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If your morning routine revolves around pressing a button for immediate caffeine fueling, National Coffee Day is basically your prime holiday.
While the official holiday doesn't hit until Sept. 29, Keurig is kicking off the festivities early. From Sept. 16 through Sept. 29, the brand is dropping major discounts across its most popular single-serve brewers, dual-brew carafe systems, milk frothers, and more.
SEE ALSO: Braun's new pod-free coffee maker brews everything from cold brew to espresso-style shots — and it's yours for under $200Whether you're looking to recreate your favorite pumpkin spice lattes at home or just need to stock your pantry with refills for fall, here is the full lineup of early Keurig deals worth shopping right now.
SimpleCafé Frother Opens in a new window Credit: Keurig SimpleCafé Frother $14.99 at KeurigThe SimpleCafé Frother is designed to take the guesswork out of making café-style drinks at home, turning basic drip coffee into actual lattes, cappuccinos, and cold foam creations in seconds. At half off, it’s an easy way to upgrade your morning routine without adding extra clutter to your kitchen counter.
Instead of holding a flimsy wand and hoping you don't splatter milk all over the backsplash, it comes with its own microwave-safe frothing cup with built-in measurement lines. Just pour in your milk of choice — pop in the rechargeable wand and toggle between latte and cappuccino presets for hands-free, silky froth.
K-Supreme Plus Special Edition Opens in a new window Credit: Keurig K-Supreme Plus Special Edition $119.99 at KeurigIf you take your daily caffeine fix seriously, the K-Supreme Plus Special Edition is Keurig’s flagship for a reason. Instead of just punching a single hole through the middle of a pod, it uses MultiStream Technology to pierce five separate holes into the grounds. That means water saturates the coffee much more evenly, extracting maximum flavor and aroma so your morning cup tastes like an actual brew rather than watered-down drip.
The coffee maker packs customizable controls with five strength levels and five temperature settings, plus a dedicated "over ice" mode that brews hot coffee specifically calibrated to avoid turning into a watery mess over ice cubes. You can also program preferences for up to three users so everyone gets their ideal cup at the touch of a button.
K-Duo Carafe Coffee Maker Opens in a new window Credit: Keurig K-Duo Carafe Coffee Maker (Gen 2) $139.99 at KeurigIf your household constantly clashes over single-serve convenience versus brewing an entire pot for group hosting, the K-Duo Carafe Coffee Maker solves the rivalry without taking up your whole counter. It lets you pop in a pod for a quick single serve on your way out the door, or switch to traditional grounds to brew a full 12-cup glass carafe when you have company or need back-to-back refills all morning.
MultiStream Technology extracts flavor from every pod, while dedicated buttons let you crank up the temperature with "Extra Hot" or punch up the intensity with "Strong Brew." For warm afternoons, the "Brew Over Ice" mode automatically adjusts the temperature so your iced coffee stays rich without getting watered down.
Whether you're upgrading your daily brewer or stocking up on fall pods, grab these Keurig deals by Sept. 29 to keep your home setup fully caffeinated for less.
TL;DR: The AI Agent & Business Automation E-Degree is $19.99 (reg. $49) for eight courses covering AI agents, RAG, and business automation.
Opens in a new window Credit: Eduonix Learning Solutions AI Agent & Business Automation Professional E-Degree $19.99AI skills are becoming increasingly smart and practical, so knowing how to build with the technology can be more useful than simply understanding how it works. The AI Agent & Business Automation Professional E-Degree is on sale for $19.99 (reg. $49), offering eight courses and more than 25 hours of hands-on training.
The curriculum focuses on tools you can actually use to build and automate. You’ll work with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, LangChain, CrewAI, and OpenAI APIs while learning how to create AI agents and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications that can work with your own data.
The courses focus on putting AI agents to work in areas like business operations, marketing, productivity, and workflow automation. You’ll also work with tools such as n8n, Zapier, and Make, as well as APIs and databases using FastAPI, Docker, and GitHub. And despite the technical subject matter, the program isn’t limited to developers.
Entrepreneurs and marketers can use the lessons to automate their work, while business professionals can become more comfortable with how agentic AI works. Developers, meanwhile, can dig further into agent engineering and use the hands-on projects to build out a portfolio.
The program is self-paced with lifetime access, and completing it comes with a certificate that can be added to a résumé or portfolio.
Get the AI Agent & Business Automation Professional E-Degree for $19.99 (reg. $49) and spend 25+ hours learning how to build AI agents and put them to work across real business applications.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max arrive with one of Apple's biggest camera overhauls in years. A combination of a variable aperture with actual mechanical blades, focus tracking, pro controls and more makes it an absolute photographic beast. But that doesn't mean it's for everyone.
Read more about the iPhone 18 Pro camera overhaul: iPhone 18 Pro: What's new with the cameras
Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max review: It’s what’s on the inside that counts
Timecode chapters
0:00 Intro
0:16 New features
1:17 Variable aperture
3:19 Focus tracking
4:40 Night mode
5:43 Camera comparison
7:23 Reference image
8:09 Sensors
8:54 Outro
Video credits
Host: Patrick Holland
Scripted by: Patrick Holland
Camera: Celso Bulgati
Video editor: Wes Ott
Thumbnail designer: Cole Kan
What if your smart glasses let you talk to an AI assistant but couldn’t film anyone? Meta is reportedly working on just such a pair, according to a Sept. 15 report by The Information.
The report comes amid a growing backlash to camera-equipped glasses: some venues have banned them, activists have put up spoof Meta ads, and people have described being filmed without their knowledge. Over the past week, thousands have turned to the app store to download ZuckOff — a new app that helps spot camera-equipped smart glasses nearby.
Meta’s reported new model, internally called Luna, could debut at its Connect conference on Sept. 23 and 24, according to the report, citing unnamed sources close familiar with the plans. The company is reportedly aiming to ship it in October.
Without a camera, Luna would focus on audio. The glasses allegedly have six microphones for talking to Meta’s AI assistant, speakers that direct sound toward the wearer’s ears, and a button that quickly activates Meta AI. They could come in two styles, reportedly called Clubmaster and Burbank.
That would give wearers some of the conveniences of Meta’s current glasses without letting them capture point-of-view photos and videos. It would also remove one immediate concern for anyone standing in front of the wearer: whether or not they’re being filmed without consent. Luna would still have microphones, so camera-free wouldn’t settle every privacy question. But it would be a change to a product category built in part around hands-free recording.
Meta’s camera-equipped glasses are no longer a novelty. EssilorLuxottica, Meta’s eyewear partner and the owner of Ray-Ban and Oakley, said it sold more than 7 million pairs of AI glasses in 2025. As they become more common, the person wearing them may know exactly what they can do... though people nearby may not.
An app for people on the other side of the lensThose concerned about privacy are the audience for ZuckOff. Created by Polish developer Pawel Szydlowski, the free app listens for Bluetooth signals associated with camera-equipped smart glasses. When it finds a possible match, it shows what kind of device it detected, how confident it is, and roughly how close the device may be. Its supported models include Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses, as well as Snap Spectacles.
Szydlowski told Business Insider he was troubled by videos of people using smart glasses to film strangers, particularly women approached by pickup artists. In some of the videos he saw, the subjects’ faces were left visible, and commenters tried to identify them. "We as a society have the right to at least know that someone is recording," he said.
ZuckOff has drawn both enthusiasm and skepticism online. In one Reddit discussion, r/technology commenters joked that the app is a "Glasshole Detector." Others questioned how reliably the glasses could be detected, since they may not always broadcast a Bluetooth signal.
Skepticism is warranted after reading the fine print: Finding a pair of glasses does not mean its wearer is recording, and ZuckOff cannot identify or see the wearer. The app's listing itself warns that glasses may broadcast less detectable information once they’re paired with a phone. And if the app finds nothing, that doesn’t prove there are no cameras around. Though modest, the information is better than nothing. As one person in r/privacy wrote, "It's not perfect but I like to see some resistance."
By Sept. 15, ZuckOff had surpassed 5,000 downloads on Apple’s App Store and reached at least 1,000 on Google Play. Scanning is free; on iPhone, paid options add background alerts and a longer sighting history.
ZuckOff isn’t the only attempt to give bystanders a heads-up. The free, open-source Android app Nearby Glasses also scans for Bluetooth identifiers associated with smart glasses. Its Google Play listing shows more than 100,000 downloads.
The privacy questions go beyond recording SEE ALSO: Pranksters and pickup artists are using Meta Ray-Ban glasses to harass strangers for contentThe growing concern isn’t hypothetical. Mashable previously reported on creators using smart glasses to turn unsuspecting people into social media content.
Some filmed themselves approaching women to ask for their phone numbers, then posted the encounters for audiences that scrutinized the women’s reactions. Others targeted people at work, trapping cashiers in circular conversations, or bothering drive-thru workers to provoke a response.
Meta’s existing glasses have a small light that signals when they’re recording. But wearers have found ways to cover or tamper with it. Meta says it has added safeguards that prevent photos or video when the light is covered.
Recording is only part of the privacy concern; what happens to the footage afterward matters, too. In a recent Swedish investigation, workers at a Meta contractor in Kenya said they had viewed deeply private footage captured by smart glasses while helping train the company’s AI, including clips of people using the bathroom or changing clothes and videos showing bank cards. One worker described seeing a man leave his glasses on a bedside table before his wife entered and changed clothes. Meta later said users’ photos and videos are private, human review of AI content requires consent, and it was ending its work with the contractor after examining the allegations.
Then there’s what the glasses might do in the future. In June, WIRED found code for an unreleased facial-recognition system called NameTag in Meta’s companion app. According to their analysis, it was designed to turn faces seen by the glasses into biometric signatures and compare them with information stored on the wearer’s phone. (Meta removed the code after the report was released.)
All of this helps explain why a camera-free option might appeal to both wearers and the people around them. With Connect only a week away, Luna could let Meta test a different pitch: that smart glasses might be more appealing when they do less.
If the company unveils them, we may find out whether the camera has been holding people back from buying a pair — or if it was the selling point all along.
I drove from the San Francisco Bay Area to Reno and back without burning a drop of gas, just to bring you the top tips you'll need when planning a road trip in an electric car along the way. From route-planning apps and charging adapters to tire pressure and preconditioning, ride along with me in the 2026 Chevy Equinox EV.
Read more about affordable EVs: This company builds the iPhone. Now it's launched an electric car.
Slate reveals pricing for its affordable electric pickup
Timecode chapters
00:00 Introduction and trip overview
02:44 Route planning and EV software
04:53 Charging ports, adapters and maintenance tips
07:22 Driving habits, speed and trip experience
Video credits
Host: Antuan Goodwin
Scripted by: Antuan Goodwin
Producer: JD Christison
Camera: Antuan Goodwin
Video Editor: JD Christison
Thumbnail Designer: Tharon Green
The Canon EOS R8 Mark II is one of the most capable full-frame cameras you'll find for under $2,000, but I can't help but admire its gorgeous industrial design.
Explore more about cameras and photography: Used camera shopping tips and tricks
I put the Camp Snap 2 to the ultimate test: Capturing my honeymoon
Timecode chapters
0:00 Intro and sample footage
0:10 Meet the Canon EOS R8 Mark II
0:19 Lineup positioning and pricing
0:35 Key features and ibis upgrade
0:57 Video specs and audio ports
1:14 Design inspiration: The retro T80
1:36 Ergonomics, grip and textures
2:27 Mode dial and beginner accessibility
2:50 Target audience and hands-on impressions
3:30 Preorder and release info
Video credits
Host: Jim Fisher
Scripted by: Jim Fisher
Producer: Jim Fisher
Camera: Jim Fisher
Video editor: Dillon Payne
Thumbnail designer: Zooey Liao
Thinking of working for Amazon but not sure how much the job pays? Wages will obviously vary per the position, but one thing is for sure: You will make no less than $20 per hour.
On Wednesday, Amazon announced that it was raising the minimum wage for full-time operations workers in the U.S. by $1. The move raises their lowest hourly wage from $19 to $20.
According to Amazon, average total compensation for these workers is now more than $32 per hour when its benefits package is included. The company provides healthcare coverage starting at $5 per week, as well as perks such as a free Amazon Prime membership and prepaid education programs.
Amazon also announced a new benefit that gives qualified employees and their families access to low-cost financial services through First Tech Federal Credit Union. The benefit is called "Day 1 Financial."
As Reuters points out, Amazon’s hourly wages now match Costco’s, after Costco raised its entry-level hourly pay to $20 last year. Amazon’s minimum wage is also higher than Walmart’s and Target’s, which start workers at $14 and $15 per hour, respectively.
Amazon raising wages for its workers is certainly a good thing. However, this pay raise strictly applies only to those directly employed by Amazon, a company that outsources a number of crucial positions to subcontractors.
For example, Amazon is currently fighting a New York City bill called the "Delivery Protection Act". The bill would force Amazon to directly hire its last-mile delivery and warehouse workers, jobs usually filled by third-party subcontractors.
According to Amazon, the company’s annual revenue rose 12 percent, from $638 billion in 2024 to $716.9 billion in 2025.
The holiday shopping season will be here before you know it. This week, Amazon announced the return of Prime Big Deal Days for 2026, its fall savings event for Prime members (aka "October Prime Day"). The sale will run for 48 hours from Oct. 6 to 7 and compete with concurrent festivities at Target and Walmart.
Prime Big Deal Days will be an opportunity to get a head start on your Black Friday wishlist — and to get some relief from the RAMageddon price hikes impacting the tech industry this year. For its part, Amazon increased the prices of nearly two dozen Kindles, Fire TV Sticks, Echo smart speakers, and eero routers this summer because of rising component costs. Its upcoming seasonal deals should cancel out some of those markups.
SEE ALSO: How to sign up for Amazon Prime in time for the next Prime DayAs we gear up for fall, Amazon has already started dropping some early October Prime Day deals, and we've rounded up the best ones below. (Spoiler: So far, they're all going to Amazon's own devices and services.) We'll keep updating our picks in the lead-up to Prime Big Deal Days, so check back often.
Best free deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Kindle Unlimited (3 months free) $0 at AmazonAmazon's e-book subscription service gets you access to a library of more than 5 million digital titles. Ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, you can try it for free for three months — even if you don't have a Prime membership. Think of it as a Stuff Your Kindle Day that never ends and costs you nothing.
More free (or almost-free) deals Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Music Unlimited (4 months free with Prime) $0 at AmazonAhead of Prime Big Deal Days, you can grab this HD tablet with 32GB of storage for 50% off. In the midst of a global memory crisis, a $77 tablet sounds pretty appealing. This 10-inch tablet has a lightweight design, a decently long battery life, and a crisp, colorful display. According to the Amazon price-tracking site camelcamelcamel, it's never been this cheap before.
More Fire tablet deals Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids (64GB) $94.99 at AmazonAmazon's cheapest 4K media player faced a $10 price bump in August. Amazon's pre-Prime Big Deal Days price of $19.99 erases that and then some, saving you 60%. If you want to catch up on all of this year's Emmy award winners, then this is one of the best October Prime Day deals so far.
More Fire TV Stick deals Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire TV Stick HD $17.99 at AmazonThese products aren't part of Amazon's official early Prime Big Deal Days discounts, but they are worth a closer look. For instance, the Nintendo Customer Appreciation Sale kicked off this week, and it will be gone by the time October Prime Day begins.
So, check out these deals while you wait for the holiday shopping season to begin on Oct. 6.
Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Nintendo Switch Pro Controller $55.97 at AmazonAmazon is undercutting Nintendo, Walmart, and Best Buy by a whopping $0.02 cents with this sale, but we're not complaining. This wireless controller provides better controls for many types of games (both on the Switch 1 and Switch 2) compared to the standard Nintendo Joy-Con controllers, and this is your chance to grab it for its lowest-ever price.
More early October Prime Day deals Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon 2-in-1 Oil Sprayer for Cooking $3.44 at AmazonWant to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.
TL;DR: Microsoft Project Professional 2021 is on sale for $12.97 (reg. $249.99) through September 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT, with tools for automated scheduling, task management, timesheets, timelines, and project planning.
Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Project 2021 Professional: Lifetime License for Windows $12.97Keeping a project on schedule can involve a lot of tedious updating, especially as tasks shift and dependencies change. Microsoft Project Professional 2021 is designed to take some of that work off your plate, and a lifetime Windows license is now $12.97 (reg. $249.99), with the offer ending on Sept. 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
This software includes pre-built templates to help get projects started, while dependencies can automatically populate task start and end dates. Built-in multiple timelines also give you a visual way to keep track of complex schedules without manually piecing everything together.
Project Professional 2021 also gives you tools for handling the details that can otherwise eat into your workday. Timesheets can capture time spent on project and non-project work, while what-if scenarios let you see how different task assignments could affect a project before making changes.
That combination makes the software useful for project managers and teams meeting several deadlines, resources, and moving parts. It can also work for business owners and individuals who need a more structured way to manage project-based work. The software can sync with Project Online and Project Server, and it supports Office LTSC and Office 2021.
The lifetime license is a one-time purchase for installation on a Windows PC, whether at home or at work. Software license keys and download links are delivered instantly, and customer support is included.
Get Microsoft Project Professional 2021 for $12.97 (reg. $249.99) and put automated scheduling, timelines, timesheets, and planning tools to work. The promo ends Sept. 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT, no coupon required.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Last week, Nintendo gave us our first real look at the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for Switch 2, and announced a special Switch 2 console to go along with it. The initial run of pre-orders ran out faster than you can say, "Ganon," but you're not out of luck yet.
As spotted by Nintendo Life, Nintendo has quietly confirmed that restocks are on the way. If you check Nintendo's store page in the UK, you'll be treated to a short message that says restocks will be announced via the Nintendo Store app, which you can install on iOS or Android. The text is a little less specific in the United States, but it does say to "check back soon." We would also recommend following Wario64 on X, as that account is always on the ball when it comes to Nintendo deals and restocks.
SEE ALSO: 'Ocarina of Time' remake preorders are live — save $10 at Amazon and WalmartIf you haven't seen it yet, the console has some nice gold decorative decals themed around the Zelda series. Interestingly, the $519.99 console doesn't actually come with the Ocarina of Time remake. You'll have to buy it separately. That's a huge bummer, actually, but it's also a very Nintendo thing to do.
To be clear, this is still a special release, meaning it won't be around indefinitely. Don't count on more than one wave of restocks. Good luck and godspeed.
The Legend of Zelda Switch 2 console is out of stock at all of the retailers below, but you can bookmark the listings so you're ready to go when it's finally restocked.
Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 - The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition $519.99 at AmazonYour "Sunday scaries" are now in the dictionary. So are "crashout," "vibe-coding," "Promposal," "cuffing season," and the "Mandela Effect."
Merriam-Webster announced Tuesday that it has added 1,400 words and definitions to its dictionary. The update spans social media, technology, food, relationships, and pop culture. If a group chat has ever sent you looking up a term mid-conversation, this batch may help.
Several additions will be familiar to anyone who spends time online. "Looksmaxxing" describes "the practice of taking one or more sometimes extreme or dangerous measures intended to increase one's physical attractiveness." "Parasocial" refers to a one-sided emotional connection with a person you don't know, usually a celebrity or fictional character (for example, I have a parasocial relationship with Taylor Swift).
There's also a "Rickroll," a bait-and-switch prank when someone sends you a link promising one thing, but it leads to Rick Astley’s "Never Gonna Give You Up." And a "meme coin" is typically a cryptocurrency created as a joke or tribute to an internet meme or celebrity, with very little practical use.
SEE ALSO: The Looksmaxxing Glossary: Every term you need to understand the internet's most unhinged subcultureTech gets its own cluster of entries. Merriam-Webster defines "vibe-coding" as "the act or practice of using an artificial intelligence system to generate computer code." It also highlighted "AGI" — short for artificial general intelligence — and "uncanny valley," the unsettling effect of something artificial looking almost, but not quite, human. The dictionary added a noun sense of "compute" for the processing resources needed to run a computer system.
Other additions sound like they came straight from your group chat. "Sunday scaries" describes the anxiety that creeps in as the weekend ends, while "cuffing season" refers to the colder months when people seek a short-term relationship. The update also makes room for food terms like "superfood," "cake pop," "bao bun," and "chili crisp." Music fans get "yacht rock," too.
Despite Merriam-Webster calling the update a "glow-up," inclusion doesn’t mean these terms were invented recently. The publisher says its editors examine evidence that words and meanings have been used widely over time.
"The English language is changing rapidly," Merriam-Webster president Gregory Barlow said in the announcement. "It’s our mission today—as it has been for almost 200 years—to chronicle those changes." This update captures some of them, from how people build software to what they feel on a Sunday evening. And if seeing "Rickroll" in the dictionary makes you feel old, at least you can now point anyone who missed the joke to a definition.
Telecommunications company Ooma announced a partnership this week with Elon Musk’s satellite-based Starlink internet service, which Ooma claims will make affordable home phone service available in "rural and remote locations."
Called Ooma StarDial, the service will let Starlink users add landline service to their internet connection, enabling phone calls in places where cell service is unreliable.
Users will pay $129.99 for a base station and handset, but no monthly service charges. Ooma’s website does indicate that StarDial customers will be on the hook for taxes and fees, though it’s unclear what those would amount to for the average user.
StarDial allows unlimited nationwide calling, 911 service, caller ID, call waiting, and voicemail, and most customers can keep their existing phone number, according to Ooma.
"Millions of consumers now rely on Starlink to stay connected in places that can be difficult to reach with traditional internet and cellular service, and they deserve a simple and affordable home phone option," Jim Gustke, senior vice president of marketing at Ooma, said in a statement.
SEE ALSO: Trump administration detonates expansion of rural broadband accessOoma claims StarDial can provide phone service to cabins, RVs, campers, vans, and boats on which people reside.
Residents in rural, remote areas of states like Hawaii, Vermont, and Maine struggle with cell service, according to PC Mag. Even those in more urbanized areas like Cincinnati, Ohio, and Boulder, Colorado, log hundreds of dead zone complaints per million people, according to research.
For anyone used to stepping outside and searching for a bar of cell service, a home phone could be a welcome throwback.
Netflix's spirited cartoon Haunted Hotel is returning for a second season next month. And the new trailer teases that a question fans have been asking online might finally be answered.
With Season 1, Haunted Hotel introduced audiences to the Freeling family, made up of young Esther (Natalie Palamides), her 13-year-old brother Ben (Skyler Gisondo), their mom Katherine (Eliza Coupe), her brother's ghost Nathan (Will Forte), and Abaddon (Jimmi Simpson), a mischievous demon trapped in an 18th-century boy.
Together, they live in the Undervale, a haunted hotel stuffed with spirits and creepy creatures. On top of all this, show creator Matt Roller and his team have been working in allusions to horror classics like The Shining, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Babadook.
SEE ALSO: 'Haunted Hotel' review: 'The Shining' meets 'Bob's Burgers' in Netflix's charming animated comedyBut there's one ghost lurking around the Undervale that viewers haven't been able to figure out. Fans have dubbed her the "attic ghost." She has dark hair cut into a bob and wears a red jacket with a T-shirt emblazoned with a yellow "Z" underneath—and a knife protruding from its back. She's had no lines, but appears in the attic in the episode titled "How to Train Your Demon" and is spotted among the auditioning ghosts in "Ghost Hunters!"
A scene from Netflix's "Haunted Hotel" episode "How to Train Your Demon." Credit: Netflix / screenshotWhere several of the ghosts in Haunted Hotel feel like references to the likes of Freddy Krueger or Charles Manson, the attic ghost is harder to pin down. Her look is so specific that it feels like she could be an allusion, but to what?
Well, in the Season 2 trailer, Katherine announces the family business has turned around, doing so well that they'll need to hire some help. Enter a mysterious new figure who looks a lot like the Attic Ghost.
Netflix's Haunted Hotel Season 2 trailer Left: Credit: Netflix / Screenshot Right: Scene from Netflix's "Haunted Hotel" episode "How to Train Your Demon." Credit: Netflix / screenshotCould this mean fans weren't wrong to wonder about this curious ghost girl? Will her identity finally be revealed? Will the new Undervale employee be her sister? Mom? Daughter? There's only one way to find out.
Haunted Hotel Season 2 comes to Netflix with 8 new episodes on Oct. 9.
By now, you've likely heard about the push to stop new data centers from being built in the United States. Data centers aren't very popular right now, and a New York Times/Sienna survey just found that 61 percent of Americans oppose new construction. It certainly doesn't help that AI companies are overtly talking about doomsday-like scenarios and widespread AI-driven job loss. On top of that, many people have seen videos on social media showing the noise pollution and other environmental effects that can come with AI data centers.
Despite the discourse surrounding AI data centers, you might be surprised to hear that as of Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, there are no bans on data centers in any of the 50 states.
While some local municipalities and governments have successfully introduced pauses on new data centers, New York is the first and only state to enact a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers statewide. So, if you're wondering how many U.S. states have data center bans, it's either a list of zero or one, depending on whether you count New York's moratorium.
However, state legislation to ban or temporarily pause the construction of data centers has been introduced in 16 states so far, from Democratic strongholds like Delaware and Maine to deep-red states like South Dakota and South Carolina.
DelawareSB 353 would enact a moratorium on permits for large-scale data centers in Delaware until January 2027. The bill was introduced in June and is currently awaiting consideration in committee.
GeorgiaHB 1059 would forbid local governments in Georgia from permitting data centers until December 2028. The bill was introduced earlier this year.
MaineLD 307 was introduced this year, and it would have put a moratorium on large-scale data centers until November 2027.
Despite bipartisan support in both chambers of the Maine legislature, Maine Governor Janet Mills vetoed the bill because it did not provide an exemption for a specific project.
MarylandHB 120 sought to enact a moratorium on data center permitting and construction. The bill failed in committee earlier this year.
MichiganHB 5594 / HB 5595 were introduced in Michigan in February. The legislation would stop local governments and public service commissions from issuing permits and approvals for new data centers until April 2027.
MinnesotaHB 4888 / SB 4298 sought to ban new data center permits until at least July 2027 or until the Public Utility Commission submits a comprehensive report on data center development in Minnesota. The bills failed to pass during session, however.
New HampshireHB 1265 would've enacted a one-year moratorium on all data center construction in New Hampshire. The bill failed.
New JerseyAB 5482 was introduced earlier this year in New Jersey. It would put a 6-month moratorium on all data center approval, construction, or tax incentives.
New YorkAB 10141 / SB 9144 were passed in June. The legislation enacted a one-year permit freeze and imposed strict energy efficiency standards on data centers with peak demands of 1 megawatt (MW) or more.
Furthermore, in July, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order that paused new hyperscale data center developments for one year in the state. It's the first and only moratorium of its kind in the United States.
However, the Trump administration has warned that "anti-innovation states" like New York lack the legal authority to enact some types of AI regulations.
OklahomaSB 1488 sought to enact a moratorium on data center construction in Oklahoma until November 2029. The bill failed.
PennsylvaniaSB 1359 / HB 2533 were introduced in Pennsylvania, seeking a 3-year moratorium on new data centers along with impact studies. The bill would also provide municipalities with the ability to prohibit data centers.
South CarolinaH 5526 was introduced in South Carolina and would forbid any local approval of data centers until the state legislature adopts a “comprehensive oversight and approval process” in the state.
South DakotaSB 232 sought a moratorium through June 2027 on data center construction or expansion in South Dakota. The bill failed.
VermontS 205 was introduced in Vermont and seeks a moratorium on data centers until 2030. The bill also requires an impact study on data centers.
VirginiaHB 1515 in Virginia looks to put a moratorium on final approval of new data centers, permits, or rezoning from local governments until grid interconnection requests are fulfilled or until July 2028.
The House Rules subcommittee voted to carry over the legislation into the 2027 legislative session.
WisconsinSB 1061 / AB 1099 in Wisconsin sought to prohibit data centers in the state until 14 conditions were met. These conditions included "the establishment of a statewide data center planning authority" and "a prohibition on shifting data center energy and water costs to residential customers." The bill failed to pass.
SAVE $250: The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 is on sale at Amazon for $1,849.99, down from the normal price of $2,099.99. That's a 12% discount.
Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 $1,849.99 at AmazonFolding phones are back, big time. With the Apple Duo, Huawei Pura X Max Wide, and the Xiaomi 18 Fold, we have some awesome advancements coming to the market. But if you're on team Samsung, you know all about the Galaxy Z Fold8, including the steep price. Amazon, however, is offering some respite.
As of Sept. 16, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 is on sale at Amazon for $1,849.99, down from the normal price of $2,099.99. That's a 12% discount.
Mashable Tech Editor Timothy Beck Werth went hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 and wrote, "This passport-style foldable has a huge inner display that lets you do so much more with your phone." In addition to the awesome design and display, the Snapdragon chip is capable of heavy multitasking and gaming. The wide screen is undeniably a great choice for those who edit photos on their phone, stream shows, or use it as an e-reader.
SEE ALSO: Grab the Garmin vívoactive 6 for its best price ever at $70 offEven though the inner AMOLED display measures a hefty 7.6 inches, the phone only weighs 201 grams with thickness measuring just 4.5mm. That's small enough to still fit in your pocket.
The Amazon sale applies to the Z Fold8 with 12GB memory and 521GB storage and you can choose between the graphite, lavender, or cream colorways.
While it's at a nice $250 discount, make the upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8. Now that we're entering the fall chill, it'll be nice to have a large screen for watching shows, movies, and gaming while staying warm inside.
As anti-surveillance activists around the country have taken to physically tearing down Flock cameras and automatic license-plate readers, one hacking group decided destruction wasn't enough.
According to reporting by 404 Media and WIRED, a hacker collective calling itself stegan0gram removed a Flock camera above a roadway, copied nearly all the data stored inside it, and turned the files over to journalists for analysis in a joint investigation between the two outlets.
SEE ALSO: Florida takes sweeping action against license plate readers as cities drop FlockThe breach cracked open a system Flock has long described as secured by on-device encryption.
404 Media and WIRED reported that the hackers found two unencrypted partitions on the camera's internal storage — one holding vendor files, the other holding media — and that the media partition contained an encryption key that unlocked most of the footage the device had recorded. The material was also shared with the transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, which passed it to WIRED for the joint review.
What's inside a Flock camera?Once inside, the outlets found that the camera runs on a processor comparable to a midrange smartphone and operates around 20 Flock-built applications handling everything from motion detection to image classification and remote updates, according to the joint analysis.
Contrary to some assumptions about the system, the software on the camera itself doesn't read license plates or identify a vehicle's make, model, or color — that processing happens later, on Flock's own servers, after the device transmits its photos, WIRED and 404 reported. The outlets also reported that the camera's recovered logs covered roughly three weeks of activity, which showed the camera photographing over 50,000 vehicles and producing 1.6 million images.
Perhaps most notably, the analysis confirmed the camera's software explicitly detects people, not just cars and plates — logging where a person appears in frame along with a confidence score, a capability 404 Media described as largely absent from public discussion of the devices.
A Flock spokesperson told 404 Media that removing and tampering with its cameras is illegal, and said the company had received no vulnerability report through its official disclosure process, leaving it unable to fully evaluate the hackers' claims. Flock maintains its cameras don't perform facial recognition, and the outlets said they found no evidence of active facial-recognition capability beyond features built into the Android operating system by default, which did not appear to be enabled.
SEE ALSO: This map shows how many Flock cameras are in your neighborhoodThe individual camera is only part of the picture. As reported by WIRED, Flock's system routes captured data to a searchable national database, allowing records from a single city's cameras to be accessed by thousands of outside agencies — police departments, universities, and airports, among them.
404 Media has previously reported that this network was used by local police to run searches on behalf of ICE and, in one case, to help track down a woman who had self-administered an abortion, controversies that have fueled the broader backlash against the cameras.
SAVE $100: As of Sep. 16, get the iRobot Roomba Max 715 robot vacuum for $599.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $699.99. That's a discount of 14%.
Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon iRobot Roomba Max 715 robot vacuum $599.99 at AmazonTired of spending time vacuuming your floors to get rid of dirt, debris, and pet hair? You don't have to when robot vacuums exist. It's time to outsource that job so you can go handle other, more important things that you actually want to do.
As of Sep. 16, get the iRobot Roomba Max 715 robot vacuum for $599.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $699.99. That's $100 and a discount of 14%.
SEE ALSO: The best budget robot vacuums to buy in 2026, expert tested at homeThis model boasts 30,000Pa of suction with an anti-tangle brush, odor-control Allergenlock bags, and 90 days of hands-free operation so you don't have to handle or get near dirt or pet dander.
It uses dual rubber brushes to get close to the ground, so whether you're cleaning carpet or hard flooring, it can tackle all the jobs you need it to, especially focusing on high-traffic areas.
When its reservoir is full, it can use its AutoEmpty dock to automatically trap and store dust, neutralize odors, and keep everything fresh, sealed away in a bag that only needs to be changed four times a year.
With intelligent navigation, customizable cleaning schedules, and a wide range of features at its disposal, it can tidy up your home in a flash while you can head off to handle other things. If you're ready to stop focusing on tidying up your home on a regular basis, this robot vacuum is a great pick, especially now that it's on sale.
My all-time fave home tech company, Dreame, is offering up to 43% off its products for Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days. If you aren't familiar with the brand, it makes everything from smart wet/dry vacuums and steam mops to high-tech beauty products. (I actually own three of its floor cleaners, so I can personally vouch for how good they are.)
SEE ALSO: I found the best robot vacuums for every floor, budget, and level of lazinessInstead of making you wait until the official Prime event on Oct. 6 and 7, Dreame is rolling out a handful of "Early Bird" discounts right now. A few of these discounts even have active promo codes that'll get you an additional percentage off.
To help you decide whether you should shop now or hold out for Prime Day, here's the full breakdown of what's on sale, when the deals go live, and how much you'll save:
Top pick: Dream Aero Pro Steam Aero Pro Steam $509.99 at AmazonNow through Sept. 30, you can get an extra $70 off the Aero Pro Steam with the code VIRGOSEASON. (I tried the code out, and it worked!) This is the best price you'll get on this model, even after Prime Day starts. According to Dreame's PR team, the price will drop to $499.99 between Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, and then again to $459.99 from Oct. 6 to 7.
This is one of the products in my "Dreame Team," and I can honestly say that I'm impressed with it. It's easy to clean, has multiple settings depending on what you're cleaning up (I have two beagles, so I really appreciated the versatility), and comes with its own charging base, so you can just set it and forget it.
More Dreame dealsEarly Bird (Sept. 25 – Oct. 5): On sale for $159.99 ($40 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $139.99 ($60 off)
Note: I own this model, too! If you want an affordable carpet cleaner that doubles as a steamer, I definitely recommend it.
Early Bird (Sept. 28 – Oct. 5): On sale for $199.96 ($110.03 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $189.96 ($123.03 off)
Early Bird (Oct. 1 – Oct. 5): On sale for $199.99 ($100.01 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $189.98 ($110.01 off)
Early Bird (Sept. 28 – Oct. 5): On sale for $276.65 ($73.24 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $263.09 ($86.80 off)
Early Bird (Sept. 28 – Oct. 5): On sale for $289.99 ($40 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $275.49 ($54.50 off)
Early Bird (Sept. 24 – Oct. 5): On sale for $369.99 ($80 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $349.99 ($100 off)
Early Bird (Sept. 28 – Oct. 5): On sale for $379.96 ($70.03 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $359.98 ($90.01 off)
Early Bird (Sept. 21 – Oct. 7): On sale for $429.99 ($120 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $429.99 ($120 off)
Early Bird (Sept. 25 – Oct. 5): On sale for $549.99 ($100 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $499.99 ($150 off)
Now through Sept. 30: Save an extra 8% with code VIRGOVACUUM
Early Bird (Sept. 28 – Oct. 5): On sale for $679.99 ($120 off)
Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 6 – Oct. 7): On sale for $649.99 ($150 off)
On paper, there is very little about "Idol" that sounds engineered for the internet.
YOASOBI's 2023 hit, written as the opening theme for the anime Oshi no Ko, is musically restless. Over the course of less than four minutes, it ricochets between glitchy pop, rap, choral flourishes, and something much darker, while vocalist ikura switches between voices with almost theatrical agility. It doesn't exactly sound like a song constructed around the neat, repeatable 15-second snippet that has come to define the TikTok era.
And yet the internet couldn't get enough of it.
SEE ALSO: YOASOBI makes maximalist pop with minimal tech"Idol" quickly escaped the orbit of Oshi no Ko. With over 689 million views on YouTube and 588 million streams on Spotify, it became a dance, a cover, an edit, a challenge — the kind of song you could encounter online without ever knowing the anime that inspired it. For YOASOBI, a duo whose music has always been inseparable from the internet, it was perhaps the ultimate example of what can happen to a song once they let it go.
But don't mistake that virality for a formula. Ayase, YOASOBI's producer and songwriter, has little interest in writing for the algorithm.
"I don't want to get in a situation where I'm thinking about that with intention," Ayase told Mashable through an interpreter, referring to the pressure to build songs around moments that can be easily clipped or shared online.
In Japan, he said, it's become increasingly important for a song's success that it can circulate on TikTok, inspire a dance, or become a meme. He understands the commercial logic. He just doesn't personally subscribe to it. For Ayase, making music requires balancing art with commercial viability. His preferred ratio is roughly 60 percent art to 40 percent commerce. Writing specifically in pursuit of a meme or viral moment, he said, feels more like 30/70. "That's not something that I want to do for the songs that we make," he explained.
It's a fascinating position for someone at the center of one of the most internet-native acts in contemporary Japanese pop. YOASOBI's very existence is intertwined with the web. Before the duo formed, Ayase built an audience uploading Vocaloid songs online, while singer-songwriter ikura posted covers. YOASOBI's foundational concept of turning novels into songs similarly grew out of an online ecosystem, with source material coming from stories submitted to and published through online platforms.
That concept has since expanded far beyond its origins. Their latest collaboration, "Orion," takes its source material from Overwatch, the massively popular online game. Ayase wrote the song from "The Fall of a Sparrow," a short story about Overwatch characters Kiriko, Genji, and Hanzo; the collaboration then sent it back into the game's digital universe through an animated music video and in-game content. An English version followed, and this month, Japanese producer PSYQUI gave the song yet another life with a new remix.
"Orion" traces a particularly neat digital loop: YOASOBI turned an Overwatch story into a song, expanded it with an animated music video, and watched it return to the game as music players could actually interact with it.
That kind of movement between stories, songs, platforms, and audiences feels almost intrinsic to YOASOBI now. But when the duo debuted in 2019, their relationship to the internet was distinctive enough that they were frequently described in Japan as an internet-born act.
"At the time, I thought that was true," Ayase said. Now, he sees YOASOBI as less of an internet anomaly and more of a product of a broader cultural shift. Using the internet to express yourself through music, release songs, or even find collaborators has become so commonplace, he explained, that "it's almost more unusual not to use it."
The internet-native qualities that once made YOASOBI stand out are now simply part of how music gets made. In that sense, the duo didn't simply adapt to the internet. They emerged alongside a music industry being fundamentally reorganized by it.
Ironically, neither Ayase nor ikura describes a particularly online childhood.
ikura started making music around 15, but much of her time was spent in decidedly offline pursuits, like playing trumpet in her school orchestra, studying classical ballet, and performing in musicals. Ayase similarly began pursuing music around 15 or 16. Before that, growing up in the countryside, he remembers playing baseball, soccer, and basketball outside with friends.
Their lives look considerably more online now. Ayase described his daily existence as essentially two activities: making music on his computer and endlessly watching YouTube. Outside of eating, sleeping, and the other requirements of being a human being, he joked, a MacBook is more or less all he needs.
ikura is a YouTube obsessive, too, particularly when it comes to watching people play video games. She'll put on gaming streams during her downtime and while traveling.
But YOASOBI's relationship with the internet isn't simply about how much time its members spend online. It's about what happens there after they press upload. They learned that with their very first single.
YOASOBI isn't chasing the algorithm. Credit: Courtesy of YOASOBIWhen "Yoru ni Kakeru," or "Into the Night," arrived in 2019, there was no precedent for what would happen next. Ayase hoped the song would reach people, of course, but there was no way of knowing how far it could travel. Then it kept traveling. As the song spread online and climbed the charts in Japan, Ayase remembers experiencing a mix of excitement, relief, disbelief, and emotions he didn't quite know how to process. It was the first time Ayase and ikura had watched one of their songs become that big.
More hits followed. And eventually, Ayase stopped watching. These days, he tries not to pay much attention to the numerical life of a YOASOBI song — where it ranks each week, how many times it's being played, or whether its performance meets some quantifiable expectation. It's better for his mental health that way, he said. The internet may have given YOASOBI a career, but Ayase has had to learn not to constantly watch what it's doing with it.
That became particularly complicated with "Idol." Unlike "Into the Night," Ayase wasn't waiting to find out whether "Idol" could become a hit. He believed it had to. He described approaching the song determined to "hit a home run." In his mind, he said, he hit a grand slam.
That confidence was accompanied by enormous anxiety. For roughly a year before "Idol," YOASOBI had continued releasing successful music, but Ayase felt the songs weren't reaching the level he expected of himself. Because YOASOBI frequently works in conjunction with other projects and cultural moments, he worried about how quickly public attention could disappear if they stopped producing songs that felt like events.
"If we don't succeed with this one, we might not actually have a chance," he remembered thinking.
He was so confident in "Idol" — and so afraid of being wrong — that before its release, he dreamed about the song coming out and failing. So when "Idol" became the hit he'd hoped for, the happiness came with an enormous sense of relief.
There is an important distinction, though, between Ayase wanting "Idol" to reach as many people as possible and building it according to a viral blueprint. He admits he had imagined Japanese idols potentially dancing to a song literally called "Idol." And like any songwriter releasing music into today's pop landscape, he can imagine certain parts of a song catching on. What he resists is letting that possibility dictate the music itself.
Once a song leaves his computer, however, his feelings about control change considerably. That's where ikura comes in.
YOASOBI regularly encounters what fans do with their music after release, from covers and instrumental performances to dances and other reinterpretations. In Japan, there's a long tradition of this kind of participatory music culture online, where users don't just listen to a song but sing it, play it, dance to it, remix it, and upload their own version for the next person to discover. ikura watches those fan creations, and the group shares favorites among its team.
For her, those reinterpretations aren't simply promotional fuel helping a song reach another potential listener. They're part of what the song becomes. YOASOBI's creative process already begins with an act of reinterpretation. Someone writes a story. Ayase and ikura take that story and transform it into music. Then listeners hear their version and filter it through their own experiences, sometimes creating something new and putting it back onto the internet.
There is only so much YOASOBI can do themselves, ikura said. Ultimately, their control ends at the moment they release the music. After that, she wants listeners to "layer on their own story."
It's a fitting philosophy for a group whose rise has coincided with the collapsing borders around Japanese pop culture. A song no longer needs to stay attached to the context in which it was created. It can reach someone through an anime, a YouTube recommendation, a gaming stream, a dance, a cover, or a TikTok edit. It can travel thousands of miles before the person listening to it knows anything about the people who made it. YOASOBI can make the song. They just can't dictate its digital life.
Once they release it into the world, their part is largely over. What happens next belongs to everyone else.
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