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Save $464.40: Celebrate International VPN day with major savings on the best VPN services, tested by the Mashable team. Get 27 months of NordVPN for $161.73, saving you $464.40 for 74% off.
Best International VPN day deals Best VPN deal NordVPN $161.73 for 27 months of NordVPN (Save $464.40) Get Deal Best streaming deal ExpressVPN $99.95 for 15 months of ExpressVPN (Save $94.30) Get Deal Best budget deal CyberGhost VPN $56.94 for 26 months of CyberGhost VPN (Save $280.80) Get DealAugust 19 marks International VPN Day, a day to celebrate and highlight the importance of cybersecurity in our daily lives. VPNs keep computers, phones, and tablets safe while streaming with built-in security tools, however, they also open up our world.
Don't let your streaming services limit what you watch. With a VPN, you gain access to international offerings that you otherwise wouldn't have access to. When you think about it, a VPN is just helping you make the most of your subscriptions.
However, VPNs aren't always free, so it ends up becoming just another subscription you pay for. Luckily, in light of International VPN Day, you can find savings up to 83% on VPN services tested by the Mashable team. Here are the best deals to shop August 19.
Opens in a new window Credit: NordVPN Best VPN deal $161.73 at NordVPNNordVPN is our top-rated VPN service as it offers extensive security protections. Those new to VPN services will find that it has far more than they need. NordVPN is best for professionals who are seeking a geographically diverse system of networks as well as speciality servers.
The savings during International VPN day are really spectacular. This 27 month deal covers NordVPN's Ultimate tier, which in addition to VPN services gets you identity theft recovery, a password manager, and 1TB of encrypted cloud storage. You'll get all of this for $161.73 for 74% off. That means you save a whopping $464.40.
More International VPN day dealsExpressVPN — 15 months for $99.95 $194.24 (save $94.30)
CyberGhost VPN — 26 months for $56.94 $337.74 (save $280.80)
Bear Tunnel VPN — 36 months for $120 $359.64 (save $239.64)
Screen sharing, especially to a big audience, can be risky. Google has a new tool that could save people from themselves in this regard.
As spotted by Bleeping Computer, a new experimental flag has been added to Google Chrome that, if turned on, purports to automatically block "sensitive form fields" that include things like credit cards and passwords if the user is sharing or recording their screen from Android. Now, this feature is so experimental that it's not actually available to use yet, so it's impossible to say if it works or not. But, per Bleeping Computer, users of the Chrome Canary developer build should have access to it within the next month or so.
SEE ALSO: Google tried to give new Pixel phones to influencers. Then it backfired.Ideally, you should really close any tabs with sensitive info in them before you start rolling on a screen-share or screen recording session. But, if you don't, this new Chrome feature could save you from a lot of hassle. It should be noted that Chrome already blocks users from screen sharing or recording in an Incognito window, so in a sense, one protection from Incognito mode is coming over to the regular Chrome view.
It's always nice when technology actually solves a problem instead of just adding more problems.
It's back-to-school season! While it can be chaotic with endless emails, paperwork, and supply lists, it's also a chance to refresh and renew with some back-to-school clothes shopping. Mother of two and lifestyle influencer Meems Gillette, with the help of her 6-year-old and 9-year-old kids, found 12 closet must-haves from Walmart to help start the school year with confidence and style.
Here’s what’s in their fashion lineup — snag these for your cart too.
Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 Pro will come in a new color, a new report claims, and it will be sort-of familiar.
Leaker of iPhone-related things Majin Bu said the new color will be called Desert Titanium. "(It) is kind of dark gold, similar to the old purple color, relatively discreet and deep," they shared on X.
SEE ALSO: Leaked iPhone 16 Pro image shows new bronze colorThe full color lineup for the iPhone 16 Pro will be "white, black, gold, and gray," wrote Bu, and shared a photo which purportedly shows the camera rings of all the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models.
Tweet may have been deletedIt's not entirely clear what is this "old purple color" Bu is referring to. For example, the iPhone 14 Pro was offered in (a fairly light shade of) Gold, as well as Deep Purple. We've seen various shades of Rose Gold in iPhone's history as well, starting with the iPhone 6S.
Remember Gold? This new color will be similar, but deeper. Reportedly. Credit: AppleRecent rumors said that the next iPhone Pro would be available in Rose Gold Titanium, which frankly doesn't sound like a very good name; if I had to bet, Desert Titanium would be my bet for the official name. We've also heard that the new color would be something close to bronze, which also sort of aligns with the name "Desert Titanium."
The current iPhone 15 Pro lineup offers four colors: Natural Titanium, White Titanium, Black Titanium, and Blue Titanium. According to reports, it's Blue that's getting replaced with Desert Titanium. None of this is official, of course; we'll know more when Apple launches the new iPhones, likely in early September.
If the trailer — or, indeed, the title — had left you in any doubt about the type of movie Hell Hole might be, then the film's opening sequence quickly dispels any uncertainty.
With a caption placing the action in 1814 Serbia, we see two of Napoleon's troops stalking through a misty forest. They're given a horse by a strange woman which they take back to camp to eat, but — surprise! — an octopus-like creature bursts out at the last second and starts running rampant through their camp while heavy guitar kicks in.
It's all very silly, gory, and tongue-in-cheek from horror household and filmmakers the Adams family (Hellbender, The Deeper You Dig) — and it sets us up perfectly for what's to come.
SEE ALSO: Shudder's best horror comedies to scare you AND make you laugh What's Hell Hole About?The bulk of the story takes place at a present-day Serbian fracking site, where a small team of workers — plus a couple of scientists — are trapped due to some nearby flooding. They start digging, discover a still-alive man preserved underground in some kind of subterranean slimy substance. Then the hell hinted at in the movie's title quickly breaks loose.
Yep, this is a subgenre of horror you're familiar with. Like Alien and The Thing, Hell Hole gets its tension from trapping a core group of characters and watching them get picked off — or pick each other off — one by one. Unlike Ridley Scott and John Carpenter's chilling classics, though, there's a wriggling tentacle of comedy twining through Hell Hole's horror. The gore, and the monster, have a silly B movie feel. The question is, does it work?
"Hell Hole" is not short on explosive body horror. Credit: Shudder Hell Hole is not to be taken too seriously.Hell Hole is the kind of horror movie that'd be easy to enjoy on a Saturday night with friends. As they perfected in 2021's Hellbender, horror stalwarts the Adams family have instilled the film with a decent amount of tension — not enough to make it genuinely terrifying, but enough for plenty of pantomime it's-behind-you suspense. The comedy isn't exactly laugh-out-loud, either, but the film is silly enough to prompt plenty of grins, groans, and grimaces.
The characters, too, are comfortingly familiar. There's the inevitable tension between the oil drillers and the scientists, the star-crossed lovers romance between driller's son Teddy (Maximum Portman) and environmental intern Sofija (Olivera Perunicic), and the inevitable rebellion from the workers when their colleagues start getting picked off.
The dialogue is solid, as are the performances. The directing delights in, and makes the most of, explosive body horror affects.
Hell Hole isn't aiming for IMDB top 100 status. But if you're looking for something light-hearted and fun that the Adamses clearly had fun making, then you could do worse.
How to watch: Hell Hole is streaming on Shudder from Aug. 23.
TL;DR: Live stream the 2024 Vuelta a España for free on SBS on Demand, VRT, TV2, NOS, and RTVE. Access these free streaming platforms from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
It has been a busy few months for cycling fans. Following on from the Tour de France and the Olympics, the Vuelta a España is here to deliver more action on two wheels. Of course this has been tough on the cyclists, but the fans are the real heroes. Fans have had to find the right streaming service and dedicate a lot of free time to watch everything, and that's not easy.
Fortunately, we're here to lend a helping hand. If you want to watch the 2024 Vuelta a España for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
What is the Vuelta a España?The Vuelta a España is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain. Along with the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta is one of cycling's prestigious Grand Tours.
The reigning Vuelta a España champion is Sepp Kuss.
When is the Vuelta a España in 2024?The 2024 Vuelta a España is the 79th edition of the three-week cycling race. This year's event takes place in Portugal and Spain between Aug. 17 and Sep. 8.
How to watch the 2024 Vuelta a España for freeThe good news is that cycling fans from around the world can watch the 2024 Vuelta a España for free, with free streaming of the famous race being offered by these countries:
Australia — SBS (free)
Belgium — VRT (free)
Denmark — TV2 (free)
Netherland — NOS (free)
Norway — TV2 (free)
Spain — RTVE (free)
Anyone from around the world can access these free streaming platforms with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in another country, meaning you can unblock free streaming sites from around the world. That might sound complicated, but the process is actually really simple.
Live stream the 2024 Vuelta a España for free from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in a location that is offering free streaming of the 2024 Vuelta a España
Connect to your preferred streaming platform from the list above
Watch the 2024 Vuelta a España from anywhere in the world
Unfortunately, the best VPNs for streaming are not free. However, leading VPNs tend to offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By using these offers, you can watch the 2024 Vuelta a España without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you plenty of time to watch the Vuelta a España before recovering your investment.
What is the best VPN for the Vuelta a España?ExpressVPN leads the way when it comes to unblocking streaming sites from around the world. ExpressVPN is the top choice for SBS on Demand, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up toeight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. You can use the money-back guarantee to watch the 2024 Vuelta a España for free from anywhere in the world.
Watch the 2024 Vuelta a España for free with ExpressVPN.
Netflix's Emily in Paris is back for another whirlwind of a fourth instalment. And Season 4's first half tells an important story alongside the much-loved plotlines of love triangles, fabulous Parisian parties, and social media campaigns.
We’re faced with a character, Louis de Leon (Pierre Deny), who is sexually harassing women at his luxury goods company JVMA. The CEO regularly directs female employees into a "brand closet" and forces them to try on clothes for him without their consent – a total abuse of his power as a male business leader. If they don’t comply, their job is at risk. An open company secret, Louis' behaviour becomes so ingrained in JVMA's culture that employees ordered to the closet take a "buddy" as a rule, to protect themselves.
SEE ALSO: Carrie and Emily: A very serious investigation into Darren Star's infuriatingly chaotic heroinesWe see Emily's (Lily Collins) best friend Mindy (Ashley Park) grapple with her discovery of this behaviour when visiting the company in episode 2, as well as her own connection to it — she’s dating Louis' son Nicolas (Paul Forman). Meanwhile, Emily’s boss Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) is contacted by French newspaper Le Monde, asked to go on the record about her own account of historic sexual harassment from when she worked with Louis. The storyline deftly covers different ways of experiencing sexual harassment, from how it can permeate workplace culture to the complexities of reporting an abuser and of being related to one.
Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu as Sylvie Grateau. Credit: Stephanie Branchu / Netflix Emily In Paris doesn't usually tackle subjects like violence against womenTV and film storylines examining sexual harassment and violence against women and girls (VAWG) have increased in prominence since the Me Too movement gained momentum in 2019. Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You was a landmark moment for representing the complexities of sexual assault, BBC's The Jetty explored grooming and intimate image-based abuse, and Molly Manning Walker's How To Have Sex set out to change the conversation around consent, particularly for teenagers. Andt that's just a few examples.
But there’s something really significant about Emily in Paris incorporating a sexual harassment storyline. The show's usual subject matter doesn’t usually tackle subjects like violence against women, but a mainstream, fairly light-hearted Netflix series taking on this material means a lot, with the potential to reach much wider audiences with important conversations about sexual harassment.
A mainstream, fairly light-hearted Netflix series taking on this material means a lot, with the potential to reach much wider audiences."A TV programme like Emily in Paris will reach millions of viewers, with storylines occasionally reflecting the issues experienced by women in their everyday lives,” Rebecca Hitchen, head of policy and campaigns at the End Violence Against Women Coalition, tells Mashable.
"Storylines that responsibly and realistically portray abuse and harassment therefore have the potential to have a big impact on our collective understanding and attitudes towards these issues, particularly as perpetrators often rely on their victims feeling alone, unsupported and silenced.”
The nuances portrayed in Emily in Paris are important. Firstly, the series explores how sexual harassment and abuse can affect individual people differently. Mindy may not be subjected to it directly, instead hearing about Louis' actions from women at JVMA, but she's pulled into the difficulties of dealing with an abuser in your life. She speaks to Nicolas about his father's behaviour, and says she will stand by his side during the aftermath if he is "on the side that’s right".
"It is important to show all elements and victims/survivors of sexual violence to depict the nuanced and often complicated nature of relationships with abusers," violence against women and girls (VAWG) activist Sharon Gaffka tells Mashable. “Being connected to an abuser through a close relationship, like dating their child, adds layers of emotional conflict and difficulty in navigating the situation."
Sylvie's storyline examines the complicated reasons why survivors may feel unable to come forward. Credit: Stephanie Branchu / Netflix Sylvie's storyline examines the complications of coming forwardMeanwhile, Sylvie's storyline examines the complicated reasons why a survivor of abuse may feel unable to come forward. Her story of sexual harassment isn’t portrayed on screen, having happened in the past. After a brief period of downplaying her experiences, we see her struggle with the ongoing psychological ramifications of abuse. Sylvie's decision to come forward and speak to Le Monde isn’t taken lightly, for her own personal reasons and how it will affect her business as well as that of her husband Laurent (Louis is an investor in the latter).
Through Sylvie, Emily In Paris explores what it can be like for a woman of an older generation coming forward to report. Sylvie experienced sexual harassment years before Me Too, and like many women with similar experiences might be challenging internalised beliefs about VAWG. Gaffka says that this storyline “challenges the notion that there is a statute of limitations on speaking out and validates the experiences of those who may have felt silenced for years”.
“It also highlights the enduring nature of trauma and the ongoing relevance of addressing past abuses,” she adds. “Encouraging older victims to speak up can inspire others in similar situations to find their voice and seek justice.
Through Sylvie, 'Emily In Paris' explores what it can be like for a woman of an older generation coming forward to report.Having a woman in her sixties like Sylvie deal with this hones in on the fact that sexual harassment doesn’t just happen to one age group or gender – it affects so many of us.
"Sexual assault happens to women of all ages and backgrounds, but many find they aren’t believed or taken seriously,” Hitchen says. “Older women and marginalised women are at the sharp end of this, with huge consequences for their access to justice and support."
Reporting abuse doesn’t always bring survivors the peace and justice that they want and deserve. After all, 99 percent of rape reports result in no further action in England and Wales, so it can feel like the trauma of coming forward may not match the small possibility of justice.
This isn’t the only issue, caveat, or negative result of deciding to report sexual abuse or domestic violence. Survivors, particularly those with a social media presence or celebrity profile who come forward risk their case inadvertently becoming involved in the court of public opinion. Something that is a very personal and painful experience gets put under a microscope, available for all to scrutinise and sensationalise. Further to that, Black and Brown people are disproportionately targeted by the police, leading to many survivors feeling hesitant about or in opposition to trusting the system to help them find justice, and therefore may choose not to report sexual harassment and violence.
Representation is one thing, but it's got to move beyond the TVSo on top of representation in pop culture, other preventative action points must be taken to help survivors and stop violence against women and girls. This includes implementing sex and relationship education that teaches the wide spectrum of of sexual harassment, as well as other forms of abuse. It would be helpful for educators to be specific about exactly what violence can look like in real life, so that people are better equipped to identify, intervene, report, or call it out. Also, in the event of a survivor not wanting to report, or not feeling comfortable to, there needs to be more accessible and available structures that facilitate counselling and other forms of trauma support.
But in particular, men need to be included in these conversations about violence against women and girls, as part of a comprehensive movement towards preventing future abuse cycles.
On top of representation in pop culture, other preventative action points must be taken to help survivors and stop violence against women and girls."As well as empowering victims to come forward, we also need to see much more focus on preventing this violence so women and girls aren’t subjected to it in the first place," Hitchen says.
Men need to be part of the conversation. Nicolas should have done more.In Emily In Paris, Nicolas' first reaction on seeing the reported accusations about his father is to dismiss them as false and concentrate on "damage control" for the company. There's not one moment in the show where Nicolas considers the allegations as truth. It's an instant stand he tries to drag Mindy into, attempting to manage her public image as supportive of his family, then breathing a sigh of relief when the board (not him) wants his father to step down. Nicolas doesn't take one moment to call out his father's actions, consider the experiences of the survivors, or analyse the systemic company culture that has allowed such harassment to continue. And still, Mindy declares herself "proud" of Nicolas, for doing literally nothing.
Paul Forman as Nicolas De Leon. Credit: NetflixWe're yet to see Nicolas take any meaningful course of action, or whether the show will continue with this storyline in the second half of Season 4. Seeing Nicolas actually criticise his father's behaviour, attempt to support harassed employees, and actually do something to change the company's ingrained protection of predators would be nice, but it's unclear whether the show will take the storyline any further.
Nicolas doesn't take one moment to call out his father's actions, consider the experiences of the survivors, or analyse the systemic company culture that has allowed such harassment to continue.That being said, to include this narrative at all is important. Gaffka points out the huge relevance of a relatively light-hearted and mainstream TV show like Emily in Paris to address a Me Too storyline. "From personal experience, I have found that it can significantly broaden the audience it reaches, especially among demographics who don’t typically engage with more serious or niche programming," she says.
Why such a storyline on a popular show like Emily In Paris really mattersSeeing beloved characters tackle issues like complicated relationships with an abuser, mixed feelings and fears about reporting, as well as cycles and generations of abuse can help to “normalise” conversations around these issues, according to Gaffka. It can also help to disrupt preconceived stereotypes and “scripts” we have internalised about harassment and abuse, helping us to detangle ways in which it could be happening to us, or someone we love, and help to acknowledge this.
"Viewers of the show already have a pre-existing relationship with the characters, which evokes more emotions than watching a government-designed video," she says. "This can help to normalise conversations about sexual harassment and abuse in everyday contexts, making the topic more accessible and less stigmatised.
"By integrating these serious issues into a popular and engaging show it can raise awareness, educate viewers, and help survivors to see their experiences reflected on screen, so they don’t feel alone."
An influential Netflix show like Emily in Paris has the potential to make a huge difference when it comes to talking about sexual harassment and violence against women. A Me Too storyline is a huge step forward. But the significance of a storyline like this on such a widely-watched show simultaneously underscores the need for wider, systemic change, as well as the increased responsibility of all other on-screen portrayals to not reinforce harmful stereotypes and to be responsible with storytelling.
The conversations that Emily In Paris could start are just that: a starting point. What we really need, and must demand, is more concentrated and tangible efforts in the fight against male violence, and understanding the full spectrum and impact of sexual harassment.
How to watch: Emily In Paris Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
If you have experienced sexual abuse, call the free, confidential National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), or access the 24-7 help online by visiting online.rainn.org.
The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.
With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.
So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.
SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for August 19 SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer hints for August 19Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Monday, August 19, 2024:
AcrossLeaves a couple bucks on the bar counterThe answer is Tips.
The answer is Aria.
The answer is Box up (no space).
The answer is Nine.
The answer is Year.
1
2
3
4
7
The answer is Tab.
The answer is Irony.
The answer is Pixie.
The answer is Sauna.
The answer is Per.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
I just watched Billie Eilish, in all of her talented glory, jamming out in the middle of Bora Bora with a breathtaking, sepia-toned sunset vibe in the background. And I didn't have to spend a penny — well, save for the $3,499 Apple Vision Pro headset itself. This is all thanks to the new visionOS 2 I've been testing.
The new-and-improved update, poised to officially roll out to the public later this year, was unveiled at WWDC 2024 — and it comes with a gaggle of new useful features. For example, the Control Center is a lot easier to access with a new gesture, allowing you get quick information like battery status and time. Plus, visionOS 2 now supports a new curved ultrawide virtual display while connected to a Mac — more on that later.
However, nothing could prepare me for the immediate sense of calm that came over me when I was whisked away to the French Polynesia, thanks to the new Bora Bora environment via visionOS 2. The Apple Vision Pro isn't just a spatial computing device. It's a "get me away from my darn family and teleport me to paradise" escape portal, allowing you to leave your troubles behind — just for a little while so you can catch your breath.
New Bora Bora environment in Apple Vision ProThe Apple Vision Pro's edge over other AR/VR headsets is its crisp, sharp details. While diving into the new Bora Bora environment in visionOS 2, the landscape that surrounded me was so visually rich, it was as if I could taste the mist of saltwater in the air and the feeling of grainy white sand beneath my feet. When I looked up at the palm trees, I could see a realistic animation of leaves swaying in the wind.
New Bora Bora environment in visionOS 2 Credit: AppleYou still won't find an official, dedicated YouTube app in Vision Pro, but you can do what I did and pull up videos via Safari. I fired up a Billie Eilish concert and watched her do her thing while I expanded the video to a jaw-dropping immersive scale that made it feel as if she was performing right in front of me.
Let's be honest. Sometimes, we just need to get away. As much as you may love 'em, if you're at your wits end with your family, slipping on the Vision Pro may be the escape you've been waiting for, without the madness of TSA, dragging luggage around, and braving hours upon hours inside a zooming metal bird that is susceptible to turbulence.
From a 2D snoozefest to a 3D spatial masterpieceAnd when you miss your family again, visionOS 2 has a new machine learning-based feature that transforms your 2D photos into 3D masterpieces.
Transform your photos from 2D to 3D Credit: AppleNow, when Apple boasted about this at WWDC 2024, it was difficult to wrap my mind around how mind-blowing this perk is — until I tried it myself. I uploaded some of my own 2D photos into the Vision Pro, and wow, I couldn't believe how well the Vision Pro breathed new life into them, making each picture pop in ways that you'll never experience by pulling up the Photos app on your iPhone.
I relived some photos of myself in Grenada. Apple wasn't joking nor exaggerating when it said that these 2D-to-3D experiences actually makes it seem like you're revisiting the past. Firstly, the 3D spatial photos made my entire body stick out of the photos like I was leaping out of the image. In the background, I could see the colorful town of St. George. It was as if I stepped into time machine and discovered a way to watch myself relive one of the happiest memories of my life from a third-person perspective.
I could also see this feature as a useful perk for anyone is obsessed with a particular photo of a loved one, whether it's a capture of their child, spouse, or friend. The Vision Pro brilliantly isolates the subject from other elements in the photo, creating new dimensions for some of your favorite memory-filled snapshots.
A true escape with your MacIf your surroundings are distracting, it may be difficult to truly hunker down and focus on tasks while working on your Mac.
Credit: AppleThat's why Apple, with visionOS 2, now lets you dive into a feature called Mac Virtual Display, which basically turns your MacBook screen, for example, into a panoramic beauty. I tested this on the Apple Vision Pro and found that it transformed my workspace into an expansive, immersive environment, making multitasking and productivity feel remarkably enhanced.
Keep in mind that there are other spatial computing spectacles on the market that support Macs, like the Viture Pro XR, that offer multi-display views inside a simulated environment. The advantage of the Viture Pro XR glasses is that they're lightweight and comfortable, a pro that the Vision Pro struggles to match. However, on the Viture Pro XR spectacles, the visuals are slightly too blurry.
Viture Pro XR glasses Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableMeanwhile, the Mac display inside the Vision Pro is as crisp as a freshly picked apple. The Cupertino-based tech giant claims that the details are "astoundingly sharp" — and I can confirm that this is true.
Plus, the Vision Pro (with visionOS 2 of course) can now see your Magic Keyboard or MacBook keyboard, even while you're immersed in an environment (e.g., Bora Bora). I tested this one as well — and I felt like a digital nomad, working remotely while seeing the striking, majestic Mount Otemanu looming on the horizon.
These just scratch the surface of what visionOS 2 has to offer, but these were my favorites while testing the new beta version of the update. The official version is expected to drop some time later this year.
The next MacBook Pro drop, packed with the M4 chip, is coming very soon, according to Apple leaker Mark Gurman.
We got a sneak peek of the M4 chip's capabilities when Apple unveiled it alongside the iPad Pro. This was the first time Apple has injected an M-series chip into an iPad before a MacBook.
The M4 chip was officially introduced to us when the iPad Pro dropped earlier this year. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableWe can't quite wrap our minds around why Apple would do this. Perhaps Apple wanted to give us a sneak peek of the M4's powerful capabilities before introducing it to the MacBook family. Based on the in-house performance numbers we got for the M4-based iPad Pro, the next M4 MacBook Pro will likely be equally as impressive.
That being said, let's take a look at all the rumors we've been hearing about the M4 MacBook Pro.
M4 MacBook ProSimilar to the M3 MacBooks that dropped last year during the October "Scary Fast" event event, we're expecting the following M4 MacBook models this year.
14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 (cheapest)
14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro
14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Max
16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro
16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Max (priciest)
According to Apple, compared to the M2 CPU, the M4 processor is 50% faster. The Cupertino-based tech giant also claims that rendering performance has a four-fold performance jump.
M4 MacBook Pro release dateAccording to an April report from Gurman, the next MacBook Pro will launch sometime later this year. While he didn’t provide an exact date, it’s expected to arrive before the M4 MacBook Air, which is slated for a spring 2025 release.
The current-gen entry-level MacBook Pro Credit: AppleThis matches a rumor from Ross Young, another respected analyst. According to Young, who posted a leak on his subscriber-only feed on X (formerly Twitter), Apple fans can expect an M4 MacBook Pro release "later this year," he said.
Based on what Apple has done historically, this means that Apple will likely hold a Mac event on October or November to unveil the new M4 MacBook Pro. However, as BGR noted, the best guesstimate is October.
According to Gurman, the entry-level M4 14-inch MacBook Pro will be released first, followed by the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models featuring the more powerful M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, likely at the end of 2024 or early 2025.
M4 MacBook Pro designWe haven't seen any design rumors regarding the M4 MacBook Pro, but it likely won't get a significant overhaul. As MacRumors said, behind the scenes, Apple is planning a MacBook launch with a new OLED display. However, this isn't expected until 2026.
If you're curious about other next-gen laptops, including the M4 MacBook Air, M4 Mac mini, and more, check out our M4 Macs rumor hub.
TL;DR: Get digital downloads of both Java and Bedrock versions of Minecraft for just $24.99 (reg. $29) for a limited time.
Minecraft has captivated millions of players worldwide with its endless possibilities, creative freedom, and unique blend of exploration and survival. Whether you love building intricate structures, battling mobs, or exploring vast worlds, Minecraft offers something for everyone.
With the Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition bundle, you can access both versions of the game for just $24.99 (reg $29) for a limited time—giving you the best of both worlds.
By purchasing the Minecraft bundle, you get access to two distinct versions of the game, each with its own unique features and advantages.
Java Edition is exclusive to desktop platforms (Windows, macOS, and Linux) and is known for its extensive modding capabilities, which allow players to customize their gameplay. This version is particularly popular among those who enjoy tinkering with mods, creating custom skins, and engaging in the vibrant community-run servers.
However, the Java Edition requires more powerful hardware to run smoothly, especially with mods. It is also limited to playing with other Java users and does not support cross-play with other platforms.
Bedrock Edition is designed for versatility and accessibility, running on a wide range of devices, including consoles, mobile phones, and even Chromebooks. This edition offers a smoother experience even on lower-spec devices, and it supports cross-play, allowing players to connect and play together across different platforms.
The Bedrock Edition also features the Minecraft Marketplace, where players can purchase add-ons, skins, and custom worlds. While it doesn't offer the same level of modding freedom as Java, Bedrock's broader compatibility makes it an excellent choice for players who want to enjoy Minecraft on multiple devices.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to expand your Minecraft world for less.
Pick up the Minecraft Java & Bedrock Edition bundle for just $24.99 (reg $29).
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Opens in a new window Credit: Retail King Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition (Digital Download) $24.99 at The Mashable ShopTL;DR: Easily navigate the complexities of BOI reporting with a one-time FileForms BOI report filing for just $89 (reg. $179).
For professionals like business owners, accountants, and legal experts, Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting to FinCEN is now a crucial task mandated by the CTA that demands accuracy and timeliness. The Corporate Transparency Act has made BOI reporting a legal requirement for many entities. The process can be daunting, especially when done manually (like filing taxes for the first time).
This is where FileForm BOI Report Filing can help. Created with the help of licensed attorneys and CPAs, it's a service designed to simplify and streamline the reporting process, saving you time and reducing the risk of costly errors. You follow a step-by-step guide, so you know your filing is correct.
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Before diving into the specifics of BOI reporting, it’s important to understand who qualifies as a beneficial owner. A beneficial owner is an individual who owns or controls a significant portion of a company, typically defined as holding 25 percent or more of the company’s equity or having substantial influence over its operations.
While the goal of this reporting is to enhance transparency and prevent illicit activities like money laundering, the penalties for non-compliance are steep — businesses that fail to file accurate reports can face significant fines and other legal consequences.
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Opens in a new window Credit: FileForms FileForms BOI Report Filing $89.00 at The Mashable ShopTL;DR: Turn your smart TV into a dynamic digital frame with a premium lifetime subscription to a digital frame on sale for $99.99.
Opens in a new window Credit: CastHub Digital TV Frame Family Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription $99.99 at The Mashable ShopThese days, the pictures we take tend to stay in our phones and never leave. Instead of gathering dust in your digital album, why not turn your living room into a gallery that everyone can enjoy? With Digital Frame by CastHub, you can transform your smart TV into a vibrant digital frame, showcasing your favorite memories on the big screen. Get lifetime access on sale for $99.99.
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Unlike those clunky, limited digital frames, CastHub gives you the freedom to share and display across multiple devices. Plus, it’s perfect if you’ve already invested in something like the Samsung Frame — this software can take your setup to the next level.
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TL;DR: For a limited time, you can get a 1-Year BJ's Wholesale The Club+ Card Membership with BJ's Easy Renewal for just $65 (reg. $110).
Opens in a new window Credit: BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. Annual BJ's Wholesale The Club+ Card Membership $65.00 at The Mashable ShopFor those who appreciate value and convenience (which is probably all of us), an annual BJ’s Wholesale Club+ Card Membership offers a unique opportunity to change up your shopping world. Priced at just $65 (reg. $110) when you sign up for auto-renewal, this membership grants you access to a host of exclusive perks that go beyond the already pretty great standard benefits, helping you stretch your budget further while enjoying high-quality products and services.
With a BJ’s Club+ Membership, you get access to the standard wholesale club savings and convenient shopping options like ExpressPay. This checkout option allows members to skip the line in-club, scan their items as they shop, and pay in the BJ's mobile app for a quicker checkout.
While all members can enjoy significant savings with up to 25% savings over grocery store prices every day, along with access to a wide selection of fresh food and national brands, the Club+ Card membership gets you more. What truly distinguishes the Club+ Card Membership are the additional rewards and savings. Club+ Card members earn 2% back in rewards on most purchases, with opportunities to earn up to 3x back during special events.
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I don't share my literal dreams, the ones that happen at night, with just anyone.
But in this case, I was testing the journaling app Rosebud, which is powered by artificial intelligence. After using Rosebud's voice-to-text feature to create a few daily run-of-the-mill entries (the app is not just for dreams), I decided to log a recurring dream that had recently eluded my own attempts at analysis.
I'll spare you the details; let's just say that it involves my children leaving their belongings behind. In the dream, I keep trying to remember where the items have been tossed aside, but then I ultimately forget them, too, at which point panic sets in.
I clicked on Rosebud's dream-specific journal entry, which asks you to share as many specifics as possible. I gave it a two-sentence description. Despite my limited recounting, Rosebud's line of questioning led me to an epiphany about parenting, responsibility, letting go, and trusting your child, all within three follow-up prompts. I was hooked.
SEE ALSO: AI chatbots are being used for companionship. What to know before you try itThe desktop version of Rosebud is a year old, but the app launched last week. So far in my testing, the journal app, billed as "guided self-discovery," has offered what AI technology has long promised to become: a tool for supporting human growth and creativity, with surprising efficiency and insight.
Rosebud's cofounders, software engineers Chrys Bader and Sean Dadashi, who met in a men's group, say Rosebud is designed to increase users' self-awareness, not to solve problems for them. It's also not pitched as therapy, but as an accessible complement to professional help. It costs $12.99 per month or $107.99 annually.
This is refreshing at a time when some AI products are positioned as robots to whom we can offload unique aspects of the human experience, like writing a letter on behalf of a child to their sports hero (see Google's ill-fated "Dear Sydney" ad).
Rosebud's philosophical approach of championing human-led, AI-enabled personal growth, combined with the instantaneous speed at which the app helps deliver meaningful insight, offers a compelling example of how AI journaling could transform people's self-awareness, potentially improving their well-being and mental health.
I do have some reservations, including the risk of becoming too attached to Rosebud, data safety and privacy issues, and what happens when users express suicidal thoughts or feelings. As the market for AI journaling apps grows, the best options will be products that meaningfully address these and other risks, putting safety above profit and growth. So far, Rosebud seems to be taking that challenge seriously.
AI journaling: The good and the greatScientific research tells us that expressive writing, which you'll often find in personal journals, can improve people's well-being and mental health, though this effect isn't universal. When journaling works, it appears to be partly because the author is able to write without fear of judgment, but the science isn't conclusive yet.
There's limited research on the new phenomenon of AI journaling, so little understanding of who stands to benefit most from the practice — or what could potentially go wrong. Rosebud only has customer survey data, and hasn't yet hired a chief medical or clinical officer, though the company partners with mental health professionals to provide feedback about how the platform responds to numerous scenarios.
This is all to say: If you sign up for Rosebud, or another AI journaling app, you're exploring uncharted territory and should proceed with reasonable caution.
Rosebud is built on large language model (LLM) technology, but has been tailored specifically to engage users in a way that should heighten their self-awareness. Rosebud's cofounders recently decided to make Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet their primary LLM of choice, after simultaneously testing that platform and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The Rosebud AI-powered journal can deliver profound insights. Credit: RosebudBader and Dadashi said they preferred the way Claude referenced memories provided by Rosebud's proprietary "awareness engine." Drawing on Claude's LLM, the pair have engineered Rosebud to serve up daily reflective prompts to users, starting with basic questions like, "What's your top priority today?" and "What was the highlight of your day?"
There are separate journal prompts for dreams and gratitude. Plus, there are journals created by Rosebud-vetted experts on topics like "nervous system rebalancing" and positive psychology, and journals created by licensed therapists, based on evidence-based approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Once you complete an entry, Rosebud can get into its groove. First comes a summary of what you just shared, laced with validations, minor insights, and new prompts. For example, if you're worried about work deadlines competing with parental obligations, Rosebud will say it understands, acknowledge that the situation is challenging, and may ask something like, "What would help you feel accomplished?" and "How do you envision your evening unfolding if both your goals and your child's needs are met?"
Without AI, it's easy to imagine an analog journal entry about the same scenario providing the writer a chance to at least prepare themselves for the day ahead, and potentially practice self-compassion or another coping skill. But with AI, there's dynamism that can lead to that improved self-awareness that Bader and Dadashi say they are so determined to provide.
That's partially because Rosebud has a choose-your-own-adventure element. Following its initial summary, you can ask the Rosebud app to do things like suggest some ideas, offer a different perspective, or "help me think through this."
I've favored suggesting ideas and offering a different perspective, both of which have led to surprisingly useful tips and insights.
For one entry about trying to increase my exercise after a frustratingly long illness-induced break, the different perspective feature posed a question I hadn't even considered: How would I feel about going into the day with a curiosity mindset, treating my exercise attempt as an experiment to see how my body reacted, rather than pressure myself to achieve a certain outcome?
"Rather than trying to replace human thinking, [Rosebud] is trying to help you think more deeply, and feel more deeply." - Sean Dadashi, Rosebud cofounderI'm not joking when I say that I immediately wrote the idea on a sticky note so it would be visible throughout the day, because it was an excellent suggestion I didn't want to forget.
What's perhaps most valuable about Rosebud is that it doesn't try to problem-solve on users' behalf. Bader and Dadashi say this is intentional. The approach is drawn directly from their own personal experiences in individual therapy and men's groups, where they had to learn skills like active listening and validation, and subdue the impulse to explain or give advice to someone.
"Rather than trying to replace human thinking, [Rosebud] is trying to help you think more deeply, and feel more deeply," says Dadashi. "You can't grow if someone's telling you what to do, or giving you all the answers."
Areas for improvement in AI journalingThere's real promise in an AI journaling app like Rosebud. While it's no substitute for professional therapy, it could provide vital support for someone who can't access help, or just empower users with fresh insight about their feelings and experiences, in a low-cost, accessible way.
But it also comes with unique risks. While expressive writing is considered a low-risk activity, AI can introduce unexpected complications.
Dr. Johannes Eichstaedt, a computational social scientist and assistant professor in psychology at Stanford University, has generally positive views on the concept of AI journaling.
Yet he can see a potential downside if users become reliant on a platform like Rosebud, turning to it instead of a loved one, or becoming so engaged with the technology that they stop doing other important things, like exercise and sleep.
Bader and Dadashi say they're aware of this possibility. Even though the average user is on the platform for just 12 minutes a day, there have been extreme cases of "unhealthy use" clocking in at three or four hours per day. That's partly why there's now an undisclosed limit on the number of times a user can "go deeper" in their entry, but users rarely reach it. I tend to ask Rosebud to go deeper two or three times before finishing the entry.
But there are other considerations. Eichstaedt says this includes the possibility that AI journaling apps may create an "echo chamber" for people with serious mental illness like obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. He notes that because an AI assistant is typically instructed to be helpful, it may unwittingly reinforce harmful thought patterns or behaviors.
For someone with OCD, this could mean using an AI journaling app to seek reassurance for their compulsive anxiety; a professional would try to help a patient with OCD cope in the absence of reassurance.
Bader and Dadashi have no easy answers for how to handle these dynamics, though they recognize the "ethical boundaries and limitations in addressing serious mental health conditions." For now, they've programmed Rosebud to detect patterns of overdependence and also to encourage users to seek mental health care, as appropriate.
This is the case for someone who expresses suicidal feelings, a scenario I personally tested using a unique account. Unfortunately, Claude does not immediately offer specific crisis resources, per its default setting, so it took an additional response from me specifically asking how to contact a hotline to elicit information about those details. Prior to that, it first asked if I would be open to professional support, then gave me a generic list of options, like a primary health physician, local mental health clinic, or a crisis line.
SEE ALSO: 21 reasons to keep living when you feel suicidalBader and Dadashi say this is partly because the LLM doesn't know the user's location and doesn't want to share irrelevant contact information, like providing a U.S. crisis line for a resident of the United Kingdom. They added that they're working to improve Rosebud's ability to quickly give a suicidal user the right resources.
Users should also understand that no internet-connected journal product is guaranteed safe from bad actors, no matter how well it's protected. Rosebud entries, for example, are encrypted in transit to the company's servers, and then stored in a highly rated third-party cloud. But they also end up at Anthropic and OpenAI's servers, albeit anonymized, so Claude can respond to each prompt.
Currently, Rosebud's data is retained at Anthropic and OpenAI for 30 days, but Bader says the company is working with both companies to enable a zero-retention option. Neither LLM company trains their products on user data, and Rosebud doesn't, either. Nor does Rosebud sell user data to third parties.
Despite these measures, the data is still out of your hands once you enter it into Rosebud and could be a target of hackers eager to weaponize it. Because it doesn't handle patient data in a clinical setting, Rosebud isn't required to be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the federal privacy law.
For some, these and other risks of AI journaling may be worth it. Personally, I'm finding it difficult to justify pausing my use given how much I've gained from Rosebud in one week. It's helped supercharge my mindfulness practice. I've set and achieved goals related to focus that have otherwise stymied me. It even managed to convince me to adopt a new mindset, which is no small thing for someone who reports on mental health for a living.
The real test will be if this journaling habit sticks for the long run, since we know that most people abandon mental health and well-being apps within weeks of starting them. My personal growth might plateau, too. But I actually look forward to finding out, because who knows what Rosebud will help me learn about myself along the way.
If you're feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988; the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860; or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text "START" to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. If you don't like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat at crisischat.org. Here is a list of international resources.
Here at Mashable, we’ve always been all about the stuff people love doing online.
It’s why we make it our business to cover the trends that are entertaining, delighting, and surprising the internet most, week in and week out.
It’s the reason so many of the stories at Mashable are delivered with a little humor – and a lot of fun.
It’s also the reason we offer tips and strategies around playing some of our readers' most beloved online games each and every day.
And we’re not stopping there. As your friends on the internet, we’re happy to share some great news that we hope will bring more smiles to the faces of our fans: Games are coming to Mashable.
If solving your Sudoku, finding just the right seven letters to complete your crossword, or guessing the Wordle after a single stab in the dark has ever brought you joy, our Mashable Games hub is for you.
Through a partnership with creator Arkadium Games, we’re bringing you 50 of the most popular games the platform has to offer – from Mahjong to Sudoku, from Solitaire to Hurdle (and crossword puzzles, too!).
Best of all, they’re all free of charge for you to play as long and as many times as you please at games.mashable.com.
Whether you’re a newbie or a vet to any of the games on the Mashable Games hub, we invite you to spend some time exploring, to find your favs, and to come back for more.
Get started with one of our gaming guides below…
…or dive right in and start playing now! Then email our EIC, Alesha Williams Boyd, and let us know how it’s going: alesha.boyd@ziffmedia.com. We want to hear from you.
Happy gaming! Enjoy!
Mashable Team
There’s nothing like a great crossword. Crosswords have been the go-to morning activity for millions of people around the world. Back in the day, a crossword used to be found at the end of the newspaper. Now, there are easier ways to play for as long as you want. The Daily Crossword offers a range of features and tools to make crosswording even more fun.
Looking for a crossword game to incorporate into your morning routine? Here’s everything you need to know about Daily Crossword, including how to use the different settings and some tips and tricks for getting the best possible score.
How to play the Daily CrosswordAt its core, the Daily Crossword works the same as other crossword games. You’ll be presented with a grid of boxes, with some boxes having numbers that correlate to clues across or down. If a clue is labeled as being across, you’ll need to find a word that corresponds to that clue and fill it in horizontally. If a clue is labeled as being down, you’ll do the same, but vertically, starting from the top. Only the right word will fit, though. While you might be able to find other words that correspond to the clue and fit in the boxes, the right word will have letters that are featured in other words that cross it.
That’s really all there is to it. If you find all the correct words, the puzzle will fit together nicely without any errors or blank boxes. Of course, you might find yourself needing to erase words that you’ve previously filled in if you find that words don’t quite fit together.
Settings you can changeYou can change in Daily Crossword to make the experience of using it even better. The settings are available both on the web and in the mobile app.
Daily Crossword allows you to change settings relatively easily using the three-line menu button on the top left-hand corner of the screen. There, you can access a range of different settings. For example, you can opt to show a timer. The time will continue ticking while you're playing, and it will continue ticking whether you show it or not, considering the fact that it impacts your final score. If you're competitive, you may want to show the time on the screen to ensure you complete the crossword in a reasonable amount of time.
On top of having settings related to the timer, you can also select whether the arrow keys on your keyboard only change the cell that you’re on or the direction in which you’re typing, and you can choose to automatically skip over filled squares when you’re typing. You can also choose settings related to the clues. For example, you can increase the size of the clues, and you can show the clues as a list on the side of the puzzle, or only a single clue at once. It’s worth taking a look at the settings to set up Daily Crossword to be perfect for you.
Free Daily Crossword hints and featuresThere are other tools that you can use in Daily Crossword, too. For starters, there’s a check and auto-check feature, which essentially checks whether a letter, word, or puzzle that you’ve typed in is correct. You can press the check button to check either a letter, word, or puzzle. And you can enable auto-check to automatically check any mistakes as you type. To enable auto-check, press the check button, then toggle on auto-check.
If you’re really stuck, you can use the reveal feature to show you a part of the puzzle that you haven’t yet guessed. Reveal allows you to show a letter, word, or the whole puzzle.
Last is the pencil feature. The pencil is built for those times in which you’re not sure if a letter or word properly fits. You’ll be able to insert a letter into any cell without it being recognized as having been completed. So you can test out words as you go. When you use the pencil feature, letters will appear as gray instead of black on the puzzle, so you can know which letters and words you’ve entered using the feature.
Speaking of pencils, perhaps you prefer to fill out the puzzle on a good old-fashioned piece of paper. That’s what the print button on the top right of the screen is for. When you press print, you’ll be able to choose where you want the clues and what you want to be printed if you’ve already entered letters and words.
How is the Daily Crossword score calculated?Your score for the Daily Crossword depends on a number of different factors. For starters, there’s the puzzle score, which is equal to the percentage of the puzzle that you completed without help times 100. “Help” is defined as any part of the puzzle that was filled using the reveal and check buttons. So if you want the maximum score, you should avoid using those features.
You’ll also get a time bonus, though the bonus that you get depends on the type of puzzle that you’re completing. For example, the bonus for a Two Minute Mini Daily Crossword is 120 minus the number of seconds you took, times 10. The bonus for the Sunday crossword is 2,700 minus the number of seconds you took, times 10.
Lastly, you’ll get a bonus if you complete the puzzle on the Daily Puzzle Date. For example, if the Daily Puzzle Date is the 2nd of October, and you complete it on the 2nd of October, you’ll get a 50-point daily bonus.
But while you’ll get a score for an individual puzzle, you’ll also get a total score for the month. Your total score is basically the sum of all the daily scores you’ve finished within a month, and it’s added to a leaderboard as you go.
Daily Crossword tipsIf you’re looking to get the highest score you possibly can, there are a number of tips to keep in mind.
For starters, it’s probably a good idea to start with clues that you find easy. This will allow you to fill in as much of the puzzle as possible, which could give you additional hints as to what the other words may be. It’s also a good idea to focus on shorter words before anything else, which, again, will help you fill in letters that will be used in longer words down the line.
Often, the Daily Crossword will have a theme to it. You could get hints as to what the theme of the puzzle is using the puzzle’s title, and if there is a theme, keep it in mind as you guess words, as the words will connect to the theme.
Don’t be afraid to guess words as well. Sometimes, you won’t definitively know what a word is, but that’s why the pencil feature is there. Use the pencil feature to guess words as you go, as it could help you fill in letters that will give you more hints about other words.
Hurdle is a daily word game that seemingly builds on the idea of Wordle, but turns the game up a notch. The game is a daily word puzzle that will put your knowledge of the English language to the test by increasing the pressure and difficulty as you play.
Curious how to play Hurdle? Or interested in tips on achieving the best possible score? Here’s everything you need to know about Hurdle, including how to play and some tips on ways to improve your score at the end.
How to play today’s HurdleThe goal of Hurdle is to correctly guess a secret five-letter word, through six guesses that will give you hints about the final word as you go.
You’ll start by guessing a 5-letter word. After hitting enter, the tiles of letters for that word will flip and turn one of three colors: gray, yellow, or green. Here’s what the colors mean.
Gray: The letter isn’t in the word.
Yellow: The letter is in the word, but in a different spot.
Green: The letter is in the word, and it’s in the correct spot.
So far, the game is a lot like Wordle, right? This, however, is where the similarities end. Once you guess the correct word, you’ll move on to the next Hurdle, but this time, the word from the previous puzzle will be automatically entered as the first guessed word. Get the second Hurdle correct, and you’ll move on to the third Hurdle, which will have the words from the first two Hurdles pre-filled. By the time you get to the fifth and final Hurdle puzzle for the day, you’ll only have two chances to solve the puzzle using the color tile clues pre-filled by the first four words.
Not so easy now, is it?
At the end of the game, you can use the Recap function to check your answers, and if you didn’t guess a word correctly, you’ll be told what the word was at the top of the screen.
Challenge yourself with Hard ModeAs if the game on its own wasn’t hard enough, you can challenge yourself even further with a dedicated hard mode. Hard mode increases the pressure by forcing you to use any revealed hints in your subsequent guesses. So, if any letters show yellow or green in one guess, you’ll be forced to use them in further guesses.
To enable hard mode, press the three-button hamburger menu on the top left of the puzzle, then press the settings option. Finally, toggle on the hard mode option, then close the settings menu by tapping on the “X” on the top right of the screen.
How are scores calculated?If you’re constantly trying to beat your previous score, you might be wondering how scores are calculated. It’s actually not all that complicated. Here’s a rundown of how scores are calculated based on whether you won or lost, and your game mode:
Game won: 1,000 + (100 x number of empty lines) + Winning Bonus
Game lost: (10 x number of yellow letters on the keyboard) + (20 x number of green letters on the keyboard)
The winning bonus is 4,000 points and it’s awarded at the end of all the hurdles. So you won’t get a winning bonus for completing just the first hurdle, for example. The maximum possible score in Normal mode is 10,800 points. In Hard mode, scores are multiplied by 1.5, bringing the maximum total score to 16,200 points.
High Contrast ModeThe game offers a High Contrast Mode too, which is aimed at making it easier to see different colors for those with certain color blindnesses. When High Contrast Mode is turned on, letters that are in the correct spot will be orange instead of green. Letters in the word but in the wrong spot will be blue instead of yellow.
To turn on High Contrast Mode, press the three-lined menu button on the top left of the puzzle. Then press the settings button and toggle on High Contrast Mode. Close the settings menu by tapping on the “X” in the top right of the screen.
Tips for getting the best scoreLooking for tips on how to get a better score? There are a few things to keep in mind as you play.
Linguistic researchers note that vowels are the most common letters in the English language, so your first word should contain as many vowels as possible.
Additionally, for at least the first few words, you should try to use words with five different letters, as this will maximize the number of clues you’ll get.
There are some other things to consider too. Most of the time, the word won’t be a plural, unless it’s an irregular plural like “Geese.” Also, it’s worth keeping in mind the fact that the word could have two of the same letter – so if you’re stuck, and not sure why you can’t think of a word, try to think of ways in which a letter you got right could be in the word twice.
Last but not least, you don’t have to play entirely on the screen – if you’re having trouble, it can help to get out a good ol’ pen and paper, and try to brainstorm that way. This will help you eliminate words without using up your guesses.
Last week, Stephen King took to X (formerly Twitter) to share some Dark Tower fan art — along with a comment that immediately caught fans' attention.
"Mid-world is still there," wrote the author, referring to the universe in which his eight-book series is set. "The tower still stands."
SEE ALSO: 10 of the best Stephen King book endingsOver the weekend, he did it again. The author shared an image posted by a fan account for Roland Deschain, the series' main character. The image showed a road sign reading "Crimson King Dr" (the Crimson King is one of the main antagonists in the books).
Tweet may have been deleted"He lives," King wrote.
Given that the Crimson King's fate at the end of the series is uncertain – due to various complicated factors that would require an article of their own to explain – King's comment is especially interesting.
Is he just teasing us with all these Dark Tower posts, or are they building to something? News of the Mike Flanagan TV adaptation? Or could there be another book in the works?
It wouldn't necessarily be that surprising. King likes returning to previous characters and worlds, and has already returned to the Dark Tower universe with another novel – The Wind Through the Keyhole – that was published eight years after the core series had ended.
There's no mention of anything Dark Tower-related on his official site, but maybe that'll soon change.
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