IT General

Penguin Random House (PRH), the largest of the Big Five publishing imprints, is pushing back against its published works being used to train AI.

As first reported by The Bookseller, PRH has changed its copyright wording to target AI. The new rules state that "no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems." This statement will appear in all new titles across PRH's imprints, as well as reprints of backlist titles.

SEE ALSO: An AI is getting very rich off crypto. It gets weirder.

PRH's changing of its copyright wording to combat AI training makes it the first of the Big Five publishers to take such an action against AI, at least publicly. Mashable has reached out to the remaining Big Five trade publishers — Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster — for comment.

PRH's move is the latest in a series of copyright actions by publishers against AI scraping. In late 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, and in Oct. of 2024, they also sent a cease and desist letter to the Jeff Bezos-backed AI startup Perplexity. And with companies allowing seemingly anything to be trained for AI, from X posts to LinkedIn data, who can blame them?

Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner star in this reboot of a horror classic from Leigh Whannell ("The Invisible Man").

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

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Saturday, October 19, 2024:

AcrossLawyer's assignment

• The answer is Case.

"I'm outta here!"

• The answer is Later.

Be a nuisance to

• The answer is Bother.

Net flicks?

• The answer is Volleys.

Pop star Grande

• The answer is Ariana.

Awaits a final judgment

• The answer is Pends.

On the boundaries of acceptable behavior

• The answer is Edgy.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for October 18 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for October 18 DownTaylor Swift, per the signature on her endorsement of Kamala Harris

• The answer is Cat Lady.

Capital of Greece

• The answer is Athens.

"I'm outta here!"

• The answer is See ya.

Makes a mistake

• The answer is Errs.

Cracking up, to a texter

• The answer is LOLing.

Totally uninterested in a lecture, perhaps

• The answer is Bored.

Use an e-cigarette

• The answer is Vape.

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

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

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 today's Mini Crossword.

TL;DR: Watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix for free on ORF, ServusTV, or RTBF. Access these free streaming platforms from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Can Max Verstappen turn things around and stretch his lead at the top of the F1 standings, or will Lando Norris continue to close the gap? There are so many questions waiting to be answered at the Circuit of The Americas this weekend, and you can find out the answers without spending anything.

If you're interested in watching the 2024 United States Grand Prix for free from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

When is the 2024 United States Grand Prix?

The 2024 United States Grand Prix takes place over 56 laps of the 5,513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas in Austin. The full schedule can be found here:

• Practice 1 — 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 18

• Sprint Qualifying — 5:30 to 6:14 p.m. ET on Oct. 18

• Sprint — 2 to 3 p.m. ET on Oct. 19

• Qualifying — 6 to 7 p.m. ET on Oct. 19

• Race — 3 p.m. ET on Oct. 20

The good news is that it's possible to stream the 2024 United States Grand Prix without spending anything.

How to watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix for free

You can find free live streams of F1 on these platforms:

• Austria — ORF or ServusTV (12 races each)

• Belgium — RTBF (every race)

ORF, ServusTV, and RTBF are geo-restricted, but anyone from around the world can access these free streaming platforms with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in other countries, meaning you can access free live streams of F1 from anywhere in the world.

Unblock free streaming services by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Austria or Belgium

4. Connect to ORF, ServusTV, or RTBF

5. Watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading services do tend to offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch F1 live streams without actually spending anything. This is clearly not a long-term solution, but it does mean you can stream the 2024 United States Grand Prix before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for F1?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for live streaming F1 for free, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Austria and Belgium

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is protected

• Fast streaming speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix for free with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint for free on ServusTV. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

This season of F1 has been particularly interesting for fans, but there's something special on the calendar that makes a race weekend even more exciting: a sprint race. China, Miami, Austria, USA, Brazil, and Qatar will each host a sprint weekend this season, and you can watch each session without spending anything.

If you're interested in watching the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint for free from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

When is the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint?

The 2024 United States Grand Prix takes place over 56 laps of the 5,513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas in Austin. The sprint schedule can be found here:

• Sprint Qualifying — 5:30 to 6:14 p.m. ET on Oct. 18

• Sprint — 2 to 3 p.m. ET on Oct. 19

The good news is that the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint is available to live stream for free.

How to watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint for free

The 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint is available to live stream for free on the ServusTV.

ServusTV is geo-restricted to Austria, but anyone from around the world can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Austria, meaning you can access free live streams of F1 from anywhere in the world.

Access a free live stream of the US GP Sprint by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

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

4. Connect to ServusTV

5. Watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading services do tend to offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch F1 live streams without actually spending anything. This is clearly not a long-term solution, but it does mean you can stream the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for F1?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for live streaming F1 for free, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Austria

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is protected

• Fast streaming speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Watch the 2024 United States Grand Prix Sprint for free with ExpressVPN.

Scientists have discovered small, potentially habitable areas on Mars where life could, in theory, transform sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen, according to a new NASA study. 

Though the research doesn't mean photosynthetic aliens are indeed living in these environments now — or even that they were there in the past — the findings provide the U.S. space agency with attractive targets for future searches.

For years, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — a spacecraft circling the Red Planet — has seen white material lining dry gullies thought to be dusty water ice. This environment in the Martian tropics could be mottled with small pockets of meltwater, similar to features found within glaciers on Earth. 

A team has proposed that simple lifeforms like microbes could potentially find refuge up to 10 feet below the Red Planet's surface in these ice deposits found near the Martian equator. 

"If we’re trying to find life anywhere in the universe today, Martian ice exposures are probably one of the most accessible places we should be looking," said Aditya Khuller, lead author of the study, in a statement. 

SEE ALSO: Past life on Mars? Here's what new NASA evidence points to. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots several gullies tipped in white, believed to be areas of dusty ice. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona

Over the course of several ice ages spanning eons, snow mixed with dust fell on the ground of Mars, a world an average of 140 million miles away. That ancient snow — now ice — still contains flecks of dust.

Through computer simulations, the team demonstrated that a habitable zone could exist on Mars in ice with such dust. Their paper, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, suggests that just the right amount of sunlight could penetrate the ice to allow photosynthesis to occur in pockets of meltwater below an icy layer.

But why, pray tell, does a pinch of dirt matter? 

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flies over a gully believed to have areas of dusty ice similar to those modeled in the study. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona

On Earth, dust within ice can form so-called cryoconite holes — small areas where dust carried by wind lands on the ground, absorbs sunlight, warms up, and then melts deeper into the ice each summer. Eventually the particles stop sinking, but they continue to create enough heat to melt small pools of water around them. 

And when this process happens here, the water holes tend to be brimming with life, hosting entire ecosystems: algae, fungi, and microscopic cyanobacteria, for instance, all of which get their energy from photosynthesis. 

"This is a common phenomenon on Earth," said co-author Phil Christensen of Arizona State University. "Dense snow and ice can melt from the inside out, letting in sunlight that warms it like a greenhouse, rather than melting from the top down."

On Mars, where there isn't a protective magnetic field enveloping the planet, the sun beats down on the world with high levels of toxic radiation. But a thick slab of ice could absorb the rays, protecting biology below the surface, while allowing enough light to pass through it and enable photosynthesis. 

Though the environment at Mars' poles would likely be too cold for cryoconite holes to form beneath ice, the planet's tropics may present the right conditions. During the NASA study, scientists learned that too much schmutz in the ice would make for a very small habitable zone, of perhaps just 2 to 15 inches below ground. In clearer ice, that zone could potentially extend to 10 feet deep. 

Scientists are excited about these findings because they provide a sort of liquid water loophole for Mars. The planet has such thin and dry air, water ice is thought to "sublimate," converting directly from a solid to vapor, at its surface. But the problems presented by Mars' atmosphere for ice to melt into water don't exist below a glacier or tightly packed snow.

The team plans to map out the most likely spots on Mars where shallow meltwater could exist. These may become some of the most enticing locations on the Red Planet for future astronauts to explore.

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for October 19's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for October 19 Where did Wordle come from?

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

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

What happened to the Wordle archive?

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

Is Wordle getting harder?

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

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for October 19 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Carbs for digestion.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no reoccurring letters.

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter F.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for October 18 The Wordle answer today is...

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

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

FIBER.

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for October 18

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

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

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

Connections is the latest New York Times word game 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 October 19'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.

Tweet may have been deleted

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.

Tweet may have been deleted

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's The Mini crossword answers for October 18 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Do something

• Green: Good-smelling objects

• Blue: Things can cause an ouchie

• Purple: Video games

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow - Bring About

• Green - Things That Are Often Scented

• Blue - Things That Might Sting

• Purple - Video Game Franchises

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 #494 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Bring About: GENERATE, INSPIRE, PROMPT, PROVOKE

• Things That Are Often Scented: CANDLE, INCENSE, LOTION, SOAP

• Things That Might Sting: INSULT, JELLYFISH, NETTLE, WASP

• Video Game Franchises: CIVILIZATION, HALO, MADDEN, METROID

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 October 18

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

SEE ALSO: Mini crossword answers for October 18

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 today's Connections.

The brains of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft are stored in a metal vault.

It's where the large exploration vehicle — the length of a basketball court — safeguards its computers, software, and many electronics. On Oct.14, the craft launched to Jupiter's moon Europa, a world planetary scientists suspect harbors an ocean twice the volume of Earth's. With around 50 close swoops by Europa, NASA will be able to confidently answer the question of whether this ocean realm also hosts the ingredients, such as an energy source and telltale materials, to support life.

Yet the radiation environs there are particularly harsh.

"The charged particle environment at Europa's location is immense," Cynthia Phillips, a NASA planetary geologist and project staff scientist for the space agency's Europa Clipper mission, told Mashable.

SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills.

Jupiter, a gas giant planet 317 times more massive than Earth, generates a magnetic field shooting out between 600,000 to 2 million miles (1 to 3 million kilometers) towards the sun. It's created by the planet's liquid metal core, which spins and creates electrical currents (moving electric charges make magnetic fields). Crucially, this magnetic field grabs and then accelerates particles from the relentless solar wind — a stream of rapidly traveling charged particles emitted by the sun — which creates potent radiation belts around Jupiter.

"It bombards everything."

Any craft traveling around the planet will almost certainly pass through these hazardous zones and expose instruments to harmful particles, which can damage computer chips and electronics. "It bombards everything," Curt Niebur, Europa Clipper's program scientist, said at a press conference leading up to the mission's launch. Decades ago, during the Voyager mission, NASA's engineers were worried about the craft passing by Jupiter. A person hypothetically riding aboard Voyager as it passed Jupiter would have gotten hit with a radiation dose 1,000 times the lethal level.

A depiction of Jupiter's sprawling magnetic field. If was visible to the naked eye, "it would appear two to three times the size of the sun or moon to viewers on Earth," NASA explained. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center "The relative intensity of Jupiter's radiation bands is illustrated in this diagram," NASA explains, with darker reds depicting more radiation. Both Europa and Europa Clipper's orbits are depicted in the graphic. Credit: NASA

Hence, the vault. "The vault seriously reduces the harmful radiation these electronics get," Phillips said. (NASA's Juno craft, exploring the greater Jupiter system, also carries a vault.)

Yet there are electronics outside this protective metallic box. And in May NASA received test data that suggested some transistors — which are electrical switches that control how electricity flows around the spacecraft — couldn't withstand the high radiation environs around Europa. Fortunately, intensive follow-up testing showed these switches will work as the craft makes some 50 flybys over three and a half years. "They unequivocally passed that review today," Nicola Fox, who heads NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said following a pivotal September decision to green-light the mission.

But mission engineers will be watching these transistors closely. As the New York Times reported, NASA bolted a late add-on to the craft, a small "canary box" holding the different types of transistors. If any show signs of damage or dysfunction as Europa Clipper swoops through belts of radiation, planners could adapt the mission.

In this graphic, the box illuminated in red shows the Europa Clipper's vault on the center of the spacecraft. Credit: NASA An artist's conception of the ocean, and geothermal energy sources, that could exist beneath Europa's thick ice crust. Credit: NASA

Already, the mission's orbital plan — which is to zip away from damaging regions after making close flybys of the ice-covered moon — minimizes the time the craft is exposed to high radiation zones. During each orbit around Jupiter, the craft will spend under a day in an irradiated zone, before swooping out. It won't return for between two to three weeks.

"You get out of there," Phillips told Mashable.

"You get out of there."

The robotic spacecraft's exposure to radiation, however, comes with rewards. When the probe dips close to Europa between 2031 and 2034, it will have the chance to view, scan, and investigate Europa in unprecedented detail. A ground-penetrating radar will look under the ice, and potentially see areas of liquid water or even where the ice meets the alien ocean. An instrument called the SUrface Dust Analyzer, or SUDA, will literally sample particles of Europa that have been ejected into space by tiny meteorites. And, of course, Europa Clipper will capture a bounty of images.

Tweet may have been deleted

"The images are going to be spectacular," said Laurie Leshin, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the agency center that built the craft.

In sum, with this orbiting laboratory of instruments, NASA will be able to determine if the ocean moon has the right stuff — energy sources, a long-lived stable ocean, organic compounds (like carbon) — for life. If so, the agency plans to return to Europa and land on the icy crust. This time, they won't just be looking to see if it's habitable. They'll drill into the ice, looking to see if it's inhabited.

"We'll be knocking on the door for a second mission," Niebur said.

This story has been updated with information about Europa Clipper's launch from Kennedy Space Center.

Maybe you're watching Peacock's Hysteria! and twitching on the verge of recollection: WHO is that familiar face screaming on your TV screen? The new horror-thriller series from Matthew Scott Kane not only delves into the Satanic Panic of the '80s with a fresh murder mystery to unearth but also boasts an ensemble cast studded with genre luminaries.

So whether you're a die-hard Deadite, an appreciator of elevated horror, or new to scary movies, here's a guide to where you've seen the cast of Hysteria! before.

SEE ALSO: What to watch: Best scary movies Emjay Anthony Emjay Anthony is long-ignored misfit Dylan Campbell in "Hysteria!" Credit: Mark Hill/Peacock

Hysteria!'s plotline features a variety of characters, from the pestered police chief and the fretful Christian girl to the queen bee obsessed with Satan. At its emotional center is long-ignored misfit Dylan Campbell, whose last name is a nod to the show's most legendary horror star, Bruce Campbell. When a local beloved jock turns up ritualistically murdered, Dylan finds an unlikely path to popularity by pretending to be a Satanist — and a way to promote his heavy metal band to boot!

In pursuit of his devilish dream girl Judith (Jessica Treska), Dylan puts his whole family at risk. This is similar to the plotline of Anthony's most memorable horror role, Krampus. In this Yuletide horror, a young Anthony played a little boy so fed up with his family's in-fighting that he makes a terrible Christmas wish. Everything from snowmen and gingerbread cookies to holiday ornaments become deadly threats in this over-the-top treat from writer/director Michael Dougherty.

SEE ALSO: The cast of 'Hysteria!' on what makes a society go hysterical Julie Bowen Julie Bowen as concerned mother Linda Campbell in "Hysteria!" Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock

Mostly known as Claire Dunphy on the long-running sitcom Modern Family, Bowen has dipped into her dark side since the series finale in 2020. Just last year she starred opposite Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Kiernan Shipka in the time-traveling slasher-comedy Totally Killer.

Now as Hysteria!'s Linda Campbell, she's playing a mom who's plagued by paranormal threats, unexplained blisters, and fears that her son could be a killer Satanist.

Bruce Campbell Bruce Campbell as Chief Dandridge in "Hysteria!" Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock

Long before Campbell lent his world-weary swagger to Hysteria!'s no-nonsense Chief Dandridge, he made his first major mark on horror as the lead in Sam Raimi's grimy classic Evil Dead. As the hard-to-kill everyman (who sometimes has a chainsaw for an arm), Campbell's scream king Ash returned in the sequels Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, and the spinoff series Ash vs Evil Dead.

This self-proclaimed B-movie actor has gone on to appear in a slew of movies and TV shows, including the spy drama Burn Notice and the Elvis Presley-centered mummy romp Bubba Ho-Tep. Superhero movie fans might recognize his trademark chin from his cameos in other Raimi offerings, like all three Tobey Maguire-fronted Spider-Man movies, plus Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Milly Shapiro

As Dylan and his friends build their cult to cater to Judith's desires, they rope in "goat girl" aka Ingrid, a farmer's daughter who has no embarrassment about her animal buddies. If you looked at this lovable outcast and thought for sure you've seen her before, perhaps you're thinking of Hereditary? Yup. The 22-year-old Shapiro is all grown up now. But back in 2018, the Broadway baby who headlined Matilda the Musical scared the bejesus out of audiences as Charlie, the strange, seemingly haunted girl in writer/director Ari Aster's disturbing feature-length debut.

Coincidentally, both Shapiro and Anthony's breakout horror roles were in movies where Toni Collette played their mom! And — uh — without spoilers, that didn't bode well for either family.

Garret Dillahunt

This prolific actor is introduced on Hysteria! by voice alone. But as a fan of the critically heralded Western drama Deadwood and the wacky sitcom Raising Hope, I know the voice of Garret Dillahunt when I hear it! To me, he's best known in the double role of the cowardly killer Jack McCall and the suave but villainous Francis Wolcott or the lovable himbo Burt Chance. However, Walking Dead fans will know him as Fear The Walking Dead's former cop turned rugged survivor John Dorie, while others may recognize him from his offbeat role as Dr. Jody Kimball-Kinney in The Mindy Project.

With Dillahunt regularly showing all kinds of range in his TV roles, from lovable to harrowing, his presence on Hysteria! is exciting exactly because it's hard to predict where his mysterious Reverend may land by season's end.

Anna Camp Anna Camp prays as Tracy Whitehead in "Hysteria!" Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock

Maybe she's best known as Barden Bellas leader Aubrey Posen in Pitch Perfect, but Anna Camp is no stranger to serial horror. Back in 2009, she sunk her teeth into HBO's True Blood, a sexy soap opera inspired by Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries. In that long-running series, she played a perky but menacing televangelist's wife named Sarah Newlin. In Hysteria!, she's back in the habit (as it were) as Tracy Whitehead, a fiercely religious mother whose view on faith and parenthood are flat-out scary.

Chiara Aurelia Chiara Aurelia as goth girl Jordy in "Hysteria!" Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock

Did you pick out this one? In Hysteria!, Chiara Aurelia brings a snarling wit and big heart to goth girl Jordy, best friend of the embattled Dylan. But back in Fear Street Part Two: 1978, this actress played a mean teen in the summer camp slasher. As pretty and popular camper Sheila Watson, Aurelia bullied and even burned Shadysider Ziggy (Stranger Things' Sadie Sink). This time around, she's using her sneer for good, scaring off the cool kids whose peer pressure could actually get her friends killed.

Jamie Flanagan Jamie Flanagan as Father Mathis and Julie Bowen as Linda Campbell in "Hysteria!" Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock

The sibling of horror auteur Mike Flanagan, Jamie has appeared in small roles in several of their brother's movies, including Absentia, Oculus, Gerald's Game, and Doctor Sleep. As a writer, they've also had a hand in Mike's Netflix series, with credits on The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

SEE ALSO: Where you've seen 'The House of Usher' cast before: Welcome to the Flanaverse

Jamie Flanagan pulls double duty on Hysteria!, not only as a screenwriter on Season 1 but also as the mild-mannered Father Mathis.

Nikki Hahn Nikki Hahn as Faith in "Hysteria!" Credit: Mark Hill / Peacock

Before she was the tormented Christian teen Faith Whitehead on Hysteria!, Nikki Hahn played a creepy kid on the second season of American Horror Story. In American Horror Story: Asylum, Hahn appeared as little Jenny Reynolds, whose girlish pigtails and angel face hid a murderous past. Will Faith prove to be a bad seed like Jenny? Hysteria!'s finale may have the answer.

Any other horror-casting connections you can find in Hysteria!? Sound off in comments.

Hysteria! is now streaming on Peacock.

In mid-July, in a sun-baked lot outside of Amazon Studios in Culver City, California, a group of writers and creatives were up in arms. They were four months into what would be a 6-month strike and picketing effort spanning the summer of 2023, fighting for a fair contract with studios. "It's not content," read one red and black sign. "Amazon Crime," read another, punctuated by a depiction of the signature Amazon logo in an uncharacteristic frown.  

One week prior, the National Labor Relations Board had filed a formal complaint against the manufacturing arm of that same global giant, alleging that the business had violated the law in refusing to bargain with the fledgling Amazon Labor Union representing fulfillment center workers. 

A cross-sector labor resurgence, prompted by global crisis after global crisis, was well on its way. Corporations — including those blurring the lines between manufacturing, entertainment, and technology — were on notice.

The efforts of the Amazon organizers are depicted in Union, an observational documentary on the Bezos-opposed unionization of Staten Island fulfillment center JFK8 and their now-famous figurehead Chris Smalls, who led a 2020 worker walkout and was eventually fired. The film begins its theatrical run on Oct. 18.

SEE ALSO: The secret online lives of high schoolers: FX's 'Social Studies' lifts the veil

The 100-minute film drops viewers straight into the 2021 work of then-employees, recently fired organizers, and specially hired union salts (union organizers who seek jobs at companies just to unionize them) to draw a picture of a cross-class, multiracial effort to take back a corporate economy slipping out of the people's control. It has only a few named subjects, no talking heads, no heroes, and, really, no villains. It, in the words of directors Brett Story and Stephen Maing, is a story of complicated people power. 

Despite premiering at Sundance, where it won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for the Art of Change, and its headline-generating subject matter, the Level Ground Production film received no studio distribution interest. Over the last 8 months, it's screened at nearly every major film festival and at national and international labor events; it's now going to theaters under a full self-distribution plan. "Amazon Studios has a lot of power," Story told Mashable. "We don't know if that's a factor behind why our film hasn't been picked up, but it certainly adds to a nervousness and a conservatism around the choices distributors are making."

The struggles and ethos of the workers are replicated on screen and off, with Union and its distribution strategy presenting a concerning reality and a call to action for its audiences. Touching on the rippling effects of corporate consolidation, the increasing necessity of historic documentation, and the fate of art amid conflict, the film pounds on Hollywood's locked doors. 

Union and its place in the labor revival

The first moments of Union introduce its audience to the concept of scale. A massive cargo ship filled with towering containers slowly engulfs the first frame. A rocket ship — specifically, the Blue Origin flight carrying Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — shoots through a cerulean sky into space. On the ground, employees wait for a bus.  

These elements, combined with the nonstop pace of the union organizers in the film thereafter, are designed to feel all-consuming, Maing (the Academy Award–nominated director behind documentary film Crime + Punishment) explained to Mashable. Viewers watch as the film jumps from Zoom calls in cars to contentious discussions over firepits to confusing cross-borough commutes by the underdog union's leaders; it's all for the purpose of forward momentum. Unlike the massive scale used to set the stakes, urgency is communicated through minute details — leaders address the personal needs of workers and assuage fears of being fired.

While the social issue documentary spans more than a year of organizing, the directors were aware of the urgency of the moment, painted against the backdrop of a wave of worker movements, including in Hollywood. They saw the need to present the interconnected, complex, and messy nature of labor organizing against corporations that all pull from the same set of anti-worker — and anti-art — tactics. 

Story — one of Variety's Documentary Filmmakers to Watch, known for documentaries like climate warning The Hottest August and Camper Force, about the Amazon workers depicted in the book as well as the feature film Nomadland — wanted to explore the larger labor movement through the complicated characters behind the ALU. "In the 21st century, when unionization is at an all-time low, when many people have no generational experience being part of a labor movement or a union, their parents might not even have been part of a union, who brings themselves to an effort like this?" she asks. "Politically, how do people decide that that's the form of political activism that they want to engage in? And then how do they learn how to do it in real time?" 

Credit: Union The documentary as a mirror 

As more people join the cause, organizing becomes increasingly complicated. Organizers negotiate over who the face of the movement should be. We see Smalls, the union's de-facto leader and later president, representing a more common working-class experience as a father and warehouse employee. He's juxtaposed by his young, white, college-educated comrades, like Madeline, a hired "salt."

Other organizers fight to keep Smalls and other Black and brown members safe from potential violence at the hands of security personnel, balancing the need to use his name and image for press attention with the reality of structural racism and police brutality. By the end, many are questioning whether their leader is the right choice, and ardent supporters have changed their tune.

As the ALU negotiates PR spin, the optics of their movement, and the need for third-party support among major labor unions, morals clash, and morale is threatened. 

The companies that govern what gets seen are run like tech companies...We're feeling that in what's being bought and distributed and made available. - Brett Story

Union's production team face some of the same battles, mirroring the ALU in the documentary's efforts to get its message out to the public — Smalls has traveled abroad for film screenings, appeared as an honored guest for the Time 100, and joined the documentary press tour at the Sundance and New York Film festivals — while adhering to the ethos of the movement the film is representing. "There were a lot of voices in the room from an early stage. It was always very collaborative, in ways that, at times, mimicked the group of people we were watching on screen. Because, it turns out, it's really hard to do things collectively," said Story. 

Just like their on-screen counterparts, the film's team — backed by what are known as impact partners, like Red Owl, and independent film funders, like the Ford Foundation's JustFilms — are strategizing a play against their own disinterested corporate giant. 

The future of "impact films" in the digital age

"The companies that govern what gets seen are run like tech companies," said Story. "They're not even run by film people anymore, or media people, who watch stuff because they care. They're run by people who are thinking about their stock options and running things like a startup. We're feeling that in what's being bought and distributed and made available."

Not only that: The state of the "social issue documentary," or "impact film" as they're often called these days, is nebulous. While independent films are growing in popularity among viewers, distribution markets for social issue films have collapsed, being slowly built back up by nonprofits and social organizations. Documentaries are now commonly paired with impact campaigns designed to hit social media audiences with resources or calls-to-action, Union included — not previously a norm. 

Tweet may have been deleted

"What a documentary film is and how it functions in the world is actually very mysterious to most people," she said. "Unless you're in the film world and you go to film festivals, your idea of a documentary film is just something that's on Netflix."

The decline in political cinema, the preferred term Story uses for work like hers, isn't just an issue among artmakers. It's a democratic concern. To filmmakers like Maing and Story, working out of a storied history of documentarians like Diary of a Harlem Family director Gordon Parks and Primary director Richard Leacock, long-form cinema is just as important a tool to political action as the written word. Citing Parks specifically, Maing refers to the camera as a "weapon of choice" in implicating the most urgent of social issues. It's supported by the rising importance of digital documentation of the world's crises, from citizen journalists in war-torn areas and activists armed with smartphones.

Political cinema, Story added, is "not just a vehicle synonymous with a pamphlet or an essay. Political films are also entertaining, to use the language of the media world — they make us feel alive, they make us feel connected, they pose interesting questions that we keep thinking about." So why won't studios put more investment in them? And what do we lose when they don't?

Historic houses for social issue documentation that support artistic work, like the newsroom, are also losing the corporate consolidation battle, which Story says is concerning. While local news outlets are being lost and capitalism's interests take over decision-making, media and news literacy worsens among consumers. The social media warehouses of modern audiences churn out assembly lines swamped by memes and misinformation, while films like Union struggle to get to viewers. And where streaming services could have been democratizing forces in filmmaking, getting previously inaccessible or uninvested films into the homes of audiences, corporate-owned services are now shutting the gates to audiences and artists. 

The current distribution landscape would have us believe that, without a major distributor or streamer studio, you'll be hard pressed to get national exposure for your little documentary. - Stephen Maing

"What does it say about the world, and our capacity to become more intelligent actors in it, if the media we consume is governed by a set of cynical calculations about how we can't stand to watch a single image for more than two seconds, and how audiences don't want to see anything except for celebrities and true crime?" asked Story. 

Documenting conflict, protest, and change freely is the first hurdle. Getting audiences in community to view the work is another. In Union, organizers crash mandatory meetings of Amazon employees held by union busters, a tactic known as captive audience audience meetings, in order to get out the word on the ALU. In theaters, where audience are similarly held to one space for an extended amount of time, Union hopes to convince viewers to reclaim political power. "It's the only captive audience viewing that is actually beneficial to the people who get to view it," said Maing.

Seeding a people-first film environment 

Union's campaign team, like the ALU's, views their situation as an organizing opportunity, not in economic terms. "When you don't see your needs being met by the existing landscape — whether it's a corporate landscape of jobs or it's a landscape of big unions that you feel like have abandoned you — then you take things into your own hands," said Story. 

Union's self-distribution in limited theaters across the country is matched by a wave of guerrilla marketing. The team has and will continue hosting Amazon worker screenings across dozens of Amazon "chokepoint" warehouses vital to the movement. They will launch a five-day screening pegged to Black Friday, inevitably hitting one of Amazon's most profitable days of the year, and even project opportunities to see the film on the sides of Amazon warehouse buildings, just like the ALU did with its own messaging: "You are not a number. You are not disposable. You are a human being."

"This has been a really exciting experience, to call the shots and allow us to be impact and community forward in our distribution ideas," Maing explained, "as opposed to watching our relationship to the actual release of the film be broken and taken out of our control."

Tweet may have been deleted

"The ALU was a nascent grassroots organization that was told they would never be able to pull off organizing Amazon. Amazon was an un-organizable space," said Maing. "The current distribution landscape would have us believe that, without a major distributor or streamer studio, you'll be hard pressed to get national exposure for your little documentary. I think the contrary has been proven." Maing says that with the alignment of audiences and filmmakers, big studio and streamer gatekeepers could be taken to task. Amazon, increasingly at the center of both industries, could be hit from all sides. 

Such attempts at independent, morally-aligned theatrical campaigns aren't trying to sneak by the industry's gatekeepers, but rather reach the people outside the gates.

"People are hungry for stories that describe and reflect the desire to feel like we have power over our lives," said Story. "That these beasts, these power conglomerates that we're faced with, are not insurmountable. That we can take them on."

Union is in select theaters through October.

The colossal ball of hot gas at the center of our solar system will be lively for the next year, NASA said.

The sun has reached its "solar maximum period," which is a state of heightened activity in its 11-year solar cycle. It's normal, but will almost certainly bring more solar storms — the type that can disrupt our power grid and communication systems, but also light up the sky with brilliant auroras.

"It’s official: We have reached solar max phase!" the space agency posted online. "Expect solar eruptions, auroras, and more."

SEE ALSO: Aliens haven't contacted us. Scientists found a compelling reason why.

Similar to storm seasons or climate patterns on Earth, the sun experiences a cycle of weather. The sun's lasts for 11 years. During this pattern, solar activity increases for some 5.5 years, then decreases, then picks up again.

"It's the space equivalent of hurricane season. We're coming into another one," Mark Miesch, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center, told Mashable as solar activity ramped up.

Solar scientists observe sunspots — cooler regions on the sun's surface that often spawn solar eruptions — to determine when the sun reaches the peak, or near peak, of its activity. (Literal solar maximum — the month that solar activity peaks — will occur during this period.) As shown below, more sunspots mean more activity.

Images of the sun during solar minimum (left) and solar maximum (right). Credit: NASA / SDO Tweet may have been deleted

The sun, a medium-sized star, has already manifested intense activity in 2024, producing magnificent Northern Lights. "During May 2024, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest geomagnetic storm at Earth in two decades — and possibly among the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years," NASA said in a statement.

(When solar particles hit our planet, some are trapped by Earth's magnetic field, where they travel to the poles and collide with the molecules and particles in our atmosphere. During this collision, these atmospheric particles heat up and glow.)

How solar storms impact Earth and people

There are different types of potentially problematic solar explosions that can affect Earth:

1. Solar flares: Explosions of light from the sun's surface. Driven by the behavior of the sun's magnetic field, they expel extreme amounts of energy (visible light, X-rays, and beyond) into space.

2. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs): These occur when the sun ejects a mass of super hot gas (plasma). "It's like scooping up a piece of the sun and ejecting it into space," NOAA's Miesch explained. Sometimes solar flares trigger CMEs, and sometimes they don't.

3. Solar energetic particle (SEP) events: These are essentially solar flares with lots of energetic particles. They're especially dangerous to astronauts and satellites.

The big question is how different types of flares and radiation impact our lives. Fortunately, life on Earth is shielded from such particles and radiation. Our atmosphere protects us from things like X-rays and energetic particles emitted into space. Meanwhile, Earth's potent magnetic field (generated by Earth's metallic core) deflects many particles from solar storms and shields us from the sun's relentless solar wind, a continuous flow of particles (electrons and protons) from our star.

Yet a spectrum of potential technological hazards, ranging in seriousness from briefly problematic to extremely damaging, can ensue when the likes of a strong solar flare or CME hits Earth. A powerful CME, for example, can induce intense currents in our power grids, among other deleterious impacts to satellites. Infamously, a potent CME in 1989 knocked out power to millions in Québec, Canada. The CME hit Earth's magnetic field on March 12 of that year, and then, wrote NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald, "Just after 2:44 a.m. on March 13, the currents found a weakness in the electrical power grid of Quebec. In less than two minutes, the entire Quebec power grid lost power. During the 12-hour blackout that followed, millions of people suddenly found themselves in dark office buildings and underground pedestrian tunnels, and in stalled elevators." Scary, indeed.

On left: the sun during solar maximum. On right: the sun during solar minimum. Credit: NASA / SDO Tweet may have been deleted

Crucially, even bigger solar storms are inevitable. The largest such episode ever observed was the Carrington Event, in 1859. The solar storms produced auroras so bright, they awoke Rocky Mountain gold miners at 1 a.m., and people could reportedly read newspapers by the eerie atmospheric light.

Such an event today — if not properly prepared for — could stoke widespread electrical blackouts and fry communications satellites. "If that were to occur today it would do a lot of damage," Andrew Layden, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Bowling Green State University, told Mashable. "No one knows when that Carrington-level event is going to happen again." A report from the National Academies says that an estimate of "$1 trillion to $2 trillion during the first year alone was given for the societal and economic costs of a 'severe geomagnetic storm scenario' with recovery times of 4 to 10 years."

Thankfully, we have space weather prediction experts, such as those at NASA and NOAA, who can provide warning of an incoming blast of charged particles and radiation. Power utilities, for example, can temporarily shut down electric grids to avoid permanently-damaged infrastructure.

Enjoy the coming aurora. But don't be surprised if the sun discharges billions of tons of solar matter, traveling millions of miles per hour, straight at Earth.

TL;DR: Turn projects into opportunities with Microsoft Project Pro 2021, now $17.97 (reg. $249) through October 27. 

Sometimes, a project hits your desk a little too hard. Whether it's tracking multiple people or just breaking down a complex workload, it's a lot to put on yourself without help, and that doesn't just mean help from your team. Sometimes, the right tools can really turn a complex job into a series of simple tasks, and Microsoft Project Pro fits the bill. Instead of getting lost in the weeds on your next project, use this project management software to plan timelines, get organized, and finish strong. Plus, it's only $17.97 (reg. $249). 

What does Project Pro do?

Microsoft Project Professional 2021 makes it easier to plan and manage projects without feeling overwhelmed. Even if you’re not a project management expert, it’s built for everyday users who just need to keep things running smoothly. With automated scheduling tools, you can set timelines and deadlines without having to figure everything out manually. The pre-built templates are a huge time-saver too, so you’re not starting every project from scratch.

Another practical bonus is that the app syncs with Project Online and Project Server, letting you access your project data from anywhere. Say you’re at home and want to check in on your team’s progress or update a task—Microsoft Project makes that quick and easy, so you always stay in the loop, no matter where you are.

Microsoft Project also shines when it comes to flexibility. Its “what-if” scenarios let you play around with project plans to see how changes—like a team member suddenly being unavailable—might impact the schedule. This way, you can make adjustments before small issues become big ones, keeping everything on track even when surprises happen.

Generating detailed reports is another game-changer. With just a few clicks, you can pull up reports on task completion, resource use, or overall project status. These reports help you spot bottlenecks early, giving you the insights needed to make smart decisions and keep your project moving forward smoothly.

Marked down for a few more days

Make your job easier. 

October 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT is the deadline to get Microsoft Project Pro 2021 for $17.97. No coupon needed. 

StackSocial prices subject to change. 

Opens in a new window Credit: SmartTrainingLab Microsoft Project Professional 2021 for Windows $17.97
$249.99 Save $232.02 Get Deal

TL;DR: Get a digital download of two Minecraft editions, Java and Bedrock, for just $19.97 (reg. $29.99) at the Mashable Shop.

If you or someone on your shopping list is a Minecraft fan, you're going to want to pay attention to this buy-one, get-one offer. With this two-edition bundle of Minecraft Java and Bedrock, you get the best of both worlds. Whether you’re a Java purist or prefer the flexibility of Bedrock edition, this digital download offers both from a single launcher. And it's on sale for just $19.97 for a limited time.

Connect with friends across platforms, explore vast landscapes, and dive into endless minigames and community servers. It’s all about creative freedom — however you want to play, wherever you want to play.

Each edition has its own distinct features. Enjoy Java's limitless mods and Bedrock's cross-platform play. This package gives you the tools to mine, craft, and build your dream world.

The Java Edition lets you fully customize your gameplay with community-made mods, while Bedrock Edition offers seamless, smooth performance and multiplayer compatibility with friends on different devices. Together, they create the ultimate Minecraft experience.

It's worth noting that the Java edition is for PC users, providing powerful modding and customization options. Meanwhile, the Bedrock edition supports cross-play, so you can jump into multiplayer with friends on consoles, mobile, and more. With this dual package, you don’t have to choose — you can enjoy the best of both worlds.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the gamer in your life? This Minecraft Java and Bedrock edition bundle is a gift that keeps on giving. With two versions in one package, players can enjoy endless adventures, creative builds, and multiplayer fun across different platforms. 

Take advantage of this discounted price while it's still available. 

Get two Minecraft editions, Java and Bedrock, for just $19.97 (reg. $29.99) at the Mashable Shop.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Retail King Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition (Digital Download) $19.97 at the Mashable Shop
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TL;DR: This grade-A refurbished Apple MacBook Pro 13" with Touch Bar has 512GB SSD and is just $379.99.

Anyone looking for power, portability, and sleek design all rolled into one should take a close look at this Apple MacBook Pro. This near-mint refurbished gem offers high-end features at a fraction of the original price — just $379.99 (reg. $979). 

Ideal for professionals, creatives, or anyone who values speed and functionality, this machine packs a punch with its 3.1GHz i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a generous 512GB SSD. With a grade-A refurbished rating, you can trust that you’re getting a terrific machine that looks and feels like new.

The MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar may have its critics, but this second-generation Touch Bar brings convenience and speed to the table. From accessing shortcuts in different apps to customizing it for your workflows, it’s a feature that redefines productivity.

With its Retina display and a lightweight design that makes it ultra-portable, this MacBook is perfect whether you’re in the office, traveling, or working from home. Because it's equipped with a 3.1GHz dual-core Intel i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz), this MacBook Pro is ready to handle demanding tasks, from multitasking to video editing.

And thanks to the Touch Bar's dynamic shortcut capabilities based on the app you’re using, you can speed up everything from writing emails to editing in Photoshop. 

This grade-A refurbished MacBook Pro has been inspected and tested to meet Apple’s high standards. With minimal to no cosmetic imperfections, it looks and performs like new, making it a fantastic investment for a fraction of the cost.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a creative professional, or simply an Apple fan, this grade-A refurbished MacBook Pro with Touch Bar offers most of the features you need for just $379.99 (reg. $979).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Pro 13" Touchbar (2017) 3.1GHz i5 8GB RAM 512GB SSD Space Gray (Refurbished) $379.99
$1,499.00 Save $1,119.01 Get Deal

TL;DR: This beginner-friendly 4K Dual-Camera Drone is on sale for just $64.97 (reg. $119.99) through October 27.

Opens in a new window Credit: RochasDivineMart 4K Dual-Camera Drone for Beginners with Intelligent Obstacle Avoidance $64.97
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Drones today have better features than they did a handful of years ago, and they're more affordable. There's a 4K drone on sale today that's great for everyone, even if you've never flown a drone before.

This 4K dual-camera drone has features to support beginners, and it's on sale for just $64.97 (reg. $119.99) through October 27. It would make a fun gift for any adventurer on your list. 

Whether you're looking to capture stunning 4K footage or just want to experience the freedom of flying, this drone is packed with features to make droning accessible to everyone. This drone stands out because of its usability, thanks to the intelligent obstacle avoidance system that helps you navigate even if you're new to flying.

The dual-camera system provides incredible visuals from every angle. The HD 4K front camera supports a 90-degree adjustable remote angle, while the bottom 120° wide-angle camera lets you capture every moment from above. And there's no need to worry about drifting or losing control because the optical flow positioning technology helps stabilize the drone, keeping it in place as you learn to fly and snap your perfect shots.

Learning to fly a drone may seem intimidating at first, but with a few beginner tips like these, you’ll be ready to conquer the skies in no time:

• Familiarize yourself with your drone’s features and controls before your first flight.

• Start slow and practice basic maneuvers like taking off, hovering, and landing.

• The more time you spend flying, the more comfortable you’ll become, so don't hesitate to get out there.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, this drone has more to offer. Gesture control allows you to snap photos and videos with a simple palm gesture or fist. You can also enjoy thrilling functions like 360° flips, gravity control, and fixed-point flight.

LED superlights add a cool factor, adjusting to different environments. And the drone folds up for easy portability.

Don't miss this 45% savings on a first drone for yourself or someone you love. The 4K dual-camera drone is just $64.97 (reg. $119.99) through October 27.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Power up everything simultaneously with this fast-charging 220W GaN USB-C 7-Port Charging Station for just $32.97 with free shipping. 

Most of us adore our tech. We couldn't imagine a life without our phones, laptops, or tablets. Give up our wireless earbuds? Never! The only problem is keeping them all charged and ready to go can be a hassle. 

If you need a legit charging station that can handle your tech-savvy lifestyle, this one might be the answer. The 220W GaN USB-C 7-Port Charging Station allows you to charge all your devices simultaneously. It's on sale for just $32.97 with free shipping.

With 100W PD fast charging, this charger supports two laptops at once, offering 220W across seven versatile ports — power up your MacBook Pro, iPhone, Galaxy S23, and more. It’s compact, portable, and has multiple safety features, making it your go-to charger for home, office, or travel.

Whether working from home or hitting the road, this 7-in-1 charging station has you covered. The 5 USB-C and 2 USB-A ports make it easy to charge your laptop, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, and more — all simultaneously.

Because of its 100W Power Delivery (PD), it can charge power-hungry devices like laptops in a flash, while its 220W total output helps ensure no device is left behind. Even better, it’s engineered with GaN technology, which means more efficient charging with less heat buildup.

The five-foot cord means you can position it anywhere you need — on your desk, next to your couch, or in your bag for travel. And don’t worry about safety. The MultiProtect Safety System ensures over-current, short-circuit, and over-voltage protection. So you can charge everything together, safely, and without slowing down.

Forget about carrying multiple adapters; this single station does the job.

Get the 220W GaN USB-C 7-Port Charging Station for just $32.97 (reg. $39.99) with free shipping. 

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: UGR Tech 220W GaN USB-C 7-Port Charging Station $32.99
$39.99 Save $7.00 Get Deal

In case you weren't aware, clothing retailer Shein is one of the latest in a string of non-sex-related stores to add sex toys to their product base this year, ever since the sexual wellness industry boomed to an evaluation of over $35 billion as of 2023. There's serious money to be made in sex toy sales, and Shein wants to cash in. 

But with claims relating to poor ethics surrounding the brand, you might wonder whether Shein is the best place to grab your next vibrator — and experts have some concerns as well. Mashable looked into whether buying sex toys from Shein is a good idea and what concerns customers should keep in mind.  

SEE ALSO: Are vibrating sex toys on the way out? Shein's multiple controversies  

Despite its super-affordable product offering, Shein has faced multifaceted criticism over the years over ethical concerns and issues with quality. Workers of the fashion giant were found to be doing excessive overtime, including 75-hour weeks in a report by the Swiss advocacy group Public Eye. Last month, WIRED reported that Shein employees in China have started filming their poor working conditions, including low pay and no bathroom breaks.

With all this in mind, sex educator Leanne Yau believes sex toy customers should first and foremost consider who they're giving their money to when they think about shopping at Shein. She also notes quality concerns, following 2021 research that found excessive amounts of chemicals, including lead, in Shein clothing. "If lead has been found in their clothing, imagine what's in their sex toys," Yau says.

The importance of body-safe materials

Some people have bought sex toys from Shein with no issues, like 32-year-old photographer Alice, who along with other contributors in this piece is going by her first name only to protect her identity. Alice bought a double-ended dildo and told Mashable it was "packaged discreetly, and there weren't any problems other than personal preference" as it was too small for her liking. "I also bought handcuffs and butt plugs though and they were in a clear, non-discreet bag. They still seemed like they were good quality to me though." 

But some experts have raised concerns about the materials Shein and similar retailers might be using. When it comes to sex toys, "body safety" — referring to materials that are safe on or inside the body — is unbelievably important. Materials like medical-grade silicone, glass, and stainless steel are considered body-safe. You're putting these items on or in your genitals and anus, after all. You don't want them to be made of just anything. 

However, Shein provides little information on the materials used in their sex toys, simply writing "silicone," "ABS" or "plastic" as part of a short, four-line product description. And the information that is included can be misleading. For example, this sex toy which looks to be a wand (used for external stimulation) includes "G-Spot and Anal Stimulation" in the product title, which would be an extremely difficult feat and dangerous to attempt. There are also sex toys listed as anal dildos or plugs which do not have flared bases — a big no for anal sex toys as this can cause toys to get stuck inside the body.

Mashable reached out to Shein for comment, but at the time of writing, we have not received a response. 

All this raises red flags for experts like Poppy Scarlett, a sex educator, influencer, and former sex toy boutique owner. Scarlett warns, "It's not a good idea to buy toys from Shein in my opinion. The toys they sell come with minimal information about materials and even less about safe usage. Customers could be buying something unfit for purpose and not even know it."

The lack of regulation in the sex toy industry reinforces this issue. Scarlett explains that the sector remains largely unregulated, allowing brands to produce low-quality, potentially harmful products. "Many companies, including Shein, exploit the fact that people often lack education about sex toys. There will be young, inexperienced buyers who won't know what to look for," she says. 

So, what happens if you use a sex toy that isn't body-safe? Scarlett explains that the consequences can range from the mild — such as a toy degrading faster or becoming smelly — to the severe, including infections and injuries. "If a toy's surface degrades, it can cause micro-tears in sensitive tissues. If it's porous, it can harbour bacteria that may lead to infections, like bacterial vaginosis or urinary tract infections (UTIs). And for anal toys without a proper base, there's a risk of the toy getting sucked into the body, which could require medical intervention."

Many companies, including Shein, exploit the fact that people often lack education about sex toys. - Sex educator Poppy Scarlett

Yau adds that some materials used in cheap sex toys can even be dangerous. "Cheap materials like jelly and PVC can contain phthalates, chemicals banned from children's toys because they're harmful. These materials can release toxins into the body, potentially affecting hormone balance and even causing illnesses."

31-year-old Alex, a social media manager, tells Mashable she bought a rampant rabbit from Shein and performed the "flame test." For the unaware, the flame test (popularised by sex toy blogger Dangerous Lilly) involves holding a candle or a lighter to sex toys to see if they start to melt. Unless it's thin and soft, silicone will not melt, but other materials will. If you buy a so-called silicone toy and it fails the test, the brand could be lying about a toy's materials. 

"I buy a lot of sex toys so I knew of the flame test and I do tend to fall for the allure of a low price so I end up getting cheap ones and just checking with the flame test whether I can actually use it. I tried the flame test on the toy I got from Shein, which said it was made of silicone, and it failed straight away," Alex explains. "I was so annoyed. I feel like I should have known because they are crazy cheap, like 'too good to be true' kinda cheap." 

27-year-old office administrator Kate also tells Mashable she returned a Shein sex toy immediately upon receiving it. "It looked and felt like plastic and I'm not putting anything up any holes if it looks unsafe. I just couldn't risk it." 

If you're set on buying a sex toy, it's crucial to know what to look for to ensure you're getting a safe product. Scarlett advises sticking to reputable brands with established histories of producing body-safe toys, such as Lovehoney, Hot Octopuss, Tenga, Lelo, we-vibe, b-vibe, Doxy, and others. If you want truly inexpensive toys — we're talking under $10 — try Bellesa's new BB Outlet. Mashable has a guide on choosing a sex toy, as well.

SEE ALSO: The best sex toys for women

"A good rule of thumb is if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Research the brand, read reviews, and don't hesitate to Google or reverse-image search the product to see if it's being sold by other, more reliable retailers," Scarlett explains.

One of the significant red flags to watch out for is a lack of information. "If a product description doesn't provide details about the materials used or how to safely use the toy, that's a big red flag," Scarlett warns. Moreover, counterfeit products are rampant in online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, where sellers may not have vetted their products properly. "Make sure you're buying from a reputable seller, not just the cheapest one," Scarlett adds. Mashable also has a roundup of good, vetted toys on Amazon.

A call for conscious consumerism

Ultimately, both Scarlett and Yau advocate for a more informed and conscious approach to buying sex toys. The allure of cheap prices shouldn't overshadow the importance of safety, especially for products that come into close contact with your body. 

Conversations about fast fashion (particularly Shein)  are becoming more commonplace, bringing awareness to overconsumption and more ethical options. We need a similar revolution on the sex toy front. 

As Scarlett puts it, "Sex toys can be incredibly empowering and pleasurable when used correctly, but only if they're safe and made with the right materials. Brands like Shein, with their history of poor ethics and quality control, are not where you should be shopping for something as intimate as a sex toy."

Yau agrees, adding, "Your health and safety should come first. If a toy's description lacks crucial information, or if the price seems too low to be true, it's worth reconsidering. Educate yourself about body-safe materials and invest in products that you can trust."

While the idea of picking up a sex toy while browsing your favourite fast fashion retailer might seem convenient, it's essential to approach these purchases with caution. The potential risks associated with unsafe sex toys — ranging from inconveniences and a lack of pleasure to severe health hazards — are not worth the savings. Stick to established brands, do your research, and prioritise your safety. Your body deserves better than a cut-price deal that might come at a much higher cost in the long run.

Captured by six generations of iPhone, 'Motherboard' documents 20 years of single motherhood. Mashable spoke to filmmaker Victoria Mapplebeck.

There's a madcap magic to late-night television, where the stars come out to shine before an applauding live audience, and the rules of decorum seem relaxed in a studio setting modeled after a crisp, clean living room. We know that every guest is there to promote themselves and their latest product, but between the practiced smiles and strategized banter, there's the heady possibility that something unsanitized and real — something shocking, even — might slip through as we click closer to the Witching Hour. This is the slippery, surreal space of television celebrated in Late Night with the Devil, a tidy and trembling horror movie where talk shows and terror collide. 

Writers/directors Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes (aka the Cairnes Brothers) precisely position their film in the sweet spot of 1977. On television, Johnny Carson with his broad smile and sharp wit was the king of Late Night, a charming ambassador to all of Hollywood and its fame-chasing shenanigans. As Carson graciously extended his living room into our own, so too did the homespun horrors of '70s cinema. Frightful films like Carrie and The Exorcist terrorized theater-goers with twisted tales of innocent-looking young girls irrevocably bent toward evil and devastation right before our very eyes. 

SEE ALSO: 'Late Night with the Devil's disturbing ending, explained

With Late Night with the Devil, the Cairnes Brothers bring these worlds of fear and fun together into one lean, mean, and sickly satisfying thrill ride. 

What's Late Night with the Devil about?  Credit: IFC Films and Shudder

Character actor David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) strides into the spotlight as talk show host Jack Delroy. A suave talent with the gift of gab, his show might have rivaled Carson's chokehold on late night, if not for a personal tragedy the previous year that broke Jack's heart and derailed the show's popularity. Desperate to revive his falling prospects, he plots a Halloween show that the world will never forget. 

Along with a psychic (who might be a scam artist) and a professional skeptic (who lives to cause trouble), Jack books a controversial interview with a mysterious young girl. Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) was once a part of a Satanic cult devoted to a dangerous demon. Once they went up in smoke, she was the only one to survive. Now, under the care of her guardian/therapist (Laura Gordon), Lilly has come on late night to share her story…and maybe introduce us to her special friend, Mr. Wriggles. 

Late Night with the Devil is a throwback in the best way.  David Dastmalchian plays a talk show host in "Late Night with the Devil." Credit: IFC Films and Shudder

Planting their plotline as a precursor to the Satanic Panic of the '80s, the Cairnes Brothers swiftly establish a sense of foreboding for their hep audience members, who know all too well the wild rumors of devil worshippers, ghouls, ghosts, and pigs named Jodie that are to follow. The precursor to moral panic and paranoia is naivete punctured by piercing fear. And what better cozy bubble to puncture than the feel-good atmosphere of a celebrity talk show? 

A shrewd production design carefully reconstructs this era. Warm but muted hues of browns, yellows, and oranges swirl around the set. Sharp suits and denim overalls place the guests in a time of swinging style and seeming innocence, when a teen girl would do press dressed like a doll instead of a supermodel. 

SEE ALSO: The 'Late Night with the Devil' AI controversy, explained

Meanwhile, the cinematography harkens back to the age of video, complete with analog glitches that could be nothing...or could be a warning that something is going awry. All of these details carefully capture the era so thoroughly that if you don't recognize the actors, you might mistake Late Night with the Devil for a forgotten cult classic, the legit kind once found on coveted VHS tapes. 

Yet the most crucial ode to this era is the tone of the talk show. With a breezy bravado, Dastmalchian swaggers into the role of unflappable host. Whether flashing a false smile for the crowd or bantering with his bickering guests, he feels deeply embedded in this bouncy brand of entertainment and salesmanship. By grounding the first act in the familiar realities of the '70s chat show, the Cairnes Brothers and Dastmalchian creep under our skin to rise goosebumps as they raise hell. 

Late Night with the Devil delivers restrained but ruthless horror.  David Dastmalchian in Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes' "Late Night with the Devil." Credit: IFC Films and Shudder

Be warned: This movie won't get as splashy in its demonic spectacle as Carrie or The Exorcist, which boasted buckets of pig blood and vociferous vomit, respectively. But that's part of this movie's charm. Like Rosemary's Baby, it's an atmospheric brew that festers with emotional trauma. Fret not; there will be bursts of bile, blood, and some climactic carnage. However, those gory bits wouldn't be as hard-hitting were it not for the dramatic tension going on behind the scenes of Jack's plagued talk show. 

In a sense, Dastmalchian must shoulder two roles: the consummate professional and the personal trainwreck. Beneath his bespoke suit is a trembling heart that yearns for more than big ratings from this devilish publicity stunt. He yearns for proof that there is something more than this life, something beyond. And he'll risk anything, even his soul, in pursuit of this revelation. 

Dastmalchian has frequently played creepy men (see Prisoners) and quirky criminals (Pick an Ant-Man, any Ant-Man). His signature intensity stirs beneath the surface even as Jack plays nice for the studio camera. In his eyes flickers a chaotic fire of grief, hope, and ambition that cannot be squelched. And it is reflected in the unnerving stare of a little girl who claims to house a demonic spirit. They are a match made not in heaven but hell. And witnessing their face-off is nail-biting fun. 

Paying tribute to '70s horror, Late Night with the Devil is steeped in the era's aesthetic and its emerging moral anxiety, as well as the methodical pacing that draws us in, grabs on tight, and won't let go until that final ghoulish moment. Tune in and hang on. Dastmalchian and his demon are coming for you.

Late Night with the Devil is now streaming on Hulu.

UPDATE: Oct. 15, 2024, 3:03 p.m. EDT "Late Night with the Devil" was reviewed out of its World Premiere at SXSW 2023. This article was originally published on March 11, 2023, and has been updated to reflect the latest viewing options.