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Ring and surveillance company Flock Safety have cancelled their partnership, which planned to make it easier for police to access footage from users' personal cameras. This comes less than a week after Ring's widely criticised Super Bowl ad drew further attention to the concerning privacy implications of its home security system.

SEE ALSO: Why so many people hate Ring's 'Search Party' Super Bowl ad

"Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated," Ring wrote in a blog post on Thursday. "As a result, we have made the joint decision to cancel the planned integration. The integration never launched, so no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety."

Though Ring states that resource issues are to blame for the partnership's cancellation, its collaboration with Flock Safety has been the subject of significant criticism regarding privacy and surveillance concerns. Distrust toward the Amazon-owned surveillance camera company has escalated, with users reportedly disconnecting, destroying, or returning their Ring devices. Some have also specifically cited Flock Safety's use by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

News of the partnership's cancellation closely follows Ring's poorly received Super Bowl ad, which promoted its AI-powered Search Party feature. Advertised as a tool for finding lost pets, Search Party allows people to upload a photo of their dog so that Ring can search their neighbours' camera footage for the animal using AI detection. 

Concerned viewers quickly pointed out that this technology could very easily be used to track humans as well. Ring introduced facial recognition to its devices late last year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation stating that the feature could potentially violate people's right to privacy.

Why Ring and Flock Safety's partnership raised privacy concerns

Announced last October, Ring and Flock Safety's partnership was promoted as a tool for users to "help solve crime in [their] community." Police would be able to request Ring camera video directly from users, which Flock Safety would send straight to them once approved. Flock Safety has stated that it is partnered with over 5,000 law enforcement agencies.

"When local public safety officers are investigating an active case, local officers using Flock Safety's technology can now post a request directly in the Ring Neighbors app asking for help," Flock wrote in a blog post at the time. "If you decide to share, Flock's system securely delivers your video directly to the public safety agency handling the case."

The planned partnership was met by backlash when initially unveiled, with critics noting that the Flock Safety's services and data have been used by agencies such as the U.S. Customs Border Protection (CBP) and ICE. 404 Media reported last May that while Flock was not in direct contact with ICE, the agency still accessed its services and data via requests from local law enforcement. 

Flock has since confirmed this, stating that though it does not have a direct partnership with ICE, the agency can still access it through a "local customer." The company has also admitted to working directly with CBP.

Further, Ring has had a historically close relationship with law enforcement as well. A 2019 report from Motherboard revealed that Ring had secret deals with dozens of U.S. police departments, providing free products and a private portal for requesting footage without a warrant. In exchange, law enforcement officers agreed to promote Ring to their local community.

As of 2020, 2,014 government agencies were able to access Ring's camera surveillance network via its Neighbors Portal program. Agencies submitted Ring footage requests for over 22,335 incidents that year, over half of which were approved. Then in 2022, Amazon admitted that it had sent Ring camera footage to the police without users' knowledge or consent.

Ring did axe its Request for Assistance feature in 2024, which had allowed police to request camera footage from users and kept a public record of it (though private requests could still be made). However, it returned to its focus on providing law enforcement with users' videos last year, allowing police to request footage via taser-maker Axon's evidence management system.

The original God of War trilogy is getting a remake over 15 years after it ended. Developer Santa Monica Studio announced the project on Thursday during PlayStation's State of Play showcase.

Very little has been revealed about the God of War remake aside from its existence. However, it does appear as though original voice actor Terrence C. Carson is returning for the game. Carson voiced protagonist Kratos in the original God of War trilogy, and appeared during the remake announcement.

SEE ALSO: PlayStation State of Play February 2026: How to watch, top games we hope to see

"This project is still in the early stages, so it'll be a minute before we get back to share another update," said Carson. "But I'm telling you, I'm telling you, next time we come back, we coming with something big, baby."

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the God of War franchise, with God of War first released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. The game followed Kratos, a Spartan warrior who served the Greek pantheon, as he embarked on a revenge quest to kill the titular god Ares. The subsequent two games also kept Kratos on a mission of revenge, turning his blades toward the king of the gods Zeus.

All three titles in the God of War trilogy were well-received at the time of their release, widely praised for their brutal, fluid combat. However, other aspects of the games have not aged quite as well, having treated women as sexual objects to be bedded in minigames and then discarded. In one infamous incident in God of War III, Kratos used an enslaved, half-naked woman as a literal object to solve a puzzle, leaving her screaming as she was crushed to death. 

It's currently unclear how the God of War remake might tackle such issues, particularly as the original games are well-known for their highly sexualised depiction of women. The series successfully retooled its approach more recently in a soft reboot, which delivered satisfyingly powerful combat alongside a markedly more mature, evolved, and nuanced approach to both women and masculinity. Even so, 2018's God of War and its follow-up God of War Ragnarök had the benefit of being able to tell new stories, rather than remaking games that fans are already familiar with.

The remake wasn't the only God of War news to drop during Thursday's State of Play, with PlayStation also giving a surprise announcement and release of new 2D action platformer God of War Sons of Sparta.

Developed by Mega Cat Studios with writers from Santa Monica Studio, Sons of Sparta is a prequel to the God of War series, and follows a young Kratos who's still in training alongside his brother. The side-scrolling game features retro-style pixel graphics with Carson narrating as Kratos, reprising the role for the first time since God of War: Ascension in 2013. (Christopher Judge voiced Kratos in the 2018 reboot and its sequel.)

God of War Sons of Sparta is available now for $29.99 on PlayStation 5.

A medical issue at the International Space Station in January required a swift, premature return of four astronauts, leaving just one American in space for the past month. 

That will change when the Crew-12 astronauts launch as early as Friday morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew — NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Sophie Adenot — along with European Space Agency astronaut Jack Hathaway and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, will join Chris Williams, who arrived at the station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in November 2025. 

Members of Crew-11 — Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui, and Russia’s Oleg Platonov — splashed down off the coast of San Diego, California, on Jan. 15. NASA did not disclose which of the astronauts had a medical issue or what the problem was, citing medical privacy concerns. All four seemed well as they participated in a news conference six days after their landing.

Though Williams was never entirely alone — cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev remained with him — the unprecedented medical evacuation highlights the importance of the staggered "seat swap" with Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency. The arrangement guarantees at least one American and one Russian are always on board. The operational redundancy ensures personnel from both countries are available to maintain their respective modules orbiting 250 miles above Earth. 

SEE ALSO: Astronomers discover the surprising reason for a star's disappearance How to watch Crew-12 launch

Pending weather conditions, NASA plans to see Crew-12 blast off as early as 5:15 a.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 13. The crew will ride atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in a Dragon spacecraft. 

To watch, NASA will provide live launch coverage starting at 3:15 a.m. ET on its YouTube channel, which you can stream from the video below. 

NASA also will broadcast the event on NASA+, its own free on-demand streaming service. Check NASA's Facebook page and X channel for coverage as well. 

If the rocket lifts off as planned on Friday, Crew-12 will get to the space station at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14. Upon arrival, the crewmates will begin an eight-month stint aboard the orbiting laboratory.

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

Released in August 2025, the 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 onto 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 for 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 February 13, 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 February 13, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 13 Pips

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

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 6-1, placed horizontally; 2-0, placed vertically; 5-3, placed horizontally.

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

Equal (4): Everything in this purple space must be equal to 4. The answer is 6-4, placed vertically; 4-5, placed horizontally.

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

Medium difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 13 Pips

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

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 0-5, placed vertically; 1-1, placed horizontally.

Equal (6): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 6. The answer is 3-6, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed vertically.

Equal (5): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 5. The answer is 3-5, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically; 5-4, placed horizontally; 5-2, placed vertically.

Equal (2): Everything in this dark blue space must be equal to 2. The answer is 6-2, placed vertically; 5-2, placed vertically.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for Feb. 13 Pips

Number (17): Everything in this space must add up to 17. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 5-1, placed vertically.

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

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

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally; 5-1, placed vertically; 1-3, placed vertically.

Equal (2): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 2. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically; 2-3, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this green space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-3, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed vertically; 2-3, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-0, placed vertically; 0-4, placed vertically; 0-3, placed horizontally.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically.

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 3-6, placed vertically.

Less Than (5): Everything in this space must be less than 5. The answer is 4-6, placed vertically.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 0-3, placed horizontally.

Number (24): Everything in this space must add up to 24. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.

Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically.

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

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

Today's Connections: Sports Edition is easy if you like tennis.

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. 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: 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: Winning hands

• Green: Features tennis

• Blue: Bears legend

• Purple: Located in a capital

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: Hands in Poker

• Green: Tennis Movies

• Blue: Associated with Walter Payton

• Purple: Teams That Play in World Capitals

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 #508 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Hands in Poker - FULL HOUSE, PAIR, ROYAL FLUSH, STRAIGHT

• Tennis Movies - BATTLE OF THE SEXES, CHALLENGERS, KING RICHARD, WIMBELDON

• Associated with Walter Payton - 34, BEARS, JACKSON STATE, SWEETNESS

• Teams That Play in World Capitals - COMMANDERS, CRYSTAL PALACE, REAL MADRID, SENATORS

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.

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.

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

Ta-da!

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

VOILA

Hurdle Word 2 hint

A kingdom.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for February 13, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

DUCHY

Hurdle Word 3 hint

To beg.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for February 13 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for February 13, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

PLEAD

Hurdle Word 4 hint

A column.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

PYLON

Final Hurdle hint

A stick.

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

BATON

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

BEST LEGO DEAL: Lego is running free Blooming Heart make and take events from 5-7 p.m. on Feb. 13. This activity is intended for adults and is for LEGO Insiders only (it's free to sign up).

Lego regularly runs make and take events that cause quite a stir in the brick-building community. What are make and take events, we hear you ask. These free giveaways provde an opportunity for participants to head to their nearest participating store, build a money-can't-buy model, and take it home with them for free. It's that simple.

The latest make and take event is a little different from what we're used to, but that's not a bad thing.

Lego is celebrating Valentine's Day this year by running Blooming Heart make and take events at participating stores (5-7 p.m. on Feb. 13). Unlike the majority of these events, this free giveaway is recommended for adults and is exclusive to Lego Insiders. Not already a member? Don't worry, because it's free to sign up and only one Lego Insiders account per household is required. Check participating stores here.

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These beautiful Lego Blooming Heart models are available on a first come first serve basis, at participating locations, while supplies last. You're limited to one Lego Blooming Heart build per guest, so you can't turn up and stock up. This model is not available for purchase, so there's always a lot of demand for these exclusive items.

We can't think of a better way to kickstart this Valentine's Day weekend, whether you are looking for an activity to do as a couple or you want something fun to do solo.