Technology

iOS 26 is here, and if you've noticed a decline in your battery life since updating, you're probably not imagining it.

It's been a long-held belief among Apple users that an iPhone's battery performance declines — at least temporarily — after updating to a new operating system.

Apple itself acknowledges that there may be a decline in battery performance on a page dedicated to software updates.

Apple wrote:

"Immediately after completing an update, particularly a major release, you might notice a temporary impact on battery life and thermal performance. This is normal, as your device needs time to complete the setup process in the background, including indexing data and files for search, downloading new assets, and updating apps.

New features are exciting and help you get even more out of your Apple product, though some may require additional resources from the device. Depending on individual usage, some users may notice a small impact on performance and/or battery life. Apple continually works to optimize these features in software updates to ensure great battery life and a smooth user experience."

However, iOS 26 could also be the answer to your iPhone battery problems, as well as the cause.

iOS 26 comes with battery management tools, which, in my experience, have actually helped me hold a charge more reliably after updating. The new software has a feature called "Adaptive Power," which should work in the background to make adjustments to save your battery life. This could mean dimming your screen, letting low-priority activities take a bit longer, or automatically turning on low-power mode when your charge is low. The new OS also has a feature that tells you how long it will take you to charge to 80 percent, which is a personal favorite update. I've found it has helped me charge my phone more efficiently.

So yes, your battery life might be a bit down with iOS 26. But it should also prove easier to manage.

Sports sedans often carry a reputation for high prices and even higher running costs, but one standout proves driving excitement doesn’t have to break the bank. This sleek four-door blends head-turning style with genuine performance, offering enthusiasts a thrilling alternative to traditional luxury brands at a fraction of the cost.

Our lives are inextricably intertwined with what happens in digital spaces — from the news and current events we consume to the TV and music we stream and the viral videos we share in the group chat. 

American teens spend about 5 hours a day on social media. Internet users in the U.S. reportedly spend more than 7 hours online daily.

Driving it all? The content creators we love (and, sure, some you may love to hate).

About 57 percent of Gen Z aspire to be content creators someday. The creator economy is expected to reach $480 billion in the next two years, according to some projections.

These creators are shaping trends, what we consume and share, how we think, build, and connect online. 

It’s the reason the team at Mashable felt compelled to craft The Mashable 101, our ultimate list of the creators shaping the internet in the past year. 

Meet The Mashable 101: the creators keeping the internet interesting. From meme-makers to movement-starters, these are the people powering our timelines today. Dive into the full list and find your next favorite follow.

From the high-profile names you may recognize like MrBeast and Kai Cenat, to those who’ve surprised and delighted their way into the spotlight in the past year like Jools Lebron and Reesa Teesa, these creators, listed in no particular order, have been chosen for their ability to entertain, drive conversation, educate, inspire, or capture our attention again and again — sometimes to positive effect, but not always.

Some on our list may not be content creators by trade but have broken through all the same, at times in surprising ways. Others are behind the tools and platforms that keep us online and coming back for more (like BlueSky and Canva CEOs Jay Graber and Melanie Perkins). Our package also includes five cover stories, featuring creators Taryn Delanie Smith, Tineka "Tini" Younger, Arun Maini, Tefi Pessoa, and Morgan Jay.

All are cultivating engaged online communities and, in their own ways, are defining — and redefining — what the internet looks and sounds like right now. 

And who better than Mashable to curate a list like this? Our team is and has been a leading source for digital culture, from the creator economy and internet trends to influencer news and the tech that powers it all. Mashable's reporters and editors don't just write about digital culture; they're embedded in it.

Our list is not just about numbers, though many creators here have amassed huge followings. It’s also filled with those who cut through the noise, jumped onto our feeds, and caught our attention in the past year (through August 2025), who we’ve featured on our pages, or who are creating compelling content in the spaces we, too, love and cover — including tech, science, entertainment, social good, and more. 

So many members of our team, too, brought a little of themselves, their feeds, and their personal interests to this months-long effort. And in that way, this list highlights not only these standout creators but also what makes Mashable such a special publication.

You may already know some of these creators, but we hope to introduce you to a few new voices, too. 

They’ve made us laugh, made us cry, and helped shape how we see the world. Now, without further ado, dive in and meet the creators shaping the now and building what’s next in The Mashable 101. 

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage to discover the internet's most exciting voices.

SAVE UP TO $170: Two configurations of the 11-inch Apple iPad Air (M3, WiFi) are on sale for record-low prices at Woot as of Sept. 24. Get the 256GB model for $539 (normally $699) or the 512GB variant for $729 (usually $899).

Woot's Apple iPad Air deals at a glance: Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3, WiFi, 256GB) $539 (save $160) Get Deal Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M3, WiFi, 512GB SSD) $729 (save $170) Get Deal

We consider Apple's M3 iPad Air from early 2025 to be the best iPad for most people: It's thin, light, and offers MacBook-level performance in "a more affordable package," wrote Mashable's Samantha Mangino. It starts to get a little less affordable as you add more storage — its base model only has 128GB — but right now, two upgraded configurations are cheaper than ever before.

As of late September, Amazon's daily deals site Woot has the 256GB and 512GB variants of the 11-inch M3 iPad Air marked down to new all-time lows. (Note that they're only available in the blue hue.) The former is priced at $539, or 23% off its $699 sticker price, while the 512GB model is going for $729 — that's 19% off its $899 MSRP. Those prices beat their previous record lows on Amazon by $10 and $20, respectively, per the price-tracking site CamelCamelCamel.

Credit: Samantha Mangino

I checked Best Buy, Walmart, and Amazon itself to see if any of them were matching Woot's M3 iPad Air deals and came up dry. Both models were still stuck at $549 and $749 at all three retailers.

For reference, the iPad Air's M3 chip notched a multi-core score of 11,464 in Primate Labs' Geekbench 6 benchmark, our go-to performance test. That makes it almost as fast as the M3-era MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, which scored 11,998 and 12,057, respectively. This caliber of power, plus the new "windowing" system introduced in iPadOS 26, makes modern Apple tablets like the M3 iPad Air viable laptop replacements, Mangino said. (If you want a Magic Keyboard to seal that deal, it was $20 off on Amazon the last time I checked.)

SEE ALSO: Whether you're a creative or a traveler, these are the best iPads for everyone

Other notable specs you'll find on the M3 iPad Air include a bright anti-reflective Liquid Retina display, a 12MP Center Stage selfie camera, a 12MP rear camera, and a battery that lasted nearly 15 hours per charge in our testing. Our reviewer recommended it for anyone who's coming from an iPad that's at least two generations older: The M2 iPad Air is basically identical to it, chipset aside.

If you still need some time to mull over your purchase, just be aware that Woot's M3 iPad Air markdowns will be live for the next two weeks or until they sell out — whichever comes first.

SPEND $50, GET $15: Through Sept. 27, Target Circle members save $15 when they spend $50 on household essentials like paper towels, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, laundry detergent, and more.

Opens in a new window Credit: Target Household essentials at Target Save $15 when you spend $50 Get Deal

Despite household essentials (along with practically everything else in 2025) slowly eating away at your wallet, you still have to buy them. So why not save some money while you stock up?

Through Sept. 27, Target Circle members can save $15 when they spend $50 on household essentials of all kinds — from paper towels and paper plates to laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. Just load up your Target cart with items from the promotion until you reach the $50 threshold and select the red button that says "apply $15 off" to see the offer automatically applied at checkout. The offer is also valid in stores, if you prefer to do your shopping in person.

The list of products included in the promotion is pretty long, so there's a good chance it includes items you use regularly and need to stock up on. There are plenty of well-known brands like Downy, Arm & Hammer, Clorox, Dawn, Cottonelle, Tide, Mrs. Meyer's, Bounty, and Glad. But Target's own brands, like up&up and Dealworthy, are also included. Pro tip: You can get more for your money if you opt for Target's brands. There are over 50 pages worth of household essentials, but you can filter them by brand or product type if you're looking for specific items.

You'll need a Target Circle account in order to enjoy the savings, but unlike Amazon Prime, it's totally free to sign up. Beyond this household essentials sale, your free membership will also unlock access to Target Circle Week, which starts Oct. 10.

For decades, even some of the most mildly mannered people have become enraged at the sight of the unassuming, cheery typeface that is Comic Sans. Whether used on birthday cards, posters, wedding invitations, or road signs, it's guaranteed to spark debate.

The first Hades was Mashable's choice for the best game of 2020. It blended entrancing roguelike gameplay with gorgeous character art, sharp writing, and a unique form of storytelling that inched forward bit by bit every time you died. It was a huge hit and everyone loved it, so naturally, the prospect of a sequel was incredibly tantalizing.

After spending a few dozen hours or so with the final launch version of Hades II on Nintendo Switch 2, I'm pleased to report that developer Supergiant Games hasn't lost its touch. This is every bit the sequel you wanted, with a larger scope than the original, more variety, and a whole new set of 2D illustrated Greek gods to thirst over.

However, even as I feverishly enjoyed basically every second I played of Hades II, I couldn't help but notice that I was never as enthusiastic about it as I was about the 2020 original. While Hades II might technically be better than the first in some key ways, it's hard to match the sheer novelty of a new, wholly original creation from Supergiant, one of my favorite developers.

Hades II builds on the original in smart ways SEE ALSO: Nintendo Direct September 2025 livestream: New Switch 2 games incoming

As with the first Hades, the sequel spent a good amount of time in Early Access on PC. That means most of its new tricks were gradually revealed over the course of the last year and a half or so, which certainly dampened the surprises to some degree as I played it. Still, if you haven't followed along with the pre-release build of the game, there's a lot of new stuff to chew on here.

Most of the first game's mainstays, including the protagonist Zagreus, are nowhere to be found, as the titan Chronos has somehow resurrected himself and put them all in time prison. This time, you step into the boots of Melinoë, a previously unknown daughter of Hades and Zag's little sister, as she fights through both the underworld and the surface above to save her family and restore order.

On a moment-to-moment basis, this is still Hades, through and through. You'll spend most of your time dying at some point in a randomly generated journey to defeat Chronos, but there will almost always be something new to unlock or some new dialogue to experience with one of the many excellent characters back at your home base before the next attempt to take down the titan. There's an expansive suite of new weapons, new forms for said weapons, keepsakes with passive effects, and other upgrades for Melinoë to gradually collect throughout her quest, and unlocking all of them is still just as addictive as it was last time.

I suspect people will like Nemesis. Credit: Supergiant Games/Nintendo

Melinoë also plays fairly differently from Zagreus, which is one of the better things about Hades II. She was trained in the ways of ancient Greek witchcraft, so combat is now reliant on managing a magic meter that can do a lot of different things.

By default, Melinoë can set down a binding circle that traps enemies within it for a few seconds, making her adept at crowd control in a way Zagreus wasn't until he got a few upgrades under his belt. Combat encounters are often built with this in mind, and it's just a tremendously fun thing to do to a group of unsuspecting satyrs. Naturally, boons from various gods can modify her magic spells in dozens of different ways. Adding an extra layer of meter management onto the gameplay of Hades was a smart move that definitely pays off here.

By far the biggest structural change to Hades II is that there are now two separate routes for Melinoë to take, each with its own set of levels, boss fights, and hidden areas to discover. One goes down to the house of Hades, while the other goes up to the surface world, ending at the summit of Mount Olympus. That means there's effectively twice as much game here as there was last time, and the added variety is hugely important to keeping Hades II fun for long stretches of time.

Credit: Supergiant

Several of the new zones in Hades II also have much more interesting things going on than the simple "enter room, defeat enemies, collect prize, go onto next room" routine of the first game. I'll let you discover those for yourself, but to put it simply, it makes each run feel substantially more distinct from the last.

Hades II's narrative is also something that's best seen for yourself, but if you liked the character work and writing from the first game, you'll feel right at home here. Melinoë is a great protagonist who is a little less brash and impulsive than her older brother, and her relationships with figures from Greek mythology like Hecate, Nemesis, and Eris evolve over the course of the game in compelling ways. I also still really like the unique workplace atmosphere of the world in Hades, in which existential matters of life, death, and the fabric of time itself are treated with about as much gravity as a jammed office printer.

It's a really smart way to write characters who don't have to worry about the limits of mortality the way we do.

But novelty is hard to beat The art is gorgeous all around. Credit: Supergiant Games/Nintendo

I don't really have any substantive criticisms of what Hades II is, but I want to talk a little bit about what it is not.

Every Supergiant game up to this point was wholly unique and original, with no ties to anything else. The progression from the twitchy action RPG Bastion to the melancholy tactics of Transistor and into the distinctive choose-your-own-adventure sports drama of Pyre was fun to follow as a fan of the studio from the very beginning. Every new Supergiant game promised something you hadn't really seen before, or at least a mix of familiar ingredients you hadn't seen put together in that way before.

As the studio's first direct sequel, it was always going to be next-to-impossible for Hades II to have as much inherent novelty to it as its predecessors. I wholeheartedly recommend Hades II to anyone who has even a passing interest in it, but I just can't do so with quite as much verve as I might for something that was truly new instead. I absolutely respect and appreciate that Supergiant felt compelled to make the first sequel in its portfolio, but I hope its next game is something original.

It's really a small gripe, though, in the grand scheme of things. This is still Hades, complete with a kick-ass soundtrack courtesy of composer Darren Korb and others, excellent voice acting, and a cast of characters who are sure to fill the pages of various fanfiction websites for years to come. I'm not going to complain about that.

Hades 2 will be officially released on Switch 2 on November 20. You can pre-order it now for $49.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Supergian Hades 2 $49.99 at Amazon
Pre-order Here

SAVE $100: As of Sept. 24, get the M4 Apple Mac mini for $499, down from its usual price of $599, at Amazon. That's a discount of 17%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon M4 Apple Mac mini $499 at Amazn
$599 Save $100 Get Deal

Looking for a new desktop, but have very little space for a traditional tower? A Mac mini is the way to go. Not only is it small enough to put just about anywhere, it brings the kind of power you'd get in a much larger package, but in a smaller, more convenient form factor. And you can save big on one right now thanks to this Amazon deal.

As of Sept. 24, get the M4 Apple Mac mini for $499, down from its usual price of $599, at Amazon. That's $100 off and a discount of 17%.

SEE ALSO: Get Apple’s iconic M1 MacBook Air for under $400

The M4 Mac mini is just 5 x 5 inches overall, which Apple claims is less than half the size of its previous model, with a series of front-facing ports with two USB-C options and a headphone jack to make setup much easier than before.

The M4 chip makes it a speedy option no matter what it is you need to get done, and it's built to support Apple Intelligence from the start. That means that for less than $500, you get a small, zippy desktop option, and you can use Apple accessories you may already have (like a Magic Keyboard).

You can also use it to mirror what's on your iPhone and iPad, so if you're already in the iOS ecosystem, you can come straight to macOS and continue to use your photos, videos, and everything else that's important to you without having to transfer all your data.

If you're looking for simplicity, speed, and power in a compact size, this is an excellent option while it's still available on sale.

SAVE $1,400: The Jackery HomePower 3000 portable power station with two 200W solar panels is on sale at Amazon for $1,599, down from the normal price of $2,999. That works out to a 47% discount, which is the lowest we've seen at Amazon. Plus, today's deal includes a free renewed Jackery Explorer 550 portable power station.

Opens in a new window Credit: Jackery Jackery HomePower 3000 with two SolarSaga 200W solar panels $1,599
$2,999 Save $1,400 get a free renewed Jackery Explorer 550 Get Deal

Fall storms are coming. Try as we like to hang onto summer, eventually the autumn weather will arrive. In some parts of the country, that means wind and rainstorms. Other parts of the country will hunker down as hurricane season peaks. In either case, the power might go out. To combat that inconvenience, you might want to consider a portable power station. Thankfully, Amazon is making this an easy decision by offering an epic sale.

As of Sept. 24, the Jackery HomePower 3000 portable power station with two 200W solar panels is on sale for $1,599 at Amazon, marked down from the normal price of $2,999. That works out to a 47% discount and a savings of $1,400, which is the lowest we've seen at Amazon. Plus, today's deal includes a free renewed Jackery Explorer 500 portable power station, which has a standard list price of $250.

No one likes dealing with a power outage, but a portable power station can make life a whole lot smoother without grid power. For starters, the Jackery HomePower 3000 provides 3,072Wh of capacity. In real-world terms, that equals keeping the refrigerator cooling for a day or two, a light on for up to 10 days, a WiFi router powered on for 66 hours, or a fan for 60. Of course, you can also keep your phone charged via the USB-C ports.

SEE ALSO: The portable Jackery Explorer 1000 power station is $370 off and comes with a free solar panel

The portable power station weighs about 50 pounds, but it comes with built-in handles that make for easier transporting. When it comes time to recharge the Jackery HomePower 3000, the two SolarSaga solar panels will get it back to 80 percent capacity in about nine hours. A full charge with solar will take about 11 hours.

Today's deal also throws in a free renewed Jackery Explorer 550 portable power station. Jackery lists this coming with a typical price of $250, but it's totally free right now. The Jackery Explorer 550 is awesome for taking to the campground. The power station has three USB-A ports, one DC, and one AC. Jackery offers a six-month warranty on refurbished products.

Before major storms arrive, get prepared with the Jackery HomePower 3000 portable power station with two SolarSaga 200W solar panels. It's down to a record-low price at Amazon ahead of storm season.

SAVE 33%: As of Sept. 24, the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) (Renewed Premium) are on sale for $139.99 at Amazon, down from a list price of $209.99. That's a discount of 33%, or a savings of $70.

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) (Renewed Premium) $139.99 at Amazon
$209.99 Save $70 Get Deal

AirPods Pro are one of the best-sounding wireless earbuds available, but they're not exactly inexpensive. If you've been holding out for a deal, buying renewed is one of the smartest ways to save a significant amount of money without sacrificing quality.

As of Sept. 24, you can get a pair of "renewed premium" Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) for just $139.99. That's a 33% discount and $70 savings. (For comparison, a brand-new pair will set you back about $249).

SEE ALSO: The new Apple AirPods Pro 3 are already on sale — get the best-ever price at Amazon

Of course, the keyword here is "Renewed Premium." This is Amazon's guarantee that the earbuds are certified to be in "like-new" condition and have a battery that functions at over 90 percent of its original capacity. They're also backed by the same one-year satisfaction guarantee as a brand-new Apple product, so there's really nothing to lose with this deal.

You'll get all the features that brand-new AirPods Pro have: active noise cancellation, Adaptive Transparency for when you need to hear what's going on, and Personalized Spatial Audio for an immersive, 3D listening experience. The deal also includes the MagSafe Charging Case and four sizes of silicone tips for a comfortable fit.

Fall is officially here, and that means Black Friday and the holidays are right around the corner. If you're looking to get ahead on your shopping, we have you covered with a collection of the best tech deals and discounts available this week.

Are you looking for the perfect NAS operating system to run on your own hardware? There’s a number of options out there, including building your own NAS from scratch. However, you've also got several pre-built NAS-focused operating systems to choose from.

What if bringing nature back to our gray cities could help us contain urban flooding? When architect Kongjian Yu first pitched this concept, he was celebrated in the West, but ignored in his native China. Until a devastating flood in 2012 hit Beijing and forced policymakers to give his green idea a chance. Today, the so-called sponge cities have revolutionised landscape architecture in China and serve as inspiration to some Western architects. In this video, we explore the genesis of Kongjian Yu's sponge cities, some of the architects applying this model on a global scale, and how efficient sponge cities are in the face of climate change.

Wicked absolutely dominated 2024. Not only was it a box office smash, it also picked up 10 Academy Award nominations, winning two for Best Achievement in Production Design and Best Achievement in Costume Design.

SEE ALSO: 2025 fall movie preview: Every upcoming film you ought to know about

Now, director Jon M. Chu and Oscar-nominated leading ladies Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande look to defy gravity once again in Wicked: For Good, based on the second act of the beloved Broadway musical. The film's trailer is downright spectacular, but be warned: It also gives away some major twists from the musical and Gregory Maguire's original novel. View with caution if you don't want any spoilers.

Wicked: For Good picks up in the wake of Elphaba's (Erivo) showdown with the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum). Now wanted for her "wickedness," she fights back against her foes from the shadows.

Meanwhile, Glinda (Grande), embracing her role as "Glinda the Good," has become the mouthpiece for the Wizard and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). But as the trailer shows, Glinda hasn't abandoned Elphaba. In fact, Glinda hopes to protect Elphaba from the Wizard's quite literal witch hunt. Can this spellbinding pairing find a happy ending for themselves, and for the land of Oz?

On top of focusing on the tight bond between Elphaba and Glinda, Wicked: For Good's latest trailer also highlights some of the songs that will be featured in the movie. The trailer kicks off with Grande's rendition of "Thank Goodness" before switching to Erivo's take on "No Good Deed." Finally, it closes out with the pair joining forces on "For Good," which is guaranteed to give Wicked fans chills. Check out the full trailer above to become as "obsessulated" with the film as Glinda is with her bubble.

Wicked: For Good also stars Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, and Marissa Bode.

Wicked: For Good hits theaters Nov. 21.

Widgets give you a quick look at important information, let you control apps easily, and generally make your Android home screen a much better place. Unfortunately, the reality of Android widgets doesn't always live up to that promise.

Netflix's Emmy-winning Stranger Things comes to a close this year, and in a new featurette, the show's cast and crew take a look back on the beloved series and tease what's to come from Season 5.

SEE ALSO: 'Stranger Things 5' teaser: We're in for a traumatic final season, aren't we?

The featurette kicks off with nostalgic remembrances of shooting the first season, from David Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper, reminiscing on reading the pilot to the child actors discussing building their bond on set. But what's really going to intrigue fans are the featurette's sneak peeks of Stranger Things' fifth and final season.

This season, which creators the Duffer Brothers call "the biggest season we've ever had," picks up in the fall of 1987, over a year after the end of Season 4. Hawkins is scarred by the rifts to the Upside Down that Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) opened up, and the government has placed the town under military quarantine. They're also still searching for Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), forcing her into hiding as she and her friends prepare for their final battle against Vecna.

The Stranger Things 5 featurette hints at the epic scale of this battle, with footage of explosions, car chases, and roiling red Upside Down energy bearing down on the show's heroes.

"[Season 5] is more of an adventure and more of a mission, which I really like," Brown says in the featurette. "Everybody is really put into the thick of it. No one is sitting back on a walkie talkie."

To get a glimpse of the adventure that awaits in Stranger Things 5, check out the full featurette above. And brace yourself: We have a feeling not every beloved character is going to make it out of this one alive.

Volume 1 of Stranger Things 5 hits Netflix Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. ET. Volume 2 premieres Dec. 26, and the series finale premieres Dec. 31.

TL;DR: India vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup is available to live stream for free on Tamasha. Access this free streaming service from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The 2025 Asia Cup has been absolutely electric from the first over, and we've still got a few fascinating matchups to come. India vs. Bangladesh is one such game, with both teams starting the Super Four stage of the competition with a win. With places in the final up for grabs, which talented team will come out on top? You can follow all the action without spending anything.

If you want to watch India vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is India vs. Bangladesh?

India vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup starts at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sept. 24. This game takes place at the Dubai International Stadium.

How to watch India vs. Bangladesh for free

India vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup is available to live stream for free on Tamasha.

Tamasha is geo-restricted to Pakistan, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Pakistan, meaning you can unblock Tamasha from anywhere in the world.

Live stream India vs. Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like 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 Pakistan

4. Visit Tamasha

5. Live stream India vs. Bangladesh for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By taking advantage of these offers, you can watch the 2025 Asia Cup without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you plenty of time to watch the tournament for free.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming services from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for live streaming is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for Tamasha?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for live streaming on free sites like Tamasha, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Pakistan

• 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 eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2025 Asia Cup for free with ExpressVPN.

Apple's iPhone 17 Pro series marked the company's return to aluminum unibody builds on their phones after around 8 years of continuous glass sandwiches. But it's also a controversial one—it's scratching a little too easily. Thanks to iFixit, we might know the possible reason behind this.

The Nintendo Switch 2 may be new to the scene and still waiting for its first must-play exclusive RPG — but that wait might soon be over. That's because Pokémon Legends: Z-A launches on Oct. 16.

Yes, the game is technically coming to both the Switch 2 and its predecessor. But based on the hour I spent with it at a recent preview event, this could be the step forward the series has desperately needed. Longtime Pokémon developer Game Freak has made some admirable leaps in recent years, such as the open world-ification of Scarlet and Violet, but one thing remained stubbornly stuck in 1996: the combat.

The demo I played of Legends: Z-A included more than just combat, of course, but what stood out most were the changes to how fights work. As someone who has been begging for Game Freak to pick up the pace for years, the changes made to Legends: Z-A are exciting. Let's dig in.

SEE ALSO: 'Pokémon Legends: Z-A' preorder and Mega Evolution guide Pokémon Legends: Z-A hands-on preview: A seismic shake-up

There are plenty of things that distinguish Pokémon Legends: Z-A from other games in the immensely popular franchise. This is a spin-off, not the next big generational jump, which is likely coming next year. That gives Game Freak room to experiment — and based on my brief time with it so far, that seems to have paid off.

Like its predecessor, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, this is an open-world game where wild Pokémon not only attack your Pokémon, but they can also attack you. If you're not careful, they'll take you out, prompting a respawn at a previous checkpoint. Sneaking around and finding the right time to advantageously sic your Pokémon on wild ones is a big part of the game, but that's not necessarily new here.

What is new is how fights work. Combat in Arceus was still a take on the classic turn-based fights that go all the way back to the Game Boy. In Z-A, battles play out in real-time. If you just sit there and do nothing, you will lose because the opponent will just unleash all of its moves on you while you wait. Rather than choosing moves from a menu, you instead map four moves to the face buttons, and they operate on cooldowns, so you can use them as often as they're available.

Don't do it... Credit: Nintendo

This is a fundamental shift that has immediate effects on how you play the game compared to previous Pokémon titles. For instance, moves like Protect or Double Team that offer defensive or statistical benefits without doing any damage are now significantly more useful than they would be in a system where using one takes up an entire turn. Protect is especially interesting, as it essentially acts as a timed guard move; there were multiple fights where my opponent would use it right as I unleashed a powerful move, negating my attack entirely. That felt bad, sure, but it also lit up my eyes with the realization that I could pull that kind of BS on my enemies, too.

Positioning also becomes paramount in this new system. If you don't give it any commands, your Pokémon will follow you around during fights, and this is actually super important for dodging enemy attacks. Many moves now have areas of effect, with Flame Wheel bursting ahead in a straight line and Whirlpool leaving behind a destructive circle wherever you used it.

Ah, crap. Credit: Nintendo

It's a manifestly altered experience from something like Scarlet and Violet. Battles here play out incredibly quickly, so much so that it can be hard to keep track of everything that's going on, but I suspect that's part of the fun. There's a rolling log of combat updates on the right side of the UI (older games would make you manually button through an unskippable text box every time anyone did anything) that's genuinely kind of hard to follow, but in a cool way. As someone who has been yearning for a sped-up Pokémon experience for a long, long time, I got what I wanted here.

Probably the coolest example I can give of all these systems working together in harmony was in a boss fight against Mega Victreebel, a new, gigantic, and grotesque take on one of the original 151 Pokémon. During this fight, Victreebel would occasionally leave out circular pools of poison that I'd have to navigate around to avoid damage. One of the more fascinating bits of tactical nuance in this game is that, in situations like that, it actually pays off to withdraw your active Pokémon for a few seconds so they don't get hurt. That fight also gave me the ability to Mega Evolve a few of my guys, and while the mega meter steadily decreases during Mega Evolution, you can actually stall that by defensively pulling your Pokémon back into its ball and living to fight another day.

Sprinting and dodging while also juggling classic Pokémon mechanics like type advantages and stat boosts is a lot to process, and I only just started to get a handle on it by the end of my demo. We'll see how the combat meshes with everything else going on in Legends: Z-A when the game launches on Oct. 16, but for now, all I can do is applaud Game Freak for doing something truly new, even if it'll make some players uncomfortable.