Feed aggregator

iOS 27.2 and macOS 27.2 public betas arrive. What they include.

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 15:26

The iOS 27.2 update is coming soon, and Apple just dropped a new beta for it. As a bonus, there's a beta for the macOS equivalent, too.

The second public betas for iOS 27.2 and macOS 27.2 dropped this week, giving the general populace a chance to test out new features before they arrive for real. As a reminder, if you want to try out the betas yourself, just register for free on the Apple beta website and then install the beta on your iPhone or Mac the same way you would install any other software update.

Without further ado, here's what you can expect from each beta.

SEE ALSO: Apple reportedly teaming with LG for smart home devices, including a doorbell iOS 27.2 public beta 2: What's new

The main attraction for iOS 27.2 is the revamped Health app, which Apple has been teasing for months. It's now divided into three main tabs: Insights, Longevity, and Browse. Insights is a one-stop shop for all your most pertinent recent health metrics, Longevity tracks all of that stuff over longer periods of time, and Browse presumably is how you find anything else you need to find within the Health app.

Other bits and bobs in iOS 27.2 include individual profiles in the Apple TV app, new theme options for CarPlay, and visual tweaks to Clock and Music. Overall, it's not a huge update.

macOS 27.2 public beta 2: What's new

If you think iOS 27.2 sounds modest, it's practically explosive compared to macOS 27.2.

Basically, the main thing to look forward to right now is the addition of five new languages for Siri AI. Those would be Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, and French. I don't want to downplay the importance of adding five extremely widely spoken global languages to the new Siri experience, of course. It's just not headliner material.

As always, make sure you create device backups before installing beta software. Better safe than sorry.

Yeti deals are rare, but we found a bunch for October Prime day: Up to 40% off drinkware, coolers, and more

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 14:30
The best October Prime Day Yeti deals, at a glance: Best drinkware deal Yeti Rambler Straw Mug (42-ounce) $27 (save $18) Get Deal best cooler deal Yeti Tundra 45 Hard Cooler $243.75 (save $81.25) Get Deal Best camping deal Yeti Lowlands Blanket $152 (save $48) Get Deal

One of my biggest flexes is that I own several Yeti products: a Roadie cooler, and a Rambler bottle, can cooler, and mugs. While most of these were gifts, I rave about them any chance I get. But convincing people to actually splurge on Yeti products is tough. While the quality and IT factor are undeniable, the prices are just a bit too steep for most folks. That's where major shopping events like Prime Day come in.

One of the only times we see Yeti coolers, drinkware, and other products go on sale is during Amazon Prime Day events and lucky for you, we're still smack dab in the middle of one. Prime Big Deal Days, aka October Prime Day is still live through the end of the day on Oct. 7, giving you plenty of time to nab the Yeti products you want for less.

Below, we've gathered all the best Yeti deals we could find for October Prime Day.

Best cooler deal Opens in a new window Credit: Yeti Yeti Tundra 45 Hard Cooler $243.75 at Amazon
$325 Save $81.25   Get Deal Why we like it

The Tundra hard cooler is Yeti's OG baby. It's legendary for its toughness and ice retention and comes in various sizes. One of the best deals we've seen for October Prime Day is the Tundra 45 for 25% off. It can fit 54 cans or 37 pounds of ice, or about 26 cans with a 2:1 ice-to-contents ratio, and keep everything cold for days. It's pretty heavy, even when it's empty, but its heftiness is what makes it virtually indestructible. Plus, it comes in a gorgeous ultramarine violet shade.

More Yeti cooler dealsBest Yeti drinkware deal Opens in a new window Credit: Yeti Yeti Rambler Straw Mug (42-ounce) $27 at Amazon
$45 Save $18   Get Deal Why we like it

Yeti drinkware deals are popping off for October Prime Day, but this 42-ounce Rambler Straw Mug is the best of the bunch at 40% off. Only select colors are on sale, including this vibrant firefly yellow. Like every Yeti cup, it's double-wall vacuum insulated to keep your drinks hot or cold. It's made with kitchen-grade stainless steel, so it's extremely durable and can go safely in the dishwasher. Plus, it fits in a car cupholder.

More Yeti cup and mug dealsOther Yeti deals

Time is running out for Prime members to shop Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale. Sign up for a Prime 30-day free trial if you want to save some cash, and follow Mashable’s guide to the best October Prime Day deals and live blog for the latest updates.

OpenAI shakes up mathematics again, debuting dozens of new math solutions

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 14:25

OpenAI won't let mathematicians rest.

On Oct. 6, the company released a slew of new mathematical results in the form of a massive GitHub repository — an info dump that will take hundreds of human hours to sift through. The company's internal frontier model provided solutions to more than 300 problems, but the company also implied they expect experts to take issue with them, debuting new processes for paper revisions and citations.

"For future releases, we are committed to further improving the quality of the papers via the citations, mathematical exposition, and presentation of the results for better understanding," wrote OpenAI.

SEE ALSO: Report: OpenAI should pause ChatGPT for Teens over safety

Last month, the developer made an industry-rattling declaration that 10,000 AI agents had worked together to solve the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness problem, a narrower portion of the unsolved Navier-Stokes equation that's part of the Millennium Prize Problems set. The robot mathematicians' "breakthrough" could have nabbed OpenAI a $1 million prize, but the company declined.

And possibly for good reason, academics later called out the company for solving a subset of the problem, not the whole thing, using a mathematical loophole — an approach that some labeled "unnatural."

OpenAI's pursuit of mathematical greatness isn't so easily deterred.

Following OpenAI's announcement, the Advisory Group on Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence at the Institute for Advanced Study⁠ said it did not endorse AI developers using proprietary models to test solutions without the scientific community's involvement. The developer announced a new advisory group to provide recommendations on future releases. But it appears OpenAI used the same unreleased model to solve the latest trove of equations.

Unlike its previous theoretical entries, however, OpenAI alleges the latest problems were solved with just a single prompt fed to a single AI agent, the developer told Scientific American. The claim is already being questioned by experts, who are still awaiting access to the reportedly mathematically advanced model.

A.I. Music Fraudster Who Drew Millions in Royalties Is Sentenced to 18 Months

NYT Technology - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 14:16
Prosecutors say Michael Smith flooded music-streaming platforms with bots that repeatedly streamed his A.I.-generated music, earning him as much as $8 million.

Microsoft Surface Laptops are massively discounted for October Prime Day: Where to save up to $750

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 13:58
The best October Prime Day deals on Microsoft Surface Laptops at a glance: Best deal overall Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, 13.8-inch (Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) $1,349 at Amazon (save $750.99) Get Deal Best deal on the new 13.8-inch model Microsoft Surface Laptop 8, 13.8-inch (Snapdragon X2 Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,099.99 at Best Buy (save $500) Get Deal Best deal on the new 15-inch model Microsoft Surface Laptop 8, 15-inch (Snapdragon X2 Elite, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) $1,749.99 at Amazon (save $450) Get Deal

Shopping for a new Windows laptop? Microsoft Surface Laptop Prime Day deals are quite excellent today.

Thank goodness for that. Most PC brands have jacked up their prices this year amid the ongoing memory crisis, and Microsoft is no exception. This spring, it raised the prices of last year's flagship Surface Laptop 7th Edition by up to $500, and the new Surface Laptop 8th Edition it announced in June retained those markups (give or take $50 to $100, depending on the model).

SEE ALSO: October Prime Day is live, but not for long: See the 101 best deals, with 53% discounts on TVs, headphones, and more

During Prime Big Deal Days, the "October Prime Day" sale that Amazon is running through midnight PT tonight, select Surface Laptops are on sale for as much as $750 off — not just on Amazon, but at competing retailers, too. Shoppers can save up to 36% on over a dozen configurations of the super-sleek Windows PC right now, with prices starting as low as $1,100. I should also mention that the Prime Day MacBook deals we're seeing pale in comparison; Apple's laptops are only up to 15% off today.

I've rounded up the top Microsoft Surface Laptop Prime Day deals below. Note: There are no live deals on the new compact Surface Laptop 13-inch (2nd Edition) that Microsoft launched in September, but I'll update this story if that changes.

The very best Microsoft Surface Laptop Prime Day deal Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, 13.8-inch (Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) $1,349 at Amazon
$2,099.99 Save $750.99   Get Deal

For the most savings on a Microsoft PC, opt for this black 16GB/1TB variant of 2024's 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7th Edition. Former Mashable tech editor Kimberly Gedeon gave it a near-perfect 4.8/5 rating for its premium all-aluminum design, 23-hour battery life, and peppy performance. (Like this on-sale model, her review unit ran on the last-gen Snapdragon X Elite chip.) It "oozes sophistication and polished refinement," she wrote in her review, calling out its "mint" build quality. It has a haptic touchpad like the MacBook Air, but a smoother display with added touch functionality.

According to the Amazon price-tracking site camelcamelcamel, $1,349 is its lowest price since mid-May. It originally cost $1,599.99 prior to its spring price hike, which is what you'll currently pay for a 2026 Surface Laptop 8th Edition with the same specs.

Deals on the newest Microsoft Surface Laptop

The 2026 Microsoft Surface Laptop 8th Edition has a sharper display and runs on faster Snapdragon X2 chips. The 13.8-inch size comes in platinum, black, dune, and a new "jade" green color, while the 15-inch version is just available in platinum and black. They offer up to 20 hours of battery life.

The 13.8-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop 8th Edition stuns in jade. Credit: Microsoft 13.8-inch model15-inch model

Dressmaker players are designing gowns fit for fantasy balls

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 13:54

Dressmaker players are posting their gorgeous dress designs on social media, with the viral sewing game inspiring thousands to create and share stunning gowns.

Developed by Cozy Lives, Dressmaker is an indie game that has players design and sew custom gowns for a variety of different clients with varying needs. Players must listen to customers' requests, then take their measurements, sketch a design, select materials, cut the cloth, and sew it all together on a mannequin.

Players already seem to find fulfilling these customer orders engaging. However, Dressmaker also allows you to sew dresses to be sold off the rack. It's primarily here that players have taken the opportunity to get creative, designing dazzling fantasy gowns, experimenting with materials, and even recreating famous pieces such as Lirika Matoshi's Strawberry Midi Dress that went viral in 2020.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Dressmaker began as a personal project by South African developer Jonathan Hau-Yoon and his partner Sabrina Becker, a real-life dressmaker and artist. Becker had been forced to shelve aspirations of working in costume design after she was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that impacts her ability to sew. Instead, she applied her years of fashion expertise to the development of Dressmaker.

Hau-Yoon made an early Dressmaker prototype and posted clips to social media in 2025, gaining over 300,000 views on his first TikTok video alone. He then took the project to his employer, indie game studio Free Lives, and spent three weeks building upon it with fellow developers Ruan Rothman and Sara Laubscher. This more refined Dressmaker prototype was launched on indie game distribution platform itch.io, where it gained enough interest for Free Lives to greenlight a full game from the team now dubbed Cozy Lives. 

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Launched on Sept. 21, Dressmaker has already accumulated over 7,600 player reviews on Steam, with the consensus being Overwhelmingly Positive — an incredible outcome for an indie game. Even people who don't typically see themselves playing games in Dressmaker's genre have found themselves enchanted by it, spending hours applying lace and buttons to their creations.

"I'm a middle-aged straight guy with a blue-collar job. This isn't my kind of thing. I wear t-shirts and khakis. I'm not interested in fashion," wrote Steam user dreamshade, noting that he typically prefers roguelike or exploration games. "I did not expect that I would play for three hours and suddenly worry about how much sleep I'm going to lose to this game."

"Yes, I bought this for my gf. Yes, I did test it out for her. Yes, that test did go on for four hours. Please make a DLC for suits," said Steam user GeminiGrayWolf32.

"I am a straight white man and this [is] my game of the year so far," TheMrJellybean wrote in his Steam review. "Absolutely incredible."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Viral 'Dressmaker' designs showcase opulent outfits

One player who has gained significant attention for her viral Dressmaker designs is X user @vampikoi, who has created stunning, intricately beaded gowns right out of a fantasy princess' most fanciful daydream. Aside from the significant time investment, the materials for such dresses cost a pretty in-game penny, so @vampikoi uses a mod that gives her infinite funds for her projects. (Dressmaker already has over 240 mods on Nexus Mods, with @vampikoi herself also creating a Halloween-themed mod planned for release this weekend.)

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Other creators such as @Eviarnilla have been inspired by classical art, recreating works such as Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" and Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" on their dresses. Meanwhile, @CrowsNestHead has gotten incredibly creative with Dressmaker's materials, using them to design viral sculptural dresses that emulate the look of fur and armour.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Unfortunately, it isn't possible to accurately recreate all players' creations in real life. As Dressmaker is designed for creativity and fun rather than perfect accuracy, fabrics in the game don't behave how they would in real life. Even so, this indie game is no doubt already inspiring future dressmakers and fashion industry workers across the globe.

"I had always just thought of clothes as fabric to be bought in a store and that didn't fit quite right," Hau-Yoon wrote the day after launching Dressmaker. "Sabrina taught me that clothes are so much more than that: that clothes tell us about economic activity, technology, culture, social status, politics, stories. That they are incredible feats of engineering and construction, full of creativity, when you get into the craft."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Dressmaker is available now on PC.

How can Ted Lasso fix itself?

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 12:25

When it came to Ted Lasso's fourth season, I wanted nothing more than to take a page out of Ted's (Jason Sudeikis) book and "believe."

I wanted to believe that after three years off the air, Ted Lasso had taken an opportunity to reset itself. I wanted to believe that it would fix the issues that plagued its frustrating third season, like bloated episodes and the unfortunate habit of pushing key scenes off camera. Most of all, I wanted to believe that the season's concentration on women's sports would give it a renewed sense of purpose.

SEE ALSO: 'Ted Lasso' Season 4 review: Women's soccer is just what this show needs

In the end, Season 4 rewarded my belief — and the belief of all other Ted Lasso fans — with a mixed bag. The episodes are still too long, and several story choices are downright bizarre, but at least the Lady Greyhounds and assistant manager Alice (Tanya Reynolds) jolted some new life into the season. If only the show had spent as much time on them as they did on dragging out Roy (Brett Goldstein) and Keeley's (Juno Temple) inevitable romance.

That brings us to Season 4's sweet finale, "Being Alive," which is a massive step up from last week's season-low, "Mae Rides The Bus." In many ways, "Being Alive" is a showcase of Season 4's wasted potential. Several Lady Greyhounds get moments that flesh them out further. Siobhan (Rex Hayes) and Niamh's (Aisling Sharkey) rendition of "The Parting Glass" is a touching tribute to Mae (Annette Badland), while Lizzie's (Faye Marsay) continued struggles with finding childcare emphasize the unfair expectations placed on her as a working mother.

Elsewhere, "Being Alive" remembers that Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) is a boss, actually, and lets her be as confident and cool as she's ever been. (While still giving her the opportunity to crash out in hilarious fashion at Roy's news that he's heading to Chelsea.) The episode also sees Ted give his son, Henry (Gus Turner), a key heart-to-heart about grief and his own father's death by suicide. It's the kind of of open, reassuring chat that's mostly been missing this season, topped only by Alice and Ted's silent crying session in episode 8.

The finale is not without its low points — Zelda (Tracey Ullman), we'll get to you in a moment! — but overall, it does conjure up some hope at Ted Lasso's future. However, as Ted Lasso fans know all too well, it's the hope that kills you. So, what lessons can Ted Lasso learn from Season 4 to stop killing us and get back to being its best self?

Show, don't tell. Tracey Ullman in "Ted Lasso." Credit: Apple TV

"Show, don't tell" is perhaps the most cited piece of storytelling advice, but it's one Ted Lasso seems to have forgotten about along the way. One of the most egregious examples came in Season 3, which had been building up to Nate's (Nick Mohammed) breaking free of Rupert (Anthony Head) and West Ham. When his big exit finally came, Ted Lasso didn't show an ounce of it. Instead, in one of the show's most baffling moves, we learned about Nate's departure from a news report.

Ted Lasso keeps up that worrying trend of failing to dramatize key moments in Season 4, especially when it comes to Zelda's (Tracey Ullman) nefarious plan to gain a controlling stake in Richmond. In the finale, she appears to do just that, and she gloats about it to Rebecca and Higgins' (Jeremy Swift) faces. After several minutes of over-the-top villainy, Rebecca and Higgins pull a reverse Uno: Zelda thought the Milk sisters had sold her shares to them, but in reality, they'd sold them back to Rebecca. Zelda's friend Hugo (Alex Blake) had informed Higgins and Rebecca of Zelda's dastardly plan.

SEE ALSO: 'Ted Lasso' just sank to a new low

While Ted Lasso does show Higgins taking a call from Hugo, it otherwise does nothing else to hint at Rebecca's growing suspicions or changed opinion of Zelda. When the big reveal finally comes, it lands with a resigned thud. Making matters worse? The fact that Rebecca forgives Zelda. Yes, it's the kind, Ted Lasso thing to do, but it also craters the stakes going into next season. Now, Zelda isn't a big mastermind villain. She's just a too-broad wild card who we know will try to undermine the club for her own gain. There will be no surprises, and apparently, no growth.

Side note: Mae's will plays a big part in the Zelda showdown, as she returns her 2 percent stake in Richmond to Rebecca, therefore giving her full control. But Mae would not have sold in the first place! She did not need to die for Zelda to be thwarted! The disrespect to Mae doesn't end there. She bequeaths the Crown & Anchor pub to fans Baz (Adam Colborne), Jeremy (Bronson Webb), and Paul (Kevin Garry). Sure, in the women's sports-focused season, let's kill off a woman and give her job to three men! What could go wrong?

Make us care about every relationship. Hannah Waddingham in "Ted Lasso." Credit: Apple TV

In its first few seasons, Ted Lasso built several enduring, beautiful friendships, many of which seemed to vanish this season. Ted and Rebecca are the cornerstone friendship of the show, yet aside from the premiere and the finale, they rarely shared a thoughtful conversation. Watching the two finally get a moment to themselves in the finale felt like seeing an old friend after years apart. Where had they been the whole time?

Several other relationships suffered this season. As soon as Roy and Keeley got back together, the show rushed them straight into pregnancy, without letting viewers settle into their first few weeks back together as a couple. Ted's connection with Henry also faded to the background this season, only to come roaring back — and wonderfully so! — in the finale.

SEE ALSO: 'Ted Lasso' finally starts to do right by the Lady Greyhounds

But the worst offender here is the romance between Rebecca and Dutch pilot Matthijs (Matteo van der Grijn). In its first episodes, Season 4 offered the pair nothing but conflict. Between their differing schedules and a fight about Matthijs possibly moving to London, the pair did not seem destined to be together much longer. Yet Ted Lasso hand-waved their New Year's reconciliation and seemingly forgot about them until the finale, when Rebecca proposes marriage, and Matthijs agrees. First off, Rebecca's sudden desire for marriage jumps out of nowhere, like a flying soccer ball to the face. Second off, Ted Lasso has simply not put in the work to make us care about this engagement. I have nothing against Matthijs: I like his bluntness and his willingness to call out Coach Beard's (Brendan Hunt) strange midlife crisis in the finale. But I don't know if I like him and Rebecca together, because Ted Lasso doesn't showcase them enough. All the best wishes to the engaged couple. I just wish I knew them better.

The lack of care put into these relationships is a symptom of Season 4's biggest problem, which is the show spreading itself too thin. In combining much of its original cast with a full new team, Ted Lasso created a massive web of connections that it simply couldn't sustain. (Not without feature-length episodes, and let's not give them any ideas there.)

Keep the focus on the Lady Greyhounds. Abbie Hern, Brendan Hunt, Jason Sudeikis, Tanya Reynolds, and Jude Mack in "Ted Lasso." Credit: Apple TV

This is a lesson that Ted Lasso has steadily been learning towards the end of the season, but as the show heads into a potential Season 5, it bears repeating — especially since the Season 4 finale features cameos from the men's team, as well as former Richmond team members like Sam (Toheeb Jimoh) and Coach Nate.

Like Jamie Tartt's (Phil Dunster) cameo earlier in the season, the return of these characters feels like the warmest of bear hugs. It's a joy to watch Isaac (Kola Bokinni) gear up to give Beard one of his patented haircuts, just as it's a joy to watch the Diamond Dogs mount back up — now with Alice joining as "the Cat People."

But these cameos stirred up two main concerns. One, that this was Ted Lasso's way of bringing the men's team back into the fold. If the show was overcrowded before, meshing the teams would be downright catastrophic. Plus, it would undermine the focus on the women's team, which has been starving for more screen time as is.

More pressingly, though, I realized that the Lady Greyhounds have no traditions or culture that match what Ted Lasso built for the Greyhounds in its early episodes. Alice's addition to the Diamond Dogs is delightful, but it's also an amendment to a pre-established dynamic. The same goes for the encouraging Post-it notes appended to the "Believe" sign. They're lovely, but they're just adding to a staple of the men's team. It's going to take more than that to create a distinct team culture.

Thankfully, Ted Lasso's Season 4 finale ends with a clear focus on the women's team heading into the future. Alice takes the reins as manager, and of course, she's got a massive binder full of plans to help the team dominate. Meanwhile, Ted becomes assistant manager — a mirror to his job at the grocery store at the very start of the season — and appears excited to let Alice take things from there. With Alice at the head, the future looks bright for the Lady Greyhounds. The same goes for Ted Lasso, as long as it can learn from its mistakes.

Ted Lasso Season 4 is now streaming on Apple TV. The season finale airs Oct. 7.

Shark vacuum October Prime Day sale: Save $350 on our favorite stick and robot vacuums

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 12:24
Highlights from the Shark vacuum Prime Day sale: best budget pick Shark Pet Cordless Stick Vacuum $149.99 (save $150) Get Deal Best stick vacuum deal Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus $379.99 (save $220) Get Deal Best robot vacuum deal Shark AI Ultra $249.99 (save $349.01) Get Deal Also consider Shark Pet Cordless Stick Vacuum (2026 model) $179.99 (save $120) Get Deal

If a new vacuum is on your shopping list, we've spotted several standout Shark vacuums in the October Prime Day sale. Officially called Prime Big Deal Days, the 48-hour Amazon sale is now in its second and final day. That means you only have until the end of the day to score a sweet discount.

We've covered a lot of deals so far, but the Shark vacuum deals are particularly good. Some of them are also selling out, as the popular Shark Pet stick vac is currently sold out at Amazon (don't worry, we found it in stock somewhere else).

Known for its performance and value, Shark offers high-end features similar to Dyson at a much more affordable price point. And during major shopping events like Amazon's October Prime Day sale, you can often find Shark vacuums at incredible deals. We hand-picked a few we think are worth shouting about this time around, including the best-selling Shark Pet stick vacuum and the popular AI Ultra robot vacuum.

Best Shark vacuum October Prime Day deal Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Shark Pet Cordless Stick Vacuum $149.99 at Shark Ninja
$299.99 Save $150   Get Deal Why we like it

The Shark Pet is a steady Prime Day standout year after year, and October Prime Day 2026 is no different. One of Mashable's former reporters said this stick vacuum is the best he's ever owned, labeling it "life-changing." It's designed to swallow up pet hair, as the name suggests, and it succeeds at its job. It's also lightweight, converts to a hand vacuum when necessary, and is half off. That's a hard deal to beat, so it's no surprise it's already sold out at Amazon. Fortunately, you can still scoop the deal up at the Shark Ninja website.

And if you don't want to stray from Amazon, you can still grab the 2026 Shark Pet vacuum on sale at Amazon for $179.99, which isn't bad either.

Best Shark stick vacuum deal Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus $379.99 at Amazon
$599.99 Save $220   Get Deal

The Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus is another option with the Mashable stamp of approval. Shopping reporter Lauren Allain says she owns the older model of this stick vacuum and adores it. Her only complaint is that it might be too powerful. As the name suggests, it automatically boosts power when dirt and debris are detected. So if major suction power is what you're after, look no further. The PowerDetect Pet Plus will cost you a bit more than the basic Shark Pet, but it's still a helluva deal at $379.99 (its lowest price on record).

Best Shark robot vacuum deal Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum $249.99
$599 Save $349.01   Get Deal Why we like it

According to Amazon price-tracker CamelCamelCamel, the Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum has only dropped to $249.99 once before. So this 58% discount is pretty dang good. If you'd rather your vacuuming be hands-off, the AI Ultra offers powerful suction and Matrix Clean Navigation to get the job done. The bagless base can hold up to 60 days of dirt and debris, so you'll only have to do the dirty work every couple of months. This vacuum comes personally recommended by one of our contributors, and it has Shark's excellent Matrix spot cleaning feature.

More Shark vacuum October Prime Day deals worth checking out

Time is running out for Prime members to shop Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale. Sign up for a Prime 30-day free trial if you want to save some cash, and follow Mashable’s guide to the best October Prime Day deals and live blog for the latest updates.

Apple reportedly teaming with LG for smart home devices, including a doorbell

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 12:19

It appears Apple is looking to make a push to be on your front door.

The tech giant is reportedly working with LG on a lineup of smart home devices, including a smart lock, a thermostat, and a video doorbell, according to Bloomberg. The companies are also reportedly developing security cameras and a floodlight. Both companies are reportedly developing the devices, but they will carry LG's name rather than Apple's.

Bloomberg reports that they're designed to work with Apple's upcoming smart home hub and could be announced next week, though they may not go on sale right away.

SEE ALSO: I tried the best smart rings of 2026 — the Oura Ring 5 is the best you can buy

If the report holds up, the lineup would put Apple and LG in direct competition with Amazon, whose smart home business includes Ring doorbells and security cameras.

The LG devices would connect to a smart display Apple is expected to unveil on Oct. 13. As Mashable previously reported, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the display will act as a smart home hub and showcase Apple's new AI-powered Siri. Gurman reported that it will be able to recognize individual household members and tailor answers to each person. According to TechCrunch, the hub is expected to have a 6-inch square screen that can sit on a counter or be mounted on a wall.

Apple hasn't announced an official name. The Apple Post has called the device the "HomePad," while Gurman has used Apple's internal code name, J490.

The display is expected to be one of several products in what could be Apple's first big launch since John Ternus became CEO. Gurman reported that Apple is also preparing a new HomePod Mini and a new Apple TV streaming device.

Apple hasn't updated the HomePod line since the second-generation HomePod in January 2023, and the last Apple TV hardware came out in 2022.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters or get Mashable push alerts today. 

Nvidia RTX Spark laptop prices seemingly revealed by HP leak

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 11:00

Microsoft is all set to announce a Surface laptop powered by the powerful new Nvidia RTX Spark chip on Wednesday afternoon, but HP may have jumped the gun by revealing the price of its own RTX Spark laptops ahead of time.

According to NotebookCheck, HP posted product listings on its online storefront ahead of the Microsoft event, which is set to start at 1 p.m. ET. These laptops use the RTX Spark chip, making them extra beefy for power users. Per HP's store listings (which have since been removed), the OmniBook X 14 starts at $2,999, and the Omnibook Ultra 16 starts at $3,199.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft is ending support for Internet Explorer mode in Edge

Those are obviously huge price tags, but they make a tiny bit more sense when you see that the machines include the RTX Spark chip, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage.

Still, NotebookCheck noted that the Ultra 16 can go as high as $4,999 with the most powerful variant. That's an astronomical price for a laptop, no matter how powerful it is. We'll see if the Microsoft Surface laptop with the RTX Spark chip, likely to be announced on Wednesday afternoon, is even close to these in price.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters or get Mashable push alerts today. 

Keep the fridge running and your devices powered with $649 off Ankers Solix C2000 this October Prime Day

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 11:00

SAVE $649: As of Oct. 7, the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station (2,048Wh) is down to $849.99 at Amazon for Prime Big Deal Days — a 43% discount off its normal $1,499 list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Anker Anker Solix C2000 $849.99 at Amazon
$1,499 Save $649.01   Get Deal

Prime Big Deal Days wraps up at midnight tonight, making this your final window to grab Anker's heavy-duty backup battery before prices jump back up. Dropping $649 off its usual $1,499 price tag down to $849.99, the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 gives you solid energy security for home blackouts, tailgating, or camping trips.

The main draw here is the sheer amount of juice it holds: a 2,048Wh capacity paired with 2,400W of continuous power output (and a huge 4,000W peak surge). That means it can power heavy-duty appliances like a full-sized dual-door fridge, a microwave, or a window A/C unit without tripping. It’s so efficient that it can keep a full-sized fridge cold for up to 32 straight hours on a single charge.

SEE ALSO: The best live Prime Day outdoor deals: Anker power stations, Yeti coolers, and LifeStraws are among our top picks

Recharging is stupidly fast, too. Wall-charging gets it from empty to 100% in just 58 minutes. If you're on the road, you can use an 800W car alternator charger to top it off in 3 hours — eight times faster than a standard cigarette lighter socket — or hook it up to solar panels when you're off the grid.

Even with all that muscle, Anker managed to keep this setup surprisingly compact. At 41.7 pounds, it's about 25% lighter and 29% smaller than most other power stations with this much juice, making it easy enough to throw in the trunk. Plus, the internal LiFePO4 battery cells are rated for over 3,000 charge cycles, so you'll easily get 10 years of use out of it before the battery health even starts to drop.

Grab the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station at Amazon for $849.99 before Prime Big Deal Days ends at midnight tonight.

Mars weird 1,100-mile cloud runs on physics no one has ever seen before

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 11:00

Astronomers may have uncovered a wild reason for how one Martian cloud grows hundreds of miles longer than California, possibly making it the largest of its kind in the solar system. 

Astrophysicist Jorge Hernández Bernal first spotted the cloud in an otherwise clear sky in 2018. Images by the European Space Agency's Mars Express Visual Monitoring Camera, aka the Mars webcam, captured the strange phenomenon as the Red Planet's southern hemisphere experienced spring. 

When he looked through archival Mars images, he found the cloud as far back as NASA's Viking 2 mission in the 1970s. But it largely escaped notice because of its ephemeral nature: It forms daily at sunrise around the summit of Arsia Mons, a mountain that soars 11 miles high, and vanishes within three hours. Many space cameras snapping photos of that region can't take pictures until the afternoon, due to orbits timed to the sun. 

For years, Bernal and colleagues have continued investigating what makes this extraterrestrial wonder — and, no, it's not steam spewing from the volcano. Arsia Mons has not been active for ages. Instead, the answer may be physics that was only theoretical until now. Scientists have never seen this happen in any planet's atmosphere before.

The team's shocking findings, published in Nature Geoscience, are a reminder to scientists that they should never rule out obscure or unfamiliar processes when studying other worlds. 

SEE ALSO: A dying star may have birthed a planet right before it croaked

The key to the cloud could be something called "homogeneous nucleation," according to the new paper, a process wherein water vapor seems to freeze straight into ice particles in the air. 

On Earth, clouds tend to form when water vapor cools and clings to airborne particles, like salt, pollen, or dust. Originally, researchers believed Mars' copious dust was the catalyst. But when they used computer models to try to simulate the cloud, dubbed the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud, or AMEC, they could never reproduce its long tail. 

Something was missing from their cloud recipe, which urged Bernal, now at Sorbonne Université in Paris, to continue looking for missing steps or ingredients. 

"The actual answer seems obvious now, but at first we were quite skeptical of ourselves," Bernal told Mashable. "The point is that homogeneous nucleation is another pathway to form cloud particles without requiring dust, and that happens precisely when humidity is very high."

Researchers liken this unusual phenomenon to droplets of condensation appearing in the middle of a room, rather than on a window. For this cloud process to work, the air has to be extremely moist — over 100,000 times more humid than anything we experience on Earth.

Want more science and tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter today.

The 1,100-mile cloud appears at sunrise daily in the spring and summer for the southern Mars hemisphere. Credit: ESA

So how does a dry, dusty planet get that soggy? Blame the volcano. As wind rushes past Arsia Mons, the mountainside kicks up a powerful gravity wave in the atmosphere. That wave shoves moist air several miles higher in just a few minutes. Up there, the air chills fast, dropping about 54 degrees Fahrenheit in only 10 minutes. Cold air can't hold much water vapor, so the humidity shoots up until the vapor freezes on the spot.

Mars may be famous for its dust, but the researchers found that altitude makes all the difference. The cloud forms about 28 miles above the ground, where far less dust floats around.

With homogeneous nucleation added to the cloud recipe, the team's computer model finally produced the long tail. 

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

"It feels good to find a long-sought explanation like this, especially when the explanation turns out to be something really special that has not been observed in nature before," Bernal said.

Confirming the result will require new observations that won't be easy to get. But the researchers hope the paper will spark broader scientific interest in dust-free cloud formation, not just in the upper atmosphere of Mars, but Venus and even Earth. 

Bernal, who has devoted his whole career to studying this exotic cloud, worries that humans could one day destroy it, as they have other wondrous features on our home planet. He's an advocate for studying space and other worlds from afar.

"It is an eye-catching, aesthetically sublime cloud," he said. "If anyone tried to terraform Mars, any change in its current climate could easily make the AMEC disappear." 

The Google Pixel 11 Pro is under $900 for the first time ever

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 10:45

SAVE $265: Prime members can now buy an unlocked Google Pixel 11 Pro for $835. As part of Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days sale, this phone has dropped below $1,000 for the first time since it launched.

Opens in a new window Credit: Google Google Pixel 11 Pro, Unlocked (256GB) $835 at Amazon
$1,099 Save $264   Get Deal

The Google Pixel 11 Pro launched in August, and it's taken two months to get a good and proper discount on this Android flagship. For the first time ever, this phone is available for under $1,000 as part of the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days sale. With a cool 24% discount, you can save $265 and pick up this phone for $834 in the obsidian black color. The dune, fog, and olive versions of the phone are also on sale for $849, so you'll have to decide if any of those colors is worth an extra $15 to you.

In our Pixel 11 Pro review, we noted that the new smartphone has an incredible camera array, and the device is capable of taking professional-quality photographs (even without the included suite of AI photo editing tools). That's no surprise. For the past couple of years, Google's Pro-series phones have had the best cameras in the business, rivaled only by Apple's Pro-level phones. If you're in the Android world and you want the best possible cameras, this is the best smartphone for photography (at least in the United States; there are some impressive smartphone cameras with Leica lenses available in Asia).

As our reviewer Alex Perry wrote, "Photography is fun on the Pixel 11 Pro, which is not something I feel about many handsets these days. A combination of hardware and software makes your images consistently look nice, even in challenging lighting conditions." We recently named this one of the best smartphones of the year, and at this price, it's a lot more attractive.

Prime members can buy an unlocked model of this Android phone at Amazon now.

SEE ALSO: The 37 best Prime Day tech deals: We found deals under $25, but also $1,200 savings on OLED TVs

Time is running out for Prime members to shop Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale. Sign up for a Prime 30-day free trial if you want to save some cash, and follow Mashable’s guide to the best October Prime Day deals and live blog for the latest updates.

Apples default budget tablet just hit $399 for October Prime Day — save $50

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 10:23

SAVE $50: As of Oct. 7, the 11-inch Apple iPad (A16 chip, 128GB, WiFi) is down to $399 at Amazon — a 11% savings off its standard $449 list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPad 11-inch: A16 chip $399 at Amazon
$449 Save $50   Get Deal

Prime Big Deal Days wraps up at midnight tonight, making this your final chance to grab Apple's default budget tablet before prices jump back up. Named Mashable's top pick for the best budget iPad of 2026 by Samantha Mangino, the 11th-generation iPad drops $50 down to $399 for the 128GB version. It’s the most practical buy for anyone who wants a fast, vibrant screen for couch scrolling, video calls, and daily tasks without spending Pro or Air money.

Inside, Apple upgraded the processor to the A16 chip — making apps load instantly and multi-window browsing feel effortless. While it skips the hyper-advanced M-series chips, its benchmark results beat most premium Chromebooks, so it easily doubles as a light work or study device.

The 11-inch Liquid Retina display delivers sharp, vibrant visuals with True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the screen's color warmth to match the ambient lighting in your room so your eyes don't get fried. You get a sharp 12MP front camera positioned along the long landscape edge — so you look centered during video calls — plus a 12MP rear camera for quick document scans. Touch ID is integrated directly into the top power button for instant fingerprint unlocking and secure Apple Pay authorization.

SEE ALSO: October Prime Day: We found 22 Apple products at record-low prices that you need to grab before midnight

Rounding out the hardware is a universal USB-C charging port, all-day battery life that comfortably carries you through a full day of mixed use, and speedy WiFi 6 for buffer-free streaming. It also supports both the USB-C Apple Pencil and 1st-Gen Apple Pencil if you like to sketch or take handwritten notes, as well as the Magic Keyboard Folio if you want to turn it into a portable mini laptop setup.

If you just need a reliable, high-quality Apple tablet that nails all the fundamentals, this $399 iPad 11-inch A16 Prime Day deal is as good as it gets before the clock runs out.

I think the best Prime Day TV deal just landed: Get a QLED TV for under $150

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 10:12

SAVE $190: For today only, Prime members can get the 43-inch Toshiba M450 Series QLED 4K Smart Fire TV for $139.99. That's a 58% discount from its former price of $329.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Toshiba Toshiba 43-inch M450 Series QLED 4K Smart Fire TV $139.99 at Amazon
$329.99 Save $190   Get Deal

You may have heard: Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days sales event is happening right now, and it's set to end at midnight tonight. This annual fall sale, which most of us simply call October Prime Day, even if Amazon wishes we wouldn't, has delivered thousands and thousands of discounts on everything you can think of. You can even get a $1,500 gift card for free if you buy a car through Amazon Auto (yes, you can buy cars on Amazon, too).

SEE ALSO: October Prime Day 2026 live: Updates on the latest deals on AirPods, Yeti, Kindles, and Owala water bottles

To keep Prime Big Deal Days interesting, Amazon is offering daily drops of new deals, called "Today's Big Deals." Thankfully, this has delivered what might be the best Prime Day TV deal so far, at least for budget shoppers. For a little while longer, Prime members can save 58% on the 43-inch version of the Toshiba M450 Series QLED 4K Smart Fire TV. Recently priced at $329.99, the new price of $139.99 lets you save a total of $190.

Now, obviously, if you're buying a TV for under $150, you're not going to get a lot of the premium features that you'll find in our favorite TVs of 2026. However, there's a lot to love about this TV:

  • HDR10+ QLED display

  • Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support

  • Fire TV OS and Alexa voice support

  • Low-latency gaming mode

  • Minimalist design with thin bezels

If you need a new TV, then jump on this Prime Day TV deal while you still can.

Prime members only have 48 hours to shop Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale. Sign up for a Prime 30-day free trial if you want to save some cash, and follow Mashable’s guide to the best October Prime Day deals and live blog for the latest updates.

Xreals Aura smartglasses will cost $1,279, preorders open soon

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 10:06

In 2025, Google unveiled an ambitious project called Android XR. The XR stands for "extended reality," and it's an Android-based platform (developed jointly by Google and Samsung) for smart eyewear.

Back then, however, you could only see prototypes, and despite later demos of a product called Project Aura, no Android XR smart glasses were commercially available...until now.

Yes, we're aware of Samsung's Galaxy XR, but that's a full-featured Android XR headset, not a pair of smart glasses.

With the aura (sorry) of mystery behind us, the actual product is a pair of smart glasses manufactured by Xreal, simply called Xreal Aura, and now they're finally available for pre-order.

Xreal says the Aura is not a headset or "display glasses;" instead, it's "spatial computing eyewear." The Aura glasses are very light (95 grams) because they're connected to a separate physical device (roughly the size of a smartphone) that runs Android XR. Equipped with a Snapdragon Reality Elite chip, see-through displays with a 70-degree field of view, hand-tracking, and Bose-branded audio tech, they come very close to a mixed reality headset while still looking (almost) like a normal pair of sunglasses.

SEE ALSO: Early adopters can get the Xreal 1S AR glasses for only $450

The Xreal Aura can be used for watching movies and TV shows, listening to music, playing games, working on documents, attending virtual meetings, and exploring your surroundings with the help of AI, and you can do all of that while on the move. Oh, and that separate device that you connect your glasses to? It also doubles as a trackpad and a fingerprint scanner, so it's not just sitting there.

The price is...well, it's not low. The Xreal Aura starts at $1,279 with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, while bumping that to 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage will set you back $1,499. As for sizing, you can get them in two sizes: medium and large, both costing the same. Oh, and if you want to pre-order them, you need to put down a $199 priority deposit, with pre-orders actually opening later this month.

For comparison, Meta's recently unveiled Meta VR Glasses cost $1,299, while Samsung's Galaxy XR headset costs $1,799.

The Xreal Aura will be available "before the holidays" in the US, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. More markets are coming next year.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters or get Mashable push alerts today. 

October Prime Day: We found 22 Apple products at record-low prices that you need to grab before midnight

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 09:13

TL;DR: Prime Big Deal Days ends tonight, and 22 Apple devices, including Beats products and Apple accessories, have officially hit all-time record-low prices.

Prime Big Deal Days are officially in full swing, and they brought some surprisingly strong Apple discounts along with them. This 48-hour event serves as Amazon's standard kickoff to the holiday shopping season, making it one of the absolute best windows of the year to grab flagship tech before the pre-Black Friday chaos hits. Better yet, this year's price drops offer some much-needed relief from recent RAM-driven price bumps.

While dozens of Apple devices are on sale, we filtered through the noise to isolate the absolute best savings: 22 Apple devices down to all-time record-low prices right now. Highlights include the brand-new Apple Watch Series 12 scoring its first real discount ever ($50 off), the Mac mini M6 dropping down to $779.99, Beats Studio Pro plunging to $149.95, and the newly released AirTag 2 hitting $24.

Apple products hold their value longer than almost any other consumer tech, which means genuine price cuts are few and far between. Finding 22 separate Apple items at all-time low prices during a single 48-hour event isn't standard practice — it's an anomaly.

But stock is already moving fast — so here are the 22 record-low Apple deals you need to grab before they disappear.

Beats' best workout earbuds are down by up to 28% Opens in a new window Credit: Beats Beats Powerbeats Fit $159.95 at Amazon
$199.98 Save $40.03   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Beats Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 $179.95 at Amazon
$249.99 Save $70.04   Get Deal

If standard AirPods fall out the second you start sweating, both of these fitness-first Beats models solve that problem with locked-in fits and sweat-proof designs. They pack active noise cancellation to silence noisy gyms, seamless Apple H-chip connectivity, and cross-platform support for Android — making either pair an easy pick at record-low prices.

The main choice comes down to your preferred fit and feature list. The Powerbeats Fit use flexible wingtips for a lighter, lower-profile fit that slides easily into your pocket. Meanwhile, the Powerbeats Pro 2 feature full earhooks for heavy-duty stability, a massive 45-hour total battery life, and built-in heart rate tracking right in your ear canal.

More Beats dealThe new Apple Watch Series 12 just hit its first price drop Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Watch Series 12 (GPS, 42mm) $349.99 at Amazon and Target
$399 Save $49.01   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Watch Series 12 (GPS + cellular, 42mm) $449.99 at Amazon and Target
$499 Save $49.01   Get Deal

Apple's brand-new flagship watch just got its very first discount, knocking $50 off both the GPS and Cellular versions. The Series 12 charges much faster than older models (0 to 80% in about 30 minutes), features a tougher front glass, and packs an upgraded heart rate sensor.

It also adds daily Readiness Scores to tell you when to work out or take a rest day, plus Siri Recap to quickly summarize your notifications. Whether you pick up the Light Gold GPS model or the Dark Bronze Cellular version to leave your phone behind, getting Apple's latest watch for under $350 is a huge October Prime Day win.

More Apple Watch dealsApple's pint-sized AI powerhouse hit record-low prices Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Mac mini (M6, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $779.99 at Amazon
$899 Save $119.01   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Mac mini (M6, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $949.99 at Amazon
$1,099 Save $149.01   Get Deal

Packed into a tiny five-by-five-inch frame, the M6 Mac mini delivers incredible desktop performance without cluttering up your workspace. Powered by Apple's M6 chip with a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, and Dual 16-core Neural Engine, this tiny machine handles AI workflows, heavy multitasking, and media editing with ease. You also get WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6, front-facing USB-C ports, and support for up to three external displays.

Deciding between these two record-low options comes down to how you handle your files. Grab the 256GB model if you rely mostly on cloud storage or external drives to keep costs low. If you regularly store large video projects, download heavy application suites, or run local AI tools directly on the device, the 512GB model gives you essential extra headroom.

More Mac dealsThe ultimate peace-of-mind tracker drops to an impulse buy of $24 Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTag 2 $24 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart
$29 Save $5   Get Deal

If you have a habit of misplacing your keys, wallet, or luggage, the AirTag 2 is the easiest tech fix you can buy. Upgraded earlier this year, Apple’s second-gen tracker features a much louder internal speaker so you can hear it from across the house, plus an expanded Ultra Wideband range that makes Precision Finding ridiculously accurate when you're hunting down lost items.

It syncs instantly with Apple's Find My network — using millions of nearby iPhones to securely pinpoint your stuff anywhere in the world — and packs water resistance with a user-replaceable battery. Down to an all-time record low of $24, it’s an absolute impulse-buy essential to toss into your cart before October Prime Day wraps up.

More Apple accessory deals

Prime members only have 24 hours left to shop Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale. Sign up for a Prime 30-day free trial if you want to save some cash, and follow Mashable’s guide to the best October Prime Day deals and live blog for the latest updates.

The Social Reckoning review: Aaron Sorkins indulgences fail this Facebook follow-up

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 09:00

Yes, Aaron Sorkin wrote 2010's The Social Network, a historical drama that recounted how sexist computer nerd Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook. Now, Sorkin has returned with The Social Reckoning, which focuses on how one brave whistleblower revealed some of the sinister decisions Zuckerberg made to favor his finances over the well-being of Facebook users. But this time, Sorkin is directing in place of David Fincher. And this means there's no end to his stylistic indulgences, which have grown increasingly stale since his West Wing days. 

Sorkin's predilection for banter, his oft-condescending tone, and his Newsroom tendency to depict women as sexy, scolding, or both, undermine the story he's trying to tell. Even his treatment of Zuckerberg (played here by Succession's Jeremy Strong) misses the mark, turning the tech titan into a caricature of capitalist greed. The Social Reckoning feels far less revelatory and far more like it's preaching to a choir — or more specifically, an all-male choir. 

The Social Reckoning is misogynistic.  Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison co-star in "The Social Reckoning." Credit: Sony Pictures

The problem begins with Sorkin's portrayal of whistleblower Frances Haugen, played here by Academy Award–winning actress Mikey Madison (Anora). 

Sorkin introduces Facebook coder Frances with a leering eye. Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth films her at her home computer, wearing thigh-high shorts. His lens tilts slowly down her bare legs to reveal leg warmers and dangling, naked toes. The shot lingers long enough you might wonder if this is a Tarantino joint. The specificity of the leg warmers, which are matched by knitted fingerless gloves, is later explained to be related to a medical issue rather than sartorial eccentricity. In this introduction, however, it just feels fetishistic. 

This male gaze gets hornier as Frances begins meeting secretly with Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Jeff Horwitz (The Bear's Jeremy Allen White). He's staying at a hotel, so to deter suspicion about why she'd be there, she dresses up as if she's meeting someone for a date. In Sorkin's mind, this means low-plunging, skin-tight dresses with nude illusion lace that feel more suited to a red carpet. (And yes, even Madison's red carpet look for this movie's red carpet is more demure than her costumes in it!) So, even as Madison is sharply delivering technical dialogue, a medium or wide shot will revel in her cleavage and curvy figure. 

Elsewhere, other heralded actresses, including Emmy winner Betty Gilpin and BAFTA winner Wunmi Mosaku, play more corporate figures dressed in mercilessly snug-fitting suits that draw attention to their busts and hips. And though Canadian Screen Acting nominee Anna Lambe, playing one of Frances' colleagues, isn't as relentlessly ogled, she — like every other woman mentioned — is essentially a scold. 

Frances is giving Jeff all the info he needs to write his expose series. But along the way, she will repeatedly berate him and call him stupid. (He'll say she's "mean.") Lambe's role is mostly scorning Frances for her concerns about Facebook empowering extremist groups. Mosaku is a crisis manager who is sternly teaching Zuckerberg to look less like a robot ahead of his Senate Judiciary hearing. Gilpin's Wall Street Journal executive is 80 percent glowering, save for a one-on-one scene with Madison that seems to have been put there by Sorkin solely to beat the Bechdel Test. 

And to that end, Sorkin's dialogue between Frances and Jeff is repeatedly infuriating. He seems to be trying to recreate the bouncy will-they-won't-they banter of the films of Frank Capra, who gets name-dropped by Jeff in a patronizing tone. (He chastises Frances for only knowing two of Capra's movies.) It's insulting to suggest that audiences can only be interested in the dialogue between these two if there's a flirtatious frisson. And frankly, the actors seem to resist that pressure, doubling down in the sternness of their characters. Still, it's galling that Sorkin's dialogue resolutely builds Jeff to be one of a dying breed, the intellectual man, when he's actually a tediously smug misogynist.  

In the film, Jeff is a political reporter who wants to investigate Facebook without joining it, and doesn't even know how to use GPS. (He prefers paper maps in 2019!) He bullies his intern — whom he calls "the female one" — into joining Facebook so he can observe her experience for data collection. When he demands she like and reshare whatever crosses her feed, she worries people will believe it's really her, and he ignores her. Then, when a frustrated Frances accuses him of "mansplaining," he counters that women only say that when they're losing an argument.

SEE ALSO: Women's mansplaining experiences will make you want to throw things

Admittedly, White's charisma and a gentle tone that feels like he's stolen Ryan Gosling's voice softens the rough edges of some of these egregiously off-putting moments. But overall, what Sorkin imagines will entertain the audience so they'll eat the vegetables of this whistleblower story is actually poisoning the plate. 

Jeremy Strong is an unfunny parody of Mark Zuckerberg.  Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Reckoning." Credit: Sony Pictures

In The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg was widely praised for his depiction of Zuckerberg as an arrogant asshole, determined that he was the smartest guy in the room. In The Social Reckoning, none of that frat boy swagger remains. Strong, an award-winning actor in his own right, plays Zuckerberg stiffly, whether he's practicing his testimony or speaking to his staff. His arguments are flat and unconvincing, even as he faces one of the most pivotal moments in Facebook's history: whether to shut down President Donald Trump's ability to post on Facebook during the Jan. 6th insurrection. 

It might be a technically accurate portrayal of the Silicon Valley icon. But it makes Zuckerberg look like a pencil brought to life by an incompetent Etsy witch. So, as he spouts his supposed faith in free speech or his determination to make Facebook an unstoppable financial juggernaut, there's an uncanny valley-like disconnect. Sorkin makes no attempt to connect how Zuckerberg from The Social Network, where he was a cocky yuppie in a bathrobe and shower sandals, might have become this pod person muttering about percentages in a bland business suit.

To Sorkin's credit, he brings in comedian Bill Burr as an emotive foil. Playing the role of Zuckerberg's counsel, he agitates and bellows, hitting the Facebook founder with some of the sharp words many in the public might love to throw at him. But it's a problem when a tertiary character who's in maybe seven minutes of the movie feels like the only real person, even though the movie is based on real people. 

In the end, The Social Reckoning feels like a finger-wagging lecture. Perhaps Sorkin means to spice it up with Golden Age Hollywood banter, a portrait of Zuckerberg as a dead-eyed ghoul, and a slathering of sex appeal from the female cast. But Sorkin's dusty devices, problematic archetypes, and cringeworthy dialogue make the film feel instantly dated. Scroll on.

The Social Reckoning opens in theaters Oct. 9. 

This Owala water bottle matches the burgundy iPhone and is under $20 on Prime Day

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 08:58

TL;DR: As of Oct. 7, the 24-ounce Owala FreeSip Twist is on sale at Amazon for $19.97 in select colorways. At full price, this water bottle will run you $29.99, meaning this deal saves you $10.02.

Opens in a new window Credit: Owala Owala FreeSip Twist (24 ounce) $19.97 at Amazon
$29.99 Save $10.02   Get Deal

Prime Big Deal Days is ending soon, and I've officially added the first real temptation of the sale to my cart: an Owala water bottle.

Like a few other of my Mashable colleagues, I've owned an Owala FreeSip for years, and though I love her down, I can't deny that the 40 ounce behemoth, though wonderful on my desk, can be a little less convenient while traveling or when I'm out and about all day long. Enter: the Owala FreeSip Twist.

SEE ALSO: October Prime Day 2026: Live updates on Apple, Kindle, Lego, and Samsung deals

My colleague Sam Mangingo wrote about how the Twist is the perfect travel companion, easily fitting into backpack side pockets and cup holders. Don't get me wrong, I can make it work with the FreeSip Sway thanks to the tapered bottom, but traveling isn't my only use case. I'm someone who very much subscribes to the big purse lifestyle, so I'm often carrying at least one book, one notebook, several pouches full of various "just in case" items, and my water bottle (yes, I'm a Virgo). In other words, I wouldn't hate having a slightly smaller bottle for taking on the go.

I especially wouldn't mind it because this one is on sale for less than $20, instead of its usual $29.99. Plus, there are plenty of color options, including the gorgeous black cherry (and yes, it bears a striking resemblance to the burgundy iPhone colorway, for anyone looking to settle some FOMO). This deal could easily last through the end of the sale, but it could just as easily go back up in price. My advice? If you're in my boat, the price likely won't drop any further during the sale, so it's probably worth grabbing sooner rather than later.

Save $10 on preorders of Nintendos remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Prime Day

Mashable - Wed, 10/07/2026 - 08:51

TL;DR: Physical preorders for Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake are already $10 off at Amazon. Preorder for $59.99 and get a preorder price guarantee.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' (Digital) $59.99 at Amazon
  Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' (Physical) $59.88 at Amazon
$69.99 Save $10.11   Get Deal

We're edging closer and closer to the Nintendo Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The official release date is Nov. 5, but Zelda fans are already buzzing thanks to the first-look gameplay footage.

Preorders for both the digital and physical copies are already available at Amazon. The digital version costs $59.99, while the physical edition was initially priced at $69.99 but has been reduced to $59.88 — great news for those of us who prefer to have the actual game in our hands.

There's another good reason to order from Amazon, as the retailer is offering a preorder price guarantee. That means if the preorder changes between now and when you're charged, you'll pay the lowest price point between when you order and when you receive the game.

If you're a serious Zelda fan, it's worth getting that preorder in soon.

Nintendo has revealed that the first print run of the physical edition will come with "special packaging that features textured foil cover art." That's one for the collectors, who will also love the Legend of Zelda-themed hardware coming this fall to mark the franchise's 40th anniversary. That will include a special-edition Switch 2 console, a Pro Controller, and a carrying case, all out Oct. 29.

Pages

Subscribe to Page Integrity, Inc. aggregator