IT General

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 Thursday, June 4, 2026:

AcrossIt takes you from E to F (and starts with G!)

• The answer is Gas.

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

Animal that has a symbiotic relationship with green algae, which grows in its fur

• The answer is Sloth.

Societal no-no

• The answer is Taboo.

"Sorry, unavailable then"

• The answer is I can't.

Color associated with passion

• The answer is Red.

DownTurn in the fridge, maybe

• The answer is Go bad.

Lots and lots

• The answer is A ton.

Something a bartender or basketball player might make

• The answer is Shot.

Mix, as a sauce

• The answer is Stir.

Frilly material

• The answer is Lace.

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 in-depth 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.

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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: 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: Arena arrival views

• Green: Performance tracking for a particular sport

• Blue: English football selections

• Purple: First part of word most relevant

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Seen at a stadium entrance

• Green: Volleyball stats

• Blue: Members of England's World Cup squad

• Purple: Starts with a part of a basketball hoop

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 #619 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Seen at a stadium entrance: METAL DETECTOR, TICKET SCANNER, TURNSTILE, WILL CALL

• Volleyball stats: BLOCK, DIG, KILL, SERVICE ACE

• Members of England's World Cup squad: BURN, KANE, MAINOO, STONES

• Starts with a part of a basketball hoop: BASE RUNNER, GLASS HOUSES, NETMINDER, RIMINGTON TROPHY

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.

If the sky is clear where you are tonight, you’ll likely be able to make out some surface features on the Moon. But what are they? Keep reading to find out.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, June 4, the Moon phase is Waning Gibbous. Tonight, 87% of the moon will be be lit up, according to NASA's Daily Moon Guide.

You don't need fancy gear to spot craters or other features on the Moon's surface, if it's a clear enough night, your naked eye should be enough. In fact, without visual aids you should be able to spot the Mare Serenitatis, Aristarchus Plateau, and the Mare Tranquillitatis. If you have binoculars you'll also spot the Grimaldi Basin, Alps Mountains, and the Posidonus Crater. If you have a telescope, set this up to see all this plus the Apollo 15 and 16 landing spots and the Caucasus Mountains.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on June 29.

What are Moon phases?

NASA explains that the Moon completes one full orbit around Earth in about 29.5 days, during which it moves through a sequence of eight phases. Even though the same side of the Moon always faces us, the amount of sunlight we can see changes as it travels along its path. This shifting light is what produces the lunar shapes, ranging from slim crescents to half-lit Moons and the bright Full Moon. All of these stages together make up the lunar cycle:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

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 4, 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 4, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for June 4 Pips

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally; 4-5, placed vertically.

Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically; 5-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically; 6-2, placed horizontally.

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

Medium difficulty hints, answers for June 4 Pips

Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically.

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

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 4-0, placed horizontally; 0-5, placed vertically.

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

Number (5): Everything in this green space must add up to 5. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically; 5-1, placed horizontally.

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

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

Hard difficulty hints, answers for June 4 Pips

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

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

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

Greater Than (10): Everything in this space must be greater than 10. The answer is 5-6, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 6-1, placed vertically.

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

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

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally.

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

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 0-6, placed vertically; 2-1, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.

Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically; 6-6, placed horizontally.

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

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

Equal (4): Everything in this red space must be equal to 4. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 4-4, placed vertically.

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

Equal (5): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-5, 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

Worn on the neck.

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

CHAIN

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Prank.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 4, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

ANTIC

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

A type of underwear.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 4 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 4, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

THONG

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Student.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

PUPIL

Final Hurdle hint

It's famous in Norway.

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

FJORD

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

Six years after scrapping customized cars for the self-driving market, Uber is back—if not in the way you'd expect. The ridesharing giant has revealed a prototype version of Hyundai's Ioniq 5 that will be used to gather self-driving data for partners like Waymo and WeRide.

Minecraft is one of the most popular games on the planet. So, of course, that makes Minecraft players a prime target for hackers.

In a new cybersecurity report, researchers from McAfee Labs describe new malware that has already logged more than 116,000 hits. When the report was published on June 2, McAfee Labs found that the campaign logs between 2,000 and 3,000 malicious hits every day.

Dubbed WeedHack, the malware is being offered as a malware-as-a-service (MaaS). Rather than being shared on the dark web, McAfee reports that WeedHack is readily available on the open web. This means that bad actors don't need any real technical knowledge to deploy the malware. For as low as $5 per month, would-be hackers can access WeedHack, infect a target of their choice, and deploy a range of tools against that victim.

McAfee Labs also uncovered a Telegram channel for WeedHack customers made up of more than 850 members. Inside the Telegram channel, McAfee found that many of the attackers appeared to be teenagers and young adults who used the malware-as-a-service to cyberbully other young people. WeedHack customers discussed utilizing the remote access capabilities to threaten, harass, and spy on their victims.

WeedHack is spreading through YouTube and Google, report says

The report finds that WeedHack is primarily spread through YouTube videos promoting Minecraft mods, clients, and other game-enhancing third-party add-ons. In reality, the Minecraft mods and clients are really the WeedHack malware in disguise.

McAfee's report includes a screenshot of a YouTube comments section of a video promoting the malware. It shows a viewer informing the video creator that his computer warned about potential malware when downloading the file in the video description. The bad actor then assures the user that the file is definitely not malware.

In addition, the bad actors reportedly use SEO poisoning tactics to rank fake websites and pages that pose as real Minecraft clients. McAfee Labs listed the following legitimate clients as targets for WeedHack:

• Meteor Client

• Radium Client

• Wurst Client

• Aristois

• LiquidBounce

• Impact Client

• Future Client

• Inertia Client

• Cornos Client

• WWE Client

• 3arthh4ck

• Salhack

• Phobos

• Gamesense

Some of these Minecraft mods and clients don't have official websites and are just hosted on file-sharing websites, which makes it easier for hackers to manipulate search results with fake websites, the report says.

According to McAfee, players can protect themselves when downloading Minecraft mods and clients by watching out for red flags and using antivirus protection tools. If you are a young person contacted by bad actors who say they have hacked your system — especially if they are trying to blackmail you — talk to a trusted adult. You can also visit the Internet Crime Complaint Center for more information.

How to protect yourself from Minecraft malware

• Only download mods and clients from verified, trusted sources and official developer websites; avoid third-party links found on YouTube or Google search results.
• Be especially wary of newly posted YouTube videos from small accounts promising Minecraft mods and other tools.
• Don't ignore malware warnings that appear when downloading content.

What happens when a target is infected with WeedHack malware?

That depends on how much the attacker paid for the malware, which has different subscription tiers.

WeedHack even provides a free tier, which promises to give attackers an infostealer that can target Minecraft session IDs, collect system information, search for files, take screenshots of the target's system, and steal cookies and passwords from 36 different web browsers. The free tier also claims the attacker can target 56 browser-based crypto wallets, 12 desktop crypto wallets, as well as credentials for platforms such as Discord, Steam, and Telegram.

SEE ALSO: A parent's guide to keeping kids safe on Roblox

An attacker can also subscribe to the $5 per month premium tier to get additional remote-access capabilities, including "webcam access, keylogging, reverse shell execution, screen sharing with keyboard and mouse access, and file management features for uploading and downloading files," according to McAfee.

The hacker can view all the stolen information via an enterprise-level dashboard. 

As McAfee reports, many malware-as-a-service tools cost as much as hundreds of dollars per month, putting them out of reach for many malicious actors. However, WeedHack's pricing makes it readily accessible to anyone looking to deploy these dangerous tools.

McAfee's report on WeedHack serves as a warning, showing that not only is malware becoming more powerful, but it's also becoming more accessible, too.

Teens on Snapchat frequently encounter unwanted or dangerous content on the platform, according to a new survey.

A third of the poll's 1,016 respondents said they'd seen or received unsafe content or messages in the past week. More than half said they'd had at least one such experience in the past year.

The findings suggest that Snapchat, a platform where messages vanish once viewed by the recipient, is far less safe than parents may assume, said Sarah Gardner, CEO of The Heat Initiative, the advocacy group responsible for the research.

Top dangerous experiences on Snapchat

The top three types of dangerous experiences reported by up to a third of teens were unwanted contact, bullying, and sexually suggestive content and messages. Roughly 1 in 6 respondents said they'd seen content related to hate speech and drugs or alcohol. Smaller percentages of teens confirmed they'd encountered graphic violence and self-harm on the platform.

More than 40 percent of respondents who'd received unwanted messages believed the sender was an adult.

SEE ALSO: What to do when your teen replaces you with a chatbot

Gardner said the survey results contradict Snap's assertion that its safety features prevent strangers from sending minors unsolicited messages.

"These findings directly go against that claim and show that it is absolutely not happening," Gardner said.

A Snap Company spokesperson contested the report's findings.

“We share the goal of keeping young people safe online and continuously invest in protections designed to reduce potential harmful interactions on Snapchat," the spokesperson said in a statement to Mashable. "While we respect the role of advocates in raising important issues, we believe this report does not fully reflect the significant investments Snap has made to help protect young people."

Legal action against Snap

Last December, the Heat Initiative, which focuses on online safety and corporate accountability, surveyed Snapchat users between the ages of 10 and 17. The advocacy groups Anxious Generation, ParentsTogether Action, and Design It 4 Us partnered with Heat Initiative on the research.

As major social media companies scramble to defend their youth safety record, the survey results illustrate the prevalence of harmful content on one of the most popular platforms in the U.S. In 2024, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said in Congressional testimony that more than 20 million American teens use Snapchat.

In January, Snap settled a lawsuit brought by a teenager who claimed that Snapchat's design features, like algorithmic recommendations, led to addictive use and mental health harms. Soon after, Snap introduced new parental controls for teens.

A separate poll of teens conducted last fall by the Pew Research Center painted a different picture of Snapchat as a platform that strengthened their friendships and didn't negatively affect their mental health. The Snap Company spokesperson described the poll as independent research showing that Snapchat supports user well-being and helps them stay connected with close friends and family.

How teens handle harmful content on Snapchat

Snapchat's community guidelines prohibit many of the experiences reported by teens in the survey, including the sale and glorification of illicit drugs, the depiction of graphic violence, hate speech, and bullying.

Forty-four percent of survey respondents said they had not seen unsafe content or messages in the past year.

Two in 5 of teens who did responded by closing the app or ignoring the experience, according to the survey. More than half of those who did so said they'd grown "used to it."

Gardner told Mashable that she finds it "alarming" that so many minors have become desensitized to these encounters.

"Right now, Snap is putting the onus on the kids themselves to navigate a minefield of unwanted content," Gardner said. "What you see in the poll is that kids have sort of succumbed to it."

While Snapchat allows users to block and report content they deem harmful or unsafe, teens were far more likely to block a user than report them to the platform. Past research conducted by the nonprofit organization Thorn has found that minors typically prefer to block instead of report a user after a harmful online experience.

Dr. Mitch Prinstein, co-director of the Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Mashable that the survey should be a wake-up call for parents.

"It’s really important for parents to know that kids’ social media looks very different from their own," said Prinstein. "The survey tells us what kids have been informally telling us about for a long time: social media is not simply a safe place to hang out with friends."

Prinstein has served as a witness in cases against Meta and other social media companies, though not Snap. He was not involved in the Heat Initiative's research.

Adults may be contacting teens on Snapchat

Dr. Brian Levine, director of the UMass Cybersecurity Institute, told Mashable that the survey results are concerning but not surprising, provided the research sampled a representative set of teens who use the platform.

Levine, who has consulted for The Heat Initiative in the past but was not involved in the new survey, said that it's questionable for major social media platforms to recommend adults and children to each other via an algorithm.

Levine, an expert in preventing child exploitation who has testified for the state in New Mexico's child safety case against Meta, argued that Snapchat could do more to prevent adults from mixing with teens.

Snapchat says it makes all accounts private by default and that users can only communicate with mutually accepted friends or people in their contacts. Users may, however, need to manually turn off showing up in the platform's "Find Friends" feature. One in 6 survey respondents said that the feature recommended accounts of strangers that appeared to be run by adults.

"Nobody's looking for a perfect score here," Levine said. But, he added, "where else in society do we liberally mix kids and adults in an algorithmic way?"

Levine said platforms can generally improve youth safety by enacting policies and practices like high-quality age assurance, providing end-to-end message encryption for adults only, and prohibiting children from connecting to their service through a virtual private network.

He also questioned Snapchat's specific design features, including vanishing messages, which prevent minors, parents, and authorities from gathering evidence in cases of sexual exploitation and sextortion: "To erase all the messages – is that really the safest product for children?"

UPDATE: Jun. 3, 2026, 3:40 p.m. PDT This story has been updated to include a statement from the Snap Company.

TL;DR: A one-year BJ’s Club Card Membership with Easy Renewal is $15 (reg. $60), giving shoppers access to warehouse pricing, gas savings, digital coupons, and convenient pickup options.

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Warehouse memberships used to feel like something you signed up for after buying a minivan. Now? They’re increasingly just a smart way to make weekly shopping slightly less painful.

The 1-year BJ’s Club Card Membership with Easy Renewal for $15 (reg. $60) is one of those low-risk offers that feels especially relevant heading into peak seasonal spending. Groceries, cookouts, back-to-school prep, household restocks — it adds up quickly, financially and time-wise.

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BJ’s leans into practical savings instead of novelty. Members get access to bulk pricing on groceries, home essentials, electronics, seasonal products, and gas, plus one feature that makes BJ’s stand out in the warehouse-club space: it accepts manufacturer coupons on top of BJ’s coupons.

For households that already plan purchases around weekly grocery runs, that stacking ability matters.

Convenience is also a major part of the pitch. BJ’s offers ExpressPay through its app, which lets members scan items while shopping and skip checkout lines entirely. There’s also curbside pickup, same-day delivery, and buy-online-pickup-in-club options that make the experience feel a little more modern than the old stereotype.

The scale is notable too: BJ’s operates 244 clubs and 175 gas stations across the eastern U.S. and serves more than 7 million members.

And you’re keeping $45 in your pocket in savings before you even buy groceries, fill up your tank, or stock up for summer weekends.

An ideal offer for families, busy pros, coupon stackers, and anyone trying to make everyday shopping more efficient.

Get a one-year BJ’s Club Card Membership with Easy Renewal for just $15 (reg. $60).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

A healthy NASA orbiter disappeared as usual behind Mars back in December. When the spacecraft reemerged from the other side, it was never the same again.

The U.S. space agency announced June 3 that the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, aka Maven, is over, after a review board determined the orbiter that has circled Mars for over 11 years is now unreachable.

Though all of Maven's systems were normal before it rounded the bend on Dec. 6, 2025, something mysterious happened to the spacecraft when it slipped out of view. A snippet of data transmitted to Earth indicates Maven began rapidly tumbling. While mission control would normally only lose contact with the spacecraft for 20 to 30 minutes when it passed behind Mars, the team never regained its signal. 

NASA's anomaly review board, which convened in February, determined this erratic rotation, coupled with dwindling battery power, meant there was no viable way to recover Maven. At a teleconference Wednesday, officials delivered something of a eulogy to the mission, which continued 10 years longer than the team had originally planned.

"I think the team has really experienced the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission here," said project manager Mike Moreau from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

SEE ALSO: A missing signal from hot exoplanets may have revealed a secret all along

Maven's decommissioning closes a chapter in Mars exploration: NASA has lost a key workhorse that both rewrote scientists' understanding of the Martian atmosphere and quietly hauled huge volumes of data home for rovers on the ground.

Whether a meteor is to blame for Maven's demise is not known right now. NASA has yet to conclude its investigation into the root cause for the incident. The agency is expected to deliver a final report later in the year.

The Maven orbiter captured ultraviolet views of Mars in 2023. Credit: NASA / LASP / CU Boulder

Arriving at Mars in September 2014, Maven has focused on "atmospheric escape" — the leak of gas from the top of Mars' atmosphere into space. Its measurements showed that this surges during solar storms, when bursts of energy and particles erupt from the sun. A major space‑weather event in May 2024, one of the strongest seen at Mars in 20 years, triggered a torrent of particles that stripped away gas and lit up the planet with glowing auroras.

"We now have a better understanding of atmospheric escape at Mars than at any other planet, including Earth," said Shannon Curry, Maven's principal investigator, based at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Maven found several kinds of auroras at Mars and helped the Perseverance rover capture the first visible‑light aurora from the surface, giving scientists a sense of what astronauts might see with their own eyes. The orbiter also showed how a planet‑wide dust storm in 2018 boosted the loss of water to space, tying together dust, climate, and the fate of Mars' ancient oceans.

One of Maven's most important results involved a process called "sputtering." Put simply, charged particles slam into the upper atmosphere and knock neutral atoms into space, like a cannonball splashing water out of a pool. This process has likely stripped Mars' atmosphere for billions of years, with implications for other planets.

The mission also made some surprise finds. Maven’s particle detector picked up hard X‑rays from a distant black hole system known as Scorpius X‑1, and the team used that odd signal to learn more about the density of Mars' upper atmosphere. 

Beyond science, Maven played a vital behind‑the‑scenes role as a communications relay. The spacecraft passed data between Earth and surface missions such as Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Though it handled only about 8 percent of all relay sessions, it delivered nearly 18 percent of the total data, according to NASA, thanks in part to a new coding scheme that boosted how much information it could send during each contact. At one point, Maven set the solar system record for most data returned in a single relay session.

For now, Maven will remain in a stretched‑out orbit around Mars. NASA expects the dead spacecraft to stay in space for 50 to 100 years before the orbit naturally shrinks and it falls into Mars' atmosphere. Officials say it doesn't threaten other orbiters circling the Red Planet.

To make up for Maven's lost relay capacity, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and European orbiters have adjusted their operations. NASA also plans a new Mars Telecommunications Network in the 2030s, with help from commercial partners, to provide more robust communications and navigation services for future robotic and human missions.

For the people who worked on Maven, though, the loss feels personal. Curry said the team was "broken up" about it. When asked what she'd inscribe on the orbiter's tombstone, she didn't hesitate with her answer: 

"Best Mars mission ever." 

You no longer have to be picky about where you hail a Tesla robotaxi in its flagship city, provided you aren't too picky about when your ride arrives. The company has confirmed that its "unsupervised" service now operates across the "entire" Austin metro area.

American luxury SUVs used to be all about excess. Bigger engines, bigger dimensions, and enough chrome and leather to make sure everyone knew you'd arrived.

If you’re looking for a summer project that keeps you out of the sweltering heat, LEGO.com has got you covered. Far from kids’ play, the advanced LEGO Icons and Editions sets are built for teen and adult fans. They’re challenging, immersive, impressive, and the perfect way to embrace your fandom. 

The newest LEGO releases feature some huge new sets to shop for, so here are three recent arrivals that stood out to us.

Celebrate FIFA with a 3D wall display Opens in a new window Credit: LEGO Lionel Messi – Celebration $199.99 at LEGO
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While the world’s best soccer players do their final prep ahead of the FIFA World Cup kick-off, superfans can prep for all the watch parties with the incredible Lionel Messi Celebration set from LEGO Editions. 

Featuring Messi’s iconic Number 10 striped jersey against a sky-and-pitch backdrop (and subtle nods to his life and career), this 3D wall art is the perfect way to show your support and love for the game. Sitting at 1,427 pieces, it’s a suitable build for teens and adults to complete as a fun group activity this summer break. 

Bring the magic of Disney into your home Opens in a new window Credit: LEGO Main Street, U.S.A. $399.99 at LEGO
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One of the unique things about being a Disney fan is that you can talk about your fandom to almost anyone, and they’ll be able to relate to the nostalgia of it all. The LEGO Disney Main Street, U.S.A. kit will spark those magical memories for every level of fan. 

It features three buildings — a fire station with the Walt Disney family apartment, the Emporium, and the Crystal Arcade — in one display-worthy model. The sprawling set comes with fun extras, including a popcorn wagon with a popping function and 16 minifigure characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse. 

Heroic effort with great reward  Opens in a new window Credit: LEGO Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier $399.99 at LEGO
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Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday won’t be gracing our screens until the end of the year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a superhero summer. The LEGO Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier model building kit includes detailed features, movie scenes, and six minifigures from The Avengers. 

At 3,057 pieces and incorporating runways, engines, a control tower, aircraft, interior rooms, and more — it’s a challenging build that will keep you engaged for hours. Fans will love the clever references to scenes from the movie and attention to detail in the interiors. 

While we’ve highlighted three standouts from the latest drop, there are plenty more collections to explore as you find your fandom flame. Shop all new LEGO sets for an immersive day indoors this summer.

Motorola's first book-style foldable makes a strong debut, with long battery life, impressive cameras and a sleek build. But there are some caveats, including the hefty $1,900 price.

With new vehicle prices continuing to climb, genuinely affordable transportation has become increasingly difficult to find. The days of sub-$20,000 new cars are effectively over, leaving budget-conscious shoppers with fewer choices than ever before. That makes the remaining value-focused models more important, especially for buyers who simply need dependable transportation without taking on a massive monthly payment.

We know Pride is year-round, but there is something special about the month of June. Since it's finally here, you might be feeling a bit more flirtatious than usual. You don't have to go to parties and parades alone — you can find a partner on a dating app. And as a lesbian, you probably know all about them. Lesbian Americans (along with bisexual and gay Americans) are far more likely to have ever used dating apps than straight Americans: 51 percent to 28 percent, according to the Pew Research Center.

There are a few reasons why LGBTQ people might turn to online dating more quickly than straight folks. For one, you might live in an area without a thriving LGBTQ community, and in-person dating may be hard. If you don't know other lesbians to begin with, how can you meet more IRL to date? (Sometimes, lesbian spaces can also be co-opted by The Straights.) Unfortunately, in-person dating may also be less safe, depending on where you live. 

Thankfully, we live in a time where we can find people like us with a few swipes. Lesbians are welcome on major dating apps, and there are also niche ones specifically for lesbians and other queer women and people. But which one to choose?

How to find the best dating apps for lesbians Niche lesbian dating apps aren't your only option for finding love. Credit: Stacey Zhu / Mashable

In Mashable's recommendations below, you'll find both general dating apps and apps specifically for queer people. As the former appeals to the general population, you'll find more users in these spaces. The caveat, however, is that when you swipe on other women, you might find those coupled with men who are looking for another woman to have a threesome with (aka unicorn hunters). No judgment here, but that's probably not what you're looking for. Then again, people of all types are on dating apps like Tinder and Hinge. You never know who you may come across.

Then there are apps specifically for the community, like HER and Lex. If you yearn for a smaller dating scene, head for these apps. While there's no "Grindr for lesbians" — we go into why in the FAQ section — these apps are more so like stepping into your neighborhood lesbian bar than an app like Bumble. 

You can also try multiple dating apps, as each one below has a free version. You can filter by the gender you identify with and are looking for, and sometimes, as with OkCupid, there are many options to choose from.

Diving into the dating pool isn't easy, but the water's fine. Check out our guide below for the full rundown of our recommendations and dating app reviews.

In recent years, brands and spammers alike have been using Reddit to manipulate AI chatbots by flooding key subreddits with promotional content, and these efforts are getting more sophisticated.

According to a report published by 404 Media, moderators of r/biohackers — a large subreddit focused on supplements and DIY biology — announced last week they were restricting posts about peptides and hormone replacement therapy after discovering that companies selling those products had been systematically seeding the community with sponsored content designed to be scraped by tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI search tools.

SEE ALSO: Google AI mode labels some Reddit and social media posts as ‘Expert Advice’

The practice falls under the umbrella of Generative AI-engine optimization (GEO), or AI-engine optimization (AEO), an evolution of traditional search engine optimization (SEO). Because AI chatbots frequently draw on Reddit when generating responses, companies have identified the platform as a high-value target for shaping what those tools recommend.

Marketing firms have built entire service offerings around it. 404 Media identified one company, RedRover, that openly advertises deploying AI agents to mass-publish content across Reddit and blogs to influence both Google and ChatGPT rankings.

What makes it difficult to police, a moderator told 404 Media, is that the accounts doing it are deliberately built to look human. The flagged accounts have posting histories, organic-seeming engagement, and strategically timed brand mentions buried in high-traffic threads.

Reddit told 404 Media its safety teams use automated tooling to detect and remove such content, but moderators say the tactics have grown sophisticated enough that catching them increasingly relies on pattern recognition rather than any automated system. Reddit's spam policies prohibit using the platform "for repeated or unsolicited mass engagement."

Reddit's relationship with bots and manipulation long predates the AI era. The platform has battled coordinated inauthentic behavior for years — from vote manipulation rings to state-sponsored influence campaigns to garden-variety spam accounts — with mixed results. In 2024, Reddit updated its robots.txt file to block unauthorized AI scrapers from accessing its data, a move the company's chief legal officer acknowledged to Mashable was not legally enforceable but served as a public signal that unlicensed access to Reddit's content was unwelcome.

There is an irony in the current AEO problem: Reddit has simultaneously struck licensing deals with AI companies — including OpenAI — to allow their models to train on Reddit content for commercial use. The platform is, at once, selling its data to AI and struggling to keep AI-driven manipulation out of its communities.

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

Glasses, pendants, AirPods, watches and what else? Apple may not reveal everything at WWDC, but it should start discussing the changes to AI that are coming.

Amazon has just been hit with a class-action lawsuit over its controversial facial recognition feature in Ring video doorbell cameras.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in Seattle by Virginia resident Charles Sigwalt. The suit seeks $5 million in damages.

Last fall, Amazon launched a new "Familiar Faces" feature inside Ring doorbells. Utilizing AI, Familiar Faces scans and identifies visitors to a Ring owner's home. When Familiar Faces recognizes a regular visitor — whether it's a family member, mailman, or delivery driver — Ring can tell users who is at their door instead of providing a generic notification.

Familiar Faces is completely optional to use, and Ring owners can turn the feature off if they want. However, as the lawsuit points out, visitors to a Ring doorbell owner's home can't consent before their face is scanned.

"Millions of other Americans passed by a Ring ​security camera and unknowingly had their facial recognition information collected," reads the lawsuit.

Ring has long faced criticism from privacy advocates. In fact, when the Familiar Faces feature was announced in September, it too faced swift blowback from advocacy groups like the EFF, who said that it violated state privacy laws.

"Many biometric privacy laws across the country are clear: Companies need your affirmative consent before running face recognition on you," said an EFF report at the time. The EFF report also pointed out that the Ring feature was unavailable in certain states due to biometric privacy laws.

U.S. Senator Ed Markey also warned about the issues with Familiar Faces in a letter demanding Amazon cancel the rollout of the feature last year.

"This announcement represents a dramatic expansion of surveillance technology, creating vast new privacy and civil liberties risks," Senator Market wrote. "Americans should not have to fear being tracked and recorded while visiting a friend’s home or walking past a neighbor’s house. Amazon should reconsider this decision and abandon its plans to deploy FRT [Facial Recognition Technology]  into its Ring doorbells."

Just earlier this year, Ring faced controversy when it announced in a Super Bowl ad that it would launch a new feature called Search Party in partnership with Flock. This feature would utilize a network of Ring devices in a neighborhood to find a lost pet. Users quickly criticized the idea due to privacy and surveillance concerns, and the partnership between the two companies was cancelled. Leaked emails later uncovered that Ring executives discussed how this feature could be used to track people, too.

Amazon also previously reached a more than $5 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after it found that employees had access to view and download customers' Ring camera data.

There's one streaming app on my smart TV that was a pain to watch. It was always buffering or even throwing me out of the content completely and resetting to the start of the episode so that I'd have to try and find where I'd gotten to again. A cheap network switch was the solution to my problems.