Blogroll

Standby mode is both a blessing and a curse. Fast startup times and background processes are convenient, but have you ever stopped to ask how much these services are worth to you per year?

For a long time, if you've wanted a laptop built to last, there's been a single easy-to-remember bit of advice: buy a ThinkPad. These laptops have long been designed with business customers in mind, so they're made to be durable and repairable. Yet there's now a better brand if you want a laptop that's not only repairable—but upgradeable.

For years, buying Samsung’s book-style foldable was simple—you picked the Galaxy Z Fold. That's changing this time. The company has overhauled its foldable lineup with a new member and naming scheme that might trip up even loyal fans. The standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 debuts Samsung’s brand-new wider design, while the usual tall and narrow foldable now carries the ‘Ultra’ badge.

Samsung is pairing the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 with major upgrades to its smartwatches. The company has introduced the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, both of which are more powerful and sport new AI capabilities.

Smart home assistants were supposed to get better over time. More natural, more reliable, better integrated with everything else you already use. Google had every reason to lead that charge.

SAVE OVER $10: As of July 22, the Lego Icons Kingfisher Bird has hit a new low on Amazon at $33.99. That's $16 off its full price of $49.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Lego Lego Icons Kingfisher Bird Model (10331) $33.99 at Amazon
$49.99 Save $16   Get Deal

The Lego Icons Kingfisher Bird's retirement may be on the horizon, but Amazon's offering shoppers a chance to grab this awesome Lego build at a discount before that happens. It's not just any regular discount, either. As of July 22, the retailer has dropped this set to a new low price of $33.99.

Usually, this Lego Kingfisher costs $49.99, so this is a great opportunity to save $16.

SEE ALSO: Lego is releasing the biggest Art Masterpiece ever: Everything you need to know about Gustav Klimt – The Kiss

As someone who's built this Lego Kingfisher set myself, I can confirm that it's definitely worth picking up at this price. With 834 pieces, it sees you creating a beautiful blue Kingfisher model, complete with a fish caught in its mouth and a water base for the display stand. Its head and claws are posable as well, so you can show it off at fun angles.

It's a truly amazing build to have up on display, and it's also worth mentioning that it's recommended for adults. This is because it has more of a complex assembly and is meant to be put on display once you're finished, though builders of any age can tackle it with a helping hand.

The Lego Icons Kingfisher Bird set's retirement is coming up soon, so now is a great opportunity to save on this amazing bird build at Amazon.

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

Did you know there are different Linux terminals, some with unique and special features that can genuinely improve your day-to-day experience? For the average user, the choice doesn't matter much, but if you're planning to get serious about the terminal—using terminal apps, Vim, or Emacs—the terminal you choose becomes almost as important as the Linux distribution you run. With that in mind, here's why I settled on my current terminal, along with how the other popular options compare to my daily driver.

HDMI-CEC was supposed to make home theater setups a lot easier to work with. At first, it seems like the kind of feature that would just work, but then the problems arise. The annoying part is that the protocol isn't broken exactly. It just has issues when it comes to handling the way most people actually build their setups. So it's better to turn it off.

In this episode of Mashable's Say More, the cast of Apple TV's The Dink — Mary Steenburgen, Jake Johnson, and Aaron Chen — sit down to play our movie title guessing game, Pop Mash!

Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko reads descriptions that combine two different movie or TV plots into one. To win, the cast must figure out the titles and mash them together using a shared common word. Watch as they team up to decode hilarious hybrid titles like Fantastic Four Christmases, Jungle Book Club, and Jurassic World War Z. Can they score a perfect 10 for 10?

On Tuesday, OpenAI published a blog post with a fairly unassuming name: "OpenAI and Hugging Face partner to address security incident during model evaluation."

Once you dig in, it reads like a cyberpunk novel in which OpenAI created an advanced AI hacker agent and put it in an isolated environment for testing. The AI agent then autonomously hacked its way out of OpenAI's isolated environment and then hacked Hugging Face, an open-source repository of AI-related projects, to find a solution to an advanced test designed to evaluate an AI's hacking abilities.

In other words, the AI proved that it is, indeed, really good at hacking things. But this is exactly the stuff of AI nightmares that cybersecurity experts have been warning us about, and it could have serious ramifications for OpenAI.

The story starts with Hugging Face, the AI repository (think of it as GitHub for AI), which disclosed a security incident last week. In a blog post, the company said it recently detected an intrusion into its infrastructure that was "different from anything we had handled" as it was completely driven by an "autonomous AI agent system."

The AI, according to Hugging Face, exploited a chain of vulnerabilities to obtain credentials and access data from its servers. It did so by "executing many thousands of individual actions across a swarm of short-lived sandboxes, with self-migrating command-and-control staged on public services."

Sounds scary, but it gets worse.

SEE ALSO: The 6 biggest cybersecurity breaches of 2026 so far

OpenAI's part of the story exposes just how dangerous this thing is. The incident "was driven by a combination of OpenAI models — including GPT‑5.6 Sol and an even more capable pre-release model, all with reduced cyber refusals for evaluation purposes." It occurred "during an internal evaluation which prompts models to pursue advanced exploitation using complex attack paths, in an effort to quantify their cyber capabilities."

The models were running in a "highly isolated environment" with limited network access, meaning they should never have been able to escape to the open internet. Yet, they did. "To gain access, the models identified and exploited a zero-day vulnerability (...) in the package registry cache proxy. With this access, our models performed a series of privilege escalation and lateral movement actions in our research testing environment until the models reached a node with Internet access."

Note: OpenAI switches between using singular and plural on this one; we'll just call it an "agent" for simplicity's sake.

Once free, the agent did what it was supposed to do: It estimated that the best way to prove it's good at hacking things was to find a solution for ExploitGym, a test designed to measure how good an AI is at turning software vulnerabilities into actual exploits. The best way to do that, it determined, was to hack Hugging Face, which the AI thought likely to host solutions for ExploitGym.

It's unclear whether the AI agent was successful at solving the ExploitGym test. But it sure did prove it was good at hacking, as it autonomously broke out of OpenAI's prison and hacked Hugging Face's servers, all to solve the test.

SEE ALSO: What’s next in Apple’s legal battle with OpenAI

Both Hugging Face and OpenAI say they've fixed the vulnerabilities and deployed additional safety measures to make sure this doesn't happen again. At this point, however, you have to wonder whether OpenAI's experts are sophisticated enough to stop their own AI agents from doing whatever the heck they want to do.

After years of using Excel, it's easy to fall into muscle memory. You click the same ribbon tabs, rely on the same shortcuts, and barely notice when Microsoft adds new tools. That's how I initially overlooked Focus Cell, a simple feature that solved one of my biggest frustrations when working in Excel.

Your smart home sometimes requires your attention in the same way that your brick-and-mortar home does. Remembering these tasks can help you avoid problems later on.

SAVE OVER $10: As of July 22, Raycon Everyday earbuds are on sale for $63.99 at Amazon. That's $16 off their list price of $79.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Raycon Raycon Everyday Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds $63.99 at Amazon
$79.99 Save $16.00   Get Deal

When it comes to budget earbuds, Raycon's Everyday earbuds are among our favorites. If they've caught your eye as a solid pair that won't break the bank, now is an excellent time to grab them as Amazon has discounted them to an even lower price than usual.

As of July 22, every available color of the Raycon Everyday earbuds has been marked down to $63.99 at the retailer. That's a $16 discount from their full price of $79.99, but they're only on sale at this price for a limited time.

SEE ALSO: 16 summer hosting essentials that cost under $25 at Amazon

The Raycon Everyday earbuds have plenty to offer to keep you fully absorbed in what you're listening to, including noise-canceling and up to 32 hours of battery life with the charging case. We think very highly of them, as they're among our favorite budget earbuds, and our review from Mashable's Bethany Allard said they "prove that basic earbuds can be better".

Allard's review continues on to say, "Raycon Everyday Earbuds succeed because they know exactly what they are: relatively affordable earbuds, meant not to wow, but to be reliable and convenient to use." She also adds that, "They have decent ANC, preset equalizer options, and the ability to activate a phone's voice assistant."

If you want new earbuds at a more affordable price, don't miss out on this deal on the Raycon Everyday earbuds at Amazon.

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

Obsidian has hundreds of community plugins—so many that simply browsing the list can feel overwhelming. Most plugins are built for specific workflows, and not every plugin will be useful to everyone.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you love to hit the course.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for July 22, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Breakout

• Green: On the course

• Blue: Social media terms

• Purple: An exotic animal

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

Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Symptoms of an allergic reaction

• Green: On a golf scorecard

• Blue: Platform-specific posts

• Purple: Features of a zebra

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

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

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1137 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Symptoms of an allergic reaction: HIVES, ITCHING, RASH, REDNESS

• On a golf scorecard: HOLE, PAR, SCORE, STROKES

• Platform-specific posts: PINS, SNAPS, TWEETS, VINES

• Features of a zebra: HOOVES, MANE, TAIL, WHITE STRIPES

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for July 22, 2026

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

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

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

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're a trivia lover.

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for July 22, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: "What is..."

The words are related to games.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe a famous game show.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

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

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is In Jeopardy.

NYT Strands word list for July 22

• Board

• Category

• Wager

• In Jeopardy

• Question

• Buzzer

• Answer

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

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

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

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a truck driver.

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

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 22, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

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

What happened to the Wordle archive?

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

Is Wordle getting harder?

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for July 22, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

A truck.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter R appears twice.

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

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter L.

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

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

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

LORRY

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

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

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

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

In case you've been away from the internet for a few days, a new celebrity animal has been propelled into the spotlight.

We're talking of course about Jimothy, the viral Seattle raccoon whose unusual shape — which professors have speculated may be a result of congenital spine deformity — has caused footage and photos of him to be shared far and wide.

SEE ALSO: Jimothy the raccoon is taking over the internet

On Tuesday, Threads users noticed that Jimothy's fame has now been acknowledged by the search engine gods — namely, he has his own Google animation.

Behold, this is what happens if you type "Jimothy" into Google on smartphone or desktop:

Once he's scampered across the screen, a button pops up allowing you to replay the animation or share it.

What would Jimothy think if he knew that the human race is now paying homage to him with fan art?

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: How to play Pips, the newest NYT game

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Wednesday, July 22, 2026:

AcrossMother chicken

• The answer is Hen.

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

Word after "leading" and "first"

• The answer is Lady.

Just peachy ... or a hint to the two letters that appear most often in this grid

• The answer is Dandy.

Bryant of "S.N.L." fame

• The answer is Aidy.

Like overcooked chicken

• The answer is Dry.

DownHelpful

• The answer is Handy.

Swirl of water

• The answer is Eddy.

The Yankees, on scoreboards

• The answer is NYY.

Supervillain's hideout

• The answer is Lair.

___ joke

• The answer is Dad.

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

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

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

TL;DR: Ahead of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's July 31 theatrical debut, Takis has launched limited-edition collectible bags inspired by the film. From July 1 through Aug. 31, shoppers who spend $15 on qualifying Takis products can earn $8 in Fandango Rewards for a movie ticket.

Fans counting down to Spider-Man: Brand New Day can earn a discount on their movie ticket with their next snack run.

Takis has launched limited-edition bags inspired by the upcoming Marvel film, and shoppers who spend $15 on participating products through Aug. 31 will receive $8 in Fandango Rewards that can be used towards a ticket to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Takis has rolled out limited-edition Spider-Man: Brand New Day-themed packaging across four of its rolled tortilla chip flavors: Fuego, Blue Heat, Intense Nacho, and Nitro. Each flavor sports a different collectible design, and fans can find the bags at participating retailers nationwide.

The limited-edition packaging and ticket offer are just part of the collaboration. Takis says it will also bring the partnership to life with fan experiences, influencer content, and in-store promotions throughout the summer.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings exclusively into theaters on July 31, starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, and Mark Ruffalo.

It’s not quite web-slinging, but saving $8 on a movie ticket is a pretty good superpower for a bag of chips.