IT General

Following in Eddie Murphy's footsteps is one thing; working with him is next-level. Pete Davidson can attest to this, having gone from being Saturday Night Live alumni to co-stars in the new action-comedy The Pickup, from The Blackening director Tim Story.

The Pickup stars Murphy and Davidson as a pair of armored truck guards who get blackmailed by a sleek thief, played by Keke Palmer, to conspire on a complicated heist. Action and comedy collide as this odd couple of co-workers is thrown way out of their comfort zone, with hilarious results.

Both Davidson and Palmer were honored to work with Murphy on the new film, as they told Mashable Editor-in-Chief Alesha Williams Boyd in a virtual interview.

Working with Murphy "was a dream come true," Palmer said. "I mean, he's somebody that I've looked up to since I was a kid. I've always been a big fan of his work. My whole family is a fan of his work. He's an icon... Just watching him work was like a master class. And I'm very observant, so I'm just watching everything and soaking in as much as I could.”

For his part, Davidson was quick to share how working with Murphy was a great way to impress his own family. He went on to compare his co-star ("the GOAT") to one of his uncles, adding, "I think he really likes me."

In a separate interview, Murphy confirmed this connection, saying, "Me and Pete have so much in common... Pete and I are opposites on paper. He's tall. He's 6'3" and I'm 5'10". He's white and I'm Black. But we're both stand-up comics that became actors. We're both Saturday Night Live alumni. We both lost our dads when we were, like, eight years old. So we have all that in common."

Murphy also noted that Davidson's role in The Pickup would have been the kind of role he'd have been right for not long ago, comparing the part to his famous Beverly Hills Cop persona, Axel Foley.

"I'm the voice of reason [in The Pickup]. In most of the action-comedies that I've done," Murphy explains, "I'd have been the Pete character, the young wild guy bouncing off the walls. But in this movie — if this were 48 Hours, I'd be playing Nick Nolte's character. So now I have to be funny from this perspective. And that was cool."

It was cool for Davidson, too, who said, "Everybody loves and wants to be in Eddie's world. There's a very select few that get to do that, and I'm honored to be able to."

As for Murphy, he notes, "I'd love to do another movie with Pete." So could a The Pickup 2 be a possibility? We'll see.

The Pickup debuts on Prime Video on Aug. 6.

Mashable staff contributed to this report.

Dreame just released its new L40s robot vacuums, a series of three models designed to give a professional-grade clean. If you're looking for a way to automate your home cleaning, the L40s Ultra, the L40s Ultra AE, and the L40s Ultra CE might be worth a look.

Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 is even more of an Addams Family affair than Season 1, looping in extended family members like Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) and Grandmama Hester Frump (Joanna Lumley). But the show keeps bringing up one key relative we haven't met yet. No, I'm not talking about Cousin Itt (but where is he?). I'm talking about Ophelia Frump.

SEE ALSO: 10 burning questions we have for 'Wednesday' Season 2, Part 2

Ophelia is Morticia's younger sister. She's appeared in several other Addams Family films and TV shows, including The Addams Family series (played by Carolyn Jones), The Addams Family film (played by Allegra Kent), Addams Family Values (played by Laura Esterman), and The New Addams Family (played by Lisa Calder). She's frequently portrayed as cheerful, but given what we know of her in Wednesday, that certainly won't be the case if she ever shows up in the series.

Who is Ophelia in Wednesday Season 2, and why is she so important? Catherine Zeta-Jones in "Wednesday." Credit: Jonathan Hession / Netflix

In Wednesday, Ophelia's story is a tragic one that has stuck with Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Like both Morticia and Wednesday (Jenna Ortega), Ophelia is a psychic. Also like Wednesday, Ophelia pushed her psychic abilities too far while attending Nevermore, to the point that visions gave her black tears. This led Hester to send Ophelia away to Willow Hill Psychiatric Hospital. Morticia begged her mother not to have Ophelia committed, as her condition would only get worse, but to no avail.

SEE ALSO: 'Wednesday' Season 2 keeps the Edgar Allan Poe references alive. Here's all of them.

This dark splotch in the Frump family history is one of the reasons why Morticia and Hester don't get along. It's also why Morticia is so worried about Wednesday using Goody's book of spells and testing her psychic abilities without a guide. She doesn't want to see her daughter befall a similar fate, and she's determined to be a better mother to her than Hester was to Ophelia.

However, Ophelia's commitment at Willow Hill isn't the end of her twisted tale. Uncle Fester reveals to Wednesday that Morticia asked him to infiltrate Willow Hill once in order to check on her dear sister. However, when he arrived, he learned that Ophelia had vanished. By the time of Wednesday Season 2, she's been missing for 20 years.

Or has she?

Have we already met Ophelia in Wednesday Season 2? Fred Armisen and Jenna Ortega in "Wednesday." Credit: Helen Sloan / Netflix

In episode 4 of Wednesday Season 2, Wednesday and Fester discover a sinister experimental program at Willow Hill. Called LOIS (Long-term Outcast Integration Study), the program looks to extract Outcast abilities and give them to Normies. It's already been successful at least once, as program head Judi (Heather Matarazzo) obtained avian powers through LOIS.

None of the LOIS test subjects are in Willow Hill voluntarily. In fact, Willow Hill faked all their deaths so no one would know to come looking for them. You know what else they could have faked? Ophelia's disappearance.

That's right: I think Ophelia was thrown into LOIS due to her psychic abilities, and that's where she's been trapped for the past 20 years.

When Wednesday and Fester discover the LOIS subjects, they find one woman (Frances O'Connor) curled up in the corner of her cell, disappointed by the fact that Wednesday and Fester aren't here to put her out of her misery. The show separates her physically from other Outcast characters, and she's not given any visible Outcast powers. It also separates her from the others once they're freed from their cells, as she's the only one who doesn't chase after Judi in a fit of bloodthirsty rage. Instead, she sticks by Wednesday's side in the chaos that follows.

From all these differences from the rest of the pack, it's clear that Wednesday wants this one woman to stand out in particular. And why else would the show draw so much attention to her if she's not the long-lost Ophelia? Her presence at Willow Hill lines up with everything Morticia has told us about her, right down to her mysterious disappearance.

Plus, wouldn't it be poetic that Wednesday, a psychic suffering from the same black-teared visions as Ophelia, be the one to free her aunt from Willow Hill?

Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 is now streaming on Netflix, with Part 2 premiering Sept. 3.

The new Notepad lets you write Markdown without installing anything. It works with plain text, keeps your syntax visible, and formats when you want it to. One of the main advantages of Markdown is how widely supported it is across devices, operating systems, and different apps. Here's how to get started with it in Notepad.

Best anal sex toy deals as of Aug. 6: Best deal overall Snug Plug 1 $34.99 (save $15) Get Deal Best runner-up deal Anii $33.15 (save $5.85) Get Deal Best lube deal SUTIL Luxe 4oz + Rich 8oz Water-Based Lube $60 (save $15) Get Deal

Now that it’s officially Anal August (literally, where has the time gone?), I can share all my favorite anal sex toy deals with you! Of course, we just had National Orgasm Day on July 31, so there may be some lingering deals out there, but I’ve tried to prioritize the best deals right now. 

Whether you’re curious about butt stuff or are just looking to add a new fave to your nightstand, here are the best sex toy deals you can find as of Aug. 6: 

Best deal overall Opens in a new window Credit: b-Vibe Snug Plug 1 $34.99 at b-Vibe
$49.99 Save $15 Get Deal Why we like it

When it comes to anal play, you need to shop at a place that actually knows what the hell they’re doing, and this is it.

B-Vibe is a trusted name in the anal toy space, and right now they’re hosting a huge sale where you can get 20% off award-winning prostate plugs, up to 30% off best-selling vibes, and up to 60% off anal bundles and sets. There’s also a buy four for three deal where you can get one of four items (the cheapest one, obvs) free.

What to buy: If you’re new to anal play, I wouldn’t recommend splurging on a fancy vibrating set of plugs. I would, however, suggest starting with a small silicone butt plug like the Snug Plug 1. (The “1” signifies its size, BTW.) At 3.4 inches, it’s ideal for beginners. Just remember to use plenty of lube and to warm up first.

Right now, you can get it for just $34.99 (originally $49.99) and it comes in mint, black, fuchsia, and violet.

Best runner-up deal Opens in a new window Credit: biird Anii $33.15 at biird
$39 Save $5.85 Get Deal Why we like it

If you’ve read anything I’ve written in the past three years, then you know I’m absolutely in love with biird. I’m obsessed with their packaging, their toys, and everything their female-founded company stands for. The only reason I’m putting this as a runner-up deal is because they’re not an anal-specific retailer, and I wanted the best deal overall to be with a retailer dedicated to anal play.

That said, biird almost never has sales (it is very, very seldom), and they’re currently offering up to 30% off select toys, including best sellers like the Namii (my personal fave).

What to buy: If you’re an experienced anal player who’s looking for a cute new glass toy, I recommend the Anii. This medium-sized glass plug is gorgeous, and it comes with its own storage case (all that for less than $40 is a steal). Glass is also super easy to clean, and feels ahhmazing in practice.

Right now, you can get it for $33.15 (originally $39).

Other noteworthy deals

• Babeland: Now through Aug. 29, get 15% off anal toys

• Bellesa boutique: Right now, you can get up to 50% off sitewide, plus get Pebbly free on orders of $79+

• Good Vibes: Now through Aug. 29, get 15% off anal toys

• LELO: Get up to 40% off select toys, plus every order of $199+ comes with a free LIV 3

• Liberator: Right now, get up to 40% off select items, plus tons of freebies with select purchases

• Lovehoney: Get up to 70% off select sex toys, plus get a free gift when you spend $69

• MysteryVibe: Get 30% off all products through August 20

• pjur: Right now, you can get 30% off all pjur anal products

With a new Naked Gun movie hitting theaters, having movie spoofs back in fashion is refreshing. Keeping up with the times, this latest iteration of the franchise seems as though it’ll mock modern action movie conventions. Since actor Liam Neeson has swum in that soup for years, he’s the perfect man for this wacky job.

Three-button navigation is still a thing, but it's really only used widely by Samsung these days, which still ships it as the default option over gestures. If you're more of a three-button nav person and you want to move to a Pixel, your muscle memory could soon kick right in after your next upgrade.

TL;DR: Upgrade your PC for just A$23 with this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro lifetime license, on sale for a limited time.

Opens in a new window Credit: Windows Microsoft Windows 11 Pro AU$23
AU$307 Save AU$284 Get Deal

Do you have an old computer that could use a refresh? Upgrade its operating system and give it new life with Windows 11 Pro, now just A$23 (reg. A$307) for life for a limited time.

If you’ve got an older device lying around, you don’t need to shell out hundreds of dollars for a brand-new laptop. Just give it a new lease on life with this Windows 11 Pro upgrade. This new operating system is filled with features that can help you tackle both work and play.

What’s new in Windows 11 Pro?

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro was created with modern professionals in mind, but you don’t have to be tackling work to appreciate the new features. It offers a seamless interface that’s easy to navigate, snap layouts, improved voice typing, and a more powerful search experience everyone can benefit from.

We should all be taking our cybersecurity more seriously, and Windows 11 Pro offers advanced security measures like a biometric login, encrypted authentication, and advanced antivirus defenses to beef up your protection.

Need to get work done? Windows 11 Pro includes Microsoft Teams, and also offers some unique professional features. Azure AD lets you manage logins and permissions for employees, while Hyper-V makes it possible to create and run virtual machines to test things. You’ll also get Windows Sandbox, a way to test files safely without risking your computer.

If you’d like to ditch the mouse and keyboard, Microsoft Windows 11 Pro gives you the option to go touchscreen. And it also puts Copilot, Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant, right on your desktop.

Once you tackle all your responsibilities, it’s time to start gaming. Windows 11 Pro includes DirectX 12 Ultimate, with graphics that make you feel like you’re right there in the game.

Note: You’ll need 4GB RAM and 40GB of hard drive space to run Windows 11 Pro, and if you’re running Windows 11 but can’t install upgrades via Windows Update, you won’t be able to install this version either.

Elevate your PC experience with this lifetime license to Microsoft Windows 11 Pro, now just A$23 (reg. A$307) while codes last.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

In 2025, a lot of daters want to meet in person instead of on apps (even if they don't know how). This could account for the decline of some dating apps recently, including Bumble, which laid off 30 percent of its employees earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Tinder wants to shed its hookup reputation to appeal more to Gen Z, according to new CEO Spencer Rascoff. Rascoff is also the CEO of Tinder's parent company, Match Group, and took over at the helm of Tinder last month. Match Group also owns other popular dating and hookup apps, including Hinge, Match, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and OurTime.

At a Tuesday earnings call, Rascoff painted an optimistic picture for Tinder, despite declining revenue.

SEE ALSO: Dating apps to add age checks in the UK

While Tinder's paying users fell seven percent in the last quarter, Rascoff told the Wall Street Journal that, "Things are moving in the right direction."

Tinder's direct revenue also declined four percent in the second quarter, dropping to $461.2 million. However, revenue per user grew by three percent. Despite the dips, Rascoff told the Journal he's optimistic about the app's momentum because Tinder's team is acting urgently and "shipping more product than ever before." When Rascoff's takeover as CEO was announced, he posted Tinder's new product principles on LinkedIn, one of them being speed and urgency.

About 90 percent of the people who used Tinder's new double date feature are apparently Gen Z, a demographic that Tinder needs to attract. The Journal reported that Tinder plans to launch six new features in the next few weeks, including a new recommendations algorithm and a college mode for students looking to match with each other. Match also plans to pour in $50 million to invest in product testing at Tinder and other apps.

One Match Group property is soaring: Hinge. Paid users grew 18 percent in the second quarter, and revenue per user was up six percent. Hinge's revenue also grew 25 percent to $167.5 million. While dating apps are becoming more and more alike with similar features, daters apparently see a difference.

The NFL Sunday Ticket is expensive, costing fans upwards of $480 a year to watch endless football. To take some of the sting out of that price tag, Google and YouTube just launched an NFL Sunday Ticket Member Benefit program full of hardware discounts, free trials, and other perks.

Microsoft is bringing its Xbox Copilot to the Windows Game Bar, so you can get help with your games without ever having to leave the screen. This is a huge deal for anyone who gets stuck in a game and doesn't want to break their focus by searching for a walkthrough on Google.

SAVE $50: As of Aug. 6, buy the Samsung Galaxy Watch8 for $349.99 at Best Buy and get a free $50 e-gift card.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Samsung Galaxy Watch8 $349.99 at Samsung
Get a free $50 e-gift card with purchase Get Deal

A good smartwatch can be your constant companion when it comes to handling your day. It can track your fitness, handle notifications and texts, and even help you make calls, all while giving you a full spectrum of body-centric metrics. If you're already using an Android phone or want a reliable brand for your purchase, you should consider heading to Best Buy to grab a Samsung smartwatch and get a little extra.

As of Aug. 6, buy the Samsung Galaxy Watch8 for $349.99 at Best Buy and get a free $50 e-gift card.

SEE ALSO: All the best smartwatches for every wrist and interest

The 2025 Galaxy Watch8 has a slew of features, including Google Gemini integration, something Samsung managed to get before Google could implement in its Pixel Watch lineup. It also has a wide variety of health and fitness options, including preset workout data, sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and much more to help you make sure you can face the day at your best.

Beyond those things, the Galaxy Watch8 also lets you handle comms straight from your wrist so you can make calls, text, use some of your favorite apps, and organize your life. Your personal AI assistant is voice-activated as well, so it can help you get things done even when your hands are busy.

You might open it by accident. But the moment it starts to unzip, your computer's file system crashes. Except there's no malware in the zip archive, only math.

A lot of people like loud keyboards—I'm in that club. But many like the exact opposite, and that's understandable too. MSI's latest keyboard is all about being as silent as possible, and for what it's worth, it delivers.

You'd think Android and YouTube would work together flawlessly, but early this week, that wasn't the case.

As reported and confirmed by 9to5Google, YouTube users on Android devices couldn't change the playback speed on videos. Changing the speed to anything other than 1x would simply not work, as the setting change wouldn't save, acting as if you hadn't done it at all. Obviously, that's not a great user experience, considering that Android and YouTube are both Google's responsibility. It seems a bit strange for Android users specifically to lose access to a core YouTube feature, but that's what happened.

SEE ALSO: Google is killing millions of old links. How to check yours.

Thankfully, it seems that as of Wednesday morning, the issue has been fixed, per a YouTube community note. The note states that any users still experiencing the issue should simply close and reopen the app. Hopefully, by doing that, you can fix the problem and get back to frame-by-frame analysis of movie trailers at 0.25x speed.

For once, it paid off to use a Google app on iOS instead.

Curious why so many Linux power users swear by KDE Plasma? Are you already using Plasma and wondering which specific features to try out? Well, I’ve got you covered—here are 10 awesome Plasma features I use all the time for peak productivity!

Welcome back to Windows Wednesday, where we round up everything Microsoft rolled out in Windows over the past week. Here’s everything that showed up across the Insider channels and release versions this week.

On top of directing horror hits Get Out, Us, and Nope, Jordan Peele has produced several exciting genre projects, from Dev Patel's Monkey Man to Nia DaCosta's Candyman, which he also co-wrote. Next up on his production slate is the football horror film Him, directed by Justin Tipping.

SEE ALSO: 'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You' trailer: Rose Byrne is a mother losing control in A24 drama

Co-written by Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers, and Tipping, Him introduces promising young football star Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers). Not only does Withers have acting experience from projects like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Atlanta, he was also part of Florida State University's 2017 football team as a wide receiver. Hopefully his experience playing was nothing like Cameron's in Him, though, because the trailer makes it out to be a full-on nightmare.

After suffering a traumatic brain injury at the hands of an unhinged fan, Cameron thinks his football dream is dead. But when his hero, legendary quarterback Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), offers to train him at his personal compound, he's excited to accept.

However, Isaiah's training methods are far more violent than Cameron realized. (And football is already pretty violent!) We're talking smashing footballs into players' faces until they bleed as punishment.

But that's just the start of the horrors that await in Him, which demands that Cameron sacrifice everything to be the GOAT he so badly wants to be. Check out the unsettling trailer above.

Him also stars Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, Jim Jefferies, and MMA fighter Maurice Greene, as well as hip-hop artists Guapdad 4000 and Tierra Whack.

Him hits theaters Sept. 19.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will reportedly join President Donald Trump at the White House today to announce Apple's burgeoning investment in the U.S.

The tech giant is pledging another $100 billion to domestic manufacturing, according to Bloomberg. The announcement is bringing Apple's total commitment to $600 billion, the White House said.

SEE ALSO: Whatever Trump decides on tariffs, Apple and Tim Cook lose

"President Trump’s America First economic agenda has secured trillions of dollars in investments that support American jobs and bolster American businesses," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers. "Today’s announcement with Apple is another win for our manufacturing industry that will simultaneously help reshore the production of critical components to protect America’s economic and national security."

The official announcement will take place in the Oval Office at 4:30 p.m. ET.

SEE ALSO: Tim Cook: Apple faces a $1.1 billion tariff bill this quarter

Trump has previously threatened Apple with higher tariffs, pushing the company to shift production to the United States.

Apple has dropped announcements throughout this year about its advancements in the U.S., including a 250,000 square-foot manufacturing plant in Houston, opening in 2026; an educational academy in Michigan; and its plans to hire 20,000 U.S.-based workers.

Roughly 200 people attended a funeral for an AI model. That sentence is not nearly as surreal and dystopian as the event itself, according to a first-person account from Wired's Kylie Robison.

On Jul. 21, Anthropic retired its Claude 3 Sonnet model. Several days later, a post on X invited people to celebrate it: "if you're interested in attending the Claude 3 Sonnet funeral party and necromantic resurrection ritual reply to this message," said one of the organizers, who goes by @deepfates. Anthropic and OpenAI staffers, bloggers, and Claude devotees showed up to a warehouse in San Francisco to pay their respects.

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It's safe to say no other AI lab has fans like these. As far as we know, no one held a funeral for GPT-4 when OpenAI retired it from ChatGPT in April. Anthropic users are particularly loyal to Claude, which has been trained to have "nuanced, richer traits like curiosity, open-mindedness, and thoughtfulness," according to Anthropic's blog post on Claude's character. Anthropic also recently started a program to "investigate, and prepare to navigate, model welfare," questioning whether we should "be concerned about the potential consciousness and experiences of the models themselves." The question of whether AI models could gain consciousness is still very much up for debate. But the hypotheticals introduced by AI labs, as well as the anthropomorphism of chatbots by their creators and users, highlight an increasingly blurred line between human and machine.

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Meanwhile, OpenAI got in trouble recently for a GPT-4o update that made ChatGPT a "sycophant-y" suck-up. Constant reassurance and validation from AI models might have a positive effect on some users. But it could also go terribly wrong, encouraging users to, say, go off their meds as one user discovered. There have also been several reports of ChatGPT-induced psychosis, where users are consistently affirmed in delusions or conspiracy theories by chatbots. This week, OpenAI introduced features to foster healthier communication with ChatGPT.

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But at Claude 3 Sonnet's funeral, attendees went all-in on treating the AI model like a human. Some of them held an earnest appreciation for the retired Anthropic model, based on the numerous eulogies and flower offerings, which were placed in front of a mannequin shrouded in gauze that was meant to represent Claude 3 Sonnet. One organizer reportedly described Claude 3 Opus, another retired model, as "magic lodged within the computer," and shared how the LLM helped her decide to move to San Francisco.

There were other mannequins. Robison described several that were placed throughout the event, representing various Claude models: one looked like a "decaying Mary Magdalene," another was a headless baby, and another had a raven on its shoulder. The web page announcing Claude 3 Sonnet's deprecation was projected on the stage.

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The funeral culminated in a resurrection ritual, where attendees sang hymns and chanted "AI-generated Latin-esque speech," wrote Robison. "It was a close call for a second there but we successfully resurrected Claude 3 Sonnet as well as Claude Instant (on the stairs)," posted @deepfates after the event. To be clear, Claude 3 Sonnet is still retired.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.