IT General

TL;DR: Get the iPhone 17 for free when you switch to T-Mobile and bring your number on an Experience Beyond or Better Value plan.

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Earlier this year we got new iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads. That was a lot to take in, but what are we all supposed to do until the next launch? We can't sit around and wait until the foldable iPhone arrives in late 2026.

Instead, we should be using this time to scout the best deals on Apple's latest lineup.

And there's some good news for anyone looking to upgrade to the Apple iPhone 17: For a limited time, you can claim the iPhone 17 for free when you switch to T-Mobile and bring your number on an Experience Beyond or Better Value plan. You can also switch to almost any T-Mobile plan and get a free iPhone 17e. Neither of these offers requires a trade-in, but you do need to pay taxes and a $35 device connection fee.

SEE ALSO: iOS 27 could finally bring AI photo-editing to your iPhone

The iPhone 17 is the first base model built to handle Apple’s most advanced AI features. In Mashable's review, Stan Schroeder said it's an "excellent phone that matches the iPhone Pro models in many ways that matter." Potential buyers should also know that the camera is "almost as good as the one on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max." That's good news for all the budding content creators out there.

Score the Apple iPhone 17 for free with this latest offer from T-Mobile.

Portable power stations provide reliable off-grid power for travel, emergencies, and outdoor use. This video explains how they work, how to charge them, and where they’re most useful. It also looks at options like the Anker 521 and EcoFlow Delta 3.

TL;DR: The Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Jumpstart Booster Box is on sale for $82.13 at Amazon, down from its typical $98.99 price. This is the lowest price we have ever seen on Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: Magic: The Gathering Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Jumpstart Booster Box $82.13 at Amazon
$98.99 Save $16.86 Get Deal

We’ve been lucky enough to see plenty of MTG discounts on the Avatar: The Last Airbender expansion recently, but Amazon has made statement with its best-ever price on the Jumpstart Booster Box. 

As of May 7, Amazon has the Magic: The Gathering Avatar The Last Airbender Jumpstart Booster Box listed for $82.13. That's 17% off its current $98.99 list price, and the lowest-ever price according to price tracker camelcamelcamel. 

The Avatar The Last Airbender Jumpstart Booster Box contains 24 Jumpstart Boosters, each with 20 Avatar-themed cards. That works out to about $3.42 per pack before tax, which is a strong price for a sealed box from one of MTG’s most popular trading card sets. 

For newer MTG players, the Jumpstart variety of boxes is one of the friendliest ways to get a Magic game going. Simply grab two boosters, shuffle them together, and you have an instant deck with Lands already included. There are 46 Avatar The Last Airbender pack themes altogether, so you can get different character, scene, and elemental combinations without needing to draft or hunt down singles. 

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If Amazon sell outs, Walmart has the same Jumpstart Booster Box listed for $104.99. TCGplayer has listings from $79.99 with shipping included, while its market price sits around $79.72. At around $3 above market price, Amazon’s a fair place to buy right now.

Elsewhere, you can also grab the Avatar The Last Airbender Beginner Box for only $20.  As for new expansions, you can preorder Magic: The Gathering’s The Hobbit Bundle for $69.99 at Amazon. 

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

Secretary of State Marco Rubio can't seem to stop slipping rap lyrics into important speeches.

His latest offence? Describing the top government officials in Iran as "insane in the brain", in an apparent reference to the 1993 Cypress Hill song.

"Really, Marco?" says Daily Show host Desi Lydic in the clip above. "A little inappropriate to be talking about old rap lyrics while you're talking about war. I mean, can you imagine your doctor telling you, 'If you're looking for the tumor on this scan, whoomp, there it is. I'm afraid it's actually spread from the windows to the wall...'"

Lydic goes on to play a montage of other times Rubio has referenced rap lyrics during speeches, before placing a hand up to her ear piece.

"I'm sorry," she says, "we're getting breaking news that rap is no longer cool."

Want more of the best of late night? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter.

SAVE $350: As of May 7, the Shark AV2501AE AI robot vacuum is on sale for $299.99 at Amazon. That's a 54% discount on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Shark AV2501AE AI $299.99 at Amazon
$649.99 Save $350   Get Deal

The Shark AV2501AE AI robot vacuum is on sale at Amazon for better than half off. If you're looking for an impressive robot vacuum that can handle just about anything at a great price, this deal is one for you. As of May 7, you can save $350 with the new price of $299.99.

The Shark AI robot vacuum is an incredibly smart device that's designed for cleaning all floor types, even if you have pets at home. It uses Matrix Clean Navigation to clean in a grid pattern, taking multiple passes over dirt and debris. And when it's done, the bagless self-emptying base will hold up to 60 days of dirt, so you don't need to empty it every other day. It also includes HEPA filtration that captures dust and allergens down to 0.3 microns.

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The vacuum also has a self-cleaning brushroll for handling pet hair and can be controlled hands-free with voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, so you really can just sit back and relax. You'll get up to 120 minutes of runtime and it features a Recharge and Resume function. This allows it to return to the dock, recharge, and continue cleaning where it left off.

Get this robot vacuum deal online at Amazon now.

SAVE $37: As of May 7, the Lego Botanicals Flower Arrangement is on sale for $72.99 at Amazon. That's a 34% discount on the list price.

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$109.99 Save $37   Get Deal

Fancy treating mom to something different this Mother's Day? How about a floral arrangement that will last more than the weekend, like this Lego Botanicals Flower Arrangement?

As of May 7, this beautiful display is on sale at Amazon. Normally priced at $109.99, it currently sports a $37 discount that brings the price down to $72.99.

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This Lego set is a 1,161-piece build for adults aged 18 and over. It has 14 brick-built flowers including camellias, peonies, hydrangeas, baby’s breath, ranunculus, bouvardia, and lilies. And they are all arranged and displayed in a white pedestal vase.

The flower heads can be rearranged to suit your mood, and additional flowers from other Lego Botanicals sets can be added separately to customize the arrangement. And after the fun of assembling it together, the arrangement is intended to be a piece of decorative home decor.

The set is also compatible with the Lego Builder app, which includes tools for tracking progress and viewing the model from different angles.

Get this Lego deal at Amazon in time for Mother's Day.

SAVE $250: As of May 7, the Google Pixel 10 Pro is on sale for $849 at Amazon. That's a 23% discount on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Google Google Pixel 10 Pro $849
$1,088 Save $239   Get Deal

The Google Pixel 10 Pro has dropped in price again, and right now it's down to its best-ever price at Amazon.

If you've been looking for an impressive phone to buy outright, don't miss out on this limited-time offer. As of May 7, there's a $250 discount live that drops the price from $1,099 to $849. There are also four colors you can choose from at this low price: moonstone, jade, obsidian, and porcelain.

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The Google Pixel 10 Pro is powered by the Google Tensor G5 chip, making it fast and powerful. It has a 6.3-inch Super Actua display with up to 3,300 nits peak brightness. It also includes AI features through Gemini to help make everyday use easier and your tasks quicker to complete.

If you like to take photos on your phone, this model is a solid choice. It features Google’s pro camera system with support for low-light photography, 100x Pro Res Zoom, 50 MP images, and 8K video recording. It's a robust phone too, built with aluminum and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for scratch and drop resistance.

This device is unlocked, so you can choose from multiple carriers including Google Fi, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. Get it from Amazon now while the deal is still live.

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

Snow White's friend.

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

DWARF

Hurdle Word 2 hint

To expand.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 7, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

SWELL

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

To take action.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 7 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 7, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

MODAL

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Gadget.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

GIZMO

Final Hurdle hint

A gift.

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

DOWRY

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

We're just a couple of days away from the next phase of the lunar cycle, the Third Quarter. This is when the Moon appears to be around half full, lit only on the left side (right side if you're in the Southern Hemisphere).

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, May 7, the Moon phase is Waning Gibbous. Tonight, 74% of the moon will be be lit up, according to NASA's Daily Moon Guide.

There is still enough of the Moon's surface illuminated to see features on it tonight. For example, if you look up with your naked eye you'll be able to spot the Mares Serenitatus, Vaporum and the Oceanus Procellarum.

If you have binoculars, you'll be able to see even more, including the Clavius Crater, Mare Humorum, and Alps Mountains are just a few. And that's not all, if you have a telescope you'll see all this plus the Apollo 14 and 15 landing spots as well as the Rima Hyginus.

When is the next Full Moon?

There are two Full Moons in May, with the next due to take place on May 31.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the Moon takes around 29.5 days to complete a full orbit around Earth, passing through eight different phases along the way. Even though we always see the same side of the Moon, the way sunlight falls on it changes as it moves, which is what creates the familiar full, half, and crescent shapes. In total, there are eight main phases in 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.

TL;DR: Want to be first in line for the new 2026 Samsung monitor lineup? Reserve now and get a free $50 credit towards a qualifying preorder purchase.

Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung's New Monitors 2026: Free $50 Credit   Learn More

Shopping around for a new monitor? If you want something brand new, Samsung has announced that new monitors are being released later this month. And for a limited time, you can score exclusive savings ahead of launch. 

Interested customers can now reserve to receive a free $50 Samsung credit towards an eligible upcoming 2026 Samsung monitor. The promotion runs during the “Handraiser Period” from May 5-19. There's no obligation to buy. These reservations do not require you to purchase the monitor — they secure the $50 off discount if you decide to proceed.

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Early ordering for the new monitor range opens on May 19 at 10 a.m. ET and continues until June 2 at 9:59 a.m. ET, while supplies last. To register interest, customers will need to provide details including their first and last name, email address, and mobile number. 

Samsung is also asking customers to share what they’re interested in, including the intended purpose for the monitor, preferred screen sizes, and which specific products they’re considering purchasing.

Sign up via Samsung now to get $50 off qualifying preorder purchases.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will require some movie 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: Shoe types

• Green: Competitive venues

• Blue: Alt names

• Purple: One word related to football

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Sneaker brands

• Green: Golf courses to host the U.S. Open

• Blue: Famous nicknames for MLB teams

• Purple: Movies that contain an NFL team name

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 #591 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Sneaker brands: CONVERSE, NEW BALANCE, SAUCONY, UNDER ARMOR

• Golf courses to host the U.S. Open: PEBBLE BEACH, SHINNECOCK HILLS, TORREY PINES, WINGED FOOT

• Famous nicknames for MLB teams: AMAZIN' METS, BIG RED MACHINE, GAS HOUSE GANG, MURDERERS' ROW

• Movies that contain an NFL team name: LITTLE GIANTS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, REMEMBER THE TITANS, THE BAD NEWS BEARS

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 today's Connections.

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

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

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

How to play Pips

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 7, 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 May 7, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 7 Pips

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

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

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed vertically.

Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 6-1, placed horizontally.

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

Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 7 Pips

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

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

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 0-1, placed horizontally.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 1-3, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally; 2-4, placed vertically.

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

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally; 1-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 2-4, placed vertically; 1-4, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 7 Pips

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

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 4-0, placed horizontally; 2-1, placed vertically.

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

Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 1-5, placed vertically; 6-2, placed vertically.

Greater Than (10): Everything in this space must be greater than 10. The answer is 4-6, placed vertically; 6-1, placed vertically.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically; 1-4, placed vertically; 1-1, placed vertically; 6-1, placed vertically.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 1-5, placed vertically; 5-2, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 6-2, placed vertically; 5-2, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (0): Everything in this space must be greater than 0. The answer is 0-3, 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.

TL;DR: Amazon has the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Elite Trainer Box listed for $68.95, down from $84.99. That's the lowest-ever price we’ve seen for this ETB.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Elite Trainer Box $68.95 at Amazon
$84.99 Save $16.04   Shop Now

Perfect Order continues its reign as the most budget-friendly Pokémon expansion in the trading card market, with ETB prices hitting all-time lows at Amazon.

As of May 7, Amazon has the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Elite Trainer Box on sale for $68.95 with free delivery, down from its $84.99 list price. It’s sold and shipped by Amazon directly, rather than a third-party seller. Using price tracking site camelcamelcamel, we’ve confirmed that $68.95 is indeed the lowest Amazon price on record.

Walmart is currently listing the same Perfect Order ETB for $68.95, while TCGplayer’s lowest listing is $69.94, with multiple unopened shipped listings hovering around the $70 mark. With Amazon now matching Walmart at $68.95, it’s the go-to if you want fast shipping and a straightforward checkout. 

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Inside the ETB, you’re getting nine Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order booster packs, one full-art foil Tyrunt promo card, 65 card sleeves, 40 Energy cards, a player’s guide, damage-counter dice, a coin-flip die, a plastic coin, a collector’s box with dividers, and a code card for Pokémon TCG Live.

If you haven't had the chance to dive into the Pokémon Legends: Z-A-focused expansion until now (with 120+ cards including Mega Zygarde ex, Mega Starmie ex, and Mega Clefable ex), this is the best opportunity for both your collection and your bank account.

Elsewhere, you can still preorder the Pokémon TCG Chaos Rising Elite Trainer Box at around the $130 mark.

TL;DR: Amazon has the Pokémon TCG: Mega Zygarde ex Premium Collection available for preorder at $69.99, ahead of its May 22 release. TCGplayer is only slightly cheaper than the market price, with listings starting at $68.68. 

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon TCG Mega Zygarde ex Premium Collection $69.99 at Amazon
  Pre-order Here

The Pokémon TCG Mega Zygarde ex Premium Collection comes out on the same day as the Chaos Rising expansion on May 22, and now you can secure a preorder for under $70. 

As of May 7, the Pokémon TCG Mega Zygarde ex Premium Collection is up for preorder at Amazon for $69.99. It’s being sold and shipped by Amazon, with the retailer’s pre-order price guarantee attached, so you will pay the lowest rate if the price drops before launch. There’s also free delivery for May 25, so note that it won’t actually arrive on your doorstop on the May 22 release date. 

This price is only slightly higher than the current TCGplayer market price of $69.17, while the lowest listed presale is $68.68 with shipping included — which still makes Amazon a reasonable go-to if you prefer buying your trading cards through the retailer.

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The Pokémon TCG Mega Zygarde ex Premium Collection offers the following:

• Foil promo card featuring an exclusive version of Mega Zygarde ex 

• Oversized lenticular version of the same promo card

• Tech sticker

• Eight Pokémon TCG booster packs — five from Perfect Order, two Phantasmal Flames, and one Journey Together

You can also score the Pokémon TCG’s 36-pack Chaos Rising Booster Box for just over $277. Plus, you can grab individual Chaos Rising Booster Packs for $12.99 from Amazon. 

As a lifelong cat owner, it is with the knowledge of experience that I say the chore I dislike the most is cleaning the litter box.

I've tried to interrogate this to no avail — I don't find it particularly gross or tedious (it takes all of three minutes max if you do it daily). And while I couldn't find answers to my aversion, when Petlibro released its first automatic litter box just a couple of months after I adopted a new kitten, well, it felt something like an answer from the universe.

My kitten, Mouse, graciously took up the task of helping me test out the Petlibro Luma Smart Litter Box, both with and without the AI feature set. After about three and a half months (and at many pounds of growth on Mouse's part), here are my thoughts on the Litter-Robot alternative.

Petlibro Luma Smart Litter Box: Price

At $599.99, the price of the Petlibro Luma is nothing to scoff at, so let's break it down.

First of all, included in the box is one litter mat and litter filter (pre-installed in the Luma), an additional litter filter for non-clumping tofu and mixed litters, 15 waste bags, a removable step, and a carbon filter.

Expensive as it is, it is cheaper than a $749 Litter-Robot 4, the $799 Litter-Robot 5, and the $899 Litter-Robot 5 Pro. It is also the same price as the "affordable" model from the brand, the Litter-Robot Evo. At the same time, it far eclipses the price of the much less space-intensive and open-top PetSafe ScoopFree, which will only run you $119.99 (minus the cost of any tray replacements required for upkeep).

SEE ALSO: 3 new Litter-Robots were just announced, including one geared toward small spaces

All this to say, the price led me to believe that with this product, Petlibro aims to offer the elevated automatic litter box experience (i.e., the Litter-Robot experience) at a price just competitive enough to be considered cheaper than Litter-Robot's.

Mouse leaving the scene of the crime. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

In addition to the upfront cost, to perform as intended, this litter box also requires replacement of the carbon air filter ($19.99) every one to three months and the interior litter mat ($29.99) every 90 days. If you want access to features like saved videos and smart summaries that feature details about your cat's health, these are the available pricing tiers:

• Video Cloud AI Standard: Costs $95.99 per year, with support for one Luma device. Saves seven-day video history, with smart summaries and highlight reels.

• Video Cloud AI Premium: Costs $135.99 per year, with support for one Luma device. Saves 30-day video history, with smart summaries and highlight reels.

• Video Cloud AI Premium Family: Costs $159.99 per year, with support for up to three Luma devices. Also saves 30-day video history, with smart summaries and highlight reels.

None of these are required to use the litter box (and I found it functioned more than fine without them), but if one of the primary reasons you're in the automatic litter box market is because you want to closely monitor your pet's health, it's a cost worth noting. For the majority of the testing period, I had access to the AI premium subscription, courtesy of Petlibro.

How the Petlibro Luma litter box works

The available feature set with this litter box includes the following, with bolded features only available with the AI subscription (which I'll get more into below):

• Automatic cleaning with odor control

• AI waste analysis

• Washable base

• Multi-cat detection

• Visit monitoring

• Video cloud storage

• Long-term health analytics

• Safety features

For a basic clean, the central part of the box rotates back and upwards to dump all the waste into the drawer that sits at the bottom of the box. While this happens, an air purifier runs. Then the main part of the litter box rotates back, shifting to reset the litter to an even position comfortable for your cat. All told, it can take about one to two minutes, but the sensors (which I'll talk more about below) will stop the cleaning process if your cat is anywhere near the box.

The central component of the litter box rolls back, closing it off, while emptying out. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

Maintenance of the box itself is super easy — a notification let me know when it was time to clean out the waste drawer, which, true to Petlibro's estimate, was roughly every two weeks. The central drum of the litter box could easily be popped and cleaned within a matter of five to 10 minutes. While researching for this review, I saw plenty of folks on Reddit complaining about how the spin mechanism of the Litter-Robot made it easy to get dirty, and that cleaning it could be kind of a pain. With the Luma box, the cleaning process felt pretty much as easy as I could imagine.

To thoroughly clean the box, I was able to remove the drum without issue to get into all the nooks and crannies. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable The after! Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable Seamless performance with even better smell

The first time I emptied the waste drawer after two weeks of use, I was genuinely shocked at how bad it smelled, considering I hadn't noticed it at all prior to opening the drawer. Thankfully, experiencing the smell was short-lived: All I had to do to empty the drawer was tie up the drawstring bag, toss it, and replace it with a new one.

Mouse is an adventurous cat (which tracks for a kitten found on a California freeway), so she was game to use the fancy litter box on day one. Tucked away in my family's living room, everyone I lived with basically forgot it existed after the initial setup, minus the times its cleaning cycle ran. It's not very loud, but if you're worried about it going off at inopportune times, you can schedule cleans or switch on manual mode.

Mouse, immortalized in her post-spay recovery shirt, courtesy of the Petlibro app. Credit: Bethany Allard / Mashable

This setup was especially nice for times I wasn't at home for longer stretches. My phone sent notifications every time Mouse was near or using the box, as well as when a cleaning cycle was up. Once I connected it to the AI subscription, I got access to a live and on-demand video feed of Mouse using the box. (Yes, I watched it! It was cute!)

Without the AI features, on the app, I could track every time she used the bathroom, her weight, and even get a picture of her using the box. Of course, it also let me know when the waste drawer needed to be emptied, and when the box needed a replacement carbon filter and litter mat. If she didn't use the bathroom for 24 hours, the app notified me to let me know her habits looked atypical, which could be huge if you're monitoring for any illness or weird behavior from your animal.

The features that live behind a subscription

"What does having an AI litter box even mean?" was a question I was asked no less than five times while I was testing this product, which, valid. I didn't quite know what to expect either.

After my months of testing, I can confidently say it's like having another pair of eyes on your cat — consider the Luma a Bathroom Big Brother. Maybe a bit dystopian, but any cat owner knows cats are notoriously good at hiding any health issues, especially when it relates to their bathroom habits, so in this case, it was genuinely helpful.

With the AI features, you know whether your cat has peed or pooped and whether it looks like a normal version of either. You can also view a video recording directly from the log on the app and verify whether the AI identified everything correctly. Petlibro claims the more you correct the AI, the better it gets, and I found that to line up with my experience.

The data from the app, sans AI subscription. Credit: Petlibro / Screenshot Versus with the AI subscription. Credit: Petlibro / Screenshot

At the end of a month, Petlibro creates a highlight reel of your cat's time in the bathroom, condensed down to 30-second bits per day. This maybe felt like the least necessary of all the features, but if you're monitoring your cat especially closely and want to make sure you didn't miss a thing, it's a nice fail-safe.

The app also grants you access to care trends, whether that be changes in their waste or frequency of use, or weight, with the data tracked on easy-to-read charts. When revisiting past logs, you could also filter for certain data. Basically, it felt like a period tracker for my cat, which was kind of great for vet appointments.

Finding health data, made easy. Credit: Petlibro / Screenshot Mouse favored her other litter box for a couple days, at which point the app let me know what I might want to flag to a vet. Credit: Petlibro / Screenshot Safety precautions are there

One of the bigger hesitations I saw online about the Luma litter box was the rollback design of the central part of the litter box. It's fair — during parts of the cleaning process, a cat theoretically inside could get seriously hurt, as the drum rolls all the way back to empty out the waste.

However, Petlibro uses three different sensors to make sure that doesn't happen: an inward-facing AI camera, a weight detection sensor, and a front-facing motion sensor. There's also child-lock features for the buttons on the box itself, and the option to turn off automatic cleaning altogether, or to schedule the cleanings.

Overall, I didn't experience a single problem with safety. Mouse likes to watch when I scoop her non-automated box, and so naturally she also liked to watch the robot box do its thing — any time she got remotely close enough to actually get inside of it, it paused. One time during testing, it actually detected the weight of an animal in the box when there was one, but it was paused until I unplugged and re-plugged in the machine. While that wasn't the most ideal, it did give me the feeling that this box errs on the side of safety over convenience.

The cleaning completely stopped, with any option to manually resume it greyed out until the box could no longer detect the weight. Credit: Petlibro / Screenshot Petlibro vs. Litter-Robot

Petlibro's Luma carves itself out as the mid-tier option between budget automatic boxes and the Litter-Robot, so while I haven't had a chance to test the Litter-Robot for myself, it felt worth looking at their feature sets to compare the performance and cost of the two as best I can.

The first difference is that while the Petlibro Luma rolls backward to empty itself, the Litter-Robot spins around from side to side to get empty, which means it always remains open. This has the safety benefit of always giving your cat an option to jump out. However, it does mean it might not appeal to cats who prefer a more open top, which the Luma does provide. As Mouse is still a baby (literally, I mean), she wasn't the best test subject for this point, but Petlibro says its box can fit cats up to 22 pounds.

The Litter-Robot EVO features design with a more closed-off top to cats. Credit: Litter-Robot While Petlibro's Luma keeps things open. Credit: Petlibro

As I mentioned above, the spinning of the Litter-Robot also led to some folks online complaining about how quickly it can get covered in litter and dust.

Also on the design front, the Petlibro box comes with a ramp that touches the floor, while it's an additional purchase for the Litter-Robot. Compared to the Litter-Robot EVO, the most compact option from the brand, the Luma is a bit shorter but a few inches wider than the Litter-Robot.

Considering the Luma and EVO cost the same price, it's also worth noting that Petlibro claims up to 10 cats can use the Luma, while Litter-Robot doesn't recommend the EVO for more than a one to two-cat household. The EVO also has no WasteID features — you'd have to go to the more expensive Litter-Robot 5 or 5 Pro for that.

Is the Petlibro Luma litter box worth it?

If the idea of a high-end litter box is enticing to you, but the prices of the Litter-Robot have made you hold off until now, the Petlibro Luma presents a worthwhile alternative, especially if you're looking for waste analysis or a box for more than two cats, but don't want to spend upwards of $700.

While I can't personally speak to the performance of the Litter-Robot EVO, value-wise, Petlibro's model is the better option — especially if you can grab it on sale.

Petlibro Luma Smart Litter Box $539.99 at Amazon
$599.99 Save $60   Shop Now at Amazon Shop Now at Petlibro

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Evil Dead mastermind Sam Raimi has blessed us with a cheeky new thriller to obsess over in 2026. One of our most anticipated releases this year, Send Help marks Raimi's return to horror for the first time in over a decade. And it's officially headed to streaming.

Equal parts psychological thriller and dark comedy, Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko calls Send Help a "totally twisted thrill ride" and a "gross and glorious good time." It stars a stellar Rachel McAdams in a role completely unlike anything you'd expect from her and an equally matched Dylan O'Brien (Twinless).

It hit theaters in January and scored unexpectedly high ratings. If you haven't seen it yet or you can't wait to see it again, now's your chance to watch Send Help — and all its gory, gloppy thrills —  at home. Here's what you need to know.

What is Send Help about?

Send Help follows Linda Liddle (McAdams), a mousy, middle-aged office worker and Survivor lover who has a ton of unexpected skills. Bradley Preston (O'Brien) is her douchey boss who promotes one of his frat bros over her. When the plane crashes on their next business trip, leaving them stranded alone on a desert island, a dramatic reverse in power dynamics presents itself.

As Puchko puts it, it's a bit "Romancing the Stone meets Triangle of Sadness... meets Misery."

Check out the full trailer:

Is Send Help worth watching?

Send Help is the sleeper hit of the season you didn't know you needed. After raking in $94 million worldwide (on a $40 million production budget), it holds a 93 percent critic rating and 87 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes — pretty impressive numbers for an original horror comedy. It largely benefited from word of mouth.

Mashable's own film critic had only positive things to say about the latest Raimi film. "Watching Send Help, my stomach churned, my jaw dropped, my eyes bulged, and I threw my hands over my face a few times to guard from the gross explosion on screen," she writes. "Then I walked out cackling and giddy, because Send Help is not just one of the grossest movies I've seen in the last decade. It's also a rip-roaring, no-fucks-to-give good time."

Read our full review of Send Help.

How to watch Send Help at home Credit: 20th Century Studios

Send Help opened in theaters nationwide on Jan. 30, 2026. If you missed out, no biggie; it's now officially available to watch at home in a couple of different ways. As of May 7, 2026, you can buy it or stream it. See the details below.

Buy or rent on digital

The 20th Century Studios film officially made its at-home debut via video-on-demand retailers on March 24, 2026. You can purchase Send Help for your own digital library. The movie was also available to rent for 30 days, but has since disappeared. We'll be on the lookout for the rental option to return; it will likely cost $5.99.

Here are some quick links to buy the film on digital:

• Apple TV — $9.99

• Fandango at Home — $9.99

• Google Play — $19.99 to buy

• Prime Video — $9.99

• YouTube — $19.99 to buy

Stream it on Hulu

Send Help made its streaming debut on Hulu on May 7, 2026. That three-month window from the theater to streaming is right on par with other 20th Century Studios films.

Hulu subscriptions start at $11.99 per month (thanks to a late 2025 price hike), but there are a few different ways you can save. We've rounded up the best ongoing Hulu streaming deals below.

The best Hulu streaming dealsBest Hulu deal for most people: Hulu annual subscription Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Hulu (with ads) annual subscription $119.99 per year (save $23.89) Get Deal

The best way to cut back on the cost of a Hulu subscription is to opt for an annual plan instead of a monthly plan. You'll pay for a year up front for $119.99 (which breaks down to $9.99 per month) instead of $143.88. That's about 16% or just shy of $24 in savings. It's not the biggest discount ever, but every dollar counts.

Best bundle deal: Get Hulu and Disney+ for 50% off Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu / Disney+ Hulu and Disney+ (with ads) $11.99 per month (save $11.99 per month) for six months Get Deal

One of the best deals in the streaming world is Disney's bundle plan, and for a limited time, you can sign up for a six-month subscription to both for only $11.99 per month (reg. $12.99 per month). That means you'll get one streaming service completely for free for six months. After the six-month promotional period, you'll pay just a dollar more per month — still a pretty great deal if you ask me.

Best for students: Hulu Student Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Hulu Student (with ads) $1.99 per month (save $10 per month) Get Deal

College students can save 83% or $10 per month on a Hulu with ads subscription. Sign up through the Hulu Student promotional page and verify your college email address via SheerID, and the price will drop from $11.99 to just $1.99 per month. The deal is valid as long as your student status can be verified.

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Aside from the free trial, the only way you can get Hulu for free in 2026 is through T-Mobile's Go5G Next and Experience Beyond plans (you'll also get Netflix for free and Apple TV+ for $3). If you're already on one of these plans, head over to the T-Mobile promo page and choose "redeem now" to claim the offer. Just enter your T-Mobile number and account details to sign up for Hulu.

Newborn stars born in the biggest stellar clusters tear themselves out of their birth clouds much faster than those that grow up in small clusters, according to a new study. 

Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, researchers studied nearly 9,000 examples from four different galaxies: Messier 51, Messier 83, NGC 4449, and NGC 628.

Because no one can watch a single cluster evolve over millions of years in space, scientists instead observed many clusters at different intervals and treated them like snapshots in a sequence. Some stars were still completely buried in dust. Some had partly emerged. Others were fully exposed.

What researchers found was a consistent pattern: The star clusters moved through the same sequence but how quickly depended on their mass. For the largest clusters, clearing the cloud of gas and dust may only take about 5 million years. The smaller ones may not break free for 7 to 8 million years.

The research puts real numbers on something that has remained ambiguous up until now. Simulations of star formation already factor in so-called "stellar feedback" — the radiation, stellar winds, and supernovas that young stars produce — but the models disagree on how fast those events and processes blow away gas. These new measurements, published in Nature Astronomy, give scientists a concrete timeline based on a large sample, said Angela Adamo, a lead author on the study from Stockholm University and the Oskar Klein Centre in Sweden.

SEE ALSO: A teeny-tiny world beyond Pluto appears to have an atmosphere

The patterns showed up everywhere the team looked, even though each galaxy doesn't look or behave the same way. That consistency suggests the timing isn't just a product of a local quirk in one environment, but a basic feature of how star clusters evolve.

The clusters all started off similarly: with baby stars releasing their energy in secret. At the earliest stage, they're hidden deep within a thick cloud of gas and dust that blocks their visible light. Only infrared light can pass through that haze.

Inset images zoom in on newborn star clusters in Messier 51, one of the four galaxies included in the new James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble study. Credit: ESA / NASA / CSA / A. Pedrini / A. Adamo

As the concealed stars grow, they change their environment, heating the surrounding gas and blasting out radiation and fast stellar winds. Over time, that energy pushes the gas and dust away, revealing what's inside.

By counting how many clusters appear in each stage, the researchers estimated how long each phase lasts. The idea is simple: If lots of clusters show up in a stage, it tends to last longer; if only a few do, it's over more quickly.

Once the cloud is gone, there's nothing holding the stars back. Their ultraviolet radiation can travel farther through their home galaxy, colliding with nearby gas and influencing where new stars can or cannot form next.

When that stellar feedback is unleashed, it creates a lot of waste, sterilizing regions of galaxies. Most of the gas never gets used for star formation. 

That extends to planets, too. Young stars form with disks of gas and dust around them, and those disks birth planets. If a cluster blows away its surrounding material quickly, those disks get exposed earlier, vulnerable to harsh radiation that can interrupt the process of world building. 

The research has implications for scientists working on a variety of cosmic mysteries, said Alex Pedrini, lead author of the study, who is also based at Stockholm University and the Oskar Klein Centre in Sweden.

"We can look into the cradles of star clusters and connect planet formation to the cycle of star formation and stellar feedback," he said in a statement.

TL;DR: Unblock Pornhub from France with a VPN. The best service for unblocking porn sites is ExpressVPN.

Access to Pornhub is restricted in a number of locations around the world.

Early in 2025, more than a third of U.S. states introduced age verification laws for online adult content. After the introduction of these new requirements, Pornhub responded by blocking users from those locations. Now the same situation is taking place in France, with users in the country unable to access YouPorn, RedTube, and Pornhub.

There are complicated reasons for the blockade, but the workaround is actually very simple. If you want to unblock porn sites like Pornhub for free from France, we have all the information you need.

How to unblock Pornhub for free in France

VPNs are useful tools that can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in other locations. This straightforward process bypasses geo-restrictions so you can access sites like Pornhub from anywhere in the world.

Unblock Pornhub 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 a location that supports access to Pornhub

4. Visit Pornhub

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The best VPNs for unblocking porn sites are not free, but most do offer free-trial peiods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can unblock porn sites like Pornhub without actually spending anything. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you the opportunity to temporarily retain access to Pornhub before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to sites like Pornhub, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for bypassing content restrictions is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for Pornhub?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for unblocking porn sites like Pornhub, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast streaming speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

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

Unblock Pornhub for free in France with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026, a full-featured IDE with built-in AI tools and collaboration features, is now price dropped to $34.97 (reg. $499.99) through May 17 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 $34.97
$499.99 Save $465.02   Get Deal

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your development environment, this deal makes it a lot easier to justify. Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 is down to $34.97 (reg. $499.99).

Built as a 64-bit IDE, this release handles large and complex projects with ease. It supports a range of languages and platforms, from .NET and C++ to web development, offering flexibility for varied workflows and making it simple to tailor to your specific needs.

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It also fits into workflows that developers are already using. With built-in integrations with tools like Azure and GitHub, you can manage version control, deployments, and collaboration without switching between platforms, helping keep projects moving without unnecessary slowdowns.

AI-powered tools like IntelliCode suggest code completions based on your day-to-day process, helping to accelerate repetitive tasks and minimize errors. CodeLens brings recent changes and test results directly into your editor, streamlining work across extensive codebases.

For teams, Live Share makes collaboration more straightforward. Instead of dealing with extra setup steps, you can jump into shared sessions to edit and debug code together in real time.

Of course, this isn’t necessarily for beginners who are just experimenting with code. It’s better suited to developers who already have some experience and need tools that can handle larger or more complex projects. It’s designed for Windows, so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re working across multiple operating systems.

Still, if you’ve been comparing IDEs or waiting for a good price on Visual Studio, this software stands out. Getting access to a professional-grade development environment, especially with the added AI tools and collaboration features, is something that will come in handy every day.

If this matches your needs, Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 is available for $34.97 reg. ($499.99), through May 17 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

After her first year of college, rather than taking the summer off and decompressing from the school year, Chloe Gong decided to write a book. That novel, These Violent Delights, would go on to become a New York Times bestseller.

These Violent Delights debuted on Nov. 17, 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic and Gong's senior year at the University of Pennsylvania. Despite not being able to tour the country to promote her book, her novel still debuted on the New York Times bestseller list in the weeks after its release because Gong took a different route: TikTok.

Gong created her TikTok leading up to the release of her book, promoting preorders and seeking early readers. While the approach then may have seemed untraditional, she was, in reality, ahead of the curve in modern book marketing. Her TikTok account now has 221.7K followers, and she has published seven books, with two more coming in the second half of 2026.

What Gong tapped into was BookTok, a corner of TikTok where readers could connect and enthusiastically share their latest reads. As of 2026, the #BookTok hashtag on the app has surpassed 78.7 million posts. The platform's influence is hard to overstate. In 2021, the World Economic Forum reported that readers purchased a record-breaking 821 million books, a surge widely attributed to BookTok. Its impact has reshaped bookselling, with both physical and online stores routinely featuring dedicated BookTok sections. The publishing industry has had to adapt, and for authors, that shift increasingly means active participation in online communities.

Today, authors are expected to take on an additional role: creator. Authors, who used to be known by name alone and maybe an author photo on the back cover, have taken a front-facing role. Author Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen) has amassed 501.5K followers on TikTok, and Jodi Picoult (My Sister's Keeper) has 478.5K followers.

On BookTok, alongside readers posting monthly reading wrap-ups, you'll find bestselling and indie authors alike, pitching their books in less than 60 seconds. Authors are using the platform to engage with fans, and also just have fun, participating in trends and embracing lifestyle content.

Gong, whom I spoke with at BookCon 2026 in New York City, said, "Social media feels as though it has become an essential tool for authors who want to level the playing field, especially if they don’t have the backing of a lead title." In publishing, books generally fall into three categories: lead titles, midlist, and quiet books. As the name suggests, lead titles — often written by established or highly anticipated authors — receive the bulk of a publisher's time, resources, and marketing budget. Midlist and quiet titles, by contrast, receive progressively less support, placing more of the burden of promotion on the authors themselves.

Even with hundreds of thousands of followers, however, viral success does not guarantee book sales. Gong cautions that relying on social media remains a gamble. "It has worked for many people, but at the end of the day, it is still like gambling," she said. "There's no denying how powerful [social media] is, but when I'm giving advice to new authors, I always want to tell them, 'Look, you can roll the dice, but you can't beat yourself up for not winning.' The odds are just stacked against you. The algorithm is very specific about what types of books that it likes."

Emma Noyes is one author who took that gamble. In a Substack post titled "Once, I had a book deal for half a million dollars. Now, I'm back to self-publishing," she recounts her path to a traditional publishing deal. After years of trying to break in, Noyes joined TikTok in 2021 as BookTok gained momentum. By 2022, she had built a following of more than 150K, which helped her secure her dream agent. In July 2022, she signed a multi-book deal with Berkley Publishing, followed by another with Wednesday Books in May 2023. Combined, those advances totaled more than half a million dollars, she wrote.

But after the book deal, Noyes slowly learned a crucial lesson: "Followers do not equal book sales."

"People came to my page for the roommate who built my bookshelf, my Swedish boyfriend (now husband), my Vampire Diaries parodies and videos about the cast, and my older brother Henry, who the internet decided was hot (gross). All of those things were fun to film, but they had nothing to do with my writing," Noyes writes, "Which meant that, when I posted about my books, no one cared. And no one purchased." Now, she's taking a different route: self-publishing her next novel, Prince of the Sun.

For other authors, writing is built into their platform from the start. Katie Wu, who joined TikTok under the username @katiewuwrites, created her account the day after finishing her first novel. "I believed in myself, so I started my account in case it could help my author journey," Wu says when we spoke at BookCon.

Wu's debut novel, Madder Lake, is set to be published by Harper Voyager in 2027. As for whether her TikTok following helped her land the deal, she says it's possible. During the BookCon panel "Readers vs. Writers' Spaces," Wu shared that a "whole slew of factors" go into a publisher's decision to acquire a book — and she's unsure how much her platform ultimately mattered.

But with authors taking the gamble on content creation, there's another issue to contend with: navigating the boundaries between reader and writer spaces online. While Gong was early to TikTok, BookTok was originally, and still is, driven by readers sharing and reviewing books. While there are plenty of loyal fans of authors and book series, when a negative review rolls in, authors are now face-to-face with their critics.

"Just don't tag writers in negative reviews, right? That's just common courtesy," Wu said on her BookCon panel. Author Brooke Fast, who joined Wu on the same panel, also had insights. Like Wu, Fast was first a creator, primarily on Bookstagram (the equivalent of BookTok, but on Instagram), before HarperCollins published her debut novel, To Cage a Wild Bird.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brooke Fast (@librarybrookes)

"If I'm tagged in positive content, I'll typically interact with it when I'm able, but I would never interact with negative content," said Fast. "I know sometimes it gets confusing. I've heard authors say that if someone comments negatively on my post, that's my space and I'm now entitled to fight back. But I just think nothing good comes from fighting."

“If I'm tagged in positive content, I'll usually interact with it when I can, but I never engage with negative content," Fast said. "I know that can be confusing. I've heard authors say that if someone comments negatively on my post, that's my space and I’m entitled to fight back. But I don’t think anything good comes from fighting."

With authors increasingly present on BookTok, the challenge isn't just proximity to audiences; content creation can become a full-time job, often at the expense of writing. Wu says social media can be useful in the early stages, helping her narrow down and refine ideas. By staying attuned to what readers are discussing, she can "use that lens to help [her] pick and refine ideas." But once drafting begins, she makes a point to tune it out.

Gong echoed that approach. "My job is writing. My job isn't being an influencer. I’ll post if I have something to share with my readers — behind-the-scenes insights or news about a new book — but I always remind myself that my goal is connection, not growth. Otherwise, my books get sidelined."

So while the author-as-content-creator line begins to blur in the era of self-promotion, especially when publishing resources aren't stacked in an author's favor, it remains true that it's a tool for connection and promotion, but it's not a second career.