Blogroll

Mainstream cars are stepping up, and some interiors are starting to feel downright luxurious. Prices are creeping higher too, sometimes rivaling actual luxury rides.

SAVE $60: As of Jan. 29, the Apple AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation are on sale for just $119 at Amazon and Walmart. That's 34% off their list price and about $20 away from their best price ever.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation $119.99 at Amazon
$179.99 Save $60.00   Get Deal

It's not every day that you can score a pair of noise-cancelling AirPods for under $120. So if you're in the market for a new pair, we highly recommend adding the fourth-generation earbuds to your cart ASAP.

As of Jan. 29, the Apple AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation are on sale for just $119 at both Amazon and Walmart. That's a pretty impressive $60 discount or 34% off their list price. It's also only $20 away from their lowest price ever, which they hit during Cyber Week.

A great value even at full price, the AirPods 4 offer personalized spatial audio, voice isolation, Siri interactions, improved bass, mids, and highs over their predecessor, a comfy and snug fit, and a more compact charging case that's easier to locate. Mashable's reviewer noted that the fit is surprisingly snug and actually stays put, the noise-cancellation is "elite," and the sound is "like honey."

They'll last you about five hours per charge — up to 30 with the charging case — making them a solid daily driver. While we still think the AirPods Pro 3 are the best earbuds for Apple users, the AirPods 4 with ANC are the better choice if you're looking to save some money. And since they're 34% off, they're an even better value.

What is the formula for the ideal New York City movie? For starters, the movie should be filmed in New York City. That sounds obvious, but you would be surprised to learn how many movies use other cities as a stand-in for NYC. Not every scene has to be filmed in New York City, considering many interior scenes are shot on a sound stage. At the very least, there should be some action captured in the busy streets of the Big Apple.

SAVE $599.68: As of Jan. 29, the Hisense 65-inch U8 Mini LED ULED 4K TV is on sale for $898.32 at Amazon. That's 40% off its list price and a new best price ever.

Opens in a new window Credit: Hisense Hisense 65-inch U8 Mini LED ULED 4K TV $898.32 at Amazon
$1,498 Save $599.68   Get Deal

It's officially one of the best times to upgrade your TV, y'all. Not only is it a huge season for sports, with the NFL postseason wrapping up and the 2026 Winter Olympics just a week away. But it's also one of the best times to score a major discount on a 2025 TV.

As of Jan. 29, the Hisense 65-inch U8 Mini LED ULED 4K TV is on sale for only $898.32 at Amazon. That's 40% or nearly $600 off its list price of $1,498 and a new best price on record. This discount actually beats its Cyber Week price by nearly $100.

The 2025 Hisense U8 TV is remarkably vibrant and colorful, making it a great choice for watching sports, gaming, or immersing yourself in movies and TV shows. CNET (Mashable's sister site, also owned by Ziff Davis) reviewer Ty Pendlebury called it the brightest TV he's ever reviewed, but noted that "it complements that brightness with excellent contrast and well-saturated colors." Specs-wise, it boasts 5000 nits peak brightness, up to 5,600 local dimming zones, a 165Hz native refresh rate, and support for HDR in Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG.

The Google TV smart platform provides a streamlined interface to navigate every major streaming service, offers Google Cast (by default) as well as Apple AirPlay, and features built-in Google Assistant for hands-free TV and smart home device control. You can ask it to search for content, recommend your next watch, set alarms, check your doorbell camera, and more.

The Hisense U8 is typically a little pricey at nearly $1,500, but with a 40% discount, it's a total steal. If you're due for an upgrade, now's the time.

Gmail is one of Google’s oldest apps, and it might be the most widely used. Tons of features have been added over the years. The good news is that many of these things can be turned off—if you can find them in the messy settings.

Got a shiny new Android phone? Take some time to make these nine quick changes—they'll let you hit the ground running with a smooth, reliable Android experience.

SAVE $225: As of Jan. 29, get the Citizen Eco-Drive Star Wars Darth Vader Chronograph Watch for $225 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $450. That's a discount of 50% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Citizen Eco-Drive Star Wars Darth Vader Chronograph Watch $225 at Amazon
$450 Save $225   Get Deal

If you're interested in buying a watch but aren't interested in the "smart" side of it, there are some very stylish timepieces out there. In fact, we've found one that not only looks great for everyday wear, but it'll attract Star Wars fans everywhere. And you can get it right now for the lowest price we've seen, which is a huge plus.

As of Jan. 29, get the Citizen Eco-Drive Star Wars Darth Vader Chronograph Watch for $225 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $450. That's $225 off and a discount of 50%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is now $250 off on Amazon. That's $50 better than its Black Friday deal.

This 44mm chronograph watch is all about Darth Vader, with the iconic character's helmet, a TIE fighter, and additional fun Star Wars details adorning the screen and sub-dials. Plus, its luminous crimson hour markers give you a familiar Sith glow like Vader's lightsaber.

But the coolest part is that this watch is powered by Citizen's Eco-Drive tech, so you'll never need a battery for it. It'll run and run, so you can wear it to your heart's delight without having to pay for one. Coupled with 100M water resistance and a fun black case that also features Darth Vader and you've got yourself an extremely stylish gift for any Star Wars fan.

If you're ready to pick one up, be sure to get it while it's on sale, because it likely won't stick around at this price.

SAVE $86.01: The Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station is on sale at Amazon for $112.99, down from the list price of $199. That's a 43% discount and a new record-low price at Amazon.

Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station $112.99 at Amazon
$199 Save $86.01   See It at Amazon

There's a unique heart-sinking feel we get these days when our phones go dead. Try as we might to avoid hitting a dreaded zero-battery phone, it can happen when the power goes out or if we're off the grid for an extended period of time like summer camping trips. Instead of experiencing this pain, upgrading to a portable power station ensures you always have extra power on hand, and there's an ultra portable model on sale today.

As of Jan. 29, the Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station is on sale for just $112.99 at Amazon in both black and meadow green, marked down from the usual price of $199. Today's sale means you can save $86.01 on the mini portable power station. That's a 43% discount and a new record-low price at Amazon.

The Bluetti Elite 10 is a tiny portable power station that offers 128Wh of battery. In normal terms, that means you'll be able to recharge a phone about six times or a laptop twice. While that's not a huge amount of power, it'll be perfect to keep on your nightstand during a power outage to have your phone recharging and the bedside lamp on.

SEE ALSO: Last chance to score the DJI Power 1000 V2 portable power station for under $430

Another major bonus of being mini is that the Bluetti Elite 10 weighs just four pounds. That means it's super easy to carry around the house should the power go out. It's also a practical option to bringing along to the campground to keep phones charged.

While it's small in size, it packs in two USB-C ports, two USB-A, and one AC port. Recharging options include standard wall charging or solar with a 100W max panel. It'll take about 70 minutes to recharge with wall charging or about 90 minutes with a 100W solar panel.

Ensure all your small gadgets stay charged up during the next power outage or on the next camping trip thanks to the Bluetti Elite 10 mini portable power station. It's on sale for the lowest price we've ever spotted at Amazon, so this is a great time to make the upgrade.

I’ve had a smartwatch on my wrist for over a decade. That's why I’ve been very skeptical of smart rings, but I recently decided to give one a fair shot. My opinion has changed, though maybe not how you’d expect.

There's nothing worse than having to dig around the couch cushions or delay your Netflix binge session because you can't find the remote. It's a common problem we're all familiar with, which is why I absolutely love the hands-free voice controls on my 85-inch TCL with Google TV. Well, when the voice controls actually work.

We're only days away from the Full Moon now, so when we look up there is plenty to see.

Keep reading to find out exactly what's on display.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Thursday, Jan. 29, the Moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. According to NASA's Daily Moon Guide, 85% of the Moon will be lit up tonight.

You don't need visual aids to see anything on the Moon's surface tonight, in fact, with just your naked eye you should be able to spot the Mare Imbrium, Copernicus Crater, and the Mare Fecunditatis. With binoculars, you'll also be able to see the Gassendi Crater, Apennine Mountains, and Posidonius Crater. With a telescope, enjoy glimpses of the Linne Crater, Descartes Highlands, and the Schiller Crater.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon will be on Feb. 1. The last full moon was on Jan. 3.

What are Moon phases?

According to NASA, the lunar cycle lasts around 29.5 days. This is how long the Moon takes to travel once around Earth. Over that period, it passes through eight recognised phases. While the same side of the Moon always faces our planet, the portion that appears lit changes as the Moon moves along its orbit. The varying amount of sunlight reaching the Moon is what makes it appear full, partially illuminated, or almost invisible at different points in the cycle. The eight lunar phases are:

New Moon - The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) - Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

Excel's XLOOKUP is great for finding a needle in a haystack, but what if you want all the needles? While XLOOKUP stops at the first match, the FILTER function is built for the dynamic array era, allowing you to pull entire lists of data with a single, elegant formula.

Not all SSDs are the same. And depending on the brand, this might even be true for different SSD units sold on the same retail listing.

Wearable cameras have become a practical option for creators capturing daily life, travel moments, and POV footage without holding a phone or carrying a full-size camera. When filming is part of the experience rather than the focus, hands-free recording can make content feel more natural and less staged.

Wearable cameras have become a practical option for creators capturing daily life, travel moments, and POV footage without holding a phone or carrying a full-size camera. When filming is part of the experience rather than the focus, hands-free recording can make content feel more natural and less staged.

They just don’t make them how they used to. Older phones had microSD card slots, removable batteries, and were actually designed to fit in a human hand. Even as companies started to do away with all of that, phones were still exciting. They were innovating, and it wasn’t yet settled how smartphones would end up. Yet no matter how fondly we think back to some of our favorite phones from yesterday—they were not as good as we tell ourselves.

Consider it impeccable timing: just days after Alex Honnold pulled off another completely unhinged free-solo climbing feat, a video game arrives for anyone who watched that and thought, "I want to do that too, but preferably without the risk of death." That game is Cairn, and instead of a skyscraper, it gives you a mountain.

Cairn is the latest release from French developer The Game Bakers, and it may be the first survival climbing game of its kind. Rather than treating climbing as a fun co-op game or a quick gimmick, Cairn commits fully to the act itself, presenting a simulation-style ascent of the fictional Mount Kami, a peak no climber has ever successfully summited. That distinction doesn’t deter the game’s protagonist Aava, an experienced and well-known climber who takes on the mountain while also running from unresolved problems in her life.

If you’ve played Peak, the recent co-op climbing game built around chaotic teamwork and shared problem-solving, Cairn feels like its solitary opposite. Where Peak turns climbing into a social exercise defined by coordination, communication, and the occasional disastrous misstep, Cairn strips all of that away, leaving you alone with the rock, your stamina, and the consequences of every decision. It’s a quieter, more deliberate take on climbing.

For now, the narrative framing is secondary. What matters is the climb, and Cairn delivers one of the most compelling gameplay experiences I’ve had this year. Yes, it’s still January, but the highs I hit while playing Cairn on PlayStation 5 will be difficult to top in the months ahead.

To the top Credit: The Game Bakers

As mentioned at the beginning, Cairn is a survival climbing game where players control Aava one limb at a time as she ascends various cliff faces and rock walls on her way to the summit of Mount Kami. The mountain carries a grim reputation, littered with the remains of dead climbers and haunted by a mysterious population of mountain folk who were forced to abandon their homes and pursue life on the ground, or as they call it, the "horizontal world."

Beyond the meticulous climbing mechanics, Cairn also asks players to manage Aava’s basic survival needs, including thirst, hunger, and warmth. This means cooking and eating meals cobbled together from materials found on the mountain, sometimes scavenged from the gear left behind by less fortunate climbers, and drinking water sourced from springs, caves, and other pockets scattered across a centuries-old peak. This is the survival side of Cairn’s survival climbing, and it weaves directly into the climb itself.

While climbing is the clear focus, Cairn does have a story, albeit a sparse one. Aava spends most of the game alone, accompanied only by a climbing robot she’s had since childhood and stubbornly refuses to name. Along the way, she encounters a handful of other characters, the most notable being Marco, a younger and often mouthy climber who clearly idolizes Aava, a well-known figure in the climbing world.

Climbing Mount Kami is no small feat, and the game allows players to approach it in two primary ways. The first is free solo climbing, while the second is a more assisted method that makes use of ropes, pitons, and bolts. For the most part, you’ll end up using a mix of both approaches, largely because you have a limited number of pitons available for you to jam into cracks to create a secure handhold as you climb each face.

Credit: The Game Bakers

Players can climb almost anything, but the game subtly guides you through the cracks, crevices, and narrow ledges etched into the rock. You can place Aava’s hands and feet almost anywhere along a wall, but those cracks and small outcroppings offer the most reliable grip. A stamina system governs how long she can hold a position, as shown by the visible shaking of her arms and legs when she’s placed in a poor grip or an awkward body position. At the press of a button, Aava can take a brief rest to recover stamina, but you’re limited to doing this only twice per climb. Let any of her limbs tremble for too long and she’ll lose her grip and fall.

Depending on how you routed the ascent, that fall might stop at a piton with Aava dangling from a rope, or send her all the way back down to where you started, which can easily mean death. If you don't want to belay, safely securing Avaa to a piton with rope, stamina can be regained by situating her in chill, optimal positions and then waiting for her to calm back down. This is where I want to credit the sound design of the game, as you can tell when Avaa is better rested by the lack of deep breathes she takes before taking a deep sigh to signify she's ready to go again.

I fell 18 times in this one spot. Credit: The Game Bakers

When planning a route, you can press L1 on PlayStation 5 or Tab on PC to bring up a climb overview, giving you a sense of the potential paths upward. Pitons can be placed directly into the rock through a quick-time event that feels similar to hitting a perfect reload in Gears of War. Time it perfectly and the piton locks in securely. Miss the mark and it can break outright. Land somewhere in between and it becomes twisted in the rock. I didn’t see the full consequences of a poorly placed piton too often, but given how frequently you’ll fall, it’s clear you want those anchors as solid as possible.

This system creates a straightforward risk-reward equation: how much of the route can you realistically free solo before burning a piton. Early on, playing it safe feels like the obvious choice, but the higher you climb, the more apparent it becomes that the pitons you brought with you are all you’re getting. After completing climbs, Aava’s robot companion can recover pitons for reuse, but only if you’ve managed your route well enough to survive the ascent in the first place. Broken pitons recovered by the climbing bot can be used to create a new one — it's two broken pitons for one new piton, so it isn't a lose one, get one back situation. You start the game with six; after my eight hours in the game, I had four to use.

There are also some rock faces that are too dense to insert a piton, and for that, you need to use Troglodyte pitons, which are indestructible and can be planted on any rock. After placing a piton you can belay off them, which you can do to recover stamina, rope down to certain points, or even access your backpack if you need a quick bite or drink.

Resting up Dinner time. Credit: The Game Bakers

Cairn also features a day-and-night cycle, along with harsh weather conditions that can dramatically affect a climb. Heavy winds can knock Aava off balance mid-ascent, while rain reduces grip and makes even familiar routes more dangerous. These effects can be mitigated through food and drink that temporarily fortify Aava, preventing her meters from depleting, or by using chalk to improve hand grip. Chalk is thankfully abundant, as it can be replenished by recycling trash generated from consumed items or found scattered across the mountain. You hand that trash to Aava’s climbing robot, and after a short amount of in-game time, the chalk is ready to use.

After a long climb, resting becomes essential. Players can pitch a tent at designated save points scattered throughout the mountain. These camps let you cook food, craft new pitons, organize your backpack, and, most importantly, heal Aava’s fingers. Finger condition plays a crucial role in maintaining grip, and as you progress, her fingers will develop cracks and cuts that need to be bandaged individually.

Healing is a surprisingly mundane process, requiring you to slowly wrap each finger one at a time by rotating the right stick on your PlayStation controller. It’s tedious, sometimes frustratingly so, but it aligns with the game’s broader themes of sacrifice and endurance. Healing items are scarce, forcing hard choices. You can fully bandage every finger, or focus only on the worst injuries and push forward. It’s a neat system, even if it occasionally feels unnecessary.

Credit: The Game Bakers

Cooking, by contrast, is simple and intuitive. Aava uses a small pot, which first needs to be filled with water and heated before ingredients can be added. Flowers can be brewed into teas that provide various fortifications, while fish and other ingredients can be cooked into full meals. Each option restores thirst or hunger respectively, with the exception of soups which do both. Any water not stored in your flask can be carried in bottles in your backpack, which can be found throughout the map. Both bottles and flasks can be refilled at springs, ponds, and fountains scattered across the mountain as you work your way toward the summit.

When everything is set, you can continue to climb or take a break, which will fast-forward time to whenever you feel comfortable going again. I try my absolute best not to climb at night unless necessary, as it's hard to see, even with Avaa's staff light, and sleeping helps Avaa recover. If none of this appeals to you, though, there's a casual mode that makes the survival elements an afterthought. This mode turns off Cairn's survival elements such as hunger, gives Aava infinite climbing gear, and lets you rewind and try again after falling.

The climbing in Cairn is genuinely fun, a feeling that’s only amplified by how striking the game looks. Cairn’s art style sits somewhere between a graphic novel and a minimalist animated film. Characters and environments are rendered with clean lines, flattened shapes, and painterly textures, giving the world a hand-drawn, almost storybook quality. The color palette leans muted and earthy, with soft gradients and atmospheric lighting that emphasize altitude, cold, and isolation rather than raw spectacle.

The UI follows that same philosophy. Menus and overlays are deliberately stylized to feel tactile and diegetic, with rough-edged frames and sketched iconography that blend naturally into the world. Overall, the game’s visual identity reinforces its themes of solitude and endurance. The art never distracts from the climb; instead, it lends every moment a quiet, contemplative weight that builds as the journey continues.

Credit: The Game Bakers

That said, Cairn isn’t without technical rough edges, and some of its performance issues can pull you out of the experience, especially during climbs. There are moments where you fall into a genuine rhythm, carefully placing each limb and steadily working your way upward. The game automatically selects which of Aava’s four limbs to move, though you can override it manually. That system occasionally breaks immersion, with limbs awkwardly morphing through one another and creating strange, almost rubbery animations. As you get closer to the summit, things can get even messier, with environmental objects briefly glitching or wobbling in ways that feel unintentional. The game never crashed during my playthrough, but there were times it felt perilously close.

Beyond the main ascent, Cairn offers several side objectives discovered through letters and maps Aava finds along the way. These usually send you off to climb different sections of the mountain in search of toys, trinkets, or rare items, including specialized pitons. According to the developers, a typical run should take around 15 hours, closer to 18 if you’re aiming to see everything, and upwards of 30 hours if you tackle the hardcore free solo mode. I powered through the game in just over eight hours, which left me wondering what corners I may have cut to finish so much faster than intended.

There’s a subtle Metroidvania-like structure to how progression works. Instead of traditional upgrades or leveling systems, you unlock better gear organically as you climb, including indestructible pitons, expanded chalk capacity, and tools like a pinwheel that warns you of incoming wind. It’s a smart approach that makes progression feel earned through exploration rather than menu management, and it fits neatly into Cairn’s broader philosophy of learning the mountain as you ascend it.

Is Cairn worth it? Credit: The Game Bakers

The game’s title is a fitting reflection of its themes. A cairn, in the real world, is a stack of stones placed to mark a trail, commemorate the dead, or signal that someone has passed through before. In Cairn, the mountain is littered with similar reminders of those who attempted the climb and never returned, from abandoned gear to the stories left behind in notes and letters. Like a real cairn, these traces don’t offer comfort so much as context. They are quiet acknowledgments of effort, failure, and persistence, reinforcing the idea that every ascent is built on the attempts of those who came before, even if the summit remains unconquered.

Despite some rough edges, Cairn is absolutely worth playing if you’re drawn to games that value systems, atmosphere, and mechanical tension over constant spectacle. Its climbing mechanics are unlike anything else out right now, demanding patience, planning, and a willingness to accept failure as part of the experience. When everything clicks, Cairn delivers some of the most meditative and rewarding moments I’ve had in a game in years.

That said, this is not a game for everyone. The deliberate pacing, occasional technical hiccups, and hands-on survival mechanics will likely frustrate players looking for fast feedback loops or constant narrative momentum. The finger-bandaging, limited resources, and frequent falls can feel punishing, especially early on.

But for players willing to meet it on its own terms, Cairn offers a game that trusts you to learn through repetition and consequence, and one that finds beauty in exhaustion, solitude, and persistence. It’s imperfect, sometimes awkward, and occasionally janky, but it’s also thoughtful, ambitious, and deeply memorable.

Cairn is available today on PlayStation 5 and PC.

Excel handles numbers beautifully, but it's frustratingly picky about text. When you treat cells like a Word doc, like manually typing units or ignoring hidden spaces, you're onto a loser. Here's how to handle text in Excel without ruining your spreadsheet's logic.

Have you recently switched to Linux? Or are you one of the hardcore, anti-terminal users? I've seen plenty of loathing for the terminal these past few years, but I think it comes from a place of misunderstanding. New users view it as an insurmountable mountain of commands, but it's far simpler than that. If you're keen on moving forward, I have four key steps to guide you.

How often have you reacted to recent Windows feature updates with "who asked for this?" It seems like every time we learn about new and upcoming features for Windows, AI-based or not, that's a question we have to ask because it's far from obvious. It's something I've been thinking about recently, and I have some glimmer of a theory.