the rest of his journey look like before we takes on the mantle of Gandalf the Grey? Will the next few seasons of The Rings of Power basically be Gandalf: Origins?
Second, according to Tolkien lore, Gandalf and the other Istari weren't present in Middle-earth during the Second Age. The Valar sent them there centuries into the Third Age. The Rings of Power has already highly compressed Tolkien's timeline, so this is par for the course for the show. But how will Gandalf's presence in Middle-earth now impact — or hinder — Sauron's (Charlie Vickers) rise? For that matter, how will the presence of the rest of the Istari, including the Dark Wizard, shift the battles to come?
We'll have to wait until Season 3 to see. For now, I'm happy to no longer wonder, "When will we learn the Stranger is Gandalf?" Instead, my biggest Rings of Power question has officially become: "When will we learn whether the Dark Wizard is a Blue Wizard?" Bring on the answers!
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.
Spotify has added a new feature that automatically generates an offline playlist for you based on your listening habits.
Announced by the audio streaming company on Thursday, the "Offline Backup" feature operates in addition to downloads on the platform (when you can download music, podcasts, or audiobooks for offline listening).
SEE ALSO: Spotify wants to make you an AI Playlist for every occasionOffline Backup generates a playlist for listeners using queued and recently streamed tracks, as well as any tracks you've downloaded in Spotify. Like Spotify's "daylist" feature, the playlist will constantly updating according to what you regularly listen to. Users can also filter the playlist by artist, mood, or genre.
Credit: SpotifyIf your phone or laptop is offline or on airplane mode, Offline Backup will appear automatically in the Home tab on Spotify.
If you can't see it appearing on Spotify, make sure you've got the latest app update, have listened to at least five songs recently, and have enabled offline listening — you can find this in Settings > "Data Saving and offline" > "Offline access".
It's the latest update from Spotify, which most recently made its daylists available to all free and paying Premium users (and in 14 new languages), and expanded global access to its AI Playlists for Premium users.
Tesla's cheapest Model 3 variant is no longer available.
The company made no announcement, but Electrek noticed on Wednesday that Tesla's Model 3 online configurator in the U.S. doesn't offer the previously available Model 3 Standard Range variant.
That version, which cost $38,990 and has only the rear motor and less range than the other variants, was by far the most affordable car in Tesla's lineup.
SEE ALSO: Tesla's FSD might finally come to Europe and China in early 2025Now, the cheapest Tesla you can buy in the U.S. is the $42,490 Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel drive, which also only has one motor, but has a larger battery pack and offers more range.
No more Standard Range for you! Credit: TeslaThe change happened roughly at the same time as Tesla's quarterly earnings report, which showed that the company delivered 426,890 vehicles in the third quarter, slightly less than expected.
Tweet may have been deletedIt's hard to speculate as to why Tesla made the change, but Electrek thinks it could be related to the origin of the batteries in the Standard Range Model 3, which come from China. The U.S. recently increased the tariffs on Chinese battery cells, which probably makes it difficult for Tesla to use them in a car and still make it eligible for the maximum, $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles.
Of course, if you can get the $7,500 federal tax credit, the Model 3 Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive can be had for $34,990, which is still a pretty good deal.
Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world, and it's already highly secure, making it the best choice for those worried about their privacy and safety online.
One of the great things about the browser is that you can easily customise it and add extensions to personalise your experience. One such option is to add a VPN extension so that you're further protected from threats and the risks associated with your ISP potentially spying on what you're doing.
VPN extensions work a little differently from full VPN services, as they simply route browser traffic through a proxy server rather than encrypt data like a true VPN connection. This is still useful if you want to view content without restrictions, like watching U.S. Netflix content from the UK.
What is a VPN?Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) offer protection for your data and identity when you're online by creating a private network that hides your real IP address. This means that all of your activity is untraceable and secure. Try thinking about VPNs like encrypted tunnels through which all of your online traffic passes through. Nobody can see into the tunnel, and everything inside the tunnel is protected against online threats like viruses, hackers, and malware.
Do you need a VPN for Chrome?We all know that Chrome OS is a secure service, but you still need to protect your web traffic from online threats. For this task, you need a VPN. You'll also need to use a VPN if you want to unblock extra content from top streaming sites. These cybersecurity services can hide your real IP address and connect you to a server in another country, meaning you get access to all the movies and shows from that location.
What is the best VPN for Chrome?Many VPN services and extensions are available, so how do you know what's best for you? You will need a service that is highly secure and offers a fairly strong level of encryption, but you'll also want a service that's easy to set up and use, with a no-logs policy. Whatever your reason for using a VPN service, it's important to pick out the right VPN for your needs, and we're here to help you find it.
We have tracked down all your best options for making Google Chrome even more secure, including popular services like TunnelBear and ExpressVPN.
These are the best VPNs for Chrome in 2024.
Zooming through the outer reaches of the solar system, A NASA spacecraft just clocked a distance 60 times farther from the sun than Earth.
The extraordinary benchmark announced this week means the New Horizons probe has doubled its 2015 distance, when it was snapping pictures of Pluto and its moons.
Perhaps more surprising than this intangible deep-space milestone is the one this intrepid spacecraft hasn't reached yet: the outer edge of the solar system's Kuiper Belt, a disk beyond Neptune of countless comets and thousands of tiny ice worlds. The far-flung region is littered with leftover rubble from the time when primitive planets were forming.
Scientists had expected the spacecraft to arrive at the proverbial edge about 1 billion miles ago.
"Our Solar System’s Kuiper Belt long appeared to be very small in comparison with many other planetary systems," said Wes Fraser, a co-investigator for the New Horizons mission, in a statement, "but our results suggest that idea might just have arisen due to an observational bias."
SEE ALSO: This nearby dwarf planet's ice may be left over from a dirty ocean The New Horizons spacecraft has not reached interstellar space yet. Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / SwRI / Steve Gribben illustrationWhile the spacecraft has whizzed away at 300 million miles per year, the New Horizons team has continued to collect data about the Kuiper Belt. What's more, using the Japanese Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, New Horizon's scientists detected a population of previously unknown cosmic objects. The group could be sprawled out to almost 90 times as far as Earth is from the sun, according to a recent paper published in the Planetary Science Journal.
The discovery suggests the Kuiper Belt may span much farther than once thought, or that there is perhaps another such belt even farther away than the one scientists have known about since the 1990s. The new finding could mean the spacecraft has a longer journey ahead — on the scale of billions of more miles — before it gets to interstellar space, the place outside the region affected by the sun’s constant flow of material.
New Horizons delivered this composite image of Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth when it flew by in January 2019. Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SWRI"Maybe, if this result is confirmed, our Kuiper Belt isn’t all that small and unusual after all, compared to those around other stars," Fraser said.
Scientists don't know much about the new population of objects yet, but one possibility is that Neptune's gravity is affecting the group, causing its orbit to be a precise multiple of the planet's. Regardless, their mere existence would seem to meddle with conventional ideas about how the solar system formed, perhaps indicating planetary material came from a much larger vicinity than previously thought.
New Horizons launched in early 2006, first visiting Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in 2007. Nine years into its mission, it flew by Pluto. Then, on Jan. 1, 2019, it arrived at its next major target, a Kuiper Belt object roughly 4 billion miles from Earth. This icy red dumbbell-shaped world, only 21 miles wide, is the farthest object a spacecraft has ever encountered. The team officially named it Arrokoth, a Powhatan and Algonquian word meaning "sky," after the Latin first choice sparked controversy for having icky associations with Nazis.
The New Horizons spacecraft is thought to have enough power and fuel to operate over a distance of 100 times that of the Earth from the sun. Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI infographicThe spacecraft's life expectancy lasts until 2050, said planetary scientist Alan Stern, who's directing the mission for NASA. It has enough power and fuel to continue operating beyond a distance 100 times farther from the sun than Earth.
If it does survive the trek into interstellar space, it won't be the first to get there. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, both launched in 1977, have each drifted outside the solar system, at over 15 billion and 12 billion miles from Earth, respectively.
TL;DR: For a limited time, you can buy a discounted Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac lifetime license for your device for £18.84 (reg. £172.80).
Summer is finally over, and we're all back in school or the office. If you need to boost your productivity this fall, check out this offer for Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac. Through Oct. 27, this must-have productivity suite is on sale for £18.84 (reg. £172.80). For a one-time purchase, you'll get a device license that never expires.
If you use a Mac for work or personal projects, consider investing in this Microsoft software bundle. Even though it’s a slightly older version of Office (the most recent version is the 2021 edition), it still features the most popular Microsoft apps.
Office 2019 for Mac includes essential applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. These tools are designed to meet various needs, whether you're drafting important documents, managing work or home finances, creating presentations, or organising your email and calendar.
It also includes other favourite apps, including OneNote, for amplified note-taking in one central place, and Teams Classic 2019.
One of the best aspects of MS Office 2019 is that it’s a one-time purchase. For £18.84, you get lifetime access to the suite without the need for recurring subscription fees, like you would with Microsoft 365. The license covers one Mac device, and it lasts as long as your device does.
This is your chance to get MS Office at a price point that won't stress you out.
Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac is on sale for £18.84 (reg. £172.80) until Oct. 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Opens in a new window Credit: Retail King Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac £18.84 at the Mashable ShopPartners, flings, and dates can now be found with a few swipes on our phones — for better or worse. This is especially true for LGBTQ people: Queer Americans are much more likely to use dating apps than straight ones, according to the Pew Research Center.
Grindr launched in 2009, completely transforming dating and sex for queer men over the last 15 years. The introduction of accessible apps specifically catering to the queer community (like Grindr and others) broke down significant barriers to finding fellow LGBTQ people in one's area and became a cornerstone of queer sex culture.
SEE ALSO: Dating predictions for the rest of 2024The most well-known gay dating and hookup app is still undoubtedly Grindr. However, given recent product issues and growing user frustration, other apps are vying for the new top spot.
The quick downfall of GrindrGrindr's rise to become a household name alone showcases how far the community has come, from early 2000s Craigslist ads placed to meet other queer people looking for companionship, to the "largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans and queer people" (according to the app, anyway).
In 2024, however, Grindr has been plagued by issues: updates that led to serious bugs and the introduction of further paywalls. The latter includes limiting the visibility of "taps" (a feature indicating interest without sending a direct message), which are now only visible within three hours of being sent. Also, the "explore" feature (allowing you to bypass the usual location-based method of seeing other users) unlocks only one profile outside a user's grid a day, whereas it used to unlock three. These can only be circumnavigated by purchasing a subscription.
When an app like Grindr becomes so embedded into the queer experience, the removal of features and its failure to deliver due to bugs can feel like a betrayal at best, or a user being severed from the queer community at worst. Especially when features like taps, indicating attraction, are hidden behind a paywall, it becomes clear that connection between people is not the main priority for the organisation at this point.
Despite many other options, Grindr remains the most well-known app with almost 14 million active monthly users globally, according to a spokesperson. In response to a request for comment on the complaints made by users, Grindr's spokesperson said, "Since a major investment in modernising our chat platform earlier this year, we are aware that our users have experienced technical challenges on Grindr. We appreciate our users' loyalty and support as we invest in upgrading and improving the Grindr experience."
That being said, how is it possible that an app with such a huge user base (and earning a revenue of $82 million in Q2 2024 alone) struggles to keep its app functioning at an acceptable level? X (formerly Twitter) and other platforms are littered with complaints from users, relaying instances of bugs occurring without warning. Other apps have been undergoing similar issues, with Feeld's updates late last year causing usability issues.
Gus*, an active Grindr user based in London, thinks the Grindr bugs must be "annoying for those who are more reliant on them, in smaller cities, living with disabilities, etc." For himself, he deals with the bugs and recognises that the paid tiers aren't cheap.
Grindr's paid tiers start at £8.99/$12.99 for a one-week subscription to "XTRA" and up to £34.99/$39.99 for one month of "UNLIMITED" as of publication. Both remove significant limits placed on free accounts, i.e. the ability to see more profiles, taps, and fewer third-party ads.
Other gay dating apps, like Taimi and SCRUFF, swoop inWhilst Grindr has remained an LGBTQ household name, other apps are becoming more commonplace. Alex Pasykov, founder and CEO of inclusive LGBTQ dating app Taimi, sees this moment as an opportunity, as "since their creation, all apps focused on the algorithm of a man looking for a man have been competing with Grindr in one way or another and dreamed of winning the attention of at least part of their audience."
He recognises that users already use multiple apps at once, with their research suggesting that 60 percent of Taimi users utilise other apps for various reasons.
SCRUFF and Jack'd are two popular LGBTQ apps with 30 million combined registered profiles, many of which log in monthly, according to a spokesperson. SCRUFF represents around 65 percent of these and Jack'd represents the remaining 35 percent. The developer declined to share the exact figures of monthly active users.
"Our company is privately held and is queer-owned and queer-led," says Eric Silverberg, founder of Perry Street Software, developer of SCRUFF and Jack'd, counting this as a principal difference between Perry Street and other apps.
"The publicly-held competitors in the dating landscape are publicly-held stock companies. They have intense pressure to monetise," Silverberg continues. "And eventually, this day would have come, sooner or later, if you have that kind of investor pressure, and this is the consequence you're seeing — a lot of pricing pressure across the board in the software industry broadly, and in [the] dating industry in particular." Grindr went public in 2022, and publicly traded companies own other major dating apps including Tinder and Hinge (both owned by Match Group) and Bumble.
SEE ALSO: Tired of casual dates? Try the best dating apps for serious relationships in 2024"And it's probably because dating is the area of software that most consumers are exposed to subscriptions, other than video and music subscription services. And the last couple years have been intense pricing pressure upward, and it's most acute for the publicly traded companies," Silverberg says.
This isn't only an issue with Grindr. Users of apps like Tinder and Bumble have said that over the years the dating apps have gotten worse in terms of more ads and fewer free features.
Silverberg's sentiment is shared by Donny Smith, chief creative officer at Bttr., a brand and digital experience company. "Dating apps are failing their user base because they're prioritising monetisation over user experience. The relentless push for profits through increased paywalls is alienating users who just want a seamless, reliable experience," Smith says.
Eric, a Boston-based user of queer apps says, "Grindr has become almost unusable at times. The ads pop up probably 3x what they do on SCRUFF, and it'll take 3-4 attempts to close out the ad." Currently, he finds himself most frequently using Sniffies, a hyper-localised LGBTQ app focusing on cruising and a lack of censorship, aiming to foster spontaneous, real-life encounters, currently in a global rollout.
"SCRUFF ads are more manageable, Sniffies free version is super usable and the ads are just messages that sit at the top of your chat list, not terrible," Eric continues.
SCRUFF and Sniffies both offer paid tiers similar to Grindr. SCRUFF Pro starts at £6.99/$9.99 per week, with discounted tiers for longer subscriptions, and offers the ability to see complete messaging histories, which are locked on free tiers. Sniffies pricing starts at £5.99/$10.99 for a one-week trial with similarly discounted tiers and offers the ability to unblock users, see unlimited profiles, and post widely received updates.
Dating apps are failing their user base because they're prioritising monetisation over user experience. - Donny Smith, chief creative officer at Bttr.Sniffies' work "is driven by a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by the LGBTQ community, and we strive to create a platform that is not only functional but also empowering, risk-taking, and inclusive," says Eli Martin, Sniffies' CMO and creative director.
Similarly, Silverberg attributes some of Perry Street's success to a real understanding and focus on the LGBTQ community. "We have worked over the years to build a very thoughtful, very intentional queer ad business," he says. "We only work with advertisers that want to be on our platform, they really want to reach our community, not working with shady games companies."
Silverberg explains that some ads are intended to normalise and share important messages, recognising that repeated exposure to messaging on PrEP (a medication used to significantly reduce the risk of contracting HIV), can have a huge effect in the long term.
Grindr's frequent pop-up ads, meanwhile, often feature low-budget games that push you toward the App Store.
The need for gay dating apps to stay accessibleEric explains that "meeting people on apps is sometimes easier for me," continuing that he's "not necessarily a big 'club' person, so I'm not often in spaces where people are trying to find someone for romantic or sexual encounters."
Seventy-two percent agreed that online dating plays a significant role in making connections and forming relationships with others in the LGBTQIA+ community, according to a survey by Tinder provided to Mashable, carried out with 4,000 respondents from the LGBTQIA+ community in the UK, U.S., Australia and Canada.
The cost of living crisis is likely to affect those from marginalised groups more severely. With dating and hookup apps also facing rising costs and increasing their subscription prices, those from marginalised groups are likely to be disproportionately impacted by changes made by developers in their pursuit of financial stability and profit maximisation. With free functionality beginning to become more limited as paywalls rise, it is not unreasonable to suspect barriers to accessing queer communities will increase.
"I'm a business owner," Silverberg explains. "And so we have software subscription products that we buy to power our business. They are all pressing us. Every single one is pressing us on price in the last 12 to 24 months."
Apps like Grindr are attempting to push these rising costs onto consumers. This reeks of short-term thinking, only seeing your user base as a financial resource — not your platform's lifeblood. With an area so sensitive as dating, users want to feel trust in their platforms of choice, not like they will be expected to drop more and more money to meet a future partner. These apps may succeed in cutting themselves off from their target demographics through a relentless pursuit of profit.
* Dating app users chose to go by their first names only for privacy reasons.
This column reflects the opinion of the author.
There's a class of objects journeying around our solar system dubbed "centaurs." They don't come near Earth, but NASA just zoomed in on one with the powerful James Webb Space Telescope.
The centaurs are thought to be icy objects from the solar system outskirts, where Pluto lives, but they've moved inward and now inhabit the realms between Jupiter and Neptune. They remain largely mysterious, but with a Webb instrument (a spectrograph) that can identify the composition of distant worlds, scientists have closely inspected Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, an object known to emit jets of gas.
"Webb really opened the door to a resolution and sensitivity that was impressive to us — when we saw the data for the first time, we were excited. We had never seen anything like this," Sara Faggi, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who led the research, said in an agency statement.
SEE ALSO: We could nuke an incoming asteroid. Scientists just proved it.While the object is much too distant and small for a vivid picture — like Webb's view of a large world like Neptune — Webb's spectrograph revealed new jets of gas shooting out from the centaur. Two of the newly discovered jets are blasting CO2 (carbon dioxide) into space, and another is shooting CO (carbon monoxide). The researchers looked for water in these plumes, but didn't detect any.
The graphic below shows the abundances of elements in the jets as observed by Webb (on left), and NASA's 3D construction of what Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 might look like (on right).
On left: The abundances of elements in the jets as observed by the Webb telescope. On right: NASA's 3D construction of what Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 might look like. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / L. Hustak (STScI) / S. Faggi (NASA-GSFC / American University) An artist's illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope viewing the cosmos from an orbit 1 million miles from Earth. Credit: GSFC / CIL / Adriana Manrique GutierrezAs the reconstructions above show, Centaur 29P might be two objects that long ago stuck together (asteroids and other deep space objects tend to do this). This could explain the differences in the object's CO2 and CO abundances.
But what's driving the bursts of gas remains a mystery. Comets — which are "dirty snowballs" made of ices, rocks, and dust — shoot out gases and water vapor when they near the sun. But in the frigid realms of the outer solar system, it's far too cold for centaurs' ice to rapidly sublimate, or abruptly transition from a solid to a gas.
To understand what's transpiring on these far-off places — which are pristinely preserved remnants of our early solar system and can help us understand our planetary evolution — scientists will need to zoom in on Centaur 29P again.
"We only had time to look at this object once, like a snapshot in time," said Adam McKay, an astronomer and study co-author at Appalachian State University. "Looking at these jets over time would give us much better insights into what is driving these outbursts," he added.
The Webb telescope's powerful abilitiesThe Webb telescope — a scientific collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency — is designed to peer into the deepest cosmos and reveal new insights about the early universe. But it's also examining intriguing planets in our galaxy, along with the planets and moons in our solar system.
Here's how Webb is achieving unparalleled feats, and likely will for decades to come:
- Giant mirror: Webb's mirror, which captures light, is over 21 feet across. That's over two-and-a-half times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror. Capturing more light allows Webb to see more distant, ancient objects. The telescope is peering at stars and galaxies that formed over 13 billion years ago, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. "We're going to see the very first stars and galaxies that ever formed," Jean Creighton, an astronomer and the director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, told Mashable in 2021.
- Infrared view: Unlike Hubble, which largely views light that's visible to us, Webb is primarily an infrared telescope, meaning it views light in the infrared spectrum. This allows us to see far more of the universe. Infrared has longer wavelengths than visible light, so the light waves more efficiently slip through cosmic clouds; the light doesn't as often collide with and get scattered by these densely packed particles. Ultimately, Webb's infrared eyesight can penetrate places Hubble can't.
"It lifts the veil," said Creighton.
- Peering into distant exoplanets: The Webb telescope carries specialized equipment called spectrographs that will revolutionize our understanding of these far-off worlds. The instruments can decipher what molecules (such as water, carbon dioxide, and methane) exist in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets — be they gas giants or smaller rocky worlds. Webb looks at exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy. Who knows what we'll find?
"We might learn things we never thought about," Mercedes López-Morales, an exoplanet researcher and astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian, told Mashable in 2021.
Already, astronomers have successfully found intriguing chemical reactions on a planet 700 light-years away, and have started looking at one of the most anticipated places in the cosmos: the rocky, Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST solar system.
Adapting a famous Stephen King novel, especially one that already spawned a cult mini-series directed by none other than Tobe Hooper himself, has got to be a pretty big uphill struggle.
There are few people who probably understand this better than screenwriter Gary Dauberman, who adapted both IT and IT: Chapter 2 for modern audiences. Dauberman's proven himself twice in that regard, and now with Salem's Lot (which he also directs), he pulls off a sensationally creepy hat trick.
Dauberman's feature-length take on King's classic vampire novel is a solidly entertaining scare-fest that pays homage to the original adaptation while also doing its own thing.
SEE ALSO: What to watch: Best scary movies What's Salem's Lot about? Credit: Courtesy of New Line Cinema / MaxPulling us straight back into the mid '70s with the thematically appropriate sound of Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown," Salem's Lot starts with horror writer Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) rolling back into his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot to find some inspiration for his next novel.
Little does he know he's about to have it served up to him on a plate. The town has two new residents providing plenty of mystery and action: ancient vampire Barlow (Alexander Ward) and his human caretaker Richard Straker (Pilou Asbæk), who are hellbent on turning the town into their personal diner and army of the undead.
There's also a budding romance between Ben and local retailer Susie Norton (Makenzie Leigh), but it gets quickly overshadowed by snowballing disappearances and a fight for survival.
Salem's Lot doesn’t take itself too seriously. Credit: Courtesy of New Line Cinema / MaxHow do you even begin to make a vampire movie these days? The genre is so packed full of lore and stereotypes that it's hard not to fall into the trap of predictability.
Salem's Lot navigates this tightrope by leaning into the legends, cleverly mixing genuine scares with tongue-in-cheek moments. There's a scene in a morgue, for instance, where key characters have to race against time to fashion a makeshift crucifix — fumbling with taping two pieces of wood together while struggling to remember the right religious words to say — and the whole thing is self-aware enough to be fun without detracting from the tension.
Despite some lighter moments, Salem's Lot is no comedy; there's plenty of horror to be found in the film. The jump scares are there, as are the creepy children made famous in the novel and series adaptation. Most importantly, Barlow himself is every bit as ominous and unpleasant as a vampire-in-chief should be.
Salem's Lot has stereotypes, but also surprises. Credit: Courtesy of New Line Cinema / MaxThere are a few frustrating things about Salem's Lot. Despite the self-awareness of the script, for instance, the main characters can't seem to stop falling into the same traps that horror protagonists have been falling into for decades now.
"Shouldn’t we all stay together?" says 11-year-old vampire hunter (and comfortably the best character) Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter). The response he gets — "There’s no time. Half an hour until sunset!" — is nonsensical enough to be almost enraging.
The movie has some minor issues with pacing, too. King's novel has a large cast of characters, making it better suited for a mini-series. While Dauberman's script does an excellent job of keeping up the pace and tension, it could have spent more time building the relationships between characters, especially Ben and Susie.
The good news? None of these issues are enough to spoil the film as a whole, which combines a fun script and creative direction by Dauberman with strong performances across the board. Salem's Lot pays homage to the source material and mini-series (hello, nightmarish window sequence), but it's when the film branches out and does its own thing that it really excels. The best example of this is the finale, which — without going into spoiler territory — is a thrillingly chaotic sequence that makes creative use of sunlight and a classic '70s setting to give the movie a fresh and bloody sendoff.
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Office also has the added benefit of allowing you to work offline, which the free apps available do not. This means you can do things like work on that draft while you fly to the conference.
Need to juggle multiple projects at once? Windows 11 Pro steps up your productivity game with enhanced multitasking features like Snap Layouts and Desktops, which allow you to organize and manage your workload more efficiently. With faster speeds and improved app management, you’ll stay on top of your deadlines and switch between tasks like a pro.
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