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A little over a decade ago, astronomers found a large gap between two belts circling Vega, hinting that the nearby star probably hosts several exoplanets. 

Then in 2021, other researchers saw what they believed was perhaps a signal of a Neptune or Jupiter-like gas giant orbiting extremely close to the star. Surely, they thought, when the ultra-sensitive James Webb Space Telescope launches into space, they'll finally get the definitive proof of a planet.

But after pointing Webb at the target, and gathering more data from the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA scientists have not seen what they thought they'd find. The latest observations seem to suggest that the 1997 sci-fi film Contact, based on an older book by Carl Sagan, could have had it right after all — that there's nothing out there around Vega but a swirl of debris.

"The Hubble and Webb observations together provide so much more detail that they are telling us something completely new about the Vega system that nobody knew before," George Rieke, one of the researchers based at the University of Arizona, said in a statement. 

SEE ALSO: Scientists propose a bold new reason for Betelgeuse's volatile behavior In this artist's rendering, a disk of gas and dust sweeps around a young star. Astronomers look for lanes carved into the disk, a possible sign of orbiting planets. Credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Leah Hustak illustration

Vega, set in the summer constellation Lyra, is about 25 light-years, or 150 trillion miles, away from Earth. It's an A-type star: young, robust, and spinning much faster than the sun. This thing, about 450 million years old, is 40 times brighter than the sun, beaming sizzling blue-white light. Its swift rotation, fully turning every 16 hours, makes it a challenging target for scientists, who want to track its motion and look for tugs from potential planets. 

The new study, to be published as two papers in The Astrophysical Journal, was based on a highly detailed look at Vega's 100-billion-mile-wide debris disk, which faces Earth. In the past, this disk was thought to be a circle of planet-forming material; indeed, in our own solar system, planets emerged from such a disk once centered on the sun, though now that disk is long-gone.

"The Vega disk is smooth, ridiculously smooth."

Astronomers were shocked when Webb and Hubble showed nothing to suggest any large planets were busy at work, plowing away dust, which would be typical in a star system that's Vega's age, only about 10 percent of the sun's. Usually these nubile stars are surrounded by lots of dust, enriched by frequent collisions of asteroids and comets. 

Hubble detects material the size of smoke particles, and Webb can pick up particles as miniscule as a grain of sand, according to NASA. Yet neither showed signs of worlds pushing and clearing dust away, a clue scientists seek when trying to determine if a star has planets. The discovery of a pancake disk without obvious traces of planets is forcing them to rethink why Vega's system isn't what they expected, and it could offer new insights into planet formation, generally. 

Vega, the fifth-brightest star in the sky, as seen by Hubble, left, and Webb. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / S. Wolff / K. Su / A. Gáspár

"It's unlike other circumstellar disks we've looked at," said Andras Gáspár, another member of the research team, in a statement. "The Vega disk is smooth, ridiculously smooth."

Despite its smoothness, the disk does appear to have a slight, subtle gap far out from the star, about double the distance of Neptune from the sun. The researchers say that rules out the possibility of planets down to at least the mass of Neptune. 

Ironically, Vega is renowned for opening the eyes of astronomers to the idea that other stars could host planets, and that the material orbiting a star — seemingly the building blocks for making planets — could host life. 

"Vega continues to be unusual," said Schuyler Wolff, lead author of the study, in a statement. "The architecture of the Vega system is markedly different from our own solar system where giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn are keeping the dust from spreading the way it does with Vega."

When conflict arises at work—for example, a rude email or a tense exchange in a meeting—it’s tempting to react quickly. But immediate responses can escalate the situation. Instead, take a moment to reflect before engaging. Start by trying to understand the situation from the other person’s perspective. What are they experiencing, and why might they […]

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I remember the excitement of seeing my very first Bitcoin ATM in our local mall. Cryptocurrency was taking off, particularly Bitcoin and Ethereum. But with that rise, so have crypto scamsand no one is immune.

Microsoft has once again delayed the rollout of its controversial Recall feature for Copilot Plus PCs. The feature was originally supposed to roll out in June, then was delayed again to October.

It's been two years since the introduction of ChatGPTa deep learning chatbot that immediately called Google's search dominance into question. Today, the "AI search wars" are finally entering full gear as OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT Search functionality to paid subscribers.

A streak of incremental Apple upgrades continues with the 2024 iMac. This time, Apple's all-in-one features the latest M4 chip and a couple of other upgrades that are worth your consideration. Here's what's new with the M4 iMac and how it compares with the previous-generation M3 iMac.

GraphRAG is a technique that uses large language models (LLMs) to create knowledge graphs and summaries from unstructured text documents and leverages them to improve retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) operations on private datasets. It offers comprehensive global overviews of large, private troves of unstructured text documents while also enabling exploration of detailed, localized information. By using LLMs to create comprehensive knowledge graphs that connect and describe entities and relationships contained in those documents, GraphRAG leverages semantic structuring of the data to generate responses to a wide variety of complex user queries. Uncharted (opens in new tab), one of Microsoft’s research collaborators, has recently been expanding the frontiers of this technology by developing a new approach to processing local queries: DRIFT search (Dynamic Reasoning and Inference with Flexible Traversal). This approach builds upon Microsoft’s GraphRAG technique, combining characteristics of both global and local search to generate detailed responses in a method that balances computational costs with quality outcomes.

How GraphRAG works

GraphRAG has two primary components, an indexing engine and a query engine.

The indexing engine breaks down documents into smaller chunks, converting them into a knowledge graph with entities and relationships. It then identifies communities within the graph and generates summaries—or “community reports”—that represent the global data structure. 

The query engine utilizes LLMs to build graph indexes over unstructured text and query them in two primary modes: 

• Global search handles queries that span the entire dataset. This mode synthesizes information from diverse underlying sources to answer questions that require a broad understanding of the whole corpus. For example, in a dataset about tech company research efforts, a global query could be: “What trends in AI research have emerged over the past five years across multiple organizations?” While effective for connecting scattered information, global search can be resource intensive. 
• Local search optimizes for targeted queries, drawing from a smaller subset of documents that closely match the user’s input. This mode works best when the answer lies within a small number of text units. E.g. a query asking: “What new features and integrations did Microsoft’s Cosmos DB team release on October 4th?”

The creation of these summaries often involves a human in the loop (HITL), as user input shapes how information is summarized (e.g., what kinds of entities and relationships are extracted). To index documents using GraphRAG, a clear description of the intended user persona (as defined in the indexing phase) is needed, as it influences how nodes, edges, and community reports are structured.

Introducing DRIFT Search

DRIFT Search introduces a new approach to local search queries by including community information in the search process. This greatly expands the breadth of the query’s starting point and leads to retrieval and usage of a far higher variety of facts in the final answer. This addition expands the GraphRAG query engine by providing a more comprehensive option for local search, which uses community insights to refine a query into detailed follow-up questions. These follow-ups allow DRIFT to handle queries that may not fully align with the original extraction templates defined by the user at index time.

Answer detailsDrift (DS_Default)Local (LS)Supply ChainTraced back to cinnamon in Ecuador and Sri Lanka
[Redacted Brand] and [Redacted Brand] Brands Impacted
Products sold at [Redacted Brand] and [Redacted Brand]Plants in EcuadorContamination Levels2000 times higher than FDA maxBlood lead levels ranging from 4 to 29 micrograms per deciliterActionsRecalls and health advisories
Investigating plant in Ecuador
Issued warnings to retailersRecalls and health advisoriesTable 1: An example of summarized responses from two search techniques (DRIFT and Local Search) on a dataset of AP News articles to the query: “Describe what actions are being taken by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address the lead contamination in apple cinnamon fruit puree and applesauce pouches in the United States during November 2023”. As shown in the table, DRIFT search was able to surface details not immediately available with the two other approaches.

Spotlight: Blog post

Eureka: Evaluating and understanding progress in AI

How can we rigorously evaluate and understand state-of-the-art progress in AI? Eureka is an open-source framework for standardizing evaluations of large foundation models, beyond single-score reporting and rankings. Learn more about the extended findings. 

Read more Opens in a new tab DRIFT Search: A step-by-step process 

1. Primer: When a user submits a query, DRIFT compares it to the top K most semantically relevant community reports. This generates an initial answer along with several follow-up questions, which act as a lighter version of global search. To do this, we expand the query using Hypothetical Document Embeddings (HyDE), to increase sensitivity (recall), embed the query, look up the query against all community reports, select the top K and then use the top K to try to answer the query. The aim is to leverage high-level abstractions to guide further exploration.
2. Follow-Up: With the primer in place, DRIFT executes each follow-up using a local search variant. This yields additional intermediate answers and follow-up questions, creating a loop of refinement that continues until the search engine meets its termination criteria, which is currently configured for two iterations (further research will investigate reward functions to guide terminations). This phase represents a globally informed query refinement. Using global data structures, DRIFT navigates toward specific, relevant information within the knowledge graph even when the initial query diverges from the indexing persona. This follow-up process enables DRIFT to adjust its approach based on emerging information. 
3. Output Hierarchy: The final output is a hierarchy of questions and answers ranked on their relevance to the original query. This hierarchical structure can be customized to fit specific user needs. During benchmark testing, a naive map-reduce approach aggregated all intermediate answers, with each answer weighted equally. 

Figure 1. An entire DRIFT search hierarchy highlighting the three core phases of the DRIFT search process. A (Primer): DRIFT compares the user’s query with the top K most semantically relevant community reports, generating a broad initial answer and follow-up questions to steer further exploration. B (Follow-Up): DRIFT uses local search to refine queries, producing additional intermediate answers and follow-up questions that enhance specificity, guiding the engine towards context-rich information. A glyph on each node in the diagram shows the confidence the algorithm has to continue the query expansion step.  C (Output Hierarchy): The final output is a hierarchical structure of questions and answers ranked by relevance, reflecting a balanced mix of global insights and local refinements, making the results adaptable and comprehensive. Why DRIFT search is effective

DRIFT search excels by dynamically combining global insights with local refinement, enabling navigation from high-level summaries down to original text chunks within the knowledge graph. This layered approach ensures that detailed, context-rich information is preserved even when the initial query diverges from the persona used during indexing. By decomposing broad questions into fine-grained follow-ups, DRIFT captures granular details and adjusts based on the emerging context, making it adaptable to diverse query types. This makes it particularly effective when handling queries that require both breadth and depth without losing specific details.

Benchmarking DRIFT search

As shown, we tested the effectiveness of DRIFT search by performing a comparative analysis across a variety of use cases against GraphRAG local search and a highly tuned variant of semantic search methods. The analysis evaluated each method’s performance based on key metrics such as:  

• Comprehensiveness: Does the response answer all aspects of the question?
• Diversity of responses: Does the response provide different perspectives and insights on the question?

In our results, DRIFT search provided significantly better results on both comprehensiveness and diversity in the metrics. We set up an experiment where we ingested 5K+ news articles from the Associated Press and ingested those articles using GraphRAG. After ingestion, we generated 50 “local” questions on this dataset and used both DRIFT and Local Search to generate answers for each of these questions. These “local” questions were questions that target specific details in the dataset that could be attributed to a small number of text units containing the answer. These answers were then used with an LLM judge to score for comprehensiveness and diversity.

• On comprehensiveness, DRIFT search outperformed Local Search 78% of the time.
• On diversity, DRIFT search outperformed Local Search 81% of the time.

Availability

DRIFT search is available now on the GraphRAG GitHub (opens in new tab).

Future research directions

A future version of DRIFT will incorporate an improved version of Global Search that will allow it to more directly address questions currently serviced best by global search. The hope is to then move towards a single query interface that can service questions of both local and global varieties. This work will further evolve DRIFT’s termination logic, potentially through a reward model that balances novel information with redundancy. Additionally, executing follow-up queries using either global or local search modes could improve efficiency. Some queries require broader data access, which can be achieved by leveraging a query router and a lite-global search variant that uses fewer community reports, tokens, and overall resources.

DRIFT search is the first of several major optimizations to GraphRAG that are being explored.  It shows how a global index can even benefit local queries. In our future work, we plan to explore more approaches to bring greater efficiency to the system by leveraging the knowledge graph that GraphRAG creates.

Opens in a new tab

The post Introducing DRIFT Search: Combining global and local search methods to improve quality and efficiency appeared first on Microsoft Research.

Windows 10 is nearing its end-of-life date, currently set for October 14th, 2025. Microsoft has now confirmed how much it will cost to keep Windows 10 PCs secure after that passes.

Google has released a holiday-themed Android figure for its merchandise store. If you're looking for the perfect way to combine your favorite mobile operating system with the festive spirit, this could be it.

It's not just you. All smartphones feel the same and I have a hunch that one thing is going to change our smartphones in more ways than one. This is what I believe to be the catalyst for how our smartphones could evolve forever.

OpenAI's ChatGPT long-awaited search engine is now live.

On Thursday, the company announced ChatGPT Search, framing it as a new ChatGPT feature to "get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources." Although it was rumored to be a standalone search engine, ChatGPT Search is integrated within the existing ChatGPT interface. You can access real-time search by manually clicking the web search icon, or entering your prompt and letting ChatGPT decide whether it needs to search the web for current results.

You can now search the web with ChatGPT. Credit: Screenshot: Mashable / OpenAI

ChatGPT Search fills the competitive gap against Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, which have already been plugged into their respective search engines for a while now. Many users already prefer ChatGPT over Google Search, which has become cluttered with ads and increasingly filled with low-quality, spammy content. Until now, ChatGPT’s knowledge cutoff for newer models was October 2023. Now, with real-time search, ChatGPT returns up-to-date information, thanks to its media partnerships, for weather, stocks, sports, news, and maps.

When you search with ChatGPT search, you'll get the traditional conversational responses, with a button directing you to a list of sources. When you click on the sources, you're presented with a familiar-looking search engine format with headlines and links to each story.

citations show up in the sidebar in traditional search engine format. Credit: Screenshot: Mashable / OpenAI

ChatGPT Search is currently available to ChatGPT Plus, ChatGPT Team users as well as SearchGPT pilot testers, and will become available to ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu users in the next few weeks. OpenAI also shared that it plans to bring ChatGPT Search to Advanced Voice Mode and free users in the future.

Actor Saoirse Ronan has seen the reactions to her comment on The Graham Norton Show, where she spoke openly about the unique ways women experience the world.

If you missed it, Mashable has all the details for you. In short, Ronan was seated on a panel alongside actors Paul Mescal, Eddie Redmayne, Denzel Washington, and host Graham Norton.

SEE ALSO: Watch Saoirse Ronan stun male actors into silence on 'The Graham Norton Show'

Mescal joked offhand about a phone being used as a defensive tool, and Ronan, after all the men laughed, pointed out that women are constantly considering how to defend themselves.

"That's what girls have to think about all the time," she said, which hushed the actors and audience alike.

Tweet may have been deleted

The moment quickly went viral. It was a good example of how men often don't understand how women experience the world.

"The reaction has been wild. It’s definitely not something that I had expected, and I didn't necessarily set out to sort of make a splash," Ronan said on The Ryan Tubridy Show on Virgin Radio UK on Wednesday, via The Irish Examiner. "But I do think there's something really telling about the society that we're in right now and about how open women want to be with the men in their lives."

Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted

Ronan noted that the popularity of the Norton Show clip opened up folks to have a conversation.

"[It allows] more women to just be like, 'Well, yeah, actually, let's talk about our experience,'" she said, per The Hollywood Reporter.

All Hallow's Eve is upon us, and who would have thought that this year's biggest seasonal debate would be when exactly we should be celebrating Hallo-weekend? 

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While half of the country deals with the Halloween aftermath of last weekend and the other prepares for big plans at the end of this week, the holiday has already stoked a wide variety of clever and outlandish costumes, nods to one's inner child, and viral TikTok trends. And though most of the chronically online costumes abided by today's more careful social norms surrounding online posting, many continue to push the bounds what's considered appropriate on the holiday. 

SEE ALSO: Halloween Google Doodle game has you fight ghosts as a cute, magical cat Obscurity and memes dominate once again

Challengers trios and costumed salutes to brat summer conveyed one truth: Generic costumes remain out, with the most niche costumes commandeering attention away from even the most impressive celebrity ensembles. Modern Halloween is about being in on the joke, whether you like it or not. 

The internet's favorite reaction memes, like "sad ant" and "she's so crazzzzzzy", made iconic party appearances, and the internet's favorite X posts, like "he wants that cookie so effing bad," got transformed into iconic couple outfits. 

Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted

The tongue-in-cheek "I hate gay Halloween" trend revived itself for another year, with an even greater flood of off-the-wall costumes than last season's obscurities. Maybe you spotted one of the choir of French children playing tribute to music legend Serge Gainsbourg in a now viral video from 1988? Or a melancholy Oompa Loompa from the disastrous “Willy’s Chocolate Experience”? Perhaps you spotted a pair of horses, but not just any horses, the horses from Beyoncé's duology album covers? Wait, maybe it was actually the carousel horse from Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield's We Live in Time…

Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Everyone is in their DIY era 

Whether it was an obscure meme only a select few would know or the year's biggest Hollywood character, users online were going all out on their homemade outfits, esoteric props included. 

Some of the most random entries: Figures on a crosswalk sign made with just blood, sweat, and a hefty amount of black poster board. The carefully crafted car passenger seat mentioned in the Chappell Roan song "Casual." Multiple Dune sandworms made from sleeping bags, playtubes, and pipe cleaners capitalized on the franchise's current popularity. 

Parents went all out for their children, as well, and documented the process, including lifesize Crocs sandas and alien abductions. Even dogs got in on the crafty action. Adults reinvigorated the spirit of their childhoods, too, from Spongebob and Webkinz characters to the Scooby Doo live action crew, iSpy Books, and Princess Diana Beanie Babies. 

Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted

It suggests Spirit Halloween's prepackaged outfits just aren't serving the public's needs anymore — In fact, the company may be pivoting to the Christmas market now. 

The cultural appropriation conversation is more complicated 

Still, Halloween season isn't complete without some questionable costume choices. But where cultural appropriation was once a hotly debated faux-pas, its place in the cultural conversation has quelled. The nation's political environment and celebrity obsession continue to complicate the matter. 

On X, users quickly spread an image of a young couple dressed as Sean "Diddy" Combs and a bottle of Johnson's baby oil — a reference to allegations of sexual abuse by the famous rapper, who is currently in prison, awaiting trial. The individual labelled "PDiddy" had painted his face dark brown, an egregious case of blackface. The baby oil theme was popular among others, as well. 

When another user shared his costume from the previous Halloween season — a pun on the phrase "human trafficking" depicting him as a traffic light wearing a crown — a subset of users called out the post for making light of sex-based crimes. 

Additionally, egregious instances of racism among Halloween posts enraged many online, reiterating to many that the holiday's historic issues aren't a thing of the past. 

The environment is ripe for a renewed conversation about race and abuse as depicted in online media. Earlier this year, TikTok users went viral for resharing their old childhood costumes that were now deemed problematic, including Pocahantas and stereotypical "Indian" outfits. Years prior, users were ironically posting their "cancellable" costumes, most of which were clickbait posts to show off their favorite or funniest outfits. 

While Indigenous "headdresses" are no longer the costume accessory of choice (despite the indie sleaze revival), some of the public's popular Halloween choices still hark back to complicated, problematic eras in humanity's history. 

Earlier this month, TikTok user Chanci Culp, known as @allstyleschanceculp, stirred conversation about the ethics behind celebrity costumes, too.

"Oh God, I'm nervous," she says to the camera in a now viral video, before explaining her hesitations about dressing up as a member of '90s R&B group TLC. Culp asks her followers and Black women at large if dressing up as a famous Black celebrity would still be considered offensive. The video's comment section was resoundingly, but not entirely, positive. In a follow up post generating more than 800,000 views, Culp explained her concerns further, pointing to her upbringing among overtly racist family members. "It's not your burden to teach me what's offensive and not offensive," she tells the camera. "That's my responsibility. I have to unlearn…" Halloween revelers, take note.

SAVE $10: As of Oct. 31, get 'Sonic X Shadow Generations' for Nintendo Switch for $39.99 at Woot. That's a 20% discount.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon 'Sonic X Shadow Generations' (Nintendo Switch) $39.99 at Woot
$49.99 Save $10.00 Get Deal

Sonic fans have had it great over the past few years. Sure, there was a bit of a dry spell for a while, but the Blue Blur is back in a big way these days. His latest outing, Sonic X Shadow Generations isn't a new game, per se, as it's a remaster of a game called Sonic Generations with the addition of Shadow the Hedgehog as a new player character. But it's well worth jumping into whether you're an old or new Sonic fan, and it's even better if you can get it on sale. And you can, right now.

As of Oct. 31, you can get Sonic X Shadow Generations for Nintendo Switch at Woot for $39.99. That's $10 off and a discount of 20%. The game just debuted about a week ago, so you're still getting in on the ground floor here — not too shabby of a deal. This is for the Switch edition only, and you'll be getting a physical copy, not a digital code.

SEE ALSO: Save 42% on the Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed gaming keyboard and go ultra portable

In 2011, Sonic Generations introduced a new series of Sonic levels with both classic side-scrolling and modern 3D options that delighted fans. Now remastered and including Shadow the Hedgehog, it's an even larger game than before. Sonic and Shadow will be working together to take on an enemy called Black Doom throughout a varied selection of levels with open world gameplay like that seen in Sonic Frontiers. There are plenty of fun additional features for returning and new players to explore, but for many, Shadow will be the biggest draw.

The game is still quite new, so if you or someone you're buying gifts for over the holidays is a big Sonic fan, this is one to buy and stash away while it's on sale.

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SAVE 42%: The Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed gaming keyboard (black) is on sale at Amazon for $116.41, down from the list price of $199.99. That's the lowest price we've ever seen at Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: Logitch Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed gaming keyboard (black) $116.41 at Amazon
$199.99 Save $83.58 Get Deal

When fractions of a second make a big difference, you don't want a keyboard getting in the way of gaming. Instead of using a standard keyboard, upgrade to a model that's designed by professional gamers. Amazon is supporting our winter gaming hobby by offering a great gaming keyboard at a serious discount.

As of Oct. 31, the Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed gaming keyboard (black) is on sale at Amazon for just $116.41, down from the list price at Logitech of $199.99. That's a 42% discount or savings of $83.58. This sale price marks the lowest we've ever seen at Amazon.

For starters, the Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed excels when it comes to a speedy response, either with a Lightspeed, Bluetooth, or USB connection. While that assists with gameplay, the keyboard's 50-hour battery life means you won't need to recharge for days.

The keyboard uses a standard layout but includes some great features specific for gaming like a volume roller for easy access and a game mode lock function so you won't accidentally hit anything that could impede with gaming.

This model is included in Logitech's Pro Series which is designed for competitive gaming, tested in tournaments, and refined with the help of world-class esports players.

For those who have gaming on the agenda this winter, get the pro-vetted Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed gaming keyboard and never worry about a lagging response again. As a Halloween treat, it's on sale today for just $116.41 at Amazon, the lowest price we've ever seen.

How to watch 'The Substance' at a glance: BEST OVERALL Mubi add-on for Prime Video Free 7-day trial, then $10.99/month (save $4/month) Get Deal BEST NON-STREAMING OPTION Buy 'The Substance' on digital $19.99 at Prime Video Get Deal BEST LONG-TERM DEAL Mubi annual subscription Free 7-day trial, then $119.88/year (save 33%) Get Deal BEST FOR STUDENTS Mubi for Students Free 30-day trial, then $9.99/month (save $5/month) Get Deal

"Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?" So asks The Substance, Coralie Fargeat's sophomore feature and winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. While it's still floating around theaters, the body horror romp is coming to a streaming service near you just in time for Halloween.

The Hollywood ageism satire stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid, and positive word of mouth has made the horror movie a surprise hit. Here's everything you need to know about how to watch The Substance at home and online, including when and where it starts streaming and the best deals to save some money.

What is The Substance about?

The Substance stars Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister who's fired from her fitness TV program for the unforgivable crime of aging. Battling with crippling Hollywood ageism, she's introduced to a new drug known as "the Substance." A single injection is all it takes for Elisabeth to be reborn as the beautiful and youthful Sue (Margaret Qualley), who then begins her own rise through Hollywood.

Of course, there's always a catch. The Substance forces you to split time between your two bodies; Elisabeth must spend exactly seven days as herself, then seven days as Sue. When she messes with the balance, things get...bloody.

Check out the official trailer:

Is The Substance worth watching?

The Substance has become the most successful box office release for arthouse distributor and streamer Mubi. The bold and bloody film has been creating a ton of buzz, with audiences giving it a 74 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics rating is even more impressive with a glowing 91 percent.

"Audaciously gross, wickedly clever, and possibly Demi Moore's finest hour, The Substance is a gasp-inducing feat from writer-director Coralie Fargeat," the critics consensus reads on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Mashable's own reviewer wasn't a big fan, writing that the "horror sci-fi plot of The Substance feels incomplete," most reviews are very positive. Culture writer Zach Schonfeld may have summed it up best, calling it a "B-movie with an A-list cast" — in a good way. Just be warned, many folks will be squirming in their seats over the amount of blood and gore. It is a body horror movie, after all.

How can I watch The Substance at home? Credit: Mubi

The Substance made its digital retail debut on Oct. 31, meaning it's available for purchase at video-on-demand retailers like Prime Video and Apple TV+ for $19.99. The film will likely also be available to rent at a later date.

Here are some quick links to purchase the film on digital:

• Prime Video — $19.99

• Apple TV+ — $19.99

• Fandango at Home (Vudu) — $19.99

Is The Substance streaming anywhere?

In a rare turn of events, The Substance will also make its streaming debut on Oct. 31 for those who don't want to purchase the film. The only catch is that it won't be streaming on the usual services like Hulu or Max. Instead, you can watch The Substance on Mubi beginning on Halloween.

Mubi is built for cinephiles. Sure, it's yet another streaming service, but where it differs is quality. The Mubi library is brimming with the best of international cinema. The streamer showcases a vast array of films from America and abroad, mainstream and independent, classics, new releases, award-winners, and Mubi's own originals — like The Substance. Mubi subscriptions start at $14.99 per month, but we've rounded up a few ways to save some money on the streamer below.

Best overall: Get Mubi as a Prime Video add-on Opens in a new window Credit: Mubi / Prime Video Mubi add-on for Prime Video Free 7-day trial, then $10.99/month (save $4/month) Get Deal

A Mubi subscription on its own costs $14.99 per month, but Prime members can add it as a Prime Video channel instead and save some money. After a free seven-day trial, the Mubi add-on for Prime Video is just $10.99 per month. That means $4 kept in your pocket each month. Of course, this requires you to have a Prime Video account in order to add the channel. If you don't already have Prime Video, this isn't your best option.

If you remember to cancel after watching the movie, you could theoretically watch The Substance for free this way — just saying.

Best long-term deal: Save 33% on an annual subscription Opens in a new window Credit: Mubi logo Mubi annual subscription 7-day free trial, then $119.88/year (save 33%) Get Deal

If you're a movie lover and want to stick around to enjoy more than just The Substance, you can save 33% by paying for a year of Mubi upfront. An annual Mubi subscription costs $119.88 per year, which breaks down to just $9.99 per month instead of the usual $14.99 per month. You'll still get a seven-day free trial to kick off your subscription as well.

Best for students: Save $5/month on Mubi student subscription Opens in a new window Credit: Mubi logo Mubi for students 30-day free trial, then $9.99/month (save $5/month) Get Deal

Students really get the winning deal here. If you can prove your student status, you can sign up for Mubi for free for 30 days, then get a discounted subscription for just $9.99 per month. That's $5/month cheaper than a typical subscription. Plus, with 30 free days, you'll have plenty of time to watch The Substance and lots of other films before even paying a cent.

SAVE UP TO $425: The Mac Mini with M4 chip is now available for preorder. Save on your order with a qualifying trade-in at Best Buy and get the Mac Mini starting at $275.

Preorder the Mac Min with M4 chip Best Buy Apple Mac Mini (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $599 at Best Buy Preorder Now Best Buy Apple Mac Mini (M4, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $799 at Best Buy Preorder Now Best Buy Apple Mac Mini (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,399 at Best Buy Preorder Now

Mac Week has given us a whole bunch of upgrades on Apple computers — for less. The iMac and MacBook Pro are getting the M4 chip, while all MacBook Air models now start with 16GB of RAM. The Mac Mini is joining the M4 chip crew, too. All models start with 16GB of memory and are available for preorder now, expected to be released on November 8. Prices start at $599, but Best Buy is offering a better price with select trade-ins.

You can score the Mac Mini starting at $275 at Best Buy when you trade-in an old device. The models available for trade-in include the Mac Mini with M2 and M2 Pro chips, as well as the iMac with M3 chip, and estimated trade-in values range up to $575.

To take advantage of this offer, estimate your old Mac's trade-in value. After purchasing the new Mac Mini M4 for M4 Pro and your trade-in is complete, the confirmed value of your trade-in device will be refunded to your purchase of the new Mac Mini. This deal is available exclusively at Best Buy and a solid opportunity if you're ready to upgrade your Mac.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Mac Mini (M4, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $599.00 at Best Buy
Pre-Order Here Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Mac Mini (M4 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,399.00 at Best Buy
Pre-Order Here

For years, some Nintendo die-hards (me) have been frustrated at the company's refusal to officially release music on streaming services. The company just fixed that in a very Nintendo-like manner.

Meet Nintendo Music, a new Android and iOS app that is like Spotify, but for Nintendo music. You can listen to high-quality recordings of Nintendo tracks from across the company's four-decade history of making game consoles, from the NES to the Switch. There's just one catch: You need to pay.

Specifically, you have to pay for a Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) account, which also allows Switch owners to play games like Splatoon 3 online. An NSO membership will set you back $20 a year. Unfortunately, there's no way to buy a membership to just listen to music. If you don't own a Switch, you'd essentially be paying for multiplayer services you can't even use, just to listen to music.

There's also a major caveat right now in that there's barely any music on the app on launch day. Nintendo has promised to steadily release new music over time and it wasn't lying about that, as there are only 23 games total represented in the app right now. The current selection is unusual; it includes two different versions of the Metroid for NES soundtrack and a library of every menu song from the Wii, but nothing from Super Mario 64.

Still, the UI is clean and every game has several built-in playlists for things like level music, boss fight tunes, and so on. The bones of a cool app are here, as long as Nintendo keeps its promise to add music over time.

M4 MacBook Pro vs. M3 MacBook Pro: Price and specs

Like the M3 MacBook Pro at launch in 2023, the 14-inch M4 version starts at $1,599.

Credit: Apple

Here are the basic specs that you get for that price:

• 14.2-inch Liquid Retina display with 3024x1964 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate

• M4 chip

• 16GB RAM

• 512GB storage

• Rated for 24 hours of battery life

The biggest difference between M3 and M4 that should be noted immediately is the RAM. Last year's MacBook Pro offered 8GB RAM in the base model, putting it behind some competitors. This year, there are no 8GB models; you get 16GB at minimum, which can go up to 24GB if you feel like paying more. Storage options have not changed from last year to this year, however.

On top of that, the new M4 chip should give performance boosts to the 2024 MacBook Pro, but since we haven't tested it yet, it's impossible to say for sure.

M4 MacBook Pro vs. M3 MacBook Pro: Display

These two displays are nearly identical:

• 3,024 x 1,964-pixel resolution

• 16:10 aspect ratio

• 254 pixels per inch

• ProMotion (i.e., up to 120Hz refresh rate)

Similar to the M3 MacBook Pro, the new M4 MacBook Pro continues to sport a notch (that still doesn't have Face ID).

M3 MacBook Pro Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

However, there are two differences to note. The peak SDR brightness on the M4 model is 1,000 nits, while the same metric came in at 600 nits on the M3 MacBook Pro. Plus, the M4 MacBook Pro offers the nano-texture display option that's also available on the iPad Pro, Pro Display XDR, Studio Display, and iMac.

What's a nano-texture display? It's designed to dramatically reduce glare. As such, this option is best for users who often contend with challenging lighting conditions like sun-drenched offices.

I've had some experience with the nano-texture display on the iPad Pro, and while it does, indeed, significantly reduce glare and manages bright lighting conditions like a champ, there's a chance that you may notice a drop in the panel's vividness.

M4 MacBook Pro vs. M3 MacBook Pro: Design

As far as visual design, the biggest difference between these two MacBooks is that you can get the new one in Space Black as well as silver.

M4 MacBook Pro Credit: Apple

By contrast, the M3 model is silver or bust. Here are the physical dimensions of the new M4 MacBook Pro:

• Height: 0.61 inches

• Width: 12.31 inches

• Depth: 8.71 inches

• Weight: 3.5 pounds

Those are, in fact, the exact same dimensions as the M3 model. You may be thinking, "So they really just changed some internals, added a new color, and called it a day, huh?" Well, not exactly.

M4 MacBook Pro vs. M3 MacBook Pro: Ports

Another physical differentiator between the M3 and M4 MacBook Pros is the addition of a third Thunderbolt 4 port.

M3 MacBook Pro ports Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The M3 model only had two, while the M4 model has three, giving users more flexibility with external displays. Aside from that, the port selection is the same across both devices: an SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an HDMI port, and a MagSafe port for charging.

No, there are no USB type-A ports.

M4 MacBook Pro vs. M3 MacBook Pro: Performance

We tested the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro's Geekbench score, which tests for CPU performance, and it notched a multi-core score of 11,998, which offered an 18% performance uptick over the M2 chip.

M4 MacBook Pro Credit: Apple

Apple didn't reveal performance delta figures between the M2 and M4 chips, but it did compare the M4 chip to the M1 chip. The Cupertino-based tech giant claims that the M4 chip is 1.8 times faster than the M1 chip for tasks like "editing gigapixel photos." When it comes to rendering complex scenes via Blender, the M4 chip is reportedly 3.4 times faster.

For AI workloads (e.g., Apple Intelligence), the M4 chip is 3 times more powerful, according to Apple.

M4 MacBook Pro vs. M3 MacBook Pro: Battery life

As noted earlier, the M4 MacBook Pro promises 24 hours of battery life on a single charge.

M4 MacBook Pro Credit: Apple

This is a rating by Apple that can't be verified yet, as we haven't gotten the new MacBook in for testing at the time of writing. However, Apple rated last year's model for 22 hours, meaning the M4 MacBook Pro should theoretically beat the M3 model in terms of battery longevity.

We tested the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro and it lasted 16 hours and 23 minutes. Once we test the battery life of the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro, we'll update this face-off.

M4 MacBook Pro vs. M3 MacBook Pro: Which should you buy?

Battery life is an important aspect of making a purchase decision regarding buying laptops. We don't know the runtime of the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro just yet, but even without this figure, the M3 MacBook Pro is impressive at 16 hours and 23 minutes.

If snagging a nano-texture display, getting three Thunderbolt 4 ports, and having a minor boost in power isn't enough to sway you, the M3 MacBook Pro should be sufficient enough to meet your needs.