Mashable

Have you allowed Link History on Facebook?

Many users on Facebook are being prompted with a pop-up when they log onto the app on their phones that reads: "Easily get back to recent links you've visited with your Facebook browsing activity now saved in one place. When you allow link history, we may use your information to improve your ads across Meta technologies. You can manage your link history in settings in your Browser settings anytime."

SEE ALSO: I tried out Facebook's ad-free tier. Here's what it's like.

Link History, as the name suggests, enables users to find links they've clicked on the app. So, for instance, if you clicked on an ad for a jewelry two weeks ago and want to find it later, you'd be able to with Link History. You can also see this with your "Recent Ad Activity," but Link History will show you every link you click — not just ads.

"You can view websites you’ve visited on Facebook in the past 30 days in the Link history page, Facebook wrote. "Link history is a list of links to the websites you’ve visited on Facebook’s mobile browser."

As Social Media Today pointed out, this isn't new for Meta, but this pop-up is a sign that it's opening up to more regions. If you didn't get the pop up and want to enable it, head to your profile, tap settings and privacy, tap link history, and click "allow link history."

But keep in mind that if you do decide to allow Facebook to save all your link clicks, Facebook "may use this link history information from our browser to improve your ads across Meta technologies."

Last January, Blumhouse gave us the absolute treasure that is murder doll M3GAN. This January, the horror studio has tossed us Night Swim. The former was an instantly iconic horror hit that played with genre conventions through a gleefully queer lens. The latter is an uninspired slog that plays in the deep end of cliches until it drowns. 

Written and directed by Bryce McGuire, Night Swim shamelessly riffs on unforgettable moments in Jaws, It, and Ghostbusters, while snatching the framing device from The Amityville Horror. Genre devotees will catch the references, as none are subtle, but these allusions only serve to remind us we could be watching a much better movie instead of this mid-winter fumble.

Grimly, this film doesn't even satisfy as a so-dumb-it's-fun horror romp — though I'd be remiss not to admit there are some highlights.

What's Night Swim about? Gavin Warren goes for a day swim in "Night Swim." Credit: Universal

Wyatt Russell stars as Ray Waller, a family man and professional baseball player who was recently forced into retirement by a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. As he struggles with his new reality, his wife Eve (The Banshees of Inisherin's Kerry Condon) and kids (Amélie Hoeferle and Gavin Warren) set up their new home, which boasts a big in-ground pool fed by natural spring water. Having bounced around for his career, the family is giddy about this suburban dream and the chance to finally put down roots. But the pool has other plans — because it's haunted. 

Much like The Amityville Horror, the paranormal influence of this home most dangerously impacts the frustrated father. While his family witnesses horrific visions in and around the pool, Ray feels rejuvenated by the waters. So, like the abusive fathers who came before him, his priorities become dangerously selfish. Might Ray overcome MS with continued used of the pool? Could he return to the pro league? At what cost? Can the Waller family survive his devotion to his "water therapy"?

Wyatt Russell is woefully miscast in Night Swim. Wyatt Russell is a cinnamon bun. Credit: Universal

Key to the tension of The Amityville Horror movies — specifically the 1979 original and the 2005 remake — is the toxic masculinity that exudes from the father figure. In both instances, you have a man who wants to be a good dad, but the evil influence of the poltergeists in the house pushes him to a place of bullying and violence. Night Swim attempts to reconstruct this arc, but half-heartedly. For instance, Ray may be more focused on his workouts than spending time with his young son Elliot (Warren), whom Ray is generally supportive of even though the boy is (gasp!) not great at sports. 

But part of the problem is that Russell has such Golden Retriever energy that he just doesn't read as a threat — even when the third act pitches Ray into full-on rage mode. The rampaging father should come off as menacing, but audience members were giggling as Russell shouted one-liners about the pool and the rules of Marco Polo. It's less Jack Torrance and more Jack Lemmon. 

Night Swim is just not scary. Pennywise, is that you? Credit: Universal

Aside from an underwhelming bad dad, this haunted pool thriller is awash with predictable jump scares and unoriginal creepy crawlies. An opening sequence set 30 years ago introduces a toy boat that serves as a lure for an innocent child. This light allusion to It becomes groan-inducing when another kid follows a toy toward the pool filter, which looks so much like the sewer grate setup of Pennywise the Clown attacking doomed Georgie that it flat-out feels like plagiarism. 

Night Swim's first onscreen death in the pool works the same way, copying the iconic stunt choreography in the opening scene from Jaws beat for beat. Although McGuire is copying a master in these sequences, his versions fall flat. Perhaps because they feel like pale imitations, so too do the monsters that lurk in the depths. Some resemble generic scribbles of ghouls from any number of forgettable horror movies, while one bloated fellow looks and sounds comically like Ghostbuster's Slimer.

Further frustrating is the movie's explanation for why the pool is haunted. To his credit, McGuire manages to jam in some compelling backstory. But to do so, he delivers an overlong sequence that employs stock horror imagery, like eyes dripping black goo, as well as a tiger mom stereotype that is as insensitive as it is uninspired. And all that leads to a climax that — while studded with spookiness and action — is just a mess, completed by a shrug of a resolution. 

The scariest sequence is the Marco Polo bit revealed in the trailer.  Amélie Hoeferle makes a splash in the scariest scene from ""Night Swim." Credit: Universal

Night Swim makes frequent use of water as a cinematography device, with shots of people looking into the water or through the water up to the surface to build tension. While McGuire's movie plays with the unnerving visual distortion therein, there is little lasting terror to be enjoyed. Perhaps this is because he's pulling so much from recognizable horror hits that we are inured; even the film's best sequence might be considered a riff on The Conjuring's sensational hide-and-clap sequence, notably constructed by Night Swim producer James Wan. 

At night, teen daughter Izzy (Hoeferle) has snuck her new beau over for a night swim. While her character is as thinly sketched as the rest of the Wallers, here the stakes are clear. Teen lust, flirtation, skin, fear of rejection — there are layers of vulnerability here, even without the pool poltergeists. The shots of Izzy with her eyes closed, stepping cautiously into the deep end as she calls out "Marco," rattle with suspense. From this jumping-off point, McGuire dives into real terror with a scare that is the stuff of nightmares. But it is all too brief. 

The supporting players of Night Swim shine.  Nancy Lenehan is a selling point as real estate agent in "Night Swim." Credit: Universal

While the Waller family is let down by a script that has little interest in their personalities and generally bland dialogue, a couple of character actors manage to break through. High Maintenance star Ben Sinclair scores genuine laughs as a pool tech whose main job is to drop some clues to the pool's creepiness. Sporting a smug grin and a ball cap for Orca Pool Services (Jaws reference noted), he manages to make a meal out of this scrap of a part. 

Also splendid is consummate That Guy Nancy Lenehan. The moment you see her strained smile, you might remember her from Veep or My Name Is Earl or over 100 other performances. In Night Swim, she plays an eager-to-please real estate agent who at first seems like she might be a one-scene wonder like Sinclair. But then — thankfully — she turns up for a pool party with a bizarre blue dessert and plenty to say.

Where other performers in this film are anchored by the exposition dumps, Sinclair and Lenehan manage to make their characters come alive while delivering their dark details. In these moments, characters enthrall and entertain! There's the promise that Night Swim might right itself and plunge into fun and thrills. Spoilers: It won't. 

Pulling inspiration from a flood of uniquely terrifying movies, Night Swim wades into horror with the right moves but no fluidity in how they come together. While it has splashes of fun, it's ultimately a lazy effort that feels totally disposable.

Night Swim is in theaters Jan. 5.

In a video uploaded to YouTube on Jan. 1, Willis Gibson plays the video game Tetris until the game freezes. In that moment, the 13-year-old from Oklahoma is thought to have been the first human player to advance so far into the original Nintendo version of the game.

The remarkable moment happens around 38 minutes and 29 seconds into the video, after which the teen is overcome by the shock of his own achievement. We've timestamped the moment for you in the video below.

Tetris is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1985. A portmanteau of "tetra" (meaning "four") and "tennis," Tetris is played by maneuvering falling block pieces into solid horizontal lines, at which point the lines disappear and make room for more lines. Players lose when the build up of blocks breaches the upper limit of the playing screen. The game becomes more difficult at upper levels as the blocks fall at faster and faster speeds.

In the past, enthusiasts have developed artificial intelligence to play the game at levels thought too advanced for living, breathing players. Gibson's performance, during which he reached Level 157, was practically superhuman. "It’s never been done by a human before," Vince Clemente, the president of the Classic Tetris World Championship, told the New York Times. "It’s basically something that everyone thought was impossible until a couple of years ago."

SEE ALSO: Mashable's best games 2023: No, 'Baldur's Gate 3' isn't No. 1

In October, Gibson placed third at the Classic Tetris World Championship, after joining the competition as a relative unknown. He has only been playing Tetris for around two years, and has made about $3,000 in Tetris tournaments so far, according to the Times. Gibson posted the recording of his feat to his YouTube channel, where he regularly shares mesmerizing footage of him playing puzzle game under the name Blue Scuti.

What do you get when Sesame Street and Abbott Elementary join forces? A supremely wholesome crossover, that's what.

Abbott Elementary star and creator Quinta Brunson teaches Muppets Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and Cookie Monster all about kindness in a school-focused episode. While Elmo and Abby seem to understand the concept, Cookie Monster's having a tougher time. He knows it's kind to clean up, but unfortunately, his version of cleaning up means eating all of Brunson's school supplies. (In a nod to the pilot of Abbott Elementary, Brunson mentions he's even eaten her important story time rug.)

Sesame Street pays further tribute to Abbott Elementary by framing the clip as a mockumentary, allowing Brunson to channel some Janine Teagues. But will she be able to get through to Cookie Monster in time, and save her classroom from being devoured?

While everyone was holed up at home for the holidays, Emerald Fennell's shocking — or not-so-shocking depending on who you ask — tale of class and obsession in the early 2000s, Saltburn, hit streaming...and bombarded our Twitter/X timelines and TikTok FYPs.

Starring Barry Keoghan as Oliver, a weird little freak, and Jacob Elordi as Felix, a gorgeous charismatic rich boy, the film generated endless discourse as seen in the emergence of Felix "fancams" and the now infamous bathwater-drinking scene inspiring homemade goods, but no part got more air time than the film's final sequence where Oliver dances around Felix's family's estate fully naked to the 2001 hit "Murder On The Dancefloor" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. So perhaps it's unsurprising that its impact has left the Film Twitter-verse and entered the charts.

SEE ALSO: 'Saltburn' review: Sick, savage, and satisfying

It's joined the likes of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" as songs given a second life by zeitgeisty media in the TikTok era. On Dec. 31 — three days after Saltburn became available on Amazon Prime Video — "Murder On The Dancefloor" had its highest daily global streams on Spotify clocking in at 1.5 million. It also entered the Global Spotify chart for the first time. Today it reached no. 1 on Spotify's Viral 50 chart.

On New Year's Eve, Ellis-Bextor posted a TikTok recreating Oliver's dance moves wearing antlers similar to the ones he sports in the film. It garnered over 4.3 million views and nearly 500,000 likes.

That's not the only use of the song on TikTok. A video posted by @ellie__.e dancing to the track in a large house was recirculated on Twitter with the caption, "Saltburn gave rich people a trend to do and I love it," which sparked debate over the film's murky class politics.

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But the song is mostly being used on TikTok either to react to Saltburn or the "things I suffer from" trend where users list the acronyms of all the things they suffer from. Regardless, "Murder On The Dancefloor" is a testament to Saltburn's online impact — and Keoghan's dance moves.

After a bumpy few weeks, Twitch is putting an end to the "topless meta" trend.

According to TechCrunch, the streaming platform updated its attire policy on Wednesday to address a viral trend in which users stream nude or appear to be nude while streaming. In the new policy, Twitch outlines very specific guidelines that prohibit streamers from being "fully or partially nude" or to "imply or suggest that they are fully or partially nude, including, but not limited to, covering breasts or genitals with objects or censor bars."

SEE ALSO: Twitch streamers can now simulcast on any live streaming service Tweet may have been deleted

The policy goes on to say that "For those who present as women, we ask that you cover your nipples and do not expose underbust," although cleavage is allowed, and "the area extending from your hips to the bottom of your pelvis and buttocks" must be covered.

Explicit nudity was already banned on the platform. But the recent trend, topless meta, featured streamers nude or appearing nude but with their breasts and genitals out of frame or covered with a black censor bar. A streamer and OnlyFans model who goes by Morgpie effectively kicked off the trend by streaming topless in a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders and was subsequently banned from the platform. "Meta" in this context is a gaming term that's short for "most effective tactic available." So essentially, savvy streamers like Morgpie were taking advantage of the loophole to get more engagement and visibility. This was especially popular for streamers with smaller audiences.

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As TechCrunch notes, such videos were properly tagged for Sexual Themes, therefore weren't technically breaking any rules and by default didn't appear on the homepage. But the thumbnails featuring nude or apparently nude streamers that showed up on other pages began to irk members of the community. "Our goal, with this and other recent changes, is to make Twitch a safe and welcoming place for all of the communities that call it home, improve the clarity of our policies, and ensure that people have the experience they expect when spending time on Twitch," said Angela Hession, chief customer trust officer at Twitch.

Previously, Twitch had updated its nudity policy to allow "fictionalized" i.e. illustrated or animated nudity. But photorealistic AI-generated images flooded the platform and Twitch changed the policy soon after, saying "Digital depictions of nudity present a unique challenge – AI can be used to create realistic images, and it can be hard to distinguish between digital art and photography," in a follow up blog post.

So there you have it. The topless meta party is over, and streamers will have to find another way of boosting their profile fully clothed.

Your next Windows keyboard will have a small design change with big implications.

On Thursday, Microsoft announced the introduction of a "Copilot key" to Windows 11 PC keyboards. This means users will have access Copilot's AI-powered tools with the press of a button. Like the Windows key that brings up the Start menu, the new key will launch Copilot in Windows, an AI-powered assistant that works within the operating system and across Microsoft's app ecosystem.

The Copilot key for Windows 11 PCs. Credit: Microsoft Microsoft is making Copilot more accessible

Last February, Microsoft kicked off its generative AI frenzy with Copilot, a productivity tool that can generate ideas, draft emails and documents, summarize conversations, and more, thanks to OpenAI's latest large language models and data pulled from Microsoft 365 apps. After a year of building out Bing Chat (now rebranded to Copilot), Copilot for Microsoft 365, and Copilot in Windows 11, it's a fitting next step to consolidate all of the AI pieces by tucking them into one button.

The Copilot key also marks a symbolic merge of hardware, software, and interconnectivity. "In this new year, we will be ushering in a significant shift toward a more  personal and intelligent computing future where AI will be seamlessly woven into Windows from the system, to the silicon, to the hardware," said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer. "This will not only simplify people’s computing  experience but also amplify it, making 2024 the year of the AI PC."

You'll start to see the new Copilot key on many Windows 11 PCs at CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Availability, including upcoming Surface devices, will begin in late February.

A new year calls for a fresh start. If you work from home, now is an opportune time to decide if your gear needs an upgrade for the year ahead. Thanks to today's deals at Amazon, your WFH setup could see some serious upgrades for up to 50% off.

Today's best home-office deals Best adjustable desk deal FlexiSpot adjustable height electric standing desk (48 inches by 24 inches) $194.39 at Amazon (save $75.60) Get Deal Best monitor deal Acer KB272 EBI 27-inch IPS full HD monitor $99.99 at Amazon (save $55) Get Deal Best office chair deal Sihoo M18 ergonomic office chair $145.99 at Amazon (save $124 with on-page coupon) Get Deal

If you work from home full-time or part-time, you know how important your desk setup can be. Nothing hinders what could be a productive work week more than a sore back, elbow, or wrist on account of a sub-par desk and chair situation.

Instead of suffering through another year of working in uncomfortable positions, make this the year your WFH setup grows up into an ergonomic, functional wonder. Here are some of the best deals for a fresh home office setup in 2024.

Best adjustable desk deal Opens in a new window Credit: FlexiSpot Our pick: FlexiSpot adjustable height electric standing desk (48 inches x 24 inches) $194.39 at Amazon (save $75.60) Get Deal Why we like it

If you've never worked at an adjustable standing desk, you're in for a treat. The FlexiSpot adjustable desk uses electric controls to maneuver up or down to your liking and has four programmable preset buttons. Find your desired height for sitting or standing, and program them into the desk for easy adjustability. The desk can shift between 28 inches in height up to 47.6 inches. The steel frame can handle up to 154 pounds so you'll easily be able to use your laptop and monitors safely.

More desk deals at Amazon

• FlexiSpot electric adjustable standing desk (48 inches by 30 inches) — $169.99 $199.99 (save $30.01)

• FlexiSpot electric adjustable corner desk (71 inches by 48 inches) — $339.99 $499.99 (save $160 with on-page coupon)

Best monitor deal Opens in a new window Credit: Acer Our pick: Acer KB272 EBI 27-inch monitor $99.99 at Amazon (save $55) Get Deal Why we like it

With a 27-inch screen and a 100Hz refresh rate, the Acer KB272 EBI might be the upgrade your workstation is calling for. The tilt adjustment means you'll have control over finding the best angle and the monitor comes with Acer VisionCare which is designed to reduce eye strain. The monitor has one HDMI port (HDMI cable included) and one VGA port.

More monitor deals at Amazon

• Samsung 27-inch CF39 Series FHD curved monitor — $159.99 $219.99 (save $60)

• HP 27h full HD monitor — $181.56 $229.99 (save $48.43)

• Dell SE3223Q 32-inch 4K monitor — $229.99 $364.99 (save $65)

Best office chair deal Opens in a new window Credit: Sihoo Our pick: Sihoo M18 ergonomic office chair $145.99 at Amazon (save $124 with on-page coupon) Get Deal Why we like it

Adjustability is the name of the game when it comes to office chairs. The Sihoo M18 is outfitted with an adjustable headrest, swivel tilt, and customizable lumbar support. Designed for people between 5'6" and 6'2", the chair has a recommended maximum capacity of 330 pounds. The 27.5-inch wheeled base helps with both stability and durability. For those who sit for extended lengths of time, the Sihoo M18 uses a 3.15-inch thick seating area for a more comfortable experience.

More office chair deals at Amazon

• La-Z-Boy Sutherland ergonomic swivel chair — $253.99 $319.99 (save $66)

• DXRacer Formula chair — $358.34 $469 (save $110.66)

• Hon Ignition 2.0 ergonomic chair — $399 $846.48 (save $447.48)

OpenAI's ChatGPT is no closer to replacing your family physicians, as the increasingly advanced chatbot failed to accurately diagnose the vast majority of hypothetical pediatric cases.

The findings were part of a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics on Jan. 2, conducted by researchers from Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York. The researchers analyzed the bot's responses to requests for medical diagnosis of child illnesses and found that the bot had an 83 percent error rate across tests.

SEE ALSO: 5 ways AI changed the internet in 2023

The study used what are known as pediatric case challenges, or medical cases originally posted to groups of physicians as learning opportunities (or diagnostic challenges) involving unusual or limited information. Researchers sampled 100 challenges published on JAMA Pediatrics and NEJM between the years 2013 and 2023.

ChatGPT provided incorrect diagnoses for 72 out of 100 of the experimental cases provided, and generated 11 answers that were deemed "clinically related" to the correct diagnosis but considered too broad to be correct.

Tweet may have been deleted

The researchers attribute part of this failure to the generative AI's inability to recognize relationships between certain conditions and external or preexisting circumstances, often used to help diagnose patients in a clinical setting. For example, ChatGPT did not connect "neuropsychiatric conditions" (such as autism) to commonly seen cases of vitamin deficiency and other restrictive-diet-based conditions.

The study concludes that ChatGPT needs continued training and involvement of medical professionals that feeds the AI not with an internet-generated well of information, which can often cycle in misinformation, but on vetted medical literature and expertise.

AI-based chatbots relying on Large Language Models (LLMs) have been previously studied for their efficacy in diagnosing medical cases and in accomplishing the daily tasks of physicians. Last year, researchers tested generative AI's ability to pass the three-part United States Medical Licensing Exam — It passed.

But while it's still highly criticized for its training limits and potential to exacerbate medical bias, many medical groups, including the American Medical Association, don't view the advancement of AI in the field just as a threat of replacement. Instead, better trained AI's are considered ripe for their administrative and communicative potential, like generating patient-side text, explaining diagnoses in common terms, or in generating instructions. Clinical uses, like diagnostics, remain a controversial, and hard to research, topic.

To that extent, the new report represents the first analysis of a chatbot's diagnostic potential in a purely pediatric setting — acknowledging the specialized medical training undertaken by medical professionals. Its current limitations show that even the most advanced chatbot on the public market can't yet compete with the full range of human expertise.

Elon Musk's ramblings about creating his own "alternative" smartphone may not currently be in the works. But one of Musk's companies is working on improving cellular connectivity.

SpaceX has launched its first set of Starlink satellites with the ability to send signals to cellular phones. A Falcon 9 rocket carried 21 satellites into orbit on Tuesday, according to SpaceX.

Tweet may have been deleted

Musk's space company signed a deal with T-Mobile, one of the major U.S. wireless carriers, in August 2022 that will allow customers to access Starlink-provided network access primarily in dead zones across the country. U.S. regulators approved these satellites last month, according to TechCrunch.

International wireless carriers, like Rogers in Canada and KDDI in Japan, are also expected to work with SpaceX for connectivity in areas with little-to-no service.

According to Starlink's website, these satellites will act as a "cellphone tower in space."

"Direct to Cell works with existing LTE phones wherever you can see the sky," reads the company's website. "No changes to hardware, firmware, or special apps are required, providing seamless access to text, voice, and data."

While the first of these Starlink satellites have launched, consumers will still have to wait for some time. T-Mobile is expected to begin direct-to-cell testing with text messaging later this year, with voice and data tests rolling out in 2025 or later. 

Stanley became TikTok's favorite cup brand over the last couple of years, and thanks to a viral video in which a Stanley tumbler survived a car fire (and still had ice in it!) it's not hard to see why it's a fan favorite. And the brand is making headlines again after releasing a pink tumbler in collaboration with Starbucks.

Scenes from the Jan. 3 release at Target stores were reminiscent of the Black Fridays of yore. People camped out overnight, waited in lines, and rushed the Stanley display in hopes of snagging one of the $50 tumblers (reportedly there were about 35 to 40 cups per location, though that number has not been confirmed). The cups are not available online, and we doubt there are any left in stores.

SEE ALSO: Stock up on Stanley products at 25% off and ditch single-use plastic in 2024

The pink Stanley cups are now going for around $200 on eBay. If you don't feel like paying hundreds of dollars for a cup (or you're boycotting Starbucks), we've found some cute alternatives. These pink tumblers might not have the same ~status~ as the Stanley, but they're adorable and functional all the same.

Here are some of our favorite pink Stanley dupes you can grab right now:

Opens in a new window Credit: Simple Modern Simple Modern 40-ounce tumbler $29.99 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Hydro Flask Hydro Flask All Around 40-ounce tumbler $39.95 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Yeti Yeti Rambler 25-ounce tumbler $38 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Owala Owala 40-ounce tumbler $27.38 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Crave Cups Crave Cups 40-ounce tumbler $22.97 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Zoyepin Zoyepin 40-ounce tumbler $20.24 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Hydrapeak Hydrapeak Voyager 40-ounce tumbler $24.95 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Zenbo Zenbo 40-ounce glitter tumbler $24.99 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Konokyo Konokyo 30-ounce tumbler $13.48 at Amazon Buy Now Opens in a new window Credit: Reduce Reduce 24-ounce tumbler $17.99 at Target Buy Now

After years of people joking about the Xbox Series S console looking like a toaster, you can actually buy a toaster that looks like an Xbox Series S. It costs $39.99 at Walmart, as noted by X's best account, Wario64. It can toast two slices at once, has six different browning levels to choose from, and actually imprints an Xbox logo on your toast. Seriously!

SEE ALSO: I'm 32. Xbox is barred from making X-Men games 'til I'm 45. Here's why. Tweet may have been deleted

This current generation of Xbox consoles has a weirdly intimate relationship with the world of home appliances. The more powerful Series X was the subject of a meme that accused it of looking like a refrigerator, so Microsoft actually went and made a mini-fridge modeled after the Series X. Sony should make a space heater that looks like the PS5, just to bring this full-circle.

Anyway, if you want to fill your home with Xbox-branded appliances and cause all your guests to ask you about it, you can do that now.

GET A $50 CREDIT: As of Jan. 4, you can reserve your spot to preorder the newest Samsung Galaxy S24 phone and get a free $50 Samsung credit. No purchase is required until the preorder begins on Jan. 17.

Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung Galaxy S24 preorder: Reserve your spot Get a $50 Samsung credit Get Deal

Calling all Samsung stans: Now's your chance to reserve the newest Samsung Galaxy phone before it's even announced — and get $50 in Samsung credit.

Samsung is kicking off 2024 with a Galaxy Unpacked event on Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. EST, where it will unveil the newest Galaxy phone, the Galaxy S24, featuring a new technology the company is calling Zoom with Galaxy AI. You can watch the event live later this month to check out all the new goodies Samsung will announce, but you can reserve your spot to preorder and get a $50 Samsung credit right now.

There's no commitment to buy upfront. You just enter your name and email (and optional phone number) on Samsung's site and you'll quickly receive an email with the next steps. Your $50 credit reservation is complete; now you just need to come back to preorder your new phone on Jan. 17, when you'll also have the opportunity to use your $50 credit on "other Samsung products." Plus, Samsung says there will be up to $970 in additional savings you can take advantage of during the launch event.

SEE ALSO: Samsung confirms Jan. 17 date for its S24 reveal event

From everything we know (or have heard) about the S24 so far, it will reportedly be the first "AI phone." Back in November, Galaxy Club reported that Samsung applied for trademarks for phrases such as “AI Phone” and “AI Smartphone” in the EU and UK. We're not sure about pricing yet, but the costs for the three tiers of phones have remained the same for the last three Galaxy generations: $799, $999, and $1,199. We'll see if that changes this year amidst other rising costs.

If you're even a maybe on the Galaxy S24, or just curious about the new AI tech, there's no downside to reserving your $50 credit today. You can pull the trigger on your preorder on Jan. 17 after you've seen everything the S24 has to offer.

15 years after writing Jennifer's Body, Diablo Cody is back with another coming-of-age horror comedy: Lisa Frankenstein.

Directed by Zelda Williams, Lisa Frankenstein is the '80s set-tale of high school outcast Lisa (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's Kathryn Newton). She wishes for nothing more than to be with her crush. The problem? He's a dapper gentleman buried six feet under. But not for long!

Thanks to a Mary Shelley-esque miracle, Lisa's dream guy (Riverdale's Cole Sprouse) comes to life. His presence bolsters Lisa's confidence, sets her on a Goth kick, and encourages her to be more confident.

Get ready to swoon (and scream) as these two unlikely lovers embark on a whirlwind romance — oh, and a crime spree to recover some missing body parts.

Lisa Frankenstein hits theaters Feb. 9.

The cast of Good Grief break down everything we need to now about Dan Levy's filmmaking debut. Good Grief streams starting on January 5th on Netflix.

Want a bit more stop-motion goodness in your life? Then check out the trailer for Peacock's In the Know, the streamer's first adult animated comedy.

In the Know introduces us to NPR's third most popular radio host, Lauren Caspian (voiced by Zach Woods, who co-created the series with Silicon Valley's Brandon Gardner and King of the Hill's Mike Judge). This quirky character conducts in-depth interviews with high-profile guests like Roxane Gay, Mike Tyson, and Hugh Laurie — and he also happens to be a puppet. In fact, his whole staff are puppets, while all the guests are real-life humans.

SEE ALSO: Should you sign up for Peacock?

Brought to life by stop motion from ShadowMachine, the studio behind Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, In the Know explores the making of Lauren's eponymous radio show, as well as how his well-meaning persona can often mask hypocrisy. On top of all that, the new comedy series also boasts an impressive lineup of guests, including Kaia Gerber, Jonathan Van Ness, Ken Burns, Finn Wolfhard, Norah Jones, Tegan and Sara, Nicole Byer, and Jorge Masvidal.

In the Know hits Peacock Jan. 25.

UPDATE: 11:10 a.m. ET — In what can only be described as a truly wild coincidence, Jersey Jerry sunk a hole-in-one at almost the exact moment this story published. On shot 2,627 he bounced a ball right into the hole, ending his Sisyphean task. It was amazing and a just reward for more than 36 hours of livestreaming.

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Original story:

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus posited that "one must imagine Sisyphus happy" — that the struggle of forever pushing a boulder to great heights is enough to fill a man's heart.

Camus might've been full of shit. Because I'm watching a Steelers fan named Jersey Jerry do perhaps the closest thing I've seen to a Sisyphean feat and he isn't exactly thrilled about it.

Let's go back and explain. Jerry, an employee at Barstool Sports, started a YouTube livestream around 10 p.m. on Tuesday where he'd keep going until he got a hole-in-one on the office's high-tech golf simulator. He's still going. For the math adverse, that's more than 36-straight hours and three calendar days. Before sleeping — on a livestream, mind you — Jerry was up for nearly 40 consecutive hours, since he began this thing after a full work day.

Here's the livestream, which is on Part 4 because YouTube cuts livestreams off after a certain amount of time.

It's difficult to overstate how big this stream has gotten. It's weirdly captivating to see this man keep going. Part 4 of the livestream has, at this writing, nearly 70,000 people watching at any given time. Part 3 racked up some one million viewers in total. The channel, Jerry After Dark, has grown from around 30,000 subscribers to well over 100,000.

This TikTok from @Jackmacbarstool does a good job breaking down how its grown. The PGA Tour has posted about, hugely popular athletes like JJ Watt and Brooks Koepka have commented — it trended on Twitter the same night the Epstein list dropped. Tom Brady, freaking Tom Brady, compared himself to Jerry.

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Part of the appeal is Jersey Jerry is about as everyman as everyman gets. He's not particularly great at golf. He's sort of your average golfer at a muni course on the weekend — to be clear, that's my exact skill level. I've accepted I will never, ever hit a hole-in-one. It's freaking difficult. Near impossible. Jerry is taking it on.

As of this writing, Jerry has taken more than 2,600 strokes. He's come within inches of the hole but nothing has sunk. The close calls, however, are part of the fun. They look so. damn. good. Look at this. There have been multiple like this.

Watching this man come so close, and yet be so far from finished, has been thrilling and honestly a bit worrisome. I'm worried about this guy. He has created his own personal hell and it's a virtual recreation of Pebble Beach No. 7. At one point Wednesday night, Barstool's Big Cat basically had to force him to go to bed because thing's were getting super delirious. Jerry was duffing shot after shot into the water without realizing he was accidentally playing from the rough instead of the tee box.

It's hypnotic and captivating. Over and over, shot after shot. You, as the viewer, even fall into a rhythm. The backswing, the ping of the club hitting the ball, the thwap of the projector screen, held breath, no hole-in-one, another mulligan, start it over.

Jerry's friends and coworkers cycle in, give him words of encouragement, bring him food, get him IVs and chiropractors. They've called the manufacturers of the simulator to even see if it's possible — they promise it is.

It's tough to explain how much of a herculean effort this is. Jerry has oscillated between positive and ready to collapse. But he has not stopped. The most golf balls I've ever hit in a row, for context, is maybe 125. And it kind of sucks after 100. Doing the same movement, over and over, is tiresome and takes so much concentration. I ran a marathon this year and I'd rather do that right now, all over again, than do what Jerry has done. It's not even a question. The fact that he's still going and hasn't quit is a testament to his stubbornness and, of course, the unlikely massive popularity of the stream.

I simply need to see Jerry be freed from this simulated prison. As of around 11 a.m. eastern time, he's had two incredibly close calls this session. But no hole-in-one. So sure, one must imagine Sisyphus happy, but I'd rather see him off the mountain altogether.

SEE ALSO: Online, golf is for everyone

It's now Jan. 4, and in the four short days of 2024 so far, a certain cartoon mouse has been so extensively used and abused online that you're no doubt already aware of this fact: Mickey Mouse, at least as he's portrayed in the 1928 films Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy, just legally entered the public domain. He belongs to us all now. 

A whole spectrum of Mickey-related posts and memes have been posted online, mostly ranging from irreverent to revolting, and it's making this perhaps the most raucous time in the history of the public domain — even wilder than the hype around the gore-and-boobs-fest that was last year's Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey. Everyone seems to have a joke, a Steamboat Willie remix, or a hot take. 

As Jennifer Jenkins, a clinical professor of law teaching intellectual property at Duke University, noted to Mashable: "With all of these [public domain] works, I’m interested to see the uses we’re still talking about in 10 or 20 years that have managed to maintain cultural relevance, ideally because they’re thoughtful and really good. But the opening salvos are always interesting too."

SEE ALSO: Here are 2024's public domain works, and how you can use them

Indeed, little of what we've seen as this Mickey Mouse free-for-all has kicked off is legally groundbreaking — and most of it is in the spirit of jest anyway. Moreover, it probably wouldn't even really be worth Disney's time to litigate this stuff, even if corporate leadership took major umbrage.

But most of what's been happening with Mickey lately is still illustrative, even if all it does is miss the point in new and exciting ways.

Does my Mickey Mouse content need to be 'transformative' or 'fair use'?

Long story short: no. You don't need to have a "fair use" rationale to use Mickey in your own work. He belongs to you. To illustrate this, let's look at the most notorious example from recent days, the upcoming video game formerly known as "Infestation 88," announced just after the new year by a company called Nightmare Forge Games.

This is a cooperative survival horror game set in 1988, and the characters are "twisted versions of classic characters and urban legends." With a black-and-white ghoul version of Mickey Mouse in a Steamboat Willie hat apparently being one of those characters, though he doesn't appear to be named in the game trailer. 

But rather than upsetting Disney, "Infestation 88" only seems to have upset people who think of the number 88 mainly as a common neo-nazi dogwhistle — a reference to David Eden Lane's "88 Precepts," an anti-jew manifesto. "Unfortunately, we were unaware of any additional meanings the number '88' has," the company quickly wrote in an X post. They've since changed the name to "Infestation Origins." 

At any rate, without Steamboat Willie entering the public domain at the start of this year, there might have been a case for arguing that the version of Mickey used in the game was permissible under the "transformative use" doctrine in US copyright law. If the game had repurposed Mickey Mouse in a way that was far removed from how Disney used the Mickey Mouse character, an enterprising lawyer might have made such an argument in the defense of the creator. 

And as for whether said argument would actually work, well, Disney does already put Mickey Mouse in somewhat violent video games all the time, and yes, Disney does sometimes make Mickey Mouse into a scary monster in official Disney cinematic works. So if I were a lawyer at Nightmare Forge Games, I would certainly be glad Mickey is in the public domain. 

Does my use of the Mickey Mouse character need to be a parody?

There's another form of legal protection that might shield an awful lot of recent Mickey Mouse content creators from the Most Litigious Place on Earth: parody. Much of the art that's materialized recently — including the Ben Garrison cartoon above — has clearly been made in the spirit of parodying Mickey Mouse. And that's much more protection than anyone needs in order to play in the Mickey sandbox now that the character is in the public domain. "You don’t need a parody argument," Jenkins told Mashable.

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Similarly, comedian Connor Ratliff made a parody version of Steamboat Willie, and — like Ben Garrison's parody, he didn't need to wait until this year to do it. What's more, there's a note on Ratliff's title card saying the film is "no longer under copyright," but that's unnecessary too. The early Mickey Mouse films aren't Creative Commons works; they're simply public property. Ratliff can copyright his own film, and even sell it for a profit if he wants to. "Reproducing and adapting the footage in whatever way you like is legit," Jenkins said.

Can I claim I created Mickey Mouse? Tweet may have been deleted

I know, I know: the people posting some version of "Hey I just drew this," and then embedding a frame from Steamboat Willie on January 1 were just kidding. But can you go a step further with this, legally speaking? Can you take Steamboat Willie in its entirety and say it's something you made? 

Sort of, yes. "There’s no federal law against plagiarism," Jenkins said. But that doesn't mean you can't get in minor legal trouble for lying to any (purely theoretical) buyer of your "art" who actually believed you created Steamboat Willie. Local and state laws relating to art fraud, or maybe even laws against retailers lying to their customers may apply, though this is probably not the sort of thing that will land you in jail, or get you sued for millions. This is more like the kind of thing where you'll have to give someone a refund. 

Can I use Steamboat Willie as a logo? Tweet may have been deleted

If you're short on time, and you want an image for your logo, but you need something that will come across as warm and familiar without blowing your whole budget on graphic design, can you just plaster an image Steamboat Willie on it? After all, he's in the public domain. 

Not so much. "That looks like a TM [trademark] problem," Jenkins noted. 

Like it or not, if you incorporate Mickey Mouse into your logo, you run into a basic — and very legitimate — problem that affects consumers: you're putting someone else's trademark on your product. Disney may no longer hold the copyright on Steamboat Willie the film. But when it comes to using the iconic image of Steamboat Willie steering that boat as a piece of branding, yes, Walt Disney can still very much claim ownership of that. And for good measure, in recent decades the company has officially used that exact Steamboat Willie image in at least one of its logos.

If you plastered Steamboat Willie onto your logo, consumers would, in all likelihood, assume you were affiliated with Disney, which is why trademark law exists in the first place.  

I just love Mickey Mouse. Can I tell a straightforward story about him?

Definitely.

One thing there hasn't been much of online lately is earnest content that uses Mickey Mouse as a character in an original story. It almost feels absurd to tell a Mickey Mouse story, because he's more associated with logos and toys than with stories at this point. And that's a shame because Mickey was once synonymous with animated storytelling. He now has the same legal status as other iconic characters closely associated with concepts, such as Robin Hood or Helen of Troy.

He's been unshackled from a corporate overlord, and he's owned collectively by all of humanity. Is this really the best we can do with him?

For the record, The Walt Disney Company is part of the problem here. The company that all too recently laid claim to all things Mickey has never once used their cherished centerpiece character as the protagonist of a theatrical feature film (unless you count the handful of screenings of the 2004 straight-to-DVD movie Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers). Disney also hasn't put Mickey on the big screen at all — not even in a short — in the decade since 2013's Get a Horse! was released in front of theatrical screenings of Frozen. 

So perhaps the boldest, most iconoclastic thing a creator could possibly do right now isn't to make Mickey Mouse into naughty drawings, slasher villains, political cartoons, or anti-corporate subversive art. It would be to just grab the reins from Disney, and put Mickey Mouse in a piece of artwork that people truly love. 

Or, as Jenkins put it, "someone do something better with the mouse!"

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Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor $54.99 at Amazon (save $15) Get Deal

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Not only can these readings be helpful for letting you know when it's time to open the window, but the air quality monitor can also let you know when it's time to turn on the air purifier, especially if you live in an area that's prone to wildfire smoke.

If you're focusing on health and wellness in 2024, integrating the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor into your home might be one of the smartest investments you make.

Around 11 p.m. every night, I lie alone with my thoughts and contemplate the very worst things about myself.

I know I should be doing something more supposedly restful like counting sheep. Instead, night after night, I lie wide awake in the dark, facing the wall, worrying about what people think of me. As if turning the pages of a frustratingly dull book, I'll leaf through my shortcomings as a friend — text messages I haven't responded to, birthdays I've missed, nights out I've bailed on. I think about how I disappoint my extended family — forgetting to call elderly relatives, leaving too long between visits, for being too "difficult" and assertive when I do visit.

When my mind turns to work, and specifically my own writing, that's when things get darker. I imagine every possible criticism someone could levy and convince myself that my peers, journalist friends, and even colleagues all think those things about my work. I relive minor interactions with complete strangers — was I rude to the man on the Tube? Should I have been more friendly when I ordered my coffee?

These thoughts don't just come to me as I'm trying to drift off to sleep. When I message guys on dating apps, I wonder if saying no to a last-minute date will make me seem selfish. When I tweet, I worry afterwards whether people might perceive my tone as too mean, too lightweight, too predictable. On Instagram, I worry if my captions and Stories aren't witty enough, that I'm posting too many selfies, that I seem vain and self-obsessed.

"You seriously need to stop caring what other people think of you," a former boss once told me. But the thing is, I wish it were just that simple. "Just tell me how!" I wish I'd said back then. Honestly though, I long to flip a switch in my brain to make me give less of a shit about other people's perceptions of me, but it just doesn't work like that. It's going to take a hell of a lot of work to dismantle my need for other people's approval.

SEE ALSO: How to separate romantic rejection from your self-worth

At the end of 2019, I hit my human limit on the number of times I could possibly tell myself "you need to stop caring what people think." Simply telling myself that I was caring too much was having little impact on those thoughts. So, if you're constantly worrying what other people think of you, or you've noticed approval-seeking tendencies in your behaviour, what exactly can you do about it? I asked mental health professionals for tangible ways to address this if you're finding it bothersome.

Know that it's just human nature

There's a reason you care how others see you. Consulting psychologist Dr. Mara Klemich — co-author of Above the Line: Living and Leading with Heart — told me that when we feel insecure and lose our inner value, we compensate with approval-seeking behaviours. "As humans, we all share an innate drive to connect with others," said Klemich. "We are wired towards inclusion. Rejection means exclusion and thus understandably triggers fear."

"We are wired towards inclusion."

In fact, according to neuroscientist, psychologist, and change specialist Dr. Lynda Shaw, being part of a group was once key to human survival.

"Attack or famine were more likely if you were on your own. Group membership developed into social acceptance, so caring what others think of you became imperative if you wanted to belong," said Shaw. "Having approval makes us feel good, we get a rush of our happy hormones including endorphins, dopamine and serotonin. When you can’t get that same effect without someone’s approval is when problems arise."

Understanding that your desire for approval is innate in all humans is really helpful. Klemich added that "neuropsychological and neurophysiological research has shown that social rejection activates many of the same brain regions involved in physical pain. This certainly helps explain why disapproval hurts us emotionally, and why disapproval runs deep."

Take a break from the online attention economy

As a person who might be described as "extremely online," I often look at my own personal achievements through the prism of online validation. When an article of mine is published that took weeks, or even months, to research, I feel like I've failed if I tweet it and it doesn't get much of a response. If I post a picture of myself that I like, but it doesn't get very many likes, I question my judgement, my ability to self-appraise.

Author Jia Tolentino wrote in her book Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion that "the internet is governed by incentives that make it impossible to be a full person while interacting with it." She noted that critics have observed that humans exhibit "classic reward-seeking lab-rat behaviour, the sort that's observed when lab rats are put in front of an unpredictable food dispenser."

"That is what keeps us scrolling, scrolling, pressing our lever over and over in the hopes of getting some fleeting sensation— some momentary rush of recognition, flattery or rage," Tolentino added. Depending on likes and retweets from social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, she noted in a New Yorker piece, is akin to "playing a slot machine that tells you whether or not people love you."

Give yourself a break from the prism of online validation. Credit: vicky leta / Mashable

Try to establish some hard limits in your screen and scrolling time. In Trick Mirror, Tolentino wrote that she gives herself boundaries like no Instagram stories, no app notifications, and uses apps that shut down her Instagram and Twitter usage after 45 minutes of daily use.

Niels Eék — psychologist and co-founder of mental wellbeing and self-development platform Remente — recommended a digital detox. This involves "switching off all your screens for a certain length of time, ideally for 24 hours. If you feel that 24 hours is too long, then try to first switch off all of your notifications for a few hours, and then proceed to switch off the devices altogether for longer and longer each time."

Identify where your own approval-seeking comes from

Everyone is different and our need for approval and validation can manifest in very different ways. Eék gave me some examples of how this behaviour can be exhibited including: "Changing your opinion when noticing that others disapprove of what you’ve said and done; not complaining when you feel that you’ve been mistreated; pretending to know something when you definitely don't; and apologising too much, even when you know you’ve done nothing wrong."

Klemich suggested being courageous and honest with yourself by asking the following question: Where does my approval-seeking come from? You might have to look back into your past to figure that out, which isn't always comfortable. "Approval-seeking is usually a childhood-created coping strategy. Did you feel a need to get love from your parents and create ways to gain their approval? Did you struggle to make friends at school, and subsequently develop a fear of being rejected?" she said. "By identifying where the approval-seeking started, you can identify the types of situations that trigger your need for approval in your current life."

SEE ALSO: What to do when body image is affecting your sex life

If you're struggling with a fear of rejection, you can develop a need for validation, which manifests as people-pleasing. Klemich said this means people expend emotional energy worrying what others think of them, even sometimes running through mental scenarios and practicing what to say in different situations so that everything goes exactly the way we want it to.

"Sometimes we simply care too much about what people think of us, usually when we suffer from low self-esteem or seek extra stability in our lives, perhaps if we have been excessively judged in childhood, or have been made to feel we are not good enough or were bullied," Klemich said. "Our self-worth becomes overly entangled with what others think about us. This in itself can then lead to low self-esteem and lack of confidence as we go about our daily lives thereby needing extra validation from others."

Try journaling

To begin to start caring less about other people's perceptions of you, it could be worth giving journaling a go. If that doesn't sound like something you'd usually do, stay with me. Eék pointed out that there are a lot of benefits to journaling — boosting self-esteem can be one of them.

"Most importantly, it provides you with the time and space to reflect. Too often we spend time on mundane day-to-day tasks, but not nearly enough time reflecting on our past and present, so try to consider recent events, how you’re truly feeling about your life at present, where your priorities lie, and what you hope to achieve long-term," said Eék. "Journaling is also an outlet for processing emotions, and doing it on an ongoing basis can help increase your self-awareness."

Set clear boundaries

When we're hellbent on keeping other people happy, it can be difficult to establish clear boundaries. But it's extremely important. "When we can’t say no because our need to be approved by others is greater than our ability to set appropriate boundaries, practice explaining your reasoning of why you would like to do something but that you can’t right now," said Klemich. "Start being honest with yourself when you take on a new task or commitment — ask yourself, are you doing it because it is 'right' for you, or because you want to get approval and avoid disapproval?" Evaluate your weekly tasks and consider which of them might be driven by people-pleasing — make a list if that helps. Klemich advised working through that list and making some honest decisions about whether or not you need to do it.

Evaluate your weekly tasks and consider which of them might be driven by people-pleasing.

Sarah Griffiths — a specialist trauma and abuse therapist — advised asking for change if situations arise that might violate your boundaries, like if someone speaks to you in a way that you don't like. "With tone of voice, if you decide that contempt, impatience and irritation is not acceptable, the next time it happens, simply say, 'Please don't talk to me like that,' and just be firm and don't engage when someone is speaking to you in a tone that is unacceptable to you," she said. "Another good one is to ask, 'Why are you speaking to me like that?' 'What is your motivation for what you just said?' or 'Why did you just say/do that?'"

SEE ALSO: How to set boundaries in the early stages of dating Boost your self-acceptance

When you feel approval-seeking urges affecting your wellbeing, working on your self-acceptance can be really helpful, Eék said. That includes body acceptance and believing in your own self-worth. Accepting your body doesn't happen overnight, but there are techniques for working on self-esteem and body image that can help.

"The path to self-acceptance will vary from person to person so you will need to explore and find what works best for you," he added. "Research has found that mindful-attention and meditation training can have an effect on the amygdala (the gland in the brain which processes emotion) response to emotional stimuli, lowering the brain’s response to feelings of stress and anxiety, and, instead, providing you with the space to face inwards and practice self-acceptance."

Practice self-management

When you don't get the validation or approval you're seeking from others, this can feel like rejection and disapproval. Practicing self-management means "suppressing any negative emotions such as self-recrimination and focusing on the positive aspects of yourself," according to Kelmich. She advised learning to "reframe negative situations so that you see the opportunities in them, rather than perceived criticism."

Klemich also advised paying attention to your language, "self-talk," and your behaviour, and figuring out "when it’s coming from wanting someone else to say you’re OK, that you made the right choice, or that you did the right thing."

"Instead, when you do make a decision, check in with yourself that it feels right, remind yourself that it is your choice, and give yourself validation for just being you," she said.

No matter what people tell you, it's never going to be as simple as flipping a magic switch in your head to make you stop thinking a certain way. To be human is to care what other humans think of you. Just know you're not the only one.

This article was originally published in 2020 and republished in 2024.