Mashable

TL;DR: AdGuard’s Family Plan gives you lifetime, device-wide protection from ads, trackers, and malicious sites for just $18.97 (reg. $169.99) with code FAMPLAN.

Opens in a new window Credit: AdGuard AdGuard Family Plan: Lifetime Subscription $18.97
$169.99 Save $151.02   Get Deal

If you’ve ever tried to troubleshoot constant pop-ups, frozen web pages, or those suspicious “Download Now” boxes that definitely shouldn’t be clicked, you already know how messy the internet can get.

AdGuard’s Family Plan is one of the easiest ways to clean all of that up — quietly, consistently, and without forcing everyone in the house to become a cybersecurity expert.

SEE ALSO: Should you pay for a VPN?

For a limited time, you can grab lifetime access to the AdGuard Family Plan for just $18.97 (reg. $169.99) with code FAMPLAN through Nov. 20 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Once you activate it, your protection never expires. That alone puts it miles ahead of the usual annual subscription shuffle.

AdGuard works on browsers, smartphones, laptops, tablets — pretty much anything your household uses. And this subscription covers nine devices. It blocks intrusive ads before they even load, cuts off third-party trackers, keeps sketchy phishing attempts out of your family’s path, and generally makes the web run faster and cleaner.

Gamers benefit from fewer laggy ad scripts; kids get a safer browsing experience with parental controls; and adults get fewer annoyances across the sites they use every day. What people appreciate most is that it runs quietly in the background. There’s no pop-up nagging, no complicated security dashboard that needs constant tuning, and no learning curve.

If you’re looking for a simple, affordable way to protect everyone’s devices while making the internet feel faster and less chaotic, this deal is one of the easiest wins of the season. Don’t miss grabbing lifetime access to AdGuard’s Family Plan while it’s just $18.97 (reg. $169.99) through Nov. 20 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: If you’re tired of switching between different AI apps, the 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan gives you a single lifetime workspace powered by all the industry-leading models for just $74.97 (reg. $540).

Opens in a new window Credit: 1minAI 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime Subscription $74.97
$540 Save $465.03   Get Deal

If you’ve ever tried to keep up with all the different AI platforms, you know how messy it can get. One app handles writing. Another can edit images. A different one processes audio. And don’t forget the video editor. Plus the PDF tool. Plus, the model that does translations. And on and on.

1min.AI’s Advanced Business Plan basically puts an end to that AI chaos.

SEE ALSO: A new AI platform is giving lifetime access to ChatGPT, Gemini, and more

For a one-time payment of $74.97 (reg. $540), you get lifetime access to a single platform that brings together the top AI models — OpenAI’s GPT-4o, Anthropic’s Claude 3 family, Google Gemini, Meta’s Llama 3, Mistral, Cohere, and more — inside one interface that’s designed to actually streamline your work instead of giving you 12 more logins.

What makes it especially useful is that the platform doesn’t just offer chat. It offers tools — real tools — for the work people actually do every day.

You can generate blog posts, rewrite content, create brand-consistent social captions, run keyword research, summarize long PDFs, extract info from documents, make images, edit photos, clean up audio, and even work with video.

The best part? Because all these features are powered by multiple models, you can pick whichever one fits your task. Need factual precision? Try Claude Opus. Want a creative brainstorm? Use GPT-4o. Need speed? Haiku or Gemini Pro are good options.

And since the subscription is lifetime, you’re not crossing your fingers waiting for a renewal discount next year.

Pick up lifetime access to the 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan while it’s just $74.97 (reg. $540).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Cloudflare suffered a major outage on Nov. 18, and it took many major platforms down with it. OpenAI, Spotify, X, and Canva were among just some of the websites and services that went down Tuesday morning.

Feel like you're experiencing deja vu? Well, you're not. 

The recent Cloudflare outage is not to be confused with the recent Microsoft Azure outage, which resulted in Xbox, Minecraft, and other platforms going down. And don't forget the other major incident that occurred in October, when issues at Amazon Web Services (AWS) led to Amazon, Reddit, Snapchat, and other big platforms going offline. It's also completely separate from the June outage, when Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Cloudflare took down swaths of the internet

OK, so the internet's biggest websites and platforms have been going down a lot lately. What's going on here? 

Why do so many websites go down at the same time?

Those big social media platforms, e-commerce websites, and gaming networks are all using the same few major service providers to host and deliver their content, with Cloudflare being one of them.

Cloudflare is one of the largest Content Delivery Networks (CDN), which is a system that manages web traffic. When Cloudflare functions normally, it manages web traffic and protects platforms from attacks.

"CDNs are distributed infrastructures that accelerate content delivery and enhance user experience by caching and serving web content closer to users," explained Angelique Medina, Head of Internet Intelligence at the network intelligence company Cisco ThousandEyes, to Mashable. "They essentially serve as the 'front door' to websites and applications, with users connecting to Cloudflare’s servers instead of those of its customers."

"When this 'front door' becomes unavailable, users lose the entry point to many sites and applications," Medina said. "Given the large number of customers and sites that they service, any meaningful disruption in their ability to deliver content could effectively render large parts of the internet unreachable to users."

Basically, the internet has consolidated, and we're all reaping the rewards of that consolidation.

“This isn’t just another technical setback," said Ramutė Varnelytė, CEO of IPXO, a leading IP resource management platform in Europe, in a statement provided to Mashable. "It’s further proof of how exposed [the] digital economy is to various malfunctions in just a few of the digital infrastructure service providers."

Are internet outages occurring more frequently?

Back in the earlier days of the internet, there were countless web hosting providers, and many companies even ran their own dedicated servers. Now, companies big and small are all utilizing the same few cloud service providers, whether it be AWS, GCP, or Azure. Cloudflare makes the internet even more vulnerable to disruption, as the company has no one-to-one direct competitor.

"The incident further emphasizes the inherent danger of the entire internet infrastructure relying on a few service providers," Varnelytė said.

But, is that it? And are these services really going down more than usual? According to Cisco ThousandEyes, which tracks outages and maps them, that's correct. Web downtime is actually not happening more than usual, even if it seems that way.

"Cisco ThousandEyes has not seen an increase in the frequency of service outages in cloud and other Internet infrastructure providers; however, the number of sites and applications dependent on these services has increased," Medina shared. "Because these services are increasingly a point of centralization — with a small number of companies handling large swaths of the Internet — if something goes wrong, it can lead to the disruption of many sites and applications around the globe."

In short, the number of disruptions isn't increasing. Rather, the shockwaves of individual incidents are getting bigger.

Meta has emerged victorious in its years-long legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission, which accused the company of maintaining an illegal monopoly over social networking.

In an opinion released Tuesday, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., ruled that the FTC failed to prove its case. The agency first filed the lawsuit five years ago, arguing that Meta's ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp gave it outsized control over the market. But Boasberg wrote that even if Meta once held monopoly power, the FTC could not show that the company still "continues to hold such power now."

SEE ALSO: Apple rebukes Elon Musk’s App Store monopoly claims

Boasberg previously dismissed the case in 2021, saying the FTC did not provide enough evidence that Facebook, as the company was then known, had market power. The FTC later filed an amended complaint citing user metrics and comparisons to competitors like Snapchat, Google+, and MySpace, allowing the case to move forward. The long-delayed trial finally began earlier this year.

Meta's chief legal officer, Jennifer Newstead, praised the ruling in a statement to outlets, saying, "The Court's decision today recognizes that Meta faces fierce competition. Our products are beneficial for people and businesses and exemplify American innovation and economic growth."

At the center of the case were Meta's high-profile acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC sought to unwind both deals and argued that users lacked meaningful alternatives to Meta-owned platforms for connecting with friends and family.

But Boasberg sided with Meta's position that the social media landscape has transformed dramatically since the early Facebook era. Apps like TikTok and YouTube now compete for the same time, attention, and content, undercutting the government's monopoly claim.

"While each of Meta's empirical showings can be quibbled with, they all tell a consistent story: people treat TikTok and YouTube as substitutes for Facebook and Instagram, and the amount of competitive overlap is economically important," Boasberg wrote.

The best early Black Friday laptop deals at a glance: Best MacBook deal Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $749.99 (save $249.01) Get Deal Best gaming laptop deal Alienware 16X Aurora (Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) $1,649.99 (save $350) Get Deal Best Chromebook deal Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (Intel Core i3-1315U, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) $349 (save $250) Get Deal

I write about all things laptops here at Mashable, and whenever a family member or friend comes to me for shopping recommendations, I always tell them this: "Unless it's an emergency, don't buy anything until Black Friday."

My logic is simple. The year-end shopping season is when I see the deepest discounts on laptops emerge across Amazon, Best Buy, and other major tech retailers. It's partly because these stores know that people are looking for good, giftable buys ahead of the holidays, but it's also because they're trying to offload their current inventories ahead of next-gen refreshes at the start of the following year. Enter: Record-low prices on MacBooks, Windows laptops, and Chromebooks. Voila: An upgrade that's normally out of your budget is suddenly affordable.

SEE ALSO: The 55+ best early Black Friday deals: Get big savings on MacBooks, Nintendo Switch 2, Keurig, and Samsung gear

I should note that most of the absolute best Black Friday laptop deals won't appear until Black Friday proper, which falls on Nov. 28 this year. However, I've stumbled upon half a dozen early offers that I don't expect to get much cheaper next week. (They're mainly MacBooks and Chromebooks so far; I'm not obsessed with any Windows laptop deals just yet — they're fine but not amazing.) If you see a deal featured in my list below, it's because I'd happily add it to my own cart right now if I was in the market for a new PC.

The M4 Apple MacBook Airs

Apple's latest MacBook Air is lightweight, quiet, and faster than 83% of the laptops in our entire testing database — it's a really impressive ultraportable. The 15-inch model is my top pick for most people, but the 13-inch model is great for college students and other users who want something a little cheaper and more portable. Both sizes were regularly on sale on Amazon for $200 off earlier this fall, and I really didn't think they'd get any cheaper at this point in their life cycles (considering they're still well under a year old). Shockingly, they're now $250 off in the lead-up to Black Friday.

For what it's worth, Costco is the only retailer that's been able to match Amazon's all-time lows on the M4 MacBook Airs thus far, and it's not reserving them for members, either. However, a one- to two-day delivery time à la Amazon Prime will cost you $9.86. (Standard shipping is free, and Costco members get the option of in-store pickup.)

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $749.99 at Amazon and Costco
$999 Save $249.01   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $949.99 at Amazon and Costco
$1,199 Save $249.01   Get Deal The 14-inch M5 Apple MacBook Pro

The all-new MacBook Pro is my splurge pick if you want an Apple laptop with even more power, a brighter 120Hz display, more ports for creative work, and crazy-good stamina. (At 21 hours and 17 minutes, it has the longest battery life of any MacBook we've ever tried, and our tech editor loved it.) It debuted in mid-October at a starting price of $1,599 and hasn't stopped getting cheaper since. At the time of writing, the base configuration with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is marked down to just $1,473 — a savings of just over $125.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,473 at Amazon
$1,599 Save $126   Get Deal A refurbished 13-inch M3 Apple MacBook Air

If you're in the market for a dirt-cheap-but-not-too-outdated MacBook, Best Buy has a refurbished 13-inch MacBook Air with last year's M3 chip on sale for only $569.99. (Walmart usually sells the M1 model from 2020 for $599, so this is a genuine steal.) It has a 1080p FaceTime camera and closed-lid support for two external displays, whereas the newer M4 version has a nicer 12MP webcam and open-lid support for two monitors. It also comes with half the RAM as the latest model and runs about 24% slower. Still, it's a fine pick for simple everyday tasks like web browsing and sending emails.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - Geek Squad Certified Refurbished $569.99 at Best Buy
$849 Save $279.01   Get Deal The Alienware 16X Aurora

For most people, the Alienware 16X Aurora is my new favorite gaming laptop, a mid-range model featuring a 240Hz matte display, one-zone RGB backlighting, an Intel Arrow Lake processor, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series graphics. Notably, it comes with a "Stealth Mode" hotkey that turns down its fan noise and backlighting while boosting its battery life — a nice-to-have when you're not using it for gaming. The variant I tested has a high-end Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, an RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of memory, and 1TB of storage; it's already pretty fairly priced at $1,999.99, but Dell is currently selling it for $1,649.99 (or 18% off) as an early Black Friday deal. Other configurations with lesser specs start at just $1,349.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Alienware Alienware 16X Aurora (Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) $1,649.99 at Dell
$1,999.99 Save $350   Get Deal The Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus

Lenovo's convertible Chromebook Plus is my favorite Chromebook for most buyers because of its stellar build quality, decent performance, great speakers, nice keyboard, and 12-hour battery life. There are two configurations available: One with an Intel Core i5-1334U processor and 256GB of storage, and another with a less powerful Intel Core i3-1315U processor and 128GB of storage. They both retail for $599 at full price.

The first configuration is the model we tested, and it's a Costco exclusive (though you can buy it without a membership). It's marked down to $529.99 ahead of Black Friday, which is actually the first time I've ever seen it on sale. The other, more pared-down version is a worse value at full price, but Best Buy is currently selling it for $349 (or $250 off), making it a great option for budget buyers with basic needs.

Opens in a new window Credit: Lenovo Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (Intel Core i5-1334U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $529.99 at Costco
$599.99 Save $70   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Lenovo Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (Intel Core i3-1315U, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) $349 at Best Buy
$599 Save $250   Get Deal The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514

Acer's all-new Chromebook Plus Spin 514 features an unrivaled 18-hour battery life and a fast processor (relatively speaking) with an NPU that supports two exclusive AI features. The version Acer sells on its website has 16GB of memory, a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader, and a 2.8K touchscreen display. It's overkill for most people, but it's worth considering if you want a high-end, super-future-proofed Chromebook. It's on sale for $769.99 right now (normally $799.99). That's not a huge discount, but it's never been on sale before.

Opens in a new window Credit: Acer Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $769.99 at Acer
$799.99 Save $30   Get Deal

SAVE $130: As of Nov. 18, get the Shark FlexStyle for $199.99 — its lowest price ever. That saves you $130 for 38% off ahead of Black Friday 2025.

Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Shark FlexStyle in Copper $199.99 at Amazon
$329.99 Save $130   Get Deal

Working as a shopping reporter, it's easy to be jaded about deals. I've covered all the big events for years, Prime Day and Black Friday, so it takes a lot to stop me in my tracks, but maybe more so, it takes a lot for me to hit 'add to cart'. Last year, I made exactly one Black Friday purchase — the Shark FlexStyle in the coveted Wicked color. Unfortunately the Wicked collab is no longer available, however, the Shark FlexStyle is back on sale — it just hit its lowest price ever ahead of Black Friday.

I'd endorse buying the Shark FlexStyle at any price, it's our preferred Dyson Airwrap dupe here at Mashable, but I'd especially recommend buying it when it's on sale. Right now, the Shark FlexStyle in Copper is down to $199.99 at Amazon, its lowest recorded price. That saves you $130 off of its $329.99 price tag, for 38% savings. This is an objectively stellar deal, but why should you shop it?

I'm not speaking in hyperbole when I say my hair has never looked better since using the Shark FlexStyle. I got the hair styler leading up to my 2025 wedding with the ambition of doing my own hair for the big day — which I did, and the FlexStyle played a huge role. I am certainly no hair expert, I previously used a Revlon One-Step to dry my hair in a pinch, but I never loved it. The Shark FlexStyle makes at-home blowouts a breeze. My hair looks full and frizz-free when using the Shark FlexStyle, especially when I use the oval brush attachment.

Not to mention, I know I can use it in a pinch. Just this morning, I needed to dry my hair but be out the door in 10 minutes. With the Shark FlexStyle my hair was dry and smooth in just seven minutes. The Shark FlexStyle is an incredible hair tool, and it's even better one sale. Ahead of Black Friday 2025, get the Shark FlexStyle for $199.99 and save $130.

On Tuesday afternoon, Cloudflare CTO Dane Knecht apologized to the internet.

After Cloudflare resolved an outage that caused widespread problems across the internet ecosystem, Knecht took to X to offer his apologies. The CTO wrote, "I won’t mince words: earlier today we failed our customers and the broader Internet when a problem in @Cloudflare network impacted large amounts of traffic that rely on us. The sites, businesses, and organizations that rely on Cloudflare depend on us being available and I apologize for the impact that we caused."

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

His mea culpa continued: "That issue, impact it caused, and time to resolution is unacceptable. Work is already underway to make sure it does not happen again, but I know it caused real pain today."

Knect also posted an update on the outage on X, promising a full explanation for the underlying issue.

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

On Tuesday mornings, the Cloudflare outage caused a broad range of services, apps, and websites to go down for many users. The website Downdetector showed user-reported issues at X, ChatGPT, Canva, Spotify, League of Legends, Canva, DoorDash, Claude, Uber, and YouTube. Even Grindr went down temporarily. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, Mashable's parent company.)

In an emailed statement to Mashable on Tuesday morning, Cloudflare said the problem was caused by a crash in a software system that handled traffic for many of its customers.

"To be clear, there is no evidence that this was the result of an attack or caused by malicious activity," the statement added. "We expect that some Cloudflare services will be briefly degraded as traffic naturally spikes post incident but we expect all services to return to normal in the next few hours. A detailed explanation will be posted soon on blog.cloudflare.com. Given the importance of Cloudflare's services, any outage is unacceptable. We apologize to our customers and the Internet in general for letting you down today. We will learn from today's incident and improve."

If this internet outage feels familiar, it's because it's the third major outage in 2025. Just last month, we reported on a widespread Amazon Web Services outage. And before that, a Google Cloud Platform outage likewise took down swaths of the internet.

Amazon gift cards usually come with the starting balance printed on the physical card or mentioned in the email if you receive an eGift card. But what if you want to check the balance on a gift card that you previously redeemed to see if you have enough left over to splurge during Amazon's Black Friday sale in 2025 (which officially kicks off on Nov. 20)? Or maybe you want to reload a gift card you've already used up? Check the state of your gift cards before your shopping spree this season by following the steps below.

How to check your Amazon gift card balance on your desktop

Follow these simple steps to check or reload your Amazon gift card balance:

Total Time

• 2 minutes

What You Need

• Computer

Step 1: Navigate to Amazon

Open the Amazon website.

Step 2: Accounts & Lists

Click on Accounts & Lists in the top right corner of the screen.

Credit: Screenshot: Amazon website

Step 3: Select Gift cards

A new menu page will open on the website. Select Gift cards.

Credit: Screenshot: Amazon website

Step 4: Redeem or reload gift card

Once you click, you'll be able to see the existing balance on your gift card. If you are checking the balance on an unredeemed gift card and wish to redeem it, you can click on Redeem a Gift card. You can also opt to Reload your card in this menu or check your transaction history, which is listed below the gift card balance.

Credit: Screenshot: Amazon website How to check your Amazon gift card balance in the app Total Time

• 2 minutes

What You Need

• Smartphone

Step 1: Go to Account

Open the app and click on the account icon at the bottom of the landing page (the little person illustration). Then choose Account at the top of the landing page.

Credit: Screenshot: Amazon

Step 2: Navigate to Payments

Scroll down until you see the Payments section.

Step 3: Manage gift card balance

In the Payments section, click on Manage gift card balance.

Credit: Screenshot: Amazon

Step 4: Check balance or reload

Use the new menu that opens to check your gift card balance, reload your gift card, or check past activity.

Credit: Screenshot: Amazon

Have a Visa gift card that you keep forgetting to use? 'Tis the season to break that bad boy out. You'll be able to squeeze way more out of those free funds when just about everything is discounted for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It's a perfect time to get started on your holiday shopping for less. And BTW, Amazon's Black Friday event officially kicks off on Thursday, Nov. 20, and runs all the way through Cyber Monday on Dec. 1.

Adding a Visa gift card on Amazon isn't the process that you'd expect. While it is technically a gift card, it can't be registered as a gift card like an official Amazon gift card would. Instead, you'll have to register the gift card like you would register a legit Visa debit or credit card to start using it as a payment method. If you're unsure how to go about it, we've got your back.

SEE ALSO: How to check or reload your Amazon gift card balance How to add a Visa gift card to make purchases on Amazon

The process might seem complicated, but follow these simple steps and should have no issues:

1. Go to Amazon on your phone, tablet, or computer and find your Account tab. On the mobile app, your Account lives in the little person icon at the bottom of the screen and in the three horizontal lines at the bottom right side of the screen. On a web browser, hover over Accounts & Lists at the top right corner of the webpage, then select Account from the dropdown menu that appears.

2. Once there, scroll to find the Your Payments tab. This option will take you to your digital wallet where you can view your added payment methods.

3. Click on Add a payment method. Because the gift card is a Visa, it functions like a regular debit or credit card, so scroll down to the credit or debit cards category to add the new card.

4. You'll then be prompted to add the necessary card information like the card number and expiration date.

5. Then, it'll ask for the Billing Address. Prepaid Visa gift cards aren't tied to a name or address, so you won't actually receive a billing statement. You can add your own address to be quick, or call the customer service number to get the card issuer's address.

SEE ALSO: Walmart vs. Amazon: Which retail giant has the best deals?

There are a few caveats to consider when using a Visa gift card on Amazon. First, not all Visa gift cards may work as debit or credit cards on Amazon. Some may require users to use a CVV to authorize a purchase. Since Amazon doesn't ask for this information while adding payment methods, these Visa gift cards might not go through.

Also, Amazon doesn't allow users to combine multiple cards for a single transaction. This means that you can't cover your total with two Visa gift cards, or use up the remaining gift card balance as a partial payment and cover the rest with another credit or debit card. Be sure to keep an eye on your cart total as you chip away at it during your Black Friday shopping. Your total order cost (including shipping and taxes) can't exceed the account balance.

There is, thankfully, a workaround for tracking that Visa gift card balance. You can use the Visa gift card to add or reload funds on an Amazon gift card, which you can then apply toward future Amazon purchases. Once you add a Visa gift card as an Amazon payment method to your account by following the steps above, you can purchase an Amazon gift card for the full amount of the Visa gift card balance (taking into account any fees the Visa card may deduct upon use), or follow these steps to access your existing Amazon gift card balance and reload funds.

Opens in a new window Credit: Visa Add a Visa gift card to your Amazon account   Learn More

If fears of an AI bubble bursting were already keeping people up at night, recent comments from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai certainly won't help.

The Google chief sat down with the BBC for an exclusive interview to talk all things AI — from energy demands to UK investment to the future of jobs. But the most striking moment came when Pichai admitted that if the AI bubble does burst, no one is safe.

"I think no company is going to be immune, including us," he told the BBC.

In the interview, Pichai said that while the AI sector has seen tremendous growth, there's also a lot of "irrationality" fueling the boom as valuations and investments rocket upward. He warned that the industry can "overshoot" during hype cycles like this, drawing a direct parallel to the dot-com boom and bust of the late 90s and early 2000s.

The dot-com era saw early internet companies skyrocket in value on pure optimism, only for the bubble to burst in 2000, wiping out hundreds of companies and countless jobs.

The concern now is that AI may follow a similar trajectory. Big Tech valuations have surged in recent months: Alphabet has reached a valuation of $3.5 trillion, OpenAI has reportedly hit a $500 billion valuation, and NVIDIA has become the first company to ever surpass the $5 trillion mark.

But cracks are beginning to show. In the past few weeks, several major investors have started offloading NVIDIA stock. On Monday, it was reported that Peter Thiel's hedge fund exited its entire $94 million position. Even more eyebrow-raising, Michael Burry — famous for predicting the 2007-08 mortgage crisis — is reportedly betting against NVIDIA and Palantir.

Despite all this, Pichai himself appears largely unfazed.

"We can look back at the internet right now. There was clearly a lot of excess investment, but none of us would question whether the internet was profound," he told the BBC. "I expect AI to be the same. So I think it's both rational and there are elements of irrationality through a moment like this."

TL;DR: Live stream Spain vs. Turkey in World Cup qualifiers for free on RTVE. Access this free streaming site from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Spain have absolutely strolled through World Cup qualification, winning every game and not conceding a single goal. In their final game, they face a Turkey team that has been nearly perfect. Turkey have only lost once, to Spain of course.

If you want to watch Spain vs. Turkey in World Cup qualifiers for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Spain vs. Turkey?

Spain vs. Turkey in World Cup qualifiers kicks off at 7:45 p.m. GMT on Nov. 18. This fixture takes place at the Estadio La Cartuja.

How to watch Spain vs. Turkey for free

Spain vs. Turkey in World Cup qualifiers is available to live stream for free on RTVE.

RTVE is geo-restricted to Spain, but anyone can access this free streaming service with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Spain, meaning you can access free live streams on RTVE from anywhere in the world.

Lve stream Spain vs. Turkey 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 Spain

4. Visit RTVE

5. Stream Spain vs. Turkey 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 leveraging these offers, you can watch Spain vs. Turkey in World Cup qualifiers without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select World Cup qualifiers before recovering your investment.

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

What is the best VPN for RTVE?

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

• Servers in 105 countries including Spain

• 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 one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% 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 (including money-back guarantee).

Live stream Spain vs. Turkey in World Cup qualifiers for free with ExpressVPN.

SAVE $49.01: As of Nov. 18, get the Apple Watch Series 11 for $349.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $399. That's a discount of 12% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Apple Watch Series 11 $349.99 at Amazon
$399 Save $49.01   Get Deal

Looking to pick up a new smartwatch? There are tons of great choices out there, but for our money, Apple serves up some of the best. One of the best picks you can opt for out of the bunch, in fact, is on sale right now thanks to an early Black Friday deal at Amazon. If it's time to lock in a purchase, this might be the best one.

As of Nov. 18, get the Apple Watch Series 11 for $349.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $399. That's $49.01 off and a discount of 12%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: The 30+ best early Black Friday Apple deals: We found record lows on AirPods and MacBooks already

The Series 11 offers a range of smartwatch-centric features such as calling, texting, and app availability from the App Store of course. But some of its most attractive features are its health and fitness sensors. It can notify you of potential high blood pressure issues, give you a daily sleep score, help you take an ECG any time, track your heart rate, and much more.

It can also track your workouts, help you figure out your training load, connect to Apple Fitness+ for more healthy options to stay in shape, and even measure potential sleep apnea as well as your blood oxygen levels. There's a lot it can do in terms of keeping you in the loop health-wise, so you might want to scoop it up just for that alone.

This watch also boasts up to 24 hours of battery life with normal use, a durable glass display, and a water resistance rating of 50m with IP6X dust resistance. It really does have just about everything you might need, so if you've had your eye on one, now's the time to dive in.

Kristen Stewart has already had a long and varied career, moving from child star in films like Panic Room to teen blockbuster lead in Twilight. From there, she jumped into daring arthouse films, earning critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Spencer, and embracing her status as a queer heartthrob in Love Lies Bleeding. Now, her career continues to evolve as she steps behind the camera for her feature directorial debut, The Chronology of Water.

Based on the memoir of the same name by Lidia Yuknavitch, The Chronology of Water stars Imogen Poots. She plays the film's version of Lidia, who escapes from an abusive home and immerses herself in the world of competitive swimming in the 1980s. But when her athletic pursuits come to an end, she finds herself grappling with love, sexuality, addiction, and her penchant for self-destruction, all while discovering herself through writing. The trailer teases the film's fragmented nature, as Lidia moves through flashes of the memories that came to define her.

The Chronology of Water had its premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it received positive reactions. Critics praised Stewart's strong sense of direction and Poots' lead performance.

In an interview with the New York Times out of Cannes, Stewart joked that critics were actually being too kind to the film. "I'm totally willing for people to come for it," she said. "I'm almost wanting it."

The Chronology of Water also stars Thora Birch, Jim Belushi, Earl Cave, Tom Sturridge, Charlie Carrick, and Kim Gordon.

The Chronology of Water hits select theaters Dec. 5, before expanding nationwide on Jan. 9.

SAVE $34.01: A 4-pack of Apple AirTags is on sale at Amazon for $64.99, down from the normal price of $99. That's a 34% discount and just 50 cents more than the lowest we've ever spotted at Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTag (4-pack) $64.99 at Amazon
$99 Save $34.01   Get Deal

Amazon's official Black Friday sale kicks off this Thursday, but we're already seeing deals that worthy of buying now. Shopping early means you'll avoid the chaos of Thursday and your order will already be en route (or delivered) in case of any shipping congestion that might occur. If your holiday plans involve travel, you'll want to tune in to this deal.

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As of Nov. 18, a 4-pack of Apple AirTags is on sale at Amazon for $64.99, marked down from the normal price of $99. That's a 34% discount that saves shoppers $34.01. This sale price is just 50 cents more than the lowest we've ever spotted at Amazon.

A Bluetooth tracker is one of the smartest items to pack for any holiday travel. One needs to go into checked luggage, but it's also smart to toss one into your carryon items, and get a functional keychain attachment to make sure you can always find those. You can locate missing items by playing a sound on the built-in speaker or find items that are further away thanks to the Apple Find My network.

SEE ALSO: The 30+ best early Black Friday Apple deals: We found record lows on AirPods and MacBooks already

The four-pack is a great one-click purchase compared to buy individual AirTags. A single AirTag is currently on sale at Amazon for $17.97 which would make four come to a total of $71.88, so the four-pack is a much better deal.

Since Amazon's Black Friday sale officially kicks off on Thursday, snagging the 4-pack of Apple AirTags means you can avoid any future shopping chaos. Consider the stocking stuffers bought.

SAVE $47.96: As of Nov. 18, new subscribers can get four months of Spotify Premium for free. Typically $11.99 per month, that saves you nearly $50.

Opens in a new window Credit: Spotify Spotify Premium get 4 months for free (save $47.96) Get Deal

If you don't already have a music streaming subscription, now's a good time to hit that subscribe button because Spotify is offering new users four months of its Premium service for free.

Through Dec. 31, if you've never tried Spotify Premium before, you can enjoy four months of unlimited listening without spending a cent. And yes, even as a free trial listener, you'll still get all of the benefits you'd enjoy as a Premium Individual subscriber.

With Spotify Premium, you'll ditch ads for good, be able to download music to listen to offline, enjoy listening with friends in real time, get full control over your music (unlimited skips, playlist organization, etc.), and finally enjoy lossless audio with sound quality up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz. You'll also unlock things like Discover Weekly, which helps you find new artists and songs based on your previous listening habits, as well as "Daily Mix" playlists, mood-based "daylists," those famous Wrapped stats, and new weekly listening stats.

Premium accounts also get 15 hours of audiobook time per month, so you can tap into your TBR list without spending a fortune on new books or waiting in the queue on the Libby app.

One thing to note: Your account will automatically be charged $11.99 per month after the trial is up. So if you decide you want to cancel, do it before the four-month period is up. You have until Dec. 31 to secure the deal.

Pour one out for the doubters. When Universal announced director Jon M. Chu would be breaking the hit Broadway musical Wicked into two films, there was a lot of grumbling that this was a cash-grab decision that would not be justified in the storytelling. 

Sure, 2024's Wicked had a terrific climax, ending with Elphaba's escape from Emerald City and the show's greatest song, "Defying Gravity." But how do you make Act 2, a wobblier construct with new characters and jarring reveals, work as its own movie? Chu shows us how with Wicked: For Good. 

SEE ALSO: 'Wicked: For Good' trailer: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande return to conclude Elphaba and Glinda's story

The screenplay, written by the Broadway show's book writer Winnie Holzman and screenwriter Dana Fox, smartly builds out elements glossed over in the bustling second act of the theatrical production. The film features dynamic action sequences, heavy-handed flashbacks, and two new songs, one for Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo and another for Academy Award nominee Ariana Grande-Butera (as she's credited). Now, some of this certainly plays as filler. But much of it bolsters Chu's cinematic vision of this reimagined Oz. 

Once again the double act of Erivo and Grande sets a dizzyingly high bar, one that will thrill movie audiences and inspire generations of theater kids to defy gravity of their own.

Wicked: For Good paints a dystopia — but with brighter colors. Credit: Universal Pictures

Critics of Chu's first Wicked (me included) jeered the toned-down colors of Emerald City and the plethora of poppies. For much of Wicked: For Good, he's course corrected — or color corrected — to better revel in the vibrant hues of Nathan Crowley's meticulous production design and Paul Tazewell's glistening costumes of Oz. Elphaba's black robes strike a sharper contrast in visuals and tone against the emerald of the Wizard's realm and the princessy pinks of Glinda's garb. As the film gets emotionally darker for its heroines, Chu gives over to the gray again, seemingly covering the film in a dull veil that frustratingly obscures the focus and faces of his stars. However, there are still many opportunities for them to stand out. 

Wicked: For Good picks up with the not-so-wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) using enslaved, near-voiceless animals as beasts of burden to construct the Yellow Brick Road, while sneering human guards whip the critters without mercy. Naturally, Elphaba (Erivo) soars in, pulling off a superhero landing to free her fellow Ozians and scare off the violent guards, unavoidably feeding into the Wizard's smear campaign that has her as Oz's public enemy #1. 

Featured Video For You How director Jon M. Chu made 'Wicked'

Back in the glittering glory of Emerald City, Glinda (Grande-Butera) is a celebrated public figure being gifted her famous mechanized bubble, courtesy of a scowling Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Such whimsical transport will help complete the masquerade that Glinda the Good (as she's been branded) possesses incredible magic. And to complete the picture, the Wizard and Morrible have plotted a marriage between their poster girl and their debonair Captain of the Guard Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). 

While Elphaba fights single-handedly for the freedom of animals and the overturning of the Wizard's regime of lies, she suffers the heartache of having lost her best friend, her beau, and her connection to her sister, Nessa (Marissa Bode). In For Good, she reconnects with each, making sparks and spells fly, resulting in the turns very familiar to fans of The Wizard of Oz. 

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera are spectacular in Wicked: For Good.  Credit: Universal Pictures

With the first film, Erivo was unconvincing as an insecure ingénue. Her strong physicality and booming vocals are better suited to Wicked's second half, where Elphaba has metaphorically found her voice. Here, Erivo channels a radiant intensity into every step, every lyric, and every glare. 

Grande-Butera is her pitch-perfect foil. Where Elphaba's attitude reflects the darkness overtaking Oz, Glinda's bubbliness mirrors the citizens' blithe and oblivious attitude toward their Wizard dictator. In terms of balancing comedy and drama, Erivo and Grande-Butera work as a terrific team. Erivo broods and belts, while Grande-Butera bubbles and…also belts.

Even within the grimmer turns this sequel takes, Grande-Butera finds in-character moments for lightness and comedy. The "tap to bubble" bit teased in trailers is undeniable fun. But even as Glinda lays down heavy truths, Grande-Butera finds notes of "dumb blonde" bounciness that enrich without distracting. 

Credit: Universal Pictures

When these two friends and foes face off in a physical fight, there's an emotional charge but a comic tone, as they fight not like powerful witches, but like frenemies ready to rip each other's hair out. (Think when Colin Firth and Hugh Grant fight in Bridget Jones's Diary.) 

It almost goes without saying that both Erivo and Grande-Butera crush the vocals, not only for the well-known Wicked numbers, but also for the Elphaba song "No Place Like Home" and Glinda's "The Girl in the Bubble." However, neither song is as strong as those from the Broadway soundtrack. 

Wicked: For Good goes surprisingly hard into the darkest turns.  Credit: Universal Pictures

Fans of Gregory Maguire's novel or the long-running Broadway musical that was born from it won't be surprised by the revealed origins of Dorothy and her Yellow Brick Road-trekking friends. However, they might still marvel at the costume and makeup transformations that bring these iconic figures to life anew. (Save for the Cowardly Lion, voiced by a theatrically trembling Colman Domingo, who is a fluffy CGI gesture.) 

Ethan Slater brings a sharp viciousness to cursed Munchkin Boq, while his Nessa finds her inner wicked witch. As for Bailey, he is every inch the dashing hero when the script calls for it. But it's a love scene with Erivo that will have fans swooning — and likely launch untold crushes. (That Chu has this strapping man baring his chest hair and rocking some rolled-up shirt sleeves suggests the director understands female desire better than scads of his peers.) Even after a fateful transformation, Fiyero is a charmer. Simply put, Bailey is living up to his recently earned Sexiest Man Alive title — even when his vocal range seems strained by the demands of a duet opposite Erivo. 

Elsewhere, Yeoh is satisfyingly snarling as the vicious Morrible. Goldblum is beguiling as the Wizard, but admittedly one-note, choosing to play the "corn-fed" villain as dedicatedly decorous even in the face of his darkest secrets. Fans of the comedic treasure that was the team-up of Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James will be disappointed, as their Pfannee and Shenshen appear in only one brief sequence. (They do get laughs though!) Overall, the ensemble is good as gold. 

Where Wicked: For Good fumbles is in its insistence to look back. The new song numbers give the audience a deeper insight into the internal struggles of Elphaba and Glinda. The flashbacks, however, are indulgences. One features a small army of adorably dressed children in an insufferably simplistic explanation of why Glinda would lie to please people — as if that wasn't clear by this point in the story. The other flashback is more useful because the show has been split into two parts, so it's helpful in connecting a potentially lost thread. But this sequence also features a CGI de-aging that is distractingly poor. These moments highlight how Chu is struggling to pace the final chapter of his Wicked adaptation. But none ruin the fun, just the flow. 

In the end, Wicked: For Good is sure to enthrall fans of the Broadway show, the first movie, and just about anyone who loves a splashy movie musical. Despite its faults, it's still good. 

Wicked: For Good opens in theaters on Nov. 21. 

TL;DR: Live stream Brazil vs. Tunisia in an International Friendly for free on ITVX. Access this free streaming site from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

World Cup qualification is already sorted for Brazil, but now it's time to build some momentum and test out new lineups ahead of the main event. Fresh from beating Senegal 1-0 in their last International Friendly, Brazil now face Tunisia in Lille. We're expecting an entertaining tussle between two talented sides.

If you want to watch Brazil vs. Tunisia in an International Friendly for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Brazil vs. Tunisia?

Brazil vs. Tunisia kicks off at 7:30 p.m. GMT on Nov. 18. This fixture takes place at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

How to watch Brazil vs. Tunisia for free

Brazil vs. Tunisia is available to live stream for free on ITVX+.

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

Lve stream Brazil vs. Tunisia for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Visit ITVX

5. Stream Brazil vs. Tunisia 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 leveraging these offers, you can watch Brazil vs. Tunisia without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select games before recovering your investment.

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

What is the best VPN for ITVX?

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

• Servers in 105 countries including the UK

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% 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 (including money-back guarantee).

Live stream Brazil vs. Tunisia for free with ExpressVPN.

Meta is continuing its crackdown on copycat content.

The company is introducing a new tool for Facebook Reels creators that protects creators' content from being reposted from other accounts without permission.

On Monday, Meta announced a tool called content protection, which helps users "safeguard your reels and maintain control over your creative work." It's located in the Professional dashboard in the Facebook app, and currently the only users who are eligible for the tool are creators in the Facebook Content Monetization program "who meet enhanced integrity and originality standards." Users can check to see if they're eligible in their Feed, Professional dashboard, and profile.

"Your original work is your voice, and you should have the tools to protect it," Meta said in a press release about the change. "That's why we built content protection — a powerful yet simple new tool in your Professional dashboard in the Facebook app that helps you safeguard your reels and maintain control over your creative work. It’s part of our ongoing focus this year to help authentic creators break through on Facebook."

Once users enroll in content protection, they allow their reels to be scanned by the same matching technology as Meta's Rights Manager for matches. If the tool detects matches — be that full or partial — Facebook will notify the creator, who can review the content and decide to take action or not.

If the user decides to take action, they can choose to either track, block, or release. Tracking is the default setting and keeps the matching reel visible, but the user can stay informed about its performance.

"You can always revisit and take a different action at any time," Meta said about the tracking option. "You can also add attribution links to select eligible tracked matches on Facebook, which puts an 'original by' label on the reel that links back to your Page or Profile."

Users can also block, which makes the matching reel not visible without taking disciplinary action against the other account, or users can release their claim. They can also grant permission to certain accounts to use their content, which adds them to an "allow list" and makes it so that their matching content won't be flagged.

This is all part of an ongoing attempt from Meta to stop copycat creators. In July, the company said it took down 10 million profiles impersonating other content creators and "took action on" 500,000 accounts engaged in spammy behavior.

UPDATE Tuesday, Nov. 18, 11:33 a.m. ET: Cloudflare confirmed it had fully resolved the issue causing outages on Tuesday. This morning's Clouflare outage caused widespread errors across popular services, apps, and websites.

The company wrote in an emailed statement to Mashable that the outages stemmed from a crash in a software system that handles traffic, while adding that there was no evidence it was caused by malicious activity.

Read the statement:

"Many of Cloudflare's services experienced a significant outage today beginning around 11:20 UTC. It was fully resolved at 14:30 UTC. The root cause of the outage was a configuration file that is automatically generated to manage threat traffic. The file grew beyond an expected size of entries and triggered a crash in the software system that handles traffic for a number of Cloudflare's services.

To be clear, there is no evidence that this was the result of an attack or caused by malicious activity. We expect that some Cloudflare services will be briefly degraded as traffic naturally spikes post incident but we expect all services to return to normal in the next few hours. A detailed explanation will be posted soon on blog.cloudflare.com. Given the importance of Cloudflare's services, any outage is unacceptable. We apologize to our customers and the Internet in general for letting you down today. We will learn from today's incident and improve."

UPDATE Tuesday, Nov. 18, 10:28 a.m. ET: It appeared Cloudflare's issues were nearing a full resolution on Tuesday.

"A fix has been implemented and we believe the incident is now resolved," read a recent status update from the company. "We are continuing to monitor for errors to ensure all services are back to normal."

User-reported issues on Downdetector did appear to be quickly falling off. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.)

The company noted in a more recent update that some Cloudflare users may still be experiencing login issues, but that it is working on a fix.

UPDATE Tuesday, Nov. 18, 9:18 a.m. ET: Cloudflare confirmed it was experiencing serious issues on Tuesday morning, noting in an emailed statement to Mashable that the root cause appeared to be "a spike in unusual traffic."

Read the statement from Cloudflare:

We saw a spike in unusual traffic to one of Cloudflare's services beginning at 11:20 UTC. That caused some traffic passing through Cloudflare's network to experience errors. We do not yet know the cause of the spike in unusual traffic. We are all hands on deck to make sure all traffic is served without errors. After that, we will turn our attention to investigating the cause of the unusual spike in traffic. We will post updates to cloudflarestatus.com and more in-depth analysis when it is ready to blog.cloudflare.com.

The latest status update from Cloudflare read that it was "working on restoring service for application services customers."

The internet appears to be breaking again.

On Tuesday morning, at 11:48 UTC, Cloudflare confirmed its global network is experiencing issues impacting "multiple customers."

SEE ALSO: Cloudflare launches way to charge AI bots for crawling sites

Here's the full statement published on the site's status page.

Cloudflare Global Network experiencing issues

Investigating - Cloudflare is aware of, and investigating an issue which potentially impacts multiple customers. Further detail will be provided as more information becomes available.

Nov 18, 2025 - 11:48 UTC

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

Cloudflare is a service that "powers Internet requests for millions of websites and serves 78 million HTTP requests per second on average," according to its site. In short, when Cloudflare has problems, the internet has problems. Users on X are already reporting issues, and Down Detector — the site that's normally a go-to for checking what's broken and what's not — appears to be having issues itself. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis owns both Mashable and Down Detector.)

Credit: Downdetector

It's worth noting this isn't the first time Cloudflare has experienced major issues. Large portions of the internet went down back in June due to Cloudflare disruption, causing problems for users of Twitch, Etsy, Discord, and Google.

Which parts of the internet are affected?

Here's a working list of all the sites and services affected by the Cloudflare outage:

• Archive of Our Own

• Canva

• Depop

• Downdetector

• Grindr

• League of Legends

• OpenAI / ChatGPT

• Spotify

• X (Twitter)

'Please unlock Cloudflare challenges' error

Many sites impacted by the Cloudflare outage, including OpenAI.com, are displaying an error message that reads, "Please unblock challenges.cloudflare.com to proceed."

This is a developing story and will be updated as new details emerge.

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UPDATE Tuesday, Nov. 18, 11:27 a.m. ET: Cloudflare confirmed it experienced a "significant outage" on Tuesday that stemmed from a crash in a software system that handles traffic for a number of its services.

The company wrote in an emailed statement to Mashable that the issue had been fully resolved and added that it did not appear to be an attack or caused by malicious activity.

The statement from Cloudflare read:

"Many of Cloudflare's services experienced a significant outage today beginning around 11:20 UTC. It was fully resolved at 14:30 UTC. The root cause of the outage was a configuration file that is automatically generated to manage threat traffic. The file grew beyond an expected size of entries and triggered a crash in the software system that handles traffic for a number of Cloudflare's services.

To be clear, there is no evidence that this was the result of an attack or caused by malicious activity. We expect that some Cloudflare services will be briefly degraded as traffic naturally spikes post incident but we expect all services to return to normal in the next few hours. A detailed explanation will be posted soon on blog.cloudflare.com. Given the importance of Cloudflare's services, any outage is unacceptable. We apologize to our customers and the Internet in general for letting you down today. We will learn from today's incident and improve."

Issues with Cloudflare — one of the internet's major infrastructure providers — led to massive outages Tuesday morning as East Coast folks logged on to work. We're now starting to get answers as to why that happened.

Cloudflare emailed a statement to Mashable, suggesting that unusual, heavy traffic to its services was to blame. The company has not yet stated whether the unusual traffic appears to be of a nefarious nature.

SEE ALSO: Cloudflare outage list: X, OpenAI, Canva, Spotify, more impacted

Read the statement from Cloudflare:

"We saw a spike in unusual traffic to one of Cloudflare's services beginning at 11:20 UTC. That caused some traffic passing through Cloudflare's network to experience errors. We do not yet know the cause of the spike in unusual traffic. We are all hands on deck to make sure all traffic is served without errors. After that, we will turn our attention to investigating the cause of the unusual spike in traffic. We will post updates to cloudflarestatus.com and more in-depth analysis when it is ready to blog.cloudflare.com."

That spike in unusual traffic, it seems, sparked the massive issues on Tuesday. The list of services experiencing outages was vast, but appeared to include heavy hitters like OpenAI, X, Grindr, and many more. Pretty much anyone with an internet connection would be affected by a Cloudflare outage. User-reported issues on Downdetector continued to spike as we neared 10 a.m. ET, indicating the problems persisted. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.)

"We've deployed a change which has restored dashboard services. We are still working to remediate broad application services impact," read the most recent update on Cloudflare's status page.

Like the recent AWS outage, Cloudflare is one of the major pillars of the internet. When it goes down, the downstream effects are serious and vast — as we're seeing Tuesday.

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