IT General

As much as I love tinkering in the garage and mowing, trimming, or edging the lawn, not everyone enjoys the process or has the time. And as a new dad with a toddler running around the house, my time is limited. After using the latest Segway Navimow X430 robot lawn mower, I'm convinced this is the future.

TL;DR: Amazon has the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution — Chaos Rising Elite Trainer Box starting at $91 through a third-party seller, down from its $119.99 list price. This saves you $28.99 on the ETB’s lowest Amazon listing yet, while the Elite Trainer Box sold and shipped directly by Amazon is only slightly higher at $92.55 with faster delivery. 

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Chaos Rising Elite Trainer Box $91 at Amazon
$119.99 Save $28.99   Get Deal

Chaos Rising prices have been steadily falling in the Pokémon TCG market since launch, and Amazon’s latest listings have now taken the expansion’s Elite Trainer Box to its lowest price with the retailer yet.

As of June 8, the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution — Chaos Rising Elite Trainer Box is available at Amazon from $91 via Prime Picks, with free delivery currently listed for June 13-15. With this 24% discount from its $119.99 list price, you'll save $28.99 on the sealed collector box. 

If you’re willing to put up a slightly higher amount for faster shipping, the Chaos Rising ETB is sold and shipped directly by Amazon itself and is priced at $92.55 — with free delivery scheduled for June 14, with its fastest option currently listed for June 12, at the time of writing.

However, you can save more by buying your trading cards outside of Amazon, if you’re willing. TCGplayer has unopened Chaos Rising ETB listings starting from $83.99, which is only 44 cents higher than its market price of $83.51.

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Inside the Pokémon TCG’s Chaos Rising Elite Trainer Box, you’ll get nine titular booster packs, one full-art foil promo card featuring Fennekin, 65 card sleeves, 40 Energy cards, a player’s guide, six damage-counter dice, one competition-legal coin-flip die, one plastic coin, a collector’s box with six dividers, and a Pokémon TCG Live code card.

Among this expansion, themed around Mega Floette descending Lumiose City into chaos, you’ll have the chance to pull valuable chase cards (also available to buy separately) like Mega Greninja ex, Mega Pyroar ex, and Mega Dragalge ex, and Mega Floette ex itself. 

For even more packs from the expansion, you can also grab the Pokémon TCG’s six-pack Chaos Rising Booster Bundle for under $60. 

To get the lowest cost per pack, though, you can score the 36-pack Chaos Rising Booster Display Box for under $265 — equalling $7.35 per pack. 

Although currently not available on Amazon, the Pokémon TCG’s newly announced Pitch Black expansion — Booster Packs, ETBs, Display Boxes, and Booster Bundles — is available to preorder at TCGplayer.

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

Every year, Apple hosts the Worldwide Developers Conference to reveal the latest updates to its operating systems (and occasionally drops some hardware surprises, too). And all signs point to a more interesting WWDC than usual.

For starters, WWDC 2026 will be Tim Cook's last big event as CEO, and we're eager to see whether there's a torch-passing moment to CEO-in-waiting John Ternus. We're expecting to learn all about iOS 27, macOS 27, iPadOS 27, and a ton more Apple products. It's also been two years since Apple first promised an AI overhaul of its Siri assistant, and the company may finally debut the new Siri during the opening keynote.

WWDC 2026 will kick off with a live "special event" at Apple Park at 10 a.m. PT on Monday, June 8. You can tune into the livestream with us, and Mashable tech reporters will be providing live updates on every big reveal.

Keep checking back, as we'll be updating this page repeatedly throughout WWDC 2026, which officially runs through Friday, June 12.

As governments and tech companies shape the future of online privacy, sex workers around the world are organizing to push back against threats to our freedom of speech and data ownership.

"We know from experience that sex workers are the beta testers for taking away people's digital rights," says Ana Ornelas, digital policy officer at the European Sex Workers' Rights Alliance (ESWA). ESWA represents more than 100 member organizations in 30 countries in Western, Eastern, and Central Europe and Central Asia.

SEE ALSO: Adult creators are still getting debanked — but it doesn't just impact them

Take FOSTA/SESTA, twin laws in the U.S. passed in 2018 to ostensibly stop online sex trafficking, but in actuality, made it harder for sex workers and others who work in adult industries to exist online. Big Tech platforms cracked down on sexual content, resulting in bans and shadowbans that persist today. Multiple studies have found that this makes adult workers less safe.

Today, age-verification laws (that require users to give their identity over to tech companies before accessing adult content) have led to sex workers losing income, all while initial studies suggest that they don't actually work to keep minors off porn sites.

Sex workers, unionized and not, continue to fight against bad tech policy. Ornelas, for instance, recently met with an official working on new EU regulations about artificial intelligence that are "simpler" and "innovation-friendly." Ornelas brought up how the proposal leaves room for tech-facilitated gender-based violence. 

"I'm very worried about the exceptions," says Ornelas, referencing the allowances the package makes for generating non-consensual deepfake sexual content for artistic reasons or when subjects are unidentifiable. "Images can be scraped from someone's Instagram bikini pictures. I think that we should be focusing a lot more on transparency around the big tech companies and what's in their databases. You don't need to be completely nude for this technology to be dangerous."

Five thousand miles away from ESWA's campaign, workers at Sheri's Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada, are fighting a battle on another digital frontier. In Dec., the brothel workers received a contract from management, which included turning over ownership of their likeness and intellectual property to their workplace. In response, the workers reached out to the Communication Workers of America for support and began the process to form a union.

I worked at Sheri's so that I can chase my dreams, but that shouldn't mean they own those dreams too. - Adalind Gray

"The language was big enough that the Ranch could argue that they own anything that we've ever created," says Adalind Gray, one of the seven workers at Sheri's Ranch who were fired since they began their union campaign. The newly founded United Brothel Workers (UBW) has filed unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Gray and the other workers. 

"I have big dreams with my band. I worked at the Ranch in order to fund the studio costs," says Gray. "That is the reason why I do what I do. I think there would also be potential for them to argue they own my online sex work as well, the content I make for OnlyFans."

The use of workers' digital likeness for profit or AI training sets a dangerous precedent for workers in any industry. "Anybody that has cultivated an online following, or has a podcast, substack, any independent work that they care about at all, should be worried that their employer wants to own a piece of all of anything that they do in perpetuity," says Scott Goodstein, a spokesperson for the UBW. "These types of contracts need to be stopped immediately."

"I worked at Sheri's so that I can chase my dreams, but that shouldn't mean they own those dreams too," says Gray.
"No employer is entitled to a slice of my entire community that I spent years building solely because I work there."

The fight against age verification

In the UK, Australia, and the United States, sex workers are leading the fight against age-verification legislation, too. According to the Age Verification Providers Association, nearly 30 countries have introduced age-verification legislation, with at least four more countries on track to introduce legislation in the next one to two years.

"Regulations in one country impact the web for everyone," says Mish Pony, the CEO of Scarlet Alliance, the national peak body representing sex workers across Australia. "When tech companies are creating their terms and conditions, they are developing those based on the regulatory environment that they are based in. So legislation in the U.S. and EU have disproportionate power globally." 

"Our government once issued a fine to X, which doesn't have a physical presence in Australia. How can we actually force them to pay that fine?" Pony asks.

Tech companies are incentivized to play it safe relating to powerful countries' regulations, fueling censorship of not only adult content, but health and education content related to sexuality as well. 

"We've developed a community response every time somebody has a profile taken down," says Kitt Turner, the external communications officer for the UK Sex Workers' Union (SWU). "Everybody rallies around to try and like file reports and try and push to have them reinstated. Sometimes that's effective, sometimes it's not. But we kind of share any knowledge that we can pick up in terms of what makes it more likely for someone to have their profile."

"We've spoken with [Australia's] eSafety commissioner, and we've done a postcard campaign with health professionals who are concerned about the impact of these regulations on people's access to information online," says Pony. "We're just trying to make sure that people are aware of these harmful consequences."

In the United States, Sasha Bee, an organizer for the Sex Worker Action Alliance and Erotic Professionals & Allies United, currently leads campaigns in multiple states to educate and push back against age-verification legislation. Age verification laws are now in effect in over half the states in the United States. "We're fighting against what is fundamentally a free speech violation," says Bee.

Why we must listen to sex workers

Dating back to the earliest days of the internet, sex workers are credited with driving technological adoption and innovation, with contributions including the first online credit card verification systems.

"Adult content creators created the internet," Bee confirms, and research supports this claim. "If you like the fact that you have fast bandwidth, can stream Netflix and Hulu on the same WiFi, thank a sex worker. The demand for their work created the internet that we see today," says Bee.

In the age of Big Tech like X and Meta, however, it's difficult to contest what they do, Turner says.

But that hasn't stopped sex workers from campaigning and collaborating to change the tech landscape. SWU works closely with Decrim Now UK, a coalition fighting for the decriminalization of sex work in the UK. For around the last two years, Decrim Now has been trying to organize a sex worker strike against AdultWork, a platform where they can advertise their work, due to increased costs and reduced profit, says organizer Audrey Caradonna. Decrim Now has also participated in sex work strikes during International Women's Day since 2018.

Adult content creators created the internet. - Sasha Bee

In Dec., Scarlett Alliance published a study on the Impacts of Online Regulation. One of their findings was the negative impact that Australia's Online Safety Act had on youth and marginalized people by restricting access to critical sexual and reproductive health education and drug harm reduction information. Decrim Now UK, ESWA, and industry research firm SWR Data are also currently engaged in collecting similar data to observe the impacts of new tech policies on sex workers. Using their data on sex workers' lived experiences, these organizations are able to inform policymakers how their legislative decisions could impact everybody else on the internet.

"So much of what we're seeing happen to activists and marginalized people in countries like the United States and Germany are taken straight out of the playbook of how sex workers have been treated for the past years," says Ornelas. "We've seen that come true with digital rights activists here in Germany who were put on a no-fly list to the U.S. It's exactly how sex workers have been treated — they've been denied entry in the U.S. based on the fact that they are sex workers or performers. Border control has the data, and suddenly they find themselves taken into a private room to explain themselves."

With their digital privacy on the line, sex workers have strategies on how to mitigate these risks and leverage the community to protect each other, Ornelas says. Amongst other resources, ESWA offers recommendations for social media platform accountability and will soon publish the results of a survey on sex work and deepfake technologies. Mashable also has a breakdown of top digital security tips from sex workers.

Civilians, or non-sex workers, should learn from the community how to protect themselves online, Ornelas says. "Because the way things are headed, it's gonna come in handy."

TL;DR: Stop struggling against PDFs forever with this lifetime subscription to PDFToolKit Starter Plan, on sale now for $39 (reg. $204).

Opens in a new window Credit: PDFToolKit PDFToolKit - Starter Plan: Lifetime Subscription $39
$204 Save $165   Get Deal

Imagine a world where it’s easy to work with PDFs — and you can do it all in your browser window without any extra apps. That’s what PDFToolKit delivers, letting you conquer this pesky file format once and for all.

Right now, you can snag a lifetime subscription to a PDFToolKit Starter Plan for just $39 (reg. $204).

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Don’t let PDFs derail your workflow. PDFToolKit lets you conquer these files once and for all, making it easy to convert, edit, and sign them instantly.

Unlike most PDF editors on the market, PDFToolKit is a browser tool that runs entirely in your browser, so you don’t have to hop around different apps to get help. You don’t have to download anything, and since everything is processed locally, your data stays private and secure.

PDFToolKit gives you access to a fleet of AI-powered tools, so you can modify text and images, merge and split files, and sign documents quickly. You can also convert file types in a few clicks, including Word, PowerPoint, JPG, and PNG.

This tool is built to handle larger files efficiently, and if you need to work with multiple files, there’s speedy batch processing available. Working with sensitive information? PDFToolKit offers password protection and makes it easy to redact information if needed.

Compatibility isn’t an issue with PDFToolKit; you can access it on any browser. This Starter Plan lets you enjoy it for life, with updates included and five PDF uploads available per month.

Lock in this lifetime subscription to PDFToolKit Starter Plan for just $39 (reg. $204).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Pok Pok’s lifetime subscription is down to $44.97 through June 14, giving families ad-free, Montessori-inspired educational play without another recurring subscription.

Opens in a new window Credit: Pok Pok Pok Pok: Lifetime Subscription $44.97
$250 Save $205.03   Get Deal

If you’ve ever handed your toddler a tablet and instantly regretted it, Pok Pok might just restore your faith in screen time. This innovative, Montessori-inspired app turns digital play into something that actually feels okay for both kids and parents.

Designed for ages 2 to 8, Pok Pok replaces those noisy, overstimulating apps with calm, open-ended play that encourages creativity, independence, and curiosity.

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Kids explore a beautifully hand-drawn world filled with toys that grow alongside them — from early cause-and-effect puzzles to more advanced STEM-style challenges. It’s like a digital game sandbox for little minds.

Every sound, color, and motion in Pok Pok is crafted to feel soothing and natural — no flashing ads, no pressure to “win,” and no hidden purchases. It’s also fully COPPA-certified, meaning it meets strict safety standards for children’s digital content. Parents can relax knowing their kids are learning, not zoning out.

Perfect for travel, quiet time, or rainy afternoons, Pok Pok runs offline, so playtime never depends on Wi-Fi.

At this low price, this lifetime subscription is the kind of tech investment that doesn’t come with a side of parental guilt — giving your child a fun, educational start in a calm digital space built just for them.

Get lifetime access to Pok Pok while it’s on sale for just $44.97 (reg. $250).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Go from beginner to advanced with this Claude AI Professional E-Degree, now for just $19.99 (reg. $49).

Opens in a new window Credit: Eduonix Learning Solutions Claude AI Professional E-Degree $19.99
$49 Save $29.01   Get Deal

AI models aren’t created equal. You’ve probably been hearing a lot about Claude AI, but if you’ve yet to master this model, you’re in luck. The Claude AI Professional E-Degree is packed with four courses ready to school you on everything from agentic coding to workflow animation.

Right now, you can snag them all for $19.99 (reg. $49) — just $5 a course.

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Let the Claude AI Professional E-Degree school teach you about this rising AI model. These four courses are taught by Eduonix Learning Solutions, a team of industry professionals who teach technology the way it’s actually used and are ready to walk you through over 8 hours of video content.

This hands-on eDegree’s four modules show you how to use Claude beyond your basic conversations. It’s great for beginners, and helpful for everyone from developers and entrepreneurs to creators and freelancers, taking them all from novices to experts.

You’ll learn how to provide more effective prompts and master chain-of-thought workflows to help improve Claude’s responses. It also covers AI-assisted coding workflows and debugging techniques.

Want to work on your workflow automation? This course teaches you how to connect Claude with Gmail, Google Drive, Calendar, Chrome, MCP connectors, and productivity tools.

You’ll get hands-on schooling as you build practical projects for marketing workflows, AI websites, automatic systems, and more. There are also quizzes available to test your skills, and you’ll receive a professional eDegree certification after completion.

Become a Claude expert with the Claude AI Professional E-Degree, now only $19.99 (reg. $49).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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

TL;DR: HelloFresh is offering 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling Dragon Wok when you sign up for an active subscription with the exclusive discount code CNET10WOK.

Opens in a new window Credit: Hello Fresh HelloFresh: Get a free Zwilling Dragon Wok + 10 free meals with code CNET10WOK   Get Deal

If you have a busy schedule and planning out food for the week feels too stressful, a meal kit delivery service can be a helpful investment. These take the worry out of prepping and planning out meals every day, and HelloFresh does that and more.

For a limited time, Mashable readers can score 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling Dragon Wok with the exclusive discount code CNET10WOK. This is an excellent way to test (and taste) the service and see if it's a good fit for you and your household. However, there's a few important things to keep in mind when applying this discount.

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The first is that this offer is only valid for new customers who have a qualifying auto-renewing subscription. The second is that the 10 free meals are based on a total discount that's applied over a one-week period for a four-person, five-recipe subscription. If you purchase a plan of greater value, you'll get more than 10 free meals, whereas if your plan is of lesser value, you'll receive fewer than 10. And third, it also expires 21 days after purchase.

The other exciting element of this deal is the free Zwilling Dragon Wok. Normally this 12-inch carbon steel wok costs $179.99, so this is an excellent offer to jump on that nets you a fancy new pan for your kitchen. You'll have to wait a little bit before you can use it, though. After paying for your fifth box, you'll receive a link via email within 14 days of receipt that will allow you to redeem. Because it's tied in to the fifth box, that box must be ordered before 11:59 p.m. ET on Sept. 4 and the wok redeemed by Sept. 19.

This HelloFresh deal won't last for long. You've got until July 31 to use code CNET10WOK to take advantage of this 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling Dragon Wok offer.

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

TL;DR: Watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The world will stop this summer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

16 cities across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will welcome the best international sides from around the world as they compete for arguably the biggest prize in sport. Huge names like Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior, and Lamine Yamal are likely to steal the spotlight, but new stars always shine brightly in this prestigious competition. It's going to be a wild ride.

If you're interested in watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

What is the FIFA World Cup?

The World Cup is an international football competition between senior men's national teams. The 2026 World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams, split into 12 groups of four teams. The top two teams in each group and the eight best third-placed teams will progress to the knockouts rounds.

The defending champions are Argentina. They won their third title at the 2022 World Cup after defeating France in an epic final.

When is the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

The 2026 World Cup is the 23rd edition of this famous competition. This year's tournament takes place from June 11 to July 19.

How to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free

A number of streaming platforms are offering free coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup:

• Australia — SBS

• Austria — ORF and ServusTV

• Belgium — RTBF and VRT

• France — M6

• Germany — ARD and ZDF

• Ireland — RTÉ

• Italy — RAI

• Norway — NRK

• Netherlands — NOS

• Spain — RTVE

• UK — BBC iPlayer and ITVX (recommended)

These streaming services are geo-restricted, but anyone can secure access with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in another location, meaning you can live stream the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Visit BBC iPlayer or ITVX (recommended)

5. Watch 2026 FIFA World Cup for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream this tournament before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming platforms from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for the FIFA World Cup?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for accessing live sport on free streaming platforms, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free with ExpressVPN.

SAVE $200: As of June 8, the Google Pixel 10 is on sale for $599 at Amazon. That's a 25% discount on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Google Google Pixel 10 $599
$799 Save $200   Get Deal

If you'd rather upgrade your smartphone without committing to a two-year contract, you'll want to keep an eye out for a great deal on an outright purchase. And right now, you're in luck, because as of June 8, the Google Pixel 10 is on sale at Amazon for $200 less. Normally priced at $799, you can make it yours now for $599. And it's unlocked too, so you can use it with the network provider of your choice.

It's a powerful phone (check out our review for a full breakdown), powered by the Google Tensor G5 chip and with built-in features including Gemini AI. It also includes Gemini Live, a function that allows conversations with AI, including using the camera to ask questions about what you are seeing or using your voice to help complete tasks across different apps.

If a strong camera system is an important feature for you, this phone won't disappoint. It has a triple rear camera system with a new 5x telephoto lens with up to 20x Super Res Zoom. It also benefits from Night Sight, a feature designed to take clearer low-light photography.

And if you're someone who drops their phone a lot, no judgment here. The phone is built with scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and has an IP68 rating for both water and dust resistance.

Head to Amazon to grab this Google deal.

SAVE $120: As of June 8, the Insignia 50-inch Class F50 TV is on sale for $179.99 at Amazon. That's a 40% discount on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Insignia Insignia 50-inch Class F50 TV $179.99 at Amazon
$299.99 Save $120   Get Deal

The World Cup kickoff is just days away, so if you've been looking to upgrade your TV in time for the games, you better act fast. But you're in luck: Amazon has some incredible TV deals available, like this latest on the Insignia 50-inch Class F50 TV. As of June 8, this TV is down to $179.99 from $299.99, saving you $120.

The TV gives you a 2160p resolution with HDR10 support, and can also upscale lower-resolution content to make it closer to Ultra HD quality. The sound quality is impressive, too, thanks to DTS Virtual:X, which creates a more immersive audio experience.

On the inside, you'll get the benefits of Fire TV. This means you'll have access to streaming services like Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and more. It also comes with Alexa built in, ideal for searching through different streaming catalogs or researching queries online.

The TV can also function as a smart home hub, supporting other smart home devices for features such as viewing live camera feeds or even just controlling lighting and thermostats.

Find this TV deal at Amazon right now.

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 Monday, June 8, 2026:

AcrossWhat someone may attempt to explain in a long, drawn-out description

• The answer is Dream.

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

Back in style

• The answer is Retro.

Remnants in a recently used fire pit

• The answer is Ashes.

Sheds tears

• The answer is Weeps.

Animal in need of adoption

• The answer is Stray.

DownTakes a card from the deck

• The answer is Draws.

The Great Meme ___, movement to purge social media of "brain rot"

• The answer is Reset.

Thin air, so to speak

• The answer is Ether.

Colombian food cart dish

• The answer is Arepa.

Green and fuzzy, as a rock

• The answer is Mossy.

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.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will require basketball knowledge.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, 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 the latest 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: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise 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 before 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: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Positions

• Green: After the hike

• Blue: Gymnastics legends

• Purple: Spelled like a New York team

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: First Words of Basketball Positions

• Green: Things a QB Does with the Football

• Blue: Women's Gymnastics All-Around Gold Medal Winners

• Purple: Ends in a New York Team, In Singular Form

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: Sports Edition #623 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• First Words of Basketball Positions: POINT, POWER, SHOOTING, SMALL

• Things a QB Does with the Football: HAND OFF, PASS, SPIKE, TUCK

• Women's Gymnastics All-Around Gold Medal Winners: BILES, DOUGLAS, LEE, LIUKIN

• Ends in a New York Team, In Singular Form: ALLEGIANT, CHALAMET, GRANGER, INKJET

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections 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.

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.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 8, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for June 8, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for June 8 Pips

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically; 6-1, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically; 5-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (1): Everything in this space must be less than 1. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for June 8 Pips

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally; 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 1-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 0-5, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (8): Everything in this space must be greater than 8. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 5-1, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (0): Everything in this space must be greater than 0. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for June 8 Pips

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally; 1-1, placed horizontally; 1-0, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed horizontally.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 1-0, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this purple space must add up to 6. The answer is 1-3, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically; 4-0, placed vertically; 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this purple space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-0, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this green space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this purple space must add up to 2. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally; 6-0, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically; 2-2, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally

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

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Part of a movie.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

SCENE

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Spacious.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 8, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

ROOMY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Strength.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 8 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 8, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

BRAWN

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Computer-related.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

CYBER

Final Hurdle hint

A way to prepare a fish.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

FILET

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

The Vampire Lestat is handing the mic to its titular monster, who's ready to let his story rip with a string of rock 'n' roll songs. 

With Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire, showrunner Rolin Jones brings back such beloved characters as Louis (Jacob Anderson), Armand (Assad Zaman), and newbie vampire Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). But Lestat's (Sam Reid) story also introduces a new slew of characters. 

If you haven't read the Anne Rice novels on which this series is based, or just can't recall the finer points, here's a rundown of who's who in The Vampire Lestat. 

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat' review: 'Interview With the Vampire' Season 3 delivers sex, blood, and a rock 'n' roll odyssey Who is Satan's Night Out?  Sam Reid is Lestat. Credit: AMC

The four-piece Montreal-based rock band features guitarist Larry (Noah Reid), his younger, more talented straight-edged brother Alex (Seamus Patterson), their "dumb" bassist Salamander (Ryan Kattner), and their drummer TC (Sarah Swire), who was called Tough Cookie in Rice's novel. 

Once they meet Lestat on Halloween, they become his band, and they're renamed The Vampire Lestat. As far as they know, the band is building on a character created by Daniel Molloy's book, Interview with the Vampire, which the world assumed was fiction. They don't know until the fang fight at Dracula's Daughter hotel that Lestat really is a vampire. 

Who is Baby Jenks? 

In Anne Rice's novels, Baby Jenks was 14 when she was turned into a vampire, courtesy of Killer, leader of the Fang Gang. 

In The Vampire Lestat, Baby Jenks (played by 24-year-old Ella Ballentine) seems to have been considerably aged up, much as Claudia was for Season 1 of Interview with a Vampire. For one thing, the rock show she's at doesn't seem to be all-ages. And after having group sex in the elevator with Lestat, she chipperly announces she's getting married next week. 

With her cheery attitude, party drugs, and weird soul-bond with Lestat, this is a very different Baby Jenks than the one in Rice's novels. But considering Lestat's already had a brush with the Fang Gang in Detroit, we can assume that we'll see her again. 

Who are the Fang Gang? 

In the show, Lestat writes them off as "regional vampires," who are flexing because they don't like his songs spilling the secrets of their kind. 

However, when they attack him in the halls of Dracula's Daughter, they reveal they see themselves as “The Children of the Darkness reborn." Essentially, this grubby gang embraces Armand's ancient rules about how to be a vampire. One of them even has a tattoo that reads "Armand Told the Truth," which spurs Lestat to scream in frustration, "What does that mean?!" 

When he refuses to come meet their coven's leader (who could be the aforementioned Killer from the books), the Fang Gang ambushes Lestat with the goal of killing him. But vampires Daniel and Sam, formerly of the theater and now a DJ, intervene, killing the lot.

However, with Baby Jenks in play, we suspect we'll see more of the Fang Gang soon. 

Who is Gabriella?  Jennifer Ehle is Gabriella in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC

In the books, she's Gabrielle de Lioncourt, the doting mother of Lestat. In the show, she's played by Jennifer Ehle, and is the "toi" that Lestat has been texting Heated Rivalry-style. He beckons her to come to him as his tour tromps him across the U.S., and in the final scene of "Detroit," she does in more ways than one. 

As you can see from this episode, the pair are close. Like troublingly close. As Lestat puts it, she is his "fledgling. Lover. Mother." 

And now, just as the muses are set loose by his music, and he's forced to confront 265 years of his past, she's back. What will that mean for Lestat, Louis, and their fanged circle of friends and foes? We can't wait to see. 

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

The Vampire Lestat reintroduces Anne Rice's epic Brat Prince as a rock star on the rise. Told from Lestat's perspective, Interview with the Vampire Season 3 is a wild ride, full of sex, violence, and allusions to other art and artists.

Show creator Rolin Jones is dropping some inspiration points for the scorching soundtrack that includes songs from composer Daniel Hart, like "Long Face," "All Fall Down," "Black Licorice," and "Your Biggest Fan."

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only – LIVE': Everything you should know

But beyond that, Lestat (Sam Reid) and his band's actions mirror some real rock-star behavior. Let's dive in.

Lestat's auction is part Banksy, part Wu-Tang Clan.

The odd auction that opens the show begins with an auctioneer presenting two lots, each featuring recordings from The Vampire Lestat. Then, he sets the first on fire, destroying its contents.

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat': Let’s talk about that auction

This shocking scene is reminiscent of the auction in 2018, when a paper version of Banksy's "Girl with Balloon" was on the block at Sotheby's. After the gavel came down, declaring the sale price at $1.4 million dollars, the painted paper slid into a hidden shredder at the bottom of the frame, destroying its bottom half.

Sotheby's insisted they had no idea that was going to happen, and the buyer — who remained anonymous — opted to keep the painting, though it was partially shredded. Retitled Love Is in the Bin, the piece was re-auctioned in 2021, and sold for roughly $25 million.

In The Vampire Lestat, the auction's second lot includes "a singular vinyl pressing of The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt." The only recording of Lestat's works can be purchased for a hefty sum.

That reminded us of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the Wu-Tang Clan album that was only ever pressed onto one two-CD set, which was auctioned off in 2015. The winner of that auction was rat-faced pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli, who paid $2 million for it. However, in 2018, Shkreli's conviction for securities fraud led to the U.S. Government confiscating the album, which was sold as part of the forfeiture money judgement against him.

Lestat has René Magritte's The Lovers in his home.

Since Louis (Jacob Anderson) found Lestat in a decaying house in New Orleans last season, the blond bombshell cleaned up and moved onto to a posh neighborhood in Montréal. While he talks to Louis over FaceTime, a wide shot of his home shows René Magritte's The Lovers on the wall.

The 1928 painting is part of a series the Belgian surrealist did. It features two figures, one in a black suit and the other in a pink, sleeveless blouse, kissing. But their heads are entirely covered in a white cloth.

It's a piece of art that is sexy and mysterious. But it can be read as a painting that depicts a fear of true intimacy.

Lestat stays at a hotel called Dracula's Daughter.

Released in 1936, Dracula's Daughter is often cited as one of the earliest examples of queer horror. Directed by Lambert Hillyer, this sequel to Universal's 1931 Dracula stars Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zaleska, aka Dracula's daughter. With her fanged father dead, she hopes to set herself free of his influence and her vampiric yearning for blood. But when she meets a beautiful mortal named Lili, her hunger is impossible to ignore.

Critics have long noted the sapphic undertones in this story, and Rolin Jones might be giving a nod to the storytellers who gave us vampires before Anne Rice wrote her novels. He might also be setting up a parallel about a fledgling that desperately wants to escape the power of her father/maker.

Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) even calls Lestat "Countess" (or "cuntess," if you look at the closed captions) as he enters the tour bus. So, could this mean The Vampire Lestat will delve into its eponymous blood-sucker's trauma over his making by Magnus?

Lestat has plenty of modern musical influences.

Over the course of the episode, Lestat and his bandmates reference Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and The Smiths, while Daniel mentions T. Rex.

After coming off stage their first night in Detroit, drummer TC (known as Tough Cookie in Anne Rice's novel) scoffs at Lestat's stage persona as his "Ozzy schtick."

Soon thereafter, as Lestat piles onto the tour bus, Daniel says he skipped the show, opting for blood-drugs and T. Rex on Spotify. Fans who've been listening to The Vampire Lestat's released tracks on streaming might well see the similarities between the 1960's English rock band and Lestat's glam rock sound.

When acknowledging Daniel's documentary, Lestat says, “I’ve seen a rough cut. It’s truthful and daring, with less Warren Beatty.” He's alluding to Madonna: Truth or Dare, the 1991 documentary that chronicled the queen of pop's "Blonde Ambition World Tour" — and gave viewers a peek into her romantic relationship with then-boyfriend Warren Beatty.

Lestat later name-drops the artists he sees as comparable to himself, saying, "David, Freddie, Prince Rogers are all gone… It's my era now." In conjunction, we can safely assume Lestat is referencing glam rock icon David Bowie, Queen's original and incomparable front man Freddie Mercury, and America's own Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson. With all these legendary and fabulous performers passed, Lestat strides in their footsteps.

Later, when Lestat's being badgered at the urinals by two members of Detroit's fan gang, he dismisses Rus' declaration that "Long Face sucks" by saying, "'Frankly, Mr. Shankly' almost ruined 'The Queen is Dead,'" alluding to two songs from the '80s English rock band The Smiths. In Lestat's own way, he seems to be alluding to the idea that "opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. And everyone thinks everyone else's stinks."

TC takes a page from Chapelle Roan.

When AMC announced Interview with the Vampire would be adapting Rice's second novel next, I suggested a celebrity cameo that would be pitch-perfect for the Brat Prince: Chapelle Roan.

SEE ALSO: Chappell Roan should be in 'Interview with the Vampire' Season 3

Outspoken, queer, and wildly fun, Roan's stage persona seems a sublime fit for the world of Lestat and company. While she's not made an appearance in the show itself, it seems showrunner Rolin Jones has nodded to her with a scene set on a red carpet.

In front of the aforementioned Dracula's Daughter hotel, TC and the other bandmates — minus Lestat — are on a red carpet, with paparazzi snapping away. While Larry, Alex, and Salamander seem content to caper for the cameras with heart hands and smiles, TC seethes, shouting, "Don’t tell me to pose. Fuck you.”

Roan fans might recall how in 2024 at the MTV Video Music Awards, Roan snapped back at a rude photographer, shouting, "Shut the fuck up."

We love a queen with boundaries.

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

With Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire, series creator Rolin Jones switches perspectives from Louis and Armand to the eponymous Brat Prince in The Vampire Lestat.

As I noted in my review, this season will leap from 18th-century Auvergne, where Lestat spent his mortal life, to 2025 America, where he's on tour with his rock band, The Vampire Lestat.

In tow, he's got Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), the journalist and vampire who published Louis' recounting as a book called Interview with the Vampire. Cameras roll on Lestat and the band for a behind-the-scenes documentary that Daniel is directing with Oscar ambitions. But the Brat Prince taunts that this doc is the "liner notes" to his songs, which offer a "rewrite" of Louis' version.

What's Lestat's beef with Interview with the Vampire?

Well, in the voiceover — courtesy of the vinyl records auctioned off at the top of the Season 3 premiere episode, "Detroit" — Lestat regards Louis' version of him as "a mayonnaise villain with psychopathic tendencies." 

From there, Lestat's new look for Season 3 reveals that he has longer hair than Louis recalled, and that his torso is striped with pink, meaty scars from fighting a wolf pack when he was a mortal.

The Brat Prince also chides Daniel and Louis from treating vampire sex as an often-traumatic thing in the book. In his record The Failures, Lestat says, "The fourth best thing the vampire can do to avoid thinking about the past is sex," adding, "Sex is fun, like the fun I sing about in 'Long Face.'" 

How is Lestat different in The Vampire Lestat versus Interview with the Vampire? Sam Reid is "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

In "Detroit," Lestat lays out some clear differences between how he sees himself and how Daniel and Louis' book represents him.

In the band's tour bus, Lestat has a tense exchange with Daniel that reveals several discrepancies. While the human camera operators roll, Daniel asks, "Were you a stutterer as a child?" When ignored, he presses, "Louis said you were." 

Lestat looks up from his texts with "toi" and tartly asks, "Was he there in 18th-century Auvergne?" From there, he goes on to list several inaccuracies he found in Molloy’s book, Interview with the Vampire. "Did I threaten Claudia with rape on a train? Was I in the room when Donizetti wrote Don Pasquale? No, no, and impossible, because I had buried myself underground for the vast majority of the 1800s." 

In flashback, Lestat will reveal how he first heard about Dan and Louis' book. While buying a copy at a bookshop in Montreal, he's annoyed to overhear the shopgirl lusting after Armand, and denouncing him. Not long after, he will be plagued by trick-or-treaters dressed as Louis, Armand, and Claudia. But his real rage is reserved for the book itself. This book has made a mockery of him.

In an amusing montage, "Detroit" has Lestat reading in between outbursts like, "I know what infinitesimal means!" and "It was raining!" and "No. Never fucking happened."

He seems particularly annoyed that his time on the stage as an actor was misrepresented. "I'm not a harlequin," he seethes in the episode. In Reid's live performance in New York City, The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only – LIVE, where he took to the stage as Lestat, he repeated this clarification, insisting to the crowd he was Lélio, not Harlequin.

The distinction here is that Lélio is a lover, refined and elegant in commedia dell'arte theater. Harlequin is more of a comical and mischievous character. Considering that bit of Lestat's story came from Armand, it might be that Lestat's seething ex purposefully misrepresented his stage persona to get under his skin. And he did.

But his biggest issue with Interview with the Vampire deals with his relationship with his fledgling daughter, Claudia.

Did Lestat threaten Claudia with rape on a train?  Sam Reid and Jennifer Ehle in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

No. Lestat challenges Daniel directly about this in the aforementioned bus scene. When he scribbles "never fucking happened" into the book, it's over that section. How do we know?

AMC previously released a clip of Daniel talking about Lestat's reaction to the book. In it, Daniel holds up Lestat's copy, showing the furious writing, and says, "He didn't like the part about Claudia and him on the train."

Teaser trailers for Season 3 assure that Delainey Hayles will be back in Claudia's yellow dress. So, we can assume this isn't the last we'll hear about this train scene.

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat  debuts on AMC and AMC+ June 7, with new episodes weekly.

Interview with the Vampire is back with Season 3, retitled The Vampire Lestat in honor of the second book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. As Lestat, Sam Reid goes from being an antagonist and supporting player in previous seasons to starring as this season's saucy anti-hero. His titular novel reveals his pre-vampire past, as well as his current ambition to become a rock star, singing the secrets of his kind — whether they like it or not. 

Following The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only – LIVE, the Season 3 premiere offers the episode “Detroit,” named for the city where much of its action takes place. But before the show gets to Lestat or his journey of sex, drugs, and motherfucking rock 'n' roll, it begins with a curious auction. 

A lot of exposition is dropped in a very short sequence. So, let’s dig into it beat by beat. 

SEE ALSO: 'The Vampire Lestat' review: 'Interview With the Vampire' Season 3 delivers sex, blood, and a rock 'n' roll odyssey When is this auction set?  Sam Reid and Jennifer Ehle play Lestat and Gabrielle in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

The exact timing is unclear. But based on the auctioneer’s brief, we can assume after 2025, when the band The Vampire Lestat — led by the vampire Lestat — toured and recorded an album, which is currently what's on the auction block. 

As Interview with the Vampire was set during 2022, this opening scene takes place years after we last saw Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat. And it seems like the time in between has been rough on Louis, who is sporting a cane as he limps into the auction. His ex Armand (Assad Zaman) is wearing an eyepatch, with some scars creeping out behind it. No sign of Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) or Lestat, but Raglan James (Justin Kirk) from the Talamasca is present. 

As critics were given episodes one through six, I can tell you with confidence this opening takes place after the events of all those episodes. As for episode 7? I couldn’t say.

What does the auctioneer say at the start of The Vampire Lestat?  Assad Zaman is Armand in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

In this highly secretive auction set in a plane hangar, the auctioneer begins by introducing the first lot.  

"Lot 1 of 2: 'The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt,' which includes his 2025 self-titled album 'The Vampire Lestat,' additional session tracks that were discarded in the final assemblage of the album, original handwritten scores, and private recordings by the Vampire Lestat himself, which include a song cycle in the classical vein set to the poetry of Baudelaire. Before we begin the bidding, I perform the following action." 

To the shock of the assembled bidders, the auctioneer then sets lot one on fire. While others harrumph and leave, Louis smiles to himself. The burned-to-ashes lot is then sold to a woman for one yuan, suggesting this auction takes place in China. 

The auctioneer then continues: 

"Lot number two, a music box curated by the Vampire Lestat himself. A 1978 Ferdinando Meccani Corinto sideboard. Inside a Rossner and Sohn MOTT Turntable with BeoLab 20 speakers. Two temperature-controlled wine cabinets, one holding a bottle of Niepoort 1863 port wine, the other with a magnum of blood from the curator himself. The upper level, a singular vinyl pressing of 'The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt,' previously delineated, along with 111 albums of audio best described as an omniscient history of the events of the 2025 album, its supporting tour, and the consequential global catastrophes that from said album and tour, as narrated by the Vampire Lestat himself. The collection has been named 'The Failures.' We will begin the bidding at 50 million yuan."

Where is Lestat?  Sam Reid is rock star Lestat. Credit: AMC+

There are some clues in this scene, the first of which is the narration that begins shortly after the auctioneer’s brief. 

Louis, Armand, and Raglan bid furiously on lot number two. But we don’t see who will be the victor. Instead, over the bidding, we hear a soft record scratch, as if the unknown winner is playing the first vinyl record. 

Lestat’s voice sounds: "If you are hearing this now, you must be a very privileged individual. You could have fed a small nation for years while they paved over the rubble. You bought my box instead. I like you already."  

This reference to rubble and the auctioneer’s mention of "consequential global catastrophes" suggests Lestat recorded The Failures after the worst of the disaster. What disaster? Well, Lestat in this narration says, "I'm not saying the attempted extinction of the Y chromosome across the continents was all my fault. No, that would suggest a level of self-importance even I am not confident with. But upon reflection — yeah, I made a contribution." 

Lestat alludes to an attempted genocide, which fans of the Anne Rice novels might well assume was conducted by Akasha. The vampire queen referenced in passing in Season 2 has been added to the company this season, played by Sheila Atim. But like Lestat, I’m getting ahead of things. 

What can we deduce from The Vampire Lestat’s auction opening?  Eric Bogosian is Daniel Molloy in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire will be told in media res. Much like the classic film noir Sunset Boulevard, which centers on a rogue of a writer who pays dearly for toying with the affections of a reclusive silent film star, The Vampire Lestat begins with the anti-hero explaining how we got to this grim place. 

Is Lestat dead? Unlikely. However, from this opening, it seems there was a worldwide catastrophes that resulted in many deaths, particularly of those with a Y chromosome. And while some familiar vamps, like Armand and Louis, survived, they’re still carrying the scars. As for Daniel and Lestat, we'll have to watch and find out. 

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you love being by the water.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for June 8, 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: By the sea

• Green: Noggin

• Blue: Pointed

• Purple: Popular films

Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Landforms by water

• Green: Slang for head

• Blue: Things that can be spiked

• Purple: "The ___ Man" movies

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 #1093 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Landforms by water: DELTA, ISLAND, ISTHMUS, PENINSULA

• Slang for head: COCONUT, DOME, MELON, PATE

• Things that can be spiked: MOHAWK, PUNCH, SEA URCHIN, VOLLEYBALL

• "The ___ Man" movies: COCONUT, DOME, MELON, PATE

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 8, 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.