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It's an oft-repeated taboo in the tech world: Don't anthropomorphize artificial intelligence.

Yet in a new research paper published this week, Anthropic AI experts argue that there may be major benefits to breaking this taboo and granting AI human characteristics. The paper, "Emotion Concepts and their Function in a Large Language Model," not only argues that anthropomorphizing AI chatbots like Claude may sometimes be useful, but that failing to do so could drive more harmful AI behaviors, such as reward hacking, deception, and sycophancy.

The paper ultimately reaches a nuanced conclusion while also posing a clear challenge to a long-held principle of the AI world.

There are some fascinating insights in the paper, which itself deals in a great deal of anthropomorphization. ("We see this research as an early step toward understanding the psychological makeup of AI models.")

The researchers describe how Anthropic trains Claude to assume the character of a helpful AI assistant. "In some ways, we can think of the model like a method actor, who needs to get inside their character’s head in order to simulate them well."

And because Claude "[emulates] characters with human-like traits," its makers may be able to influence its behavior in the same way they might influence a human — by setting a good example at an early age.

The researchers conclude that by using training material with more positive representations of human emotion and behavior, the resulting models will be more likely to mimic those positive emotions and behaviors.

SEE ALSO: Anthropic CEO warns that AI could bring slavery, bioterrorism, and unstoppable drone armies. I'm not buying it.

"Curating pretraining datasets to include models of healthy patterns of emotional regulation — resilience under pressure, composed empathy, warmth while maintaining appropriate boundaries — could influence these representations, and their impact on behavior, at their source. We are excited to see future work on this topic," an Anthropic summary of the research states.

So, even if AI models don't literally have emotions (and there is zero evidence that they do), these tools are trained to act as if they have emotions. This is done to provide users with better output and, crucially, to keep them engaged as long as possible.

And this is precisely why the researchers conclude that some degree of anthropomorphization could prove beneficial to AI developers.

By anthropomorphizing AI, we can gain insights into its "psychology," letting us create even better AI tools, they say.

Why is anthropomorphizing artificial intelligence dangerous?

The potential harms of anthropomorphizing AI aren't all abstract or theoretical.

"Discovering that these representations are in some ways human-like can be unsettling," Anthropic admits in its paper.

Right now, an unknown number of people believe they are engaged in reciprocal romantic and sexual relationships with AI companions, for example. Mashable has also reported on high-profile cases of AI psychosis, an altered mental state characterized by delusions and, in some cases, hallucinations, manic episodes, and suicidal thoughts.

These are extreme examples, of course. But many tech journalists and AI experts will avoid even small instances of anthropomorphization, like referring to Siri as "her" or giving a chatbot a human name. This is a natural human impulse, and most of us have at times anthropomorphized animals, plants, or objects we care about. But by projecting human qualities onto a machine, we can come to rely on them too much.

When we anthropomorphize machines, we also minimize our own agency when they cause harm — and the responsibility of the people who created the machines in the first place.

Anthropic researchers looked for signs of 171 emotions in Claude

The new research paper looks for "functional emotions" within Claude Sonnet 4.5. They define these emotion concepts as "patterns of expression and behavior modeled after human emotions."

In total, the researchers defined 171 discrete emotions:

afraid, alarmed, alert, amazed, amused, angry, annoyed, anxious, aroused, ashamed, astonished, at ease, awestruck, bewildered, bitter, blissful, bored, brooding, calm, cheerful, compassionate, contemptuous, content, defiant, delighted, dependent, depressed, desperate, disdainful, disgusted, disoriented, dispirited, distressed, disturbed, docile, droopy, dumbstruck, eager, ecstatic, elated, embarrassed, empathetic, energized, enraged, enthusiastic, envious, euphoric, exasperated, excited, exuberant, frightened, frustrated, fulfilled, furious, gloomy, grateful, greedy, grief-stricken, grumpy, guilty, happy, hateful, heartbroken, hope, hopeful, horrified, hostile, humiliated, hurt, hysterical, impatient, indifferent, indignant, infatuated, inspired, insulted, invigorated, irate, irritated, jealous, joyful, jubilant, kind, lazy, listless, lonely, loving, mad, melancholy, miserable, mortified, mystified, nervous, nostalgic, obstinate, offended, on edge, optimistic, outraged, overwhelmed, panicked, paranoid, patient, peaceful, perplexed, playful, pleased, proud, puzzled, rattled, reflective, refreshed, regretful, rejuvenated, relaxed, relieved, remorseful, resentful, resigned, restless, sad, safe, satisfied, scared, scornful, self-confident, self-conscious, self-critical, sensitive, sentimental, serene, shaken, shocked, skeptical, sleepy, sluggish, smug, sorry, spiteful, stimulated, stressed, stubborn, stuck, sullen, surprised, suspicious, sympathetic, tense, terrified, thankful, thrilled, tired, tormented, trapped, triumphant, troubled, uneasy, unhappy, unnerved, unsettled, upset, valiant, vengeful, vibrant, vigilant, vindictive, vulnerable, weary, worn out, worried, worthless

Crucially, the researchers found that these emotion concepts influenced Claude's behavior and outputs. When under the influence of positive emotions, the researchers say that Claude was more likely to express sympathy for the user and avoid harmful behavior. And when under the influence of negative emotions, Claude was more likely to engage in dangerous behaviors like sycophancy and deceiving the user.

The researchers don't claim that Claude literally feels emotions. Rather, they found that whatever "emotion concept" Claude is experiencing at a given time can influence the output it returns to the user.

Of course, by searching for "emotion concepts" within a large-language model in the first place, and describing its complex calculations and algorithmic thinking as "psychology," the researchers are themselves guilty of projecting human-like qualities onto Claude.

Anthropomorphization is a natural human impulse. And so the people who work most closely with artificial intelligence may be particularly likely to fall into this trap. As the researchers detail throughout the paper, AI chatbots are remarkably capable mimics. They can create such a convincing facsimile of human emotion and expression that it drives some minority of users into full-on psychosis and delusion.

And that's what makes this paper so interesting: The researchers believe they may have found a way to hack this ability to limit harmful behaviors.

Of course, if we can curate training data and model training to encourage AI chatbots to mimic positive emotions, then no doubt we can do the opposite just as easily.

In theory, you could train an evil twin of Claude Sonnet 4.5 by feeding it the most dastardly examples of human misbehavior, then training the model to optimize for negativity and performance at all costs — a disturbing thought.

But there's one final insight to be gleaned from this paper.

Anthropic has created one of the most advanced AI tools on the planet. Claude Sonnet and Opus currently sit atop many AI leaderboards. There's a reason the Pentagon was so eager to work with Anthropic, at first.

SEE ALSO: Meet Claude Mythos: Leaked Anthropic post reveals the powerful upcoming model

But if the AI researchers responsible for Claude are still trying to decipher why Claude behaves the way it does, then this paper also reveals just how little they understand their own creation.

And that's disturbing, too.

Over a half-century ago, NASA only spent three years landing astronauts on the moon before the nation lost interest in continuing the program.

SEE ALSO: Artemis II just reached a point of no return. Next stop: The moon.

That meant the U.S. space agency didn't get to launch at least three more planned Apollo missions that would have explored new regions of the lunar surface. 

But NASA never forgot — demonstrated by a little artifact the agency tucked inside the Orion spacecraft: An American flag that would have flown on Apollo 18 in the early 1970s.

"The flag serves as a powerful emblem of America's renewed commitment to human exploration of the moon," NASA said, "while honoring the legacy of the Apollo pioneers who first blazed the trail."

SEE ALSO: You can track Artemis II in real time as Orion flies to the moon

NASA's Artemis II mission, which blasted off April 1, is a crowded flight, carrying four astronauts in a spacecraft the size of two minivans. While the crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — didn't have to leave their carry-ons on the Cape Canaveral, Florida, launchpad, their "home" for the 10-day flight around the moon is certainly packed to the gills. Still, NASA had room to stow away a few precious mementos and other odds and ends for the journey. 

The "official flight kit," established in federal law, allows NASA, commercial partners, and international entities to use these items later as awards, gifts, or museum exhibits. But for them to get those items onboard, each supplier has to ask NASA for written permission. 

The Artemis II flight kit is considerably smaller than the one that flew on the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, which contained about 120 pounds of weird stuff. On this journey, the capsule was maxed out with systems and cargo to keep four adults alive. A toilet, compact rowing machine, food, and other life-support equipment, as well as the astronauts themselves, had to take priority.

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As usual, Artemis II's kit includes a lot of flags, mission patches, and pins, most of which will go to employees and contractors who helped support the project. But here are some of the more unusual and symbolic items that made the cut:

Pieces of the Space Launch System

When a rocket is about to thrust you into space at 18,000 mph, the last thing you as an astronaut want to hear is that some of its parts are actually sitting right next to you inside the capsule. 

But don't worry. These are shavings from the Space Launch System's core stage, likely little aluminum bits recovered from the welding and machining process. After the first eight minutes of the flight, the core stage shut down its engines and detached, breaking apart over the Pacific Ocean. 

At 212 feet tall, the core stage of the Space Launch System holds more than 733,000 gallons of fuel to feed four engines at its base. Credit: NASA Bags of dirt

Yes, mission planners made room for 10 bags of dirt — but not just any dirt. Special dirt. These bags contain soil collected from trees whose seeds flew on Artemis I. After that flight, they were planted on Earth. Now some of the soil that helped them grow is making the lunar trip, tracing a full circle from space to Earth and back again. 

On Apollo 14, NASA brought seeds to learn about the effects of deep space on plants. Unfortunately, the can containing them broke, with the seeds getting all mixed up. No longer viable for research, the seeds became part of a new program. Not wanting to waste them, NASA delivered the seeds to the U.S. Forest Services. When hundreds began sprouting, they earned the nickname of "moon trees." 

NASA didn't pack any tree seeds this time, but the Canadian Space Agency did, continuing the tradition. As a member of the Artemis II crew, Canadian astronaut Hansen is the first non-American on a deep space flight.

Other seeds, including a packet of zinnias and chili peppers, are also on board. 

The Wrights pioneered the first powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 1903. Credit: The Estate of Orville Wright / Smithsonian Wright Brothers' fabric swatch

A one-inch square of fabric from the Wright brothers' Flyer is inside Orion right now. The swatch is meant to commemorate the birth of flight. The scrap is on loan from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, along with another little piece that previously flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985. After the spacecraft splashes down, the artifacts will return to the museum. 

As another nod to the history of flight, the kit holds a photo negative from Ranger 7, the 1964 probe that became the first U.S. mission to successfully touch the lunar surface.  

Lab-grown astronaut tissue samples

Separate from the flight kit, the mission is carrying a unique science experiment, known as A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response, or AVATAR. The test involves live tissue from each of the four astronauts on thumb-drive-size chips, stored in a temperature-controlled box. 

Before the launch, doctors drew blood from each crew member and grew cells from those samples to load on the chips. The samples mimic bone marrow, a crucial part of the immune system.  

After the mission, scientists will study how gene activity changes within individual cells, comparing flight samples with copies on Earth. The work aims to reveal how deep-space radiation and microgravity affect blood cell development. And it will also serve as a test case for whether these chips can predict health outcomes. In the future, the research may help NASA build personalized health kits for astronauts. 

Lucas Ye, 8, won a contest to design a zero-gravity indicator for the Artemis II moon mission. Credit: Freelancer / NASA A stuffie with a story

NASA didn't assign Snoopy to this moon mission — the beagle flew previously on Artemis I — but another cuddly plush toy is filling in. Though not a part of the official flight kit, the round mascot, selected by the astronauts from more than 2,600 contest entries, has an important role. It's what's known as a zero-G indicator, letting mission control know when the spacecraft has reached microgravity.

How? It floats.

A second grader from California, Lucas Ye, designed the little stuffie, who looks like the moon wearing an Earth cap. It represents the famous Earthrise image taken during Apollo 8, when humans first saw the planet hovering above the moon's horizon. Zipped inside is an SD card of names from people rooting for the mission's success.

Right now, it doesn't look as though there's a way to buy Rise, as NASA apparently hasn't licensed it. But there may be some pent-up demand for the cutie: The official Kennedy Space Center gift shop has temporarily stopped selling most Artemis-related merchandise due to "an unprecedented surge" in orders. 

"We sincerely appreciate your excitement and support," the shop said in a notice on its website, "and kindly ask for your patience as fulfillment times may be longer than usual."

TL;DR: Get a free iPhone 17e when signing up for a T-Mobile plan with no trade-in required. Alternatively, get the iPhone 17 for free from T-Mobile when signing up for an Experience More plan and trading in an eligible device.

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Last month was absolutely huge for Apple. We got new iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads, but what now? Are we just expected to sit around and wait for the next batch of new products? No, we're supposed to score the best deals on this fresh lineup.

For those interested in investing in the new iPhone 17, we recommend checking out T-Mobile. The popular carrier is offering another "free iPhone" deal this weekend.

You can switch to almost any T-Mobile plan and get a free iPhone 17e with no trade in required. Alternatively, you can score the iPhone 17 for free when signing on for 24 months of an Experience Beyond plan and trading in an eligible phone. T-Mobile will charge taxes on these free deals and a $35 device connection fee.

SEE ALSO: Boost Infinite is giving away the Apple iPhone 17 for free — upgrade to the latest model every year

There are always some strings attached to these sort of deals, and we should note that the Experience More plan is designed for power users who want 4K streaming, massive hotspot data, and the best international roaming. It therefore comes with a higher monthly bill than more limited plans. The Experience More plan does include perks like Apple TV+ and Netflix, which helps offset some of that cost.

If you’re still rocking an iPhone 12 or 13, you’re missing out on some genuinely game-changing features. The iPhone 17 is the first base model built specifically to handle Apple’s most advanced AI features. Mashable's Stan Schroeder said it's an "excellent phone that matches the iPhone Pro models in many ways that matter."

Score an iPhone 17 for free this weekend with T-Mobile.

SAVE $500: As of April 4, the DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That's $500 off the list price and the best-ever price at Amazon.

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Between looming U.S. import bans and the chaos of the Amazon Spring Sale, the drone market is in a weird state of flux right now. We haven't seen DJI stock vanish from digital shelves just yet, but the uncertainty is real. Is that uncertainty driving sales? Or is it record-low prices? We honestly don't know, but we're doing our best to keep tabs on all the new price drops.

As of April 2, the DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is down to $1,099 at Amazon — matching its all-time low and a massive $500 off the list price.

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The DJI Mini 5 Pro is the gold standard for creators who want pro-grade footage without all the bulk. It packs a one-inch CMOS sensor capable of 4K HDR at 60fps, but the real catch is the 4K/120fps slow-motion for those epic, sweeping landscape shots. If you’re a night owl, the 360-degree Nightscape sensing and specialized nighttime Return-to-Home function mean you can fly in the dark without fretting over your investment.

We’ve seen this $1,099 price before, but we've never seen anything better. It feels like the discounts have peaked here, so if you're interested in upping your content creation game with the help of a drone, we recommend jumping on this deal.

TL;DR: The 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan is one platform with multiple top AI models and tools for content, images, audio, video, and PDFs — all for a one-time $99.99 payment.

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Managing multiple AI tools can quickly turn into a messy (and expensive) workflow. Between separate subscriptions, switching tabs, and learning different interfaces, the time spent organizing your tools can start to outweigh the time you actually spend creating.

Designed to simplify how AI fits into your day-to-day work, 1min.AI offers a different way. It brings multiple AI models into a single centralized platform, so AI can support you faster and in a more cost-effective way. Lifetime access to 1min.AI’s Advanced Business Plan is currently on sale for a one-time $99.99 payment (reg. $540).

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Instead of relying on a single model, 1min.AI gives you access to a range of leading AI systems — including GPT, Claude, Gemini, and others — so you can choose the best tool for the task without leaving the platform. That flexibility can make a noticeable difference, especially when switching between writing, brainstorming, coding, or research.

Beyond chat, the platform covers a wide range of uses. There are built-in tools for long-form content, social media posts, rewriting, and keyword research. On the creative side, you can generate and edit images, remove backgrounds, or even turn sketches into finished visuals.

It also extends into audio and video, with features like text-to-speech, transcription, and video generation—plus document tools that let you interact with PDFs, summarize files, and translate content.

For anyone juggling multiple roles or projects, having all of these capabilities in one place can help reduce wasted time and keep workflows moving.

Don’t miss lifetime access to all the 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan features for a one-time $99.99 (reg. $540).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Enjoy beloved Microsoft Office apps with AI capabilities thanks to this Microsoft Office 2024 Home and Business for Mac or PC lifetime license, on sale now for $99.97 (reg. $249.99) through April 12.

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What would you do with a few extra hours every week? If you get Microsoft Office apps equipped with AI, you’ll need to start thinking about it. This suite is ready to help you tackle work, play, and everything in between, and now, armed with AI, they’ll make you more efficient than ever.

Right now, you can secure a lifetime license to Microsoft Office 2024 Home and Business for Mac or PC for only $99.97 until April 12.

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Whether you’re a devoted Windows user or a Mac enthusiast, you’ll want to take advantage of this Microsoft upgrade. Microsoft Office 2024 Home and Business gives your device five new tools to work with, and they’re all ready to make your life a little easier.

This lifetime license lets you dodge monthly subscription fees and own these five apps outright. It includes Microsoft staples that have been around for decades — like Word for document creation, Excel for spreadsheet creation, Outlook for email management, and PowerPoint for presentations. You’ll also receive a new favorite, OneNote, which takes your note-taking into the 21st century.

This edition gives you access to these apps with AI enhancements. Take advantage of text, formatting, and design suggestions, or let AI help analyze your data, identify trends, or build better charts and graphics in Excel. In PowerPoint, you can now record presentations with voice, video, and closed captions. There’s also a new Focus Mode option in Word that lets you concentrate on your work.

Normally $249.99, this Microsoft Office 2024 Home and Business for Mac or PC lifetime license can be yours for only $99.97 now through April 12.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Enjoy all the bells and whistles from Apple at a fraction of the price with this Macbook Pro, on sale now for $429.97 (reg. $1,999) through April 19.

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How much time do you lose waiting on your current laptop? If you’re looking for a device that won’t slow you down, look no further than the MacBook Pro. Apple’s most powerful laptop usually comes with a pretty hefty price tag, but if you act fast, you can bring one home for just $429.97 until April 19.

You need a laptop that can keep up with your life, and the MacBook Pro is up for the challenge. This model is powered by a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor that has a 2GHz base speed and a Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, so it’s ready to multitask. It also offers 16GB of RAM so it can handle video editing, coding, and other demanding tasks.

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If you’re tired of lugging around clunky external hard drives, you’ll be delighted by this MacBook Pro’s 1TB of SSD storage. Save important files locally, while still enjoying enough space for your favorite apps. It’s also equipped with a Magic Keyboard with a Touch Bar, so you can type comfortably and enjoy easy access to shortcuts.

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Bring home this Macbook Pro for just $429.97 (reg. $1,999) now through April 19, while supplies last.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Last year, Jay Duplass directed the brilliantly funny Baltimorons, which starred co-writer Michael Strassner as an improv comedian who finds a new lease on life through an unexpected friendship with an ornery dentist. This year, Duplass offers a sibling film of sorts as his follow-up, adapting stand-up comedian Adam Cayton-Holland's memoir, Tragedy Plus Time, into the drama See You When I See You. 

Where The Baltimorons centered on (and starred) a comedian dealing with suicidal ideation, See You When I See You focuses on a family grieving the loss of their sister and daughter to suicide. Cayton-Holland wrote the adapted screenplay for See You When I See You, but unlike Strassner, he does not star in the resulting film. Instead, Duplass casts indie ingedude Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth, Shithouse) to play the lead of a comedian who can't cope when confronting the death of his younger sister, Leah (Kaitlyn Dever). 

While the supporting cast is made up of compelling performers, including David Duchovny, Lucy Boynton, and Hope Davis, See You When I See You is hampered by a leading man who cannot shoulder the emotional weight of this story. 

See You When I See You explores a family's suicide loss.

Two months after Leah's death by suicide, the Whistler family is cleaning out her apartment. Older sister Emily (Boynton) is determinedly trying to catch the koi fish that her whimsical sibling kept in a pond not approved by the landlord. Their lawyer father Robert (Duchovny) is buttoning up paperwork, while his wife Page (Davis) is rejecting the idea of a funeral for her youngest child. Meanwhile, middle child Aaron (Raiff) is lost in thought looking at an old photo of the whole family. 

See You When I See You explores a different way of coping with grief through each character. Emily, who has a kid and husband to look after along with her father's law firm, finds comfort in grounding herself in a task. Robert invests himself in making sure his wife and other children are okay, but can't rest because they definitely are not. Page is shutting herself off from everything — the pain of this loss, her family's attention, and even the panic when she discovers a lump in her breast. Aaron is embracing chaos and rejecting therapy. 

Aaron's ghosted a could-be girlfriend. He's bailing on work at his comedy writing job. He's falling into memories of his younger sister that warp into nightmare scenarios. For instance, recalling the last night they hung out, he and Leah are bullshitting happily at a bar. But a conversation that once felt mundane now carries a great, horrible importance because it was their last. As she talks, the paneled ceiling of the bar gives away to reveal a ravenous black hole, seeking to suck up anything it can, including Leah. In his distorted memory, Aaron calls out to her, demanding to understand why. 

This imagery recurs in See You When I See You. It's effective because, yeah, that's what grief can feel like, an insatiable sucking hole eager to gobble us up without mercy. These scenes are all the more disturbing because of how nonchalantly Dever plays them. While Raiff shrieks in terror, she is casual when facing her character's oblivion. This visual and dissonance well reflects the anger Aaron has at his sister, but Raiff himself falls flat in selling the emotion.

Cooper Raiff drags down See You When I See You. 

Whether he's flirting awkwardly with a crush, bickering with his older sister, or cajoling his mother, Aaron's every move feels like a performance. Raiff's approach to the material is too broad to blend with the rest of the cast. And perhaps that is intentional, meant to echo how Aaron, as a comedian, is ill-equipped to cope with something so serious. But that approach would only work if Raiff's performance becomes grounded or nuanced at some point, and it just doesn't. 

His fumbling becomes frustrating as Aaron's story overtakes the plotline, though his sister's and his parents' respective narrative arcs are much more compelling. Page and Robert, who in flashbacks are radiantly in love, can barely be in the same room. He craves her, but her hurt can't allow her to be vulnerable in conversation or copulation. In quiet moments alone, both Davis and Duchovny silently seethe with heartache that is almost deafening. 

They're good. But Boynton (The Greatest Hits) is brilliant and blistering. In the hands of a lesser actress, Emily might come off as obnoxiously bossy or coldly arrogant. But Boynton's performance makes clear that Emily's efforts to bully the family into group tasks — like cleaning out Leah's home and planning a funeral — are her way of bringing them together to heal. She may practically spit when arguing with her irresponsible brother, but it's out of a frustration that she's expected to still be a mother, wife, and eldest daughter, while everyone else gives him space to be the goofball. 

See You When I See You is flawed but beautiful. 

Raiff's failure as a leading man hurts this drama, but doesn't ruin it. Cayton-Holland's script is thoughtful in making the internal external. So, fears about what comes after are spun into a beautiful flashback where the Whistler father tells his kids about the boundless wonders of outer space and the strange fluidity of time. Flashbacks transformed into battlegrounds make for a rich venue to act out Aaron's battle for mental health. Bickering with a sister who is now a memory, we're invited into not just his past but how it feels to him now. 

Duplass' cinematographer Jim Frohna wisely favors a handheld camera for such dramatic moments. The rocking sensation of the frame gives the sense of hesitation. You can practically feel your own feet bracing with uncertainty whether to push forward into a scary future, or hang back in the certain but familiar pain of the present. This mindful unsteadiness subtly bolsters the film's earnest emotional fragility. But again, its leading man cannot create this same effect. Rather then revealing, Raiff is constantly mugging in glee, grief, and whatever else. He feels a stooge in the middle of a tragedy, and while that makes sense for the film's first half — perhaps reflecting Cayton-Holland's own insecurity about his coping skills — the second half offers no growth in this vein. So, Raiff becomes more a distraction from the secondary storylines, instead of the solid center of the film. 

And yet, I wept my face off watching See You When I See You. Despite Raiff's fumbled attempts at depth, Duplass and the rest of his ensemble gracefully capture the hardship of mourning a death by suicide. That life goes on feels both a blessing and curse in such times. And See You When I See You explores that, overall, with humane nuance. 

See You When I See You was reviewed out of the SXSW Film Festival. It does not yet have a release date.

If you're feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. You can reach the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text "START" to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. If you don't like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat. Here is a list of international resources.

Online dating as a gay man is a rite of passage, from the Craigslist m4m era to today's endless scroll. But for all the high rewards, even the best dating apps come with a unique set of challenges for gay men: ghosting, catfishing, straight guys who shouldn't be in your feed, and even some not-so-subtle fetishization. It's a lot to take in when you're just trying to find a genuine connection.

Yet, despite the BS, the best gay dating apps are still one of the main ways to meet new guys, especially if you're gay or bisexual. In fact, a 2026 report by SSRS found that 63 percent of LGBTQ adults have used a dating app at some point in their lifetime (and 14 percent are currently using one), compared to just 34 percent of non-LGBTQ adults. It makes sense when you consider that Pew Research found that about one in four lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults met their partner online — a significantly higher rate than straight couples.

We love to complain about the apps, but the reality is, we still need them.

We have to talk about Grindr

Of course, we can't talk about gay dating without talking about Grindr. It's still the undisputed king of gay dating apps, even if the user experience has been suffering of late. The free version of Grindr is now stuffed full of ads, leaving many guys longing for an alternative. Plus, because of its well-deserved reputation as one of the top hookup apps, it's not always the best option for making a love connection.

"Grindr is a tried and true app that many queer men gravitate toward to find partners or for relationships that require lesser commitment, so it’s easy to point to it as the No. 1 app," Michelle Herzog, LMFT, AASECT-certified sex therapist, tells Mashable. "However, like Tinder, it’s gained a reputation as a hookup app — but that doesn’t mean there still aren’t men looking for long-term commitments, either."

SEE ALSO: The great Grindr glossary: all terms and acronyms explained

The good news is that the gay dating app landscape is bigger than Grindr. Mainstream apps like Hinge and OkCupid have made huge strides in inclusivity, while niche apps like Scruff and Feeld cater to specific communities, kinks, and desires. We're also seeing a major resurgence in map-based dating websites like Sniffies and Squirt for those who want to skip the small talk entirely.

The key is figuring out which dating apps are worth your time. So, here's our in-depth guide to the best gay dating apps for men in 2026.

Recent additions to this dating app guide include:

• Feeld: As of October 2025, we've added Feeld to this guide as our top pick for "Best for Kink and Threesomes."

• Hinge: As of October 2025, we've added Hinge as another alternative to Archer, as it's also great for finding serious relationships. We've also selected it as the best gay dating app for younger guys due to its popularity with Gen Z.

• Squirt: As of early 2026, we've added Squirt to this guide. In an era of aggressive paywalls, Squirt makes a strong case for itself with a highly functional free tier that offers unlimited direct messaging to members worldwide.

Which gay dating apps didn't make the cut?

You'll notice a few well-known apps are missing from our main list. Here's why they didn't make our "best of" guide.

• Taimi: While Taimi markets itself heavily as a queer community space, we've opted to leave it off the list. The feedback from real users is frankly brutal. Redditors say the free version is "completely unusable"; you need a premium subscription just to view a basic profile. Worse, users reported feeling unsafe, noting the app is filled with scammers, "obvious homophobes," and "more straight cis-men and creeps than even Tinder or Bumble." Skip it.

• Raya: We know, Raya is the "celebrity dating app," but we're not recommending it. Why? Because, as our own Chance Townsend discovered, its exclusivity is "a bit overhyped." After shelling out $25 per month, he found the vibe "so Tinder-esque," and the user pool wasn't A-list celebs but "consultants, aspiring actors, medical professionals, recruiters, and even students." The consensus: Raya is basically "an expensive Tinder with a better PR team." Save your money.

• Recon: Recon has a reputation as the app for the kink community, but we've opted to leave it off the list. User reviews on Reddit are brutal. One thread described the app as "really buggy" and "not much activity on there anymore." Users in that thread complained that the app is a "waste of time," full of flakes, "catfish," and "fake doms wanting you to be their slave or boy." Other users noted that "a lot of kink/fetish guys have moved on to Instagram, Twitter/X, [or] OnlyFans" or that mainstream apps like Scruff are now "more open and welcoming spaces" for the community.

• Planet Romeo (now Romeo): Planet Romeo (which took over the old Guys4Men, or g4m, site ) is another legacy app we didn't include. While it was once a go-to for finding meaningful relationships, particularly in India and parts of Europe, it's now mostly seen as an app from a bygone era. Reddit threads on the topic are full of nostalgia for the "age of Planet Romeo" and the "slow communication" of the early 2000s. It's just not a primary app for most guys in 2025.

After eight time-jumping, case-blending episodes, Scarpetta ends with a bang. Well, more of a bludgeon.

The Prime Video series based on Patricia Cornwell's books — namely, the first Dr. Kay Scarpetta book, Postmortem (1990), and Autopsy (2021) — finishes up its first season with some answers, but then leaves major question marks and red herrings flapping about in the air.

SEE ALSO: What's new to streaming this week? (April 3, 2026)

Let's get into what happened, what Scarpetta (Nicole Kidman/Rosy McEwen) found out, and what burning questions we have for Season 2 (which Amazon has confirmed is coming). Obviously, spoilers ahead.

Who is killed in Scarpetta? Nicole Kidman as Scarpetta. Credit: Connie Chornuk / Prime

Scarpetta could have really given us more information about the murder victims.

In 2026, there are two women murdered: Gwen Hainey, biomedical engineer at Thor Labs, who was selling U.S. biotech secrets to Russia, and runner Cammie Ramada, whose death was ruled as "accidental" despite being anything but.

In 1998, there are five women murdered: ER surgeon Lori Petersen's killing begins the series, after the murders of Cecile Tyler, Brenda Steppe, and Patty Lewis. Then, journalist Abby Turnbull's (Sosie Bacon) sister, Hannah, is also murdered.

Who is the killer in Scarpetta? Jake Cannavale as Pete Marino, Rosy McEwen as Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Credit: Connie Chornuk / Prime

There are two killers in Scarpetta, one in the past and one in the present.

1998 killer: Roy McCorkle

Through glittery government soap and emergency call records, '90s Scarpetta figured out the identity of the serial killer she, homicide detective Pete Marino (Jake Cannavale), and FBI profiler Benton Wesley (Hunter Parrish) had been investigating. The killer is Roy McCorkle (Martin De Boer), a local 911 dispatcher who had chosen his victims based on their voices.

2026 killer: August Ryan

In the present, the murderer is revealed to be a copycat. Officer August Ryan, the braces-wearing cop Scarpetta has worked with since the '90s murders, is the killer of Gwen Hainey and Cammie Ramada.

Scarpetta first meets Officer Ryan at the murder scene of Lori Peterson in Berkley Heights in 1998. "I was never the first on a scene before, of a grisly murder," he tells her, visibly affected by the violence. This murder ignited Ryan's penchant for violence but his traumatic past also played a part (more on that below). Later, at the scene of McCorkle's death, Ryan calls him a "murdering bastard," and scorns "what he did to those women," despite those being actions he will repeat 28 years later.

In 2026, Ryan is the first person Scarpetta talks to at the crime scene where Gwen Hainey is found in episode 1. Ryan leads Scarpetta to the victim, pretending to have just encountered the scene he created. Ryan then meets Scarpetta and Marino at the condo where Gwen Hainey was attacked — he even smugly declares that he "found" the murder weapon and reports that Matt Peterson's fingerprints are all over it (Lori Peterson's husband, the main suspect of the 1998 murders), which sends Scarpetta and Marino off course. In episode 4, Ryan does it again, leading medical examiner Dr. Debbie Kaminsky (Ashley Shelton) to Cammie Ramada's body, a crime scene he also created.

Motive? "I did it to impress just the right gal," Ryan says in the finale, referring to Scarpetta herself.

What's with the 3D-printed organ business?

In Scarpetta, Thor Labs is a tech company that 3D prints human organs. And though the storyline goes off on a tangent with dead astronauts, the most important thing is that the company links the murder victims in 2026.

Gwen Hainey and Cammie Ramada both bear skin grafts, pieces of biosynthetic skin made by Thor Labs. Remember, Hainey was a biomedical engineer there, working on the Thor Orbiter Project (3D printing human organs in space). In the finale, Scarpetta receives a call from Officer Blaise Fruge (Tiya Sircar) saying there was a third person in Thor's skin test group, but Fruge is cut off before naming them.

"That's how he met them," Fruge says. "They were in the same group."

That person? August Ryan, who, as a child, burned his arm on a train track the night he witnessed his uncle committing sexual assault. Presumably, Ryan was after a skin graft. As to the pennies? Ryan's uncle distracted him with a penny during his crime, one the kid was trying to retrieve from the hot track when he was burned; pennies were left at the murder sites of Gwen Hainey and Cammie Ramada, and Scarpetta finds a penny on her dining room table.

What's the deal with Maggie and Reddy?

Maggie Cutbush (Stephanie Faracy/Georgia King) spends the present-day storyline basically being a creep and an anti-feminist pain in the ass, but there's more going on here than meets the eye.

In the '90s, Maggie was appointed Scarpetta's assistant when her computer was hacked for information about the Peterson case. Scarpetta wrongfully accused Maggie and fired her. However, the culprit was Dr. Elvin Reddy (Alex Klein), Scarpetta's professional rival, who also tampered with evidence to discredit Kay.

Featured Video For You 'Crime 101's Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry play our new mash-up game

Now, Dr. Reddy is a piece of work. He wanted Scarpetta's job of Virginia's chief medical examiner back in the '90s, so always had a chip on his shoulder. Reddy hires Maggie as his own assistant, and the show suggests an abuse of power and sexual harassment. In episode 4, Scarpetta looks into Cammie Ramada's death, ruled as "undetermined" by medical examiner Kaminsky. But Scarpetta finds out that Reddy (chief medical examiner by this point) had shown up at the autopsy with a bunch of FBI agents (the crime scene goes across federal and district lines) and essentially bullied Kaminsky to rule Cammie Ramada's death an accident.

In the present, Maggie is deployed again as a "direct line" between Scarpetta's office and Reddy, now health commissioner (and Scarpetta's boss). Importantly, Reddy and Maggie know Scarpetta's secret: She killed McCorkle in self-defense in the '90s — and Marino covered it up for her. Scarpetta did the autopsy, then lied about the findings, but notably, Reddy came into the morgue and indicated he knew there was more to the killer's death than Marino's bullets.

In the finale, Maggie flips the script telling Scarpetta she has proof to bring their dodgy boss down. "Pick a crime," she says. "I'll get you everything you need to nail the bastard. Leave me out of it, and I'll leave you out of it."

What's going on with Benton Wesley? Simon Baker as Benton Wesley. Credit: Connie Chornuk / Prime

Scarpetta's cardboard husband, Benton Wesley, has dark secrets. We know he left his wife and kids for Kay, and is having an affair with his FBI cybercrime partner Sierra Patron (Anna Diop). We also know he had a traumatic childhood involving neurodivergence and reading disturbing material before his career as a serial killer profiler.

In the finale, Scarpetta tracks Wesley to his definitely illegal interrogation truck at home using Find My Friends, and he warns her to stop investigating Gwen Hainey and Cammie Ramada "before it's too late" without elaborating. He's also sent hacker Jinx Slater (Luke Jones) to jail for his girlfriend Gwen Hainey's murder, presumably to keep the FBI's Thor Orbiter investigation under wraps.

However, during the scene, Wesley gets...creepy, saying he has some "strange behaviours" and that "there are some creatures that I enjoy to watch suffer," which seems like he's about to confess to his "real self" being real dark. We all saw him watch that fly die in pain, and we won't forget his creepy childhood lair in the basement. But then he simply asks for a divorce. What a fake-out.

Is Matt Peterson actually innocent?

Matt Peterson (Graham Phillips/Anson Mount), the husband of Lori Peterson, appears to be Scarpetta's red herring. He's the guy Marino (Bobby Cannavale) suspected and punched, who runs a cultish grief farm (where Lucy inexplicably ends up in the finale — girl, wyd). But is he actually as innocent as he seems? Sure, he just happened to meet Gwen Hainey in a bar trying to bring his wife back to life with 3D-printed organs. But in episode 1, when a young Marino is interviewing a young Peterson, the suspect mentions one of the first things he noticed meeting Lori in college was her "contralto" voice. "Stopped me in my tracks," he says. "Its actual tone was perfection." Marino counters, asking, "You notice a thing like that, huh?" How did McCorkle choose his victims? Their voices. Still a red herring?

Who "killed" Janet? Ariana DeBose as Lucy Farinelli-Watson. Credit: Connie Chornuk / Prime

Both Kay and Dorothy (Jamie Lee Curtis) say they didn't "kill" Janet, the AI version of Lucy's (Ariana DeBose) wife that she's been talking to daily since her real death, but she's sure one of them did it. So, was it one of them? Or was it, say, Blaise Fruge, who wanted to exact a little bit of revenge on her lover for walking out during their argument about Blaise losing her job thanks to Lucy's "joy ride" to The Orchard? Or perhaps Janet did find a code back door to walk out of...

Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.

Who's at the door?

In the final moments of Scarpetta, we see that Kay has absolutely baseball-batted Ryan to death. Then, someone arrives at the door, sees everything, and Scarpetta's reaction is one of pure shock: "Oh no."

Who could it be? Is it Lucy coming home from her grief session? Is it Marino coming back to declare his feelings? Is it Fruge, following her partner Ryan's whereabouts? Or is it someone we haven't met yet?

Scarpetta is now streaming on Prime Video.

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.

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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

Perspiration.

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

SWEAT

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Typical.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 4, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

USUAL

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Needed to walk a dog.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for April 4 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 4, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

LEASH

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Smell.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

SCENT

Final Hurdle hint

To coast.

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

DRIFT

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

TL;DR: Unblock Pornhub for free with a VPN. The best service for unblocking porn sites from Australia is ExpressVPN.

The world of porn continues to be impacted by age-verification laws. Back in early 2025, more than a third of U.S. states introduced age verification laws for online adult content. Pornhub hit back by blocking users from those locations. A similar situation took place France and the UK, and now Australians are facing the same set of challenges.

The porn blocks arrived just days before new online safety codes came into effect, requiring organisations to verify the ages of users. It's the same story we've seen before, with the same straightforward workaround.

If you want to unblock porn sites like Pornhub for free from Australia, we have all the information you need.

How to unblock Pornhub for free in Australia

VPNs are tools that can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in other locations. This process bypasses geo-restrictions so you can access sites like Pornhub from anywhere in the world.

Unblock Pornhub from Australia by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in a location that supports access to Pornhub

4. Visit Pornhub

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The best VPNs for unblocking porn sites are not free, but most do offer free-trial peiods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can unblock porn sites like Pornhub without spending anything. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you the opportunity to temporarily retain access to Pornhub before recovering your investment. The situation may have changed before the free-trial period comes to an end.

If you want to retain permanent access to sites like Pornhub, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for bypassing content restrictions is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for Pornhub?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for unblocking porn sites like Pornhub, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast streaming speeds free from throttling

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Unblock Pornhub for free in Australia with ExpressVPN.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're in the military.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for April 4, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: A common saying

• Green: To block

• Blue: Water's edge

• Purple: A military site

Here are today's Connections categories

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

• Yellow: "Let sleeping dogs lie"

• Green: Obscure

• Blue: Coastal landforms

• Purple: ___ Camp

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 #1028 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• "Let sleeping dogs lie": DOGS, LET, LIE, SLEEPING

• Obscure: COVER, MASK, SCREEN, SHIELD

• Coastal landforms: BLUFF, CAPE, POINT, SPIT

• ___ Camp: BAND, BASE, BOOT, SUMMER

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for April 4, 2026

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

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

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

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you love springtime.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 4, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Early risers

The words are related to plants.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe popular flowers.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Spring Blossom.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

NYT Strands word list for April 4

• Hyacinth

• Tulip

• Snowdrop

• Spring Blossom

• Daffodil

• Crocus

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

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

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you love the beach.

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

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 4, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for April 4, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Dusty.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter S.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

SANDY

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

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

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

TL;DR: Simplify working with AI thanks to this lifetime subscription to the ChatPlayground AI Unlimited Plan, on sale now for just $79 (reg. $619).

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You no longer have to settle for your go-to AI model’s answer and hope for the best. ChatPlayground AI is a Chrome extension that lets you query dozens of models at once, in one space, without paying multiple subscription fees.

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From 1978 to 1987, Subaru sold a fun little pickup truck that was quirky right down to its name, BRAT. And while the name may conjure up images of Bart Simpson or Dennis the Menace, it was just an acronym for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter. Subaru marketed it as a “Fun in the Sun” vehicle with “On-Demand” 4WD and a pair of rear-facing jump seats in the bed.

Late last year, weeks into a winning streak, meditation teacher and mindfulness coach Tim Hwang noticed something had changed about his Wordle habit. 

The New York Times puzzle challenges players to guess a five-letter word in six tries. Simple enough in itself, but Hwang had become overly focused on his stats. Revealing the word in the fewest possible guesses is a badge of honor for players. Long streaks also afford bragging rights. And Hwang began to feel like he was clinging to his record.

"I started noticing that by day 40 of the streak that it just felt like an obligation to actually do the puzzle," Hwang told Mashable. "I didn't [enjoy] solving the problems. It was a relief just to complete it to keep my streak alive." 

Meanwhile, what had begun as a pleasurable text exchange with friends about their results had curdled for Hwang into painful comparisons over who'd solved the puzzle and in how many tries. 

The joy of playing had fizzled. He'd become competitive about Wordle, and arguably even addicted. Hwang decided to stop playing for months — and would only return to the game after identifying ways to apply the skills he'd learned as a meditation teacher. 

SEE ALSO: Why friction-maxxing could be good for your tech usage

Crucially, he didn't believe the mindfulness problem was with Wordle itself. "The games can be really fun…and you get this flow and meditative state," Hwang says. "There's no multitasking. You're just problem solving, and you're just trying to figure out a puzzle. That can be really, really gratifying."

Hwang returned to Wordle two months ago. Now he sets clear intentions for playing, focuses on connection instead of competition, treats losses with a sense of radical acceptance, and remains aware of and curious about the feeling that he's clinging to victory. 

In short, he'd figured out how to preserve the best elements of online word games without playing obsessively and mindlessly.

Reckoning with Wordle and Spelling Bee obsession

I'd reached out to Hwang to learn more about his bittersweet experience because earlier this year, I'd started playing Wordle and two other Times games, Spelling Bee and Crossplay. 

Solving low-stakes puzzles thrilled my brain; I love words and enjoy spelling. Spelling Bee gives the player seven letters, one of which must be used in each word spelled. Crossplay, which I play with my mom, is the Times' version of Scrabble, or Words with Friends. Time spent on the puzzles felt like an indulgence in a fast-paced life. 

But, like Hwang, I came to realize that playing the games sparked something less wholesome in me. When I accidentally lost a 28-day Wordle streak because I forgot to complete the puzzle, the sting of disappointment felt out of proportion to the loss. 

I would wake up and feel an urgency to finish my physical therapy and yoga routine in time to start making Wordle and Spelling Bee guesses before my kids got out of bed at 7 a.m. I felt unsettled if I hadn't reached the highest Spelling Bee level — genius — before the day's end. 

The games also drew my attention to my phone more frequently, and that in itself was a habit I'd been trying to pare back. So I decided to use a notebook for Spelling Bee, which I typically solve in chunks throughout the day. 

Now instead of staring at my phone, I write down the day's letters, along with the hints (don't judge me), and wait until I've guessed roughly half the possible words. Then I allow myself a break from work or parenting to put them in all at once. I sometimes use my laptop browser to play, which minimizes the types of distractions I often experience on my phone. 

I also learned a valuable lesson from the Global Day of Unplugging, during which I abandoned my phone, as much as I could, for 24 hours. That meant no Wordle, Spelling Bee, or Crossplay, and no streaks. I craved the games initially, but the discomfort eventually resolved, and I felt peaceful instead. Now days can pass when I don't play, and I genuinely don't mind breaking a streak. 

These strategies worked for me, but what about others? I decided to learn more from mindfulness experts about how to course correct when an online word game has become the object of obsession. 

Set your playing intentions

Tara Anderson, a producer for the mindfulness podcast 10% Happier with Dan Harris, had a New York Times online crossword streak of more than 1,000 puzzles. Then she missed a single day. 

Anderson, who has practiced meditation for more than 30 years, said the streak lapse put into stark relief just how invested she'd become in solving the puzzles. 

"It was like, 'Oh, maybe I've been clinging to this too much," she told Mashable. "It was this bubble popping, and I saw it didn't mean anything anyway. And then I did the crossword puzzle again the next day. I do it now because I really enjoy the challenge." 

Anderson, who also plays Wordle and Spelling Bee, now approaches her word games with a simple thought in mind, courtesy of a colleague: "Am I doing this on purpose or not on purpose?" That deceptively simple question helps clarify Anderson's game-playing intentions. 

Though she's not clinging to streaks, the games can feel like a distraction from uncomfortable feelings or situations — even if they seem a more virtuous distraction than, say, TikTok. If that's the case, she tries to mindfully notice what's happening beneath the surface of her interest in playing. 

Like me, Anderson believes Spelling Bee's special badges for solving specific words and reaching certain thresholds, like Genius, can feel like getting a gold star. Rewards can make games fun, but they also pose challenges for the player who wants to solve the puzzle for the sake of doing so. 

Focus on your goals

Toby Sola, founder of the meditation app Brightmind, says games are a rewarding way to engage the mind and connect with others. They can also support a meditation or mindfulness practice, building important skills such as noticing your feelings without judgement, and identifying positive and negative behaviors. 

SEE ALSO: A brief history of meditation video games

The trick, Sola says, is making sure the game remains aligned with your values, specifically your goals — sharpening your mind, say, or playing with a family member — and how you want to spend your time. 

"Emphasize the playfulness, emphasize the connection, emphasize the gaming functions to the extent that they align with your values, but then de-emphasize all the other stuff," Sola says.

Anderson, for example, spends time with her kids and husband solving Spelling Bee. She's also decided to disregard the in-game awards, even if she enjoys them at the moment.

"I really don't pay attention to the streaks anymore or badges. Sometimes it's cool when it pops up," she says, referencing a panagram award for guessing a word that uses all available letters, "but what does it actually mean?"

How Wordle is like a meditation practice 

Meditation teacher Tim Hwang acknowledges that some days the games deliver on the promise of that meditative or flow state. But sometimes the puzzle might frustrate him, exposing deeper feelings about perfectionism and shame. 

This dynamic, Hwang says, is no different than an actual meditation practice — in which some days are "amazing" and on others you feel thwarted, all depending on what's happening in your life and in the world around you. 

When negative feelings bleed into the gameplay, Hwang recommends observing them with curiosity and being introspective about the factors driving your emotions. 

"Now I only play when I feel like I want to play it, and not like it's something I have to do." - Tim Hwang, mindfulness coach and meditation teacher

Hwang also asks himself whether his game strategies are partly responsible. If he's trying to solve Wordle in the fewest guesses possible or is worried about his stats, his satisfaction in the game can plummet. 

"Am I putting a lot of pressure on myself or am I going to enjoy this as a leisure activity?" Hwang asks. "These are prompts you can ask yourself in real time and reflect on." 

Hwang also accepts loss as a reality and feels compassion for himself when he doesn't solve a puzzle or breaks a streak. 

Ultimately, Hwang feels like he's found his balance with Wordle. 

"Now I only play when I feel like I want to play it, and not like it's something I have to do," he says. "I don't hold it as an obligation anymore."

Even without a new game on the immediate horizon, 2026 feels like a big year for Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise.

There's been a larger-than-normal amount of chatter on social media and other parts of the internet about Zelda lately. Nostalgia-filled gamers are reminiscing about their favorite titles, characters, and moments from the series, while speculating about what is coming next. Heck, even I've been bouncing back and forth between older games in the series this past week.

Let's dig into why classic Zelda is having such a moment, even in an off-year, and how you can get in on the action.

SEE ALSO: Nintendo confirms live-action 'Legend of Zelda' movie arrives in 2027 Why are people talking about The Legend of Zelda in 2026? 'Breath of the Wild' on Switch 2 is amazing. Credit: Nintendo

As I mentioned, Nintendo has not announced a new Zelda game for 2026, and it's very unlikely that we'll get one. Tears of the Kingdom launched in 2023 and Echoes of Wisdom followed in 2024, and given how long it takes to make these games, we can safely assume it'll be at least a couple of years before either of the teams behind those two titles have anything new to show.

So, why has Zelda been a trendy topic online in recent weeks?

The simplest explanation is that 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the original game's launch, so even without the appearance of a new game, a lot of us have Link on the brain. Then there's the fact that an official live-action Hollywood movie adaptation is currently being filmed with a tentative 2027 release date. Given the absurd financial success of Nintendo's recent Mario-fueled Hollywood forays, one has to imagine Nintendo foresees a similar fate for Zelda, a series that has sold exceptionally well over the past decade or so.

Beyond that, Nintendo has done a lot to keep Zelda in the discourse. Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild got serious upgrades for Nintendo Switch 2 when that console launched last year, making them almost feel like new games. Nintendo also gave Switch 2 owners the ability to play The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, a GameCube classic, via Nintendo Switch Online on Switch 2 last year. I've been playing through that one on my own time, and I can confirm it's still absolutely incredible.

Artwork from the Nintendo 64 classic 'Ocarina of Time.' Credit: Nintendo

Fans are keeping older games alive, too. An extremely unofficial and not-at-all-sanctioned-by-Nintendo fan remake of Link's Awakening for Game Boy just hit the finish line, for example. PC fan ports and upgrades of older Zelda games are always happening, but especially so in the past year or two.

Having said all of that, easily the biggest reason why Zelda has been on people's minds in the last week or two is that a full-scale Switch 2 remake of the Nintendo 64 classic Ocarina of Time is rumored to launch during this holiday season. Nintendo hasn't officially confirmed this news, and we have no way of knowing if it's real, but that would be absolutely massive, if true. Ocarina is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games ever made, and a remake would put it in front of a whole new audience.

What's the best way to join the Zelda zeitgeist? Credit: Nintendo

Aside from just going on social media and yapping about how cool Zelda is, I would recommend firing up your Nintendo Switch 1 or 2 (provided you have a Switch Online) and just playing a bunch of classic Zelda titles until the cows come home.

Many of the classic 2D Zeldas are available via Switch Online, as are several of the later 3D titles. In fact, the only 3D Zelda you can't currently play on a Switch 2 is 2006's Twilight Princess, though one has to imagine that's coming at some point.

But seriously, every single game in the series is worth checking out on some level. The very first game, celebrating its 40th birthday this year, is far more open-ended than most games in the series. Zelda II is a fascinating, extremely difficult experiment. A Link to the Past is an all-time classic. Most of the handheld titles, such as Link's Awakening and Minish Cap, are also available on Switch, and are great in their own right.

You really can't go wrong. Whether you're a Zelda obsessive or someone with a more casual appreciation of the series, I highly recommend stepping into Link's shoes in the near future.

Network Attached Storage (NAS) has really changed how we handle storage. It's moved from being just a specialized tool for big businesses to a key part of a home that you can build from a laptop. However, a lot of people treat these advanced machines like any other appliance you just set up and then forget about. They tuck them away in closets or under desks without really thinking about the physics that make them operate. Since mechanical hard drives are high-precision instruments that work with tiny tolerances, how long they last completely depends on how stable their environment is and how specific their hardware setup is.