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The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're a theater kid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for July 21, 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: Shirts

• Green: Computer add-ons

• Blue: Broadway shows

• Purple: Electronic transmission

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: Kinds of tops

• Green: Software downloads

• Blue: Elements of a musical

• Purple: Tele___

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 #1136 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Kinds of tops: CROP, HALTER, TANK, TUBE

• Software downloads: APP, DRIVER, EXTENSION, PLUGIN

• Elements of a musical: BOOK, LYRICS, MUSIC, ORCHESTRATION

• Tele___: GRAM, KENESIS, PROMPTER, VISION

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for July 21, 2026

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

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

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

TL;DR: Lego Insiders ages 18+ can build and take home a Lego sports car model for free at select Lego Stores on July 25-26. The event is free, but supplies are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Lego Insiders have the chance to attend a free event this week.

Select Lego Stores are hosting a free, adults-only sports car-building event where members can build a Lego sports car model and take it home afterward. The make-and-take event is happening on July 25-26, 2026, at participating Lego Stores in the U.S. and Canada.

SEE ALSO: The Apple iPhone 17 Pro is free when you switch to T-Mobile — how to qualify

The Lego Sports Car build event is free for Lego Insiders aged 18+ (it's totally free to sign up). The Lego Sports Car model cannot be purchased and is only available through this event. Before heading out, check your local Lego Store event page to confirm the timing and availability.

Sure, it’s a free sports car, but the real win is leaving the store with a build you made and a fun Lego memory attached. Check the Lego Store event page for more details.

Hollywood’s next major horror franchise may already be hiding somewhere in your YouTube recommendations. Or at least studios seem to think so.

It's official: three more internet horror creations are heading to the big screen as creator-led movies continue to spark competitive bidding wars across Hollywood.

On July 2, United Artists, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and Amazon MGM Studios acquired the film rights to The Mandela Catalogue following an 11-studio auction. The announcement came one day after Warner Bros. won a five-studio bidding war for Siren Head, the viral monster created by artist Trevor Henderson. Less than two weeks later, Spooky Pictures and Image Nation Studios announced V/H/S: SCP, a 2027 movie that will bring the massive, fan-built SCP Foundation horror universe into the V/H/S found-footage franchise.

These back-to-back deals are the latest evidence of a broader hunt underway across Hollywood. After the enormous box-office success of Backrooms and Obsession, studios are searching YouTube, Reddit, and other online communities for horror concepts that already have recognizable worlds, committed audiences, and creators who have proved they can make compelling work without traditional studio backing.

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Kister was 17 when he began making The Mandela Catalogue in 2021 using basic editing tools and footage filmed around his home. The YouTube series follows a Wisconsin county terrorized by entities called Alternates, creatures that psychologically torment people before assuming their identities. The analog horror series has since become one of YouTube’s most popular, drawing over 100 million views.

But audiences do more than watch these stories. They decode clues, organize timelines, debate theories, and help expand the mythology. That same participation transformed Trevor Henderson's Siren Head from a single 2018 illustration into an internet phenomenon.

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Fans carried the towering, siren-headed creature into animations, games, short films, stories, Roblox, and Minecraft. Shutter Authority's Siren Head videos have accrued hundreds of millions of views (his first video has more than 241 million views). By the time Warner Bros. acquired the film rights, it had already become an internet urban legend far larger than Henderson’s original post.

Hollywood is also looking toward online worlds for inspiration — The SCP Foundation began in 2008 as a collaborative fiction wiki where writers document paranormal creatures, objects, and events. The planned theatrical anthology V/H/S: SCP, produced by Roy Lee and Steven Schneider, will turn that community-built archive into a feature film scheduled for 2027.

Each property arrives at the studio system with similar advantages: recognizable imagery, extensive mythology, active fandoms, and creators who already understand their audiences better than anyone else.

The box-office hits behind the rush

Interest isn't happening in isolation. In May, Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old YouTube filmmaker Kane Parsons, opened to more than $81 million domestically. As of July 20, it has earned approximately $384 million worldwide at the box office against a reported $10 million production budget.

The film provided the clearest proof yet that a horror world developed largely through internet culture could attract a mainstream theatrical audience. The Backrooms started with an anonymous image of an empty yellow room posted to 4chan in 2019. The concept spread across Reddit, online wikis, games, and collaborative fiction until Parsons, then 16, released his 9-minute YouTube video The Backrooms (Found Footage).

Within weeks, the video racked up tens of millions of views. Parsons then expanded it into a larger series exploring disappearances, scientific experiments, and an organization's attempts to study and map the mysterious space — all before it became a feature film.

Obsession demonstrated a similar version of the same opportunity. While the movie was not adapted from a preexisting internet mythology, its 26-year-old writer-director, Curry Barker, developed his audience and filmmaking style through online projects, including the horror short The Chair and Milk & Serial, a found-footage feature made for about $800 and released on YouTube.

Made for approximately $750,000, Obsession has since grossed more than $428 million worldwide. Barker has completed another movie for Blumhouse and is now attached to direct A24’s reimagining of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

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Together, the films expanded Hollywood’s understanding of what an online creator could bring into a studio — all in 1 summer.

Hollywood wants the filmmaker, not only the followers

These creators arrive with built-in audiences, but that is only one part of their appeal.

When I interviewed Backrooms producer Kori Adelson for Vanity Fair in May, she emphasized the filmmaking ability in Parsons' YouTube work that transferred well into blockbuster directing.

"His work is so singular and evocative," Adelson said. "And in terms of his technical skill set? It was more advanced than most experienced filmmakers."

Parsons built the original series in Blender, and those digital models became blueprints for the movie’s 30,000-square-foot set. Because he could adjust the designs himself, Parsons could show the production team exactly how each space should look.

Plus, because these creators have spent years watching audiences respond to their work, they understand what a movie adaptation needs to preserve.

"I sort of have made a contract with the audience, and I like to do everything I possibly can to hold myself accountable to that…regardless if we’re medium hopping," he told me back in May.

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chair Mike De Luca has compared that fan connection to an unusually long development process. "By the time you get to the movie, they've had a billion test screenings," he said during the Producers Guild of America's conference.

It also helps explain why creators like Parsons and Kister are being trusted to direct their adaptations rather than simply selling the rights and stepping aside.

The internet has become a proving ground for horror

This path hasn't been completely untrodden.

Back in 2023, Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou made the leap from YouTube to theaters with Talk to Me. Before directing the horror hit, the pair had spent years creating chaotic horror-comedy videos, elaborate fight scenes, and practical-effects-heavy stunts for their RackaRacka channel. Their filmmaking experience translated: Made for about $4.5 million, Talk to Me earned nearly $100 million worldwide.

Mark Fischbach, better known online as Markiplier, followed a similar path with Iron Lung. He financed, directed, and distributed the video game adaptation himself, turning a budget of only a few million dollars into more than $51 million at the global box office.

Now, more filmmakers are lining up behind them. Dylan Clark is developing his viral YouTube short Portrait of God into a Universal feature produced by Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi, while Sam Evenson is directing a feature-length adaptation of his short Mora for Neon.

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YouTube is not the only place where Hollywood is finding horror stories with built-in online audiences. Reddit’s r/NoSleep has long served as a testing ground for writers who present fictional stories as firsthand accounts, including Elias Witherow's Tommy Taffy series about a seemingly human figure who forces his way into families and takes control of their homes.

That story is now becoming The Third Parent, a feature adaptation scheduled to hit theaters on Jan. 22, 2027, with David Michaels writing and directing and Crispin Glover starring as Tommy.

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Hollywood is always searching for the next big thing, and its next major horror franchise may still begin with a single creepy image or a teenager editing footage in a bedroom. The difference is that studios are now paying attention much earlier — and increasingly trusting the original creator to bring that idea to the big screen.

TL;DR: The Pokémon TCG First Partner Illustration Collection Series 2 is on sale at Amazon for $50.87, down from its $59.99 list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon TCG First Partner Illustration Collection Series 2 $50.87 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $9.12   Get Deal

It turns out that Pokémon’s second First Partner Illustration Collection has already fallen a long way from its early preorder price, and Amazon is actually now pushing the partner-inspired box much closer to the $50 mark.

As of July 21, the Pokémon TCG First Partner Illustration Collection Series 2 is available on Amazon for as low as $50.87. This cuts $9.12 from its $59.99 list price, giving keen trading card collectors a 15% discount on the complete box.

You should know, however, this lower-priced listing is sold and shipped by third-party seller Collectors Expedition rather than Amazon directly — with free delivery currently scheduled for July 27-28. That said, this still comes with Amazon’s usual 30-day refund or replacement window, which gives buyers some protection if the box arrives damaged or with another issue.

On the other hand, Walmart and TCGplayer are offering even lower prices, which is not unusual compared to Amazon in the Pokémon TCG market these days. For instance, Walmart has the collection listed for $41.99, while TCGplayer has unopened copies starting at $40.71 with shipping included. That undercuts the current market price of $40.73.

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That being said, $50.87 is a far more reasonable Amazon price than the $94.79 preorder listing we spotted back in June.

Series 2 continues the collection’s 30th-anniversary theme by focusing on first partner Pokémon from Johto, Unova, and Galar. That means Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble make up the nine possible illustration rare-style promo cards.

Each box contains one special pack with three of those nine promos, so completing the full set will require more than one collection unless you trade for the cards you are missing. You also get two standard Pokémon TCG booster packs (shown in the product imagery as Perfect Order and Chaos Rising) plus a sticker sheet featuring the first partner Pokémon.

If you’re after any of the single starter cards in particular — including Totodile, Cyndaquill, and Chikorita — you can buy the individual cards from the whole Partner Illustration Collection right now on TCGplayer.

Jimmy Kimmel's latest guest host is a real gem, with Colman Domingo taking over from Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish this week.

The Oscar-nominee kicked off Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday with a look back at the FIFA 2026 World Cup final, from the first-ever halftime show to the commentators getting celebrity names wrong to the crowds booing President Donald Trump.

"How long before he claims FIFA is Antifa?" joked Domingo.

Fellow late-night show host Seth Meyers also showed a montage of clips in which the president was booed at the final, with Trump's approval rating currently at an all-time low. As Mashable's Amanda Yeo notes, "Sports fans haven't been shy about letting Trump know how they feel either, booing him at multiple events across his second presidential term. These included the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final, 2025 US Open men's final, an NFL game last November, the NBA finals last month, and finally the recent World Cup final."

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

SAVE $700: As of July 21, the Roborock Saros 10R robot vacuum and mop is on sale for $899.99 at Amazon. That's $700 off its list price of $1,599.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Roborock Roborock Saros 10R Robot Vacuum and Mop $899.99 at Amazon
$1,599.99 Save $700   Get Deal

Roborock's Saros 10R robot vacuum and mop is a model that Mashable's Leah Stodart called "a wickedly well-rounded robot vacuum that would be a totally satisfactory upgrade in a lot of homes, especially ones with a lot of hard floors" in her review. If you've been thinking about splashing out on a robot vacuum, now is a great time to buy because Amazon has slashed $700 off its price tag.

As of July 21, this has dropped the Roborock Saros 10R's price from $1,599.99 to $899.99, making for 44% in overall savings. That's not all, though. It's also just $15 away from its lowest-ever price from Prime Day this year.

SEE ALSO: 16 summer hosting essentials that cost under $25 at Amazon

With the help of 22,000Pa HyperForce suction and dual spinning mops — paired with the StarSight Autonomous System 2.0 for avoiding objects and mapping your home's floor plan — the Roborock Saros 10R can clean up a variety of surfaces. It even features a FlexiArm Riser side brush and mop for cleaning corners, and its slim 3.14-inch height allows it to easily reach under furniture or tighter spaces for a deep clean.

In our review, Stodart highlights: "Given its ultra-slim build, exceptional corner cleaning, and precise navigational features, there aren't many spots the Roborock Saros 10R can't clean. This well-rounded reliability gives it an edge over many other premium vacs."

With that kind of praise, why not grab the Roborock Saros 10R robot vacuum and mop while it's still on sale? Don't miss out on this great deal at Amazon.

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

Spain's 2026 FIFA World Cup victory was celebrated with a traditional trophy hoist on Sunday, a ritual "shared really only by the players," as The Daily Show's Jon Stewart points out in the video above.

The thing is, it wasn't just shared by the victors, with U.S. President Donald Trump lingering onstage after presenting Spain with their prize, and posing for the team photo alongside controversial FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

"What the f*** are you doing on the stage? It's for the players!" screamed Stewart in his monologue on Monday night. "Why must everything be tainted by the overinflated ego of Cankles Muldoon? Why?"

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

The iPhone's virtual assistant got a glow-up with iOS 27 and finally lives up to Apple's 2011 promise. In my early testing, Siri is just here to get things done.

Whoop has made its way to the front of a crowded field of health trackers. With brand ambassadors like Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, and Niall Horan, it's become a tracker for elite athletes and celebrities. But what about the everyman?

Whoop has two devices in its lineup, the Whoop MG and the Whoop 5.0. While the 5.0 is technically the more basic of the two, it's anything but. This unsuspecting wristband provides a bounty of data on sleep, physical performance, and recovery. I tried the Whoop 5.0 out, wearing it round the clock, to see what this health tracker is all about.

Whoop 5.0 at a glance The Whoop 5.0 unlocks to slide onto your wrist. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The Whoop 5.0 brings advanced metrics to the brand's most affordable membership tiers, One and Peak. The device accompanies the first two Whoop membership tiers, which offer plenty of health insights for the average person, including health span and stress insights. Plus, some users — including myself — think it's a far better value than the Whoop MG. The Whoop 5.0 provides a lot of data, which may be overwhelming for the average user, and it also suffers from processing delays.

The Whoop 5.0 remains the most comfortable fitness tracker The Whoop 5.0 has an extremely low profile, more so than most watches. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The Whoop 5 is a smart fitness band that sits on your wrist to measure biometrics. It doesn't have a screen or watch face; instead, it operates and delivers health data through the Whoop app.

Having previously tested the Whoop 4.0, I knew the Whoop 5.0 would be comfortable. Between generations, it's maintained the same design, except the 5.0 is 7 percent smaller. What that means is a slightly slimmer profile that remains lightweight.

SEE ALSO: Oura Ring 5 arrives, and it’s 40 percent smaller than Ring 4

It's easy to forget the Whoop 5.0 is on your wrist. The included knit bands are comfortable, allowing your movement to flow without restriction. Plus, the device is out of the way enough that it won't bother you when you're sleeping or bending your wrist during training. While wearing it to sleep, I've never woken up with a sore or stiff wrist. Speaking of sleeping, the Whoop 5.0 includes a haptic alarm that gently vibrates to wake you up, which I have to say, is the most pleasant way to be woken up.

The Whoop 5.0's charger slides onto the device so you don't have to take off the health tracker. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The charger slides on the device so you never need to take it off, but I wouldn't recommend that. It's designed to be worn around the clock, including in the shower. However, when the band gets wet, it feels waterlogged, and keeping it on makes it take longer to dry, which, in my experience, was a miserable sensation. Word to the wise: don't wear it while washing the dishes.

It's for people who love data In the Whoop app, dig into all the biometrics collected by the 5.0. Credit: Screenshots courtesy of Whoop

If you're looking for health data, including all the graphs you could ever dream of, the Whoop was made for you. Compared to other health-tracking apps I've used, like Apple's built-in health apps and Oura, which deliver straightforward, easy-to-digest data in an aesthetically pleasing app, Whoop's app focuses on the hardcore numbers.

The app is pretty plain, with three primary metrics at the top. Sleep, recovery, and strain data are front and center with health and stress monitors below (for those with a Peak membership). You can dig into specific measurements and view graphs tracking past measurements to see your gains.

Admittedly, it can be a lot to make sense of, especially for the average user who might just want to know their step count and sleep quality. But if you're not sure what to make of your heart rate variability and how that relates to your health, Whoop has a built-in coach.

Need some guidance? Whoop's got AI for that. Talk through adjustments to your routine with the Whoop Coach. Credit: Screenshots courtesy of Whoop

One of the best improvements in Whoop's app doesn't actually have much to do with the Whoop 5.0 specifically, but with the app. Now, Whoop Coach, which is still in beta in the app, helps you make sense of all the data.

The AI-driven feature processes all your data, making suggestions and starting a conversation with you about training adjustments based on your sleep and recovery scores. Since I'm not an elite athlete trying to dig into my biometrics every day, the Whoop Coach was far more accessible in deciphering what my scores meant and how to respond to them.

Performance is a mixed bag

The data provided by the Whoop 5.0 is accurate. The sleep score reflected how I was feeling. When I was only getting a few hours of sleep a night, my Whoop warned me to take it easy during the day, but after a full eight hours, it encouraged me to push it further in my workouts.

Whoop claims the longest battery life of any fitness tracker at almost any price, at 14 days. While my device didn't make it a full two weeks, I was able to go a full week without sliding on the charger.

Often I'd wake up to check my sleep score and find that the Whoop app was missing data. Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Whoop

What I was most disappointed in about the Whoop was its data-loading time in the app. If you close the Whoop app, it immediately prompts you to reopen it to keep the data updated, which definitely drained my phone's battery.

Even when I was keeping the app open consistently, the Whoop 5.0 was slow to load data, especially in the morning. Often, I'd wake up ready to see my sleep data, to find that the Whoop was missing data from the previous eight hours. After refreshing the app several times, the data finally appeared, but it became frustrating how frequently this happened.

Overrides Apple Watch activity

While testing the Whoop, I simultaneously wore my Apple Watch to compare data and track my workouts in real-time. I synced my Whoop with Apple Health, and a curious problem arose. Whoop data overrode all my Apple Fitness data. Suddenly, my calorie count after my typical activities was far lower than expected.

The Whoop 5.0 has more conservative calorie counts than my Apple Watch. Normally, after my morning walk, my Apple Watch shows I've burned around 400 active calories, but with the Whoop 5.0, it shows only around 200. Both programs use the same weight, heart rate, and step count data, so it raises the question of which is more accurate, and unfortunately, I can't ask my all-knowing body for that exact number.

Whoop 5.0 encompasses two membership tiers

Whoop has three membership tiers: One, Peak, and Life. One and Peak use the Whoop 5.0 while the Life tier comes with the Whoop MG. One is the most basic tier ($199 per year), but its data is far more than basic. It includes 24/7 biometric monitoring, along with sleep, strain, and recovery data. It also provides insights into automatic activity detection, step tracking, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal strain, VO2 Max estimates, and heart rate zones.

With Peak membership ($239 per year), you get all of that plus longevity data. That includes Healthspan, which tracks your Whoop age and your aging page. Plus, Peak features stress and health monitors that analyze signals from your heart rate, temperature, and blood oxygen levels.

What's nice about the Whoop 5.0 is that you can upgrade from One to Peak at any time using the same device. Membership is charged annually, so you can pick the right tier for you without swapping out devices.

What's missing from the Whoop 5.0

Technically, the Whoop 5.0 is the brand's most basic fitness tracker. The more advanced option is the Whoop MG, which stands for medical grade. The Whoop MG is part of the most expensive membership, the Life tier, which costs $359. It includes everything in the Peak membership tier, plus blood pressure insights and AFIB detection. If both of those are non-negotiable for you, depending on your health concerns, then the Whoop 5.0 won't suit you.

However, browsing the Whoop community on Reddit, most users say the MG isn't worth the price for those two features and prefer the Peak membership and the Whoop 5.0.

It's cheaper than that other fitness tracker — at first

Because of Whoop's peculiar pricing structure, it's deceivingly cheap. With other fitness trackers like Apple Watch, Oura Ring, and Fitbit, you buy the device outright and use it freely, or maybe pay a small membership fee. But since you're buying a membership with Whoop and getting the device with it, the pricing is different.

An Oura Ring 5 starts at $399, plus an annual $69.99 membership fee, for a total of $468.99 in the first year. The mid-tier Whoop membership, Peak, is $239 annually. The Whoop remains cheaper after two years of use, but after three years of paying $239, it's more expensive than an Oura Ring plus three years of membership.

However, if you don't want to deal with any membership fees, that's where an Apple Watch or a Fitbit comes in.

Should you buy the Whoop 5.0? Should the Whoop 5.0 accompany you on your workouts? Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Yes, the Whoop 5.0 is a great fitness tracker, best suited for individuals focused on the strain and recovery of daily life and workouts. It provides bountiful data and a Whoop Coach to help you make sense of the data. Its low-profile, stretchy knit band makes it extremely comfortable to wear all the time.

If you want training data during your workouts, you'll need another fitness tracker in addition to the 5.0, as it's screen-free. Not to mention, while the overall data is fairly accurate, the app's processing speed is frequently slow.

But for $239, or the more affordable $199 membership option, the Whoop 5.0 is a solid health tracker.

Whoop 5.0 $239 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Shop Now at WHOOP

After Samantha Wilson sold her house, the 35-year-old creator moved into a tiny shed located in the Montana woods. It had no kitchen, no bathroom, and no running water. If she wanted to cook her own meals, it was going to have to happen outside.

“What started as a necessity eventually became something I genuinely fell in love with,” Wilson says. “Cooking outdoors allows me to combine my love of food and nature, and it brings a sense of peace, freedom, and adventure that you don't get indoors.”

The full-time content creator has been building a following on Instagram (330K followers), YouTube (27.8K subscribers), and TikTok (104.8K followers) under the handle @samalouisaa, where she regularly posts cooking videos in her beloved outdoor kitchen. Wilson, who is Deaf, signs during all her videos and includes on-screen captions.

Credit: Zooey Liao/Mashable/Samantha Wilson/Apple/SanDisk/Starlink/Neewer/CapCut/DJI

On any given day, the creator can be seen making her take on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, strawberry juice, and homemade vanilla coffee creamer. In 2025, a video of Wilson’s mom running from a Grizzly Bear went viral, racking up 8M views on Instagram.

We recently caught up with Wilson over email to learn more about her approach to content creation, the gear she relies on for filming outside, and her signature goofy grin.

What is the overall vibe you are going for with your videos?

My content is about finding joy in simple things. I love cooking outdoors, being in nature, and showing that good food doesn't have to be complicated. I try not to take myself too seriously, so there's always a bit of humor and silliness mixed in with the cooking and nature. I want my videos to feel like you're hanging out with a friend rather than watching a perfectly polished social media video.

Talk about where that silliness side comes from and what the response to that has been

I've always had a goofy personality, so the humor comes naturally. I can be pretty outspoken when it comes to food ingredients, misleading marketing, and products I don't believe in, but humor helps me get those points across in a way that's entertaining and memorable. People seem to appreciate the combination of honesty, education, and not taking life too seriously.

View this post on Instagram Any tips on cooking outside for someone who wants to try it? 

Start simple and don't overthink it. Begin with easy recipes and classic camping meals, then gradually challenge yourself with more creative dishes as your confidence grows. You don't need a fancy outdoor kitchen to enjoy cooking outside — just a reliable cooking setup and a willingness to experiment. The more time you spend outdoors, the more you'll learn to adapt and appreciate the experience. And somehow, food just tastes better outside.

What are the products you can’t live without for content creation? Opens in a new window Credit: Starlink Starlink Standard 4 $350.47 at Best Buy
Because I live in a rural area with very limited internet access, Starlink makes it possible for me to create, upload, and share content without interruption. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPhone 15 Pro $649 at Amazon
I film nearly all of my content on my iPhone because it's always with me and ready when inspiration strikes. The 4K video quality is great and allows me to capture authentic moments without carrying bulky camera equipment. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Macbook Air $1,243 at Amazon
My laptop helps me manage everything behind the scenes, from content planning and automations to partnerships, emails, and day-to-day running of my business. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: SanDisk SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD $399.99 at Sandisk
I use it to store thousands of photos and videos directly from my iPhone, keeping my content safe, organized, and easy to repurpose for future content.   Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: Neewer Neewer tripod $55 at Amazon
As a solo creator, this tripod allows me to capture content anywhere from outdoor cooking to spontaneous moments throughout the day. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Osmo Pocket 3 $629 at Amazon
I use this as a secondary camera to capture smooth, professional-looking footage. It's compact, lightweight, and especially useful for YouTube videos. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: Anker Anker power bank $79.99 at Amazon
Whether I'm traveling or spending the day filming outdoors, this power bank keeps my iPhone charged and my workflow uninterrupted. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: CapCut CapCut This is my go-to editing app because it's efficient and makes editing on the go easy. It allows me to quickly turn raw footage into videos that are ready to share. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: Camp Chef Camp Chef stove $380.48 at Amazon
Since I don't have a traditional kitchen, this stove has become my kitchen. It's the tool behind many of the recipes and outdoor cooking videos I share online. Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: 360 cookware 11.5-inch fry pan from 360 Cookware $199.95 at 360 Cookware
I care about what's in my food and I care just as much about what I cook in it. 360 cookware is durable, non-toxic, and a staple in my cooking videos. Shop Now
As a Deaf creator, what do you wish there was more of on social media? 

I'd love to see more authentic representations of Deaf people across all types of content. Too often, Deaf creators are expected to only talk about deafness or teach sign language, when many of us have a wide range of interests, careers, and passions. Social media has the power to show those full stories and help people see beyond a single label.

What do you love about being a content creator? 

I absolutely love the freedom to build a life on my own terms. It allows me to share my passions, lifestyle, and ideas with people who genuinely connect with them while creating a career that aligns with the life I want to live. It's truly rewarding to know that something I shared, whether it's a recipe, perspective, or simple idea, has inspired someone to try something new, improve their health, or think differently about what's possible.

What is most challenging about being a content creator? 

One of the biggest challenges is that content creation never really turns off. There's always another video to film, project to work on, or idea to pursue. I'm still learning how important it is to create boundaries and make time to simply enjoy life without feeling the need to document every moment.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage and meet The Mashable 101 to discover the internet’s most exciting voices.

After spending nearly three hours watching Odysseus struggle to get home, some The Odyssey viewers are leaving the theater feeling like they made the journey with him.

That is partly because they watched it in 4DX, a format that rocks the seats with the ships and adds wind, water, fog, and other physical effects to the movie. Videos from screenings are now spreading online and convincing other viewers that IMAX may not be the only way to experience Christopher Nolan’s epic.

Though some moviegoers call the experience "torture", the videos are generating plenty of interest from people who now want to try it themselves. The fascination adds another option to an already unusually complicated question surrounding the film: Which format should audiences choose?

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Nolan filmed the movie entirely with IMAX cameras, and screenings in the much scarcer IMAX 70mm format sold out months before its release. Only 41 theaters worldwide are equipped to present it that way, leaving many fans to choose among digital IMAX, standard 70mm, Dolby Cinema, and other premium formats.

4DX presents a different proposition. Instead of expanding the image or emphasizing its visual detail, it brings parts of the movie into the auditorium. Literally.

What is 4DX?

Created by South Korean entertainment company CJ 4DPLEX in 2009, 4DX uses motorized seats and environmental effects synchronized with onscreen action.

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The seats can tilt forward and backward, turn from side to side, rise, fall, shake, and vibrate. Depending on the movie and theater, viewers can also encounter wind, water, fog, smoke, scents, flashing lights, simulated snow, and bursts of air near their heads. Some seats contain a device that pushes into a viewer’s back during onscreen impacts.

For anyone concerned about getting sprayed, 4DX seats generally include a button that allows viewers to turn off their individual water effect. The movement, however, is part of the experience — whether you like it or not.

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Those effects are not automatically generated while the movie plays. CJ 4DPLEX employees spend weeks programming them, sometimes working frame by frame to coordinate each movement, vibration, and environmental cue with the film. The finished instructions are then distributed to 4DX theaters.

"If the seats are moving the entire two hours of a film, I don’t think it really takes advantage of what 4DX is," CJ 4DPLEX executive Paul Kim previously told Variety. "We want to make sure that it’s the right scene and we want to make sure that it makes sense when we use particular effects."

The Odyssey gives programmers plenty to work with. Storms bring wind and water into the auditorium, ships make the seats rock with the waves, and arrows trigger bursts of air beside viewers’ heads. Smoke and fog effects match what’s happening onscreen, while fight scenes produce sharper movements and physical jolts. And it’s packing theaters to capacity.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What viewers are saying about The Odyssey in 4DX

After sifting through Reddit threads (r/RegalUnlimited, r/TheOdysseyMovie, r/ChristopherNolan) and reactions elsewhere on social media, the response from people who attended 4DX screenings was mostly positive.

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According to people who attended screenings, the effects are concentrated around the movie’s larger set pieces rather than running continuously throughout its nearly 3-hour runtime. That gave audiences time to recover between storms, battles, and rough stretches at sea.

One Reddit user whose local Regal theater had recently installed 4DX reported that nearly every available effect kicked in during the movie—smoke, wind, air bursts, and plenty of water included. The seats rocked through boat sequences and jerked during fights and sudden action scenes.

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"There’s a certain part of the movie near the end where the seats went absolutely wild,” the user wrote. Although they did not consider it the most intense 4DX presentation they had experienced, they said the effects complemented this particular movie.

Other attendees emphasized that the seats did not move during every conversation. One user said the pauses between action sequences kept the extended runtime from becoming exhausting.

"Totally worth doing," they wrote, "especially during the boat scenes."

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Many are leaving the theater inspired. One viewer said it reinforced their determination to "fight for my life just like everyone on the ship did," while another called their 4DX viewing the "wildest cinema experience ever." A TikTok creator even posted that her entire theater erupted into a standing ovation after her 4DX showing.

But not everyone came away convinced. One viewer on Reddit said the effects became an "annoyance" outside a few rough-sea sequences and complained that the final fight "absolutely wrecked my back." Another asked for a refund after experiencing "ZERO effects other than seats moving," suggesting that the experience can also vary depending on the theater and which equipment is working.

A TikTok video with 5 million views shows the creator warning viewers: "whatever you do, DO NOT watch The Odyssey in 4DX!!!"

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Fans of the format consider much of that physical discomfort part of the price of admission: a Reddit commenter compared 4DX with a theme-park attraction, but wanted to experience "the wind, the rain, the mist, and wet popcorn" anyway.

That leaves viewers with another option to experience the movie with the toughest ticket on the market: you can always catch the 6 a.m. showing to see IMAX 70mm present the full scale and detail of the images Nolan captured on film. Or try 4DX for the chance to rock through a thunderstorm with Odysseus — and hope the lid stays on your drink.

YouTube has spent years encouraging creators to experiment with AI while trying to contain the kind of content those tools produce. Now it’s getting more specific about what crosses the line.

In a July 16 episode of the company’s Inside YouTube podcast, Vice President of Trust and Safety Matt Halprin sits down with creator insider ‪Rene Ritchie how YouTube distinguishes between creators using AI as a production tool and channels that use it to manufacture videos at scale.

The conversation wasn't an announcement that YouTube is banning AI-generated content; instead, it offered a closer look at 3 types of videos that can make a channel ineligible to earn money.

Which AI videos can lose monetization?

The first category: generic or repetitive videos that barely differ from one upload to the next. This includes channels pumping out AI-generated stories where only the character names, settings, or accompanying images change. It also covers slideshows, scrolling text, animations, or tutorials that rehash the same basic information without offering anything new.

This doesn't mean creators need to completely reinvent their channels with every upload. What matters is the substance: each video should deliver a new story, lesson, argument, or explanation. It shouldn't serve up a lightly edited version of something already published.

The market for producing videos without an on-camera creator is substantial. Alex Mashrabov, a former head of generative AI at Snap, claimed AI-generated faceless videos were "a new, emerging category where solopreneurs and storytellers can thrive" in a June interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Now they'll have to thrive without repetition.

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The second category: what YouTube calls “unsatisfying or off-putting” content. These videos lean heavily on disturbing imagery or emotional manipulation to grab attention, but don’t build much of a story around it.

One example YouTube's Halprin discussed: videos that show animals in apparent danger before someone swoops in to rescue them. A channel built around this concept could lose monetization regardless of whether the footage was AI-generated.

The same principle may apply to compilations of disturbing clips, repetitive videos focused on violence, or AI footage that falsely shows a celebrity dying or a natural disaster unfolding.

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Again, YouTube isn't saying that every video involving tragedy, violence, or distress can't earn money. News reports, documentaries, fictional series, and other substantive work can still cover these subjects. The question is whether the disturbing material serves a larger story, or is just being used as clickbait.

The third category ties directly to generative AI. YouTube says channels can't monetize videos where synthetic personas present themselves as human authorities on sensitive topics such as healthcare, finance, law, and politics.

This could include an AI-generated "doctor" diagnosing symptoms, an AI-generated podcast host recommending investments, or an AI-generated "lawyer" advising viewers on court cases. The concern isn't that the characters in question are fictional — it's that viewers might mistake them for credible human experts.

The clarification follows a complicated crackdown

YouTube has been trying to limit repetitive content for years. In 2025, the company rebranded such content as "inauthentic," noting that repetitive and mass-produced videos were previously ineligible for monetization.

Generative AI has made producing that material considerably easier. “AI can actually allow people to make a lot of videos,” Halprin noted, while conceding that the increased output can include genuinely good work.

"But that exact same new tool can allow you to make lots of videos really quickly that are very similar," he added. “They’re very generic and don’t really have a narrative arc and don’t really show your creativity.”

The scale of that output is becoming difficult to ignore.

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In a 2025 study, video-editing company Kapwing created a brand new YouTube account and analyzed the first 500 videos the platform recommended. Researchers classified 104 of them—about 21 percent—as “AI slop.” A third fell into a broader category, “brainrot,” which includes other forms of low-quality content designed to capture viewers’ attention.

Kapwing examined 15,000 popular channels and identified 278 that contained only AI-generated content. Together, these channels racked up over 63 billion views and 221 million subscribers. The company estimated they generate around $117 million in annual revenue.

YouTube said the findings didn't necessarily reflect the platform as a whole; however, the company terminated one channel identified in the study and removed several others from its monetization programs.

CEO Neal Mohan described managing AI slop as one of YouTube’s top priorities for 2026, even as the company rolls out its own AI tools.

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YouTube is embedding Google DeepMind’s Veo video generator directly into Shorts and offering tools that animate photos, assemble raw footage, suggest ideas, and automatically dub videos into 27 languages. More than 1 million channels used these AI creation tools each day in December.

Mohan's platform is in a tricky position, then. It wants this technology to expand what creators can make—without letting its revenue-sharing program become a payday for automated content farms.

Why 'faceless' creators are worried

The crackdown has worried some creators who make original videos without appearing on camera.

These channels are often described as “faceless,” a category that includes narrated documentaries, history videos, animation, explainers, true crime, ambient sound, and other educational work.

Many existed long before generative AI and rely on human writers, researchers, editors, illustrators, animators, and voice actors behind the scenes.

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Trouble is, AI content farms often look similar on the surface. And some creators say that resemblance is already creating problems.

Doctor NOS, an educational YouTuber with 1.8 million subscribers, told THR creators making similar content without appearing on camera were being demonetized. Other faceless-channel operators have reportedly begun hiring on-camera hosts, via gig platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, in the hopes that a person on screen will make their videos more obviously human-made.

Those stories remain anecdotal, and such moves are technically unnecessary. YouTube has not said that appearing on camera improves a channel’s chances of earning money, and its written policy does not require creators to show their faces. Still, faceless creators are left without an easy way to demonstrate human work behind the screen.

YouTube is not banning AI videos as a whole

AI itself is not disqualifying. It can already perform many of the individual tasks involved in making a YouTube video, including drafting scripts, generating images and voices, creating animation, translating speech, and building visual effects. YouTube even offers creators its own AI-powered production and dubbing tools.

YouTube's Halprin said the company is not judging a video solely by whether generative AI was involved. A creator can use AI throughout the production process and remain eligible for monetization if the finished work contains an original story, useful information, entertainment, or another clear creative contribution.

The problem is that those same tools make it much easier to produce large numbers of videos that look, sound, and feel almost identical.

“AI can actually allow people to make a lot of videos,” Halprin said, noting that the technology can increase the amount of genuinely good work a creator produces.

“But that exact same new tool can allow you to make lots of videos really quickly that are very similar,” he added. “They’re very generic and don’t really have a narrative arc and don’t really show your creativity.”

YouTube’s updated guidance is intended to show creators where that fuzzy line begins.

What happens when YouTube demonetizes a channel?

When deciding whether a channel qualifies for YPP, YouTube may review more than one individual video.

Reviewers can consider the channel’s primary subject, newest uploads, most-viewed videos, largest sources of watch time, titles, thumbnails, descriptions, and About page. If a significant portion of the channel falls into one of the three inauthentic-content categories, YouTube can remove monetization from the entire channel.

Halprin also addressed fears that angry viewers could get a creator removed from YPP simply by reporting the channel repeatedly. Reports can prompt YouTube to examine a channel more closely, the executive said, but the number of reports alone does not determine whether it loses monetization.

Creators removed from the program generally have 21 days to appeal. If that appeal fails, they can revise the channel, publish new material, and reapply after 90 days. For viewers, the clarification does not mean AI slop will suddenly disappear from YouTube.

Videos that violate monetization standards may remain available, and the scale of the platform makes automated content difficult to eliminate entirely. What YouTube can do is make that material less lucrative.

An advertiser paid for editorial consideration of this deal. Our editorial experts vetted the deal based on our independent expertise. Because we determined that the deal will save money for the consumer, we wrote the content.

TL;DR: Switchers can get the iPhone 17 Pro 256GB for free for 24 months at T-Mobile with a qualifying plan and number transfer. The offer comes through up to $1,099.99 in monthly bill credits, and no trade-in is required.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPhone 17 Pro Save up to $1,099.99 on the iPhone 17 Pro when you switch your number to T-Mobile. Shop Now

Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro is pricey, but T-Mobile is giving switchers a reason to take a closer look. The carrier is offering up to $1,099.99 back when new customers transfer their number, add a new line, and choose an eligible plan, which can bring monthly payments down to $0 over 24 months.

The deal doesn’t require a trade-in, but you’ll need to meet T-Mobile’s requirements to get the full savings.

The iPhone 17 Pro deal is available at T-Mobile in deep blue, cosmic orange, and silver with 256GB of storage. Its full retail price is $1,099.99, and the offer is available for new customers who switch their number to T-Mobile and choose an eligible plan.

To qualify for up to $1,099.99 in savings, you’ll need to:

• Buy an eligible iPhone model, including the iPhone 17 Pro

• Transfer your number from an eligible carrier

• Add a new voice line

• Choose an eligible T-Mobile plan

Eligible plans vary depending on whether you’re a new or existing T-Mobile customer and may include Experience Beyond, Better Value, and select existing T-Mobile plans. T-Mobile says bill credits can take up to two billing cycles to appear.

The iPhone 17 Pro isn’t the only device included in T-Mobile’s switch offers. Depending on the phone model and qualifying plan, customers can also get savings on other iPhones, including the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 16. And if you don’t qualify for the top-tier offer, T-Mobile has other switcher promotions that provide up to $900, $830, or $630 back through 24 monthly bill credits, depending on your plan and device.

What to know before switching

Like most carrier promotions, this deal comes with a few conditions. You’ll need qualifying credit and service, an eligible plan (starting at $100/month with AutoPay, plus taxes and fees, for the main offer), a port-in from a supported carrier such as AT&T or Verizon, and an active account in good standing to continue receiving bill credits.

If you cancel your account before receiving all 24 bill credits, the remaining device balance becomes due. Paying off the phone early can also prevent any remaining credits from being applied.

If you’ve been eyeing the iPhone 17 Pro, this T-Mobile offer could provide you with the push you need to make the switch.

The best Hulu deals and bundles in July 2026: Best Hulu Bundle Deal Disney+ and Hulu Bundle Get 6 months for $11.99/month Get Deal Best HBO Max Bundle Deal Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max Bundle $19.99/month with ads, $32.99/month ad-free Get Deal Best Student Deal Hulu Student Deal Hulu with ads for $1.99/month Get Deal Best ESPN Bundle Deal Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle $35.99/month Get Deal

There's a wide range of excellent shows and films to watch on Hulu, including season five of The Bear and even The Devil Wears Prada 2, which is set to stream on July 29. It's a library that's full of options to keep you entertained throughout the summer and beyond.

If these shows have caught your eye and have you itching to sign up for Hulu, we're here to help you get the best deal. Outside of the standard ad-supported and ad-free plans, there are quite a few bundle deals available with Hulu that are worth exploring if you're looking to save some cash. This includes the Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max package.

Disney has also dropped a six-month offer for the Disney+ and Hulu bundle, though it is only available on their site at the moment. This drops its ad-supported plan to $11.99 per month when locked in for six months (then back up to $12.99 per month). The ad-free plan is down to $17.99 per month (which will return to $19.99 per month after six months).

Disney notes that this is an "ongoing offer for people who want to subscribe for a longer period to save on the average monthly cost." It's also available for new and eligible returning subscribers.

SEE ALSO: 'The Shards' trailer: Ryan Murphy spins a tale of sex, murder, and the 1980s

Below you can find details on Hulu's best bundles at the moment — alongside information on both its ad-supported and ad-free plans, if you just want the basics — offering you a way to save on the service right now.

Best Disney+ bundle deal Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Disney+ and Hulu Bundle Get 6 months for $11.99 per month Get Deal Why we like it

For those interested in the ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu Bundle, which sets you up with Disney+ alongside Hulu, it starts at $12.99 per month. If you'd prefer the Premium ad-free version of this plan, this jumps to $19.99 per month.

If you're curious about Disney's new six-month offer, this is available on Disney's site. Again, it offers the ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle plan for $11.99 per month when locked in for six months, then returns to $12.99 per month. The Premium ad-free plan is $17.99 per month for six months, before returning to $19.99 per month.

• Disney+ and Hulu Bundle — $12.99 per month

• Disney+ and Hulu Bundle Premium — $19.99 per month

Best HBO Max bundle deal Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle $19.99/month with ads, $32.99/month ad-free Get Deal Why we like it

This is one of the best Hulu bundles available at the moment. Starting at $19.99 per month, this bundle grants you access to Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max for a much lower price than you'd pay for the three separately. It's an incredible deal to take advantage of, especially if you've already got Disney+ and HBO Max subscriptions. There are two plans to choose from with this bundle, and they are:

• Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle (with ads) — $19.99 per month (save 42%)

• Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max Bundle (no ads) — $32.99 per month (save 41%)

Best student deal Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Hulu Student Deal Hulu with ads for $1.99/month Get Deal Why we like it

If you're a student enrolled at a university, you can score a Hulu (with ads) plan for even less than the above bundles. Hulu's Student Deal lets eligible college students buy a Hulu (with ads) plan for just $1.99 per month. Hulu notes that the deal lasts "so long as student enrollment status remains verified," then it goes back up to the standard monthly price.

• Hulu Student Deal — $1.99 per month

Best ESPN bundle deal Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle $35.99/month Get Deal Why we like it

Alongside the big Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max bundle, Hulu also offers plans for sports fans that include ESPN Select or ESPN Unlimited. According to ESPN, "ESPN Select includes ESPN+ content only. Fans who want ESPN+ exclusively may subscribe to the ESPN Select plan. ESPN Unlimited includes all of the ESPN networks and services, including ESPN+." 

The Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle, which has ads, is available for $35.99 per month. The Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Unlimited premium bundle without ads is available for $44.99 per month.

• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select Bundle — $19.99 per month

• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Select Bundle Premium — $29.99 per month

• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle — $35.99 per month

• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited Bundle Premium — $44.99 per month

Hulu's monthly plans

If you're just looking to jump straight into Hulu's library without any fancy bundles, there are a couple of subscription options to consider. The ad-supported tier comes in at $11.99 per month. If you want to go ad-free, that'll cost you $18.99 per month.

• Hulu (with ads) — $11.99 per month, $119.99 per year

• Hulu Premium (no ads) — $18.99 per month

If you really want to go big on a streaming investment, there's the Hulu + Live TV plan. This costs a whopping $89.99 per month for its ad-supported plan, but comes with plenty to keep you busy. Hulu + Live TV (with ads) gets you access to 95+ channels, unlimited DVR, Disney+ (with ads), ESPN Select (with ads), and Hulu (with ads). If you want to go even bigger with the ad-free plan — which offers Hulu (no ads), Disney+ (no ads), and ESPN Select (with ads) alongside Live TV — it'll cost you $99.99 per month. The ad-supported plan offers a free trial as well for three days.

• Hulu + Live TV, Disney+, and ESPN Select (with ads) — $89.99 per month (3-day free trial)

• Hulu Premium + Live TV, Disney+ Premium, and ESPN Select (no ads) — $99.99 per month

• Hulu + Live TV, Disney+ Premium, and ESPN Select — $94.99 per month

• Live TV Only — $88.99 per month

Wondering what to watch once you get set up with a Hulu plan or bundle? We're here to help with that as well. Have a look at our roundups of the 30 best comedies on Hulu, the 25 best sci-fi movies on Hulu, and the 26 best horror movies on Hulu to start building your watchlist. And if you're in the mood to binge-watch a show, check out our breakdown of the 25 best shows on Hulu.

TL;DR: GitMind turns videos, PDFs, and audio into AI-generated mind maps and summaries, and a lifetime subscription is sale for $49.99 (reg. $169).

Opens in a new window Credit: GitMind GitMind Basic Plan: Lifetime Subscription $49.99
$169 Save $119.01   Get Deal

Mind mapping tools normally make you do the thinking twice, once to understand the material and again to arrange it on screen. Research piles up faster than anyone can chart it by hand, so the map ends up half-built and abandoned. GitMind reads the source material itself and builds the map for you, and a lifetime subscription is on sale for $49.99 (reg. $169).

GitMind accepts PDFs, YouTube links, screenshots, audio recordings, websites, images, and plain text. Multimodal AI processes whatever you feed it and returns organized mind maps, diagrams, and summaries within seconds. So a 90-minute lecture recording becomes a structured set of key points without you scrubbing through the playback.

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Video summaries pull the main arguments out of YouTube content automatically. A built-in PDF reader with OCR extracts information from scanned documents, and transcription turns audio into searchable text you can actually work with. AI chat sits on top of all of it, so you can ask questions about a document rather than rereading it.

Students can turn lectures and papers into study material, teams organize meeting notes and reports, and educators build lesson resources faster. Real-time collaboration lets several people work on the same map at once, across Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and a Chrome extension.

Lifetime access covers one user, includes future updates, and carries no current restrictions.

Stop paying monthly to organize your own research. Get a GitMind lifetime subscription for $49.99.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Koofr’s 1TB lifetime cloud storage plan is on sale for $159.99 (reg. $810) through July 30 with code KOOFR.

Opens in a new window Credit: Koofr Koofr Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription (1TB) $159.99
$810 Save $650.01   Get Deal

Cloud storage shouldn’t feel like a subscription you’re stuck negotiating with forever. Every month, another charge shows up for space you’re not even sure you’re using efficiently. It adds up fast, and it never really stops. There’s a better way to handle it, and it doesn’t involve a recurring bill at all.

Koofr’s Cloud Storage lifetime subscription gives you 1TB of secure storage for a single payment of $159.99 (reg. $810) through July 30 with code KOOFR. That’s not a discounted month or a limited-time trial — it’s full, lifetime access after one transaction, and nothing else to pay going forward.

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The 1TB of space is enough room for your photos, documents, videos, and anything else piling up across your devices. You can access everything from your phone, computer, or WebDAV, and even connect existing cloud accounts like Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon, and OneDrive to manage it all from one place. Built-in tools like the Duplicate Finder help keep things tidy, while advanced renaming and link customization make organizing files less of a chore.

Privacy is also part of the package. Koofr doesn’t track your activity, and your files stay encrypted both at rest and in transit, so security isn’t something you have to think twice about.

Setup is simple, too. If you don’t have a Koofr account yet, creating one is free, and your redemption code arrives by email right after purchase so you can get started almost immediately.

Recurring cloud storage fees are optional, not mandatory.

Get 1TB of secure, private storage for life with Koofr for $159.99 (reg. $810) using code KOOFR before July 30.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Get a 20TB Scramble Cloud Storage Lifetime Subscription on sale for $349.95 (reg. $1,440).

Opens in a new window Credit: Scramble Cloud Scramble Cloud Storage Lifetime Subscription (20TB) $349.95
$1,440 Save $1,090.05   Get Deal

Cloud storage keeps billing you every month, forever, just to hold files you already own. Most services also encrypt your files on their own servers, which means they can access your files. Scramble Cloud encrypts everything on your device first, and a lifetime 20TB subscription is on sale for just $349.95 (reg. $1,440).

Scramble Cloud has a better way of protecting your privacy. Your files get encrypted before they leave your computer. Scramble never receives the key, so nobody at the company can open them. Neither can the host, and neither can any authority that asks. You’re the only one who can access your files, but you can still share them easily. Just send an encrypted private link or share directly with other Scramble users. Groups let you hand a whole folder to family or coworkers in one click, and you set the permissions for each person. Team Link shares files with outside partners who don’t need an account at all.

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Scramble mounts as a network drive through WebDAV, so your files show up in your regular file explorer. There’s also a command-line tool, a desktop client, and a web app that runs in any browser. You can stream your uploaded videos without downloading them first.

The infrastructure is ISO 27001 certified and GDPR compliant, and you can turn on two-factor authentication. Files cap at 5GB each, but that covers pretty much anything but very large video files. You also get a daily upload cap of 70GB.

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It's official: "swipe fatigue" is no longer just internet slang but a statistically observable phenomenon, and it's radically changing the way younger daters approach finding a partner. An astonishing 78 percent of all Gen Z dating app users have reported a "burnout" from app use, according to Forbes, while Match Group, Inc., the conglomerate that owns Tinder and Hinge, has seen its stock value decline by two-thirds from its pandemic highs. 

This fatigue has led to a surge in "IRL singles events," and even forced apps like Tinder and Hinge to adjust their game plan. Tinder launched an Events feature earlier this year to promote IRL meetups, as well as a Festival Mode to help strangers with mutual interests meet, and Hinge has reportedly dumped over a million dollars into promoting offline meetups. 

But there are some retro dating directories that are trying to solve swipe fatigue, mostly by offering more than a carousel-style, hot-or-not matchmaking system. Instead of a binary yes-or-no decision often based on a handful of photos and a short bio, these old-school dating sites create online communities where people have multiple opportunities to interact or bond over shared interests. 

And weirdly enough, AdultFriendFinder might be the perfect example of this approach — here's why.

Opens in a new window Credit: AdultFriendFinder AdultFriendFinder   Learn More Matchmaking beyond the swipe

As fun as mindlessly swiping through singles profiles can be, it should dawn on you at some point that your fellow eligible locals are putting exactly the same amount of effort into evaluating your profile as you are into evaluating theirs. And that's genuinely terrifying.

If you're looking to meet someone, you need more to go off than just photos and a 200-word biography. In the past, people met at work, in college, or at their place of worship, but in the decentralized, delocalized world of the internet, that kind of constant proximity to others is becoming a rare commodity. 

Sites poised to succeed in a post-swipe-fatigue landscape are aware of this fact and are actively trying to solve the problem.  

Yes, AdultFriendFinder has its own version of the singles search, where you put in your location and filters, and it generates a list of eligible people, but that's only a small fraction of what the site offers.

Digital communities are the future

The best way to cure swipe fatigue is to remove the mechanism entirely. Instead, allow people to meet organically through interest-based online communities.

AdultFriendFinder has an entire Community section built around blogs, group chats, and shared stories, where the purpose is more than just matching with someone you might have something in common with. You can read other people's stories, share your own (with or without pictures), or participate in group discussions. There's even a handy Trending filter, so you always know what stories and discussions are generating the most buzz.

And, if you have a way with words, it's surprisingly easy to build your own following, especially when you consider how many niche or esoteric interests AFF caters to. 

Centering live chats and webcam broadcasts

For all their self-promoting talk about being the future, dating apps are shockingly low-tech. After all, we've been able to send and receive texts for over two decades now, and the swipe mechanism itself dates to before the original iPhone. What, exactly, is so special about their design? And why have they been so reticent to adopt video messaging?

Look at two of the most popular and most downloaded apps of the last decade, Snapchat and TikTok, and it's easy to see that the age of the photo is on its way out, while text messaging is as archaic as the dinosaurs at this point.

Plus, let's be real here: people already use both Snapchat and TikTok as lowkey dating sites, flirting via video chat.

This is another place where AdultFriendFinder, despite its age, is obviously ahead of its time. It made live broadcasting and video chatting a major component of its site more than a decade ago. Click on the Live Action tab at the top of their banner, and you can gain access to their Member Webcams section, where singles regularly interact with their audiences (and not just in naked, NSFW ways!). 

If you're tired of always being the one chasing and want to experience people coming to you for a change, start your own broadcast and engage with the people who watch your stream — you may be surprised by who shows up!

The future of dating apps

To be clear, we're not arguing that AdultFriendFinder is about to replace Tinder or Hinge as the go-to dating app for young daters. But we are telling you that by every evaluative metric we have to judge by, online daters are sick of swiping and looking for something more substantive. 

We fully expect the next big dating app to offer community-based interactions rather than one-on-one swiping, and to natively support video chatting or messaging, stealing a page from TikTok's playbook.

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: How to play Pips, the newest NYT game

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Tuesday, July 21, 2026:

AcrossRoughly 20 million people in India, religiously

• The answer is Sikhs.

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

"No need to remind me"

• The answer is I know.

Insurance company whose mascot helped to solve a crossword in a 2025 ad

• The answer is Geico.

Ultra-masculine

• The answer is Macho.

Invite to enter

• The answer is Askin.

DownGreek "S"

• The answer is Sigma.

Swedish furniture stores

• The answer is Ikeas.

2026 N.B.A champion

• The answer is Knick.

Vietnamese revolutionary ___ Minh

• The answer is Ho Chi.

Faint after eye contact with one's crush, say

• The answer is Swoon.

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

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

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

SAVE $700: As of July 21, the LG 100-Inch Class QNED evo AI QNED84B is on sale for $3,299.99 at Amazon. That's a 17% saving on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: LG LG 100-Inch Class QNED evo AI QNED84B $3,299.99 at Amazon
$3,999 Save $699.01   Get Deal

If you’re looking to create a movie theater experience at home, a 100-inch TV is about as close as you can get. And as of July 21, the stunning LG 100-Inch Class QNED evo AI TV has dropped to its lowest-ever price, so you can achieve your goal for less. Normally $3,999, this TV is now down to $3,299.99 for a limited time.

It's a seriously high-quality TV, using Mini LED technology and Precision Dimming Pro to provide detailed images with brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and improved contrast. Its QNED Color Pro technology delivers a wide range of colors for a more vivid and accurate picture, while HDR10 Pro adjusts brightness to reveal details in both bright and dark scenes.

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And because it's powered by the A8 AI Processor 4K Gen3, the TV can analyze the content being watched and automatically optimize the picture and sound settings. It also supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and Filmmaker Mode with Ambient Light Technology.

This impressive TV deal is available on Amazon right now.