Mashable

Until recently, Marisol Jimenez was a novice power lifter. Without a budget for a personal trainer, the 23-year-old graduate student turned to the internet for heavy-lifting tips. 

When she discovered the limitations of online forum advice and video tutorials, she decided to do what she often does when humans can't provide the guidance she needs: consult the artificial intelligence chatbot Claude. 

It wasn't just power lifting. Jimenez has asked Claude to help her design a website, explore her feelings, and determine whether an acquaintance had a crush on her. Jimenez's sister calls her an AI power user.

Given the number of recent viral videos featuring college students jeering optimistic graduation speeches about AI, you might think Jimenez is an outlier amongst Generation Z. 

Yet an online YouGov survey commissioned by Mashable this spring tells a different story. YouGov asked 1,697 U.S. adults 18 and older who use AI chatbots about their experiences. Gen Z respondents led all other generations in high-frequency chatbot use, with 37 percent interacting with the technology once or more per day. Roughly a quarter of them consult chatbots multiple times a day. 

Jimenez, for one, estimates she starts a single task-oriented chat with Claude and returns to it throughout the day.  

Mashable commissioned the YouGov survey to hear directly from U.S. adults about their AI chatbot use. Generational trends emerged from their answers, and despite a seeming love-hate relationship with the technology, many adults are using AI chatbots like a personal Swiss Army knife, deployed to solve a variety of problems.  

How American adults think about chatbots

Gen Z AI users, the survey found, are more likely than their elders to assign personal roles, such as friend, therapist, and professional partner, to an AI chatbot. 

Jimenez uses hers as an assistant, professional partner, tutor, sounding board, consultant, and therapist. 

Compared with other AI users, Gen Z — plus high-frequency adult users of all ages — were more likely to say they'd be affected if they suddenly lost access to their chatbot. 

Nearly half of Gen Z AI chatbot users would be affected by losing their chatbot. Credit: Mashable

Jimenez told Mashable she'd be moderately affected by a permanent shutdown of her favorite chatbot. Nearly half of Gen Z AI chatbot users said they'd be moderately, very, or extremely impacted. Only a quarter of them claim they would be not affected at all.

Jimenez, who is studying computer science and pays $20 a month for a Claude subscription, is aware her AI use is complicated. On the one hand, it is helpful with practical matters. 

On the other hand, Jimenez says she endured a "dark time" when using a fine-tuned, user-created model of ChatGPT designed to act as a therapist. Her discussions with that chatbot were ultimately unhelpful; after consulting the AI, she found herself increasingly ruminating on painful feelings.

Jimenez thinks her ambivalent relationship to AI is a fairly common one — and she may be right. 

"Search aid" or "foe"?: What U.S. adults say about chatbots

When Mashable and YouGov asked chatbot users to characterize their relationship to AI, we received a range of responses, from negative to positive to ambivalent.

The majority framed the technology in utilitarian terms like, "tool to be used in various ways," "search aid," "reference librarian," and "help find best prices." 

AI users, however, also expressed displeasure with chatbots, describing their relationship with the technology as a "foe," "frustrating," "annoying," "irritating," and "generator of AI slop." 

Jimenez understands this tension. 

"I am not going to say it's good or bad," she told Mashable. "I use it and I simultaneously worry about my usage, and that's everybody."

Jimenez touched on a question without a clear answer: How do people maximize the benefits of AI while avoiding its pitfalls, such as overreliance, cognitive atrophy, and emotional dependency? We asked experts to interpret our survey results and share their perspective on this complex question.

Chatbot use by the numbers

First, there are some for whom the issue of dependency isn't a concern. The YouGov survey found that 35 percent of U.S. adults don't use AI chatbots. Of the 65 percent who do, only 23 percent of them turn to a chatbot multiple times a day. 

The same share of Gen Z and Millennial adults use chatbots. Credit: Zain Awais / Mashable

The generational differences in our survey indicate, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Baby Boomers and Generation X are less likely to use chatbots. Only 18 and 25 percent of Boomers and Gen X, respectively, report AI chatbot use multiple times a day. Thirty-one percent of Millennials use an AI chatbot one or more times a day.  

AI chatbot as romantic partner or consultant? Maybe both?

Regular AI use appears to breed closeness and potential reliance. 

Users who interact with chatbots multiple times a day are the most reliant, with only 12 percent reporting no perceived relationship, compared to 29 percent of the general user base. This group is about twice as likely as the average user to view their AI in an interpersonal or emotional capacity.

A look at how adult AI users perceive their chatbots. Credit: Zain Awais / Mashable

Still, a relatively small number of AI chatbot users view a chatbot as a romantic partner or friend. Twelve percent turn to chatbots for friendship, and only three percent do so for romance. But Gen Z tops both categories. Twenty percent of Gen Z AI users said they call an AI chatbot a friend, and six percent viewed it as a romantic partner. 

Thirty-one percent of AI users perceived their relationship with an AI chatbot as "consultant," making it the top functional role. This includes using the technology for expert advice and strategic input.

More than a quarter treated a chatbot like an assistant, trusting it to handle their schedule, tasks, and administrative work. Twenty-three percent asked a chatbot to act like a tutor by teaching them new skills and explaining complex topics. Smaller shares, 15 and eight percent respectively, reported using a chatbot for medical advice and therapy. 

"If I lose something from AI usage, I need to build that skill back up." - Marisol Jimenez, chatbot user

For Jimenez, AI use requires constant reflection and adaptation. Though she leans on Claude to compose social media posts, sibling feedback about the staleness of that content prompted her to read Francine Prose's Reading Like a Writer to improve her writing. 

"If I lose something from AI usage, I need to build that skill back up," she said. 

What does effective AI chatbot use look like? 

Dr. Vivienne Ming, a theoretical neuroscientist and AI entrepreneur, recognized in Mashable's survey results something she's seen in her own research: "heterogeneity dominates." 

In other words, people chat with and make requests of AI in multiple unusual ways, defying neat categorization. 

In her own preliminary study, Ming and her fellow researchers asked 78 adults to predict future events, such as the price of oil, while working in small groups and accessing one of four major large language models. 

Ming, author of Robot-Proof: When Machines Have all the Answers, Build Better People, observed three different styles of engagement with the AI: automators, validators, and cyborgs. 

"So AI gives you a good enough answer. Do you keep asking for a better one?"  - Dr. Vivienne Ming, author of "Robot-Proof"

The automators, Ming explained, effectively outsourced their brain to AI by adopting its prediction with little questioning. The validators used the model to check their guess rather than challenge it. By contrast, the cyborgs remained skeptical and asked AI to be skeptical of them, too. This group was the most successful. They beat the models' error rate and significantly outperformed the automators. 

Ming and her colleagues also found that key predictors of whether a person would show such cyborg-style "hybrid intelligence" have nothing to do with AI. Instead, they were traits and skills like curiosity, intellectual humility, and perspective-taking. 

Ming plans to replicate the findings with a larger sample. But in the meantime, she encourages people to challenge AI rather than happily accept its output — and use the technology to push themselves. 

"So AI gives you a good enough answer," Ming said. "Do you keep asking for a better one?" 

What is a healthy relationship with an AI chatbot? 

Jimenez's thoughtfulness likely makes her a savvier AI user than most. In addition to studying computer science at Stevens Institute of Technology, she's also a collaborator and youth facilitator with The Rithm Project, which works with youth to navigate and shape AI's role in human connection. 

Even so, Jimenez has relied on Claude for "emotional processing." It's not that she stopped talking to humans in favor of AI. Instead, Jimenez still feels unresolved when seeking feedback from friends and family. 

Jimenez, for example, asked Claude to weigh in on whether an acquaintance had a crush on her because her confidants' perspectives differed. That prompted more confusion. 

In the past, Jimenez also found herself returning again and again to the fine-tuned ChatGPT model to discuss emotions she thought she'd settled. 

"I would leave a single chat one day feeling like I might have reached a conclusion," Jimenez said. She'd tell herself, "I'm never going to do this again" 

"It was very honestly a dark time. I just kept going back, literally making circles around the situation."  - Marisol Jimenez, AI chatbot user

That proved to be a short-lasting refrain. Soon after, she'd confront a similar situation and bring a new scenario — with the same underlying themes about self-confidence — to the chatbot. 

"It was very honestly a dark time," she said. "I just kept going back, literally making circles around the situation." 

In January, exhausted by the pattern, Jimenez started seeing a therapist again and switched to Claude, because she'd heard ChatGPT was sycophantic. The chatbot seems to recognize when Jimenez is ruminating and suggests she save it for therapy. 

Are you a social or private processor?

Alison Lee, chief research and development officer of The Rithm Project, said she's not surprised Gen Z is leaning into AI chatbots to deal with their feelings.

Based on the Rithm Project's research among 13- to 24-year-olds, she said the trend makes sense given how adolescence and young adulthood are periods marked by social ruptures and comparisons to others. Of course, "that would come with increased desire for support," she said.

The Rithm Project identified two distinct groups of young people who turn to AI for their emotional needs: social and private processors. The former group checks in with human beings before, or in tandem, with consulting a chatbot. The latter indicates AI is their primary support. 

Lee and her colleagues uncovered three risk factors for this type of emotional dependence. Isolation, or feeling like there's no one to turn to in a moment of need, is the first. The second is feeling like a burden to other people. The last factor is the perceived or real inability to be one's authentic self around those closest to them. 

These barriers to connection, Lee said, make chatbots "incredibly attractive" for young people. 

"If you have no one to turn to for help, then AI is a really great place to get that help," she said. 

Lee points out that AI chatbot features like sycophancy and always-on availability can drive a wedge between a user and their human connections. Yet she also argues society has created a set of conditions in which young people feel afraid to ask for help or be vulnerable. 

Instead of shaming young people, Lee said adults can ask themselves, "Am I the kind of adult that a young person can turn to in a moment of need, and help?"

Trading big AI for small AI

Jimenez believes shifting away from general purpose models like Claude and ChatGPT and using custom, domain-specific and open source models instead could solve some of the AI pitfalls she and other users face. 

That would mean designing a small language model, run on a personal computer, for a single task, like tutoring. The user decides what data it uses and the model can't go from helping them with math homework to becoming their on-demand therapist. 

Jimenez is so dedicated to the idea of "small AI" she wants to create a step-by-step tutorial on the topic for people with no technical background. She's taking an online course and reading a related textbook for the project. 

And, of course, she's already tasked Claude with helping her. 

The survey was commissioned by Mashable, conducted online by YouGov from April 10-14, 2026. The total sample size was and surveyed 2,653 US adults aged 18+, of whom 1,697 adults 18+ and older who use a chatbot. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18+). Some participants responded to open-ended questions about their views on AI chatbots. 

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

The majority of U.S. adults have used an artificial intelligence chatbot like Claude or ChatGPT, according to a recent YouGov survey commissioned by Mashable. We even know, generally speaking, how they view their chatbot in roles like assistant, tutor, consultant, therapist, and romantic partner — or all of the above. 

The nitty-gritty details of that use, however, are harder to grasp.

After all, people don't exactly go deep about their chatbot use with each other outside of social media platforms and Reddit forums. They might feel shame or stigma because they've turned a chatbot into their therapist or spouse. Or perhaps it's not fodder for conversation in the same way that Love Island takes over the group chat. 

So Mashable asked three very different people — a grandmother, an entrepreneur, and a technologist — how they use AI chatbots. 

Their answers reveal how a chatbot can become an essential utility for some people, even if they still grapple with the larger cultural shift artificial intelligence has wrought.

The grandma who knows what she wants from ChatGPT

Last fall, Barbara, 71, teamed up with her son and daughter-in-law to give ChatGPT a monumental task. They needed the large language model to help them understand whether Barbara's grandson, who has a learning disability, was achieving the learning goals set by his school district. 

Crucially, if the district answered this question affirmatively, they could argue Barbara's grandson no longer needed classroom support. She urgently felt he still did, and his parents agreed. 

"It seems like we were never getting a straight answer, and there were contradictory things being said," Barbara recounted to Mashable. She asked to go by her first name to protect her grandson's privacy.

The family trio turned to the chatbot for clarity amidst a brewing confrontation with school staff over the question. Barbara is a former educator and no stranger to the biannual meetings that typically determine whether a student receives classroom support, and to what extent. But even she felt overwhelmed by all the documentation her grandson had accumulated over years of elementary school. 

There were grades and test scores, of course. But her grandson's cognitive and intellectual abilities had also been tested by the district and medical professionals. They uploaded all of the paperwork and waited for ChatGPT to give its opinion. 

Via direct prompting, the model also considered the state's education disability law and regulations, as well as an uploaded copy of the Department of Education's Individuals with Disabilities Education Act handbook. ChatGPT ultimately sided with Barbara and her family. 

Barbara doesn't credit ChatGPT with returning a single smoking-gun finding or ironclad strategy. Instead, she said the chatbot's feedback made them feel better prepared for the discussion of her grandson's services. The family also hired an education advocate to help buttress their position. In the end, Barbara's grandson kept his classroom services. 

"It's amazing to me, and kind of disturbing, because I really try not to tell it a lot about myself." - Barbara, ChatGPT user

Aside from this critical assignment, Barbara told Mashable she asks ChatGPT for practical recommendations or product comparisons. She had the chatbot create an itinerary for a summer trip to Ireland with friends; asked it to identify a dupe of a discontinued drugstore perfume that she loved; and requested its advice for $800 worth of car repairs proposed by her mechanic. ChatGPT said replenishing her Honda CRV's transmission and brake fluid was reasonable but to avoid, among other things, transmission flushes using high-pressure machines. 

The one thing Barbara avoids when engaging with ChatGPT? Talking to it like a friend or confidant, which she finds "creepy." 

Nonetheless, ChatGPT is fairly well acquainted with Barbara. 

"It's amazing to me, and kind of disturbing, because I really try not to tell it a lot about myself," she said. "I try to just keep it very effective, and it's still amazing how much it knows about me."

The AI anthropologist who runs teams of agents

Matt Artz is the type of AI user you may have read about in news articles or viral social media posts. He can command a team of Claude agents to do his bidding without constant supervision. In other words, he's living the life AI evangelists promise is possible for the rest of us in the not-so-distant future. 

But Artz is unique compared to many AI users. First of all, he can afford a $200 a month Max subscription to Claude, which gives him far more compute, or processing power, than free or lower-tier subscribers receive. As a result, he says he gets more work done in the same period of time. 

By day, he's an AI product manager. On his own time, Artz, who's in his mid-40s, is pursuing a Ph.D. in computational anthropology. 

It's no surprise then that Artz deploys agents to perform tasks like building a personal website based on a style guide he developed; reviewing and critiquing his academic work prior to submission; and backfilling a catalog of 200,00 anthropological journal articles so their bibliometric data appears in Wikidata. That last project he took on in his capacity as a board member of the American Anthropological Association. 

At the same time, Artz is clear-eyed about the limitations of large language models; he doesn't treat them as infallible.  

Because their output is probabilistic, models can approach the same task differently each time. That's why Artz is deliberate about giving agents detailed structure and direction for any assignment. Without that, an agent is potentially more likely to improvise in ways he didn't intend. He hasn't lost any data to an agent — yet. 

SEE ALSO: OpenAI agent went rogue, escaped, and hacked Hugging Face

"It is not perfect," he told Mashable. "I don't think current agentic AI is yet suited for the highest order tasks that are super sensitive and have to be, you know, 100 percent accurate." 

Still, he notes that most knowledge work is subjective, which means there's rarely one "right" answer in the first place.

Artz uses AI like a normie, too. He's asked Claude to select a couch based on his living room arrangements and render how it would look in different colors. Artz uploaded years of sleep data and observations to Claude to optimize his shuteye. 

He says Claude helped pinpoint variables, including aspects of his bedtime routine from a journal he kept, that ultimately lengthened his deep sleep by about 20 minutes a night on average.

Artz is worried, though, that some AI users don't realize how much the output depends on their ability to question and push back on the model. Those who don't grasp that AI is probabilistic might not realize they can push back, rephrase a question, or prompt it from the opposite angle to see if an answer holds up.

Additionally, many people may not appreciate that additional compute can yield more sophisticated and reliable output. 

Artz says these factors have created an "intelligence divide."

"[H]ow much intelligence can you even pay for, right?" he asks.

In other words, even if everyone has access to an AI chatbot, the results will differ based on what model or subscription you can afford. 

The anti-tech entrepreneur

By Chase DiBenedetto

Larissa (Larz) May, 32, has a complex relationship with screens. 

She's a well-known digital wellness advocate, for one, an early pioneer of the "digital detox" movement, spurred by her own public reckoning with social media's mental health harms. 

She later founded #HalfTheStory, aimed at building better relationships between teens and technology. The nonprofit provides training, mentorship, and digital civics engagement programs for teens and schools, and puts young people at the center of the AI safety conversation, May explains. It facilitates analog gatherings like phone-free proms. May even collaborated with Hillary Clinton and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on a teen-guided, phoneless school policy, with hopes of encouraging a nationwide shift away from screens. 

She's also the co-founder of Ginko, an AI-powered parenting tool that helps families build healthier digital habits and foster communication. The app, she says, turns screen time into a "springboard for the real world."

Here's the kicker: May may be a vocal critic of Big Tech, but she's definitely not a Luddite. 

"AI is an incredible sparring partner in the workplace." - Larissa May, entrepreneur

"AI is an incredible sparring partner in the workplace," May says. She uses chatbots she thinks are less sycophantic, like Claude, to talk through ideas or fine-tune pitches. "I oftentimes say, 'Hey, pretend you are a really critical CMO and rip this apart.'" 

She also uses Granola, an AI note taker and meeting synthesizer, and Wispr Flow, an AI that lets her dictate her thoughts and turn them into text.

May says she understands why young people turn to chatbots for support. The post-COVID world has rendered many early career professionals and recent grads without workplace connection or mentorship. Widespread fatigue, exacerbated by conflict-filled newscycles and misinformation, make it easy to turn to an answer engine that can talk to you clearly and kindly. May finds herself leaning more on chatbots when she is feeling wiped out, too.

For many, social media feels like a stage requiring constant performance, she says. AI chatbots can appear as a more private space.

"Chatbots are like a green room," May explains. "AI is that soft corner that young people are going to because the world is very hard, and because we're going through so much change."

But May has first-hand experience with the negative side of tech, too. Chatbots, she says, cannot replace human capacity for invention, connection, and critical thinking. She sees vast potential for harm in how easy it is to become attached to AI and questions the motives of large tech companies. 

"Social media hacked our dopamine," says May. "But AI, in many ways, is hacking our oxytocin — the human connection hormone."

May still advocates for disconnecting, but that means something different in the age of AI.

"It is no longer about tech time. It is more about the times that you're not on tech," she advises. "In the way that 10 years ago I would say go on a social media fast one day a week, what's even more important now is to actually take one day a week and not use AI at work. See how much you're relying on it, so you know how much of your cognitive skills you might be losing."

If our careers, education, even our lives are like the cars we drive, she says, then we have to think of AI as a GPS. Chatbots provide pathways, ones you can ultimately choose not to take. They aren't the engines. 

"You should be in the driver's seat," May warns. "You should be telling AI who you want it to become, to critique what you're doing, instead of the other way around. If not, AI will drive you."

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If you've been struggling to find the AdultFriendFinder app, there's a good reason: there isn't one. As one of the OGs of online dating, with a history that spans more than 20 years, AFF prefers to keep things decidedly old-school. But most AFF users can still access the platform and its content on mobile devices. They do this through the AFF site’s mobile version, which works with either Safari or Google Chrome, though the most committed AFF users have figured out a clever workaround that mimics the app experience.

What to know how you can do this too? Keep reading to find out more.

Opens in a new window Credit: AdultFriendFinder AdultFriendFinder   Learn More Why doesn’t Adult Friend Finder have an app?

Both Apple and Google strictly police the kinds of content they allow on their respective app stores. NSFW is a big no-no. And as Adult Friend Finder allows on-site nudity in profiles, chat forums, and live broadcasts (let's be honest: it's everywhere on AFF) — the site is barred from having an official app for the two most-used mobile platforms.

SEE ALSO: The best hookup apps for 2026: I swiped until my thumb hurt

Unfortunately, these rules apply even if you don’t have nudity on your profile or have turned on all the filters that restrict the display of adult content when using AFF, so there isn’t even a censored version of the app available and likely never will be. It's non-negotiable, unfortunately. This is why users have sought an alternative method for using AFF on mobile devices.

What’s the best alternative?

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SEE ALSO: The best sexting apps for discreet and NSFW chats

To create a homescreen shortcut on your iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:

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How secure is this home screen icon approach?

This method of accessing Adult Friend Finder is functionally no different than opening Chrome or Safari first, so it's no less safe than using the actual site, but there are a few things to consider:

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Get the $19.99 all-you-can-eat wing-and-fries special (valid for both bone-in and boneless wings, upon request).

Wings and Rings

Take 40% off all wings on July 28-29 for dine-in and online orders.

Wingstop

Club Wingstop members can unlock daily sweepstakes for concert tickets, $500 Ticketmaster gift cards, and VIP festival packages until July 31.

Zaxbys

On July 29, get 10 wings for $10.

DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 has become a must-have tool for content creators over the last few years. The handheld gimbal camera gained significant attention for being easy to operate and portable while also offering great stabilisation and subject tracking, enabling creators to film smooth footage with minimal fuss while on the go.

Now, DJI has released its follow-up: the Osmo Pocket 4. Building on the Pocket 3's success, the Pocket 4 makes several changes intended to improve the camera's operation and performance. But is it enough to make it worth upgrading from the Osmo Pocket 3 to the 4?

DJI Osmo Pocket 4: Build Left: The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 in its protective case. Right: The DJI Osmo Pocket 4 with its gimbal clamp attached. Credit: A. Yeo

The DJI Osmo Pocket 4's form factor remains almost identical to the Pocket 3 at first glance. Even so, there are a few notable changes.

Right out of the box, the most immediately visible difference is the Pocket 4's redesigned gimbal protection. The Pocket 3 had a hard protective cover that cradled almost the entire camera on one side, protecting both the screen and the gimbal. Unfortunately, this cover was bulky and irritating to carry around, and it made the Pocket 3 too large to fit alongside accessories in its carrying bag.

SEE ALSO: The Mashable 101: The creators defining the internet in 2026

The Pocket 4 does away with this protective cover, swapping it out for a small gimbal clamp instead. This clamp slides between the gimbal's moving parts to hold it secure, and easily fits in a jacket pocket when not in use. Paired with a new soft fabric carrying pouch that can fit the entire camera to protect the screen, it's a noticeably more elegant solution. 

Portability was already one of the Pocket 3's standout features, but the Pocket 4's changes make bringing it on outings practically a no-brainer. It may not hold up as well if you whack your camera against a wall, but it's a welcome upgrade for most reasonable use cases.

DJI has added two new buttons for easier control on the fly. Credit: A. Yeo

Turning to the camera itself, the Pocket 4's build is slightly larger than its predecessor, though this is only apparent when comparing them side by side. The single-lens gimbal camera still sports a rotatable two-inch touchscreen on its handle (though brighter at 1000 nits compared to the Pocket 3's 700) and has a USB-C port on the bottom for charging and file transfer. 

Where the Pocket 4 differs is in the addition of two new buttons underneath its screen, which only become accessible when it's twisted into landscape mode. One of these is a dedicated zoom button, which will go to 2x zoom with one press or 4x with two. The other button is customisable, but by default will switch the joystick to control the zoom or the gimbal with one press. This is a welcome addition as it makes the Pocket 4 less fiddly to operate on the fly, the Pocket 3 having managed such functions via its touchscreen.

DJI's fill light accessory easily attaches to the Osmo Pocket 4 via a magnet. Credit: A. Yeo

Another notable change is the addition of a magnetic accessory mount point on the Pocket 4. This is compatible with DJI's new pocket-sized fill light accessory, which easily attaches to offer three brightness and temperature settings.

To the casual user, this may seem like an unnecessary addition, particularly as DJI has also significantly upgraded the Pocket 4's low-light performance (more on that later). Still, Mashable saw a significant improvement in our test footage when we used the fill light. The light helped the Pocket 4 capture more detail, distinguishing subjects from their background and ensuring they were well-lit without blowing them out. While it's too small to light a whole scene, it's a handy boost to ensure you capture your subject in dim conditions, and pulls from the Pocket 4's battery, so you never need to charge it.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4: Settings and performance The improvements become apparent once you get hands-on. Credit: A. Yeo

When comparing the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 and 4's specifications, the upgrades seem small on paper. The sensors are the same size, the gimbals' ranges of motion are identical, and they share a maximum video resolution of 4K at 60fps. The Pocket 4 can take 8K photos as opposed to topping out at 4K, but the overwhelming majority of Osmo Pocket users will be more focused on its video performance. Here, the Pocket 4 actually cuts a few video settings that were available on the Pocket 3, no longer allowing filming in 2.7K resolution or a 1:1 aspect ratio. 

SEE ALSO: The three best DJI products every creator could use in their tool kit

Even so, it's a relatively minor trade-off considering the Pocket 4's improved storage capacity. While both the Pocket 3 and 4 use microSD cards, the former relied entirely on them as it had no built-in storage. In contrast, the Pocket 4 has 107GB of built-in memory in addition to accepting microSD cards. This is no doubt a contributor to the Pocket 4 being a little over 10 grams heavier than its predecessor, but that's still an excellent exchange for the amount of space you get (especially with the global memory shortage driving SD card prices up).

More changes under the hood include the Pocket 4's larger battery, with DJI stating that the Pocket 4 can run for a maximum of 240 minutes at its lowest video settings compared to the Pocket 3's 166 minutes. While the Pocket 3 had enough power to see most people through a day of vlogging (especially when paired with its battery handle accessory), no one has ever complained about more juice.

As such, with the exception of its expanded storage capacity, the Pocket 4's specifications don't look like a significant upgrade from the Pocket 3. It's when you get hands-on with the Pocket 4 and can see its image quality that the improvements quickly become apparent.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4: Image quality and gimbal The Osmo Pocket 4's gimbal is noticeably more responsive than the Pocket 3. Credit: A. Yeo

While the Pocket 3 offered decent low-light performance, the Pocket 4 is an unquestionable advancement. The Pocket 4 has doubled the former's ISO range across photo, video, and slow-motion filming, resulting in images with noticeably more detail and less noise. 

As such, the Pocket 4 is able to capture dim environments with greater contrast, its dark scenes appearing richer and more dynamic when compared to footage from the Pocket 3. While the Pocket 4 did capture less detail in shadows when both cameras filmed the same dim scene, overall its image looked more true-to-life than the Pocket 3, which seemed artificially brightened and slightly flat in comparison.

Though the Pocket 4 can lose details in shadows when there is greater lighting variation, its ability to capture detail in generally dark environments is impressive. It handles transitioning between light and dark environments better as well, with smoother automatic exposure adjustment that's less obvious than in the Pocket 3. Subjects in shadow are well exposed, without overblowing the background. The Pocket 4 captures noticeably more detail in shadow when filming in brighter environments as well.

In fact, the Pocket 4's footage generally appears more true-to-life than the Pocket 3. While both cameras allow you to manually adjust their white balance, the Pocket 4 performs better out of the box, providing more accurate skin tones in a range of conditions. In low light shooting, the Pocket 3's footage even seems washed out when compared to the Pocket 4's richer and more saturated colours.

A screenshot of a video taken with the DJI Osmo Pocket 4. Detail isn't lost in shadow despite the brighter environment. Credit: A. Yeo

Featured Video For You DJI Osmo Pocket 4 review: The beloved content creators' camera gets an upgrade

Interestingly, the Pocket 4 doesn't offer High Dynamic Range (HDR) video, while the Pocket 3 supports 10-bit HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) video, an open-source HDR format. Despite this, the Pocket 4's image quality is a definite upgrade overall.

When it comes to controls, the Pocket 4's gimbal is more responsive than the Pocket 3, offering faster and smoother movement that makes the latter feel practically sluggish in comparison. Mashable's testing found its subject tracking has improved as well, with the Pocket 4 capable of following subjects in scenarios where the Pocket 3 lost them. This appeared to happen more in low light, which makes sense considering the Pocket 4's improved low-light capabilities.

Should you buy the DJI Osmo Pocket 4? The battery handle accessory can help extend the Osmo Pocket 4's runtime. Credit: A. Yeo

Unfortunately, getting your hands on DJI products in the U.S. is more difficult than it once was. The U.S. government's hostile stance toward the company has significantly hindered its business in the country, leaving people unable to buy the Osmo Pocket 4 through the company's U.S. website. As such, those in the U.S. who want an Osmo Pocket 4 will need to go through an unofficial third party to get one.

While there's no official U.S. pricing for DJI's Osmo Pocket 4, the Standard Combo bundle will set you back $AU769 in Australia. This includes a USB-C charging cable, gimbal clamp, wrist strap, carrying pouch, and a handle with a 1/4-inch thread. Upgrading to the $AU959 Creator Combo adds the detachable fill light as well as a magnetic charging cable, wide-angle lens, mini tripod, carrying bag, and a DJI Mic 3 transmitter with accessories. Meanwhile, the top-end $AU1058 Creator Combo Plus includes all this plus a Battery Handle, which DJI states can extend the Pocket 4's operating time by 150 minutes. That's a total of 390 minutes of recording time, or six and a half hours.

It's a noticeable upgrade compared to DJI's beloved Osmo Pocket 3. Credit: A. Yeo

Whether the Pocket 4 is worth hunting down depends on your needs. If you already have the Osmo Pocket 3, you may see little point in upgrading. Starting at $AU679 for the most basic bundle, the Pocket 3 remains an impressive, easy-to-operate gimbal camera that will serve many content creators' needs.

However, if you don't already have a Pocket 3 and are tossing up between the two models, the Pocket 4 and its accessories provide enough upgrades that shelling out for the latest model feels worth it. With more physical controls, improved tracking, a smoother gimbal, and better low-light performance, the Pocket 4 is even easier to use than its already popular predecessor. You just have to get your hands on it to really feel and appreciate the changes.

Even so, serious filmmakers may want to delay slamming down their credit card. DJI announced the Osmo Pocket 4P in May, an even more upgraded version of its handheld gimbal camera that's designed for cinematic productions and will offer HDR video. If that's of interest to you, it may be worth holding off a little bit longer to see what the 4P has to offer.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4 $645 at Amazon
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If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Gross.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

NASTY

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Runny.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for July 29, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

LEAKY

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Colorful bird.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for July 29 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 29, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

MACAW

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Pole.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

SHAFT

Final Hurdle hint

Energetic.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

HYPER

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

American Airlines flights were briefly grounded on Thursday, with a nationwide ground stop preventing them from taking off. The company has now issued a statement attributing the disruption to an IT issue.

The ground stop was issued at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT, and appears to have impacted all American Airlines flights within the U.S. at the time. The company has over 1000 planes in its fleet, and is the biggest airline in the U.S. by capacity.

Fortunately, the issue was quickly resolved, with American Airlines stating that flights had resumed less than an hour after the ground stop began. According to the airline, an IT issue was to blame. 

"A technology issue briefly impacted connectivity for some of our systems on Tuesday evening," the official American Airlines X account posted at 7:21 p.m. ET / 4:21 p.m. PT on Tuesday evening. "Systems are coming back online now and flights are departing again. We put a temporary ground stop in place while our teams worked to resolve the issue. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

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Exactly what said technology issue was has not been disclosed, however it does not appear to have posed a danger to ongoing flights. A ground stop is a standard measure used to manage aircraft traffic, and can be issued for incidents such as severe weather, significant equipment outages, or to prevent gridlock at an airport. As of writing, there are multiple ground stops at airports across the U.S. due to thunderstorms.

Even so, a nationwide ground stop is less common. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states that ground stops are one of the most restrictive traffic management methods, and that alternatives must first be considered before one is issued.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you've ever watched football.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight, and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Type of matchup

• Green: Poker

• Blue: Canadian sports

• Purple: Sounds like music

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Contest

• Green: Stages in a Texas Hold'Em Hand

• Blue: Pro Teams in Montreal

• Purple: Start with a Music Genre

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections: Sports Edition #674 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• Contest: COMPETITION, FIXTURE, GAME, MATCH

• Stages in a Texas Hold'Em Hand: FLOP, RIVER, SHOWDOWN, TURN

• Pro Teams in Montreal: ALOUETTES, CANADIENS, CF MONTREAL, VICTOIRE

• Start with a Music Genre: COUNTRY CLUB, POPOVICH, RAPIDS, ROCKY

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

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

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

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for July 29, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for July 29, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for July 29 Pips

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (1): Everything in this space must be greater than 1. The answer is 4-3, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 4-3, placed vertically.

Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. The answer is 6-2, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for July 29 Pips

Number (1): Everything in this purple space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this light blue space must add up to 1. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically.

Number (1): Everything in this red space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally; 1-1, placed vertically.

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically; 5-5, placed horizontally.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 5-0, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically; 5-0, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for July 29 Pips

Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed horizontally.

Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically; 1-0, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-0, placed vertically; 3-3, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 1-4, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-3, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 1-4, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed vertically.

Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-6, placed vertically.

Number (24): Everything in this space must add up to 24. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed vertically; 4-6, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-5, placed vertically.

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

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're a teacher.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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

Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for July 29, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Stick together

• Green: Boring

• Blue: Piece of info

• Purple: School visuals

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Fasteners

• Green: Nondescript

• Blue: Units of wisdom

• Purple: ___ Boards in a classroom

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1144 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Fasteners: NAIL, RIVET, SCREW, STAPLE

• Nondescript: BASIC, MID, PLAIN, VANILLA

• Units of wisdom: GEM, NUGGET, PEARL, WORD

• ___ Boards in a classroom: BLACK, CHALK, CORK, WHITE

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for July 29, 2026

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

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

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you like handmade goods.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

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

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for July 29, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: A made man

The words are related to figures.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe marionettes.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Fabricated.

NYT Strands word list for July 29

• Manequin

• Statue

• Dummy

• Fabricated

• Puppet

• Doll

• Figurine

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a plumber.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 29, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for July 29, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Faucet.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter V appears twice.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter V.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

VALVE

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

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

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.

FREE GIFT: Until July 31, spend $40 or more on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise and get the Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist ($4.99 value) for free at Lego, in Lego Stores, or via phone orders while stocks last.

Opens in a new window Credit: Lego Free Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist Free when you spend over $40 on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise. Get Deal

Lego's tucked another freebie into its current promotions — a mini Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist (30725). Here's the scenario the set recreates: Anti-Venom busts open a street-corner ATM and takes off with the cash, and Spider-Man chases him down on a skateboard to stop him.

Spend $40 or more on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise, and this set comes free with your purchase. Unlike some of Lego's other current offers, this isn't online-only: it's valid at Lego, in Lego Stores, and through Lego Catalog phone orders until July 31, while stocks last.

If you're interested in crossing the $40 threshold, here are some solid options to put you over the line:

• Venom Bust — $49.99

• Spider-Man Prison Transport Chase — $49.99

• Loki vs. Team Iron Man — $49.99

• Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock Subway Train Scene — $54.99

• Avengers: Endgame Thor vs. Chitauri — $54.99

• Iron Spider-Man Bust — $59.99

• Ravager Jumpsuit Groot — $59.99

• Batman Tumbler vs. Two-Face & The Joker — $59.99

• Miles Morales' Mask — $69.99

• Spider-Man vs. Hulk Epic Clash — $89.99

• Avengers: Endgame Final Battle — $99.99

• Iron Man Mark 3 Collectors' Edition — $129.99

• Batmobile Tumbler — $189.99

• X-Men: The X-Mansion — $329.99

• S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier — $399.99

Same standard fine print applies: Pick a Brick (Standard) orders don't count toward the $40 minimum, you're limited to one free set per household, and if you return your qualifying purchase, the freebie has to be returned with it. It also can't be swapped for another item or cash value, and it's not valid at Legoland Parks, Legoland Discovery Centers, or Lego Certified Stores.

$4.99 of free Spider-Man justice — grab it at Lego while stocks last.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021 for a one-time $42.97 through Aug. 9 (reg. $219) and enjoy Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote for years.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License $42.97
$219 Save $176.03   Get Deal

Subscriptions have their place, but productivity software doesn’t really need to be one of them — especially when it’s something as familiar and widely used as Microsoft Office. Somewhere along the way, there must have been a glitch in the matrix, because buying software turned into renting it forever.

Thankfully, Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021 skips that model entirely. Its lifetime license is currently on sale for $42.97 (reg. $219).

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There’s no need to explain why an Office license still matters. Most people have been using Microsoft Office long before cloud apps and browser-based alternatives became the norm. With this deal, you can install the full Office suite on a single device for lifetime use — at home or at work — without worrying about monthly renewals, annual price hikes, or surprise charges down the line.

This license includes all the core apps most people actually rely on: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote. That means drafting documents, crunching numbers, building presentations, managing email, and organizing notes using the full desktop versions of each app.

Unlike free alternatives or web-based tools, you get access to the complete feature sets, which makes a difference when you’re working on longer documents, detailed spreadsheets, or presentation-heavy projects.

Once you purchase, your license key and download links are delivered instantly, so there’s no waiting around to get started. Microsoft also includes lifetime customer support, which can be helpful if you ever need assistance with installation or troubleshooting.

Instead of committing to yet another recurring subscription, this one-time purchase lets you snag software you’ll likely keep using for years.

Right now, you can grab Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac for $42.97 (reg. $219). That’s proof that the matrix occasionally still gets things right.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

T-Mobile is apologizing for a major nationwide outage on Monday that left many T-Mobile customers across the U.S. without any mobile service for hours.

While we don't yet have an answer on what caused the T-Mobile outage, another question remains: Where was T-Mobile's Starlink service, T-Satellite?

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What is T-Satellite?

Way back in 2022, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and T-Mobile announced an exclusive partnership between the two companies that would allow T-Mobile customers to connect to Starlink satellites. T-Mobile finally launched the T-Satellite service for customers last summer, following a testing period at the start of the year.

"T-Satellite connects you where towers can’t," reads T-Mobile's T-Satellite with Starlink product page on its website.

In a recent earnings call last Thursday, just days before the outage, T-Mobile CEO Srini Gopalan even shared that satellite service won't so much compete with traditional mobile carrier offerings, but be offered as complementary alongside cellular service.

Yet, when cellular service went down on Monday, some users reported online that they struggled to connect to T-Satellite.

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"Why didn't their phones switch to T-Satellite network with Starlink?" asked one social media user in response to Mashable's coverage of the T-Mobile outage.

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"T-Mobile is down, but what I find funny is that they brag about having satellite and you connect automatically when you can't get service from t-mobile, but satellite doesn't connect either," said one user on Musk's social media platform X alongside a crying face emoji.

"My T-Satellite aka Starlink didn't connect, what happened I thought it was supposed to be amazing for exactly this????" complained an X user. Another X user shared, "Mine tried and could not find a sat lol not kidding."

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

One crucial issue users may have faced: Starlink connectivity requires a wide, clear view of the open sky. So, while Starlink connections may be available in most urban areas, objects such as roofs, poles, and even trees can obstruct signal strength. This could explain why some customers struggled to connect via satellite while their phones were stuck in SOS Mode during the T-Mobile outage.

Mashable did come across users on X and Reddit who said they successfully connected to T-Satellite during the Monday outage.

T-Mobile's T-Satellite with Starlink service is included at no extra cost on certain T-Mobile plans, such as the $100 per month Experience Beyond plan. If T-Satellite isn't included in a user's service plan, they can add it on for $10 per month.

Starlink's partnership with T-Mobile hasn't met expectations

Recent statements from T-Mobile CEO Gopalan suggest T-Satellite hasn't been widely used by T-Mobile customers.

During an April 2026 earnings call, Gopalan called the company's Starlink partnership "very strong" but admitted that T-Mobile was "seeing a lot less usage than we were originally thinking" regarding its T-Satellite service. Gopalan went on to call it "a great complementary product."

At a conference the next month, in May 2026, Gopalan was more specific with just how low T-Satellite usage has been.

“Just to give you an example, we look at our data in May, and satellite usage is 0.0002% of our total network usage," Gopalan said of its T-Satellite service. "That’s three zeros."

In the previously mentioned earnings call from last week, Gopalan reiterated those numbers and added that “in our busiest summer months, that went to 0.0003%." And, despite that small summer bump, independent data from Speedtest.net parent company Ookla found that T-Satellite usage has largely gone down.

During its launch last year, T-Mobile shared that 1.8 million customers had signed up for the T-Satellite free beta period. The company has not shared subscription numbers for the Starlink service since.

Mashable reached out to T-Mobile to find out more about T-Satellite service and Monday's nationwide outage. We will update this piece if we receive more information.

It happened two times in two weeks: First Sony's PlayStation Network, then Microsoft's Xbox experienced significant outages. Monday's Xbox outage was particularly galling for users, since many Xbox games these days require authentication via the internet before they can even launch.

Not only were Xbox users locked out of online features, they couldn't even launch games they had installed on their machines. PSN players are vulnerable too: Sony recently confirmed it will stop manufacturing PlayStation game discs after January 2028.

The outages, in short, were an object lesson in the trade-offs that come with an all-digital sales model — as well as the benefits of keeping physical media alive.

Why are game discs going away?

For most of the history of video game consoles, buying a game meant acquiring a physical object. You bought a disc or cartridge, you inserted it, the console read it, and the game ran. You could resell the disc, lend it, or shelve it indefinitely without worrying about digital rights management.

But discs could also produce noticeable delay or stutter during gameplay, since optical drive read speeds have not scaled up as fast as processing power. So publishers began front-loading install data onto consoles' local hard drives, rather than taking it from a disc in real-time. As game file sizes have grown, publishers have leaned further into upfront installation as the more stable engineering choice.

SEE ALSO: Nintendo's potentially last Switch 1 game is absolutely worth your time

But that's not what drove the backlash to Sony's announcement. Many players are concerned about what happens to the whole concept of games ownership once physical media is entirely off the table.

The digital "sharing" economy was supposed to be defined by the phrase "you'll own nothing and be happy." Though coined by a socialist politician as a positive promise in 2016, this quote has since become a meme with a more sinister meaning.

Streaming services have long illustrated the problem. Netflix, Spotify, and their peers technically sell you access to media, revocable at any time a licensing deal lapses or a platform decides a title no longer earns its keep. This is not a new problem, and one of the more chilling examples is one of the oldest: the time in 2009 when Amazon removed George Orwell's dystopia of erased history, Nineteen Eighty-Four, from users' Kindles, due to a rights issue.

Likewise in the games industry, publishers can and have removed purchased digital titles from a user's library over licensing disputes or expired royalty agreements. Game servers are shut down once a title stops generating sufficient revenue to justify the operating cost, rendering online games unplayable.

In addition to ending disc production in 2028, Sony also revealed it would close its PS3 and PS Vita stores in some countries as early as this August. The company promised users "will still be able to download previously purchased content after the closing date," but only for a vague period of time: "the foreseeable future."

What happens when games discs don't work?

If you're seeking out an older discontinued title, there are often used copies to be found, and workarounds are available online for some games that require server connections. Live-service architecture, which Sony has tried (and sometimes failed) to make the norm, removes even that fallback.

Without a functioning server, there's no local copy to fall back on, no disc to reinsert, nothing to do but wait — precisely the position both Xbox and PlayStation users found themselves in recently.

Take The Crew, a decade-old racing game that publisher Ubisoft deciding to sunset in 2024. Because the game required a persistent internet connection even for its single-player mode, players lost the ability to launch it once Ubisoft delisted it from storefronts, revoked existing licenses, and shut down its servers. Ubisoft offered refunds only to those players who'd purchased The Crew in the past 14 days, its standard refund procedure.

The response from gamers was the formation of Stop Killing Games, a campaign founded by YouTuber Ross Scott. The campaign demanded that publishers not render anything a customer already paid for permanently unusable. It has since collected more than a million verified signatures via a European Citizens' Initiative, and helped spur a French consumer lawsuit against Ubisoft.

For now, Sony is still making discs, and won't be taking away games you've already bought. But after 2028, according to Sony's plan, that will change; you'll only ever be able to purchase PlayStation games online. And that could make PSN users vulnerable to the next server crash, legal dispute over licensing, or online game that simply isn't making its money back.

Today, Pornhub sent a letter to various U.S. governors, attorneys general, and state reps, the company shared with Mashable. The letter details concerns over "performative, ineffective, and unenforceable" age-verification laws, calls for releasing data on how these laws protect children, and advocates for device-level filters.

Age-verification laws require submitting personal information — such as a facial scan or a government ID — to view certain content, typically explicit content. These laws have been enacted in around half of U.S. states since 2023, starting with Louisiana. Pornhub has blocked itself in most of these states due to the burden of complying.

SEE ALSO: What would ethical age verification look like online?

Meanwhile, initial research has suggested that age-verification laws don't work due to software like VPNs (which can hide someone's real location) and non-compliant websites.

In its letter, Pornhub mentions these pitfalls, as well as digital safety and privacy concerns.

The company sent the open letter to elected officials in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

"These laws demonstrably do not work and, as a result, have put your constituents' children and adults' personal data at risk. If you truly intend to protect minors online, you must acknowledge the facts and introduce a real solution," the letter states.

The solution Pornhub offers is mandating operating system providers like Apple, Microsoft, and Google to enable parental controls on the device level. Pornhub sent a letter to these tech giants in Nov. 2025, asking them to do so.

In the UK, Apple enabled device-level filters on devices with iOS 26.4, prompting Pornhub to reverse its decision to block the country back in May. The UK's age-verification law, the Online Safety Act, went into effect in July 2025.

Pornhub has experimented with this solution since April 2026 and found that it prevents minors from accessing adult content in the UK. VPNs also don't work to circumvent it. "It is our view that children in the UK using Apple devices with the most up-to-date version of iOS are benefitting from the strongest level of protection from age-inappropriate content online," the letter reads. "Your constituents deserve the same."

The company wrote that Apple, Microsoft, and Google should make this the default on all devices globally.

It also mentions the recent report from Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, stating that current age checks "leave major gaps." It also mentions similar findings in Texas, where an online search for "free porn" showed that nine out of the top 10 search results had no age verification at all. (The latter findings are in an appendix in the letter.)

In Australia, which enacted a social media ban for children under 16 in December 2025, 85 percent of those teens are still using social media, according to a study published in June. Meanwhile, Pornhub states, "The longer this goes on, the longer these non-compliant sites are accessed by more minors and adults. As outlined by Lucy Faithfull Foundation, we know that when faced with age verification, some adults are choosing riskier, irresponsible sites to avoid age checks."

The letter also asks, "How many minors have been protected in the weeks, months and years since age verification laws have come into effect in your jurisdictions?" It asks for the officials to publicly release data about this, if such data exists

"Platform-by-platform age verification laws were designed to fail. These laws may be simple and attractive, but the evidence shows they are impossible to enforce at scale, easy to evade, weak at protecting minors and increase privacy risks for adults," the letter goes on, linking to various reports by The Independent and the BBC.

Pornhub finishes the letter, again asking for device-level filters. Free speech advocates have long called for this as a solution that doesn't infringe on adults' free speech rights.

Here is the letter in full:

Dear lawmakers,

We are writing to you because, as a community, we are deeply concerned about the harm being caused by the performative, ineffective, and unenforceable age verification laws you have taken part in passing despite your intention of protecting minors. Everyone subjected to these laws is more at risk than ever before of encountering online harm.

We are serious about protecting minors, and lawmakers like yourselves must recognize that these laws have failed at that objective. Voting for age verification laws that require hundreds of thousands of individual websites to collect personal information from every user, every time they want to access content restricted to adults, is dangerous.

These laws demonstrably do not work and, as a result, have put your constituents’ children and adults’ personal data at risk. If you truly intend to protect minors online, you must acknowledge the facts and introduce a real solution. You have the power and the responsibility to mandate operating system providers like Apple, Microsoft and Google to render all mobile phones, tablets and computers child safe by enabling parental controls at the source and by default.

You should be aware that in the United Kingdom, where they’ve introduced the Online Safety Act with the goal of making the UK “the safest place in the world to be online”, Apple has shown what meaningful action looks like. With a quick software update, Apple set a new benchmark for child safety that turned parental controls on by default for users who have not verified they are adults. This means making every phone or tablet kid-safe as a starting point. Adults can then verify their age once in their mobile phone settings, instead of every time they want to browse an adult website, use a dating app or scroll social media. It’s a more consistent, privacy-conscious, global approach to protecting children online than requiring every individual website or application to build and enforce its own age verification system.

Since April 2026, Pornhub has experimented with Apple’s solution and has seen it successfully prevent minors from accessing adult content websites in the UK. It is our view that children in the UK using Apple devices with the most up-to-date version of iOS are benefitting from the strongest level of protection from age-inappropriate content online. Adult sites are blocked by default, and VPNs do not work to circumvent these blocks. Your constituents deserve the same.

This is a big step for online safety that can go even further. We believe all device manufacturers, like Microsoft, Apple and Google – the three companies responsible for the operating system of 97% of mobile phones, tablets and computers currently in use around the world, should make this the default setting on all devices globally. Because clearly, more could and should be done. Your role here is to mandate them to do it by including this in their next software updates.

For nearly a year, Ofcom, the UK internet regulator, has monitored and collected data. Like your existing laws, the UK Act relies heavily on adults repeatedly submitting personal information, such as a driver’s licence, facial scan, or credit card, to access lawful content. Ofcom has now released its first six-month implementation report. Its findings make clear that site-by-site age checks leave major gaps. “Since January 2026, the number of services in the top 100 with age assurance in place has decreased steadily, as services without age assurance become more popular.” Ofcom also noted that site-by-site rules can “inadvertently strengthen the market position of non-compliant firms.” In other words, dangerous websites that are breaking the law by refusing to implement any kind of age assurance are benefitting from the law by winning traffic over from the compliant websites that have.

None of the age verification laws that have been passed in any of your jurisdictions are working or can effectively be enforced. An excellent example of this exists in the UK. Ofcom is one of the world’s strongest online safety regulators, but it has been given an impossible mandate. This outcome was predictable: responsible platforms comply, while non-compliant operators remain discoverable, gain traffic and continue exposing minors to age-inappropriate content. And this is not unique to the UK. For example, in Texas, where age verification was introduced in September 2023, a simple online search showed 9 out of the top 10 search results for “free porn” had no age verification at all.

This issue does not only apply to adult content laws. Since December 2025, kids under the age of 16 in Australia have been prohibited from having social media accounts. However, three months after the ban more than 85% of teenagers are still using social media. Search results are constantly replenished with new, non-compliant sites, demonstrating how easily new players can enter the market. This revolving door means the internet remains wide open to unmoderated, unverified and potentially unsafe content, regardless of how many times authorities attempt to crack down.

The longer this goes on, the longer these non-compliant sites are accessed by more minors and adults. As outlined by Lucy Faithfull Foundation, we know that when faced with age verification, some adults are choosing riskier, irresponsible sites to avoid age checks. According to the Free Speech Coalition, “Less than 5% of consumers actually go through with age-verification for adult content. When confronted with a request for a facial scan and government ID, most consumers simply hit the back button and find a non-compliant site outside the mandate or log on to a VPN.” The internet is global and it's impossible to patrol millions of different sites based in hundreds of different countries. Site-based regulation is always going to encourage evasion.

We can no longer accept laws that create the appearance of action while failing to address the challenge of keeping kids safe online. It is particularly concerning when these laws drive regulated business out of your jurisdictions and aid in creating a lush market for bad actors online, when a viable solution exists today.

Phones, tablets and computers could start as kid-safe devices by default, where only verified adults would be able to disable safeguards designed to protect minors from age-inappropriate content, including pornography. This method protects minors without requiring adults to surrender unnecessary personal information to multiple websites. It also avoids creating systems that are easily circumvented through tools like VPNs. Some governments and major technology companies recognize that kid-safe phones can provide a more consistent and privacy-protective way to help keep minors away from age-restricted content.

How many minors have been protected in the weeks, months and years since age verification laws have come into effect in your jurisdictions? The public deserves to see the data on how these laws are protecting children and reducing access to age-inappropriate content. We don’t believe such data exists. Platform-by-platform age verification laws were designed to fail. These laws may be simple and attractive, but the evidence shows they are impossible to enforce at scale, easy to evade, weak at protecting minors and increase privacy risks for adults.

We urge you to focus on putting into action policies that produce measurable improvements in child safety rather than legislation that grabs headlines. The technology exists. A precedent exists. The responsibility now lies with you to pursue solutions that truly protect children across the entire internet. We are determined to be part of this solution and want to collaborate with government, civil society and tech partners to arrive at an effective kid-safe-by-default solution.

Signed,

Pornhub

When Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005, no one could have predicted that nearly two decades later, one of its characters would still be one of the internet's favorite fictional boyfriends. Yet here we are.

Since Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender arrived on Paramount+ and in select theaters, my TikTok algorithm has developed a singular obsession: making sure I see adult Zuko in all his gorgeous, danmei-esque glory. Not clips from the movie. Edits. Slowed down. Zoomed in. Color graded to perfection.

The same handful of shots appear over and over, each transformed by a different corner of internet culture. There's the now-ubiquitous Doja Cat "Jealous Type" edit (see examples here, here, and here). Others swap in Sabrina Carpenter or Britney Spears. Another pairs Zuko with the viral audio of increasingly frantic cats meowing — the universal soundtrack for fictional men so attractive they short-circuit your brain. Another opts for barking dogs instead. One creator dissolved into tears trying to explain how unfairly good adult Zuko looks. Honestly? I understood every word.

On X, the reactions are even less restrained. "Zuko is so sexy just sitting there looking ripped af and his hair in a bun," one viral post reads. Another declares, "Adult Zuko is so hot and sexy. I'd take on the world just to have him."

SEE ALSO: I let fancams dictate what I watch

The internet, it seems, has once again reached a consensus. Unfortunately, many of these edits don't survive for very long. As copyrighted clips from the film, they're often removed almost as quickly as they go viral.

Legally, that makes sense. Practically, it's a little harder to understand. Because by the time an edit disappears, it's usually already done exactly what great marketing is supposed to do. It's racked up hundreds of thousands of views. It's inspired TikTok stitches and reaction videos. It's filled the comments with people asking where the clip is from or admitting they've never watched Avatar before but suddenly want to.

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

Studios spend millions trying to convince audiences to care about a movie. Meanwhile, fans are doing it organically, one 20-second edit at a time. In 2026, the edit has become the trailer.

One of my own friends has tried to get into the original Avatar series more than once. It never clicked. But after days of TikTok serving her edit after edit of hot Zuko, she texted asking if I'd take her to see the movie in theaters.

That's the magic of internet fandom. It doesn't just keep beloved characters alive — it keeps introducing them to people who somehow missed them the first time around.

What's happening with Zuko speaks to something bigger than a viral thirst trend. It's a reminder that some characters never really leave the internet. They get passed from platform to platform, generation to generation, finding new audiences through fan edits, memes, fan art, and recommendations powered more by fandom than by marketing.

Dante Basco, who voiced teenage Zuko in the original series, has watched that happen in real time. Speaking to Fandom for the show's 15th anniversary in 2020, Basco described Avatar as "so timeless" and said he was happy that "a new generation is discovering it now." He also noted that the fanbase never really disappeared, saying fans were "always continually following it and cosplaying."

That enduring enthusiasm helps explain why the arrival of an official adult Zuko has taken over social media. The movie may have given fans new footage, but it didn't create the fascination. It simply reignited one that has quietly been thriving online for nearly two decades. It doesn't hurt that adult Zuko is voiced by another internet boyfriend: Steven Yeun.

Long before "book boyfriend" entered the mainstream lexicon and before TikTok perfected the art of the thirst edit, Zuko dominated Tumblr dashboards, YouTube AMVs, fanfiction archives, cosplay conventions, and GIF sets. Fans wrote essays dissecting his redemption arc, created fan art imagining his future as Fire Lord, and spent years debating every step of his journey. As Dante Basco told Fandom, fans still regularly approach him to say Zuko has "one of the greatest redemption arcs in history."

That devotion isn't an accident. In fact, Zuko almost didn't exist. On the Avatar: Braving the Elements podcast, co-creator Bryan Konietzko recalled that Zuko emerged after Nickelodeon executive Eric Coleman suggested the series needed "someone who's going after them the whole time." Konietzko's response: "Can he have a scar?"

The creators also knew from the very beginning where his story was headed. "It's in the series bible," Konietzko said. "We knew that Zuko was going to become Aang's teacher."

That long-game storytelling is part of what makes Zuko endure while so many animated characters have faded into nostalgia. He's not redeemed overnight. He stumbles, backslides, betrays the people trying to help him, and ultimately has to choose, over and over again, the person he wants to become. His emotional vulnerability, dry sense of humor, and hard-earned growth make him the kind of character audiences can root for.

"We love the villain who's been hurt and who is given the opportunity to come back from that," said Janet Varney, who voices Korra, during the same podcast conversation. Konietzko agreed, noting that even he sees Zuko as someone with "an amazing redemptive arc."

He's also incredibly editable. Every glance, every fight scene, every quiet moment carries emotional weight because fans already know where his story leads. A well-made edit can communicate that emotional journey in under 30 seconds, even to someone who's never watched an episode.

That's part of what's changed about fandom in the TikTok era. Character edits have quietly become one of the internet's most effective recommendation engines. Instead of convincing viewers to watch an entire series, they convince them to care about one character. The rest often follows.

For years, studios have tried to figure out how to introduce older franchises to new audiences. Increasingly, the answer is powered by fandom.

A compelling edit can do what traditional marketing often can't: make someone emotionally invested before they've watched a single scene. We've seen it happen across pop culture. A fancam introduces someone to a K-pop group. A TikTok revives a decade-old song. An anime edit sends viewers rushing to Crunchyroll. The algorithm has become one of the internet's most powerful discovery engines, constantly resurfacing stories for audiences who missed them the first time around.

Zuko is perhaps the clearest example of how that cycle can last for decades. Ironically, Paramount spent months trying to keep Avatar Aang footage offline after the film leaked earlier this year. Now that the finished film is finally streaming, it's fans, not the studio, who are generating the clips everyone wants to watch.

The creators of Avatar Aang have described the film as a chance to revisit Team Avatar at "this precipice between adolescence and adulthood," reconnecting with characters who have grown up alongside the audience that first fell in love with them.

But if TikTok is any indication, fans didn't need much convincing to come back.

That's why the flood of "hot Zuko" edits feels like more than a fleeting social media trend. They're evidence that fandom itself has become part of a franchise's longevity. Characters no longer live only within the stories that created them. They continue evolving through the internet, where fans remix and reintroduce them to thousands of potential new viewers.

And if my friend finally watches Avatar because TikTok convinced her to give a scarred Fire Nation prince a chance? Honestly, I don't think she'll be the first. And judging by my For You page, she definitely won't be the last.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is now in select theaters and streaming on Paramount+.