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Star Wars studio Lucasfilm has announced that president Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down, ending 14 years at its helm.

Appointed president upon Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, Kennedy oversaw the release of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, standalone films such as Rogue One, and new Disney+ series such as The Mandalorian and Andor. Prior to this, she produced iconic fantasy and sci-fi films such as E.T., Hook, Jurassic Park, and The Sixth Sense, and co-founded production company Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall.

SEE ALSO: 'Andor' creator on Lucasfilm censoring f-bomb: 'They were right.'

"When George Lucas asked me to take over Lucasfilm upon his retirement, I couldn’t have imagined what lay ahead," said Kennedy. "It has been a true privilege to spend more than a decade working alongside the extraordinary talent at Lucasfilm."

The company has not offered the reason behind Kennedy's decision to step down. However, while she is vacating the pilot seat, she certainly isn't retiring — or even leaving the Star Wars universe. Instead, Kennedy will continue her lengthy career by returning to producing full-time, working on upcoming films The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter.

Kathleen Kennedy (right) next to Dave Filoni, one of her successors as head of Lucasfilm. Credit: Christopher Jue / Getty Images for Disney

Meanwhile, Kennedy's former role will be split. Lucasfilm's chief creative officer Dave Filoni will take on a dual role as president, while executive vice president and general manager Lynwen Brennan will step up to serve as co-president.

Having previously served as a director on Avatar: The Last Airbender, Filoni joined Lucasfilm in 2005 and initially worked on its animated offerings such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. He has since expanded to live-action projects, creating Ahsoka and working as an executive producer on The Mandalorian, and was appointed chief creative officer in 2023.

Brennan joined Lucasfilm six years earlier in 1999, becoming president of Industrial Light & Magic in 2009 before climbing to the role of Lucasfilm's general manager and executive vice president by 2024.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Quick.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

HASTY

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A large artery.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for January 15, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

AORTA

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Pond birds.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 15 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 15, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

GEESE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

A judge's tool.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

GAVEL

Final Hurdle hint

Vacant.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

EMPTY

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

The moon is almost completely out of view as we near the end of the current lunar cycle. The lunar cycle is a recurring series of eight unique phases of the moon's visibility, and different phases occur as the Sun lights up different parts of the moon whilst it orbits Earth. Keep reading to find out what tonight's phase is.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Friday, Jan. 16, the Moon phase is Waning Crescent. According to NASA's Daily Moon Guide, 5% of the Moon will be lit up tonight.

Unfortunately, visibility is too low to spot anything on the moon tonight.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will be on Feb. 1. The last full moon was on Jan. 3.

What are Moon phases?

Moon phases make up the lunar cycle, which NASA says lasts about 29.5 days, the time it takes the Moon to complete one full orbit around Earth. As the Moon travels around our planet, it passes through eight distinct phases. While the same side of the Moon always faces Earth, the amount of sunlight illuminating it changes depending on its position in orbit. This is why the Moon can appear full, partially lit, or completely dark at different points in the cycle. The eight phases of the lunar cycle are:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

People keep telling me to watch The Pitt, and now that the show is tackling generative AI in healthcare, I must. As Mashable's tech editor, I field a lot of questions about generative AI, and I also spend a lot of time talking to people who are extremely enthusiastic about artificial intelligence, and people who are extremely hostile to AI.

So, what does the latest episode of The Pitt Season 2 get right about AI in medicine, and what does it get wrong? 

SEE ALSO: How to watch 'The Pitt' without HBO Max How AI factors into The Pitt episode "8:00 AM." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

AI wasn't the entire focus of Season 2, episode two, "8:00 AM." We also get to see a nun with gonorrhea in her eye, an unhoused man with a colony of maggots inside his moldy arm cast, and a clear view of an erection, which, of course, has lasted more than four hours.

However, one of the plotlines focuses on newcomer Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi's (Sepideh Moafi) attempt to modernize the ER and integrate AI into patient care. She introduces an AI app that automatically listens to patient visits and summarizes the pertinent details in their charts.

When an excited student says, "Oh my god, do you know how much time this will save?", Dr. Al-Hashimi has an answer: With the new AI app, the ER doctors will spend 80 percent less time charting. Later in the episode, the good doctor tells Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) that it will also allow physicians to spend 20 percent more time with patients.

So far, so good, but the app immediately makes a mistake. It documents the wrong medication in the patient's chart, substituting a similar-sounding medication instead.

SEE ALSO: 'The Pitt' Season 2: Everything you need to remember from Season 1

This doesn't diminish Dr. Al-Hashimi's enthusiasm at all. "Generative AI is 98 percent accurate at present," she says. "You must always carefully proofread and correct minor errors. It's excellent but not perfect."

AI transcription is really good (and it still makes mistakes).

Dr. Al-Hashimi states that generative AI is 98 percent accurate. But is this really true?

Fact-checking Dr. Al-Hashimi's claim is actually tricky, because it's not entirely clear what she means. If she's referring purely to AI transcription, she's closer to the truth. That's a task that generative AI excels at.

Last year, a group of researchers conducted a systematic review of 29 studies that measured AI transcription accuracy specifically in healthcare settings. (You can check out the entire review, published in the BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making journal.)

Some of those studies did find accuracy rates of 98 percent or higher, and some found significant time savings for doctors. However, those studies involved controlled, quiet environments. In multi-speaker environments with a lot of crosstalk and medical jargon, like you’d find in a crowded emergency room, accuracy rates were much lower, sometimes as low as 50 percent.

Still, rapid advancements in large-language models are improving AI transcriptions all the time. So, we could be generous and say Dr. Al-Hashimi's claim is close to the truth, for the latest LLM models, in certain settings.

Generative AI is definitely not 98 percent accurate.

Let’s take the latest version of ChatGPT as an example. When the GPT-5.2 model was released a few months ago, OpenAI published documentation on the model's tendency to hallucinate and provide false information.

According to OpenAI, its GPT-5.2 Thinking model has an average hallucination rate of 10.9 percent. That’s really high, especially considering that OpenAI wants ChatGPT to help you with medical questions. (The company recently launched ChatGPT Health, a "dedicated experience in ChatGPT designed for health and wellness.") 

Now, when GPT-5.2 Thinking is given access to the internet, its hallucination rate drops to 5.8 percent. But would you trust a doctor who's wrong 5.8 percent of the time — and only when they can use the internet to check their work? And would you want your AI healthcare app to be connected to the internet at all?

Generative AI may one day be 98 percent accurate. But we're not there yet.

Generative AI can't replace doctors. Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

Dr. Robby and other characters have a conversation about "gut" instincts in this episode. That's something that generative AI can't replicate, and one reason that many people don't want to see AI tools replacing human workers entirely, whether in the arts or medicine. 

The episode also spends a lot of time showing examples of empathy. The best doctors don't just have an encyclopedic knowledge of their specialty. They don't just have good gut instincts. They're true healers, who know that holding a patient's hand at the right moment can be just as important as the right diagnosis.

To be fair, most AI healthcare tools I've seen aren't trying to replace doctors. Instead, they want to give healthcare workers more diagnostic tools and save them time. As Dr. Al-Hashimi says repeatedly in the episode, she wants to give doctors more time at their patients' bedside.

AI can help save doctors time.

Radiology, or medical imaging, is one of the most promising applications for generative AI in healthcare settings. When radiologists at Northwestern University implemented a custom generative AI tool to help analyze X-rays and CT scans, their productivity increased by 40 percent — and without compromising accuracy.

I think even a lot of AI skeptics would agree that's a positive result, for patients and doctors.

The Pitt does seem to be setting up Dr. Al-Hashimi as something of a villain — or, at least, a foil for Dr. Robby — but good medicine and generative AI aren't necessarily in conflict. As with any tool, it can be extraordinarily helpful — or extraordinarily dangerous.

The Pitt Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes being released every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you love fashion accessories.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for January 16, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Head accessories

• Green: Sleep preparation

• Blue: Bands

• Purple: Large

Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Kinds of hats

• Green: Components of a kid's bedtime routine

• Blue: Musical acts with "A" as the only vowel

• Purple: Grand ___

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #950 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Kinds of hats: DERBY, FEDORA, PANAMA, PORKPIE

• Components of a kid's bedtime routine: BATH, BRUSHING, PAJAMAS, STORY

• Musical acts with "A" as the only vowel: ALABAMA, BANANARAMA, KANSAS, SANTANA

• Grand ___: BAHAMA, CANYON, PIANO, SLAM

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 16, 2026

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

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

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you love comics and superheroes.

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for January 16, 2026 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 16, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: DC crusader

The words are related to superheroes.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe an iconic comic superhero.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Batman.

NYT Strands word list for January 16

• Robin

• Joker

• Cape

• Batman

• Penguin

• Vengeance

• Manor

• Justice

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

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

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

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a car fanatic.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 16, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for January 16, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

A rider.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter R.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

RACER

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 16, 2026

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

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

Run like a rage zombie to your nearest theater, because after over two decades, Cillian Murphy is reprising his role from 28 Days Later in Nia DaCosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. And what this means for the franchise has got us foaming at the mouth for the next installment.

SEE ALSO: '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' review: Nia DaCosta delivers an exhilarating horror epic

Murphy, who played survivor Jim in Danny Boyle's original 28 Days Later, did not appear in 2025's 28 Years Later, also directed by Boyle. However, he did serve as an executive producer, and Boyle confirmed that Murphy would be back as Jim in The Bone Temple.

Now, audiences can see what Jim has been up to in the 28 years since the Rage Virus ravaged Great Britain. He doesn't show up until the very end of The Bone Temple, but his appearance does give us an idea of what to expect from the third installment in the 28 Years Later trilogy.

What happens at the end of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple?

By the end of The Bone Temple, both Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) and Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) have perished, the result of a fiery confrontation within Kelson's memorial to the dead. Finally free of Jimmy, Alfie (Spike Williams) escapes with Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), who reveals that her real name is Kelly.

From there, The Bone Temple makes like Heated Rivalry and goes to the cottage. In the film's case, the cottage is the same place Jim, Selena (Naomie Harris), and Hannah (Megan Burns) escaped to at the end of 28 Days Later. Now, the house in Cumbria is cozy and lived-in, stocked with books and food and all the signs of setting down roots in a place for decades.

SEE ALSO: Say More: Danny Boyle reveals the tech and origins of '28 Years Later's most shocking moments

The ending scenes sees Jim quizzing his daughter on a history test he'll be assigning her. Selena, presumably the young girl's mother, and Hannah are nowhere to be found. Have they died or been rescued? Or are they just away from the house at the moment?

Either way, two people who are decidedly not Selena and Hannah are approaching the cottage. It's Spike and Kelly, and they're on the run from a horde of Infected. Jim's daughter wonders whether they should help them, to which he replies, "Of course." Cue the credits — and my burning anticipation for the third 28 Years Later film.

What will happen in the third 28 Years Later film?

Obviously, Jim will play a larger part in the third 28 Years Later film, which Boyle has confirmed he'll direct. (That is, unless he dies saving Spike and Kelly, but I can't imagine that happening after the hype around Murphy's return.) Perhaps he takes Spike and Kelly in for a bit. Based on just the few minutes we spend with him and his daughter, their life is an infinite upgrade from Sir Jimmy and his ritual killings.

There are still a few loose story threads writer Alex Garland could pull into the third installment, if he so chooses. Spike's father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) may be tracking his son across the mainland. And Cathy (Mirren Mack), the pregnant woman who escaped from Jimmy, may come back into the fold as well, as this trilogy has been consistently fascinated by pregnancy and raising children post-Outbreak.

Whatever happens, after 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, I'm seated and ready for whatever Boyle and Garland throw at us.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is now in theaters.

George R.R. Martin's plans for the end of his A Song of Ice and Fire series are much bloodier than the end of Game of Thrones.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about HBO's upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Martin discusses the conclusion of A Song of Ice and Fire. While he hasn't finalized the ending of his epic saga — fans have been waiting since 2011 for The Winds of Winter, book six of seven — he does have thoughts on how it will differ from Game of Thrones. The series, created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, surpassed the source material in Season 5.

SEE ALSO: 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' review: 'Game of Thrones' prequel is a surprising comfort watch

"I was going to kill more people," Martin told The Hollywood Reporter. "Not the ones they killed [in the show]. They made it more of a happy ending."

Fans of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) may say differently, but several fan-favorite characters received kinder sendoffs. Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), for example, became Hand of the King to Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright). For Martin, though, that ending is not in the cards for book Tyrion.

"I don’t see a happy ending for Tyrion," Martin revealed. "His whole arc has been tragic from the first."

That statement doesn't necessarily confirm Tyrion's death in A Song of Ice and Fire. He could be imprisoned, or tortured, or all manner of horrifying things. Still, the future doesn't look bright for him, should Martin ever finish his series.

However, Game of Thrones may have saved one book character from a similarly tragic fate.

"I was going to have Sansa [(Sophie Turner)] die, but she’s been so appealing in the show, maybe I’ll let her live," Martin said.

In Game of Thrones, Sansa winds up as the Queen of the North — a far cry from whatever death Martin may have originally been planning. Given the long wait for The Winds of Winter, it may take years before we find out whether Martin actually changed his mind about Sansa's fate, or what tragedy he has in store for Tyrion. But there's also a very good chance that we'll never find out at all.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Here's the first thing mobile network experts want you to know when taking stock of the great Verizon service outage of January 2026. It won't be the last — and that being on AT&T or T-Mobile won't make you immune either.

Expecting a modern mobile network to function around the clock, around the year, like water, power or gas utilities, "isn't practically possible," says Octavio Garcia, Forrester analyst and mobile industry veteran. The infrastructure involved (cellphone towers, satellites, and as in Verizon's case, software) "is not immune to unforeseen outages due to multiple causes."

That said, experts also agree: This one was really bad for Verizon, and not just because it prevented an as-yet-untold number of 911 calls.

The outage's only close contender in the worst cell service implosion of the 2020s would be the great AT&T nightmare of Feb. 2024. That one also lasted roughly 11 hours; a later investigation revealed 92 million calls didn't go through, including 25,000 calls to 911.

"This outage does feel like a bigger deal," says Alex Besen, a 30-year veteran of the mobile data industry, now CEO of The Besen Group. "In 2024, many [AT&T] customers had intermittent data and SMS ... this outage took down voice and data simultaneously, and left phones stuck in SOS mode."

SEE ALSO: Verizon outage today: Verizon reveals how to fix ongoing issues, offers $20 credit Verizon had a 'core failure'

The AT&T outage was eventually traced to one employee running a network update that was wrongly configured. This one, Besen says, was "more of a core failure" — a software issue that so blindsided the company that Verizon couldn't confirm it was dealing with a software issue for the majority of the outage.

We'll have to wait for a full investigation on the Verizon outage to make a full comparison between them. We'll also have to wait to see what role the largest round of layoffs in Verizon's history, which occurred in Nov. 2025, had in this situation.

It's entirely possible that one of those 13,000 former staffers — including at least one Network Engineering project manager — could have held the kind of institutional knowledge crucial to stopping a software-driven outage.

In the meantime, the tale of the tape from Downdetector (where users report outages and which, like Mashable, is owned by Ziff Davis) does suggest the Verizon outage was worse than its AT&T predecessor.

During the Feb. 2024 outage, Downdetector-reported outages from AT&T customers peaked at 74,000 concurrent reports (that is, within the same 15 minute window), but were starting to level off by 9 a.m. ET.

Contrast that with Jan. 14 2026, when Downdetector hit a high of 178,000 concurrent reports from Verizon customers — and that peak came right in the middle of east coast daytime, at 12:45 p.m. ET.

Verizon stores, now in SOS mode

For Verizon, the SOS message was horribly appropriate — and potentially ongoing. As aggrieved customers consider whether $20 is enough compensation, many may follow through on promises to cancel their contracts altogether. SOS might as well stand for "save our stores."

"Verizon will suffer from brand reputation impact and possible customer churn," Forrester analyst Garcia told Mashable. "This is expected to happen during the first six to nine months after the outage."

One way to shorten that churn time: Implement something similar to the AT&T Guarantee, a mobile industry first which launched in Jan. 2025, just under a year after the great AT&T outage. The company now says it delivers automatic compensation: One full free day of service if your wireless goes out for an hour or more.

In the meantime, Verizon and its competitors wait to see how large the exodus will be. And there isn't even a silver lining to be found in Verizon having fewer but happier people to deal with on its service.

"Losing customers would almost certainly hurt Verizon in the short term, even if it slightly reduced network load," says Besen.

TL;DR: Introduce your Mac to Microsoft favorites with this Microsoft Office Home and Business for Mac 2021 lifetime license, on sale now for just $49.97 (reg. $219).

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License $49.97
$219 Save $169.03   Get Deal

Mac lovers, it’s time to get reacquainted with an old favorite. Microsoft Office tools have been around for decades — and that staying power is for good reason. Microsoft Office Home and Business for Mac 2021 can help you tackle both professional and personal tasks, so you’ll get great use out of this lifetime license. And right now, you can secure it for just $49.97 (reg. $219).

Whether you’re struggling through the second semester or in need of a serious productivity boost at work after the holidays, Microsoft Office Home and Business for Mac 2021 is ready to help you get things done. This version provides your Mac with six essential apps, all for less than $9 each.

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Thanks to this lifetime license, you’ll be able to draft documents in Word, build budgets in Excel, answer emails in Outlook, and design presentations in PowerPoint. It also includes Teams to keep you connected with friends, family, and coworkers, and OneNote to improve your note-taking.

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Get this Microsoft Office Home and Business for Mac 2021 lifetime license for only $49.97 (reg. $219).

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After finally making moves to stop its Grok AI from creating nonconsensual sexualized images and CSAM, Elon Musk's X has announced another major platform overhaul today.

X's head of product Nikita Bier announced on Thursday that the social media platform was going to ban apps that reward users for posting on the site. Bier specifically mentioned it was going to block "InfoFi" apps and developers from accessing its API. 

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InfoFi stands for Information Finance and has become popular in the Web3 space for rewarding users for engaging with online communities and posting on social media.

Why is X banning these types of apps? According to Bier, these apps were encouraging users to post low-quality content solely to receive crypto tokens.

"We are revising our developer API policies: We will no longer allow apps that reward users for posting on X (aka 'infofi')," Bier posted on X. "This has led to a tremendous amount of AI slop & reply spam on the platform."

According to X, many users of these InfoFi apps appeared to be posting spammy, low-quality AI-generated content solely to get paid in crypto tokens by these apps. The mass posting of this kind of content on a social network harms the platform's overall quality.  

SEE ALSO: AI slop is killing the internet

Bier went on to say that X has "revoked API access from these apps, so your X experience should start improving soon (once the bots realize they’re not getting paid anymore)." X's head of product then joked that if a developer had their account terminated, they could reach out, and X would help get them set up on competitor platforms like Threads and Bluesky.

X's Bier has recently butt heads with the cryptocurrency community on X over low-quality engagement. Earlier this month, Bier was critical of users who just mass reply "gm," a common phrase within the crypto community, and then complain that the X algorithm doesn't boost their content. 

This latest decision is likely to cause an uproar with X's crypto users as well. As Decrypt noted, the token for the popular InfoFi platform Kaito dropped by more than 15 percent shortly after Bier's announcement.

As a result of Bier's announcement, Kaito shared that it was sunsetting its Yaps app, which paid users to post on X.

There is not much that can stop a dedicated fandom.

Not paywalls, not cancellations, and certainly not even the source of their fan fervor itself, as was the case in several high profile instances of extreme parasocial behavior. And as queer hockey romance Heated Rivalry has dominated social feeds, it has once again proved that federal laws are not going to dissuade a fan from their idols of worship.

Fans of the show living in Russia, for example, have risked jail time in order to engage with the viral phenomenon, writes Russian reporter Mikhail Zygar for Vanity Fair (the show chronicles the same-sex love affair between a Russian hockey player and his Canadian rival). Fans have flooded dedicated Telegram channels to share encrypted links and bumped up its ratings to the top spot on Kinopoisk, a Russian media review site. They're leaning on VPNs to obscure their IP addresses and engaging in online piracy. You wouldn't steal an enemies-to-lovers romance, would you?

SEE ALSO: A new 'Heated Rivalry' book is on the way — preorder 'Unrivaled' by Rachel Reid now

Despite the collective joy attached to the series, the stakes are serious. The Russian Federation has some of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ laws on record, including an outright ban on LGBTQ content. Russian leaders have attacked and censored what they call the "International Public LGBT Movement," convicting more than 100 individuals for the crime in 2025 and imprisoning at least two. Violators can also face fines of 400,000 rubles ($5,111) to 5 million rubles ($63,898), PinkNews reported.

As of today (Jan. 15), the government has officially charged Russian streaming services with the crime of violating the country's propaganda laws, which prohibit the amplification of "nontraditional sexual relationships" to Russian citizens. The charges target domestic sites and cloud sharing services like Beeline TV, Kinopoisk, Wink, Ivi, Amediteka, 24TV, and Digital Television.

The determination of Russian fans to stream the hot new show mirrors a general trend in online fandom and among Heated Rivalry fans, specifically, who initially shared ways to torrent the series using VPN services and links pulled from its parent network, Crave Canada, and licensing network HBO Max US. HBO Max reportedly only signed on to the project after successful pitches from employees who were fans of the show's book series. They said they felt they needed to "do their civic duty" and get the show to the masses.

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The success of Heated Rivalry — and the formidable sports romance book industry from which its source material gained its following — lies partially in the compelling, often erotic, juxtaposition of an extremely masculine sport and the emotional stakes taken on by its characters. At large, cisgender male erotic fiction (also called slash fic, MLM romance, boylove, or yaoi, for anime lovers and the chronically online) has historically offered an outlet for sexual exploration, community, and LGBTQ acceptance. Fandom scholars and Heated Rivalry show runner Jacob Tierney have explained its popularity with cis women is due in part to the ability of writers to ignore the gendered power dynamics of heterosexual pairings and lean into the rarity of sexual partners being on equal footing — although much of the genre relies on stereotypical tropes that critics say still feeds into gender and racial binaries.

Hockey, in particular, is one of the most popular sports depicted in the genre. As of 2025, the National Hockey League has had no active, out LGBTQ players. So subverting that reality is particularly appealing to fans, especially those in restrictive, patriarchal environments.

One former hockey player, Jesse Kortuem, made headlines just this week, posting a statement about feeling empowered to come out after seeing the success of Heated Rivalry. Kortuem didn't compete for the NHL but told reporters that the homophobia rampant in the sport eventually led him to retire. "I know many closeted and gay men in the hockey world are being hit hard by Heated Rivalry's success," Kortuem told Out. "Never in my life did I think something so positive and loving could come from such a masculine sport."

It's 2016 all over again on Instagram. Well...if only.

There's been a bubbling nostalgia for 2016 for the past few weeks. Chance Townsend wrote here at Mashable about Gen Z growing especially nostalgic for 2016 as the last good year. Sure, it might not have felt that great at the time, but for Gen Z, it was their last great summer.

I'd argue that, in many ways, we've been living in late 2016 for a decade now — the political atmosphere, how social media became real life, crisis after crisis.

But, anyway, the internet has now exploded into a full-blown nostalgia bomb for 2016. It's an extension of the trend we spotted on TikTok earlier this month, paired with folks who want to show how much they've grown over the last 10 years. Yes, as if it were 2016, we're bringing back the humblebrag and self-deprecating-but-not-really posts. As with most trends, it's migrated from the kids on TikTok to the normies and celebs on Instagram, who're mostly using it as an excuse to post decade-old photo dumps. (Remember Snapchat filters?)

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Let me make it clear, 2016 wasn't all that great. It was super Not Chill to be starting a career and have the world order upended via elections, Brexit, celebrity deaths, and a climate agreement that seemed impossible to hold.

But things always seem rosier looking back. And it's fun to post your younger self, so naive and unaware of what was to come. Let's hope, however, that 2026 doesn't seem so great when we look back in 2036.

Verizon has confirmed that the extreme service outage was not caused by a cybersecurity breach but was some kind of software problem. Details are still being reported.

"This was a software issue and we are conducting a full review of what happened. As of now, there is no indication that this was a cyber security issue," the telecom giant said in a statement sent to Mashable.

SEE ALSO: Verizon outage today: Verizon reveals how to fix ongoing issues, offers $20 credit

Following a countrywide service outage that resulted in millions of error reports, prompted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to respond, and could have impacted emergency services for costumers across states, some online speculated that the scale of the event could have been caused by a breach of its systems.

At the time, Verizon kept mum about the cause, instead saying it was focused on reinstating service as it had teams on the ground. The company didn't include any details on where Verizon teams were working. "We know this is a huge inconvenience, and our top priority is to get you back online and connected as fast as possible," the company said in a social media post.

Verizon then issued an apology and offered affected customers a $20 credit the morning after the outage, writing in a post on X: "

SAVE $600: As of Jan. 15, get the DJI Power 2000 Portable Power Station for $699 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,299. That's a discount of 46% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon DJI Power 2000 Portable Power Station $699 at Amazon
$1,299 Save $600   Get Deal

Whether you live somewhere that's prone to losing power or you want to go off-grid, a portable power station is a great thing to have in your pocket. You never know when you could be without electricity, so make sure you never have to be with this DJI deal we found at Amazon.

As of Jan. 15, get the DJI Power 2000 Portable Power Station for $699 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,299. That's $600 off and a discount of 46%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: The EcoFlow Delta 3 1000 Air power station is under $310 for the first time

This massive power station comes from the same DJI that you know for its popular mics and drones, though it's having difficulty at the moment fighting for the right to launch new products in the U.S. It has a 2,048Wh LFP battery with a 3000W stable output that can power your laptop, refrigerator, space heater, or one of many other devices you may need in an emergency.

Once you've depleted the battery, this fast-charging power station can charge from 0 to 80 percent in just under an hour with a wall outlet, so you won't be left waiting when you need access to power, and fast. It's rated for 3,000 usage cycles as well, so even if you decide you're going to need to use this thing every day, you'll be covered for a long, long time to come.

If you want the peace of mind that you have electricity even during tough situations, this is a great buy either way. Get yours while it's still around and for this massive discount.

SAVE $75: The Ozlo Sleepbuds are on sale at Amazon for $274, down from the list price of $349. That's a 21% discount that matches the lowest on record at Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: Ozlo Ozlo Sleepbuds $274 at Amazon
$349 Save $75   Get Deal

Now that we're halfway through January, lots of us are honing in on how we want this new year to look. Some people have fitness goals, some people have intentions of becoming a great home chef, and others are focused on self-care. But if you don't get good sleep, it'll be nearly impossible to reach any of those goals. Instead, make getting better sleep the number one goal, and this deal at Amazon could be a gamechanger.

As of Jan. 15, the Ozlo Sleepbuds are on sale at Amazon for $274, marked down from the normal price of $349. That's a 21% discount that shaves $75 off the price. It also matches the lowest on record at Amazon.

When it comes to sleep earbuds, comfort is a huge priority. But you also want them to sound great, which is convenient since ex-Bose employees designed the Ozlo Sleepbuds. Mashable Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard reviewed the Ozlo Sleepbuds and explained, "Ozlo Sleepbuds are basically the Bose Sleepbuds that allow you to stream audio. While they can't yet track sleep data, they are highly customizable sleep earbuds that work (mostly) as promised."

SEE ALSO: From Oura to Whoop, we tested the best sleep trackers of 2026

Of note, the list price of the Ozlo Sleepbuds feels off compared to the industry standard, but today's sale price helps ease that concern. Still, the new Anker Soundcore Sleep A30 Special come in at a more affordable price, if that's a priority.

However, if you're interested in the design and features on the Ozlo Sleepbuds, they could be a perfect match. Tap into the Ozlo app's range of sleepy sounds or stream your own sleep tracks to the sleep earbuds. The wingtip design on these sleep earbuds help ensure they stay snugly in place throughout the night. They're even designed to be comfortable enough for side sleepers. Plus, they track your sleep.

For anyone who wants to get better sleep this year, the Ozlo Sleepbuds could be a simple solution to getting higher-quality rest. Snag them while they're back on sale for $274 at Amazon.

If you pay for the $19.99 per month Google AI Pro plan or the whopping $250 monthly fee for a Google AI Ultra subscription, your account just received a big upgrade.

As noticed by 9to5Google, Google has announced that it is upgrading paying subscriber accounts to give them more daily Gemini prompts to work with. 

For those paying $20 per month for the Google AI Pro plan, they can now use 300 prompts per day with the Gemini Thinking model. Gemini's Pro model, which is for more advanced math problems and code, now allows up to 100 daily prompts.

If you're a hardcore Gemini user paying $250 per month, your new daily limits are 1,500 daily prompts for the Thinking model and 500 daily prompts for the Pro model.

Previously, when Gemini 3 launched last month, Google AI Pro users had a total of 100 monthly prompts per day to use across both of Gemini's Thinking and Pro models and AI ultra subscribers had a 500 daily prompt limit. The new credit limits separate the two models and give them distinct prompt limits. No more shared prompt pool limits.

Free Gemini users will also now have distinct daily limits, however, Google does not share what those are, simply noting that prompt limits for Gemini's free tier can change daily.

Google says that it received significant feedback from users who did not want a "shared pool" for model limits.

"We’ve heard your feedback!" Google said in its announcement. "Many of you want more precision and transparency when deciding which model to use for your daily tasks. To give you more flexibility and control, we are separating the model limits for 'Thinking' and 'Pro' models."

The move away from the shared pool of limits makes sense, especially if the two models require different levels of computing power. As AI companies continue to try to outdo each other, making paying customers happy with alterations to how subscription plans work seems like a rather easy thing to do in order to beat out the competition.

Apple — the world's number one smartphone maker — will retain a great deal of oversight on its Apple Intelligence-powered Siri upgrade, despite its headline-making deal with Google, according to a report by the Information.

Speaking to the publication under anonymity, project insiders say that under the competitive deal, Apple has reserved the right to tweak the model independently from Google and will not be incorporating any Google or Gemini branding. For now. Google's LLM will act more as a base for Apple's specific needs, the insider reports suggest, rather than a complete package.

SEE ALSO: Apple's iPhone 17e will get Dynamic Island, report claims

In addition to its general processing upgrade, the Gemini-powered Siri will be better at providing general knowledge and emotional support in a more conversational tone, similar to how other AI assistants operate, the Information reported. With Gemini's help boosting Siri's on-device technology, the assistant will also be able to contextualize requests that aren't so clear, such as searching through your messages to figure out what names you call your contacts, and generate content, like writing Notes with information pulled from the internet.

Earlier this week, the tech giant announced it would be relying on Google's Gemini AI models to power its mega upgraded Siri, following months of speculation as the company ebbed between other developers, including partners like OpenAI. Gemini, however, was rumored to be the top contender as the company headed into 2026. Despite this new partnership, Apple will continue its deal to route complex questions through ChatGPT, an Apple spokesperson told the Information, but the publication reports that OpenAI has seen minimal traffic directed to ChatGPT from Siri tests.

Under the partnership, Siri's new brain won't be hosted on Google servers, but will run directly on Apple devices or the company's Cloud server — this also means no data sharing. Insiders speaking to the publication say Google invested heavily in building a model version that could run on Apple servers to honor the company's commitments to on-device privacy.

SAVE $1,502: As of Jan. 15, the Samsung 77-inch S85F OLED 4K TV is on sale at Amazon for $1,497.99. That's over $1,500 off its list price and matches its all-time low Black Friday price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung 77-inch S85F OLED 4K TV $1,497.99 at Amazon
$2,999.99 Save $1,502.00   Get Deal

We just featured the Samsung's 77-inch entry-level OLED TV on Monday when it dropped to $1,597.99 — about $100 away from its record-low price from Black Friday. Well, turns out we jumped the gun, as a few days later, it plummeted down to that all-time low.

As of Jan. 15, you can upgrade your TV to the Samsung 77-inch S85F OLED 4K TV for only $1,497.99. That's over $1,500 in savings, which makes it a discount of over 50%. Best Buy also has the same TV for just $2 more as its deal of the day, if you prefer to purchase it there.

"It's not quite as impressive as its higher-end siblings, the S90F and S95F, but it's pretty snazzy and an excellent value," as I noted on Monday. Technically, the S85F is Samsung's entry-level OLED, but it still offers great specs. Its picture quality is brilliant, with vivid colors and deep contrast. Its gaming features are decent as well, with a 120Hz refresh rate, HDMI 2.1, and FreeSync Premium. Plus, it features the latest version of Samsung's smart TV platform, Tizen 9.0, which offers smooth and speedy navigation.

The star of the show with Samsung's 2025 OLED TVs is, of course, AI. The S85F includes AI tools like Click to Search, Live Translate, Adaptive Sound Pro, and Real Depth Enhancer to enhance your viewing experience. Not to mention, it will deliver tons of content recommendations.

If your TV requirements are a big screen and a brilliant picture, the 77-inch S85F OLED 4K TV certainly won't disappoint. And now that's it's half the price, it won't put quite as much of a dent in your wallet.