Technology

There's a lot of thought that goes into owning a NAS. Which NAS do you choose? How much storage do you buy? But, there are also quite a few hidden costs to owning a NAS that you might never have considered.

It is very commonplace to hate the ways Microsoft has forced Copilot on its users. Seeing it in Notepad was bad enough, but now that I have to deal with it on my keyboard, I feel fed up. It's as if the company would rename itself to Copilot if it had the chance. If you are like me and have hated the Copilot key the moment you pressed it by accident, then you'll be happy to know it is replaceable.

Claude has a hidden project management mode most people don’t even know about—I didn’t, either. Once you enable it, it can track your tasks and surface them in a clean, visual dashboard. Here’s how to set it up and start using it.

It’s not just the serial scrollers whose batteries drain daily. With so much of what we do taking place on our phones – communication, music, trail maps, social media, shopping – it’s nearly impossible to reach dinnertime with any battery left. Plus, most of these tasks are juggled on the go, from the city to the great outdoors. So, the need for portable power is no longer a nice-to-have, but an essential part of “everyday carry.”

When Until Dawn was released all the way back in 2015, it was a rather inventive interactive horror drama that propelled itself into mainstream gaming culture on the strength of how gloriously camp it was. With its myriad of choices and gruesome deaths, Until Dawn had a replayability and a level of enjoyment — especially for YouTubers — that made it a standout in a year already dominated by heavyweights like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Fallout 4, Bloodborne, and Undertale.

Supermassive's formula was unique at the time, heavily inspired by the adventure genre and FMV (full-motion video) games of old. But now, a decade and seven games later, that formula is starting to show its age. The latest entry is Directive 8020, the fifth instalment in the Dark Pictures Anthology, set far into the future aboard the starship Cassiopeia.

SEE ALSO: 'Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream' is a hilarious little ant farm for Nintendo Switch. And I need that right now.

Like the other entries in the series, Supermassive knows how to make you feel genuinely terrible about a decision in Directive 8020. Unlike those earlier games, though — Man of Medan, House of Ashes, and the rest — you can now rewind your previous choices, making it easier than ever to get the full scope of the narrative without committing to any one path. Does that meaningfully change how the story is presented? Not really. But it is a significant improvement in quality of life for anyone who wants to see how the story branches without having to restart the whole thing just to make the most myopic dialogue and character decisions possible.

All that to say: from my time with the game — with a code provided by Supermassive — Directive 8020 is both a blast story-wise and an absolute drag gameplay-wise. And in the eight full hours I logged, playing through the main story and messing around with the rewind feature to hunt collectibles and explore extra choices, I can confidently say I still had some fun with Supermassive's latest.

Directive 8020 draws heavily from The Thing and Alien Lashana Lynch plays the 'Directive 8020' protagonist: pilot Brianna Young. Credit: Supermassive Games

Directive 8020 welcomes you aboard the colony ship Cassiopeia. You play as the crew of scientists on an eight-year survey mission to the exoplanet Tau Ceti, tasked with determining whether it's fit for human life. The problem is that an alien organism has found its way onto the ship — one that's not only hunting the crew down but can also mimic them, turning what was supposed to be a routine survey mission into a paranoia-soaked trip into hell.

If that basic plot synopsis sounds like a spoiler, it really isn't in the grand scheme of things. It's the game's central marketing hook, and it carries with it a dramatic irony that will always color your decision-making, especially on a first playthrough. Like other games in the series, the playable cast is filled with up-and-coming and lesser-known actors, this time with Lashana Lynch (The Woman King, The Day of the Jackal) in one of the lead roles. And not to go off on a tangent, but the quietly impressive awards pedigree of this franchise is always worth noting — both Rami Malek and Jesse Buckley landed Best Actor wins in the years following their respective Supermassive appearances in Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me. Fingers crossed for Lynch, then.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creator today.

Without getting too deep into the plot, Lynch's character — Cassiopeia pilot Brianna Young — awakens from a four-year slumber to find one of the sleep technicians missing (they're assigned to stay awake for the full journey to watch over the crew and ship) and the other acting really, really strange. From there, the crew must deal with a series of disturbances that derail the mission, one meant to lay the groundwork for the colonists of Andromeda to eventually arrive on their new home planet.

The story is fairly straightforward, drawing heavily on The Thing and Alien — the sentimental body-snatcher and space-horror classics, respectively. Alongside Young, who is trying to follow in her famous pilot father's footsteps, the other playable characters include Commander Nolan Stafford, ship designer Laure Eisele, engineer Josef Cernan, and Dr. Amanda Cooper. They're fine, which has always been a quiet problem with Supermassive games — the people we're supposed to want to protect until the very end tend to be fairly one-note. Eisele is rational to the point of being robotic; Cernan is grappling with the meaning of life after losing his husband; and Cooper is still processing the trauma of being the sole survivor of a mass casualty event. Bog standard motivations that don't carry much weight in the grand scheme of the plot, at least in my experience.

There are three additional characters aboard the ship who aren't playable; their primary narrative function is as potential mimic targets who may or may not still be themselves by the time the story picks up steam. That setup also doubles as the structural backbone for Directive 8020's five-player co-op movie night mode.

Directive 8020 gives the illusion of choice and consequences Be aware of the illusion of choice. Credit: Supermassive Games

If the story is Directive 8020's strongest hand, the gameplay is where it overplays it. While the interactive QTE (quick time event) drama formula is getting stale, nobody picks up a Supermassive game expecting God of War. But there's a difference between "light on gameplay" and "actively repetitive," and Directive 8020 spends an uncomfortable amount of time on the wrong side of that line.

Supermassive has always built its games around the illusion of meaningful decisions, and Directive 8020 is no different. One of the things the developer gets right is the Turning Points system, which lets you rewind decisions and explore different branches of the story without having to blow up your entire playthrough. That's a genuine quality-of-life win for a game built around consequence. Except some of these choices are so deceptively mundane that the consequences feel less like earned drama and more like gotcha moments.

Featured Video For You 'Alien' was my gateway to horror. Now I'm obsessed with the franchise.

Early on, you're asked to reroute power from either the Cassiopeia's landing gear or fire suppression system. Seems straightforward enough on the surface, except that picking either option comes with fatal consequences. Here's the thing, though: this is a horror game set on a spaceship. Of course, you're keeping the fire suppression on. Something is always going to end up on fire. Calling that a meaningful choice is generous.

And no matter what happens in any given chapter, it's pretty clear that the story is engineered to hit its predetermined endpoints regardless of what you do. The prologue is a good example — it ends with one of the sleep technicians getting mimicked by the alien, which then chases the other to their death. Except you can also accidentally kill that technician yourself earlier in the chapter if you botch a QTE. Doesn't matter. The mimic version of the tech you just killed shows up anyway and the chase plays out exactly the same. The destination was never in question. There are several instances of this across the game's eight chapters, and each one is a small reminder that the illusion of consequence only stretches so far before the seams start to show.

Ugh, a stealth section. Credit: Supermassive Games

Some secondary features are neat, like being able to text the crew during exploratory sections of the game. It serves as light character building and a way to update traits for the playable characters. Upgrading one of two traits for each character will affect their endings, so it is important to stay on top of that or at least be consistent in your dialogue choices. That's all it's really there for.

But nothing — and I mean nothing — Directive 8020 has to offer is worse than its stealth sections. And there are so, so many of them. So many, in fact, that I stopped being scared of this game entirely somewhere around the third or fourth time I was crouching behind a crate looking for a battery to power a door. The score does nothing to conjure dread when you know the only time you'll meaningfully interact with an enemy is during these mandatory gauntlets. They are boring in the most specific way possible — think the stealth sections in Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, except stretched across an entire game. I genuinely do not have the vocabulary to fully articulate all the ways in which these sections do not work. You sneak around an enemy, get to a door, realize the door has no power, find a battery, power the door, go through the door, and then do it again. And again. And again. This looped effect on the story's pacing is catastrophic.

...nothing — and I mean nothing — 'Directive' 8020 has to offer is worse than its stealth sections.

That's probably the harshest I'll be about the game, but with this genre, it's increasingly hard to ignore the law of diminishing returns on the gameplay side. I still remember House of Ashes giving you full camera control and thinking that was a genuinely interesting evolution for the series. Directive 8020 does not feel like an evolution. Its big gameplay change is marketed as "real-time alien threats," and all it is is f***ing stealth sections.

If you don't like these kinds of games, this one will not be the one that converts you.

Directive 8020 runs like a charm Credit: Supermassive Games

What Directive 8020 does have going for it, even without a Sony-sized budget, is that it still looks genuinely good. A little stiff, a little uncanny valley in places, but never enough to actually pull you out of the experience. And in terms of performance, I have almost nothing to complain about — which, in my experience covering games on the PlayStation 5 for Mashable, is not something I take for granted. The most recent reminder of that was Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, and pun very much intended, the performance on that game was abysmal.

Directive 8020 is the opposite. Navigating the game is a breeze, which, frankly, it should be — Supermassive has been doing this exact type of game on a loop since Until Dawn, and anything less would be embarrassing at this point. There is one minor recurring annoyance: the Secrets tab in the menu has a bug where it'll just stop mid-scroll while you're trying to track down undiscovered items. It's a small thing, but the kind that gets irritating fast. Beyond that, the weird eyes and slightly robotic movement have long since stopped bothering me. Considering how much is being rendered at any given moment, I'm willing to extend some grace.

And to Supermassive's credit, when the game wants to look genuinely unsettling, it delivers. The alien-infested sections of the Cassiopeia are a highlight — ship corridors that were once clean and clinical are now swallowed by thick, glistening biological matter, all wet sinew and dark organic sprawl creeping across the walls like the ship itself is being consumed from the inside out.

The contrast between the cold industrial infrastructure of the vessel — the pipes, the paneling, the terminals — and the grotesque living mass overtaking it does exactly what good sci-fi horror set design is supposed to do. It's gross in the right way. Unsettling in the right way. The kind of environmental storytelling that doesn't need a single line of dialogue to tell you that whatever happened here, it was bad, and it happened fast. It's a shame the stealth sections ask you to spend so much time in these corridors, because the repetition eventually dulls what should be a consistently unnerving atmosphere.

Is Directive 8020 worth it?

Directive 8020 is a hard game to give a clean recommendation on, because how much you get out of it depends almost entirely on what you're coming in looking for. If you're a Supermassive faithful who has logged time with Man of Medan, House of Ashes, and the rest of the Dark Pictures catalog, there's enough here to justify the trip — a genuinely compelling mimic-driven paranoia story, a solid central performance from Lynch, and a rewind feature that finally makes exploring the full breadth of the narrative feel less like homework. On that front, it delivers.

But if you were hoping that a decade into this formula, Supermassive might have cracked the code on making the gameplay half of the equation actually interesting, Directive 8020 is not that game. The stealth sections are a slog, the choices occasionally mistake obviousness for subtlety, and the story's habit of hitting its marks regardless of what you do makes the whole thing feel more theme park ride than interactive drama. You're on the track whether you like it or not.

At $49.99, it's not an unreasonable ask, especially if you have four friends willing to do a movie night co-op run — that's genuinely the best way to play something like this and probably the version of the game Supermassive intended. Solo, it's a breezy eight hours that's more fun to think about afterward than it is to actually play through in the moment.

Directive 8020 is not Supermassive's best work, but it's not their worst either. It sits comfortably in the middle of a catalog that has always been more interesting in concept than in execution. Which is worth a play, but maybe wait for a sale.

TikTok users in the UK are getting a way to get rid of ads, but it will cost them.

On Monday, the social media platform introduced TikTok Ad-Free, a subscription-based version of the service that completely banishes ads.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Vote for your favorite creator today!

It's a very simple affair: Pay £3.99 per month, and you will see no ads. If you don't want to pay, you can continue to use TikTok with ads. The Ad-Free tier does not come with any additional benefits.

From the company's FAQ on the matter: "Whether someone chooses the ad-free subscription or continues with the free ad-supported version, their core TikTok experience remains the same. All users will continue to have access to the same features, creators, and content."

SEE ALSO: The content creators with the most TikTok followers — see the top 10

There's another benefit to subscribing to TikTok Ad-Free; if you do so, your data will not be used for advertising purposes. Regular users will see ads personalized to their interests, but that means TikTok will collect some of their data to be able to serve those ads.

According to TikTok, the Ad-Free option is rolling out "over the coming months" to UK users aged 18 or over.

TikTok is not the first social media site to offer this option. For example, Meta lets users in the UK and Europe pay for an ad-free experience on Facebook and Instagram.

Featured Video For You Is U.S. TikTok censoring its users?

Trying to decide which device to wear on your wrist? Take it from someone who's worn a Garmin watch for almost 10 years: The incredible battery life makes tracking your health and fitness super easy. However, the Apple Watch is not without serious benefits. Which one is right for you?

I was a lost puppy in my early days on Grindr, especially as I tried to ditch the juvenile online abbreviations I’d been using for years. Gone were the days of “ur”. As a wide-eyed, new college freshman, I was more “literate” than ever. These were the times of spelling the whole word out: “you’re.” 

After my first Grindr download, I realized acronyms like gh, gen, ff, ws, poz, and pnp were being thrown around everywhere, but I didn't think it was necessary to learn them. Let me be clear: it was, and it still is. It took a few weeks until someone asked me if I wanted to “parTy”. A spelling error, I had assumed. My iPhone keyboard sometimes does that, too. But, I was an eighteen-year-old first-year college student living on my own for the first time. What a stupid fucking question. Hell yes, I like to party!

SEE ALSO: All your Grindr questions, answered

It took one Google search to realize that I was right, I do like to party… but I absolutely do not like to parTy (which is a reference to drug use). That’s when it hit me. To stay safe, I actually needed to understand these terms, something I’d been innocently ignoring since I first joined the app. Knowing them is how you avoid ending up in a situation you don’t want to be in.

But, why are people using acronyms and terms on Grindr to begin with? The short answer: speed. Acronyms and terms are quick. They get the point across efficiently, even with the learning curve. It minimizes the need for longer, direct conversations. I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of people using these terms aren’t looking to beat around the bush. They want to meet up right now

Acronyms and terms are also used on Grindr for discretion, which exists for two reasons: safety and plausible deniability. 

Using an acronym for safety might include why a trans person would use a term such as “ftm” (female to male), “mtf” (male to female), or “t4t” (trans for trans). These acronyms enhance safety for trans people meeting strangers online by providing a shorthand for identity and intent.

Plausible deniability, on the other hand, is where things get a little more illicit. Acronyms are often used to bypass moderation for topics that would otherwise result in a ban, including the use of illegal drugs. Codewords allow users to discuss illegal activities with enough ambiguity to claim they were talking about something else entirely. It’s ridiculously problematic, but it is rather foolproof.

Grindr   Learn More at Grindr Grindr’s most-used acronyms and terms in 2026

As language shifts, so does the coded shorthand used on Grindr. Some terminology seen on the app ten years ago might not have much pertinence anymore. Whether you’re new to Grindr in 2026 or just need a little bit of a cheat sheet to hold onto, here are the most common acronyms and terms you'll encounter and what they signify.

SEE ALSO: The best gay dating apps of 2026: Grindr is still king, even if we wish it weren't

• anon: anonymous; interest in anonymous sex

• bb: bareback; raw sex without condom-use

• bear: bear; a subculture of gay men with typically larger, hairier bodies

• bttm: bottom; one who prefers to be on the receiving end of anal sex

• cd: crossdresser; a man who dresses up as a woman during (and occasionally not during) sexual acts

• discreet: discreet; someone not publicly out as gay/trans/etc. looking to partake in sexual acts and conversation on a secretive level

• dl: down low; essentially means the exact same thing as above

• dp: double penetration; exactly what you think it is

• ff: fisting; someone either into fisting/wanting to be fisted (you can ask more about who’s taking which side in the DMs)

• ftm: female to male; a person who was assigned female at birth, who now identifies as male 

• fwb: friends with benefits; a friend you can f*ck

• gen: generous; someone looking a financial arrangement, typically involving payment for a sexual encounter

• gh: gloryhole; a typically anonymous encounter involving oral and/or anal sex through a hole in a wall or sheet

• host: host; A user who has their own place and can accommodate guests for a hookup

• into: into; a quicker way to ask someone, “what are you into sexually?”, meaning the person asking does not care that you like to hike and play ultimate frisbee

• jo: jerking off; someone interest in mutual masturbation with a partner

• jock: jock; a man with a muscular/athletic body who is typically into fitness

• ltr: long-term relationship; someone with interest in pursuing a romantic connection

• mtf: male to female;  assigned male at birth, now identifying as female 

• npnc: no pic, no chat; someone with no interest in chatting with someone who is unable to provide a photo of their face

• nsa: no strings attached; a sexual/physical connection with no romantic connection

• otter: otter; a hairier gay man with a slim, lean, or more athletic build

• parTy: chemsex; refers to sex involving drug use, specifically "tina" (crystal meth), with the capitalized "T" serving as a coded signal for the substance

• pnp: party and play; broader term that can include various substances to enhance sexual experiences

• poz: HIV+; a term to signify an HIV+ person

• rn: right now; interest in meeting up for sex as soon as possible

• side: side; a user with preference to sexual encounters that don't involve penetration

• t4t: trans for trans; a trans person looking for encounters with another trans person

• top: top; one who prefers to be on the giving end of anal sex

• twink: twink; a hairless, leaner, younger gay man

• twunk: twunk; a hairless, more athletically-built gay man

• uc: uncut; someone with an uncircumcised penis

• u=u: undetectable = untransmittable; medically proven status meaning those on sustained antiretroviral therapy (ART) with an undetectable HIV viral load cannot sexually transmit the virus to someone without HIV

• vers: versatile; someone who enjoys being both on the receiving and giving end during anal sex

• ws: watersports; interest in urine-play during sexual experiences

• wya: where you at; used to quickly determine a person’s location before or during a meetup

Should I be using acronyms and terms on Grindr?

Grindr may be built for fast connections, but navigating the app effectively requires understanding the specific acronyms and terms users rely on. So, do you need to use them? Technically, no, you don’t, but you should absolutely be familiar with what most of these mean when using the app. If you ever encounter an unfamiliar term or request, a quick Google search is a perfectly normal way to stay informed. And trust me, knowing the lingo will help you steer clear of some very uncomfortable situations.

Grindr   Learn More at Grindr

Apple has been promising an upgrade to Siri for so long that it feels like it will never come. The feature was announced in 2024, and we're still waiting for a smarter Apple voice assistant. I replaced Siri with Home Assistant's own voice assistant, and it's far more useful.

2018 was a weird year. I was 22 and just graduated college with an art degree that I still haven’t used to this day. I was planning to be the next Ryan McGinley, taking photos of handsome twinks around New York City. But I was still naive and living with my parents, working with my dad over the summer to make quick cash while I applied to photography internships around Manhattan. All unpaid.

I was flat broke, so I got my very first credit card, which funded a much-needed new mattress and a ticket to Firefly Music Festival with some of my besties. But I realized I needed more money.

SEE ALSO: The best hookup apps for 2026: I swiped until my thumb hurt

I made an account on Seeking Arrangements, banking on being young and broke being enough, but to no avail. I went on Omegle with the tag “sugar daddy” so I could find someone who would let me bully them for incremental payments. That didn’t work either. I gave up on my sugar baby fantasy. 

Until I got to Firefly.

It was a hot weekend. Low 80s. No rain. I saw SZA and Kendrick and Eminem and Arctic Monkeys and MGMT. I was spending a lot of money on food inside the festival grounds. And I was horny. A little horny. Nothing crazy, but I was 22. If you’ve ever been 22, you know.

On the first night, we got back from the festival late. Past midnight. There were four of us in the tent and we were all sharing a Jackery power bank, rationing it so it would last the weekend. My friends were all asleep but I was still awake, phone charging, scrolling Grindr. Tons of profiles. Hot guys from Maine and Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and even the United Kingdom flocking to me and me to them, all under 500 feet from me. Then, a message from a blank profile a little over 2,000 feet away.

SEE ALSO: The best gay dating apps of 2026: Grindr is still king (even if we sometimes wish it wasn't)

“Hey,” he said. I didn’t reply. No pic, no chat.

A few minutes roll by.

“Can I give you some money? You don’t have to do anything.”

My eyes widened.

If I received a message like this now, almost 10 years later in 2026, that would be an easy ignore.

If I received a message like this now, almost 10 years later in 2026, that would be an easy ignore. Grindr is packed to the brim with bots pretending to be real people offering money, fake sugar daddy arrangements, or claiming they want to use your photos for an art project. It’s weird and these bots don't do a great job of hiding it. In 2018, this wasn’t the case. If someone was offering you money, yes, they could be a scammer, but it was less likely.

“I don’t have to do anything?” I replied.

“Nothing. Just send me your email for PayPal and I’ll give you money,” he answers.

Too good to be true. I google, “can someone hack your PayPal if you give them your email?” and got a clear answer. No, they can’t. Unless they have your password.

“Why do you want to give me money? What do you get out of this?”

“Being used financially turns me on,” he tells me.

“Being used financially turns me on,” he tells me.

Whatever. Sure. I told him to keep the payment light because I felt bad. I told him to send me $30. A minute later, I got a notification from PayPal, saying someone sent me $30. A first and a last name. Let’s call him S.J. (not his real initials). I look him up on Facebook and he’s real and he lives in Maryland and he’s an uncle and he works at a bank or something. He’s sort of handsome.

“Can I pay you throughout the weekend?” he asks.

“Sure,” I say. I fall asleep.

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The next morning, I didn't tell my friends. I don’t want them to think I’m going to pay for their drinks or anything. That $30 is for me. I bought Arancini Bros and Island Noodles. There’s not much cell service inside of the festival. It’s better at the campgrounds. So, the whole day, I’m practically off the grid. When I get back, I have another notification from PayPal. The guy sent me $70. So, I have $100 total. I go back on Grindr to thank him and his profile is no longer there, meaning he either deleted or blocked me. Bummer. But, now I have $70 more to spend. I’ll live.

The weekend continues. I spend his money. The weekend ends. I go back home to New Jersey, working the same job with my dad at the courthouse. It’s around two weeks later and I remember how much the money sucks, and then I remember S.J. I look back at the PayPal receipts. Full name. I find him on Instagram. I send him a message. I don’t follow him.

SEE ALSO: Adult Friend Finder app: Where to download the AFF app and how secure is it?

“Hey man, how’s it been?”

He replies immediately. He doesn’t follow me either.

“Good, man, how about you?”

“Good, missing Firefly. I spent so much money that weekend,” I say.

“You’re telling me,” he replies.

“Speaking of, I’m wondering if you can send me more? I’m just out of college and really struggling with bills right now.” I’m trying to make him feel bad.

“Yeah, I can only send $50 right now, that ok?”

“Yeah.”

He sends me $50. I say thank you. He asks if I want to start a payment plan and I tell him yes and we agree on a number. $250/week, but he can’t start until the following week. I tell him that’s fine. I’m excited. Easy money. For f*cking nothing. No conversation. No nudes. No nothing. Just money for the sake of money.

I wait a week and receive nothing. I message him. Hey. No reply. A few days go by and I message him again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. I send him around 50 heys with no reply for the rest of the summer. 

He replies one night at 3 a.m.

“Hey.”

Sh*t. I missed it. 50 more heys. No reply ever again. I forget about him.

The email says S.J. was charging back $50 to dispute his second payment. Why?

I get a new job. One that pays like sh*t, too, but with potential to grow. I’m saving money to move to Brooklyn the following June and I’m doing an excellent job. It’s October 2 of the same year and I get an email from PayPal. 

The email says S.J. was charging back $50 to dispute his second payment. Why? He claims I did not provide the service I was supposed to perform. I look back at his payments. The first and third were sent as gifts from family and friends. The second he sent as a payment for services rendered. Services that never existed. I was just receiving money because he wanted to give it to me.

I call PayPal. I tell the guy on the other line exactly what happened. He sounds young and polished and it makes me trust everything he has to say. But he gives me information I don't love. What I did was a sex act, technically classified as financial domination, which their terms of service did not permit. PayPal's current terms state that it does not permit "services whose purpose is to facilitate meetings for sexually oriented activities." I'd never heard of financial domination (also known as findom). I tell him I didn't do anything sexual. He knows, he says, but given the circumstances, that's what was happening. This could suspend my account entirely, but he's leaving me with a warning. They're taking the $50. And another $20 for dispute charges.

Damn. This f*cking guy. I send S.J. a strongly worded email. I curse him out. I call him a loser. I call him pathetic. I call him a thief. I just lost $70. $70 I did nothing for, but still $70. $70 I spent already. I send the email. I’m fuming.

SEE ALSO: 'Castfishing' is the latest scam, and it's scarily like sextortion

He replies minutes later.

“That was so hot.” 

I reply. I’m still heated, but I try one last time.

“Yeah? You think so, you worthless loser? Send me $50, you filthy piece of trash.” 

Returned to sender.

I look up his Instagram. It’s gone. I look up his Facebook page. It’s gone. I type his name into Google. I find no way of contacting him at all.

I never hear from him again.

And, S.J. if you ever see this, my contact information remains the same. I could still use that $50.

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If you work in PowerShell regularly, you've probably retyped commands you forgot, manually checked log files, or logged into servers one by one. That ends up being annoying in the long run, and it's frustrating knowing you have to do it repeatedly. Some cmdlets can fix those problems for you, and end up being very useful for everyday users.

A NAS feels like a solved problem once it’s up and running—files go in, files come out, and everything looks fine. This is exactly why these mistakes go unnoticed for so long. Some of the most common NAS setups out there have quiet, slow-burning problems baked in. To help improve your setup, here are five of the most common NAS mistakes—and how to fix them.

I want to tell you that Is God Is is an electrifying feature directorial debut from playwright-turned-filmmaker Aleshea Harris. And it is. But I worry that the qualifier "feature directorial debut" will imply an asterisk, suggesting that the film is impressive for a debut rather than exceptional on its own merits. So, let me speak plainly.

Is God Is delivers filmmaking that is so mythic, mesmerizing, and menacing that it's easily one of the best movies of 2026.

There. That's clear, right?

A road trip movie with a Southern-fried edge, Harris' thriller weaves inspiration from Greek mythology, Black culture, and the films of Quentin Tarantino to create something reverential yet stirringly fresh. Bolstering Harris' bold vision are producers Tessa Thompson (Hedda) and Janicza Bravo (Zola), along with a riveting ensemble cast that includes Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Vivica A. Fox, and Sterling K. Brown.

But what's it all about? Let's get into it.

Is God Is is a play adaptation in the best way. Erika Alexander plays Divine in "Is God Is." Credit: Tahajah Samuels / Amazon MGM Studios

Sometimes when watching a movie based on a play, you can feel the original script's hold on the characters, as if they're inexplicably stuck in one location. Incredibly, Is God Is never suffers from such stuckness. Considering it's a road movie, I'm left instead to marvel at how this would have worked on a stage, as I missed the show's 2018 run in New York City.

Still, there are hints that this movie began as a play. Chief among them, the dialogue between Is God Is' heroes and villains is rich with attitude and influence. The monologues, diatribes, and banter reflect a distinct voice that blends AAVE with a heightened theatrical sensibility, pairing a sense of spiritual spectacle to every speech. Beyond that, the relationship between the film's paired protagonists feels rooted and fully realized, alluding to the workshopping of a script and the understanding of how every bit of it plays before a crowd.

Written by Harris, Is God Is centers on a pair of Black twin girls, Racine the Rough One (Young) and Anaia the Quiet One (Johnson), who've both been scarred physically and psychologically by a domestic violence incident in their childhood. Racine's scars crawl up her arm, while Anaia's cover her face and neck. Their physical difference makes others uncomfortable. For Anaia in particular, this means being on the receiving end of sneers and insults that she's "ugly." While she is a peaceful person and will demure from such nastiness, Racine runs toward it with a baseball bat in hand for some retributive violence.

Leaning on each other for their whole lives — especially once they were handed over to a string of fearsome foster parents — the twins have developed an intimacy so intense that they can speak telepathically. Harris invites the audience to listen in on this twin-speak, with subtitles that pop up over sharp glances. This is how they argue within a bond that cannot be broken, and as such, can be confining.

After years of believing their mother had died in the fire that scarred them, the twins learn she's alive and wants to meet them. Ruby (Fox) is God to her daughters, and Harris' presentation of her reflect this power and prestige. Fox appears covered in four hours' worth of prosthetic burn makeup, made elegant with bandages of lace and edged by pearls. Her crown is attended to by three silent and focused Black women, all braiding expertly as the girls meet their maker. She is a vision of female wrath and resilience. And she asks for one thing: Make your daddy dead.

Is God Is takes audiences on a wild ride. Mykelti Williamson as Chuck Hall the Lawyer in "Is God Is." Credit: Tahajah Samuels / Amazon MGM Studios

The twins are torn on this directive. Racine is eager not only to devote herself to God/Ruby, but also to go on an epic quest and make the man (Brown) who wounded her and her sister pay. Anaia, on the other hand, is hesitant to uproot the life they've built for a mission that could land them in jail or the morgue. But her devotion is to her sister, so she goes along as the two follow the man's messy escape route.

From one deity to another, they find a homespun house of worship, where Divine (Alexander) holds court. She is dynamic in her preacher patter, and radiant in a white gown. But the twins soon discover there's something off in her faith. Next, they'll unearth the sketchy lawyer (Mykelti Williamson), who helped their father escape prosecution. In him, there's a sense of an oracle or a horror movie "half-man," meaning a person whose awareness of the greater forces and evils is unlocked because of his near-deadly brush with them.

With each chapter of this journey, the twins are faced with a moral quandary. What lines will they cross to reach their damned daddy? Who will they become if they demand blood for burns?

Their quest takes them from the cluttered but cozy confines of their tiny apartment to the sweltering South, with blossoming flowers and festering rage. A soundtrack of funky percussion, flute, and guitar plays as they find trouble in a humble church and on a deserted highway. Decay fills the frame of a fight scene to reflect the life-or-death stakes and grubby reality of their quest, and the blood it demands. Then, finally, they arrive at a remote, modern, and stony location for a showdown with daddy.

Sterling K. Brown is terrifying as Is God Is' Big Bad. Janelle Monáe as Angie, the new wife, in "Is God Is." Credit: Tahajah Samuels / Amazon MGM Studios

Harris was brilliant in pulling her cast together. Young and Johnson are less storied than their co-stars, but both are sublime. As Racine, Young exudes a ruthless unapologetic rage, something women — and especially Black women — are urged by society to repress. It's cathartic to see her explode with a blunt object in hand, even as we worry for what wrath could come her way because of it.

As Racine's foil, Johnson is more stoic, hemmed in by the facial scar prosthetics. But she's not lost under them. Her eyes and her sturdy but careful physicality speak of the hurt Anaia's endured, but also the resilience that's helped her survive.

More impressive, these two can match the screen presence of their co-stars. Fox is spellbinding as the wounded God. Alexander is beguiling as a hopeful preacher. Williamson brings dark humor as the haggard lawyer, while Monáe offers attitude and depth to a small but pivotal role in act three. Together, these performers weave a tapestry of trauma that is horrid and beautiful, like this family's scars. But Harris keeps the best for last, turning Sterling K. Brown into a terror.

The dashing leading man appears throughout Is God Is. But for most of his screen time, he's shown only in extreme close-ups. A pair of grasping hands. A set of fleeing feet. A smile, big, white, and menacing. This lends to the mythic attitude with which Racine and Anaia approach their mission. Though credited as "Man," Brown's character is larger than life, a demon that must be slain. And even in these close-ups, his wickedness is clear and goose-bump-inducing.

By the time he's revealed in full, the twins and we, their audience, know full well what hell he can wreak. So, he doesn't need to bellow or snarl. Instead, he'll make a sandwich and speak in a soft voice. And this choice makes the climax even more harrowing. Harris has built an epic road movie about family, trauma, love, and abuse. She's sculpted characters complicated and compelling, peopling a world of wonder and terror. And in this final act, I held my breath, wondering what would become of these twins.

I won't spoil the ending. I will say Harris had me by the jugular as I watched, entranced by her story's passion, style, and dynamics. When the film ended, I sat elated and shuddering, shaking off the tension that burns from that first edict, "Make your daddy dead." As days have gone by, my mind floats back to this film and its twins. Their story feels contemporary and yet timeless. I yearn to see Is God Is again, hungering for what the thrill of its story, the sumptuousness of Harris' visual storytelling, and the acting ensemble who feasts in every frame.

Simply put, Is God Is is a scorching thriller that feels like a cinematic miracle.

Is God Is opens in theaters on May 15.

Notion is one of the coolest-looking apps, because it feels like a Wiki you can easily put together. Unfortunately, that idea is exactly why it doesn't work as well as it should. I have found myself wasting too much time on irrelevant information just to make notes work. Now, I can see why the term "Jack of all trades, master of none," exists. Don't ditch your subscriptions just yet, first see if you can handle this overbloated app.

If you’re an Android power user, there’s a good chance you’ll eventually want to do something that Files by Google or Samsung My Files just doesn’t do. Thankfully, one of the best alternatives you can find just happens to be open source and free.

TL;DR: Live stream Napoli vs. Bologna in Serie A for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Napoli missed out on the Serie A title this season. Inter proved too strong throughout this campaign, but there's still work to do. Napoli are currently second in the standings but need to finish strong to fight off competition from Juventus, Milan, and Roma. Next they face 10th place Bologna at home.

If you want to watch Napoli vs. Bologna in Serie A for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Napoli vs. Bologna?

Napoli vs. Bologna in Serie A kicks off at 2:45 p.m. ET on May 11. This fixture takes place at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

How to watch Napoli vs. Bologna for free

Napoli vs. Bologna in Serie A is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Napoli vs. Bologna for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly 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 the UK

4. Visit BBC iPlayer

5. Live stream Napoli vs. Bologna for free from anywhere in the world

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The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Napoli vs. Bologna without committing with your cash. This isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to live stream select fixtures from Serie A before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for BBC iPlayer?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on BBC iPlayer, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including the UK

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

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

Live stream Napoli vs. Bologna in Serie A for free with ExpressVPN.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you love a good mashup.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 11, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: A nice medley

The words are related to mixtures.

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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe a combination of things.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Odds and Ends.

NYT Strands word list for May 11

• Hodgepodge

• Variety

• Ragbag

• Odds and Ends

• Mishmash

• Jumble

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and 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 Strands.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you love a good mystery.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for May 11, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: On the prowl

• Green: A plot

• Blue: Solving crimes

• Purple: Anatomy

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Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Move stealthily, with "In"

• Green: Kinds of schemes

• Blue: Detective movies

• Purple: Body parts surrounded by two letters

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 #1065 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Move stealthily, with "In": CREEP, SLIP, SNEAK, STEAL

• Kinds of schemes: COLOR, PONZI, PYRAMID, RHYME

• Detective movies: CHINATOWN, KNIVES OUT, SEVEN, VERTIGO

• Body parts surrounded by two letters: ELEGY, KARMA, KEYED, SHANDY

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 11, 2026

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

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

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you just got married.

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

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 11, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

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

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

What's the best Wordle starting word?

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

What happened to the Wordle archive?

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

Is Wordle getting harder?

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for May 11, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Fresh.

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Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter N.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

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

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

NEWLY

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

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

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

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

TL;DR: Mashable readers who register with Nomad can score 30% off select Nomad eSIM plans with code MASH30.

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Summertime is just around the corner, and you know what that means: it's time to travel.

If you're planning some fun vacations in the coming months, or maybe you're someone who has to travel frequently for work, international data is the last thing you want to be worrying about. That's where Nomad comes in handy with its helpful eSIM data plans, and Mashable readers can score a deal on select plans right now.

Registered Nomad users can score 30% off Nomad eSIM data plans when using the code MASH30 at checkout. With over 200 locations worldwide to choose from, making use of this offer is an excellent way to save some cash ahead of your next trip. There are a few things to keep in mind, though: This offer only applies to registered users and does not apply to Day Plans or plans that cost less than $5. It's also not eligible for add-on data.

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The beauty of using a Nomad data plan is there's no need to worry about a complicated setup. For starters, eSIMs are a digital version of a physical SIM card, which already takes some hassle out of its setup. Nomad also makes activation simple and easy through their app. As someone who has used Nomad, their app offers a quick step-by-step guide for activation once you've landed. It gets you started right away with your chosen plan for your destination, so you can text friends and family immediately.

Plus, if you're worried you may have gone over your selected amount of data, Nomad's app even shows you how much you have left on your chosen plan. This is a great way to keep an eye on where you're at over the course of your trip. And by using a Nomad eSIM rather than your regular carrier, you can avoid hefty international roaming charges.

Before you jump on the Nomad bandwagon with one of its discounted plans, it's worth confirming that your device will work with them. Make sure to check out Nomad's page on eSIM-compatible devices before taking advantage of this offer.

If it is compatible, why wait? Don't miss out on this chance to get 30% off Nomad eSIM data plans with code MASH30.