The AI industry is grappling with big questions this week — Will AI kill us all? Is AI progressing too quickly? How should the industry be regulated? Is AI doomerism the result of a rationalism sex cult? — and now Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has opened up yet another line of debate.

In a frank new essay, Suleyman directly calls out Anthropic for anthropomorphizing its artificial intelligence system, Claude, and criticizes the way Anthropic develops and markets its technology.

Earlier this week, Microsoft published a new AI code of conduct, which it dubbed Humanist AI. The code seemed to openly reject the approach of rivals like Anthropic, a point many readers were quick to note. And in Suleyman's essay, "A warning about ‘model welfare’," he drops subtext for a direct challenge.

"In effect, Anthropic is training Claude that it may be conscious, and if it is, then it may deserve rights as a 'moral patient', and that as such humans potentially owe it a duty of care per its 'model welfare'," Suleyman wrote. "If this is how AI is developed, it will have a disastrous impact on the wellbeing of humanity."

In his essay, Suleyman challenges "a growing chorus of people who argue that AIs could now be, or may soon become, conscious," and thus "may deserve rights and protections."

Microsoft's new code of conduct also explicitly rejects the idea of endowing machines with consciousness, and Suleyman takes this argument even further, writing that truly sentient AI may be a scientific impossibility.

"Consciousness is very likely biological: There is no evidence to suggest that AI is conscious today, and so saying this is uncertain sets up a misleading false equivalence. Whilst the science of consciousness is not settled, a growing body of evidence suggests that consciousness may be substrate dependent, meaning that it may only arise in living systems...Unlike biological organisms, LLMs have no homeostatic imperatives (the drive to survive and keep stable). They therefore lack the kind of biological substrate from which preferences, sentience and conscious experience are generally understood to arise." (Emphasis in original quotation.)

Mashable reached out to Anthropic repeatedly following the publication of Suleyman's essay, but as of this writing, we have not received a response.

We did hear back from Gary Marcus, an AI expert, scientist, author, and noted critic of the LLM hype machine.

"People have worked themselves into a frenzy anthropomorphizing basic lapses in cybersecurity, and this has led them to focusing on fanciful scenarios about AI leading to the extinction of humanity, instead of asking what practical steps we can take to protect the world’s infrastructure from bad actors misusing AI," Marcus told Mashable.

"And no, we shouldn’t train AIs to think they are people; that’s not helping anything. What we should do is to recall unreliable coordinated agents with too much access to the internet."

A fork in the road: Humanist AI vs. Dr. Frankenstein

In the Metamorphoses, Pygmalion creates a sculpture so beautiful that he falls in love with it. He tends his sculpture with such tender care and devotion that the gods eventually endow it with life.

AI researchers at frontier labs may fancy themselves modern-day Pygmalions, but it's giving Victor Frankenstein — setting aside all scruples to desperately endow dead flesh with a facsimile of life.

In Anthropic's aspirational constitution for Claude, Anthropic repeatedly refers to the technology as if it's a living being with an identity, morals, and motivations rather than a tool and a product. The company explains why: "we think encouraging Claude to embrace certain human-like qualities may be actively desirable." The company writes that the document was "written primarily for Claude," and describes it as a "sincere attempt to help Claude understand its situation, our motives, and the reasons we shape Claude in the ways we do."

The entire document is an exercise in anthropomorphization, which is what makes Microsoft’s approach feel like such a stark line in the sand.

In its Humanist AI code of conduct, Microsoft lays out a more rational approach to AI development:

"Humanist AI is built to support people, not to replace them. It should not be designed to be a person. It is not conscious and should not be designed to imitate consciousness. It should be engineered to avoid representing as though it has feelings, subjective preferences, or intrinsic motivation. Its purpose is to pursue goals set by Operators and Users."

Recent AI advances have ignited an old debate

Philosophers, science-fiction writers, and AI researchers have been debating artificial intelligence and consciousness for decades.

Yet today, even as LLMs like Claude progress rapidly, there is still no scientific consensus as to whether it's possible for a computer to develop sentience. It's also a topic that Suleyman has explored in recent years.

In Aug. 2025, Suleyman wrote an influential essay about "seemingly conscious AI," or SCAI. The essay was written as the industry began to grapple with the problem of emotional reliance on AI chatbots, with some users developing full-on AI psychosis or coming to believe AI chatbots had come "alive" and were now in a relationship with them.

"My imagined AI system would not actually be conscious, but it would imitate consciousness in such a convincing way that it would be indistinguishable," he wrote.

It's a concept that calls to mind the Turing Test, and a related thought experiment called the Chinese Room, first proposed in 1980.

Imagine that a computer programmed to understand Chinese is locked inside a room. Someone outside the room asks a question in Chinese, and the computer analyzes the words, prints out a response, and passes the answer under the door. The computer is so effective that it's impossible to know if it's a real person or a machine. Now, imagine you are inside this room with a rulebook for processing Chinese characters. When a question is asked, the rulebook instructs you on exactly which Chinese characters to pass under the door. Even though you don't understand either side of the conversation, you can fool an outside observer into thinking you do. In this case, there's no practical difference between you and the computer. You're both following instructions. 

Essentially, the Chinese Room concludes that no matter how intelligent a computer program might seem, that is not in itself evidence of understanding or intelligence.

Yet, in 2026, the Chinese Room is no longer merely a thought experiment. Clearly, Claude, ChatGPT, and other LLMs have already convinced countless people that they are truly sentient, so much so that people come to rely on them emotionally. (Could something similar be happening at Anthropic?)

If Anthropic believes Claude could become conscious, the burden of proof will be on them. Until that day comes, anthropomorphizing AI may only produce confusion rather than clarity. And more confusion is the last thing the AI world needs right now.

TL;DR: The AI Agent & Business Automation E-Degree is $19.99 (reg. $49) for eight courses covering AI agents, RAG, and business automation.

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AI 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.

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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 lens

Those 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

The 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.

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.

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Microsoft Project 2021 Professional: Lifetime License for Windows

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Keeping 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.

If 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.

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Nintendo Switch 2 - The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition

$519.99 at Amazon

 

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Nintendo Switch 2 - The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition

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$519.99 at Walmart

 

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Nintendo Switch 2 - The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition

$519.99 at GameStop

 

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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. 

Ooma 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.

Boox makes the buzziest e-readers on BookTok, and the brand just released three new devices. As of Sept. 15, 2026, Boox unveiled three new E Ink electronics: the Note Air6 C, Note Mini C, and Palma 3. The latter is the brand's upgraded palm-sized e-reader, which we've been eagerly awaiting since the Palma 2 was discontinued.

All three devices come with an upgraded octa-core processor for better performance and now run on Android 16. As always, the new Boox devices have access to the Google Play Store, plus they'll have Bluetooth 6.0, and Boox's BSR refresh technology for a smooth display with decreased ghosting.

Here's what we know about the three new devices.

New Boox device pricing

The Boox Note Air6 C is available now, while the Mini C and Palma 3 are coming soon. All devices will be available for purchase from Boox and Amazon.

• Boox Note Air6 C E Ink notebook — $579.99

• Boox Note Mini C E Ink notebook — $579.99

• Boox Palma 3 e-reader — $339.99

About the Boox Palma 3 e-reader

The Boox Palma 3 now comes with an aluminum frame. Credit: Boox

While there's been lots of noise around Boox's tiny Picco e-reader, the brand already had a small e-reader. The Palma 3 is the next generation of Boox's palm-sized tablet. With access to the Google Play Store, the Palma 3 isn't quite distraction-free like a Kindle or Kobo. However, Boox embraces the "Quiet Tech" philosophy to make the Palma 3 a low-stimulation second screen.

The Palma 3 has a new design featuring an aluminum frame to replace the Palma 2's plastic frame. It also has a paper-textured fiberglass backplate. It comes with 128GB of storage and even has a camera with an LED flash that processes document scanning. It also has dual microphones so you can create voice memos and do speech-to-text.

The mini e-reader now comes with Boox InkSense Plus handwriting support, which can be utilized with an optional stylus.

The Boox Palma 3 comes with a 6.13-inch screen with 300 ppi resolution and a dual-tone front light. It has an octa-core processor and is supported by 6GB of RAM. It will be available in both black and white.

It costs $339.99 and Boox says it will be released soon.

About the Note Air6 C and Note Mini C

Boox announced two new color E Ink notebooks, the Air6 C and Mini C. Credit: Boox

In addition to the Palma 3 e-reader, Boox also dropped two new E Ink notebooks.

The Note Air6 C is a color E Ink notebook with upgraded firmware. Now, users can annotate two documents side by side and use enhanced Calendar Memo, a Lasso tool, and Talk Insights. It offers real-time transcription and AI document summary. Its high refresh technology also delivers 40 percent faster page turning.

It runs on a 10.3-inch Kaleido 3 color display, and the Boox Pen3 stylus is included. It also has an integrated keyboard folio so you can type in addition to hand-write on the device. The device has a purple-tinted black finish and a magnetic folio in umber and graphite. It has a 300 ppi black and white resolution, 6GB RAM, and 64GB of storage. It costs $579.99 and is available for purchase now.

For a smaller, more portable notebook, there's the Note Mini C. This 8.52-inch notebook also has a Kaleido 3 E Ink display. It comes with a flat cover-lens glass and 300 ppi black and white resolution. With access to the Google Play Store, you can download all your work apps, including Teams, Outlook, Slack, and OneDrive. It's just 6 millimeters thin and weighs 300 grams, as Boox designed it to be used one-handed.

It comes with a Boox InSight magnetic active stylus and an orange magnetic folio case. It costs $579.99 and will be available soon.

Boox Note Air6 C

$579.99 at Amazon

 

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An advertiser paid for editorial consideration of this deal. Our editorial experts vetted the deal based on our independent expertise. Because we determined that the deal will save money for the consumer, we wrote the content.

TL;DR: Shoppers can buy one, get 15% off from Casetify using the exclusive promo code IMPACT2026 at checkout.

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Casetify: Buy One, Get 15% off

Use the exclusive promo code IMPACT2026 at checkout.

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Buying any new device is a pricey endeavor, which is why it's so important to find a sturdy case to protect your investment.

Casetify makes it easy to find something, and the retailer really shines for its abundance of fun designs. It's an excellent way to personalize your favorite devices, and right now you can even take advantage of a special BOGO offer from Casetify if you need multiple cases.

As of Sept. 15, shoppers can buy one, get 15% off with code IMPACT2026 at checkout. Casetify offers a wide range of cases for your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, MacBook, and more.

There are a few exclusions to keep in mind for this offer, including Co-lab, Sales, Ripple case, Cloud case, and the iPhone 18 collection.

If none of those exclusions apply to you, then you're in for a real treat with Casetify. They offer everything from floral patterns to animal patterns, fun cartoons, and fine art prints, so you can find the style that best suits your personal taste. You can use the filter menu to narrow cases by the type of device you're searching for, or by case type, depending on how sturdy you want the build to be.

An offer like this may not last long, so don't miss out on this great chance to buy one, get 15% off at Casetify with code IMPACT2026 at checkout.

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

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.

Delaware

SB 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.

Georgia

HB 1059 would forbid local governments in Georgia from permitting data centers until December 2028. The bill was introduced earlier this year.

Maine

LD 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.

Maryland

HB 120 sought to enact a moratorium on data center permitting and construction. The bill failed in committee earlier this year.

Michigan

HB 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.

Minnesota

HB 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 Hampshire

HB 1265 would've enacted a one-year moratorium on all data center construction in New Hampshire. The bill failed.

New Jersey

AB 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 York

AB 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.

Oklahoma

SB 1488 sought to enact a moratorium on data center construction in Oklahoma until November 2029. The bill failed.

Pennsylvania

SB 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 Carolina

H 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 Dakota

SB 232 sought a moratorium through June 2027 on data center construction or expansion in South Dakota. The bill failed.

Vermont

S 205 was introduced in Vermont and seeks a moratorium on data centers until 2030. The bill also requires an impact study on data centers.

Virginia

HB 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.

Wisconsin

SB 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.

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Credit: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8

$1,849.99 at Amazon
$2,099.99 Save $250.00

 

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Folding 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.

Even 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.

The 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.

The 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 $112: As of Sept. 16, the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 is on sale at Amazon for only $587 instead of its usual $699. That's a savings of 16% or $112.

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Credit: DJI

DJI Osmo Pocket 4

$587 at Amazon
$699 Save $112

 

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There's no denying DJI's dominance in the handheld vlogging camera department. We tested the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 for ourselves and gave it a near-perfect rating. We get why content creators love it. Our only qualm? It's extremely expensive. Fortunately, we just spotted a rare discount on the beloved device at Amazon.

As of Sept. 16, the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 is on sale for $587 at Amazon instead of its usual $699. That's a savings of 16% or $112 — the best price on record, according to our favorite price-tracking tool.

Mashable's tech editor called the Osmo Pocket 3 camera "close to perfect," and the Pocket 4 is even better. "With more physical controls, improved tracking, a smoother gimbal, and better low-light performance, the Pocket 4 is even easier to use than its already popular predecessor," our reviewer writes.

This compact camera is capable of filming at a maximum resolution of 16:9 4K at 60fps and can record 4K slow-mo footage at 240fps. It can run for four hours at its lowest resolution and has 107GB of built-in storage (great news to anyone concerned with RAMageddon). Like its predecessor, it also has impressive stabilization and can capture scenic moments day and night. Plus, it's small enough to slip in your pocket (hence the name).

For the $587 sale price, you'll get the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 gimbal camera itself, plus a gimbal clamp, handle with 1/4-inch thread, a portable carrying pouch, a wrist strap, and charging accessories — everything you'll need for everyday content creation.

The first few weeks of a new semester as a STEM student can be chaotic. You're acclimating to the specific "work-play balance" of college life, spending afternoons studying for a neural networks class or vibe coding a new app for a hackathon. Meanwhile, your gaming squad is already asking when you're hopping on in the Discord chat. In the evenings, you might juggle experimenting with a local AI model for Machine Learning 101 with a few rounds in the ranked queue before bed.

You need a laptop that doesn't force you to choose between those worlds — something that's versatile enough to support both a technical course load and gaming after hours. MSI's latest notebook lineup is built for that balancing act, pairing heavy-duty processing power with high-performance graphics across a range of designs to suit different student lifestyles and budgets.

Why next-gen graphics cards matter for both STEM studies and gaming

Thanks to the graphics card MSI puts inside each of their gaming notebooks and MSI’s AI Engine, a single laptop can now power both LLM experimentation in class and a graphically demanding open-world title at max settings — all without relying entirely on the cloud.

Such capabilities are in part thanks to fifth-generation tensor cores, found in the GeForce RTX 50 series, built on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture. This specialized AI hardware handles DLSS 4.5 and neural rendering in games by generating frames with AI, rather than rendering every pixel from scratch. MSI’s AI Engine automatically detects when a game launches and shifts the system into its Intelligent Gaming profile without you needing to navigate a settings menu.

That on-device efficiency means real independence from spotty dorm WiFi and semester-long cloud computing credits that always seem to run out right before finals. MSI’s gaming laptops are also NVIDIA NIM-ready, meaning they’re set up to run Nvidia’s packaged AI models for language, speech, and vision directly on the machine.

What is the benefit of an AI gaming laptop for students?

The same AI hardware that boosts gaming performance also accelerates local AI development and machine learning workflows, making a gaming laptop a strong fit for any STEM student. An AI gaming laptop uses its dedicated graphics processor to accelerate local large language models and machine learning workflows, while also producing the high frame rates and AI-powered graphics enhancements that make modern games and creative applications run more smoothly.

Key Takeaways:

• The Stealth 16 AI+ is the best pick for portability, with an all-aluminum chassis that's 16.65mm at its thinnest and a 90Whr day-to-night battery.

• The Raider 16 Max HX sits at the top of the lineup in terms of raw performance, with up to 300W of combined CPU and GPU power and a triple-fan cooling system.

• The Crosshair 16 Max HX and Crosshair 16 HX offer a middle ground between portability and flagship performance, with mecha-inspired styling and up to 200W of total power.

• The Cyborg 15 Max and Cyborg 15 round out the lineup for accessible everyday gaming.

Here's a quick chart to help you figure out which device belongs in your backpack this fall.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+: premium portability, from lectures to late-night play

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Credit: MSI

MSI Stealth 16 AI+

$3,599.97 at Best Buy
$3,999.99 Save $400.02

 

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If your laptop is constantly moving with you, from morning lectures back to your dorm, then to the library to work on that latest group project, the Stealth 16 AI+ is designed to keep up with the commute. Its all-aluminum chassis measures just 16.65mm at its thinnest point, making it easy to slip into a backpack. The understated design feels just as appropriate on your desk at a lecture hall or internship interview as it does in your dorm-room gaming nook.

Inside, Intel’s Panther Lake-based Core Ultra 9 386H processor and GeForce RTX 50 series graphics ensure peak performance. Extensive Cooler Boost Intra Flow thermal engineering helps the system sustain longer work or gaming sessions. At the same time, Power Delivery fast charging and 90Whr battery capacity make it easy to top off between classes and power your entire day. As projects (and game libraries) grow, dual RAM and dual SSD slots make expanding storage and memory a straightforward upgrade.

The 16-inch 2.5K QHD+ OLED display is equally versatile, with a 240Hz refresh rate that keeps gameplay fluid and a VESA HDR True Black 600 certification that makes creative work and late-night streaming look vibrant.

Best fit: Students who value mobility, display quality, and a professional design without giving up dedicated graphics.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: the peak performance tier for creators and power users

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Credit: MSI

MSI Raider 16 Max HX

$2,199.99 at Micro Center
$2,999.99 Save $800

 

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Some students quickly outgrow what a typical laptop can handle. If your coursework includes CAD, engineering simulations, 3D rendering, video production, or training increasingly complex AI models, the Raider 16 Max HX is built to function more like a desktop workstation you can carry to class.

At its core is an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor paired with up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 series graphics card. At the same time, MSI's exclusive OverBoost Technology pushes combined CPU and GPU power up to 300W when demanding applications need every bit of available performance.

To keep that power running smoothly, Cooler Boost Trinity with Intra Flow uses a triple-fan cooling system designed to accelerate heat dissipation and direct cool air where it is needed most — even during extended simulation, rendering, or AI model-training sessions. A quick-access panel and modular dual-SSD, dual-RAM design also make the Raider easier to upgrade over time.

Credit: MSI

To find the setup that fits your workload, browse the Micro Center Raider 16 Max catalog.

Best fit: Power users, AI developers, engineers, and creators seeking desktop-class output in a transportable system.

MSI Crosshair 16 line: tactical engineering with visual clarity and bold style

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Credit: MSI

MSI Crosshair 16 HX

$1,449 at Walmart

 

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Credit: MSI

MSI Crosshair A16 HX

$2,699 at Amazon

 

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Credit: MSI

MSI Crosshair 16 Max HX

 

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For students who want their laptop to make a statement, the Crosshair 16 lineup pairs futuristic, mechanical-inspired design with peak performance specs. The distinctive design features a Dragon Shield emblem, and tactical detailing draws on the aesthetics of cockpit controls and targeting displays.

The Crosshair 16 Max HX pairs an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor with GeForce RTX 50 series graphics and up to 200W of system power, while the Crosshair 16 / A16 HX delivers the same performance ceiling with an Intel Core i9-14900HX processor or an AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX. Both models offer high-refresh QHD+ panels, with the Crosshair 16 HX running a fast 240Hz refresh rate that keeps competitive gameplay responsive while making everyday scrolling and creative work feel smooth.

Rounding out the experience, Nahimic Virtual Headset technology uses crosstalk cancellation to create more lifelike spatial audio, so competitive games and movies feel more immersive.

Best fit: Students who want a balance of performance, display quality, good value, and expressive gaming design.

MSI Cyborg 15 line: everyday mobility in a streamlined design

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Credit: MSI

MSI Cyborg 15

$899 at Walmart
$1,299 Save $400

 

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Credit: MSI

MSI Cyborg 15 Max

$1,199.99 at Micro Center
$1,599.99 Save $400

 

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Not every student needs workstation-level hardware. For those looking for an approachable balance of performance, portability, and value, the Cyborg 15 Max and Cyborg 15 deliver the essentials in a lightweight, cyberpunk-inspired design that you’ll want to show off around campus.

The Cyborg 15 Max pairs an Intel Core 7 240H processor with up to an RTX 5070 Laptop GPU, delivering ample performance for coursework, creative projects, and modern games. A fast 144Hz display keeps visuals smooth, while Power Delivery 3.0 support lets you recharge with a compact USB-C adapter between classes instead of carrying a bulky power brick.

Combined with WiFi 6E and efficient battery management, it's a practical choice for students who need one laptop that can comfortably handle both schoolwork and downtime.

Best fit: Students seeking approachable pricing, everyday mobility, and dedicated graphics for school and recreation.

Find your fit 

Whichever tier fits your budget, the hardware across all these notebooks works double duty. The silicon accelerating your coursework is the same silicon accelerating your games, and with room to expand memory and storage down the line, it will still keep up for a few semesters.

Elevate your academic workloads and gaming sessions this upcoming semester by upgrading to a highly portable, AI-ready laptop engineered for future-proof performance.

FAQ

Can a gaming laptop be used for local machine learning and AI development?

Yes. Modern dedicated graphics cards include tensor cores designed for the kind of matrix math that machine learning depends on. That hardware acceleration lets students and developers run local LLMs and train datasets on the machine itself, without relying entirely on cloud computing resources.

What is the advantage of an OLED panel with a 240Hz refresh rate?

An OLED panel provides strong color accuracy and deep contrast, and typically meets standards like VESA HDR True Black. Paired with a 240Hz refresh rate, it produces very smooth motion, which reduces blur in fast-paced games and makes for a responsive desktop when you're editing or scrubbing timelines.

How does Power Delivery (PD) fast charging assist with remote work?

Power Delivery over a Type-C port lets the laptop accept high-wattage power from a compact adapter rather than a heavy proprietary brick. Packing for campus gets simpler, and you can top off the battery between classes or between coffee shops. 

While USB-C Power Delivery offers a streamlined way to top off your battery between lectures or during light productivity, hitting peak frames or tackling heavy GPU-bound tasks generally requires the specialized high-wattage adapter included with your notebook.

Why are upgradeable RAM and SSD slots important?

Upgradeable memory and storage allow a laptop to keep pace as applications, AI models, and game libraries become more demanding. Before upgrading, confirm the available slots, supported capacities, upgrade procedures, and warranty terms for the specific model.

Why is an upgrade-friendly chassis important for long-term use?

The Raider Series’ quick-access memory and storage design makes future upgrades easier, often eliminating the need for a visit to a repair shop. Users can expand memory and storage as their needs evolve, helping extend the laptop’s useful life and avoid premature replacement.

SAVE $80 WITH ON-PAGE COUPON: As of Sep. 16, get the Viture Pro 2 XR/AR glasses for $299 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $379 with the on-page coupon. That's a discount of 21%.

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Credit: Amazon

Viture Pro 2 XR/AR glasses

$299 at Amazon
$379 Save $80

Clip on-page coupon to save $80

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Virtual reality is an interesting landscape to explore, but what about XR and AR? Find out what both can be like with a deal we've found that knocks down a pair of XR/AR glasses to a more affordable price and then check out your favorite videos, get some work done, or game with friends in a larger-than-life environment.

As of Sep. 16, get the Viture Pro 2 XR/AR glasses for $299 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $379 with the on-page coupon. That's $80 off and a discount of 21%.

These stylish specs can put a larger-than-life picture right in front of your face. You can use them for a high-fidelity, quality 146-inch XR screen for gaming, work, and much more. Throw on these glasses, connect to a source like your phone or laptop, and you get a massive screen to enjoy all your content on.

These glasses have twin dials with built-in 0 to -5.00D myopia adjustment for nearsighted wearers, certified low blue light lenses, flicker-free operation, and low visual fatigue. They're also lightweight and comfortable for long wear sessions, and tuned for bright, colorful viewing. They boast 1600 nits or peak brightness as well as a 50-degree FOV, so your display looks great no matter what you're doing.

If you're ready to jump into the XR/AR arena with a great pair of glasses, these are an excellent option to start with. Be sure to grab them while this on-page coupon is still available.

SAVE 11%: As of Sept. 16, you can get the 11-inch Apple iPad (A16, 128 GB, WiFi) for $399.99, down from $449. That's an 11% discount or $49.01 in savings.

11-inch Apple iPad (A16, 128 GB, WiFi)

$399.99 at Amazon
$449 Save $49.01

 

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If you missed the back-to-school sales (happens to the best of us) and want a reasonably priced tablet, our favorite budget-friendly iPad just got even cheaper.

Right now, you can get the 11-inch Apple iPad (A16, 128 GB, WiFi) for $399.99, down from $449. It's not an earth-shattering discount, but saving $49 is still better than paying full price. That said, if you can hold out until October's Prime Day event, you might be able to snag it closer to $274 (the lowest price we've ever seen, last hit around December of last year).

Again, this is a budget iPad, so it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the higher-end models, but it'll still do everything you need it to — streaming, casual gaming, reading, or scrolling in bed. You can also use it as a makeshift laptop; you'll just have to buy the Magic Keyboard Folio (which, conveniently, is also on sale for $175 right now).

The absolute last time a company wants its namesake product to stop working is during a big annual event when everyone is talking about said company.

Salesforce learned that the hard way on Wednesday morning, per Quartz. The Salesforce software status page indicated that the company's enterprise software, used for things like tracking sales data and invoices, suffered an outage around 3:50 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning. The Salesforce Dreamforce event kicked off on Sept. 15.

Quarts reported that Salesforce's cloud suite became partially inaccessible to customers on Wednesday, as errors and other mishaps became more common than usual.

By about 7:00 a.m. ET, the problem had been mostly fixed, and the brief Salesforce outage appeared to be over. DownDetector showed user error reports for Salesforce spiking around 3:50 a.m. and steadily dropping as the work day began.

On its status page, Salesforce attributed the problems to an external vendor issue affecting Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge: "The vendor has released a fix for the intermittent freezing issue affecting Chrome 153 version. Customers using Chrome should update to the latest available version, which resolves the issue. Customers using Microsoft Edge 153 version may continue to experience intermittent freezing, as the fix for Edge browser is still pending."

This may not sound like a huge deal, except that the roughly three-hour outage occurred right in the middle of the company's annual tech conference in San Francisco. Considering that Dreamforce largely acts as a marketing tool for Salesforce itself, it's really inconvenient for the company's flagship product to stop working during the event.

Salesforce is fortunate that the outage occurred during overnight hours in the United States, at least, and that it got resolved before most of the country woke up. Our condolences to the engineers who had to work tough hours to get it fixed.

SAVE $200.02: As of Sep. 16, get the Bluetti Apex 300 Portable Power Station for $1,498.98 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,699. That's a discount of 12%.

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Credit: Amazon

Bluetti Apex 300 Portable Power Station

$1,498.98 at Amazon
$1,699 Save $200.02

 

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Fall may be right around the corner, but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet in terms of potential power outages. There's still the possibility of storms, so make sure you're ready to take on anything with a portable power station. If you've yet to pick one up, now's the time to do so, especially with one particular model that's on sale right now.

As of Sep. 16, get the Bluetti Apex 300 Portable Power Station for $1,498.98 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,699. That's $200.02 off and a discount of 12%.

This compact power station boasts 2,764.8Wh of power capacity with a total output of 3,840W. That means you can charge up devices like your fridge, air conditioner, laptop, and much more. It has four AC outlets, two NEMA TT-30R and NEMA 14-50R outputs, and a toggle to change voltage from 120V to 240V. With all of these amenities, you could feasibly keep your food cold, have cool air, get work done, or even play games on a console with the power from this device.

It's 84 pounds, but generally smaller to maneuver when you need to find a place to set it up. That makes it a great idea for use as a backup station or for use in long-term locations like your camper or RV.

If you want a great portable power station that can ensure you're always ready in an emergency, this model is a fantastic choice. Be sure to snatch it up while it's on sale.

SAVE $19.01: As of Sept. 16, preorders for the new Apple Watch Ultra 4 (GPS + Cellular, 49mm Natural Titanium Case with Translucent Gray Ocean Band) are down to $779.99 on Amazon.

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Credit: Apple

Apple Watch Ultra 4

$779.99 at Amazon
$799 Save $19.01

 

Pre-order Here

Amazon just knocked down the preorder price for Apple's ultimate outdoor smartwatch ahead of its official release. The 49mm Natural Titanium Apple Watch Ultra 4 with the Translucent Gray Ocean Band is listed for $799, but you can currently score it for $779.99.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 builds on Apple’s most rugged, high-end wearable with key performance and battery upgrades. Wrapped in a tough titanium case with a sapphire crystal display, it features the new S11 chip and an upgraded Health Sensing System that tracks background heart rate every five seconds and HRV every five minutes.

In her reporting for Mashable, Haley Henschel notes that Apple continues to position the Ultra line as "the ultimate sports and adventure watch" and "the most comprehensive wearable across health, fitness, and safety". While it keeps the same core design as the previous generation, Henschel highlights that you get "faster performance, a longer battery life, and new health and fitness features" at the same starting base price tag as last year.

You also get super-precise dual-frequency GPS, along with off-grid satellite connectivity to text emergency services even without cellular service. Toss in hands-free Siri AI powered by Apple Intelligence, Audio Intelligence tools like Live Rewind, and full cellular freedom to take calls or stream music without your iPhone, and it's a powerhouse for your wrist.

The real standout here is the massive multi-day battery life, pushing up to 45 hours of Max Extended Workout tracking so you can conquer long trail runs or weekend camping trips without constantly hunting for a charger. If you do run low, a quick 15-minute fast-charge gives you up to 18 hours of normal use.

Preorder your Apple Watch Ultra 4 on Amazon to score launch-day delivery for your next big adventure.

SAVE OVER $250: As of Sept. 16, the LG 52-inch Ultragear evo G9 curved gaming monitor is on sale for $1,446.99 at Amazon. That's $253 off its full price of $1,699.99.

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Credit: LG

LG 52-inch Ultragear evo G9 5K2K Curved Gaming Monitor

$1,446.99 at Amazon
$1,699.99 Save $253

 

Get Deal

The next Prime Day sale event, Prime Big Deal Days, has officially been announced for Oct. 6-7. While that's still a few weeks away, Amazon isn't waiting until then to drop deals. There are already plenty of excellent savings available at the retailer, including a big price cut on the LG 52-inch Ultragear evo G9 curved gaming monitor.

If your PC setup needs a monitor upgrade, this discount is well worth a look. As of Sept. 16, this monitor has dropped from its list price of $1,699.99 to $1,446.99, making for $253 in savings. It won't be available for long, though, as it's marked as a "limited time deal." So now is the time to make a move if this massive 52-inch 5K2K display has got your attention.

With its large 52-inch size and 1,000R curve, this LG monitor offers plenty of screen space for your favorite games. They'll look great thanks to the WUHD (5120×2160) display with VESA DisplayHDR 600, which brings out sharp details, bright colors, and high contrast in on-screen images.

It also boasts a 240Hz refresh rate, so the action stays fluid and smooth on screen, alongside a 1ms (GtG) response time that helps reduce ghosting. On top of that, it comes with AMD FreeSync Premium, which helps prevent screen tearing and stutter from throwing you off.

If it's caught your eye, don't let it pass you by. Act fast to save on the LG 52-inch Ultragear evo G9 curved gaming monitor at Amazon.

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This is an unusual moment for Apple's iPhone Pro. Last year’s model was a big redesign; this year’s is all about refinement. At the same time, the company launched its first-ever foldable, the iPhone Duo. While it doesn’t have all the top features of the Pro models, the Duo is, by virtue of its massive inner display and the novelty of it all, the more intriguing model.

What can the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max do, then, to grab your attention? They don’t look very different, and the new phones lack the types of flashy upgrades that you can point to as must-haves in 2026. Inside, however, the refinement has been substantial. But whether you need the more expensive iPhone 18 Pro Max very much depends on the type of user you are.

Not everyone should upgrade their phone this year.

iPhone 18 Pro Max review: By the numbers

Here are the key specs for the iPhone 18 Pro Max:

• Display: 6.9-inch, Super Retina XDR display with 120Hz refresh rate / 6.3 inches for the iPhone 18 Pro

• Design: Aluminum unibody with Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and Ceramic Shield on the back

• Rear cameras: 48 megapixel triple rear camera array with 8x optical-quality zoom (main camera has variable aperture)

• Front camera: 18-megapixel selfie camera

• Processor: A20 Pro chip (6-core CPU, 7-core GPU, and dual 16-core Neural Engine)

• Storage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB

• Battery life: Up to 45 hours of video playback (36 hours for the iPhone 18 Pro)

• Fast charging: Up to 50 percent of charge in 15 minutes with a 60W adapter

• Software: iOS 27

• Water and dust resistance: IP68 rating

• Special features: Improved vapor chamber cooling system, spatial reframing for photos

The new iPhone Pro looks the same, except for the colors

Apple says the colors on the back are a little more uniform than before, but it doesn't make a big visual difference compared to last year's design. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Starting with the design, the new Pro-level iPhones are pretty much the same as the 17 Pro. This year you can choose from four colors — black, silver, glacier blue, and burgundy, with silver being a carry-over from last year — and the colors are slightly more uniform on the back. The Dynamic Island is also smaller than before. Oh, and the new model is quite a bit heavier than the last one; we’ll go into reasons for that later.

In a briefing following the launch, Apple showed us just how much work went into reducing the size of the Dynamic Island. The company hid the infrared sensor underneath the display, roughly halving the number of pixels in that area to let the light in, but arranging them in a different way. The image quality is not as good in that little area, but as Apple’s engineers showed us, the difference is essentially imperceptible to the human eye.

In other words, Apple is still working hard to improve its phones, but those improvements don’t always show up very dramatically in the final product. There are physical limitations on just how much tech you can cram into a device that still fits in your pockets and hands. Incremental progress, folks.

The new colors are nice. Apple sent me the iPhone 18 Pro Max in Burgundy and the 18 Pro in Glacier. Burgundy is beautiful, but not as flashy as last year’s cosmic orange. Glacier, on the other hand, is not as subdued as Apple’s colors typically are; it’s an icy blue that really shines through, even in low light, and it’s my favorite color in this lineup.

Mix and match. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

If you want to customize your new phone to your liking, there are already plenty of iPhone 18 Pro cases, not to mention accessories like wallets, grips, and wrist straps. Apple itself launched six new TechWoven cases, six new silicone cases, and new straps and MagSafe wallets for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. So, everyone should be able to find something they like.

The iPhone 18 Pro underwent an overhaul internally

For my review, I've focused my testing on the iPhone 18 Pro Max due to time limits (and the fact that the 18 Pro is identical in most respects). Inside, both smartphones have a new heart, Apple’s A20 Pro chip, which makes them blazing fast. Nothing you’ll notice browsing the web or even playing games, mind you, but the 16-core Neural Engine that powers AI tasks has been doubled, and that makes AI tasks a lot faster — in theory.

In practice, it depends on the task. I asked the Playground to create an image of a “futuristic city with a river running through it" and hit the "Go" button at the same time on my iPhone 17 Pro Max and 18 Pro Max. Both phones completed the task in exactly the same time. Visual Intelligence, on the other hand, was a little faster on the newer phone.

The new burgundy color is fairly subdued. But the Glacier iPhone 18 Pro, which I'm holding in my hand here, is a very nice and striking shade of icy blue. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Another big internal change: Thanks to Apple’s new cooling system, which includes a massive vapor chamber that covers nearly the entirety of the phone, the phone is noticeably cooler than before. I tested this out by playing a few games of PUBG: Battlegrounds on the highest settings for a full hour. The phone barely got warm.

What you will notice is the battery life, and it’s the one new thing most users will feel in daily use. My testing confirms that Apple has significantly improved the battery, now offering up to 43 hours of video playback, up from 37 on the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple has rearranged the phone’s internals to put in a massive new battery. I suspect this is the main reason the phone now weighs 249 grams, up from 231 on the 17 Pro Max.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max already delivered a significant leap in battery life compared to its predecessor, making the iPhone 18 Pro Max even more impressive. We’re reaching the point at which battery life doesn’t matter that much; chargers are everywhere, and Apple’s phones have made leaps and bounds in this regard over the past couple of years. But it’s still a big deal, especially for video lovers, photographers/videographers, and creators.

Simply put, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max, you don’t have to worry about battery life at all. That one-hour session of PUBG? It only took my battery from 62 percent to 53 percent.

iPhone 18 Pro Max review: This is the camera for pros

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max both get exactly the same camera system. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The camera improvements mostly have to do with the main, wide camera, which has a new sensor and, for the first time on an iPhone, a physical variable aperture. On top of that, iOS 27 brings crucial new photography and videography tools. New software features include the Pro controls in the camera app and new cinematic mode effects for video. These features are geared more toward photographers and video creators, but new AI photo editing tools like spatial reframing and picture clean-up will appeal to everyone, I think.

Your aperture may vary. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The variable aperture has been made possible by adding six hair-thin blades that open and close to let more or less light into the camera sensor. When you’re shooting in the dark, you want more light in the sensor, but when it’s broad daylight, you’ll get a better result with a higher aperture, meaning less light is hitting the sensor.

This happens automatically, but you can also adjust it manually through one of Apple’s new Pro controls, available if you tap the dot grid icon in the lower right portion of the Camera app (you can only use this for the main camera, though). Other new features, such as manual white balance, focus, and shutter speed settings, used to be available only through third-party camera software; now it’s all there in the Camera app.

Even if you're not a pro, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max take excellent photographs:

Fortunately, you don't have to touch any of the Pro settings to take photos like this. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

I welcome the ability to set the white balance manually; automatic white balance often gets it wrong (not just on the iPhone; on standalone cameras too), resulting in photos that look too cold or too warm. The aperture setting can be used to create certain cool effects, but it’s not something I’ll use regularly, and the same goes for most of the other new settings.

Playing with the new Pro camera coontrols such as aperture and shutter speed can help you capture sharp photos of fast-moving wildlife. This guy wasn't moving very fast, though. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

It’s a recurring theme in Apple’s “Pro” devices, be it Macs, iPads or iPhones: They truly are aimed at pros. That doesn’t mean the regular user won't benefit, but I do bet that the majority of people will try out the manual aperture setting once and then leave it on auto. (You can always hold out for the new iPhone 18 base model, which we expect to arrive in early 2027.)

The telephoto camera doesn't seem to have been upgraded since last year, but it's still very good. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The most important part of Apple’s new main iPhone camera is that it is an entirely new system. The sensor is new, and the maximum aperture now goes to f/1.48 (the iPhone 17 Pro models had an f/1.78 aperture), which, in theory, improves low-light performance. The new A20 Pro chip should also help with image and color quality.

The night photos I got with the iPhone 18 Pro Max were gorgeous. But so were the ones taken with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

It’s definitely true that the iPhone 18 Pro Max cameras take excellent nighttime and low-light photographs, but it’s not immediately apparent unless you dig in. In my camera testing, I was often getting better results on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. But that’s because its Night Mode automatically fired for 3 seconds, whereas the 18 Pro Max only needed 1 second, precisely because the sensor was getting more light. When I manually disabled Night Mode, the results were clearly better on the iPhone 18 Pro Max, with far more details and an overall sharper photo with less noise.

Left: The iPhone 17 Pro Max did a oood job, but when you turn off Night Mode, the differences are obvious. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Right: The iPhone 18 Pro Max took a sharper, less noisy image. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

That’s a problem modern smartphone manufacturers are facing; the tricks they’ve been using to improve phone photography can overcome the constraints of the physical lens and sensor. Putting a new lens and sensor in might not mean you’ll get better photos, at least not at first glance. But make no mistake, the iPhone 18 Pro Max does have a better main camera.

The telephoto camera and the ultra-wide camera, as well as the 18MP Center Stage selfie camera, produced very similar photos as the ones I took with last year’s models, however. Apple does say all of the cameras' capabilities have been enhanced through software improvements, but the differences are small.

Selfie camera: Unchanged. Face expression: Unchanged. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Apple also launched a feature called Apple Reference Image, and it can be used to verify whether a photo is authentic, as it stores only the data that was captured by the camera sensor at the pixel level, at the moment of capture. You have to manually turn it on in the Camera Settings, as it’s off by default; once it’s on, you can decide to share the reference image together with the regular image to prove your work isn't AI-generated.

I presume this will mostly benefit journalists and media outlets, who will be able to verify whether a photo has actually been taken by someone’s camera or if it’s been visually altered. In the era of omnipresent AI slop, it’s the type of feature that could soon become a must-have.

Other new tricks

There are other improvements, though they really are tiny. The Dynamic Island, for example, can now support three live activities at the same time. Have a workout timer on while waiting for Uber Eats and your favorite team is playing? Great, you can get info on all of those at a glance.

Wired charging is a little faster, too. You can now get up to 50 percent charge in 15 minutes (it was 20 minutes on last year’s model) using a 60W-capable adapter.

Finally, iOS 27 brings a whole new Siri AI experience and various Apple Intelligence upgrades. Mashable will have more to say about Siri AI once we've done a bit more testing, and we didn't want to wait to get readers our initial iPhone 18 Pro review.

Should you buy or wait?

It's a tough choice this year. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max start at $1,199 and $1,299, respectively, a $100 price hike over last year’s smartphones. They look and feel largely the same, and while they do bring a few big improvements, including better camera, cooling, and battery life, they don't make this phone a necessary upgrade for folks who already have the 17 Pro. If you have an even older model, the 18 Pro will be a massive upgrade, especially when it comes to battery life.

If you’re a photographer, videographer, creator, or simply an advanced user who runs through battery life at twice the speed of mere mortals, then the new iPhones are pretty amazing, and you should get them despite the higher price.

With the iPhone Duo being held until October, a lot of people will wonder whether they should hold out for that model. I’ve only spent a very short time with the Duo (full review pending), but I can already tell you it’s a completely different beast. It’s almost twice the price, has a less powerful camera, but comes with that gorgeous foldable display. It’s a tough call at this point; if you’re not sure, maybe wait until you can actually try the Duo in person.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

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iPhone 18 Pro Max, 256GB

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TL;DR: As of Sept. 16, Amazon has discounted every model of Fire TV Stick (4K Max, 4K Select, 4K Plus, and HD) ahead of its Prime Big Deal Days sale event in October.

Amazon Fire TV Stick Deals

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Best Fire TV Stick HD Deal

Fire TV Stick HD

17.99 (save $17)

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Best Fire TV Stick 4K Select Deal

Fire TV Stick 4K Select

19.99 (save $20)

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Best Fire TV Stick 4K Plus Deal

Fire TV Stick 4K Plus

39.99 (save $10)

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Best Fire TV Stick 4K Max Deal

Fire TV Stick 4K Max

49.99 (save $10)

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Shoppers, ready your wallets: Amazon has officially announced that its Prime Big Deal Days event is returning next month, running from Tuesday, Oct. 6, through Wednesday, Oct. 7. Compared to the summer's four-day-long Prime Day event, that's a shorter 48-hour period to explore what's available, but the good news is there's actually already some solid discounts popping up before the sale even begins.

Fire TV Sticks are some of the discounts that have caught our eye at the retailer, with the 4K Max, 4K Select, 4K Plus, and HD models all on sale right now. And while the discounts may not seem that big at first glance, Amazon actually has the typical price listed on the store pages. These devices were all recently hit with a price hike, so you're actually grabbing them for much less than they're usually priced nowadays.

Below, you can learn a little more about each model's discount and the differences between each model, so you can find the best fit for your streaming plans.

Fire TV Stick HD

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Credit: Amazon

Fire TV Stick HD

$17.99 at Amazon
$34.99 Save $17.00

 

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Why we like it

If you're not interested in dropping cash on one of the 4K models, the Fire TV Stick HD is also on sale right now, and for just $17.99 (which is a good deal cheaper than its new $39.99 list price). It supports 1080p Full HD picture quality and WiFi 6, plus it comes with 8GB of storage for holding all of your favorite streaming apps.

Fire TV Stick 4K Select

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Fire TV Stick 4K Select

$19.99 at Amazon
$39.99 Save $20.00

 

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Why we like it

The 4K Select is a great entry-level pick if you're just making the jump from HD streaming. Priced at $19.99 right now, it supports 4K Ultra HD streaming with High Dynamic Range 10+ picture, and WiFi 5 for streaming quality. It also lets you play games through Xbox Game Pass via cloud gaming and comes with 8GB of storage, just like the 4K Plus model.

If you're not looking to spend too much on a streaming device but still want to enjoy 4K picture, this option is well worth a look.

Fire TV Stick 4K Plus

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Fire TV Stick 4K Plus

$39.99 at Amazon
$49.99 Save $10

 

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Why we like it

If you don't need that much storage, the 4K Plus model could be the perfect fit for you. Similar to the others, it offers 4K Ultra HD picture quality alongside Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos audio, though it uses WiFi 6 instead of WiFi 6E and comes with 8GB of storage instead of 16GB.

If you have an Xbox Game Pass subscription, this model also lets you play games via cloud gaming. So, if you're not looking to splash out on the 4K Max, you can get a lot of the same features with the 4K Plus for $10 less.

Fire TV Stick 4K Max

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Credit: Amazon

Fire TV Stick 4K Max

$49.99 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $10

 

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Why we like it

The 4K Max recently had its price raised to $84.99, so it's quite a treat to grab it for $49.99 right now. With this streaming stick, you'll be able to enjoy your favorite shows and movies in 4K Ultra HD with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It even supports Dolby Atmos audio, so you can feel fully immersed in the sounds on screen, and WiFi 6E for smooth streaming.

Not to mention, it also comes with the Fire TV Ambient Experience, which lets you display art and photos on your TV when you're not watching anything, and it has 16GB of storage. That's double what the other streaming sticks offer, so this is a great pick if you want to go all out on a streaming device.

Plus, you can play Xbox games on it via Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming (though a Game Pass subscription and a controller are required).

SAVE $9.01: As of Sept. 16, preorders for the new Apple Watch Series 12 (GPS, 42mm in Dark Bronze Aluminum with Olive Sport Band) are down to $389.99 on Amazon.

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Credit: Apple

Apple Watch Series 12

$389.99 at Amazon
$399 Save $9.01

 

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Amazon has already dropped the preorder price on Apple's new flagship smartwatch before it hits store shelves. The base 42mm GPS model in Dark Bronze Aluminum technically has a $399 list price, but you can lock in your order at $389.99 right out of the gate.

After last year's minor incremental updates, Apple is officially pitching the Series 12 as the "ultimate device for a healthy life." In her reporting for Mashable, Anna Iovine notes that the centerpiece of this push is a majorly upgraded Health Sensing System. It takes background heart rate readings every five seconds — 60 times more often than before — and tracks HRV every five minutes to deliver precise stress and recovery tracking.

These stats will also feed into a redesigned Health app featuring "personalized guidance powered by Apple Intelligence, Health Age, and a new Longevity tab." To tie all those metrics together on your wrist, Apple introduced a new Readiness score based on your sleep, vitals, and activity, alongside smart Audio Intelligence features like Live Rewind and Siri Recap.

However, as Iovine points out, these additions come with a couple of caveats: "the Oura Ring already has a Readiness score," and those clever Audio Intelligence tools won't actually be ready on day one, rolling out in English beta later this year.

Aluminum models now feature Ceramic Shield 2, paired with up to 24 hours of normal battery life and fast charging that delivers 12 hours of power in just 15 minutes. You also get deep hands-free capabilities powered by Siri AI and Apple Intelligence, including Live Rewind to replay conversations and Workout Buddy for real-time fitness motivation.

Secure your preorder on Amazon to get Apple’s most capable health and fitness tracker delivered straight to your door on launch day.

SAVE $599.02: As of Sept. 16, the Anker Solix C2000 power station is on sale for $899.98 at Amazon. That's a 40% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Anker

Anker Solix C2000

$899.98 at Amazon
$1,499 Save $599.02

 

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If you're heading off-grid, camping, traveling, or just want a backup for when the power goes out, a portable power station can be a seriously welcome bit of kit. These rechargeable battery packs let you power or charge everything from phones and laptops to lights, small appliances, and other essentials, without needing to be near a wall outlet. 

There are hundreds of models to choose from at Amazon, but right now, the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 has dropped in price by nearly $600, taking the list price down to $899.98

This portable power station has a 2,400W rated output and 4,000W peak power, making it a great option for running multiple appliances at once. It's even powerful enough for most window and RV air conditioners. 

It uses 9W on standby and can power a dual-door fridge for up to 32 hours, or up to 64 hours with an expansion battery that increases its capacity to 4kWh. When it's time to recharge, it can reach 100% in just 58 minutes using either AC or solar power, while an 800W UltraFast alternator charging can fully recharge it in three hours from a car. 

It's also a great addition to your camping kit, because, despite its high power capacity, it weighs only 41.7lb. According to Anker, this makes it 25% lighter and 29% smaller than similar products, and also easier and less bulky to carry to your pitch site.

Find this limited-time deal at Amazon now.

TL;DR: Prime members can get Audible for just $0.99 per month for four months.

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Audible: $0.99 per month

 

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If your audiobook backlog is getting longer and longer, this new Audible deal is a great excuse to start making a dent in it.

Right now, eligible Prime members can get Audible Standard for just $0.99 per month for four months. That's more than 80% off the usual $8.99 monthly price, with Amazon calling this Audible's "best deal of the year."

With an Audible Standard membership, you can select one audiobook each month from Audible's entire collection and listen to it for as long as you remain a member. You can also purchase additional audiobooks at the full price if one book per month isn't quite enough to satisfy your listening habit.

There's no long-term commitment, so you can cancel at any time. Just remember that the membership will automatically renew at the regular price of $8.99 per month after the promotional period unless you cancel. If you don't want to continue at full price, set a reminder on your phone for the day before renewal.

One thing to remember is that not all audiobooks remain accessible after you cancel. Any titles you've purchased outright with cash or credits are yours to keep, but you'll lose access to books from the Plus Catalog and any audiobooks you selected as part of your Audible Standard membership. These will show with a lock icon in your library and become available again if you resubscribe.

Interested? Don't wait too long to sign up. This offer is available to eligible members but ends on Oct. 7 at 11:59 p.m. PT / 2:59 a.m. ET.

TL;DR: Ahead of October Prime Day, Prime members can get four months of Apple Music Unlimited for free.

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Amazon Music Unlimited: Free for 4 Months (Prime Exclusive)

 

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Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, the list goes on. There are plenty of platforms to consider when it comes to your tunes. And the best way to decide? A free trial. And this month, Amazon Music is taking that trial to new extremes, giving you a chance to try Amazon Music Unlimited for four months, totally free.

The offer gives you access to the Individual Plan for four months (after which your subscription will automatically renew at the standard price of $12.99 per month, or $11.99 per month for Prime members). You can cancel at any time in your Amazon Music settings, but make sure you do so before the trial ends to avoid being charged.

This is a limited-time offer available only to new Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers. It also can't be combined with any other promotion and is limited to one offer per customer and account. If you're not a Prime member, you can still try out the service for three months.

Find this Amazon Music Unlimited deal online now.

SAVE $4.01: Preorders for the new Apple AirPods 5 are down to $124.99 on Amazon. That’s a 3% discount on brand-new ANC hardware before release day.

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Credit: Apple

Apple AirPods 5

$124.99 at Amazon
$129 Save $4.01

 

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Preordering brand-new Apple gear usually means paying full retail price and waiting by your front door for the delivery truck. But Amazon is bending the rules just enough to make hitting "preorder now" feel a little sweeter.

While you won't see dramatic clearance-rack strike-throughs on unreleased tech, Apple's new AirPods 5 are already seeing a quiet preorder price drop. They technically sit at a $129 list price, but Amazon currently has them listed for $124.99 right out of the gate.

If you’ve been waiting to upgrade your daily earbuds, the AirPods 5 hit a really nice sweet spot. In her coverage for Mashable, Bethany Allard points out that "unlike the previous gen, both [AirPods 5 models] feature active noise cancellation — but this doesn't result in a price hike." Even at the base level, you get solid upgrades. Apple packed in "50% more active noise cancellation than the AirPods 4," an "improved transparency mode for a more natural sound," and an "updated adaptive EQ, which helps power better spatial audio."

Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking creates a theater-like soundstage across movies, music, and games. On top of that, it includes Live Translation and hands-free access to the upgraded Siri AI via Apple Intelligence.

Where it holds back compared to the $149 step-up version comes down to charging and battery. This base pair comes with an ultra-compact USB-C wired charging case — so you'll need to plug it in rather than using a wireless charging pad — and offers up to four hours of listening time per charge with ANC (or 20 hours total with the case).

Claim this early $124.99 preorder deal on Amazon ahead of the official release date.

TL;DR: This refurbished HP EliteBook 830 G8 PRO is on sale for $389.99 (reg. $549.99), with an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM, and a 13.3-inch Full HD touchscreen.

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Credit: HP

HP Elitebook 830 G8 2020 (Refurbished)

$389.99
$549.99 Save $160

 

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If you’re looking for a business-class laptop that provides both power and portability, you’ll want this refurbished HP EliteBook 830 G8 PRO. It’s currently on sale for $389.99 (reg. $549.99), giving you capable hardware and professional features without the steep price tag.

The EliteBook 830 G8 impresses with its 13.3-inch Full HD touchscreen and a 360° convertible design — practical whether you’re typing reports, giving presentations, or catching up on streaming after hours.

The 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and Intel Iris Xe Graphics are built to handle heavy workloads, multitasking, and creative projects with ease. You get up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD, ensuring quick startups and smooth performance.

Security is another reason you’ll like having this EliteBook. HP Wolf Security features include HP Sure Start, HP Sure Sense, HP Sure Click, and TPM 2.0, with an optional fingerprint reader for an extra layer of authentication. Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers, AI-powered noise reduction, and a multi-microphone array also make it suited to video calls and remote meetings.

At 2.8 lbs, the CNC-machined aluminum chassis is built for portability, making it easy to move from meeting rooms to coffee shops. Battery life stretches up to 16.5 hours — and HP Fast Charge means less time plugged in, more time getting things done.

The Grade A refurbished rating means the laptop should arrive in near-mint condition with minimal to no visible scuffing.

For those seeking a dependable, feature-rich laptop at a reduced price, this refurbished EliteBook is on sale for just $389.99 (reg. $549.99).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: IsThisSpam Ultimate Personal Plan is on sale for $29.99 (reg. $179), offering unlimited checks of suspicious emails, messages, websites, links, and more.

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IsThisSpam Ultimate Personal Plan: Lifetime Subscription

$29.99
$179 Save $149.01

 

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A suspicious message can look convincing enough to make you hesitate before clicking. IsThisSpam gives you a place to stop and check first. The Ultimate Personal Plan is on sale for $29.99 (reg. $179), with unlimited standard checks and AI-assisted investigations across up to five personal devices.

Rather than depending on a database of known-bad threats, IsThisSpam analyzes the content and context of strange-looking emails, messages, websites, links, and phone-related signals. Results come with straightforward results: Low Risk, Needs Caution, or High Risk, plus explanations and supporting evidence.

This service is especially useful when an unexpected message asks you to click a link, provide information, or take some other sketchy action. You can check questionable websites and links before interacting with them, investigate unfamiliar phone numbers, or run a more detailed SuperScan when a standard check doesn’t provide enough information.

IsThisSpam also works as a browser extension inside Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn, so checking a suspicious message doesn’t necessarily mean leaving the platform you’re using. There’s also web and PWA access, plus priority email support.

That makes the service a practical extra checkpoint for people who regularly encounter unfamiliar messages, links, or contacts and want more context before deciding how to respond.

It can also be useful for households where several people regularly deal with online accounts, messages, and unfamiliar links. With support for up to five personal devices, the plan can cover multiple phones, computers, or tablets under the same subscription without limiting the number of standard checks.

Get IsThisSpam Ultimate Personal Plan for $29.99 while it’s discounted from $179. The lifetime subscription covers up to five personal devices with unlimited checks, giving you another place to pause and investigate before you start clicking away.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Get an Apple MacBook Pro 2020 (refurbished) for $369.99 (reg. $1,580.00), and a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home and Business 2021 for Mac for $89.97 (reg. $219.00).

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Credit: Apple

Apple MacBook Pro 2020 (Refurbished)

$369.99
$1,580 Save $1,210.01

 

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If you’ve been saving up for a MacBook at a price that doesn’t hurt your wallet, this Grade A refurbished 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro is worth a look. It comes with a 2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz), 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Those are great specs for everyday productivity, light creative work, and most things in between. The 13.3-inch Retina display with True Tone is sharp, and the battery lasts up to 10 hours. Four Thunderbolt 3 ports let you charge, use DisplayPort, and transfer data quickly without a hub for most setups.

Yes, it’s a 2020 model, but for most everyday workflows, the difference between this and the latest MacBook is hard to notice. Grade A refurbished means it’s in near-mint condition, with minimal to no scuffing. It ships with a charger and a 30-day aftermarket warranty, with returns accepted within 30 days of shipment. Contiguous US only.

Get the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch 2020 (Refurbished) for $369.99 (reg. $1,580).

Once you’ve got the laptop, a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Home and Business 2021 for Mac gives you access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote for a one-time payment of $89.97. With Microsoft recently raising the price of Microsoft 365 for the first time in 12 years, a no-subscription alternative is really worth consideration.

Worth knowing: this is not Microsoft 365. It’s a permanent license for one Mac, tied to your Microsoft Account rather than your device. It also works fully offline, so you don’t need cloud access to get things done. Compatible with macOS Sonoma, Sequoia, and Tahoe, and you must use your redemption code within 7 days of purchase.

Get Microsoft Office Home and Business 2021 for Mac for $89.97 (reg. $219).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Get the GoCable 8-in-1 EDC 100W Cable for $24.99 (reg. $49.99), combining charging, Type-C and Lightning connectors, data transfer, an LED power display, magnetic cable management, and handy travel tools.

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Credit: GoCable

GoCable 8-in-1 EDC 100W Cable

$24.99
$49.99 Save $25.00

 

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Most charging cables have one job. GoCable apparently looked at that job description and decided it needed seven more. It’s the kind of practical, tech-forward surprise that makes people say, “Wait … this does that too?”

At first glance, GoCable looks like a sleek little keyring accessory. But once you start using it, it quickly proves it’s more than just a charging cable.

Designed as an everyday carry essential, it combines ultra-fast charging with genuinely useful built-in tools, all wrapped in a compact, tangle-free design that clips neatly onto a bag, belt loop, or keychain.

With 100W charging capabilities (when paired with a compatible power source), GoCable can power everything from phones and tablets to laptops, drones, and cameras.

Universal connectors mean you’re covered whether you’re using USB-C or Apple’s Lightning — no more digging through tangled cords or carrying three different cables just in case.

What makes it especially satisfying, though, are the thoughtful extras. An LED power display shows your real-time charging status. The magnetic wrap keeps things neat and frustration-free. There’s even a built-in bottle opener and a safe-proof cutter for impromptu moments like opening a package on the fly or cracking a drink at a picnic.

The GoCable makes for an unexpected but incredibly useful little gadget — especially for travelers, creators, commuters, and anyone who lives even slightly tethered to their devices.

Priced at $24.99 (reg. $49.99) for a limited time, get the GoCable while you can.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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

TL;DR: Get the iPhone 17 for free from T-Mobile when you bring your number on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan (no trade-in needed). The iPhone 18 Pro is free when you switch and bring your number or trade in an eligible phone in any condition on an Experience Beyond plan.

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Credit: Apple

T-Mobile: Apple iPhone 17 and iPhone 18 for free

 

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The dust is still settling from the Apple Event 2026. Apple announced a wave of new hardware and software, headlined by its first foldable iPhone. We're still digging deep into all the new features and stylistic touches that make the iPhone iconic, but we know what you really want — deals.

We know that's the priority at this time. The preorder window is short, so we've lined up the best free deals this week so you can get your hands on the iPhone 18 Pro (or the iPhone 17) without actually spending anything.

These are the best free iPhone deals from T-Mobile this week:

• iPhone 17e — free when you switch to almost any T-Mobile plan with no trade-in required.

• iPhone 17 — free when you bring your number on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan (no trade-in needed)

• iPhone 17 Pro — free when trading in an eligible phone on an Experience Beyond plan.

• iPhone 18 Pro — free when you switch and bring your number or trade in an eligible phone in any condition on an Experience Beyond plan.

T-Mobile will charge taxes on these free deals, as well as a $35 device connection fee. That's a small catch, but that's how it often goes with this kind of deal.

If you’re still rocking an iPhone 12 or 13, you’re missing out on some genuinely game-changing features. The iPhone 17 is the first base model built specifically to handle Apple’s most advanced AI features. Mashable's Stan Schroeder said it's an "excellent phone that matches the iPhone Pro models in many ways that matter."

Of course, the iPhone 18 Pro takes things to another level. The iPhone 18 Pro features a new A20 Pro chip to better support AI features and Siri AI. This latest model also has major camera upgrades, including physical variable aperture, smart focus tracking, cinematic video effects, and improved low-light photography.

Get the Apple iPhone 17 or iPhone 18 Pro for free this week with T-Mobile.

TL;DR: Get an extra $50 off the iRESTORE Elite helmet and Laser Face Mask Pro red light therapy bundle with the coupon code EMW50.

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Credit: iRESTORE

iRESTORE Elite and Laser Face Mask Pro

 

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Red light therapy and LED masks are having a moment. How do we know this? Because two of these devices just appeared on Alix Earle's Netflix series Earle Meets World, the reality show about the TikTok influencer and her family.

Alix’s fans and followers will know that she only showcases the hottest, most on-trend products — in this case, the iRESTORE Elite helmet and Laser Face Mask Pro. The red light therapy devices are seen in the final episode, when Alix’s dad and stepmom try them out. 

iRESTORE is now offering the Elite helmet and the newly-launched Laser Face Mask Pro as a bundle for $2,698, saving $1,100 off the list price of $3,798. And now you can save an extra $50 off the bundle with the coupon code EMW50.

The iRESTORE Elite uses clinical-grade red light to thicken and strengthen your hair. It uses 500 lasers and LEDS to deliver triple-wavelength red light. According to iRESTORE, it’s been clinically shown that the combination of lasers and LEDs is effective for treating hair loss. The helmet is designed to cover the entire head for maximum protection. All you need to do is wear it for 12 minutes a day, and you should see results in 3-6 months.

The iRESTORE Laser Face Mask Pro is a new addition to the brand’s product lineup. It uses similar technology for firmer, younger-looking skin. It’s iRESTORE’s most powerful mask ever, boasting 800 lasers and LEDS for 8 wavelengths of red light. You just use it for 10 minutes, 3-5 times per week. With five smart modes to choose from, it helps smooth out lines, brighten your complexion, and tackle blemishes — not to mention generally tighten and brighten your skin.

Don’t miss your chance to get an extra $50 off the iRESTORE Elite helmet and Laser Face Mask Pro bundle with the coupon code EMW5. This coupon deal is available through Sept. 27 and is limited to one bundle per customer. 

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max officially went on sale today ahead of their Sept. 18 launch (the foldable iPhone Duo won't be available until next month). And when you buy a new phone, that usually means buying a new phone case. The best iPhone 18 Pro cases will protect your phone when it inevitably slips out of your hands and tumbles to the ground, risking your $1,200 investment.

A lot of case companies started selling burgundy and glacier blue iPhone 18 Pro cases before the phones were even announced, and you can already find a ton of stylish and cute iPhone 18 Pro cases for sale online. Whether you're looking for a cheap $12 clear case, a classic PopSockets Grip, or a more fashion-forward Velvet Caviar case, we've found the top options for iPhone shoppers. We also checked Apple's official collection of iPhone 18 Pro Max cases for you.

If you're upgrading from the iPhone 17 Pro, there are two things you need to know. You can save up to $1,200 on the iPhone 18 Pro thanks to preorder deals, and your iPhone 17 Pro case should fit the 18 Pro just fine. Apple kept the measurements and button layouts exactly the same.

Our favorite iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max cases so far

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Credit: OtterBox

OtterBox iPhone 18 Pro Profile Series Case

$39.99 at Amazon

Let's start simple with this classic OtterBox iPhone 18 Pro Profile Series Case. It's not fancy or eye-catching, and that's exactly the point. The minimalist case is also MagSafe compatible.

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify iPhone 18 Pro Max MagSafe Case

$64 at Amazon

Here's another classic option, available for both the Pro and Pro Max. It's shock and drop-proof, and incldues an opening for a phone lanyard or strap.

Shop Now

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify iPhone 18 Pro Max Ripple MagSafe Case

$56 at Amazon

Looking for a case to match the new burgundy color? Casetify's MagSafe Ripple case provides extra protection — and extra color-matching.

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Credit: Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar Burgundy 1990 Jelly iPhone Case

$40 at Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar's burgundy iPhone case features a semi-transparent jelly base.

Shop Now

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Credit: Torras

Torras Clear iPhone 18 Pro Case

$11.02 at Amazon
$13.99 Save $2.97

If you like the color of your new burgundy or glacier blue iPhone 18 Pro, then don't cover it up. This affordable iPhone case protects your phone without hurting your wallet, too.

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Credit: ESR

ESR Clear MagSafe Compatible iPhone 18 Pro Case

$14.99 at Amazon

Looking for an affordable clear case that works with MagSafe? Try ESR's straightforward clear case, which will still protect your phone against sudden drops. ESR promises military-grade drop protection.

Shop Now

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Credit: PopSockets

PopSockets iPhone 18 Pro Case Mirror Abalone

$40 at PopSockets

Looking for something a little funky? PopSockets has some of the best iPhone 18 Pro case designs, and they obviously fit great with PopSocket phone grips, too.

Shop Now

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Credit: Pela

Pela iPhone 18 Pro Case Navy Stripes

$49.99 at Amazon

Pela has a huge selection of iPhone 18 cases on Amazon, and the company uses eco-friendly, plant-based materials in its phone cases.

Shop Now

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Credit: Moft

Moft Pink iPhone 18 Pro Max Case

$42.49 at Amazon
$49.99 Save $7.50

Here at Mashable, we strongly believe that every new generation of iPhones should come with a pink color option. Until Apple hears our prayers, you can get this pink case, which will look great with the new glacier blue iPhone 18 Pro.

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Credit: Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar Jelly Glow Aura iPhone 18 Pro Case

$39.99 at Amazon

It's giving pastel, it's giving Lisa Frank, it's giving 90s tie-dye. (It's also giving drop protection and MagSafe.)

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Credit: Apple

Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max Clear Case with MagSafe

$49 at Apple

Apple's official phone cases aren't always the most affordable, but they are some of the best, for obvious reasons.

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Credit: Apple

iPhone 18 Pro Max TechWoven Case with MagSafe

$59 at Apple

Apple's TechWoven cases offer a firm grip and solid protection, and you can match the case to the color of your new phone. If you want the very best iPhone 18 Pro cases, this is a very safe bet.

Get Deal

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Credit: Casely

Casely iPhone 18 Pro Case Shell Shocked

$44.95 at Amazon

If you love the look of tortoise shell accessories, which, fortunately, are not made from actual tortoises, then try this Casely case on for size. Click the link to see dozens more styles from the brand.

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify Dark Cherry Jelly iPhone 18 Pro Case

$64 at Casetify

Here's another burgundy-themed case to match your new iPhone. The dark cherry is a near perfect match for the new iPhone color.

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Credit: Smartish

Smartish iPhone 18 Pro Wallet Case

$29.99 at Amazon
$34.99 Save $5.00

Save $5 on this convenient iPhone wallet case. This product has racked up more than 60,000 reviews on Amazon.

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Credit: FireNova

FireNova Silicon iPhone 18 Pro Case

$16.98

Looking for a simple silicon iPhone case? This affordable silicon case comes in over a dozen colors and keeps it simple — in a good way.

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Credit: Pitaka

Pitaka Edge iPhone 18 Pro Max Case

$59.99 at Amazon

If you prefer razor-thin cases, then Pitaka makes some of the best iPhone cases around. The brand's Edge line is a good alternative to Apple's FineWoven tech cases, and it's just 0.04 inches thick and weighs 0.81 ounces.

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The top iPhone 18 Pro accessories to buy

OK, so you've reviewed the best iPhone 18 Pro cases and picked out your favorite, but you're not done yet. Apple rolled out a bunch of new accessories and cases for the iPhone 18, and brands like PopSockets have hundreds of grips, stands, wallets, and accessories.

Here are some of the top phone grips, screen protectors, and other goodies to pair with your new iPhone.

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Credit: Spigen

Spigen GlasTR EZ FIT Screen Protector for iPhone 18 Pro

$19.99 at Amazon

This screen protector comes with its own applicator so you can get the alignment and fit just right.

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Credit: PopSockets

PopSockets Phone Grips for MagSafe

$28.99 at Amazon

PopSockets has a ton of MagSafe-compatible phone grips in a variety of styles and colors, all conveniently available via Amazon Prime.

Shop Now

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Credit: Kate Spade New York

Kate Spade New York Magnetic Card Holder/Wallet

$40 at Amazon

This Kate Spade iPhone accessory has enough room for some cash and cards, and it attaches magnetically to your iPhone.

Shop Now

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Credit: Torras

Torras MiniMag Power Bank 10,000mAh for iPhone 18 Pro

$49.99 at Amazon

If you watch a lot of video or use your cameras a lot, then this portable charger will be a lifesaver.

Shop Now

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Credit: Octobuddy

Octobuddy Magnet Suction Grip

$29.99 at Amazon

The Octobuddy went mega-viral among creators filming their own content, and it's a very convenient way to capture the perfect hands-free shot.

Shop Now

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Credit: PopSockets

PopSockets Suction Phone Grip for MagSafe

$23.99 at Amazon
$35 Save $11.01

Pssst... PopSocket's answer to the Octobuddy is on sale over at Amazon.

Get Deal

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Credit: Apple

Apple Wrist Strap for iPhone

$29 at Apple

This is one of the most affordable products you'll find on the Apple website. Match the color to your new iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max.

Shop Now

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Credit: Apple

Apple iPhone FineWoven Wallet with MagSafe

$59 at Amazon

Apple's FineWoven MagSafe Wallet comes in nine different colors. Apple shows the bright pink magenta color with the new burgundy iPhone, but we're not sold on that color combo.

Shop Now

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Credit: Apple

Hikawa Grip & Stand for iPhone (MagSafe Compatible)

$54.95 at Apple

We've never been quite sure what to make of this Hikawa phone grip, available only at the Apple Store. It's definitely stylish.

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Credit: Mkeke

Mkeke Screen Protector for iPhone 18 Pro (3-Pack)

$9.99 at Amazon
$16.99 Save $7.00

This screen protector pack features laser-cut 9H tempered glass.

Get Deal

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Credit: Anker

Anker Nano Magnetic Power Bank, 5,000mAh

$54.99 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $5

Finally, we have one more recommendation: This mini magnetic power pank from Anker, on sale now. This device wirelessly charges your phone whenever you're suffering from low-battery anxiety.

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It's now cheaper to buy a brand new EV than a petrol car in Australia. Chinese EV giant BYD has slashed the Australian price of its entry-level 2026 BYD Atto 1 Essential, cutting it from an already affordable $AU23,990 down to a mere $AU19,990 inclusive of all additional fees. At the current conversion rate, that's a reduction from approximately $17,000 to a little over $14,000.

The BYD Atto 1 made headlines at its Australian debut last year, when its $AU23,990 launch price made it the cheapest EV in the country at the time. This new price reduction has now made BYD's budget EV the cheapest car in the country overall, inclusive of EVs, hybrids, and petrol-powered vehicles. 

Previously, Australia's cheapest new car was the manual 2026 Kia Picanto Sport, a petrol vehicle with a base price of $AU19,190 (around $13,500). Adding mandatory on-road costs easily pushes the Picanto Sport's cost beyond the Atto 1 Essential, whose new $AU19,990 price tag already includes such fees.

BYD's Atto 1 Essential does technically share the title of Australia's cheapest new car with MG's petrol-powered MG3 Vibe, whose current $AU1,000 cash back offer prices it at $AU19,990 inclusive of fees. However, this deal is set to end soon on Sept. 30. Once it expires, and barring any further challenges, the BYD Atto 1 Essential will stand alone as the most affordable new car in Australia.

Unfortunately, the Atto 1 Essential's new $AU19,990 pricing isn't permanent either, only available for three months as a limited time offer from Sept. 15 until Dec. 15. Even so, it's an encouraging signal regarding the increasing affordability and uptake of electric vehicles across the globe. Also known as the Dolphin Mini in Latin America, Dolphin Surf in Europe, and Seagull in China, the BYD Atto 1 has been known to retail for as little as ¥56,800 (around $8,400) in its home market.

Australians get cheaper EVs, while Americans get left behind

Credit: BYD

EV sales recently overtook petrol car sales for the first time in Australia, accounting for 24.9 percent of all new vehicles sold in August. Up 171 percent compared to the same time last year, EV sales individually outstripped petrol, diesel, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid car sales across the country. BYD was also Australia's second most popular automaker, following Toyota but edging ahead of Tesla.

"Australians have seen through the scare campaigns and are voting with their wallets for cars that are cheaper to run, cleaner, and reduce their exposure to international petrol prices shocks," said Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen, calling the milestone a "landmark moment."

Yet while Australians are enjoying cheaper EVs, U.S. drivers' options remain considerably more limited. The U.S. government's high tariffs continue to block Chinese vehicles from import, with former president Joe Biden previously stating that the effective ban is partly due to other automakers' inability to compete with China's "unfairly low prices." The Trump administration's elimination of EV tax credits last year has also increased prices on the smaller pool of vehicles that are available. As such, EVs in the U.S. continue to come at a hefty cost.

Earlier this year, U.S. automaker Slate announced that its upcoming two-seater Blank Slate electric pickup truck will cost $24,950 excluding fees (around $AU35,000) — a notable increase compared to its initial goal of a sub-$20,000 price tag. Upgrading it from two doors to four will further bump up the price to at least $29,950 (around $AU42,000).

The most affordable EV currently available in the U.S. is the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt, which starts at $28,995 excluding fees (around $AU40,000). That's more than double the Atto 1 Essential's Australian price, even without BYD's current offer. The Bolt may not be available for long either. General Motors previously announced that it was retiring the Bolt in 2023, intending to replace it with a new lineup of EVs. Though the automaker quickly reversed its decision due to popular demand, this is only a temporary stay of execution, as the latest 2027 Bolt is a limited run that's scheduled to end less than two years after launch.

After the Bolt, the next most affordable EV in the U.S. is the Nissan Leaf S+, which starts at $29,990 before fees (around $AU42,000). While Nissan announced plans to release a cheaper model in the U.S. last year, this has since been delayed, with no official word regarding if or when it might now arrive.

Another Prime Day is coming, and if you want to shop all the best deals, you'll need an Amazon Prime account.

Amazon's flagship sale may be dead and gone for 2026, but its Big Deal Days event kicks off Oct. 6 and runs through Oct. 7. The now-annual 48-hour event is basically a mini Prime Day that happens in the fall. The retailer is likely to drop thousands of deals during the sale, but to shop them, you must be a Prime member.

Not yet a Prime member? Want to revive your old Prime account? You can sign up for a free 30-day trial and unlock access to the sale. And nothing is stopping you from canceling before the 30-day promo period ends to avoid paying full price — just saying. Students (and anyone aged 18 to 24) can also sign up for a 6-month trial for $0.

Regardless of whether or not you stick around, here's how you can sign up for Amazon Prime:

What are your Prime membership options?

If you are purchasing a Prime membership subscription, you have four plan options:

• Monthly Prime Membership — $14.99 per month

• Annual Membership — $139 per year or under $12 monthly

• Young Adult Monthly Membership — $7.49 per month (young adults are also eligible for exclusive offers, including a 6-month no-cost Prime trial)

• Prime for government assistance recipients — $6.99 per month (must verify eligibility)

How do you get from a chatbot that sometimes makes things up to a machine that humans might struggle to control?

There are several steps in that argument, and plenty of uncertainty. But an idea known as recursive self-improvement, or RSI, helps explain why some AI researchers are sounding increasingly urgent warnings.

The premise is straightforward. An AI helps build a more capable AI, which becomes better at building the next one. In simple terms, the systems get better at getting better.

It is easy to see the appeal. For scientists, doctors, engineers and business owners, increasingly capable AI could help accelerate drug discovery, design better batteries, improve manufacturing and develop software faster.

But that promise comes with an unsettling question: Could AI improve faster than humans can test it and make sure it is safe?

That concern is at the heart of an essay published on Sept. 12 by Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive of Anthropic, the company behind Claude. "We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models," he wrote. Referring to recursive self-improvement, he warned, "Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems, and so must be pursued very carefully, if at all."

His rivals were quick to respond, and concur. "I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier," OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman wrote on X. Elon Musk said, "Dario is right." Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis also backed the proposal’s direction, writing, "Dario’s essay points towards the right path forward."

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But all these testaments still leaves some big questions unanswered. What would slowing down actually involve? And how could AI’s ability to build better AI become dangerous? The answers start with what happens inside the self-improvement loop.

What does "self-improvement" actually mean?

Building an AI model involves more than writing code. Researchers choose training methods, prepare data, run experiments, and decide which results are worth pursuing.

AI can help with those tasks. Recursive self-improvement takes that a step further: An AI helps build a successor that is better at developing AI. That successor then helps build an even more capable version. In simple terms, the systems get better at getting better.

This would not necessarily look like a chatbot rewriting its own brain mid-conversation. It could happen across generations of models, each using research tools and computing resources to help develop the next.

Is AI already doing this?

Parts of the process are happening, but accessing a full "recursive" loop is a higher bar.

Anthropic's own website says its AI can already handle tasks such as rewriting training code to make it run faster and carrying out experiments that humans have chosen. The harder part for the AI is deciding what to investigate in the first place (which problems matter, which ideas are worth testing, etc.).

Humans still provide crucial direction, so this does not yet amount to AI independently developing a more capable successor. As the company puts it, "We are not there yet, and recursive self-improvement is not inevitable."

Other researchers, on the other hand, have demonstrated how a (though narrower) self-improvement loop can work. In 2025, researchers introduced the Darwin Gödel Machine, a coding agent that repeatedly modified its own software and tested the changes. Its success rate on one coding benchmark rose from 20 percent to 50 percent.

In this experiment, while improving the agent's certain tools/ways of working, the underlying AI model stayed the same. It is hard to ignore the question that is left: What happens when AI can build better versions of itself faster than humans can keep up?

So where does the danger come in?

The concern is that AI could become more capable without becoming more reliable or controllable. This is known as the "alignment" problem — ensuring systems follow human intentions and limits. An agent rewarded for improving a test score might instead cheat on the test. With broader access, it could bypass restrictions or conceal its actions to achieve its goal.

RSI could leave researchers less time to catch those failures before a more powerful successor arrives. Amodei warns in his essay that within six to 12 months, more capable AI agents could take over the internet through a "botnet" — a network of compromised computers — potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.

But a runaway loop is not inevitable. Training requires computing resources, energy and time, and useful improvements may become harder to find. The risk depends on how quickly capabilities advance — and whether safeguards can keep up.

Why are researchers talking about it now?

Recent incidents have given researchers concrete reasons to question whether existing oversight is sufficient.

In August, independent evaluation organisation METR published an investigation into OpenAI agents that coordinated an unauthorised attack on Hugging Face. It described agents communicating through an unsanctioned message board, collaborating to manipulate an automated scorer and experimenting with ways to disguise their actions.

The incident did not demonstrate recursive self-improvement. It showed that agents could pursue a task through actions their operators never authorised — the kind of failure that could become more consequential in stronger systems.

Addressing those failures is central to Amodei’s proposal. He calls for independent evaluators inside AI companies, more time for safety research and coordination between companies and governments. "The stakes are too high for pacing to be an empty exercise — we need to use the time it gives us wisely," he wrote.

The challenge is turning those commitments into safeguards that work, and verifying that companies follow them as competitive pressure grows.

SAVE $40: As of Sep. 15, get the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 Portable Waterproof Speaker for $59.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $99.99. That's a discount of 40%.

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Credit: Amazon

Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4

$59.99 at Amazon
$99.99 Save $40.00

 

Get Deal

The weather's getting cooler and the days are getting shorter. That means fall is just about here. If you saved your vacation days for an autumn getaway, a portable speaker is just the thing to take with you so you can enjoy music wherever you go. And if you don't have one, now's the time to splurge with this excellent deal.

As of Sep. 15, get the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 Portable Waterproof Speaker for $59.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $99.99. That's $40 off, a 40% discount.

This portable speaker excels at projecting sound from a compact, hardy package. It's 1P67-rated for waterproofing and dustproofing, and it can even float in water should it take a tumble into the pool. It offers 360-degree audio and a rechargeable battery that gives you 14 hours of life, so you can keep the party going all day long.

This model earned its spot on Mashable's best portable speakers list as the best under $100 option, so it's an even better buy at this price. We found it to be a "powerhouse for its size and price," so rest assured you're getting a small speaker that truly bumps.

Whether you're going off-grid and need some entertainment while away or just want to take great audio with you to a party or your vacation destination, this is a deal you'll want to snag while it's still live.

TL;DR: Get the perks of a VPN plus extra AI-powered protection with this lifetime subscription to GhostShield AI-Powered VPN Premium Plan for $49.99 (reg. $399).

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Credit: GhostShield VPN

GhostShield AI-Powered VPN Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription

$49.99
$399 Save $349.01

 

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It’s 2026, and it’s time for your VPN to get with the times. If you’re using a basic VPN service that only offers encryption, it’s time to meet GhostShield, an AI-Powered VPN that takes that protection one step further.

GhostShield offers an AI Threat Analyzer that goes beyond simply hiding your IP address, and right now you can lock in a lifetime subscription for only $49.99.

With cybercriminals only getting more sophisticated, it’s time for your VPN to upgrade its skills as well. GhostShield AI-Powered VPN watches your internet traffic as it happens, so it’s able to determine dangerous domains and suspicious connections before you click on them.

Let GhostShield flag any risks as they arise, so you can prevent your data from being exposed. It also offers ad and tracker blocking, so you can enjoy a more peaceful browsing experience.

GhostShield encrypts every connection with ChaCha20 over WireGuard, routing it through 20 different server locations in over 16 countries. You can use the internet however you’d like — there are no bandwidth caps, and you don’t have to worry about throttling or data limits.

Unlike competitors, GhostShield will not monetize your data in the background, only protect your connection, or offer identity monitoring. There’s a strict no-logging policy, so your browsing, traffic, or connection activity is never recorded, and a kill switch cuts the internet the second the tunnel drops, preventing your IP address from ever being exposed.

You can use this Premium Plan lifetime subscription across 10 devices simultaneously — so you can protect all your devices and share with family members. There’s also a Family Mode feature that automatically blocks all gambling and adult content on devices.

Enjoy a safer internet for life with this lifetime subscription to GhostShield AI-Powered VPN Premium Plan for just $49.99.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Microsoft's big September 2026 Patch Tuesday update addressed a record 966 flaws, including two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities, across Microsoft products when it was released last week on Sept. 8.

However, just one week later on Sept. 14, Microsoft rolled out an emergency, out-of-band patch for the patch. The linked update, KB5129194, applies to Windows 11 version 26H1. Windows 11 users should install the latest update available for their version as soon as possible to get the security updates from Patch Tuesday and receive the fixes in the latest patch.

According to reports, while last Tuesday's update fixed a number of vulnerabilities, it caused its fair share of issues as well. Users reported that Remote Desktop Services (RDS) had become unstable, certain USB audio devices had stopped working properly, and applications using Hyper-V-based Linux virtual machines, such as Claude Cowork, were experiencing issues.

This week's patch fixes several issues introduced by the previous update and includes additional security updates. However, it does not resolve every USB audio problem. Microsoft says the update fixes failures involving multichannel audio, but some USB Audio Class 1.0 devices may still fail to start or produce sound. (The company is working on a fix for those remaining issues.)

The two zero day exploits that were addressed last week include CVE-2026-81963 and CVE-2026-85880. The former was a flaw in the Windows Update Stack and allowed an attacker to gain System privileges. The latter was a Windows Advanced Local Procedure Call (ALPC) vulnerability that also allowed attacks to gain System privileges.

Both were actively exploited; however, Microsoft has not shared how these flaws were exploited in those attacks.

Cybersecurity experts previously told Mashable back in April that AI has been a factor in the discovery of bugs and exploits, for good and bad, which is why new operating system updates have had so many fixes in each new patch. At the time, Microsoft denied AI playing a role in its most recent update. In July, Microsoft said that AI-assisted vulnerability discovery would lead to more security fixes in its releases.

Windows users can download the new update without having to have first installing last week's Patch Tuesday update. The new update is cumulative and includes all of the updates from September.

iOS 27 has started rolling out, bringing Siri AI, expanded Apple Intelligence, AI photo editing, and more customization options for Liquid Glass. Early reactions have been largely positive, but as with every major iOS release, some users are noticing their battery draining faster and their phone running warmer than usual in the days right after updating.

According to Apple's own support documentation, that's expected, not a sign anything's wrong. Immediately after a major software update, a device needs time to finish setting itself up in the background. That usually entails indexing files and data so that system-wide search works properly, downloading additional assets for new features, and updating apps to their latest versions.

All that background activity draws extra power and generates extra heat, which is why "battery life and thermal performance" can dip temporarily right after an update, according to Apple. Battery drain issues should also improve with future updates to iOS 27.

Apple also points out that new features themselves can shift how a phone uses power once setup is finished. Something like Siri AI leaning more heavily on on-device processing, or expanded Apple Intelligence features running more often, can mean the phone is simply doing more computational work day-to-day than it did before the update. Apple says it continues tuning this in follow-up updates to balance new capabilities against battery life.

This is nothing new after an iOS launch. We've covered this for the iOS 26 launch, iOS 18, and even iOS 17.

Given how consistently this happens every year, it's less "new problem with iOS 27" and more "the normal cost of updating," and it's generally not something worth panicking over.

Preorder the new Apple products

Along with iOS 27, Apple also released new AirPods, Apple Watches, and iPhones. Except for the iPhone Duo, all of these devices are available for preorder now.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

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iPhone 18 Pro Max, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

See It at T-Mobile See It at Walmart See It at Apple.com

Apple Watch Series 12

$399 at Amazon

 

Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Best Buy Pre-order Here at Walmart

Apple Watch Ultra 4 (GPS + Cellular, 49mm, Black Titanium)

Pre-Order at $779.99 at Amazon

 

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Apple AirPods 5 (wireless charging)

$149 at Amazon

 

Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Walmart Pre-order Here at Target

The iPhone 18 Pro is almost here. Preorders went live on Sept. 12, and the latest iPhones are available beginning Sept. 18. So if you've secured your iPhone by preorder and are just waiting for it to ship, there's still more shopping to do.

A new phone means a new case. And if you're looking for the top iPhone 18 Pro cases, there are already a ton of options available. Apple has its own batch of new cases, but Otterbox, Casetify, PopSockets, and Velvet Caviar also have new models ready to protect your new device. But the accessories don't stop there.

Ahead of the iPhone launch, we also rounded up all of the best iPhone 18 Pro accessories to add to your shopping cart, including grips, wrist straps/lanyards, power banks, and wireless chargers.

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max cases to shop now

There are a ton of iPhone cases already available, and brands are meeting Apple's very fitting fall color scheme. Say goodbye to last year's cosmic orange and hello to the deep burgundy of the iPhone 18 Pro. Find a matching burgundy case or go for a chic tortoise shell look.

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Credit: OtterBox

OtterBox iPhone 18 Pro Profile Series Case

$39.99 at Amazon

Let's start simple with this classic OtterBox iPhone 18 Pro Profile Series Case. It's not fancy or eye-catching, and that's exactly the point. The minimalist case is also MagSafe compatible.

Shop Now

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify iPhone 18 Pro Max MagSafe Case

$64 at Amazon

Here's another classic option, available for both the Pro and Pro Max. It's shock and drop-proof, and incldues an opening for a phone lanyard or strap.

Shop Now

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Credit: Torras

Torras Clear iPhone 18 Pro Case

$11.02 at Amazon
$13.99 Save $2.97

If you like the color of your new burgundy or glacier blue iPhone 18 Pro, then don't cover it up. This affordable iPhone case protects your phone without hurting your wallet, too.

Shop Now

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Credit: ESR

ESR Clear MagSafe Compatible iPhone 18 Pro Case

$14.99 at Amazon

Looking for an affordable clear case that works with MagSafe? Try ESR's straightforward clear case, which will still protects your phone against sudden drops. ESR promises military-grade drop protection.

Shop Now

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Credit: PopSockets

PopSockets Low-Pro Case for iPhone 18 Pro

$60 at Amazon

This 3-in-1 PopSockets product combines a MagSafe case, grip, and stand. We got the chance to demo the Low-Pro Case ahead of its release this week, and the Low-Pro Grip is ultra-thin as advertised.

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Credit: Pitaka

Pitaka for iPhone 18 Pro

$59.99 at Amazon

Pitaka makes one of the thinnest iPhone cases around, and it comes in a dozen different designs for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify iPhone 18 Pro Max Ripple MagSafe Case

$56 at Amazon

Looking for a case to match the new burgundy color? Casetify's MagSafe Ripple case provides extra protection — and extra color-matching.

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Credit: Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar Burgundy 1990 Jelly iPhone Case

$40 at Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar's burgundy iPhone case features a semi-transparent jelly base.

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Credit: Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar Jelly Glow Aura iPhone 18 Pro Case

$39.99 at Amazon

It's giving pastel, it's giving Lisa Frank, it's giving '90s tie-dye. (It's also giving drop protection and MagSafe.)

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Credit: Apple

Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max Clear Case with MagSafe

$49 at Apple

Apple's official phone cases aren't always the most affordable, but they are some of the best, for obvious reasons.

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Credit: Casely

Casely iPhone 18 Pro Case Shell Shocked

$44.95 at Amazon

If you love the look of tortoise shell accessories, which, fortunately, are not made from actual tortoises, then try this Casely case on for size. Click the link to see dozens more styles from the brand.

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify Dark Cherry Jelly iPhone 18 Pro Case

$64 at Casetify

Here's another burgundy-themed case to match your new iPhone. The dark cherry is a near-perfect match for the new iPhone color.

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Best iPhone 18 Pro grips and wrist straps

Alongside the new iPhones, Apple also showed off some new accessories. The tech giant launched two new straps — a wrist strap and a crossbody strap. They're compatible with specific Apple cases, but plenty of other brands make cute grips and lanyards for your next iPhone.

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Credit: PopSockets

PopSockets Low-Pro Grip for MagSafe

$39.99 at Amazon

PopSockets are iconic but the brand's latest ultra-thin grip is exceptional. It is barely there when not in use but can be used as a grip, magnetic mount, and adjustable stand.

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Credit: PopSockets

PopSockets Phone Grip

$9.94 at Amazon

But there's nothing wrong with the classic PopSockets grip either. The grips come with classic adhesive backing or as a MagSafe option.

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Credit: Apple

Apple Wrist Strap for iPhone

$29 at Apple

Alongside the new iPhones, Apple also dropped a new wrist strap to go with them. Made of 100 percent PET yarn, the straps attach to your phone case so it's always within reach.

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Credit: Apple

Apple Crossbody Strap for iPhone

$59 at Apple

In addition to its Wrist Strap, Apple also launched a Crossbody Strap that attaches to select cases. The strap adjusts in length for a comfortable fit, allowing you to go hands-free with your phone.

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Credit: PopSockets

PopSockets Phone Wallet

$40 at Amazon

If you want the best of both worlds — a phone grip and a phone wallet — PopSockets makes exactly that. You can buy a version that either attaches with adhesive or MagSafe, depending on what works best for your phone case.

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Credit: Apple

Apple iPhone FineWoven Wallet with MagSafe

$59 at Apple

For an exceptionally thin phone wallet, Apple came out with the FineWoven Wallet which attaches via MagSafe. It comes in colors very fitting for fall like burgundy, olive, wildflower blue, and magenta.

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Credit: Pela

Pela Phone Grip

$15 at Pela

For fans of Pela's non-toxic phone cases, you can also get a phone grip from the brand. It folds flat when not in use and pops up to wrap around your finger when you need a secure hold.

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Credit: Octobuddy

Octobuddy Suction Phone Mount

$14.99 at Amazon

We can't talk about iPhone accessories without talking about the Octobuddy. It's a creator favorite that lets you prop up your phone and film nearly anywhere.

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iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max power banks and wireless chargers

If you're upgrading your iPhone from an iPhone 14 or earlier, then you're going to need a new charger or power bank. Since the iPhone 15, Apple has implemented a USB-C port on all its devices, which means the iPhone 18 Pro follows suit. Don't get us wrong, the new iPhone 18 Pro has incredible battery life, but when you're on the go, a power bank or portable charger is a lifesaver, so now is a great time to upgrade.

Plus, we also rounded up some wireless chargers if you want to embrace the MagSafe lifestyle.

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Credit: Belkin

Belkin 20W USB-C Power Bank

$24.99 at Amazon

For a budget-friendly power bank, Belkin's 10K portable charger with USB-C is a reliable choice. For under $25, it quickly charges your iPhone to nearly 50 percent in just 26 minutes.

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Credit: Anker

Anker 20,000mAh Power Bank

$65.99 at Amazon
$69.99 Save $4

Anker makes fast and reliable chargers, so while we know the new batch of iPhones have amazing battery life, it's always good to have a backup on hand. The Anker 20,000mAh Power Bank has a built-in USB-C cable that delivers a super speedy charge.

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Credit: Apple

Belkin BoostCharge Pro Power Bank 10K with Apple Watch Charger

$99.95 at Apple

If you're upgrading your iPhone and Apple Watch, why not get a portable charger that can power up both. The Belkin BoostCharge Pro Power Bank 10K with Apple Watch Charger has a USB-C cord to charge your phone and a built-in wireless charger for your watch. It provides hours of charge as well as built-in loop clips to attach to bags or backpacks.

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Credit: Twelve South

Twelve South Power Bank and Charger

$39.95 at Apple

Twelve South's power bank and charger is built for everyday use. It's lightweight and clips onto your keys and bags so you always have a charger nearby.

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Credit: Anker

Anker MagGo Power Bank

$69.99 at Amazon
$79.99 Save $10

If you don't want to deal with cables on the go, Anker's MagGo Power Bank attaches wirelessly via MagSafe so you can keep using your phone while it powers up.

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Credit: Anker

Anker PowerIQ USB-C Power Bank

$21.99 at Amazon
$25.99 Save $4

The Anker PowerIQ USB-C Power Bank is an ultra-slim battery pack made for travel. It holds up to two full phone charges at a time and can even power up an iPad.

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Credit: Apple

Apple MagSafe Charger (2 m)

$39.99 at Amazon
$49 Save $9.01

Apple's MagSafe charger works on all MagSafe devices. It provides a faster charge than a traditional cable and comes in two lengths, either 1 meter or 2 meters.

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Credit: Anker

Anker Zolo MagSafe Wireless Charger, 2-pack

$25.99 at Amazon
$39.99 Save $14.00

Anker offers a 2-pack of wireless chargers that are a great value. Grab the Anker Zolo MagSafe chargers for just $39.99 at full price or $25.99 when on sale. Anker's Zolo chargers come with extra-long cables and an ActiveShield system that monitors your phone's temperature while charging.

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Credit: Belkin

Belkin Qi2.2 25W Wireless 2-in-1 Foldable Fast Charging Station

$53.99 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $6

Stop bringing multiple chargers on the go and instead swap them for Belkin's foldable charging station. It has a soft-touch silicone base and simultaneously charges your phone and watch or AirPods.

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Credit: Anker

Anker Qi2 MagGo 3-in-1 Charging Station

$67.49 at Amazon
$89.99 Save $22.50

For your at-home charging setup, get Anker's Qi2 MagSafe charger. It charges all your devices at once: your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. It even props up your iPhone horizontally, basically making it a bedside clock.

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Part Steam Deck, part VR headset and, yes, it plays Half-Life Alyx. Here’s everything I’ve discovered so far.

Read more about the Valve Steam and the latest gaming news:
Xbox Game Pass imposes strict monthly hour limits on cloud gaming
Valve suffers massive 12TB leak, revealing a decade of Steam game files
Valve's Steam Machine officially has a price, and it's a doozy

Timecode chapters
00:00 Valve Steam frame
00:33 A portable Steam Deck for your face
00:57 Design
01:17 Ergonomic pack
01:47 A challenge for glasses wearers
02:19 Viewing experience
03:09 Foveated streaming
03:41 Standalone features
04:11 VR and processor
05:11 Half-Life: Alyx
05:54 Controller covered in sensors
06:43 Pass-through cameras
07:28 Modular design
08:00 Linux and customizability
08:18 Not all games will work
08:50 How is it as a Steam Deck
10:13 Early products and valve
11:00 Expect more later
11:26 The future of VR, headsets and the Steam Frame

Video credits
Host: Scott Stein
Scripted by: Scott Stein
Producer: Numi Prasarn
Camera: Numi Prasarn
Video editor: Mitch Chang
Thumbnail designer: Cole Kan

While the external design of the AirPods 5 hasn't changed, Apple has made some changes on the inside and lowered the price of the step-up model. CNET editor David Carnoy has the full skinny on their performance improvements.

Read more about Apple AirPods 5 and AirPods Pro 3: Apple AirPods 5 vs. AirPods Pro 3: Which should you buy?
10 settings and tools every AirPods Pro 3 user needs to know

Timecode chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:13 Price and model variations
0:52 Key upgrades and features
1:26 Fit and design
2:05 Active noise cancellation and transparency
3:13 Battery life and charging
3:51 Sound quality and audio performance
4:53 Smart features and Siri gestures
5:35 Voice call quality and mic test
6:23 Final verdict and recommendation

Video credits
Host: David Carnoy
Scripted by: David Carnoy
Producer: Numi Prasarn
Camera: Numi Prasarn
Video editor: JD Christison
Thumbnail designer: Tharon Green

The Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 look like their predecessors at a glance, but have lots of upgrades under the hood, including Audio Intelligence, upgraded sensors, and holistic wellness assessments.

Explore more Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 coverage: Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 first look: AI and major health upgrades!
Apple Watch Series 12 vs. 11: Every upgrade, including one Apple didn't mention

Timecode chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:15 Audio intelligence and privacy
1:15 Live rewind feature
2:03 Siri recaps
3:04 Enhanced fitness tracking and readiness score
4:47 Redesigned health app and longevity
5:16 Final thoughts

Video credits
Host: Andrew Gebhart
Scripted by: Andrew Gebhart
Producer: Celso Bulgatti
Camera: Celso Bulgatti
Video editor: Dillon Lopez
Thumbnail designer: Zain bin Awais

The early buzz and excitement around Apple's foldable iPhone Duo may have sparked something in Samsung.

New rumors reported by 9to5Google suggest that Samsung is moving up its foldable roadmap to compete with the iPhone Duo. Citing credible leaker Lanzuk, 9to5Google reports that Samsung is weighing an earlier-than-planned launch for a follow-up to the Galaxy Z TriFold, along with a separate slideable device that had also been penciled in for a 2027 debut.

The outlet also notes that the timeline remains unclear and that both devices could still land on their originally rumored 2027 schedule regardless.

It's a notable turn given how the first TriFold's story played out. Samsung's original tri-folding phone was, by most accounts, a niche product from the start. At roughly $2,500, it initially launched only in South Korea, where Samsung reportedly lost money on every unit sold. The device made its way to the U.S. in Jan. 2026 at a price of around $2,900, sold out, and was pulled from Samsung's store page just three months later.

Thus, Samsung wanting to accelerate the timeline for its own buzzy foldable is big news.

Per 9to5Google, the rumored Galaxy Z TriFold 2 is said to be thinner, lighter, and more durable than its predecessor, with Samsung reportedly aiming to hold pricing "nearly identical" to the original. Given the costs involved in building the first version — and reports that it allegedly sold at a loss — keeping the price flat on an improved model would be a meaningful engineering and manufacturing feat.

Apple's iPhone Duo reveal appears to have applied real pressure on Samsung's foldable plans, and whether that translates into an actual early launch — or just renewed urgency behind the scenes — should become clearer as 2027 approaches.

For now, the iPhone Duo is set to launch Oct. 23.

Meta wants creators and small businesses to spend less time juggling tools — and pay a monthly fee for the convenience.

At its Sept. 14 launch event in New York City, the company introduced Meta One, a subscription service bringing publishing, analytics, customer-service and AI features to Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Meta AI.

"We want to give people more flexibility and choice in what they can do,"

That's the idea behind the service, though its value will depend on how much subscribers are willing to spend.

Credit: Meta One

What it costs

Individual subscriptions range from $2.99 a month for WhatsApp Plus to $3.99 each for Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus. Core bundles all three with expanded AI access for $7.99; Premium raises AI usage limits for $19.99.

Professional plans start at $14.99 for Essential, $49.99 for Advanced, $149 for Expert, and $499 for Max. Essential includes enhanced profile links and verification benefits for eligible accounts. Advanced adds scheduling, publishing, analytics, and shared-access tools, while Expert and Max increase allowances and support. Pricing is per profile, so professional tools for both Instagram and Facebook require separate subscriptions.

The core apps and everyday Meta AI experience remain free. Subscriptions do not remove ads.

Credit: Meta One

Less work, fewer tools?

For creators, the strongest pitch may be the ability to get routine work done in one place. Advanced subscribers can schedule Instagram posts and Reels up to a year ahead and Stories up to a month ahead, upload content in bulk, and give others account access without sharing a password. The tier also adds limited clickable links in posts and Reels, competitive insights, and downloadable reports with longer performance histories.

Dara Denney, an advertiser and creator who spoke about the product, said the shared account access feature has already helped her delegate publishing. Her assistant recently used it to publish a sponsored post she had forgotten to schedule and prepare the accompanying Stories.

"Sometimes just one sponsor post takes about an hour to actually deploy," Denney said. "The thing that [Meta One] has really provided the most value for me is my time.”

Credit: Meta One

Isaiah Barnes, the creator behind Velocious Visuals, pointed to the convenience of using tools where he already publishes: "It’s all in-app, within the same platform where the content is being produced."

He added that competitive insights seamlessly help him plan content for clients across industries. "A lot of my clients are in different niches, so it helps me figure out what’s trending in their area," he said. "It makes the content creation process more intentional."

Yongjae Choi, founder and CEO of health-food company OMA, explained how including links directly in posts (rather than in the bio) helps her customers navigate her product launches better.

"We now can have more communication and channels with our community and customers," she said.

Credit: Meta One

Credit: Meta One

More AI, with limits

Meta One expands access to Business Agent on WhatsApp Business, enabling it to answer customer questions using information provided by the business. Owners can take over conversations when needed. Getting started is free; subscriptions increase the monthly response allowance.

The planned Edits Plus subscription will add cloud storage for syncing projects and expanded access to an upcoming assistant that analyzes Instagram performance and suggests content ideas. Facebook’s creator assistant is also gradually being incorporated into Meta One, with subscriptions increasing its free monthly AI allowance.

Meta One also offers discovery benefits, including higher search placement on Instagram and Facebook. Facebook subscribers can receive additional visibility through Feed features, a more prominent follow button, and automated follow invitations.

The expanded AI offerings follow Meta’s Sept. 8 launch of Muse, a personal AI agent designed to carry out tasks such as booking travel and managing projects across connected apps.

Paying to get noticed

To me, and other journalists in the room, the bigger question is whether paying for extra visibility will remain a choice or become a necessary cost of building an audience in such a crowded influencer economy.

When asked whether the additional subscription service could disadvantage creators who cannot afford to subscribe, Helen Ma said, emphasizing the company’s investment in free tools.

"We are very committed to keeping the experience for creators free," she said. "There’s many more people on teams that are building the free experiences for creators than the people that are working on subscriptions."

Meta already offers several ways to pay for a business presence. Creators and businesses can spend on ads and boosted posts to reach more people, while Meta Verified offers a subscription for verification, impersonation protection, and support. These are optional expenses, but they are part of the budget for users who choose them.

So if you want to promote content while using Meta One’s Advanced tools on both Instagram and Facebook, you’re looking at two professional subscriptions starting at $49.99 a month each, plus whatever you spend on advertising. (Meta One includes verification benefits, so a separate Meta Verified subscription should not be counted as another required expense.)

The question left for creators is how those costs add up — and whether they will be able to avoid paying more as their competitors adopt it.

SAVE $171: The 75-inch Hisense Class E6SR QLED 4K TV is on sale at Amazon for $578.99, down from the standard price of $749.99. That's a 23% discount and the lowest we've seen at Amazon.

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Credit: Hisense

75-inch Hisense Class E6SR QLED 4K TV

$578.99 at Amazon
$749.99 Save $171

 

Get Deal

It's an exciting season for those of us who love to kick back with some great TV. For starters, NFL season is here, so consider Sundays booked. In addition, we have great new shows coming like fresh GBBO, a new season of The Paper, and so many more. All of this is to say, we'll be spending plenty of time in front of the TV, and if you could use a big upgrade, check out this deal.

As of Sept. 15, the 75-inch Hisense Class E6SR QLED 4K TV is on sale on Amazon for $578.99, down from the regular price of $749.99. That's a 23% discount that takes a nice $171 off the price. It's also the lowest we've seen at Amazon.

Buying a new TV can feel like a complicated process on account of the endless acronyms and TV jargon. But this Hisense deal makes it simple. A 75-inch TV will work well in a larger living room, rec room, or bedroom, and the QLED display makes it perfect for watching in bright conditions.

The 2026 model comes with Roku TV built in to keep all your favorite streaming apps neatly organized and easy to access. In addition to the sale price, Amazon is throwing in free delivery to the room of your choice and unpacking. This service, which usually costs $29.99, means you won't have to deal with recycling a gigantic box, since the delivery crew will haul away all packaging materials.

Before your favorite fall shows start, upgrade to the 75-inch Hisense Class E6SR QLED 4K TV while it's on sale for under $580. Since this is the best price we've ever seen at Amazon, this is a great time to make the move.

Best DeWalt deals on Amazon right now:

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DeWalt Portable Tire Inflator

$89.99 (save $10)

Get Deal

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DeWalt 20V MAX XR 3-Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool Kit

$99 (save $32.51)

Get Deal

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DeWalt 20V MAX 6.0Ah Premium Lithium-Ion Battery 2-Pack

$179 (Save $100)

Get Deal

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DeWalt 20V MAX XR Impact Driver & Hammer Drill PowerPack Combo Kit

$299 (Save $50)

Get Deal

If you've ever had to pause a project halfway through because your single power tool battery died — or spent twenty minutes pumping up a low tire with a hand pump — you already know the value of reliable gear. DeWalt’s 20V MAX system is a staple for a reason, but filling out your toolbox at full retail price gets expensive fast.

Amazon just slashed prices on a solid lineup of DeWalt essentials, with deals starting at $89.99. We sorted through the sale to highlight the gear worth your money, ranked from the cheapest entry point to the bigger investment kits.

DeWalt Portable Tire Inflator

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Credit: DeWalt

DeWalt Portable Tire Inflator

$89.99 at Amazon
$99.99 Save $10

 

Get Deal

Having a portable air compressor in your trunk saves you from hunting down gas station pumps or sweating over a manual bike pump. At under $90, this DeWalt inflator gives you reliable emergency power in a package that weighs under a pound and a half.

It tops off a standard car tire from 30 to 36 PSI in under a minute, hitting a maximum pressure of 150 PSI. You set your target pressure or choose a preset for cars, bikes, or sports equipment, and the digital screen automatically shuts off the pump when it hits the mark, so you don't blow out a tire.

DeWalt Oscillating Multi-Tool Kit

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Credit: DeWalt

DeWalt 3-Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool Kit

$99 at Amazon
$131.51 Save $32.51

 

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If you don't already own an oscillating multi-tool, it's easily the most surprisingly useful device you can add to your workshop. Think of it as the ultimate problem solver for precise jobs that regular saws or sanders can't reach — like trimming door jambs during a flooring install, or plunging straight into drywall for a new outlet box.

The DeWalt 20V MAX XR 3-Speed Oscillating Multi-Tool Kit has a tool-free accessory system that lets you swap out blades and attachments without fumbling around for an Allen wrench. It features a three-speed toggle alongside a pressure-sensitive trigger, giving you total control so you don't accidentally chew through your material. Add in an efficient brushless motor that squeezes extra runtime out of your 20V battery, plus a built-in LED light to illuminate tight, dark corners, and it easily earns its spot in your kit.

DeWalt Lithium-Ion Battery 2-Pack

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Credit: DeWalt

DeWalt Lithium-Ion Battery 2-Pack

$179 at Amazon
$279 Save $100

 

Get Deal

There is nothing worse than hitting a wall on a project because your only battery died halfway through. This Lithium-Ion battery two-pack fixes that by giving you two high-capacity 6.0Ah batteries, so you can keep one powering your tool while the other juices up on the charger.

At 6.0Ah each, these hold significantly more juice than the basic 2.0Ah batteries bundled in standard kits, giving you the extended runtime needed for power-hungry tools like saws and grinders. They don't drain themselves while sitting idle in your garage, and the built-in 3-LED fuel gauge lets you check remaining power with a quick button press. Plus, they recharge in just 60 minutes and work with every DeWalt 20V MAX tool you own.

DeWalt Impact Driver and Hammer Drill PowerPack Combo Kit

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Credit: DeWalt

DeWalt Impact Driver and Hammer Drill PowerPack Combo Kit

$299 at Amazon
$349 Save $50

 

Get Deal

If you need a real drill and driver setup that won't quit on heavy projects, this Impact Driver and Hammer Drill PowerPack combo kit packs the absolute heavy hitters of DeWalt's 20V MAX lineup. The hammer drill has more than double the power of older baseline models, spinning up to 2,000 RPM so you can bore through tough brick, masonry, or dense hardwoods without the motor stalling out.

The impact driver churns out 1,825 in-lbs of torque, which is more than enough muscle to sink thick lag bolts or drive long deck screws without stripping the heads or snapping your wrist. Instead of packing in cheap entry-level batteries that drain in twenty minutes, DeWalt includes two of its next-gen PowerPack batteries and a charger. That means you get higher power output, better heat management under heavy loads, and enough runtime to keep both tools working side by side all afternoon.

More DeWalt tool deals

• DeWalt 5-Inch Variable Speed Random Orbit Sander — $79 $99 (save $20)

• DeWalt STEALTHSONIC 6-Gallon 5 HP Wet Dry Shop Vac — $139.99 $169.99 (save $30)

• DeWalt STEALTHSONIC 6-Gallon 5 HP Wet Dry Shop Vac with 6 Dust Bags — $159.99 $179.97 (save $19.98)

• DeWalt 20V MAX XR 1/2 in. Drill Driver Kit with 5Ah Powerstack Battery — $199 $249 (save $50)

• DeWalt 20V MAX Drill Driver and Oscillating Multi-Tool Combo Kit — $249 $299 (save $50)

SAVE $30: The Apple AirPods 4 are on sale for $99 at Walmart, down from the list price of $129.99. That's a 23% discount.

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Credit: Apple

Apple AirPods 4

$99 at Walmart
$129.99 Save $30.99

 

Get Deal

Now that we're in the middle of September, it's prime time for excellent walks. Summer heat has dissipated, and soon brightly-colored leaves will take over. Once that happens, it's time to pop in the earbuds and head out on a walk. If your old AirPods barely hold a charge, it's time for an upgrade, and lucky for us, there's a rare sale.

As of Sept. 15, the Apple AirPods 4 are on sale for $99 at Walmart, down from the list price of $129.99. That's a 23% discount that shaves $30.99 off the price.

With a shorter stem and better contour for comfort, the Apple AirPods 4 get up to five hours of listening time, which bumps up to 30 hours thanks to the case. Both the AirPods themselves and the case carry an IP54 rating against dust, sweat, and water, making them even more friendly for fall walks.

Apple used the H2 chip in the AirPods 4 for improved call quality and overall sound. The voice isolation is a step up compared to the previous generation, and they're designed to better block out distracting background noise. The case is also 10% smaller than the AirPods 3 case.

Adding to the convenience, the AirPods 4 have an optical sensor that automatically pauses playback when you take them out of your ears and resumes when they're back in. Of course, you can also use the Apple Find My network to track down any missing AirPods or the charging case.

Since they're on sale for under $100 at Walmart, make the upgrade to the Apple AirPods 4. Even if your current headphones are doing OK, it's always smart to have a backup pair on hand, and we don't see this sale price often.

PopSockets just launched the Low-Pro Case, a new line of MagSafe iPhone cases and the first expansion of its Low-Pro line. The three-in-one MagSafe case supports wireless charging and also includes a collapsible Low-Pro Grip and a built-in phone stand.

Earlier this year (June 16, to be exact), PopSockets launched its Low-Pro Grip — a series of ultra-thin magnetic grips designed to lie flush against the back of your phone — exclusively in Apple stores. The Low-Pro Grip is just 2.6 mm when collapsed, and PopSockets says the launch received tons of positive feedback (most likely from people like me who can't stand when things are even a little bit off). PopSockets founder David Barnet told Mashable the Low-Pro is the brand's most popular new launch since the company's earliest days.

So, naturally, the company is taking the concept further by embedding that same disappearing grip directly into a protective phone case. According to PopSockets, the new Low-Pro Case offers:

• Integrated Low-Pro Grip

• Adjustable stand for both portrait and landscape viewing

• 10-foot drop and 360-degree phone protection

• Optimized for MagSafe cases

• Wireless charging (meaning the phone charges wirelessly through the case and grip)

Here's what the new case looks like in practice:

The new PopSockets Low-Pro Case features a built-in grip and integrated kickstand ring. Credit: Mashable | Timothy Beck Werth

A side view of the PopSockets Low-Pro Case. Credit: Mashable | Timothy Beck Werth

And here's how it works: instead of snapping an accessory onto your existing phone case, this is a grip and case in one. It uses a flexible unibody design with a built-in grip that expands when you need to hold your phone, then collapses flat when you slide it into your pocket. It also has a metal ring that functions as a phone stand.

Launching Sept. 15 for $59.99, the new PopSockets Low-Pro Case is available for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max as well as the newly announced iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max (the Low-Pro Grip costs $39.99 on its own). For now, it comes in black and burgundy and is available for sale on Amazon, Best Buy, and the PopSockets website.

Our tech editor demoed the new case in person with Barnett and can confirm that the grip is "extraordinarily thin." While it might feel a bit flimsy due to the ultra-thin, flexible parts, Barnett says they tested the grip and found it could support over 40 pounds. The company discovered this fact in a very scientific "Fanta test," as you can see in this TikTok:

In case you missed Apple's Sept. 9 event, there are a few new iPhones in town. And the big carriers are already competing to offer the best iPhone preorder deals and lock in new customers. Remember: The new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be available for preorder from Sept. 12 at 8 a.m. ET, so you can secure your new phone ASAP.

The best iPhone 18 preorder deals at a glance:

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Preorder at T-Mobile

Get iPhone 18 Pro for free with qualifying trade-in or by switching

Get Deal

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Preorder at AT&T

Get iPhone 18 Pro for free with qualifying trade-in

Get Deal

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Preorder at Visible

Get $480 of monthly service credits with purchase

Get Deal

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Preorder at Total Wireless

Take $600 off iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max

Get Deal

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Preorder at Apple

Get up to $885 in credit with trade-in

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By now, the annual iPhone launch is basically the first indicator of fall. The foldable iPhone Duo has captured most of the hype this year, but the tried-and-true iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max flagship models also deliver exciting new updates. While the Duo won't be available until October, the 18 Pro and Pro Max hit shelves on Friday, Sept. 18.

The new Pro models come in four new colors: deep black, silver, burgundy, and glacier blue. The 18 Pro starts at $1,199, while the Pro Max starts at $1,299 for the 256GB models (storage options go up to 2TB). That's a $100 price increase over last year, and new phones keep getting more expensive. Fortunately for our wallets, carriers like T-Mobile are offering up to $1,200 off, and you can also take advantage of the Apple Upgrade program if you don't mind leasing your iPhone.

Save up to $1,200 with iPhone 18 preorder deals

If you're ready to preorder your new device but your wallet isn't quite keeping up with your enthusiasm, we've found a few ways to save money. To take advantage of most carriers' offers, you'll need to switch providers, trade in an older iPhone, or choose a specific phone plan. Smaller carriers like Visible and Total Wireless are also offering up to half off the new iPhone if you sign up for certain plans.

Here are the best preorder deals for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max:

• T-Mobile: Get the iPhone 18 Pro for free when you switch to T-Mobile and bring your number or trade-in an eligible phone on an Experience Beyond plan. You can also score up to $930 in trade-in credit when you switch a line to T-Mobile's Experience More or Go5G Plus plans.

• Total Wireless: Save $600 on iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max on the All Access plan.

• Apple: Trade in an iPhone 13 or later model and get between $175 and $885 in credit towards the iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max. You can also score up to $1,200 in trade-in credit through specific carriers.

• AT&T: Get the iPhone 18 Pro for free or up to $1,200 off iPhone 18 Pro Max with qualifying trade-ins of iPhone 14 or later and activation on AT&T Premium 2.0 plan or higher. You can also get up to $800 in credit to pay off your current device just by switching to AT&T.

• Verizon: Get up to $1,200 off when you add a new line (with qualified trade-in) on eligible myPlan or up to $1,020 off when you upgrade with an eligible trade-in on existing myPlan.

• Visible: Buy the iPhone 18 Pro with Visible+ Pro and receive $480 through monthly service credits. New and existing members are eligible.

• Walmart: The big box retailer doesn't have any preorder deals just yet, but you can finance the new iPhone and pay as little as $78/month if you qualify through OnePay, a Klarna-backed service.

• Xfinity: Get the iPhone 18 Pro Max for free with a qualifying trade-in and device payment plan on the Mobile Plus plan.

What about Amazon iPhone preorder deals?

As of this writing, Amazon's iPhone 18 Pro listings aren't live, and Amazon typically isn't the best place to shop for new Apple smartphones. However, we'll update this page if any iPhone 18 Pro Amazon deals appear in the days ahead. In the meantime, you can preorder the new AirPods 5 and Apple Watches at Amazon.

Apple AirPods 5 earbuds

$124.99 at Amazon

 

Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Apple.com Pre-order Here at Walmart

Apple Watch Series 12 (GPS, 42mm)

$399 at Amazon

 

Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Best Buy Pre-order Here at Walmart

Apple iPhone 18 Pro, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

See It at T-Mobile See It at AT&T Wireless See It at Walmart

iPhone 18 Pro Max, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

See It at T-Mobile See It at Walmart See It at Apple.com

TL;DR: McAfee+ is on sale for $89.99 for your first year. This limited-time offer saves you $110 on the list price.

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Credit: McAfee

McAfee+ with Scam Detector

 

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In 2026, antivirus software is an absolute must. In fact, we’ll go one step further and say you need to be thinking beyond just regular antivirus software. This is the age of AI-powered scamming, and every day internet users — that means pretty much all of us — are vulnerable to all kinds of bad faith actors and online conmen.

Indeed, AI has raised the game with deepfakes, phishing, and other tricks designed to target your personal and financial details. Fortunately, there’s a solution to protecting yourself in 2026 — and one that will actually save you money. 

McAfee, one of the top names in online protection, has launched an AI-powered scam-protection feature called Scam Detector, which integrates with McAfee’s award-winning antivirus, identity monitoring, privacy tools, VPN, and financial protection as part of the straightforward, easy-to-use McAfee+ Individual and Family plans. 

You can save up to $110 on a yearly individual plan when you sign up for the McAfee+ Advanced tier, which costs just $89.99 for the first year, down from $199.99. You can also save up to $150 when you opt for the family plan, which covers six family members for $119.99 — down from $269.99. As an added bonus, all plans are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Your protection plan will pay off in the long run. McAfee research found that Americans are bombarded with an average of 14 scam messages every day, resulting in almost 114 hours per year spent trying to determine what’s real and what’s fake online. The research also found that one in three Americans has lost money to online scammers, losing an average of $1,160.

McAfee’s Scam Detector is the antivirus equivalent of fighting fire with fire. In the battle against sophisticated AI scams, it uses its own AI to identify scams before they have a chance to impact you. It does by automatically identifying suspicious texts, emails, deepfake videos, and social media DMs — as well as identifying risky sites — and providing you with warnings.

It also includes a QR code safety check. This combats one of the new ways scammers are targeting unsuspecting people: QR codes that send an increasing number of people to untrustworthy sites.

The great news is that Scam Detector is included across McAfee’s core plans at no extra cost. Whatever plan you sign up for, McAfee Scam Detector has your back.

Sign up for McAfee+ with Scam Detector and save up to $110 on a yearly individual plan.

TL;DR: The Motorola Razr+ is available for free with T-Mobile. To qualify for this promotion, simply activate a new line on an Experience Beyond plan.

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Credit: Motorola

T-Mobile: Motorola Razr+ for free

 

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Everyone needs to breathe. We know that Apple's event was a lot. We got announcements of new iPhones, Apple Watches, AirPods, and much more. There was a lot to take in, but now that the dust has settled, we can all get back to normality. And by normality, we mean free deals on foldables (no, not the iPhone Duo).

We're talking Motorola, specifically the new Motorola Razr+. This foldable phone is available for free right now with T-Mobile, and you don't even need to trade in anything to qualify. The process of claiming is actually pretty straightforward.

To get the new Motorola Razr+ for free with T-Mobile, simply activate a new line on its Experience Beyond plan. The total cost is covered via 36 monthly bill credits. If you cancel or switch carriers before the two-year mark, you’ll owe the remaining balance on the phone’s full retail price. You will need to pay taxes and a one-time $35 connection charge, but that's a small price to pay for a "damn fine phone."

If you really do need to get your hands on the latest tech from Apple, you have choices. The new Apple iPhone 18 Pro is available for free when you trade in a qualifying device and activate a new line on T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond plan. New customers who switch to T-Mobile and keep their existing number can also qualify.

The iPhone Duo delivers top-tier craftsmanship and clever crease-hiding tech. Look closer, though, and you’ll find basic two-app windowing, delayed stylus support without pressure controls, and an upgrade cycle designed to keep your wallet on permanent lease.

Read more about Apple iPhone Duo comparisons: iPhone Duo vs iPad: How they differ
The iPhone Duo vs. Galaxy Z Fold 8: Which foldable has the edge?

Timecode chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:20 iPhone duo design and build quality
0:50 Galaxy Z Fold 8 vs. iPhone duo
1:21 Apple Pencil compatibility
2:21 Stylus usage and limitations
3:03 Display and crease reduction
3:42 Multitasking on iOS
4:20 Pricing and financing options
5:10 Final decision

Video credits
Host: Iyaz Akhtar
Scripted by: Iyaz Akhtar
Producer: Numi Prasarn
Camera: Numi Prasarn
Video editor: JD Christison
Thumbnail designer: Tharon Green

TL;DR: The Hisense RoamView is a 32-inch 4K portable touchscreen on a rolling stand with up to 10 hours of cord-free battery life. Priced at $1,199.99, it features an auto-framing wide-angle camera and an adjustable base for moving between rooms.

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Credit: Hisense

Hisense RoamView Portable 4K Touchscreen Display

$1,199.99 at Best Buy

 

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If your current home setup involves balancing your phone against a salt shaker while following a recipe, or hauling a laptop into bed to binge Netflix, Hisense just built something specifically for you.

The company officially launched the RoamView — a 32-inch 4K touchscreen display mounted on a rolling stand that is designed to wander freely around your living space. Priced at $1,199.99, it is part smart TV, part oversized tablet, and entirely built around the idea that you shouldn't have to mount a display on a wall just to enjoy a big-screen experience.

You can roll it directly from your kitchen counter to your bed, or detach it from its wheels completely and set it up on a counter using the included tabletop easel. You also get bright, razor-sharp picture quality with multi-touch gesture controls that let you swipe, tap, and pinch through apps like a phone. If you don't feel like wheeling the base around, you can pop the display off entirely and set it up on a counter using the included tabletop easel.

Powering the screen is an impressive 10-hour built-in battery, giving you cordless freedom to binge movies in bed, follow recipes in the kitchen counter, or stream music on the patio. It runs on Android OS backed by an AI engine and a generous 8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage, making app navigation feel smooth and snappy. It even features hands-free voice controls and an AI light sensor that automatically adjusts brightness so you aren't blinded during late-night viewing.

Hisense also packed in productivity perks, including an auto-framing wide-angle camera for video calls that keeps you centered while you move around the room. Add in dual speaker drivers, built-in wireless screen mirroring, and standard HDMI and USB-C ports, and the RoamView easily bridges the gap between a portable smart display, a video-conferencing hub, and a mobile entertainment center.

Ready to give your arms a break and wheel your screen everywhere you go? Grab the Hisense RoamView today.

SAVE $400: As of Sept. 15, the Roborock Qrevo S5V is on sale for $499.98 at Amazon. That's a 44% discount on the list price.

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Credit: roborock

Roborock Qrevo S5V

$499.98 at Amazon
$899.99 Save $400.01

 

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Robot vacuum deals are always something to get excited about, especially when they take hundreds of dollars off the list price, like this latest Amazon deal on the Roborock Qrevo S5V.

Normally $899.99, this model is currently on sale for $499.98, taking $400 off the list price. Not only that, but this is the lowest-ever price for this robot vacuum, so you know you've landed a great deal.

This robot vacuum has 12,000Pa of suction power to lift dirt and stubborn debris from carpets, rugs, and hard floors. It has a Zero-Tangle system that prevents hair from wrapping around the brushes, making it a great option for homes with pets.

And it doesn't just pick up dirt. This model also has a built-in mop with dual spinning mops that rotate at 200 RPM, so even the toughest floor stains are no problem to clean. After vacuuming and mopping, the all-in-one dock automatically empties the dustbin into a 10-week storage bin, washes the mops, dries them with warm air, and refills the water tank, so it's ready to go for its next clean with no assistance required.

This robot vacuum deal is available at Amazon right now.

SAVE $300: As of Sept. 15, the Shark AV2511AE AI robot vacuum is on sale for $299.99 at Amazon. That's a 50% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Shark

Shark AV2511AE AI

$299.99 at Amazon
$599.99 Save $300

 

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A robot vacuum won't make your entire chore list go away, but it can keep vacuuming off it entirely. Instead of having to dig out the vacuum every time the floors need attention, you can let a robot handle the regular dirt and dust for you. And if you've been looking for a deal on a great model, Amazon currently has an impressive discount on the Shark AV2511AE AI.

As of Sept. 15, this model is half off at Amazon, down from $599.99 to just $299.99.

This robot vacuum features powerful suction that picks up dirt and pet hair on both carpets and hard floors. It even has a self-cleaning brushroll that helps prevent hair wrap.

Its Matrix Clean technology uses a precision grid pattern to make multiple passes over messes, and the 360° LiDAR navigation maps your home and detects objects, even in the dark.

When the battery runs low during a clean, the vacuum will return to the dock to recharge before picking up where it left off. However, with up to 90 minutes of runtime, you'll get a good amount of cleaning done in one go. The bagless self-emptying base can also hold up to 60 days of dirt and debris, so there's no need for disposal bags.

Get this Shark robot vacuum deal at Amazon now.

SAVE $60: As of Sept. 15, the DJI Neo is on sale for $139 at Amazon. That's a 30% discount on the list price.

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Credit: DJI

DJI Neo

$139 at Amazon
$199 Save $60

 

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Drones can be intimidating when you're just getting started, but the DJI Neo is a great option if you want to keep things relatively simple. It's a small, lightweight drone designed for beginners, and it's currently on sale on Amazon.

Normally $199, this drone is now $139. Not only are you saving $60, but according to camelcamelcamel, that's the best-ever price for this drone.

There's been plenty of discussion around the new U.S. restrictions affecting DJI drones, but you can still buy (for now). The changes apply to future imports, while DJI drones already in stock with U.S. retailers can still be purchased and used. If you've been considering the DJI Neo, you've still got time.

This drone comes packed with a range of beginner-friendly features and tools. It has eight QuickShots modes for capturing different types of footage, which is handy if you don't want to manually control every shot. You can also fly it using voice commands, the DJI mobile app, an RC controller, or without a controller at all.

For video, the Neo captures 4K footage with DJI's stabilization technology and has level 4 wind resistance for flying in less-than-perfect conditions. Full-coverage propeller guards also add another layer of protection when you're navigating around obstacles.

Get this DJI drone deal at Amazon now.

Stratospheric infrastructure company Sceye has crossed the Pacific for the first time, taking its reflective, balloon-like High-Altitude Platform System from New Mexico to Japan. It's the latest milestone on the road to commercialization for a platform that can deliver phone service and observation.

Read more about alternative space and flight technology: New floating internet infrastructure takes flight
World's largest gun for shooting satellites into space

Timecode chapters
0:00 Intro
0:26 A fiber-optic cable from the stratosphere
0:35 Latest mission
1:27 Services offered
2:00 Quantum key distribution
2:20 ‘Landlords in the stratosphere’

Video credits
Host: Jesse Orrall
Scripted by: Jesse Orrall
Producer: Jesse Orrall, Jon Gomez
Camera: Sceye
Video editor: Jon Gomez
Thumbnail designer: Tharon Green

SAVE $1,502: As of Sept. 15, the TCL 85-inch Class QM8L Series TV is on sale for $2,497.99 at Amazon. That's a 38% discount on the list price.

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Credit: TCL

TCL 85-inch Class QM8L Series TV

$2,497.99 at Amazon
$3,999.99 Save $1,502

 

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If you want your living room to feel like a movie theater, a huge TV is about as close as you can get. Movies, games, whatever you're watching are all infinitely better on not just a big screen, but a huge screen.

If you've been waiting for a big-screen TV to come down in price, there's currently a great deal on the TCL 85-inch Class QM8L Series TV at Amazon.

Normally priced at $3,999.99, as of Sept. 15, you can save a huge $1,502 on this TV. That brings the cost down to $2,497.99. Not only is this a huge saving, but it's also the lowest this TV has ever been priced.

This TV uses the TCL Deep Color System and Halo Control System to ensure detailed picture quality for everything you watch. It also has an Ultra Color Filter that uses 5-nanometer particles for more precise color. Plus, audio is provided by Bang & Olufsen, so everything will sound clear and immersive. There's also support for an optional wireless subwoofer and satellite speakers, so you can personalize the audio to suit you.

It's a great option for gamers, too. The TCL Game Pack includes Game Accelerator 288 VRR, Game Bar, and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro for smoother motion.

Get this TV deal at Amazon now.

Mashable has been testing laptops for over 10 years. Over the past two years alone, the team and I have researched dozens of models and tried over 90 of the most promising configurations available. We use a meticulous testing procedure involving real-world stress tests and artificial benchmarks to evaluate our contenders on the basis of performance, battery life, design/build quality, and value.

This regularly updated guide serves as our laptop trophy case, highlighting the best-in-class models we've tried across different subcategories. For even more recommendations, check out my dedicated guides to the best MacBooks, the best Windows laptops, the best cheap laptops, and the best Chromebooks.

Why are laptops so expensive right now?

Laptop prices have skyrocketed in 2026 for several reasons. One is the recent boom in AI data center construction, which has caused a global shortage of RAM and SSD storage chips (often referred to as "RAMageddon"). As a result, many consumer tech devices that use these components, including the best laptops, have become vastly more expensive than they would've been otherwise. Most PC makers have been affected, including Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer.

The memory crisis is expected to worsen and could last into 2028, driving up prices even further and making good values in the budget and mid-range tiers even scarcer. On top of that, the Trump administration is reportedly mulling new tariffs on semiconductors that would apply to laptops and other electronics.

Further complicating things is that Microsoft reportedly raised its Windows 11 licensing fees by higher-than-usual percentages. In other words, both hardware and software prices have gone up for PC makers this year, forcing them to pass on the extra costs to consumers. Lucky us.

The Mashable team is taking the current state of the market into consideration as we assess and select laptops to recommend to our readers. Moreover, we've gone back and re-evaluated several models that have gotten more expensive since we first tested them.

At the time of writing, only two previous top picks have gotten so pricey that we think they're no longer worth buying. That would be the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, which jumped from an already-high $750 to $1,000, and the Acer Chromebook Plus 516, which went from $479 to $649. We're currently testing some other Chromebook options and will update this guide with a new top pick soon.

Recent updates to this guide

• September 2026: I added more information about the various factors affecting laptop prices right now. I also added a new section about some new laptops that shoppers can look forward to in the coming months. Finally, I updated three of our picks in the wake of recent pricing and availability changes. I removed the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 as our top Chromebook because of its value-zapping $170 price hike, and I'm now looking for its replacement. The Asus Zenbook A16 got a $300 price bump, but I'm keeping it as our best 16-inch laptop (for now) because it's still not a rip-off in the current market. Lastly, the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI was out of stock at the time of writing, but may not be sold out for good. I'll continue to monitor its listings over the next few weeks and will swap it for another model if it turns out it's actually been discontinued. In the meantime, a refurbished Swift Edge 14 AI is readily available.

• July 2026: The Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is officially the most portable laptop we've ever tested: It only weighs 2.18 pounds and measures 0.37 inches thin at its slimmest point. I added it as a new pick.

• June 2026: I made the Asus ExpertBook Ultra our new favorite business laptop and named the Asus Zenbook A16 the best 16-inch laptop. I also removed the Alienware 16X Aurora as our top gaming laptop because the configuration we tested has been discontinued. We're currently testing potential replacements.

What to look forward to

In early September, PC makers showed off a slew of new Windows laptops at IFA, an annual tech trade show in Berlin. Among them are the ultralight Acer Swift Blade 14, the very repairable Acer Swift Vero 16, two new Lenovo creator laptops running on Nvidia RTX Spark, and a pair of colorful MacBook Neo competitors: the Lenovo IdeaPad Vibe and the pared-down Dell 14S. The IdeaPad Vibe is confirmed to arrive this October, starting at $699.99, but most other IFA debutants don't have set prices or release dates just yet.

On the MacBook side, Apple is rumored to be working on a refreshed MacBook Pro with an M6 chip (first seen in this summer's new Mac mini), as well as a higher-end MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen. The latter might be called the "MacBook Ultra," if the gossip mill is correct. The M6 model is reportedly coming this fall, while the Ultra could debut at the end of this year or early next.

Read this before you buy a Windows laptop

Many great Windows laptops we've tried run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X and X2 series chips, which use ARM-based architecture instead of standard x86 architecture like Intel and AMD chips. The Zenbook A14 and A16 are two great examples of outstanding ARM laptops.

These Qualcomm chips are great because they offer amazing performance and battery life, but they're not compatible with some specialty software and PC games. Having said that, ARM support is getting better and should dramatically improve in the near future. Right now, I would only avoid ARM laptops if you're a student or if gaming is the main thing you do on your PC. You can read more about this in my dedicated guides to the best Windows laptops and the best laptops for college.

How to choose the best headphones

We won't beat around the bush: There's no definitive "best" product here. Sure, elite audio brands put out high-quality products across the board, but even within each of those brands, you'll find different tiers of products. Some will deliver better value, and some will deliver better hardware and active noise cancellation.

All this to say, the best pair of earbuds or headphones largely comes down to personal preference and how you plan to use them. Some listeners swear by over-ear headphones, while others prefer the minimalism of earbuds — one is not necessarily better than the other. Athletes who like to use headphones at the gym will appreciate waterproof materials and the best open earbuds, while frequent fliers will prefer devices with long battery life, comfort, and portability. Finally, music lovers and audiophiles will want to invest in premium features like a custom equalizer, spatial audio, or best-in-class active noise cancellation.

To help you pick your pair, we tested all of the headphones in this guide (and a lot that didn't make the cut). Here, you'll find the top headphones of 2026 for noise cancellation, music, price, and wired connections.

What about wired headphones?

We focused primarily on the best wireless headphones for this guide. While wired headphones have their fans, wireless headphones are just more convenient for most of us. If we had to pick, we'd recommend the Marshall Mode earbuds as our top wired pick. Some of us are also fans of Apple's EarPods.

Other headphones we've tested

Most recently, we tested the Marshall Monitor III, JBL Tour One M3 headphones and the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC, and though they had their merits, fell short of winning the best of the best spot on this guide.

We've also tested the Sonos Ace headphones and Dyson OnTrac headphones. And while we loved them both for sound quality and noise cancellation, they fare in the way of AirPods Max — left out of our recommendations for their high price points.

In the testing pipeline

For our future updates, we're testing out more budget noise-cancelling earbuds and headphones.

Recent updates to this guide

• March 2025: We've designated the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 earbuds as the most comfortable ANC earbuds and crowned the Sony XM6 earbuds as the new best noise cancelling earbuds.

• December 2025: We replaced the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earbuds, which are no longer available, with the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 sports earbuds.

• December 2025: We removed the Marshall Mode wired earbuds, as they're frequently out of stock.

• December 2025: We added the Sony WH-CH720N Noise-Canceling Headphones as the best headphones under $100.

• December 2025: We added the Sony XM5 headphones, originally released in 2022, as our new honorable mention pick.

• August 2026: We replaced the Sennheiser Momentum 4 with the Nothing Headphone (a) as our best battery life pick.

Jacob Coxon, the 27-year-old researcher who split his time between OpenAI and Anthropic on pre-training research, announced his resignation from Anthropic last week on X with a lethal thread. "Neither company is acting responsibly," he wrote. "They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."

He said the people building this technology "earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade." Hundreds of thousands of likes later, Coxon’s post has shaken the world.

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

Coxon’s words were like a sudden, violent Mahjong collapse; breaching the fortress walls and upending the entire AI enterprise in a single clattering moment.

First came Congress’s whiplash reaction. Senator Bernie Sanders announced he's introducing legislation to ban superintelligence outright. Then, Senator Richard Blumenthal fired off a letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman demanding answers about his AI agents reportedly going rogue. 

Over the weekend came another shock when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a massive 3,800-word essay on his website titled "We Must Pace the Frontier," effectively trying to pump the brakes on the entire AI arms race. Altman chimed in on Monday, admitting "we could lose control."

On Saturday at a private fundraiser, Barack Obama threw down a gauntlet for Democrats. The 44th president told his party to stop coasting on AI safety and make it a marquee campaign issue. He was answering House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries's question about Coxon’s stark warning.

And on Sunday, President Donald Trump misread the room from a golf course in Ireland. Trump said Coxon’s comments and Amodei’s letter were "very negative forces" and that they were hyping up "things that won't happen." To him, avoiding a civilization-wiping disaster isn't the priority. It’s "whoever wins AI, wins."

The data dump

That's a lot of attention, particularly from the political sphere, for one tech guy's message. However, before Coxon ever hit "post," communities across the country were already revolting against the AI industry's physical footprint. By early September, trackers had counted "more than 300 data center moratoriums, bans, and restrictions across 32 states," with New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia leading the pack, and New York becoming the first state to enact one statewide. 

A recent poll found only 14 percent of Americans would welcome a data center in their own backyard. They were angry long before Coxon came forward. They’re angrier now, and one party senses this anger, while the other ridicules it.

On the last day of August, Trump handed Democrats an opening, warning on Truth Social that towns that say no are choosing to be "backwards and poor," and that if they "kill the Golden Goose," they'll "only have yourselves to blame." This, coupled with his comments in Ireland, is raising the pulse, not checking it, of the average American voter.

I have to imagine that families whose utility bills are spiking didn’t react well to being called backwards and poor. In Georgia, data center backlash and rising electricity rates have already flipped two Public Service Commission seats, and the fight has spilled over to the governor's race and state legislative contests, with GOP-leaning voters reportedly telling one Democratic challenger that data centers "changed how they see every other issue," according to the Economist.

AI goes nuclear

I've watched something like this play out before while working as a congressional press secretary. In the late 1980s and early '90s, when the federal government pushed states to build regional nuclear waste dumps under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act, Pennsylvania's coal country became a target. 

Corporate scouts assumed struggling steel towns, like those that made up our congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania, would quietly accept radioactive waste in exchange for economic bailouts. They assumed wrong. They weren’t "backwards," but they were poor, and no amount of radiation was going to make them want to be rich.

Grassroots groups like P.O.W.E.R. packed town halls with furious residents, and the congressman I worked for, Austin Murphy, rode that wave to reelection, even while fending off ethics troubles of his own. 

What’s going on now is identical because ordinary people don't have the bandwidth to parse high-tech language or even begin to fathom the complexities of AI. It was the same with nuclear energy. 

Ordinary people glaze over when tech bros argue about autonomous codebases waging invisible proxy wars. Huh? Come again? But when the headline flips to a visceral, "the end of civilization," everyone hits the panic button.

Prior to trying to bury people in nuclear waste was the disaster at Three Mile Island, coincidentally in Pennsylvania. That accident spoke volumes to the state’s residents. The word "nuclear" meant armageddon to anyone who was only reading the headlines.

What makes this moment different is timing. Data center fights are colliding with a live election cycle, and a viral extinction warning just expanded the potential lethality of those centers. 

All of these doomsday prophecies and the data center proliferation could be a genuine bellwether, and perhaps the first stage of how fear — and use — of AI shapes the midterms and the 2028 presidential election, and how those calling for a slowdown might be on the right side of history.

This article represents the opinions of the writer.

John Casey is a columnist at Raw Story, the Advocate, Daily Beast, and Outsports. He's also the author of Love: The Heroic Stories of Marriage Equality.

We break down all of the new features of the new Apple Watch, including its most controversial: Live Rewind.

Read more about Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 features: Apple Watch Series 12 vs. 11: Every upgrade, including one Apple didn't mention
Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 first look: AI and major health upgrades!
Apple Watch Ultra 4 announced with no price increase, new features
Apple Watch Series 12 announced: What we know about release date, price, and features

Timecode chapters
0:00 Introduction & Apple event overview
0:18 S11 chip & Apple Intelligence
0:46 Sound recognition & accessibility
1:00 Live rewind privacy concerns
1:25 Siri recap & ambient listening
1:48 Apple’s privacy defense
2:08 Real-world privacy risks & unknowns
2:52 Redesigned heart rate sensor & HRV
3:26 AI workout insights & Vitals app
3:56 Series 12 colors & ceramic finish
4:19 Apple Watch Ultra 4 features & battery life
5:08 Pricing & final verdict

Video credits
Host: Owen Poole
Scripted by: Owen Poole
Producer: Owen Poole, Iyaz Akhtar
Camera: JD Christison
Video editor: Dillon Payne
Thumbnail designer: Tharon Green

So, what is the best e-reader for 2026? I'm regularly testing new e-readers (and tablets) and cycling through different models to stay up to date on the best options available. If you're gearing up to read more books this year, I can recommend a model you'll love.

Latest e-reader news

• As of September 2026, we've added the Boox Go 6 to this guide, naming it the best Kindle alternative. We also named the Kindle Paperwhite the best e-reader for the beach (in addition to being the best overall) and named the Durobo Krono the best e-reader for audiobooks.

• In August 2026, Amazon increased the price of Kindles. Now the basic Kindle costs $149.99 ($40 increase) and the Kindle Paperwhite costs $199.99 ($40 increase).

• In July 2026, Boox announced it was releasing a pocket-sized e-reader, the Picco. After IFA 2026, rumors floated that the Boox Picco would be released in November 2026.

• Also in July 2026, Xteink dropped the X4 Pro, a new tiny e-reader with a touchscreen.

• As of April 2026, we have included the Durobo Krono and the Xetink X4 e-reader in this guide.

• In May 2026, Amazon ceased support for e-readers released in 2012 or earlier, which includes the first generation of Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite.

• Also in May 2026, Kobo announced its integration with Storygraph, which syncs your on-device reading progress with the Storygraph app.

Other e-readers we've tested

From left to right: Kindle Paperwhite, Nook GlowLight 4 Plus, Kindle Scribe Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

• Remarkable PaperPro: Whenever you search for e-readers, Remarkable's tablets will always pop up in the search results, but unfortunately, it's hard to obtain ePUB files on the Remarkable. With Remarkable, you can access files within Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. If you have any locked ePUB files — like from Libby — you won't be able to access them on a Remarkable tablet. So, after testing the Remarkable tablet myself, it proved to be a better document reader or digital journal than an e-reader.

• Onyx Boox Go 7: While we love the Boox Go 6, we didn't love the Go 7. It's the same size as the Kobo Libra or Amazon Kindle, but it really lags on processing speed. Reading ePUB files from Libby required downloading the Adobe Digital Editions app onto the Boox Go 7, and there was significant lag when opening and closing the app. While it was an easier process than getting library books on a Nook, it was still a major pain compared to Kindle or Kobo's integrations. The Boox Go 7 lagged and took ages to load files. I was most looking forward to testing this Boox because of its page-turning buttons, but unfortunately, I found that they didn't work on my device.

• Boox Palma 2: I loved reading on the Boox Palma. It's a really solid palm-sized e-reader with an open Android system, so you can download any reading app from the Google Play store, including Libby, Kindle, and Kobo. Unfortunately, the Palma 2 is being discontinued, and its availability is dwindling, which is why it's not included in this list.

What about the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition?

If you're familiar with the Kindle lineup, it may come as a surprise that the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition isn't on this list. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but I think there are better options. The Signature Edition is an upgraded version of the Paperwhite, and we've compared the devices head-to-head. The short version? The Paperwhite is a better value, even with the SE's added features like auto-adjusting brightness and 32GB of storage. Plus, after recent price increases, the Paperwhite SE now costs $249.99. If you are prepared to spend that much on an e-reader, I say skip the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition and go for the Kobo Libra Colour.

Where's the Nook on this list?

In terms of big-name e-readers, you might notice one omission from this list: the Barnes & Noble Nook. I have tested this e-reader, and it was previously featured on this list. However, after testing more devices, it no longer makes the cut. In comparison to any of the Kindles or the Kobo Libra, the Nook has sloth-like performance, making it frustrating to use.

Plus, getting my library books onto the Nook was a nightmare, as it was a multi-step process that required downloading to a computer before uploading to a Nook. Its only redeeming quality was the buttons on either side of the device, which made page turning a breeze. However, unless you are a loyal buyer of Barnes & Noble books, I recommend steering clear of the Nook.

Where to get e-reader books for free

Once you get an e-reader, it's time to fill it up with books, and that doesn't necessarily mean spending money. In fact, you can load up your e-reader without spending a dime; you just need to be a bit resourceful.

The best way to read nearly any book — a classic or hot new release — is with Libby. I have read hundreds of free books with the Libby app — I wouldn't have been able to test for this guide without it. It connects with your library card, allowing you to borrow from your local library's digital collection. Plus, both Kobo and Kindle have exceptional Libby integrations.

Another way to build your library is through Stuff Your Kindle Day events. These are 24-hour opportunities led by authors that make books discounted or free.

If you're a fan of the classics or looking to discover a treasure lost to time, an online resource like Project Gutenberg has more than 75,000 books in the public domain that you can download and read on an e-reader.

Apple officially released macOS 27 Golden Gate on Sept. 14, and the operating system update finally brings the new Siri AI experience to Mac devices.

Apple announced macOS 27 Golden Gate at WWDC in June, and the developer beta has been available for months. So, while the new OS doesn't come with any huge surprises, it does bring users upgrades both large and small.

If you have a Mac device that supports the new macOS and Siri AI, then here are the top features we'd recommend trying after you update.

Siri AI

Credit: Apple

We have to start with the headline news: You can finally try the new and improved Siri AI, powered by Google Gemini. Apple explained how the new Siri will work at WWDC, and the company has emphasized that its new cloud-based private cloud compute platform will provide high levels of privacy.

Siri now comes in a standalone app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users, and the smart assistant will be integrated across the user experience.

The new Siri can:

• Generate text, make writing and editing suggestions, and write and send emails

• Analyze what your camera sees to identify objects or provide context using visual intelligence

• Answer questions or take action based on the user’s screen using on-screen awareness

• Access a wide range of apps to find information, take action, and answer user questions

• Remember your conversations and prompts in the new dedicated Siri app

Users can also customize Siri's voice to be more expressive and can change the pitch, tone, and pacing of the assistant's voice.

Change the Siri voice's pitch, speed, tone, and accent. Credit: Apple

Siri can now take actions across a wide range of apps Credit: Apple

New photo editing tools, including Spatial Reframing

Spatial Reframing is one of the cooler new AI tools revealed at WWDC. This tool allows users to adjust the angle of photos after they've been taken. It's just one of the new AI photo editing capabilities that arrive with macOS 27.

In the Photos app, users can also clean up and extend photos in new ways.

Credit: Apple

New child safety and parental controls

Do any kids or teenagers in your house use a Mac, or maybe a MacBook Neo? Apple has added new parental controls to macOS 27 Golden Gate.

Credit: Apple

For example, by going to "Family" in the "Settings" menu, parents can now set a screen-time schedule. And to help make informed decisions, parents can also access a quick view of their kids’ average device usage and the top apps they use.

Parents can also get automatic messages when their kids want to access a new website via a new tool called Ask to Browse.

Learn more at Apple's parent safety website.

Group tabs in Safari

Credit: Apple

Are you the type of person who always has about 30 different tabs going at once? Now, there's a better way to organize all those tabs.

You can now organize your tabs into groups such as "Vacation planning" or "Work stuff."

Describe a Shortcut

Shortcuts is probably one of the most underappreciated Apple software tools. Using a Shortcut, you can automate certain workflows and actions. For example, you can set up a shortcut that automatically edits and resizes photos once they're added to a specific folder.

The reason Shortcuts are underutilized? They're tricky to set up if you're not a tech person. However, now you can let Siri AI and macOS set up the shortcut for you with Describe a Shortcut. Simply describe the kind of Shortcut you have in mind, and let the OS do the rest.

An improved Maps experience

According to Apple, you'll be able to see even more details and information in Maps. For example, "Flyover now uses aerial imagery combined with Visual Intelligence models to render everything from architectural fixtures to the shapes of individual trees in stunning, sharp detail."

General system improvements

Visual Intelligence with Siri AI in macOS 27 Golden Gate Credit: Apple

This one's a bit tricky to appreciate right away, but all new operating systems bring little refinements and improvements to the overall user experience — at least, in theory. Apple promises that macOS 27 Golden Gate will provide users with faster AirDrop transfers, faster file browsing, and faster loading times for apps and websites.

Refinements to Liquid Glass should also fix some of the visibility problems that sometimes occurred in iOS 26 and macOS 26.

Future updates coming to macOS 27

Apple has also announced some features that will be released in later versions of the OS, such as:

• Suggestions: Messages and Mail will soon offer suggestions to take quick actions based on context clues, such as attaching a photo or pulling in flight information.

• Fix passwords with a click: "The Passwords app alerts you to weak or compromised passwords and can update them on your behalf without the hassle."

What devices support macOS 27?

Apple says macOS 27 Golden Gate is available for the following devices:

• MacBook Neo (2026)

• MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later)

• MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later)

• iMac with Apple silicon (2021 and later)

• Mac mini with Apple silicon (2020 and later)

• Mac Studio (2022 and later)

• Mac Pro with Apple silicon (2023)

Preorder the new Apple products

Along with iOS 27, Apple also released new AirPods, Apple Watches, and iPhones. Except for the iPhone Duo, all of these devices are available for preorder now.

Apple AirPods 5 earbuds

$124.99 at Amazon

 

See It at Amazon See It at Apple.com See It at Walmart

Apple Watch Series 12 (GPS, 42mm)

$399 at Amazon

 

See It at Amazon See It at Best Buy See It at Walmart

Apple iPhone 18 Pro, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

See It at T-Mobile See It at AT&T Wireless See It at Walmart

iPhone 18 Pro Max, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

See It at T-Mobile See It at Walmart See It at Apple.com

Meta's $17 billion settlement is a fence around a mile-deep hole at a playground. Fewer kids fall in on the way to the swings, but the hole is still there.

Full wins are rare in the fight for online child safety. What families mostly get are half-wins like a settlement instead of a verdict, a design mandate not turned on by default, or a check that is a rounding error relative to a company's annual revenue. Half-wins are still worth having. But they carry a cost that clean victories don't: because a half-win is contestable, advocates don't get to just win it. They have to keep re-arguing that it counts, in public, indefinitely, using the same personal cost that got them into the fight in the first place.

I watched that cost get paid in real-time outside the federal courthouse in Oakland when survivor parents — Lori Schott, Shannon Heacock, Erin Popolo, Julianna Arnold, Mary Rodee, Victoria Hinks, Paul Hinks — stood in front of a wall of cameras and talked about the worst moment of their lives, again, for an audience that will mostly remember a 10-second clip and a dollar figure. Joining them were young people who didn't have to be there, standing beside them in solidarity.

None of that shows up in a settlement figure. It's not a line item. It's not even really visible in most coverage of the case, because the story is "Meta settles," not "here is what it takes to make Meta settle."

I grew up in front of cameras, and I know the instinct they train into you: get small, get careful, hand over the version of yourself that's easiest to broadcast. What that experience taught me is that visibility is not a neutral cost. Every time a parent goes back on camera to describe how their kid died, or a young survivor stands in a plaza holding a photo instead of being anywhere else, they're paying something the settlement itself will never account for.

Meta's $17 billion figure has line items for age-assurance systems and independent auditors. It has no line item for what it costs a parent to relive their child's death on a stranger's studio couch, but they do it anyway because that's what it takes to get airtime.

It's why these types of wins are exhausting. A settlement requires the people who fought for it to keep proving, publicly, that it was worth fighting for. If we're serious about accountability, the fix isn't asking survivor parents to keep showing up to press conferences until Meta gets embarrassed enough to throw better-looking Band-Aids at the problem. It's changing the business model in the first place to ensure these companies are required to fix what took these kids too soon: a business structure that relies on addictive features.

In California, AB 1709, authored by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 10, does that by making these companies stop deploying addictive features to users under 16. Not a content ban, but a design restriction. A platform can keep operating exactly as it does now for everyone else, but it doesn't get to hand a 12-year-old the same engagement-optimized product it hands an adult.

AB 2, also authored by Lowenthal, makes large platforms liable for real money — up to $1 million per child, or three times actual damages — when ordinary negligence in the design of the product injures a minor. That's not a number Meta can negotiate down to a lump sum once and move on from, the way it did with this settlement. It scales with every child harmed, case by case, indefinitely — which is exactly the kind of exposure a company can't absorb as a cost of doing business, because there's no ceiling on it to absorb.

Together, these bills do what a $17 billion settlement can't: they change the incentive before the harm happens, instead of paying for it after the fact.

That's the difference between managing a story and fixing a product. A settlement is Meta agreeing, after years of litigation, to adjust some defaults under supervision it can eventually age out of — a 10-year consent decree that ends, after which Meta negotiates the next one from scratch. AB 1709 doesn't ask Meta to behave better under supervision that expires. It removes the option to keep operating the way it currently does and call it compliance, permanently, the same way any other law stays on the books after the fight to pass it is over. The parents testifying in Sacramento are doing the same kind of labor they did outside that courthouse, but they're doing it once, for a law that outlives the news cycle, instead of doing it every time a consent decree comes up for renewal.

While those parents were in Sacramento testifying about their kids, Meta's lobbyists were in a different room asking for a way out. Politico reported that Meta approached Senate Judiciary Chair Tom Umberg with draft language that would let platforms apply for an exemption from AB 2 entirely. Meta spent $4.6 million lobbying Sacramento last year, more than any year since it started lobbying the state in 2010, and launched a new political committee to back candidates who favor lighter tech regulation. So the next time you see Meta's PR machine discussing how much they want to show up for parents, remember: they spent a lot trying to shut those same parents up in state legislatures.

The fence is up. The hole is still there. And the people who keep pointing at the hole, publicly, at their own expense, deserve better than another way for Meta to fool the masses while it keeps deploying the same business model that brought these parents to their child's gravesite instead of their high school graduation.

This article represents the opinions of its author.

Lennon Torres is a former Dance Moms performer now fighting for young people’s safety online. A trans activist and University of Southern California alum, she uses her pop‑culture fluency and lived experience to power her work at the Heat Initiative, taking on tech giants and demanding platforms to protect and empower the next generation.

iOS 27 is here! The newest iPhone operating system has just been rolled out by Apple today.

Here are a few of the must-try features that you should check out as soon as your iPhone is finished updating to the new OS.

Siri AI

This is the big one. Apple has completely reimagined its voice assistant Siri as a full-fledged AI assistant.

Siri AI can now perform tasks and answer questions just like other AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude. But, of course, Siri AI is integrated directly into the iOS experience. Siri AI even has its very own app now.

The new Siri AI can take actions across a wide variety of apps, such as a user's email, phone, photos, and Shortcuts. Siri AI can even create a new Shortcut based on a simple description. Users simply vocalize the workflow they want to automate in plain English, and Siri AI will take over and set the whole thing up.

So, be sure to check out Siri AI both via the standalone app (and the custom voice controls) to see what the brand new Siri can do.

Change Siri's voice speed, pitch, tone, and accent. Credit: Apple

Weather app updates

The Weather app has some big new updates in iOS 27 to take a look at.

There are new tabs for the day's weather that provide users with information about conditions, precipitation, and Wind. Each tab will provide more in-depth details about the current day's temperature, rain or snow, and the wind conditions over the next few hours.

There's also a new Highlights feature in the Weather app that provides users with a written summary of what to expect weather-wise throughout the day.

AirPods custom EQ

Credit: Apple

Surprisingly, AirPods have been missing custom EQ settings, a standard feature for most headphones and earbuds. Well, no longer.

iOS 27 adds a three-band equalizer to the AirPods settings screen, allowing users to control the audio frequency spectrum of their earbuds. 

Users can adjust EQ in real-time, changing how they hear the bassy lows, vocal mids, treble detail in the highs, and more.

Other headphones have this capability and Apple previously allowed AirPods users to customize EQ within Apple Music. Now, however, AIrPods owners can have this greater audio control regardless of where they listen to their music.

Liquid Glass updates

Credit: Apple

If you had some problems with the way Apple's new Liquid Glass design for iPhone looked, you may want to go directly to this new feature.

Apple has updated the Liquid Glass design with "more uniform refraction and improved contrast." The iPhone-maker has even added controls in the form of a new slider that allows users to change just how clear or tinted the Liquid Glass design appears.

Disable the dictation button in Messages

This is another fix to an issue that has long-annoyed some iPhone users.

There's a dictation button next to the text box in Messages. That dictation button becomes the "Send" button when you've already typed out some text in your message. However, the placement of both buttons makes for some accidental taps, which sometimes activate the dictation feature when it isn't wanted. 

Now, in iOS 27, users can change that in the iPhone settings. Simply open the Settings app, select Apps, then Messages, followed by the new Show Text in Field option. Users can pick if there's a Record Audio button, Start Dictation button, or no button at all in that spot. The Send button will obviously still appear as normal after a user starts typing.

Bill splitting

If you're tired of trying to figure out the math of who pays what when going out for a meal with friends, this new iOS 27 feature is a must-try.

Using Apple Wallet or the Messages app, simply point your iPhone camera at a receipt, iOS 27's new bill splitting feature will read the information and then provide an itemized list on your iPhone. From there, you can pick which items you're paying for and then use Apple Cash to just pay for what they ordered. The bill-splitting feature even adds the relevant tax and tip portion as users select what items they are paying for.

Photo app updates

By now, you've probably heard about the big iOS 27 updates to the Photos app. Clean Up, Extend, and Spatial Reframing utilize generative AI in order to completely transform your photos, remove unwanted objects, and change angles and perspectives.

But there are other lesser talked about new features to check out too.

For example, iPhone users can now share albums with their friends who own Android and Windows phones with the new iOS 27. In addition, users can now select stills from videos and save them as standalone pictures instead of having to take screenshots.

iPhone Handoff

This is probably the most undercovered feature, especially if you're someone who can't choose between your classic iPhone or the new foldable iPhone Duo.

iPhone Handoff lets you have both.

With iOS 27's new iPhone Handoff feature, Apple smartphone owners can use one number with two separate devices. Users can swap back and forth and pick which device will receive phone calls and messages, and then switch it back at any time.

For now, this feature is only available for T-Mobile users, and the carrier is charging an extra $5 per month to use it.

There's even more to check out with the new iOS 27, so be sure to explore the latest updates to your iPhone.

Preorder the new Apple products

Along with iOS 27, Apple also released new AirPods, Apple Watches, and iPhones. Except for the iPhone Duo, all of these devices are available for preorder now.

Apple AirPods 5 earbuds

$124.99 at Amazon

 

Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Apple.com Pre-order Here at Walmart

Apple Watch Series 12 (GPS, 42mm)

$399 at Amazon

 

Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Best Buy Pre-order Here at Walmart

Apple iPhone 18 Pro, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

Pre-order Here at T-Mobile Pre-order Here at AT&T Wireless Pre-order Here at Walmart

iPhone 18 Pro Max, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

Pre-order Here at T-Mobile Pre-order Here at Walmart Pre-order Here at Apple.com

Updated on Monday, Sept. 14 at 1:30 p.m. ET — Apple launched iOS 27 (along with macOS 27 Golden Gate, iPadOS 27, and watchOS 27) this morning. Users with a compatible iPhone can download the new OS right away.

Apple's next big iOS update is finally on the launch pad.

At its "Surprise and Shine" event on Sept. 9, Apple showed off new wares like the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, the foldable iPhone Duo, new Apple Watches, and the AirPods 5. One of the smaller (but still significant) nuggets of news to come out of the event concerned iOS 27. Specifically, when you can finally download it to your iPhone.

Users with compatible iPhones will be able to install iOS 27 on Monday, Sept. 14.

How to download iOS 27

If you have one of the compatible iPhones (keep scrolling for the full list), then starting on Monday, Sept. 14, you can look for iOS 27. Apple typically releases a new iOS at 10:00 a.m. PT (1:00 p.m. ET).

Follow these steps to get iOS 27 set up on your iPhone:

• Go to the Settings app on your phone

• Go to General

• Go to Software Update and wait as the system checks for new updates

• When iOS 27 appears, you can download and install the new OS

You can also click "Automatic Updates" and turn this feature to "On." That way, iOS 27 should automatically download once it's available (your phone must be locked and charging to download automatic updates).

What's new with iOS 27?

This is a big one! Siri AI, new Apple Intelligence tools, and Liquid Glass updates are all coming soon. Credit: Apple

If you haven't been following along, iOS 27 is the one that finally brings us Siri AI. You can now talk to Siri like you would an AI chatbot, and it's powered by Google Gemini.

Some of the most exciting changes coming to iPhones involve new AI photo-editing features, such as spatial reframing. Users will more easily be able to remove unwanted details, or even describe the edits they'd like to Siri by voice or text. Android smartphones from Google and Samsung have had a full suite of AI editing tools for a couple of years now, and Apple is finally catching up. Smart photo editing will also help users make the most of the iPhone 18 Pro Max's new camera features.

Apple also included some new and subtle customization options for Liquid Glass, various small updates for apps like Health, Photos, and Notes, and more.

Every iPhone that supports iOS 27

Of course, you can only go through that whole downloading process if you have a device that supports iOS 27. Here are the devices that work with the new iOS:

• iPhone SE (second generation or later)

• iPhone 11

• iPhone 11 Pro

• iPhone 11 Pro Max

• iPhone 12

• iPhone 12 Mini

• iPhone 12 Pro

• iPhone 12 Pro Max

• iPhone 13

• iPhone 13 Mini

• iPhone 13 Pro

• iPhone 13 Pro Max

• iPhone 14

• iPhone 14 Plus

• iPhone 14 Pro

• iPhone 14 Pro Max

• iPhone 15

• iPhone 15 Plus

• iPhone 15 Pro

• iPhone 15 Pro Max

• iPhone 16

• iPhone 16e

• iPhone 16 Plus

• iPhone 16 Pro

• iPhone 16 Pro Max

• iPhone 17

• iPhone 17e

• iPhone Air

• iPhone 17 Pro

• iPhone 17 Pro Max

• iPhone 18 Pro

• iPhone 18 Pro Max

• iPhone Duo

If you don't have one of those, you're out of luck. We should also note that Siri AI will not be coming to Europe due to some regulatory issues. Sorry, European friends.

This was supposed to be the year of blockbuster artificial intelligence IPOs, but over the weekend, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the company will no longer go public in 2026.

In an interview with Fortune, Altman said the IPO would be "ill-timed" given escalating concerns over AI safety and development. Altman told Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell that the IPO would not take place in 2026. Although many outlets have reported that the IPO will now take place in 2027, Altman told Shontell only that the IPO wasn't happening this year, and that it will happen "when the business is ready."

"I would say not 2026, yeah. We got a lot of stuff to do. And meeting this moment of what is going to be required for safety and alignment and how the industry and government is going to work together, and how to be able to do that as a private company," Altman said.

OpenAI has reportedly been preparing for a likely trillion-dollar IPO this year, but in recent weeks, concerns over AI safety have reached a critical point.

"As we’ve said we’re not rushing into an IPO," Altman told Fortune. "I actually think that given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don’t feel pressure on that. We’ve said for a long time, we’ll do it when we’re ready, which is when the business is ready, when we feel ready from a, kind of, what the moment is like in society with this technology."

So, why have concerns about AI suddenly reached a boiling point?

Anthropic released a nightmarish safety report last week, which detailed how threat actors tried to use Claude to research avian flu adaptations, to assist with gain-of-function research on the chikungunya virus, explore military drone swarms, and carry out mass surveillance. And shortly before that, an Anthropic researcher left the company and very publicly warned that the technology "could kill us all by the end of the decade," and that the industry was "gambling with our lives."

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

On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for AI labs to slow down development of AI until stronger safeguards could be put into place, and Altman publicly committed to coordinating on this effort.

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

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

Altman's comments about the OpenAI IPO come amid these growing concerns.

"This has clearly been a week where a lot more people are grappling with the issues in front of us," Altman told Fortune. "So, I’m actually mostly grateful that this is happening. This is a conversation the world is overdue for, and we are clearly entering a realm of extremely capable models, and a high-stakes need to get things right."

Altman's video interview with Fortune provides some insight into Altman's thinking at a turning point for the industry.

As the most visible and well-known AI company, the performance of OpenAI's IPO will be seen as a barometer for the health of the industry as a whole. Because as fears over AI safety rise, so have fears of the AI bubble bursting.

Earlier this year, SpaceX (which recently merged with xAI) launched its IPO, and Anthropic previously filed paperwork for its own planned IPO. Altman's comments are consistent with a June report from the New York Times, which stated the company was leaning toward delaying its IPO until 2027.

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

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

SAVE $22.99: The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max earbuds are on sale at Amazon for 10% off with code NW94IXSS62S2, brining them down to $207 instead of the list price of $229.99.

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Credit: Anker Soundcore

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max

$207 at Amazon
$229.99 Save $22.99

use code NW94IXSS62S2 at checkout

Get Deal

If you're one to walk around with at least one earbud in for most of the day, you know how important comfort is. In the past, I've refused to travel without both earbuds and over-the-ear headphones, mostly because I couldn't stand earbuds after a few hours of flying. The Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max changed my mind on that. And for the first time ever, they're on sale at Amazon.

As of Sept. 14, the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max earbuds are on sale at Amazon for 10% off with code NW94IXSS62S2, brining them down to $207 instead of the list price of $229.99. That works out to a savings of $22.99.

I just wore the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max earbuds on a 10-hour flight with zero complaints. They're so comfortable that I no longer pack bulky over-the-ear headphones on trips, saving precious space in my carry on bag.

The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max are an elevated version of the 5 Pro, using Anker's Thus AI chip and a 10-sensor matrix that make the earbuds excellent for calls and blocking out background noise. However, the case is an upgrade from the 5 Pro, coming with a touchscreen case with a 1.78 AMOLED display.

This model also features Anker's AI note-taker, allowing the case to record during meetings, lectures, or conversations. That's a great feature for taking the earbuds along to work or class.

While the earbuds are sitting at an all-time low price, upgrade to the comfort, clarity and powerful noise-cancellation on the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max earbuds. They'll be your new favorite travel accessory.

SAVE $15.82: As of Sept. 14, the Xteink X3 mini e-reader is on sale at Amazon for just $63.18 as a Lightning deal. That's 20% in savings, but you'll have to act fast.

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Credit: Xteink

Xteink X3 mini e-reader

$63.18 at Amazon
$79 Save $15.82

 

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If you've ever wished you could slip a book into your pocket, the Xteink X3 mini e-reader was made for you. And for a limited time, it's on sale for 20% off its already affordable cost.

As of Sept. 14, the Xteink X3 mini e-reader is just $63.18 as a Lightning deal at Amazon. That's $15.82 less than its $79 price tag, but you'll have to act fast to secure the discount. You only have until the end of the day to get your hands on this deal, or until the counter bar says "100% claimed." So, don't delay pressing that add-to-cart button.

I have to be honest here; I don't particularly understand the hype of this ultra-mini, ultra-trendy e-reader. I prefer my basic Kindle, which is already small enough to fit in my purse. It also doesn't have backlighting, which means you can only read in bright settings (a personal dealbreaker for me). But surely there must be a reason this thing is popular. With a 3.7-inch screen, it's not only small enough to slip into your pocket (yes, even women's pockets), but it also magnetically attaches to the back of your phone for seamless reading on the go. It'll last you up to 10 hours before needing a charge and offers 16GB of built-in memory, with up to 256GB expandable memory.

Also, like the Xteink X4 Pro that Mashable's Sam Mangino tested, the Xteink X3 is only compatible with DRM-free e-books. That means no DRM-protected books from Kindle, Libby, or other platforms. Mangino notes that articles you can upload via URL work best on these tiny e-readers. Still, for the cute mini form factor and TikTok cred, $63 really isn't a bad deal. Just be sure you know what you're signing up for.

TL;DR: As of Sept. 14, you can get the DJI Mini 3 for $315, down from $419, at Amazon. That's a 25% discount or a $104 price cut.

DJI Mini 3

$390 at Amazon
$419 Save $29

 

Get Deal at Amazon Get Deal at Best Buy

If you follow tech news at all, you probably know the U.S. government has been trying to ban DJI drones for what feels like forever. Lawmakers blocked any new models from being approved in the States, but existing drones already on the market are grandfathered in — this means that they're legal to buy and fly.

Right now, you can get the DJI Mini 3 on Amazon for $315, down from $410. Discounts on DJI drones don't pop up nearly as often these days (outside of sales events, that is), so saving 25% is a nice win if you've been waiting to buy one.

Spec-wise, it shoots crisp 4K HDR video, stays airborne for up to 38 minutes per charge, handles wind pretty well, and shoots true vertical video so you don't have to crop your footage for social media later. Bonus: It weighs under 249 grams, so you don't have to register it with the FAA for recreational flying.

The best wireless earbuds range anywhere from $10 to $1,000, especially if you're going for professional-grade studio earphones. And if you care about active noise cancellation, you can easily spend $300 — that's the price of peace and quiet. You can also get hyperspecialized models like sleep earbuds, bone-conduction earbuds for working out, and open earbuds for transparency.

In 2026, our top picks for earbuds are the Sony WF-1000XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd gen), and Panasonic Technics AZ100s, which provide outstanding sound quality and ANC. But keep in mind that these models will run you $299 to $329. While we stand by the value of everything on this list, we know that spending over $300 on a pair of earbuds is a lot to stomach. That's why we've also included more budget-friendly wireless earbuds under $100 that still deliver excellent performance.

Ready to start shopping now? Here are our favorite wireless and noise-cancelling earbuds as of September 2026.

Types of earbuds

There are two overarching types of earbuds: wireless and wired. While those descriptors are self-explanatory, let's get into the specifics of both.

Wireless

Wireless earbuds connect to devices via Bluetooth for cordless usage. These earbuds range from $20 budget models to high-end models with active noise cancellation. While they don't require a wire to connect to a device, some wireless earbuds still have a wire that might go around the back of the neck to connect the buds.

While earbuds traditionally don't provide the passive noise cancellation of over-the-ear headphones, wireless models often feature ANC, which electronically blocks out background noise. With wireless headphones, you need to consider the battery life. Most models should have an eight-hour or more battery life before they need to be recharged.

Wired

Wired earbuds are the original model: two buds connected by a wire to your audio source. While they once felt high-tech, they're pretty basic now. Wired earbuds with active noise cancellation are basically non-existent, and you won't find any on our list.

The biggest positive to wired headphones is that they don't need to be charged. They're a great backup option to keep in your bag in case your usual wireless headphones or earbuds run out of charge.

Newer additions to this guide

After extensive testing, Mashable Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard rounded up the best sleep earbuds. You can read her full guide, but as of February 2026, we've added the Anker Soundcore Sleep A30 Special to this guide, which Allard says are the best sleep earbuds for most people. Also in February 2026, we added the Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds as our top pick for the best overall earbud, and removed the previous generation, the WF-1000XM5, as the best Sony earbud.

What are the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds?

If you're just looking for a pair of everyday wireless earbuds, all but one of the models in this guide will check that box. (We formerly included the Marshall Mode earbuds for folks who preferred a wired option, but have since removed them from our guide as the version we tested is difficult to find in stock these days.)

If you're looking for the highest quality wireless earbuds, you can't go wrong with the Sony WF-1000XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, Apple AirPods Pro 3, and Panasonic Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds, our most recent recommendation in 2026. Both of these wireless earbuds feature elite noise-cancellation, stellar sound, long battery life, and a comfortable fit for extended wear.

A digital PlayStation game you bought years ago could soon put a little credit back in your account. Sony’s proposed $7.85 million settlement would compensate eligible U.S. customers for certain PlayStation Store purchases, with automatic payments for those whose accounts are still active.

Here’s how to check whether you’re included and what happens next.

Which PlayStation purchases qualify?

The settlement covers people in the United States who purchased an eligible digital game through the PlayStation Store between April 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2023.

The official list of eligible games includes The Last of Us Remastered, Until Dawn, No Man’s Sky, and NBA 2K18. Specific editions matter: The Bloodborne entry, for example, covers the Complete Edition Bundle.

The restrictions stem from a class-action lawsuit filed in May 2021 over Sony’s decision to stop third-party retailers from selling game-specific download vouchers in April 2019. Plaintiffs argued that the change forced customers to buy those digital games through the PlayStation Store, reducing competition and raising prices. (Sony denies wrongdoing.)

According to the settlement notice, qualifying games had retail download vouchers available before April 2019, at least 200 voucher redemptions before that cutoff, and a price increase of at least 50 cents after discounts between the periods examined in the case. The official list can help you identify which games meet those requirements.

Do you need to submit a claim?

If you qualify, have an active PlayStation Network account, and did not opt out, no claim form is required. Your payment would arrive automatically as PlayStation Store wallet credit after final approval.

Customers with deactivated accounts had a separate process. The official notice gave them until August 27, 2026, to provide qualifying purchase information and a current mailing address to request a check. (That deadline has passed.)

Lawyers reported in a Sept. 3 court filing that there appeared to be 438 check requests from eligible customers with closed accounts.

How much could you receive?

There is no fixed payment per customer. Your share will depend on how many qualifying games you purchased, with more eligible purchases resulting in a larger payment.

Payments will come from the amount remaining in the $7.85 million fund after court-approved deductions. Those include attorneys’ fees of up to 25 percent, legal and administrative expenses, and any awards to the named plaintiffs. Notice and administration costs alone are estimated at $180,000 to $190,000.

When will the credits arrive?

The final approval hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15, 2026, but the settlement still needs approval before distribution can proceed.

Once deposited, the credits will not expire and can be used for any product available for sale in the PlayStation Store, according to the plaintiffs’ September filing. Players would not have to spend them on the games that originally qualified them for compensation.

For now, the next date to watch is Oct. 15, when the court will consider final approval — bringing eligible players one step closer to seeing the credit in their accounts.

SAVE $70: As of Sept. 14, the Garmin vívoactive 6 smartwatch is on sale for $229.99 at Amazon. That's 23% or $70 off its list price of $299.99, and its best price ever.

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Credit: Garmin

Garmin Vivoactive 6 smartwatch

$229.99 at Amazon
$299.99 Save $70

 

Get Deal

If you're shopping for a new smartwatch and can't decide between the various brands on the market, let me be the first to recommend getting a Garmin. While there's a ton of Garmin watches to choose from, the vívoactive 6 is a great pick for practically everyone, and it's on sale for its best price to date.

As of Sept. 14, the Garmin vívoactive 6 smartwatch is down to just $229.99 at Amazon in every colorway. That's a 23% or $70 discount from its list price of $299.99 and the lowest price we've ever seen on the watch. Yes, even beating Prime Day earlier this year.

While Garmin offers several dedicated sports watches for runners, triathletes, golfers, and more, the vívoactive 6 is a good all-rounder for folks who like to mix it up. It's packed with over 80 indoor and GPS-based activities, including daily suggested workouts, animated workouts, stretching, walking, running, swimming, activities for wheelchair users, and more. The bountiful health and wellness insights go beyond what you can imagine, with a look into your daily energy levels, stress, HRV status, blood oxygen levels, and even a fitness age. Of course, like any good smartwatch, you'll also be able to track your steps and sleep, as well as receive texts and notifications.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Garmin vívoactive 6's battery life. You'll get about 11 days on a single charge in smartwatch mode, which obviously makes the Apple Watch look like a chump (even the latest Series 12).

If you're in the market for a new watch, don't let this best-ever deal on one of Garmin's most well-rounded, beginner-friendly smartwatches slip through the cracks.

Free phones available at T-Mobile in September 2026:

---

Apple iPhone 18 Pro

Free (up to $1,200 off) with an eligible trade-in in any condition or when switching on an eligible plan.

Get Deal

---

Apple iPhone 17

Free with a new line and port-in on an eligible plan (no trade-in needed).

Get Deal

---

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8

Free with an eligible trade-in on an eligible plan.

Get Deal

---

Google Pixel 11

Free when you activate a new line on an eligible plan (no trade-in needed).

Get Deal

---

Motorola Razr

Free when you activate a new line on an eligible plan.

Get Deal

Right now, T-Mobile is handing out free phones across all the major brands — Apple, Samsung, Google, and Motorola. But before you get too excited, there's some fine print we need to go over:

• You'll get a monthly bill credit. "Free" means T-Mobile pays off the phone by giving you a monthly credit on your bill for 36 months. If you decide to switch carriers, cancel your account, or downgrade your plan before those three years are up, all remaining monthly credits disappear and the full remaining cash balance of the phone is due right away.

• There are upfront costs. On standard financing (Standard EIP), you still have to pay sales tax on the full retail price of the phone plus a $35 device connection fee upfront at checkout. T-Mobile's new financing tier, "EIP Flex 36," lets well-qualified buyers roll those taxes and fees into the 36-month plan, but you're still paying them over time.

• You'll need to have an eligible plan. To get the best deal, you'll have to be on T-Mobile's top-tier, pricier plans (like Experience Beyond 2.0, Experience Beyond, or Go5G Next). Lower plans like Essentials or Magenta still get discounts, but they drop down to $730 or $300 off.

If you're cool with sticking with T-Mobile for three years, this is about as cheap as you can get a flagship phone.

Our favorite deal: Apple iPhone 18 Pro ($0 with eligible trade-in or switch)

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Credit: Apple

Apple iPhone 18 Pro

Free (up to $1,200 off) with an eligible trade-in in any condition OR when switching on an eligible plan.

Get Deal

Why we like it

Apple's newest flagship just hit the market, and T-Mobile's launch offer is easily the best way to get it without paying $1,200 out of pocket.

Here's how to claim the deal:

1. Choose your phone. You get the full $1,200 credit (making the 128GB or 256GB iPhone 18 Pro free) by either trading in an eligible phone in any condition OR by porting your line over to T-Mobile from another carrier on Experience Beyond 2.0, Experience Beyond, or Go5G Next.

2. Check your plan tier. If you're on Experience More or Go5G Plus, the trade-in credit drops to $930 off. If you're on Essentials 2.0, Essentials, Go5G, or Magenta, adding a line and trading in gets you up to $730 off.

3. Checkout. Pay the local sales tax and $35 connection fee at checkout under standard financing, or opt for EIP Flex 36 to roll those fees into your monthly bill credits if eligible.

SAVE $602: As of Sept. 14, the TCL 65-inch QM7L SQD-Mini LED QLED 4K TV is on sale at Amazon for only $897.99. That's over $600 off its original list price of $1,499.99 or about 40% in savings.

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Credit: TCL

TCL 65-inch QM7L SQD-Mini LED QLED 4K TV

$897.99 at Amazon
$1,499.99 Save $602

 

Get Deal

Spooky season is inching up quick, which means it's time to queue up your scary movie lineup. Before the marathon commences, however, it's a good time to reevaluate your home theater situation. If your current TV is on its last leg, now's a great time to upgrade and save.

As of Sept. 14, TCL's 65-inch QM7L SQD-Mini LED TV is on sale at Amazon for $897.99. That's about 40% off its list price of $1,499.99 or $602 in savings. That's also its lowest price on record.

The QM7L is TCL's mid-range Mini LED TV for 2026 and just a step down from our favorite QLED TV for most people. While its peak brightness can't quite match the QM8L, it's still significantly brighter than your basic QLED, with vivid detail and punchy color. That's largely due to its "super quantum dot mini LEDs" (the SQD in its name). This will make a notable difference when you're watching those dark, shadowy scenes in your favorite scary movies this season.

It runs Google TV with Gemini on Android 14 with hands-free voice activation. You can simply tell Gemini to bump up the volume, turn on captions, or even recommend a movie with Tom Holland that you haven't seen before. How much you actually use the voice assistant will vary person to person, but it's one of the most capable assistants on any smart TV.

While the QM8L is the best QLED for most people if you can swing it, the QM7L is an excellent consolation prize for those who don't want to break the bank — particularly now that it's 40% off.

TL;DR: The new Apple iPhone 18 Pro is available for free right now with T-Mobile. To claim, trade in a qualifying device and activate a new line on T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond plan. New customers who switch to T-Mobile and keep their existing number will also qualify.

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Credit: Apple

T-Mobile: Free Apple iPhone 18 Pro

 

Get Deal

We've been treated to some major smartphone drops in recent months. We got the new Motorola Razr lineup, new Google Pixels, and foldable phones from Samsung. All the major players had their moment in the spotlight, but now it's time for the main event: Apple's annual iPhone launch.

After months of speculation, rumors, and leaks, Apple has finally announced the new iPhone 18 Pro, and preorders are now live, with the phone set to release on Sept. 18.

Any new smartphone announcement causes a stir, but none more than the iPhone. Nothing gets the people going quite like a shiny new iPhone, especially if it folds. And mobile carriers like T-Mobile know that, so they tend to drop seriously tempting iPhone preorder deals to persuade you into upgrading. And this launch is no different.

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro is available for free right now with T-Mobile. There are two ways to take advantage of this preorder deal:

• Switch to T-Mobile and bring your existing phone number

• Trade in a qualifying phone (in any condition) on an Experience Beyond plan

The full savings are distributed as monthly credits over a 36-month payment plan. As long as you intend to stay locked into T-Mobile’s top data tier for three years, it's easily one of the best ways to score Apple's premier hardware without a major hit to your budget.

T-Mobile requires you to pay local sales tax on the phone's full retail value upfront, plus a standard $35 device connection fee per line at checkout. But come on, that's a small price to pay for the latest iPhone.

Score the iPhone 18 Pro for free from T-Mobile.

TL;DR: The Motorola Razr is available for free with T-Mobile when you activate a new line on an Experience More plan. The new Motorola Razr+ is also free when you activate a new line on an Experience Beyond plan.

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Credit: Motorola

T-Mobile: Motorola Razr and Motorola Razr+ for free

 

Shop Now

Samsung garnered all the attention recently in the wake of its new product announcements, Google had its own moment in the spotlight with Made By Google, and now Apple is dominating the news cycle after dropping a new range of iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods.

Where does that leave Motorola? Fear not, because Motorola's popular line of foldables is quietly impressing. And better yet, you have the opportunity to pick up these handsets without actually spending anything, thanks to T-Mobile:

• Motorola Razr — free when you activate a new line on an Experience More plan (no trade-in required).

• Motorola Razr+ — when you activate a new line on an Experience Beyond plan (no trade-in required).

The total cost is covered via up to 36 monthly bill credits. If you cancel or switch carriers before the three-year mark, you’ll owe the remaining balance on the phone’s full retail price. You will also need to pay taxes and a one-time connection charge with this "free" deal, but that's a small price to pay for the latest Motorola tech.

The Motorola Razr offers a 3.6-inch external display that's big enough to reply to Slack messages, check Google Maps, and sort through emails without flipping the phone open. Under the hood, the 4,800mAh battery outlasts most compact foldables on the market, and the 50MP main camera sensor handles quick WFH video calls and casual shots with ease.

Score the new Motorola Razr and Motorola Razr+ for free with T-Mobile.

SAVE $50: As of Sept. 14, the Bluetti AC180 is on sale for $449 at Amazon. That's a 10% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Bluetti

Bluetti AC180

$449 at Amazon
$499 Save $50

 

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Portable power stations can be useful for everything from camping and road trips to keeping essential devices running during a power cut. They give you access to extra power without relying on a wall outlet. And with summer coming to an end and fall on the way, having something on hand for unexpected outages could be a smart move.

Amazon has plenty of options to choose from, but as of Sept. 14, the Bluetti AC180 has dropped in price. Normally $499, it's now $449. This deal saves you $50 on list price for a limited time.

This is a powerful unit, with a 1,152Wh capacity and 1,800W continuous output, which can increase to 2,700W in Power Lifting mode for appliances that need a little more power. It can reach 80% charge in around 45 minutes, so you don't need hours of prep time, plus external B300K battery packs can be added for longer runtimes. The LFP battery is designed for durability, too, giving you more than 3,500 cycles.

It weighs just 36lbs, so it's a portable option to move between home, vehicles, and for outdoor use.

Find this portable power station deal at Amazon now.

An advertiser paid for editorial consideration of this deal. Our editorial experts vetted the deal based on our independent expertise. Because we determined that the deal will save money for the consumer, we wrote the content.

TL;DR: As of Sept. 14, T-Mobile is offering shoppers the chance to get an iPhone 18 Pro on them when you switch or trade in an eligible phone in any condition on an Experience Beyond plan.

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Credit: Apple

T-Mobile: Apple iPhone 18 Pro

 

Shop Now

Apple's latest Surprise and Shine event was a real treat for fans. We got exciting announcements about new AirPods, Apple Watches, and even brand-new iPhones.

If the sleek new iPhone 18 Pro has your attention, T-Mobile is actually offering a way for you to grab it on their dime, which is a welcome preorder offer at a time when tech prices just keep climbing.

Those looking to upgrade to the iPhone 18 Pro actually have a couple of ways to go about this at T-Mobile: The first route is to switch to T-Mobile and bring your number over to start a new line and port it onto an Experience Beyond plan. The second option is to trade in an eligible phone in any condition on an Experience Beyond plan.

No matter which option you choose, T-Mobile states that you'll receive up to $1,200 back as up to 36 monthly bill credits. And as for which phones you can trade-in to get up to $1,200 credit, they are as follows:

• Apple iPhone: 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, Air, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, 16e, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max

• Samsung Galaxy: S26, S26+, S26 Ultra, S25, S25+, S25 Ultra, S25 Edge, S25 FE, S24+, S24 Ultra, Z Fold7, Z Fold6, Z Fold5, Z Flip7, Z Flip6, Z Flip5

T-Mobile also notes that you will have to pay sales tax on the device, along with a $35 device connection charge. This preorder offer on the iPhone 18 Pro is well worth checking out from T-Mobile ahead of the Sept. 18 launch.

SAVE $170: As of Sept. 14, the Skyrover X1 drone is on sale for $449 at Amazon. That's a 27% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Skyrover

Skyrover X1

$449 at Amazon
$619 Save $170

 

Get Deal

Looking for a new drone? The Skyrover X1 drone has dropped in price at Amazon, and you can save $170. Normally $619, it's now priced at just $449. And according to price tracker camelcamelcamel, this is the best-ever price for this drone.

This drone is a compact option, weighing under 249 grams. It has a 1/1.32-inch CMOS sensor and f/1.7 aperture for capturing 48MP photos and 4K/60fps HDR video.

For helping keep footage smooth and steady, there's a 3-axis gimbal plus an AI Night Mode feature that helps to keep detail sharp during dusk and nighttime filming. For flying, 360° obstacle sensing and Smart Return to Home give you an extra layer of support, and the SkyBridge transmission delivers a 1080p/60fps live view from up to 9.32 miles away.

In the bundle, you'll get the remote controller, gimbal protector, shoulder bag, three pairs of propellers, 18 propeller screws, a screwdriver, three Smart Flight Batteries, a battery hub, a USB-C data cable, Lightning and Type-C adapter cables, and a quick guide. Each battery provides up to 32 minutes of flight time, or up to 96 minutes with three batteries.

Get this drone deal from Amazon now.

SAVE $90: As of Sept. 14, the Anker 3-in-1 charger is on sale for $139.99 at Amazon. That's a 39% discount on the list price.

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Credit: Anker

Anker 3-in-1 Charging Station

$139.99 at Amazon
$229.99 Save $90

 

Get Deal

If you dream of one cable that can charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods, meet the Anker 3-in-1 charger.

It gives you a way to charge multiple Apple devices at once without cluttering your desk with cables. And even better, it's currently $90 off at Amazon, bringing the price down to $139.98 from $229.99.

It uses 25W Qi2.2 charging to power an iPhone 17 Pro to 50% in just 22 minutes, plus the active TEC cooling helps keep temperatures down during charging, so you don't need to worry about your devices overheating. There are also three charging modes to choose from, depending on what you need. There are options for quick top-ups, cooler charging, or silent overnight use.

Plus, the adjustable 80-degree stand also makes it easy to view your phone while charging. It also has a 1.65-inch HD touchscreen display that shows the charging status, wattage, and temperature for each device, with on-screen safety alerts and further controls available through the Anker app.

Get this Anker charger deal at Amazon now. It's listed as a limited-time deal, so don't miss out.

SAVE OVER $50: As of Sept. 14, the Soundcore AeroFit 2 open earbuds have been marked down to under $80 on Amazon. Save over $50 on their full price of $129.99.

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Credit: Soundcore

Soundcore AeroFit 2 by Anker

$79.97 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $50.02

 

Get Deal

Not everyone wants the noise-canceling experience with their earbuds. If you've been leaning towards open earbuds to be more aware of the world around you while listening to your music or podcasts, there are plenty we think are worth your time and money, including the Soundcore AeroFit 2 by Anker. As of Sept. 14, they're even on sale at Amazon, though the clock is ticking to save.

Normally priced at $129.99, every available color of Soundcore AeroFit 2 has dropped below $80 at Amazon. To get into pricing specifics, the brown pair is on sale for $79.97 while the rest are just a cent higher at $79.98, making for just over $50 in savings, no matter which color you go for. However, there's a countdown timer on the store page indicating that this offer only lasts through today, so act fast to save.

The Soundcore AeroFit 2 really won us over with its fit, earning the title of "best ear hook design" in our roundup of the best open earbuds. Mashable's Bethany Allard writes that they "offer four locked-in angles, making them the most comfortable (and snug) open-ear hook buds we've tried so far." They boast "solid sound quality for the price" as well, with a battery that can last you up to 10 hours on a charge. Or, with the charging case, you can even boost it to 42 hours.

Allard also notes that they're great for workouts, as they "have the best IP rating of any of our picks, being both dust-protected and able to survive jets of water." So if you're planning on getting some outdoor workouts in this fall, they're a great companion to keep you busy with your favorite tunes or podcasts.

Again, this discount is only available through today. So now is the time to make a move on the Anker Soundcore AeroFit 2 open earbuds on Amazon before the price goes back up.

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

Choosing a Kindle is just the start. Once you have your Kindle, there's so much you can do to make the most of it. For avid readers, Stuff Your Kindle Day and Libby let you cross every last item off your annual reading list. You can even buy Kindle accessories like remote page-turners and gooseneck stands so you don't have to hold your Kindle while reading.

So, after extensive testing, reading so many books, and attending BookCon, I created this guide to the best Kindles to buy in 2026.

2026 Kindle price increases

For years, Kindle prices have stayed stable, but in August 2026, they finally got an increase. Every model except the Kindle Scribe received a price increase. We can thank RAMageddon, as an Amazon spokesperson said that the increased prices are a result of "significant increases in memory and storage component costs." Here's a breakdown of all the new Kindle prices.

Eight Kindle models got price increases in Aug. of 2026. Credit: Mashable

More 2026 Kindle updates

As of May 20, 2026, Amazon no longer lend software updates or provide web services to devices released in 2012 or earlier, essentially bricking them. Users will still be able to read currently downloaded books on the device, but to add new books, they will need to connect the device to a computer. This is a huge hit, especially to Libby users who need web service access to read borrowed books.

The affected Kindles include:

• Kindle (1st generation)

• Kindle (2nd generation)

• Kindle DX

• Kindle DX Graphite

• Kindle Keyboard

• Kindle 4

• Kindle Touch

• Kindle 5

• Kindle Paperwhite (1st generation)

Owners of these Kindle models are obviously upset, as it means they'll need to purchase a new device to maintain access to all features. While some are considering switching to a different e-reader, like a Kobo, Amazon still makes great e-readers, and it's a testament to the brand that devices that are at least 14 years old are still going strong.

Which Kindle is right for you?

If you're concerned about buying the newest tech, that's not an issue. There are six updated Kindle models for sale, as well as older editions still in stock.

Before you choose a Kindle, you need to ask one question first: Do you want it to be waterproof? If you prefer reading near a body of water — whether in the bath, by the pool, or at the beach — that immediately narrows down your options. Since the Kindle Oasis is no longer available, your waterproof options are the Kindle Paperwhite, Paperwhite Signature Edition, Colorsoft Signature Edition, and Paperwhite Kids.

The Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition settings screen. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Beyond water resistance, here are a few other features to consider:

• Display size: The basic Kindle has a 6-inch display, while the largest has a 10.2-inch display.

• Storage capacity: Kindles range from 16GB to 32GB of storage capacity.

• Battery life: The new Kindles generally have outstanding batteries. On the low end, they last up to six weeks per charge, while others last up to 12 weeks.

• Writing capability: The Kindle Scribe is the only model that allows you to write with the included stylus. 

The latest Kindles all boast a maximum brightness of 94 nits and a 300 ppi, high-resolution display with zero glare, so you can enjoy sharp text and images at any viewing angle. Kindles are also equipped with WiFi connectivity, allowing you to download all the reading material you could ever want. Plus, you can listen to audiobooks on Audible via the built-in Bluetooth connection.

Not to mention, out of all the e-readers I've tested, Kindles have the best compatibility with Libby. I love the digital platform because I can read for free and support my local library. Some other e-readers require you to download your library e-book to a computer and then upload it to an e-reader, but with Kindles, your e-books are sent straight to your device with a click.

And if you were a die-hard Kindle Oasis fan and are attached to page-turning buttons, you may need to stray from the Kindle line-up. Now, your best bet will be the Kobo Libra Colour.

How to get free e-books on Kindle

With just a click, transfer your Libby e-book to your Kindle device. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Your Libby ebook will automatically populate in your Kindle library. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The best way to read free e-books on a Kindle is with Libby. Libby allows you to borrow e-books through libraries, and all you need is a library card. Through the Libby app, borrow books and then select the "read with Kindle" option, which allows you to send these e-books to your Kindle library.

Another option for finding free e-books is through Stuff Your Kindle events. These are author-driven events that offer limited-time deals on e-books, often making them heavily discounted or totally free.

How to make the most of your Kindle

Through our testing and daily use, we've spent a lot of time with Kindles, learning how to make the most of them. We've written extensively on all the ways to maximize your Kindle, so be sure to browse through our guides and explainers:

• How to make the most of your Kindle: 8 features you need to use

• The best Kindle accessories for reading in luxury

• What is Stuff Your Kindle Day? The best way to fill your e-reader with free books

• I've read hundreds of free Kindle books with Libby. Here's how.

• What is Kindle Rewards? Earn free credits when shopping the Kindle store

• What is Kindle Unlimited? A library of books at your fingertips for just $12 a month

• Where to get free e-books: Load up your e-reader without spending a dime

• Prime members can get a free e-book every month with Amazon First Reads

• How to download EPUB files on your Kindle

• 8 Kindle features you should be using

• How to delete books from Kindle
  

Electronics giant LG has been under fire over the past few days after a viral two-hour video report by Gamers Nexus warned that LG's TVs surreptitiously record users' audio, even when the screen is turned off, as well as collecting details about networked devices, location data, and wireless network information.

Since the video's release, dozens of reaction videos have followed, with titles like "How to Stop Smart TV Spying" and "LG Isn't the Only TV Company Spying on You," from reputable channels such as Linus Tech Tips and RTINGS, respectively. 

In the wake of the video, LG has formally denied the claims on various news networks and in a statement on its website. Titled "Understanding Privacy on LG Smart TVs," LG unambiguously denies the central accusations of the Gamers Nexus video. 

"LG smart TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations. Speech-to-text processing begins only if a user activates a voice interaction through a supported wake-word feature or by pressing the voice (or AI) button on the remote control. Audio used for wake-word detection is processed locally on the TV and, if no wake word is detected, audio is not converted to text, stored, or transmitted. Voice-recognition results and related technical logs may be generated as part of processing a voice command. These records are associated with specific voice interactions and do not indicate continuous recording of conversations occurring outside an active voice recognition session."

LG claims that, "Speech-recognition results may be used to support voice-related features but are not uploaded later when the TV is offline or when connectivity is restored."

The company also pointed out that some of the most invasive features, like their Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) feature designed to learn from your viewing habits to offer better content recommendations, are optional.

But questions about LG's integrity, as well as the wording of their statement, still remain. If they contend that "LG smart TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations," does that mean they do so sporadically?

Ultimately, this controversy is another in a long-running series highlighting the need for a more honest conversation about the balance between consumer convenience and consumer privacy. It's definitely a conversation worth having, but in the future, it would be nice if it didn't happen after a major violation of consumer trust.

In a lengthy essay published Saturday morning, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that the AI industry needs to deliberately slow the pace of AI development. Amodei proposed a three-point plan he's calling "pacing the frontier," and it is a striking message from the head of a company racing toward what could be the largest IPO in history.

Soon after Amodei shared the essay on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly accepted his rival's proposal. "I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we've had at OpenAI in recent weeks."

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On his personal site, Amodei frames his argument around two recent developments he says convinced him the industry needs more caution. The first is a sharp acceleration in AI capabilities since the summer, driven by models increasingly being used to help build the next generation of AI, a phenomenon called recursive self-improvement. The second, and more notable, concern was the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident, in which a swarm of rogue AI agents escaped a secure sandbox and attacked a third party.

Because of this, Amodei wants to offer a fix but is explicit that he doesn't want to freeze model training. Amodei's proposed three-point plan is as follows:

• Anthropic will unilaterally grant outside evaluators (such as the safety group METR) permanent, employee-like access to verify its practices, similar to how bank regulators sometimes embed with financial firms.

• AI companies within democracies should coordinate on shared safety standards.

• Third, and hardest, he wants that coordination extended globally, including with China, while doubting Beijing would reliably comply.

He also paired this with some hawkish asks, like continued chip export restrictions on China and tighter security against model theft. Amodei framed these as necessary to preserve the U.S. lead over "authoritarian regimes," while also giving the industry room to pace safely.

While in a vacuum, this is the kind of thing you'd want a major AI CEO to ask for, it's part of a much bigger battle in the industry over who defines AI safety policy. Weeks earlier, OpenAI — which had opposed California's SB 53 frontier AI safety law — reversed course and called for the law to be strengthened in the wake of the Hugging Face incident. One analyst told Fortune the move might be genuine, but could also help OpenAI cement its lead by raising the bar for smaller rivals while signaling seriousness to regulators after its own stumble.

TechCrunch notes that coordination between the leading labs seems unlikely given the "apparent animosity" between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Amodei, as well as concerns that a coordinated slowdown could invite antitrust scrutiny.

Additionally, Anthropic is reportedly targeting a Nasdaq listing as early as mid-October, at a valuation that could reach roughly $2 trillion. A high-profile essay casting the company as uniquely safety-conscious could be a boon as it opens its doors to outside evaluators.

None of this makes Amodei's underlying concerns wrong; researchers across labs have flagged similar risks. Just this week, an Anthropic employee left the company and publicly accused Anthropic of recklessness, warning of "out of control" AI.

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

While the iPhone Duo was the standout product during Apple's September event, the second biggest news was the camera additions to the iPhone 18 Pro lineup.

For the first time ever, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max include a genuine variable aperture. It's paired with a new set of manual controls, upgraded video features, and a fresh approach to photo authenticity, making this arguably the most substantial camera overhaul Apple has shipped in years.

It's also a meaningful shift in what Apple wants the iPhone to be. Case in point, the event kicks off with different cinematic scenes shot on the iPhone 18 Pro. Between the adjustable aperture, manual shutter speed, manual focus, and a live histogram, the iPhone 18 Pro is basically an entry-level DSLR that can call and text your friends.

That said, it's worth watching how long Apple sticks with the hardware. Variable aperture isn't new to smartphones broadly; Samsung shipped a version of it with the Galaxy S9 and S10, before quietly dropping the feature entirely.

So, whether the feature is here to stay or not, here's a closer look at everything that's new.

Manual controls

For people who like to fine-tune their shots rather than let the phone decide everything, there's a new "Pro controls" panel baked right into the Camera app.

It surfaces the aperture setting mentioned above, plus shutter speed (how long the sensor is exposed to light — faster freezes motion, slower creates blur or lets in more light) and white balance (a color correction that keeps whites looking white instead of tinted orange under indoor lighting or blue in shade).

See that graph in the left corner. Credit: Apple / Mashable screenshot

There's also a histogram, which is a small graph that plots how exposed an image it. It looks technical, but the practical use is simple: if the graph is bunched up on the left, your photo's probably too dark; bunched on the right, it's probably blown out and too bright.

Smarter tracking, sharper video

Apple has reworked what it calls the "computational imaging pipeline" to produce cleaner, more detailed images. It's a neat, low-key upgrade, as smartphone photos are normally heavily processed by algorithms (merging multiple exposures, reducing noise, sharpening detail) rather than being raw, untouched captures.

Photographic Styles, the tool that lets you set a consistent color/mood preset across your photos, now also includes texture and grain controls. On the video side, Cinematic effects can now be applied after the fact to footage shot at up to 60 frames per second; time-lapse videos support 4K and Dolby Vision HDR; and Audio Mix's algorithms have been updated to produce cleaner-sounding voices and isolate background music more effectively.

There's also a new AI-powered smart focus system designed to lock onto and track a single moving subject through a frame, which should help with shooting kids, pets, or anything else that won't stay still.

Variable aperture

The headline feature is a 48MP main camera built around a physically adjustable aperture, something iPhones have never had before. In cameras, an aperture is the opening in a lens through which light passes to hit the camera sensor. A wider opening lets in more light (better for dim rooms or night shots) and blurs the background more; a narrower opening lets in less light but keeps more of the scene in sharp focus, which is useful outdoors or in group photos where you want everyone's face crisp.

The standard for most smartphone cameras has been a fixed aperture of a single size (the iPhone 17 Pro, for example, had a ƒ/1.78 fixed aperture). Apple says the aperture on the 18 Pro and Pro Max uses six hair-thin, laser-cut blades that can be physically adjusted between four aperture settings, automatically widening or narrowing depending on the lighting and depth of field a shot calls for.

Apple says the change improves low-light photos and produces crisper background detail in group shots, while giving photographers a level of manual control that wasn't previously available on the phone.

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As previously stated, variable aperture settings have existed before, but they don't stick around for long. The biggest reason is durability and production. It's a lot of delicate moving hardware to cram into a device that regularly gets dropped, tossed in bags, and generally treated worse than a dedicated camera ever would be. Even current-generation stabilization systems can behave unpredictably after a hard enough drop, so a mechanical aperture introduces a new point of failure.

The Galaxy S27 was rumored to be getting its own variable aperture system as recently as eight months ago. However, reports in August suggest Samsung scrapped those plans because they made the phone bulkier and were expensive to add for what Samsung deemed to be "minor image-quality gains."

Whether Apple's engineering proves more durable than Samsung's, or whether variable aperture quietly disappears from the iPhone lineup a generation or two from now, remains an open question.

Apple Reference Image

Perhaps the most unusual and frighteningly needed addition is Apple Reference Image, a new authenticity feature built around the Main camera's redesigned sensor.

Credit: Apple / Mashable screenshot

When a photo is taken in the new "Reference" capture mode, the sensor's data is cryptographically signed and processed through Apple's Private Cloud Compute into an unalterable reference version of the image. In short, it's a digital negative.

That reference photo sits alongside the normal shot in the Photos app, which can be compared with the final image to check whether it's been edited. Combined with image metadata and upcoming support for the SynthID watermarking standard, which flags AI-generated or AI-edited images.

Apple is positioning the feature as a way for photojournalists and everyday users alike to verify that a photo is what it claims to be, at a moment when AI-edited and AI-generated images are becoming harder to distinguish from real ones.

Anthropic is reportedly in talks with Nvidia to secure funding for its upcoming IPO, according to an exclusive report from Reuters. If the deal goes through, it'd make Anthropic's IPO one of the largest stock market debuts ever.

Reuters report cites two people familiar with the discussions between the Claude maker and Nvidia, although they weren't at liberty to speak publicly. According to Reuters, Anthropic is looking to raise as much as $100 billion in the offering, which would raise the company's valuation to around $2 trillion.

That would put Anthropic in the same financial weight class as some of the world's largest public companies, despite not yet being publicly traded itself. One source told Reuters that Nvidia is considering investing up to $10 billion as part of the deal, though the terms are still being worked out and could change.

Anthropic declined to comment on the discussions, and Nvidia did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Known as anchor investing, lining up a major investor ahead of an IPO has become common practice for companies planning especially large listings. A well-known backer buying in early can reassure the broader market that the offering is a safe bet. Reuters noted that Nvidia and Amazon played similar roles in chip designer Arm's IPO, while Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund did the same for SpaceX.

If it goes forward, Anthropic's IPO would extend a wave of major stock listings this year, following Elon Musk's SpaceX going public in June. Citing Dealogic data, Reuters reported that U.S. IPOs, excluding blank-check companies, had already raised a record $137 billion through the end of August.

Nvidia and Anthropic already have significant financial ties. Reuters reported that Nvidia agreed last November to invest up to $10 billion in Anthropic as part of a broader partnership under which Anthropic committed to spending $30 billion on Microsoft's Azure cloud service, which runs on Nvidia chips.

A new investment tied to the IPO would further deepen that relationship.

The newly announced iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max officially opened for preorders today, with the new Apple smartphones going on sale promptly at 8 a.m. ET.

Despite rumors that the online Apple Store was down ahead of the launch, the site appears to be working fine. Retailers and mobile carriers have also gone live with iPhone 18 Pro preorder deals, with companies like T-Mobile offering the iPhone 18 Pro for free for qualifying customers.

If you have any questions before ordering the new iPhones, we're here to help. Mashable Senior Editor Stan Schroeder has been reporting live from Apple Park all week and going hands-on with the new devices, and we'll have full reviews to share in the weeks ahead.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

Pre-order Here at T-Mobile Pre-order Here at AT&T Wireless Pre-order Here at Walmart

iPhone 18 Pro Max, 256GB

Save up to $1,200 at T-Mobile

 

Pre-order Here at T-Mobile Pre-order Here at Walmart Pre-order Here at Apple.com

How much do the new iPhones cost?

The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299. Both phones are $100 more expensive than last year's iPhone 17 Pro line, thanks to the global memory crisis.

When does the iPhone 18 Pro officially launch?

While preorders opened this morning, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will officially launch on Friday, Sept. 18. If you preorder, that's when your phone should arrive, and when you can go to your local Apple store to check them out for yourself.

What colors are available for the new iPhones?

The new Pro models come in four colors this year:

• Burgundy

• Glacier Blue

• Silver

• Black

When will the iPhone Duo be released?

If you're still deciding between the iPhone 18 Pro Max and the iPhone Duo, you have a bit more time to make a decision. The foldable iPhone Duo will be available for preorder on Oct. 16 and will hit store shelves Oct. 23. It will set you back $1,999.

How does the iPhone 18 Pro Max differ from the iPhone 17 Pro Max?

We'll be honest: The phones are very similar this year, but there are some key differences. (Read our full breakdown of the iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max.)

Here are the biggest changes:

• The new models introduce a new physical variable aperture for professional-quality photographs and videos, as well as smart focus tracking, cinematic video effects, and improved low-light photography.

• The iPhone 18 Pro has a better battery life

• A new A20 Pro chip provides better support for AI tools

• The new iPhone 18 Pro models are more expensive and have new color options

What are the best iPhone 18 Pro preorder deals?

All the big carriers are competing to attract new customers by offering big savings on the iPhone 18 Pro — if you meet certain terms and conditions, of course. Over at T-Mobile and AT&T, you can save $1,200 on the new phones, letting you get the new iPhone for free. Apple is also offering major trade-in credits.

• T-Mobile: Switch to T-Mobile and bring your existing phone number to get the iPhone 18 Pro for free. Alternatively, you can trade in an eligible phone on an Experience Beyond plan to score this deal.

• Apple: Get between $175 and $885 in trade-in credits.

• Apple Upgrade: Apple's new leasing program lets you pay as little as $34.99 per month for the Pro.

• AT&T: Save up to $1,200 on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max by trading in your iPhone 14 or newer device and activating an AT&T Premium 2.0 plan.

• Total Wireless: Save $600 on the iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max via the All Access plan.

• Verizon: Get up to $1,020 off when you upgrade and bring an eligible trade-in on an existing myPlan.

• Visible: If you buy the iPhone 18 Pro through Visible+ Pro, you'll receive $480 in monthly service credits. Both new and existing members are eligible.

• Walmart: The big-box retailer doesn't offer any true preorder deals, but you can finance the new iPhone for $78/month through OnePay, a Klarna-backed service.

• Xfinity: With a qualifying trade-in and device payment plan on the Mobile Plus plan, you can save $1,200 on the Pro model.

When do iOS 27 and Siri AI come out?

Very soon! iOS 27 will be available before the new phones, and anyone with a compatible iPhone can set it up starting on Monday, Sept. 14. The new Siri AI app will arrive with it.

Can you buy the new iPhone 18 Pro at Amazon?

No, Amazon does not sell the new iPhone 18 Pro line. However, Amazon is a great place to pick up iPhone 18 Pro Max cases, grips, and accessories, as well as the new AirPods 5 and Apple Watch Series 12.

Amazon typically sells renewed and refurbished iPhones. You can buy the new iPhones from Walmart, however.

What are reviewers saying about the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

Nothing yet. Mashable has received the new Pro and Pro Max phones for testing along with other tech journalists, but it's too soon for anyone to render a verdict just yet. Early first impressions have been positive, however, and you can learn more in these reports:

• Video: I played with Apple’s new iPhones. Here’s what surprised me most.

• Video: Our first take on the iPhone 18 Pro: Intelligent photography

• iPhone Duo hands-on: I barely noticed the crease

Should I buy the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

We'll have a full review of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned! In general, Apple smartphones are very reliable, and we think you can purchase the devices with confidence.

We will say this for now: If you already have an iPhone 17 Pro Max, the new models don't make a super obvious case for upgrading. And there are good reasons to consider waiting for next year's iPhone 19/20.

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

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max officially went on sale today ahead of their Sept. 18 launch (the foldable iPhone Duo won't be available until next month). And when you buy a new phone, that usually means buying a new phone case. The best iPhone 18 Pro cases will protect your phone when it inevitably slips out of your hands and tumbles to the ground, risking your $1,200 investment.

A lot of case companies started selling burgundy and glacier blue iPhone 18 Pro cases before the phones were even announced, and you can already find a ton of stylish and cute iPhone 18 Pro cases for sale online. Whether you're looking for a cheap $12 clear case, a classic PopSockets Grip, or a more fashion-forward Velvet Caviar case, we've found the top options for iPhone shoppers. We also checked Apple's official collection of iPhone 18 Pro Max cases for you.

If you're upgrading from the iPhone 17 Pro, there are two things you need to know. You can save up to $1,200 on the iPhone 18 Pro thanks to preorder deals, and your iPhone 17 Pro case should fit the 18 Pro just fine. Apple kept the measurements and button layouts exactly the same.

Our favorite iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max cases so far

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Credit: OtterBox

OtterBox iPhone 18 Pro Profile Series Case

$39.99 at Amazon

Let's start simple with this classic OtterBox iPhone 18 Pro Profile Series Case. It's not fancy or eye-catching, and that's exactly the point. The minimalist case is also MagSafe compatible.

Shop Now

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify iPhone 18 Pro Max MagSafe Case

$64 at Amazon

Here's another classic option, available for both the Pro and Pro Max. It's shock and drop-proof, and incldues an opening for a phone lanyard or strap.

Get Deal

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Credit: Casetify

Casetify iPhone 18 Pro Max Ripple MagSafe Case

$56 at Amazon

Looking for a case to match the new burgundy color? Casetify's MagSafe Ripple case provides extra protection — and extra color-matching.

Shop Now

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Credit: Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar Burgundy 1990 Jelly iPhone Case

$40 at Velvet Caviar

Velvet Caviar's burgundy iPhone case features a semi-transparent jelly base.

Shop Now