IT General

Depending on your generation, you may have been introduced to the Star Wars extended universe by several different movies — Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Episode VII: The Force Awakens, or even The Clone Wars TV show. Maybe you don't even remember.

And if you're really lucky, you haven't seen any of these movies yet, and you can dive into Star Wars in all its glory for the first time. Fortunately, all the Star Wars movies and TV shows are streaming in the same place.

How to watch Star Wars: Disney+

The Walt Disney Company spent a casual $4.05 billion in 2012 to buy Lucasfilm from Star Wars creator George Lucas. The House of Mouse has since given the entire franchise a permanent home on the Disney+ streaming service. (That includes all of the films in addition to Star Wars shorts, specials, and canon TV shows like The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian.)

If you'd rather rent or buy individual Star Wars movies instead of forking over $9.99 a month for a Disney+ subscription, you can do so via Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV, YouTube, and Fandango at Home. There's no guarantee they'll always be there, though.

What's the best order to watch Star Wars movies? You have three choices.

From "who shot first?" to "how useful are lightsabers, really?" and "has any character ever sucked more than Jar Jar Binks?" — hot take: yes — there are some debates that hardcore Star Wars fans will never settle. Four decades of intergalactic action will do that to you.

While the Star Wars universe is relatively quiet circa 2025, there's never a bad time to revisit one of the Star Wars fandom's favorite questions: In what order do you watch Star Wars movies?

Fans generally agree that you've got three ways to journey through the series:

• The traditional order based on the movies' release dates

• The chronological order of events within the Star Wars universe

• The lesser-known "Machete Order"

What's the Machete Order? More on that in a sec.

How to watch the Star Wars movies in release order Credit: Lucasfilm

The Star Wars movie series is made up of 11 films: a trilogy of trilogies known as the Skywalker Saga, plus two spin-offs that were released between the three newest films. (Disney considers those to be origin stories, but they're not required viewing to understand the main storyline.)

If this is your maiden voyage into a galaxy far, far away, do yourself an enormous favor and watch the series in order of release date. The original movie, Episode IV: A New Hope, sets up so much of the conflict and characters that'll carry you through the rest of the journey, and you'll spoil some pretty major surprises and twists if you start elsewhere.

Original trilogy (available on Disney+):

• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (May 1977)

• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (May 1980)

• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (May 1983)

Prequel trilogy (available on Disney+):

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (May 1999)

• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (May 2002)

• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (May 2005)

Sequel trilogy, plus spin-offs (available on Disney+):

• Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (Dec. 2015)

• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Dec. 2016)

• Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (Dec. 2017)

• Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 2018)

• Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (Dec. 2019)

How to watch the Star Wars movies in chronological order Credit: Lucasfilm

If you've been around Tatooine a few times, so to speak, try binge-watching the Star Wars movies the way George Lucas intended: in chronological order of the series' events. This approach revolves around the Battle of Yavin, also known as the Battle of the Death Star, which took place in Episode IV and marks "year zero" in the Star Wars timeline.

Here's what a chronological watch list looks like for the series:

1. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (set 32 years before the Battle of Yavin)

2. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (set in 22 BBY)

3. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (set in 19 BBY)

4. Solo: A Star Wars Story (set circa 10 BBY)

5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (leads right into the Battle of Yavin)

6. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (set in 0 BBY)

7. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (set three years after the Battle of Yavin)

8. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (set in 4 ABY)

9. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (set in 34 ABY)

10. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (set in 34 ABY)

11. Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (set in 35 ABY)

How to watch the Star Wars movies in Machete Order

One could easily make the argument that The Phantom Menace is just a 136-minute-long reminder of what happens when a movie's entire budget is spent on crappy CGI. That, combined with the fact that its plot has no real effect on the rest of the prequel trilogy, has led many a viewer to ask: Does Star Wars really, truly need it?

Software developer and Star Wars guru Rod Hilton tried to answer that very question about a decade ago when he created the "Machete Order," which slashes Episode I out of the series entirely and puts the other two prequel movies between Episodes V and VI — a viewing sequence that refocuses the story on Luke Skywalker, the protagonist of the original trilogy, while preserving the series' biggest reveals. (Also a bonus: way less Jar Jar.) It may not be the "proper" way to watch the Star Wars movies, but it's definitely a fan favorite.

Here's how to go about watching the movies (all available on Disney+) in Machete Order, per Hilton's blog:

1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

2. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

3. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

5. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

6. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

7. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

8. Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

If you really want to keep Episode I as part of your Star Wars rotation, Hilton recommends treating it like an anthology film that you pull in after the "book" of the main story is closed. (Same with Rogue One and Solo.)

Where do the Disney+ Star Wars TV shows fit into the franchise? Credit: Lucasfilm

Star Wars has evolved beyond movies. From animated classics like The Clone Wars to recent Disney+ originals such as The Mandalorian and The Acolyte, the extended universe gets a bit more convoluted. So, it's helpful to know where each Star Wars TV series fits in chronologically.

The Acolyte (2024) is the earliest part of the Star Wars timeline, set at the end of the High Republic era, long before the Skywalker Saga begins. The Clone Wars comes in next, taking place between Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan Kenobi, a mini series from 2022, follows the Jedi a decade after the events of Episode III. Five years before Episode IV: A New Hope, we have Andor (2022), which follows the formation of the Rebel Alliance.

In the gap between the fall of the Empire and the rise of the First Order, there are several different stories: The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Skeleton Crew, and Ahsoka.

Here's our best estimation of the chronological order of the Disney+ Star Wars shows:

• The Acolyte

• The Clone Wars

• The Bad Batch

• Obi-Wan Kenobi

• Andor

• Star Wars Rebels

• The Mandalorian (Seasons 1 & 2)

• The Book of Boba Fett

• The Mandalorian (Season 3)

• Skeleton Crew

• Ahsoka

• Star Wars Resistance

The best Disney+ deals

Not yet a Disney+ subscriber? Subscriptions start at $9.99 after a price hike in summer 2024, but we've rounded up a few of the best ways you can save some money on the streaming service below.

Best Disney+ deal: Save 17% on an ad-free annual plan Opens in a new window Credit: Disney+ Disney+ Premium annual subscription (no ads) $159.99/year (save 17%) Get Deal

Last year, Disney+ hiked its price up from $13.99 to $15.99 for those who wish to watch ad-free. With the yearly plan, you'll pay $159.99 per year, which breaks down to $13.33 per month. That saves you about 17%, though you have to pay all at once.

Best Disney+ bundle deal: Save 44% on Disney+ and Hulu with ads Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu / Disney+ Disney Bundle Duo Basic (Hulu and Disney+ with ads) $10.99 per month (save 44%) Get Deal

If you want the most bang for your buck, Disney's bundle deals are the best in the biz. You can bundle Disney+ and Hulu for just $10.99 per month with ads, which basically gets you Disney+ for $1 per month (44% in savings). You can also add HBO Max (with ads) or ESPN+ into the mix for a grand total of $16.99 per month. Going ad free costs an extra $9 per month for Disney+ and Hulu and an extra $13 per month for the trio bundle.

Best deal for Verizon customers: Save $6.99/month on Disney+ bundle Opens in a new window Credit: Verizon / Disney+ Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (with ads) $10/month as a myPlan perk (save $6.99/month) Get Deal

Verizon customers can score the Disney+ bundle for even cheaper with myPlan. Just add a Disney Bundle to your account through myPlan, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, all with ads. All three would regularly cost you $31.97 per month separately or $16.99 per month through the Disney Bundle deal, but by signing up through this myPlan deal, you'll only pay $10 per month.

Another way to get Disney+ for free Opens in a new window Credit: Total Disney+ Premium (no ads) Free with the Total Wireless $60 plan (save $15.99 per month) Get Deal

Verizon Total Wireless customers on the $60/month prepaid unlimited plan get Disney+ Premium (no ads) for free. No terms or trial periods. Just keep your account in good standing and you'll get Disney+ access. If you cancel or switch your plan, your subscription will end as well. If you're on the $50/month prepaid unlimited plan, you're also eligible for six free months of Disney+. Want to extend your trial? Just upgrade to the $60/month plan.

If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber and haven't really gotten your use out of its massive Prime Video library of shows and movies, then you really should start checking out what the streaming service has to offer.

uBlock Origin Lite has been a boon for many, but until now, it was only available on Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, leaving a lot of Apple users out. Now, though, it's finally available for macOS and iOS Safari users.

PCI Express 5.0 is just becoming ubiquitous since last year, and PCI Express 6.0 should land on consumer devices at some point. But you'd be surprised by how far ahead the PCI-SIG is internally. Work on PCI Express 8.0 is already underway, and it's insane.

I recently traveled to Europe and I foolishly forgot to pack a travel adapter. If you don't want this to happen to you, this Anker travel adapter is a pretty good deal—and it has a nice discount attached to it right now.

When registering a domain name, you're required to provide personal contact information for the WHOIS database, which is a directory showing who is the owner of a domain. While this promotes trust and transparency, it also puts your name, home address, phone number, and email out there for spammers, scammers, and data harvesters to find.

Number formats in Microsoft Excel define how data is displayed in your spreadsheet without changing the underlying values. As well as using number formats to present data as dates, times, percentages, and currencies, you can build a more specific number format using custom number formatting.

While the Control Panel is still around (and probably will be for a long time), you don't need to use it. Microsoft wants you to use the Settings app, and I'm inclined to agree, even if you still tweak some of your settings and preferences in the Control Panel.

Don't know which new film to stream in August? Netflix has a string of new releases slated for your screen this month, from thrilling murder mysteries and summer romances to a hilarious canine story with a unique premise.

Intel is still one of the biggest players in the CPU (and now GPU) segment, but it has struggled to keep up with the new times. As it turns out, it's struggling with yields for its newest technologies and silicon—though if you've followed Intel for a while, you know this is not exactly surprising news.

Over the years, Sony has demonstrated its commitment to coming up with new and ridiculous proprietary things alongside industry-defining products like the original Walkman and PlayStation. Many of these have seen widespread success, like Blu-Ray, or made sense for the time, like the ATRAC audio codec that made the MiniDisc viable; some of Sony’s worst ideas involved hardware connectors.

Even with the Trump administration slashing NASA’s budget and workforce, the space agency is moving ahead with a bold plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, according to Politico.

The report states that Transportation Secretary/Interim NASA Administrator Sean Duffy will soon announce the effort, with a goal of opening the 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor by 2030. Much of the urgency appears tied to competition from China and Russia. China plans to send astronauts to the moon in 2030, and both China and Russia have discussed a joint operation to build a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface.

SEE ALSO: NASA's carbon tracking satellites are on Trump's chopping block

NASA believes that another nation winning the nuclear race on the moon could inhibit the U.S.’s own lunar ambitions. With lunar night lasting two weeks at a time, nuclear power would be an alternative to solar, powering permanent or semi-permanent lunar bases and missions. Additionally, some of the moon lies in permanent shadow, making solar-powered missions more complicated in those areas. Nuclear power would open up much more of the moon to humans, according to NASA.

How the reactor would be built remains an open question, though Newsweek suggests the power generator could use uranium fuel and be buried under the lunar surface to shield astronauts from radiation.

NASA also has plans to replace the aging International Space Station by 2030, possibly with the help of corporate entities like Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin. The ISS is likely to be decommissioned and crashed into the ocean by then, and if an ISS replacement is not constructed in time, then China would operate the only permanently crewed space station.

Under Trump and Duffy, NASA is also prioritizing human spaceflight, including to Mars, while deemphasizing scientific efforts.

TL;DR: Scan anything, anywhere, with this lifetime subscription to iScanner, now A$38 (reg. A$309) with code SCAN through 7 September.

Opens in a new window Credit: iScanner iScanner App: Lifetime Subscription AU$38
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Raise your hand if you've ever had to rush to the library to print something. If most of us don't have the space for clunky printers, chances are we also don't keep a scanner at home. That's what iScanner is for.

This iOS app transforms your iPhone or iPad into a handy little scanner that works for basically any document type. It's also only A$38 (reg. A$309) for a lifetime subscription with code SCAN. 

No more wasted desk space

Even if you're one of the few with a physical scanner still in your presence, you can now clear some counter space thanks to iScanner. And while you're at it, you can throw away that dusty old filing cabinet, too. 

iScanner is the number one US-based scanning and document management tool, letting you knock items off your to-do list from anywhere. Need to save a receipt for taxes? Do you have a contract you need to digitize? You can scan any document using just the phone on your iOS device. 

Students, entrepreneurs, educators, and stay-at-home moms alike will all find endless uses for a scanner in your pocket. The AI-powered tools ensure your documents' borders are detected and automatically adjusted while also straightening scan pages and ditching curves and skews. 

Thanks to AI, you can also use iScanner to help you solve complicated math problems.  Or put its OCR technology to the test and let it help you decipher text in up to 20 languages.

Once things are scanned, the app becomes a full PDF editor and file manager. Edit your scans, including signing them, adding text, or autofilling them with custom templates. Then, use the file manager's folder via drag and drop to keep them safe and organized. 

Scanning something confidential? You can also protect files and folders by locking them with a PIN. 

Use code SCAN by 7 September at 11:59 p.m. PT to get an iScanner lifetime subscription on sale for A$38. 

StackSocial prices subject to change.

For the first time since GPT-2 dropped over five years ago, OpenAI is releasing not one, but two open-weight AI reasoning models — and they’re available to download for free right now on Hugging Face.

Billed as “state-of-the-art,” the new OpenAI open-weight models were announced Tuesday in a company blog post. OpenAI says they "outperform similarly sized open models on reasoning, excel at tool use, and are optimized for efficient deployment on consumer hardware."

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There are two versions:

• gpt-oss-120b, the larger and more powerful model, which can run on a single Nvidia GPU.

• gpt-oss-20b, a lightweight alternative designed to run on consumer laptops with just 16GB of RAM.

To try out the new OpenAI models for yourself, head to the OpenAI gpt-oss page.

What does open-weight mean?

This release is a nod to OpenAI’s early roots, when the company was more publicly committed to open-sourcing its models (hence the company's name). While these aren’t “fully open source” in the strictest sense — the training data isn’t included — they are open weight, meaning the code and model parameters are available for anyone to use, tweak, and build upon.

And no, models like Meta’s LLaMA aren’t truly open source either — at least not by the standards of the open-source community, which requires access to training data as a baseline.

Since the release of GPT-2, OpenAI has steadily shifted toward a more closed and proprietary approach to its LLM development — until now. The recent release of open-weight models marks a notable change in direction, and it’s not happening in a vacuum.

With China’s DeepSeek AI and other labs in the country gaining traction and achieving impressive scores on benchmark tests, the pressure has been mounting for US tech companies to stay competitive in the global AI race. In fact, just last month, the Trump administration urged American AI developers to open source more of their technology in an effort to promote innovation aligned with “American values” and maintain a strategic edge.

Regardless of the motivations behind it, this move represents a significant step forward, not just for OpenAI but for the broader open AI ecosystem.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Rod Stewart never ceases to amaze fans with his weird choices.

At Stewart's show in Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 29, he dedicated his song "Forever Young" to longtime friend Ozzy Osbourne and played an AI-generated video featuring the late Osbourne using a selfie stick to take pictures with other famous musicians who have died, including Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Prince, Freddie Mercury, Tupac, Kurt Cobain, XXXTentacion, and Amy Winehouse.

One concert-goer called it a "new low" for AI use. A user on X pointed out that Stewart's use of an AI-generated video is a bit odd since he was friends with Osbourne and has performed with him — he could have simply used that footage instead.

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Now, I know what you might be thinking: "At some point, you have to take responsibility for your own actions." That is something my mom might say to me if I came home from a Stewart concert complaining about him having done something weird.

Stewart is a man with odd takes. For instance, he turned down a multi-million dollar gig in Saudi Arabia in 2023 because of the country's treatment of women and LGBTQ+ people, but, in 2025, publicly voiced support for far-right politician Nigel Farage, who famously has some controversial anti-LBGTQ+ and anti-choice views. Stewart is a man of many contradictions. So when he said in 2023 that AI could be the "destruction of mankind as we know it," we should have calculated that he might use AI for a bizarre tribute in 2025.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is suing several porn companies, according to a press release on Tuesday.

Uthmeier states that these porn sites aren't complying with Florida's age-verification law, which went into effect on Jan. 1. The law, HB 3, requires sites that publish a "substantial portion" of material that is "harmful to minors" to use a method to prove that visitors are over 18. HB 3 requires this method to keep personal information anonymous and be conducted by a nongovernmental, independent third party.

SEE ALSO: Supreme Court upholds Texas age-verification law for adult content

Florida's version of age verification is similar to that in other states, but some are more specific in that they require scanning a face or a government ID. These laws started to sprout up in states in 2022, beginning with Louisiana, and since then, free speech advocates and adult industry workers have told Mashable that the laws won't work for their intended purpose. A preliminary study out of NYU also suggests that age-verification laws don't work.

One reason is that they can be circumvented with software like VPNs, so visitors can pretend to be elsewhere. Another is that not every single website will comply.

Now, Uthmeier is suing companies that operate out of the Czech Republic, including the parent companies of XVideos and XNXX:

• Webgroup Czech Republic (which operates XVideos)

• NKL Associates (XNXX)

• Sonesta Technologies, Inc. (BangBros)

• Traffic F (an advertising network)

The AG is also suing GGW Group and GTFlix TV, distributors of GirlsGoneWild. The latter apparently also operates out of the Czech Republic.

The press release states that Uthmeier wrote two letters to two of the companies in April, demanding that they comply or face legal action.

"Multiple porn companies are flagrantly breaking Florida's age verification law by exposing children to harmful, explicit content. As a father of young children, and as Attorney General, this is completely unacceptable," Uthmeier stated in the press release. "We are taking legal action against these online pornographers who are willfully preying on the innocence of children for their financial gain."

When SCOTUS upheld Texas's age-verification law in June, experts told Mashable that it was a blow to free speech, as such laws quell adults' free speech, while also not actually stopping minors from accessing porn. Yet, these laws have also extended outside the U.S., as the UK has enacted age verification just last month. Already, internet users have found a way to bypass the law: using a photo of a video game character.

According to leaked documents, Apple may be gearing up to unveil its iPhone 17 lineup — including the iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro — on Sept. 9.

The rumor originates from iPhone-Ticker, a German blog, and was picked up by 9to5Mac, which reports that a local wireless carrier leaked internal documents pointing to an early September reveal.

SEE ALSO: Apple's iPhone 17 could come with a $50 price hike

While still unconfirmed, the date tracks with Apple’s usual playbook. The tech giant typically holds its iPhone launch events in the second week of September, excluding 2020, which was disrupted by COVID. The company also favors Tuesday announcements, though last year’s reveal was pushed due to the presidential debate.

If the leak holds true, we could be just weeks away from Apple’s next big drop.

This year, the spotlight is on the iPhone 17 Air, Apple’s rumored ultra-thin flagship measuring just 5.65mm thick. As Mashable’s Alex Perry put it, "that’s even thinner than a pencil."

Meanwhile, if you’ve been paying even casual attention to Apple leaks, most of the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro details are already out in the wild. One of the most eye-catching leaks is the new orange finish for the Pro models, which, to some (mostly me), is similar to the color scheme for the Charlotte Bobcats.

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Aside from that, 9to5Mac notes that if the rumored Sept. 9 reveal date holds, Apple will likely stick to its usual rollout pattern—meaning pre-orders could open that Friday, Sept. 12, with the official launch landing a week later on Sept. 19.

Artificial intelligence may soon play a bigger role in your air travel fares.

Airlines are reportedly working with AI companies to deliver "personalized" prices to customers by using AI tools to analyze their personal information and data.

Delta Air Lines is currently using AI technology from the Israeli startup Fetcherr for some domestic flights, said President Glen Hauenstein in an earnings call last month. Hauenstein said the technology is still being tested, but told shareholders that Delta intends to expand its use of AI by the end of this year. As of now, the airline uses AI for only 3 percent of its domestic flight fares, but wants to increase this to 20 percent, according to ABC News.

However, in a recent letter to members of Congress, the company denied using AI tools to price-gouge customers, as Reuters reported last week.

Fetcherr is one of the prominent suppliers of AI-powered dynamic pricing, and it already works with several airlines, including Delta, Azul, Virgin Atlantic, WestJet, and Royal Air Maroc, according to Aviation Week. Delta has said it doesn't share personal customer data with Fetcherr.

But the airline has come under scrutiny for its rhetoric around using AI to optimize some fare prices. US lawmakers, including Democratic Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, have accused Delta of "telling their investors one thing, and then turning around and telling the public another," said Gallego, who also said he believes Delta is engaging in "predatory pricing."

In a letter to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, Senators Gallego, Mark Warner, and Richard Blumenthal cited a comment made during an investor conference last December by Hauenstein, who said the company's AI price-setting technology sets fares by predicting "the amount people are willing to pay for the premium products related to the base fares."

"Consumers have no way of knowing what data and personal information your company and Fetcherr plan to collect or how the AI algorithm will be trained," reads the lawmakers' letter. The senators asked Delta to explain what data it collects and uses for its fares. Delta hasn't specified what data it relies on to set these individualized prices.

In response, the airline assured US Democratic senators that their ticket pricing "never takes into account personal data" but also spoke of the merits of using AI to set prices.

"Given the tens of millions of fares and hundreds of thousands of routes for sale at any given time, the use of new technology like AI promises to streamline the process by which we analyze existing data and the speed and scale at which we can respond to changing market dynamics," read Delta's letter to lawmakers.

While Delta insisted to US lawmakers that it’s not fixing prices with AI, recent revelations about Fetcherr raise serious questions about its technology.

Bloomberg reported this week on an alarming white paper by Fetcherr co-founder and chief AI officer Uri Yerushalmi. In the paper, Yerushalmi describes working with an unnamed airline to use artificial intelligence to create a pricing structure so complicated that it would “go beyond human cognitive limits,” according to Bloomberg.

So, even if AI isn’t used to “fix prices” in the traditional sense, it could still be used to make fare pricing so complex that consumers inadvertently end up paying more.

Rival airlines have also expressed concern. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said using AI to set individualized fares could have an impact on consumer trust. He also said the strategy is not something AA would do.

Dynamic pricing has long been a part of the airline industry's strategy, but the use of AI has the potential to drastically change travel bookings. As airlines look to maximize revenue by harnessing AI, many policy experts fear consumers could face much higher prices, as expressed to The Lever. Another looming concern is that AI-powered pricing schemes can lead to price collusion between companies. Some, like Scott Keyes of Scott’s Cheap Flights, believe prices could actually be lowered, as he wrote in Time.

Last week, Democratic lawmakers Greg Casar and Rashida Tlaib introduced the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act, a piece of legislation that would ban companies from using AI to fix prices or wages based on Americans' personal data. The lawmakers cited Delta's plans to increase their use of AI to set prices.

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"Giant corporations should not be allowed to jack up your prices or lower your wages using data they got spying on you," said Congressman Casar in a statement. "Whether you know it or not, you may already be getting ripped off by corporations using your personal data to charge you more. This problem is only going to get worse, and Congress should act before this becomes a full blown crisis."

SAVE $204: Through Aug. 31, new subscribers to NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV can get the full 2025-26 football season for $34.50/month, or $276 total. That's $102 less than the price for returning users.

Opens in a new window Credit: YouTube NFL Sunday Ticket (8 months) $276
$378 Save $102 New users only Get Deal

NFL Sundays are arguably the hardest sports days of the year to keep up with. There are 13 — repeat, 13 — games slated for the first NFL Sunday of the season, but most people can only watch a handful of those broadcasted locally. People who have NFL Sunday Ticket can watch every single one, even after they air.

A full season subscription is usually $378 for returning subscribers, but anyone who has never signed up for Sunday Ticket can secure the 2025-26 season for $276 ($34.50/month for eight months) through YouTube TV. That's $102 off the normal price of $47.25/month.

SEE ALSO: Watch the last 2 months of regular season baseball for $34.99

The promo is running through Aug. 31, so you have time to get set up before the first games on Sept. 7. AS for which NFL games you get with NFL Sunday Ticket, it's in the name: every NFL game on Sundays. This includes your local broadcast games and out-of-network games — so you can keep up with your closest team geographically, plus all the other games across the country that day. YouTube's multiview mode lets you watch up to four live games at once, plus unlimited in-home streams and even two outside of your home. It's all a must for Fantasy players who need to keep an eye on a handful of players.

Unfortunately, the elusive Thursday Night Football games still require a Prime subscription. Monday Night Football is easier to catch if you have cable or a streaming service that gets ABC or ESPN (most do).

Make sure you've got one of the best 65-inch TVs ahead of football season, too.

Google may have partially walked back a plan to deprecate all shortened goo.gl links, but millions of links that rely on the link shortener will still break before the end of August.

Links created with Google's URL shortener that are still actively being used will be "preserved," according to an Aug. 1 update to its original 2024 announcement.

Initially, Google decided turn off its URL shortener tool and kill all goo.gl links, redirecting them to a page notifying the user that the links would become inactive after Aug. 25, 2025 before allowing users to proceed to the originally linked page.

The way links are shared online has changed since the link shortener heyday in the early and mid 2000s. Shorteners like goo.gl offered a cleaner, more user-friendly way to share long URLs — especially when social media sites like Twitter, now X, had shorter character limits. Plus there are lots of other services like Bit.ly and Ow.ly that became more popular than Google's.

"Over time, these existing URLs saw less and less traffic as the years went on - in fact more than 99% of them had no activity in the last month," said Google's announcement last July.

But it turns out, some of these links were still actively being used.

"We understand these links are embedded in countless documents, videos, posts and more, and we appreciate the input received," said the latest update. So those links will still be alive after the Aug. 25 cutoff date.

How to check if your links are still active

There's a simple test to see if your link still works after the cutoff date. To check if the link is still active, plug it into your browser. If the page you expect to see appears right away instead of redirecting to the Google message warning about the change first, it will continue to work, said the update.