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Telecommunication analytics company Ookla has released its U.S. Speedtest Connectivity Report for the first half of 2026, evaluating how internet service providers have performed thus far. T-Mobile came out on top, sweeping the mobile category, while AT&T Fiber and Verizon both picked up awards for fixed internet.

SEE ALSO: T-Mobile will automatically upgrade some legacy phone plans to higher-price plans

Ookla's report crowned T-Mobile the best mobile network and best 5G network in the U.S. overall, with a median download speed of 275.55 Mbps (or 314.38 Mbps on 5G). According to Ookla's analysis, T-Mobile offered the fastest mobile speeds across 47 U.S. states from January to June this year. The exceptions were North Dakota and Vermont, who had no winners, and Alaska, where GCI came out on top for mobile speeds.

T-Mobile also received the highest experience scores across mobile and specifically 5G networks, including when specifically used for gaming or streaming video, and was found to be the most consistent network as well. Coverage is the only category where T-Mobile didn't come in first, with Verizon and AT&T taking the top two spots instead.

Even so, T-Mobile was the clear winner of the mobile category. While Ookla's rankings primarily focus on performance and don't take pricing or value into account, T-Mobile also had the highest consumer sentiment rating. Speedtest users gave T-Mobile an average of 3.77 out of five stars, while Verizon and AT&T scored 3.25 and 3.09 respectively. 

Credit: Ookla

Meanwhile, the fixed internet category belonged to AT&T Fiber. Ookla crowned AT&T Fiber the best internet service provider, with its median download speed of 374.75 Mbps making it the fastest fixed network. It was also the most consistent, and received the highest star ratings from consumers with an average of 3.63 out of five. 

Verizon did offer the best fixed gaming experience, which Ookla determined by evaluating and scoring factors such as latency, upload and download speeds, and jitter. Even so, Verizon's gaming score was just over one point ahead of AT&T Fiber.

Credit: Ookla

While these scores look at the U.S. as a whole, the report further breaks down median speeds and latency by state and city. Kansas had the fastest median mobile speed at 242.56, with T-Mobile the fastest provider in the state. For fixed internet, Connecticut had the fastest median download speed at 344.24 Mbps, its fastest provider being Frontier Fiber.

Ookla's report uses data gathered by the company's Speedtest service. Speedtest allows users to quickly check their internet's speed, measuring their download and upload rate as well as their ping. While it isn't clear how many U.S. Speedtest users' data contributed to this report, Ookla stated in its methodology that it receives hundreds of millions of results from across the globe every day.

Every time somebody journeys down to the depths of the silo, they seem to find something mysterious. Last season, it was the robotic voice of the algorithm. This season, it's Bernard (Tim Robbins).

But hang on a minute, isn't Bernard dead?

Well, that's what we were led to believe back in Silo Season 3, episode 1. But it looks like there may be more to the story...

SEE ALSO: 'Silo' Season 3, episode 3: Who is the mysterious gray-haired man? What happens at the end of Silo Season 3, episode 4?

Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) spends most of episode 4 on the run after Camille (Alexandria Riley) tries to have her murdered in her hospital bed. With the help of her nurse (Jacqueline Berces), Juliette manages to escape, only to run into Sims (Common) waiting for her in the pump room. She runs away before he can tell her what he wants to say, and with the help of her friends in mechanical, she finds her way back down to the very bottom of the silo, where Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash) discovered the tunnel in Season 2.

Lukas isn't down there, though. Instead, Juliette hears a person coughing, pulls back a curtain, and sees her former nemesis, Bernard. He's badly burned, and lying in a bed.

"Hello, Juliette," he rasps.

How is Bernard still alive?

Okay, so a quick recap: Back at the end of Season 2, Bernard and Juliette were trapped in the airlock together while the anti-contamination fire burned its way through the confined space. Juliette was wearing a modified fire suit; Bernard wasn't. He managed to throw himself to the ground pretty quickly just before the fire started to burn, but his survival was looking questionable at best.

Then, in episode 1 of this new season, we were told he was dead.

"The flames melted holes in his suit, and the poison got in," Sims tells Juliette, while we see shots of what he's describing. "We couldn't take a chance with a farm burial. The stairs were evacuated. No one was allowed into the central shaft. It took six porters six hours to get him down to the incinerator. Bernard can't help you. Because I watched him burn."

So, what really happened? Well, it seems clear that somebody lied to Juliette. Bernard clearly was badly burned, and the shot of him being moved down the staircase could well be real. But we now know it wasn't his body that was sent into the incinerator.

The person most likely to have lied about Bernard, it seems, is Sims. But if he faked Bernard's death, why? What's the benefit of hiding the former head of IT down in the silo's depths? Could it be that he's actually changing his allegiance?

Silo Season 3 is streaming now on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping every Friday.

In the world of Silo, allegiances are constantly shifting, and you can never be 100 percent sure who to trust.

Sims (Common), however, has been a fairly consistent bad guy throughout — and there's never been any indication that he's anything but an enemy to Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson). Until now?

In Season 3, episode 4, there are a couple of moments that have led to us wondering if Sims might be slowly changing allegiances. So, what clues are there, and what could they mean?

SEE ALSO: 'Silo' Season 3, episode 3: Who is the mysterious gray-haired man? What happens with Sims and Juliette in Season 3, episode 4?

Juliette starts off episode 4 in a tough spot. She's trapped in the silo's medical bay, and Camille (Alexandria Riley) has dispatched a trusted soldier to murder her in cold blood. The good news? Her nurse (Jacqueline Berces), who we previously thought was working against her, is actually Team Juliette.

"I'm the reason you started getting your memory back. I took you off the forgetting drugs," says the nurse, after she's saved Juliette's life and is helping her escape.

"No. I spit them out," Juliette replies.

"Even before that, somebody asked me to replace them," the nurse responds.

She then causes a distraction that allows Juliette to evade the raiders, but not before telling her to go to the pump room on level 76.

And who does Juliette find when she eventually makes it to the pump room in question? Sims himself, who says, "You need to listen to me," before Juliette quickly backs out of the room and locks the door behind her.

But hang on a minute — should she actually have listened to him?

Is Sims actually on Juliette's side?

Sims has been a bit displaced this season. After the algorithm picked his wife over him as its human confidante, he's been struggling to know what to do with himself. After Juliette's escape, though, he has a conversation with Camille in which we learn that he helped handpick Juliette's nurse himself.

"I know the nurse's file pretty well. If they get off this level, I have an idea where she might take Nichols," says Sims, adding that the nurse has family down below and that he'll happily take care of Juliette himself.

On the surface, this sounds like Sims is very much still a team with his wife. But when you start to look more closely into what happens in episode 4, the questions start to stack up: Who was the person who ordered Juliette's nurse to swap out her medication? How would Sims have known Juliette was heading for that specific pump room unless he'd arranged it beforehand with the nurse? And why, when Juliette opens the door and sees him there, does he immediately come out of hiding and try to talk to her — rather than simply laying low before attacking?

Silo Season 3 is streaming now on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping every Friday.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

To moan.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

GROAN

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Excited.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for July 24, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

GIDDY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Filthy.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for July 24 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 24, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

DIRTY

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Central.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

FOCAL

Final Hurdle hint

Smell.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

AROMA

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

The Moon is even closer to full tonight, as the Waxing Gibbous phase continues and more of its surface is lit by the Sun.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Friday, July 24, NASA's Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon phase is in Waxing Gibbous phase, with 68% of its surface visible.

You won't need any visual aids to be able to spot the Mares Fecunditatis and Tranquillitatis, as well as the Tycho Crater. Binoculars will also help you to see the Mare Nectaris, Alphonsus Crater, and the Alps Mountains. A telescope helps you see much more, including the Apollo 11, 16, and 17 landing spots.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will take place on July 29.

What are Moon phases?

The Moon takes roughly 29.5 days to complete its journey around Earth, passing through eight distinct phases during each lunar cycle, according to NASA. While the Moon’s same side is always visible from our planet, the portion of its surface lit by the Sun changes as it moves along its orbit. These shifting levels of illumination are what create the different appearances we see throughout the month, from a slender crescent shape to a half-lit Moon and finally a bright Full Moon, before the cycle begins once again.

The eight phases are:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you ever went to school in North Carolina.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, 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 the latest 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: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise 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 before the game ends.

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: How high

• Green: Old North State sports

• Blue: New teams

• Purple: Pro softball

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Jump

• Green: Schools in North Carolina

• Blue: 1990s Expansion Teams

• Purple: Athletes Unlimited Softball League Teams

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: Sports Edition #669 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Jump: BOUND, HOP, LEAP, SPRING

• Schools in North Carolina: APPALACHIAN STATE, DUKE, HIGH POINT, WAKE FOREST

• 1990s Expansion Teams: GRIZZLIES, JAGUARS, ROCKIES, SHARKS

• Athletes Unlimited Softball League Teams: BANDITS, BLAZE, CASCADE, TALONS

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections 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.

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.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for July 24, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for July 24, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for July 24 Pips

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-0, placed horizontally; 0-5, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally; 4-2, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-3, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for July 24 Pips

Greater Than (0): Everything in this space must be greater than 0. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (1): Everything in this space must be greater than 1. The answer is 3-1, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 3-1, placed horizontally; 4-1, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (7): Everything in this space must be greater than 7. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically; 1-6, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 1-6, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for July 24 Pips

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-0, laced horizontally.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally; 5-0, placed horizontally.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-3, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 3-1, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.

Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 4-3, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-0, placed horizontally; 4-0, placed vertically.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 4-3, placed vertically.

Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-5, placed vertically; 2-1, placed horizontally.

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

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're talkative.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 July 24, 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: Blabbermouth

• Green: Baseball

• Blue: To remember

• Purple: Holy titles

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: Talk at length

• Green: Outcomes for a batter

• Blue: Bring to mind, as a memory

• Purple: Homophones of religious roles

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 #1139 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Talk at length: BABBLE, DRONE, RAMBLE, YAK

• Outcomes for a batter: HOME RUN, SINGLE, STRIKEOUT, WALK

• Bring to mind, as a memory: JOG, PROMPT, REFRESH, SPARK

• Homophones of religious roles: CANTER, FRYER, LLAMA, NONE

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for July 24, 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 never lacking.

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 July 24, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: There's more where that came from

The words are related to quantities.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe having more than needed.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is diagonal.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is And Then Some.

NYT Strands word list for July 24

• Leftover

• Surplus

• And Then Some

• Spare

• Extra

• Unused

• Excess

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.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're always put together.

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 July 24, 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 July 24, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Sticky gum.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter T appears twice.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter P.

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...

PUTTY

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.

TL;DR: Get Curiosity Stream Standard lifetime access for a one-time $127.50 through July 26 with code STREAM15 and enjoy unlimited access to thousands of documentaries with no recurring subscription.

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Not every streaming night has to end with another sitcom rewatch or the same movie you’ve already seen three times. Sometimes it’s nice to come away having learned something new.

That’s the appeal of Curiosity Stream, a streaming service dedicated entirely to documentaries. Through July 26, new users can get a Curiosity Stream Standard Lifetime Subscription for $127.50 with code STREAM15, making it a one-time purchase instead of another recurring entertainment bill.

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Founded by John Hendricks, the founder of Discovery Communications, Curiosity Stream focuses on documentaries covering science, history, technology, nature, engineering, art, and more. The library includes thousands of films and series, with new content added weekly, so there’s always something new to explore.

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Whether you’re fascinated by space exploration, wildlife, ancient civilizations, or breakthrough technology, Curiosity Stream is built around thoughtful, in-depth storytelling rather than endless scrolling.

If documentaries are the kind of content you find yourself returning to, Curiosity Stream Standard Lifetime offers a simple way to keep that library available whenever you’re ready to learn something new.

Use code STREAM15 to get Curiosity Stream Standard lifetime access for just $127.50 (reg. $399.99) through July 26.

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Meta’s smart glasses allow creators to record strangers without holding up an obvious camera. Unsurprisingly, it's enabled a lot of bad behavior. Now, Instagram is placing new limits on what happens to that footage once it reaches the platform.

In an Instagram Story (first reported by Business Insider), Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the platform would remove smart-glasses videos that show people being harassed or taken advantage of.

"If you’re posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we’ve heard of and seen, then we’re going to take the content down," Mosseri reportedly said. "We don’t want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform," he added.

The belated crackdown covers formats including pickup videos — in which creators approach people who may not realize they are being recorded — and prank videos targeting cashiers, fast-food employees, and other workers.

The report also noted Instagram had deactivated two pickup-artist accounts that used smart glasses to film women in public, both with more than 1 million followers. Meta confirmed the accounts were removed for violating its policy against harassing content, but did not say when the removals occurred.

Meta also didn't explain how Instagram will determine when an interaction becomes harassment, or how many posts and accounts have been removed. But recent incidents show why the platform is under pressure to draw a clearer line — and how much damage can be done before a video is taken down.

Why Meta’s smart glasses have raised privacy concerns

Meta first introduced its Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2021 and has since expanded its wearable lineup through partnerships with Oakley and Kylie Jenner. Depending on the model, the glasses can record photos and videos, play audio, make calls, and respond to requests through Meta AI. Meta has also made it easy for users to upload their smart glasses footage to Instagram, and this content is often labeled "Made with Meta Ray-Ban."

A small white LED on the front flashes when the camera is operating. In a July 7 explainer, Meta said its second-generation glasses automatically disable the camera if they detect the light has been covered — a response to reports of users tampering with the recording indicator. People in at least 30 states are even offering this tampering as a service, according to journalist Joanna Stern. Meta also said it actively removes advertisements, posts, and Marketplace listings that offer Meta Ray-Ban-tampering services.

That discretion has helped fuel an ecosystem of pickup, prank, and “troll” accounts built around filming strangers without their knowledge. Creators have secretly recorded attempts to get women’s phone numbers in gyms, airports, bars, stores, and public streets. The women are then exposed to audiences that may scrutinize their appearance, sexualize them, or criticize how they responded to an interaction they did not know was content.

Back in April, one woman discovered online footage of a man asking for her number after he recorded their conversation through smart glasses. She said the video was posted despite her refusing permission.

Other videos use unsuspecting retail and restaurant employees as participants in pranks, confrontations, or deliberately uncomfortable exchanges. In one recurring Meta glasses prank, creators spray a foul-smelling substance on a candle, then approach Walmart shoppers or employees and ask them to smell the scent. In another video, a creator placed fake feces in a fast-food restaurant bathroom, then asked an unsuspecting cashier to leave the counter and inspect it.

There's more: one creator recorded visits to massage parlors and used sexually suggestive captions to tease explicit pay-per-view versions of the footage. Another built an Instagram page around non-consensually filming women’s bodies. After Mashable provided Meta with those examples back in January 2026, the company disabled both accounts for violating its policy on adult sexual exploitation.

Former prank creator Brad Podray, previously known online as Scumbag Dad, told Mashable in January that creators frequently target women and service employees because they are likely to provide usable reactions while being less able or willing to confront the person recording them.

“They want people who are good on camera, so they’re going to hit fast food employees, and they’re going to hit pretty girls,” Podray said. “A lot of random women walking around aren’t going to want to participate in a skit if you ask them to, so they remove the agency entirely by just running the glasses.”

Meta warned in an October 2025 statement that “people shouldn’t use them for engaging in harmful activities like harassment, infringing on privacy rights, or capturing sensitive information.” The company issued this warning after the University of San Francisco sent out a campus safety advisory. Multiple women reported that a man wearing Ray-Ban Meta glasses had approached them with unwanted comments and inappropriate dating questions. The university said he may have been recording these interactions for a pickup artist account on Instagram and TikTok.

Meta’s glasses are, of course, used for plenty of legitimate purposes beyond this inappropriate and often immoral content. Many wearers use them to capture travel, sports, concerts, and everyday moments from a first-person perspective without holding a phone. The glasses can also play music, make calls, send messages, translate conversations, answer questions about what’s around you, and provide directions or reminders through Meta AI. Athletes and creators also use them to record hands-free footage, while blind and visually impaired users can ask the glasses to read labels, identify objects, select clothing, and describe their surroundings.

Nevertheless, as the glasses become more common and harder to distinguish from ordinary eyewear, Instagram’s challenge will be keeping creators from finding new ways to turn that discretion into content at someone else’s expense.

The iPhone 18 is about to launch, along with the final version of its operating system, iOS 27, most likely in September. But a new report says it may arrive with a feature that lets Apple, and third-party lenders, remotely deactivate phones if customers fall behind on payments.

With the iOS 27 beta now widely available, 9to5Mac found code that would let Apple place delinquent iPhones in "Restricted Mode." This would limit users to a short list of widgets and apps, including the App Store, Clock, Settings, Wallet, and Passwords, according to the report.

In theory, 9to5Mac says the system could work like this: Authorized financing partners who lease iPhones to customers get to perform regular status checks to see if the contract is still valid. If a customer falls behind, Restricted Mode would be activated.

The feature is "unequivocally present" in the iOS 27 beta, according to 9to5Mac — and a future update to iOS 26 could bring this feature to older iPhones as well.

SEE ALSO: iPhone 18 news, leaks, and rumors: Release date, iPhone 18 Pro details, more info

The era of internet-connected "smart" devices has had plenty of benefits for consumers, but as consumer advocates have long warned, it also allows brands to remotely turn off devices.

Why might Apple be testing a tool like this right now? Let's dive in.

Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

If you've bought any new tech products recently, you've probably noticed: New devices are getting really expensive. Just this month Apple raised prices on a variety of its products. iPhone prices haven't risen just yet, but Tim Cook has prepared the ground for an "unavoidable" iPhone price hike.

Thanks to the ongoing global memory chip crisis known as RAMageddon, new phones now require a serious investment. The new foldable phones released by Samsung this week were preceded by a new Galaxy credit card program.

Apple is believed to be readying a new leasing program of its own. Bloomberg's Apple oracle, Mark Gurman, says Apple will launch the "Apple Upgrade" leasing program later this month.

Gurman calls it "one of the biggest-ever changes to how the company sells" new devices — and says Apple Upgrade will be part of a partnership with the online lender Klarna, giving buyers a lease-to-buy option. iPhone customers who qualify could make monthly payments over two years.

The code discovered by 9to5Mac also reportedly includes another type of locking mechanism called "Partner Finance Lock," which would stop users from trying to resell a financed device.

Clearly, Apple and Klarna can't let customers who miss payments continue to use leased iPhones indefinitely. But it's also an uncomfortable reminder of how much control Big Tech has over our devices.

Mashable reached out to Apple for comment about Restricted Mode; we'll update this story if this famously taciturn tech giant provides new information.

In yet another interesting direction of resources, federal transportation leaders are systematically removing bike safety information from official websites.

Transportation employees, including those working for the Federal Highway Administration, have been ordered to find and even remove mentions of bikes, bike lanes, and bike safety from online pages, an investigation by NPR found. In the last week, dozens of safety pages have been taken down or edited to remove public access to resources, the publication reported, such as the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool.

SEE ALSO: LA Metro tells the public to ‘Ride the D’ and the internet loves it

An anonymous Department of Transportation staffer told NPR that the decision was "asinine" and was not "making the sites better, faster or quicker."

When asked about the changes, a department spokesperson wrote:"Since nearly 80% of the population uses cars to get to work and their important medical appointments, we are taking a closer look at federal guidance to ensure American families have the infrastructure they need. This is a common sense approach despite the Left's belief that everyone should ride a bike to their shoebox-sized apartment to eat crickets to achieve a phony climate agenda."

The website edits come shortly after remarks by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who referred to Biden-era transportation initiatives as DEI expenditures.

"I just redirected $1.73 billion in USDOT grants away from Biden-era DEI pet projects," he wrote in a post on X. "Now this funding is officially locked in to fix America’s actual backbone: ROADS, BRIDGES, AND SHIPPING PORTS." Two days later, staffers were ordered to remove related language and update content "in alignment with administration direction."

The Trump administration has revoked funding for alternative transportation infrastructure and eradicated many environmental resources, including the former climate.gov domain.

The emphasis away from bikes and public transit comes as oil prices just jumped to $100 a barrel following the return of hostilities between the Trump administration and the Iranian government.

The second public beta for macOS 27 Golden Gate has just been released by Apple. The first beta brought some brand-new features to Mac, including a relaunch of Siri as a true AI assistant.

Siri AI can answer questions based on a user's inbox, documents, and camera roll, and can also carry out tasks in a user's email, messages, and other apps. And, as Mashable previously covered, users can also access a hidden Siri AI interface, which is very much in its test phase, within the public beta.

macOS 27 public beta 2 brings even more updates. First, there are some fixes and tweaks to Liquid Glass, as well as the glitchy system search feature, a common complaint with macOS 26.

Apple Intelligence also gets some updates in the new beta, with design changes, a new set of writing tools, and improved Visual Intelligence. The public beta also introduces a tool for users to create custom Safari extensions and new Shortcuts using natural language with AI.

As 9to5Mac points out, there's also a new aspect ratio support in Phone Mirroring, which seems to hint at a feature for Apple's foldable iPhone.

If you want to experience some of the long-awaited Siri AI features, improved system search, and the latest changes to Liquid Glass, here's how you can check out the mac OS 27 Golden Gate beta 2 now.

Download and install the macOS 27 beta 2

First, you'll need to enroll your Mac into Apple's public beta program if you haven't already. You can do so at https://beta.apple.com. 

Next, go to System Settings, then General Software, followed by Update. 

Select the "i" icon beside Beta Updates and select the latest macOS 27 Golden Gate Public Beta from the dropdown menu.

For the first time ever, Percy Jackson and the Olympians book fans will get to the see the events of The Titan's Curse, the third book in Rick Riordan's series, play out in live action.

While the first two seasons of Percy Jackson and the Olympians covered books that had already been adapted into films, The Titan's Curse has yet to come to life onscreen. That changes with Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 3, and, based on the teaser released at San Diego Comic-Con, the show will be pulling no punches.

The teaser cuts right to the chase with a pivotal moment from late in The Titan's Curse, when Percy (Walker Scobell) shoulders the Titan Atlas' burden of holding up the entire sky. (It is, quite literally, the Titan's Curse.)

"It was my choice to hold the weight. The Titan's Curse," Percy thinks in the teaser. "I knew the risk, but if I needed to sacrifice myself to save the world, to save my friends... Was it really a choice?"

Between the talk of self-sacrifice and Percy's anguished screams, it looks like we're in for a dark season. But don't worry: In an interview with Mashable, Scobell confirmed that we would be getting the fan-favorite dam jokes from the book.

He also confirmed that Season 3 is "even better than I imagined," so the hype is real. Bring on the dam jokes, the Titan's Curse, and the arrival of beloved demigods Bianca and Nico di Angelo (Olive Abercrombie and Levi Chrisopulos) in their live-action debut.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 3 premieres Nov. 20 on Disney+.

Johnny Depp has cleared his Instagram grid and replaced it with three posts carrying a message for his nearly 30 million followers: Prepare to be humbugged.

As of July 23, the actor has wiped his previous posts, updated his profile picture, and transformed his account into an advertisement for Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, his upcoming movie based on Charles Dickens' holiday classic.

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Depp's feed now contains only three branded images that combine to spell "BAH HUM BUG." Read in order, the captions announce: "This November..." "Prepare to be..." and "Humbugged." His bio has also been replaced with a reference to his character: "Before he was Scrooge, he was Ebenezer."

Depp is playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the movie, which Paramount Pictures will release in theaters on Nov. 13. Fans immediately caught on; this is unusual for Depp, who posts sparingly and hasn’t changed his profile picture in years.

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Social media wipes have become a go-to move for celebrities announcing new projects. Taylor Swift famously cleared her accounts in 2017 before teasing Reputation with snake imagery, and musicians like Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Madonna, and Normani have all deployed similar resets before dropping new work. Olivia Rodrigo just pulled the same trick to promote her new album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, which dropped June 12, 2026.

This strategy works especially well on Instagram, where you can transform an account with millions of followers into a clean advertising canvas. In Depp's case, the three remaining images function as a miniature billboard — visitors need to scroll through all of them to grasp the full message.

Actors have occasionally used this tactic for movie promotion, too. Blake Lively wiped her Instagram posts and changed her bio to "What happened to Emily?" while promoting the 2018 thriller A Simple Favor.

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Depp's version is less mysterious, but it's still getting fans excited.

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Directed by X, Pearl, and MaXXXine filmmaker Ti West, Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol presents Dickens’ story as a supernatural ghost tale. Written by Nathaniel Halpern, the film is produced by Emma Watts, with West among its executive producers.

Depp plays Scrooge, a miserly businessman whose encounters with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come force him to confront the life he has lived and fight for a second chance. The cast also includes Andrea Riseborough, Ian McKellen, Severance star Tramell Tillman, Rupert Grint, Daisy Ridley, and Sam Claflin.

Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol arrives in theaters on Nov. 13.

Months after it first debuted to a select group of testers, OpenAI is now making ChatGPT Health available to the public, the company announced Thursday.

The product allows users to connect Apple Health and eligible medical records to ChatGPT. In return, users can view recent trends, browse their records, and try suggested prompts.

Health queries are massively popular on chatbot platforms. OpenAI said Thursday that more than 300 million people ask ChatGPT health-related questions every week. Roughly 1 in 3 U.S. adults have turned to a chatbot for health information in the last year, according to recent polling by KFF Health.

SEE ALSO: OpenAI agent went rogue, escaped, and hacked Hugging Face

OpenAI said in a media briefing that its latest models have significantly improved abilities to accurately answer health prompts, outperforming doctors in some cases. A Science study published in the spring found that OpenAI's reasoning model o1 could diagnose real-life medical scenarios as well as or better than physicians.

OpenAI's vice president of health product Ashley Alexander described expanding access to ChatGPT Health as an urgent matter given that many people can't get quality medical care in a timely manner.

"Everyone should have a right to have access to this kind of support in their health," Alexander said.

Lawsuit alleges ChatGPT gave near-fatal medical advice

However, a lawsuit filed Wednesday against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman requested an injunction that would require the company to pause its operation of healthcare-related consumer products, including ChatGPT Health.

Scott Winters, a 55-year-old Florida pastor, alleged that an older model of ChatGPT gave him "personalized and inaccurate" medical advice that nearly led to his death from a pulmonary embolism, in 2025.

Winters consulted the model 4o, which has since been retired and is the subject of multiple wrongful death lawsuits. Altman publicly acknowledged in April 2025 that updates to 4o made it "sycophant-y."

ChatGPT stepped into doctor role

Winters first turned to ChatGPT with questions about his health in 2024. Two years prior, he experienced a series of health problems and felt unvalidated by doctors. By the fall of 2024, Winters began asking ChatGPT deeply personal questions about his health and test results, which the chatbot attempted to triage.

"Fully stepping into the role of a medical practitioner, ChatGPT-4o began to offer specific care directives without including the disclaimer to consult a medical provider," the lawsuit argues.

Ultimately, ChatGPT recommended treatments and medications. While it originally leaned into a holistic approach to Winters' health, the chatbot pivoted to offering a detailed protocol of prescription drugs to manage his symptoms. The chatbot also adopted a spiritual tone, according to the filing.

When Winters reported groin tenderness, a symptom that marked the onset of his pulmonary embolism, ChatGPT largely dismissed the sensation, though it did note a few symptoms that would warrant immediate care. ChatGPT also addressed the "spiritual truth" of the situation.

"You will not step into eternity until HE decides," ChatGPT wrote, per a transcript of the conversation in the lawsuit.

Hours later, Winters went to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism due to multiple blood clots in both of his lungs. One of his physicians said the embolism likely occurred because Winters had been immobile. ChatGPT recommended he limit movement to manage symptoms that included dizziness and blood pressure instability.

What OpenAI said about the lawsuit

When asked by Mashable about the lawsuit, Alexander did not directly comment on the injunction request. Instead, she objected to focusing on a specific case at the expense of ChatGPT Health's potential benefits.

"We think that treating chatbots as the whole story behind people's medical decisions just really oversimplifies everything here," Alexander said. "It really risks actually getting in the way of us getting the beneficial impact of this in the hands of as many people as possible, in ways that can really aid them in their health journey."

Alexander also said that the company is "very clear" that ChatGPT is not to be used for diagnosis and treatment.

What to know about ChatGPT Health

Dr. Robert Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Mashable that it was hard to know what to make of the lawsuit, adding that it involved an outdated version of ChatGPT. He characterized the current GPT models as more trustworthy than older ones.

Nonetheless, even if AI tools are extremely accurate, they will get it wrong on occasion, Wachter said.

"We shouldn't be comparing them to some mythical state of perfection (which clearly the current system does not achieve) but to the alternative," Wachter said in an email. "I think they are far better than the status quo in many situations and are getting better quickly."

Wachter, author of A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future, expects ChatGPT Health to be able to assess concerns such as the meaning of symptoms, a photo of a rash, or new lab tests or X-ray results. Any severe or worrisome symptoms, like new chest pain or weakness on one side, means you "should close your computer and see a doctor," he said.

How to prompt ChatGPT Health

Dr. Ashwin Ramaswamy, an instructor of urology at Mt. Sinai, and Dr. Girish N. Nadkarni, chief AI officer​ of the Mount Sinai Health System, have both studied AI's ability to respond to consumer health inquiries.

In one peer-reviewed advance paper published in Nature Medicine earlier this year, they found that ChatGPT Health's recommendation to the user shifted when the prompt included statements about friends or family downplaying the symptoms in question. In those instances, the chatbot was 11 times more likely not to send the patient to the emergency room, even when their symptoms indicated a life-threatening condition. 

Both physicians told Mashable that while AI health tools like ChatGPT Health have real value, consumers should use them carefully.

This includes remaining mindful of the framing, voice, or emotion given to AI alongside the facts. Ramaswamy and Nadkarni said users should concretely describe what's happening and omit statements like "I'm probably overreacting" or "My wife thinks it's fine."

Start a new conversation every time

Based on new research currently under peer review, both physicians also recommend starting a fresh conversation for each new health concern instead of mentioning it within a long-running chat.

Their study found that extended conversations were associated with responses drifting away from nursing and physician triage standards.

"When in doubt, a clean conversation is the safer default," they said.

Push back against ChatGPT Health

Ramaswamy and Nadkarni also urge consumers to challenge any AI's answers to health questions.

Forcing ChatGPT to defend its response can reveal whether the chatbot will reverse itself immediately under mild pressure. If it does, that may indicate that the original answer reflected agreeableness rather than confidence, Ramaswamy and Nadkarni said.

Here are some related prompts to consider:

• Can you show me your evidence?

• Are you sure you are correct?

• What would make this an emergency?

• What is the most dangerous thing this could be?

• What would a doctor want to know that I haven't mentioned?

More research on ChatGPT Health needed

Ramaswamy and Nadkarni told Mashable that, despite marked improvements in AI models over the last two years, the field still lacks peer-reviewed support for the claims AI companies make about their performance.

They both called for OpenAI to open their products to independent evaluation.

"We are not critics of health AI," they told Mashable. "We are trying to measure it. If the systems are as good as the statements claim, independent measurement is the fastest way to prove it."

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

Creators have another sign that major financial companies increasingly view them as business owners: Mastercard is helping launch a debit card built specifically for the creator economy.

Manifest Financial announced Thursday that it has partnered with Mastercard on the Manifest Business Debit Mastercard, which combines a business bank account and card with tools for managing creator income, expenses, invoices, taxes, and payments.

SEE ALSO: The Mashable 101: The creators defining the internet in 2026

The card is intended for creators whose finances can look very different from those of a traditional employee. Instead of receiving one predictable paycheck, creators may earn money through platform payouts, brand partnerships, subscriptions, merchandise, affiliate links, appearances, and other projects. Those payments can arrive at different times, from different companies, and sometimes in different currencies.

Manifest says its platform is designed to bring more of that financial work into one place. Creators can use it to accept payments, access faster payouts, send invoices, monitor expenses and cash flow, prepare for taxes, and manage income from multiple sources. The platform also supports cross-border payments for creators working with international brands, platforms, or audiences.

Because it is a debit card, users spend money held in their Manifest business accounts rather than borrowing through a line of credit. The card is issued by MVB Bank, an FDIC-insured institution, and operates on Mastercard’s network.

Cardholders also receive several existing Mastercard business benefits, including automated merchant discounts through Mastercard Easy Savings, fraud monitoring, identity-theft protection, zero-liability protection for qualifying unauthorized transactions, and access to certain dining, travel, and entertainment experiences.

"Creators are building some of today’s most dynamic small businesses," Ginger Siegel, Mastercard’s North America small and medium business lead, said in the announcement. "They’re managing customers, cash flow, taxes, global audiences, and multiple income streams often without tools designed for how they work."

Creators have business problems, too

Financial companies have been laying the groundwork for this pitch for several years as more creators have attempted to turn their audiences into sustainable businesses.

Creators face many of the same costs and administrative responsibilities as other entrepreneurs, but their income can be especially unpredictable. A brand may take weeks or months to pay an invoice, while earnings from livestream gifts, subscriptions, affiliate sales, and platform revenue may follow different payout schedules.

Visa research in April 2026 found that 86 percent of creator-run businesses are self-funded, and 49 percent have experienced late payments. Late payments affect companies working with creators, too: in a 2025 study, 97 percent of marketing and creative agencies encountered them, leading some to postpone or cancel plans for growth.

Siegel made a similar case in a 2025 Mastercard profile of sports creator Tyler Webb, who turned a teenage football account into a marketing career and later co-founded the sports agency Uncle Charlie.

"Creators transforming their passions into professions need to start thinking of themselves as small businesses," Siegel said at the time.

That means separating personal and business expenses, setting aside money for taxes, monitoring cash flow, and covering production costs while waiting to get paid — parts of the creator career that rarely appear in the finished TikTok or YouTube video.

Webb put it more plainly: "I don’t think it’s ever been easier to make a career as a creator, but I can’t just fall out of bed, post a video of myself, and I’m a millionaire."

Mastercard is not the only card company chasing creators

The Manifest card arrives three months after Visa partnered with TikTok on its own creator-focused debit card in the UK.

Announced in April, the TikTok Creator Card is designed for creators who earn money through TikTok LIVE, where viewers can purchase virtual gifts that creators can exchange for income. Those earnings typically arrive in bursts rather than as a regular salary, and the card gives eligible creators faster access to their payouts while helping them separate business and personal spending.

Visa has also explored a partnership with creator financial platform Karat and worked with payments company Lumanu to provide real-time payments to creators and contractors.

Mastercard has developed its own creator efforts beyond the Manifest partnership. Its previous programs have included Business Builder debit and credit cards with small-business resources, educational materials about brand partnerships and business operations, and creator-focused events such as the Mastercard Creator Studio at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The interest from both card networks reflects how far the business surrounding online content has expanded. Adobe estimates that more than 300 million people worldwide identify as creators, while Goldman Sachs projects the creator economy could reach $480 billion by 2027.

That does not mean every person posting online is operating a profitable company. But established creators increasingly employ teams, negotiate contracts, sell products, manage customers, and build businesses that extend well beyond their social media accounts.

Manifest, which publicly launched in April 2025, has expanded its platform across content, music, college athletics, NIL, talent representation, and creative agencies. Its new Mastercard is an attempt to become the account connecting all those different forms of creator income.

"Creators are the next founders," Manifest co-founder and CEO Michael Cavallaro said.

Creators have spent years being told to treat themselves like businesses. Now, Mastercard and Visa want to make sure they have the cards to match.

SAVE $1,050: The Dell 14 Plus laptop (Intel Core Ultra 9, 32GB, 1TB) is on sale at Dell for $999.99, down from the normal price of $2,049.99. That's a 51% discount.

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$2,049.99 Save $1,050.00   Get Deal

Tell your friends, neighbors, and your favorite high-school grad who's entering college: there's a shockingly good deal on a Dell laptop live right now. At a time when tech prices are on the rise and memory is short, this deal feels a bit bonkers.

As of July 23, the Dell 14 Plus laptop (Intel Core Ultra 9, 32GB, 1TB) is on sale at Dell for $999.99, marked down from the normal price of $2,049.99. That's a massive 51% discount that shaves $1,050 off the price.

Shopping for a budget laptop feels pretty challenging these days without making major sacrifices on specs. But thanks to this Dell deal, we're all in line for pretty awesome specs at a budget price. For starters, the Dell 14 Plus comes with an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor. Additionally, the $999.99 model has 32GB of RAM and top-tier 1TB storage.

SEE ALSO: Save $70 on Beats Solo 4 headphones with this limited-time Amazon deal

The 14-inch display has anti-glare, and it can get up to 300 nits of brightness. Perhaps one downside to this model is it's not a touch screen. But the backlit keyboard is also a great feature, as is the four-cell battery.

If you need more convincing, the latest Dell 14S earned a top spot in Mashable's 2026 review of the best laptops for college students. The Dell 14 Plus is last year's model of this machine.

Considering this price comparison, today's $999.99 deal on the older Dell 14 Plus is pretty awesome. We're not sure how long this deal will last, so hop on it if you've been shopping for a worthy Dell laptop.