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Clean, restock, refresh — all with one $15 Sam’s Club membership
TL;DR: A $15 Sam’s Club membership can help streamline your spring refresh with bulk essentials and lifestyle finds.
Opens in a new window Credit: Sam's Club 1-Year Sam's Club Membership with Auto-Renew $15$50 Save $35 Get Deal
Spring tends to bring a long list of to-dos — organizing closets, kitchens, outdoor spaces, and even office setups. It’s also a time when shopping trips can start to add up.
A one-year Sam’s Club membership for $15 (reg. $50) through March 29 offers a way to streamline that process by bringing a wide range of essentials into one place.
Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!Rather than bouncing between multiple stores, members can access groceries, household goods, seasonal outdoor items, clothing, and more in a single trip. For anyone tackling a spring refresh, that convenience alone may help save time and simplify planning.
Bulk purchasing is another key advantage. Buying larger quantities of frequently used items — like pantry staples, cleaning supplies, or paper goods — can help reduce the cost per unit over time. For families, that can translate into fewer midweek store runs.
For small business owners or home-based entrepreneurs, it can also support more predictable inventory and supply management. Beyond products, membership includes additional perks that add value. These include discounts on travel, which is a fan favorite. There’s also a practical side to having fewer errands on your list. Consolidating shopping into fewer trips can free up time for other priorities, whether that’s work, family, or simply enjoying the season.
Don’t miss getting a one-year Sam’s Club Membership for just $15 (reg. $50) through March 29 with code MARCH15.
Want to see more deals? Visit the shop and use code MARCH15 to save an extra 15% sitewide through March 29. Exclusions apply.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Build confidence in a new language with Babbel
TL;DR: Lifetime access to Babbel Language Learning is just $159, thanks to the StackSocial code LEARN.
Opens in a new window Credit: Babbel Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages) $159$646.20 Save $487.20 Get Deal
Planning a trip often comes with a familiar thought: I wish I knew at least a little of the language. And it makes sense. Learning to speak the language is a surefire way to enjoy your trip more.
Babbel makes it easier to learn, and a lifetime access is just $159 (reg. $646.20) with the StackSocial code LEARN.
Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!Babbel focuses on helping users build practical conversation skills, not just memorize vocabulary. Lessons are designed by more than 100 linguists and structured around real-world scenarios — like ordering food, asking for directions, or navigating transportation. The idea is to help learners feel more comfortable actually speaking, not just recognizing words on a screen.
Lessons typically run 10 to 15 minutes, making it easier to fit learning into a daily routine without the overwhelm. Over time, that consistency can add up, and many users find they can handle basic conversations within a few weeks. A key part of the experience is its speech recognition technology, which helps guide pronunciation. Instead of guessing how something should sound, learners can practice speaking and get feedback along the way.
There’s also an AI-powered conversation feature that allows users to simulate real dialogue, helping bridge the gap between studying and actual communication.
The subscription includes access to 14 languages. With offline access, personalized review sessions, and a focus on everyday topics, Babbel positions itself as a practical tool for building language confidence.
Don’t miss getting lifetime access to Babbel for a one-time $159 payment (reg. $646.20) with the StackSocial code LEARN.
Want to see more deals? Visit the shop and use code MARCH15 to save an extra 15% sitewide through March 29. Exclusions apply.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
This lightweight and portable Lenovo Chromebook is now 70% off
TL;DR: The refurbished Lenovo 11.6-inch Chromebook 100E Gen 2 is on sale for $59.99 (reg. $199).
Opens in a new window Credit: Lenovo Lenovo 11.6-Inch 2019 (Refurbished) $59.99$199.99 Save $140 Get Deal
A capable everyday laptop doesn’t have to cost a fortune. For anyone who browses, streams, or handles light work on the go, this refurbished Chromebook checks the right boxes, and for a limited time, it’s down to just $59.99 (reg. $199).
The Lenovo 11.6-inch Chromebook 100E Gen 2 is built for lightweight, web-based use. Powered by an AMD A4-9120C processor and 4GB of RAM, it handles multitasking across browser tabs, email, and cloud-based apps like a charm. The 32GB of solid-state storage isn’t meant for a large local library, but it delivers quick boot times and reliably smooth day-to-day performance.
Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!Because it runs on Chrome OS, it’s designed around cloud storage and browser-based tools, which help keep things fast and simple without requiring much maintenance. Automatic updates and built-in security features also make it a low-effort option for everyday use.
Its compact 11.6-inch HD display and lightweight design make it easy to carry around, whether you’re moving between rooms, commuting, or packing it in a bag for school or travel. You’ll also get a mix of modern ports, including USB-C for charging and accessories, plus USB 3.2 and an SD card slot for added flexibility.
This laptop is listed as Grade A refurbished, meaning it should arrive in near-mint condition with minimal signs of wear. That can be a practical way to save on a device that still handles everyday computing needs.
This setup makes the most sense for students, casual users, or anyone who primarily works in a browser and doesn’t need high-powered specs. If you’re editing video or running demanding software, this won’t be the right fit, but for lighter tasks, it keeps things straightforward.
For a limited time, you can get the Lenovo Chromebook 100E Gen 2 for $59.99 (reg. $199), which is 70% off.
Want to see more deals? Visit the shop and use code MARCH15 to save an extra 15% sitewide through March 29. Exclusions apply.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Hackers says they breached Crunchyroll, stole nearly 7 million users data
Crunchyroll, the popular anime streaming platform, is currently investigating an alleged breach that may have led to the leak of personal data belonging to 6.8 million of its users.
The stolen user data from Crunchyroll appears to have been obtained by exploiting vulnerabilities at a third-party company, Telus International, which Crunchyroll outsources its customer support to.
"We are aware of recent claims and are currently working closely with leading cyber security experts to investigate the matter," Crunchyroll said in a statement.
The cybersecurity outlet Bleeping Computer says that the hacker reached out to them to provide information and proof of the stolen data.
SEE ALSO: Apple responds to DarkSword spyware, the hacker tool targeting iPhonesThe hacker says that they infected a customer support agent's computer with malware and gained access to the employee's Okta login credentials. From there, the hacker gained access to multiple accounts that Crunchyroll has with other third-party services such as Zendesk, Google Workspace Mail, Slack, Mixpanel, Jiro Service Management, Wizer, and MaestroQA.
According to the hacker, the breach occurred on March 12, and their access was revoked after 24 hours. However, within that time frame, the hacker downloaded 8 million support ticket records from Crunchyroll's Zendesk account. There were 6.8 million unique email addresses included in these tickets.
The hacker showed Bleeping Computer screenshots detailing the types of personal information allegedly stolen from Crunchyroll's users, which includes full names, usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, general geographic location, and what was included in the support tickets. Credit card information does not appear to have been stolen; however, if a user provided the last four digits of their card number or their card's expiration date in a support ticket, then that information would be among the stolen data.
The hacker claims to have sent a $5 million ransom to Crunchyroll for the data, but the hacker says that they have not heard back from the company.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.The International Cyber Digest account on X also shared that they received screenshot evidence of the breach from the hacker. The account also reported that 100GB of data was stolen.
According to the cybersecurity firm SOCRadar, a post was published on a hacker forum on the same day of the alleged hack titled "Crunchyroll email and IP." The post included obscured sample data allegedly from the data stolen in the breach.
Interestingly, Telus had also confirmed with Bleeping Computer on March 12 that the company had suffered a breach from the well-known hacker group ShinyHunters. However, it is believed that the Crunchyroll-related breach at Telus is unrelated to the hacker group.
Crunchyroll has not yet issued a statement or acknowledgement of the potential breach to its users.
Buying a used hybrid? 5 critical checks that could save you thousands
Buying a used vehicle always comes with its share of unknowns, but when you add a high-voltage battery, a complex braking system, and a more expansive warranty to the mix, things can get a little more confusing. While a well-maintained hybrid can easily cruise past the 200,000-mile mark, the hidden costs of a neglected one can erase any potential fuel savings.
3 gripping Netflix thrillers you must watch this week (March 23-29)
Who's ready to start their week off with some thrills? It might be a Monday, but the excitement of the weekend does not have to end. One of my favorite categories on Netflix is thrillers, a diverse genre with plenty of options. Whether you want action or horror with your excitement, the streamer's thriller page has it all.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang says AGI is here — sort of
Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI, has spent the last year or so as the AI industry's favorite buzzword. As the sector's leading companies burn through capital at historic rates, racking up energy costs and investor expectations that grow harder to meet by the quarter, the promise of imminent human-level machine intelligence has become a useful thing to have in your back pocket.
Whether we're actually close to that milestone depends almost entirely on how you define it. That definitional flexibility, it turns out, is doing a lot of work.
Take, for example, Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA — a company currently valued at roughly $4 trillion, built largely on the GPU hardware that powers the AI boom — who recently sat down with podcaster Lex Fridman for a wide-ranging conversation covering data centers, geopolitics, and the question of whether AGI has already arrived. Huang thinks it has. The reasoning behind that claim, however, is fairly dubious.
As Fridman points out, Huang has previously said the timeline for AGI depends on what defines it. At the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit, Huang defined AGI as software capable of passing tests that approximate normal human intelligence at a reasonably competitive level. He expected AI to clear that bar within five years.
For his part, Fridman offered Huang a generous definition to work with: true AGI, in Fridman's framing, would look like an AI capable of starting, growing, and running a technology company worth more than a billion dollars. He asked whether that was achievable in the next five to 20 years, given the recent proliferation of agentic AI tools like OpenClaw.
Huang didn't need five to 20 years. "I think it’s now. I think we’ve achieved AGI," he replied to Fridman.
That, however, is based on a narrow interpretation of what Fridman asked. The way Huang sees it, the AI doesn't need to build anything lasting. It doesn't need to manage people, navigate a board, or sustain a business. It just needs to hit a billion dollars once.
SEE ALSO: Microsoft dumps $1 billion into 'artificial general intelligence' project"You said a billion," Huang told Fridman, "and you didn't say forever."
The through-line in both cases isn't a consistent theory of machine intelligence. It's a consistent pattern of defining the threshold in whatever way makes "yes, we're there" the easiest possible answer. His illustration of what that might look like is telling.
After his initial answer, Huang lays out his thoughts, describing a scenario in which an AI creates a simple web service — some app that goes viral, gets used by a few billion people at 50 cents a pop, and then quietly folds. He then points to the dot-com era as precedent, arguing that most of those websites were no more sophisticated than what an AI agent could generate today.
Huang was also candid about the ceiling of that vision. "The odds of 100,000 of those agents building NVIDIA," he said plainly, "is zero percent." That's not a small caveat. It's the whole ballgame.
What Huang is actually describing — a viral app that monetizes briefly and dies — is a far cry from the transformative, economy-reshaping AGI that dominates the public conversation. So, by his own admission, the kind of compound institutional intelligence required to build something like NVIDIA is nowhere in the picture yet.
3 fantastic Paramount+ movies to watch this week (March 23 - 29)
It may officially be spring, and while we do very much encourage you to get outside and breathe the warmer air, us movie diehards still need to unwind during the week with a good movie or two.
Firefox 149 now available with multitasking upgrades and new visuals
Mozilla has started rolling out Firefox 149, one day ahead of schedule. It focuses on smarter multitasking and productivity-focused features. The latest version finally delivers a built-in split-screen mode that’s been in testing for months. There’s also a polished interface with updated visuals. Here’s everything new in Firefox 149.
3 fantastic Netflix movies to watch this week (March 23 - 29)
March is typically a slow month for new movies. It comes after "Dumpuary" and before summer blockbuster season. Credit goes to Netflix, which has used March to its advantage by releasing several anticipated movies on its 2026 slate.
Amazon Big Spring Sale: How long does it last and when does it end?
We all know Prime Day, Amazon's flagship sale that has millions of deals for Prime members. Additionally, Amazon has hosts Prime Big Deal Days in October in the lead up to Black Friday. And to tack on one more sale a year, there's Amazon's Big Spring Sale. The March event focuses on seasonal items as you start to prep for warmer weather.
The Big Spring Sale is different from Amazon's other sales, though. During both Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days, the deals are available only to Prime members. However, the Big Spring Sale is available to shop for non-members, too. Plus, it's Amazon's longest sale. So, how long does the sale actually last, and when does it end? Here's what you need to know about the Big Spring Sale.
How long does Amazon's Big Spring Sale last?Amazon's Big Spring Sale is the retailer's longest sale. The Big Spring Sale officially runs for seven days from March 25 to 31. However, that doesn't include all the lead-up as Amazon is already running early deals, which basically makes it a two-week event.
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When does the Big Spring Sale end?The final day of Amazon's Big Spring Sale is March 31. That means once April 1 comes around, the sale is over — no joke. Official deals will end March 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT (or 2:59 a.m. ET), though we might see some linger after the sale's end.
What's on sale during the Big Spring Sale?As we wait for the sale to officially start on March 25, we're looking out for early deals. Already, we've spotted some early deals worth your attention, including a Kindle at its lowest price ever.
Best early Big Spring Sale deals Best Kindle deal Amazon Kindle Colorsoft $169.99 (Save $80) Get Deal Best Apple deal Apple AirPods Pro 3 $219.99 (Save $29.01) Get Deal Best Robot Vacuum Deal Roborock Q10 S5+ $279.99 (Save $270) Get Deal Best Headphones Deal Sony WH-CH720N $98 (Save $81.99) Get Deal Best TV deal Hisense 75-inch U7 Mini LED QLED 4K TV $897.96 (Save $400.03) Get Deal Best outdoor deal Anker Solix C1000 Gen 2 portable power station $489.99 (Save $309.01) Get Deal3 additives that protect high-mileage engines (and when to use them)
Engine additives are to cars what protein powders are to gym-goers: passionately praised by some as essential for performance, dismissed by others as mere hype or snake oil.
DietPi just made it easy to host your own Google Photos on a Raspberry Pi
DietPi is a popular operating system for Raspberry Pi boards and other low-power systems, offering improved performance and pre-made configurations for common applications and self-hosted services. DietPi v10.2 has now arrived with Immich as an optional package, along with other changes.
Xbox announces Partner Showcase: When is it, how to watch
It's been a rough, unsteady console generation for Xbox, but the company has a product showcase for our perusal later this week.
Microsoft's gaming brand announced a new Partner Showcase livestream on this morning, slated to take place on Thursday, March 26 at 1 p.m. ET. You can watch the stream on YouTube or Twitch at that time.
Xbox was very clear to point out that first-party Xbox Game Studios productions will not be the focus here, as it will instead center around upcoming third-party releases. These include RGG Studio's Stranger Than Heaven, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, and something new for the already-released Stalker 2.
SEE ALSO: Former Xbox President Sarah Bond breaks silence after surprise exit This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.While it's normal for game companies to periodically show us their wares in this fashion, the timing is a big part of why this Xbox partner stream is interesting. Just last month, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer and president Sarah Bond both simultaneously left the company. Spencer's exit wasn't terribly surprising, given the tough position Xbox found itself in under his leadership, but Bond hitting the ejector seat rather than stepping into Spencer's shoes was a big deal. Instead, Microsoft put former AI executive Asha Sharma in charge of Xbox.
Those leadership changes came after a years-long spiral that has resulted in Xbox being in a pretty tough place, financially and in terms of reputation. Big acquisitions of brands like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard have not resulted in a higher output of quality first-party games as some hoped they would, while Xbox Series hardware has lagged behind the competition. There's also the matter of Xbox being a priority target for the BDS movement thanks to Microsoft's work with the Israeli military; speaking anecdotally, many people I know have stopped playing Xbox games because of this. Xbox has unveiled some very vague plans about its next console, but that hasn't stopped the bleeding on its own.
If nothing else, it will be interesting to see if Xbox's marketing changes at all under the new leadership team. We can all find out together on Thursday afternoon.
Nvidia quietly moved the legendary GTX 1080 Ti and 4 other classic GPUs to legacy status
I'm the last person to tell you that you need to buy new hardware when you clearly don't. While it's easy to get stuck in an upgrade loop and always want the next best thing in PC hardware, it's not a good idea. GPUs are a great example of this: upgrading every generation isn't optimal for most users.
This is the fastest and cheapest way to build a fully offline Home Assistant smart home
Along with choice and sustainability, privacy is one of the three central pillars of the Open Home Foundation, the non-profit behind the free and open source Home Assistant software. The core of this pillar is the ability to control your devices locally without having to share data with cloud services. If you want to set up an offline smart home, it can be quicker and cheaper than you might think.
5 Microsoft Excel hacks that could blow your mind
Mastering Microsoft Excel's tools is a never-ending process, even for those who have used the program at work or at home for decades. With this in mind, here are some of my favorite Excel hacks I've picked up over the years that you can take away and use to speed up your spreadsheet workflow.
Samsung has been ordered to pay Galaxy S22 owners for deceptive advertising
One of the most common issues that sometimes pops up in smartphones is overheating. It’s very noticeable when the phone in your hands gets too warm, and manufacturers try their best to avoid this. However, Samsung went too far with precautions in the Galaxy S22 series—now they’re paying for it.
The internet made BTS. Arirang asks what comes next.
The first thing BTS ask for on Arirang, the group's long-awaited fifth studio album, is simple: "Put your phone down."
It sounds almost cliché in an era of screen fatigue, but coming from BTS, it lands with a strange kind of dissonance. This is, after all, a group that didn't just benefit from social media but helped define how K-pop stars are expected to exist within it.
For over a decade, BTS have lived not just on the internet, but through it, building a global audience by turning screens into something intimate. Their practice room videos and late-night livestreams didn't just document their rise — they changed what proximity between artist and fan could feel like. It didn't matter that BTS were thousands of miles away or spoke Korean; the screen bridged the distance. It made every post, every update, feel immediate, like a digital exchange between friends.
Credit: BIG HIT MUSICTheir fandom moved with that same fluency. Fans didn't just watch. They organized, amplified, and pushed BTS into spaces that had long felt inaccessible, bringing the group to historic heights on the U.S. music charts.
So what does it mean for BTS to ask listeners to step away from the very device that made them global? That connected them to millions of fans at once?
On its surface, Arirang reads as a reflection, maybe even a correction to the glossy, outward-facing pop of "Dynamite," "Butter," and "Permission to Dance" — a recalibration after years spent scaling themselves for a global audience. In the lead-up to the album, BTS promised a return to their roots. The framing makes that expectation almost inevitable. Arirang takes its name from a defining Korean folk song, a cultural touchstone long associated with longing and return. On paper, it signals a homecoming: a project that re-centers BTS within a specifically Korean tradition after years of global expansion.
SEE ALSO: 'BTS: The Return' review: The world's biggest boy band, without a clear directionBut the return isn't quite that literal. If Arirang moves back toward anything, it's not just heritage but foundation — a renewed emphasis on the hip-hop sensibilities that first defined BTS's sound and sharp lyricism. That grounding shapes the album's early stretch, before it opens into something more overtly pop.
Long before they were filling stadiums, their music and presence were built on forging direct, emotional links with listeners across language, geography, and vastly different lived experiences. BTS offered a version of digital intimacy that felt genuine, even revolutionary. Their early Twitter posts and V Lives didn't carry the polish that now defines idol content. They felt loose. Personal. At times, almost accidental. The internet made that connection scalable. It allowed BTS to collapse distance in a way that felt unprecedented.
But on Arirang, that connection takes a different form. It no longer has to be engineered or maintained. Instead, it's embedded in the music itself, no longer needing to be mediated to feel real.
On the bouncy, frenetic "Body To Body," where RM first delivers that opening line, closeness is framed as something immediate. "Put your phone down, let's get all the fun," he insists, pushing against a concert culture where even live moments are filtered through screens, optimized for capture and circulation. In K-pop, especially, where the clip economy drives visibility, presence is often secondary to documentation. The song resists that instinct. The moment only exists if you're in it.
In K-pop, especially, where the clip economy drives visibility, presence is often secondary to documentation.But Arirang doesn't romanticize disconnection. It reframes the internet as something sharper, more volatile, a space where connection and harm coexist at the same speed. Suga makes that explicit: "Guns, knives, keyboards, put all that away." The keyboard is not metaphorical. It's a recognition of how language travels now — instantly, globally, and often without care for what it lands on.
That duality defines much of the album. On "Normal," BTS give language to the instability of constant visibility: "Show me hate, show me love, make me bulletproof / Yeah, we call this shit normal." Fame here isn't a fixed state; it's a condition of perpetual exposure, where affirmation and critique arrive simultaneously and with equal force. The song doesn't resolve that tension so much as sit inside it.
Credit: BIGHIT Music / NetflixElsewhere, Arirang turns its attention to the systems that produce that visibility. On the frenetic "FYA," the language of the dance floor collapses into the language of the feed: "Club go psycho / Might take you viral." For BTS, virality is no longer an outcome; it's an atmosphere. Every space they move through is already primed for capture, flattened into something that can be looped, shared, and consumed in fragments.
BTS are not rejecting the internet, nor are they fully embracing it. They are negotiating with it, acknowledging both its role in their ascent and its limitations as a space for sustaining something real.
You can hear that negotiation in the album's structure. Since BTS's hiatus, short-form video has reshaped not just how music is promoted, but how it's made. Songs are shorter, hooks arrive faster, moments are engineered for virality. TikTok has become central to the lifecycle of a song, creating an ecosystem that favors loops over progression.
BTS are acutely aware of this change. They've spoken about the "Shorts generation," about songs becoming shorter, more immediate. "People don't listen to long songs anymore," Jimin told Bloomberg in March 2026. In that same interview, RM noted that after returning to Korea from their Los Angeles sessions, tracks were trimmed by "maybe 15, 20 seconds" in final production.
You can hear it in the album's pacing, its sharp transitions, and the way certain sections feel designed to land quickly. Its opening stretch is restless, pulled in multiple directions — hip-hop, club beats, tonal pivots that never quite settle. It mirrors the churn of the feed: constant motion, constant escalation, nothing held in place for long.
Then, abruptly, it stops.
"No. 29" arrives as a single, resonant toll. The Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok rings out, unaccompanied, uninterrupted. No build. No transition. Just sound, sustained until the reverberation stills into silence. It refuses optimization. It can't be clipped into a trend or condensed into a loop. It simply exists, asking you to sit with it.
What follows shifts the album's center of gravity. If the first half contends with external forces, the second turns inward. "Swim," the lead single, arrives like the tide, not in crashing waves but in a slow, steady pull. The repetition of “swim” on the hook feels less like motion than suspension, like treading water in a vast, open ocean. "Under here, we don’t chase the time," j-hope sings, as the track settles into something slower, drifting into focus rather than announcing itself.
And yet, time lingers as a quiet pressure. On "Merry-Go-Round," Suga names the feeling directly: "Every day the same routine, merry-go-round or hamster wheel." It's a striking image for a group returning at full scale, one that frames success not as forward motion, but as repetition. Even growth loops back on itself. Even momentum feels cyclical.
The internet that once made BTS feel close is no longer the same one they're returning to.On "Like Animals," the album's standout track, distance gives way to instinct. The production turns hazy, grunge-leaning, less polished, more atmospheric. Connection is no longer abstract or symbolic. It's physical, carnal. "None of us are tameable," j-hope reminds the listener. The line lands as release, stripping away the layers of performance and translation that define so much of digital interaction. "There's beauty outside control," RM sings.
That kind of freedom feels harder to come by now. The internet that once made BTS feel close is no longer the same one they're returning to.
Intimacy now registers as expectation. The access that fueled BTS's rise has hardened into something more transactional in the years since their last group release. Visibility becomes currency. Presence starts to look like performance. Even authenticity begins to feel orchestrated.
At times, Arirang pushes against the noise, searching for clarity beneath it. But it never fully steps outside the system it's questioning. It moves through the same cycles of virality and discourse that helped elevate BTS in the first place. Asking listeners to "put your phone down" becomes its own paradox, a message designed to spread as widely as possible online.
BTS are not stepping outside the system that made them global. They're trying to understand what it has become.
In the four years since their last release as a group, the digital ecosystem that amplified BTS into a global phenomenon has fractured into something faster, noisier, and harder to hold onto. Songs arrive as snippets before they're heard in full. Moments peak and disappear in the same breath. Fandom disperses across platforms and timelines that rarely overlap. What once felt shared now feels scattered.
There was a time when BTS existed at the center of a kind of digital monoculture, when discourse around the group moved in waves, unified and overwhelming. Praise and criticism alike traveled at scale. To express dissent meant risking being swallowed by it. The internet seemed, if not singular, then at least synchronized.
That coherence has thinned. The slow dissolution of platforms like Twitter (now X under Elon Musk's ownership) as a central "town square" has fractured conversation into smaller, more insulated spaces. What used to play out in public now disperses across group chats, private communities, and algorithmically sorted feeds. You are now more likely to exist in a version of the internet that reflects you back to yourself.
The online response to Arirang reflects that change. BTS releases have typically been met with near-total consensus — whether celebratory or defensive — in which dissent was often drowned out or met with swift, overwhelming pushback from fans. The conversation around this album feels more varied, more open, and even more critical. Not quieter, but less unified. The intensity hasn't disappeared; it's just been redistributed.
And crucially, BTS no longer seem to need that consensus.
They return not as artists trying to be seen, but as the biggest band in the world. Attention is already guaranteed. The question now is what that attention means and how they choose to move forward under its glare.
They return not as artists trying to be seen, but as the biggest band in the world.The tension never fully resolves. Instead, Arirang begins to imagine a different relationship to it — one less defined by acceleration, more by duration. Not connection as something broadcast outwardly, but something held in place.
That instinct traces back to the album's title. "Arirang," a beloved Korean folk song, endures not because it spread quickly, but because it has been carried across generations, borders, and time.
BTS have long been positioned as a bridge between Korea and the global pop landscape, between tradition and reinvention. But that role has historically required a constant expansion toward new audiences. Arirang feels like a re-evaluation of that impulse. Not a retreat from the world, but a shift in how they move through it. What once felt like expansion now feels like proximity.
Credit: BIGHIT Music / NetflixThat becomes most tangible on stage, where BTS have long described concerts as the center of what they do. After years apart, performance becomes the place where connection is shared in real-time, carried between bodies, and not just transmitted through screens. Their live comeback concert was broadcast on Netflix, but its meaning was rooted in the physical. In central Seoul, BTS shut down streets and performed in front of Gwanghwamun Gate, turning a historic public square into a site of shared experience for tens of thousands of fans. Not just something to watch, but something to be inside, together.
In that context, Arirang reads less like a resolution and more like preparation. A way of reorienting, not away from the internet, but beyond its limits. It turns toward a form of connection built to be felt rather than consumed.
Or, as j-hope puts it on "Body To Body," drawing a line between experience and mediation: "You could see about it, or you read about it." For BTS, that distinction feels newly urgent.
In an internet that flattens everything into moments, Arirang reaches for something else. Not what travels across timelines, but what lingers. Not what's seen, but what's actually there.
Best Buy’s Tech Fest is officially over, but these leftover deals are still worth your money
The Amazon Big Spring Sale is all anyone can talk about right now (which, fair, it's basically a pre-game for July's Prime Day event). But Amazon isn't the only retailer dropping prices this week.
In a completely unsurprising move to steal some of that spotlight, Best Buy threw its own Tech Fest sale over the weekend. The official event technically wrapped up on Sunday, but a ton of those discounts are still live on the site today, including markdowns on big-ticket items like OLED TVs, noise-canceling headphones, and Apple products.
SEE ALSO: Amazon's Big Spring Sale is back: The best deals already live on Apple, robot vacuums, headphones, and moreSo before you blow your entire shopping budget at Amazon, here are the best leftover Best Buy deals you can add to your cart right now.
Best deal overall Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung 65-inch Samsung Class S84F OLED 4K UHD Vision AI Smart Tizen TV $899.99 at Best Buy$1,999.99 Save $1,100 Get Deal Why we like it
There are literally hundreds of leftover deals still floating around Best Buy's site right now, and we'll be updating this piece as we dig through more of them. But if we had to single out a discount to jump on right this second, it's this one. Scoring a 65-inch Samsung OLED for under $900 is basically unheard of outside of Black Friday. If you've been waiting for an excuse to finally upgrade your living room setup, saving over a grand on a premium display beats paying full price for whatever shiny new model drops next month.
Best TV deals55-inch Insignia Class F50 Series LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TV — $179.98 $349.99 (save $170.01)
55-inch Insignia Class QF Series QLED 4K UHD Smart Fire TV — $199.99 $399.99 (save $200)
48-inch LG Class B5 Series OLED AI 4K UHD Smart webOS TV — $599.99 $1,299.99 (save $700)
65-inch Samsung Class S84F OLED 4K UHD Vision AI Smart Tizen TV — $899.99 $1,999.99 (save $1,100)
85-inch TCL Class QM6K Series 4K UHD HDR QD Mini LED Smart TV with Google TV — $999.99 $1,999.99 (save $1,000)
15.6-inch Acer Chromebook 315 (Intel Celeron N4500, 4GB LPDDR4X, 64GB eMMC) — $149 $299 (save $150)
14-inch HP Laptop (Intel Processor N150, 4GB RAM, 128GB UFS) — $204 $219.99 (save $15.99)
15.6-inch Lenovo IdeaPad 1 (AMD Ryzen 5 7520U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $379 $529.99 (save $150.99)
15.6-inch HP Full HD Touch-Screen Laptop (Intel Core i7 1355U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $599.99 $799.99 (save $200)
Apple AirTag (1st Gen, 4-Pack) — $59.99 $99 (save $39.01)
Apple AirPods 4 — $116.90 $129.99 (save $13.09)
Apple AirPods 4 (ANC) — $158.80 $179.99 (save $21.19)
Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm) — $299 $399 (save $100)
Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm) — $329 $429 (save $100)
Apple AirPods Max (USB-C) — $499.99 $549.99 (save $50)


