Blogroll

The release of Grand Theft Auto VI is still months away, but every piece of news about it is revving up the internet. The latest TikTok discourse is whether playing GTA 6 is considered "cheating" if you're in a relationship.

The debate began when it came to light that the game has an optional system that lets players maintain a romantic relationship between the main characters, Jason and Lucia. Beyond completing missions together, players can also text, plan activities, hold hands, and (gasp!) kiss.

SEE ALSO: Could GTA 6 teach Gen Z how to be in a relationship?

The fact that developing Jason and Lucia's relationship is optional didn't stop enraged TikTokkers from taking to the platform to express their discontent about this, and accuse men of cheating on their partners if they play.

"In absolutely no human way is my fiancé playing GTA 6," TikTok user @diaryofasalesgirl posted, and also told other women not to let their partners play, either. "It's cheating btw if he has a girlfriend in GTA 6," another user, @ahhnuska, posted. A third TikTok user, @natalitovarr, even called the game "interactive porn." (None of these creators responded to Mashable's request for comment.)

Mashable spoke to Los Angeles-based sex and couples therapist, Ilana Grines, for the answer, and it's not as simple as these videos make it seem.

What even is cheating, anyway?

There's no one definition of cheating or infidelity. Grines told Mashable over the phone that it's nuanced, and it's actually up to each couple to come up with their own definition. 

"In my clinical definition, infidelity isn't just the presence of romance or sexual content," she explained. "It's much more about what the couple has agreed to, and whether this is something that's being hidden or spoken about," be it anything from flirting to pornography.

It's important to bring it back to the specific couple: Have they talked about it? Have they agreed to specific limits and agreements, whether about the game or otherwise?

But here's the thing: It's not about what cheating means. Couples often get stuck here about what constitutes cheating instead of talking about the behavior underneath it, Grines said. What about the behavior — in this case, going on dates and texting a fictional character — bothers you?

Dig into what specifically feels like cheating, be it emotional time, nudity, sexual interaction, fantasy, or something else. "Once you identify that part that actually hurts, let's negotiate some parameters around that for our relationship," she said.

What the 'GTA 6' debate says about modern relationships

On the GTA 6 matter, Grines said, first and foremost, that she believes the argument is "TikTok bait." (That would make sense, as the most viral videos calling it cheating have been counterbalanced with other enraged people explaining why it's absolutely not cheating.)

But even beyond the virality, the thought that it's cheating says something about modern relationships. 

We're going into unknown territory, Grines said, not just with video games, but with technology like AI chatbots. Sex and couples therapy in the age of AI is a big topic of conversation for her right now, and while GTA 6 is very different from interacting with a bot that can respond directly to you, the throughline is that couples are engaging in things we don't have relational scripts for. 

"We are trying to catch up to a world that's rapidly changing, and it's really important to have conversations about it, not only with ourselves but with our partners," she said. 

Because we're in relationships alongside the emergence of new technology, it brings about feelings we may not have the language to talk about. We might jump to saying something is cheating when, really, we're talking about something else.

If your boyfriend, as Jason, has to text Lucia back, and he does, and that bothers you because your boyfriend doesn't text you back, are you really talking about the game? "Or are we talking about our own pain points, our own injuries that are not about a fictional romance, rather our own romance," Grines said. 

Talking about the game may be easier than talking about your relationship. After falling down the "is GTA 6 cheating" TikTok rabbit hole, Grines's understanding is that the people calling the game "cheating" were really picking up their own sources of hurt and translating them through the game, and not having the ability to say what they want to work on in the relationship. 

Grines's advice for those people is to talk about the game before it comes out and to recognize that their feelings aren't ridiculous. But if you're not able to have a conversation before the game releases, she does think it could create relationship problems. 

So…is 'GTA 6' cheating?

On the direct question of whether GTA 6 is cheating, Grines wouldn't inherently consider it that way. Though again, it depends on what each couple agrees to.

But, also, a growing trend over the last few years (in my opinion, not Grines's), is that cheating has become the ultimate crime. It seems that every few months, the internet comes out with its pitchforks (fingers) to vilify people who appear to be committing infidelity, as in the 2025 Coldplay concert scandal and the more recent viral kiss between lawyers in Central Park.

Cheating is typically considered wrong in monogamous couples (and even non-monogamous people can cheat, depending on the relationship's agreement), but the way social media goes after people whom the majority believes are cheating has become absurd. They try — and often succeed — in getting them fired from their jobs. They might get their homes doxxed online. They and their families are harassed.

The internet has done similar to those for actions that are not acts of betrayal, like cheating, but the mob mentality continues to confound. And cheating isn't illegal! Maybe it's increased moralization. Maybe it's schadenfreude. Maybe it's boredom. Whatever it is, this frenzy over whether texting a pixelated woman is cheating might stem from this pattern.

On the increased moralization of cheating, Grines said, we have a need to "insert ourselves into other people's relationships and cast judgment when we have no knowledge of them."

"We live in a generation where things that feel really big are not spoken about in a way of recovery, [but] rather in a way of shame," she continued, "and shame doesn't allow for us to actually make changes."

So, is GTA 6 cheating? Neither Grines nor I think so. But the debate itself is masking something a lot deeper. 

A European spacecraft bound for Mercury cleared a major hurdle on Thursday when it safely separated from its propulsion module that has carried it through deep space since 2018.

BepiColombo now flies on a slimmer stack made of two orbiters and a sunshield. The change marks the end of the mission's long cruise and the start of its months‑long arrival phase as it closes in on the planet nearest to the sun.

After the separation command at 2 p.m. local time in Germany on Sept. 3, teams waited nearly two hours for radio signals to cross more than 120 million miles of space. Fresh data then revealed the spacecraft in its expected new configuration, with healthy power levels from its remaining solar panel. Dropping the transfer module meant the most important instruments onboard were no longer blocked. 

"Finally, we have science cameras," said Paolo Cappuccio, a European Space Astronomy Centre scientist in Spain. "Let's go to Mercury." 

The mission will give scientists new insight into Mercury, the least studied planet in the solar system — even less so than dwarf planet Pluto. That's not because scientists don't care about it, but because Mercury is the hardest world to reach, mission leaders say. Spacecraft must shed huge amounts of speed to fall inward toward the sun and match Mercury's tight, fast orbit. Only two missions — NASA's Mariner 10 and Messenger — have ever visited Mercury before, and only Messenger orbited it.

SEE ALSO: What one tiny signal can and can't tell us about dark matter

Launched in 2018, BepiColombo is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and Japan's JAXA. Until today, the car‑size Mercury Transfer Module, or MTM, used solar power and ion engines to push the spacecraft through a series of flybys of Earth, Venus, and Mercury.

About six years into flight, the team faced a major crisis when that module's solar panels began underdelivering on power. That forced engineers to redraw BepiColombo's path, cut back on the engine firings, adjust the schedule of key maneuvers, and accept a later arrival at Mercury so they could keep the spacecraft healthy.

Engineering cameras were located on three areas of the Mercury Transfer Module, which is now separated from BepiColombo and drifting through space. Credit: ESA infographic

At separation on Thursday, the space-weary BepiColombo was still about 2.1 million miles from its destination, but it had reached the final leg of its journey. Small release devices let the module drift away at roughly 1 mph, while the remaining spacecraft briefly entered a "safe mode" to reset.

The spacecraft separated from the propulsion module because it needed to switch to a lighter setup better suited for steering and doing science in orbit around Mercury.

Before shutting down for good, the module sent its final snapshots from three small cameras. The images show parts of the spacecraft — a solar panel edge, an antenna, and a boom — against the blackness of space. Mercury itself does not appear, both because of camera angles and the fact that the planet is still millions of miles away. 

There are no pictures of the actual separation because, once detached, the module had no computer or antenna to continue snapping with the engineering cameras.

These images were taken by small cameras meant for monitoring systems on the spacecraft, not the science cameras mounted on the orbiters. Credit: ESA

Want more science and tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Light Speed newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

Over the next weeks, flight teams will adjust BepiColombo's trajectory so it arrives at just the right spot — at just the right speed — to let Mercury's gravity capture it. A key engine burn on Nov. 21 is expected to place the stack into a wide orbit around Mercury. 

In December, Japan's MIO spacecraft will separate into its own high path to study Mercury's magnetic bubble, while Europe's orbiter will focus on the planet itself, mapping the surface and probing the interior.

Mercury bakes to more than 750 degrees Fahrenheit in daylight and plunges below minus 290 degrees at night. BepiColombo must survive not only fierce sunlight but also the heat that Mercury's surface radiates back into space. Engineers built special heat‑resistant coverings and solar panels that can cope with the brutal assault from the sun.

After taking final selfies, the spacecraft dropped its propulsion module, which it doesn't need anymore, and is beginning its approach to Mercury. Credit: ESA

Scientists hope the twin orbiters will reveal why this small world has such a large metal core, how its thin cloud of gas changes over time, and how its magnetic field compares with Earth's when they reach their final paths around March 2027. 

When the telemetry from the spacecraft came through at exactly the moment the team expected, Elsa Montagnon, BepiColombo's spacecraft operations manager, said she felt relief. 

"I don't have words," Montagnon said. "It has power, it has propulsion, it could reorient itself, and it can communicate with us. We have a mission."

There are moments where By Any Means feels like Paramount once envisioned it as a prestige play for the Oscars.

Directed by Elegance Bratton, the drama draws on true events to expose anti-Black racism in the American South in the 1960s. In the lead role, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Special FBI Agent Wayne Strider, a Black G-man who's investigating the murder of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito).

In scenes where he's cajoling a witness or speaking sternly to his wife (Nicole Beharie) about the dangers they face as Black people in Mississippi, Abdul-Mateen is earnest, intense, and riveting. In these sections, it seems screenwriter Sascha Penn is channeling Chris Gerolmo's approach to 1988's Mississippi Burning, which centered on the murders of civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. By Any Means also opens with the investigation of this triple homicide, though from a markedly different angle.

However, Penn then pivots to an approach that feels more Green Book, pairing Abdul-Mateen's dignified Southern Black man with a fast-talking, impulsive white New Yorker (Mark Wahlberg, who is also a producer on the film). And while Wahlberg's mischievous screen presence brings a levity to the content, his performance ignites a battle over what this movie means and who it's for. And in the end, it's a mess with a jarringly pandering political message.

By Any Means is about as historically accurate as Wolf Creek. Credit: Paramount Pictures

"Based on a true story" is a title card that should be met with suspicion, as movies for decades (particularly horror movies) have used it as a marketing tool to juice a little more terror or anticipatory dread out of an audience. Journey with me back to 2005, when the deeply disturbing Greg McLean horror thriller Wolf Creek was marketed as being "based on true events." The film itself simply used those events as a springboard for cinematic speculation. By Any Means works the same way.

The film presents Special FBI Agent Wayne Strider as a local man who's come home to Mississippi to fight for equality through his work in government. So, when his friend Vernon's home is fire-bombed, resulting in the man's death, Strider is eager to work on the case — even if it's off the books. His boss (David Strathairn in a role that is entirely exposition-driven) assigns him to be the handler for Gregory Scarpa, a mafia hit man and informant who busts heads for the FBI when their more traditional (i.e., legal) paths of investigation fail.

So, By Any Means opens with a montage of archival footage, establishing where the American South was in terms of KKK activity and anti-Black violence in 1964, when Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner went missing. Then, Bratton cuts to a grimy, abandoned warehouse, where a scrawny white man, badly beaten and bloody, is bound to a chair. Scarpa emerges from the shadows and pummels the man with a bat until he reveals where the activists' remains might be found. Then a title card transports us to two years later, days before Vernon Dahmer's murder.

When the locals, Black and white, won't talk to the FBI — either out of fear of retribution from the KKK or because they are complicit — Scarpa is called down from Brooklyn to get the information "by any means" necessary. However, before you get too intrigued by this concept, be warned that the final title cards suggest that most of what you've seen is inspired by the suspicion that Scarpa may have been involved in some way alongside an "unnamed" Black agent.

This makes By Any Means only more confounding. Because with such a specious connection to reality, Penn and Bratton could have done anything. And instead, they did this.

By Any Means' politics are confounding. Credit: Paramount Pictures

By Any Means becomes a kind of buddy-cop movie, where Strider is the by-the-books hero, and Scarpa is the scrappy, no-rules, no-fucks-given man of action. While that premise evokes Lethal Weapon, their odd-couple energy is more reminiscent of Green Book, not only in the archetypes of the loudmouth white New Yorker and the refined Southern Black gentleman, but also in the condescending notion that the latter needs the former to educate him about the Black experience. In Green Book, it was that scene about eating fried chicken. In By Any Means, it's Scarpa explaining to Strider why Malcolm X's methods are better than Martin Luther King Jr.'s.

SEE ALSO: Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali's friendship, explained by the 'Blood Brothers' director

While this is a curious setup, the conversation is surface-level, using both icons of the American civil rights movement to show that Scarpa believes the best way to gain power is through violence. It's how he rose through the ranks of the mob, and it's a skill set that makes him valuable to the FBI. However, By Any Means only glancingly shows how white privilege distinguishes Scarpa from Strider. When a white police officer pulls the pair over, the cop is eager — giddy, even — to pull a gun on Strider, while not perceiving Scarpa as a threat. That Scarpa can shoot the cop and be confident he'll get away with it is intriguing, but not explored in a meaningful way. Instead, By Any Means feeds into the problematic American trope of cops/feds breaking the rules in pursuit of a "good" result without question.

By Any Means seems to ask, "When the system fails, why not resort to baseball bats, guns, and vigilantism?" Notably, this is the same argument the KKK members in the movie (led by a solidly unnerving Ethan Embry) use to justify their actions. They say the system is failing them, so they're responding with homemade bombs, gunfire, and a fiery cross. The final series of title cards lays out the aftermath of Scarpa's speculated actions, with underwhelming legal ramifications. This makes for a muddied message about the place of violence in seeking justice.

Mark Wahlberg goes Johnny Depp in By Any Means Necessary. Credit: Paramount Pictures

Wahlberg's chaotic charisma is compelling in By Any Means, initially making Scarpa a curious devil's advocate that challenges Strider's by-the-book approach. But Wahlberg is out of his depths in this role.

Now, I'm not one of those critics who think Wahlberg's never been good. In Martin Scorsese's The Departed, he's perfectly employed as a Boston cop who has a foul mouth and a mean streak. In Pain & Gain, Michael Bay expertly placed him in a role of clownish masculinity that was funny and a scorching commentary on the American dream. In Fear, he was seductive as a bad boy and terrifying as an abusive boyfriend. Here, however, Wahlberg seems to be reaching for the husky gruff-but-lovable gravitas of James Gandolfini or Russell Crowe (specifically in The Nice Guys) and coming up very short.

Part of the problem is that Wahlberg's action-hero charm is ill-suited to Scarpa, who is cocky but also scripted as a tough-as-nails New Yorker. For one, if Wahlberg's Boston accent is meant to be a Brooklyn one, he's failed absolutely. For another, the prosthetics applied — presumably to make him look more like the real Scarpa — are comically odd. Looking at the movie's poster, Wahlberg is unrecognizable. Straight on, he vaguely resembles Woody Harrelson. But in profile, the nose applied is so big and so obviously false that it is constantly distracting.

Topped with a bad wig and a pot belly, Wahlberg leans in by mugging. His frown pulls deep, perhaps aiming for De Niro, but hitting Temu Florence Pugh. As I watched, agog at the nose that felt too matte and untextured to be real, I thought of Johnny Depp in Black Mass, where his pursuit of looking like mobster Whitey Bulger translated to an on-camera look so alien that it was hard to watch. As with films like Fantastic Beasts, Dark Shadows, and The Lone Ranger, Depp's make-up felt a crutch, that paired with much mugging, was offered in place of an extraordinary performance.

Which is all to say, I could imagine a version of By Any Means that is nuanced and compelling, using the hit man as a vehicle to expose the shortcomings and loopholes in our criminal justice system. Within such a film, Strider's embrace of rule-breaking in the third act might feel satisfying or at least exciting, rather than the predictable capitulation demanded by American movies, where the cops are always right, even when they do wrong.

As it is, Bratton makes half of a film that aches with purpose, reflected in the smoky saxophone-heavy score of Terence Blanchard. To their credit, Abdul-Mateen, Beharie, and Esposito give stirring performances that demand to be taken seriously. But Wahlberg, with his violent comic relief, undercuts any seriousness. Through him, By Any Means misses the mark as a movie with a mission, instead seeming to pander to a white audience. Scarpa's domineering presence suggests a coddling approach meant to assure white audience members that, like the beguiling hit man, they may not be exemplary allies, but at least they're not the KKK members actively seeking the death of their Black neighbors. Frankly, that wasn't enough then, and it's not enough now.

By Any Means opens Sept. 4.

The best deals on Milwaukee tools in Home Depot's Labor Day sale: Best stapler deal Milwaukee M12 Cordless Crown Stapler $129 (save $210) Get Deal Best multi-tool deal Milwaukee M12 FUEL Oscillating Multi-Tool $199 (save $250) Get Deal Best cut-off tool deal Milwaukee M12 FUEL Compact Cut-Off Tool $199 (save $240) Get Deal Best ratchet deal Milwaukee M12 Cordless 3/8 in. Ratchet $199 (save $260) Get Deal

Every home has that one drawer of half-broken tools you've been meaning to replace, and Home Depot's Labor Day sale is a solid excuse to finally do it. With up to 62% off Milwaukee's 12-volt cordless tools, you can score top-tier durability and long-lasting battery life without breaking the bank.

Below are the best deals from the sale, from a stapler that'll save your hands on upholstery projects to a cutoff tool that can handle metal, PVC, and tile in tight spaces.

Best for upholstery and DIY fixes Opens in a new window Credit: Milwaukee Milwaukee M12 Cordless Crown Stapler $129 at The Home Depot
$339 Save $210 Currently sold out, but you can sign up to get notified for restocks. Get Deal Why we like it

 The Milwaukee M12 Cordless Crown Stapler drives 3/8-inch staples through a range of materials, and at just 3 lbs. and 7.5 inches long, it's compact enough to fit into tight spaces or clip right onto your tool belt. The trigger is designed to reduce hand fatigue, and you can switch between sequential and contact firing modes depending on the job, which is useful whether you're doing upholstery, securing weatherstripping, or laying carpet underlayment.

Best for finishing touches Opens in a new window Credit: Milwaukee Milwaukee M12 FUEL Oscillating Multi-Tool $199 at The Home Depot
$449 Save $250   Get Deal Why we like it

The M12 FUEL Oscillating Multi-Tool is built for speed and control: Milwaukee's Powerstate brushless motor pushes out 10,000 to 20,000 oscillations per minute, which the brand says is the fastest cutting speed on a 12V platform. It's also designed to vibrate less, so your hands don't take the brunt of a long project, and the tool-free blade change means you're not hunting for an Allen key mid-task. It handles wood, metal, plaster, and drywall, and switches over to a sander with the right attachment.

Best for tight-space cutting jobs Opens in a new window Credit: Milwaukee M12 FUEL Compact Cut-Off Tool $199 at The Home Depot
$449 Save $250   Get Deal Why we like it

The M12 FUEL Compact Cut-Off Tool is for the small, awkward jobs like trimming a rusted-out bolt, cutting PVC to fit, or working under a sink where a full-size saw just won't reach. It spins at 20,000 RPM and comes with three accessories out of the box, so it's ready for multiple materials without extra purchases. The reversible blade rotation gives you more control over the direction of your cut, and an LED light helps you see what you're doing in dim spaces.

Best for auto repair and maintenance Opens in a new window Credit: Milwaukee M12 Cordless 3/8 in. Ratchet $199 at The Home Depot
$459 Save $260   Get Deal Why we like it

The M12 Cordless ratchet gives you the power and speed of a pneumatic tool without needing an air hose, making it much more practical for home maintenance or car repairs. It produces up to 35 ft-lbs of torque and 250 RPM, and at just under 11 inches long and less than 2 lbs, it fits into engine bays and other cramped spots that pneumatic ratchets can't reach. A built-in LED light and onboard fuel gauge help you see what you're doing and track your charge.

More Milwaukee tools deals

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 1/4-Inch Hex Impact Driver & Hackzall Combo — $199 $369 (save $170)

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 1/2-Inch Impact Wrench Kit w/ 5.0Ah Battery — $299 $459 (save $160)

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL Hammer Drill and Impact Driver Combo Kit w/ (3) 5.0Ah Batteries — $399 $558 (save $159)

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 6-1/2-Inch Plunge Cut Track Saw with 55-Inch Guide Rail — $429 $569 (save $140)

• Milwaukee M18 8-Tool Cordless Combo Kit w/ (2) Batteries & Charger — $649 $1,298 (save $649)

TL;DR: This Grade A refurbished 2020 MacBook Pro has 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD storage, a Retina display and Touch Bar for $369.99 (reg. $1,580).

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Pro 2020 (Refurbished) $369.99
$1,580 Save $1,210.01   Get Deal

Need a MacBook that can take on your everyday workload without using up your entire budget? This Grade A refurbished 2020 MacBook Pro is a MacBook under $500 Best of Web Price, and it’s on sale for $369.99 (reg. $1,580), with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor.

There’s a reason the MacBook Pro remains a popular choice for work and creative projects. The 2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor can Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, while 16GB of RAM is built to handle multitasking, coding, photo work, and other demanding applications. The 512GB SSD also provides quick access to your files and enough local storage for a sizable collection of documents, photos, and other media.

The 13.3-inch Retina display offers a 2560 x 1600 native resolution, 500 nits of brightness, and True Tone technology, which adjusts the display’s color temperature based on the surrounding light. You also get a Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar and Touch ID, plus four Thunderbolt 3 ports for charging, displays, and compatible accessories. The battery is rated for up to 10 hours of use.

This MacBook could be a good fit for students, professionals, or those who want macOS for writing, coding, photo editing, streaming, and general productivity without paying the price of a new machine. At roughly 3 pounds, it’s portable enough to take between home, the office, or campus.

The lower price comes with a Grade A refurbished rating. That means the MacBook should arrive in near-mint condition with minimal to no scuffing on the case. It’s worth keeping in mind that this is a 2020 Intel-based model, but for shoppers who don’t need the latest Mac hardware, the configuration still offers plenty of capable specs.

Bring home this refurbished MacBook Pro for $369.99 (reg. $1,580) while supplies last.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Own your cloud storage space outright with this 1TB lifetime subscription for Vault Cloud Storage, now for just $74.99 (reg. $799).

Opens in a new window Credit: Vault Vault Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription (1TB) $74.99
$799 Save $724.01   Get Deal

Your digital life is always growing, not shrinking. From family photos and videos to work documents and important personal files, you add to your collection year after year. If you’re looking for a more affordable way to secure your content, Vault Cloud Storage lets you own your space rather than rent it.

Right now, you can secure a lifetime subscription for 1TB of Vault Cloud Storage for just $74.99 (reg. $799).

Your memories are important — they deserve a permanent storage solution. If you’re fed up with paying monthly fees, Vault Cloud Storage lets you pay once and own 1TB of storage outright. This affordable option not only saves you money over time, but it also helps you get your digital life in order.

Vault Cloud Storage uses AES-GCM-256 to encrypt your files directly in your browser before they’re ever uploaded, so only encrypted data is stored in the cloud. That means no readable document contents are ever stored by Vault, keeping your info as secure as possible.

In addition to encrypting your files, Vault Cloud Storage protects your privacy when you log in. Your account is protected by a unique 12-word recovery phrase that only you know.

Once you’re logged in, you can stay on top of your files by sorting them with tags and notes. You can also easily share files via revocable access keys. Need to export files? That’s simple too — and you can access your Vault Cloud Storage account from all compatible web browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

With Vault Cloud Storage, the maximum file size you can upload is 200 MiB per file, and there’s no daily upload-volume quota. Your lifetime license gives you access to 1TB of space, and if you choose to park your files there for a while, there’s no inactivity deletion.

Snag this 1TB lifetime subscription for Vault Cloud Storage for only $74.99.

StackSocial prices subject to change

In 2015, Apple launched the first iPad Pro, a powerful tablet aimed at professionals. In 2018, the iPad Pro got so good that we thought it had a chance of replacing the laptop altogether. This hasn't happened, and I don't think it will anytime soon.

Today, I'm looking at Mashable's former contributor Raymond Wong, who reviewed the third generation of Apple's iPad Pro back in 2018.

Apple got everything right with the iPad Pro, except perhaps on the multitasking front, which Wong notes in his review. And the company's Pro tablets improved with each iteration. In particular, the third-gen iPad Pros got a USB-C port instead of Lightning, they had wonderfully bright, large displays (with Face ID instead of a Touch ID button for the first time), Apple's powerful A12X Bionic chip, and up to 1TB of storage.

If you got one with the optional Magic Keyboard, you basically had a touchscreen laptop with enough computing power and storage to put most laptops to shame (at least back in 2018). And it did all that while dead silent and razor thin, the thinnest iPad ever, and it really felt impossibly thin. One could not believe that Apple could stuff such a workhorse into such an elegant enclosure.

Impossibly thin. Credit: Raymond Wong/Mashable

So why didn't we ditch our MacBooks for the iPad Pro back in 2018? Why haven't we done it today, six years later? (OK, some surely have, but I've tried and failed, and literally no one I know has done so without switching back to the MacBook at some point).

I could go into the technicalities of Apple's iPadOS vs macOS; there's still a big chasm, and it's still way harder to manipulate files and perform some basic tasks on the iPad than it is on a Mac. Or the fact that the Magic Keyboard, as great as it is, never felt as good as the one on a typical MacBook.

But I believe, as I always have, that the laptop has evolved into the perfect work machine for most humans, and that people are so used to them that they strongly dislike the idea of adapting to something new for their daily tasks.

The Magic Keyboard was nice but it was never as good as the one on the MacBook. Credit: Raymond Wong/Mashable

On the other hand, the iPad, including the iPad Pro, is great for iPad things: Reading, watching TV shows, movies, and music videos, playing games, and light work. It's the thing you reach out for when you're on your couch, not sitting at your desk.

As such, the iPad Pro has always remained overpowered, which is the best possible flaw a gadget can have. I never really need the powerful chips or the storage that my iPad has, but it's nice to know it can handle powerful tasks if the need ever arises.

SEE ALSO: Apple might launch a bunch of new MacBook Pro and iPad Pro devices in early 2027

Apple seems devoted to the idea of the iPad Pro: An incredibly powerful tablet-laptop hybrid with a touchscreen, aimed at creative professionals. Rumor has it the company will launch new iPad Pro devices in early 2027. And that's perfectly fine; while I'll probably never ditch my MacBook for an iPad Pro, I'm glad that the iPad Pro exists.

Credit: Mashable "iPad extreme: Apple's 2018 iPad Pros pack more power than almost anyone will ever need," published Nov. 5, 2018.

TL;DR: Watch South Africa vs. New Zealand in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry for free on RugbyPass TV. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

When it comes to international rugby, it truly doesn't get any bigger or better than South Africa vs. New Zealand. In fact, you could call it Rugby's Greatest Rivalry.

The All Blacks are playing eight fixtures in August and September, including four Test matches against the World Champions.

If you're interested in watching South Africa vs. New Zealand in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry from anywhere in the world, we've got all the information you need.

When is South Africa vs. New Zealand?

South Africa vs. New Zealand in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry (3rd Test) kicks off at 11:10 a.m. ET on Sept. 5. This fixture takes place at the FNB Stadium.

How to watch South Africa vs. New Zealand for free

South Africa vs. New Zealand in Rugby's Greatest Rivalry is available to live stream for free on RugbyPass TV.

This RugbyPass TV livestream is geo-restricted to the U.S., but anyone can secure access with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., meaning you can live stream South Africa vs. New Zealand for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream South Africa vs. New Zealand for free by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.

4. Visit RugbyPass TV

5. Watch South Africa vs. New Zealand for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch South Africa vs. New Zealand without committing your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream this fixture (plus other tour fixtures) before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for RugbyPass TV?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on RugbyPass TV, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries, including the U.S.

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection 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 usually offers a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99.

Live stream South Africa vs. New Zealand for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The Tesla Cybercab, a robotaxi vehicle designed for autonomous taxi rides, is finally here, and available to customers – but not very many of them.

On Thursday, Tesla officially launched the Cybercab, making it available to users through its Robotaxi app.

The company's Robotaxi fleet consists of Tesla Model Ys, Robovans, and now Cybercabs, and the rides are available in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. However, the Cybercabs appears to only be available in Austin.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Tesla seemingly confirmed this by announcing on X that "the future has arrived in Austin."

The Cybercab, originally announced in 2024, does not have a steering wheel or pedals; you can't just sit in it and drive it as you would any other car. Instead, it's designed from the ground-up for autonomous rides. According to The New York Times, the Cybercabs in Austin indeed do not have a steering wheel, but there's only 45 of them in Tesla's Austin fleet which is 314 vehicles strong.

Some Tesla enthusiasts, including Sawyer Merritt, took to X to post videos of their first Cybercab rides.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

In the video, Merritt is seen entering the Cybercab along with his wife. The two-seater cabin basically consists of a massive display, and no discernible human-oriented driving controls at all.

"The cabin is comfortable and spacious, the suspension is soft, and FSD is VERY smooth. It’s an incredible vehicle. The screen is HUGE," wrote Merritt in a tweet.

SEE ALSO: Waymo is launching its robotaxi in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa

If you're wondering, no, you cannot buy a Tesla Cybercab for yourself. Tesla, however, has opened a Robotaxi interest form as it prepares to sell the vehicles to fleet buyers looking to build a Robotaxi network of their own.

The best deals from Bissell's Labor Day sale: Best carpet cleaner deal Little Green Mini Portable Carpet Cleaner $89.99 (save $10) Get Deal Best stick vacuum deal PowerClean DualBrush Cordless Stick Vacuum $259.99 (save $100) Get Deal Best Hydrosteam cleaner deal Bissell Revolution HydroSteam $349.99 (save $50) Get Deal

Labor Day sales are back, offering a whole stack of fresh deals on outdoor gear, power tools, mattresses, and much more. Leading vacuum cleaner brand Bissell has joined in the fun with a bunch of discounts on cleaning products, including advanced stick vacuums and carpet cleaners.

Some of the discounted items are already top sellers, so you can rely on their quality and performance. These cleaning products are popular for a reason. They get the job done. And with the Labor Day sale already live at Bissell, you can save up to $100. Here are some of our favorites:

Best carpet cleaner deal Opens in a new window Credit: Bissell Little Green Mini Portable Carpet Cleaner $89.99 at Bissell
$99.99 Save $10   Get Deal Why we like it

Perfect for smaller homes and pet owners, the Little Green Mini Portable Carpet Cleaner is a scaled-down version of Bissell’s flagship carpet cleaning model. It’s also the brand’s lightest, most compact portable deep cleaner. It’s designed to spray, scrub, and shift stains entirely with surprisingly powerful suction. The size-and-power combo makes it especially good for spot-cleaning messes — particularly if you have messy kids or pets. It comes equipped with a HydroRinse hose tool and a 4-inch Tough Stain tool, both of which work on carpets, furniture, car interiors, and pet beds.

Best stick vacuum deal Opens in a new window Credit: Bissell Bissell PowerClean DualBrush Cordless Stick Vacuum $349.99 at Bissell
$399.99 Save $50   Get Deal Why we like it

The PowerClean DualBrush Cordless Stick Vacuum is one of Bissell’s premium stick models, made all the better by an impressive $100 discount for Labor Day.

It’s essentially a 3-in-1 vacuum that converts between full-size and handheld modes, with two brush heads and a nozzle attachment to choose from. It uses both DualBrush Technology and AutoAdapt Power Boost, which detect dirt and automatically increase suction, giving you up to 75% more power. And pet owners will appreciate the FurFinder headlights, which help you locate hidden pet hair and other debris.

Best Hydrosteam cleaner deal Opens in a new window Credit: Bissell Bissell Revolution HydroSteam $349.99 at Amazon
$399.99 Save $50   Get Deal Why we like it

The Bissell Revolution HydroSteam is one of the brand’s most powerful and innovative carpet cleaners. This upright machine delivers a deep clean using Hydrosteam Technology, which combines water, steam vapor, and a highly effective cleaning solution to tackle embedded dirt and tough stains. You can also crank up the power with its even more powerful SteamWash Max Clean Mode. And as with other Bissell models, it’s tested and proven for pet homes, with DirtLifter brush heads packed with 12 rows of bristles and a 2-in-1 pet upholstery tool.

SAVE UP TO 30%: The Ruggable Labor Day sale is live and takes up to 30% off sitewide, including popular collaborations with Star Wars, Disney, Iris Apfel, and more.

Opens in a new window Credit: Ruggable Ruggable Labor Day Sale   Shop Now

We're not in spring-cleaning mode, but back-to-school season and crisp fall air always evoke the feeling of a fresh start. If you've been looking around your home thinking a rug would really pull the room together, there's a fantastic Labor Day sale in store for you.

The Ruggable Labor Day sale takes up to 30% off sitewide, including some of the brand's most popular options. Sale rugs include doormats, outdoor rugs, indoor rugs, and even rugs suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

It's hard to decide on the perfect rug. Ruggable's expansive selection might not make that task any easier, but it sure is enjoyable. The popular rug brand focuses on the idea that you can, in fact, machine-wash a rug. In addition, Ruggables are stain-resistant. That means they're great for homes with pets, kids, or anyone who's lived through the heartbreak of spilling red wine on a rug.

SEE ALSO: Harry Styles' Loop earplugs are perfect for his Madison Square Garden residency — where to buy

RJ Andersen's review of Ruggable explained that not only do they win on cleaning points, but they're also "surprisingly thick and soft." Spot cleaning was also easy for spills that didn't require a wash, and durability was great.

In addition to having thousands of design options, Ruggable has some incredible collabs that are included in the sale, like Disney, Star Wars, Jungalow, and plenty more.

Shop Ruggable's Labor Day sale to score savings of up to 30% off top sellers. Consider it a home refresh before the holidays.

The best Labor Day TV deals at a glance: Best QLED TV deal TCL 65-inch QM8L SQD-Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 (save $1,102) Get Deal Best RGB TV deal Samsung 65-inch R85H Micro RGB 4K TV $1,499.99 (save $600) Get Deal Best OLED TV deal LG 65-inch C6 OLED 4K TV $1,499.99 (save $1,200) Get Deal

Labor Day isn't just the unofficial kick off of fall and football season, it's also a great time to score tech at cheaper prices. TV deals are particularly impressive this week, with some of our favorite models of 2026 down to record lows. If you've been putting off upgrading your TV, now's a great time to take the leap.

More deals will likely pop up leading into the weekend, but with some of these models at their best prices ever, there's really no need to wait. I've rounded up the best Labor Day TV deals worth adding to your cart below.

Best QLED TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 65-inch QM8L SQD-Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 at Amazon
$2,499.99 Save $1,102.00   Get Deal Why we like it

TCL's QM8L SQD-Mini-LED TV is our favorite QLED TV for most people. Mashable's TV expert shouts out its "superb peak brightness, detailed picture quality, and fantastic glare handling" in her review. She also dubs it one of the brightest TVs you can buy, period, which is largely due to its "super quantum dot mini LEDs" (the SQD in its name). It clocks in at $2,499.99 for the 65-inch model on a normal day, but for Labor Day, it's down to a best-ever $1,397.99 at Amazon. That's 44% in savings.

Best OLED TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: LG LG 65-inch C6 OLED 4K TV $1,499.99 at Amazon
$2,699.99 Save $1,200.00   Get Deal Why we like it

The LG C6 is what we'd call the "best affordable OLED TV," compared to competitors' prices, and the best OLED TV for most people. With a $1,200 discount, the 65-inch model is the same price as the 55-inch option on a normal day. It also happens to be its best price on record. The C6 features inky black levels, stark contrast, improved audio, peak brightness, and refresh rate over its predecessor, and a generally impeccable picture quality.

Best RGB TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung 65-inch R85H Micro RGB 4K TV $1,499.99 at Best Buy
$2,099.99 Save $600.00   Get Deal Why we like it

RGB TVs were easily the biggest TV trend at CES 2026 and Samsung's R95H is easily the best RGB TV of the year. However, it's pretty dang expensive, even on sale ($2,799 for the 65-inch option). On the other hand, its more affordable sibling, the R85H, is down to a much more palatable $1,499.99 for the 65-inch version. Like the R95H, it uses individual red, green, and blue LEDs to deliver better color accuracy than non-RGB TVs. It's almost too vivid. If you're curious about RGB TVs, it's a solid entry-level option that won't require emptying your wallet.

More Labor Day TV deals50 to 55-inch TV deals

• Insignia 50-inch F50 LED 4K TV — $159.99 $299.99 (save $140)

• Amazon 50-inch Omni QLED 4K Fire TV — $259.99 $469.99 (save $210)

• LG 55-inch LX7B Gallery Mini LED 4K TV — $699.99 $1,299.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 55-inch UR8 RGB Mini LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,499.99 (save $600)

65-inch TV deals

• LG 65-inch LX7B Gallery Mini LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,799.99 (save $900)

• Hisense 65-inch S7 Canvas Hi-QLED 4K TV — $997.99 $1,999.99 (save $1,002)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 7 Mini LED QLED 4K TV — $1,298 $1,598 (save $300)

• Samsung 65-inch S85H OLED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $1,999.99 (save $602)

• LG 65-Inch B6 OLED 4K TV — $1,399.99 $1,999.99 (save $600)

• Samsung 65-inch S90H OLED 4K TV — $1,597.99 $2,697.99 (save $1,100)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 II QD QLED 4K TV — $2,498 $3,299.99 (save $801.99)

• Samsung 65-inch S95H OLED 4K TV — $2,799.99 $3,399.99 (save $600)

75-inch TV deals

• Hisense 75-inch U6 Pro Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $797.99 $1,399.99 (save $602)

• Hisense 75-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,197.99 $1,999.99 (save $802)

• Samsung 75-inch R85H Micro RGB 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,799.99 (save $800)

• Sony 75-inch Bravia 7 II RGB 4K TV — $2,299.99 $3,099.99 (save $800)

• Samsung 75-inch The Frame Pro QLED 4K TV — $2,397.99 $2,797.99 (save $400)

• Samsung 75-inch R95H RGB 4K TV — $3,799.99 $4,499.99 (save $700)

80 to 85-inch TV deals

• Insignia 85-inch Class F50 Series 4K Fire TV — $599.99 $899.99 (save $300)

• Hisense 85-inch U6 Pro Hi-QLED Mini-LED 4K TV — $1097.99 $1,999.99 (save $902)

• Samsung 85-inch M80H Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,199.99 $1,799.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 85-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $2,499.99 (save $1,102)

• Hisense 85-inch UR8 RGB Mini LED 4K TV — $2,199.99 $3,499.99 (save $1,300)

Over 85-inch TV deals

• Hisense 100-inch U6 Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,999.99 (save $1,000)

• TCL 98-inch QM7L SQD-Mini-LED QLED 4K TV — $2,497.99 $3,999.99 (save $1,502)

• Hisense 100-inch UR8 RGB Mini LED 4K TV — $3,499.99 $5,999.99 (save $2,500)

The best Labor Day tech deals at a glance: Best Apple deal Apple AirTag (2nd Gen, 4-pack) $79.99 (save $19.01) Get Deal Best laptop deal HP OmniBook 3 16 (Snapdragon X, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $599.99 (save $550) Get Deal Best TV deal TCL 65-inch QM8L Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 (save $1,102) Get Deal Best headphones deal Sony WH-1000XM5 $198 (save $201.99) Get Deal Best smart home deal Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select $19.99 (save $30) Get Deal

Labor Day sales are already live in full force. It's an especially good time to shop if you've been thinking about upgrading some older tech: For one thing, these sales offer some welcome relief from RAMageddon-related price hikes (which just keep coming, ugh). For another, they're probably your last real chance to save on big-ticket gadgets like laptops, TVs, and premium headphones until late October, when early Black Friday festivities get going.

Below, I've rounded up a big batch of the best Labor Day tech deals that I could find at Amazon, Best Buy, and beyond. That includes new record-low prices on devices from brands like Apple, Sony, and TCL, with discounts soaring as high as 60%.

Most retailers' Labor Day sales run through Labor Day proper on Monday, Sept. 7, so I'll continue to update this story into the long weekend.

Best Labor Day Apple deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTag (2nd Gen, 4-pack) $79.99 at Amazon and Walmart
$99 Save $19.01   Get Deal

Individual AirTags are marked down to $24 this week, but if you snag a four-pack on sale for $79.99, you're only paying $19.99 per tracker. (That deal is up for grabs at both Amazon and Walmart, by the way, and it's a new all-time low.) Apple updated the AirTag with a louder speaker and a bigger finding range at the beginning of the year. Mashable's Stan Schroeder called it "a useful little thing" that "saved me a lot of worrying once when my baggage got lost," rating it a 4.2/5.

Read Mashable's full review of the Apple AirTag (2nd Gen).

AirPods deals

• Apple AirPods 4 — $99 $129 (save $30)

• Apple AirPods 4 with ANC — $148.99 $179 (save $30.01)

• Apple AirPods Pro 3 — $199 $249 (save $50)

• Apple AirPods Max 2 — $479 $549 (save $70)

iPad deals

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16, WiFi, 128GB) — $399 $449 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $649 $749 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $849 $949 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M5, WiFi, 512GB) — $1,299 $1,399 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,399.99 $1,499 (save $99.01)

MacBook deals

• Apple MacBook Neo (A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $689.99 $699 (save $9.01)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M5, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,649 $1,799 (save $150)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,849.99 $1,999 (save $149.01)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M5 Pro, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,759.99 $2,999 (save $239.01)

More Apple accessory deals

• Apple AirTag (2nd Gen) — $24 $29 (save $5)

• Apple Pencil (USB-C) — $69.98 $79 (save $9.02)

• Apple Pencil Pro — $97 $129 (save $32)

• Apple Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad — $199 $249 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Magic Keyboard Case for iPad Pro (11-inch) — $225 $299 (save $74)

Best Labor Day TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 65-inch QM8L Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 at Amazon
$2,499.99 Save $1,102.00   Get Deal

Offering a sharp, ultra-bright picture and boasting a clean, virtually bezel-free design, this TCL display is our favorite 65-inch QLED TV for most people. It's an especially good pick for folks "who know they'll be doing a good amount of their TV watching in the daytime," wrote Leah Stodart, Mashable's former TV expert. That's you, college football fans. Its Labor Day sale price of $1,397.99 on Amazon — a 44% savings — marks its lowest price ever. That beats a rivaling deal at Best Buy by $2.

50- and 55-inch TV deals

• Insignia 50-inch F50 4K TV — $159.99 $299.99 (save $140)

• Amazon 50-inch Omni QLED 4K Fire TV — $259.99 $469.99 (save $210)

• LG 55-inch LX7B Gallery Mini-LED 4K TV — $699.99 $1,299.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 55-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,499.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 55-inch U6 Pro Mini‑LED 4K Fire TV — $497.99 $849.99 (save $352)

65-inch TV deals

• LG 65-inch LX7B Gallery Mini-LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,799.99 (save $900)

• Hisense 65-inch S7 Canvas Hi-QLED 4K TV — $997.99 $1,999.99 (save $1,002)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 7 Mini-LED QLED 4K TV — $1,298 $1,598 (save $300)

• Samsung 65-inch S85H OLED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $1,999.99 (save $602)

• LG 65-Inch B6 OLED 4K TV — $1,399.99 $1,999.99 (save $600)

• Samsung 65-inch S90H OLED 4K TV — $1,597.99 $2,697.99 (save $1,100)

• Hisense 65-inch UR9 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,699.99 $2,199.99 (save $500)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 II QD QLED 4K TV — $2,498 $3,299.99 (save $801.99)

• Samsung 65-inch S95H OLED 4K TV — $2,799.99 $3,399.99 (save $600)

75-inch TV deals

• Hisense 75-inch U6 Pro Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $797.99 $1,399.99 (save $602)

• Hisense 75-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,197.99 $1,999.99 (save $802)

• Samsung 75-inch R85H Micro RGB 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,799.99 (save $800)

• Sony 75-inch Bravia 7 II RGB 4K TV — $2,299.99 $3,099.99 (save $800)

• Samsung 75-inch The Frame Pro QLED 4K TV — $2,397.99 $2,797.99 (save $400)

• Samsung 75-inch R95H RGB 4K TV — $3,799.99 $4,499.99 (save $700)

Deals on 80-inch TVs and larger

• Insignia 85-inch Class F50 Series 4K Fire TV — $599.99 $899.99 (save $300)

• Hisense 85-inch U6 Pro Hi-QLED Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,097.99 $1,999.99 (save $902)

• Samsung 85-inch M80H Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,199.99 $1,799.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 85-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $2,499.99 (save $1,102)

• Hisense 100-inch U6 Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,999.99 (save $1,000)

• Hisense 85-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $2,199.99 $3,499.99 (save $1,300)

• TCL 98-inch QM7L SQD-Mini-LED QLED 4K TV — $2,497.99 $3,999.99 (save $1,502)

• Hisense 100-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $3,499.99 $5,999.99 (save $2,500)

Best Labor Day headphones deal Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-1000XM5 $198 at Amazon and Best Buy
$399.99 Save $201.99   Get Deal

The last-gen Sony XM5s are an honorable mention on our best headphones guide because they're sooo similar to the newer XM6s, and because they're frequently on sale. (The $460 XM6s really only add folding ear cups and slightly better sound out of the box.) This week, the XM5s are chilling at their lowest price yet: Amazon and Best Buy both have them listed for $198 during their Labor Day events, which is a whopping 51% off their $399.99 MSRP.

Read Mashable's full review of the Sony WH-1000XM5.

More headphone deals

• Sony WH-CH520 — $38 $69.99 (save $31.99)

• Anker Soundcore Q20i — $39.97 $69.99 (save $30.02)

• Marshall Major V — $89.99 $169.99 (save $80)

• Sony ULT Wear — $148 $249.99 (save $101.99)

• Beats Studio Buds + — $149.95 $169.95 (save $20)

• Nothing Headphone (a) — $159 $199 (save $40)

• Bose QuietComfort — $199 $359 (save $160)

• Beats Studio Pro — $249.95 $349.99 (save $100.04)

• Sonos Ace — $299 $399 (save $100)

• Bose QuietComfort Ultra — $329 $449 (save $120)

• Sony WH-1000XM6 — $398 $459.99 (save $61.99)

Best Labor Day laptop deal Opens in a new window Credit: HP HP OmniBook 3 16 (Snapdragon X, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $599.99 at Staples
$1,149.99 Save $550   Get Deal

This 16-inch PC is the best battery life laptop we've ever tested: It lasted 40 hours and 14 minutes in a video rundown test. Its portable design and large, colorful display are also highlights — it's "great for streaming movies and juggling multiple documents" on the go, to quote my review. This model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage would make a great daily driver for folks with basic workloads (think web browsing and sending emails). It's 47% off at Staples right now; the same configuration is $90 pricier on HP's website.

Read Mashable's full review of the HP OmniBook 3 16.

More Windows laptop deals

• HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (Snapdragon X2 Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,799.99 $2,249.99 (save $450)

• Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S (Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070Ti, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,899.99 $2,199.99 (save $300)

• Asus Zenbook Duo (Intel Core Ultra 9 386H, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,199.99 $2,499.99 (save $300)

• Dell XPS 14 (Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,699.99 $3,149.99 (save $450)

Chromebook deals

• Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (MediaTek Kompanio Ultra, 12GB RAM, 256GB UFS) — $579 $749 (save $170)

Best Labor Day smart home deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select $19.99 at Amazon and Best Buy
$49.99 Save $30.00   Get Deal

A slew of Amazon's smart home devices saw price hikes last month, but fortunately, most of the lineup is on sale for Labor Day. The biggest discount is going to the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, Amazon's cheapest 4K streaming stick: It typically retails for $49.99 these days (previously $39.99), but it's currently listed for just $19.99 at Amazon and Best Buy — an impressive 60% savings. It's only $2 away from its record-low Prime Day price.

More streaming stick deals

• Amazon Fire TV Stick HD — $17.99 $39.99 (save $22)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $39.99 $69.99 (save $30)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max — $49.99 $84.99 (save $35)

• Amazon Fire TV Cube — $109.99 $199.99 (save $90)

• Amazon Echo Studio — $194.99 $219.99 (save $25)

Smart speaker and display deals

• Amazon Echo Pop Kids — $29.99 $49.99 (save $20)

• Amazon Echo Dot Kids — $54.99 $89.99 (save $35)

• Amazon Echo Dot — $54.99 $79.99 (save $25)

• Amazon Echo Show 5 — $69.99 $99.99 (save $30)

• Amazon Echo Spot — $69.99 $109.99 (save $40)

• Amazon Echo Dot Max — $94.99 $119.99 (save $25)

• Amazon Echo Show 8 — $149.99 $199.99 (save $50)

• Amazon Echo Show 11 — $189.99 $249.99 (save $60)

• Amazon Echo Show 15 — $269.99 $349.99 (save $80)

• Sonos Era 300 — $379 $479 (save $100)

Smart thermostats

• Google Nest Thermostat — $79 $129.99 (save $50.99)

Looking for more Labor Day sales?

• The best Labor Day deals already live: Shop mattresses, tools, and TVs

• The best pre-Labor Day deals on Apple products

• The best Labor Day sales on mattresses, bedding, and pillows

• The best Labor Day home improvement deals from The Home Depot

• Shop the Ruggable pre-Labor Day sale on washable rugs

SAVE $50: Through Sept. 13, new and select returning subscribers can score an entire year of Audible Premium Plus for just $99. Typically $149.50 for the year, that saves you $50.50 on an annual subscription.

Opens in a new window Credit: Audible Audible Premium Plus (Annual Plan) $99 for one year (save $50.50) Get Deal

Audible's newer Standard plan might be cheaper than its Premium Plus plan ($8.99 vs. $14.95), but it doesn't come with the same perks. I personally don't think it's worth it unless you come across a discount. The Premium Plus plan is far superior. And this Labor Day promotion knocks the price down to less than the standard plan for a limited time.

Through Sept. 13, new subscribers and most returning subscribers can score an entire year of Audible Premium Plus for only $99. It typically costs $14.95 per month or $149.50 per year, so you'll save $50.50 on the annual plan (or $80.40 compared to the monthly plan).

The difference between the Standard and Premium Plus plans lies in how long you can keep the audiobooks you choose. With Standard, you're essentially just borrowing one book per month, and it disappears once the calendar turns. Premium Plus membership lets you "buy" whatever title you want with a monthly credit. And you'll get to keep it indefinitely. You'll also unlock access to over 150k included audiobooks and podcasts that don't require a credit card to purchase.

With the annual plan, you'll also receive all 12 of your monthly credits up front, so you can "buy" a dozen titles whenever you see fit. No need to wait until the first of each month to make your selections.

Why pay for Audible at all when apps like Libby exist? Plain and simple, there are no wait times. You can easily select and listen to new 2026 releases, popular BookTok picks, Goodreads favorites, and more without waiting for your hold to go through.

The best Ryobi Labor Day deals from Home Depot: Best beginner deal Ryobi ONE+ 18V Cordless 1/4 in. Hex Screwdriver Kit with Compact Battery and Charger $49.97 (save $108.97) Get Deal Best angle grinder deal Ryobi ONE+ HP 18V Brushless Cordless 4-1/2 in. Angle Grinder with 4.0 Ah High Performance Battery $99 (save $149) Get Deal Best multi-tool deal Ryobi ONE+ HP 18V Brushless Cordless Oscillating Multi-Tool with 4.0 Ah High Performance Battery $99 (save $149) Get Deal Best circular saw deal Ryobi ONE+ HP 18V Brushless Cordless 7-1/4 in. Circular Saw with ONE+ 18V 4.0 Ah High Performance Battery $139 (save $129) Get Deal

There's a version of every home project where you end up making three trips to the hardware store because you're missing one specific tool. Home Depot's Labor Day sale is a good chance to close that gap for good — it's taking up to 69% off Ryobi's 18-volt cordless tools, and since Ryobi's batteries are compatible with over 300 different tools, getting one today means you're already set up for future buys.

We rounded up the best deals from the sale below, from a circular saw that can handle your bigger cuts to a driver kit that covers everything else on your list.

Best beginner deal Opens in a new window Credit: Ryobi ONE+ 18V Cordless 1/4 in. Hex Screwdriver Kit with Compact Battery and Charger $49.97 at Home Depot
$158.94 Save $108.97   Get Deal Why we like it

Every DIY kit needs a reliable driver, and the Ryobi 18V ONE+ 1/4-inch Hex Screwdriver Kit covers the basics: driving screws, drilling holes, hanging shelves, or fixing a fence. It's lightweight, making it easy to handle for smaller jobs, and its design reduces hand fatigue during overhead or tight-space work, while an onboard LED worklight illuminates dark work areas. Swapping bits is also effortless thanks to the 1/4-inch keyless quick-connect collet.

Best angle grinder deal Opens in a new window Credit: Ryobi ONE+ HP 18V Brushless Cordless 4-1/2 in. Angle Grinder with 4.0 Ah High Performance Battery $99 at Home Depot
$248 Save $149   Get Deal Why we like it

An angle grinder isn't the flashiest tool, but it's the one you reach for when you need to cut or shape metal, or just nip off the end of a screw that's poking through where it shouldn't. The Ryobi 18V ONE+ HP 4-1/2-inch Angle Grinder can make up to 210 cuts on a single charge, so you're not stopping mid-project to recharge, and comes with an 18-volt, 4-amp-hour battery.

Its smart brushless motor keeps the tool cool so it lasts longer, while an updated design lets you make flat cuts easily against surfaces. With a comfortable grip, quick tool-free guard adjustments, and a battery that works across hundreds of other Ryobi tools, it’s built to handle tough DIY projects with total ease.

Best multi-tool deal Opens in a new window Credit: Ryobi ONE+ HP 18V Brushless Cordless Oscillating Multi-Tool with 4.0 Ah High Performance Battery $99 at Home Depot
$248 Save $149   Get Deal Why we like it

The Ryobi ONE+ HP 18V cordless oscillating multi-tool with 4.0 Ah high-performance battery does a little bit of everything: cutting wood, PVC, metal, or drywall, plus sanding and polishing depending on which attachment you swap in. It comes with a plunge-cut blade, a flush-cut blade, and a sanding attachment right out of the box, and you can adjust the speed depending on what you're working on, useful for anything from rough cuts to more delicate jobs like refinishing furniture.

Best circular saw deal Opens in a new window Credit: Ryobi Ryobi ONE+ HP 18V Brushless Cordless 7-1/4 in. Circular Saw with ONE+ 18V 4.0 Ah High Performance Battery $139 at Home Depot
$268 Save $129   Get Deal Why we like it

If you don't have a table saw, the ONE+ HP 18V Cordless 7-1/4-inch circular saw is basically your stand-in for one. It handles long, straight cuts through materials like plywood and two-by-fours, which covers a lot of ground for woodworking or repair projects. It also has an attachment port for a shop vac or dust collection system, so you're not left cleaning up sawdust for the rest of your weekend.

Silo showrunner Graham Yost can sum up the fourth and final season in two words: "It's war."

The upcoming season, set for a July 9, 2027 release, picks up in the wake of Season 3's twisty finale, which took viewers inside Silo 1. There, we discovered survivors from the show's past timeline, who are cryogenically frozen and periodically reawakened to serve shifts controlling the other silos. Among them are Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) and his sister Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay), whose memories have been erased and who have been renamed Troy and Susan.

SEE ALSO: When is 'Silo' Season 4 coming out?

Troy butts heads with Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) at the end of Season 3, in a sequence that merges the show's timelines and sets the stage for a showdown between Silo 18 and Silo 1, and between Juliette and Daniel. According to Yost, that means we'll be getting more of Juliette on the warpath.

"[This season] Juliette has come from not knowing who she was to saying, 'We have to take on Silo 1.' That's Juliette. That is the full return of Juliette. In Season 4, we are full-on Juliette from the first frame of the season to essentially the final one," Yost told Mashable.

SEE ALSO: 'Silo' Season 3's twisty ending, explained

On top of Juliette's full return, Silo Season 4 is also going to be showing more of the inner workings of Silo 1.

"Certain characters we've spent some time with really move up into the fore," Yost said of the new focus on Silo 1.

Among the characters you can expect to see more of are Senator Rosalind Thurman (Laura Innes), her daughter Anna (Morven Christie), her aide Henry (Reed Birney), and Charlotte, now Susan.

However, several key characters are missing from that list. What happened to trillionaire Per Stensen (Colin Hanks)? Or journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick)? Both their fates were left unclear following the nuclear explosion that sent the silo residents underground. (But Per had to have engineered the apocalypse, right? The timing was too convenient!)

Yost confirmed that we could get answers on at least one of these topics. "The biggest thing is you will find out what happened to Helen," Yost said.

Knowing Helen's fate post-explosion will help better connect the past and the present, including finding out how the Pez dispenser and Helen and Daniel's baby's sonogram photo became relics in Silo 18. Plus, Helen and her baby are likely the ancestors of some Silo 18 citizen we've grown to know and love over the seasons. Who is their descendant?

In an interview with Backstage, Henwick confirmed that she will be back for Season 4, meaning we're in for flashbacks to her time in Silo 18. A Season 4 teaser, released alongside the Season 3 finale, confirms this. What did her life look like there, especially in the aftermath of the explosion? And was she, in true journalistic fashion, able to uncover secrets about the silos' true purpose? Bring on Season 4 so we can find out.

Silo Season 3 is now streaming on Apple TV. Season 4 premieres July 9, 2027.

UPDATE: Sep. 4, 2026, 1:37 p.m. This article has been updated to reflect further information on Season 4's release.

Last week, Silo Season 3 delivered its most shocking episode so far. But now, with the finale, Graham Yost's adaptation of Hugh Howey's book series may have outdone itself.

A lot happens in the closing episode of Season 3, which knits our post-apocalyptic silos of the present day with the flashback storyline that's followed congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) and journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick). The main thing we're left with? Questions. Many, many questions.

From the ominous goings-on in Silo 1 to terminology like "The Project" and "The Directive," we've done our best to unpack everything below.

SEE ALSO: 'Silo' showrunner Graham Yost breaks down the Season 3 finale's massive Silo 1 reveal What happens in Silo Season 3's finale?

First, a recap. After Season 3, episode 9 showed us the start of the apocalypse — a nuclear explosion on the launch day of the silo project masterminded by Per Stensen (Colin Hanks) and Senator Thurman (Laura Innes) — that sends Daniel and Helen running towards Silo 1 and Silo 18, respectively. We know that event took place hundreds of years before the present-day silos, but the finale opens with another shock: Daniel is still alive. Like other key members of Silo 1, he's been cryogenically frozen, woken only to deal with major security incidents around the silo complex. Now a specialist known as Troy, he seems like a different person, listening to a briefing from (also still-alive) psychologist Victor (Matt Craven) before ordering the killing of Silo 17's rebels with disturbing detachment.

His sister Charles (Jessica Brown Findlay) is alive too. She's now known as Susan, and she is a senior drone commander who Daniel/Troy appears not to recognise. Clearly, his memory has been wiped, but he still has flashes of Helen, even though he no longer knows who she is. Before he goes back into cryogenic sleep, he asks Victor about her. The doctor promises to look into it and give Daniel/Troy an answer when he next wakes up. But when he puts the note in Troy's file, we see many other notes just like it.

Back in Silo 18, Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) and her allies do their best to clamp the pipe that's used to deliver the "safeguard" (i.e. poisonous gas) to the silo, while Camille (Alexandria Riley) attempts to negotiate with the algorithm to stop their silo from being poisoned. Here, we finally learn that the algorithm's voice is actually that of Victor back in Silo 1, which answers a question that's been hanging over the show since the end of Season 2.

Thankfully, Silo 1's attempt to safeguard Silo 18 doesn't work. Camille deceives the algorithm/Victor and switches sides, giving Knox (Shane McRae) and Shirley (Remmie Milner) time to clamp the pipe. Victor orders Daniel/Troy to be woken back up and then dies by suicide, leaving him a video recording to tell him that the name of the woman he's been glimpsing when he wakes from cryogenic sleep is Helen Drew.

Finally, back in Silo 18, Juliette visits the pipe at the very bottom of the silo and speaks with the algorithm, now voiced by Daniel/Troy. He tells her that if they make no attempt to contact other silos, Silo 1 will stop trying to kill them. She agrees.

What will happen next in Season 4?

We have many questions, but what comes next feels like the most pressing one. Something that seems pretty certain, though, is that Season 4 will focus on the people of Silo 18 going up against Silo 1.

SEE ALSO: When is 'Silo' Season 4 coming out?

"They're expecting us to prepare to defend ourselves, right?" Juliette whispers to the others in the episode's closing moments. "Which means they won't be prepared to defend themselves against us. So if we get to them first, we could protect everyone. We need to take out Silo 1."

Mashable's Belen Edwards spoke to showrunner Graham Yost, who confirmed that Season 4 will follow Juliette on the warpath while also spending more time with Silo 1's characters. He also said we'll learn what happened to Helen, so it sounds like more flashbacks may be on the way.

Is the air outside the silos actually poisonous?

Throughout Silo, the characters have been imprisoned by the fear of a supposedly poisoned atmosphere that exists beyond the safety of their underground bunkers. But is it actually poisonous after all?

The answer appears to be no. In the opening sequence of Season 3's finale, when we watch from Silo 1's perspective as Daniel orders the murder of Silo 17's rebels, the people are outside the silo for some time. It's only when Silo 1 launches a drone attack using a "compound" that they start to die.

Does this mean that every person who's been sent out to clean has actually been murdered by Silo 1's drones, flying high enough to be invisible and targeting them with the same compound? It suddenly seems likely.

What is The Directive?

When the newly murderous Daniel enters Silo 1's control room to deal with Silo 17's rebellion, he uses something called "The Directive" to justify his actions.

"The top priority, per The Directive, is to prevent contamination between silos," Daniel says, before referring to it again later when he addresses his drone operators. "The citizens of Silo 17 have chosen to go outside. They are beyond The Pact, but they're not outside The Directive."

So we've got The Pact, The Order, and now The Directive — but what's this latest one? Well, while The Pact is the public law memorised by silo citizens, and The Order is a secret rulebook for the head of IT, it seems that The Directive is yet another rulebook exclusively for Silo 1. Perhaps it's a framework that they use for keeping the rest of the silos in check?

What is The Project?

We don't see Per Stensen (Colin Hanks) in the finale (more on that later), but we do see Senator Thurman. She's now known as "Madam Director," and she's also still very much alive thanks to Silo 1's cryogenics. During her conversation with Daniel/Troy and Victor, she mentions another term we're not familiar with: The Project.

Speaking about Susan/Charles, who earlier disobeyed a direct order from Daniel/Troy, Thurman says Susan's punishment would typically be "neutralization." But in this case, that's not an option.

"Susan's skills will play a critical role at the end of The Project," she says.

Later, when speaking with Daniel/Troy about the memories he's been experiencing, Victor references The Project again. "The whole purpose and design of The Project is to free us from the past," he says.

It's pretty clear that The Project is the concept of the silos themselves, orchestrated by Stensen, Thurman, and Victor all those centuries ago. What we still don't know is the real why behind The Project, and what the mysterious end — referenced by Thurman — will look like. Why will Susan/Charles' drone piloting skills be so important?

We don't yet have the answers, but we do have one more clue. It comes in the answer Victor gives to Camille when she asks the why question posed to her by Juliette.

"The human species was in a terminal cycle of self-annihilation," Victor says. "The silo was the last, best hope to ensure the survival of the species."

It's a little unclear, but it sounds to us like Victor is saying that the silo's founders decided that The Project needed to begin. Rather than using the silos as a last resort, is it possible they orchestrated the apocalypse to put the wheels of their own plan into motion? If that's the case, then presumably they also have an end goal in mind.

Where is Per Stensen?

Speaking of the Founders, where is the world's richest man who financed the entire project? There's no mention of him in the finale, and the fact that Thurman is referred to as "Madam Director" sort of implies that she's the top dog. Of course, it's been hundreds of years since the founders first entered Silo 1. A lot of stuff could have happened in the meantime. Maybe Per Stensen died somewhere along the way?

Is Helen Drew related to Juliette Nichols?

We know that Helen is pregnant when she runs into the shelter of Silo 18. It would seem like a very strange narrative choice for her not to be related to someone in the present-day silos, but who is her distant descendant? Juliette seems like obvious choice here. She has the same no-nonsense rebellious streak as Helen, and there's a moment at the end of the finale when Daniel/Troy stares at a close-up of Juliette's face on his giant Silo 1 screen. Wouldn't it make their upcoming war even more tragic if they were, in fact, long-lost relatives?

The good news? We won't have too long to wait for answers. Season 4 has already been filmed and is set to premiere on July 9, 2027. In the meantime, you can read Mashable's interview with showrunner Graham Yost for more clues.

Silo Season 3 is streaming now on Apple TV. Season 4 premieres July 9, 2027.

Want more film and TV news and reviews delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

UPDATE: Sep. 4, 2026, 1:36 p.m. EDT This article has been updated with further information on Season 4's release date.

After three seasons of mystery, Silo has finally unveiled what's inside Silo 1: most of the characters from its past timeline. Also, elevators!

The Season 3 finale reveals that Daniel (Ashley Zukerman) survived episode 9's devastating nuclear blast. So did his sister Charlotte (Jessica Brown Findlay). However, they aren't the same people they once were. Their memories have been erased, and they now go by Troy and Susan. Even worse, they're cryogenically frozen for long periods of time, waking up every few years to carry out a shift in the silo.

SEE ALSO: 'Silo' Season 3's twisty ending, explained

The first shift we see Troy/Daniel carry out is horrifying. Overseen by Dr. Victor (Matt Craven), he clinically orders the mass poisoning of the Silo 17 rebellion, both answering the question of what wiped out the silo and raising more questions about Silo 1's insistence that the silos do not interact with one another. In an interview with Mashable, showrunner Graham Yost broke down the long-awaited introduction of Silo 1, from its aesthetic to the dehumanization of its inhabitants.

We finally get to see Silo 1 this episode, and it's visually so different from all the other silos. How did you and your team shape the look for Silo 1?

Graham Yost: I'd originally thought one thing, and then quickly realized no, we've got to go cool. We've got go, "What's the most fun, interesting, weird [idea] that still fits in the Silo world? What's a silo that doesn't look like the other silos, but still is a silo?"

What [production designer] Nicole Northridge came up with was that everything's curved, and it's all very well maintained. In the other silos you're seeing cracks in the walls and destruction and overgrowing. There's no plants. There is this weird tree in another set that you'll see in the next season, but it's a fake.

SEE ALSO: When is 'Silo' Season 4 coming out?

The other silos were designed to be lived in for 500 years with succeeding people. Silo 1 is the same people, so they need a sense of continuity. It needs to be the same shift by shift so that they can do their jobs, and it needs to be well maintained, so they're not spiraling into depression. Then we talked about the big screen. The big screen in the other silos shows the outside world, and it's dead and horrible. And for Silo 1, we thought, "What if it's just pictures of Earth?" My thing was there should be no or very little human stuff in it. It should be more just nature.

I was so intrigued by that whole setup, like those big futuristic mouse pads for the controls.

There were so many discussions about that! And there's stuff that we used in the finale episode of Season 3 that you won't see again in Season 4 because we decided enough time has passed that they've figured out a better design.

Sticking with that control room, we get to see the murder of the citizens of Silo 17 through Troy/Daniel's eyes. Tell me about showing this brutal moment through his eyes.

We wanted to show the dehumanization that's happened in this silo, and how he's no longer Daniel.

We knew it would be really interesting to see what happened to Silo 17 because we've seen all the bodies as Juliette walked through. We saw this hand holding this flagpole and this tattered flag, and we know that that was the sheriff, but how did it get there? So there was this sort of retconning that Amber [Templemore], the director, had to do to get Ross [McCall] to land in such a way that his hand would be on the flag, so it would make sense from the beginning of Season 2. Seeing him, seeing his face, seeing his wife's face, seeing their their son, it really humanized them as this horrible shit's about to happen. All of that was in service to see Daniel — now Troy — doing it without apparently having the least qualm. That's his job and that's what he does. Charlotte — now Susan — has a different reaction, and that was important to us.

I am so fascinated by that. I'm also fascinated by Victor monitoring them and checking to see how much they remember of each other.

It was fun to create this character that we look at as being sort of a secondary character in the first part of the season, who then steps up. There's a reason that I got Matt Craven to play him.

But in his reaction [to the Daniel and Charlotte scene], he's not only clocking them; he's just watching Daniel/Tory do this horrific thing, and there's a part of him that's dying. When he leaves that message to Daniel saying, "When they capped the safeguard in Silo 18, there was part of me that was relieved," it's clear he doesn't want to be a part of this anymore. His life has run its course. There's no point.

We thought it would be interesting and hopefully emotional to see a character that we learn to love over the course of the season, Daniel, become this absolute amoral, completely untethered [person], just doing his job and killing people. There's a line that [finale writer] Fred [Golan] wrote where he says, "Let's get those numbers down, people." The numbers are people. It's just like, "Let's make more dead bodies." That's a big setup for Season 4 as well, just understanding the level of the lethality of this project.

The interview above was edited for length and clarity.

Silo Season 3 is now streaming on Apple TV. Season 4 premieres July 9, 2027.

Want more film and TV news and reviews delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts.

UGREEN wants to be sure your home studio has network-attached storage that's always up to the job—even if you're juggling multiple tasks at once. The company has come to IFA 2026 with two NAS units, the NASync DXP6800 and DX8800 Ultra, that are meant for everyone from individual creatives through to fast-growing shops.

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.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily or sent straight to your device? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter or get Mashable push alerts today.

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

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

Hard to get out of a shirt.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

STAIN

Hurdle Word 2 hint

To capture.

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

CATCH

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Related to a raccoon.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for September 4, 2026 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Meanings for each word for Sept. 4, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

COATI

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Found in the deep sea.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

DIVER

Final Hurdle hint

To wow.

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

AMAZE

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