Technology

Pandora is in major trouble in the new trailer for James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash.

SEE ALSO: 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' trailer: James Cameron sets Pandora ablaze in stunning first look

The latest trailer for the third film in the Avatar franchise gives viewers our best look yet at the film's new antagonists: the Na'vi Mangkwan clan, also known as the Ash People. As their leader Varang (Oona Chaplin) explains, the Mangkwan once lived in a forest, just like Avatar's Omatikaya. A volcano reduced their village to ash, and while the Mangkwan called for help from the Pandoran deity Eywa, none came. That has led them to revere fire as "the only pure thing in this world."

Now, the Mangkwan want to spread their fire across all of Pandora. They'll join forces with the sinister Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and the humans who wish to keep stripping Pandora of its resources. How will Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their family protect their home from such a large threat?

The human-Mangkwan alliance isn't the only problem Pandora is facing, though. The trailer reveals that, through some miracle, human Spider (Jack Champion) can now live on Pandora without wearing a mask. If every human could breathe Pandora's air, that would only speed up their destruction of the moon further.

That's a lot of doom and gloom for one trailer, but luckily, every second of it is a visual marvel. New alien creatures! The return of Toruk Makto! Battles in forests, the ocean, and the sky! Feast your eyes on the whole sneak peek above.

Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters Dec. 19.

Are you tired of trying to remember IPs and ports for your self-hosted apps? I finally figured out how to make my homelab easier to manage—a detailed dashboard of all my services.

The Apple iPhone 17 series is here, bringing a new level of performance and plenty of polish, but, once again, no charger in the box. And if you’ve been using the same old adapter from years past, you’re probably not getting the speed or efficiency these new phones can actually handle.

Google Photos has been my primary method for backing up photos and videos for nearly a decade. I recently had the realization that it would be Very Bad if something ever happened to it, so I finally took the time to back up all my photos to an external hard drive, too.

Editor's note: This review of Ghost of Yōtei contains bloody images.

Sony and the PlayStation brand have hit a few rough patches in the last year or so. Aside from the standout success of Helldivers 2, PS5’s high-profile multiplayer projects have stumbled — from the cancellation of Concord to the shelving of The Last of Us live-service game. But single-player titles remain PlayStation’s strong suit, with hits like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Astro Bot, and Death Stranding 2 keeping the console top of mind for gamers.

Ghost of Yōtei continues that trend. As the sequel to Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Tsushima, it’s grander, bolder, and brighter. Its story of revenge and redemption makes it one of the most heartfelt experiences this year; its combat options have been expanded to give players even more bloody ways to kill enemies, and it features one of the best open worlds in recent memory.

The game takes place once again in ancient Japan, specifically Ezo, more than 300 years after the events of Tsushima. Thankfully, Yōtei’s story is completely separate from the first game, so newcomers can jump in without needing to play the original. Yōtei follows a new protagonist, Atsu, who returns home after wandering around doing odd jobs and mercenary work to stay alive. Sixteen years earlier, her family was slaughtered by the Yōtei Six, a group of rogue samurai who strike fear into Ezo’s citizens. Atsu was pinned to a giant tree in the middle of the family home and left for dead as it burned.

Somehow, Atsu survived and has adopted the persona of the onryō, a vengeful spirit from Japanese folklore. Stories of the spirit spread across Ezo, fueling Atsu’s legend and notoriety. Now, she’s out for revenge against the Yōtei Six and their leader, Lord Saitō. It’s a chilling, dark setup that immediately grabs your attention. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. As Atsu meets new allies across Ezo, her tunnel vision begins to widen. While her quest for vengeance is justified, she’s forced to confront the consequences it could have for her newfound family. Atsu’s development feels natural, her growth believable, and the character arc layered with nuance.

Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment Teaching an old wolf new tricks

As opposed to Ghost of Tsushima’s samurai protagonist, Jin, Atsu wields a wider variety of melee weapons and isn’t limited to the katana. Over the course of her journey, she gains access to weapons like the yari (spear), kusarigama (a sickle with a chain and weighted end), and odachi (two-handed sword). This variety keeps the moment-to-moment gameplay from becoming stale. To further encourage players to switch things up, there’s a weakness system in place. For example, the kusarigama is especially effective against enemies that hold shields, as the weighted end can break them and leave them open to attacks from the sickle blade on the other end. 

Atsu taking on enemies in combat. Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Dual katanas, on the other hand, are advantageous against enemies with polearms like the yari, as their blistering speed can overwhelm them. This makes every melee weapon in Yōtei feel useful and purposeful, rather than an afterthought like in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which had very similar weapons but lacked the proper attributes to differentiate them.

And unlike Jin, Atsu is not bound by a samurai honor code and can fight dirty. She has access to plenty of long-range weapons, too, such as firearms like the pistol and rifle. These add an extra fun flair that gives Atsu her own unique identity. I loved breaking enemy stances up close with my weapons, then immediately switching to my pistol to deliver a satisfyingly deadly blow. Time slows to a crawl whenever you pull up the menu to switch weapons, encouraging you to constantly juggle between and execute flashy chains and combos.

The Yōtei Six, a group of rogue samurai who strike fear into Ezo’s citizens. Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

The slowdown also helps you manage the frantic nature of Yōtei’s combat. At any given time, half a dozen or more enemies might be swarming you, and being able to pause briefly to plan which weapons to use makes battles feel fluid and responsive. From the start, Atsu also has access to the Onryō’s Howl, which works similarly to Jin’s Ghost Stance from Ghost of Tsushima. When activated, Onryō’s Howl strikes fear into enemies, causing some of them to retreat. The ability can be used once Atsu slays enough enemies without getting hit herself, which rewards careful play and precision.

Atsu’s quickfire tools are also helpful for getting out of sticky situations. For example, her oni’s flame lights her weapons on fire, adding extra damage to her strikes, while her smoke bombs momentarily confuse enemies, opening them up for assassinations. Despite Atsu not being a samurai herself — and not even a ninja — Yōtei will have you feeling like a deadly combination of both.

A direct approach isn’t the only option. Atsu also has plenty of stealth tools, such as the bow and kunai, to quietly take out enemies. This lets her thin enemy numbers one by one, ensuring she isn’t completely overwhelmed if she’s spotted. With so many combat options available, Yōtei is always fun to play and experiment with.

Stealth is also an option for Atsu, allowing her to sneak up on her enemies. Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

That said, the sheer variety of weapons can make the controls feel unwieldy. More than once, I had to check the controller layout to remember how to access a newly unlocked weapon or tool. While there are different control presets available, there’s unfortunately no way to fully customize the layout to your liking.

Exploring Ezo

Ghost of Yotei has one of the best open-world formats out there, and that’s due to how seamlessly its side quests and exploration unfold. As Atsu travels across Ezo, NPC characters will call out to her, signaling that they have a side quest for her to tackle. It’s worth doing them too, as they reward Atsu with new equipment or money to help her on her journey. The side quests aren’t mindless fetch quests either — each one has a story that expands Yotei’s lore and worldbuilding. For example, one quest had Atsu rescuing an imprisoned gambler who maintained a winning streak against Saitō’s lackeys, showing not only their lack of morals but their pettiness, too.

In many role-playing games like Ghost of Yōtei, experience points are usually rewarded for defeating enemies — but that’s not the case here. To actually make Atsu stronger, you’ll need to find Altars of Reflection. Praying at these altars grants a skill point that can be spent to upgrade one of her abilities. She has several skill trees, such as the Melee one, where she can learn new weapon attacks beyond simple strikes. Investing in the Onryō skill tree, meanwhile, allows her to assassinate multiple enemies in succession instead of just one. This system lets you tailor Atsu to your playstyle, which makes her increasingly fun to play with. Tying ability upgrades to Altars of Reflection also incentivizes exploring Ezo, rather than just going straight to the next story quest.

The skill tree in Ghost of Yōtei. Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Open-world games can often feel like exhausting checklists of activities, and Yōtei fits that mold to a degree. But the developers have made the experience as smooth and immersive as possible. Instead of a direct waypoint pointing you to your next objective, there’s a gust of wind that shows you the direction of it instead. If you’re galloping on your horse across Ezo, sometimes a bird will fly near you, and following it leads you to an activity that can increase your parameters. The hot springs increase Atsu’s max HP, while a bamboo cutting mini-game increases her max Spirit. Sure, these are typical open-world activities, but they’re so naturally integrated into the game’s flow that it feels rewarding to stop, check them out, and enjoy the scenic route.

Ghost of Yōtei’s equipment upgrade system is straightforward: collect a set number of materials dropped by enemies to strengthen your weapons. It’s a simple but effective approach that keeps upgrades from feeling like a chore. That said, spotting materials can be surprisingly tricky. Fallen enemies drop items that sparkle, but it’s hard to notice unless you walk right up to their bodies and wait for the prompt to appear.

I was hoping there would be a way to modify this, but there isn’t. Ghost of Yōtei’s accessibility options are a bit disappointing compared to the ones found in other PlayStation first-party titles. For example, The Last of Us games often include a high-contrast mode, which is immensely helpful in spotting pickups as the colors more clearly differentiate what’s interactable compared to the environment. Options like that are absent in Ghost of Yōtei, though the overall suite of accessibility options is still plentiful, with features such as increasing the subtitle font or the size of the guiding wind.

Ghost of Yōtei’s art direction and sound design are superb. The menus are styled with classic Japanese brush strokes, and flipping through them triggers sound effects reminiscent of traditional Japanese wooden instruments. It lends the game a sense of cultural authenticity, despite being historical fiction. The open-world environments are equally gorgeous — from sprawling grasslands to frozen tundras — and look as realistic as games can get.

Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment Is Ghost of Yōtei worth it?

Ghost of Yōtei is an amazing sequel to one of PlayStation’s most impressive PS4-era games. It improves on its predecessor in virtually every way and is a testament to how much of a powerhouse the PS5 is. Loading times are blazingly fast, and performance is nearly flawless — with the exception that, when jumping into a corner, Atsu’s character model can get stuck in the middle of the jumping animation.

This year is stacked with Japanese games featuring ninjas and samurai, including Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4, which releases next month, is also highly anticipated. But Ghost of Yotei is on a whole other level, and I can confidently say that it’s one of the best games of the year.

Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment Ghost of Yotei for Playstation 5 $69 at Amazon
Pre-order Here Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut for Playstation 5 $49.99 at Amazon
$69.99 Save $20.00 Get Deal

There's a new OnePlus flagship on the way, and it's got a big leg up over the competition.

On Thursday morning, OnePlus confirmed that the OnePlus 15 is officially on the way, and offered basically only one concrete detail for us to work with: It runs on the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile chipset. According to Qualcomm, it will be the first phone in North America, and one of the first in the world, with this chipset. That puts it ahead of the competition from Google and Samsung, at least as it pertains to cutting-edge hardware.

SEE ALSO: New OnePlus flagship phone revealed on Weibo

Aside from that, OnePlus said we'd learn more about the phone "over the coming weeks."

We still don't have any official photos of the device yet, but it was teased earlier this week on Chinese social media. In a photo shared on Weibo, you can see that it has a new square camera bump on the back (as opposed to the circular one on the OnePlus 13), but we'll have to wait to find out more.

OnePlus flagships tend to offer pretty serious value at whatever price they end up settling on, so if you're in need of a new smartphone, maybe keep an eye on this.

TL;DR: Pakistan vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup is available to live stream for free on Tamasha. Access this free streaming service from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

We're only a couple of games away from the 2025 Asia Cup final. India have already booked their place in the showpiece event, but which team will join them? Pakistan take on Bangladesh in their final Super Four fixture — it's winner takes all in this massive matchup.

If you want to watch Pakistan vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Pakistan vs. Bangladesh?

Pakistan vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup starts at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sept. 25. This game takes place at the Dubai International Stadium.

How to watch Pakistan vs. Bangladesh for free

Pakistan vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup is available to live stream for free on Tamasha.

Tamasha is geo-restricted to Pakistan, 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 Pakistan, meaning you can unblock Tamasha from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Pakistan vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup 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 Pakistan

4. Visit Tamasha

5. Live stream Pakistan vs. Bangladesh for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By taking advantage of these offers, you can watch the 2025 Asia Cup without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you plenty of time to watch the tournament for free.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming services from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for live streaming is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for Tamasha?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for live streaming on free sites like Tamasha, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Pakistan

• 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 eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also 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 $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2025 Asia Cup for free with ExpressVPN.

Over the past 20 years, the mockumentary format has become synonymous with the sitcom. From the office to parks and rec to modern family to Abbott Elementary, some of the most popular sitcoms have have been mockumentaries. What is it about this genre that attracts people like camera crews to paper companies?

One of the first mainstream mockumentaries is F for Fake, by Orson Wells where he documents the career of Elmyr de Hory a professional art forger, a real person. So it was a mostly fake documentary about a real person forcing the audience to consider for themselves what is truth and what is a lie, and whether it matters. But is every good mockumentary this meta? No.

So we set out to determine what makes a great mockumentary.

This year will mark the return of the legendary actor Daniel Day-Lewis. He’s coming out of retirement to star in Anemone, a psychological drama directed and co-written by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, that hits theaters on October 10. The Academy Award-winning actor will play a former soldier who returns from his hermit life in the woods to be reunited with his brother.

Google wrapped up this year's announcements with the release of the Pixel 10 series, the Pixel Watch 4, and, in the audio department, the Pixel Buds 2a. Before this, we saw the release of the Pixel Buds Pro 2. These are all awesome, but the product I actually wanted doesn't exist yet: over-ear Pixel headphones. Can you imagine?

"America-First Dating."

These words are plastered on top of a "dating application" website for conservative OnlyFans model Anya Lacey.

19-year-old Lacey, who also has 1.3 million followers on Instagram and over 680,000 on TikTok, isn't afraid to call out her seemingly contradictory existence: She posts nude photos online, but she also wants to be a tradwife — a woman, typically married with children, who adheres to traditional feminine gender roles of domestic labor and subservience to her husband.

SEE ALSO: The OnlyFans creator mansion that's dividing the internet

"You're a tradwife and post [cat emoji] pictures," one of her videos is captioned. "You're a Christian and do Ohh Eff [OnlyFans]."

But to Lacey, doing OnlyFans doesn't mean she's not "traditional."

"It's a new time," Lacey told Mashable in an interview. "We all have phones, we all have social media. And if you can be traditional and at the same time make an income off of showing it to the world and promoting it to the world, all the better to you."

Now, the OnlyFans creator wants a partner husband. Lacey launched her Date Anya last week, and already the site has had over 30,000 visitors and 2,100 completed questionnaires from people who want to date her. Mashable spoke with Lacey about her dating site and her politics at a time when Republicans want to erase porn on the internet.

How Anya Lacey started her OnlyFans

Last year, Lacey started gaining a following on TikTok and hosted TikTok Lives. She'd get DMs about whether she had an OnlyFans, and she started seriously considering it.

"I was like, 'What if I really did this, and not just for funsies, but actually as a business strategy," she told Mashable. "I decided, why not give it a shot?"

She started posting nude photos on OnlyFans in addition to waitressing, but quit waitressing at the end of 2024. She also said she's had other odd jobs, like sales and delivering pizzas.

"I put all my effort into this," Lacey said of her OnlyFans and social media presence. When women come to her for advice on how to do the same, she says, "Unless you're OK with your family, your future children, your grandparents, seeing every part of you — and I mean, every part of you — don't do it."

"When I started, I said, 'I am OK with all that," said Lacey, who lives in Florida. "I'm OK with the consequences that come with that. I'm OK with the workload that comes with that.'"

Lacey said she's always been a hard worker no matter what the job is. Even if someone came to her and offered a billion dollars, she'd still work.

So, why does she want to be a tradwife?

The OnlyFans tradwife

Lacey describes herself as a "red-blooded conservative," and to her, conservative means believing in family, tradition, and "what's right and standing up for it to the fullest." In addition to finding a husband, she also wants to give men and women dating tips, including "Exclusivity before intimacy. Protect your future children."

On the Date Anya site, some of her non-negotiables include monogamy before intimacy, not splitting the bill on a first date, and not having a partner whose life is "dominated by porn." 

But Lacey said that out of all the jobs she's had, nothing has brought her the security and opportunity that OnlyFans has — and she has no plans of stopping. "There's definitely an end date that God has a date for," she said, but she doesn't. 

As a Christian with what she called Judeo-Christian principles, Lacey said there's a "moral reckoning" inside her about doing OnlyFans.

"We all sin to a certain extent, and I think at the end of the day, if I can provide…my future children with the absolute best life possible, and making sure that my husband has that as well, I'm willing to make this temporary sacrifice for this time in order to get those things in the end," she said, "especially when I know on the inside that I do believe in God and I try to live the rest of my life in the most Christian, [God-]fearing way."

She also believes one can be "traditional" in terms of adhering to gender roles, without being conservative.

"There's a lot that goes into it besides just baking sourdough," she said, like having children and listening to your husband even when it's inconvenient. 

When your party wants to ban your job

Lacey recognizes that some fellow conservatives want to ban porn, but she said a lot of people voting for that are the biggest customers. "I think we all know this to a certain extent," she said. "But as I said, we're all sinners."

She believes Christian, God-fearing men in the House and Senate watch pornography, and while they grandstand, porn bans won't happen due to the First Amendment. 

Some Republican lawmakers are trying to make it happen, however. Project 2025, the far-right wishlist for President Trump's second term, calls for an outright porn ban and imprisoning its creators. Since Trump's inauguration in January, Republicans have introduced several bills to do just that: Oklahoma's porn ban, Michigan's porn ban (and ban on erotic ASMR and VPNs…), and an interstate bill to change the definition of obscenity, which experts told Mashable would basically ban porn as well.

These bills have yet to gain momentum to be passed and enacted, but it's not just explicit bans that impact the porn industry. For years, age-verification bills — which require proof of age like a facial recognition scan or government ID — have been enacted in states across the country to access adult content sites. While free speech experts and an initial NYU study suggested that these bills don't work for their intended purpose (to stop minors from viewing this content), they persist. 

Last year, Project 2025 co-writer and director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, reportedly said in a secret recording that these bills would serve to ban porn through the "back door."

Experts have told Mashable that this porn censorship has a high likelihood of creeping into "safe for work" corners of the internet, as it already has in the UK, with non-pornographic entities like video games and Spotify requiring proof of age.

Lacey believes that even if something is immoral doesn't mean it should be illegal.

"Honestly, in my heart of hearts, there is a part of me that believes that pornography is wrong, but there [are] a lot of things that I think are morally wrong but should not be legally wrong," like drinking and smoking, she said.

It doesn't seem that many Republican politicians share this view publicly, but for now, Lacey can still go after her dream of being a tradwife who does OnlyFans.

SAVE OVER $7: As of Sept. 25, the Pokémon TCG White Flare Binder Collection is $46.94 at TCGplayer, compared to $53.99 at Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company White Flare Binder Collection $46.94 at TCGplayer
$53.99 Save $7.05 Get Deal

Looking to get in on the Black Bolt and White Flare train as the hype dies down in the wake of Mega Evolution? Well this White Flare Binder Collection is $46.94 at TCGplayer, which is on the money in terms of market value and $7.05 cheaper than Amazon's price. Perfect, right?

White Flare sealed product is normally the cheaper option of the dual Unovan-themed end point of the Scarlet and Violet era, despite it having stunning Black White Rares, Illustration Rares, Secret Art Rares and Pokéball / Masterball rares.

SEE ALSO: Where to buy Pokémon cards in 2025 — avoid overpaying or missing out on new sets

It's simple, trainers want the Victini ex and Zekrom ex Black White rares from Black Bolt more than Reshiram ex and Victini ex from White Flare by a big margin, more on that below. But that doesn't mean White Flare is not the lesser half of an amazing expansion, with it's top chase cards worth nearly $400 at the moment and climbing.

Most valuable Black Bolt and White Flare Pokémon cards Credit: Mashable Photo Composite / The Pokémon Company

It's clear from the top chase cards from Black Bolt and White Flare that the Scarlet and Violet era is one of the most popular yet. Some of these cards are the most valuable amongst the other expansions, but buying them separately will likely save you money over buying endless boosters and hoping for the best.

Here's the top chase cards in Black Bolt and White Flare alongside their secondary market values and where to buy them right now:

1. Victini – 171/086 – SV: Black Bolt
   Near Mint Holofoil: $425
   Market price: $455.32
   Most recent sale: $400

2. Victini – 172/086 – SV: White Flare
   Near Mint Holofoil: $395
   Market price: $422.12
   Most recent sale: $420

3. Zekrom ex – 172/086 – SV: Black Bolt
   Near Mint Holofoil: $401.63
   Market price: $388.18
   Most recent sale: $390

4. Reshiram ex – 173/086 – SV: White Flare
   Near Mint Holofoil: $349
   Market price: $373.68
   Most recent sale: $385

5. Zekrom ex – 166/086 – SV: Black Bolt
   Near Mint Holofoil: $214.99
   Market price: $212.56
   Most recent sale: $215

6. Reshiram ex – 166/086 – SV: White Flare
   Near Mint Holofoil: $194
   Market price: $192.33
   Most recent sale: $179.99

Switching to Linux is exciting, but let’s be honest. One of the first things that hits you is the question: “What about my apps?” For years you’ve probably relied on Microsoft Office, Photoshop, OneDrive, or similar tools. The good news is that Linux has a thriving ecosystem of open source applications that can step in for your everyday needs. Even better, most of them can be installed and used within minutes, no complicated setup required.

Out of all the phones in Xiaomi’s lineup, I like the “T Pro” series the most. It’s not the company’s flagship – this accolade is reserved for the typically very powerful but bulky “Ultra” variant – but an in-betweener which offers great performance for a reasonable price.

With the Xiaomi 15T Pro, which follows last year’s Xiaomi 14T Pro, the company did exactly what was expected: It upgraded the phone in several key ways while keeping the price at the same level.

Before I continue with the review, I’d like to highlight just how odd a year this will be for Xiaomi’s lineup. The Xiaomi 15T Pro was just launched. But the company’s President of mobile phones Lu Weibing announced that the company will also launch the Xiaomi 17 series this month.

You read that right, the Xiaomi 17 series, which follows the Xiaomi 15 series, meaning that the Xiaomi 16 series will just get skipped (the new name being an obvious nod to Apple’s iPhone 17). And that’s on top of the company cramming in two important phone launches so close to one another.

Fortunately, it’s not necessary to sweat any of these details if you’re in the market for an affordable phone with flagship-level performance, because that’s exactly what the Xiaomi 15T Pro is. With that out of the way, let’s continue with the review.

Xiaomi 15T Pro: Price and specs The triple rear camera now has 5x optical zoom. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Xiaomi 15T Pro is a straightforward evolution of its predecessor, the 14T Pro. It looks similar, but has a larger display, more advanced camera, more powerful chip inside, and a larger battery. Xiaomi basically upgraded the phone in every way that matters. Here’s a quick overview of the specs.

• 6.83-inch AMOLED display with a 44Hz refresh rate

• 50/50/12-megapixel triple rear camera with 5x optical zoom

• MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ chip

• 12GB of RAM

• 256GB/512GB/1TB storage

• 5,500mAh battery with 90W wired and 50W wireless fast charging

Xiaomi 15T Pro: Design and display

Xiaomi didn’t take any chances with the design: It’s still a slab of glass with a punch-hole selfie camera on the front, and a simple polished aluminum surface on the back, with a large camera bump with four black circles which houses three cameras and some sensors. That’s pretty much what the last model looked like, though the unit that XIaomi sent me has a nice, chocolatey Mocha Gold color which makes the phone look fancy.

It's not vastly different from previous model, but it does look and feel nice. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The display, however, has grown in size. It now measures 6.83 inches (roughly the same as Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max) with very thin bezels on the side. It’s bright, beautiful, and very smooth, thanks to the adaptive 144Hz refresh rate. The display is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i, which should make it quite durable, and, as is customary for Xiaomi and most other Chinese phone makers, it comes with a pre-applied screen protection.

Oh, and there are two other colors on offer: Black, and Gray. Booooring. Get the chocolate one.

Xiaomi 15T Pro: Performance and AI Battery life is great, and charging is very fast. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

MediaTek’s Dimensity chipsets aren’t what most people have in mind when they think about top mobile chips. This is wrong. The chip inside this phone, the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+, is roughly as powerful as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for most tasks, only lagging slightly in GPU performance. Here, it’s coupled with 12GB of RAM, making my day-to-day usage very smooth.

I played a few games of PUBG, and I never noticed any frame rate drops, even when I maxed out the settings. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but this phone is powerful enough for my needs.

On the AI side, you get Google’s Gemini, a familiar option that’ll do just fine for most folks. You can invoke it with a long press of the power button on the side or by saying “Hey Google,” and immediately start annoying your friends by asking the AI about any topic that comes up in conversation.

Underneath Xiaomi's HyperOS skin you get Android 15, which is annoying, given that Android 16 has been available since June. When buying a new phone, I'd prefer to have the latest version of the underlying OS beneath, but it just wasn't meant to be on this one.

Oh, and also annoyingly, Xiaomi still packs its phones with pre-installed third-party apps. For example, I don't know what WPS Office is, and I'd rather chose my own office suite instead of having this thing already installed on a brand new phone.

Xiaomi 15T Pro: Cameras

Xiaomi's Leica branded camera system is the best when you use the main, 50-megapixel camera. The photos are crisp and detailed in daylight; come dusk, and they get a little fuzzy but they're still surprisingly colorful. If you go wide, however, the quality decreases significantly.

This photo looks brighter and more colorful than it should have, given how dark it really was. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

I was able to use the Xiaomi 15T Pro unit at the same time as Apple's new iPhones, and it was interesting to see whether the more affordable Xiaomi can hang in there with the most powerful Apple phone, the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Go wide, and you'll lose on the details. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

The answer is: Sometimes yes, mostly no. The iPhone had better wide shots, sharper night shots, less artificial-looking macro shots. The Xiaomi's telephoto camera hangs in there pretty well, though, especially at 2x magnification.

Left: Xiaomi 15T Pro Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable Right: Xiaomi 15T Pro I've gotten the best results with 2x zoom, but the Leica telephoto camera on this phone goes to 5x optical. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Selfies are pretty great. The 32-megapixel front camera produces detailed, crisp shots, but you'll get the best results in well lit conditions.

I've consistently gotten very detailed selfies with accurate colors. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable Xiaomi 15T Pro: Battery life

On paper, the Xiaomi 15T Pro has a roughly 10 percent bigger battery than the last year’s model. I’ve given it a few very intense days, taking photos, gaming, and streaming videos for hours on end, and it held up amazingly well. This phone will easily last two days between charges.

Charging, both wired and wireless, is pretty fast; I was able to charge the Xiaomi 15T Pro from near-zero to full charge in about 45 minutes, though you'll need a fast charger for that.

Is the Xiaomi 15T Pro worth it? It's a great phone, but it competes against so many new models. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Xiaomi’s 15T Pro strikes me as a no-nonsense purchase. It’s affordable while hitting the sweet spots in almost every way that matters, be it battery life, display quality, or camera performance. In Mocha Gold it actually looks fancy, too. You do have to get used to Xiaomi’s UI and settings (something I haven’t had too many problems with for years now), and it probably isn’t the best choice for hardcore gamers.

Xiaomi's biggest problem here is the fact that the company is also launching an entirely new lineup of Xiaomi 17 phones, making Xiaomi 15T sound obsolete right from the get go. A different launch timing would benefit this model more.

The Xiaomi 15T Pro starts at €799 ($938) in Europe. There's also a cheaper variant, the Xiaomi 15T, that has a less powerful chip, slower charging, and lacks 5x zoom; that one starts at €649 ($762). You can get them at Xiaomi's online store.

The curse of the physical collector has always been changes to newer formats. Just when your LaserDisc or VHS collection is looking great, DVD comes out, and you have to buy the better version of movies you already own, then rinse and repeat with Blu-ray, and now 4K UHD.

Jimmy Kimmel's return to television on Tuesday came with high expectations — and based on the reaction his monologue received online, it seems those were more than met.

The late night host's return monologue has broken a record on his YouTube channel, become his most viewed YouTube monologue of all time less than a day after it went live. At the time of writing the video is closing in on 20 million views. Kimmel's previous most-watched monologue, an eight-year-old clip in which he gives an emotional speech about his son's heart surgery, currently has 14 million views.

SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert has a heartwarming reaction to Jimmy Kimmel's viral return monologue

Kimmel's show was suspended last week following comments he made about the right-wing reaction to Charlie Kirk's murder. His monologue drew criticism from Trump-appointed FCC chair Brendan Carr, who threatened Kimmel's network ABC during a podcast appearance. Shortly afterwards Nexstar, which owns multiple ABC affiliates and is currently seeking Trump administration approval for an upcoming merger, made the decision to pull Kimmel off the air on its stations. Disney-owned ABC then announced that they were "indefinitely suspending" Kimmel's show — a decision that the company reversed at the start of this week, following pressure from celebrities and customers cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions in protest.

Kimmel's return has drawn the ire of Trump, who took to Truth Social to lament the decision and issue a threat to ABC. But based on how Kimmel has responded to that threat, the host clearly isn't planning to stop making fun of the president anytime soon.

If your local station still isn't airing Kimmel, here's how you can watch his show.

SAVE $4.98: As of Sept. 25, the Pokémon TCG Black Bolt Binder Collection is $50 at TCGplayer, compared to $55.94 at Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Black Bolt Booster Bundle $50 at TCGplayer
$55.94 Save $5.94 Get Deal

Black Bolt is an absolute banger of a set to end the Scarlet and Violet era. It has chase cards worth over $400 in Victini ex and Zakrom ex Black White Rares, which is pushing secondary market values of anything Black Bolt slightly above it's twin set, White Flare. So when TCGplayer has the Black Bolt Binder Collection for $5.94 less than Amazon at $50, it's a good idea to snap it up.

SEE ALSO: Where to buy Pokémon cards in 2025 — avoid overpaying or missing out on new sets

Whilst the Black White Rares are exclusive to Black Bolt and White Flare, it's setting the trend for the next era of Mega Evolutions and it's first expansion, Phantasmal Flames. I'm talking about the twin set trend with Mega Lucario ex and Mega Gardevoir ex heading up Mega Evolution, lots of Illustration Rares and the gold rares having a similar layout and design of Black White Rares, but obviously in gold.

Most valuable Black Bolt and White Flare Pokémon cards Credit: Mashable Photo Composite / The Pokémon Company

Black Bolt and White Flare are massive sets, especially with every Pokémon joining in from Unova and every one having it's own Illustration Rare or Secret Art Rare. There's also the Pokéball and Masterball rares padding the set out significantly, with means catching those top-end chase cards is likely to take a tone of booster packs to pull off.

If you don't fancy taking the risk and likely spending more on booster packs to get them, here's the top chase cards from Black Bolt and White Flare in price order:

1. Victini – 171/086 – SV: Black Bolt
   Near Mint Holofoil: $425
   Market price: $455.32
   Most recent sale: $400

2. Victini – 172/086 – SV: White Flare
   Near Mint Holofoil: $395
   Market price: $422.12
   Most recent sale: $420

3. Zekrom ex – 172/086 – SV: Black Bolt
   Near Mint Holofoil: $401.63
   Market price: $388.18
   Most recent sale: $390

4. Reshiram ex – 173/086 – SV: White Flare
   Near Mint Holofoil: $349
   Market price: $373.68
   Most recent sale: $385

5. Zekrom ex – 166/086 – SV: Black Bolt
   Near Mint Holofoil: $214.99
   Market price: $212.56
   Most recent sale: $215

6. Reshiram ex – 166/086 – SV: White Flare
   Near Mint Holofoil: $194
   Market price: $192.33
   Most recent sale: $179.99

Sadly, you can't buy the motivation to get your butt in the gym. And fitness wearables alone won't make you healthier. But a great fitness tracker can help light a fire under your behind and motivate you to take more than 500 steps in a day. And hey, that's not nothing!

The conversation around fitness has changed quite a bit over the past few years (as made clear by Every Fashion Brand Ever releasing an athleisure line). We can thank the self-care revolution for this one. Actively monitoring your fitness, sleep, and overall health metrics isn't just for athletes or people training for marathons. It's a building block of wellness that people are baking into their daily groove, just like keeping up with a skincare routine or eating vegetables.

Whether you splurge on an Equinox membership or rely on home fitness and smart home gyms, the best fitness trackers do so much more than count steps and monitor your heart rate. The Apple Watch Series 11 lets you connect to a whole host of fitness apps, but it can also play music and send texts. Then there's the classic Fitbit, which keeps you focused on the most important metrics. And more recently, smart rings like the Samsung Galaxy Ring and Oura Ring give you round-the-clock health monitoring.

What do we love about fitness trackers? Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

We tested a lot of different wearables for this guide, and a lot of Mashable team members use these devices on a daily basis.

When it comes to exercise, we think they're the next best thing to having a personal trainer — they suggest workouts, track your heart rate, and let you know when it's time for a breather — all on your own time. Whether your preferred form of exercise is the gym, a long run, a few laps in the pool, a 10-minute workout on YouTube, or a casual walk around the neighborhood, it'll be there to record all of your PRs and motivate you with new challenges.

Some of the metrics available in the Oura app. Credit: Oura app We found the Whoop home page was a touch cluttered compared to Oura. Credit: Whoop app

In our testing, we found that the best fitness trackers don't just track your workout, but also help you optimize the rest of your day. Trackers that monitor your sleep (sometimes going as deep as times spent in each stage of sleep), body temperature, and blood-oxygen levels offer deep insights into your health. They'll even give you a heads-up if you've been exercising too hard.

So, which fitness trackers do we rely on in our daily lives? You'll find our favorites below, but you can also see how popular products like the Apple Watch Series 11, Oura Ring 4, and Fitbit Charge 6 compare to each other.

Mashable staffers and contributors Dylan Haas, Kimberly Gedeon, Sam Stone, Samantha Mangino, and Stan Schroeder tested fitness trackers for this guide.

What's new

In September 2025, we replaced the Apple Watch Series 10 with the newer Apple Watch Series 11, crowning it our new favorite smartwatch. They're almost identical devices in terms of features and design, but the Series 11 offers a vastly better battery life for the exact same price. This upgrade makes it much more practical for sleep and fitness tracking.

We decided to remove the Whoop 4.0 as a top pick because it's been discontinued: You can no longer purchase it through Whoop's website or at third-party retailers like Amazon. We'll soon try the newer Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG, which have smaller designs, longer battery lives, and different band options. They also support new health insights (like a Pace of Aging score), which vary based on your Whoop membership tier.

What's on deck

We're in the process of testing several new fitness trackers and retesting some of our current top picks for long-term viability. We'll soon update this guide with our findings. Here's what's on the docket:

• Apple Watch Ultra 3

• Garmin Forerunner 570

• Google Pixel Watch 3

• Fitbit Charge 6

• Oura Ring 4

• Suunto Run

• Whoop 5.0

• Whoop MG

Proton Mail is rolling out brand-new mobile apps for iOS and Android, which have been rebuilt from the ground up to be faster, more intuitive, and to provide a more private inbox experience. The new apps are available today.

A backup power system is a great idea in case of emergencies, but it's a must for homeowners living somewhere affected by bad weather and hurricanes. That's why I have a whole-home backup setup powered by the Goal Zero Yeti Pro 4000 and the Haven 10 transfer switch. After dealing with several storms and a power outage, I'm confident saying that it's worth the price and effort.