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Mashable's Kristy Puchko sits down with Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, and Brian Tyree Henry to discuss which past characters would help them get through a Godzilla vs. Kong scenario. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hits theaters on March 29, 2024.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) — the UK's financial services regulator — put out a statement this week warning influencers and firms alike that crypto memes used in an ad need to be lawful. In other words, a "finfluencer" isn't legally allowed to mislead people about crypto in an ad.

If a firm uses an influencer to get out their message — whether that's using memes, short-form video, or gaming streams — then the influencer has to follow regulations. A person working for a firm understandably doesn't have the same freedom of expression as someone giving their own, non-compensated-for opinion.

"Any marketing for financial products must be fair, clear and not misleading so consumers can invest, save or borrow with confidence," Lucy Castledine, director of consumer investments at the FCA, said in a statement. "Promotions aren’t just about the likes, they’re about the law. We will take action against those touting financial products illegally."

SEE ALSO: John Oliver takes a deep dive into a murky online crypto scam

Any company advertising a financial product is responsible for how an influencer does that marketing. It's also up to the firm and influencer to check with the FCA that the advertisement, even something like a meme on Reddit, is allowed.

"Firms are on the hook for all their promotions and the FCA has warned they need to ensure influencers they work with communicate to their followers in the right way," the regulator's release read. "And influencers are reminded that promoting a financial product without approval from an FCA-authorised person with the right permission could be a criminal offence."

It's not like this is an uncommon problem the FCA is tackling. Crypto is a major topic of discussion online and scams are incredibly common. So many people are trying to hype their preferred crypto or other financial service, sometimes at the cost of telling the whole truth. The FCA noted it removed 10,000 misleading financial advertisements in 2023 alone.

GET A FREE SEX TOY: Spend $79 at Lovehoney and get a free sex toy (you get to choose one of three options worth $45-$90) added to your cart automatically at checkout.

Opens in a new window Credit: Lovehoney Get a free sex toy when you spend $79 at Lovehoney No code required Get Deal

If you need a little extra self-care this week (I mean, who doesn't?), Lovehoney's got you covered. Lovehoney, a leader in sexual wellness, is basically giving away free sex toys — when you spend some money on the site first, of course.

As of March 27, spend $79 or more (shipping is free!) at Lovehoney and you'll get the option to add one of three sex toys to your cart for free, no code required.

SEE ALSO: The best sex toy deals to shop this week

We went through the checkout process to make sure the freebie toys were actually worth it and were pleasantly surprised. Instead of throwing a cheap Screaming O vibe or Ring O in your cart, Lovehoney lets you choose from the Lovehoney Bed Ringer (a rechargeable double cock ring worth $49.99), the Lovehoney Jessica Rabbit 10-function rabbit vibrator (worth $44.99), or the Lovehoney Dream Wand mini wand vibrator (worth $89.99). Sure, they're all Lovehoney brand toys, but they're quality products. No matter what product you choose as your freebie, you're basically buying one toy (or whatever you purchase to total $79) and getting a second toy for free — and if you choose the Dream Wand your freebie might be worth even more than your initial purchase.

To make things even sweeter, Lovehoney has hundreds of toys on sale for up to 50% off right now, so you can stock up on your favorites and score that free toy at the same time. (The clearance section is up to 70% off, but it's mostly lingerie and accessories, just FYI.)

Spring into action and take charge of this deal — and your pleasure — while you still can.

When you hit your 20-somethings, nobody tells you how to adult. So now, four months away from the end of my lease, I need to figure out how to move across the country for the first time by myself. I could ask my parents, but where's the fun in that — I am a big boy after all. This means obviously, as a reporter for an esteemed tech outlet, the solution is artificial intelligence.

I mean why not, right?

Big Tech has spent billions of dollars trying to find meaningful ways for us to incorporate generative AI into our lives. So, why not use generative AI as my personal assistant and financial planner during my cross-country move from Austin to Chicago?

In theory, moving to a new city is an ideal test of the tools OpenAI claims ChatGPT to be good at, especially now that it can access the internet, users can upload attachments and photos, and can be custom-built for specific needs. If ChatGPT can't ease some of my burdens when it comes to budgeting, searching for, financing, and driving to a new apartment that's more than 1,100 miles away, then perhaps it's not worth the GPUs it's built with.

SEE ALSO: I spent a week using AI tools in my daily life. Here's how it went. Step 1: Budgeting

Even before we look at apartments, I need ChatGPT to help me save money. On top of paying rent and utilities between now and June 1, I also started paying back my student loans in January, which runs me a cool $200 a month until the 2040s.

My goal is to paint a broad picture of what I need to do financially to have the money to make my move as stress-free as possible. ChatGPT — and, thus, this experiment — is inherently limited because the AI can't do all the financing for me. As much as I would love, in theory, for this AI to take care of my budgeting fully, it can't; nor do I feel comfortable allowing OpenAI to have access to my sensitive financial data.

Truly, this might be way above ChatGPT's pay grade considering it's a conversational AI with a hallucination problem (and not an arithmetic machine), but I gave both AIs the prompt specifying what I'm trying to achieve and asked it to calculate "how much I need to save from each paycheck to reasonably move to Chicago."

The AI was game to help.

You gotta be as specific as possible. The AI's don't appreciate having to do financial guesswork. Credit: OpenAI via screenshot

The big challenge was getting numbers that were realistic to my current situation — especially when it came to dates. Between the time this was written and when my July 1 move-in date arrives, I'll receive 7 paychecks. During testing, if my prompt didn't specify July 1, 2024, ChatGPT would assume I meant July 1, 2025, and calculate for a year's worth of money. And even when I am specific about the dates, the AIs may still just hallucinate random numbers, like when ChatGPT randomly calculated for 10 pay periods instead of the 7 I'd specified.

The math was a little spotty, but with some tweaking to the prompts, ChatGPT gave me the ideal number that I should save based on my income and recurring payments. This matched up with the math I did by hand, which admittedly doesn't mean much — that's why my degree is in journalism and not STEM.

Step 2: Finding a place

Now that I know how much I need to save, I need to get a shortlist of places that fit within my budget. My range for rent for my next apartment is $1,000-$1,500. I'm not looking for anything fancy in the Windy City, but a studio/1 bed with an in-unit washer/dryer would be perfect.

Unfortunately, OpenAI has slowly wound down plugins so we're going to have to rely on CustomGPTs, an evolved version of plugins that allows users to create their own chatbots, to specify our real estate needs for this experiment. I used three different CustomGPTs: Apartment/House Rental Finder, Apartment Scout, and Apartment Finder.

So far, the running trend with these GPTs and this experiment, in general, is I need to be extremely specific — which ruins the fun for me, because I'm trying to offload all my thinking to the robot. It's clearly a worse experience than just Googling. For instance, Apartment Scout gives a bulleted list of neighborhoods, and when I tell it which one I like, it goes:

It looks like I'm encountering some technical difficulties accessing the specific rental listings directly from the sources I usually rely on. However, you can find suitable studio or 1-bedroom apartments within your price range and criteria by checking out popular rental websites such as Zillow, Apartments.com, and Realtor.com.

What do you mean go somewhere else? Credit: OpenAI via screenshot

On another attempt, it provides a few links to actual apartment listings.

Now it wants to act right. Credit: OpenAI via screenshot

At least this GPT provides a link for me, unlike Apartment/House Rental Finder, which uses Craigslist to find apartments that specify my needs and then will tell me to go there myself if I ask for links to the apartments it listed.

Very helpful. Credit: OpenAI via screenshot

Ultimately, Apartment Finder was also not of much help and also told me to go somewhere else to find what I needed.

Credit: OpenAI via screenshot

The results (or lack thereof) are not surprising. ChatGPT was designed to tell the user whatever will make the user feel happy or smart, rather than be any sort of leader or authority, so if you are unsure about the broad strokes of where you want to live, then you're not gonna have much luck.

I'll guess I'll stick to late-night scrolling on Zillow.

Step 3: Packing and Planning

The final step of this move is the packing and planning of the drive. One of the perks of ChatGPT is that you can upload pictures now, so I decided to see if showing ChatGPT my room would help it give me advice on how to pack up my belongings for the move.

Short answer: It didn't. Long answer: It didn't, and instead gave me generic advice on how to rip apart my room:

First, declutter the room, separating items to keep, donate, or discard. Gather moving supplies: boxes, bubble wrap, packing paper, tape, and markers. Pack items from least used to most used, labeling boxes with contents and destination room. Dismantle furniture, wrapping pieces in moving blankets or bubble wrap. Protect the electronics with bubble wrap and place them in boxes. Roll up the rug and secure with tape. Pack the artwork with bubble wrap and place in picture boxes. Use wardrobe boxes for hanging clothes and suitcases for others. Pack a box of essentials separately. Clean the room once emptied.

This advice, especially that neat tidbit about rolling up the rug in my room, wasn't all that useful (hint: my floor is carpeted).

Don't mind my room, it's a little dirty Credit: OpenAI via screenshot

Okay, well, that was a bust, so what about the drive? Unsurprisingly, this is where ChatGPT was the most helpful. I gave it two scenarios: one where I use a rented U-Haul to drive to Chicago, and another where I keep my car. According to the U-Haul website and the math done by ChatGPT, renting and driving a U-Haul costs around $700+.

The mover's dilemma: Sell all my stuff or spend $700 on a U-Haul? Credit: OpenAI via screenshot

If I drive my car, a 2012 Dodge Durango, the cost of just the gas is only around $240.

After calculating costs, ChatGPT gave me some routes to take. Of course, that information is superfluous since I can use Google Maps anyway, but it's nice to know now where my little adventure will take me. According to my friend from Illinois, the drive from Austin to Chicago is not great, so I'm glad ChatGPT told me to have some podcasts on deck to keep me entertained.

Conclusion

Here's the TL;DR: Don't use ChatGPT to plan a move across the country.

It's not that ChatGPT can't be helpful, cause it can. The chatbot helped me visualize a broad overview of my finances and gave me some useful tips and tricks for packing and route-planning. However, you need to be so hyper-specific with the prompts that all that time tinkering could be spent, you know, planning your move yourself.

Wanna use the CustomGPTs to help find apartments? Sorry, they'll just tell you to use Zillow. Wanna use ChatGPT to pin down how much to save out of your paychecks? Unless you're willing to get into the weeds about your financial security, good luck getting it to not just make shit up — and even then it still might. Of course, these chatbots aren't designed to do life for you, but this exercise was somehow more frustrating than I thought it would be.

I guess I'll call my parents for help after all.

Around the release of ChatGPT in 2022, AI became the buzzword du jour for tech investors and startups, so it's only natural that in our tech-saturated consumer world, AI would become a buzzword in home electronics and appliances just a short time later. And boy is it ever a buzzword. If you're shopping for an appliance with "AI" shoehorned into its specs, someone will sell you something. 

But you may find yourself the proud owner of say, an artificially intelligent toaster, and be left with some regular old hot bread, and a few questions about where all that supposed AI went. 

Artificial intelligence is a capacity or an attribute, not a thing, and it's highly subjective: the ability to simulate human intelligence, more or less covers it. Philosophers and computer scientists still have to hash out the finer points of what counts as artificial intelligence, what its potential is or is not, and how contemporary "generative AI" applications like ChatGPT fit into the picture, but that's above my pay grade as a tech journalist. What I can tell you, however, is what companies currently market as artificial intelligence. 

So a quick look at some home appliances is a fantastic way to see what companies think AI is, and what they think consumers want AI to be. Keep in mind that anything automated or capable of performing a calculation can be considered AI if you broaden your definition enough, but that's an obvious cop-out. If you buy one of these devices for its AI capabilities and feel like you didn't get any actual AI, it's doubtful you can get a refund, but at least after reading this, you'll have an overview of how much, or how little, intelligence you can really expect from a gadget. 

Here's where the AI is in five pieces of technology for your home: 

Nest Learning Thermostat

What it is: Google's Wi-Fi enabled thermostat that looks like a giant, glowing watch battery, found in approximately 100 percent of Airbnb units, and approximately zero percent of rented homes. 

What it does: When you first use it, by turning its ever-so-satisfying wheeled exterior to dial in your preferred temperature, it learns how hot or cold you want it to be at different times of the day. Then, if all goes according to plan, it optimizes your A/C and heater to fit your preferences without your constant input. If you have a smart home system and you integrate your Nest thermostat into it, you can do things like use voice commands to change the temperature. 

Where the AI is: Google's overview of the Nest thermostat actually doesn't mention AI (perhaps because Google is still struggling to get its story straight about the topic in general) but AI is nonetheless a huge part of the marketing for Nest products, and shows up in all sorts of pages about Nest and Google Home, including an explainer on using AI-generated scripts to generate climate-control-centric Google Home Routines. So it really can integrate with generative AI.

As far as AI in the classic functions of the Nest itself goes, Google software engineer Ramya Bhagavatula told an official Google blogger in 2020, "We’re using people’s preferences and adding machine learning to find you ways to help save energy." Optimizing temperature with a Nest thermostat involves AI algorithms that used to run on the device, and now run in the cloud. "Originally, each thermostat operated on its own, but now we have the power to make intelligent decisions based on anonymized data, which might not have been possible if we were just looking at each individual device," Bhagavatula explained.

Google Nest Thermostat $99.99 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $30.00 One of the most popular thermostats in the world. Shop Now Samsung 2024 Bespoke 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with AI Family Hub Plus

What it is: A refrigerator with one of its four doors almost entirely taken up by what looks like an iPad the size of a coffee table. 

What it does: Most users treat Samsung's Family Hub-enabled refrigerators — or any smart fridges — like refrigerators that can also play MrBeast videos. But they can be integrated with the rest of your smart home if you have one, so if you're a virtuosic tech adopter, you can use it to do all sorts of gee-whiz things like answer your door via your smart doorbell while standing in your kitchen. 

Where the AI is: Samsung's Family Hub predates the 2022 AI explosion. It has always included a system for streamlining the process of turning your refrigerated ingredients into meals using software that, say, suggests recipes based on foods you've indicated are inside it, automates shopping lists to suit those recipes, and orders the food you need via in-fridge versions of shopping apps. That's not the AI part.

The new AI Family Hub feature announced at CES 2024 puts AI front and center in its marketing, but if you're imagining an artificially intelligent voice assistant who helps you cook, it doesn't look like Samsung has even tried to do that. The legitimate, unambiguous use of contemporary AI in this fridge appears to be a new camera with integrated AI computer vision so that your fridge can independently recognize ingredients inside of it, such as a tomato. This saves you the trouble of manually informing the fridge you're a tomato owner. Your tomato can then be swept up into the broader, non-AI, Family Hub software ecosystem.

Opens in a new window Credit: screenshot via Samsung Samsung Bespoke 4-Door French Door Refrigerator
Note: This is not the still-unreleased AI version Shop Now CatGenie A.I. Self-Washing Cat Box

What it is: An automated cat box hooked up to your house's plumbing system that can pipe cat urine and feces into a nearby toilet or wastewater let-out. 

What it does: Even for an automated cat box, this is a surprisingly sophisticated device in terms of its setup and number of moving parts. Once the CatGenie detects a cat has conducted its business and left, liquid waste is drained through the bottom, thanks to proprietary non-clumping granules in place of litter, which the mechanism then washes and dries. Solids are sifted out, and shunted up a chute into a sort of macerator, where they're turned into a slurry that can then be delivered to a toilet bowl with the liquid waste. What a time to be a cat parent. 

Where the AI is: To my surprise, the basic mechanics of the CatGenie haven't really changed in over a decade. Nonetheless, according to the website, the "A.I." version, "uses artificial intelligence to give you and your cat the most customized and personalized waste management system ever invented for cats." The AI version also seems to be the only type of CatGenie sold new on the CatGenie website, so there may well not be a regular CatGenie anymore — only CatGenie A.I.

It's a mystery which CatGenie capabilities should be thought of as AI. There's no evidence that it has — or would benefit from — computer vision rather than something simpler like an infrared sensor to recognize that a cat has entered and exited. It does now come with an app, allowing you to look over a log of your cat's litter box visits, and control how often it scoops and self-cleans, but a clear AI-enhancement within the app for optimizing your cat's usage of the box relative to the number of cleans is not in evidence. The device's manual does say "machine learning" is involved in computing the fact that a manually activated cleaning cycle is needed, noting that "one key factor is based on how often your CatGenie cleans per cat visit."

After this article was published, CatGenie returned our request for a comment. Their statement emphasized the fact that the CatGenie AI comes with app integration. "As a connected device, it offers unprecedented insights into machine and cat usage through its accompanying app, allowing for detailed customization and monitoring. Leveraging machine learning, we continuously enhance cleaning performance and recently introduced new custom cycles tailored to specific customer needs." We asked follow-up questions about how integration of what CatGenie calls "machine learning," impacts the actual operation of the device, and will include more information if we receive it.

CatGenie A.I. Self-Cleaning, Fully-Flushing, Self-Scooping, Automatic Cat Box Small $479.00 at Amazon
A sophisticated, self-cleaning cat box, AI or not. Shop Now Roborock S7 MaxV Robot Vacuum (featuring ReactiveAI 2.0 Obstacle Avoidance)

What it is: A robot vacuum purporting to have a particularly easy time avoiding obstacles and pet poop compared to similar products.

What it does: If you can't wrap your head around the idea of getting a robot vacuum, that may be because like most people, you're more of a slob than you would care to admit, and your floors aren't reliably clear enough of junk to give a robot free reign without worrying that it will, say, choke to death on a sock. This robot will actually avoid said sock. 

Where the AI is: ReactiveAI 2.0 Obstacle Avoidance is a somewhat controversial feature, because it doesn't just use something like LIDAR, infrared, or photocell censors, which are more for detecting boundaries than for avoiding objects that shouldn't be vacuumed over. Instead, it sees into the nooks and crannies of your filthy house with an old-fashioned RGB camera. Roborock's S7 MaxV features actual AI-based computer vision that "knows" its looking at a cat turd, and will give that sucker the wide berth it deserves. Reviews suggest it's the real deal, again, if you don't mind the intrusive RGB camera, which is currently a necessity for enabling AI image detection. 

Opens in a new window Credit: Sscreenshot via Amazon Roborock S7 MaxV Robot Vacuum and Sonic Mop Note: This model was out-of-stock as of this writing Shop Now Briiv Pro 2.0 'The World's First AI Powered Air Purifier'

What it is: A tabletop air purifier that draws in air through some nice green moss and a disc of coconut fibers, followed by a conventional filter. It's also "The World's First AI Powered Air Purifier."

What it does: It purifies indoor air and the moss looks nice. 

Where the AI is: This product's successful Kickstarter page says it works by "harnessing a unique AI machine learning algorithm," making it "the most advanced air quality monitoring system on the planet." However, it's not abundantly clear that there is anything about this device that would qualify as more "artificially intelligent" than any other air purifier with an air monitor that allows it to respond to pollutants in the air by turning on.

A representative from Briff using the name Serena Nash told Mashable that Briiv does use AI. In an email, they explained that the device "has the library of information we have been teaching it built in and then it’s running an algorithm with that data, but the active part of the machine learning is cloud based." The model itself is "not a large language model like IBM or chat GPT, so we can’t just talk to it with text prompts like the big mainstream models, we are more like a neural network model," Nash explained.

This email left us with further questions — particularly whether or not Briiv is claiming to be using neural networks for deep learning, or not. Or alternatively, whether the company is using terms like "AI" and "algorithm" in some other way. As of this writing Briiv still had not expanded after a request for clarity.

Opens in a new window Credit: an air purifier Briiv Pro 2.0 - AI Powered Air Purifier at Indiegogo
Shop Now

UPDATE: Mar. 27, 2024, 10:31 a.m. PDT This article has been updated to include comments from CatGenie.

In a very telling interview at Davos earlier this year, Bill Gates spelled out who AI is meant to help: "It is so dramatic how it improves white collar productivity. And later, with the robotics — not yet — but eventually, blue collar productivity," Gates told Bloomberg. AI that can make you a hundred times faster at writing emails? Your wish is Big Tech's command. AI that can build an entire car? Hold that thought. They're working on it.

But if you're like most people — meaning nothing like Bill Gates — the biggest productivity suck of all is your endless list of chores. And in this regard, AI is decidedly not coming to our rescue anytime soon, even if the business world is hyping up humanoid robots like crazy right now.

For instance, a startup called Figure released a demo the other day of what seems like the humanoid robot of my dreams: when asked for something to eat, it hands the user an apple, and it uses an integrated OpenAI large language model to explain why it made that decision while it puts some trash in a bin. Then it puts some dishes away.

Figure's concept robot makes for an impressive demo, but unless this company has some truly unique engineering going on behind the scenes, it's probably just a demo. The robot doesn't walk, and sticks to a narrow and tightly scripted routine. This might be the mechanical chosen one, but probably not. Decades of demos like this have come and gone, and we still don't have robots in our homes that actually pick up trash and do the dishes.

This notion has existed since the conception of "robots" as an idea — by which I mean the 1920 Czech play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which coined the term "robot" in the first place. R.U.R.'s robots were humanoid figures, a.k.a. androids, meant to toil away while their human overlords chillaxed. But even though technology has accelerated to the point where we now have machines that can respond to simple written prompts with vibrant moving images of, say, fictional humanoid robots, or any other fantasy scenarios we care to conjure, physical robots only seem to bring joy to real-world humans if the human in question is named Jeff Bezos. Meanwhile, for average individuals, robots are mostly objects of frustration, if not outright fear.  

As for literal robot servants to act as our in-house butlers, it's begun to feel like that century-old idea needs an additional century to percolate down from concept to consumer reality.

To the world's estimated 10,000 actual human butlers, that must feel like good news. AI automation seems to be jeopardizing a lot of gigs right now, so who wants to consign yet another category of flesh-and-blood people to the dustbin of permanent unemployment? At the risk of splitting hairs, though, come on: that's just not what we're talking about when we talk about the conspicuous absence of robot butlers. The world has about eight billion people, most of whom are plagued by chore loads that seem to only ever grow and never get finished (particularly if they are women).

If they were actually useful, robot butlers would be chore-killing appliances rather than snooty status symbols. I'm pretty confident the remaining butlers in the world — highly skilled managers of palatial estates who know which freshly polished rifle is for pheasants and which one is for foxes — would get to keep their weird antique jobs, even if Apple really did start manufacturing iJeeves.

Ideally, then, the robot butler revolution wouldn't be an example of automation wrecking lives. It could instead be a true example of progress — technology for the people. And yet, there's no sign of it anywhere. 

Here are the reasons why:

Robots move... robotically

In 1988, Carnegie-Mellon roboticist Hans Moravec, writing in his book Mind children: the future of robot and human intelligence, stumbled upon a key piece of robot wisdom. A misconception by snobby software programmers at the time held that robots were clumsy because they were being built by troglodyte gearheads, and once intellectuals took over, robots would be performing brain surgery on their own in no time. However, he wrote, "it has become clear that it is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult-level performance in solving problems on intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility."

This excerpt inspired what's now known as Moravec's Paradox: the idea, paraphrased from Moravec, that what's hard for humans is easy for robots, and vice versa.

So while you may have seen plenty of footage of Boston Dynamics robots, such as the humanoid prototype Atlas, performing tasks with eerie precision, that's just because you're seeing the product of hours of rehearsals in which the robot botched something basic countless times before finally getting it right a single time while the camera was rolling. Boston Dynamics doesn't hide this fact, by the way, but its videos of clumsy robots don't go as viral — because they don't prompt thousands of social media posts all making the same "we're all gonna die" joke.

In short, even as we begin to imagine — and struggle to clearly define — "general artificial intelligence," any AI that wants to be embodied in the physical world will still need to share the actual environments we humans inhabit, which include irregular and diverse surfaces and objects, occasional wetness, things with unevenly dispersed holes and protrusions in them, softness, mushiness, lumpiness, breakability, and crumbliness. This is good for anyone who worries about an AI apocalypse, but it's bad for anyone worried about remembering to put laundry in the dryer while a toddler has a tantrum. As things stand today, the helpers and the hurt-ers will instantly be defeated by banana peels.

Robot arms and hands are built for fumbling

In a 1952 episode of I Love Lucy, Lucy and Ethel were given the prototypical factory job: picking up little chocolates with their hands, wrapping them in paper, and putting them back down on a conveyor belt. Only a real goofball could screw up something so basic.

But today's robot hands remain hilariously clumsy, even in basic situations like this one. In a TEDx talk from earlier this year, UC Berkeley roboticist Ken Goldberg explains that robotic hands and arms have to deal with a multifaceted problem he reduces down to the word "uncertainty." Robots, Goldberg says, are "uncertain" about their own controls, uncertain about what they can "perceive" with their onboard cameras, and uncertain about physics, meaning they're forced to deal with "microscopic surface topography" that makes objects in the real world behave in totally novel ways even when seemingly all variables are removed (Try sliding your smartphone from one side of your desk to the other with one finger, and then imagine a robot trying to do what you just did).

Goldberg is partially using his TEDx talk to pitch his own robot company — designed to perform tasks almost exactly like Lucy's — picking up diverse objects from bins in warehouses, scanning them, and putting them in smaller bins. It's downright astonishing that robots narrowly targeted at such basic tasks remain so cutting edge.

A brand new paper by Stanford roboticist Cheng Chi and seven coauthors explains why, 72 years after Lucy's candy factory job, robot hands are still even clumsier than a screwball comedian's. The paper, a sort of open-source manifesto for robot builders is called, "Universal Manipulation Interface: In-The-Wild Robot Teaching Without In-The-Wild Robots," and it vividly describes today's state-of-the-art tools for these sorts of tasks: simplified, viselike "grippers" trained by humans holding them like little puppets and performing tasks — things like picking up a chocolate, putting it in a wrapper, and setting it back down. Unfortunately, the paper notes, "While users can theoretically collect any actions with these hand-held devices, much of that data can not be transferred to an effective robot policy."

The paper then goes on to provide a sort of open-source recipe for a better gripper training system, including a universal physical gripper anyone can make with consumer-grade tools. Cheng's hope is that robot labs around the world can work together to build vast public datasets of "policy" for robots to follow, and with a little luck, the Universal Manipulation Interface (UMI) will take over the space, perhaps enabling robot hands in the near future to do, say, a tenth of what one Lucy can do with her human hands. Even that would be a colossal achievement.

Robot "thinking" is too rigid for the real world

"Err-or. Err-or."

The idea that a robot will break (or explode) if slightly confused is a well worn trope known among trope aficionados as the "Logic Bomb." It appeared five times in Futurama alone. The thing about logic bombs, though, is that they're pretty close to robot reality.

Tweet may have been deleted

In 2019, the East Coast supermarket chain Stop & Shop rolled out a line of robots that endlessly navigated the store purportedly scanning the floor for messes, and then... cleaning them up? Nope. It just sounds the alarm for a human employee to come fix the problem. This often meant the robot would just stall in an aisle for long stretches of time, emitting an audible "danger" alarm over a non-hazard like a single tissue or a lid on the floor. Employees reported finding it pretty useless.

In our age of generative AI, it feels particularly absurd that the latest models can differentiate photos of mutts from those of purebred dogs, or hold court about the intricacies of translating Proust, but physical robots are still limited to one or a handful of very basic functions, and they still constantly glitch out when trying to carry out the same basic tasks as a 20 year old Roomba.

A concept called "open-vocabulary" robot manipulation, however, is supposed to act as something like a bridge between Roombas and ChatGPT. The models can process natural language prompts into computer-friendly ones and zeroes. Those ones and zeroes can then turn all that information into robot commands. In theory.

But another brand new paper, "MOKA: Open-Vocabulary Robotic Manipulation through Mark-Based Visual Prompting," by a four-person team led by Berkeley's Fangchen Liu, describes the problem. The authors note that "large models pre-trained on Internet-scale data still lack the capabilities to understand 3D space, contact physics, and robotic control, not to mention the knowledge about the embodiment and environment dynamics in each specific scenario, creating a large gap between the promising trend[s] in computer vision and natural language processing and applying them to robotics."

In the new, endlessly flexible system the authors propose, images are tied to the actual movements a given robot either requires – or is capable of – given its environment. Images are described with words, allowing the model to use vision not just to predict limitations and parameters for action, but to identify possibilities. That is to say, if the Stop & Shop robot were equipped with this system, it could identify a "hazard" like eleven spilled jellybeans, but then also something in the environment like a "broom," capable of "sweeping" the jellybeans up. If it were equipped with some arms, and a nice pair of grippers, the possibilities would be endless. Again, in theory.

But that may not matter much, because...

The economics of robot butlers just don't add up

To paraphrase a saying often attributed to sci-fi author William Gibson, the robot butlers of the future may arrive soon, but that doesn't mean they will be evenly distributed.

The current crop of cutting edge consumer robots doesn't leave me with much hope that I'll ever be able to afford a functional robot butler. For example, products in the "Sanbot" line of robots from Qihan Technology can do some cool stuff, but they're explicitly designed to replace retail and concierge workers and point of sale systems, and those are priced at around $10,000 (though I wasn't able to find a retailer with a website I would rate as trustworthy). Practically speaking, Sanbot devices aren't even functional workers though. They seem to be more like marketing gimmicks — a hi-tech inflatable tube man, essentially.

Meanwhile, a Segway Loomo, which is basically a smartphone attached to a miniature Segway scooter that can follow people around a stair-free environment would set me back $2,055.30 if I bought one right now on Amazon, which I currently feel no inclination to do. A Unitree Go2, which is a pretty amazing knockoff of Boston Dynamics' robotic dog Spot — minus the all-important arm — would cost me $2,399. These are the closest things to butlers I can buy right now, but they can't be of any real help around the house.

Goldman Sachs, for its part, predicted "a market of up to US$154bn by 2035 in a blue-sky scenario" for humanoid robots according to a 2022 report from the banking firm's research department. Goldman also pointed out that "robot makers will need to bring down production costs by roughly 15-20% a year in order for the humanoid robot to be able to pay for itself in two years." That's for business robots, not butlers.

The point is that robots are way outside my price range, and seem like they will be for the foreseeable future. Roughly speaking, $10-20,000 seems to be the price range companies have in mind. At these prices, they'd better not chip my ceramics when they do the dishes, but if they truly crushed my household to-do list flawlessly, I might save up. I doubt I'm alone in that.

Still, the most depressing omen of all — and the one that might best sum up the whole state of robot butlers — is the fact that Elon Musk has a division of Tesla chipping away at a humanoid robot called Optimus. Musk says Optimus will cost $20,000, and at an event where he talked about his robots, he said "the robots will be able to do everything, bar nothing." Considering the apparent truth value of the average statement from the richest man in the world, all of his promises about robots fill me with certainty that even way-too-expensive robot butlers are never going to arrive.

SAVE $100: The Amazon Kindle Scribe (64GB) with Premium Pen is just $319.99 at Amazon, down from the regular price of $419.99. That's a 24% discount.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle Scribe (64GB) with Premium Pen $319.99 at Amazon
$419.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal

If you've ever wished you could write in the margins of this month's book club novel, an e-reader with the ability to write over text could be your newest essential device. Thanks to today's deal at Amazon, you could get a great deal on a top-of-the-line e-reader.

As of March 27, the Amazon Kindle Scribe (64GB) with Premium Pen is $319.99, down from the typical list price of $419.99. That's a savings of $100 or a 24% discount.

SEE ALSO: We tried every Amazon Kindle to find the best e-reader for every bibliophile

The Scribe's screen measures 10.2 inches — the largest of all the Kindle offerings — and is twice as large as the Kindle Paperwhite. Instead of serving as just an e-reader, the Kindle Scribe is also a digital notebook, allowing you to use the tablet to make to-do lists, write up documents, take notes during a meeting, or write in the margins of this month's book club choice. Should you wish to share meeting or lecture notes, you can easily convert the document into text and send it via email to colleagues or classmates.

The glare-free screen comes in handy when sitting in brightly lit conference rooms or enjoying a book on a sunny afternoon in the park. The Kindle Scribe also excels in battery life, getting up to 13 weeks of use before you'll need to recharge, which Amazon says is the longest battery life of any Kindle device.

Turn on landscape orientation and you'll be able to read two pages of a book side-by-side should you prefer to turn pages less often (or get more of that book feel). The 64GB version is the largest storage available for this edition, so you'll have ample room to store your library of favorites.

If using a multi-functional e-reader sounds like it could add convenience to your life, today's sale price on the Kindle Scribe (64GB) with Premium Pen could be your cup of tea.

The first teaser for Kinds of Kindness proves that the dynamic duo of Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos clearly isn't going anywhere.

Stone and Lanthimos have previously collaborated on The Favourite, the short film Bleat, and Poor Things, for which Stone won her second Academy Award. With Kinds of Kindness, the pair team up for a "triptych fable," featuring stories of a man fighting to take back control of his life, a policeman who's reunited with his wife under bizarre circumstances, and a woman searching for someone destined to be a spiritual leader.

The teaser doesn't give us much plot information, but it is packed with wonderfully weird vibes and promises of a stellar cast. On top of Stone (seen here dancing in a parking lot), the film stars Jesse Plemons (Killers of the Flower Moon), Willem Dafoe (Poor Things), Margaret Qualley (Drive Away Dolls), Hong Chau (Showing Up), Joe Alwyn (Conversations With Friends), Mamoudou Athie (Elemental), and Hunter Schafer (Cuckoo).

Kinds of Kindness hits theaters June 21.

At the heart of our Milky Way galaxy lies a giant.

It's a massive black hole, dubbed Sagittarius A* (pronounced "Sagittarius a star"), weighing as much as 4.3 million suns. After taking an unprecedented image of the object in 2022, astronomers have now captured a remarkable new view of the black hole, revealing its powerful, twisting magnetic fields. The scientists captured the black hole in polarized light, which involves using a filter to view different characteristics of the distant object. (Magnetic fields are created by moving, charged particles.)

"What we’re seeing now is that there are strong, twisted, and organized magnetic fields near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy," Sara Issaoun, a NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Einstein Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian who co-led the research endeavor, said in a statement.

SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills.

Black holes harbor so much gravity that not even light can escape — because they're almost unimaginably dense, massive objects. The more mass an object has, the stronger its gravitational pull. If Earth was (hypothetically) crushed into a black hole, it would be under an inch across. So you might wonder, how can we see a black hole if it doesn't emit any light?

Although we can't see the actual object, we can see the matter — intensely hot gas — swirling around a black hole, called an "accretion disk." Some of this material inevitably falls into the black hole, never to return; much of it gets spewed back out into the cosmos, because black holes aren't efficient consumers of galactic material. Where the light ends at the center of the image is the point-of-no-return, called the "event horizon." That's the final boundary between space and the black hole.

In the orange-colored accretion disk, those vivid lines show the twisting structure of the magnetic fields in the donut-like disk. Ultimately, these magnetic fields can propel jets of matter out of the black hole's swirling disk of gas.

"By imaging polarized light from hot glowing gas near black holes, we are directly inferring the structure and strength of the magnetic fields that thread the flow of gas and matter that the black hole feeds on and ejects," Angelo Ricarte, a Harvard Black Hole Initiative Fellow who also co-led the research, said in a statement.

The latest image of Sagittarius A* reveals the black hole's twisting magnetic fields. Credit: Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration

The new black hole research was published on March 27 in the peer-reviewed science journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Importantly, the astronomers found that both Sagittarius A* and the black hole at the center of the galaxy M87 — an object 1,000 times more massive than Sagittarius A* — are similarly built: They both contain the same type of magnetic structures in their swirling disks, even though there's a giant size difference. This might be a common feature of most black holes — places still mysterious to us, but gradually growing less opaque.

To capture rare images of black holes (only these two black holes have been imaged), scientists use the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which is composed of radio telescopes all around Earth. Working together, they create a planet-sized array amounting to a virtual telescope. Expect these black hole images to grow more detailed and impressive in the coming years. Scientists are adding more telescopes to the EHT, called "The Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope," with the ability to make real-time movies of these cosmic behemoths.

Facebook secretly looked at user data to help better understand how users behave on competitor sites, according to documents released by a federal court in California. The documents, unsealed on Tuesday as part of an ongoing class action lawsuit between Meta and consumers, show that Facebook pursued a secret project to analyze the traffic and analytics of its rivals, first focusing on Snapchat, and later Amazon and YouTube.

The documents, submitted by lawyer Brian J. Dunne for U.S. District Judge James Donato in May 2023, are part of the lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2020, which alleges that Facebook engaged in anticompetitive behavior and used deceptive practices to acquire user data.

In the documents, the tech giant is shown to have worked to get around encrypted data, launching "Project Ghostbusters" — a reference to Snapchat's cartoonish ghost logo. The project was a part of the company's In-App Action Panel (IAPP), a program run between 2016 and 2019 "at [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg's direct request". Project Ghostbusters is described by Dunne to have used "incredibly aggressive technological measures — including intercepting and decrypting SSL-protected traffic" on Snapchat, applying this later to Amazon and YouTube.

A Meta spokesperson responded with a statement to Mashable, saying, "There is nothing new here - this issue was reported on years ago. The plaintiffs’ claims are baseless and completely irrelevant to the case."

Court documents in the case notably include internal emails between Zuckerberg and Meta employees. In an email from June 9, 2016, Zuckerberg wrote:

"Whenever someone asks a question about Snapchat, the answer is usually that because their traffic is encrypted we have no analytics about them.

"Given how quickly they’re growing, it seems important to figure out a new way to get reliable analytics about them. Perhaps we need to do panels or write custom software. You should figure out how to do this."

SEE ALSO: Apple, Google, and Meta are being investigated by the EU under new Big Tech regulation

The solution to Zuckerberg's request came from Onavo, a controversial VPN service acquired by Facebook in 2013, which shut down six years later after it was found that Facebook secretly paid teenagers to use the service in order to access their web activity. In the case of Project Ghostbusters, the Onavo team proposed technology to intercept traffic for specific subdomains, that could be installed on both iOS and Android. These "kits" allowed Facebook to intercept encrypted data.

"We now have the capability to measure detailed in-app activity," reads an email from the head of the Onavo IAAP team, described in the documents as a "note and deck to Mark". Some members of the Facebook team, however, expressed concern about what was going on. Pedro Canahuati, the head of security engineering at the time, wrote in an email: "I can’t think of a good argument for why this is okay. No security person is ever comfortable with this, no matter what consent we get from the general public. The general public just doesn’t know how this stuff works."

The new documents uncover more of how Facebook uses — and abuses — user data. Back in 2018, internal documents released by UK lawmakers also shed light on Facebook snooping on its competitors, including Snapchat (which the company failed to acquire) and WhatsApp (a part of the Meta family since 2014). The data, also collected by Onavo, examined Facebook's reach in comparison to rising social platforms.

Ninja, a gaming streamer with the most followers of any account on Twitch, has been diagnosed with cancer.

The 32-year-old, whose real name is Tyler Blevins, took to X on Tuesday to tell his followers that doctors had detected melanoma – a type of skin cancer – in a mole removed from his foot.

SEE ALSO: YouTube will remove videos with harmful cancer claims

"A few weeks ago I went in to a dermatologist for an annual skin/mole check that Jess proactively scheduled for me," Blevins wrote on X. "There was a mole on the bottom of my foot that they wanted to remove just to be careful. It came back as melanoma, but they are optimistic that we caught it in the early stages."

Tweet may have been deleted

"I had another dark spot appear near it, so today they biopsied that and removed a larger area around the melanoma with the hopes that under the microscope they will see clear non-melanoma edges and we will know we got it," Blevins continued. "I’m grateful to have hope in finding this early, but please take this as a PSA to get skin checkups."

Blevins is one of the most famous gaming streamers in the world. As well as having the most followed Twitch channel he's also previously appeared in a Super Bowl commercial and on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Melonoma, per the NHS, is a type of skin cancer that can spread to other parts of the body. The main treatment is surgery.

Grok, Elon Musk's AI chatbot that was previously available only to Premium+ subscribers on X, is rolling out to a wider audience.

On Tuesday the X CEO announced the AI assistant will be available to Premium subscribers "later this week".

Tweet may have been deleted

Previously Grok was only available to X users paying for the top tier of Premium, which is a not-exactly-cheap $16 a month (Premium is $8 a month). And while some Premium+ users don't seem too happy to be losing their exclusive access, Grok's wider rollout seems to be in line with Musk's recent decision to make the chatbot open source.

SEE ALSO: Twitter/X staff ignored Elon Musk's orders, prevented an FTC violation

It's worth noting, of course, that the open source version of Grok isn't the same Grok that X users have access to. The model released on Github is from an October 2023 "pre-training" phase.

Musk has a complicated relationship with AI. He recently sued OpenAI, a company he previously sat on the board for, arguing that the ChatGPT creators breached contract by not making their product open source. OpenAI then hit back, publishing emails from Musk that indicate he knew about the company's plans to stop publicly sharing its work. What a mess.

By now, you’ve likely seen some advertisements popping up around the place for Hubbl. It’s some kind of entertainment product, but it’s not a new streaming service. So, what exactly is it?

Hubbl is both a new line of hardware, as well as an advanced operating system designed to combine your streaming services and free-to-air TV together. But is that all marketing hype, or is there some truth to that branding? Let’s start with the very basics:

What does Hubbl do?

Simply put, it's a TV and streaming aggregator. Hubbl combines your streaming subscriptions onto one interface, and merges that with existing free-to-air TV channels. With this, it allows you to create personalised watchlists that factor in your streaming services, and ‘Continue Watching’ functionality that is consistent across everything you watch. The hope is that Hubbl will simplify how you search for and watch content, as well as provide the ability to manage your eligible subscriptions in one place.

Doesn’t my smart TV do this?

In varying degrees, yes. But Hubbl is more than just a homepage to access your existing apps on. The first thing you notice when using Hubbl is how it seamlessly integrates streaming apps with live TV.

Do you ever stumble upon a reality show (or otherwise) on free-to-air channels that immediately gets you hooked? Well, Hubbl automatically informs you of which streaming service you can find more of that show on, meaning you can immediately go back to the first season for context, or you can add it to your multi-app watchlist and start watching at your own pace.

Which streaming services work on Hubbl?

At the time of release, alongside native apps Binge, Kayo Sports, LifeStyle and Flash, you’ll also find Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV+, iView and ABC Kids, SBS On Demand, 7plus, 9Now and 10 Play.

Stan, Optus Sport, and Paramount+ are slated to join the Hubbl platform soon.

Getting your hands on Hubbl

If you’re interested in getting started with Hubbl, you have two choices. The first is the A$99 Hubbl “puck” device (just called Hubbl). It’s a small device which you connect to your existing TV via HDMI. It’s relatively simple to set up, and the remote functions well with most existing TVs. This will likely be the most popular entry point into Hubbl.

Additionally, there is also the Hubbl Glass smart TV, with a built-in sound bar and Hubbl preinstalled. Starting at A$1,595 and available in both 55” and 65”, Hubbl Glass features a 4K Ultra HD Quantum Dot Display with 8.2 million pixels, hands-free voice control, and six powerful speakers built-in for 360° Dolby Atmos surround sound. Hubbl Glass is available in two sizes and five colours (Anthracite Black, Ocean Blue, Racing Green, Dusky Pink and Ceramic White)

If you’re in the market to buy, Hubbl Glass is currently exclusive to Harvey Norman and Hubbl.com.au, while the Hubbl puck is available at JB HI-FI, Harvey Norman and Hubbl’s website.

How much does Hubbl cost?

The standalone Hubbl device has a launch price of A$99. For the Hubbl Glass, there are two different size options available:

• Hubbl Glass 55” – A$1,595

• Hubbl Glass 65” – A$1,995

There is no monthly subscription cost for Hubbl, as it’s just a portal through which you access your existing services (both paid and free). However, separate app subscriptions are still needed for some services.

Hubbl Glass Credit: Hubbl How does Hubbl's subscription bundling work?

A strong selling point for Hubbl is “Stack & Save”, which lets you stack eligibale streaming services Binge, Kayo, Netflix, Flash, and Lifestyle. Essentially, the more streaming apps that you connect to through Hubbl, you earn a stacking discount on your monthly bill.

At launch, if you stack 3 apps through Hubbl, you save $5 a month. If you stack 4 apps, you save $10 per month. If you add all 5 eligible apps, you can save $15.

Is Hubbl worth it?

The Hubbl interface is surprisingly snappy, intuitive, and seamlessly integrates traditional free-to-air broadcasts into its streaming offering. Many people these days will set up a TV and never even connect to an aerial for free to air TV. In recent years the TV watching experience has boiled down to frustrated scrolling through number of apps, being blasted with content but still never finding anything to watch. With its combined watchlists and TV guide, Hubbl does a good job of changing up that routine. The ability to connect to free-to-air TV without an aerial is also a feature that will likely push a few people into trying it out, and if you’re a prolific streamer, you can save some good money on your monthly content costs.

Learn more or purchase either device on the Hubbl website, here.

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for March 27 SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for March 27

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Tuesday, March 26, 2024:

AcrossIn favor of

• The answer is Pro.

Sneeze sound

• The answer is Achoo.

Monkey in the middle (of this puzzle)

• The answer is Chimp.

What golf courses and bad plots both have

• The answer is Holes.

She-sheep

• The answer is Ewe.

DownSuffix meaning "lover of"

The answer is Phile.

Where cacio e pepe is a signature dish

• The answer is Rome.

"My bad!"

• The answer is Oops.

Feel the pain

• The answer is Ache.

Puppy ___ (homemade snack)

• The answer is Chow.

Given that David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo's sci-fi epic 3 Body Problem is packed full of dazzling visuals, curious clues and intriguing details, the amount of smoking in the show might seem like an odd thing to pick up on.

But seriously, when was the last time you saw so many characters gleefully puffing away — especially indoors?

They're not all at it in 3 Body Problem, but enough of them are that we couldn't help but notice it and wonder about it. Auggie (Eiza Gonzálaz) is smoking when she has that weird encounter with the stranger in episode 1 (among other sessions inside people's homes and offices), and detective Da Shi (Benedict Wong) does it so much that his boss Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham) has to sack a colleague who complains about him smoking in his office in episode 2.

So why all the smoking? In an interview about the show, Mashable asked showrunners David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo to explain.

SEE ALSO: '3 Body Problem': How the book and the Netflix show differ Why is there so much smoking in 3 Body Problem?

"In some cases it was actually a plot decision," Weiss told us. "In the Auggie storyline, there’s a moment in a scene — across a couple of scenes — where her smoking helps people figure something out what they wouldn’t have been able to figure out otherwise."

He's talking about the fact that the stranger (Marlo Kelly) who lights Auggie's cigarette doesn't show up on any cameras, but – crucially – the flame from her lighter does. This proves to the detectives that there was indeed someone talking to Auggie, but the video footage has been manipulated to edit her out.

With Da Shi, meanwhile, Weiss said that it was more of a character choice.

"People don’t smoke the way they used to — although it feels like in the UK maybe they smoke a little bit more than they do in Los Angeles, for instance — but in the books and in the show he seemed like a bit of a man from a different time," Weiss said. "Like his office looks the way offices used to look, and he’s rumpled and crumpled, kind of like a back alley sort of detective, like the character in the books was.

"And it just felt like the right thing for that character to be doing, that he knows is awful and deadly for him, and even though it’s not the sort of thing you see as much in television as much as you used to, it felt important for him to give you a sense of who he was, and it provided some fun moments, and some nice lighting."

In fairness, you can't argue with the lighting.

How to watch: 3 Body Problem is now streaming on Netflix.

Wondering how to watch the college basketball tournament? Here are your best options: Most channels Sling TV Blue Plan $15 for the first month, then $40/month (save $25) Get Deal Most affordable Max With Ads $9.99/month Get Deal

The Creighton and Tennessee Vols men’s basketball teams are scheduled to meet in a tournament game in Detroit on Friday, March 29. The game is scheduled to start at 10:09 p.m. ET/9:09 p.m. CT. 

No. 2 seed Tennessee enters the matchup 26-8 overall. Most recently, Tennessee beat Texas 62-58 on Saturday in the tournament’s second round. Dalton Knecht led Tennessee with 18 points and nine rebounds. 

No. 3 seed Creighton comes into the matchup 25-9 overall. On Saturday, Creighton defeated Oregon 86-73 in the second round of the tournament. Steven Ashworth had 21 points and Trey Alexander added 20 points for Creighton in the win.

SEE ALSO: How to download the 2024 March Madness basketball bracket

Rick Barnes is the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball head coach. Greg McDermott is the Creighton men’s basketball head coach.

Creighton vs. Tennessee basketball game time, network

The Creighton vs. Tennessee Vols men’s basketball game is scheduled to be broadcast on TBS and TruTV at 10:09 p.m. ET/9:09 p.m. CT on Friday, March 29. The TBS/TruTV broadcasters for the game are scheduled to be Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Steve Lappas (analyst), and Evan Washburn (reporter).

Whatever team wins advances to play on Sunday, March 31 in Detroit against either Purdue or Gonzaga.  

In the evolving world of sports broadcasting, the emergence of live-streaming platforms like Sling TV and Max represents an alternative to traditional cable and satellite TV that meets the expectations of the modern fan. 

Best streaming services for the Tennessee vs. Creighton basketball game 

As the Tennessee Vols take on the Creighton men’s basketball team, you don’t need to worry if you don’t have cable. Explore the best options to catch every moment of this showdown via streaming.  

Most channels: Sling TV Opens in a new window Credit: Sling Sling Blue Plan $15.00
$40.00 Save $25.00 Get Deal

If you want to watch the UT Vols vs. Creighton game on TBS via Sling TV, you’ll need either the Orange Plan or the Blue Plan. Both the Orange and Blue plans start at $15 for the first month and then increase to $40 per month subsequently, and they both also come with 50 hours of free DVR storage. 

TBS is one of 26 channels included on both the Orange and Blue plans. There are six channels exclusive to the Orange Plan, including ESPN and ESPN2. There are 14 channels exclusive to the Blue Plan, and those include FS1, NFL Network, and TruTV. Another difference between the Orange and Blue plans is that you can only stream on one device with the Orange Plan, and the Blue Plan allows streaming on three devices at once.

In higher-priced plans, Sling TV’s sports channel offerings include ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, ESPNU, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NFL Network, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, TNT, and TruTV. 

Most affordable: Max Opens in a new window Credit: Max Max With Ads
Watch Now

Max is lacing up its sneakers this March to dive into the madness of men's college basketball. There are three tiered Max packages, each with the B/R Sports Add-On included. Part of the B/R Sports Add-On is live streaming sports from TBS, TNT and TruTV. 

The cheapest package is Max With Ads, which is $9.99 per month. It allows streaming on two devices. You can save 42% by paying for one year upfront at $69.99. 

The second package is Max Ad-Free, and that is $15.99 per month. If you’re mainly getting Max for sports, there isn’t much difference between Max With Ads and Max Ad-Free since sports will still include ads. If you pay one year upfront, you save 45% on Max Ad-Free at $104.99. 

Max Ultimate Ad-Free is the third package, and it is $19.99 per month. It also upgrades to allow streaming on four devices at once. Plus, it has 4K Ultra HD capability. The one-year price for Max Ultimate Ad-Free is $139.99. 

Wondering how to watch the college basketball tournament? Here are your best options: Most channels Sling TV Blue Plan $15 for the first month, then $40/month (save $25) Get Deal Most affordable Max With Ads $9.99/month Get Deal

The Gonzaga and Purdue men’s basketball teams are scheduled to meet in a tournament game in Detroit on Friday, March 29. The game is scheduled to start at 7:39 p.m. ET/4:39 p.m. PT. 

No. 5 seed Gonzaga enters the contest 27-7 overall. Most recently, Gonzaga defeated Kansas 89-68 on Saturday in the second round of the tournament. Anton Watson scored 21 points with six rebounds to lead Gonzaga to the win.  

No. 1 seed Purdue comes into the matchup 32-4 overall. On Sunday, Purdue beat Utah State 106-67 in the tournament’s second round. Purdue’s Zach Edey provided his team with 23 points and 14 rebounds in the win.

SEE ALSO: How to download the 2024 March Madness basketball bracket

Mark Few is the Gonzaga men’s basketball head coach. Matt Painter is the Purdue men’s basketball head coach. 

Purdue vs. Gonzaga basketball game time and network

The Purdue vs. Gonzaga men’s basketball game is scheduled to be broadcast on TBS and truTV at 7:39 p.m. ET/4:39 p.m. PT on Friday, March 29. The TBS/TruTV broadcasters for the game are scheduled to be Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Steve Lappas (analyst), and Evan Washburn (reporter).

Whatever team wins advances to play on Sunday, March 31 in Detroit against either Creighton or Tennessee.  

If you don’t have cable or satellite TV, online live-streaming platforms such as Sling TV and Max offer alternatives for enjoying the game.

Best streaming services for the Gonzaga vs. Purdue basketball game 

If you're one of the brave souls who cut the cord, fear not because Friday’s clash between the Gonzaga and Purdue men’s basketball teams isn't out of your reach. There are several streaming platforms ready to give you access to the game. Here are your top options.  

Most affordable: Sling TV Opens in a new window Credit: Sling Sling Blue Plan $15.00
$40.00 Save $25.00 Get Deal

If you want to watch the Purdue vs. Gonzaga game on TBS via Sling TV, you’ll need either the Orange Plan or the Blue Plan. Both the Orange and Blue plans start at $15 for the first month and then increase to $40 per month subsequently, and they both also come with 50 hours of free DVR storage.

TBS is one of 26 channels included on both the Orange and Blue plans. There are six channels exclusive to the Orange Plan, including ESPN and ESPN2. There are 14 channels exclusive to the Blue Plan, and those include FS1, NFL Network, and TruTV. Another difference between the Orange and Blue plans is that you can only stream on one device with the Orange Plan, and the Blue Plan allows streaming on three devices at once.

In higher-priced plans, Sling TV’s sports channel offerings include ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, ESPNU, Fox, FS1, FS2, NBC, NFL Network, Pac-12 Network, SEC Network, TNT, and TruTV. 

Most affordable: Max Opens in a new window Credit: Max Max With Ads
Watch Now

Max is lacing up its sneakers this March to dive into the madness of men's college basketball. There are three tiered Max packages, each with the B/R Sports Add-On included. Part of the B/R Sports Add-On is live streaming sports from TBS, TNT and TruTV. 

The cheapest package is Max With Ads, which is $9.99 per month. It allows streaming on two devices. You can save 42% by paying for one year upfront at $69.99. 

The second package is Max Ad-Free, and that is $15.99 per month. If you’re mainly getting Max for sports, there isn’t much difference between Max With Ads and Max Ad-Free since sports will still include ads. If you pay one year upfront, you save 45% on Max Ad-Free at $104.99. 

Max Ultimate Ad-Free is the third package, and it is $19.99 per month. It also upgrades to allow streaming on four devices at once. Plus, it has 4K Ultra HD capability. The one-year price for Max Ultimate Ad-Free is $139.99. 

Wondering how to watch the college basketball tournament? Here are your best options: Most affordable Paramount+ with Showtime 7-day free trial, then $11.99/month Get Deal Most channels FuboTV Pro plan 7-day free trial, then $59.99 for the first month (Save $20) Get Deal

The Houston Cougars and Duke men’s basketball teams are scheduled to meet in a tournament game in Dallas on Friday, March 29. The game is scheduled to start at 9:39 p.m. ET/8:39 p.m. CT. 

No. 1 seed Houston comes into the matchup 33-4 overall. Most recently, Houston beat Texas A&M 100-95 in overtime on Sunday in the tournament’s second round. Emmanuel Sharp led the UH Cougars with 30 points.  

No. 4 seed Duke comes into the matchup 27-8 overall. On Sunday, Duke defeated James Madison 93-55 in the second round of the tournament. Duke’s top scorer was Jared McCain with 30 points vs. JMU.

SEE ALSO: How to download the 2024 March Madness basketball bracket

Kelvin Sampson is the University of Houston Cougars men’s basketball head coach. Jon Scheyer is the Duke men’s basketball head coach. 

Duke vs. Houston basketball game time and network

The Duke vs. Houston Cougars men’s basketball game is scheduled to be broadcast on CBS at 9:39 p.m. ET/8:39 p.m. CT on Friday, March 29. CBS broadcasters for the game are scheduled to be Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst), and Tracy Wolfson (reporter).

Whatever team wins this game advances to play on Sunday, March 31 in Dallas. 

Cable and satellite TV are no longer necessary for enjoying live sports. Consider live streaming options to watch Sunday’s game via services like Paramount+ and FuboTV.

Best streaming services for the UH vs. Duke basketball game

Watching college basketball requires a streaming service if you don’t have cable or satellite TV. For the University of Houston vs. Duke men’s basketball game on Friday, here are your top streaming options.

Most affordable: Paramount+ Opens in a new window Credit: Paramount+ Paramount+ with Showtime 7-day free trial, then $11.99/month Get Deal

If you want to watch the Duke vs. UH Cougars men’s basketball game on CBS, Paramount+ offers a solution.    

New subscribers to Paramount+ get a seven-day free trial. Then for the Paramount+ plan that includes live streaming CBS, you need the Paramount+ with Showtime tier, which is $11.99/month. If you choose the annual plan, it is $119.99 for a year, saving about $1.99/month. 

For students, Paramount+ will give you a 25% discount.

Most channels: FuboTV Opens in a new window Credit: FuboTV FuboTV Pro plan $59.99
$79.99 Save $20.00 7-day free trial, then $59.99 for first month Get Deal

With FuboTV, new subscribers can enjoy a seven-day free trial and more than 250 live TV channels, along with the ability to simultaneously stream on 10 devices. College sports fans who want access to CBS for matchups such as the Duke vs. Houston Cougars men’s basketball game will want the FuboTV Pro tier, which is $59.99 for the first month and then has a rate of $79.99 per month.

FuboTV’s sports channel offerings include ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Golf Network, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, NFL Network, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network. 

Wondering how to watch the college basketball tournament? Here are your best options: Most affordable Paramount+ with Showtime 7-day free trial, then $11.99/month Get Deal Most channels FuboTV Pro plan 7-day free trial, then $59.99 for the first month (Save $20) Get Deal

The NC State and Marquette men’s basketball teams are scheduled to meet in a tournament game in Dallas on Friday, March 29. The game is scheduled to start at 7:09 p.m. ET/6:09 p.m. CT. 

No. 11 seed NC State comes into the matchup 24-14 overall. Most recently, NC State beat Oakland 79-73 on Saturday in the tournament’s second round. NC State got 24 points and 11 rebounds from DJ Burns Jr. in the win. 

No. 2 seed Marquette enters the matchup 28-9 overall. On Sunday, Marquette defeated Colorado 81-77 in the second round of the tournament. Tyler Kolek led Marquette with 21 points and 11 assists in the victory.

SEE ALSO: How to download the 2024 March Madness basketball bracket

Shaka Smart is the Marquette men’s basketball head coach. Kevin Keatts is the NC State men’s basketball head coach.

Marquette vs. NC State basketball game time and network

The Marquette vs. NC State men’s basketball game is scheduled to be broadcast on CBS at 7:09 p.m. ET/6:09 p.m. CT on Friday, March 29. CBS broadcasters for the game are scheduled to be Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst), and Tracy Wolfson (reporter).

Whatever team wins this game advances to play in Dallas on Sunday, March 31.  

If you don’t have cable or satellite TV, online live-streaming platforms such as Paramount+ and FuboTV offer alternatives for enjoying the game.

Best streaming services for the NCSU vs. Marquette basketball game 

Eager to witness the NC State vs. Marquette men’s basketball game? Here are your best streaming options.

Most affordable: Paramount+ Opens in a new window Credit: Paramount+ Paramount+ with Showtime 7-day free trial, then $11.99/month Get Deal

If you want to watch the NC State vs. Marquette men’s basketball game via CBS, Paramount+ offers a solution.    

New subscribers to Paramount+ get a seven-day free trial. Then for the Paramount+ plan that includes live streaming CBS, you need the Paramount+ with Showtime tier, which is $11.99/month. If you choose the annual plan, it is $119.99 for a year, saving about $1.99/month. 

For students, Paramount+ will give you a 25% discount.

Most channels: FuboTV Opens in a new window Credit: FuboTV FuboTV Pro plan $59.99
$79.99 Save $20.00 7-day free trial, then $59.99 for first month Get Deal

With FuboTV, new subscribers can enjoy a seven-day free trial and more than 250 live TV channels, along with the ability to simultaneously stream on 10 devices. College sports fans who want access to CBS for matchups such as the Marquette vs. NCSU men’s basketball game will want the FuboTV Pro tier, which is $59.99 for the first month and then has a rate of $79.99 per month.

FuboTV’s sports channel offerings include ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, Fox, FS1, FS2, Golf Network, Marquee Sports Network, Monumental Sports, NBC, NBCSN, NFL Network, Pac-12 Network, and SEC Network. 

If at any point you think you know where Dead Hot is going to go next, you must have one hell of an imagination.

Charlotte Coben (Harlan Coben's daughter, who worked on the TV adaptations of The Stranger, Stay Close, Shelter, and Fool Me Once) has taken on the murder mystery thriller game herself, creating and writing one of the most simultaneously weird, erratic, and addictive series you'll stream through in a day. Directed by Sam Arbor and David Sant, this six-episode series with a penchant for dun-dun-DUUUUUUN reveals has it all: a missing person, a bloody finger, false identities, dating app catfishing, crime families, a miniature horse, corrupt cops, furries, an equine-themed bachelorette party, and dalliances with mysterious strangers.

SEE ALSO: 'Dead Hot' trailer teases your next big mystery watch

But among the sporadic MDMA day sessions, ill-advised hook-ups, and secret meetings in red-lit bars, the series boasts two immensely compelling leads to steer this chaotic ship: Rye Lane's Vivian Oparah and Extraordinary's Bilal Hasna.

What is Dead Hot about? Who is Will (Marcus Hodson), exactly? Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

Set in Liverpool, Dead Hot follows Oparah and Hasna as best friends Jess and Elliot, who are united in torment over the disappearance of Peter (Olisa Odele), Jess' twin brother and the love of Elliot's life. Five years ago, Peter vanished, with the only trace being his severed finger left in a pool of blood, disturbingly discovered by Elliot himself.

Attempting to move on half a decade later, Elliot has a whirlwind date with dreamy stranger Will (Marcus Hodson). Navigating his feelings of guilt with Jess' support, Elliot thinks this guy could be his first big romance since losing Peter. But there's something mystifying about Will, especially when messed up things start happening. Meanwhile, Jess gets a sudden match on a DNA-pairing app. Could it be Peter? Who is this anonymous stranger who could be related to her? Who is on the other end of the red telephone in the bar? Who left this cat here? So many questions.

It's these parallel narrative strings that Dead Hot follows, as Jess and Elliot's frantic yearning for any skerrick of hope leads them further and further into dangerous territory — and when I tell you this is merely the tip of the iceberg of this often bonkers narrative, that's sugar-coating it. But what these moments of chaos and breakneck twists and turns do for the protagonists is give them unreal moments dramatic enough to match the sheer surrealism of their own grief.

Vivian Oparah and Bilal Hasna make the show Vivian Oparah and Bilal Hasna as Jess and Elliot. Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

As besties and amateur detectives Jess and Elliot, Oparah and Hasna fuel Dead Hot, moving their characters through reluctant mourning, fearless determination, and sheer terror with a measured levity. Coben's script pushes them into some pretty dark places (physically and emotionally), but the characters' relatability and fearlessness means the audience isn't plunged into Broadchurch-level misery. Every step of the way, Jess and Elliot hold on to hope that the worst hasn’t happened, and they both take moments of escapism when they can, which are also moments of reprieve for the audience, and which allow both Oparah and Hasna to tease out some comedy.

Featured Video For You Rye Lane’ includes the ultimate scene of meeting up with an ex

They're surrounded by a talented support cast, including the criminally underused and downright hilarious Jaylin Ye and Brandon Fellows as Jess and Elliot's friends Karis and Charlie (honestly, every time Ye and Fellows are onscreen it's a good time), and Andro Cowperthwaite as Jess' perpetually unimpressed boss Raphael, none of whom get enough screen time until later episodes.

Andro Cowperthwaite, Jaylin Ye, and Brandon Fellows deserve more screen time. Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

Downton Abbey's Penelope Wilton commands her role as Elliot's bigoted aristocrat grandmother Francine (saved as 🖕👹🖕 in his phone) who refuses to acknowledge he's gay, instead literally paying him to go on dates with women. Rosie Cavaliero is gloriously unfathomable as Elliot's spoiled horse-loving aunt Bonnie, Rebekah Murrell plays the mystery card well as enigmatic stranger Mary, and Peter Serafinowicz has a grand run as the crooked DCI Danny, spewing unscrupulousness and threats as casually as ordering a coffee.

Dead Hot blends mystery thriller with hedonistic partying Before we investigate that lead, there's always time for a cocktail. Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

If your twin or boyfriend vanished, leaving only a digit behind, no one could judge you for wanting to escape into a heady stream of partying to escape the darkness. That's exactly what Jess and Elliot do, often finding their way to the dancefloor of Liverpool's late night venues in the middle of their investigations or cannonballing into copious amounts of Baby's Blood cocktails before lunch. It's here the show places the characters in many a neon-lit bar, bright pink salon, or heaving nightclub, which proves a unique, aesthetically lush setting for their yarn-walling through heavier things. While it seems a random choice for a mystery thriller to drop a dancefloor in the middle of a mystery, it makes sense for the characters themselves, whose mid-20s have been filled with one big unanswered question and only each other who truly understands that.

Ultimately, Dead Hot is a relatively hard to pin down mystery thriller that careens through narrative gear changes and reveals as chaotically as possible, gifting you two wonderful protagonists to cling to through the mess. There's drama at every turn underpinned with deep grief and the power of friendship (don't look at me like that), and you'll probably breeze through these episodes in one weekend.

Dead Hot is now streaming on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland and on Tubi in the U.S.