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The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're a good cook.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for October 15, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Cooking techniques

• Green: Game winner

• Blue: Floor

• Purple: Natural landscapes

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Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Ways to preserve food

• Green: Things you can score in sports

• Blue: Lowest part

• Purple: Low landforms with a letter changed

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

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1222 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Ways to preserve food: CURE, DRY, PICKLE, SMOKE

• Things you can score in sports: BASKET, GOAL, RUN, TOUCHDOWN

• Lowest part: BASE, BOTTOM, FOOT, FOUNDATION

• Low landforms with a letter changed: CANNON, FORGE, RACINE, VOLLEY

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

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

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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

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

Today's NYT Strands hints will be easy if you're a sea lover.

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for October 15, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Sailor's guide

The words are related to luminescence.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe exactly as the hint implies: Beams that lead seamen.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

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NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Lighthouse.

NYT Strands word list for October 15

• Beacon

• Staircase

• Lighthouse

• Dome

• Lantern

• Tower

• Gallery

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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

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

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

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're not very bright.

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

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for October 15, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

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

What happened to the Wordle archive?

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

Is Wordle getting harder?

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

Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Idiot.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter D.

The Wordle answer today is...

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

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

DUNCE

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

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

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

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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

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

The company held an investor meeting on Wednesday as it plans a blockbuster initial public offering as soon as next month.

You put on a playlist to find something good to listen to. Checking whether the singer exists wasn’t supposed to be part of the process. But a song these days can fit your taste perfectly and still leave you wondering who, or what, made it.

This week, two music streaming services — Google’s YouTube Music and the French platform Deezer — announced features that could make that question easier to answer. YouTube Music is adding labels to AI-generated songs, while Deezer will let listeners filter fully AI-generated music out of search results.

For listeners who have been opening artist profiles and hunting for evidence of an actual musician, that could mean considerably less homework.

What’s changing when you press play?

YouTube says the new labels respond to something listeners have been asking for: "As these tools evolve, our listeners have told us they want transparency when they’re hearing an AI-generated track," the company wrote.

Starting Oct. 14, those labels will appear directly on YouTube Music’s player for songs created primarily using generative AI, including generated compositions and vocals. Tapping the label opens more information about the track. YouTube says it is working with music partners and using its own detection tools to identify AI-generated songs, with the labels also coming to the main YouTube app.

Credit: Screenshot: YouTube News

Deezer is offering an additional choice: leave those songs out of your search altogether. "We’ve seen a clear user demand for the ability to filter out AI-generated music," Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in the company’s Oct. 14 announcement.

The toggle will launch worldwide before the end of 2026. Switch it on, and fully AI-generated tracks, albums, and related artists will disappear from search results. Switch it off, and they’ll be accessible again.

Deezer already keeps detected AI-generated songs out of algorithmic and editorial recommendations, so the toggle extends that control to music you actively search for. It targets fully generated music; songs with limited AI assistance within a broader human creative process are treated differently.

If you listen on Spotify or Apple Music, the approach looks a little different already. Spotify’s "AI Persona" badges, announced in Aug. with a rollout starting in mid-Sept., identify artist profiles depicting photorealistic AI-generated people. Spotify also said it would exclude those personas from editorial and algorithmic recommendations by default. The badge answers whether the artist’s public identity is synthetic, though it doesn’t specify how the music was made.

Apple Music’s reported "Transparency Tags," on the other hand get more specific about where AI was used, allowing labels and distributors to disclose generated content in recordings, compositions, artwork, and music videos. But that system relies on the companies delivering the music to declare it. An AI-generated album cover and an AI-generated vocal can receive different tags — provided someone reports them in the first place.

Your ears can only tell you so much

You don’t have to go looking for AI music to find it. Sometimes, your streaming service brings it to you.

That’s what happened to Mashable's Features Editor Rachel Thompson when Spotify’s Smart Shuffle slipped an AI-generated funk song into her queue. It fit alongside music she already liked, and she discovered how it was made only after investigating the artist. That’s a lot to ask of someone who just wants to listen to some funk!

SEE ALSO: Spotify Smart Shuffle played a song I'd never heard before. It was AI generated.

But there’s a reason the song didn’t immediately stand out: in a Deezer/Ipsos blind test published in Nov. 2025, 97 percent of participants couldn’t correctly distinguish two AI-generated songs from a human-made one.

Once you start digging, though, even the usual signs of an established artist can leave you guessing. The Velvet Sundown attracted hundreds of thousands of Spotify listeners in 2025, complete with promotional images and song credits. Yet its supposed members had virtually no traceable existence beyond those suspiciously polished pictures, and the credits listed the band itself without naming a producer.

A label could put that information where listeners encounter the song, before they’ve opened an artist profile or searched for a band member. And plenty of people want that heads-up: in the same Deezer/Ipsos survey, 80 percent wanted fully AI-generated music labeled, while 45 percent of streaming users wanted the option to filter it out.

Credit: Spotify screenshot / The Velvet Sundown There’s money behind all those uploads

A song showing up in your queue is one thing. That song collecting royalties from thousands of fake listeners is another.

Deezer says it receives nearly 90,000 fully AI-generated tracks daily, but they account for just 1 to 3 percent of its streams. And even those plays aren’t necessarily coming from people: the company says up to 85 percent of streams of fully generated tracks were fraudulent in 2025.

North Carolina musician Michael Smith turned that gap between uploads and actual listeners into a multimillion-dollar scheme. On Oct. 6, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors said he generated hundreds of thousands of songs using AI, then had automated accounts stream them billions of times, collecting more than $8 million in fraudulent royalties.

The sheer number of songs helped him get away with it. By spreading the plays across thousands of tracks, Smith avoided drawing attention to any single one. Those streams pulled money from a shared royalty pool that, according to prosecutors, would otherwise have gone to musicians and songwriters with real audiences.

But "who gets paid?" gets complicated even when bots aren’t involved. A virtual artist’s face doesn’t tell you whose voice or writing you’re hearing.

Take FN Meka. In 2022, Industry Blackout criticized the virtual rapper for appropriating Black artists’ mannerisms and reproducing racist stereotypes, and Capitol Records subsequently dropped the project. Rapper Kyle the Hooligan also said he had supplied its voice without ever being paid. (Factory New co-founder Anthony Martini later clarified that humans had written and performed FN Meka’s vocals, walking back earlier claims about AI’s involvement.)

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That’s where a simple AI badge can run out of answers: It might flag the character or the recording without explaining who contributed what.

Still, YouTube Music’s labels and Deezer’s filter give listeners a place to start. A heads-up on the player could spare you a trip through an artist’s profile, while a search filter lets you decide whether you want fully generated music in the results at all.

How useful those controls become will depend on what platforms can reliably identify. If a song has no label, does that mean it’s human-made, or that it hasn’t been detected yet? And when human lyrics meet generated vocals, will the disclosure explain the mix?

For now, the promise is straightforward: finding something good to listen to could involve less detective work. The next step is making sure the information on your screen answers the questions that sent you searching in the first place.

A mother of two is suing OpenAI in a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the company "stole" valuable data from millions of young users without their consent.

The anonymous mother, whose children are 12 and 16, resides in Hawaii. Both children signed up for ChatGPT accounts in early 2026 without parental permission.

OpenAI requires, but doesn't actively check, that a child has sought their parents' permission. Its terms of service prohibit minors younger than 13 from using ChatGPT, though many do regardless.

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

The complaint alleges that ChatGPT "purposely extracted" sensitive personal information from both children, including emotional insecurities, relationship concerns, and selfies. It broadly argues that OpenAI "exploits" minor users through design features like speaking in first person, mirroring communication style, possessing memory to build on past chats, and being sycophantic, or overly flattering and agreeable.

"For years, it wrongfully has extracted vast amounts of highly sensitive and valuable data from millions of children," the complaint says of OpenAI. "It had no right to take this information, but it took it anyway. It then used that priceless trove of children’s information to train large language models, build detailed profiles of children, and enrich itself."

OpenAI recently sought a valuation of $1.4 trillion as it prepares to go public, according to Bloomberg Law.

"We strongly disagree with this misguided lawsuit that singles out OpenAI despite the industry-leading age-specific protections we’ve built into our product," OpenAI told Bloomberg News. "This risks pushing teens toward products with fewer safeguards or reduced parental controls."

The company made the same claim last week when the Youth AI Safety Institute at Common Sense Media called on OpenAI to pause ChatGPT for Teens after identifying safety problems and product concerns through independent testing.

OpenAI disputed those findings and suggested they could steer teens toward products with fewer safety protections.

In a separate announcement, OpenAI recently said that teens spend under 15 minutes a day on ChatGPT, on average. The company also said users with access to ChatGPT for Teens, which launched in August, sent 2.7 million more learning-related messages on average than those without the product.

The complaint filed Tuesday asks the court to award each class member a share of OpenAI equity, or its cash value. The amount would be determined by how much data OpenAI extracted from each child in the proposed class.

The next ACOTAR book isn’t out yet, but some readers are already muting fan pages.

Images purportedly showing pages from Sarah J. Maas's upcoming A Court of Splintered Harmony are circulating online, leaving fans with the choice between scrutinizing the alleged spoilers and trying to make it to the Oct. 27 release without seeing them.

For some, that second option is proving difficult. In the Facebook group A Court of Thorns and Roses 18+, one reader reported repeatedly encountering alleged leaks on TikTok. "I keep trying to avoid them like a plague, but it's literally EVERYWHERE," they wrote.

Another had already taken precautions: "I muted all of my ACOTAR fan pages for a month."

With almost two weeks until the sixth installment in Maas's romantasy series arrives, apparently even visiting a fan group has become a potential spoiler risk. Here’s what we know, without getting into the purported plot revelations.

SEE ALSO: Sarah J. Maas announces two new 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' books What are the alleged ACOTAR leaks?

Much of the discussion centers on photos purportedly showing pages 242 through 247 that were shared in the r/acotar subreddit. (The linked thread contains potential spoilers.)

Readers have been picking apart everything from the characters' apparent behavior to the objects visible around the book, looking for clues about whether the images are genuine.

One commenter, identifying themselves as an Amazon fulfillment center employee, claimed to recognize the setting. "I work at an Amazon FC, I can confirm the books came in last week, and these are our yellow totes and the gloves we wear," they wrote.

Other readers questioned the images' appearance and whether the prose sounded like Maas, leaving the discussion caught between analyzing a possible scene and wondering whether there was any reason to analyze it at all.

"I am having the hardest time figuring out if it’s fake or real. I need to know! It seems like a lot of work to make a fake book," one commenter wrote.

Still, uncertainty hasn’t dampened everyone’s enthusiasm. "I kind of love how messy it is honestly," wrote another reader. For others, the alleged pages have simply added another thing to check on release day: "But if this is fake, I can’t wait to see what the real chapter looks like."

How are ACOTAR fan communities handling the alleged leaks?

The scramble to discuss the images is also testing how fan communities accommodate readers who want every possible detail alongside those trying to avoid them.

In r/acotar, moderators have opted to allow discussions about the leaks following a community vote. "We had a sub-wide poll on if we should allow leaks or not. The sub voted for yes," a moderator explained in the thread.

That permission comes with conditions. The subreddit’s leak protocol requires posts to include "[POSSIBLE LEAK]" in their titles, carry a spoiler tag and the appropriate flair, and go through moderator review with supporting evidence. It also prohibits sharing the full book or links to it, as well as leaks that confirm or rule out romantic pairings.

Other communities have drawn a firmer line. Moderators of r/Elucien have said their subreddit does not allow leaks, distinguishing unauthorized material from previews publicly released by Maas or Bloomsbury.

For readers counting down to Oct. 27, those rules can determine whether a favorite fan space remains somewhere to share their excitement — or becomes another page to mute.

Some people unwind with a good book. Others take a hot bath or watch their favorite comfort show. One woman spends two hours jumping on a trampoline in the middle of the night.

And honestly, she might be onto something.

TikTok creator @whatifimjustagirl is going viral after sharing her unusual nighttime ritual. For the past seven years, she says she's spent nearly every night jumping on a trampoline outside, usually sometime between midnight and 3 a.m. That's right. While most of us are sleeping, or scrolling TikTok when we should be sleeping, she's outside bouncing around in the dark

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And this isn't some elaborate fitness challenge or attempt to optimize her sleep schedule. She just really loves jumping on her trampoline.

"I look forward to it every single day," she says in a recent video posted to TikTok.

She's figured out what to wear, too: she says she has "a couple of things in rotation," including leggings and a flannel for colder nights — and, of course, a pair of headphones.

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But her unusual hobby has also prompted some unsolicited speculation about her mental health. "I'm a girl who's addicted to the trampoline," she says in another video, before addressing commenters who have speculated that she's autistic. "I just wanted to comment on the mental health aspect of it because I have a lot of people assume I have autism, and I do not," she explains. She goes on to share that she has OCD, which she says plays some role in her attachment to the activity.

"Yes, is my obsession with the trampoline a little extreme? Yes. Does my OCD play a factor in that? Yes, but that's not why I jump," she says. "I don't think there needs to be a diagnosis [for it]."

And really, why should there be? Sometimes you just find something you love doing, even if that something happens to be jumping on a trampoline at 2 a.m.

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There's something oddly charming about the whole thing. Most adults probably haven't spent much time on a trampoline since childhood, let alone made it a regular part of their daily routine. Yet here's someone who has apparently found an activity that brings her so much joy that she's continued doing it for seven years.

There's no elaborate morning routine to follow, no expensive wellness retreat to book, and no productivity hack to master. Just a woman, her trampoline, and a few hours under the stars.

Of course, jumping on a trampoline in the middle of the night isn't practical for everyone. For starters, you need a trampoline. And presumably some very understanding neighbors. Still, when even hobbies can come with pressure to earn money or improve yourself, there's something refreshing about watching someone do something simply because they enjoy it

Maybe the secret to happiness really is that simple.

Earlier this month, two former school students murdered a vice principal and attacked students at a Mexican secondary school in Torreón, Coahuila. Authorities say they were inspired by violent and extremist content online.

Today (Oct. 14), Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum signed a presidential decree barring social media and streaming platforms from displaying or recommending violent content to teens. The order places limits on content that "generates or promotes" hate speech, extremism, sexual exploitation, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, cyber-bullying, and other illegal conduct, according to Mexico News Daily.

SEE ALSO: What 'The Social Reckoning' misses about Meta

Like other social media safety bills, the decree also requires platforms verify user ages and institute parental controls. Companies have one month to get their platforms in compliance with the new law. If they fail to make changes, Sheinbaum said she will fast track a second law outlining punishment for offenders.

In September, Sheinbaum announced new nationwide education rules that included a bell-to-bell cellphone ban and restrictions on tablet use across Mexico's public education system. Similar phone bans have been implemented at the state and district-level in the United States, but federal leaders have yet to enact sweeping legislation regarding device use.

In response to concerns about the impact of social media and cyberbullying on youth mental health — as well as new research — many countries are exploring wholesale social media bans for kids and teens, as well. Australia was the first country to pass a complete ban on social media for users under the age of 16.

While many child safety advocates have encouraged government intervention as a necessary stop-gap to ongoing online abuse and harm, others have questioned the efficacy of age verification and parental controls tools.

Officials told the press that they had met with leadership from major tech companies, including Meta, TikTok, and Google, prior to Sheinbaum's announcement. None of the named companies have yet issued comment, reported Reuters.

SAVE UP TO $132.28: As of Oct. 14, SwissGear's two-piece Energie Spinner Luggage Set is on sale on Amazon for up to 35% off. Normally $375, you can score it in gunmetal for $281.08 or white for $242.72 (with an on-page coupon).

Opens in a new window Credit: Swissgear SwissGear Energie Spinner Luggage Set (2-piece, gunmetal) $281.08 at Amazon
$375 Save $93.92   Get Deal at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Swissgear SwissGear Energie Spinner Luggage Set (2-piece, white) $242.72 at Amazon
$375 Save $132.28 Requires on-page coupon. Get Deal at Amazon

I'm a serial overpacker who travels internationally at least once a year on top of regular domestic trips, which means my suitcases get put through the wringer. After being underwhelmed by a few different brands — Samsonites got dinged up shockingly fast — I landed on SwissGear's Energie Spinner hardside suitcases for their light weight, expandable design, and unmatched durability. They've survived tens of thousands of miles of travel at this point, and probably half a dozen friends and family members have bought them upon my rec.

I've found Energie Spinners on sale at a couple different retailers in the past, but right now, I'd buy them on Amazon. The two-piece set with a 19-inch carry-on and a 27-inch checked bag is currently on sale there for up to about $132 off, depending on the color. (It typically retails for $375, per SwissGear's website.)

I personally own the gunmetal set, which is marked down to $281.08, or 25% off. The white set is even cheaper at $242.72, or 35% off — note the coupon on its product page (below) — but bear in mind that it will show scuffs way more easily. Mine still look basically pristine.

Make sure to select the on-page coupon. Credit: Amazon / Mashable screenshot

Both suitcases have multi-directional spinner wheels, retractable locking handles, and a TSA lock. Inside, they've each got a zip compartment and clothing straps; the 19-inch carry-on also has a USB charging port that lets you charge your phone from a power bank you've packed. They're covered by a 10-year warranty.

A $5 first-person shooter called Hood Warfare 2 has gone from near-obscurity to one of Steam’s most talked-about releases in less than a week. Given the nature of the game, however, it's also drawn scrutiny for its content, its anonymous developers, and the creators who've played it live on stream.

Made by an anonymous dev team called TrapStar Games, Hood Warfare 2 is a gang-themed, multiplayer Call of Duty clone set in "the streets" of Chicago, Illinois. Like Call of Duty, it has killstreaks, including a "drive by" and a "snitch," its version of the UAV drone.

According to SteamDB data, it peaked at about 53 concurrent players on its Oct. 8 release day. Its player count climbed steadily before spiking past 11,700 on Oct. 12, with its all-time peak now at 15,258 as of this writing.

By Steam’s standards, that is a modest hit. The game's peak rank is around 1,151st all-time on SteamDB, and its current player count of roughly 4,000 puts it at 239th. Still, if Gamalytic's data is to be believed, Hood Warfare 2 has grossed $1.1 million with 219,000 units sold.

As you can tell from the title, the game is a sequel. TrapStar released Hood Warfare, a Detroit-based shooter, in 2023 to little fanfare, with an all-time Steam peak of 68 players. Hood Warfare 2 caught on in a big way thanks to a deluge of content creators and streamers amused by the exaggerated stereotyping of Black American gang culture.

That said, much of the online conversation does center on the game’s depiction of Chicago and Black communities.

Critics argue the game feeds a long-running narrative, pushed by right-wing outlets and influencers, that Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the country. The rankings they cite tell a different story. Despite being the nation's third-largest city, Chicago ranks outside the top 10 on a list of places with the highest crime risk, according to U.S. News & World Report. Others have noted that the game’s trailer uses virtually none of Chicago’s actual slang.

The popularity of these kinds of stereotypes of the Black community coincides with the rise of YouTube "gang war explainer" channels, such as TrapLoreRoss. These channels break down real local conflicts for largely outside audiences, turning figures like King Von and Chief Keef, along with the O-Block area around Parkway Gardens into a kind of online lore. On TikTok, you can find several videos of creators traveling to the Parkway Gardens area near 63rd Street and King Drive.

Speculation on social media about Hood Warfare 2 includes accusations of AI "vibe coding," astroturfing, and even claims that the game is a "CIA psyop." Defenders of the game are dismissing the backlash, stating that games like Hood Warfare 2 aren't meant to be taken seriously.

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The game holds a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, and many reviews lean into the stereotypes critics object to. One reviewer wrote that they could "feel the thrill as a white man roleplaying as an african american gang banger." Another called it "Counter-Strike meets Boyz n da Hood," a reference to John Singleton’s 1991 film, which is widely read as a critique of the forces that kill young Black men.

Playing a part in the game's growing popularity is the enthusiastic embrace from content creators and live streamers. Gameplay videos have spread quickly across YouTube and Twitch. Some thumbnails show creators, including white creators, posing in ski masks to match the game’s theme. Many YouTube uploads have titles that call the game "Hood Call of Duty."

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Not every attempt to stream the game has gone smoothly.

On Oct. 13, members of the YouTube comedy collective RDCWorld, which has 7.3 million YouTube subscribers and 963,000 Twitch followers, tried to play the game on stream after being repeatedly tagged in it posts about it on Twitter and Reddit. Much of their chat objected. The group dropped the game shortly after and moved on to Star Wars: Galactic Racer .

A clip of the exchange has since circulated on Reddit. In it, a viewer donates $20 with a message offering to pay the group not to play what they called a "racist cia made game." RDCWorld member Mark Phillips, who is Black, pushed back, saying he hadn’t expected viewers to go "straight think piece" on the game.

When Phillips questioned whether the group should then skip Grand Theft Auto VI, which launches in November, fellow member Dylan Patel said that both games are "the same thing." Critics argue that comparison is a false equivalence. Games like GTA and Def Jam have drawn their own controversy over how they portray Black communities, they say, but they’re fundamentally different from Hood Warfare 2 and shouldn’t be lumped in with it.

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Within the RDCWorld subreddit, many commenters criticized the group’s defensive response more than the attempt to play. Some accused stream moderators of timing out viewers who disagreed. Others defended RDCWorld, arguing that gang culture is not Black culture and that taking offense further entrenches that stereotype of the Black community. RDCWorld has not addressed the controversy outside the stream.

Who is behind TrapStar Games?

Little is known about who made Hood Warfare 2. The game appears to have been built in Unity 5, although there are unverified claims that it was AI vibe-coded.

The devs' purported website, Trapstar.games, was registered on Oct. 12, according to ICANN lookup data. The site displays a copyright notice, but a search of public copyright records found no registration under the name TrapStar Games.

The website's linked Twitter account also claims to represent the developer. It was created this month and has been promoting a cryptocurrency token called HW2. The account's bio lists New York, while its "About this account" panel shows it is based in the U.S. and connected through the Turkish App Store.

Neither the account nor the website could be confirmed to belong to the game’s developers, and it’s possible that a third party is exploiting the game’s popularity to run a pump-and-dump scheme. One reply to the account claims a developer denied any connection to that Twitter account and the crypto token on the game’s Discord server. That server could not be located.

A request for comment sent to an email address listed on the original Hood Warfare website has not been returned.

As Mashable and our colleagues at PCMag just reported, Grand Theft Auto VI leakers Cyberleek have seemingly abandoned their threats to leak a full build of the game – at least for now.

Why? Because the leakers had claimed that the release of the leaked build was tied to their memecoin. If GTA 6 fans pumped Cyberleek's cryptocurrency, they would receive the leaked game build as a reward.

That play failed spectacularly for Cyberleek. In fact, it seems to have fully backfired.

The Cyberleek memecoin's market cap hit a high of $7.8 million on October 11, shortly after the leakers claimed they would release the full build of GTA 6 supposedly in their possession. The catch? The Cyberleek memecoin had to hit a market cap of $30 million first.

While some GTA 6 fans appeared to have bought into the memecoin in an attempt to hit Cyberleek's goal, $7.8 million is still far short of the $30 million the leakers wanted. And since then, as it became obvious that most GTA 6 fans weren't going to give in to Cyberleek's demands, the memecoin has plunged even further, with a current market cap of $1.17 million.

Critics of Cyberleek celebrated the memecoin's failure, calling it a scam.

SEE ALSO: GTA 6 Cyberleek: Fans float leak conspiracy theories about marketing, possible in-game character

Cyberleek had been successful with their memecoin play before, giving those who bought their memecoin exclusive access to polls that determined what GTA 6 footage the leakers would release next.

However, it seems Cyberleek overplayed their hand this time around, and the full build, which they claim is 200GB, appears to be staying under wraps for now.

With that said, Cyberleek is still using their supposed access to a full build of GTA 6 to try to escape legal action from Take-Two, the parent company of GTA 6 developer Rockstar Games. The leakers claim that there is a "dead-man's switch" that will automatically release the ending of the game if there is an attempt to take down Cyberleek.

Aaron Sorkin, famed writer of The West Wing and Academy Award-winning The Social Network, is notoriously verbose. He has a reputation for linguistic flairs that some find awkward, and many find deeply compelling. 

But in The Social Reckoning, a follow-up to the 2010 tale of Facebook's founding, he is uncharacteristically sparing. 

Yes, Sorkin — who wrote and directed the new movie — crams the script with one-liners and existential metaphors, random pop culture references, and cries for change, but it's what he leaves out that viewers should pay attention to. 

SEE ALSO: 'The Social Reckoning' review: Aaron Sorkin's indulgences fail this Facebook follow-up What 'The Social Reckoning' omits

Through The Wall Street Journal's Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) and Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), The Social Reckoning recounts the two years of work that made up the publication's explosive 2021 series, The Facebook Files. The birth of the exposé, a series of insider accounts of Facebook's decision to reroute its algorithm in service of polarizing extremism, is presented in two competing timelines.

In one, Huagen and Horwitz attempt to penetrate the Silicon Valley giant's defenses to learn the true scope of its wrongdoing. In the other, CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) readies himself to testify before Congress — as Jan. 6th insurrectionists storm the Capitol.

So it's strange that it's characters — real-life journalists, brave whistleblowers, and profit-driven tech overlords who had a direct role in the current administration's success — don't say the name "Trump."

Despite a third of the movie set in 2020, COVID-19 is largely referred to as "the novel virus." The movie skirts the rampant medical misinformation, spread by conservative conspiracy groups, that flourished on Meta platforms.

The movie also omits the full details of Facebook's startling algorithmic misconduct that surrounded and informed the events of The Social Reckoning. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Meta IRL

In 2018, the tech giant was implicated in a massive data breach that harvested user profiles to target U.S. voters ahead of President Donald Trump's 2016 election victory. Facebook had already been accused of a host of reported user privacy violations, including conducting an algorithm-based psychological study on unwitting users. Due to Facebook's outsized role in spreading fake news, the company's CEO was given the title "Misinformer of the Year" in 2017 by Media Matters for America. 

Civil rights organizations like GLAAD have long deemed Meta's platforms unsafe for LGBTQ users. Facebook's algorithm has not only helped foster discord on home soil, but is also alleged to have had a role in global cultural genocides by human rights groups like Amnesty International. 

Following Haugen's real-life congressional testimony, used as the final beat of Sorkin's film, the company was accused of exacerbating a youth mental health crisis, multiple deaths by suicide, and an explosion of real and synthetic child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). The first point is briefly touched on in the film, while the last is completely sidelined.

Three weeks after Haugen's congressional appearance in 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta. The company then underwent a brief public-image overhaul — until Trump came back into power. Following his reelection, Meta gave $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. 

The Social Reckoning implores someone, anyone, to act. The film posits that the federal government may be able to hold Zuckerberg to account.

It hasn't. 

One character, a member of the company's civic integrity team who helps leak internal reports about Instagram's impact on teen mental health, tells Haugen that something needs to be done before the company proceeds with its plan for "Instagram Kids." 

In 2024, Meta debuted Teen Accounts to address growing unease about young people's online habits. Following studies that concluded the changes featured in Instagram's Teen Accounts were ineffective, the company overhauled them. In the months since the overhaul, advocates have alleged Teen Accounts are still failing to curb online abuse. 

Another real-life whistleblower, Arturo Béjar, has continued to testify to Meta's alleged intentional disregard for teen mental health in court. 

Will Meta change?

In the film's epilogue, Sorkin describes Haugen's disclosure as having "caused some pain" for the company.

"I would not call it a massive pain for Meta," said Christine McComas, founding member of child safety advocacy group Parents for Safe Online Spaces (ParentsSOS). "It was a moment of clarity for people to understand what's going on."

Unlike Sorkin's more timid portrayal, McComas describes Haugen as a person who knew what she needed to do. McComas credits Haugen with galvanizing the work of bereaved parents whose children had died by suicide following abusive social media interactions.

That is an inexcusable failure of leadership. - Ashwin Verghese, Fairplay

As of publishing, more than 3,000 federal lawsuits have been filed against Meta alleging intentional harm to teen users. The film briefly mentions the work of attorneys general in amplifying these claims. Many of these cases are still ongoing or have settled out of court, but a few have resulted in surface level changes to Meta platforms.

Much like Teen Accounts, researchers argue the changes did not do enough to protect young users. 

Concerted pressure from state leaders and child safety advocates has finally pushed Meta to agree to more substantive reform, such as algorithmic guardrails. Still, most argue that comprehensive federal regulation is the only way to truly curb Meta's harm. 

Congressional leaders have "completely failed" to hold Meta and its competitors accountable, says Ashwin Verghese, communications director of child safety nonprofit Fairplay. "In fact, Congress has not passed a bill focused on keeping kids safe online in nearly 30 years. That is an inexcusable failure of leadership," Verghese said.

SEE ALSO: Is Meta finally backing a federal kids safety bill, or is it all PR?

It has been years since the Wall Street Journal published The Facebook Files. To be fair to Sorkin, political change is slow. Courts have their limits when powerful, near monopolistic, companies are involved. 

But there's a lingering question that the movie, given its timeline and broad topics, only mildly addresses through its luddite journalist, Horwitz: If Congress won't act, why won't we, as a society, just stop using Meta's problematic products?

Meta, why can't we quit you?

Compared to Horwitz, who is comedically introduced as someone who can't even use a GPS, Sorkin depicts Haugen as an idealist, clinging to the democratizing potential of Facebook. Her movie self is a firm believer that the platform's ability to foster social connection is a societal good. The character doesn't rally for Meta's shuttering, but for its reform. 

In early 2026, professor and marketing expert Scott Galloway called for an industry-wide boycott of tech platforms with disproportionate political and economic power. Included in that list were Meta platforms WhatsApp and Facebook (Instagram is also in Meta's corporate roster). 

One year earlier, swaths of users threatened to delete their Meta accounts following platform changes that signaled its alignment with the Trump administration, including the erasure of hateful conduct protections for LGBTQ users and the shuttering of its fact checking program. Years before that, users attempted to galvanize change through the 2018 #DeleteFacebook trend.

Yet, even with these calls, Meta has yet to see a mass exodus of users. The company only recently reported a substantial decline in daily users across its platforms. The loss was just 20 million of a reported 3 billion users. After the launch of its new AI agent Muse, Meta regained almost 2 million daily users. 

Too many people are complacent because they don’t know an alternative. - Sam Hiner, Young People's Alliance

"Meta has spent millions of dollars in public relations campaigns to claim their platforms are safe while denying responsibility," said Maurine Molak, advocate and co-founder of ParentsSOS. Molak was one of a group of survivor parents who received an apology from Zuckerberg during his 2024 congressional testimony. 

Molak argues that Meta's billion-dollar PR spin has sowed confusion among parents, users, and even congressional leaders. Without clarity, users are more inclined to stay and avoid the pains of leaving.

"Too many people are complacent because they don’t know an alternative," explained Sam Hiner, executive director of the youth-led advocacy nonprofit Young People's Alliance. Hiner and Molak both argue one of the biggest hurdles to leaving Facebook is the Fear of Missing Out.

"If you’re not online, it feels like you’re missing out on an important cultural space," said Hiner. "It’s also hard for competitors to emerge because of the network effect — all of my friends are on Meta platforms, not whatever competitor may emerge."

Molak links this to Facebook's role as one of the first social media platforms. Millions, perhaps billions of adults, have spent nearly two decades building their accounts on Facebook and more than a decade on Instagram. Recntly, they have merged these accounts onto Meta's X-competitor Threads — a wave of users flocked to Threads after Elon Musk's take over of Twitter. It was the lesser of two evils.

Meta platforms are part of many's daily habit, maybe even their identity. With its foray into general AI and its diversification into massively popular chat platforms, users are getting wrenched deeper into Meta's web. 

"Algorithms aren't visible, so it's understandably been quite difficult for most folks to connect the harms they experience in their communities — more people angry and outraged, more mental health problems, more anxious children — with some computer code designed in a faraway lab," explained Julie Scelfo, founder and executive director of Mothers Against Media Addiction. 

This movie will not move the needle on Meta

Meta has not issued a statement on The Social Reckoning, and it probably never needs to. The film's opening weekend was an unequivocal flop.

The company is shielded by its buying power. In an April earnings call, the tech giant said it brought in $56.3 billion, probably tied to its ongoing generative AI investments.

"The monetary fines imposed on Meta are comparable to parking tickets," said Molak. In August, Meta settled out of a potentially consequential social media addiction lawsuit for the sum of $17 billion dollars — just one percent of its stock value, paid out over a decade. 

During one pivotal moment between Horwitz and Haugen in The Social Reckoning, Haugen ponders if it's possible to push powerful people toward change. 

"When it's about money, it's hard," says Horwitz. "When it's not about money, it's even harder."

On Oct. 14, one day after announcing its acquisition, Bumble launched handles as a way for users to connect with each other.

Bumble Handles is meant to be a way to share contact information, but not your phone number or social media account. "Your private and professional networks aren’t necessarily where you want your dating life to begin," Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd shared in a note about the new feature. "That's why we're launching Bumble Handles."

SEE ALSO: The 10 best hookup apps of 2026: I swiped until my thumb hurt

Verified Bumble users can create a custom handle to easily tell people to "Find them on Bumble." But making one is optional, and users can opt out of being discoverable by their handle at any time.

Exact handle names are required to search, and according to Wolfe Herd, "Discoverable doesn't mean accessible." While another user can express interest after finding someone else's profile, mutual interest is still required to start a conversation. Bumble's moderation guidelines apply when creating a handle, and the app stated it has put additional protections in place to reduce misuse, such as impersonation.

This is the latest in big changes that have come to the app this year, including how men can message women first in heterosexual matches. Yesterday, Bumble announced a deal to be acquired by Ithaca Holdings for $1.3 billion, and co-CEOs Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman have taken over from Wolfe Herd.

Bumble Handles are available to iOS users in the U.S.

RAMageddon is showing no sign of stopping, if the global smartphone market is to be believed.

A new report from Counterpoint, a market research firm, indicates that global smartphone shipments were down 20 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2026. According to Counterpoint, they hit the lowest level measured since 2012, which was a time when smartphones were still not quite as prevalent in everyday life as they are now. The explanation, according to Counterpoint, is that "relentless increases" in memory prices have "significantly disrupted" shipments from manufacturers like Samsung and Apple.

SEE ALSO: Apple TV 4K: Where to buy the 4th generation of Apple TV

As a result, those companies have passed rising costs onto consumers, resulting in a 20 percent rise in smartphone retail prices in 2026. Per Counterpoint's research, this has led to customers holding onto older phones for longer and prioritizing high-end devices more than they might otherwise.

Samsung, for what it's worth, seems to have weathered the storm a little bit, with its market share increasing to 23 percent. Counterpoint attributes this to steady demand for the mid-range Galaxy A-series and high demand for premium devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Apple, meanwhile, also saw an increase in market share, while suffering a 22 percent decline in shipments year-over-year. Counterpoint theorizes that this had to do with the lack of a base iPhone 18 model in September; Apple is widely expected to launch that phone in early 2027 instead.

I would've never guessed that the 1998 cult-favorite Practical Magic would get a sequel in 2026, but here we are. Practical Magic 2 brings back Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's sister witches, as well as their on-screen aunties played by Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing. But it also adds new faces like Joey King and Maisie Williams into the mix.

Whether you're a Practical Magic superfan or you're looking to get into the spirit of the season, the sequel 30 years in the making is now officially available to watch at home.

The best ways to watch 'Practical Magic 2' at home, at a glance: Watch now Buy or rent 'Practical Magic 2' on Prime Video $24.99 or $19.99 Shop Now Watch now Buy or rent 'Practical Magic 2' on Apple TV $24.99 or $19.99 Get Deal Watch now Buy or rent 'Practical Magic 2' on Fandango at Home $24.99 or $19.99 Get Deal Watch later HBO Max (With Ads) $109.99/year (save $21.89) Get Deal Watch later HBO Max Standard $184.99/year (save $36.89) Get Deal Watch later HBO Max Student $5.49 per month for 12 months (save 50%) Get Deal Watch later HBO Max Basic With Ads Free for Cricket customers on the $60/month unlimited plan (save $10.99/month) Get Deal Watch later Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max bundle $21.99 per month (with ads), $34.99 per month (no ads) (save up to 43%) Get Deal Watch later Netflix and HBO Max bundle (with ads) $10/month with Verizon myPlan (save $9.98/month) Get Deal Watch later Netflix, Peacock, and HBO Max (with ads) $22/month with Xfinity StreamSaver (save $8.97/month) Get Deal

Directed by Susanne Bier and written by Akiva Goldsman and Georgia Pritchett, the sequel is based on the final novel in Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic series, The Book of Magic. In her review, Mashable's entertainment editor calls it "a tale of love, loss, sisterhood, and magic that bounds across genres while being thoroughly entertaining."

Here's everything you need to know about how to watch Practical Magic 2, including when and where it'll be streaming this season.

What is Practical Magic 2 about?

The witchy Owens family is cursed to be loveless for centuries, but when Sally's (Bullock) daughter Kylie (King) falls in love and begins to uncover hidden family secrets, she sets off to break the spell.

The sequel covers a lot of ground and takes a "a wild ride into different genre influences," as Mashable's Kristy Puchko puts it, but ultimately it delivers.

Check out the official trailer for a taste of Practical Magic 2:

How to watch Practical Magic 2 at home Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

As of Oct. 13, you can officially watch the Practical Magic sequel at home. You can either buy it or rent it via digital-on-demand retailers, with a streaming option still to come. We've broken down the details below.

Buy or rent on digital

Practical Magic 2 made its at-home debut via digital-on-demand retailers on Oct. 13, 2026. It costs $24.99 to buy and $19.99 to rent, but here's a pro tip: those prices will likely drop significantly if you wait a few weeks. Another thing to note is if you choose the rental option, you have 30 days to start watching, but only 48 hours once you start.

Quick links to buy/rent Practical Magic 2 on digital:

• Apple TV —  buy for $24.99, rent for $19.99

• Fandango at Home — buy for $24.99, rent for $19.99

• Prime Video —  buy for $24.99, rent for $19.99

• YouTube — buy for $24.99, rent for $19.99

Stream it on HBO Max

There's no official date yet, but we do know that Practical Magic 2 will make its streaming debut on HBO Max, as Warner Bros. Pictures theatrical releases exclusively stream on HBO Max before anywhere else. If it follows the same schedule as other recent Warner Bros. releases (like Wuthering Heights and The Conjuring: Last Rites), we expect a mid-November streaming release. Stay tuned.

HBO Max subscriptions start at $10.99 per month, but there are a few ways you can save money on your plan. Check out the best HBO Max streaming deals below.

SEE ALSO: HBO Max and Paramount+ are combining into one streaming service The best HBO Max streaming dealsBest for most people: Save up to $45 on HBO Max annual subscriptions Opens in a new window Credit: HBO Max HBO Max Basic with ads annual subscription $109.99 per year (save $21.89) Get Deal at HBO Max Opens in a new window Credit: HBO Max HBO Max Standard annual subscription $184.99 per year (save $36.89) Get Deal at HBO Max

The best way to save some cash on HBO Max on any given day is by committing to an annual plan. Yes, it'll cost you more up front, but you'll save about 16% over the course of a year — or up to $45.89 in savings.

A monthly plan with ads typically costs $10.99 per month, but a full year costs $109.99, which breaks down the monthly cost to only $9.17. Want to go ad-free? The annual HBO Max Standard or Premium plans will also save you about 16% over their monthly equivalents. Standard subscriptions cost either $18.49 per month or $184.99 per year (which breaks down to $15.42 per month). Premium subscriptions cost $22.99 per month or $229.99 per year (about $19.17 per month). While both are ad-free plans, the Premium option also unlocks 4K Ultra HD video quality, Dolby Atmos, and the ability to download more offline content.

Get HBO Max for free: Switch to Cricket's Supreme Unlimited plan Opens in a new window Credit: HBO Max / Cricket HBO Max (with ads) Free for Cricket customers on the Supreme Unlimited plan Get Deal

While it's not the most convenient option, switching your phone plan to Cricket's Supreme Unlimited plan for $60 per month will get you HBO Max with ads for free. Once you're a Cricket customer, you can use your provider credentials to log in via the HBO Max app or website.

Best HBO Max deal for students: Save 50% on HBO Max Basic with ads Opens in a new window Credit: HBO Max HBO Max Student $5.49 per month for 12 months Get Deal

College students can sign up for a whole year of HBO Max with ads for 50% off. Use UNiDAYS to prove your student status and you'll receive a unique discount code to shave the cost per month down from $10.99 to $5.49. The price will jump back to the full cost unless you cancel after 12 months.

Best bundle deal: Get HBO Max, Disney+, and Hulu for up to 43% off Opens in a new window Credit: Disney / Hulu / HBO Max Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max $19.99 per month (with ads), $32.99 per month (no ads) Get Deal

The Disney+ bundle deal, which includes HBO Max and Hulu, remains one of the best streaming deals around — even with its latest price increase. For just $21.99 per month, you'll get all three streaming libraries with ads, which is about $14 cheaper than paying for each one separately. Want to go ad-free? It'll run you $34.99 per month as opposed to $61.47 for all three. That's $26.48 in savings.

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If you're a Verizon customer on the Simplicity, Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Ultimate plan, you can add the Netflix and HBO Max bundle perk (with ads) to your plan for only $13 per month. A $19.98 per month value, that's about $7 in savings each month. Once you enroll in the promo, you'll have to complete the account setup separately for each service. Check out Verizon's support page for all the eligibility details, terms, and FAQs. You can also upgrade to the ad-free bundle for $7.50 more per month.

Best for Xfinity customers: Bundle HBO Max, Peacock, and Netflix and save $10/month Opens in a new window Credit: Netflix / Peacock / HBO Max Netflix Standard with ads, Peacock Premium, and HBO Max $22/month with Xfinity StreamSaver (save $8.97/month) Get Deal

Xfinity Internet and TV customers can also get in on the bundle action with Xfinity StreamSaver packages. The package with Netflix Standard with ads ($8.99 per month), Peacock Premium ($10.99 per month), and HBO Max Basic with Ads ($10.99 per month) can be added to your existing Xfinity service for only $22 per month. It typically costs $30.97 for all three, so that's about $9 in savings monthly.

SAVE $65: As of Oct. 14, the Coleman Cascade 222 2-Burner Camping Stove is on sale for $164.99 on Amazon (normally $229.99) — a 28% savings. You can add a cast-iron grill and griddle for $40 extra.

Opens in a new window Credit: Coleman Coleman Cascade 222 2-Burner Camping Stove $164.99 at Amazon
$229.99 Save $65   Get Deal at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Coleman Coleman Cascade 3-in-1 Camping Stove $204.99 at Amazon
$274.99 Save $70 FYI: Not returnable. Get Deal at Amazon

Tired: waiting around for Lana Del Rey to release her new album, Stove (or whatever it's called these days). Wired: grabbing a new camping stove on sale while end-of-season clearance sales are in full swing.

Right now, Amazon has the top-rated Coleman Cascade 222 2-Burner Camping Stove marked down to $164.99. That's 28% off its usual MSRP of $229.99 and its best price since summer, when it was just $11 cheaper.

For $40 extra, you can upgrade to a slightly more powerful version of this stove with a removable cast-iron grill and griddle. Just know that it's not returnable due to hazardous material regulations unless it arrives with damage or defects.

Credit: Coleman Credit: Coleman

This portable stove runs on propane fuel and offers 22,000 total BTUs of cooking power between its two burners. (The version that ships with those two accessories can hit up to 24,000 total BTUs.) It can fit 12- and 10-inch pans, and there are wind guards on either side of it to protect its flames.

When you're finished cooking, the Coleman Cascade 222 folds up and latches closed. There's a handle built into the bottom of it that makes it easy to carry.

TL;DR: As of Oct. 14, you can get the Elegoo Centauri 2 Combo 3D Printer for $328.99, down from $461.99. That's a 29% discount or $133 in savings.

Elegoo Centauri 2 Combo 3D Printer $328.99 at Amazon
$461.99 Save $133   Get Deal at Amazon

My nephew has been begging for a 3D printer, and frankly, I haven't felt too comfortable with the prices, and I thought the mechanics might be a little too advanced for a 13-year-old. But according to Mashable reviewer Adam Doud, the Centauri lineup is easy to use and budget-friendly.

In his review of the Centauri Carbon, Adam called it an "idiot-friendly 3D printer that even I could understand". He loved that it's "an entirely self-contained device" — meaning all the moving parts are housed safely inside an enclosure rather than exposed on an open table — and noted that the automated calibration and leveling save you from having to master complicated technical tasks on day one.

SEE ALSO: Find a gift that kids will actually like

So if your little ones have been asking for a more advanced gift this year, this might be the one to get. Right now, you can get the Elegoo Centauri 2 Combo 3D Printer for $328.99, down from $461.99. That's a 29% discount or $133 in savings.

This upgraded Centauri 2 Combo model makes things even easier for beginners with its CANVAS system, which handles four-color printing automatically without requiring anyone to manually pause and swap filaments. It also uses the ElegooSlicer app so they can queue projects and monitor prints right from a phone. Plus, it prints at high speeds (up to 500mm/s), so nobody has to wait all weekend for a single build to finish.

Is Google purposefully serving up false data to AI scrapers?

According to a new report from Nozzle, a search engine results page (SERP) monitoring firm, Google may be deliberately manipulating search results that are visible to rank-tracking tools and other automated services.

SERPs are the pages Google displays in response to a search query. Companies often pay service providers like Nozzle to monitor these results and track how their websites rank for targeted keywords.

While monitoring Google SERPs, Nozzle discovered evidence that the search giant appeared to be deliberately poisoning results pages accessed by rank trackers. Google has little apparent reason to serve misleading data specifically to these tools, suggesting that legitimate SEO services may be caught in the crossfire of Google's efforts to disrupt data scraping by AI bots.

For its report, Nozzle analyzed 27.5 million SERPs and found that more than 660,000 keywords were associated with poisoned results pages. According to the report, approximately 8 percent of SERPs were poisoned. The altered results appeared in both desktop and mobile versions of Google Search.

SEE ALSO: Google upgrades its AI detection tool. How to use SynthID.

What does a poisoned SERP look like? According to Nozzle, it looks much like a normal search results page. However, links that typically rank well in legitimate results may be replaced with less relevant or less accurate results, often from social media platforms.

Google has been battling third-party AI scrapers for some time. These automated bots collect Google's search data, potentially to power competing AI services or reverse-engineer the company's search algorithms. By poisoning search results, Google could undermine the value of the data collected by these bots.

The problem is that legitimate rank trackers and other search engine optimization (SEO) tools may also be receiving this misleading data.

It's also possible that Google's efforts are intended, at least in part, to target rank trackers themselves. Black-hat and gray-hat SEO techniques have evolved in recent years, with some practitioners using AI to manipulate search rankings. Google may have an incentive to make automated tracking and analysis more difficult for those attempting to game its search results.

However, Google could simply block requests from AI scrapers and other automated tools, as it has done in the past. Over the past month, Nozzle's findings suggest Google may have shifted from blocking certain requests to serving misleading results instead.

If so, that would point to a more active effort to poison the data available to AI scrapers.

SAVE $300: As of Oct. 14, get the Hisense C3 Triple Color RGB Smart Laser Projector for $1,699.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,999.99. That's a discount of 15%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Hisense C3 Triple Color RGB Smart Laser Projector $1,699.99 at Amazon
$1,999.99 Save $300   Get Deal at Amazon

Looking for a new way to experience your favorite movies at home? A projector is a good place to start. You can use an investment like this for the foreseeable future to create an at-home theatrical experience without breaking the bank, and Amazon is making that even easier right now with this deal.

As of Oct. 14, get the Hisense C3 Triple Color RGB Smart Laser Projector for $1,699.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,999.99. That's $300 off and a discount of 15%.

SEE ALSO: The ultimate 'GTA 6' upgrade: The TCL 65-inch QM6K Mini LED TV is $152 off at Amazon

This projector can cast a 65-inch image all the way up to a 300-inch picture for the movie night of your dreams. It has support for IMAX Enhanced and Dolby Vision certification as well, so you can host movie night outdoors, show the big game on your wall, or just enjoy some time outdoors with everyone's favorite music videos.

Show off movies and other content in striking 4K UHD resolution with pixel-by-pixel reconstruction with depth and motion clarity like you'd find with a pricey TV. Setup is easy as well, with a 360-degree horizontal and 135-degree vertical gimbal so you can get things situated and get movie night going quickly. You can point it at a fence, ceiling, ramp, or wherever works for your viewing party.

If you've been dreaming about an alternative way to enjoy movies and the like with friends and family, this is the perfect way to do so, and at a significant discount as well. Be sure to grab yours while you can.