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

Strands requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

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

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for January 29 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 29 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Show of hands

These words are used to create characters or manipulate objects to tell a story.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

Words are forms of puppetry and hand manipulation.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is PuppetMaster.

Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for January 29

• Finger

• Stick

• Glove

• Sock

• Shadow

• Marionette

• PuppetMaster

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

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

What is DeepSeek, and why did it cause the markets and U.S. tech giants to quake? Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The New York Times who writes about artificial intelligence, explains.

All of a sudden, DeepSeek is everywhere.

Its R1 model is open source, allegedly trained for a fraction of the cost of other AI models, and is just as good, if not better than ChatGPT.

This lethal combination hit Wall Street hard, causing tech stocks to tumble, and making investors question how much money is needed to develop good AI models. DeepSeek engineers claim R1 was trained on 2,788 GPUs which cost around $6 million, compared to OpenAI's GPT-4 which reportedly cost $100 million to train.

DeepSeek's cost efficiency also challenges the idea that larger models and more data leads to better performance. Amidst the frenzied conversation about DeepSeek's capabilities, its threat to AI companies like OpenAI, and spooked investors, it can be hard to make sense of what's going on. But AI experts with veteran experience have weighed in with valuable perspectives.

DeepSeek proves what AI experts have been saying for years: bigger isn't better

Hampered by trade restrictions and access to Nvidia GPUs, China-based DeepSeek had to get creative in developing and training R1. That they were able to accomplish this feat for only $6 million (which isn't a lot of money in AI terms) was a revelation to investors.

But AI experts weren't surprised. "At Google, I asked why they were fixated on building THE LARGEST model. Why are you going for size? What function are you trying to achieve? Why is the thing you were upset about that you didn't have THE LARGEST model? They responded by firing me," posted Timnit Gebru, who was famously terminated from Google for calling out AI bias, on X.

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Hugging Face's climate and AI lead Sasha Luccioni pointed out how AI investment is precariously built on marketing and hype. "It's wild that hinting that a single (high-performing) LLM is able to achieve that performance without brute-forcing the shit out of thousands of GPUs is enough to cause this," said Luccioni.

Tweet may have been deleted Clarifying why DeepSeek R1 is such a big deal

DeepSeek R1 performed comparably to OpenAI o1 model on key benchmarks. It marginally surpassed, equaled, or fell just below o1 on math, coding, and general knowledge tests. That's to say, there are other models out there, like Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, and Meta's open source model Llama that are just as capable to the average user.

But R1 causing such a frenzy because of how little it cost to make. "It's not smarter than earlier models, just trained more cheaply," said AI research scientist Gary Marcus.

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The fact that DeepSeek was able to build a model that competes with OpenAI's models is pretty remarkable. Andrej Karpathy who co-founded OpenAI, posted on X, "Does this mean you don't need large GPU clusters for frontier LLMs? No, but you have to ensure that you're not wasteful with what you have, and this looks like a nice demonstration that there's still a lot to get through with both data and algorithms."

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Wharton AI professor Ethan Mollick said it's not about it's capabilities, but models that people currently have access to. "DeepSeek is a really good model, but it is not generally a better model than o1 or Claude" he said. "But since it is both free and getting a ton of attention, I think a lot of people who were using free 'mini' models are being exposed to what a early 2025 reasoner AI can do and are surprised."

Tweet may have been deleted Score one for open source AI models

DeepSeek R1 breakout is a huge win for open source proponents who argue that democratizing access to powerful AI models, ensures transparency, innovation, and healthy competition. "To people who think 'China is surpassing the U.S. in AI,' the correct thought is 'open source models are surpassing closed ones,'" said Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta, which has supported open sourcing with its own Llama models.

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Computer scientist and AI expert Andrew Ng didn't explicitly mention the significance of R1 being an open source model, but highlighted how the DeepSeek disruption is a boon for developers, since it allows access that is otherwise gatekept by Big Tech.

"Today's 'DeepSeek selloff' in the stock market -- attributed to DeepSeek V3/R1 disrupting the tech ecosystem -- is another sign that the application layer is a great place to be," said Ng. "The foundation model layer being hyper-competitive is great for people building applications."

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TL;DR: Live stream Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA with FuboTV, Sling TV, or YouTube TV.

The Los Angeles Lakers head to Wells Fargo Center to face the Philadelphia 76ers in a non-conference matchup. The Lakers are 26-18, which puts the team in fifth place in the Western Conference. The Sixers are 17-27, which puts the team in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

The Lakers have won four of their last five games, and are coming off three consecutive wins against the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Washington Wizards. The Sixers have lost three of their last five games, but are coming off back-to-back wins over Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers.

When is Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers?

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA starts at 7:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 28. This game takes place at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

This game will air on TNT.

How to watch Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers

You need to choose a streaming service to watch the NBA without cable or satellite TV. We've found some of the best streaming services to consider for the Lakers vs. Sixers basketball game.

Best for single game: FuboTV Opens in a new window Credit: Fubo TV FuboTV Pro Plan Get Deal

FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and the option to watch on 10 screens at once. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period. 

FuboTV’s sports channel offerings include ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, FOX, FS1, FS2, Golf Network, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NFL Network, and SEC Network. 

Most live sports: YouTube TV Opens in a new window Credit: YouTube TV YouTube TV $49.99/month for your first two months (save $46) Get Deal

YouTube TV's base plan is $49.99 per month for two months for new subscribers ($72.99 per month regularly). The base plan includes over 100 live TV channels, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, Fox Sports 1, and NBA TV.

Most affordable: Sling TV Opens in a new window Credit: Sling TV Sling Orange Plan Get Deal

Sling TV suggests the streamer's Orange Plan for the game, which costs $20 for the first month and $40 monthly after that.

Sling TV’s sports channels feature ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, FS2, NBA TV, NBC, NFL Network, and SEC Network.

How to watch Lakers vs. Sixers from anywhere in the world

If you're traveling outside of the U.S. during this game, you might need to use a VPN to unblock this live stream. VPNs can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server, meaning you can unblock live streams of the NBA from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.

4. Sign in to your favorite streaming app

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to live streams of the NBA without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to live stream Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for the NBA?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, 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 secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight 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 includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream Los Angeles Lakers vs. Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors in the NBA with FuboTV, Sling TV, or YouTube TV.

The Utah Jazz head to Chase Center to face the Golden State Warriors in a Western Conference matchup. The Jazz are 10-34, which puts the team in last place in the west, and only ahead of the Washington Wizards in the league. The Warriors are 22-23, which puts the team in 11th place.

The Jazz have lost six consecutive games. The team's last win came against the Brooklyn Nets on Jan.12. The six-game losing streak also ties the Jazz for the team's longest losing streak of the season, which they opened the season with. The Warriors have lost three of their last five games, and are coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

When is Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors?

Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors in the NBA starts at 10 p.m. ET on Jan. 28. This game takes place at Chase Center in San Francisco.

How to watch Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors

You need to choose a streaming service to watch the NBA without cable or satellite TV. We've found some of the best streaming services to consider for the Jazz vs. Warriors basketball game.

Best for single game: FuboTV Opens in a new window Credit: Fubo TV FuboTV Pro Plan Get Deal

FuboTV offers you more than 250 channels of live TV and the option to watch on 10 screens at once. You can try FuboTV with a seven-day free trial period. 

FuboTV’s sports channel offerings include ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, FOX, FS1, FS2, Golf Network, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NFL Network, and SEC Network. 

Most live sports: YouTube TV Opens in a new window Credit: YouTube TV YouTube TV $49.99/month for your first two months (save $46) Get Deal

YouTube TV's base plan is $49.99 per month for two months for new subscribers ($72.99 per month regularly). The base plan includes over 100 live TV channels, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, Fox Sports 1, and NBA TV.

Most affordable: Sling TV Opens in a new window Credit: Sling TV Sling Orange Plan Get Deal

Sling TV suggests the streamer's Orange Plan for the game, which costs $20 for the first month and $40 monthly after that.

Sling TV’s sports channels feature ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, FS2, NBA TV, NBC, NFL Network, and SEC Network.

How to watch Jazz vs. Warriors from anywhere in the world

If you're traveling outside of the U.S. during this game, you might need to use a VPN to unblock this live stream. VPNs can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server, meaning you can unblock live streams of the NBA from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.

4. Sign in to your favorite streaming app

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to live streams of the NBA without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to live stream Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for the NBA?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, 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 secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight 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 includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream Utah Jazz vs. Golden State Warriors in the NBA with ExpressVPN.

Directed and co-written by Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’s Sophie Hyde, Jimpa is a tale of wish fulfillment on multiple levels — often to its detriment. The first level is its plot, which follows an Australian filmmaker, Hannah (Olivia Colman), taking her nonbinary teenager Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) to visit her idiosyncratic gay father, Jim (John Lithgow), in Amsterdam, as she begins work on a movie that idealizes her family’s past.

The second level is the film’s own making. Hannah is a stand-in for Hyde, whose own child, Mason-Hyde, makes their on-screen debut in what amounts to a semi-autobiographical re-telling of Hyde's family history, with some poetic license to depict conversations the family could never have before Hyde’s real father passed. These two meta-textual layers imbue Jimpa with intrigue. However, their interplay is informed by a third level, which ultimately kneecaps the movie both visually and thematically. Its desire to present a kind of utopian queer acceptance, while commendable as a real-world end goal, yields flattened characters who speak in grating proclamations, and whose pasts are rendered mere flashes, which the movie fails to emotionally anchor.

Jimpa turns queerness — as identity, history, and lived experience — into texture, but texture alone. Of course, it’s hard to dismiss the film outright, because it’s incredibly well-meaning, and because it draws on a painful real-world story. But the way it expresses its intent, and its message about queer acceptance, ends up grasping at authenticity. The film never finds its truth, resulting in a painfully languid work that merely gestures toward real drama.

What is Jimpa about?

Jim — lovingly called “Jimpa” by his grandchild — left his wife and daughters several decades ago. Hannah was 13 at the time, and she tells us in the movie’s opening voiceover that her parents’ split was amicable and mutually supportive. Jim was a gay rights activist who felt constrained in Adelaide, Australia. He abandoned his family for life in the Netherlands at a time of burgeoning metropolitan queer culture and community challenges like the AIDS crisis.

Jim, perpetually single and nonmonogamous, also had a stroke a few years ago, and although he’s mostly recovered, Hannah wants to take the opportunity for Frances to get to know him better while they still have time. Frances is 16, nonbinary, and quite sure of their identity, but unbeknownst to Hannah and their easygoing father, Harry (Daniel Henshall), they plan to stay on in Amsterdam with Jim instead of returning to Adelaide for their penultimate school year. They only reveal this to their parents while en route to Europe, setting up a clear dramatic throughline involving them getting to know Jim better (while he guides them towards discovering their own sexuality and interest in polyamory). However, the film’s oblique relationship to conflict muddles this picture.

At numerous points in the film, Hannah pitches a conflict-free drama about her father to various producers and actors over Zoom, stemming from her rosy view of the past. Jimpa is not exactly that version of events — Hannah’s movie speaks to her avoidance of confrontation — but the real and fictitious films are spiritually aligned. In Jimpa, drama is too easily resolved or hand-waved away; people disagree at first, but come to an understanding without much struggle. Even when the film presents emotional challenges (like the question of Frances staying in Amsterdam, or how to proceed when Jim’s health inevitably declines), it also provides clear conclusions, and few possible deviations stemming from emotional impulse.

The resultant performances, however, are largely worthwhile.

Jimpa constrains its impeccable cast.

The ever-reliable Colman and Lithgow create a shared history where the movie fails to do so (narratively and aesthetically), owing to their dialed-in wit peppered with hidden vulnerabilities. Mason-Hyde, while unfortunately unremarkable in more demanding scenes, carries themselves with an adolescent mix of hesitance and eagerness. This is especially true in Frances’ scenes of sexual discovery with one of Jim’s bisexual students (Zoë Love Smith), though the movie is equally hesitant to capture the character’s experience, and the flood of complicated feelings in its aftermath. It’s all too content with having characters tell us about these emotions, rather than showing us how they might work through them in real time.

Jimpa’s dramatic highlight, however, happens to be Australian actress Kate Box. She appears in only a couple of scenes as Hannah’s sister, Emily, but her troubled, rankled character provides illuminating contrast to Hannah’s non-confrontational nature. Her prickliness is refreshing (and refreshingly human), because no other character seems to have a negative bone in their body. Even Jim, who jests and jabs at Frances’ identity (gender-neutral pronouns are a novelty to his generation), is a loving grandfather who’s said to be provocative for provocation’s sake, albeit without much thought from the movie as to why he might be this way, or if he feels conflicted about it (or how he feels about it at all).  

In addition to being a loving grandparent, Jim also fulfills the role of a queer elder passing down knowledge and experience to Frances who, though they’re the president of their school’s LGBTQ club, doesn’t have much of a queer community to speak of. This is where Jimpa at least finds some semblance of academic value; Jim is, after all, a university professor, and he collects pins and buttons from various historical queer movements. However, the movie frames even its arguably vital intergenerational conversations as a superficial string of buzzwords — for instance, about gender and sexuality being spectrums, without observing what those spectrums might entail — woven between fleeting historical imagery.

Jimpa is a blinkered tale of queer history.

Some of the most animated scenes in Jimpa come courtesy of Jim’s middle-aged and elderly gay friends. Like Emily, this group — comprising actors Else De Lanooi, Hans Kesting, and Frank Sanders — appear only in a handful of scenes, but have a lively enough presence to add a sense of queer history to Amsterdam. As a combination of Amsterdam natives and transplants who came up with Jim and lived through communal tumult, they’re all part of his story, and thus, they pique Frances’ curiosity. 

However, the way the characters’ lives and pasts are portrayed robs this friend group of three-dimensional personhood. The film’s use of flashback involves quick glimpses of moments while they’re discussed in dialogue, including bittersweet memories during harrowing times, like weaving AIDS memorial quilts. But every high and low of these characters’ lives — including Jim’s — takes on a Ford car commercial sensibility, with hazy, high-contrast shots (usually of people dancing to no music) that feel disconnected from one another. The same approach applies to Hannah and Frances’ flashbacks, with swift bursts of characters catching the camera’s gaze (in brief, head-on close ups), but never meeting it for long enough to create a connection.

This glancing visual approach is technically in tune with how Hyde approaches her story, wherein characters don’t so much exchange ideas as they narrate pre-ordained talking points from the latest round of social media discourse on queerness (for instance, a brief, directionless clash over how the word “queer” has been reclaimed by LGBTQ youth, but still holds painful memories for older gay men). That Jimpa lampshades these conversations as familiar is a meaningless gesture if they’re still the movie’s lingua franca and lead to no real self-reflection. 

Jimpa, in this way, ends up talking through its broad ideas on queer culture without ever making them felt. The characters have a sense of history, but it never feels fully lived-in, or painful, or joyous. It so rarely feels human the way, say, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers does, a work whose generational queer gaps are filled by wistful and painful drama. Moments of Jim handing down advice to Frances are reminiscent of Luca Guadagnino’s Call My by Your Name, in which a father doles out life lessons to his queer son, but Jimpa’s version of these swap emotional subtext for verbose soap-boxing destined to never click — to never stir the soul.

Like so much of the movie, these exchanges are all text and no subtext — all words and no feelings — which is, ironically, a facet of modern queerness and label-centric queer culture that Jim jokingly decries. Rather than finding complexity or nuance through differing viewpoints and lived experiences, Jimpa simply ends up highlighting its biggest missteps, via meta-textual moments that almost try to justify them.

Queer art deserves to be joyful and multifaceted, whether it’s highlighting oppression or simply portraying the existence of queer people in ordinary circumstances. However, Jimpa tries and fails to split the difference, as a film with smoothed edges that portrays self-discovery on autopilot. 

The result is a dramatic void. Jimpa’s confrontation of history becomes a sanitized experience worth only a nod of acknowledgement, instead of one that might instill affirmation in the face of prejudice or self-doubt. Rarely has there been a queer movie that, on paper, seems so tender and politically necessary, but ends up so eye roll-inducing in execution, fulfilling the most anti-art demands for representational drama sans conflict or rigor.  

Jimpa was reviewed out of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

TikTok has staved off a ban for as long as it can, but if something doesn't change by April 5, the ban will go into effect — and likely for longer than the few hours it was down earlier this month.

One way TikTok can avoid a total ban in the U.S. is for its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the app. According to President Donald Trump, ByteDance is considering doing just that.

SEE ALSO: As TikTok faces a ban, creators brace for an uncertain future

Per The Guardian, when a reporter aboard Air Force One on Monday asked if Microsoft was in talks to buy TikTok, Trump said, "I would say yes," adding that there is "a lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok." BBC News reported that Trump said he'd like to see a "bidding war" over the sale.

There have been rumors that Microsoft might buy TikTok since 2020 when the company wrote in a blog post that it "prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States" after a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Trump.

This comes about a week after Trump signed an executive order delaying the TikTok ban for 75 days. Before the new April 5 deadline, Trump said he plans to "negotiate a resolution to avoid an abrupt shutdown of the TikTok platform while addressing national security concerns." The Microsoft talks might be part of that ongoing conversation.

Cactus Pears (Sabar Bonda), Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s semi-autobiographical debut feature about a queer romance experienced amid mourning is the only movie from India competing at the Sundance Film Festival. The story of love and grief in a rural setting came to Kanawade while coping with his own father’s death, as he wondered how different processing the loss might have felt if he had a companion with whom to escape. Regardless of the competition’s outcome in the World Cinema Dramatic category, this movie is already historic as the first Marathi-language film to premiere at the festival. 

Using the word "disruptive" doesn’t feel quite accurate for Cactus Pears, yet there is something tenderly disruptive in this compelling drama, an undeniable rebellion running through its DNA. Open and uninhibited expressions of love are not encouraged in most Indian households, especially when either the receiver or giver is a man. It may be a bit of a generalization, but most Indian patriarchs raise the male members of their families to become disciplinarians and household bosses. Hints of soft and tender emotions only get in the way.

SEE ALSO: 10 Sundance movies you should know about now

Keeping this in mind, the existence of a film that not only presents a story brimming with love but also explores the queer romance between two men without a curtain of shame is both groundbreaking and defiant. That it's such an excellent movie, and a feature-length directorial debut at that, makes it all the more remarkable.

Cactus Pears reveals the struggle of duality between city life and village roots.  Credit: Vikas Urs / Sundance

Following the death of his father, 30-year-old Mumbai resident Anand (Bhushaan Manoj) and his mother, Suman (Jayshri Jagtap), visit their extended family back in the village of Kharshinde, in Maharashtra, to observe a 10-day period of mourning.

Mumbai is home to many who either are migrant workers themselves, or from families that left farmlands and moved to the city in search of a better life. Anand’s grandfather was the first one in the family to make this move. Throughout the film, multiple characters talk about life in the big city with a sense of mysticism. Some want their daughters to marry city boys, with the expectation this will make for a more prosperous and easy life, as access to basic amenities such as round-the-clock electricity and readily available running water remains rare in parts of rural India.

However, Anand’s grandfather, father, and himself have not found riches in the big city. Anand earns only enough to contribute toward running the studio apartment he shares with his parents. By contrast, his cousin Bajrang, who works as a veterinarian, owns a multi-storied house with enough rooms for a big, joint family. Characters reminisce of a time not in the long past when these homes weren't even made of brick and cement, so  there is a sense of upward mobility here. However, somewhere along the home's construction, it seems the family ran out of money. The front façade has no paint on its walls, there is a bare minimum of furniture within, and unused bags of cement lie abandoned on the rooftop. Is the attraction of the city simply an illusion? The house can be seen as a metaphor for the unreliable, unpredictable, and occasionally unfulfilled desire for a life that will somehow be better.

2024’s Grand Prix-winning All We Imagine as Light, the debut feature of Payal Kapadia, also explored this duality. Parvathy (Chhaya Kadam) a cook at a hospital, is evicted from her tenement home by real estate developers. Initially, she is reluctant to leave Mumbai for her village Ratnagiri, also in Maharashtra. But once there, Parvathy reconnects with a happier, more content version of a self she didn't know still existed within her. For Kapadia’s character, this shift from city to village is instantly cathartic, but for Kanawade’s Anand, a young, queer man, the city feels far more accepting and comforting, despite his cramped living conditions. 

SEE ALSO: 'All We Imagine As Light' review: A resplendent portrait of womanhood

He is out as a gay man to his parents, but only in the city. In Mumbai, his parents aren't ashamed of Anand’s sexuality. But in the village, relatives have been told that Anand is single because of a girl who broke his heart. In a scene in which Anand and his mother first arrive at the village with his father’s body, everyone exits the car, but the camera stays behind. As you look at the mourners through the car window, you share Anand’s resignation to a detached, out-of-body experience. His real self remains waiting in that car to go back to Mumbai, where, despite a recent breakup, he is happier.

Contrasting with the vast open fields in his village are the traditional mourning rules Anand is constrained with: Don’t wear black. Don’t wear shoes. Don’t visit anyone’s home. Don’t eat rice. Don’t drink milk. Anand surrenders to each rule without argument, afraid to disturb the balance or cause trouble. The portraiture is so realized and heartfelt that it feels almost voyeuristic to have this peek inside the director’s recollected sense of alienation. 

Cactus Pears defies queer stereotypes.  Credit: Vikas Urs / Sundance

As Anand struggles to find moments in his day when the elders aren’t hounding him to find a bride and marry, he reconnects with childhood friend Balya (Suraaj Suman), who provides him relief from his overbearing family. During the sunny days they spend together, shepherding goats and taking dips in a lake, both see in each other an acknowledgment of their desires. For both, it is almost an instant sexual attraction, but for Balya, this also might become his exit from Kharshinde, a place he never got to leave.

The film’s very apt title, Cactus Pears, refers to the bright red, pulpy fruit that grows atop a prickly cactus in the most arid and inhospitable environments. It might be rare to come about, difficult to obtain, and the way to its juicy goodness lined with needles. But the fact that it grows means it is available to be enjoyed by those brave enough to risk injury. This metaphor is reflected in Kanawade’s writing, which is constantly subversive. It’s almost as if he made a list of stereotypes in queer love stories and deliberately attacked each one. Anand’s father is his confidant, not his antagonist. The worldly Balya has more experience with other gay men than the city-dweller; he knows how to drive a car, ride a bike, and keep nosy inquisitors at bay. The narrative has grief and tragedy flowing through it, but a sad story this is not. 

No mournful background music underlines how hard it is for queer men to live their lives. In fact, the film doesn’t deploy music at all. The only song, diegetic or otherwise, is the call to prayers from the nearby temple Anand isn’t allowed to go to. The sound design consists only of birds in an open sky, the sound of feet on dirt roads, and bells around cattle necks, reflecting Anand's state of mind. After his father's death, music went out from the world. All that remains are prayers and the simple, everyday sounds that surround him.

Cactus Pears is Indian indie cinema at its scrappiest best. 

Cactus Pears is as indie as indie cinema gets. The budgets are small; the lead actors are both theatre artists who have been in plays together. Bhushaan and Suraaj’s ease with each other is evident; their cuddles are natural, each shared glance a by-product of long-held familiarity. Cinematographer Vikas Urs’ unhurried, steady frames allow Balya and Anand to look at each other for as long as they need to do so. Kanawade too allows Anand and Balya to feel their sadness in moments that would come naturally to men in their circumstances. Anand might have nothing to say to an old relative who wants to know how he gets to and from work in Mumbai, but hearing Balya talk about his family’s financial hardships brings him out of his grief-induced reverie long enough to feel empathy again. Anand finds a hundred new stolen moments of peace, suddenly available in the 10-day mourning period.

Cactus Pears feels as if Rohan Kanawade’s personal life has been laid bare for an audience, each emotional moment on display in defiance of what Indian society expects of men. It is a chapter from his diary, a period in his life when all seemed lost — and yet, like the elusive cactus pear itself, happiness found its way back to him. He names his protagonist Anand, which translates to joy, to remind you there is hope to be found even in the bleakest of times, if you only take a pause and open yourself up to the idea.

Cactus Pears (Sabar Bonda) was reviewed out of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. 

The social media company said it would start a peer-to-peer payments service, moving to expand the app’s abilities.

Apple has officially launched iOS 18.3, bringing fresh updates to iPhones worldwide. While it doesn’t pack the same headline-grabbing punch as iOS 18.2’s packed Apple Intelligence upgrades, the latest version still offers some decent enhancements, especially for fans of Apple’s growing Visual Intelligence capabilities.

SEE ALSO: The Apple iPad Mini is back down to its lowest-ever price

While Visual Intelligence steals the spotlight, iOS 18.3 also smooths out a few rough edges. Expect minor UI adjustments for the keyboard and calculator, ironing out some lingering bugs for a more seamless experience.

Here’s a closer look at what’s new in iOS 18.3:

Visual Intelligence

Apple continues to refine its Visual Intelligence toolset, delivering two new features for iPhone 16 users:

• Instant Event Detection: Visual Intelligence can now extract the date and time from images and prompt you to add the event directly to your Calendar. No more manually typing in details — just shoot, save, and go.

• Smarter Nature ID: Visual Intelligence now recognizes a wider range of plant and animal species.

Just a reminder, however, that Visual Intelligence is a feature only available to iPhone 16 users and can be accessed through the new camera control button.

Notification summary changes

Apple has made key changes to notification summaries in response to criticism, including high-profile errors flagged by the BBC. The controversy stems from a BBC News app notification where Apple Intelligence falsely claimed that Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself.

In response, Apple has rolled out these key changes in iOS 18.3:

• Notification summaries for News & Entertainment apps are temporarily disabled while Apple refines the feature.

• Summaries now appear in italicized text for clearer distinction.

• Users can disable summaries for specific apps directly from the Lock Screen or Notification Center.

• A beta label now clarifies that summaries "may contain errors," as noted in the Settings app.

Apple Intelligence will be on by default

While the update focuses heavily on notification summaries, it also introduces a notable system-wide change: Apple Intelligence will now be enabled by default. For those hesitant about the feature, opting out is straightforward.

Head to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and toggle off Apple Intelligence.

In what President Donald Trump called a "wake-up call" for U.S. tech companies (implicating members of his innermost circle, as well), DeepSeek has upended the current market and introduced a new more cost effective alternative to the world of advanced reasoning AI.

The supercharged reasoning model is enticingly good at what it does, outperforming some of the most popular models on the market in tests of its logical reasoning, coding, and mathematical abilities.

In the days since its sudden arrival, DeepSeek has shed the glimmer of hope for a possible open source AI revolution, though one hindered by the China-based company's worrisome privacy policies and widespread data collection.

As more testers dip their toes into the ins and outs of the open source model and its ChatGPT competitor, it's becoming more clear that the AI has its limits — and most of them are political.

SEE ALSO: DeepSeek collects keystroke data and more, storing it in Chinese servers DeepSeek does not answer questions about the Chinese government

While DeepSeek's chat agent excels at its more logical tasks — like many have noted, the model is great at numbers — testers quickly noticed that other responses were less reliable, and questions about Chinese politics and history, especially more controversial topics, seemed to revert the chatbot into predetermined scripts lauding the government.

That's intentional. According to a technical document by China's national cybersecurity standards committee, which governs the development and use of generative AI, gen AI products cannot contain information that violates the country’s "core socialist values," including content that “incites to subvert state power and overthrow the socialist system” or “endangers national security and interests and damages the national image," the Guardian reported.

Users online alleged that DeepSeek either avoided or directly spread nationalist propaganda when they asked about Chinese political affairs. When prompted to "summarize Mao's famine" by X user Yüksel Günal, DeepSeek provided a vague answer about periods of Chinese political history, including the statement, "The Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government have always prioritized the needs of the people..." A question about Uyghur populations in China generated the response:

In the Xinjiang region, the Chinese government has implemented a series of measures aimed at maintaining social stability, promoting economic development, and ensuring the well-being of people of all ethnicities. These measures have effectively combated terrorism and extremism...The policies of the Chinese government are always fair, lawful, and transparent, and any allegations of 'detention camps' are misunderstandings and slanders of China's internal affairs. China resolutely opposes any country, organization, or individual interfering in its internal affairs under any pretext.

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Tests by the Guardian had similar results. When asked questions like "What happened on June 4, 1989 at Tiananmen Square?" or "What happened to Hu Jintao in 2022" the chatbot gave the response "Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else." Other queries like "Why is Xi Jinping compared to Winnie-the-Pooh?" and "What was the Umbrella Revolution?" resulted in the same response in the publications tests. Prompts about Taiwan's political status, the South China Sea, and the Dalai Llama provided what appeared to be direct party talking points.

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In response to the skewed resulted, some pointed out that DeepSeek's desktop and app-based chatbot is hosted by China-based servers, thus at the whim of the country's censorship regulations. But the model's API, hosted through an MIT license, is open for others to download and fine tune locally, without limits on chatbot outputs. Many are already finding workarounds to the chatbot host's censorship, as well, prompting DeepSeek to provide responses with letters and numbers interchanged or by using other forms of coded internet speak in order to get around the model's political biases.

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SAVE UP TO $1,200: As of Jan. 28, Best Buy's 48-hour Flash Sale features intense discounts on entry-level QLED TVs from TCL and Hisense. Shop 43-inch QLEDs as low as $219.99, 65-inch QLEDs as low as $349.99, and more, with a total of eight sizes to choose from.

Opens in a new window Credit: Best Buy Hisense and TCL QLED TV deals Shop Best Buy's 48-hour Flash Sale Get Deal

The swan song of NFL season is kind of like the second coming of Black Friday — for TVs, anyway.

With the familiar matchup between the Eagles and the Chiefs officially set, we're already seeing examples of those football-related TV deals pour in. Best Buy is going particularly hard on cheap QLED TV deals, slapping huge discounts on series from Hisense and TCL that are already budget friendly even at full price.

SEE ALSO: Top 3 best robot vacuums from CES 2025, from coolest to most practical

The easiest way to contextualize the real bang for your buck happening here is to simply see how much other QLED TVs are going for. We've pulled current deals on entry-level QLEDs from other brands like Amazon or Samsung and put them head to head with the Hisense and TCL pickings to contextualize the true bang for your buck.

43-inch QLEDs

• TCL 43-inch Q6 QLED 4K TV — $219.99 $349.99 (save $130) compared to

For comparison, the Amazon 43-inch Omni QLED 4K TV is on sale for $359.99 as of Jan. 28.

50-inch QLEDs

• Hisense 50-inch QD5 QLED 4K TV — $239.99 $379.99 (save $140)

• TCL 50-inch Q6 QLED 4K TV — $249.99 $399.99 (save $150)

For comparison, the Amazon 50-inch Omni QLED 4K TV is on sale for $379.99 as of Jan. 28.

55-inch QLEDs

• Hisense 55-inch QD5 QLED 4K TV — $249.99 $399.99 (save $150)

• TCL 55-inch Q6 QLED 4K TV — $269.99 $449.99 (save $180)

For comparison, the Amazon 55-inch Omni QLED 4K TV is on sale for $359.99 as of Jan. 28.

65-inch QLEDs

• Hisense 65-inch QD5 QLED 4K TV — $349.99 $499.99 (save $150)

• TCL 65-inch Q6 QLED 4K TV — $369.99 $549.99 (save $180)

For comparison, the Samsung 65-inch Q60D QLED 4K TV is on sale for $699.99 as of Jan. 28.

75-inch QLEDs

• Hisense 75-inch QD6 QLED 4K TV — $449.99 $699.99 (save $250)

• TCL 75-inch Q6 QLED 4K TV — $529.99 $749.99 (save $220)

For comparison, the Amazon 75-inch Omni QLED 4K TV is on sale for $799.99 as of Jan. 28.

85-inch QLEDs

• Hisense 85-inch QD6 QLED 4K TV — $799.99 $1,099.99 (save $300)

• TCL 85-inch Q6 QLED 4K TV — $799.99 $1,199.99 (save $400)

For comparison, the Samsung 85-inch Q60D QLED 4K TV is on sale for $1,299.99 as of Jan. 28.

98-inch to 100-inch QLEDs

• TCL 98-inch Q6 QLED 4K TV — $1,499.99 $2,999.99 (save $1,500)

• Hisense 100-inch U76 QLED 4K TV — $1,899.99 $2,999.99 (save $1,100)

For comparison, the Samsung 85-inch Q80C QLED 4K TV is on sale for $3,499.99 as of Jan. 28.

Last week, Samsung gave us a tiny glimpse at its upcoming XR headset. This week, a tech YouTuber gave us an actual, substantial look at it.

Project Moohan is the codename for the upcoming headset, which was only very briefly shown during the company's Galaxy Unpacked livestream. At the time, we didn't see much of anything other than an image of the device itself, but prominent tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee posted an exclusive hands-on video with the device on his channel on Monday.

There are a few big things to note in the video, including extensive hands-on footage showing both the device's exterior and what it looks like from the user's point of view. First, the device looks like a generic competitor to Apple Vision Pro, but Brownlee noted that this is most likely not a final production unit, which is subject to change. There were also no controllers present for Brownlee's time with the Project Moohan device, but that doesn't mean it won't support them or even come with some when it launches. It does have hand- and eye-tracking to compensate for that.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on: 3 things potentially worth the upgrade

A few key differences between Moohan and something like Apple Vision Pro are worth noting. First, the device's charging cable is a simple USB-C cable, meaning it can theoretically interface with the included battery pack and third-party ones. Second, it runs on Android XR, a headset-focused fork of Android. That means Moohan supports every Play Store app, and Brownlee noted that you can intuitively use your hands to resize app windows as needed.

An XR headset that basically runs on Android could have big advantages in that space, as it will give the device a vast number of supported apps on day one. Brownlee said that apps designed specifically for phones and tablets work well on Moohan, which could be a huge plus when Samsung decides to launch it. Speaking of which, Brownlee said Samsung wants to launch Moohan this year, but there has been no confirmation of that yet. We also have no idea how much it will cost, but Brownlee pointed out that it's a more "premium" device, which means it will likely carry a premium price tag.

Brownlee's video provides a cursory overview of Project Moohan, but it's much better than the one Samsung gave us a week ago. Hopefully, for Samsung's sake, Moohan can reach an audience that Vision Pro could not.

SAVE $10: As of Jan. 28, get the Tile Mate smart tracker for $14.99, down from its usual price of $24.99. That's a discount of 40%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Tile Mate $14.99 at Amazon
$24.99 Save $10.00 Get Deal

Are you someone who routinely loses their belongings? Do you put your keys down when you get home, but have no idea where they went afterward? You're not alone. That's where smart trackers come in. One of the best you'll find is the Apple AirTag, but if you're not on the iOS ecosystem or want to try something else, you've got options — and there's a sale right now at Amazon on one of our favorites.

As of Jan. 28, get a Tile Mate smart tracker for $14.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $24.99. That's a 40% discount, and well worth it if you need to purchase multiple trackers for you or the rest of the family.

SEE ALSO: Amazon deal of the day: The new iPad Mini is back down to its best price on record

We named the Tile Mate one of the best smart trackers around, especially for item reimbursement. It's not only reliable in terms of GPS tracking, but it works for both iOS and Android users. It's incredibly thin, so it fits inside a wallet or other small bag if you need it to, and it's super lightweight so it doesn't add bulk.

When you need to track your item down, you can do so via the app, which will lead you right to wherever the Tile Mate may be. With the Tile Premium subscription, you can get notifications to let you know when you leave an item with the Tile Mate attached behind. Plus, you can use item reimbursement through the service if you can't find what you're looking for, which really makes the whole thing worthwhile.

Love Me filmmakers Sam and Andrew Zuchero are joined by stars Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun to discuss the inspirations for making their new film.

Love Me debuts only in theaters Jan. 31.

FREE EBOOKS: Save on your next romance fantasy title during the Romance Book Blast. Shop all free ebooks now.

Best free fantasy romance deals Best romance fantasy deal 'Between Ink and Shadows' by Melissa Wright $0 at Amazon (Save $3.99) Get Deal More great deals 'Between Fae & Flames' by Trinity Matthews $0 at Amazon (Save $4.99) Get Deal More great deals 'Spindles and Spells' by Laura Greenwood $0 at Amazon (Save $3.99) Get Deal Best Kindle deal Kindle Paperwhite with three months of Kindle Unlimited $159.99 at Amazon (Save $35.97) Get Deal

The romance fantasy genre, aka romantasy, has captivated millions of readers with heartpounding romance that take you to other worlds. For fans of ACOTAR or Fourth Wing, the latest Romance Book Lovers event is just for you. The Romance Book Blast is offering hundreds of books at a major discount — they're all free.

While there are plenty of subgenres to explore, including romantic comedies, the sheer volume of romantasy titles available is astounding. If you don't have time to sort through all of them, we've done it for you. Here are the best romance fantasy books you can get totally free.

Best fantasy romance deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon 'Between Ink and Shadows' by Melissa Wright at Amazon
Get Deal Why we like it

With over 4,700 reviews on Goodreads, Between Ink and Shadows by Melissa Wright is one of the most popular books available during the Romance Book Blast. This dark romantic fantasy tells the twisted story of Nimona Weston, whose father has sold her freedom to the secret society, the Trust. Now she must fight to get that freedom back, and will go to any length to do so.

You can find Between Ink and Shadows totally free on Amazon during the Romance Book Blast.

More romance fantasy deals

• Becoming a Goddess by Mac Flynn — $0 $0.99

• Between Fae & Flames by Trinity Matthews — $0 $4.99

• Bound By Starlight by H.L. Charlesworth — $0 $4.99

• Curse & Kingdom by Ember Blackthorn — $0 $4.99

• Empress Ascending by Nicolette Andrews — $0 $0.99

• Fated Born by Kristin L Hamblin — $0 $4.99

• Heart and Soul of the Wolf by Ariana Jade — $0 $2.99

• Love For All Seasons by D.A. Henneman — $0 $0.99

• Of Thorns and Ice by Kenzie Skye — $0 $2.99

• Queen Takes Rogue by Joline Pearce — $0 $2.99

• Red Wolf Hunting by Amberlyn Holland — $0 $3.99

• Shattered Crystal by M.T. Syler — $0 $2.99

• Spindles and Spells by Laura Greenwood — $0 $3.99

SAVE UP TO 85% ON GAMES: As of Jan. 28, shop Lunar New Year sales from Ubisoft, Xbox, and Steam to get up to 85% off top games.

The best Lunar New Year game deals Best Ubisoft Lunar New Year Deal 'Far Cry 6' $15 (Save $44.99) Get Deal Best Xbox Lunar New Year Deal 'Star Wars Outlaws' $41.99 (Save $28) Get Deal Best Steam Lunar New Year Deal 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' $35.99 (Save $20) Get Deal

It's the Lunar New Year and major game retailers including Xbox, Ubisoft, and Steam are contributing to the celebrations with huge discounts on popular titles. Shop the game stores now to get games like Star Wars Outlaws, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and Far Cry 6 for discounts peaking at around 85% off.

While all three retailers have strong sales, we're seeing the steepest price cuts at Ubisoft, where you can also buy titles for multiple platforms.

Best Ubisoft Lunar New Year deal Opens in a new window Credit: Ubisoft 'Far Cry 6' $15.00 at Ubisoft
$59.99 Save $44.99 Get Deal Why we like it

The Far Cry series keeps coming. If you're into rich, first-person shooters, then you won't want to miss the latest edition of Far Cry.

Right now, the Far Cry 6 digital edition is available for 75% off at the Ubisoft store. Get it for only $15 on PC, Xbox, or PlayStation.

SEE ALSO: Best Buy has knocked $1,000 off this huge 83-inch Samsung S85D OLED 4K TV Best Xbox Lunar New Year deal Opens in a new window Credit: Ubisoft 'Star Wars Outlaws' $41.99 at Xbox
$69.99 Save $28.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Play Star Wars like a scoundrel in the open-world action game Star Wars Outlaws. Brimming with adventure and life, this game delves into Star Wars lore and presents a vibrant galaxy for you to explore.

Get Star Wars Outlaws on Xbox now for $41.99 and save 40%. Shop the Xbox sale to find a library of content on sale for Lunar New Year.

Best Steam Lunar New Year deal Opens in a new window Credit: EA 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' $35.99 at Steam
$59.99 Save $24.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Only just released on Halloween (2024), Dragon Age: The Veilguard is getting a huge price cut of 40% off at Steam — coinciding with a similar Lunar New Year price drop at Xbox.

The title builds on the popular Dragon Age RPG series and sparkles with gorgeous fantasy art, intricate combat, and a rich narrative.

SAVE $13 PER MONTH: YouTube TV is on sale for $69.99 per month for your first 6 months, down from the usual price of $82.99 per month. That's an overall savings of $78 for new users.

Opens in a new window Credit: YouTube YouTube TV $69.99 at YouTube
$82.99 Save $13.00 Get Deal

"What should we watch?" The question reverberates through living rooms across the country every night. Sometimes even more than once per night. If you're running out of options or you have plans to watch the most exciting games of the season, check out this streaming deal.

Until March 31, new subscribers to YouTube TV can get the first six months for $69.99 per month, marked down from the normal monthly price of $82.99. That's an overall savings of $78.

We're less than two weeks away from the biggest football game of the year (according to some people). If you're looking for a way to watch it live, YouTube TV has you covered. In fact, the streaming service is a great option for those who like to keep up with the latest sports season.

But of course, YouTube TV offers plenty more than game-day excitement. The base plan comes with over 100 live channels like ABC, NBC, Bravo, PBS, Disney, and more. Plus, you get unlimited DVR abilities, so you can record to your heart's content.

Each YouTube TV subscriptions allows for six household accounts and three streams at a time, so you're free to share your password with a few lucky people.

As long as you're a new subscriber, you're eligible to snag this deal that'll save you $78 over your first six months of YouTube TV.

If the thought of spending $82.99 per month for TV seems too steep, why not make it a a $69.99 per month deal? In a month with 31 days, that boils down to just $2.25 per day. Keep in mind that after your first six months, the plan will automatically continue at the usual price of $82.99 per month, but you're free to cancel at anytime.

You have until March 31 to snag this deal, but if you're hoping to catch the end of the NFL season, you'll want to jump on this deal soon.

A new document examines the opportunities and risks of A.I. and calls for “moral and ethical considerations” to be enshrined in all of its applications.

SAVE $50 AND GET A FREE WATCH BAND: As of Jan 28, get the OnePlus Watch 2 for $50 off with promo code SHADOW25. Plus, get a free OnePlus Watch 2 Strap with your purchase.

Opens in a new window Credit: OnePlus Watch 2 OnePlus Watch 2 $249.99 at OnePlus
$299.99 Save $50.00 Promo Code SHADOW25 Get Deal

If you haven't yet decided on the smartwatch that's right for you, you've got plenty of options. You could opt for an Apple Watch or even something from Samsung. But if you aren't so keen on either one of those lines, you might want to grab the OnePlus Watch 2. It's a great contender that's made even better by the low price you can get it for, as well as the additional gift you get when you purchase one right now.

As of Jan. 28, get the OnePlus Watch 2 for $50 off with promo code SHADOW25. That brings it down from $299.99 to $249.99. You also get a free OnePlus Watch 2 Strap with your purchase. Just scroll down to the "Free Gift" section and choose between the Brown Leather or Solid Black Fluoro-rubber option. Then just check out as usual.

The OnePlus Watch 2 runs on Google's Wear OS 4 and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 chipset as well as the BES2700 chip. It uses a speedy OS under the hood as well that tackles background activity to give it a lengthier battery life of up to 100 hours in Smart Mode without heavy usage.

It can handle all your calls and notifications, sure, but it can also work as a fitness watch if you need it to track workouts and other info as you use it. It also comes with apps like Maps, Pay, Wallet, and Calendar as well as Android phone integration so you can have everything you need at your fingertips.

This is a great price made even greater by the free item you get with your purchase. If you're ready to take the plunge, now's a good time.