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Valve's second-generation Steam Controller released in May 2026 and sold out almost immediately. When you're looking at it, it is immediately obvious that it is a continuation of the original Steam Controller, but there are some important differences.

Paying monthly for Claude made sense until I actually looked at what I was getting versus what I was giving up. The cost adds up, and I'm sure that more people are starting to see this too. If you've had that same realization, the tools below are worth knowing about. They cover the main features that Claude has without the major downsides and takedowns.

TL;DR: Live stream France vs. Morocco in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free on ITVX. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN, an Official Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup only has a handful of games left to play. We've reached the quarter-final stage, with four fascinating matchups on the schedule.

This stage starts with France vs. Morocco, arguably the best game of the round. France have been electric in this competition, with incredible displays of attacking talent from the likes of Mbappé and Olise. Morocco have come through fixtures against Brazil and the Netherlands to reach this stage. They're a passionate team stacked with elite players, and they're sure to give France a real test.

If you want to watch France vs. Morocco in the 2026 FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is France vs. Morocco?

France vs. Morocco in the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off at 4 p.m. ET on July 9. This fixture takes place at the Boston Stadium.

How to watch France vs. Morocco for free

France vs. Morocco in the 2026 FIFA World Cup is available to live stream for free on ITVX.

ITVX is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock ITVX to live stream the 2026 World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream France vs. Morocco for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)

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

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

4. Visit ITVX

5. Watch France vs. Morocco for free from anywhere in the world

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

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the 2026 World Cup without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream France vs. Morocco (plus more World Cup fixtures) before recovering your investment.

ExpressVPN's regular 30-day money-back guarantee is not available for any subscriptions purchased during the FIFA World Cup between June 10 and July 11. ExpressVPN remains our top pick for sport, but you will need to pay the monthly rate. Alternatively, Proton VPN still offers that all-important money-back guarantee.

What is the best VPN for ITVX?

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

• Servers in 105 countries including the UK

• 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

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. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99. That covers you for the duration of the World Cup.

Live stream France vs. Morocco in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free.

For years, buying an affordable electric SUV meant accepting one major compromise: limited driving range. That's no longer the case. Advances in battery technology and growing competition have made it possible to get well over 300 miles on a charge without spending luxury-car money.

A direct Ethernet line should be faster than a Wi-Fi connection. That's what I thought at least. Downloads were taking forever. Web pages were slow to load. Sometimes, the reason can be a handful of network adapter settings that affect how your PC handles its wired connection.

Spend five minutes on the World Cup side of TikTok or scrolling through X, and you might come away with one glaring conclusion: Everyone is rooting against Argentina.

That is not exactly true, of course. Argentina has one of the loudest, most passionate fan bases in the tournament, and Lionel Messi remains one of the most beloved athletes on the planet. But online, the defending champions have become the World Cup's biggest lightning rod, as every rival fan base seems ready to cast Argentina as the tournament's heel, the team that always seems to thrive amid controversy.

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The latest fuel came after Argentina's dramatic 3-2 comeback win over Egypt in the Round of 16, a match that ended with Egypt filing a formal complaint to FIFA over disputed VAR decisions and officiating. Head coach Hossam Hassan even suggested the governing body wanted to keep Messi in the tournament, allegations FIFA has not substantiated.

BBC Sport later analyzed the match and concluded that while several officiating decisions were undoubtedly controversial, they did not amount to evidence of a conspiracy. Still, the outlet noted that perception has become part of the story, pointing to statistics that have fueled online debate and FIFA's decision to appoint an all-Argentine on-field officiating crew for France's quarterfinal against Morocco, a choice it described as "not a great look."

But the anti-Argentina pile-on is bigger than one controversial match. It is what happens when sporting rivalries, geopolitical tension, Messi fatigue, and internet fandom all collide.

That is the strange beauty of the World Cup. Every match carries decades of history onto the pitch before the opening whistle. Or, as one Portuguese-language X user put it, "The World Cup is 20% soccer and 80% colonial resentment."

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Unlike club soccer, where rivalries are built around cities and leagues, the World Cup asks entire countries to compete. As writer Franklin Foer argued in How Soccer Explains the World, the sport often reflects far more than what happens on the field; it can become a proxy for nationalism, historical conflict, and cultural identity.

On social media, those fault lines get compressed into memes and 130 characters. Argentina is not just Argentina; depending on who is posting, it is the team that broke France's heart in 2022, the rival England still associates with Maradona and the Falklands, the opponent Mexico fans love to hate, or the Messi-led dynasty some viewers are simply tired of seeing win.

Geography doesn't always dictate loyalty, either. While fans often talk about Latin America rallying behind one of its own, the region's football rivalries run deep. Brazil and Argentina have spent more than a century battling for continental supremacy, while Uruguay and Chile each have their own sporting history with La Albiceleste. Mexico, meanwhile, has repeatedly seen its World Cup dreams ended by Argentina, helping turn every meeting between the two countries into an internet event of its own.

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Argentina's relationship with the rest of Latin America is complicated by more than football. Historians and sociologists have written about the country's long-standing self-image as a uniquely "European" nation within Latin America, an identity that often minimized or erased its Black and Indigenous history.

That history has collided with soccer before. After Argentina won the 2024 Copa América, the French Football Federation said it would file a complaint with FIFA over "racist and discriminatory remarks" in a chant sung by Argentina players about France's diverse team; Enzo Fernández later apologized, and his Premier League club, Chelsea, opened an internal disciplinary process.

That broader conversation has followed Argentina into this year's World Cup. FIFA is investigating allegations of racist abuse directed at YouTube creator iShowSpeed during Argentina's Round of 32 victory over Cape Verde after footage from his livestream appeared to capture an altercation with an Argentina supporter. The investigation is ongoing, but the incident quickly became another flashpoint in the wider online debate surrounding Argentina and race.

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None of that means every Argentina fan shares those views, or that every anti-Argentina post is about race. But it helps explain why some Latin American and Black football fans online are reading this year's incidents through a broader history, one in which Argentina's image of itself as white and European has long been contested.

So, the next time your For You Page insists that "everyone hates Argentina," remember that you're probably looking at more than just another soccer take. You're watching decades of history compressed into a 90-second video and one very heated comments section.

Android has come to dominate the global smartphone marketplace, and a large part of why this has happened is thanks to its open-source nature. Any phone maker can put Android on its phones with no licensing fees, and its adoption has also spawned a massive app ecosystem, so unless you're a trillion-dollar company like Apple, going a different way isn't sensible.

Why carry both a phone and a laptop if one device could do both? A Redditor has built a DIY "laptop" shell that is fully 3D printed, complete with a folding keyboard, a hideaway mouse, a massive battery, and a shoulder strap. It doesn’t have a processor of its own—instead, it uses a Pixel 9 running on GrapheneOS as the engine.

At a glance

• Aurora 1.5 is a major extension of Microsoft’s Aurora Earth System foundation model that adds 22 more weather variables relevant to energy, agriculture, transport, and climate risk, along with hourly temporal resolution and probabilistic ensemble forecasting.
• Released as open source on GitHub with model checkpoints on Hugging Face, Aurora 1.5 enables researchers and developers to use, evaluate, and build on the model.
• Aurora 1.5 connects open research to Microsoft Weather services, linking the model with data, infrastructure, managed access, and operational use for weather and Earth-system applications.

Aurora 1.5 is a major update to the open Aurora Earth-system foundation model, adding 22 new weather variables for a broader view of atmospheric conditions, hourly forecasts, and probabilistic ensemble forecasting. Developed by Microsoft Weather as an extension of the original model from Microsoft Research AI for Science, Aurora 1.5 shows how frontier research can move into broader use: open for researchers and developers to evaluate and extend, and designed to support customers where additional data, infrastructure, and operational assurance is needed. As climate and weather-related risks continue to affect communities, infrastructure, and economies worldwide, advances in Earth-system forecasting can help improve preparedness and decision-making.

What is Aurora?

Aurora is a foundation model for the Earth system developed by Microsoft Research AI for Science, first introduced in 2024 and published in Nature (opens in new tab) in 2025. It showed that a single model could be adapted to medium-range weather, ocean waves, atmospheric chemistry, and emerging climate applications, including high-resolution weather forecasting through fine-tuning. Its growing use has reinforced the value of an open, collaborative model that is easier to adapt, evaluate, and put to use. 

This next phase of Aurora (opens in new tab) builds on that foundation by making the model openly available for the global community to adapt, extend, and build on. 

What is new in Aurora 1.5?

Aurora 1.5 advances the broader effort to make open weather foundation models practical and scalable for organizations that rely on atmospheric and Earth-system intelligence. Alongside new variables and higher temporal resolution, Aurora 1.5 adds one of the most requested capabilities from users: ensemble forecasting. Because forecasts are sensitive to initial conditions and model uncertainty, ensembles run multiple simulations to show the range and likelihood of possible outcomes. Aurora 1.5 builds on Microsoft Research’s scientific foundation with new product engineering, cloud infrastructure, managed access, and decision-support capabilities. Together, these advances make Aurora 1.5 a valuable enterprise-grade weather solution for organizations. 

Figure 1: Illustration of the capabilities of Aurora 1.5 ensemble for predicting new impactful parameters such as total cloud cover and solar radiation. Ensemble mean and standard deviation are shown. 

The breadth update adds 22 new variables to Aurora’s original 4, including representative surface, pressure-level, wind, temperature, humidity, precipitation, and radiation fields. That broader coverage makes the model more relevant for sectors that depend on integrated Earth-system signals, from energy and agriculture to transport and resilience planning. 

The update to hourly temporal resolution enables fine-grained detail for precision operational guidance, such as the onset of precipitation, trade decisions, or a landfalling tropical cyclone. 

“Aurora 1.5 is a meaningful step toward making weather foundation models more open, useful, and practical. By releasing the model openly, we give researchers, developers, and organizations a clearer path to evaluate it, adapt it, and understand where it can help. Microsoft Weather’s role is to connect that open research foundation with the data, infrastructure, and applied workflows required by enterprises to use weather intelligence responsibly and with confidence.”

Sridhar Iyer, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft AI

video series

On Second Thought

A video series with Sinead Bovell built around the questions everyone’s asking about AI. With expert voices from across Microsoft, we break down the tension and promise of this rapidly changing technology, exploring what’s evolving and what’s possible.

Explore the series Opens in a new tab Ensemble Forecasting in Aurora 1.5 Unlocks More Confident Decisions in the Face of Weather Uncertainty

The ensemble version of Aurora 1.5 introduces stochastic perturbations to represent model uncertainty, allowing the generation of multiple forecast members to estimate the spread of possible futures. For a multitude of applications including power systems, transport, agriculture, extreme-weather planning, and climate risk, the model distribution matters as much as the best estimate. 

This ensemble capability was developed through multi-stage fine-tuning on top of the original Aurora model. After expanding the variable set and adding hourly temporal resolution, the team introduced controlled perturbations into the model’s latent conditioning pathway and optimized the ensemble for probabilistic forecast quality. A final round of auto-regressive fine-tuning on ECMWF High Resolution (HRES) analysis data from 2018 to 2023 improved rollout behavior and stability.

Figure 2. Comparing Aurora 1.5’s probabilistic forecasts with the ECMWF ensemble forecast. The shading shows relative probabilistic forecast error, using ECMWF ENS as the baseline: blue areas indicate where Aurora 1.5 performs better, and red areas indicate where it performs worse. Across upper-air geopotential, temperature, and humidity, together with five surface variables, Aurora 1.5 outperforms ECMWF ENS on 88.9% of the evaluated variable-and-lead-time targets. 

Aurora’s ensemble approach summarizes uncertainty across multiple model runs. Its probabilistic forecasts outperform those of the state-of-the-art ECWMF dynamical ensemble on 88.9% of evaluated targets (Figure 1). In evaluations on all 2024–2025 tropical cyclones, Aurora 1.5 substantially reduced track errors, including roughly one-third lower track error when comparing the ensemble median to the original Aurora. An example for the devastating Hurricane Helene shows how Aurora 1.5’s skill translates to high-impact weather applications. 

Figure 3. Hurricane Helene ensemble forecast from Aurora 1.5, showing multiple plausible storm tracks starting at 0 UTC on September 24, 2024. The probabilistic ensemble forecast envelops the verified track, effectively capturing uncertainty in the storm’s progression. Figure 4. Aurora 1.5 reduces track error relative to the original model across lead times. Ensemble mean and median tracks are used for diagnostics, with the median showing the strongest gains, reaching roughly one-third lower error by day 5. Results reflect track position only.  Beyond weather: Aurora as an Earth-system foundation

Beyond medium-range weather applications, Terradot – part of the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund portfolio—is working with the AI for Good Lab (opens in new tab) and the Microsoft Research Accelerator on TerraNova, using Aurora-derived weather representations (opens in new tab) to estimate and optimize carbon dioxide removal from enhanced rock weathering under real field conditions. Sasankh Munukutla, Co-Founder of Terradot, highlights, “By building on Aurora, we’re significantly advancing our R&D timelines and accelerating our path towards gigaton-scale carbon removal.” This work shows how Earth-system foundation models can support climate mitigation and public-interest science beyond forecasting, including settings where rigorous evaluation and responsible deployment matter.

Aurora is also being explored with partners such as the UK Met Office, exploring how foundation models can work alongside established physics-based systems to tackle problems from weather to climate time scales. The aim is faster, more flexible forecasts that support decision-making without replacing the science behind trusted prediction. 

“Microsoft’s Aurora model is an exciting and promising tool, enabling Met Office scientists to bring their data and expertise to help solve climate problems and provide new kinds of climate information. Met Office and Microsoft scientists and engineers are working together every day to translate lessons from AI weather prediction into the climate information space, sharing expertise in data science and climate science. Aurora is a great platform for learning how to translate these tools for use in climate projection to make the AI climate models of the future.”

— Doug McNeall, Science lead for Data-Driven Climate Modelling, Met Office Hadley Centre  Connecting open models to operational use

Microsoft connects open research, product engineering, responsible deployment, and partner ecosystems so that models can move from scientific advance to evaluated operational use. As an example, Aurora began in Microsoft Research AI for Science and is now being built on for operational use by Microsoft Weather, with AI for Good helping to evaluate public-interest applications. The platform path brings Aurora into Microsoft Foundry and Planetary Computer Pro, alongside Agent skills and Azure services that connect models with geospatial data, scalable infrastructure, and applied workflows. BKW provides an early proof point: the company is using Aurora 1.5 alongside existing operational Microsoft Weather models to support energy operations where weather-dependent generation, infrastructure planning, and environmental data need to come together. 

“This collaboration demonstrates how advanced AI capabilities and robust cloud infrastructure can be applied to one of the most strategic domains — energy, where weather plays a fundamental role. In a time of accelerated transformation, it supports our ambition to operate increasingly renewable-based systems, where generation is inherently weather-dependent, and to better anticipate and manage this variability with greater confidence and precision.” 

Farhat Quiñones Yamshid, Lead, AI and Technology, BKW  From open research to broader impact

Aurora’s open-source availability is intended to help researchers, agencies, companies, and civil society evaluate, apply, and extend the model. Microsoft Weather is building on that open foundation to deliver easier access to Aurora forecasts through managed services, integrations, and responsible deployment paths for organizations that depend on weather and Earth-system intelligence.

Foundation models should complement—not replace—physics-based models and domain expertise. The opportunity is to use them responsibly, with careful evaluation and transparency, and to invite researchers, agencies, companies, and public-interest partners to test where Aurora and related Microsoft Weather capabilities can improve forecasting, planning, and climate resilience in their own settings.

About Microsoft Weather 

Microsoft Weather is the AI-based forecasting team behind weather experiences across Windows, Bing, Copilot, Edge, and MSN, reaching more than a billion devices across 180 countries. The team has been applying AI to operational weather forecasting for more than seven years and has built a proven track record of delivering high-quality forecasts at global scale. Microsoft Weather has won multiple forecasting competitions and was ranked the world’s most accurate global forecast provider by an independent third party for three consecutive years from 2022 to 2024. Building on today’s Aurora 1.5 announcement, the team plans to extend this work in the coming months with additional fit-for-purpose AI weather models designed for enterprise scenarios where forecast quality, speed, uncertainty, and operational decision support matter most.

If you are interested in exploring Aurora and Microsoft Weather solutions for commercial or organizational applications, please contact us at AIWeatherClimate@microsoft.com 

Aurora 1.5 on Microsoft Foundry Aurora 1.5 on GitHub Aurora 1.5 paper Agent Skills for adapting Aurora to new applications

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The post Aurora 1.5: Extending open foundation models for weather and Earth-system applications appeared first on Microsoft Research.

Are you just using your home server as if it was a spare desktop? If so, you're using it wrong. Your home server is capable of so much more, so here are three things to help you change how you think about your home server.

As numerous miniseries have shown us, not all powerful crime stories require multiple seasons. The most impactful ones are presented as sharp and focused, with their destination apparent from the get-go. This is where crime miniseries really stand out. They dive directly into the heart of the story, the drama, and the repercussions that follow, and we can't look away.

The owner of X, the everything app, has announced a new feature that might be useful but also annoying.

In a standalone post on X, Elon Musk announced that Community Notes will get a new feature at some point soon. If a user interacts with a post that has since been corrected via Community Notes, a bot will send them a direct message about the correction.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk to pay SEC $1.5 million settlement, judge signs off despite 'serious misgivings' This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Musk's posts were pretty vague and raised a few questions. For starters, we don't know when this feature will launch. More importantly, though, Musk didn't specify what kinds of interactions will prompt one of these automatic DMs. Will any interaction, such as a like, trigger one, or does the user need to repost or quote the post for the bot to send a message?

Beyond that, it's worth asking how effective this will actually be in curbing the spread of misinformation. Oftentimes, a post will gain a ton of traction before a Community Note corrects it, and sending messages to people who helped spread the post will only work if the users actually check their DMs, and then actually feel like removing whatever interactions they made with the corrected post.

Still, some accountability is better than none, I suppose.

If you're not eating free fries this week, you're doing life wrong. Just kidding (kind of).

Friday, July 10, is National French Fry Day, which means a bunch of your favorite fast food chains are giving away free fries. While some require a minimum purchase of some kind or a (free) rewards membership, others require nothing but your will to face the crowds at a local establishment. Regardless, this is a made up holiday I, for one, can get behind.

If you're curious which fast food chains are participating in the free fry celebration, we have a running list below. Just be sure to check the details before rushing out to the restaurant of your choice.

Arby's

Arby's Rewards members can get a free fry of any size on July 10 with the purchase of a Cheesesteak online or in app.

Checkers & Rally’s

Celebrate National French Fry Day at Checkers & Rally’s from July 10 through 12 with BOGO free Famous Seasoned Fries of any size and $1 sauce trios.

Chick-Fil-A

From July 7 through 13, Chick-Fil-A is giving out free medium-size Waffle Fries as a reward in the restaurant's app. Just play the in-app "Spot the Cow" game to get the deal. It's limited to one fry reward per person.

Del Taco

July 10 through 13, you can score a free regular fry at Del Taco with with a $3 minimum purchase.

Five Guys

From July 8 through 10, customers who buy a burger, hot dog, or sandwich through the Five Guys app or Five Guys.com will get one free Little Fry. Sign in or create a Five Guys account and enter promo code FRYDAY26 at checkout to get the freebie.

Jack in the Box

Sign up to be a Jack Pack Rewards member if you're not already and you'll be able to grab a free fry of any size on July 10 with a minimum purchase of $1.

McDonald's

On July 10th, National French Fry Day proper, McDonald's is giving out free medium-sized French Fries to Rewards members. Just make a purchase of at least $1 through the McDonald's app to get the deal.

Sheetz

From July 10 through 16, Sheetz is giving away one free bag of fries with any purchase of $10 or more through the Sheetz app (under the OFFERZ tab). The freebie is limited to one per My Sheetz Rewardz member.

Wendy's

Are you a Wendy's Rewards member? Head to the app and make a purchase of at least $5 and you'll get a free fry in any size on National French Fry Day, July 10.

Whataburger

Whataburger rewards members can score a free medium fry with no purchase required on July 10. The offer is valid online or in the app.

White Castle

Head to White Castle on July 10 and pick up free Cheese Fries by using the promo code CHEESY when you place an online or in-app order.

One thing Linux fans have always loved to tout over Windows was its security. While Windows has had lots of high-profile security breaches, Linux has also had its share of malware attacks, putting the belief that it's more secure than Windows in question.

Next time you go in for a surgery, will your doctor be a five-foot tall, 60 pound humanoid robot named Surgie? It very well could be!

A team of surgeons and engineers at University of California San Diego just successfully completed the first ever pair of surgeries during a preclinical trial using teleoperated humanoid robots.

Both of the surgeries were performed on non-primate mammals, so we're not yet at the level of operating on humans quite yet. But, it seems headed in that direction.

One surgery involved a humanoid robot and a human surgeon teaming up to perform a gallbladder removal. The human doctor acted as the assistant during the procedure. However, the second surgery, a laparoscopic gallbladder removal, was performed completely by a team of two humanoid robot surgeons.

"This study shows that humanoid robots have a viable future in the field of surgery," said UC San Diego Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering's Michael Yip, who is also one of the paper's senior authors.

SEE ALSO: Hyundai's Atlas robot debuts on the biggest stage of all: The World Cup

A robot surgeon is more than just an impressive accomplishment. The team detailed the important and practical uses for humanoid robots like Surgie at the operating table.

"Remotely operated and autonomous humanoid robots have real potential for amplifying access to critical surgeries to which patients would otherwise not have access," Yip said to UC San Diego Today. "This can help address the healthcare crisis not only in the United States, but also worldwide.”

The team provided examples such as humanoid robots "being deployed in remote communities where staffing is challenging, or in austere environments like search and rescue scenarios where a massive deployment of field medicine is needed in a short period of time."

Standing at only five-feet tall and weighing just 60 pounds also makes Surgie extremely mobile and compact in size.

Featured Video For You The humanoid so real they had to cut it open

However, there are still some kinks that need to be worked out. The team says the humanoid robot had to be recalibrated a few times during the surgery, which extended the time it took to complete the procedure. In addition, latency issues are still be worked on. Latency, or the time it takes for a human to control the robot and the robot responding, is especially important regarding deploying these robots in remote locations.

Regardless of these issues, the team behind Surgie believes there is a role the humanoid robot can play right now in the field. Being a humanoid robot means that Surgie can walk around and perform tasks similar to humans. Researchers envision scenarios where Surgie can work as an assistant in the operating room, getting tools for the human surgeons and cleaning up after procedures.

"Many communities struggle with adequate staffing on the surgical team, which means patients are not being treated," Yip said. "Our goal is an operating theatre of the future, where humanoid robots and humans work side by side as an integrated team to deliver procedures to those in need, both in traditional hospital settings as well as in non-traditional, field medicine scenarios."

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Are you looking for some fun homelab projects to tackle this weekend? Today, I'm going to show you the pros of setting up a notification server, homelab inventory platform, and even a way to organize your kitchen and pantry.

Reminders. Screen time limits. Grayscale mode. You’ve heard about these common techniques to use your phone less often. The problem is they’re easy to ignore. Sometimes, a bit more force is needed. So, I made my phone a bully.

SAVE $50: As of July 9, the Sony WH-1000X The Collexion headphones are on sale for $599.99 at Target. That's $50 off their list price and, at the time of writing, $48 cheaper than Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-1000X The Collexion headphones $599.99 at Target
$649.99 Save $50   Get Deal

Sony dropped a new pair of headphones in May to celebrate 10 years of its 1000X series. The name is terrible — WH-1000X The Collexion — but the execution is superb. They're extremely overpriced at $650, which is $200 more than the already excellent WH-1000XM6 headphones, but as of July 9, they've received their first-ever price drop.

You can grab the Sony WH-1000X The Collexion headphones in either black or platinum for $599.99 if you shop at Target, saving you a whole $50. It ain't much, but it's the best price to date. Plus, it beats Amazon by $48 at the time of writing.

What's so special about the anniversary headphones? Well, rather than the mostly plastic build of typical headphones, the Collexion headphones feature a stainless steel and vegan leather chassis with metal buttons and on-ear controls. Sony really prioritized quality and comfort with these babies, as well as sound. The Collexion headphones include a bespoke driver system that allows for more clarity and better high-frequency range. They also have a V3 integrated audio processor on board, which helps power an AI scale enhancement feature. Ironically, the battery life and noise cancellation are slightly less impressive compared to the XM6s.

As Mashable's Bethany Allard states, "Sony enthusiasts, folks who love a luxury look, and those who prioritize comfort above all else are the target audience for this Sony release." If that's you, and you've been waiting to grab these high-end headphones, I recommend grabbing them at Target and saving $50. Every bit counts.

Best summer hosting under $25 at Amazon Best yard game Franklin Sports Bocce Ball Set $19.99 (save $10) Get Deal Best cooler deal Igloo Classic Playmate Cooler (red) $20.79 (save $13.20) Get Deal Best speaker deal Soundcore Select 4 Go $21.99 (save $3) Get Deal Best kitchen deal Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew Maker $21.45 (save $4.05) Get Deal Best outdoor dining essential Fly Away Outdoor Fly Repellent Fan (2 pack) $25.91 Get Deal

With limited weekends remaining in summer 2026, it's time to schedule the backyard barbecues you've been considering. Clean off the grill, mow the lawn, and set out the games for a fun gathering with family and friends.

Maybe the only downside to this plan is that summer hosting can add up. Rather than worrying about the cost, check out these essential items at Amazon that are under $25. Shop from this list and you'll have plenty of fun without going over budget.

I've collected the best summer hosting essentials that cost $25 or less at Amazon. Happy hosting!

Best backyard game deal Opens in a new window Credit: Franklin Franklin Sports Bocce Ball Set $19.99 at Amazon
$29.99 Save $10   Get Deal Why we like it

On the list of wholesome summer fun activities, it doesn't get much better than a bocce ball match. On sale for only $19.99, the Franklin Sports Bocce Ball Set has everything you need for a great outdoor activity. Plus, there's an included carrying box for easy transportation.

Best cooler deal Opens in a new window Credit: Igloo Igloo Classic Playmate Cooler $20.79
$33.99 Save $13.20   Get Deal Why we like it

Nothing says summer more than the Igloo Classic Playmates Cooler. Go with the red colorway while it's on sale for $20.79 and your guests will have instant access to chilled drinks while lounging on the patio. The seven-quart size can hold up to nine cans, making it easy to load up and set out for guests.

Best speaker deal Opens in a new window Credit: Soundcore Soundcore Select 4 Go $21.99 at Amazon
$24.99 Save $3   Get Deal Why we like it

Compact in size and price, the Soundcore Select 4 Go Bluetooth Speaker is well worth using during summer hosting. It's dustproof and waterproof and can get up to 20 hours of playtime before needing to recharge. Crank up the playlist of summer with the Soundcore speaker while it's on sale at Amazon for $21.99.

Best kitchen deal Opens in a new window Credit: Hario Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew Maker $21.45 at Amazon
$25.50 Save $4.05   Get Deal Why we like it

The Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew Maker is one of my best secret hacks for making summer hosting easy. It takes just a few minutes to get a one liter batch brewing by loading up the basket with ground coffee. After that, I leave it in the fridge overnight and wake up to excellent cold brew that costs a fraction of buying it premade at the store. It's the perfect refresher to serve on warm afternoons.

Best outdoor dining essential Opens in a new window Credit: Fly Away Fly Way Outdoor Fly Repellent Fan $25.91 at Amazon
  Shop Now Why we like it

Admittedly, this one is a smidge over $25, but the payoff is well worth it. Instead of dealing with the struggle of swatting flies and even bees away from your table when dining outside, get the help of the Fly Away Repellent Fans. A two pack at Amazon comes in at $25.91. The fans use reflective blades made from a holographic material that keeps flying insects away. But the blades are soft and flexible enough to not cause harm should a hand get in the way. Fly Away says the two fans are ideal for tables of up to six feet, and they use AA batteries, so they're easy to replace.

More summer hosting deals under $25

• Kan Jam Mini Backyard Game — $9.49 $19.99 (save $10.50)

• Puffin The Buoy Life Vest Insulated Can Cooler Sleeve — $12.95 $16.95 (save $4)

• Tossware Pop 9-oucnce Plastic Champagne Flute (12 pack) — $13.99

• Grand Tongo Insect Repellent Spray (3 pack) — $16.99

• OXO Good Grips Wooden Utensil Set (3 piece) — $19.99

• Govee Smart RGB LED Strip Lights (16.4 feet) — $19.99 $24.99 (save $5)

• Funboy Giant Vintage Stripe Inflatable Pool Float — $21.75 $29 (save $7.25)

• Herhsey's S'mores Kit Box, 14 oz (2 pack) — $21.98 $25.45 (save $3.56)

• Coleman Chiller Cooler (9 quart) — $23.99

• Yeti Rambler 12-ounce Can Insulator — $25

• Yeti Ridgeline Slim 12-ounce Can Insulator — $25

I wasn't a fan of wasting money on the most expensive SSDs even before the whole NAND shortage, but now? No, thank you. Now's not the time to buy a new drive.