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Turns out, the weather forecast wasn't lying when it said this summer would be a scorcher. We're not even to July yet, and temps are creeping into uncomfortable territory. As someone who grew up in mild Seattle weather, I don't love the heat. Case in point: I decided to travel to Finland last July to get some cool respite. Instead, I ended up in a 90+ degree heatwave happening in the Arctic Circle. Go figure. This year, I'm taking matters into my own hands.
SEE ALSO: Amazon just dropped some rare Prime Day camping deals on Yeti and Coleman gearI've been reporting on Prime Day sales for five years now, and since I'm always looking for ways to cool down, I feel qualified to share some of the best cool summer deals I've found at Amazon. You can find me chilling with these items until things simmer down again in September.
Keep in mind, you can always head to your local library for a cool place to relax if all else fails.
A high-velocity fan for quick coolingIf you're not blessed with air conditioning, the Dreo Tower Fan is a necessity to get through summer heat. It has eight fan speeds and four modes, including a setting for sleep that lowers the fan's noise all the way down to 20 decibels. When you need quick cooling power, the Dreo's 28 feet per second high-velocity power gives instant relief. Plus, the included remote control means you don't have to get up to change the settings.
Opens in a new window Credit: Dreo Dreo Tower Fan 307 (white) $59.98 at AmazonIf you've been down the ice cream aisle lately, you know the good stuff is getting spendy. Take matters into your own hands this summer thanks to the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker which is on sale for only $54.10 during Prime Day, marked down from the normal price of $89.99.
Make 1.5 quarts of your favorite flavor of ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt, or even gelato with the Cuisinart. Fair warning though, I made a batch for a family barbecue months ago, and now I'm required to bring ice cream to every family gathering. But as a bonus, that means I get to provide a dessert without turning my oven on to bake a cake.
Opens in a new window Credit: Cuisinart Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (white) $54.10 at AmazonWhen the weather is too hot, sleep is one of the hardest elements to handle. Tossing and turning while feeling too warm is frustrating and uncomfortable. Each summer, I turn to my Brooklinen Percale sheets which are made with breathable cotton. These sheets have a 270 thread count, meaning they don't trap hot air against the skin. Plus, percale feels crisp and light.
As a special treat for Prime members, the queen-size Brooklinen sheet set in the abyss colorway is on sale for just $127.36 with the on-page coupon during Prime Day.
Opens in a new window Credit: Brooklinen Brooklinen Percale Sheet Set (queen, abyss) $127.36 at AmazonAmazon has a true summer treat on offer during the second day of the sale with exceptional Yeti deals. It's hard to find a Yeti deal that feels like you're saving more than $20 or so but Prime Day is turning out to be a major exception. The Yeti Hopper M30 Portable Soft Cooler in navy is discounted all the way down to $227.50, which is a huge $122.50 off the normal price of $350.
The Yeti M30 Hopper is loaded with trustworthy Yeti features like a leakproof liner and comfortable shoulder straps that make it ideal for all kinds of adventures, from a quick trip to the local pool or a weekend at the campground. The M30 can hold up to 42 cans without ice, so capacity is no issue with this cooler.
We don't expect this rare deal to last long, so hop to it if you're interested.
Opens in a new window Credit: Yeti Yeti Hopper M30 Portable Soft Cooler (navy) $227.50 at AmazonOne of the easiest ways to help regulate body temperature is to stay hydrated. That sounds so easy, but it's challenging to actually do. However, our favorite water bottle, the Owala FreeSip, is on sale during Prime Day. Snag the excellent summer sweetness colorway for only $22.78. The looks and ease of chugging with this bottle serve as great motivation for staying hydrated this summer.
Opens in a new window Credit: Owala Owala FreeSip (24 ounces, summer sweetness) $22.78 at AmazonLiquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier, Ring Pop — $14.70 $21 (save $6.30)
Jisulife Handheld Fan Life7 — $22.55 $28.99 (save $6.44)
Woozoo Air Circulator Fan — $75.99 $99.99 (save $24)
Ninja Slushi — $199.99 $299.99 (save $100)
Bote Wulf Aero Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board — $399 $579 (save $180)
The FIFA World Cup has plenty of ways to make a country famous when they succeed: a goal for the ages, a goalkeeping masterclass, or a star player turning into a meme.
But in 2026, with the world the way it is, even losing teams can go viral simply by being nice — cleaning up their locker room, bringing a box of desserts, or leaving a thank-you note. Call it the Ted Lasso World Cup.
Case in point: Jordan’s run at their first World Cup ended June 22 with a 2-1 loss to Algeria. But the team left more than their tournament hopes behind. A video posted by FIFA shows Jordan’s dressing room spotless, with a thank-you note, gifts, and Jordanian sweets left out for the stadium staff.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.The team was making its World Cup debut, and after losses to Austria and Algeria, its knockout hopes were gone. Still, they took the time to wish the U.S. a warm goodbye.
In the message, Jordan thanked everyone involved for a "truly unforgettable one," and praised the “dedication, professionalism and warm hospitality” it had received.
Winners can go viral for post-game courtesy too. After their 4-0 win over Tunisia in Mexico on June 20, team Japan left its locker room spotless, along with a thank-you message.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.Japanese fans, meanwhile, took thoughtfulness to the next level. After their 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in Texas on June 14, social media was full of videos featuring Japanese fans staying behind to pick up litter — gathering cups, wrappers, and trash into blue plastic bags before taking them away.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.Japan would clearly be the team to beat in any World Cup of sweetness. Fans have been cleaning stadiums for years, going back to Japan’s first World Cup appearance in 1998. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, fans cleaned their section after Japan beat the mighty Germany. Some even came to tidy up after the tournament opener between Qatar and Ecuador, despite Japan not even being on the field.
The reason is expressed in a popular Japanese proverb “tatsu tori ato wo nigosazu,” which roughly translates to “birds leaves nothing behind them.” (Or as we say on the hiking trail, "leave no trace.") At this World Cup, the gesture even got an assist from New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston, who was seen helping clean in a blue Japan shirt with his name on the back.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the Iranian team extended its gratitude — despite being allegedly forced to leave the U.S. in a hurry after its games and return to base camp across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. Some Iranian support staff and officials haven't been able to enter at all.
Still, following a 0-0 draw with Belgium at SoFi stadium, with goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand making seven spectacular saves, Iran wrote a note thanking LA for its hospitality, and Iranian fans for giving their “heart, voice and soul” during the team’s first two matches.
“We came to Los Angeles with pride, competed with honor, and leave with dignity,” the note read.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.Now that we know such gestures can go as viral online as a great goal, will more teams bring their politeness A-game to the 2030 World Cup — which will, for the first time, be held on multiple continents at once?
As Ted Lasso might say: Believe.
Erling Haaland is one of the best strikers in the world, but at this FIFA World Cup, he is not just going viral for his goals...he is going viral for his Snapchat.
The Norwegian star has 2.5 million followers on the app, where he posts like a fan account, a tourist, a meme page, and a bored friend answering questions from his couch.
This content is even funnier coming from Haaland, who is spending the majority of his time on the pitch making defenders’ lives miserable.
On the field, Haaland is already one of the tournament’s dominant players. Through Norway’s first two matches, he has scored four goals, putting himself near the top of the Golden Boot race alongside Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. His two goals against Senegal helped Norway win 3-2 and qualify for the knockout stage in its first World Cup appearance since 1998.
He, of course, posted about the win on Snapchat.
Credit: Erling Haaland/SnapchatHe also filmed himself walking around New York City in a cap and sunglasses, joking about how nobody seemed to recognize him.
After Lionel Messi scored a hat trick on the same day Haaland netted twice himself, Haaland didn't react to his own performance—he reacted to Argentina's match instead.
View this post on InstagramThese aren't the only posts. Every day is something new.
View this post on InstagramHe seems exactly the same in person. After Norway beat Senegal and secured its place in the next round, Haaland was asked about facing France in the final group match, a game that will decide who tops Group I and could shape both teams’ knockout paths.
“Honestly, I don’t care too much,” he said in a post-match interview after Norway’s win over Senegal. “We’re through, we’ve managed to get through, which is incredible. So, I couldn’t care too much about that game now.”
Then he added, “They’re probably going to win against us, they’re probably going to win the whole tournament.”
Between Norway’s viral “Viking Row” celebration and Haaland’s behind-the-scenes Snapchat posts, the country is winning matches and winning over the internet.
Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi have become big business lately. Earlier this year, for example, Polymarket saw users spend $425 million in a single day.
Sites like Polymarket and Kalshi allow people to bet on nearly anything, including sports, entertainment, finance, and politics.
According to a report from the New York Times, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants a piece of the prediction market action. The company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp recently had a team create a new prediction market smartphone app similar to Polymarket and Kalshi.
Internally, Meta's prediction market app is known as "Arena."
Unlike Polymarket and Kalshi, however, Arena isn't set up to accept real-money bets. Instead, Meta's prediction market acts more like a game in that regard, with in-app points awarded and wagered.
SEE ALSO: When the urge to gamble strikes, try mindfulnessArena is currently being tested internally at Meta. There are no plans to release the app to the public at this time. In fact, the app may never be released. However, according to the New York Times' sources, Meta isn't ruling out adding actual monetary betting to the app if it did indeed go live.
As the report points out, Meta previously experimented with a prediction market app well before Polymarket and Kalshi. Back in 2020, the company released an app called Forecast, which asked users to guess what the world would look like after the COVID-19 pandemic. Meta closed Forecast in 2022.
Meta has attempted to create standalone apps separate from its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms before, often with little success. For example, the company launched a standalone viral clips app, Lasso, in 2018. The app was positioned to be a competitor to TikTok. Meta shut down Lasso less than two years later.
Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi have been under intense scrutiny in recent months. Investigations have uncovered that these platforms are rife with issues such as insider trading and often engage in deceptive marketing to attract users.
With that said, the popularity of prediction markets has continued to surge. And Meta has a track record of following the trends – just look at the Metaverse or Meta's attempt to launch a cryptocurrency – so it should be no surprise that the company has developed a prediction market. The real question now is whether or not they launch it.
A security breach at a third-party vendor has exposed customer data belonging to LastPass, the company confirmed this week, in the latest incident to put the beleaguered password manager back in the spotlight.
LastPass confirmed this week that hackers gained access through a company called Klue, a market intelligence tool that LastPass uses internally to track competitors and manage sales relationships. According to LastPass, an unauthorized actor obtained OAuth tokens that Klue held on behalf of its customers and used them to access LastPass customer data within its Salesforce environment.
SEE ALSO: Nintendo responds after alleged third-party data breach: Our ‘systems have not been compromised’The exposed information was limited to names, phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, and sales-related records. LastPass was emphatic that its core products and customer vaults, meaning passwords, were not affected.
The breach was not limited to LastPass. As BleepingComputer reported, a newly emerged extortion group calling itself Icarus has publicly claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as a broad operation targeting multiple Klue customers. According to BleepingComputer's reporting, cybersecurity firms Huntress and ReliaQuest found that attackers exploited a compromised legacy credential to obtain OAuth tokens, then used Python scripts to query Salesforce's API and conduct large-scale data theft across numerous organizations. Confirmed victims include Recorded Future, Tanium, Jamf, Sprout Social, and Gong, among others.
Icarus is reportedly pressuring affected companies to make contact via the Session messaging platform or risk having their stolen data published.
LastPass says it has revoked Klue's access, notified law enforcement, and is cooperating with the broader security community through its internal threat intelligence team.
The company urged customers to remain alert to phishing and social engineering attempts that could exploit the exposed contact data. It reminded users that LastPass will never ask for a master password.
At the end of 2025's Superman, she was a high-energy scene-stealer, perfectly paired to her chaotic pup, Krypto. Now Supergirl gives Kara (Milly Alcock) an adventure all her own.
Set far from Metropolis, and based on the comic book miniseries Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, this DC movie launches fans into the cosmos, where the violence and villains are more random. Yet there are evils here that have strong, disturbing parallels to those on Earth. So it's absolutely satisfying to watch a petite but powerful Supergirl dish out attitude with the grudging determination of a lunch lady and kick ass like only a pissed-off superhero can.
Supergirl is better than Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Milly Alcock is Supergirl and Matthias Schoenaerts is Krem. Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesScreenwriter Ana Nogueira took the bones of the DC miniseries, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and dropped its less cinematic elements. The story still follows Kara (Alcock) from her boozy birthday revels in space to a quest for vengeance, sparked by a young girl named Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley). Together, they will hunt down the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts), a member of a band of vicious criminals known as the Brigands. However, Nogueira's version dumps much of Ruthye's tedious narration from the comics, allowing Supergirl to be more centered. Plus, she loops in Lobo (Jason Momoa), a bounty-hunting antihero with big personality, a devil-may-care attitude, and a roaring motorcycle.
Also, taking a page from 2025's Superman, Supergirl leans hard on the cosmic cuteness of Krypto, the flying dog. Supergirl begins where Superman left off, with Kara retrieving her canine bestie. Together, they trek to a red-sun system, where her superpowers vanish, so she can get properly intoxicated. Far from the noble boy scout her cousin Kal-El is, Kara is drowning her agony over the loss of their family and home planet in any booze she can get her hands on. (A flashback reveals why the loss was harder on her. And heads up, comics fans, it's different from the book.)
It's in a dangerous bar that she meets Ruthye, who's seen her entire family slain by Krem, and is now offering her father's sword to whoever will help her spill Krem's blood with it. Kara is not interested in a quest. But when a hulking alien steals the blade, she can't help but intervene — drunkenly. This becomes the pattern for Kara. She retreats to distractions with her pup, but can't help but step in for the underdog. However, this mission gets personal when a run-in with Krem results in Krypto being poisoned by the Brigand leader. Not only does this sideline the superdog from most of another DC movie, but it also puts a ticking clock on their quest. If Kara can't find Krem — who carries the antidote — in three days, Krypto will die.
Milly Alcock is Supergirl and Eve Ridley is Ruthye. Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesThat still doesn't mean she wants to help a child murder a guy, though. Reluctantly, she brings Ruthye along, equipping her with a Rick and Morty-like suit of protection. In their pursuit of Krem, they will save the day for others, including a bus full of travelers, and slew of girls who've been abducted by the Brigand. In another major shift from the comic, the Brigands aren't just a violence-seeking gang. Here, they have their own sex-trafficking operation, abducting girls from various planets to spawn new Brigands. (There's a line about how the Brigand race has no women, so this is how they procreate. Which makes zero sense, even in a world in which Kryptonians can fly under the yellow sun. Anyway, moving on...)
By essentially creating DC's version of Epstein island, this change adds another layer of threat to Supergirl by recognizing the real-world dangers of rape that women and girls face all too often. Referred to by the Brigand as "the brides," these girls are stolen from their family, robbed of their autonomy, and made objects by their powerful male abductors. In this setting, having a surly, short blonde woman be their savior feels thrilling, because aside from her superpowers, Kara is just like them. Yet it's not her strength that drives her to save them.
Another difference from the book is that Nogueira emphasizes the final wishes of Kara's mother in a thought-provoking way. Rather than simply "be good," Alura In-Ze (Emily Beecham) advises her daughter not to be "nice" but to "be kind." This is a message that suggests not creating a superficial facade of civility, but doing the work, offering the sacrifice demanded to truly express kindness to others. It's a powerful message and an infuriatingly timeless one. It's just a shame these messages don't permeate the execution of the film.
Despite Milly Alcock's terrific performance, Supergirl's girl power message feels sanitized by its director. Milly Alcock stars as Supergirl. Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesWithin the script, Nogueira creates opportunities to display Kara's complexity. In some scenes, she seems a carefree party girl. But when she's alone with her dog, her grief throbs. In front of Ruthye, she tries to keep it together. Having her upbringing disrupted by the end of her world means that Kara's not great at playing with others. She's pugnacious but smart, reckless but kind. And Alcock masterfully swerves from one side of Supergirl to another, making her a crackling and compelling character onscreen — certainly more dynamic than the Woman of Tomorrow comic's depiction of an ever-stoic hero who abruptly curses.
Nogueria finds other ways to work more women into the plot line as well. For instance, the abducted girls create a focal point for the spreading malignance of the Brigand — and in the third act, some of these captives will get a chance at revenge. But even little details, like swapping a dragon out for a trio of female raiders as adversaries, bring greater representation to this DC offering. (Women can be villains too!)
However, Supergirl lacks the presentation of lived experience seen in Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman, where Diana got to be delighted by babies and ice cream while also being a powerful warrior, or Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey, where an action sequence has a brief beat so one heroine can hand off a hair tie to another mid-fight. This movie yearns for such moments of specificity.
Jason Momoa is Lobo. Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesDirector Craig Gillespie has made a dazzling array of movies, from the sexy, better-than-the-original remake of Fright Night to the Tonya Harding biopic/comedy I, Tonya to the fabulously fashion-forward Cruella and the GameStop short squeeze dramedy Dumb Money. He's shown a skill for crafting character. And it's not like Supergirl is flat. If anything, it feels like Gillespie got out of the way of Alcock, Schoenaerts, and Momoa. Alcock is not falling into the social pressure to be a (super)girl who smiles to appease. She even gets a beat where she plays up a valley girl voice to undermine a man she assumes will be placated by that. Schoenaerts oozes with sleaze, whether he's murdering innocents or snarling at kidnapped girls, and Momoa has the chaotic himbo energy that's made him such fun on red carpets and in Fast X. (He's so much better suited to Lobo than the nautical saga of Aquaman.)
However, there's just something lacking, keeping it from knitting it together beautifully. The action scenes are full of stunts. But none of the blows hit as hard as when Krypto gets shot in act one. The costuming by Michael Mooney and Anna B. Sheppard is surprising, as Supergirl wears a T-shirt, jeans, and trench coat for most of the film as opposed to her signature supersuit and cape. That it's a Blondie tee feels a bit reductive, as if Blondie is a band for girls. This shorthand is echoed in a soundtrack that includes songs from female-fronted bands like Wet Leg and Rilo Kiley, standards sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Winnie Ama, and a cover of Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle," performed by Kelty Greye and KidMotel.
The issue is not these acts or these songs, but that this approach to capturing girlhood or sisterhood feels like a "nice" superficial exterior to Nogueira's more challenging screenplay. For instance, "The Middle" cover falls into the cliché that's become rampant in movie trailers, where the memorable song is slowed down and song softly, as if that inherently gives it a new or deeper meaning. Its use makes Gillespie's choices feel strategically pandering to a female audience instead of organic to Kara's story.
Matthias Schoenaerts is Krem. Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesWatching Supergirl, I wasn't able to fully enjoy the ride, because these details kept snagging my attention. I was jerked out of the movie by cosmetic choices that felt not exactly out of place, but certainly not smoothly integrated. Still, there's a lot of great stuff in this DC spinoff.
Alcock is captivating as the conflicted Supergirl, who's not sure if she's a hero or of her place in the universe. Schoenaerts is spectacularly creepy as Krem of the Yellow Hills, while Momoa is snarling fun as Lobo. The story runs more smoothly, dramatically, and satisfyingly than the comic. It shows more often than it tells and creates a greater complexity to its title character. And Nogueira does a sublime job of balancing Kara's processing of grief with comedic moments that allow for breath and laughs. So, this movie won't be bogged down by mourning like a series of the MCU ones post-snap.
But, in the end, while I enjoyed myself, I was never really blown away by this superhero movie. I left pleased, but not in awe, not craving a chance to see it again immediately. Still, if Warner Bros. greenlit a sequel, I'd be game to give Kara and her crew another go.
It's been exactly a year since the Trump administration axed the "climate.gov" domain, the former federal hub for climate change information which now redirects Americans to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate page.
But former members of the Climate.gov team and NOAA scientists — many of whom were fired by federal leaders in the wake of President Donald Trump's “Restoring Gold Standard Science” executive order — have brought it back to life.
SEE ALSO: Influencers reportedly faked winning Polymarket betsAnnounced today, Climate.us is an entirely independent, volunteer-run, nonprofit website dedicated to reestablishing up-to-date and trusted climate science to the public. It houses 15 years of climate news, blogs, reports, classroom materials, and other data, including the Fifth National Climate Assessment — materials all formerly accessible on Climate.gov.
The initiative is run by more than 80 volunteer scientists and was partially funded by a grassroots donation campaign that raised $250,000 from 2,500 donors.
"Trusted climate information should not disappear when politics change," said Climate.gov's former program manager Rebecca Lindsey. Lindsey is now the managing director of Climate.us. Last year, Lindsey told NPR that the current presidential administration was shuttering the website to curb discussion of climate change as part of its denialist agenda.
The Trump administration's attack on environmental regulation hasn't slowed. Last week, the Justice Department issued a letter pressuring a Mississippi court to drop a case against xAI that alleges the company's data centers are violating the Clean Air Act and polluting Black neighborhoods. The notice argued the case (and others like it) constitutes a national security threat because it could impede the Department of War’s AI-powered operations.
Thanks to the global memory crisis known as RAMageddon, prices on memory products like hard drives, MicroSD cards, and portable SSDs have gone up, up, and up. Experts interviewed by Mashable say the memory crisis will get worse before it gets better, so this is a rare opportunity to find deals on these products.
MicroSD and portable SSDs are a staple of Prime Day and more relevant than ever in light of RAMageddon. We found the best deals in the memory category, so now is the time to take advantage of these microSD and portable SSD offers, with Prime Day deals from Lexar, Samsung, and SanDisk.
SEE ALSO: Prime Day 2026: Get live updates on Amazon deals from Apple, Bose, Lego, and SonySo, if your Nintendo Switch 2 or hard drive has been dangerously full, now's the best time to restock.
Best MicroSD Card deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung T7 MicroSDXC 1TB $239.99 at AmazonIf you're maxing out device storage, enough is enough. The Samsung T7 brings an immense amount of storage space (1TB to be exact) in a tiny package. It can store your favorite games and capture high-res photos and 4K video in real time. It pulls a lot of weight and right now, you can pay just $239.99 for the MicroSD card, saving you $80 during Prime Day. For some slightly cheaper microSDs, check out Lexar's SD cards during Prime Day.
Best portable SSD deal Opens in a new window Credit: Sandisk Sandisk Portable SSD, 1TB $135.99A portable SSD provides an immense amount of storage in a portable package. This Sandisk portable SSD is made for people on the go with a loop on it for easy attachment to a backpack or belt loop. With 1TB of storage, Sandisk claims excellent performance with up to 800MB/s speeds. Get it for just $135.99 and save $24 during Prime Day.
Best deal for Switch 2 Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung P9 Express MicroSD, 256GB $39.99 at AmazonIf you're in the market for a microSD card for your Nintendo Switch 2, you can grab the Samsung P9 Express MicroSD for 50% off during Prime Day. It has transfer speeds up to 800MB/s and 256GB of storage, so you can store games on it in a safe spot.
More MicroSD and Portable SSD dealsMicroSDs
Sandisk Max Endurance MicroSDHC, 32GB — $27.99 $32.99 (save $5)
Sandisk Ultra MicroSDXC, 256GB — $41.78 $52.99 (save $11.21)
Lexar E-Series MicroSD, 64GB — $42.49 $49.99 (save $7.50)
Lexar E-Series MicroSD 3-pack, 128GB — $75.99 $89.99 (save $14)
Lexar Play Blue MicroSD, 2TB — $279.99 $429.99 (save $120)
Portable SSDs
Lexar TouchLock Portable SSD, 512GB — $87.99 $104.99 (save $17)
SSK Portable SSD, 1TB — $129.19 $159.99 (save $30.80)
Sandisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD, 1TB — $178.49 $209.99 (save $31.50)
Samsung T9 Portable SSD, 1TB — $179.99 $287.99 (save $109)
Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD, 2TB — $229.99 $299.99 (save $70)
If you were looking to lock down a Grand Theft Auto VI pre-order this week, Rockstar Games just released some very important information about that.
Specifically, Rockstar finally gave us a price for the game. There is a standard edition for $79.99, making GTA VI the first game since Mario Kart World to start at that price. That's not terribly surprising, nor is the fact that Rockstar is also charging $99.99 for an Ultimate Edition of the game.
SEE ALSO: Amazon Prime Day is here: We found 75+ deals on Apple, Sony, Kindle, and Lego favoritesWhat exactly does that price get you? According to Rockstar, it's an "exclusive collection of premium vehicles, weapons, apparel, and action around every corner." The official website for the game has some more specific information on that front. The Ultimate Edition of GTA VI includes:
Several exclusive vehicles
Exclusive weapons
A bevy of shops for fashion, vehicle mods, and tattoos that only exist in the Ultimate Edition
Locking outfits and even vehicles behind an Ultimate Edition purchase is pretty normal stuff for a game like this, but putting several shops in the game that can only be accessed by players who bought the more expensive version is...innovative, though maybe not in the way people want GTA VI to be.
It should also be noted that Rockstar emphasized in its news drop on Wednesday that GTA VI is, for now, a single-player experience. Barring the unexpected, there will not be an online portion of the game available at launch. That was also true of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Both of those games got multiplayer modes later, with V's being a cornerstone of Rockstar's financial success for the last decade.
Prime Day 2026 has started out with a bang, offering the deep discounts we've come to expect over the years.
But it won't last forever! And people seem to be aware of this fact, as we've seen a spike in people asking exactly when Amazon Prime Day will end this year. No one wants to deal with FOMO when it comes to saving hundreds of dollars on the best Prime Day deals.
So, mark your calendar: Prime Day 2026 ends on Friday, June 26.
SEE ALSO: Prime Day 2026: Get live updates on Amazon deals from Apple, Bose, Lego, and Sony How long is Prime Day 2026? When exactly does it end?Amazon Prime Day 2026 started at 3:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, June 23. The Amazon sale will come to an end at exactly 2:59 p.m. ET on Friday, June 26, 2026 (or 11:59 p.m. PT). At that point, you can expect most deals on major brands like Apple, Lego, and Amazon's own devices will have ended. As of this writing, we're on day two of the four-day mega sale.
Some price drops do tend to linger once the sale is technically over, so it's worth checking to see if the products you've had your eye on are still available on sale. It's a bit of a gamble at that point, though, so we recommend grabbing deals sooner rather than later.
Best things to buy on Prime DayLike Black Friday, Prime Day only comes around once a year — though there are other sales to be had year-round from Amazon. So it's definitely a bummer to think you may have missed one of the most lucrative events of the year when it comes to saving money.
SEE ALSO: The best anti-Prime Day sales 2026: Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and moreThe good news is that you still have plenty of time to find a bargain. Below, find a selection of some of the best Amazon Prime Day deals Mashable has curated for our readers. And be sure to follow along in our Prime Day hub for the latest and greatest price drops during (and after) the event.
Apple dealsAirPods deals
Apple AirPods 4 — $99 $129 (save $30)
Apple AirPods 4 with ANC — $148.99 $179 (save $30.01)
Apple AirPods Pro 3 — $179 $249 (save $70)
Apple AirPods Max 2 — $399 $549 (save $150)
Apple Watch deals
Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS, 40mm) — $199 $249 (save $50)
Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm) — $279 $399 (save $120)
Apple Watch Ultra 2 (GPS + cellular, 49mm) — $499 $799 (save $300)
Apple Watch Ultra 3 (GPS + cellluar, 49mm) — $649 $799 (save $150)
Ipad deals
Apple iPad (A16, WiFi, 128GB) — $299 $349 (save $50)
Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro, WiFi, 128GB) — $399.99 $499 (save $99.01)
Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $519 $599 (save $80)
Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $699.99 $799 (save $99.01)
Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $899 $999 (save $100)
Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,199 $1,299 (save $100)
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MacBook deals
Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $949 $1,099 (save $150)
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Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,549 $1,699 (save $150)
Streaming services
Amazon Music Unlimited — free for 4 months $11.99/month (save $11.99/month)
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HBO Max (Prime Video add-on) — 40% off all annual subscriptions
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Streaming sticks
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Echo deals
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Kindle deals
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Fire TV deals
Insignia 24-inch F40 Series LED Smart Fire TV — $59.99 $79.99 (save $20)
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Amazon 40-inch 2-Series Smart Fire TV — $149.99 $249.99 (save $100)
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65-inch TVs
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Remember Slate Auto, the minimalistic, made-in-America electric truck that went viral in 2025? Originally, the car was supposed to start at $20,000 after federal incentives.
Now, official price has been revealed and it's not exactly that, but it isn't too bad either.
SEE ALSO: BMW's new i3 is so hot, the company opened preorders months ahead of scheduleThe official starting price for Slate Auto is $24,950, though that doesn't include a destination charge, taxes, and other potential fees. Those federal credits that Slate hoped would push the price below $20,000 no longer exist thanks to Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill", so hoping the price would be so low was unrealistic, anyways.
For the price, you get the Blank Slate edition, which comes with a nice surprise: a slightly larger-than-announced 63kWh battery with 205 miles of EPA range. Other highlights include a single, rear-mounted 135kW motor with 181 hp, a 20-80 percent charge in 30 minutes on a DC fast charger, a 1,550lb max payload,and a towing capacity at around 2,000lb. The 0-60mph time is a flat eight seconds, and top speed is 90mph.
In terms of safety and comfort, you get traction control, electronic stability control, automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, a backup camera, and remote keyless entry, among other amenities (see full specs on Slate's website).
The Slate Auto starts pretty basic, but you can add a bunch of goodies to it to make it unique. Credit: SlateThe car remains highly modular. You can choose between 100 color wraps with most costing an additional $499, and turn the Blank Slate variant into the Slate SUV variant which has a full roof (Fastback and an Open Air variants are also available). The pricing for those upgrades, however, hasn't been revealed yet.
While the price was expected, the big news here is the battery and the 205 miles of range, a pretty big increase from the originally announced 150 miles. Also, the car has an NCAS charging port, making it compatible with Tesla Supercharger network. The charging speed at 120kW is not the best out there but it's still plenty fast, especially on a battery of this size.
Slate said it received 180,000 reservations for the car so far, and deliveries start in the fourth quarter of the year.
SAVE $490: As of June 24, the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025) is down to $2,099.99 at Amazon. That’s $490.01 off a high-end gaming laptop built for serious gaming and heavy workloads.
Opens in a new window Credit: ASUS ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025) $2,099.99 at AmazonPrime Day is officially here, and if you've been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your gaming laptop, this might be it. Amazon has cut the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025) to $2,099.99, knocking nearly $500 off the regular price and bringing the high-performance gaming laptop down to its lowest price this year.
This is a high-end gaming laptop built for people who want serious speed without waiting around for things to load. It runs on Intel’s Core Ultra 9 processor paired with NVIDIA’s RTX 5070 Ti graphics, which basically means it can handle demanding games, creative work, and heavy multitasking without slowing down. You also get 32GB of memory and a 1TB solid-state drive, so apps open quickly, and there’s plenty of space for a full game library.
On the experience side, the 16-inch display is designed for fast, smooth gameplay, which helps keep motion clear in fast-moving games. It also has an advanced cooling system designed to maintain steady performance during long gaming sessions instead of throttling under pressure.
The RGB lighting is mostly for looks and customization, but you can switch it off or tone it down if you want a more simple, work-friendly setup.
Grab the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025) on Amazon before your laptop starts charging emotional damage fees.
Our Best Editor-Vetted Prime Day Deals Right NowApple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $179.00 (List Price $249.00)
Apple AirPods 4 Wireless Earbuds With Active Noise Cancellation — $148.99 (List Price $179.00)
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Fire TV Stick 4K Plus Streaming Player With Remote (2025 Model) — $24.99 (List Price $49.99)
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I used to joke that auditioning for Love Island is a better alternative to dating, and now Tinder is taking it seriously. The app just announced that it's partnering with TikTok to launch a full-on reality dating show this summer called Double Date Island.
The concept is a little different from most dating shows. Instead of sending single people out to navigate an island or competition alone, Tinder is asking contestants to bring a best friend along for the ride. It's all part of Tinder's attempt to be relationship-focused while promoting its Double Date Mode. They're casting single duos from various countries (the U.S., UK, Brazil, Australia, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany), according to the press release, and flying them to Portugal for a summer of on-camera courting.
The show will follow real Tinder users as they go on double dates and participate in challenges and other activities, the app told Mashable. It's (unsurprisingly) inspired by the Double Date feature, and will be unscripted.
SEE ALSO: App fatigue is real. I tested the best dating apps of 2026 to find the ones that really work.I'm not sure if Tinder is taking a page out of InStyle's book — The InTern mockumentary series went viral soon after its first episode, and now it's so popular that celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Sarah Sherman have appeared in it — but a dating show built just for TikTok sounds like something I'd binge while huddled under my covers.
If you want to try out for it, you have to move fast. According to a LinkedIn post shared by Tinder's Global Communications and Social Media Manager, Francisco Gonçalves, the casting window opened on June 22 and closes at midnight local time on June 28, this Sunday.
View this post on InstagramIf you're 18 or older, all you have to do is open up Tinder. A special casting card will randomly pop up right in your usual profile stack over the next few days, and if you want to apply, you literally just Swipe Right on it.
Applications will then be reviewed by the production team, Tinder told Mashable. Selected applicants may be invited to participate in further casting stages, such as interviews, additional social or video submissions, social media reviews, background checks, welfare assessments, and other standard production checks.
The show will culminate in an international finale featuring contributors from multiple countries, according to Tinder. Double Date Island will premiere exclusively on TikTok (not Tinder or another streamer) this summer — apparently, if you're 18 and older.
It might be a promo for the app, but hey, traveling to Portugal with your best friend "for the plot" sounds way better than normal swiping.
SAVE OVER $200: As of June 24, the Oura Ring 4 has dropped to a new low price of $246.05 at Amazon. That's $252.95 off its full price of $499.
Opens in a new window Credit: Oura Oura Ring 4 $246.05 at AmazonWe're officially into day two of Amazon's four-day-long Prime Day sale, and there's still plenty of exciting offers catching our attention. One of our favorite fitness trackers, the Oura Ring 4, has hit a new all-time low price at Amazon.
As of June 24, the Oura Ring 4 is down to $246.05 on Prime Day. Normally it's listed with a full price of $499, so this deal is just over half off.
SEE ALSO: Everything to know about Amazon Prime Day: Dates, competition, and the best deals to shopIf you want a tracker without a screen, the Oura Ring 4 can assist. Powered by Smart Sensing technology, this stylish smart ring tracks a variety of health metrics right from your finger, including sleep, stress, activity, heart health, and even metrics specific to women's health. It also boasts a solid battery life that can last you up to eight days.
It's among our favorite fitness trackers as the best smart ring. Mashable's Kimberly Gedeon also had high praise for it in her review, writing "the Oura Ring 4 is a wellness powerhouse with a sleek design and cutting-edge AI that takes personalized health tracking to the next level."
This Prime Day deal won't last for long. Act fast to save on the Oura Ring 4 while it's still on sale at Amazon.
Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.
In online spaces where people talk about video games, the necessity (or lack thereof) of remakes is pretty well-worn discourse. Any given remake needs to have some reason to exist beyond just being new, so the argument goes. If we are to accept that framing with regards to Nintendo's new Star Fox reboot for Switch 2, I'd say the multiplayer mode is a solid enough reason to exist.
Between playing the new online Battle Mode at a preview event a few weeks ago and then getting some more hands-on time with it during the review process, I've come away thinking that it's much more than just a tacked-on bonus for this Star Fox 64 remake. While Battle Mode is ultimately too limited in scope to become anyone's new multiplayer obsession, matches are big and chaotic enough (thanks to some added Mario Kart elements) to make it a worthwhile diversion once you're done racking up high scores and collecting medals in the single-player campaign.
SEE ALSO: The biggest announcements from the June 2026 Nintendo Direct 'Star Fox' battle mode is a frenzied take on dogfightingStar Fox for Switch 2 is far from the first game in the series to experiment with competitive multiplayer. Its chief inspiration, Star Fox 64, had a very basic split-screen dogfighting mode that is a source of nostalgia for some, but, frankly, it was never the appeal of that game for me. Some later entries, like Assault for GameCube and the 3DS version of 64, expanded on the number of modes and vehicles, but the Switch 2 reboot is the first time since Command for the Nintendo DS that the series has allowed online play.
Given its history, Star Fox for Switch 2 is easily the most the franchise has ever delivered on the potential of online dogfighting with strangers or the homies. Battles take place between two teams of four, with one team stepping into the boots of team Star Fox, and the other inhabiting the role of the rival crew Star Wolf. These battles take place in extremely large arenas full of obstacles to maneuver around, enemy NPC ships that you can shoot down for small point bonuses, and wormholes that you can use to quickly teleport around.
SEE ALSO: This Nintendo Switch 2 bundle is leading the way on Prime Day — how to score a free game todayIt can be a lot to take in at first, and you might find yourself getting shot down frequently if you get a little too adventurous before learning how the game works. The skies of the Lylat System aren't especially forgiving.
Given that the single-player modes in Star Fox are entirely beholden to a game from 1997, Battle Mode is the main avenue for the developers at Velan Studios to flex their creative muscles. That's done primarily via random weapon pick-ups a la Mario Kart; you don't know what you're getting until you've collected it, and it's gone once you use it. These can range from small drones that accompany your craft and augment your weapon fire, a quick teleport you can activate at will, homing cluster missiles, or my personal favorite, a giant f***-you laser beam that just wipes out anything it touches.
At its best, Battle Mode feels like Mario Kart in the air. A rough stretch can quickly turn around if you happen to collect the right weapon, and that can snowball into a come-from-behind victory if enough things go right. All of that combines with truly excellent flight mechanics to make something that's tremendously easy to pick up and play for a few minutes, provided you've at least played the tutorial for this game.
But there just isn't enough of it Oh yeah, you can use characters' faces in GameChat, too. Credit: NintendoStar Fox for Switch 2 fills a nice little niche for multiplayer dogfighting that's more approachable and family-friendly than something like Ace Combat or any of the myriad online military sims you can play on PC. Sadly, in accordance with the game's relatively low $50 price tag, there just isn't a ton of it to chew on.
Specifically, there are only three modes:
Capture a zone of the map before the enemy does
Avoid falling meteorites and collect pick-ups from their impact craters to score points
Steal cargo from space pirates and carry it to your enemy base
That'd be a decent enough selection of modes if not for the fact that each one is tied to a certain map, meaning there are a total of three maps in Battle Mode. Nintendo and Velan have also not indicated any plans for DLC, so there's a good possibility that this is all we'll get. While all three maps are fun enough to play on their own, it's just too meager an offering to be something that anyone but a handful of die-hards will want to play for longer than a couple of weeks.
SEE ALSO: I played 'Star Fox' on Switch 2. Multiplayer mode rules.In a vacuum, that's not a bad thing. I'm always in favor of games being intentional with scope and not demanding that players give over their entire lives to them. I don't need Star Fox to be the next Fortnite. But this is the first Star Fox game in a decade, and the first good one in much longer than that, so it's kind of a bummer that Battle Mode is as good as it is while also being extremely limited.
But hey, at least you can also use a webcam to plaster an AR Falco model that roughly follows your facial movements in GameChat lobbies. That's funny, if nothing else.
SAVE $200: As of June 24, the Apple 2026 MacBook Pro (M5 Pro) is down to $2,399.99 at Amazon. That’s a $200 discount on a high-end MacBook with 2TB SSD.
Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple 2026 MacBook Pro M5 $2,399.99 at AmazonWith Prime Day officially underway, Apple’s 2026 MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip has dropped to an all-time low price. It’s down to $2,399.99 on Amazon, saving you $199.
This MacBook Pro is powered by Apple’s M5 Pro chip, which is built to handle heavy workloads like large creative projects, development work, and AI-assisted tools without slowing down when things stack up.
A key shift is that more AI-related tasks can now be handled directly on the device. Apple’s system is designed to run these workloads locally where possible, with some heavier tasks still supported through external processing. It’s also paired with faster storage and memory, which helps reduce delays when opening large files or moving between apps and projects.
The display is one of the stronger parts of the experience. The 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR screen is tuned for high brightness and strong contrast, which helps text stay sharp and visuals look defined across different lighting conditions. Despite the performance jump, it still maintains the usual MacBook Pro balance of long battery life and an easy-to-carry design for day-to-day use.
Grab the Apple 2026 MacBook Pro (M5 Pro) on Amazon before the deal ends.
Our Best Editor-Vetted Prime Day Deals Right NowApple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $179.00 (List Price $249.00)
Apple AirPods 4 Wireless Earbuds With Active Noise Cancellation — $148.99 (List Price $179.00)
Apple iPad 11" 128GB Wi-Fi Retina Tablet (Silver, 2025 Release) — $299.00 (List Price $349.00)
Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $279.00 (List Price $399.00)
Sony WH-1000XM6 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones — $378.00 (List Price $459.99)
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Fire TV Stick 4K Plus Streaming Player With Remote (2025 Model) — $24.99 (List Price $49.99)
Meta Quest 3S 128GB With 3-Month Trial of Meta Horizon+ — $296.79 (List Price $349.99)
Nintendo's new Star Fox reboot for Switch 2 has all the trademarks of something that should be totally creatively bankrupt.
It's a gussied-up remake of Star Fox 64, a game that Nintendo has already remade once before for the 3DS. On top of that, its existence feels like a big attempt at corporate synergy with the distressingly awful Super Mario Galaxy Movie, in which Fox McCloud made his surprise cinematic debut. Instead of reviving the long-dormant Star Fox series with something new, Nintendo has gone and just given us the same game for the third time.
And the wildest part is that it totally kicks ass. Nintendo and new development partner (and Troy, New York's own) Velan Studios have done the impossible and made a big, Hollywood-style remake of a classic arcade-style rail shooter that really, truly works once you sit down and play it. Star Fox for Switch 2 marries timeless levels and mechanics with gorgeous visuals, a breathtaking soundtrack, and just enough new flavor to make me excited about the future of Star Fox for the first time since the Bush administration.
SEE ALSO: Nintendo responds after alleged third-party data breach: Our ‘systems have not been compromised’ Star Fox proves that 'cinematic' doesn't have to be a dirty word in games That's a cool dude right there. Credit: NintendoIf you haven't been following along closely, I should probably clarify a few things about Star Fox for Switch 2.
First, yes, this is a one-to-one recreation of Star Fox 64 in terms of level design and mechanics. Enemy placement, boss strategies, the branching path system, and the way scoring works are all retained here, exactly as they were in 1997. It's still a rail shooter with some open-zone segments, and you can still finish it in roughly half an hour. I have played through the original game dozens of times in my life, so I can speak pretty authoritatively on this subject.
SEE ALSO: The gaming deals we'd buy on Prime Day — Switch 2 bundles, Asus gaming laptops, Samsung monitors on saleWhat Star Fox lacks in innovation, it makes up for in pure, timeless arcade-style gameplay. Controlling the Arwing spacecraft has, in my mind, never felt better than it does here. It took all of 30 seconds for me to feel totally comfortable with everything I was doing, and a new, extended tutorial should be pretty good at easing newcomers into the fun, too. Using a charged shot to eliminate a group of enemy ships and then quickly barrel rolling out of the way of an incoming obstacle was thrilling 29 years ago, and it's still thrilling now.
I am largely uninterested in conversations about whether a remake is better or worse than the original. In my mind, remakes are either additive or can be safely ignored, so long as the original is readily, legally available on modern hardware, as Star Fox 64 is on Switch.
This is the first time Aquas has been a fun level to play. Credit: NintendoHaving said that, there are actually a couple of aspects of this new Star Fox that I feel elevate the experience beyond what the N64 was capable of. The new visuals, for example, add personality to some levels that badly needed it. Corneria, the game's opening level, regardless of which branch you choose to pursue, is downright apocalyptic here, befitting of a planet undergoing a violent invasion from an evil empire. I'm also a fan of the new take on Katina, which turns that level into a wetland marsh environment rather than the nondescript brown smudge that defined it on N64.
I'm also particularly fond of how reactive each environment is to player actions. Shooting basically any surface in the game produces a satisfying graphical effect, such as space dust on meteorites or sparks from metal surfaces. In one section, you can shoot pine trees on the ground to set them on fire. It all looks and feels right in that respect, and frankly, I think the new character designs are kinda cool. I like how much more animal-like they are.
SEE ALSO: 'Pokémon Legends: Z-A' on Switch 2 has had a massive price drop for Prime Day — save $25 with record-low priceArguably, the best aspect of this remake, and the one thing that I would say is a straight-up upgrade over the original, is the soundtrack. Star Fox 64's score was, and remains, extremely well composed, but the N64's sound hardware just wasn't particularly good at producing artificial orchestral sounds. Nintendo has gone and re-recorded the entire thing with a real orchestra for this remake, and I would say every single song is better here than it was before.
There are also new cutscenes sprinkled in between every story mission. These are typically pretty quick mission briefings that serve to add a little bit of flavor to the Star Fox universe, and they're mostly successful at that. I enjoy seeing the crew hang out with each other between battles, and I particularly like how often Fox makes it clear that his main motivation is getting paid because he's a mercenary. Making the world of Star Fox feel a little more grimy is cool.
As a fun bonus, you get different cutscenes based on which branching paths you choose in the campaign, so there's another little reason to play it over and over again.
These visual and audio changes work in concert to make the new Star Fox feel "cinematic," a term that has evolved into a pejorative for glossy AAA productions. In this context, though, Star Fox earns the compliment. A rail shooter ought to feel cinematic, given the genre's inherent reliance on heavy scripting while still preserving interactivity. Star Fox 64 also felt cinematic in its day, but I do believe the new version does that particular thing better than the original.
New modes are fun, but some changes fall a little flatOf course, Nintendo and Velan also made a bunch of changes, as you'd expect from a full-on remake. Most of them are fine, but some of them are not.
I'll start with the bad. The new voice acting is generally done fairly well, in line with how modern video games and cartoons sound. That is to say, the tone on each line read is usually a bit more muted and less theatrical than the original. It can often be jarring if the lines from 1997 are imprinted on your brain like they are on mine, but I have to imagine anyone starting their Star Fox journey with this version will not notice anything wrong.
Still, it was hard for me not to notice how many lines that were previously screamed dramatically are now spoken more casually. I prefer the original reads, but that's to be expected of someone who has been hearing them for three decades. I also want to bemoan the lack of a weird robot voice saying "GOOD LUCK" when you start each level. There was no need to take that out.
The Landmaster is still rad. Credit: NintendoOther than that, though, most of the additions are worthwhile. Challenge Mode adds a bunch of achievement-like objectives to each level, giving you even more reason to replay them after you've earned all the medals in the story mode. Battle Mode is a new, expanded multiplayer experience that offers online 4v4 dogfights across three maps, with a different team objective on each map.
I'm pretty into what I've played of Battle Mode, but I can easily see it wearing a little thin after a week or two, given the lack of maps and (thus far) lack of indication that there will be any more added to the game. Regardless, the dream of online Star Fox dogfights has finally been realized in a console game, and that counts for something.
Star Fox for Switch 2 might not be the franchise revival many of us had in mind when rumors of its existence started trickling out months ago. But on its merits, this is a mostly excellent take on a tremendous N64 classic, and one that I think would be a fantastic starting point for anyone who has ever been Star Fox-curious. Given the way Nintendo has treated remakes made by external studios in the recent past, I also fully expect this to be an on-ramp to a new, original game in the near future.
And for the first time in a very long time, I'm actually excited by the prospect of a new Star Fox game.
A new wave of wellness influencers, biohackers, and MAHA-aligned creators are promoting nicotine pouches, patches, gums, and lozenges as cognitive enhancers.
The claim, from influencers like Dave Asprey, goes like this: Nicotine can help you focus, make you sharper, more alert, more productive, and more locked in. And, unfortunately, this is the exact kind of thing the internet is designed to make irresistible, since it’s rooted in a shred of truth and then blown out of context. Like, remember mouth taping and color analysis?
Doctors told The New York Times that many claims around nicotine are exaggerated or misrepresent the research. It’s both a stimulant and a relaxant, and really can make people feel more alert. Some studies have shown nicotine may have potential benefits in very specific medical contexts, but with the tobacco industry funding many studies, things can be a little murky here.
And notably, over time, people can build a dependence on nicotine. In any given year about half of all smokers try to quit, but only six percent actually accomplish that. Eventually, the thing that initially makes you feel "locked in" can become quite literal.
In this episode of Mashable's Trending Now series, Christianna Silva and Teodosia Dobriyanova unpack this eyebrow-raising trend.
SAVE $103: As of June 24, the Acer Aspire 14 AI laptop is on sale for $479.99 at Amazon, down from its typical price of $582.99. That's an 18% discount on a laptop with 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and Intel's latest Core Ultra processor.
Opens in a new window Credit: Acer Acer Aspire 14 AI laptop $479.99 at AmazonPrime Day deals are already rolling in, and if you’ve been putting off replacing an aging laptop, Acer just dropped a pretty tempting option into the mix.
Right now, the Acer Aspire 14 AI is down to $479.99 on Amazon, saving you $103 on Prime Day. That's an 18% discount and an easy way to get a new everyday laptop without crossing into four-figure territory.
The Aspire 14 is for people who want a dependable everyday laptop without spending premium laptop money. It has a 14-inch display with a little more vertical screen space than the usual setup, which makes a difference when you're bouncing between documents, browser tabs, and spreadsheets.
The lightweight aluminum build helps if you're carrying it between work, school, or coffee shops, instead of keeping it desk-bound. You’re getting 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, which is enough for smooth multitasking and a healthy amount of storage for files, photos, and apps.
Acer also says the battery can last up to 22 hours under certain conditions, though real-world use will likely vary depending on what you're doing. AcerSense puts AI tools in one quick shortcut so you can tweak settings, clean up video calls, and adjust performance without digging through menus.
Grab the Acer Aspire 14 AI on Amazon before your tabs start staging a revolt.
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