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Amazon Music and Spotify both have a free ad-supported and subscription listening tier.
For Prime members, Amazon Music Unlimited costs $9.99/month or $99 annually. Non-Prime members pay $10.99 monthly, and Spotify Premium costs $11.99 monthly. Both music services also have family plans. The Amazon Music Unlimited family plan allows for up to six people and costs $14.99 per month or $149 annually. Spotify offers a family plan for up to six people for $19.99 a month, in addition to a $5.99 student subscription and a $16.99 duo subscription.
Spotify raised its prices twice in the past year, from $9.99 in 2023 to its present price.
Amazon offers five months of Amazon Music Unlimited for free in conjunction with Prime Day.
SEE ALSO: Amazon just announced the exact dates of Prime Day 2024 Amazon Music Unlimited boasts higher sound qualityAmazon Music Unlimited's main advantage over Spotify Premium is its sound quality. While both music services feature compressed music for their free tier of subscribers, Amazon Music Unlimited listeners can listen to songs in SD, HD, Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos, or 360 reality audio when available. Meanwhile, Spotify has teased HiFi lossless audio since 2021 without ever releasing it.
While the differences between lossless and compressed audio quality might not be noticeable to the casual listener, Amazon Music Unlimited wins over Spotify for those looking for a listening experience akin to CD-quality.
Spotify's interface is more intuitiveAmazon Music and Spotify have similar app user interfaces, but Spotify's desktop version is miles ahead of Amazon Music's basic design. Spotify's desktop version is a feast for the eyes and features nearly identical usability to its app; you can even download music offline.
Spotify's personalization and social functions take the cakeSpotify has an unparalleled recommendations algorithm that allows users to follow other users and make collaborative playlists. While Amazon Music also features recommendations, they aren't as on the nose, and the music service lacks any of the social components that define Spotify's listening experience.
The verdictDepending on your listening priorities, either could work for you. Spotify is the right fit if you prioritize music discovery and swapping playlists with friends. But if you're a diehard music-head who wants top-tier sound quality above all else, Amazon Music is for you.
My jaw is still on the floor. You won't believe the battery life we recorded for the Surface Laptop 7, which is a part of Microsoft's "Surface" family that features a wide variety of devices, from tablets to convertibles. And quite frankly, I was never the biggest fan of Surface machines.
They all seem to be missing that je ne sais quoi — that X factor — that makes 'em stand out in the world of MacBooks, Lenovo ThinkPads, and Dell XPS series laptops. The competition was always quite stiff for the Surface family, with rivals offering more performance for the price.
The biggest hindrance to the Surface family's success was, sorry to say it, Intel. (Even when Microsoft decided to pack AMD chips inside their laptops, they performed significantly better than their Intel-based variants.)
"It's me! Hi! I'm the problem it's me," is what Intel should be saying, quoting Taylor Swift.
Now Microsoft has made the smart decision to ditch Intel for the Surface Laptop 7, which features a star chipset called Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. Long story short, Qualcomm said the Snapdragon X Elite crushes MacBooks, particularly the models with the M3 chips — and it didn't tell a lie.
Did it make our best laptops list? Read on to find out.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 price and specsThe Surface Laptop 7 I tested for this review costs $1,999 via Amazon and comes with the following specs:
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPU
Qualcomm Adreno GPU
32GB of RAM
1TB of SSD storage
13.8-inch, 2496 x 1664-pixel resolution touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate
Windows 11 Home
If that's too much, Amazon is also selling a Microsoft Surface Laptop for just $1,199, but it comes with some downgrades, including 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and a Snapdragon X Plus chipset.
Opens in a new window Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 $1,999.99 at AmazonThe Surface Laptop 7 oozes sophistication and polished refinement. Personified, this Microsoft laptop would be the smooth-talking Wall Street banker, dressed in an all black suit, who says, "I'd like a whiskey neat, please."
Credit: Joe Maldonado / MashableThe build quality is mint. The chassis, partially made from recycled aluminum, is sturdy with little to no give on the lid and deck. As a cherry on top, it doesn't collect too many fingerprints.
The review unit I have sports the Black colorway, looking as if it was draped in ink. There are three other color options, including Sapphire, Dune, and Platinum. Overall, the Surface Laptop 7 has a minimalist, subdued look, with the only eye-catching element being the slightly lustrous Microsoft logo on the lid.
The Surface Laptop 7 is light, too, coming in at 2.96 pounds. Its dimensions are 11.85 x 8.67 x 0.69 inches.
Surface Laptop 7 - 2.96 pounds
14-inch M3 MacBook Pro - 3.4 pounds
15-inch M3 MacBook Air - 3.3 pounds
For comparison, the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is heavier and thinner at 3.4 pounds and 0.61 inches thick. The 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is also heavier at 3.3 pounds, but significantly thinner (0.45 inches thick).
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 displayThe Surface Laptop 7 comes in two sizes: 13-inch and 15-inch variants. I have the former, which sports a 13.8-inch panel (a step up from its predecessor's 13.5-inch screen).
Credit: Joe Maldonado / MashablePlus, the bezels have slimmed down, too, for a more modern look. (Because, come on, large bezels are so passé.) The LCD display features a 2,304 x 1,536-pixel display with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate. In other words, depending on your task, it can climb up to 120Hz (e.g., light gaming and other frenetic activities) while dropping down to 60Hz for less demanding activities.
The Surface Laptop 7 also features a 3:2 aspect ratio, which means the screen is more tall than it is wide. Emanating about 600 nits of brightness, the Surface Laptop 7 passed my "sunny day" test. Yes, its display can be seen in bright environments, but the screen is quite reflective. (You could somewhat see yourself while using the screen, even with the panel cranked up to max brightness.) As such, the Surface Laptop 7 could benefit from an antireflective coating on the display.
I watched the Gladiator 2 trailer on YouTube, and the Surface Laptop 7 delivers rich, pungent colors. But compared to my 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, it could stand to be a tinge sharper and more crisp. For example, Denzel Washington, playing as Macrinus, is draped in a Roman grab with vivid red, gold, and purple hues, but the leopard print portion of his getup appeared to be more detailed and sharper on my MacBook.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 portsThe Surface Laptop 7 is a bit selfish with its ports, but my MacBook Air is worse; it doesn't even have legacy ports like USB Type-A.
The Surface Connector on the Surface Laptop 7 Credit: Joe Maldonado / MashableSo perhaps the Microsoft's offerings aren't too bad.
On the left side:
USB Type-A port (3.2 Gen 1)
Two USB4 Type-C ports
3.5mm headphone jack
On the right side:
Microsoft's proprietary Surface Connect port
Like the MagSafe 3 connector for MacBooks, the Surface Connect port is proprietary. It lets you charge the Surface Laptop 7, freeing up the other ports for displays, peripherals, and more. This model doesn't have a microSDXC card slot, but you can find one on the 15-inch model.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 audioThe Surface Laptop 7 has MacBook-beating performance and power efficiency, but it cannot match the stunning sound quality you get on an Apple laptop.
I fired up "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar via Spotify, and while the audio can get pretty loud at max volume, the diss track didn't sound very impactful on the Surface Laptop 7's speaker set up. The tune lacked bass and that rich depth you get from a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 keyboard and trackpadIf I could rate the Surface Laptop 7's keyboard, I'd give it a — well — 7. The keyboard's key travel is a bit shallow as you'd imagine for a thin-and-slim laptop, but there is still enough snappiness and tactile feedback to gracefully launch my fingers from one keycap to another.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / MashableThe touchpad, compared to the last iteration, now has precision haptic capabilities. This means you'll receive reliable click feedback across the entire surface. It felt a bit stiff out of the box, as if I needed to exert more effort than usual to move the cursor around the screen. However, this can be remedied by going to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad > Cursor speed.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 benchmarks and performanceThe Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 comes equipped with the showstopping Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip. As mentioned at the outset, Qualcomm has been boasting that it can beat the M3 MacBooks. We ran Geekbench 6, which stress tests the CPU, to validate Qualcomm's claims.
Surface Laptop 7 - 11,875
M3 MacBook Pro - 11,998
M3 MacBook Air - 12,170
You can squeeze more performance out of the Surface Laptop 7 by switching the power mode to "best performance," which eked out an incredible multi-core score of 14,586.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 battery lifeI couldn't believe my eyes. The Surface Laptop 7, on our 1080p video rundown test, lasted 22 hours and 50 minutes on a charge. That's nearly 23 hours.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / MashableAs of this writing, this is the longest battery life we've ever recorded for a Windows laptop in recent years.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 webcamThe Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has a 1080p camera located on the top bezel, which also has an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial authentication.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableThe webcam is a bit of potato. It's giving watercolor vibes; it's a bit fuzzy and lacks crispness. On the plus side, it renders color relatively well, accurately picking up my complexion and the bright colors on my shirt.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 compatibility issuesI tried to download the Apple Music app from the Microsoft Store, but it doesn't surface (no pun intended) in search results. As it turns out, the Apple Music app doesn't support the Surface Laptop 7 (though it supports other non-Windows-on-ARM PCs I've tested). For the uninitiated, the Surface Laptop 7 has an ARM chip (hence why it's called Windows-on-ARM), and in order for software to run its smoothest on PC, developers must create ARM64 native apps.
For example, apps like Photoshop, Dropbox, Zoom, Prime, Spotify, Hulu, and Chrome all have native apps on Windows-on-ARM PCs. Apps that don't have native support require emulation with Microsoft's Prism (a translation framework). However, Apple Music isn't available on the Surface Laptop 7 whatsoever, so my guess is that Apple simply hasn't allowed support for it just yet. (According to Reddit, you can sideload it to your PC, though.)
I haven't spotted any other compatibility issues during my normal workflow, but one website claims that some games like Fortnite and Dirt 5 are not playable on Window-on-ARM PCs. However, this doesn't faze me much; the Surface Laptop 7 isn't a gaming laptop. (But if you like to bend the rules, you can definitely get away with some light gaming, as long as the titles are compatible).
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 AI featuresThe Snapdragon X Elite chip is a power-efficiency champ and a performance beast, and on top of that, it boosts the Surface Laptop 7's AI capabilities with an NPU, a dedicated processor designed to shoulder all the AI-related tasks.
This makes the Surface Laptop 7 a Copilot+ PC, allowing users to play around with fun features like Cocreator on Paint.
For example, I was able to draw a rough sketch of a pink flamingo with heels on Paint, only for the new-and-improved AI-powered app to recognize my drawing and fix it into a more sophisticated masterpiece of a fancy, rose-colored bird.
Using Cocreator on the Surface Pro 11 Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableBasically, Cocreator is the let-me-turn-your-ugly-doodle-into-something-pretty AI feature.
I tried the "Renaissance" art style on my selfie via the new AI-powered Photos app. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableIn the Photos app, you can transform your images into a number of different art styles, from anime to watercolor. However, I noticed many of the styles would only apply the style to the background of my selfie due to a high risk of distortion.
I tried the "Papercraft" art style on my selfie via the new AI-powered Photos app. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableYou can even make an image from scratch with the Image Creator feature. Check out what it spat out with a prompt that said, "A beautiful bride celebrating her wedding on roller skates in a bowling alley."
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / MashableFaces are definitely distorted, but it got the gist of what I wanted to convey visually.
The controversial Recall utility, a feature I like to call the "CTRL + H" of your entire digital life, has been delayed. Once it does get released, it will only be available in Preview for Windows Insiders.
Is the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 worth it?With nearly 23 hours of battery life and MacBook-beating performance, of course this Microsoft laptop is worth it. The Surface Laptop 7 is the longest-lasting Windows laptop we've tested in 2024, blowing my expectations out of the water.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 combines a sleek design, a powerful Snapdragon X Elite chipset, and the longest battery life for ultimate productivity and AI-powered creativity. Apple must be sweating through its armpits with the launch of the Surface Laptop 7 because — holy cow — this is one hell of a laptop.
Its power and energy efficiency is serious, but its AI-boosted apps makes Windows fun again. For the first time in a long time, the preinstalled apps on a Windows PC are offering attention-stealing entertainment. It makes me feel like a kid again.
Starting at just $999, if you're OS agnostic and have no allegiance to macOS, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Surface Laptop 7 is the better choice over M3 MacBooks.
To answer my question at the outset, yes, the Surface Laptop 7 has earned a spot on our best laptops list.
Opens in a new window Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 $1,999.99 at AmazonTL;DR: Charge multiple Apple devices at once with a Waloo portable charging dock on sale for $14.99 (reg. $24.99).
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Setting up your charging station is a breeze. Just unfold the dock, plug it in, and place your devices on it. No complicated instructions, no hassle — just functionality.
It's important to note that this dock only works with iPhones and AirPods that charge with Lightning cables, and is not compatible with devices that use USB-C.
Normally $24.99, you can get the Waloo portable and folding charging dock on sale for only $14.99 for a limited time.
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Opens in a new window Credit: AI Magicx AI MagicX: Lifetime Subscription $39.99 at The Mashable ShopTo tell you the story of EA Sports' NCAA Football, I need to tell you the story of Ingle Martin.
You'd be forgiven if you were unaware of Martin, a University of Florida quarterback who flamed out before transferring and setting records at the tiny liberal arts school Furman University. He's not much of a household name. You might think Ingle Martin sounds like a South Carolina accountant, or you might assume I'm talking about the loss adjustment firm — whatever that is — that nearly shares his name.
But in my house, Martin is a legend. Or, at least, an unnamed digital avatar of Martin is a legend.
My childhood pal and next-door neighbor, confident in his NCAA Football abilities, once rushed for 1,000 yards in a single game with Martin. It was an all-time performance, an unbelievable feat of speed option that nearly broke my young brain. I will never forget that journeyman quarterback's name.
That was the magic of what is largely considered the finest sports video game franchise in history. With more than 100 Division 1 football rosters, a Dynasty Mode that could reshape a university's athletic program, and its unique gameplay, the possibilities of the game were endless. It was the closest a sports video game came to being open-world, where you have near-infinite options in shaping the narrative of a team. It was a place where Ingle Martin could be a household name.
Then, the game disappeared for 10 years. "There was this feeling that this thing had been taken from us," Rodger Sherman, a sportswriter formerly at The Ringer who just spent last season chronicling a 62-game college football road trip, told Mashable. "It's strange; it kind of acquired mythical status."
Tweet may have been deleted Reigniting a fandomSo why would EA Sports shelve a popular franchise that defined an entire genre of gameplay? For legal reasons, of course. NCAA Football was killed off after its 2014 edition because of a high-profile legal case that found the game was using players' likenesses without compensation. At the time, NCAA rules forbade players from making money off their name, image, or likeness (otherwise known as NIL) to maintain their amateur status while the NCAA, universities, and EA raked in cash hand over fist. NCAA rules have changed over the last 10 years, allowing players to be compensated for NIL endorsements. (Though college players still don't receive an outright salary.)
Now, EA's College Football '25 is set to drop on July 19, roughly a decade after its last iteration. A long-rumored dream, College Football '25 has built the sort of online momentum typically reserved for cultural monoliths like Barbenheimer and Succession.
For a certain kind of person — typically speaking, a sports-enjoying dude born between 1985 and 2000 — this is the most highly anticipated media in ages. I hardly play video games, and I cannot wait.
SEE ALSO: I'm playing video games like a caveman during the pandemic. It rules.Kevin Clark, an ESPN personality and host of This Is Football for the Mannings' production company, is about as eager as a person can be for this game. He even used precious airtime on ESPN to petition for the release date to be a national holiday.
Tweet may have been deleted"The game went away a decade ago, and in that decade, I've gotten married, advanced quite a bit in my career, had a child, bought a house, and I am only half-joking when I say all of these things were made possible because I wasn't playing the video game," Clark told Mashable over the phone. "Sometimes I'm like, 'What if they just made the game for the past decade?' What exactly would I be doing, and would the trade-off have been worth it?"
In truth, there's no telling which timeline is more rewarding. "I'd be living in a studio somewhere in Middle America, but I'd be in Year 49 of my Miami Dynasty," Clark joked. "And we'd have something rolling, you know?"
The issue with the game or its potential pitfall is a symptom of that imagined world. We have only the memory of NCAA Football. And it existed in a much different time — both in the real and gaming worlds. Lots has changed. Chiefly, micro-transactions and online gaming exist now.
But as a great philosopher of our time and UT's Minister of Culture, Matthew McConaughey, once said: "Sometimes you gotta go back to actually move forward."
Building a worldIf you're wondering if College Football '25 will mirror the halcyon days of NCAA Football, all indications are yes. The folks who got an early look at the game have almost universally said it's very good. And, even more importantly, it understands what the game should be.
In short, it's not a reskinned version of Madden. The folks who loved the NCAA franchise loved it for its expansiveness inside the game, specifically in Dynasty Mode, where you'd control every aspect of a university's football program. You could play at 130-some colleges. You could turn a tiny school in places like North Texas or Tulsa into a powerhouse through countless seasons of recruiting computer-generated studs. A slow drip of stories and reporting, such as a recent episode of ESPN Daily, revealed that Dynasty Mode and authenticity were the focus of the game's re-creation — things like making sure the water fountains at Arkansas State, of all places, were rendered just right.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedThe NCAA Football series existed back when online gaming wasn't a thing. Without that worry, it was the best sports game on the market. Many folks, myself included, were worried EA would take College Football down the same path as EA's Madden NFL series, which has devolved into a frustrating offline product over the last decade. It seems to skew toward younger players and incentivizes spending extra money on Ultimate Team microtransactions. As an offline gamer molded by NCAA, I had to adjust settings endlessly to get anything worth playing in Madden's offline Franchise mode. It took a lot of Reddit research to stop the computer model from permanently benching my best players. The team behind College Football '25 has seemingly understood it couldn't fall into the same trap.
It's a game that will get long-retired gamers back into the fold. The last thing you want to do is have a game not for the people who remember the magic of creating a new reality for their favorite college team. That's why the game was so great in the first place.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedCollege Football '25 should benefit from the fact that it's more fun to recruit from an endless pool of talent from 130-some schools rather than being tied to just 32 NFL teams and a limited number of players.
"The NFL is a closed system where you're dealing with only NFL players. The transactional part of college [football] is always going to be more fun because of how almost open-world it is," Clark said.
He added: "There are thousands of players, in theory, available to you, and you can filter by speed. You can filter by state. You can filter by: 'We just want the biggest guys on the planet. We want the fattest five guys on Earth to play offensive line for us.' And it's all realistic... There are gems like that all the time."
The idea that the game is what you make it — it's your world to create and expand — is a lost art in sports games.
"That's why I think people love it so much," Sherman said. "It allows you to bend reality."
Pre-game jittersThere is no overstating the excitement surrounding the release of this game, especially in the sports world. Clark mentioned that "one of the top TV personalities" in sports got in touch with him about gauging interest in starting a 32-team online Dynasty, and some of the most famous names in football —huge NFL players — were down to do it.
"The energy is pretty palpable," he said. "I don't think I've seen anything like this where everybody's excited."
"I have not come into anybody my age, who's a guy, or even within 10 years of me who's like, 'Oh, I'm not an NCAA guy," Clark added. "Everybody's got a story."
Tweet may have been deletedMine is Ingle Martin. Clark's was Jordan Futch, a University of Miami recruit who struggled during Clark's time at the school. But in Clark's Dynasty, Futch was the guy who had a game-winning interception against Wisconsin in the national championship. He remembers the exact play: the Wisconsin quarterback threw a cross-body pass over the middle that Futch picked up and took to the house.
"If I saw or met Jordan Futch now, I would be so happy," Clark said. "I would just be like, 'Oh my god, you have no idea what you did for me.'"
What other video game creates nostalgia like that? Clark and I are not alone. Sherman, a Northwestern grad, recalled building the lowly Wildcats into something great via computer-generated recruits.
"I got the Heisman Trophy for this fullback that I recruited; his last name was Lovelady. It was auto-generated, his name was like, Steve Lovelady or something," Sherman said. "And I would just run passes to the fullback over and over and over again. And yeah, I built Northwestern up into a national champion."
For years, we were in a desert without the game. Sure, you could dig up a 2014 NCAA Football game. You could even play a modded version that dedicated fans continually updated throughout the years. In 2020, uber-popular Barstool personality Big Cat briefly enthralled the sports world by streaming his Dynasty mode while we waited for real sports to return. But none of this scratched the specific itch of playing a modern version of the game.
Talk with a dude who loved NCAA Football, and they've got something akin to pre-game jitters. We're bouncing off the walls. Sherman and I expressed how we'd have to buy a new console to play the game because it will be available only on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
The internet is just as hyped for it. One viral post and its replies focused on what you would do the first playback. A classic triple option? Four verts? Take a knee to honor the years without the game? It's wild how much of that game stuck with those who played it.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedThat's far from the only viral post about College Football '25. It's ramping up further as we approach the release date. People have joked about the older generation schooling the kids on this game — or, at least, the kids not understanding how good they have it. We used to Google players' numbers, figure out the person's real name, and manually change it if we wanted accuracy. There are jokes about how people will run their team in Dynasty mode. There was a trend of people farming likes on TikTok to get their significant others to buy them the game.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted SEE ALSO: TikTokkers are farming likes to force their partners to buy them 'College Football 25'For the people who loved this game, we get something huge back. Come July 19, the nostalgia can recede; instead, we can re-enter that world and drop an avatar into our favorite university.
"The thing about college football is people feel such a strong connection to the place and the school and its traditions," Sherman said. "It feels like you grow up in that stadium."
Sherman wasn't certain what team he'd use in his first foray with College Football '25, but Clark was dead set and eager to run it back with The U, his alma mater. He plans to practice the game's mechanics via Practice Mode before jumping directly into a Miami Dynasty.
"I'm gonna go headfirst into [University of Florida's] The Swamp, which is Miami's real opener," Clark said. He knows his exact play-call.
"I gotta take that deep shot, play one in The Swamp. Play action," he said. "And then we'll all be whole again."
X aka Twitter has been reportedly working on dislike and downvote buttons again. Between this, the removal of public likes, X's increased integration of AI chatbot Grok, and the upcoming redesign, it seems as though a lot of changes are coming for the aspiring "everything" platform.
SEE ALSO: Elon Musk endorses Trump as conspiracy theories of shooting run amok on XAs reported by TechCrunch, researcher Aaron Perris first discovered code references to a downvote button in an X iOS app update two weeks ago. He dug further in last week, finding even more code relating to the potential feature.
Tweet may have been deletedPerris also found icons of broken hearts, which may indicate an upcoming ability to dislike X posts.
Tweet may have been deletedWe don't have many details about exactly how this X's potential downvote and dislike buttons will work. There's also a possibility that they might not even get implemented in the end, merely remaining unrealised potential in the app's code.
However, X does have a history of flirting with dislike and downvote features. Years ago the platform had an "I don't like this tweet" option, used to help curate the types of tweets you were shown. This was later followed by a "see less often" button. The platform also explored adding a downvote button in 2020, conducting tests in 2021 and 2022. While it was eventually removed, Perris' peek at this new code suggests that X hasn't entirely given up on the idea — though it seems as though a few people wish it had.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedThe 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 July 15 SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer hints for July 15Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Monday, July 15, 2024:
AcrossSchool org. for moms and dadsThe answer is PTA.
The answer is Isaac.
The answer is torch.
The answer is trite.
The answer is yes.
The answer is Paris.
The answer is tact.
The answer is ache.
The answer is itty.
The answer is sore.
TL;DR: Through July 21, jump on limited-time summer savings and get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Pro 2021 including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more tools for £31.47.
It's not just that PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and all their friends are popular. They're also incredibly useful. The downside is that normally Microsoft 365 isn't something you just buy once. Paying for a subscription just means you're renting your productivity. If you want to own it, you have to get a license that doesn't expire.
Microsoft Office Pro 2021 for Windows has a few years on it, so this version might not have all the bells and whistles of the latest Microsoft 365 update, but you also don't have to pay for it every year. Once you've got it, you've got it for good, and it only costs £31.47 (reg. £173.20). That price is actually marked down a little extra, so hop on it while it's here.
How to avoid paying yearly for MS OfficeHere's what you get with this Office license: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access, and the free version of Teams. You can use these apps however you want, whether it's at work or at home.
If you're used to Microsoft 365, Office's look may be different, but the important parts are all there. Word still has some great templates and Publisher is still an easy way to make flyers and posters. The big difference is you don't have to pay for them every month or year, so there's finally time to figure out what all the buttons in Excel do.
Just remember that once your apps are installed, that's where they live. This license only allows you one installation on one computer, but then it's yours for life. That's what makes this such a good gift for office workers and students. The software you buy today could still be useful for years to come.
Marked down for a limited timeDon't miss your chance to get lifetime access to essential productivity programs at a discount.
July 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT is the deadline to get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Pro 2021 for Windows for just £31.47. No coupon needed.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Opens in a new window Credit: Retail King Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License £31.47 at the Mashable ShopIf you can count on the Targaryens for anything, it's incest.
SEE ALSO: Rhaenyra Targaryen needs more dragonriders. Here are the three most likely candidates.The family at the heart of House of the Dragon has a longstanding tradition of marrying sibling to sibling, cousin to cousin, and, in the case of Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith), niece to uncle. However, Season 2, episode 5 takes us fully into Oedipal territory, with Daemon having a sex dream about — drumroll, please — his own mother, Alyssa (Emeline Lambert).
The dream is yet another installment in Daemon's mysterious Harrenhal visions. But while those previously centered young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) or his late wife, Laena Velaryon (Nanna Blondell, who also makes an appearance in this episode), this one focuses on someone we've never seen before in the show.
At the start of the vision, we don't know the woman Daemon is kissing and caressing is actually Alyssa. She's clearly a Targaryen based on her hair, but otherwise we don't have much to go off of.
She hypes Daemon up in voiceover while putting Viserys (Paddy Considine) down, telling him, "You were always the strong one. The finest swordsman. The fearless dragonrider. Your brother had great love in his heart, but he lacked your constitution. Viserys was unsuited for the crown, but you, Daemon, you were made to wear it. If only you'd been born first."
SEE ALSO: How 'House of the Dragon' staged Daemon's Harrenhal invasionAt this point, you're probably thinking, "wow, this unknown woman seems to know a lot about about the relationship between Viserys and Daemon. I wonder who she could be? Wait. Surely not..."
That's when House of the Dragon delivers an incestuous elbow drop right to the gut. "My favorite son," the woman declares, and the details of Daemon's vision fall into place. This is Alyssa Targaryen, daughter of Jaehaerys I. She was also the first rider of Meleys, meaning that her appearance in the episode following the deaths of Meleys and Rhaenys (Eve Best) carries extra weight.
Gayle Rankin and Matt Smith in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBOAlyssa married her brother Baelon, and, according to Fire & Blood, had three children: Viserys, Daemon, and Aegon, who died before he even turned a year old. Alyssa died not long after that last childbirth. However, based on the blood on Daemon's hands and on Alyssa's body as the vision ends, it seems like House of the Dragon is implying that Alyssa died while giving birth to Daemon. (Or the blood, when coupled with the distorted screams in the background, is yet another gesture to the violent acts that have haunted Daemon during his time at Harrenhal, and the violence he sanctions the Blackwoods to commit against the Brackens this episode.)
Of course, if Alyssa did die during Daemon's childbirth in the show's canon, there's no way she would really know anything about Daemon being a fierce dragonrider or fighter. Even by the book's telling, she died when he was around two years old. As in all of Daemon's prior visions and dreams, Alyssa's words are just a magical projection. It's telling, then, that she only has good things to say about him.
Characters Daemon knew and was married to for years, like Rhaenyra and Laena, haunt him with tales of his worst insecurities and actions. But since Daemon never had a relationship with his mother that he can remember, the forces at play in Harrenhal warp her into someone he can take comfort in. (Maybe a little too much comfort.)
The Alyssa in his vision seems to boost Daemon's ego, as he later reveals to Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) that he plans to take King's Landing for himself. Rhaenyra, he says, can choose to sit at his side. That Harrenhal DIY project is starting to look a little treasonous there, buddy!
Luckily, we can always count on Alys to put Daemon in his place. "It's a pity, don't you think, that you never knew your mother?" she asks.
This isn't the first time that Alys has seemed to know what's going on in Daemon's visions. In episode 4, she hinted at how much he must have hated losing out on the Iron Throne to an adolescent Rhaenyra — something his vision of Rhaenyra brought up that very same episode. Here, the reference to Alyssa is no coincidence either: Alys is aware of the dreams haunting Daemon. But is she directly responsible? (That drink from episode 4 did look pretty suspect.) Or is this fully the curse of Harrenhal at work, with her just hearing whispers of the dreams on the wind?
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
House of the Dragon Season 2, episode 5 ends with the promise of a possibly game-changing gambit from Team Black.
Following the loss of Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) and her dragon Meleys, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her son Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) realize that their only hope of winning this war is to bring more dragons to their side. As of now, Dragonstone's riderless dragons include Vermithor, Silverwing, and Seasmoke, who was Laenor's (John MacMillan) previous dragon.
SEE ALSO: 'House of the Dragon' Season 2's Targaryen family tree: How everyone connectsBut dragons need riders if they are to be of any use in a war effort, and said riders need the blood of Old Valyrian dragonlords if they are to survive claiming a dragon. Right now the list of possible Targaryen recruits is unfortunately thin. Rhaenyra's other children and their dragons are too young to even be options, while Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) almost died during her previous attempts to claim dragons. So, who can Rhaenyra and Jace look to next?
As Jace reminds his mother, Targaryens have married into other houses before, meaning there are people out there who have Targaryen blood, even if they don't bear the Targaryen name. The two decide to start their search there, with the family records. Realistically, though, they could also find dragonrider candidates among the Targaryen bastards — some of whom we've already met in the show.
With that in mind, here are the three characters most likely to be joining Rhaenyra on dragonback.
SEE ALSO: Daemon's strange sex vision in 'House of the Dragon' Season 2, episode 5, explained 1. Ulf the White Tom Bennett in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBOHouse of the Dragon introduced us to Ulf the White (Tom Bennett), our first confirmed Targaryen bastard — or "dragonseed" — earlier this season. In episode 2, he took a good long look at the hanged ratcatchers. Then in episode 3, he told new acquaintances in a King's Landing tavern that he is the bastard son of Baelon the Brave, making him the illegitimate brother of Viserys (Paddy Considine) and Daemon (Matt Smith). Of course, that could all be a load of posturing on Ulf's end. But why brag about something that could get you beheaded? Plus, his graying hair could once have been Targaryen silver.
SEE ALSO: 'House of the Dragon' Season 2, episode 4: What's with the dogs at Harrenhal? 2. Hugh Hammer Kieran Bew and Ellora Torchia in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBOBlacksmith Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) has been one of our windows into the lives of King's Landing's smallfolk for much of Season 2 so far. But as George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood tells us, he's a dragonseed as well. Look no further than his hair — it's not quite Targaryen pale, but it's close enough to make you wonder. Before he gets to Dragonstone to claim a dragon, though, he'll need to get out of King's Landing. And given that Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) has ordered it to be closed off, that could be quite a challenge.
3. Addam of Hull Clinton Liberty and Abubakar Salim in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBOLike Ulf and Hugh, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) is another character we've spent a tiny bit of time with this season, and his role is only about to get bigger. In episode 4, his brother Alyn (Abubakar Salim) was all but confirmed to be the bastard son of Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), meaning Addam is likely Corlys' son as well. That means the Old Valyrian blood of House Velaryon runs in Addam's veins.
SEE ALSO: How 'House of the Dragon' staged Daemon's Harrenhal invasionNow, it's a common belief that only dragonlords can ride dragons, and House Velaryon was not a dragonriding house in Old Valyria. But as Jace points out to Rhaenyra, the focus on dragonlord blood comes from Valyrian histories that were "written to gild [dragonlords] in glory." If these legends were just attempts to keep Targaryen supremacy alive, there's a chance that anyone — including Velaryons with no trace of Targaryen blood, like Addam — could be a dragonrider. Factor in the scene from episode 2 where Seasmoke wheels above Addam's head, and you're looking at a compelling argument for Addam being one of the next top dragonriders of Westeros.
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.
If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for July 15's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.
What's the best Wordle starting word?The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.
Is Wordle getting harder?It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.
Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:A faint and dreamy feeling.
Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?The letter O appears twice.
Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...Today's Wordle starts with the letter S.
SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today's Wordle...
SWOON.
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Reporting by Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
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Connections is the latest New York Times word game that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for July 15's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Tweet may have been deletedEach puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer. If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Tweet may have been deletedPlayers can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
Here's a hint for today's Connections categoriesWant a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Taken at face value
Green: Lie
Blue: Setting up a TV
Purple: Liquor measurements
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Regard as True
Green: Facade
Blue: Ways to Secure a TV
Purple: Liquor Bottle Sizes
Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today's Connections #400 is...
What is the answer to Connections todayRegard as True: ACCEPT, BELIEVE, BUY, TRUST
Facade: BLUFF, FRONT, SHAM, SHOW
Ways to Secure a TV: BASE, BRACKET, MOUNT, STAND
Liquor Bottle Sizes: FIFTH, HANDLE, LITER, PINT
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday's Connections.
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SpaceX can't launch its busiest rockets following a rare mishap during a routine flight late Thursday night. The flight was supposed to place 20 new Starlink satellites into space, which provide internet access to some of the most remote places in the world.
One of the company's Falcon 9 rockets experienced a failure, after lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on July 11. The beginning of the flight was livestreamed on X, the social platform owned by SpaceX's billionaire founder Elon Musk, but the broadcast apparently ended before the incident happened.
Though Musk originally said the rocket's upper stage engine had experienced a "RUD" — slang for a vehicle breaking apart or failing. In a statement, SpaceX said that the rocket had survived, but the Starlink satellites it carried weren't delivered correctly to orbit.
The botched mission means the satellites will inevitably burn up or crash back to Earth, according to the statement posted on the company's website on Friday. SpaceX did not say when or where they were expected to return.
SEE ALSO: Here's the real deal with Boeing's Starliner right now A screenshot from a SpaceX Falcon 9 flight shows the upper stage of the rocket before it experiences a failure on July 11, 2024. Credit: SpaceX / X screenshotAs of Sunday, about three days after the Falcon 9 failure, the status of the satellites was still unclear, despite Mashable inquiries to SpaceX, the U.S. Space Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration. An FAA spokesman said in an email that someone would respond to the request on Monday.
SpaceX's orbital data, which comes from onboard measurements, stopped sometime on July 12, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center, who is also well-known for tracking spacecraft and debris in Earth's orbit. The company insisted the satellites would not "pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety" in its Friday statement.
"I believe all the objects have very likely now reentered," McDowell said in an email on Sunday, "but we don't know for sure."
Tweet may have been deletedThe above X post contains a video of the troubled Falcon 9 rocket before its mishap.
The Falcon 9, dubbed SpaceX's "workhorse" because it launches the most frequently, has had an unblemished record for years. It has blasted off over 350 times, carrying thousands of Starlink satellites and commercial payloads into low-Earth orbit.
It is also the rocket that takes NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. The vehicle's last major failure was an explosion on the launchpad in 2016 — four years before it began flying humans.
So far the company has said it believes the problem was a liquid oxygen leak, rendering the upper stage unable to perform a necessary engine burn. Flight controllers attempted to send commands to the satellites to adjust their positions, but it likely wouldn't be enough to keep the hardware from falling back to Earth.
Tweet may have been deletedThe FAA is requiring SpaceX to investigate itself to determine what went wrong and how to fix it. Federal officials will then determine when the company can resume Falcon 9 launches.
It's not yet known how the investigation will disrupt SpaceX's overall launch schedule, including for flights carrying people.
"We are tracking to do more Falcon flights this year than [NASA's Space] Shuttle did in 30 years, the vast majority of which are uncrewed," Musk said on X. "A major advantage of this super high flight rate is that we can identify and resolve problems that may only occur once every 1000 flights. This is impossible on a low flight rate vehicle."
Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is embroiled in trending conspiracy theories after former President Donald Trump was shot at during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennslyvania. After the shooting on Saturday, X CEO Elon Musk took to the platform to "fully endorse" the former President, having donated a "sizeable amount" to a Trump Super PAC to help with his re-election a day before the rally.
According to The Verge, in the wake of the shooting, the platform has promoted tags such as "false flag" and "staged" on its list of trending topics. Several posts on X have claimed that Trump faked the assassination attempt or that the shooter, a registered Republican, was a secret ANTIFA/CIA operative sent by President Joe Biden. There is evidence of neither. These posts have several thousand likes, like this one, claiming Trump's sniper team had already seen the shooter and purposefully let them get closer.
As The Verge notes, other major social media platforms responded more effectively in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. YouTube highlighted news clips and steered search results toward credible news reports and verified creators. Facebook predominantly showed results from news outlets, having eliminated its trending topics section in 2018. On Threads, conspiracy-related posts sometimes appeared at the top of its trending topics for the incident, however, these were not consistent.
X did not return a request for comment, its email address automatically replied “Busy now, please check back later.” However, the official account for the platform did post, simply saying "global town square" — a reference to Musk's initial goal of free speech absolutism when buying Twitter in 2022.
Tweet may have been deletedGiven the current news about the Trump assassination attempt, the lack of moderation for rampant misinformation is unsurprising. Musk has, politically, moved further right since buying X, including the reinstating of right-wing accounts like Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate.
Because of its moderation problems and the spread of conspiracy theories, several high-paying advertisers have left the site as well. However, since Musk has told fleeing advertisers to "go fuck yourself," it doesn't seem that X's misinformation problem is being solved anytime soon.
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 July 14 SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer hints for July 14Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Sunday, July 14, 2024:
AcrossTV character who says "Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals … except the weasel"The answer is Homer.
The answer is Ohare.
The answer is Lyric.
The answer is Doge.
The answer is Sue.
The answer is Holds.
The answer is Oh you.
The answer is Marge.
The answer is Erie.
The answer is Rec.
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