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So what exactly does one bring to the 15th anniversary of an iconic conference for online content creation? With VidCon 2026 just around the corner, it's a question you'll want to start asking now.

When it comes to content creation essentials, there's more to it than bringing along an iPhone and your MacBook (even though those make for a great camera and editing machine, respectively).

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

This knowledge comes firsthand: Mashable's team turned out plenty of content of our own at VidCon 2025, interviewed the biggest creators there about what tools they couldn't live without, and of course, kept our eyes peeled on the convention center floor. Beyond VidCon, our team also spoke with plenty of creators to learn more about the products they consider essential when they're filming, editing, and for all the moments in between.

That's why we decided to come up with a checklist — a starter pack for content creators. Below, you'll find our top five VidCon essentials for content creators.

If you're heading to VidCon this year, prepare to hear certain words repeated over and over again.

Some of them will come from creators. Others will come from executives, talent managers, startup founders, and brand marketers. Together, they offer a surprisingly useful snapshot of where the creator economy stands in 2026.

A decade ago, the dominant vocabulary of creator culture revolved around virality. Conversations centered on views and subscribers, maybe the occasional algorithm hack. Success was often measured in audience size alone.

This year's buzzwords tell a different story. The creator economy has grown up, and so has the language surrounding it. Increasingly, the industry's biggest conversations aren't about getting attention. They're about keeping it, monetizing it, and building sustainable businesses around it.

Here are the creator buzzwords you're guaranteed to hear at VidCon 2026, which kicks off June 25 in Anaheim, California.

SEE ALSO: Who is VidCon really for? 3 takeaways that reveal the creator economy's future. Community

If there's one word likely to dominate VidCon this year, it's community. For years, creators were encouraged to focus on growth above all else. Now the emphasis has shifted toward cultivating audiences that feel invested, connected, and engaged — aka building a fandom.

Whether that means Discord servers, livestream chats, membership programs, or in-person events, creators increasingly want audiences that participate rather than simply watch.

Translation: Followers are nice. Communities are valuable.

Superfans

Closely tied to community is the rise of the "superfan."

These are the people who buy merch, subscribe to memberships, attend live events (like VidCon), and show up every time a creator posts. As platforms become less predictable and ad revenue fluctuates, many creators are discovering that a smaller, highly engaged group of fans can be more valuable than a much larger, passive audience.

Translation: A thousand devoted fans can sometimes matter more than a million casual viewers.

Audience Ownership

Ask enough creators what keeps them awake at night, and eventually someone will mention platform dependency.

Audience ownership refers to building direct relationships with fans through newsletters, text lists, memberships, Discord communities, and other channels that creators control. The goal is to reduce reliance on algorithms and platform decisions.

Translation: Don't build your entire business on rented land.

Creator Infrastructure

One of the fastest-growing conversations in the creator economy isn't about content at all. It's about everything happening behind the scenes.

Creator infrastructure refers to the tools and services that help creators run their businesses, including storefronts, payment systems, analytics platforms, community management tools, and monetization software. If the first decade of the creator economy was about building audiences, this phase is increasingly about building the systems that support them.

Translation: Creators aren't just influencers anymore. They're small businesses.

Creator CEO

Many creators now employ editors, producers, managers, marketers, and operations staff. The most successful creators increasingly resemble startup founders more than traditional influencers.

As creators expand into merchandise, media companies, product lines, and subscription businesses, discussions about leadership, hiring, and operations have become just as important as discussions about content.

Translation: Being a creator increasingly means running a company.

Creator-Led Brands

The creators of yesteryear simply endorsed products. Now, creators are launching them.

From beverages and beauty brands to clothing lines and consumer products, many creators now view content as the top of a much larger business funnel. The goal is no longer simply monetizing attention through sponsorships, but building businesses that audiences actively buy into.

Translation: The endgame isn't always a brand deal.

Multi-Platform Strategy

The era of being "just a YouTuber" or "just a TikToker" is largely over.

Today's creators often publish across multiple platforms simultaneously, combining short-form video, long-form content, podcasts, newsletters, livestreams, and social media. Diversification has become both a growth strategy and a survival strategy.

Translation: No creator wants all of their eggs in one algorithm.

AI Tools

No VidCon buzzword list would be complete without AI.

From video editing and caption generation to thumbnail design, research, translation, and content ideation, creators are experimenting with AI across nearly every part of the production process. At the same time, creators are grappling with a growing list of questions: When should AI use be disclosed? How much automation is too much? And if audiences can no longer tell what's human-made, what happens to trust?

Whether creators embrace it enthusiastically or approach it cautiously, expect AI to be part of nearly every major conversation at VidCon this year.

Translation: Everyone is trying to figure out where AI fits into the creative process.

Sustainable Creation

After years of burnout discussions, creators are becoming more vocal about longevity.

Rather than chasing growth at all costs, many are focusing on healthier publishing schedules, diversified revenue streams, and businesses that don't depend on posting constantly. Sustainability has become one of the defining conversations of Creator Economy 2.0.

Translation: Hustle culture isn't quite as fashionable as it used to be.

Niche Communities

The internet keeps getting bigger, but creator success often looks smaller.

Many of today's fastest-growing creators aren't trying to appeal to everyone. Instead, they're building loyal audiences around highly specific interests, hobbies, fandoms, and expertise.

Translation: Being deeply relevant matters more than being broadly famous.

Authenticity

Perhaps the most enduring creator-economy buzzword of all.

Everyone talks about authenticity. Few people define it the same way. Yet despite years of debate, authenticity remains one of the industry's favorite explanations for audience trust and loyalty. Whether it's genuine transparency or simply the appearance of it, expect to hear the word repeatedly throughout VidCon.

Translation: Everyone uses it. Nobody fully agrees on what it means.

If there's a theme connecting all of these buzzwords, it's that creator culture is becoming less obsessed with scale and more focused on sustainability. The language of the industry has shifted from virality to ownership, from audience growth to community building, and from internet fame to long-term businesses.

In other words, the biggest buzzwords at VidCon 2026 aren't actually about content creation at all. They're about business.

Mashable will be on the ground at VidCon 2026, covering the creators, trends, and conversations driving internet culture, from breaking news and creator interviews to industry insights and live updates.

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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, June 9, 2026:

AcrossWhere bats hang

• The answer is ave.

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

Rickman who played Snape

• The answer is Alan.

Is totally awesome

• The answer is Rules.

Image that might accompany the words "That feeling when ..."

• The answer is Meme.

River of the Greek underworld

• The answer is Styx.

DownJaguar or Mustang

• The answer is Car.

College reunion attendees

• The answer is Alums.

Parker at a ritzy hotel

• The answer is Valnet.

Adversary

• The answer is Enemy.

Awkward topic of discussion with a teenager

• The answer is Sex.

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 today's Mini Crossword.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will require southern football knowledge.

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

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Yellow: NFC

• Green: Bayou sports

• Blue: Trojan receivers

• Purple: Golf courses

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

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

• Yellow: NFC South Teams

• Green: Louisiana Schools

• Blue: USC WRs in NFL

• Purple: Locations of this Year's Men's Golf Majors

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 #624 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• NFC South Teams: BUCCANEERS, FALCONS, PANTHERS, SAINTS

• Louisiana Schools: LOUISIANA SCHOOLS

• USC WRs in NFL: LONDON, PITTMAN, SMITH-SCHUSTER, ST. BROWN

• Locations of this Year's Men's Golf Majors: AUGUSTA, NEWTOWN SQUARE, SOUTHAMPTON, SOUTHPORT

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to play Pips

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

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 9, 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 June 9, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for June 9 Pips

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

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

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

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically; 5-4, placed vertically.

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

Medium difficulty hints, answers for June 9 Pips

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

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

Equal (1): Everything in this light blue space must be equal to 1. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically; 3-1, placed vertically.

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

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

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 0-6, placed vertically; 3-6, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (9): Everything in this space must be greater than 9. The answer is 3-6, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed vertically.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for June 9 Pips

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.

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

Greater Than (10): Everything in this space must be greater than 10. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.

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

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 1-2, placed vertically.

Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 1-6, placed horizontally; 4-0, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (10): Everything in this space must be greater than 10. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally

Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally.

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

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally.

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

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

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

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

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

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

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

A forest.

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

GROVE

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Frequently.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 9, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

OFTEN

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Tells time.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 9 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 9, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

CLOCK

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Sarcastically.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

DRYLY

Final Hurdle hint

Orangey-yellow.

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

AMBER

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

To understand how Tim Cook has transformed Apple — and why the launch of Siri AI was designed to entice Main Street more than Wall Street (or techies, for that matter) — compare Monday's WWDC 2026 keynote, Cook's last, to his very first.

Cook delivered his first keynote Oct. 4, 2011, weeks after he became CEO and one day before Steve Jobs died. Cook, at this point, dressed like Jobs (black shirt replacing black turtleneck), tried to talk in the same authoritative, conversational way as Jobs, and delivered a very Jobsian message of Apple Stores and Apple products (iPod included; Cook and the audience were squeezed into the intimate Infinite Loop campus theater where Jobs unveiled his hit MP3 player 10 years earlier).

SEE ALSO: Everything announced at WWDC 2026, the start of the Siri AI era

By June 8, 2026, everything has changed. For one thing, the keynote was outdoors, in the Spaceship campus that Jobs fought to break ground on in his last year of life. For another, it was pre-recorded instead of live. Cook made Apple keynotes virtual during the pandemic, and even when audiences came back to Apple's campus, he only appeared before those audiences once (for the original launch of Apple Intelligence).

Clearly never comfortable on stage or in the spotlight, Cook had ceded the majority of his keynote to other executive presenters even before the pandemic. A smart move in more ways than one — not only did Cook quit the hopeless task of sounding conversational (he could just about muster authoritative), this can also be seen in retrospect as a 15-year audition for a CEO with good (but not too outlandish) keynote charisma.

John Ternus, the winner of that contest, didn't even appear during Cook's keynote. Weirdly, Apple employees (or were they extras?) populated the background of every scene for the first time in a keynote — particularly distracting when they sat still as automatons during scenes at Apple's real-life coffee bar. You'd be forgiven for thinking everyone on campus except Ternus was on screen.

Ultimately, this too seems a sensible move from Cook — let the new guy keep his powder dry, and don't implicate him in what may count as Cook's riskiest keynote maneuver since he took the stage in 2011.

The Tim Cook school of Apple Intelligence

It's no secret that Cook is Silicon Valley's biggest skeptic when it comes to AI hype.

It's not just that Apple has (mercifully) never approached the kind of technobabble or dubious AGI predictions on display at Google I/O or Microsoft Build. You could make a drinking game out of an Apple keynote, but it might involve taking a shot for every Craig Federighi joke rather than every mention of "tokens" or "superintelligence."

SEE ALSO: The AI vibe shift is real: Why the backlash is growing

Notably, Cook tapped Federighi, veteran Apple daddy and the joker in the executive announcement pack, to officially unveil the highly anticipated Siri AI. Federighi did this right after unveiling the new MacOS name, Golden Gate, via an incense-filled VW bus that featured his bobblehead on the dash.

In case that order of business didn't make it clear, Federighi delivered Apple's clearest take on AI yet: "Some appear to be racing forward, seemingly pursuing AI for the sake of AI, without clear regard for the people — all of us — that it’s ultimately meant to serve."

This was not a line designed to appease consensus investors on Wall Street, for whom no level of AI technobabble is too much. But Cook's company is a $4 trillion behemoth now, 16 times the size it was in 2011, so Wall Street can go whistle. Apple made its trillions pleasing customers as many times as possible, not bilking investors for a short-term stock bump.

And in case you're inside the AI bubble and haven't gotten the memo, the backlash out there in America — against AI in everything, as well as against data centers — is getting intense. Cracks are starting to show even within the bubble. Federighi's "AI for the sake of AI" line was almost word-for-word what an Amazon executive wrote last month in an email begging employees to stop spending so many tokens: "don't use AI just for the sake of using AI."

SEE ALSO: 'No timeline for availability': Apple's new Siri AI will be very late in the EU

The Siri AI demos that followed were pretty basic as far as AI-heads are concerned. But Apple customers were repeatedly reassured about the privacy and security of Apple Intelligence (translation: the other guys make money capturing your data). They were also assured that every use case made sense. Searching for World Cup fixture details is a pain in the ass, and Siri's instantly returned lineup looked pretty appealing to this soccer fan.

Meanwhile, the Visual Intelligence feature called Spatial Reframing, which allows users to move a photo around as if it were in a 3D space, may not thrill the technically proficient, but it is exactly the sort of thing you can imagine parents or grandparents playing around with for hours.

This, in short, is your mom's AI. Apple is betting that boomers, Gen Xers, and at this stage even most 40-plus millennial iPhone customers, don't want to have to think about prompts, hallucinations, or tokens. They don't care if they're using ChatGPT or Gemini, or what the model number is. They just want to pick up the phone, press a button, ask Siri a question, and trust that they'll be pleasantly surprised by the ease of the answer.

And this is the sense in which Tim Cook has carried forward Steve Jobs' legacy from that dark day in October 2011. Apple, then and now, is at its best when it makes products that follow Jobs' mantra and just work.

This article reflects the opinion of the author.