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SAVE $30: As of May 30, the Apple Pencil Pro is on sale for $99 at Amazon. That's a 23% savings on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Pencil Pro $99 at Amazon
$129 Save $30 Get Deal

The Apple Pencil Pro, the latest in Apple's range of stylus pens, is back on sale at Amazon, and this time it's under $100. As of May 30, you'll find this stylus on sale for $99.

The Apple Pencil Pro features an impressive list of upgrades and new features that previous styluses don't offer. These more advanced controls include gestures and haptics. For example, by just rotating the pencil, you can change the brush or pen tool settings mid-drawing. The squeeze interaction is also new and allows users to change modes or activate tools simply by squeezing the pencil.

The haptic feedback mimics the feeling of writing or drawing on real paper, delivering subtle vibrations to match the activity being performed on the iPad.

Similar to the Apple Pencil 2, the Pro can be charged wirelessly by magnetically attaching it to the side of compatible iPads. According to Apple, the Apple Pencil Pro is compatible with the iPad Pro 13-inch (M4), iPad Pro 11-inch (M4), iPad Air 11-inch (M2 and M3), iPad Air 13-inch (M2 and M3), iPad Air 13-inch (M2), iPad Air 11-inch (M2) and iPad mini (A17 Pro).

It's compatible with the Find My locator, too. So if you misplace it, just use the app to track its location.

Find this deal at Amazon now.

SAVE $100: As of May 30, the Garmin Forerunner 265 is on sale at Amazon for $349.99. This is 22% off its list price of $449.99 and marks a return to its lowest-ever price, according to camelcamelcamel.

Opens in a new window Credit: Garmin Garmin Forerunner 265 $349.99 at Amazon
$449.99 Save $100 Get Deal

There have been quite a few great Garmin deals floating around recently, which is good news if you've been on the lookout for a new smartwatch. One of our favorites at the moment is the Garmin Forerunner 265, which is still at its lowest-ever price at Amazon even after Memorial Day sales.

The Garmin Forerunner 265 is currently marked down to $349.99, a 22% discount from its list price of $449.99. Again, this price marks a return to its lowest-ever price, according to price tracker camelcamelcamel. If it's been on your radar, there's no better time than now to pick it up and save some cash in the process.

SEE ALSO: The Garmin Venu 3S has never been priced lower than this

This smartwatch has all of the features to make it a worthy purchase, too. This is especially true if you're a runner. If you're planning for a race, it offers up personalized suggested workouts each day to help you out. It also has a morning report that provides you with a breakdown of your sleep, recovery and training outlook, and a training readiness score that can help you plan out your workout for the day.

On top of that, it boasts a bright AMOLED touchscreen display and up to 13 days of battery life in smartwatch mode to keep you more focused on your fitness rather than the watch's battery.

If you've been looking for a smartwatch upgrade, this deal on the Garmin Forerunner 265 is one you don't want to miss.

As mentioned before, there are quite a few more Garmin deals worth a look right now, too. The Garmin Forerunner 955 is also discounted at Amazon, as is the stylish Garmin Lily 2.

The best deals this week, hand-picked by Mashable's team of experts

• Roku Ultra 4K Ultimate Streaming Player (2024 Release) — $79.99 (List Price $99.99)

• Beats Pill Bluetooth Speaker — $99.95 (List Price $149.95)

• Roborock Qrevo Master Robot Vacuum and Mop — $899.99 (List Price $1599.99)

• Peloton Bike — $1,145.00 (List Price $1445.00)

• Apple AirTag (4-Pack) — $74.99 (List Price $99.00)

SAVE $100: As of May 30, the Amazon Fire Max 11 is on sale for $139.99 at Amazon. That's a 42% savings off the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire Max 11 $139.99 at Amazon
$239.99 Save $100 Get Deal

If a tablet upgrade is on your horizon, this latest deal on a refurbished Amazon Fire Max 11 is one to check out. As of May 30, this tablet has been reduced by $100, now only $139.99. This is the lowest it has been priced at Amazon, according to camelcamelcamel. This deal is specific to the 128GB device without lockscreen ads.

And don't be put off by the refurbished stamp; this tablet's quality is described as "like new." Amazon states it "is refurbished, tested, and certified to look and work like new and comes with the same limited warranty as a new device."

This tablet is one of the most advanced in the range, and is perfect for both work and play. The screen boasts an impressive 2000x1200 resolution and a bright display with over 2.4 million pixels. It's also certified for low blue light, so it's easy on the eyes, especially if you're looking at the screen for long periods of time.

You can add optional accessories to this tablet so you can adapt it to what you need. Accessories like a keyboard case and stylus pen can be purchased separately, and you can even download Microsoft 365 for all your work or study needs.

And we can't not mention the battery life, promising to last up to 14 hours, so it's perfect for on-the-go streaming or browsing. And with storage expandable to 1TB, it’s got plenty of room for all your favorite apps, movies, and documents.

This is a limited-time deal at Amazon, so don't miss out.

Trump, who's always loved dishing out nicknames, now has one of his own.

"They're calling him TACO, which is an acronym for 'Trump Always Chickens Out'," explains Jimmy Kimmel in the clip above from his Thursday monologue. "And you're not going to believe this, but he doesn't like the nickname at all."

Unsurprisingly, Kimmel has little sympathy for the president.

"How does it feel to be on the other end of the nickname game? Not great, does it? The only thing that would make it worse is if somebody changed the lyrics to a song by his beloved Village People to drive it home."

Cue a version of the band's hit "Macho Man" with the lyrics changed to – you guessed it – "TACO Man".

TL;DR: Live stream the 2025 Giro d’Italia for free on SBS on Demand. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

There is something incredibly special about watching the best cyclists in the world compete in the Grand Tours. The scenery is amazing, the fans are always passionate, and the racing can become incredibly intense. You quickly become aware that you're watching something otherwordly. These athletes are not normal, and we're blessed to be able to watch these stars compete over three weeks of gruelling competition.

The Giro d'Italia is the first Grand Tour of 2025. This year's event includes the likes of Primoz Roglic, Juan Ayuso, and Adam Yates. There are a number of talented riders very much in the running for the pink jersey.

If you're interested in watching the 2025 Giro d'Italia for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

What is the Giro d’Italia?

The Giro d'Italia is an annual multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in Italy. The Giro d'Italia is one of cycling's most prestigious three-week-long Grand Tours (alongside the Tour de France and Vuelta a España).

When is the 2025 Giro d’Italia?

The 2025 Giro d'Italia is the 108th edition of the famous race. This year's event takes place from May 9 to June 1.

How to watch the 2025 Giro d’Italia for free

The 2025 Giro d'Italia is available to live stream for free on SBS on Demand.

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

Live stream the 2025 Giro d'Italia for free by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for 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 Australia

4. Visit SBS on Demand

5. Watch the 2025 Giro d’Italia for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (2-Year Subscription + 4 Months Free) $139 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch the 2025 Giro d’Italia before recovering your investment.

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 streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for Giro d’Italia?

ExpressVPN is the best service for live streaming top sporting events from around the world, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Australia

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

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• 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 heavily discounted plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream the 2025 Giro d’Italia for free with ExpressVPN.

Mashable Say More is a video podcast where Mashable staffers interview your favorite actors, writers, directors, and more for long-form interviews that allow us to dig into their careers, latest projects, and internet obsessions. This week, Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko sat down in Mashable's New York City studio with Danny and Michael Philippou, the filmmaking brothers behind the new A24 horror movie Bring Her Back.

Two-time Academy Award–nominee Sally Hawkins stars as foster mom Laura. On the surface, she's all smiles and sunshine. But when nearly 18-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) and his sister, Piper (Sora Wong), move into Laura's remote home, Andy begins to notice something suspicious in his new guardian's behavior. A lot of it revolves around how she treats her other foster child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips).

If the Philippou's feature film debut, Talk to Me, had you spooked, Bring Her Back will have you screaming. In my review of the film, I raved, "While I gasped and screamed at the Philippous' latest, I also held my breath and cried. While they have warned critics and audiences their new film is 'bleak,' I found it beautiful. Alongside a story of psychological torment, physical torture, and murder, Bring Her Back also offers a story of love beyond death, and how that can be a double-edged sword."

Mashable spoke with the brothers about their influences, their origins making online videos, what happened with their proposed Street Fighter movie, and what they'd like to tackle next — including Talk to Me 2.

For more on the Philippous and their love of horror, check out Senior Creative Producer Mark Stetson's video, in which he played Choose Your Squad, themed to Talk to Me.

Mashable Say More will have new episodes every Friday, viewable on Mashable and YouTube. You can subscribe to our podcast feed anywhere you download podcasts.

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Thursday, May 30, 2025:

AcrossBrowser windows

• The answer is Tabs.

Whom you often long to speak to during a customer service call

• The answer is Human.

2024 film that won Best Picture

• The answer is Anora.

Weightless state experienced by astronauts, for short

• The answer is ZeroG.

Garden in Genesis

• The answer is Eden.

DownAdjusted, as a radio dial

• The answer is Tuned.

Love, in Rome

• The answer is Amore.

British nobility rank below earl and viscount

• The answer is Baron.

Grab a hold of

• The answer is Snag.

Mental fog

• The answer is Haze.

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

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to the latest Mini Crossword.

A NASA rover ambling over the red desert planet for the past four years has been recording audio of Mars. 

In this alien world 156 million miles away in space, even the everyday whispers of wind and mechanical parts are exotic to human ears. Scientists say that's because the Martian atmosphere is about 1 percent as dense as Earth's, which alters the volume, speed, and characteristics of sound.

How to describe what Perseverance has heard at Jezero crater? 

Well, it doesn't not sound like the eerie ambient noise of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, but you can listen for yourself.

Like an aspiring DJ or singer-songwriter, Perseverance has a Soundcloud account, where people can experience the latest Martian tracks. NASA shared this week some of the strange audio the rover has captured. You can find a sampling further down in this story. 

SEE ALSO: A NASA Mars rover looked up at a moody sky. What it saw wasn't a star. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech illustration

When the rover touched down on Mars in 2021, it didn’t just bring cameras, drills, and tubes for rock samples. It also carried two microphones — nothing special, just a couple of off-the-shelf devices anyone could buy online. The only modification NASA made was to attach little grids at the end of the mics to protect them from Martian dust. 

One of the microphones, mounted on the rover’s head, is known as the SuperCam and has recorded most of the audio; another is attached to the body. What they’ve picked up is changing the way scientists think about the Red Planet. 

This is the first time humanity has ever been able to listen to the din of another world. 

"We've all seen these beautiful images that we get from Mars," said Nina Lanza, a Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, in a NASA video, "but having sound to be able to add to those images, it makes me feel like I'm almost right there on the surface."

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

NASA shared Martian audio in the above post on X.

Researchers published the first study of acoustics on Mars in the journal Nature, based on Perseverance's recordings, in 2022. Apparently, the Red Planet is a much quieter place than originally thought, and not just because it's unpopulated. 

It’s so silent, in fact, there was a time the rover team believed the mics had stopped working. But Perseverance just wasn't getting much material from its surroundings. That's largely due to Mars' low-atmospheric pressure, though the pressure can vary with the seasons.

The team studying these sounds found that Mars' thin air, composed mostly of carbon dioxide, makes sound waves behave differently. On Earth, sound travels at roughly 767 mph. On Mars, deeper pitches move at about 537 mph, with higher ones traveling a bit faster, at 559 mph. 

The thin atmosphere also causes sound to drop off quickly. A sound that could be heard from 200 feet away on Earth falls silent after 30 feet on Mars. Higher-pitched tones have an even shorter range. 

The microphones mounted to Perseverance are off-the-shelf devices anyone could buy off the internet. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

"Sounds on Earth have very rich harmonics. You can hear multiple frequencies. It gets a really nice depth to the sound," said Justin Maki, a NASA scientist, in a video. "On Mars, the atmosphere attenuates a lot of those higher frequencies. So you tend to hear the lower frequencies, and it's a much more isolated sound, a little more muted than the sounds we hear on Earth."

With this data, scientists have learned that some of their earlier models for how they thought sound should move on Mars missed the mark. 

"The Martian atmosphere can propagate sound a lot further than we thought it could," Lanza said.

Translation: The Red Planet can literally carry a tune.

Amazon is a well-known destination for cheap clothes and designer dupes. But Amazon isn't just trying to outsell Temu and Shein — it's trying to compete with The RealReal.

Quietly baked into the interface for Amazon's high-end storefront, Amazon Luxury Stores, is a pre-loved tab full of luxury vintage styles from just about any major design house you could think of.

SEE ALSO: As tariffs invade the apparel market, selling your clothes online is the move — here's how

You can sort between pre-loved men's and women's fashion or search by designer: Prada, Cartier, Margiela, Chrome Hearts, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton are all options, just to name a few. The variety has a clear focus on women's bags and jewelry, but there are some clothes and accessories like sunglasses and belts in the mix. Most items ship within the next few days with a few "get it by tomorrow" options scattered throughout.

So, if you need an $18,000 Cartier watch by tomorrow, Amazon has you covered. Looking for a really nice Father's Day gift idea? The whole fam could go in on a Rolex. Is the third season of And Just Like That making you miss Samantha again? You know miss thing would tell you to buy that Birkin bag. However, the real question is: Can you really consider yourself a good pet parent if your dog doesn't have a $4,950 pre-loved Hermés dog house?

Signing up for notifications about luxury drops or special offers unlocks 10% off your next Luxury Stores purchase.

Opens in a new window Credit: Prada Amazon Luxury Stores Pre-loved designer items Get Deal Where does Amazon get all these vintage designer items?

Similar to the way small businesses sell their items through Amazon's Support Small storefront, listings in Amazon Luxury Stores come from third-party luxury sellers and stores. Some are on the niche side, and some are quite recognizable if you're a veteran luxury thrifter. For instance, a ton of the bags are from What Goes Around Comes Around, who originally partnered with Amazon for the launch of the luxury resale section in 2022.

Remember that Amazon is not conducting any further authentication processes beyond what the third-party sellers themselves do. So if you're skeptical about a designer product's legitimacy, you'll have to look into that seller's specific approach to verification.

Credit: Mashable screenshot / Amazon

While "Amazon" and "designer items" may sound sketchy in the same sentence, Amazon isn't trying to scam people here. In April 2025, Amazon and Cartier actually joined forces to file a lawsuit against one influencer and a handful of businesses for attempting to dodge Amazon's anti-counterfeit guardrails.

The condition of the item is noted in each listing, i.e. "excellent" or "very good" pre-loved condition, plus notes like "faint tarnishing to back of case" or "light scuffing to exterior leather shoulder straps" if applicable. Some listings also promise to include a Certificate of Authenticity.

If you're not satisfied with your purchase, most items bought through Amazon Luxury Stores can be returned within 30 days. The third-party seller will have to verify the return request, as well as approve the item's return condition before the refund starts to process.

Highlights from Amazon Luxury Stores Pre-Loved Louis Vuitton Monogram Canvas Croissant handbag $1,750 at Amazon Learn More Pre-loved Chanel Cream Lambkin Sport flap bag $3,950 at Amazon Shop Now Pre-Loved Tank Americaine de Cartier 18K White Gold watch $18,100 at Amazon Learn More Pre-Loved Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch $18,050 Learn More Pre-Loved Rolex 18K Yellow Gold & Diamond Datejust President watch $29,500 at Amazon Learn More See the whole pre-loved collection Check prices at Amazon Shop Now

The AI revolution is well and truly upon us. As we grapple with the ramifications of generative AI in our professional and personal worlds, it’s worth remembering that its impact will be felt in even the most intimate corners of our lives — including our private browsers. 

Whether you’re aware of it or not, AI is coming for the porn industry. Already, there are a number of new genres emerging which make use of generative AI, such as hyper porn, a genre of erotic imagery which stretches the limits of sexuality and human anatomy to hyperbolic new heights (think: a Barbie-esque woman with three giant breasts, instead of two). There are also various iterations of ‘gone wild’ porn, a subdivision of porn which sees users attempt to ‘trick’ safe-for-work image generation models like Dall-E into depicting erotic scenes — and enjoying the work-arounds and euphemisms which these tools may use to avoid depicting explicit sex. 

But it’s unlikely AI will wipe out the existence of IRL porn performers. AI porn stretches the fantasy innate within the porn and erotic content industries – materialising flawless avatars tailored to an individual’s unique desires out of, seemingly, thin air. For some, this will be a turn-on but for others, it will lack the sweat and grit that makes IRL sex so appealing. 

“I think there will be a splitting between people jumping head first into unreality and the people who actually want an antidote to it. We're already seeing such a huge fracturing of reality in our everyday lives,” says Vex Ashley, the porn performer, director, producer and one half of creative pornography project Four Chambers. 

SEE ALSO: Majority of Gen Z would marry an AI, survey says

Ultimately, she insists, there will be a demographic that still hungers for a semblance of real human interaction. “We'll absolutely see something like a build-your-own-AI custom pornstar who is also your digital girlfriend but I think — despite what people say — for many, sex is an experience they want to be grounded in some kind of authenticity,” Ashley adds. “Person to person, there's a reason why you want to talk to your favourite pornstar on OnlyFans. I think we'll see a pushback, a rise of amateur, homemade content and in-person sexual events, experiences — something tactile.”

AI porn and gooning

While the industry is beginning to grapple with generative AI, the consumer point of view is coming into focus and, for some, it could provoke difficulties – especially for those already struggling with excessive porn use. While sex and relationships therapists tend to be sceptical about the topic of ‘porn addiction’ — it doesn’t appear in diagnostic manuals and it is instead considered to be a form of compulsive sexual behaviour — a whole porn subculture exists around ‘gooning’: an extreme evolution of orgasm denial which sees individuals, generally cis men, enter into a trance-like state after edging for hours, locked into masturbation sessions with the aid of online porn. Speaking to an anonymous gooner, he shares his view of how AI may impact chronic porn users. 

SEE ALSO: What is gooning?

“AI porn kind of offers this new version of gooning. What is extremely sexy is typing in every crass thought that you have and immediately seeing it generated as an image.” He describes accessing NSFW generative AI models like Uber Realistic Porn Merge and then downloading different LoRAs (Low-Rank Adaptation — a type of add-on which allows you to quickly fine-tune an AI model) for various angles and scenarios within porn, such as ‘reverse anal’ or ‘deep-throat side view’. “You try them out and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is super hot…but I want the characters to be holding hands with a priest!’” 

From there, the hunger for more and more extreme fantasies can quickly escalate. “It’s bizarre, you tend to end up in this cycle of typing in a scenario, waiting five seconds until it comes up and, from there, chasing different scenarios — like having sex in the subway — that you can’t do in real life.” The possibilities of AI to turn an individual’s most niche fantasies into tangible images, all at the click of a button, are hugely compelling but, as my interviewee explains, it’s also potentially troubling for individuals who may struggle with compulsive porn use. “Live generation goon sessions will definitely become more popular,” he says. “I’ve seen people in Reddit threads who are like, ‘I can’t stop gooning over AI porn'. I agree — I tasted it and it was fucking addictive.”

It’s worth noting here that, for anyone who is concerned about their porn consumption (of AI content, or otherwise), you might want to ask yourself questions about whether you want to stop but can’t, or if there is a pattern of escalation. Ultimately, if you feel like your porn consumption is spiralling, it’s worth reaching out to a therapist specialised in the field of compulsive sexual behaviour or a charity such as Relate, which can offer support around so-called ‘porn addiction' (psychotherapists say there is no clinical evidence to support the diagnosis of 'porn addiction').

How AI porn will impact the real-life industry

But as well as holding potential concerns for porn viewers, the rise of AI porn could have a serious knock-on effect for individuals currently working in the porn industry as actors or performers. After all, the obvious appeal of AI is the ability to see images and short-form video that explore hyper-unrealistic fantasies that aren’t just impossible in ‘real life’ but for humans at all (like realistic vampire porn, or convincing erotic alien abduction scenes). 

For flesh-and-blood individuals working in the erotic industries, the increasing availability of AI — and potential impact on demand for porn featuring real humans — is already providing pause. “I think it would be naive to say that we won't see huge shifts across all industries, porn and sex have always been right at the forefront of technological advancement,” says Ashley. 

As with other industries and forms of labour, Ashley explains that there will inevitably be concerns around workers’ rights as consumers begin to explore AI-generated imagery. “We're unfortunately going to see a space long dominated by the labour, skill and ingenuity of women and queer people be flooded with men finally able to achieve the ability to create the image of a person they want to fuck, without needing the person themself,” Ashley explains. 

While some porn performers are using AI themselves, such as for sexy chatbots, the lack of employment law protections for workers in the industry means they will be especially vulnerable to consumer changes. “It's going to be a labour rights issue for sex workers who are already so legislatively unprotected compared to other performers in mainstream media,” says Ashley.

The danger of deepfakes

In addition to these labour rights concerns, AI can be used to create non-consensual explicit deepfakes, prompting serious questions around consumer responsibility. For those who are unfamiliar, non-consensual explicit deepfakes typically consist of an individual’s face and likeness being superimposed onto a naked body or an erotic scenario without their knowledge, then distributed online. It goes without saying that this type of material is a major violation of an individual’s right to autonomy, privacy, and dignity. As a result, the creation of these images is already due to become illegal in England and Wales, with legislation recently signed to crack down on deepfakes in the U.S. 

However, as Professor Clare McGlynn, an expert in the legal regulation of pornography, sexual violence, and online abuse explains, the consumption of these images remains unregulated — meaning that they can be viewed without repercussions. “Viewing sexually explicit deepfakes is not an offence. It is, though, deeply unethical. Survivors experience this abuse as a violation of their bodily and sexual integrity,” she explains. “Each viewing is a new act of sexual violence, a breach of their consent. That so many are viewing this material should be deeply worrying, as it suggests a large market for non-consensual material.”

Thankfully, efforts are being made to bring distributors of sexually explicit deepfakes to account — cutting consumers off from the source. This year, in fact, the figure behind one of the world’s best-known non-consensual explicit deepfake sites was identified, and the site in question, MrDeepfakes, shut down. 

However, more should be done to prevent this kind of abuse from happening, rather than taking down the material once it has already been made and distributed, as Madelaine Thomas, an adult content creator and the founder of Image Angel, a software company which creates invisible watermarks to prevent non-consensual image sharing, attests. “Social media platforms don't have the infrastructure they need to be able to protect the people on those platforms from content that isn't authentic or isn't captured in the correct way,” Thomas explains. 

The best-known cases of non-consensual explicit deepfakes involve well-known celebrities, but the scale of the harm is wider than many are aware. The ability to pirate the likeness or body of any individual who has posted photos on the internet has led to an increasing number of victims speaking out about the abuse they have faced over the past few years. In future, it’s likely that more and more individuals will sadly be impacted by these crimes, including those in the adult entertainment industry, a demographic who are often victim-blamed when they come forward about instances of sexual abuse. 

But are there solutions? In the background, work is definitely underway. For example, Image Angel was founded after Thomas’s intimate images were distributed without her consent, leading to a passion to prevent this kind of abuse in future — one that is reflected in her company’s mission. “Image Angel adds an invisible forensic watermark to any content that is received on a platform that has our tech installed. For example, if a content creator is sending out multiple nude or suggestive images, they can make sure that whoever receives them will be traceable if they share them,” she explains. 

While Thomas is keen to emphasise the damage of non-consensual explicit deepfake abuse, she also emphasises that the current AI model for all explicit content is based on the non-consensual extraction of erotic images. “I work with the Digital Intimacy Coalition, and for years we have been campaigning to get people to understand that generated deepfakes do not solely put one person at the center of the harm,” she explains. “The customer is none the wiser, but these AI tools are almost like a black hole that we are just seeing the very surface of. There are thousands of people, mostly women, whose images have been fed into these multi-language models. The tools might spit out an image of one person, but that image is comprised of thousands of sex workers’ data.”

Ultimately, an increased awareness around the potential harms of AI porn may encourage some viewers from taking a more conscientious approach. But we can’t just rely on consumers to do the right thing – there needs to be an infrastructure to protect individuals from having their image stolen and misappropriated. For her part, Thomas expects to see more porn and erotic imagery behind the paywall, with in-built technology to prevent content from being fed into AI models. She also expects that AI-poisoning tools, like Nightshade, may well augment in popularity as a way to prevent images and videos from being fed into AI models. 

Whatever the future holds, it will be a rocky journey for the adult entertainment industry and wider society as we grapple with these nefarious uses of new technology – making it all the more important to listen to porn and adult content creators, fight for survivors of image-based sexual abuse, and campaign for further AI regulation. 

TL;DR: SwiftScan VIP is a scanner app that works with any document type, and it’s on sale for $41.99 with code TAKE30.

Desktop scanners are useful, but they take up space and are not exactly convenient when you are on the move. In the same vein, using your phone camera as a scanner kind of works, but the quality is poor, and you have to manually edit all your scans. If you need a simpler, high-quality way to scan and manage documents, SwiftScan VIP is a mobile app that brings all the essential features of a desktop scanner to your phone or tablet, and a lifetime subscription is on sale for $41.99 (reg. $199.99).

Turn your phone into a scanner

SwiftScan makes it easy to scan documents, receipts, notes, and even whiteboards using your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. The app automatically detects document edges, enhances image quality, and lets you save your scans as PDFs or JPEGs with a single tap. It also supports multi-page scanning, so you can quickly create and save full documents from multiple pages.

Once you’ve scanned a document, you can touch it up with SwiftScan’s comprehensive editing tools. You can add notes or signatures, highlight text, redact sensitive information, and rearrange pages. OCR technology also makes scanned text searchable, which helps with managing files more efficiently. It even has a built-in file management system.

SwiftScan integrates with cloud storage platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, Evernote, and OneDrive. Files can be saved automatically or shared by email, print, or even fax, all from within the app. Smart file naming allow you to organize scans using custom labels, dates, or location data.

It might finally be time to say goodbye to the desktop scanner.

Use code TAKE30 to get a lifetime subscription to SwiftScan for just $41.99.

StackSocial prices subject to change

Opens in a new window Credit: SwiftScan SwiftScan VIP: Lifetime Subscription $41.99
$199.99 Save $158 Get Deal

TL;DR: Harness the power of Apple’s M1 Chip for just $514.99 (reg. $1,299) with this amazing deal on this 2020 MacBook Air.

Looking for power and portability without breaking the bank? Apple’s MacBook Air delivers exactly that, offering serious efficiency with Apple’s M1 chip in a slim, lightweight design that weighs under 3 pounds. And right now, one can be yours for just $514.99 (reg. $1,299), a better price than both Amazon and Walmart. The only catch is that there are limited quantities left.

This MacBook Air doesn’t skimp on power

If you need a laptop that delivers both power and portability without weighing you down, the MacBook Air is your perfect match. With its ultra-light design and impressive M1 chip, you get top-tier performance that easily slips into your bag.

Whether editing videos, running complex apps, or tackling everyday tasks, Apple’s M1 chip provides the speed and efficiency you need. It’s even speedier than Intel-based laptops — with 3.5x faster performance and 5x faster graphics for your apps and games. 

The 16-core Neural Engine helps the laptop handle advanced tasks like AI and machine learning, keeping it compatible with the latest technology. It comes with 128GB SSD, offering ample space for your important data and favorite apps.

The 13.3″ Retina display supports millions of colors, making it ideal for both work and personal use. And its impressive 18-hour battery life lets you get through a full day without a recharge.

Need peace and quiet to work? Don’t worry, this model features a fanless design, offering silent operation with no annoying hum.

You’re securing this model at a 60% discount thanks to its grade A refurbished rating. That means it will arrive on your doorstep in near-mint condition with virtually no sign of use, but you’ll still enjoy the deeply discounted price. 

Get a 13.3″ Apple MacBook Air with the M1 chip for just $514.99 (reg. $1,299), a better deal than Amazon or Walmart, while supplies last. There are limited units left.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air 13.3" (2020) M1 MGN63LL/A 8GB RAM 128GB SSD Space Gray (Refurbished) $514.99
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TL;DR: Learn the most important parts of the books you don’t have time to read with a lifetime subscription to Headway Premium, now $59.99.

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A lifetime subscription to Headway Premium is only $59.99 (reg. $299.95) — but that’s only during this limited-time sale.

How Headway makes learning fit any schedule

With a one-time purchase, you get unlimited access to Headway’s full collection. That includes summaries from over 2,000 books across a range of topics from personal development to business, productivity, and health. New titles are added regularly, so there’s always something fresh to explore.

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One of the hidden benefits of Headway is that you can use the book insights to determine if you actually want to read a full text on your own. No more finding out 300 pages in that you’ve wasted your time reading a dud.

For a limited time, it’s only $59.99 to get a Headway Premium Lifetime subscription.

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TL;DR: Replace your Adobe Acrobat subscription with PDF Converter Pro on sale for $23.99 with code SAVE20.

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PDFs are one of the most common file formats in the world, so isn’t it a little ridiculous you need to pay a subscription to apps like Adobe Acrobat just to edit them? If you don’t want to pay a monthly fee just to use a common file, switch to an app that has a lifetime license.

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Edit PDFs without a subscription

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It's easy to be cynical about sequels when Hollywood's cinematic landscape is littered with bad examples. But then a sequel comes along that's so good, it'll knock you out. 

Karate Kid: Legends is a sensational sequel, building on the classic underdog framework of the original 1984 Karate Kid movie, while working in fresh fun, familiar faces, and a dazzling new talent. 

Directed by Jonathan Entwistle, Karate Kid: Legends unites the original trilogy's Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) with the 2010 Karate Kid's martial arts master Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Together, they train a new "karate kid" to best a ruthless bully. But the best bits of this high-kicking sequel are actually when this new kid, Li Fong (played by the dynamic Ben Wang), is carving out his own story in New York City. 

Karate Kid: Legends brings a rumble to the Bronx (and Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island).  Credit: Jonathan Wenk / Sony Pictures

At the start of Karate Kid: Legends, Li lives in Beijing with his single mom (Ming-Na Wen), who really wishes he'd stop sneaking off to train kung-fu with Mr. Han. After a family tragedy, all she wants for her son is a fresh start and "no fighting!" So, she moves them to New York City, where the streets are bustling, and the pizza joint owners will mock you for asking for "stuffed crust." 

Despite this embarrassing faux pas, fish-out-of-water Li makes his first friends at Victory Pizza. The shop owner's daughter, Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley), is welcoming and adventurous, offering to show Li around the neighborhood on the back of her motorized scooter. His crush on her is instantaneous and understandable, as their montage of zipping around lower Manhattan plays with the excitement and freedom of young love. 

Li doesn't hit it off as fast with Mia's dad, shop owner/retired boxer Victor Lipani (Joshua Jackson with a New York accent as thick as a grandma slice). But the two find a common interest in sport fighting and a common enemy in the karate school nearby. 

While the owner of the dojo is a vicious loan shark out to cripple Victor and/or his business, the school's prize student, Connor Day (Aramis Knight), is a bully who harasses both Mia and Li. Naturally, there's only one way to save the shop and his friends, and that's for Ben to go against his mother's wishes and fight to win the Five Boroughs Tournament. This karate competition leaps to the outer boroughs for the early rounds, with a climactic skyscraper-top fight as the final showdown that awards honor and riches to the winner. 

Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan return to Karate Kid franchise with enthusiasm. Credit: Jonathan Wenk / Sony Pictures

The script by Rob Lieber ties together Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han's stories with a history that unites their houses of martial arts training. Sure, one mastered karate and the other kung fu, but they are "two branches, one tree." 

So, even though these masters have never met, when Han's dear kung fu student Li needs help to train in karate for the Five Boroughs Tournament, San Fernando Valley-based Daniel LaRusso cannot refuse. Both of these actors carry themselves with an enchanting ease befitting a master. They've also perfected a breezy comedic style that plays out in winking lines and precisely delivered punches, which plays well in the training sequences.  

Props to Entwistle and his stunt team. The training scenes once involved painting fences, practicing balance on a post, and catching flies with chopsticks. Here, they involve Li being simultaneously (but lovingly) pummeled by both masters as they quibble over which martial arts form is superior. The energy is bouncy and hilarious, like Jackie Chan's '90s action movies.

Wang carries on Chan's legacy by performing action skillfully while being funny. He can best many a rampaging rando, but his face makes clear he's not thrilled about the need to! His face expressing exasperation, shock, and even annoyance makes these scenes play as comic fun, rather than frighteningly tense. 

Ben Wang is a marvel.  Credit: Jonathan Wenk. / Sony Pictures

Making the leap from the lead in Disney+'s American Born Chinese to Karate Kid: Legends, Wang has to deal not only with balancing teen drama with fight choreography, but also standing up to iconic martial arts movie stars, all while making a karate kid his own. He does all of this with an astonishing ease. 

While Li is emotionally guarded, Wang is never wooden or stiff. He offers a nuanced performance of pain and trauma, which grounds the film and allows the moments of exaltation to be all the more contagious. When he gears up to fight a bully, his determination makes our hearts leap up into our throats. When he is getting playfully smacked by Daniel and Mr. Han, he has the comedic timing of Jackie Chan himself. And when he sheepishly flirts or fights with Mia, Wang makes that so believable he leaves his audience blushing in empathy.

Li Fong walks in Daniel LaRusso's footsteps while not being caught in his shadow, and that's because Wang has a mesmerizing screen presence and keen comedic sensibility that makes him addictively watchable. 

Lucky for us, he appears later this year in the Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk and has been cast in the prequel The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. 

Karate Kid: Legends is much more than its cameos. Credit: Jonathan Wenk / Sony Pictures

While Chan and Macchio are terrific together at scratching that nostalgia itch, it's Wang and his New York ensemble that really makes Legends shine. He and Stanley have great chemistry, even as they play it old-school in romance, creeping toward the first kiss for most of the movie. Knight is a seething bully, the kind you love to hate. Playing a bookish tutor who becomes a devoted (and delightfully awkward) friend to Li, It's Wyatt Oleff proves a hilarious wingman with over-earnest compliments and an off-key serenade of the Backstreet Boys. But best of this supporting bunch is Joshua Jackson. 

Sure, part of it is the dizzying juxtaposition of The Mighty Ducks star popping up in a Karate Kid movie. However, Jackson digs in to the story of the boxer turned pizza parlor proprietor with charming earnestness. His tough guy demeanor is initially gruff, but soon gives way to a heart-of-gold sense of good neighborliness that's been a part of this franchise since Mr. Miyagi first fixed Daniel's bike. While the budding romance between Li and Mia is sweet, there's a profound joy in watching Victor develop a brotherly bond with a boy who really needs it. 

Altogether, this incredible cast builds a movie that is alive with laughter, excitement, and love. The fight scenes are thrilling, thanks to Wang's terrific physical performance and sound effects that make hard blows really crack. But like the best of this franchise, it's always the heart in its story that hits the hardest. 

A confession: I went into this movie expecting a half-hearted, recooked remake of the original film. While Karate Kid: Legends has similar DNA, it stands on its own as a family-friendly film absolutely worth seeing in theaters.

Heartwarming, exciting, and surprising, Karate Kid: Legends had me laughing, gasping, tearing up, and cheering. Don't mistake it for just another sequel. See it in theaters, and take the kids. 

Karate Kid: Legends opens in theaters May 30.

The rise of filmmaking duo Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou (aka RackaRacka) has been truly remarkable. Australian brothers who began exploring their love for stunts, spectacle, and storytelling through videos on Facebook, then Youtube, they made a marvelous feature film debut in 2023 with the terrifically terrifying Talk to Me. The haunted hand thriller not only wowed critics but also awed audiences, making it a bona fide box office hit. Now, they return with a somber sophomore effort, Bring Her Back. 

Like Talk to Me, their follow-up is a riveting horror movie about grief, once more centered on a teen protagonist all too familiar with the topic. This time, screenwriters Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman, who also wrote Talk to Me, bring a sophisticated blend of empathy, agony, and body horror into Bring Her Back, which makes it a less raucous but more mature movie than their last. 

But fear not. With two-time Academy Award nominee Sally Hawkins fronting this film, Bring Her Back is just as frightening as the Philippou brothers' first... maybe even more so. 

Sally Hawkins goes psycho-biddy in Bring Her Back.  Sally Hawkins stars in "Bring Her Back." Credit: A24

The English actress, whose roles include a sweet mum in Paddington and a receptive lover to a sea creature in The Shape of Water, plunges into horror with an alarming mix of earnestness and intensity. In Bring Her Back, she plays a foster mom to two half-siblings who have been recently orphaned. 

Young Piper (newcomer Sora Wong) is partially sighted, but fearless in exploring the world around her. Her older half-brother Andy (Billy Barratt) is more hesitant, perhaps because he has seen horrors she can't imagine — like exactly how their father died.

When they turn up at the cozy rural cottage of their new foster mom, Laura (Hawkins), she seems like a ray of light. Like her heroine in Happy-Go-Lucky, she wears bright colors and a big smile, all the more welcoming for scared or scarred children who show up at her door. But beneath her cheery disposition, Laura is also grappling with grief, having lost her daughter a year before. 

It seems she buries her pain by caring for other children in need, including the odd Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips), who stares coldly at his new adopted siblings but won't speak a word. Bound to Andy's perspective for much of the film, the audience sees Laura as he does, which is to say that her facade of motherly warmth hides a cruel streak. But even the suspicious teen boy can't imagine what horrors lie in store for him and his siblings. 

Bring Her Back channels grief into terror.  Sora Wong and Billy Barratt co-star in "Bring Her Back." Credit: A24

Pulling from their own experiences with grief, the co-directing Philippous explore this gnarly emotion through horrific twists, nerve-shredding gore, and a roaring undercurrent of religious horror. As teased in the trailer, there's something occult going on in Laura's house. Wisely, as they did with Talk to Me, the Philippou brothers don't get caught up in explaining the supernatural evil at the root of their horror story. Instead, we — like the teens plagued by it — experience the uncertainty of it with dread and urgency. It's that awful sensation you feel in your bones that something is wrong, but you can't clearly explain it in order to get help. And even if you could, who would believe you? 

This feeling of being trapped by Laura (and the foster system that venerates her) reflects the inescapability of grief. Then, the Philippous push harder on the bruise of such an injury and into the surreal. There are moments in mourning where the loss feels so big it's incomprehensible, and the very world around us feels impossible and alien. So for Andy (and to a lesser degree Piper) to feel out of sorts in Laura's strange realm is not just unnerving atmospherically, but also emotionally truthful to the experience of grieving And yet, the Philippous have empathy for their villain, making clear not only her pain but also her doubts and need for external validation to continue her plan. While Laura is the antagonist of Bring Her Back, tormenting the children in her care, grief is the villain that has twisted her from mom to monster. 

When she faces off against a willful Andy, Hawkins shows both sides of Laura. In moments, she is almost cloyingly sweet as she laughs and plays with Piper. But in others, the guarded tone she uses with Ollie is jarring. The manic look in her eye as she lies to Piper's face and then winks at Andy as if he's a co-conspirator is alarming. The determined stare when she plots at night with locked doors and a bucket of piss is the stuff of night terrors. Hawkins, a performer who has long been championed as a wonderful actor, gives a career-best performance here, leaning into the joys and absolute agonies of motherhood with a ferocity that is breathtaking. 

The children of Bring Her Back are astonishing.  Jonah Wren Phillips plays Ollie in "Bring Her Back." Credit: A24

Hawkins is a force of nature as Laura. But incredibly the Philippou brothers have found young actors who can match presence her onscreen. Barratt, who recently played Young Dimitri in Kraven: The Hunter, has the unenviable job of shouldering the film's emotional weight, while pushing back against Hawkins' Laura.

Nearly 18, Andy is in that awkward space between childhood and adulthood, and Barratt's physicality reflects this, teetering with a blend of brute strength and gentle awkwardness. He shifts his weight in scenes where Andy feels ungrounded. His smile flashes sheepishly, revealing glittering braces that make him seem younger still. But when threatened, he is able to rear up with a macho fury — one that Laura will use against him. 

By contrast, Piper is spirited and blissfully bratty. Wong has a radiant charisma, whether she's playing sports with her friends or razzing her brother. In her first onscreen role, Wong is effortless and enchanting. The breeziness (or, arguably, resiliency) she brings to Piper makes the film's climax all the scarier, because the young girl is basically a princess who doesn't realize this isn't a castle and that's not a queen. It's a lair with a wicked witch waiting. 

Even more remarkable, however, is the performance delivered by Jonah Wren Phillips. As Ollie, Phillips has few vocal expressions, as Laura says trauma has led to selective mutism. He instead communicates through long, hard stares that reflect the abyss. As the movie goes on and Laura's secrets spill out, Phillips' role becomes intensely physical, demanding prop work, disfiguring prosthetic make-up, and body horror gags that work because of his commitment and the Philippou brothers' dedication to practical effects.

Bring Her Back's scenes of violence are not just gory. They are an aural and visual assault so intense they are tactile. The sounds of metal on teeth or the crunch of wood is so precise you can practically feel it. That collides with seamless visual effects and Phillips' uniquely haunting performance to create a new icon in horror. While Laura might scare you, and Andy could break your heart, Ollie will follow you home and haunt you. 

All of this to say, Bring Her Back is extraordinary. For those who found Talk to Me sensationally scary, this follow-up will thrill with its deeply deranged tale of heartache and body horror. But the Philippous went deeper, presenting a character-driven drama with flares of psycho-biddy and religious horror. That heady combination not only makes for a satisfyingly scary as hell movie, but also a profound one. 

Grief is an immense emotion that hits like waves. It disorients. It destroys. It catches us off guard. Bring Her Back captures all of these elements of grief and more.

While I gasped and screamed at the Philippous' latest, I also held my breath and cried. While they have warned critics and audiences their new film is "bleak," I found it beautiful. Alongside a story of psychological torment, physical torture, and murder, Bring Her Back also offers a story of love beyond death, and how that can be a double-edged sword. 

Bring Her Back opens in theaters May 30.

Online dating as a gay man has its share of horror stories. It's also a rite of passage dating back to the Craigslist m4m era. It's a high-risk, high-reward activity.

For members of the LGBTQ+ community, online dating presents a unique set of challenges, which can sour the experience. Ghosting and catfishing are still common, but you might also find people asking unnecessary questions about your past, straight guys who shouldn't be in your feed, and even some not-so-subtle fetishization. Not exactly the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling we're all after, right?

SEE ALSO: The uncomfortable truth behind the lavender marriage trend

Yet, despite the BS, the right queer dating app can genuinely help you find meaningful connections (and we say that will all due respect for hookup apps like Grindr). Whether you're after friendship, a one-night stand, or "the one," these gay dating platforms are where millions of men connect (Pew Research found that about one in four LGBTQ+ adults met their partner online). The key is figuring out which LGBTQ+ dating apps are actually worth your time and energy in 2025.

What is the best gay dating app right now?

Come on, do we really need to say it? It's Grindr.

We can't talk about the gay dating scene in the 21st century without talking about Grindr, the undisputed king of gay dating apps. However, there are a lot of other options, especially if you want to make a genuine connection.

"Grindr is a tried and true app that many queer men gravitate toward to find partners or for relationships that require lesser commitment, so it’s easy to point to it as the No. 1 app," Michelle Herzog, LMFT, AASECT-certified sex therapist, tells Mashable. "However, like Tinder, it’s gained a reputation as a hookup app — but that doesn’t mean there still aren’t men looking for long-term commitments, either." Lately, Grindr users have been complaining about a buggier app experience and free features going behind paywalls. So, even if you don't quit Grindr for good, it might be time to test other gay dating apps.

SEE ALSO: Grindr's latest updates are wild: Hiding from your ex, verified pics, and faster hookups

The most popular dating apps have a lot to offer, and that's where you'll find the most queer users. Keeping Tinder on the back burner isn't just a straight people thing (especially for guys in less populated areas where apps like Scruff offer slim pickings). Plus, mainstream apps deserve credit for trying to create a more inclusive atmosphere. OkCupid gets kudos for embracing change and making inclusivity a core part of its compatibility scoring.

You can also try niche gay dating sites if you tend to like a certain type of man, but in general, the more popular apps offer the greatest chance of success — it's a numbers game.

Whether you're looking for something serious, a hookup, something that stays strictly online, or an altogether different definition of connection, there's an ideal queer dating app out there for you. So, here's a breakdown of the best dating apps for gay men to help you find your perfect match.

In 2025, a pair of headphones or earbuds is pretty much non-optional. That's why there are hundreds of different headphones and earbuds in varying shapes, sizes, styles, colors, and, of course, prices. And these days, you can grab a random pair off the digital shelf without too much research and find that they do the job just fine.

However, if you're tired of settling for "just fine", then it's worth investing in the best headphones available. Through hours and hours of listening, we sorted through dozens of headphones to find the very best models, from the just-released Sony XM6 headphones to old favorites from Bose, Beats, and Apple.

How to choose the best headphones

We won't beat around the bush: There's no definitive "best" product here. Sure, elite audio brands put out high-quality products across the board, but even within each of those brands, you'll find different tiers of products. Some will deliver better value, and some will deliver better hardware and active noise cancellation.

All this to say, the best pair of earbuds or headphones largely comes down to personal preference and how you plan to use them. Some listeners swear by over-ear headphones, while others prefer the minimalism of earbuds — one is not necessarily better than the other. Athletes who like to use headphones at the gym will appreciate waterproof materials and the best open earbuds, while frequent fliers will prefer devices with long battery life, comfort, and portability. Finally, music lovers and audiophiles will want to invest in premium features like a custom equalizer, spatial audio, or best-in-class active noise cancellation.

To help you pick, we tested all of the headphones in this guide (and a lot that didn't make the cut). Here, you'll find the top headphones of 2025 for noise cancellation, music, price, and wired connections.

What about wired headphones?

We focused primarily on the best wireless headphones for this guide. While wired headphones have their fans, wireless headphones are just more convenient for most of us. If we had to pick, we'd recommend the Marshall Mode earbuds as our top wired pick.

Other headphones we've tested

Most recently, we tested the JBL Tour One M3 headphones and the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC, and we may add them to this guide in a future update. We also tested the Marshall Major V headphones and Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 headphones, both of which had excellent sound profiles and easy-to-navigate custom equalizers on their companion apps. Ultimately, they didn't make the cut on our final list for a couple of reasons. With the Major V headphones, we love that their claim of 100+ hours of battery life held up under our testing, but we found them to get uncomfortable after a couple of hours. We also would have appreciated ANC at their $149 price point.

For the B&W headphones, we loved their design and premium feel in addition to their truly impressive sound, but we found that their ANC was only so-so. If you're willing to spend $399, you can find a better balance of sound and ANC in the Sony XM5 headphones.

We've also tested the Sonos Ace headphones and Dyson OnTrac headphones. And while we loved them both for sound quality and noise cancellation, they fare in the way of AirPods Max — left out of our recommendations for their high price points.

In the testing pipeline

For our future updates, we're testing out more budget noise-cancelling earbuds. Right now, we're also considering the Sony WF-710N earbuds.

While you can't replace the feel of paper — the beauty of bound hardcovers and the ritual of turning the page — an e-reader brings convenience and portability that a physical book just can't beat. Sure, you can throw a book in your tote bag, but what about an entire library?

When you think of the best e-readers, your first thought is likely an Amazon Kindle, and while it wasn't the first e-ink reader to hit the market, it is indeed the one to rule them all. While Kindles are great — there's certainly no denying that — you can find a couple of equally wonderful alternatives. As an avid reader who long resisted e-readers, I've fully converted to the lifestyle.

So, what is the best e-reader for 2025? I'm regularly testing new e-readers (and tablets) and cycling through different models to stay up to date on the best options available. So, if you're gearing up to read more books this summer, I can recommend a model you'll love.

SEE ALSO: From the basic to the Paperwhite, these are Amazon's best Kindles

Featured Video For You Other e-readers we've tested From left to right: Kindle Paperwhite, Nook GlowLight 4 Plus, Kindle Scribe Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Most recently, we've tested the Remarkable PaperPro and Onyx Boox Go 7 as contenders for this list. After several weeks of testing, both devices proved to be pretty good but not quite list-worthy. My colleague has tested the Kobo Clara Colour and had positive things to say about it, but I am in the process of testing it myself, so I left them out of my recommendations for now. While I was able to test most of Amazon's 2024 Kindle models, I've yet to test the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.

Whenever you search for e-readers, Remarkable's tablets will always pop up in the search results, but unfortunately, it's hard to obtain ePUB files on the Remarkable. With Remarkable, you can access files within Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. If you have any locked ePUB files — like from Libby — you won't be able to access them on a Remarkable tablet. So, after testing the Remarkable tablet myself, it proved to be a better document reader or digital journal than an e-reader.

The Onyx Boox Go 7 is a better e-reader option than the Remarkable. It's the same as the Kobo Libra or Amazon Kindle, but it really lags on processing speed. To read ePUB files from Libby required downloading the Adobe Digital Editions app onto the Boox Go 7, and there was so much lag while opening and closing the app. While it was an easier process than getting library books on a Nook, it was still a major pain compared to Kindle or Kobo's integrations. The Boox Go 7 lagged and took ages to load files. I was most looking forward to testing this Boox because of its page-turning buttons, but unfortunately, I found that they didn't work on my device.

What about the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition?

If you're familiar with the Kindle line-up, it may come as a surprise that the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition isn't on this list. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but I think there are better options. The Signature Edition is an upgraded version of the Paperwhite, and we've compared the devices head-to-head. The short version? The Paperwhite is a better value, even with the SE's added features like auto-adjusting brightness and 32GB of storage.

If you are prepared to spend $200 on an e-reader, though, I say skip the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition and go for the Kobo Libra Colour.

Where's the Nook on this list?

In terms of big-name e-readers, you might notice one omission from this list: the Barnes & Noble Nook. I have tested this e-reader, and it was previously featured on this list. However, after testing more devices, it no longer makes the cut. In comparison to any of the Kindles or the Kobo Libra, the Nook has sloth-like performance, making it frustrating to use.

Plus, getting my library books onto the Nook was a nightmare, as it was a multi-step process that required downloading to a computer before uploading to a Nook. Its only redeeming quality was the buttons on either side of the device, which made page turning a breeze. However, unless you are a loyal buyer of Barnes & Noble books, I recommend steering clear of the Nook.

Every Hot Ones guest has a different way to handle the heat, and Ana de Armas' tactic appears to be laughing through the pain.

In the video above, the actor joins host Sean Evans to tackle an increasingly spicy series of wings while fielding questions on everything from stunts to her starring role in the upcoming John Wick spinoff Ballerina.

The highlight? de Armas describing how she'd execute a John Wick-style fight sequence using only the condiments on the table in front of her.