Mashable

On Monday, Apple officially announced that its latest budget smartphone, the iPhone 17e, will be available for preorder on Wednesday, March 4, starting at $599, alongside a new M4 iPad Air.

It's a big week for Apple. On Friday, Tim Cook revealed that the company would be announcing new products starting today, ahead of its latest Apple event on Wednesday. Rumors have been swirling about a budget MacBook, possibly with a touchscreen, as well as a new iPad and iPhone.

So, what's new with the iPhone 17e?

iPhone 17 e: Specs and cameras

According to an Apple press release, the new iPhone 17e is powered by its A19 chipset, which is the same chip found inside the base model iPhone 17. In addition, the iPhone 17e has the C1X, Apple's latest in-house 5G modem. Apple says the C1X is twice as fast as the C1 found inside the iPhone 17e's predecessor, the iPhone 16e.

Speaking of upgrades from the previous model, the iPhone 17e has a 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display and Ceramic Shield 2, which is three times more scratch-resistant than the iPhone 16e.

iPhone 17e Credit: Apple

The iPhone 17e has a single camera lens, but utilizing Apple's 2-in-1 camera system, the device is actually equipped with both a 48P wide-angle and telephoto Fusion camera.

In addition, the iPhone 17e is receiving a big storage upgrade with the base model starting at 256GB, or double what its predecessor had.

The iPhone 17e adds MagSafe Credit: Apple

In a first for Apple's budget smartphone line, the iPhone 17e has MagSafe, making it compatible with Apple's array of MagSafe accessories and wireless charging peripherals.

With many of the same features of the iPhone 17, we're anticipating strong demand for Apple's new budget handset.

How to preorder the iPhone 17e

The iPhone 17e costs $599, or $200 less than the iPhone 17 base model with the same chipset and storage. The device will be available in three different color options: White, Black, or Soft Pink.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 17e will begin this Wednesday, March 4, likely right at the conclusion of the Apple event. The iPhone 17e will then be available just one week later on Wednesday, March 11.

Mashable will be testing the new budget iPhone as soon as possible, so keep checking back for updates and pre-order details.

UPDATE: Mar. 2, 2026, 4:35 p.m. UTC Anthropic has told Mashable in a statement that Claude should be running as usual now: "Claude is back up and running across claude.ai and our apps. We're grateful to our users while the team works to match the incredible demand we've seen for Claude in recent days."

Claude, Anthropic's AI chatbot, experienced technical issues, the company confirmed on Monday.

At 6:49 a.m. ET on Monday, Anthropic posted on its Claude status page that it was investigating "elevated errors" occurring with the Claude chatbot, Claude Opus 4.6 (its latest generation large language model), Claude Console (the Claude developer platform), and Claude Code (the company’s AI-powered coding assistant).

SEE ALSO: Claude is down: What we know about the Anthropic outage

According to Downdetector, over 2,000 users reported issues with Claude (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.)

So, what does Anthropic say the issue was?

Anthropic explained to Mashable in a statement that its team was working on a fix, saying:

Claude is currently unavailable on our consumer-facing surfaces such as claude.ai and our apps. The Claude API that powers businesses remains unaffected. Our team is working to restore full service and we’ll share updates as we have them.

We appreciate everyone’s patience as we work to bring things back online while experiencing unprecedented demand for Claude over the last week.

"We have discovered that some API methods are not working and we are investigating," the company further wrote on the Claude status page, about everything but Claude Opus 4.6. For that LLM itself, Anthropic only said, "The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented."

Featured Video For You Is ChatGPT Changing the Way We Write?

This level of "unprecedented demand" Anthropic mentioned to Mashable is right. The outage comes after Claude took the number one spot from OpenAI's ChatGPT in Apple's App Store, now the most-downloaded free app in the U.S. (ChatGPT is second, Google's Gemini is fourth).

This also comes after Donald Trump announced that the U.S. government would stop using Anthropic tech including Claude. Following this, OpenAI entered into a deal with the U.S. Department of War for military use of its AI tech in "classified environments".

Want more tech news? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter.

Ahead of Apple's March 4 special experience, everyone's favorite fruit company announced the imminent launch of the newest iPad Air. As expected, the iPad Air will be available for sale starting March 4.

The new iPad will be powered by M4 silicon and comes in 11- and 13-inch versions, with starting prices of $599 and $799, respectively. For education customers, prices will start at $549 and $749. Traditionally, the Air is Apple's mid-range tablet, with the base version iPad being popular with budget shoppers and the M5 iPad Pro reserved for professionals and super users.

Here's everything we know about the new Apple tablet so far.

Upgraded performance and specs Credit: Apple SEE ALSO: The 8 best tablets of 2026: I compared iPads, the Microsoft Surface Pro, and Amazon Fire

The previous-gen iPad Air launched in May 2024, and Apple says the new model gives users "a big jump in performance at the same starting price."

With the launch of iPadOS 26 and Liquid Glass last year, the iPad has become more like a laptop, with distinct windows and multitasking capabilities.

To support those new features, the seventh-generation iPad Air has upgraded specs:

• Processor: M4 silicon, 16-core Neural Engine, 8-core CPU

• GPU: 9-core GPU

• Memory: 12GB of unified memory (120GB/s of memory bandwidth)

• Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB configurations.

• Colors: Blue, purple, starlight, and space gray

• Camera: 12MP Center Stage camera

• Sizes: 11- and 13-inch models

• Wireless and cellular connectivity: N1 and C1X silicon

• Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, 5G cellular, and Thread

• Accessories: Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil, Apple Pencil Pro

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

What's new, what's not Credit: Apple

Users in need of a new laptop will definitely want to consider upgrading to the iPad Air, which is known for being incredibly thin and lightweight without sacrificing performance. However, at first glance, the improvements here seem pretty iterative, and it's not clear why users with the existing M3 iPad Air would rush to upgrade.

The M4 processor and enhanced wireless/cellular connectivity will undoubtedly deliver performance upgrades. Apple promises the new iPad Air will be 30 percent faster than the M3 model, with "50 percent more unified system memory."

The iPadOS 26 features described at length in the announcement press release are already available with the iPad Air and iPad Pro. Likewise, Apple didn't announce that the new iPad Air would be thinner or lighter than previous versions, which are already remarkably thin.

When can you buy the M4 iPad Air? Credit: Apple

Apple says customers will be able to start ordering the M4 iPad Air on March 4 at the Apple Store (and at Apple.com). Apple expects it to ship to customers on Wednesday, March 11.

We'll be testing and reviewing the M4 iPad Air as soon as we can, so keep checking back for updates.

China's Tecno Mobile is known for some wild phone concepts, and the company took it to the next level this year at MWC Barcelona.

Case in point: Tecno's booth in Barcelona was chock-full of people trying to make sense of what the heck all those weird phones are about.

Actual neon gas inside. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Perhaps the weirdest of the bunch was the Tecno Pova Neon, a concept phone with actual ionized neon gas lighting up its rear panel. This result in a dynamic display of lightning-like lights; unlike some other phones with dynamic lighting in the back, Tecno's variant is truly random and probably won't get boring as fast. We're not sure how this makes the phone better, but it will definitely turn heads when you whip it out of your pocket at a business meeting.

That's a lot of gadgets, and they're all incredibly easy to connect with the phone, and each other. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Then there's the sexily-named Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology, a concept that consists of an incredibly thin, fairly basic phone that can be expanded with magnetically attached modules.

It's hard to resist the temptation of just adding more stuff onto it. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

We've seen modular phones before, but never has attaching new stuff to a phone felt this easy or fun. You can attached modules onto modules, too. You can, for example, slap two batteries onto your phone; or a battery and an extra speaker; or a speaker and an improved camera; the possibilities are endless.

Some of the attachments are heavier and larger than the phone itself. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

It's unclear whether either of these are coming to market, but this may be the first time I'm actually interested in a modular phone.

SEE ALSO: Every major MWC 2026 announcement, including Xiaomi 17 Ultra and Honor Robot phone

If you prefer your futuristic phone branded with a familiar luxury brand, Tecno's got you covered, too. The company partnered with Lamborghini to create a bunch of Lamborghini-themed accessories, including a phone called The Tecno Pova Metal Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition. It, too, has a glowing thingy on the back; that's been a theme this year, as we've seen similar devices all over the show floor in Barcelona.

Nothing just can't stop leaking more details about its upcoming Nothing Phone 4a ahead of time.

So far, we've seen the phone, which is scheduled for a full reveal on March 5, in Nothing's standard black-and-white, semi-transparent color.

Now, the company unveiled the phone in a somewhat surprising color for the brand – pink.

It's still a Nothing phone, meaning the pink is very subtle, and the phone still has Nothing's trademark semi-transparent look.

SEE ALSO: Nothing shows us the Nothing Phone 4a ahead of time

Lucy Birley, Colour Material Finish Design Lead at Nothing, has a fun explanation for the phone's look. "Pink is actually just desaturated red (...) when we put the tint inside the transparency, because of how the light interacts with the resin underneath you get this incredible sense of depth which makes our products look really lively," she said in a statement.

Sure, but we'll just call it pink-ish.

The company also shared a 12-minute video, giving us a very detailed look into the phone's design, including that new Glyph bar on the back.

Nothing still hasn't revealed all of the phone's specs, nor has it said anything about the (possible) more powerful variant, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro. We'll get all the details at the official reveal, which is happening on March 5, at 10:30 a.m. GMT (5:30 a.m. ET).

We knew Nothing would be up to something (sorry) during this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but the company just made it official by sending us an invite for the launch of its next smartphone, the Nothing 4a.

The event is technically happening during MWC, which is held from March 2 to 5, 2026, but it will take place in London, UK. It starts at 10:30 a.m. GMT (5:30 a.m. ET), and it will be livestreamed on Nothing's website.

SEE ALSO: MWC 2026: What to expect at the world's largest phone show

The invite's tagline is "something new is coming," though there's not a lot of mystery here, as the invite also says that the event is about the Nothing Phone 4a series.

During last year's MWC, Nothing launched two smartphones, the Nothing 3a and Nothing 3a Pro. Both were slick-looking, fairly affordable mid-rangers with big displays, big batteries, and a couple of Nothing-specific software features.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

There's no official world on what, exactly, is coming, but we're probably going to see Nothing Phone 4a and Phone 4a Pro, both featuring Snapdragon 7-series chips. While Nothing is best known for its monochromatic designs, the new phones will probably be available in several colors.

Fun fact: Nothing's launch event will be held just one day after Apple's 'special experience' event, where the company is expected to launch a multitude of new products (as referenced by Nothing CEO Carl Pei's cheeky tweet). As we've said in our recent MWC overview, it's going to be a busy couple of weeks for gadget lovers.

Featured Video For You Samsung first look: Go up close with Galaxy Z TriFold, the futuristic foldable only available in Korea

Nothing has decided to slowly drip product teasers ahead of launch, and the latest in line are a pair of over-the-ear headphones.

A first for the brand, the Nothing Headphone (a) will launch alongside Nothing Phone 4a (and, potentially, other products) on March 5, during this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

SEE ALSO: The Nothing Phone 4a will be available in pink, and we have pictures and a video

The company revealed very little about the headphones, besides saying that they'll come in "bold colourways" and deliver "the longest battery life of any Nothing audio product to date."

One of those bold colourways is seen in the first teaser image shared by Nothing (see above), a fancy shade of yellow. Given Nothing's trademark semi-transparent product designs, we're pretty excited what the company will do with the new headphones.

Nothing actually offers a couple of earbuds, as well as full-sized headphones, including the Nothing Headphone 1 and Nothing Headphone Pro. The Headphone (a) name indicates that these are an entirely new product line.

Featured Video For You Samsung first look: Go up close with Galaxy Z TriFold, the futuristic foldable only available in Korea

Right now, the Nothing Headphone Pro lead the pack as far as playback time goes with up to 100-hour battery life. Per Nothing, the new Headphone (a) will go on for even longer.

The official reveal of Nothing Headphone (a), as well as the new phones, will be livestreamed on nothing.tech, starting on March 5, at 10:30 a.m. GMT (5:30 a.m. ET).

As for the rest of MWC, check out Mashable's guide to what you can expect this year.

You can find plenty of doom-and-gloom takes about the Nintendo Switch 2. Many of them boil down to complaints about the lack of compelling exclusive games for the system.

The users making these complaints, however, have not yet played Pokémon Pokopia.

A combined effort from Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, Game Freak, and Koei Tecmo, Pokémon Pokopia launches exclusively on Switch 2 on March 5. More importantly, you may not be prepared for how big of a deal this game might be.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon Pokopia $69.99 at Amazon
  Pre-order Here

Essentially, the Nintendo team took Minecraft, stripped off the ugly art style, added social friendship mechanics a la Stardew Valley, and put a bunch of Pokémon in it.

Personally, I do not vibe with these types of games at all. But Pokopia combines player creativity, charming writing, a magnetic sense of progression that makes it hard to put down, and a downright shocking level of depth. It legitimately has me hooked. I want to keep digging away at Pokopia just to see what it has to offer, and it hasn't disappointed me yet.

SEE ALSO: Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen preorders go live — where to buy now for Nintendo Switch I just want to pick up Pokémon Pokopia and give it a hug Yep, that's what humans look like. Credit: Nintendo

I covered the basics of Pokopia in a hands-on preview. But here's the TL;DR. The easiest way to think of this game is that it takes elements of Minecraft, Animal Crossing, and Stardew Valley, all mixed in with an extremely potent dose of Pokémon creatures.

You start the game as a Ditto (a basic "normal" shapeshifting Pokémon) who wakes up in a world where all the humans are gone, leaving only ruined settlements. You take on the shape of a human (well, close enough) and set out to rebuild what once was, in the hope of attracting more Pokémon and eventually maybe some humans to come live with them.

Aesthetically, this means you play as a human child with a mildly creepy smiling Ditto face on it. Mechanically, this means all of your farming and town-building abilities include classic Pokémon moves such as Cut, Strength, and Surf, each learned from a different Pokémon and copied by the Ditto.

Bulbasaur is one of the best little guys we've got. Credit: Nintendo

The best part of Pokopia is that each Pokémon who settles in your towns — you'll actually build several across many different biomes as the game progresses — speaks your language and has a personality of its own. There's no combat in Pokopia. You endear yourself to Pokémon by giving them gifts and building homes for them.

The writing in Pokopia is surprisingly funny; I was especially taken by a Magikarp who punctuates almost every sentence with the word "yo" for no good reason.

A big part of what makes Pokopia work for me, where games like Minecraft haven't, is that you spend as much time talking to NPCs and trying to figure out how to solve their problems as you do digging through rocks and placing structures.

The game has a really nice amount of player direction, so there's never any confusion as to what you can or should be doing at any point in time. Pokopia is also smart not to push the player too hard in any one direction. Even when you unlock new areas, the game explicitly encourages you to stick around the old ones and improve them before moving on.

The result is relaxing and peaceful, without ever really feeling like work.

But Pokopia also has so, so much more going on than you think This is where I want to be at all times. Credit: Nintendo

Having said that, there is a lot of work you can do in Pokopia. In the 10 to 15 hours I've played, I've been gobsmacked at the level of mechanical depth in this game. A lot of the things you can do are similar to activities in Minecraft and its many derivatives, but I expected a Pokémon-themed take on that kind of game to simplify things.

Pokopia does not dumb it down, however, and that's a good thing.

For instance, bodies of water have rudimentary physics. You can dig out creeks if you feel like it. Grass on either side of a creek will benefit accordingly, so that's a smart place to plant crops. Putting too much water in one area will increase its humidity, which might upset some Pokémon, but will please others. Yes, you can manage humidity in Pokémon Pokopia.

That's not all. Windmills and water wheels can be used to power electrical appliances, and you can string together utility poles to power a whole town. Materials like clay can be turned into necessities like bricks if you happen to know a guy who can smelt them for you.

Pokémon like to have their own homes — but if you build a big enough one for yourself, you can invite your favorites to move in with you. I became roommates with Scyther at the earliest opportunity, because Scyther is cool as hell.

Welcome to Homie House. Credit: Nintendo

Pokopia even has cooking mechanics, which I've barely touched because I've been so busy doing other stuff. And I haven't even had a chance to try the online multiplayer, which enables groups of friends to turn blank landmasses into the Pokémon paradises of their dreams through collaborative construction projects.

Each step of the way, Pokémon Pokopia will introduce some wild new idea or mechanic, which turns out to be a great way to keep someone who isn't especially keen on managing little towns invested in the proceedings.

In short, I am wildly impressed by what I've played of Pokémon Pokopia, and I'm not even the game's target audience. It may be the best Pokémon spin-off I've ever played, and easily one of the best games in the whole series in a long time, even including the RPGs.

I can't wait to see what people who get really into Pokopia do with its menagerie of systems once the game has been out for a few weeks.

Pokémon Pokopia launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon Pokopia $69.99 at Amazon
  Pre-order Here

Buy the TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro AR glasses Best Deal RayNeo Air 4 Pro AR/XR Glasses $249 (save $50 at Amazon) Get Deal Buy direct RayNeo Air 4 Pro AR/XR Glasses $249 (save $50 at RayNeo) Get Deal Limited-Edition RayNeo Air 4 Pro × Batman Limited Edition $269 (save $50 at Amazon) Get Deal

TCL has finally released its RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses, alongside two limited-edition Batman-themed models. These AR glasses are the world's first smart glasses with an HDR display, and they're designed for watching movies and playing video games. While most smart glasses are priced at $500 or more, the new RayNeo AR glasses are priced at $299, which could shake up this emerging market.

On top of that, early buyers can also save $50 when they purchase the glasses from TCL or Amazon, bringing the price to $249 for a limited time.

When TCL showed off its RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses at CES 2026, I was impressed, and I wrote at the time that competitors like Xreal should be worried. Despite the relatively affordable price tag, the glasses have super-bright OLED displays that support HDR10, something never seen before in smart glasses. TCL describes them as "head-mounted TVs," and that's what they feel like.

I've been testing the glasses over the past few weeks, and overall, I'm still impressed, despite their quirks. Like other AR glasses, you connect them to a compatible laptop, smartphone, or gaming device via the included USB-C cable.

SEE ALSO: Hands-on: The RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses are like wearing an OLED TV on my face Introducing the RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses Take a look under the hood. Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

The RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses launched today. The base version is priced at $299, but TCL also released two limited-edition, Batman versions of the glasses, the Limited Justice and Limited Chaos Editions. The Batman glasses come with additional accessories like a Batman cowl that attaches to the frames; they have an MSRP of $319, though they're also discounted at launch to $269.

The RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses have an impressive list of specs. While they're priced like a pair of budget smart glasses, they have a premium display.

• Style: Augmented reality smart glasses

• Display: 0.6-inch micro-OLED display

• Screen size: 201 inches

• Brightness: Up to 1,200 nits

• Resolution: 1920x1080 (3840x1080 for 3D)

• Refresh rate: Up to 120 Hz

• Color accuracy: ΔE

• Sound: Bang & Olufsen surround sound (4 speakers)

Using a Vision 4000 processor and dual OLED displays, the Air 4 Pro glasses can create a virtual screen up to 201 inches in size. I wore them to watch Mad Max: Fury Road and The Hobbit (not to mention countless YouTube videos), and the display is gorgeous, though it has some problems, too. As I noted in my initial review, the display has a flickering problem and lacks the 3D features Xreal recently introduced.

SEE ALSO: These color-changing sunglasses are like something out of a sci-fi movie Are the RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses worth it? These AR/XR glasses have a huge price advantage over their rivals. Credit: TCL

If you're an early adopter looking to try out AR glasses, it's hard to argue with the $299 price tag. For reference, Xreal recently launched a more affordable version of its glasses called the Xreal 1S, priced at $449.

There's no doubt that the RayNeo Air 4 Pro smart glasses have a better display. The Xreal 1S has a peak brightness of 700 nits, compared to 1,200 with the RayNeo. In addition, the micro-OLED displays on the Air 4 Pro are noticeably more vibrant, ideal for watching movies and gaming.

However, before you get too excited, Xreal glasses still have some big advantages. First off, Xreal can project much larger virtual screens. You can also control the screen distance and angle for optimum viewing, and set the display to anchor in a specific spot in your eyeline or move with your head. There's no anchor feature with the RayNeo glasses.

If you're looking for AR glasses that can be used as a productivity tool, giving you an extra screen while you work, then Xreal is by far the better choice. But for entertainment, the Air 4 Pros are going to be hard to beat, especially for the price. If money is no object, then check out the ROG Xreal R1 AR Gaming Glasses.

Opens in a new window Credit: TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro AR/XR Glasses $249 at Amazon
$299 Save $50   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: TCL RayNeo Air 4 Pro × Batman Limited Edition $269 at Amazon
$319 Save $50   Get Deal

SAVE OVER $20: As of March 2, the Lego Icons The Lord of The Rings: Balrog Book Nook is on sale for $108.99 at Amazon. This deal saves you $21 off its list price of $129.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Lego Lego Icons The Lord of The Rings: Balrog Book Nook Kit (10367) $108.99 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $21.00   Get Deal

When it comes to the Mashable team's favorite Lego sets, the Lego Icons The Lord of The Rings: Balrog Book Nook (10367) has earned a special place on the list. If it's a set that's been on your radar but you've been waiting to see a price drop, you're in luck: Amazon has dropped its price down to $108.99.

This 16% discount saves you just over $20 on the Balrog Book Nook set, but what really makes this deal so appealing is it's just one dollar away from its lowest-ever price of $107.99 at the retailer. That's a pretty great deal to take advantage of, so why not take this opportunity to grab it for the Lord of The Rings fan in your life?

Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!

It's certainly an eye-catching set to have up on display. Coming with 1,201 pieces, the Balrog Book Nook set features the fiery Balrog at its center and Gandalf the Grey facing off against it with his staff and sword. The coolest part is that it can be positioned in two different ways. It can either be slotted between books on your shelf as a little window into that moment on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, or opened up to reveal a bigger snapshot of the scene with even more flames and the Balrog’s big wings on display.

Of course, this comes with a mini plaque with the classic "You shall not pass!" quote. It's a truly excellent pick-up for Lord of The Rings fans, so why not grab the Lego Icons The Lord of The Rings: Balrog Book Nook (10367) while it's still on sale?

Curious what's new this month from Lego? Check out our breakdown of the best new Lego sets to see some of the latest drops.

Netflix and Paramount have spent the passed few months in a bidding war for Warner Bros., but it looks as though Paramount has finally emerged victorious after Netflix walked away from the deal last week.

As someone who has been vocal in the past about his business daddies, it was inevitable that John Oliver would weigh in — and on Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight he made his feelings very clear.

SEE ALSO: HBO Max and Paramount+ are combining into one streaming service

"It turns out we might be getting a new business daddy," Oliver said at the start of the episode, before playing a clip of the announcement. "Yeah, not great news. In fact, if I may quote anyone who's ever accidentally sat on their Roku remote: 'Oh shit, I'm in Paramount now, how the fuck do I get out of this?'"

Oliver's feelings likely stem from the fact that he has long been a vocal critic of the Trump administration. Paramount, which owns CBS, was recently bought by Skydance's David Ellison, whose billionaire father Larry Ellison is a friend of President Donald Trump. Shortly before the merger was approved by the Trump administration, Stephen Colbert — another late night host critical of the president — accused Paramount of paying a "big fat bribe" to Trump during his CBS program, The Late Show, which was then canceled, much to Trump's glee.

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

Why is all this important? Paramount owning Warner Bros. would mean it also owns HBO, the home of Last Week Tonight. And while Oliver doesn't appear to have directly incurred the president's wrath in the same way that other late night hosts have, it's not such a stretch to imagine that his "new business daddy" may not feel quite as positive about his show as the current owners.

UPDATE: Mar. 2, 2026, 4:37 p.m. UTC Anthropic has told Mashable in a statement that Claude should be running as usual now: "Claude is back up and running across claude.ai and our apps. We're grateful to our users while the team works to match the incredible demand we've seen for Claude in recent days."

Claude, Anthropic's AI chatbot, went down on Monday, with the company confirming "elevated errors."

At 11:49 a.m. GMT (6:49 a.m. ET), Anthropic posted on its Claude status page that it was "currently investigating this issue." Later updates said the issues were "related to Claude.ai and with the login/logout paths, and that the team had "discovered that some API methods are not working."

Anthropic explained to Mashable in a statement:

Claude is currently unavailable on our consumer-facing surfaces such as claude.ai and our apps. The Claude API that powers businesses remains unaffected. Our team is working to restore full service and we’ll share updates as we have them. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we work to bring things back online while experiencing unprecedented demand for Claude over the last week.

SEE ALSO: Claude is down: What we know about the Anthropic outage

According to Downdetector, over 2,000 users reported issues with Claude (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.)

The errors, according to Anthropic, affected the Claude chatbot, Claude Opus 4.6 (its latest generation large language model or LLM), Claude Console (the Claude developer platform), and Claude Code (the company’s AI-powered coding assistant). The last time Claude saw "elevated errors" was on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, with issues found and resolved affecting Claude Opus 4.6.

Claude at the time of writing. Credit: Mashable screenshot / Claude

The outage came hours after Claude dethroned competitor OpenAI's ChatGPT in Apple's App Store, hitting number one as the most-downloaded free app in the U.S. (ChatGPT is second, Google's Gemini is fourth) — and free Claude users have increased more than 60 percent since January. The chart win came notably after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. government would no longer use Anthropic tech including Claude, after which OpenAI entered into a deal with the U.S. Department of War to provide its AI technology for military use in "classified environments". Yes, there are concerns.

Want more tech news? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter.

UPDATE: Mar. 2, 2026, 2:42 p.m. UTC Added Anthropic's statement and additional updates from the Claude status page.

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

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a Nickelodeon fan.

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 March 2, 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 March 2, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Goo.

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 S.

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...

SLIME

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 today's Wordle.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you're an MLB fan.

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.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

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.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

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 March 2, 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: Simone Biles

• Green: Level

• Blue: What an umpire might say

• Purple: Bawk Bawk

Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Gymnastics apparatus

• Green: Status

• Blue: Baseball calls

• Purple: ___ Chicken

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 #995 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Gymnastics apparatus: BEAM, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT

• Status: POSITION, RANK, STANDING, STATION

• Baseball calls: BALL, FOUL, SAFE, STRIKE

• ___ Chicken: FUNKY, POPCORN, RUBBER, SPRING

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 March 2, 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 today's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're a remote worker.

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 March 2, 2026 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for March 2, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Home office alternative

The words are related to office work.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe working out of office.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Coworking Space.

NYT Strands word list for March 2

• Booths

• Pantry

• Wifi

• Coworking Space

• Desks

• Printer

• Lounge

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 today's Strands.

Seth Rogen accepted the award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series on behalf of Catherine O'Hara at the 32nd annual Actor Awards, after O'Hara passed away on Jan. 30 at the age of 71.

Rogen, who worked with O'Hara on The Studio, told a story of how she'd make the Apple TV show better by sending him and co-creator Evan Goldberg polite emailed notes the day before shoots.

"She really showed that you can be a genius, and be kind, and one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other in any way, shape or form," says Rogen.

"So I guess I'll leave you with this: If you have people in your lives that don't know her work, if there are kids in your lives or just people who are out of touch or stupid or something, just show them O'Hara dancing to Harry Belafonte in Beetlejuice. Show them O'Hara hurting her knee in Best in Show, and doing that amazing thing where she hobbles around. And tell the people as they are laughing that that's Catherine O'Hara, and we were lucky that we got to live in a world where she so generously shared her talents with us."

SAVE $25: As of March 2, the Fire TV Stick 4K Select is $14.99 at Amazon with the coupon code FTVSELECT.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select $14.99 at Amazon
$39.99 Save $25 use code FTVSELECT Get Deal

March sees some exciting new shows arriving on streaming services, including season two of Daredevil: Born Again and season two of One Piece. If you feel like you're in need of a new setup for watching everything, now is the time to upgrade. Amazon has dropped the price of its streaming sticks, including the Fire TV Stick 4K Select.

For a limited time, the Fire TV Stick 4K Select has dropped to $14.99 at Amazon with the coupon code FTVSELECT. Only some of the Mashable team have been able to access this code. If you're lucky, you'll see this code, alongside a "redeem" button, on the store page.

Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!

At this point, Amazon has a few different 4K models of streaming stick to choose from, so what makes the Fire TV Stick 4K Select different? Well, it allows you to stream in 4K Ultra HD with High Dynamic Range 10+, but it doesn't support Dolby Vision like its more expensive counterparts. It also supports WiFi 5 — whereas pricier models support WiFi 6 or WiFi 6E — for improved streaming quality. If you don't mind these aspects, this is a great way to score higher picture quality for less.

On top of that, the Fire TV Stick 4K Select comes with 8GB of storage for holding all of your favorite apps. If it sounds like the upgrade you've been searching for, act fast to take advantage of this great deal at Amazon.

Check out these great deals on the Fire Stick 4K Plus and Fire Stick 4K Max to see some alternatives.

Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is fully underway, and it's been a busy one.

Well, perhaps it only feels busier than normal, as both Samsung and Apple decided to squeeze in their major product unveilings just before and just after MWC.

Even without those MWC-adjacent news, though, it's been a fun couple of days here in Barcelona. We saw robots, robotic phones, and phones that can take photos of robots from a mile away. And yes, every other word of every announcement is still AI, but this year the AI features are really starting to make sense. Let's take a look at every major announcement we saw at MWC this year.

Xiaomi 17 Ultra The optional photography kits essentially turn this phone into a camera. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Xiaomi's got a new Ultra phone, and it didn't disappoint. It is, once again, a powerful cameraphone, with massive zoom capabilities, top-notch specs, and a bunch of accessories for photography enthusiasts.

The company also launched a special, Leica-branded variant called the Leica Leitzphone; essentially the same as the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, but with a cool retro design, and a rotating ring around the camera bump that you can use to control zoom.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi 17 Ultra hands-on: The cameraphone with a monstrous zoom

The Xiaomi 17 Ultra is just one part of the mountain of new gadgets Xiaomi brought to Barcelona, including the Xiaomi Watch 5, Xiaomi Tag, and more.

Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo You should see my other car. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Xiaomi's phones were cool, but the real surprise was the Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo, a concept hypercar made for the Vision Gran Turismo Program, in which car manufacturers create no-holds-bar cars for the legendary Gran Turismo game.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi's new hyper car concept has the strangest cockpit we've ever seen

The car is precisely what you'd expect: Quick-looking, slightly nutty, and probably not something you'll ever see on the street. We'll see how much of its tech will turn into real products (we're especially interested in those floating wheel covers).

Honor Robot phone and its humanoid friend It can track you, and nod at you when you do something right, but this one was asleep. Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Honor announced its Robot Phone back in 2025, but this was the first time the company actually brought it to an exhibition, giving us a chance to see it up close (no touching, though). We're still not quite sure how useful that robotic arm/gimbal carrying the camera will be in real life, but it's very cool to look at.

SEE ALSO: Honor's Robot Phone hand-on: It's wild, and it's weird

Not content with bringing just one robot thing to MWC, Honor also brought a humanoid robot that danced on the stage in Barcelona, before meeting its tiny Robot Phone counterpart, and then marching out.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Honor's main announcement in Barcelona, however, was the Honor Magic V6, and incredibly thin foldable with an even thinner battery that doesn't mind water.

Lenovo's laptop and gaming concepts Need to swap in a different port? No problem. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Lenovo likes to play with ideas all year and then bring them all to MWC in Barcelona, and we love it.

This year's highlights include the Legion Go Fold gaming handheld concept, a glasses-free 3D laptop concept, and a modular AI laptop concept. And that's just a small part of the mountain of stuff Lenovo decided to show this year.

This story will be updated over the course of MWC to ensure you don't miss the best the show has to offer.

Mashable is reporting live from Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2026. Follow the latest updates as we reveal the latest tech reveals from the show.

SAVE $400: As of March. 2, the EF EcoFlow Delta 3 Max is on sale for $799 at Amazon. That's a 33% discount on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: EcoFlow EF Ecoflow Delta 3 Max $799 at Amazon
$1,199 Save $400   Get Deal

The EcoFlow Delta 3 Max is back on sale at Amazon, so if you've been on the lookout for a reliable power source, now is the time to buy. As of March 2, this portable power station has been reduced from $1,199 to $799, a saving of $400. This price is for the unit only, but you can upgrade to add solar panels.

This model uses X-Stream technology to help make charging faster. With this, it can recharge from 0 to 80% in just over an hour, so you don't need hours of prep to get it ready for use. It can give you up to 3,400W output in X-Boost mode, so it can run most household appliances, including high-demand devices like refrigerators and microwaves.

Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!

If you have devices or medical equipment you can't have turning off, this unit also offers a fast sub-10ms transfer time for backup use. And this device is an investment, thanks to its durable LiFePO4 battery, it’s designed for long-term use, with EcoFlow saying it should last for 10 years of daily use. You can monitor things like power consumption, settings, and find out how to optimize use in the EcoFlow app.

Get this portable power station deal from Amazon.

This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for the UK audience.

Online dating as a gay man is almost rite of passage in this day and age. But it’s never as simple as just installing a dating app and swiping through all those guys. Dating apps come with a unique set of challenges for gay men: Ghosting, catfishing, straight guys in your feed, and overly forward DMs. It's a lot to wrestle with when you’re just trying to find a genuine connection. 

Despite those drawbacks, dating apps are still one of the best ways to meet new people, especially if you're gay or bisexual. Pew Research found that about one in four LGBTQ+ adults met their partner online, which is significantly more than straight people. 

You almost certainly know Grindr. It's still undefeated as the king of gay dating apps, even with reports that the user experience isn’t quite what it used to be — largely thanks to ads clogging up the free version. It’s a top tier hookup app, but not necessarily the best for potential long-term relationship connections. There are plenty of gay guys looking for alternative option. If you’re one of them, we’re here to help with some recommendations. 

Sure, you could follow the straight dating scene and try mainstream apps such Hinge and OkCupid, which to their credit have taken big steps forward in inclusivity. But we’d also point you towards more niche apps like Scruff and Feeld, which cater to specific communities, kinks, and desires. The key is figuring out which one is actually worth your time. And that includes Grindr.

Here's our authoritative guide to the best dating apps for gay men in 2026.