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The fear of an AI apocalypse has persisted for decades in movies like WarGames and the Terminator series, but now that worry is becoming more than speculative fiction. Both current and recently-departed Anthropic researchers argue that there's a real possibility AI could kill humanity — although the issue is complex.

If you’re like me, you have a bunch of files, folders, and items in your office that make it unorganized and cluttered. Over time, these become increasingly overwhelming, and you forget what’s in each file or folder or which cable goes to which monitor or port.

JSON has become a near-ubiquitous data format, used in API responses, save game files, and configuration. But many people feel it can be better, and various attempts have been made to expand or improve it. JSONC is one of those attempts.

A NAS is one of the cheapest and most convenient ways to keep your data backed up. It’s also fairly reliable, but while HDDs and SSDs can last for years, they will fail eventually. When they do, you could lose everything stored on them, so here are some cheap ways to back up your NAS before that happens.

SAVE 25%: Through Sept. 11, rewards members can take 25% off pre-order books at Barnes & Noble with the code PREORDER25. Paid Premium members save an extra 10%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Barnes & Noble Save 25% on pre-order books at Barnes & Noble with code PREORDER25 Get Deal

2026 has already been an excellent year for new books, from the satirical influencer-inspired Yesteryear, to the new Dungeon Crawler Carl book A Parade of Horribles, to the supernatural horror The Caretaker. But the year is far from over and we still have plenty of new releases to add to our shelves. Why not save a little cash on those highly anticipated titles?

From Sept. 9 through 11, Barnes & Noble is giving rewards members 25% off pre-order books with the code PREORDER25. The offer is for online pre-orders only on the most anticipated nonfiction and fiction titles and you must be a rewards member to redeem the code at checkout. Fortunately, if you're not yet a member, it's free to join. There's also a paid Premium membership option available ($39.99/year), which will save you an additional 10% on pre-orders if you choose to sign up.

There are hundreds of books available for pre-order on the Barnes & Noble website, but a few standouts include I'll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1 by Jacob Tierney, Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel, Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones, Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult, Hollywood Ending by John Green, and The Witch by Freida McFadden. Be sure to get your pre-orders in by 2:59 a.m. ET on the morning of Sept. 12 to score the 25% off discount. And don't forget the code PREORDER25.

Looking to score some deals on existing titles? Here are a few discounts I spotted on Amazon worth adding to your cart.

Best book deals at Amazon

• And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison (paperback) — $10.40 $19 (save $8.60)

• The Wedding People by Alison Espach (paperback) — $14.24 $18.99 (save $4.75)

• Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier (harcover) — $14.50 $29 (save $14.50)

• Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (hardover) — $14.99 $30 (save $15.01)

• Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty (hardcover) — $22.10 $34 (save $11.90)

• Under Story by Chloe Benjamin (hardcover) — $22.38 $32 (save $9.62)

Everyone who misses Andrew Scott's Priest from Fleabag better prepare themselves for the upcoming series, It Gets Worse.

Created by UK comedian Leo Reich, It Gets Worse is about three university friends in London. A clip of the show recently dropped, and it already has the internet in a (figurative? literal?) chokehold.

The two-minute snippet features Reich as an adrift 24-year-old and Scott as a therapist and apparent hookup app match. Reich's character, though, uses the opportunity to speak to the therapist and laments that he feels like his life is over. But his woes are curtailed pretty quickly when the therapist kisses him.

It gets worse better: The therapist holds the 20-something by the neck and tells him, "You're just a hole for daddy." After telling him he's fine mentally, valid, and enough, he spits in his mouth.

As expected, the internet is extremely horny about this:

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The UK recently banned strangulation porn in its Crime and Policing Bill (as well as incest porn). It's now an offense to possess or publish images of strangulation and suffocation if the image is pornographic. The law states that the image is banned if it "portrays, in an explicit and realistic way, a person strangling," but doesn't go into detail about what, exactly, this means, or whether what Scott is doing in the clip would be allowed if the parties were naked.

Obviously, a UK sitcom isn't the same as pornography, but it's notable that a famed star can hold his costar by the neck and be shown at the BFI London Film Festival, while adult performers can't do the same.

A dashcam can be one of the most useful gadgets you add to your car, but simply sticking one onto the windshield doesn't guarantee that you're getting the protection you expect. Where you put the camera can affect everything from how much of the road it captures to whether it interferes with your own visibility, and a poorly planned installation can create problems you probably didn't consider.

Why are Windows laptops so expensive right now?

The ongoing memory crisis, aka "RAMageddon," is the main reason why Windows laptop prices have skyrocketed this year. But it also doesn't help that Microsoft reportedly raised its Windows 11 licensing fees by abnormally high rates. In other words, PC makers are spending more on both hardware and software right now, so they're making consumers eat the extra costs.

Some of our current picks have faced price hikes in recent months (see below). We've re-evaluated them and decided that they're still worth recommending at their higher prices, but will remove them from this guide if we find better-value alternatives or if their prices keep climbing to exorbitant levels.

What's new this month

In early September 2026, I updated this guide with one new pick. The Dell XPS 13 is my new favorite budget Windows laptop for its elite build quality. (It's also the best MacBook Neo rival I've encountered thus far.) It succeeds the sold-out Acer Aspire 16 AI.

SEE ALSO: MacBook Neo vs. XPS 13: The golden age of ultraportables is here

I've started looking for a replacement for the Alienware 16X Aurora, our former pick in the gaming category, which is no longer available. I'm also in the process of testing a possible alternative to the Asus Zenbook A16, our current favorite 16-inch Windows laptop, which just got a $300 price hike. I still love it and think it's a decent value in the age of RAMageddon, but I want to double-check that it's still the best option out there.

Finally, I'm monitoring the availability of two of our other current picks: the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI and Intel-powered Acer Swift X 14. They were both out of stock at the time of writing but could return, so I'm keeping them on this guide for now. If it turns out they've been fully discontinued, I'll replace them with other models. (As things stand, the Dell 14S would become my top choice for students, and the AMD-powered Acer Swift X 14 AI would be my new pick for photo and video editing.)

As a quick note before we get into the picks, Mashable tests laptops on the basis of performance, battery life, design/build quality, and value. We do so using a combination of synthetic benchmarking and real-world usage. You can read more about our testing process in the "How We Tested" section.

A note about ARM-based Windows laptops Asus' Zenbook A-series laptops are two of the best ARM-based laptops I've tried. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series chips use ARM-based architecture, not traditional x86 architecture like Intel and AMD chips. As such, their compatibility differs. ARM-based laptops don't work natively with certain specialty software (like AutoCAD), nor can they run as many PC games.

ARM compatibility issues are a non-concern for the majority of general-purpose Windows users, but they'll be dealbreakers for some demographics — PC gamers being an obvious one.

College students should also steer clear of ARM laptops. When I examined the 10 top public universities' hardware recommendations for the 2026 fall semester, I found that a couple schools explicitly advised their students against getting ARM-based laptops to make sure they can run all of their necessary coursework without emulation. (This is one big reason why I recommend the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI and Dell 14S for college students, in particular: They have x86-based Intel chips.)

The good news is that ARM compatibility has gotten better over the past couple years, and it will definitely continue to do so now that Nvidia is coming out with its own RTX Spark "superchips," which run on ARM.

What we're testing right now

The Mashable team has a bunch of other Windows laptops in hand for testing right now, including the Alienware 16 Area-51, Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i, Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1, Lenovo LOQ Essential 15, Lenovo Legion 5i, Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, MSI Prestige 16 AI+, Framework Laptop 13 Pro, Asus ProArt PZ14, Asus Zenbook Duo, and Acer Swift Air 14. Stay tuned to see if any of them make the cut for a future update to this guide.

What to look forward to

PC makers announced lots of new laptops earlier this month at IFA, a tech trade show in Berlin. The models confirmed for an eventual U.S. release are:

• Lenovo IdeaPad Vibe, a budget laptop that comes in two sizes and seven colors

• Lenovo Yoga Pro 5n and Yoga 9n 2-in-1, two creator laptops powered by Nvidia's RTX Spark platform

• Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 9 and ThinkBook 14x Gen 2, two fresh business laptops

• Acer Swift Air 16, a slim 16-incher

• Another version of the Dell 14S with more colors, less powerful processors, and a cheaper price tag

FREE MARS CANDY WITH TICKET PURCHASE: As of Sep. 9, get a free Mars candy when you purchase a ticket to see Verity starring Anne Hathaway at a Regal Theater on opening weekend.

Opens in a new window Credit: Regal Theaters Free Mars Candy with Verity Ticket at Regal   Get Deal

Can't wait to see Anne Hathaway's latest movie in theaters? Make sure you head to Regal to get your money's worth. After starring in a string of hits like The Odyssey, Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and The End of Oak Street, the actress is appearing in a new theatrical adaptation of the Colleen Hoover bestseller Verity, and you have a chance to get a nice little freebie for checking the movie out as soon as it hits theaters.

As of Sep. 9, get a free Mars candy when you purchase a ticket to see Verity starring Anne Hathaway at a Regal Theater on opening weekend. That means you must purchase a ticket between Oct. 1 and Oct. 4, and you'll get one free eligible Mars candy per ticket. The movie officially hits theaters on Oct. 2, so you can preorder your tickets if you like, as long as you buy them at a Regal theater, while supplies last. This offer is only available to Regal Crown Club members as an exclusive.

SEE ALSO: 'Mother Mary' review: Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel are rapturous

Verity follows writer Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), who's hired to ghostwrite for author Verity Crawford (Hathaway). She's given all the notes and reference materials she needs when she heads to the Crawford residence to get started, but there's something not quite right about the situation, and it all comes to light when she happens upon an extremely dark confession about Verity's husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett).

It's always good to get a freebie when you head to the movies given how expensive everything is, so if you're headed out to see this one anyway, might as well get something sweet for your trouble!

With hours to go before Apple's "Surprise and shine" event on Wednesday, new Apple CEO John Ternus took to X/Twitter to share a short teaser video.

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Within an hour, the video had already been viewed more than 1.1 million times by X users, and Apple fans are speculating wildly about what it could mean. We'll know for sure later today, as the September Apple event livestream is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET later today.

The short video clip shows a bright beam of light shining down on what appears to be a camera lens. That could point to the rumored iPhone 18 Pro Max camera upgrades, which include a variable aperture.

However, considering that the tagline for the event is literally "Surprise and shine," it's always possible that Ternus is teasing something totally unexpected, like a Vision Pro 2 or Apple's long-rumored smart glasses.

Follow our Apple event live blog to catch up on the latest news and announcements from the "Surprise and Shine" keynote, with live updates from Apple Park

I know I can’t be the only one who hates how almost everything has become a subscription now. Fortunately, the issue is primarily isolated to popular mainstream software — there’s still a lot of niche software that’s just as good, if not better, that hasn’t moved to the subscription model. This is particularly true in the open-source space, which is filled with genuinely excellent apps that can help you ditch many of your paid subscriptions without losing most of the benefits. Here are three such FOSS apps that I personally used to replace some of my paid subscriptions.

SAVE $200: As of Sept. 9, the Dell XPS 13 (Intel Core 5 320, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) is on sale at Best Buy for only $599.99. That's 25% off its $799.99 MSRP.

Opens in a new window Credit: Dell Dell XPS 13 (Intel Core 5 320, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $599.99 at Best Buy
$799.99 Save $200   Get Deal

Best Buy is offering a steep discount on Dell's premium budget laptop in the wake of its recent price increase. An entry-level Dell XPS 13 with 8GB of memory and 512GB of storage is currently on sale there for just $599.99, or $200 off its newly higher MSRP. That nullifies its price bump and then some.

The global memory crisis is making all laptops more expensive, and budget models like the XPS 13 are no exception: Dell just raised the price of its MacBook Neo competitor by $100 and introduced a new base model with half the storage as before. This 512GB variant, which used to be the starting configuration, went from $699.99 to $799.99. (Note that Best Buy is still showing its original list price — this deal is better than advertised.)

The Dell XPS 13's "sky" colorway is a subtle light blue hue. Credit: Dell

Like the mega-popular MacBook Neo, the XPS 13 has a luxe all-aluminum build that makes it look and feel much more expensive than it really is. Unlike the Neo, it has a backlit keyboard and a touchscreen display with a slightly sharper resolution, thinner bezels, and a much smoother 120Hz refresh rate. It's also half a pound lighter than the Neo, weighing only 2.2 pounds.

This XPS 13 runs on a low-end Intel Core 5 320 chip that's best for basic tasks like sending emails and surfing the web. If you're a tab-happy user who likes to multitask, consider upgrading its RAM from 8GB to 16GB. (Windows 11 eats up a big chunk of its memory.) Best Buy is still selling a 16GB RAM variant at its original price of $899.99; it's now going for $999.99 on Dell's website.

Apple is gearing up for its biggest iPhone launch event in years. Today, on Sept. 9, the tech giant will host its "Surprise and Shine" event, and Mashable is reporting live from Apple Park all week. Not only do we expect Apple to finally unveil its first-ever foldable iPhone, but the event also sets the stage for the grand debut of Siri AI. Plus, new CEO John Ternus will take center stage for the first keynote of the post-Tim Cook era. It's an event years in the making.

Thanks to months of leaks and rumors, we have a fairly good idea of what to expect from the Apple Event. We're hoping to learn more about the new iPhone 18 lineup, iOS 27, Siri AI, new AirPods, the Apple Watch Series 12, and more. But we're also hoping Apple lives up to its "Surprise and Shine" tagline and actually surprises us with something we couldn't predict.

We'll know for sure when the event kicks off at 10 a.m. PT. You can watch the event live and join us for post-show analysis on the CNET Apple Event livestream. We'll also be sharing real-time updates on all of the day's news, behind-the-scenes videos, and product announcements in this live blog.

Battery-powered tools are now powerful enough to tackle most jobs, with an ever-growing range of options from impact drivers to nail guns and everything in between. These live in your shed or garage when you’re not using them—but this could be a big mistake.

The iPhone Ultra is finally here. Wait. Scratch that. Apple's first foldable device is apparently not going by that name anymore. And along with a new name, the foldable will apparently be more affordable than expected, too.

On the eve of the Apple iPhone launch event, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman dropped some big news about Apple's foldable iPhone. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 18 line, along with the foldable smartphone, at the big "Surprise and Shine" event later today.

Apple has reportedly decided to call the foldable the "iPhone Duo."

The foldable device has been referred to by Apple insiders, analysts, and leakers for months as the iPhone Ultra, so this is a bit of a surprise. The iPhone Duo does seem to fit a bit better as a name, as it's not technically a premium iPhone 18 experience as "Ultra" tends to convey. It's a whole new product line for Apple.

If you really liked the iPhone Ultra name and are disappointed by the news, Gurman reported some additional updates that may act as a consolation for the name change.

The iPhone Duo is expected to launch with a retail price of $2,000. That's several hundred dollars less than most analysts expected. The launch price was recently pegged at around $2,300 with an average cost of $2,550.

We will know more about the iPhone Duo very shortly when Apple officially announces the foldable device at the event.

Follow our Apple event live blog to catch up on the latest news and announcements from the "Surprise and Shine" keynote, with live updates from Apple Park

In what's become a regular Bat-Signal for tech enthusiasts, the Apple Store was down Wednesday morning.

Hours ahead of the tech giant's big Apple Event, where the new iPhone 18 lineup is expected to be unveiled, the retail section of Apple's website was showing an error.

SEE ALSO: Apple Event 2026: Live updates on iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch 12, and new AirPods

It's not a crash, however, instead it's become an annual occurrence when new iPhones wait in the wings. And with Apple's first-ever foldable iPhone expected to emerge today, you know that storefront is getting an overhaul.

Today, Apple will hold its "Surprise and Shine" event at 10 a.m. PT at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. However, you can watch the keynote live on YouTube and follow Mashable's live updates on the ground.

Follow our Apple event live blog to catch up on the latest news and announcements from the "Surprise and Shine" keynote, with live updates from Apple Park.

Featured Video For You What would really 'surprise' at Apple’s iPhone event

In a handful of hours, Apple is holding its big annual September event. You'd think the rumor mill would slow down at some point, but it hasn't.

Everyone expects to see new iPhones and some other fun stuff as well. Those details are more or less set in stone. There are little things in the margins, though, such as device prices, colors, and specs, that are still leaking out ahead of time. Here are some last-minute rumors to catch up on before the show at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: What would really 'surprise' at Apple’s iPhone event We may have a name and price for the foldable iPhone

In a last-second report for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman revealed that the foldable iPhone will be called the iPhone Duo and will launch at $2,000 for 256GB of storage. That's quite a bit less than expected, and Gurman said that Apple will be eating some of the higher memory costs.

He also says the two colors for the device are white and a dark blue, and that shipments will come "as early as October." It should also have Apple Pencil support, per Gurman.

Leaked iPhone 18 Pro and Ultra cases, with one device notably missing This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Last week, a handful of third-party phone accessory makers posted renders of cases for the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and Ultra phones. While the renders are almost certainly not real photos of the phones, they do give us an idea of what to expect in terms of size and shape, especially for the foldable Ultra. As has been rumored for months, it appears to be a short, wide foldable with two cameras on the rear.

These iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max case leaks included four colors: deep burgundy, light gray, black, and misty blue, all of which have been previously reported as colors for those devices. The only slightly weird thing here is that there are no renders of the base-model iPhone 18. It's becoming more and more expected around the tech world that Apple will wait until next spring to launch the base iPhone 18, giving the Pro and Ultra models more time to shine this fall.

No AirPods with cameras at "Surprise and Shine" event

In the same report where he revealed the foldable iPhone's name and price, Gurman also predicted that the rumored AirPods with cameras will not be released at today's event. Instead, Gurman said the new AirPods 5 will be revealed, with the camera-equipped AirPods Pro Ultra coming soon after.

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

A video of the new AirPods with cameras leaked back in August, suggesting a release is indeed imminent, even if it doesn't happen today.

Late-coming foldable iPhone specs

An earlier Gurman interview also contained some basic specs for the device, which line up with what we've been hearing for a while now. Gurman said to expect a 5.5-inch outer display and a 7.8-inch inner display. He also said the phone will have MagSafe support, which had been a big question mark prior to this interview. He compared the hinge to those on recent Samsung foldables, which means it likely won't be completely invisible, but it will be close enough.

Price hikes may not be as big as we thought

Following reports that the iPhone Duo could have an average price of over $2,500, and rumors that the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max could see $200 to $300 price increases, the latest report from Gurman predicted softer price increases of around $100.

That would definitely be good news amid the global memory crisis, though Apple has been preparing us for iPhone price increases for months.

No major Apple Watch updates

We already reported that the new Apple Watch Series 12 (not to mention a new SE and Ultra) won't see major changes this year. However, we do have some tidbits, including the existence of a new health app designed to help the Apple Watch compete with trendy screen-free wearables like the Whoop and Oura ring.

Follow our Apple event live blog to catch up on the latest news and announcements from the "Surprise and Shine" keynote, with live updates from Apple Park.

A Calc II volume of revolution problem is a decent stress test for any study app. It has several moving parts: setting up the integral, choosing the right method, sketching the region being rotated, and labeling each stage clearly enough that a student can follow the logic back to the original question. Type that problem into a general chatbot, and you tend to get a wall of text. Somewhere in the middle is the right answer, but the steps blur together, and there's nothing to look at.

What would have happened to Carrie if she'd gone to school in the age of smartphones and the internet?

The trailer above for Mike Flanagan's Prime Video adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel sets out to answer that question, placing Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) into a present-day version of King's nightmarish story about a bullied girl with telekinetic powers.

Judging by the trailer, the key moments from the book have been kept. But the forever nature of the internet looks set to make Carrie's suffering all the more painfully relatable.

Following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next week, Carrie debuts on streaming on Prime Video Oct. 7.

For a long time, the navigation app debate has fallen into two main camps: Waze and Google Maps. Recent events have brought MapQuest back to public attention, so I decided to see if it could genuinely replace Google Maps.