Author: skeptic

Free iPhone deal: T-Mobile is giving away the Apple iPhone 17 for free — how to qualify

Free iPhone deal: T-Mobile is giving away the Apple iPhone 17 for free — how to qualify

Published by skeptic

TL;DR: The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro are available for free right now with T-Mobile. Here’s how to qualify for this limited-time offer. Free when you trade in your eligible phone on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan.. Free when you switch to T-Mobile and bring your number on an Experience Beyond plan. Samsung has been the center of attention this week, and that’s totally fair. It’s not every week that a major brand drops three new foldables smartphones, two smartwatches, and smart glasses. But can we hold some space for Apple? Apple prices are bumping in the face of RAMageddon, but you can still secure a special offer on iPhones from T-Mobile. This popular mobile carrier has just dropped a fresh batch of free iPhone deals on the latest handsets: Apple iPhone 17 — free when you trade in your eligible phone on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan. Apple iPhone 17 Pro — free when you switch to T-Mobile and bring your number on an Experience Beyond plan (no trade-in …

Wordle today: The answer and hints for July 25, 2026

Wordle today: The answer and hints for July 25, 2026

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Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you’re Hawaiian. 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 25, 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 …

‘MacBook Ultra’ Coming Soon With These 12 New Features

‘MacBook Ultra’ Coming Soon With These 12 New Features

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Apple’s first high-end MacBook redesign in five years is expected to arrive in the near future, bringing a run of firsts to the Mac. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman expects the laptop to arrive between late 2026 and early 2027, with the later window now looking more likely owing to the global memory chip shortage. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects mass production to begin by late 2026. Apple last redesigned the MacBook Pro in 2021 with the M1 Pro and M1 Max models, so this would be its first new high-end laptop design in at least five years. Here is everything rumored about the device so far: “MacBook Ultra” branding: Apple has reportedly decided to market two new “Ultra” products over the next year, the foldable iPhone and this laptop, which would establish a tier above the ‌MacBook Pro‌ for the first time. The name is not confirmed and Apple theoretically could still use “‌MacBook Pro‌” branding, but for now, “MacBook Ultra” seems highly likely. OLED display: The ‌MacBook Ultra‌ is expected to be the first Mac with …

I tried out OpenAI’s new AI keypad — which will be fun for some coders and slightly mystifying to everyone else

I tried out OpenAI’s new AI keypad — which will be fun for some coders and slightly mystifying to everyone else

Published by skeptic

OpenAI launched its first piece of hardware last week — a fancy little keypad built to pair with ChatGPT. Micro, which was developed in collaboration with specialty keyboard designer Work Louder, is essentially an artisanal workplace novelty that many tech enthusiasts will love and that may leave everyone else a little puzzled. OpenAI’s entrance into the hardware market hasn’t arrived without drama. Several weeks ago, Apple sued the AI lab and accused it of trade theft — kicking off what’s certain to be a long-simmering legal battle. Meanwhile, news of another smart home product in development at OpenAI has also raised eyebrows, as the supposed device — which is being built to pair with ChatGPT — was reportedly developed by former Apple engineers. Until the legal battle works itself out and OpenAI’s broader hardware ambitions materialize, the most the startup has to offer is Micro — a funky little keypad clearly engineered to delight the tech industry’s code monkeys. OpenAI sent TechCrunch a Micro test unit. The first big thing you notice when initially handling …

NordVPN’s New HangUp App Screens Calls and Texts for Scams

NordVPN’s New HangUp App Screens Calls and Texts for Scams

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The phone rings. There’s a sense of dread. Friend or foe? Scam or no? NordVPN — known more for encrypting internet traffic and hiding IP addresses — has launched an Android app named HangUp that screens incoming calls for potential scammers and telemarketers. The app is free to everyone. You don’t need a paid NordVPN account. HangUp uses call protection technology from Hiya, which has its own mobile app to block spam and fraud calls and detect AI deepfakes. HangUp also can scan incoming text messages by incorporating NordVPN’s Message Protection, which the company launched in June. HangUp app customers can choose to use only call screening if they wish. Flagging calls might be a new feature for a VPN that CNET deems the fastest, but scam screening is already available via many cellphone service providers as well as devices themselves. AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, iPhones, Google Pixel and Samsung phones can identify and block unwanted calls, as can major landline services. HangUp is currently available only for Android and can be downloaded in the Google …

Musk says Tesla to ‘open source’ Model S and X, but prior release makes us skeptical

Musk says Tesla to ‘open source’ Model S and X, but prior release makes us skeptical

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Elon Musk says Tesla plans to “open source” the Model S and Model X, and he’s pointing to the original Roadster as the template. The problem is Tesla’s Roadster release amounted to eight files on GitHub plus five document packages behind a login, with no open-source license attached to any of it. What Tesla actually put out for the Roadster In November 2023, Musk posted that “all design & engineering of the original Tesla Roadster is now fully open source,” and added, “Whatever we have, you now have.” We covered the release at the time. The full inventory is short. The teslamotors/roadster repo holds five CAN database (.dbc) files covering the Roadster 1.5 and 2.0 ESS and PEM buses, about 339 KB in total, plus a 309 MB diagnostic software ISO and two PDF quick-guides. That’s everything, aside from a README and a .gitattributes file. Advertisement – scroll for more content The commit history is worth a look. The DBC files went up on December 2, 2022, nearly a year before Musk announced any of …

SpaceX launches new V3 Starlink satellites but suffers another booster failure

SpaceX launches new V3 Starlink satellites but suffers another booster failure

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SpaceX successfully deployed the first third-generation Starlink satellites on Friday using an upgraded version of its prototype Starship — the 13th test flight of its mega-rocket to date. But the company suffered another failure with its Super Heavy booster during a planned simulated landing in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the second time the company has had an issue with the Super Heavy booster on this V3 version of Starship. In May, on the first Starship V3 flight, SpaceX encountered a failure of the Starship’s Super Heavy booster as it separated from the upper stage of the rocket. The launch came a little more than a week after SpaceX tried to conduct the 13th Starship launch. That attempt had to abort immediately after ignition due to a number of rocket engine failures. SpaceX said it replaced six engines ahead of Friday’s flight to fix the problem. During Friday’s launch, the booster made it farther into its planned flight but wasn’t able to properly fire up all of the engines required for its simulated landing burn. …

Why the new ‘Spaceballs’ sequel isn’t called ‘The Search for More Money’

Why the new ‘Spaceballs’ sequel isn’t called ‘The Search for More Money’

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Today is not only the San Diego Comic-Con panel for Spaceballs: The New One, but also the Apple TV premiere of The Dink. Both are helmed by Josh Greenbaum, who spoke with Mashable about the pickleball comedy and the long-awaited sequel to Mel Brooks’ Star Wars spoof. In an interview with Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko, Greenbaum dug into the themes of friendship and identity in The Dink, as well as what it meant to have comedy icon Lynne Marie Stewart join the cast, in what would become her final film role. They also got into Spaceballs: The New One. Specifically, Puchko asked the question fans of the 1987 comedy had about the title. See, in Spaceballs, the wise Yogurt (played by Brooks) says the star-flung heroes might meet again “in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.” So, why is this sequel called Spaceballs: The New One? Greenbaum said, “If you didn’t see our announcement video, Mel Brooks himself found the money. It was in his basement, and so he doesn’t need any more …

6 Shakespeare adaptations you didn’t know were Shakespeare adaptations

6 Shakespeare adaptations you didn’t know were Shakespeare adaptations

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Christopher Nolan’s new movie The Odyssey is based on Homer’s 2,700-year-old epic poem. There have been a lot of adaptations of The Odyssey over the past couple millennia, and some of them are so abstract most people don’t even realize they are adaptations. That got us thinking about another author whose work is frequently remixed and presented as original: William Shakespeare. There have been a lot of undercover Shakespeare adaptations over the years, although in some cases, the fact that they’re Shakespeare adaptations is now well known. We’ll try to highlight more obscure entries. Related 5 famous books that are genuinely better to read on a Kindle Sometimes you want to hold a book in your hand, but at other times, reading it on a Kindle is the only good option. Warm Bodies Romeo and Juliet and braaaaaaains Credit: Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The best-known undercover adaptation is the musical West Side Story, which was made into not one but two fantastic movies: one in 1961 and another …

iOS 27: All the New iCloud Features

iOS 27: All the New iCloud Features

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iOS 27 includes new iCloud capabilities across several apps like Apple Home, Siri, Photos, and more. There are some direct ‌iCloud‌ improvements like upgrades to photo uploads and sharing, along with some indirect new features. HomeKit Secure Video Cameras (iCloud+) If you have HomeKit Secure Video cameras, the Home app in ‌iOS 27‌ has a couple of useful new Apple Intelligence features. You can get text-based summaries of what’s going on, sent as notifications. So when you get a notification for movement, it will say something like “Someone was seen,” or “Animal seen.” The text descriptions are also shown in the video playback timeline, and you can search for specific events. Events that take place across two cameras, such as the same person walking from room to room, are paired together to give an overview of action across the home. ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features in the Home app require a 2TB or higher iCloud+ plan, which is priced starting at $9.99 in the United States. The 2TB plan is also the plan required for an unlimited …