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Thinking about the best ways to give to charity? Heres where to start.

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 14:11

Extending well beyond the holiday "Season of Giving," Americans have participated in an astonishing amount of charitable contributions in the last two years. It's a trend that appears to be growing, up almost 7 percent ($51 billion) so far in 2022, and it's partially built off the back of movement organizing for social justice causes.

In 2021, individuals (opposed to corporate or foundation giving) donated more than $326 billion to philanthropic causes and made up the industry's largest portion of funding, according to the National Philanthropic Trust. Just as well, individual commitments to issues like racial and reproductive justice coincided with corporate pledges in support of the same causes, with an emphasis on smaller, localized organizing movements — portions of philanthropic funding that have historically gone to larger national nonprofits instead. Organizations, like the minds behind global generosity movement Giving Tuesday, have even reported steady increases in non-monetary giving, in the form of physical items or volunteer time.

As more and more people turn to forms of online giving as a way to address growing anxiety, support global movements working for change, and embrace the power of mutual aid, donors are on the hunt for more impactful ways to share their money and solidarity with the causes that matter the most to them.

SEE ALSO: What does it mean to decolonize your donations?

Charity Navigator is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides free access to data, tools, and resources (including a 4-star scale rating) to help donors make informed decisions about philanthropic giving. 

Michael Thatcher, president and CEO of Charity Navigator, told Mashable that the organization was founded "to make the best possible information available to as many people as possible. The idea being, whether you have $5 or $5 million, you're still going to find good information on Charity Navigator that can help you make a difference in the world."

In November, the two-decade-old nonprofit announced its brand new website, complete with revamped rating systems and unique tools to help "democratize the act of giving," as Thatcher explained. 

The site now features an expanded ratings system that includes factors like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) commitments, impact ratings, and community feedback, as well as new ways to donate directly on the site, with other people in value-focused giving circles, and to multiple organizations at once. The site also provides numerous resources for the individual donor who might want to know more about philanthropy and other ways to give back. 

In many ways, Charity Navigator's new website changes and accompanying tools reflect the culmination of shifts in both activist and philanthropic spaces, trending toward localized, community-voiced giving. 

"It's not downsizing, it's small-sizing. Going from the mega charities to the small community organizations. This is a movement away from big philanthropy and from the big charities, to a certain extent," Thatcher explained. "In the last two and a half years, [Charity Navigator] started rating significantly smaller charities, and we've also grown how many we rate. We went from rating 9,000 —sort of the big popular ones — to now rating about 200,000. There are over 50,000 charities in our database that are under $200,000 in annual revenue."

Alongside a national reexamination of institutional racism and individual bias in all its forms, many advocates have driven a critical reevaluation of the practice of giving, as well. Much of our nation's understanding of charity involves large-scale donors and a philanthropic industry historically intertwined with exploitive capitalism and, fundamentally, white supremacy. Part of that unlearning process is a growing movement for the decolonization of philanthropy, which involves a conscious awareness of how your money, and the way you distribute it, impacts marginalized communities.

Thatcher's noticed these shifts, too. "You could say there's a democratization of philanthropy, where individual donors are being empowered with better tools to do better. But they're also raising a spotlight," Thatcher said. "There's a huge equity movement right now, in terms of making it easier to find that small charity and help them gain access to donors anywhere in the country or the world. What we're trying to do with the website is increase the ease of finding exactly that sort of unique organization that five years ago would have been completely invisible unless I happen to be in that neighborhood myself."

Popular doesn't mean best. It just means popular.

Whether decolonization is your goal (and it's truly a worthy one), or you just have the desire to make sure your donations reach the people who need it most, in the areas that matter to you, sites like the new Charity Navigator can aid in that process. Think of using them as an initial step in your journey of giving.

How sites like Charity Navigator work

Originally designed to help high-income private donors in the vein of investing advisor Morningstar, Charity Navigator slowly shifted to a focus on the average individual donor. It works using data provided from a variety of sources to offer in-depth analysis of nonprofits. "We're not Yelp; we are actually doing an evaluation," Thatcher said.

Publicly available information in the form of federal tax documents help guide the organization's financial review. Charity Navigator also reviews information submitted directly from the nonprofits themselves, as well as community or constituent feedback. If enough information is available, the site then posts a star rating and a detailed breakdown of why. All of this methodology is clearly outlined on the site. Transparency is key, as they (and Thatcher) say.

SEE ALSO: Everything to consider before donating money to a cause A system of evaluating charities and nonprofits

Charity Navigator's ratings are based on four differently weighted "beacons": accountability and finance, which looks at an organization's spending and financial documentations; leadership and adaptability, which assesses an organization's leadership model, structure, and strategic plan; culture and community, which reflects an organization's responsiveness to the needs of its constituents; and impact and results. 

Impact ratings, specifically, are determined with systems designed by the nonprofit Impact Matters, which was acquired by Charity Navigator in 2020. This system is based on a cost effectiveness or cost per outcome analysis, Thatcher explained, which looks at a nonprofit's specific programs or service areas. Pure data, of course, is not without its bias, and that's why the four-pronged approach is so important to Charity Navigator's goal. "That's where the new rating system focuses, really trying to give you this more holistic picture of who this charity is. What are they doing? How are they doing it? And when possible, what is the impact that they've achieved in the world?" Thatcher said. 

The organization has given out more than 1,500 nonprofit ratings, but the site boasts more than a million more nonprofit and charity listings that still hold helpful information. 

The evaluation system is also a lesson to prospective donors, advocates, and activists on a wide scale: Numbers are important, but there's a lot more to charity and activism than simple stats can provide.

"This is tricky," Thatcher said, "but popular doesn't mean best. It just means popular."

Making informed giving accessible to more people

Part of Charity Navigator's suite of new resources are additional guides and explanations of common philanthropic questions, concerns, and processes, which seek to empower individual donors when exploring charity both on the site and off. Under Donor Basics, individuals can find things like how to build a personal giving strategy, how to protect your data while donating, and even local volunteer opportunities. 

It's also filled with information on how to evaluate your donation to a nonprofit when there's not much information out there, or if you're wary of scams. If there's one piece of advice Thatcher can give donors in that regard, he says, it's to always double-check an organizations' Employer Identification Number (EIN) — a federal code that can be used to look up any tax-exempt organization.

"When you're talking about barriers to action, I think one of them is that there's often concern about scams and wrongdoing and misuse," Thatcher explained. "But when you look at the data… it's a tiny, tiny portion of the nonprofit sector. You have varying degrees of efficiency and effectiveness in the sector, but in general, all our data is showing the fact that nonprofits are doing their best. What's often the case is that the scams are being conducted by people other than nonprofits. They're just crooks, lookalikes. And that's where the EIN number comes in."

Find charities that align with your values

As the industry moves toward even greater transparency, Thatcher explained that there's a simultaneous change in how people find places and people to give to. "Giving is now becoming very values-based. As I like to think about it, causes grab you by the heart and say, 'Go do something about this.' Then you go out and find a charity that's actually addressing it."

Value-driven investing has already been on a decade-long rise in the form of environmentally and socially-responsible Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) funds, which let individuals invest their money in funds that actively uphold their own values, like anti-gun manufacturing. And, obviously, charitable giving has always been driven by the personal beliefs of donors themselves, for better or for worse. But there is a new emphasis on aligning your money with organizations that share both your values and the means for achieving those — and doing so outside of the most "mainstream" nonprofit organizations. 

Think before you give, but don't stop. You actually have to make the move, make the gift, go and volunteer — do something, because we really need people to keep giving.

The Charity Navigator site now provides topic-based lists, such as LGBTQ support, gun violence prevention, and voting rights, as well as trending topic or crisis-focused lists, similar to the directories and hubs created by the crowdfunding site GoFundMe. 

If you'd rather start with what's popular and then narrow down by values, other lists include the Most Followed, Most Viewed, and Household Name Charities. 

"Think of this as our first attempt at an issues fund," Thatcher said. "And the way we've set up the lists is you can give to an individual organization within that list, or you can give to the entire list." 

Give to multiple organizations at once 

Recently, nationwide social justice movements have re-popularized this mode of multifaceted giving, usually in the form of single donation portals that split funds among several organizations working for the same cause. Supporters have probably seen donation opportunities like this on progressive fundraising sites like ActBlue. Charity Navigator lets you do a similar method of donation through its Giving Basket, a digital cart that lets you add several donations in varying amounts to different organizations, all in a single transaction. It's like online shopping, but with charitable donations. 

The site also keeps a record of your donations and lets you set up recurring payments through the Charity Navigator platform. 

"When you look at a complex issue, like the environment, there's a bunch of different angles to work from," Thatcher said. "It is a collective effort to address some of these issues, and that's where personal preference comes in."

Join a community-driven giving effort

Being an individual donor doesn't have to mean giving back in isolation. In fact, group-driven donating might be a more worthwhile option for some donors, in the form of Giving Circles. Giving Circles connect individual donors together to make single, communal monthly donations to a specific cause or group of nonprofits selected by the circle members.    

In order to support this form of giving, Charity Navigator has partnered with Grapevine, a platform designed to facilitate community organized donations, and Philanthropy Together, a global philanthropy initiative attempting to advance the industry move toward giving circles. 

The Giving Circles hub of the Charity Navigator site allows people to search for collective giving opportunities, using filters like location, area of interest, and giving amount. It can also introduce donors to topics they might never have heard of, like the Decolonizing Wealth and Liberated Capital movement, or nonprofits that weren't yet on their radar, like those in the Latino Community Fund's network. 

Charity Navigator's updates are just one part of a growing movement to revolutionize the way people conceptualize philanthropy and how individuals participate in communal care. But at their core, these practices exist beyond any technical or digital tools. They're built into our social and emotional history.  

"Listen to your heart, use your head, and then go out and make a difference," Thatcher said. "Think before you give, but don't stop. You actually have to make the move, make the gift, go and volunteer — do something, because we really need people to keep giving. That's one of the beautiful things about being human: We care for each other."

This story was originally published in 2022.

The gorgeous Wicked-edition Shark FlexStyle is 25% off post-Cyber Monday

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 13:52

SAVE $75: The shiny new Wicked limited edition Shark FlexStyle is on sale for just $224.99 at the Shark website, down from the usual $299.99. That's $5 cheaper than the standard model at Shark or Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: Shark WICKED x Shark FlexStyle $224.99 at Shark
$299.99 Save $75.00 25% off with code WICKED Get Deal

We've said it dozens of times, but it bears repeating: the Shark FlexStyle is the best Dyson Airwrap dupe. Actually, we'd go as far as saying it's the better choice. "The FlexStyle offers nearly everything the Airwrap does, and then some extras that the Airwrap doesn't, for half the price," Mashable Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard wrote after testing both gadgets.

Better yet, while the Dyson Airwrap is on sale for $499 (reg. $599), you can get the fancy new limited edition Wicked x Shark FlexStyle for just $224.99 at the Shark website post-Cyber Monday. That's $75 or 25% in savings when you use the code 'WICKED' at checkout. For comparison's sake, that's also $5 cheaper than the standard edition FlexStyle at both Shark and Amazon.

The Wicked-edition Shark FlexStyle is appropriately a holographic green and pink shade and comes with two auto-wrap curlers, an oval brush, a paddle brush, a styling concentrator, and a storage bag (a $41.99 value). It's a much more aesthetically pleasing hair tool than the standard edition FlexStyle, but it does exactly the same thing: dries, curls, smooths, and volumizes your hair without heat damage.

Whether you want to glamorize your beauty routine or have someone on your shopping list who could use a styling upgrade, head over to Shark's website to score this magical deal. And don't forget to enter the code 'WICKED' at checkout.

More Shark and Dyson beauty tech deals still live

Apple Pay can be used to buy cryptocurrency now

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 13:28

Just over 3 years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about the possibility of Apple Pay accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment.

"It's something that we're looking at," Tim Cook said at the time during an interview at The New York Times 2021 DealBook Online Summit.

Since then cryptocurrency has had its ups and downs. The crypto winter of 2022 saw the market decimated as prominent stablecoins crashed and crypto lending companies went bankrupt. Fast forward to November 2024 and Bitcoin hits new record highs following Donald Trump's electoral win and the belief he's going to loosen restrictions and regulations on the industry.

Now, just weeks away from 2025, there's some movement on Apple's payment service integrating cryptocurrency. Coinbase has integrated Apple Pay into one of its products, making purchasing cryptocurrency faster than ever before.

"Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Apple Pay for all fiat-to-crypto purchases via Coinbase Onramp, the easiest tool to build onramps into your existing products," Coinbase announced in a statement on their website.

Coinbase Onramp and Apple Pay

In cryptocurrency, an onramp is a service that helps users convert fiat currency like U.S. dollars from their bank accounts to cryptocurrency in their crypto wallet. 

By integrating Apple Pay into its Coinbase Onramp, Coinbase is providing third-party developers a way to integrate Apple Pay into other crypto wallets as well. Basically, Apple Pay isn't just available via Coinbase directly, but any existing product that uses Coinbase Onramp as well.

Using the Coinbase Onramp, developers are able to get around some of the lengthy legal requirements necessary for those who run a financial product as the conversions run through Coinbase.

Apple's stance on cryptocurrency

As TechCrunch points out, Apple has a history of keeping an "arm's length" from cryptocurrency as a whole. In 2019, Apple said it would not allow customers to buy crypto with its then-newly launched Apple Card credit card.

Perhaps, Apple is softening its stance on cryptocurrency a bit in light of recent events. However, it's important to note that while Apple Pay can be used to convert your fiat currency into cryptocurrency via Coinbase Onramp but you still can't sell your crypto and convert it back into cash via Apple pay. At least, not yet. Or perhaps, Apple will continue to keep that "arm's length" away from the cryptocurrency industry.

The travel version of Cyber Monday is here: Book Travel Tuesday flight deals at Southwest, JetBlue, more

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 12:50
A quick look at the best Travel Tuesday flight deals Best direct fare deal Southwest save up to 30% on base fares Get Deal Best flight bundle deal Expedia save 30%+ on hotels and even more when you bundle with a flight Get Deal

If you safely made it out of Black Friday and Cyber Monday without buying crap you don't need just because it was on sale, you're a real one.

If you're someone who wants to spend your money on experiences and memories versus stuff, there's still a major category of Cyber Week deals right up your alley: flight deals. Some are leftover Cyber Monday travel deals, some are Travel Tuesday deals — but the semantics are pretty irrelevant as long as you're headed to that place you've been meaning to nix from the bucket list for a year.

SEE ALSO: You can still score Paramount+ with Showtime for $2.99 per month

We're tracking the best Travel Tuesday and Cyber Week flight deals below, from actual airlines like Southwest and JetBlue to online travel agencies big on bundling with hotels or rental cars like Expedia. Cyber Week hotel deals or cruise deals are also a thing, and we're keeping tabs on that as well.

Best Travel Tuesday flight deal Opens in a new window Credit: Southwest Southwest Up to 30% off base fares Get Deal Why we like it

Don't sleep on Southwest. You haven't seen its name pop up on any online travel agency like Expedia or Kayak because Southwest displays fares on its own website only. But that certainly doesn't mean its prices aren't competitive, especially when it has so many random flight deals throughout the year.

So on an actual deal day like Travel Tuesday, you can expect it to go exceptionally hard. Using code CYBERSALE will save you up to 30% on flights to select continental destinations when you travel between Jan. 7 and March 5, 2025, or flights to select international destinations (as well as parts of Hawaii and Puerto Rico) when you travel between Jan. 7 and May 22, 2025. To be eligible for the sale, these flights must be booked by Dec. 5, and some blackout dates apply.

Regardless of when you book, Southwest automatically saves you a little bit by letting you check two bags for free — another reason why Southwest is our overall favorite site for cheap, direct flights.

More flight deals

  • Alaska Airlines — one way flights from $39 (book by Dec. 4 for travel between Jan. 9 and March 19, 2025, excluding some blackout dates)

  • Allegiant — all routes up to 40% off (book by Dec. 3 at 11:59 p.m. ET for travel through August 8, 2025)

  • Expedia — Expedia OneKey members save 30% or more on select hotels and save even more when bundled with a flight (book by Dec. 4 at 11:59 p.m. for travel through Dec. 15, 2025)

  • JetBlue — one-way flights from $49 (book by Dec. 4 for travel between Dec. 9, 2024 and April 8, 2025, excluding weekends and some blackout dates)

  • Play Airlines — save up to 30% on roundtrip flights from BWI, BOS, or SWF to Iceland, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, and Berlin (book by Dec. 4 for travel through, Dec. 15, between Jan. 8 and May 31, 2025, and between Sept. 1 and Oct. 31, 2025)

You can still score Paramount+ with Showtime for $2.99 per month

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 12:19

SAVE UP TO $20: Through Dec. 4, new and returning subscribers can sign up for two months of Paramount+ Essential or Paramount+ with Showtime for just $2.99 per month with this Black Friday streaming deal still live. That's up to 76% in savings.

Opens in a new window Credit: Paramount+ / Showtime Paramount+ with Showtime $2.99/month for two months (save $10/month) Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Paramount+ Paramount+ Essential $2.99/month for two months (save $5/month) Get Deal

Streaming deals took over Black Friday 2024, but sadly, most of them disappeared as soon as the clock struck midnight on Cyber Monday. If you slept on the streaming deals while snagging tech and other goodies, there's a few lone stragglers. One of the best ones still live is the Paramount+ Black Friday offer.

Through Dec. 4, new and returning subscribers can still sign up for Paramount+ Essential or Paramount+ with Showtime for just $2.99 per month for two months. That's $5 per month, or 63% in savings, for the Essential plan, and $10 per month, or 76% in savings, if you choose the upgraded Paramount+ with Showtime plan.

While we wish Paramount+ was a little more generous with their Black Friday deal this year like Hulu and Max, which offered $0.99 subscriptions for a year and $2.99 subscriptions for six months, we still think it's worth grabbing. Paramount+ is the streaming home for new Paramount Pictures theatrical releases like Smile 2 (coming soon), A Quiet Place: Day One, and Transformers One, as well as local AFC games on Sundays, CBS originals like Ghosts, Survivor, and Big Brother, old Nickelodeon and MTV shows, and Paramount+ originals like RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and Evil (which Mashable Film Editor Kristy Puchko says is the wildest show you're not watching).

If you choose the upgraded tier with Showtime (why wouldn't you while it's the same price as the Essential plan?), you'll also unlock access to the entire Showtime library and get to watch without ads. Showtime features some fantastic shows like Yellowjackets, The Curse, and The Chi.

Subscription will jump back up to full price as soon as your two-month promotional period ends — that's $7.99 for Essential and $12.99 for Showtime. If you want to avoid paying full price, be sure to cancel ahead of time.

More post-Cyber Monday streaming deals still live

  • BroadwayHD — $149.99 for one year $199.99 (save $50)

  • MasterClass — 40% off all subscriptions

  • Screambox — $3.50/month for three months $6.99/month (save $3.49/month with code blackfriday)

  • Wondery+ — three months free

Post-Cyber Monday streaming device deals still live

Nvidia Rules A.I. Chips, but Amazon and AMD Emerge as Contenders

NYT Technology - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 12:16
Amazon, Advanced Micro Devices and several start-ups are beginning to offer credible alternatives to Nvidia’s chips, especially for a phase of A.I. development known as “inferencing.”

Gemini app will let you make calls, send messages without unlocking your phone

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 12:10

Gemini, Google's AI assistant, is getting a new feature aimed at making calls and texts easier to manage. You'll soon be able to make a call or send a text without unlocking your phone, thanks to the AI feature.

You can toggle this setting by navigating to "Gemini Settings > Gemini on Lock Screen" then flipping on the "Make calls and send message without unlocking" feature, 9to5Google noted. The outlet reported that the feature was not yet widely available but was rolling out to some users.

The update is a part of the latest update to the Google app and is seemingly aimed at making it easier to do daily tasks without the rigamarole of unlocking your phone. If privacy were, perhaps, a concern for you, then you could choose not to turn this setting on.

Google has been working to upgrade Gemini and feature it throughout its products. The company, for instance, is reportedly working on a feature that would allow users to converse with the AI about files, recordings, and images. That means you could, in theory, ask the Gemini AI to find a certain photo or document on your device you can't seem to locate.

SEE ALSO: Google's Gemini Live may let you talk to it about your uploaded files

Clearly Gemini is a priority for the tech giant. So much so that you might find Gemini already active inside your brand new laptop.

ChatGPT now responds to searches for David Mayer. This is what it says.

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 11:57

Interest for David Mayer and ChatGPT has gone so viral that the chatbot now provides a response instead of an error message.

What's more, ChatGPT's response now references the virality of the issue in a strange Streisand Effect and ouroboros hybrid phenomenon of the generative AI era. Prompting ChatGPT with "David Mayer" now generates a web search result saying, "Recently, users have reported that ChatGPT encounters issues when processing the name 'David Mayer,' leading to error messages or the chatbot being unable to generate a response. This anomaly has sparked curiosity and speculation online."

ChatGPT has a new response for queries about "David Mayer." Credit: Screenshot: Mashable / OpenAI

The response goes on to list well-known people with "David Mayer" in their name, starting with banking heir David Mayer de Rothschild, then American politician David R. Mayer, and finally the late British historian David Mayer who was famously mistaken for a Chechen terrorist and blacklisted.

In the most meta part of the response, ChatGPT concludes, "The exact cause of ChatGPT's difficulty with the name 'David Mayer' remains unclear, leading to various theories and discussions among users," citing Mashable's story, which first reported the issue, as the reason why the mystery is yet unsolved.

Soon after the David Mayer error was discovered, users found other names that prompt the same error: Brian Hood, Jonathan Turley, Jonathan Zittrain, David Faber, and Guido Scorza. As 404 Media pointed out, Turley and Zittrain are both law professors who have written about ChatGPT, with Turley claiming he was "defamed by ChatGPT." In a 2023 blog post, Turley said ChatGPT hallucinated "a claim of sexual harassment that was never made against me on a trip that never occurred while I was on a faculty where I never taught."

SEE ALSO: OpenAI sued for defamation after ChatGPT allegedly fabricated fake embezzlement claims

Hood, who is an Australian regional mayor sued OpenAI for defamation in 2023 when he discovered ChatGPT wrongly claimed he was imprisoned for bribery. Scorza is an attorney and member of the Italian Data Protection Authority who helped to temporarily ban ChatGPT in Italy until certain privacy measures were put in place.

Notably, when all of those names are prompted, ChatGPT still produces an error response. This suggests there's a legal reason for ChatGPT stonewalling users asking about certain people. But it also seems reasonable to assume OpenAI quickly patched the issue with searches for the name David Mayer, and this is the result.

Mashable has reached out to OpenAI again for clarification and will update this story with a response.

New consumer protection rules would block data brokers from selling Americans sensitive info

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 11:46

Data brokers will be on a tighter leash when handling Americans' personal data, according to a new proposition by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Under the proposed rules, brokers would be blocked from selling personal and financial data that contains identifying information, including Social Security numbers and phone numbers — a move that would also limit the ability of scammers to procure such data and target individuals specifically. Data brokerage is a vastly under-regulated area of concern for privacy experts, politicians, and consumers alike.

Tweet may have been deleted SEE ALSO: Ronan Farrow's simple tips for keeping spyware off your phone

The regulations — should they remain under a Trump presidency — will recategorize brokers under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, passed in 1970, which protects consumers' personal data collected by credit agencies. According to CFPB director Rohit Chopra, the act has been widely evaded by data traders, and with the new policy, brokers would be treated the same as credit bureaus and background check companies, or any other company that sells data about income or credit scores, histories, and debt payments, TechCrunch reported.

"By selling our most sensitive personal data without our knowledge or consent, data brokers can profit by enabling scamming, stalking, and spying," wrote Chopra. "The CFPB’s proposed rule will curtail these practices that threaten our personal safety and undermine America’s national security."

In February, President Joe Biden passed an executive order cracking down on foreign actors selling and procuring Americans' personal data, authorizing federal powers to prohibit data transactions with "countries of concern." At the time, this included known American adversaries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela.

Just last week, the bureau announced broader regulatory oversight of companies managing digital wallets and payment processing, including Apple Pay and Venmo, which will now be categorized in the same way as banking institutions and creditors. The agency also expanded its ability to monitor Big Tech's data collection and sharing policies under consumer protection laws.

Snow White trailer: Meet Rachel Zeglers rebellious Disney princess

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 11:32

Disney's live-action remakes of their animated classics continue with Snow White, starring Rachel Zegler (Spellbound, West Side Story) as the titular princess. But as we see in the film's latest trailer, this iteration of Snow White has a lot more fight in her.

SEE ALSO: 'The Bear' Season 4, 'Daredevil: Born Again,' and more revealed in Disney+ 2025 preview

From the very first moments of the trailer, Snow White challenges her stepmother, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman), about how she treats her subjects. Later, she leads these subjects to the Evil Queen's castle, telling her, "this is our kingdom, and now we're here to take it back." Could Snow White be leading a full uprising?

The trailer may promise a more rebellious take on Snow White, but it also features several moments drawn from the original film, like the Evil Queen asking her Magic Mirror who's the fairest of them all, or Snow White fleeing into the nearby forest. There, she meets the seven dwarfs, rendered here in mildly disturbing CGI, and teaches them to whistle while they work. While we don't get to hear Snow White's take on that classic tune in this trailer (you can listen to it in the teaser, though), we do get to hear Zegler unleash her Disney princess pipes in one of the film's original songs from The Greatest Showman's Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, titled "Waiting on a Wish."

Snow White hits theaters March 21.

Cyber Monday is over, but these deals are still live at Amazon

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 10:46
Amazon's best Cyber Monday deals at a glance: Best Kindle deal Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32GB) $154.99 (save $45) Get Deal Best Echo deal Amazon Echo Pop $17.99 (save $22) Get Deal Best Fire tablet deal Amazon Fire HD 10 (32GB) $74.99 (save $65) Get Deal Best robot vacuum deal iRobot Roomba Combo i5+ $299.99 (save $250.99) Get Deal Best TV deal TCL 65-Inch Class S5 UHD 4K LED Smart Fire TV $349.99 (save $100) Get Deal Best Apple deal Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,399 (save $200) Get Deal Best Windows laptop deal Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, 13-inch (Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) $1,499 (save $500.99) Get Deal Best headphones deal Sony WH-1000XM5 $298 (save $101.99) Get Deal Best fitness tracker deal Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm, WiFi) $279.99 (save $70) Get Deal Best beauty tech deal Shark SpeedStyle Pro Flex $179 (Save $50) Get Deal

Amazon's Black Friday sale went live Nov. 21 (a full week before Thanksgiving), ushering in year-round low prices on robot vacuums, Apple products, and Fire TVs.

Now that Cyber Monday has arrived (and is quickly approaching its final hours), the Mashable Shopping team is tracking all of the remaining discounts so you don't have to. We're refreshing our picks on a regular basis, so keep checking back as we add deals throughout the final hours of Cyber Monday 2024.

SEE ALSO: The best Cyber Monday deals in 2024 — new low prices are live

Even if you're brand loyal to Amazon (and we don't blame you), definitely keep an eye on our coverage of the other big retailers — Walmart, Best Buy, and Target are going hard, and Amazon doesn't always have the lowest prices. Another smart shopping strategy: Use the Amazon-friendly price tracker CamelCamelCamel to see if the latest deal is a good one, or add the item to your wishlist to get notified as soon as it goes on sale.

Don't forget: the Amazon Cyber Monday sale officially ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on Dec. 2, so don't take these deals for granted. Amazon's extended holiday return window applies to most items bought between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, but Apple products are a notable exception.

Note: All newly added or updated deals have been marked with a ✨, while struck-through deals were either sold out or expired at the time of writing. Any deal marked with a 🔥 has dropped to a record-low price. 

Best Cyber Monday Kindle deal Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32GB) 🔥 $154.99 at Amazon
$199.99 Save $45.00 Get Deal Why we like it

"The new batch of 2024 Kindles is the fastest yet, turning pages quickly and with less delay when switching between books in your library. The Kindle Paperwhite and Signature Edition both have bright, high-contrast screens, so you can read in any environment. While I prefer the Kindle Paperwhite over the Signature Edition most of the time, right now you can't beat the SE's Black Friday price." — Samantha Mangino, Shopping Reporter

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is 23% off, bringing it down to $154.99. That's some big savings ($45 to be exact) on a device that's usually $200. You get everything you love in the Paperwhite — a lightweight and waterproof design — with the added benefits of double the storage, wireless charging, and auto-adjusting brightness.

More Kindle deals at AmazonBest Cyber Monday Echo deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Echo Pop 🔥 $17.99 at Amazon
$39.99 Save $22.00 Get Deal Why we like it

For less than $20, why not add the convenience of being able to ask Alexa anything in any room of your home? Even if you can't see yourself being a full-screened Echo person, the Pop can subtly squeeze into any living situation. You won't even know it's there — until you're making dinner and can simply ask Alexa for measurement conversions out loud rather than actually figuring out the math. Then you'll definitely know it's there.

Update: You can buy the Echo Pop and get a free Amazon Basics smart color light bulb with your purchase.

More Echo deals at AmazonBest Cyber Monday Fire Tablet deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire HD 10 (32GB) 🔥 $74.99 at Amazon
$139.99 Save $65.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Read Mashable's full rev iew of the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023).

"Amazon's Fire HD 10 tablet is a lot friendlier on the wallet than an iPad. With a 10.1-inch screen, it's similar in size, but it's also a fraction of the price. In our review of the Amazon Fire HD 10, we delighted in its lightweight design and long battery life. The biggest downside to Amazon's Fire tablets are the limited selection of apps offered, especially compared the the Google Play and Apple store.

"That being said, it's still not a bad choice for those who want a tablet for streaming or reading through the Kindle app — especially when the Fire HD 10 is down to its lowest price ever of $74.99. That's a generous 46% off for $65 in savings." — Samantha Mangino, Shopping Reporter

More Fire Tablet deals at AmazonBest Cyber Monday robot vacuum deal Opens in a new window Credit: iRobot iRobot Roomba Combo i5+ $299.99 at Amazon
$549.99 Save $250.00 Get Deal Why we like it

"This nearly 50% off discount on the Roomba Combo j5+ is stellar at first glance, but it looks like an even sweeter deal when compared to the current deal on the cheapest self-emptying Roomba, the Roomba Vac 2. For $249.99, that bare-bones Roomba doesn't mop and can't smart map your house. For $299 — just $50 more — the Roomba Combo i5+ can mop and can smart map to clean specific rooms in your home on command. If $300 is your budget cap for a new robot vacuum, spending that extra $50 is a no-brainer.

The only downside to choosing the Combo i5+ over the more advanced Combo j5+ is that the i series Roombas don't have small obstacle avoidance technology, so they can't dodge things on the floor like charging cords or pet waste. However, if your home is already pretty tidy as it is, or you're down to deal with tidying up ahead of vacuuming, the Combo i5+ is a total steal at this price." — Leah Stodart, Senior Shopping Reporter

More robot vacuum deals at Amazon

Robot vacuum and mop combos

Best Cyber Monday TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 65-Inch Class S5 UHD 4K LED Smart Fire TV 🔥 $349.99 at Amazon
$449.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Why we like it

For our top TV pick at Amazon, we previously went with this massive 75-incher from TCL — and there was a lot to love about it. But we know not everyone has the space for a TV that big, no matter how affordable. So as we round out Black Friday, we have to call your attention to another budget-friendly TCL TV, the 65-inch Class S5 Fire TV.

Don't get us wrong, this is definitely a basic TV. Its LED display isn't as sharp as its QLED or OLED competitors. However, $349.99 for a 65-inch TV seems, frankly, absurd. Despite all the inflation we've seen in recent years, 65-inch TVs remain stubbornly immune, and we're not complaining. This TV uses the Amazon Fire TV OS to connect you to your favorite streaming apps. You'll also get the benefit of an HDR PRO+ display, Dolby Atmos sound, and an Alexa voice remote.

More TV deals at Amazon

24- to 40-inch TVs

43-inch TVs

50- to 55-inch TVs

65-inch TVs

75-inch TVs and up

Best Cyber Monday Apple deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) 🔥 $1,399.00 at Apple
$1,599.00 Save $200.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Read Mashable's full review of the Apple MacBook Pro (M4).

"In our all-new testing, Apple's latest MacBook Pro lasted almost 17 hours on a single charge and outperformed the M3 version by 27 percent. Mashable Tech Editor Kim Gedeon was impressed by its power efficiency, its stellar speakers, and its upgraded 12MP webcam, rating it a 4.2/5, but said that 'at a starting price of $1,599, it’s an investment that’s not for the faint of heart.' (On the plus side, it starts with 16GB of RAM.)

Amazon's doing its best to remedy that issue this Cyber Monday, bringing the space black base configuration down to an unprecedented price of $1,399.99, or $200 off. (For comparison's sake, it was $1,499 at Best Buy at the time of writing.) A lot of MacBooks hit new record lows at Amazon this Cyber Weekend, and this is one of the very few models that hasn't sold out or floated up to a higher price yet. Shipping times were pushed to late December and early January, though." — Haley Henschel, Senior Shopping Reporter

More Apple deals at Amazon

MacBooks

Macs

iPads

Apple Watches

AirPods and speakers

AirTags

Best Cyber Monday laptop deal Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, 13-inch (Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) 🔥 $1,499.00 at Amazon
$1,999.99 Save $500.99 Get Deal Why we like it

Read Mashable's full review of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7.

"Microsoft's slick Qualcomm-powered laptop lasted nearly 23 hours in our battery life test and one-upped the M3 MacBooks in our performance benchmark (both the Air and the Pro models). If Windows on Arm doesn't pose any compatibility issues for your go-to apps, we think it's the best Windows laptop for most people. It's a Mashable Choice Award-winner that got a 4.8/5 rating from our reviewer, which makes it one of our highest-rated laptops of 2024. (The Asus Zenbook Duo got the same score.)

The 13-inch model we tested came with a Snapdragon X Elite CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. It usually retails for a hefty $1,999.99, but Amazon's Black Friday Week sale has brought it down to just $1,499 there. That's 25% off and a new all-time low. It was price-matched in the Microsoft Store at the time of writing, FYI, while Best Buy had it listed for $1,699.99.

If you don't want to spend that much, pared-down configurations start at $844.99." — Haley Henschel, Senior Shopping Reporter

More Windows laptop deals at Amazon2-in-1 laptop dealsGaming laptop dealsChromebook dealsMonitor dealsBest Cyber Monday headphones deal Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-1000XM5 $298.00 at Amazon
$399.99 Save $101.99 Get Deal Why we like it

Read Mashable's full review of the Sony WH-1000XM5.

"If you want headphones that have great noise cancellation and incredible (adjustable) sound, then the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones won't let you down. Out of the noise-cancelling headphones we've tested, these are our top pick for audiophiles. It can be a little annoying that the ear cups don't fold in, but with 30 hours of battery life, you'll probably find yourself wearing them more often than not. Dropped down to $298, these headphones are at a dollar cheaper than their Prime Day price." — Bethany Allard, Lead Shopping Reporter

More headphones deals at Amazon

Noise-cancelling over-ear and on-ear headphones

Noise-cancelling earbuds

Best Cyber Monday fitness tracker deal Opens in a new window Credit: Google Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm, WiFi) 🔥 $279.99 at Amazon
$349.99 Save $70.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Just released in August, this is the first time the new Google Pixel Watch 3 has ever gone on sale for less than $300. Unfortunately, the larger 45mm screen is still at full price, but even this 41mm model has a 10% larger display than the same size Pixel Watch 2, thanks to smaller bezels. The Pixel Watch 3's display is also just brighter and zippier in general, without sacrificing that 24-hour battery life.

On that screen, you'll be able to swipe through a more detailed running dashboard than the previous generation, check your heart rate changes from sleep, to regular daytime chilling, to a legit cardio workout, make payments via Google Wallet, and more.

More fitness tracker and smartwatch deals at Amazon

Smart rings

Best Cyber Monday kitchen deal Opens in a new window Credit: Instant Pot Instant Pot 10-in-1 Pro (6 quart) $98.99 at Amazon
$169.99 Save $71.00 Get Deal Why we like it

If Thanksgiving prep had you wishing for another burner, there's a way to get one without overhauling your entire stove. Instant Pots are truly do-it-all appliances, letting you sauté, steam, and pressure cook all in one little pot. As Black Friday is winding down, so are the deals, and we've seen some Instant Pots sales dwindle.

Luckily, you can still find the drastically discounted Instant Pot 10-in-1 Pro (6 quart) for 42% off. Shop it ahead of Cyber Monday for just $98.99, and you'll be a master of it by the time your next holiday meal comes around.

More kitchen deals at Amazon

Instant Pot

Air fryers and pizza ovens

Coffee makers

Eco-friendly kitchen gear

Beauty tech deals Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Shark SpeedStyle Pro Flex 🔥 $179.00 at Amazon
$229.99 Save $50.99 Get Deal Why we like it

If a multistyler like the Airwrap or FlexStyle feels like it'll be overkill for your hair routine, you might consider a nice (but still multifaceted) hair dryer like the Shark SpeedStyle. It's one of Mashable Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard's favorite Dyson Supersonic dupes, particularly for smoothing — its QuickSmooth brush in particular not only dries hair quickly, but "keeps things from looking too windswept and more styled and volumized." This version also comes with a diffuser for defined curls, a concentrator for sleek, straight styles, and a FrizzFighter finishing tool.

More beauty tech deals at AmazonCyber Monday Outdoor deals at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Jackery Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 Portable Power Station $399.00 at Amazon
$799.00 Save $400.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Jackery does one thing, and they do it very well. They make user-friendly, long-lasting, and durable power stations. That's it. That singular focus is also why we love them. And for Cyber Monday, Jackery is offering up to 50% off its most popular products. These power stations have become common fixtures at campgrounds, festivals, and tailgates in recent years, but they're also extremely useful in emergency situations. Pair them with a Jackery solar panel, and they turn into an eco-friendly generator.

More Cyber Monday outdoor deals at AmazonGaming deals at Amazon

Xbox

PlayStation

Nintendo Switch

Speaker deals at AmazonDeals under $25 at Amazon

Note: Some deals are repeated from the above list.

Pet deals at Amazon

Check out our sister site PCMag's best Black Friday deals list for more options.

Two Point Museum preview: A playful and unserious foray into museum curation

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 10:00

I recently spent 10 hours playing a pre-release build of Two Point Museum, exploring three different museum locations across the game's preview campaign. From what I've seen so far, the latest instalment in the Two Point video game universe may end up being just as much fun as its popular predecessor, Two Point Hospital.

Developed by Two Point Studios, Two Point Museum retains the same zany tone as both Two Point Campus and Hospital. This time the series has you build and manage a museum, including collecting artefacts, curating displays, and raking in sweet cash from impressed visitors.

SEE ALSO: 'Two Point Campus' gross sex bed has raised questions I never want answered

I am ruthlessly practical when playing such business simulators. Unless I've already reached Elon Musk levels of wealth, I tend to focus on optimising efficiency rather than interior design. However, Two Point Museum deftly merges these concerns, incorporating aesthetic considerations into its gameplay and providing practical incentives for players to thoughtfully plan and decorate their museum. I was hooked almost immediately.

Two Point Museum reveals two new exhibit themes Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

One of the most exciting revelations from Mashable's Two Point Museum preview was the confirmation of two new exhibit themes. The developer has previously announced the game will include Prehistory, Marine, Supernatural, and Botany exhibit themes, all of which I got to explore. However, upgrade paths in the preview also revealed two more themes: Science and Space. 

Though neither theme was available to play just yet, Prehistory artefacts such as the Time Portal and a fossilised time-traveller suggest that Two Point Museum could venture into some futuristic tech. Judging by the loading screens, aliens may make an appearance as well. Fans have been eagerly hoping Two Point Museum would add Science and Space themes, as their concepts seem perfectly suited to its wacky world. 

"There are so many types of museums in the real world, we wanted to reflect that, but also include some of the more eccentric aspects of life in Two Point County too." - Ben Huskins

Speaking to Mashable, Two Point Museum's design director Ben Huskins said that variety was key when choosing exhibit themes.

"There are so many types of museums in the real world, we wanted to reflect that, but also include some of the more eccentric aspects of life in Two Point County too," he said. "We've picked exhibits that are visually very different, but also those that provide new gameplay opportunities. With every theme we've tried to add new gameplay twists, things that make you play in a different way, exhibits with special requirements or interesting side effects."

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

Such requirements and side effects quickly became apparent during my time with Two Point Museum. Cold artefacts such as the Frozen Cave-Person and Snowy Howl Skeleton must be placed near a freezer. Aquarium tanks may require heaters if you're exhibiting tropical Star Fish or Flambuoyant Fish. Even ghosts have demands — their Polterguest Rooms need adequate decoration so the ghouls don't grow restless and break out.

Meanwhile, plants like the man-eating Blooming Buffoon gobble up and transform guests into clowns who entertain others, while the Haunted Doll artefact always stares unblinkingly at the player regardless of how you orient the camera.

"We've managed to cram in lots of Easter eggs, subtle crossovers between exhibits from different themes, and secrets to discover," said Huskins. "We're hoping people will want to collect all of the exhibits (you can track your progress in the in-game sticker book), and experiment with different combinations in their museums."

Two Point Museum buries ancient artefacts in loot boxes Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

Obtaining artefacts to display in Two Point Museum isn't as simple as just purchasing them. Rather, they're acquired through Two Point Museum's new exploration feature, which is an element unique to this latest release in the Two Point franchise.

Players can choose a locale such as the Prehistory-focused Bone Belt, the fishy Two Point Sea, or the spooky Netherworld, then select staff members to form a party and head off in the museum's helicopter to explore. The expedition will encounter various events depending on their combined level and particular set of skills (though most resolve without the player's interference), before eventually returning with a brand new artefact for your museum.

Once found, artefacts are presented in a manner akin to a loot box, a glowing crate popping open to give you that familiar serotonin rush that comes from unboxings.

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

Expedition map exploration is also shared across different museums, though artefact inventories remain separate. This means that if the experts in your marine-focused museum unlock a new location with a new specimen, you can jump over to your supernatural museum and send its staff there to find one for themselves. As such, Two Point Museum intends for players to bounce between their museums, continually returning to add exhibits rather than abandoning them in favour of the next location.

"There's a lot more depth to each museum in this game, there's always a reason to return to each one, so we're hoping that players want to invest the time designing and refining, and in doing so get attached to their creations," Huskins said.

We murdered ghosts for science in Two Point Museum Credit: Mashable screenshot

Each expedition location has different specimens available, with some requiring multiple trips to find their various fragments. Combined with the search for Pristine quality specimens, you'll likely end up with multiple copies of the same artefact. These duplicates may be sold, or kept in your inventory in case a wealthy collector wants to buy an exhibit.

However, the specimens can also be examined in the Analysis Room's aptly named Deconstructor. This device destroys the artefact to increase your Knowledge about it, which in turn boosts the Knowledge visitors gain from exhibit info stands — which all contributes to their review of your museum. Knowledge is quite literally power here.

Interestingly, specimens can be placed in the Deconstructor regardless of whether they're living, dead, or undead. I initially hesitated to place poltergeists in the machine, feeling like a villain in a dystopian YA novel. However when I eventually capitulated in the name of this preview, I was surprised to see my doomed ghosts smiling placidly as their atoms were disassembled.

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

"Yeah, we had a few conversations about this," Huskins told Mashable when asked about Two Point Museum deconstructing seemingly sentient beings. "We like to think of the analysis process as the 'digitisation' of the exhibit. Sure, its physical presence is deconstructed, but it lives on as a stream of pure data. Hopefully people have watched enough episodes of Black Mirror to question what the metaphysical implications of this are for sentient entities, and how sinister or otherwise it might be."

Fortunately, the ghosts are apparently as unperturbed as they appear, so you can dissolve them in the name of science with only mild guilt.

"Spirits are generally fairly happy with this process as they don't have much of a physical presence anyway, and it's considered slightly more comfortable than being sucked up by a janitor's Ghost Duster device, as tends to happen elsewhere in Two Point County," said Huskins.

Two Point Museum focuses on interior design Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

As I've mentioned, creating aesthetically pleasing rooms in Two Point games has never been a top priority for me. My interior design aspirations in Two Point Hospital were largely restricted to dotting pot plants everywhere solely to prevent my staff from getting grumpy.

Two Point Museum puts significant emphasis on customisation and design as crucial to the museum visitor experience, so you can't really approach these elements halfheartedly. The game encourages players not only to consider layout and how they position exhibits in proximity to each other, but also how they decorate the surrounding areas. Some decorations can even be altered via a colour picker, a first for the Two Point series.

Essentially, decorations are essential for what the game calls Buzz. The right decor can boost the Buzz generated by an exhibit, particularly if you fulfil the requirements for an artefact's Buzz Bonus. The more Buzz a guest has, the higher their donations and reviews of your museum will be. Like their real life counterparts, Two Point's museums tend to run primarily on donations.

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

Such considerations make themselves even clearer when planning tours through your museum, selecting which exhibits your experts will stop at. Tours are more highly rated if they're brief and coherent, consisting of artefacts which all follow the same theme. As such, keeping exhibits appropriately grouped throughout your museum is rewarded, and the overall flow of the museum becomes more important as you build your collections. And that means considering how exhibits work with walls, corridors, and open spaces.

"Building is a lot more freeform now," explained Huskins. "We've moved away from room-centric gameplay (the treatment rooms and classrooms of Hospital and Campus), and the focus is much more on the corridor space and how you want to arrange all of the exhibits in your collection.

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

During the preview, I was slightly frustrated that while Two Point Museum now allows players to build walls on an angle, you can't build rooms along them. You can't extend rooms to fill the awkward triangular space either. Unfortunately there are currently no plans to support angular rooms, though Huskins noted that they will monitor community feedback and continue to update the game post-release, just as they did with Hospital and Campus.

Two Point Museum drew inspiration from real museums Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

While Two Point Museum takes an undeniably playful and unserious approach to museum curation, Huskins stated that the development team did draw inspiration from real museums. 

"Ultimately we're aiming for fun over realism, but we like to have elements that are grounded in reality alongside the more extraordinary parts of the game," Huskins told Mashable.

"We were even invited to a couple of the big museums in London, which was an amazing experience, and gave us an opportunity to ask probing questions about museum finances, how to design an exhibition space, and even get a sneak peek at some of the backstage areas," he added. "In some cases this has inspired us to add features to the game (staff-only doors, guided tours, sponsorship opportunities, etc.), and it's also been a useful reference when coming up with lists of exhibits, obviously with a Two Point spin on a lot of them."

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

Real museums have a controversial history, and British museums in particular. However, Two Point Museum deliberately steers away from such matters, opting to keep its tone light. Huskins told Mashable that Two Point Museum's development team had discussed this issue, and were mindful about how they depicted the acquisition of exhibits in the game. As such, Two Point Museum sticks satire rather than replicating real-world cultural artefacts. 

"It helps that Two Point County is our own made-up world, where everything is lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek, and we can have those larger than life elements," said Huskins. "Every time we design a new type of exhibit or expedition map, we think about what feels appropriate to us, what makes sense to exist within Two Point County, and what allows us to apply our own brand of humour."

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

That isn't to say that Two Point Museum is all fish and flowers. The game does still roam into human history, however it's a much more fantastical version than the one we're familiar with. It also might be more accurate to say that it delves into sentient humanoid history, as not all of Two Point County's characters appear strictly human.

"We do still have cultural artefacts in the game, but they're based within the fiction and lore of Two Point County, so we can frame them in a way that feels right to us," Huskins continued. "You'll have seen glimpses of this in what we've shown so far — remnants of an underwater civilisation in [marine-themed museum] Passwater Cove, for example, you'll learn more about that as you progress into the game."

More to come with Two Point Museum

Two Point Studios is continuing to keep some of the game's surprises close to its chest for now. Huskins did note he'd love to add a first-person to allow players to walk through their own museums, though that's a feature which is likely to come later if at all.

"We have a debug command that puts you into first-person view for a selected character," said Huskins. "It's quite entertaining, but the lack of a ceiling is somewhat disconcerting, and when they go to the bathroom it's the stuff of nightmares… Having said all that, if we ever get time we'd love to polish it up a bit and sneak it into the game somehow. Watch this space!"

Credit: Mashable screenshot: Two Point Studios

There are still several months until Two Point Museum's planned launch in March, with more exhibits, museums, and maps to be revealed as it draws closer. Even so, the game's current build is already enough to get excited about. Obtaining artefacts, arranging them in your museum, and decorating the space around them forms an enjoyable gameplay loop, encouraging players to collect them all to build the greatest museum they can.

"We are just very excited to watch people play Two Point Museum and hear what they think about the game," said Huskins. "We had (and still have) the most amazing time creating Two Point Museum and we just hope players will enjoy it as much as we are."

Two Point Museum will be released March 4 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Jude Law and the Skeleton Crew cast on bringing Star Wars to a new generation

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 09:23

Jude Law and the young cast of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew share their excitement about working in the iconic galaxy, from encountering real Jawas to exploring massive, detailed sets. They discuss the unique perspective the series brings by focusing on children navigating adventures in the Star Wars universe.

Skeleton Crew is now streaming on Disney+.

Apple Music Replay 2024: How to get it

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 09:00

Apple Replay 2024 has arrived, and we know what you're thinking: Isn't this thing available throughout the year?

Well, yes and no. It's true: You can access Replay all year over at replay.music.apple.com to see your personalized list of top artists, songs, albums, and genres, as well as milestones such as the number of minutes you've spent listening to music this year.

But now, Apple also has a special Replay experience, and it comes with several new features, too.

What is Apple Music Replay 2024?

Similar to Spotify Wrapped (which should be coming any day now as well), Apple Music Replay is a colorful look back at your year in Apple Music, displaying your top played songs and minutes listened, but also stuff like the top cities you used Apple Music in, and your top Shazam song if you use the Apple-owned music recognition service.

If you've got less than 100,000 minutes listened, are you even a real music fan? Credit: Apple

Other insights that are new to this year's Replay include Listening Streaks, which show the longest consecutive number of days you've used Apple Music, Top Artist Streak, which shows if you've had a certain artist as your number one artist for multiple consecutive months, as well as being able to see the date when you've first listened to your top song, artist, and album this year.

You can also listen to your most-played songs of the year with Replay 2024 mix, as well as check out your listening habits per month (including previous years) in your Replay insights archive.

How to view your Apple Music Replay 2024

So, how do you get the goods? There are several ways to do it.

On your iPhone, you can access the Replay 2024 experience in your Apple Music (you'll find it in the Home, New, and Search tabs). To do so, however, you'll need to have iOS 18.1 or later installed.

If, for some reason, you have a version of iOS earlier than 18.1, you'll still be able to access the experience on replay.music.apple.com, which works on both mobile and desktop.

And if you so desire, you can share all the insights with friends on social channels and messaging platforms (this is optional, and Apple says no one can access your insights unless you explicitly share them).

Apple Music has also dropped its 2024 Year-End Charts

Alongside the new Replay experience, Apple also shared its top charts for the year, which this year includes the biggest songs on Shazam.

Spoilers ahead: The number one song globally on Apple Music this year is Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," and newcomer Benson Boone is on top of the Shazam chart with "Beautiful Things."

There are many charts to browse through this year, including Top Songs of 2024: Global, Top 100: Shazam, Most-Read Lyrics, Top 100: Sing, Shazam Global Radio Spins, and Top Fitness Songs, among others. You can check all of Apple's year-end chart over on Apple Music.

Tinders top dating trends and predictions for 2025

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 09:00

Cuffing season is in full swing and 2024 is nearing its end, which means it's time for Tinder's annual Year in Swipe. Each year, the ubiquitous dating app reveals year-long trends and what they could mean for dating in the future.

SEE ALSO: 2025 dating trends, including romance and evolving masculinity

Here's what defined dating in 2024, according to Tinder, and what may be in store in 2025:

Tinder's top 2024 dating trends

This year, "pickleball" was the fastest-growing mention in people's bios (+148 percent). This is followed by "freak" (+118 percent) — likely users asking for someone to match their freak. "Deserve" rounded out the top 3 with +95 percent mentions.

Tinder users stated their top communication style was "better in person," followed by being a "big-time texter," then "phone caller," then "bad texter." "Video chatter" ranked at the bottom.

In terms of love styles (similar to the love languages), the top 5 from highest to lowest were: time together, touch, thoughtful gestures, compliments, and presents.

Tinder also measured the fastest-growing emojis on the app: the pink bow, cloud, backpack, palm, and owl.

Fastest-growing emojis in Tinder bios. Credit: Tinder Tinder's 2025 dating predictionsSinges are "loud looking"

"Looking for..." was Tinder's top bio mention in 2024, according to global data from Tinder bios, descriptors, and interests from January 1 to October 1 this year. Despite Tinder's longtime reputation as a "hookup app," insights from the app's Green Flags study show that's not always the case: 53 percent of men want a romantic relationship, and 68 percent of women want the same.

Manifesting "kiss-met" love

Manifest is the Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year — and young singles are proving that true. Nearly 20 percent of 4,000 18-30 year-old daters surveyed said they're creating vision boards to manifest their ideal relationship in 2025. Tinder introduced an interactive vision board tool so users can create one in-app and share it with friends and family.

Tinder predicts that daters will "embrace the magic of the unplanned" in 2025, moving away from strict "rules" (and, hopefully, icks).

"Micro-connecting" is in

Tinder also predicts the rise of "nano-ships" and "micro-connections" — such as good morning texts (textuationships, naturally) or stealing a glance at a cute stranger on the subway (eyecontactship). While it may seem silly, Bumble also discussed micro-mance behaviors in its 2025 dating trends forecast — so there might be something to this.

Both apps also discussed renewed optimism in their users, which they would need in the next year considering daters are getting sick of dating apps. Around a quarter of surveyed singles said they're focusing on joy and positivity, and bringing an optimistic outlook to their dating life, according to that same survey of 4,000 18-30 year-olds. Bumble found that 87 percent of users experienced positives of dating this year.

Daters are streamlining their rosters

A quarter of surveyed singles are choosing fewer, more meaningful connections to keep their energy and excitement for dating alive, Tinder states. This may be the result of what apps predicted during the height of the pandemic: Daters will become more intentional and seek deeper connections.

Daters also aren't deciding their rosters alone: They're enlisting the help of friends and the stars. This year, 60 percent of singles turned to friends for dating advice, and almost 20 percent asked a friend to pre-screen their date by checking out their social media profiles. Nearly half of singles said they plan to rely on their friends to navigate the dating world next year (Bumble also found the same, in terms of guy friends helping women in their lives).

Astrology is also influencing how singles choose dates. Nearly 40 percent of singles said that "astrology love predictions" will shape who they date next year. (Virgos, Geminis, Leos, Scopios, and Sagittariuses received the most "likes" of all the Zodiac signs in 2024.)

Golden Retrievers wanted

Nearly 45 percent of singles want a "Golden Retriever" type in 2025: loyal, friendly, energetic, and optimistic. Here are some other qualities singles are prioritizing next year:

  • Trustworthiness (40 percent)

  • Physical attraction (35 percent)

  • Shared values (31 percent)

  • Emotional availability (30 percent)

  • Shared interests (28 percent)

Here are the top deal-breakers:

  • Bad hygiene (50 percent)

  • Rudeness (44 percent)

  • Talking too much about an ex (34 percent)

"Singles are embracing intentionality in their dating lives — being upfront about what they want and refusing to settle," Tinder CMO Melissa Hobley said in the announcement. "These trends are all about empowering choice — whether it's confidently stating your needs while Loud Looking, savoring serendipitous moments through Kiss-mets, or finding meaning in micro-connections with Nano-ships."

The Wordle archive is gone, but you can still find past Wordle answers here

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 08:36

Sites that created Wordle archives have been pressured by the New York Times to shut down. That means there's no longer any way to access the full archive, but we’ve provided a list of the past two weeks' Wordle answers for you to see what words have just been used, and help plan your Wordle strategy going forward.

The free daily word game Wordle blew up in popularity at the start of 2022 despite not having an app and only allowing players to tackle one puzzle per day. Both were intentional choices, as Wordle founder Josh Wardle told the BBC, so fans couldn't spend too much time on it. As such, previous puzzles aren't available through the official website.

"Wordle is very simple and you can play it in three minutes — and that is all you get," Wardle said in his BBC interview. "There are also no ads and I am not doing anything with your data — and that is also quite deliberate."

SEE ALSO: 'Taylordle' is 'Wordle' for Swifties What is today's Wordle?

You can find clues and the answer for today's Wordle right here.

Why was the Wordle Archive shut down?

Since the acquisition last year, the NYT has moved to safeguard what is now its wholly owned intellectual property by placing pressure on Wordle affiliates to shut down their "unauthorized" recreations of the game's earlier daily puzzles, starting with the Wordle Archive in March. By the beginning of June 2022, all of the best-known ways to play Wordle outside of the NYT website were gone, including the game's original, pre-acquisition home.

While there's no guarantee that the game will remain freely available for non-NYT subscribers to access, it hasn't slipped behind the paywall yet. It's also unknown whether the NYT will one day build an archive of its own so that players can play through old Wordle puzzles.

Past Wordle answers (and their meanings)

Find a recent list at our sister site, Rock Paper Shotgun.

Other past answers:

Wordle #1247: TALLY - A count or record of items or numbers.

Wordle #1246: VISOR - A shield or brim to protect the eyes.

Wordle #1245: TACKY - Sticky or in poor taste.

Wordle #1244: UVULA - The fleshy projection at the back of the throat.

Wordle #1243: PRIMP - To groom or dress carefully.

Wordle #1242: FLOWN - Past participle of "fly."

Wordle #1241: STOIC - Showing no emotion in pain or hardship.

Wordle #1240: INNER - Located within or closer to the center.

Wordle #1239: SWELL - To increase in size or volume.

Wordle #1238: READY - Prepared to do something or in a suitable state for an action.

Wordle #1237: EVENT - An occurrence, especially one of significance.

Wordle #1236: TRULY - Honestly or sincerely, genuinely.

Wordle #1235: OCTET - A group of eight people or things.

Wordle #1234: VINYL - A synthetic plastic material often used for records and upholstery.

Wordle #1233: BLAZE - A very large or fiercely burning fire.

Wordle #1232: SNOOP - Investigate or look around furtively in an attempt to find out something.

Wordle #1231: SIXTH - Constituting number six in a sequence

Wordle #1230: WEIRD - Induce a sense of disbelief or alienation in someone.

Best Wordle starting words

We have some ideas to help you pick the perfect first move (or as close to perfect as you can get without just magically guessing the exact right word). Such tips include choosing a word with at least two different vowels in it, plus a few common consonants such as S, T, R, or N.

Wordle alternatives

Thousands of people around the globe now play Wordle each day, and fans have even created alternatives inspired by the original format. This includes music identification game Heardle, Hollywood nerd faves Actorle and Framed, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.

More Wordle Featured Video For You Three words could save you, thanks to this app

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

What is Wordle? Heres everything you need to know.

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 08:25

The waning days of 2021 introduced us to a new genre of tweet: Green, yellow, and grey boxes arranged in a 5-wide grid with as many as six rows. The tweets also include some indecipherable-to-outsiders numbers and a funny, little non-word: Wordle.

Maybe you've asked Google about this yourself already. It's easy enough to find out what Wordle is, and from there decipher the grids and numbers people have been tweeting. Maybe you've been playing obsessively for over a year already.

But you also want to understand why, right? It's one thing to read that Spider-Man: No Way Home is a giant love letter to fandom, but it's a whole other thing to see the movie's surprising and deeply fulfilling twists and turns for yourself.

So what is it about this thing called Wordle that's gotten so many people talking about it in shared public spaces?

Want more Wordle? Here's the Wordle answer and some subtle hints for December 3.

What is Wordle?

Yeah, I just said this is an easy question to answer. But for the sake of completeness, let's start with the basics.

Wordle is a daily word game created by Josh Wardle, a Brooklyn-based software engineer who has developed something of a reputation as a crafter of interesting social experiments. Every day, the people of the internet are greeted with a fresh word puzzle that can only be solved — or not! — using a series of process-of-elimination clues.

SEE ALSO: Best 'Wordle' starting word? Step up your game today. How does Wordle work? How do you do Wordle?

It works like this: When you visit the Wordle website, you're greeted by a 5-wide by 6-long grid of empty, white boxes. Each box can hold one letter, and so you guess at the answer by typing in a five-letter word and pressing 'Enter'.

There aren't any clues up front, so any five-letter word will do as an initial guess. That's where the game of Wordle really starts. When you send a guess along, the color of each letter's box changes.

  • If it turns green, that letter is in the daily word and you've placed it in the right spot.

  • If it turns yellow, the letter is in the word but you have it in the wrong position.

  • If the box turns grey, it means the letter isn't in the word at all.

The website serves up a simple explainer graphic for first-time visitors that lays it all out clearly.

Credit: Screenshot by Mashable How do you start Wordle? Best starting words?

We have some ideas to help you select the perfect opening. Some of those tips include choosing a word with at least two different vowels in it, plus a few common consonants such as S, T, R, or N.

Why is Wordle such a big deal?

Wordle has been available since October 2021 as a daily word game that anyone online can play for free. It only exploded more recently, after Wardle announced the addition of a "Share" feature in mid-December that makes it easy to post your daily performance online.

Tweet may have been deleted

The platform-agnostic feature doesn't connect to any specific social platform. Instead, it copies that grid we've been seeing so much of on Twitter to your device's clipboard, as emojis. You can then take that copied text and paste it into a post for your preferred social media feed.

(If you have the technical capability, I'd recommend pasting your results text somewhere neutral, screenshotting it, and posting that instead. Doing so allows you to add explanatory alt text for people who can't read a post directly off the screen.)

That explains why we suddenly started to see a lot more talk around Wordle in the waning weeks of 2021: Wardle made it easy for people to bring their brags to their favored internet watercooler. But there's still the more basic question of why people are flocking to this thing to begin with.

It's honestly best — and easiest — if you go try it for yourself. There's no cost to play Wordle; you just go to the website, make your guesses, and that's it for the day. Then you can decide for yourself if it's something you want to turn into a daily pastime.

Personally, I think Wordle's success lands somewhere between the New York Times crossword puzzle and Wheel of Fortune. The hidden word changes daily but, just like NYT crosswords, it's the same for everyone each day — so it's an experience every player shares, even if they take different routes to finding the same answer. And the puzzle itself is limited to just one, five-letter word, which makes it more like Wheel's mainstream "anyone can do this" appeal.

Then add in the brilliant sharing feature which uses non-specific colored box emoji to let people easily and clearly brag about their Wordle wins. When you post one of those indecipherable-to-outsiders grids on social media, you're implicitly telling every follower, "Hey, I play this too. We're in on this cool internet thing together. Let's talk about it."

Is there a Wordle app for Android or iOS? Is Wordle free?

My first instinct when I learned of Wordle's existence was to fire up an app store and search for it. Surely, I reasoned, this immensely popular thing on Twitter tied to an app of some kind.

You might find "Wordle" results in an iOS App Store or Google Play Store search, but don't mistake it for the real thing. Wordle, the original one Josh Wardle came up with and kindly delivered unto the internet in late 2021, currently only exists as a browser game that lives right here. If you're playing it anywhere else, it's — at best — a shameless knock-off that's trying to capitalize on someone else's success.

And, yes, it's still free.

Who made Wordle? Where did Wordle come from?

Wordle's sudden explosion at the end of 2021 led to a round of press focused on its creator. Wardle actually came up with the game in 2021 as a private exercise for him and his word game-loving partner. It eventually became a staple of their family WhatsApp messaging, and that's when Wardle started to suspect he might have something special enough to merit a wider release.

SEE ALSO: NYT's new ‘WordleBot’ will passive-aggressively insult your strategy

The very sweet origin story is thoroughly detailed in this great NYT profile of Wardle and his latest creation. You're better off reading that for the full scoop, but as far as basics go it's enough to know that Wordle was conceived by a caring person who wanted to keep his partner entertained during the quiet, trying times of our ongoing global pandemic.

Tips and tricks for Wordle

My first big tip is to not make the mistake I did: That pop-up window you see the first time you visit the site is a fixed tutorial, not a clue for the day's puzzle! It's clearer on a PC display than it was on the smartphone browser I was using at the time, so that's probably not a common mistake. But I made it, and that means you might, as well.

In the realm of more helpful tips: It's not clear until you've played a few times, but you can have words that use the same letter in multiple spots. So if the day's word was "APPLE" and your first guess was "PAPER," the first "P" would get a yellow box for being the right letter in the wrong spot and the second "P" would get a green box for being correctly picked AND placed.

You can also click the gear icon at the top of the Wordle website to tweak a few things. There's a Dark Theme option for those who prefer something other than the eye-searing intensity of a mostly-white screen. A "Hard Mode" switch requires all guesses after the first one to account for revealed hints. (So turning back to our previous "APPLE" example, every guess after "PAPER" would have to use "A," "E," and two letters "P," with one of the always plugged into the third box.) Finally, there's a "Color Blind Mode" which uses high contrast colors for those who need or prefer it.

Some people have gotten really into analyzing Wordle's inner mechanics and the way it gets us playing with (English) language. Others have take more of a lesson from Wardle's initially DIY vibe with the game and embraced that for their own lives.

Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted

Really though, there's no "wrong" way to play. The beauty of Wordle is its simplicity. It won't even let you get away with plugging a nonsense lineup of letters in lieu of an actual word; every guess you make is checked against Wordle's own dictionary. If your guess isn't a real word, the game doesn't allow you to push it through.

Just give it a shot and see for yourself. Once you've caught the bug, it's hard to keep yourself from coming back for more.

Reporting by Caitlin Welsh contributed to this article.

SEE ALSO: Why are so many people saying 'Wordle' is harder now?

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

Bose QuietComfort earbuds are still at their lowest-ever price after Cyber Monday

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 07:23

SAVE $50: As of Dec. 3, Bose's QuietComfort earbuds are on sale for $129 after Cyber Monday. This is 28% off their original price of $179.

Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Bose New QuietComfort Earbuds $129.00 at Amazon
$179.00 Save $50.00 Get Deal

Cyber Monday deals are starting to wind down after the big day, but Amazon still has a few discounts up its sleeve for shoppers. If you've had earbuds on your radar to get this year, whether to gift yourself or someone you know for the holidays, Bose QuietComfort earbuds are still enjoying a very nice discount after the big seasonal sale event.

Amazon has Bose's QuietComfort earbuds on sale for $129, $50 off their original price of $179. The retailer also has them listed as a limited time deal so this could be your last opportunity to pick up these earbuds at their lowest-ever price, according to price tracker camelcamelcamel. What's even better is all of the available colors are discounted, so you can choose between black, chilled lilac, or white smoke.

SEE ALSO: Top items bought by Mashable readers on Cyber Weekend — find some still on sale

Alongside high-quality sound, these earbuds are sure to make your listening experiences even better with the help of their noise-canceling features that allow you to tune in or out of your surroundings. In the review from Mashable's shopping reporter Bethany Allard, she said, "if you're trying to get earbuds that sound as good as they can under $200, with exceptional battery life added in, picking up the QuietComfort earbuds is an easy choice."

This limited time deal won't last long, so pick up the Bose QuietComfort earbuds for $129 at Amazon while they're still live.

There are a few more deals floating around after Cyber Monday that are worth checking out, too. In our roundup of Cyber Monday deals, you can see some discounts from the sale that are still live. Again, these won't last long, so if something catches your eye act fast to pick it up.

Top items bought by Mashable readers on Cyber Weekend — find some still on sale

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 06:18

We can curate a list of the best Black Friday-into-Cyber Monday deals as carefully as we want, but the number of items on sale is going to be overwhelming regardless.

Though Mashable shopping reporters have hands-on experience with nearly every single top pick in the most popular categories, knowing what other people actually spent their money on is always helpful insight.

SEE ALSO: Cyber Monday streaming deals are here for one last day

So we've narrowed down that intel for you, too. Of the hundreds of Cyber deals we've been tracking, here are the seven most popular items from core product categories like Apple devices, robot vacuums, and Kindles.

If you'd like to be influenced even more, we also have a list of the deals Mashable shopping reporters would actually spend their money on.

1. Most popular MacBook deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M2, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $899.99 at Best Buy
$1,099.99 Save $200.00 Get Deal Why people like it

Our favorite MacBook for most people in 2024 was also the favorite MacBook of Mashable readers this Black Friday and Cyber Monday season.

"A few weeks ago, the M3 MacBook Air got a quiet RAM upgrade without a price hike. That makes this new record-low price on the base configuration with 256GB of storage an even sweeter deal. (What's more, it's now a sub-$100 bump from the older, also-on-sale M2 version.) For reference, this is our favorite MacBook for most people in 2024: It's fast enough to handle light creative work, its keyboard and speakers are both fantastic, and it can support two external displays — so long as you close its lid first." — Bethany Allard, Lead Shopping Reporter

The 256GB M3 Air has sold out at Amazon, but the same model is still on sale in some colors at Best Buy as of Dec 2. Otherwise, several other Cyber Monday MacBook deals are still around.

2. Most popular earbuds deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) $154.00 at Amazon
$249.00 Save $95.00 Get Deal Why people like it

You can't expect Apple to not snatch this crown when it continuously beats its own record-low prices from the last big shopping holiday. The second generation AirPods Pro, which have consistently been a favorite purchase of Mashable readers, are Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard's favorite noise-cancelling earbuds for Apple users. They simply seal out ambient noise better than many truly wireless earbuds and can be charged directly from an iPhone 15.

This deal is still live as of Dec. 2, and many more Cyber Monday earbuds deals are still around.

3. Most popular robot vacuum deal Opens in a new window Credit: Roborock Roborock Qrevo S $459.99 at Amazon
$799.99 Save $340.00 Get Deal Why people like it

This is the first Black Friday that robot vacuum and mop combos that also wash and dry their own mopping pads have really popped off. When they first became a big thing at the beginning of 2024, it was rare to find one under $1,000 let alone under $500.

Of the full Roborock Qrevo lineup, the Qrevo S falls nicely in the middle of the pricing spectrum. Senior Shopping Reporter and resident robot vacuum expert Leah Stodart thinks of it as the diet version of her favorite self-emptying robot vacuum right now, the Qrevo Master. The Qrevo S skips the livestream pet camera and has slightly less powerful suction, but is still a beast that can also recognize small obstacles like phone chargers.

This deal has sold out as of Dec. 2. However, many other Cyber Monday robot vacuum deals are still around, including the most popular vacuum from Prime Day, the Eufy X10 Pro Omni.

4. Most popular Kindle deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (32GB) $154.99 at Amazon
$189.99 Save $35.00 Get Deal Why people like it

Black Friday 2024 was the first real time the newest Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition had a chance to go on sale after just being released in late October, missing Prime Day in early October. Our readers opted for this slightly more often than the regular Paperwhite, though Shopping Reporter Samantha Mangino actually prefers the regular Paperwhite. It's possible that extreme bookworms were looking for the 32GB of storage that only the Signature Edition can supply.

This deal is still live as of Dec. 2, and a few other Cyber Monday Kindle deals are still around.

5. Most popular TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: Hisense Hisense 65-inch U8 Series Mini LED 4K TV $899.99 at Best Buy
$1,499.99 Save $600.00 Get Deal Why people like it

Hisense has offered several excellent TV deals this Black Friday and Cyber Monday season, but readers were particularly sold on this 65-inch Mini LED model. This certainly isn't Hisense's cheapest QLED TV, but it's still a steal compared to the premium counterparts from LG, Samsung, and Sony. We'll take a wild guess that most of the readers who took the bait on the U8 were gamers — it's a beloved choice for gaming with a 144Hz native refresh rate and little lag.

Fun fact: Mashable readers also opted for Hisense's Samsung The Frame dupe over the actual Frame.

This deal is still live as of Dec. 2, and many other Cyber Monday TV deals still around.

6. Most popular iPad deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPad (10th generation, WiFi, 64GB) $259.00 at Amazon
$349.00 Save $90.00 Get Deal Why people like it

Yep, the most affordable iPad had a slight edge over even the newest iPad Mini and Air. The 10th generation iPad is likely the best option for most folks, with the A14 Bionic chip offering plenty of power for streaming and note-taking, without creeping anywhere near M1 or higher prices. The biggest downside of the tablet is that it isn't compatible with the second-gen Apple Pencil or new Apple Pencil Pro, but it is compatible with the newer USB-C Apple Pencil.

This deal is sold out at Walmart as of Dec. 2, and also sold out at its slightly-pricier sale price of $279 at Amazon. However, multiple other iPad deals are still around.

7. Most popular over-ear headphones deal Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Bose QuietComfort Ultra $329.00 at Amazon
$429.00 Save $100.00 Get Deal Why people like it

Readers who aren't earbuds people were more likely to opt for the Bose QuietComfort Ultra over both the AirPods Max and Sony WH-1000XM5, and we don't blame them — the QuietComfort Ultras are our overall favorite noise-cancelling headphones. Shopping reporter Samantha Mangino asserts they're the most comfortable pair of headphones you can buy right now, and their all-day battery life keeps pace with their all-day wearability.

This deal is still live as of Dec. 2, and many other Cyber Monday noise-canceling headphones deals are still around.

8. Most popular fitness deal Opens in a new window Credit: Fitbit Fitbit Charge 6 $99.95 at Amazon
$159.95 Save $60.00 Get Deal Why people like it

As far as fitness trackers go, Fitbit Charge 6 has it all. It features over 40 exercise modes alongside a heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, and a built-in GPS. On top of that, it's also water resistant up to 50 meters and has a massive seven-day-long battery life. With its slim design that fits nicely on a wrist, it's an activity tracker that's built to keep up with your daily activities.

This deal is still live as of Dec. 3, and many other Cyber Monday fitness tracker deals are still around.

9. Most popular kitchen deal Opens in a new window Credit: Nespresso Nespresso Vertuo Plus Coffee and Espresso Maker $138.00 at Amazon
$199.00 Save $61.00 Get Deal Why people like it

If you love good coffee but don't want an overly complicated process, this is the machine for you. The coffee comes from high-quality pods to make anything from americanos to rich espressos. It even recognizes the pod you inserted, and adjusts brewing settings accordingly. You get a perfect cup every time, with no fuss.

This deal is still live as of Dec. 3, and many other Cyber Monday espresso machine deals are still around.

10. Most popular gaming deal Opens in a new window Credit: Meta Meta Quest 3S Bundle $75 of free credit with code QUEST75 Get Deal Why people like it

Bundle deals are usually where it's at over the Black Friday shopping period, and this year was no different. Gamers could get the Meta Quest 3S (128GB), Batman: Arkham Shadow, and a three-month trial of Meta Quest+ for $299 at Amazon. This Black Friday bundle included $75 of free digital credit with the code QUEST75.

This deal is no longer live, but many other Cyber Monday gaming deals are still around.

Stephen Colbert responds to Trumps FBI pick saying theyll come after the people in the media

Mashable - Tue, 12/03/2024 - 06:12

Stephen Colbert has some strong words for Donald Trump's new FBI director pick, Kash Patel, who clearly isn't a big fan of media types.

"We're gonna come after the people in the media," says Patel in an interview clip from Dec. 2023 that Colbert played on The Late Show on Monday night. "Whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out. But yeah, we're putting you all on notice."

Colbert, however, is clearly unfazed by this threat.

"Oh, really? You see me shake, Kash?" says the host in the clip above, advancing towards the camera. "Let me help you remember me, OK? I'm the middle-aged, brown-haired, white guy with an 11:30 network show. And I will never bow down to authoritarians, or my name isn't Jimmy something! Write it down! Write it down!"

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