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Amazon dishes out thousands of doorbusters every year during its flagship summer Prime Day sale — but as it turns out, not every "deal" is actually a deal. And not every deal is actually worth your money. (Shocker, I know.)

It can be difficult to decipher what's worth your hard-earned cash and what's better to pass on. So we've rounded up a list of what not to buy on Prime Day to help you shop wisely.

Avoid products sold and shipped by third parties

It's safest to stick to stuff that's sold and shipped by Amazon, rather than an obscure third-party seller. While many third-party sellers are legitimate, you put yourself at risk buying from an unverified seller or a merchant with little to no history.

You can check the seller by navigating to the product page and scrolling just below the "add to cart" button. If it's sold and shipped by Amazon, you're good to go — these are backed by Amazon's policies, making them a safe bet.

SEE ALSO: Prime Day 2024: When it's happening and everything else we know so far

If a product is sold by a third-party seller, but fulfilled by Amazon, you may want to check the reviews of the seller before purchasing. While these "fulfilled by Amazon" merchants go through a more rigorous vetting process, some can slip through the cracks, so just be cautious.

If a product is sold and shipped by a third-party seller, it may be best to avoid it altogether. Amazon doesn't oversee third-party products, so consumers may be out of luck if something goes wrong with an order.

Here's an example of a laptop sold and shipped by Amazon. Credit: Amazon Here's an example of a laptop sold by a third-party seller, but fulfilled by Amazon. Credit: Amazon Stay away from Ring deals

We always see a monstrous collection of Ring deals on and leading up to Prime Day, but we don't recommend buying any of the Amazon-owned brand's home security equipment if you like your privacy and your neighbors. The company's recent history is mottled with security and data handling issues, including sketchy law enforcement partnerships. (It finally shut down the tool that let police publicly request footage without a warrant earlier this year, but we're still skeptical.) To quote the great Randy Jackson, "It's a no from me, dawg."

Anything that seems too good to be true...probably is

Prime Day always generates some great deals — particularly on Amazon-branded products and services — but if you see a deal that appears too good to be true, chances are it is.

How can you tell if a deal is legitimate? Compare prices on other retail sites like Walmart, Best Buy, and Target. Aside from Amazon-specific products, you'll likely be able to find most products on other sites and get an idea of what the regular retail price is.

SEE ALSO: Amazon Prime Days is just around the corner — here's how to find the best deals

You can also cross-check prices of Amazon listings by plugging their URL into the price-tracking site camelcamelcamel. You'll be able to see the product's going rate over the past weeks/months/years and get a good idea of whether or not a discount you see is actually as impressive as it seems.

Take this Rockland Melbourne luggage set for example. In the lead-up to Prime Day 2023, it was listed at $105.91 with a $340 MSRP, making it appear to be on sale at a 69% discount.

At first glance, a 69% discount seems like a total steal. Credit: Amazon

However, when we entered the luggage set's URL into camelcamelcamel at the time, we saw that the MSRP was inflated and that the sale price wasn't actually as good as it seemed. In fact, in the months leading up to Prime Day 2023, the price generally hovered around the $100 to $150 point and dropped all the way down to $69.24. That put more perspective on the $105.91 price tag.

This is what an inflated MSRP will look like when you plug the URL into camelcamelcamel. Credit: camelcamelcamel

Aside from inflated MSRPs, some deals may seem like stellar discounts but have actually been hovering at the same price point for weeks — months, even.

Check out this discounted iPad mini, for example. At $399.99 with an on-page coupon (regularly $499), it seems like a great deal, right?

Note the coupon. Credit: Amazon

While that is a pretty good buy, camelcamelcamel tells us that it's regularly discounted to this price, so there's no need to jump the gun. In fact, it's probably worth waiting a few more weeks to see if it returns to its all-time low from Prime Day 2023.

$399.99 is a nice price, but it's nothing we technically haven't seen before. If you can wait, wait. Credit: camelcamelcamel Beware of impulse buys

Just because something is on sale doesn't mean you need to buy it. Seriously. Yes, those dirt-cheap Echo Dots are pretty dang tempting, but do you really need another Alexa-enabled speaker?

Sure, FOMO is real, but so is buyer's remorse. In fact, nine out of 10 say they experience buyer's remorse from impulse purchases, according to this Google survey from May — while 42 percent say they've bought something because it was on sale, then later regretted it. Be careful out there, folks.

SAVE $17.11: As of May 15, get the Sarah J. Maas starter bundle — including the Kindle Editions of A Court of Thorns and Roses, House of Earth and Blood, and Throne of Glass — at Amazon for $28.49. That's a discount of 38%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon The Sarah J. Maas starter bundle $28.49 at Amazon
$45.60 Save $17.11 Get Deal

If you've been thinking about reading some of the BookTok-favorite fantasy novels from author Sarah J. Maas, now is officially the time to dive in. Or, as you might have seen in the comment section, it's ACOTAR go time, baby.

The Amazon Book Sale officially kicked off today, May 15th, and runs through May 20th, with a wide variety of deals on physical books, e-books, audiobooks, Kindles, and much more. There are plenty of great deals to scoop up, including book bundles with titles you'll want to revisit again and again.

Case in point: the Sarah J. Maas starter bundle. As of May 15, get this three-book Kindle Edition collection of A Court of Thorns and Roses, House of Earth and Blood, and Throne of Glass for just $28.49. That's $17.11 off its normal price of $45.60, and a discount of 38%.

SEE ALSO: The Amazon Book Sale is now live with great deals on Kindles and books for all readers

Each book in this e-book bundle is the first of each of the author's popular series. A Court of Thorns and Roses kicks off the series of the same name, which explores the world of the Fae with Feyre Archeron. House of Earth and Blood introduced Bryce Quinlan, who sets off on a journey to solve her best friend's murder in the Crescent City series. Finally, Celaena Sardothien is an assassin who's out to change an entire kingdom in Throne of Glass, which begins the series of the same name.

If you've been waiting for the perfect time to start these series, now's the time to pounce. Grab this bundle and you can start reading on your Kindle or other device immediately.

UPDATE: May. 15, 2024, 6:48 a.m. EDT The Amazon Book Sale officially kicked off this morning with hundreds of deals. We're updating this page with the best deals throughout the inaugural sale which run through May 20.

Best Amazon Book Sale Deals Best Kindle deal Amazon Kindle Scribe (16GB) with Basic Pen $239.99 at Amazon (Save $100) Get Deal Best subscription deal Kindle Unlimited $0 for three months at Amazon (Save $35.97) Get Deal Best book deal Up to 60% off physical books From $6 at Amazon (Save up to 60% on books) Get Deal Best e-book deal Save up to 90% on e-books From $0.99 at Amazon (Save up to 90%) Get Deal

The flights are booked and the itinerary is planned. Summer vacation is right around the corner, and we can't wait to kick back in the sun with a great read. Whether you need in-flight entertainment or a beachside book, the Amazon Book Sale has got you covered.

The Amazon Book Sale is currently live and runs through May 20th, offering deals across physical books, Kindles, e-books, and audiobooks. No matter what format you prefer to read in, the savings are abundant. Physical books are up to 60% off while e-books are as low as $.99.

The Kindle Scribe is down to its lowest price ever at $239.99, saving you $100. If you already have an e-reader you love, sign up for Kindle Unlimited during the sale and enjoy three months free, where you'll gain access to Kindle's collection of four million books.

Explore all the deals here or read on for our favorites.

Best Kindle deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Kindle Scribe (16 GB) with Basic Pen $239.99 at Amazon
$339.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal

If you've been known to annotate every margin of your physical books but want the convenience of an e-reader, the Kindle Scribe is the answer. And during the Amazon Book Sale, you can find it for just $239.99, its lowest price ever. You'll save $100, scoring 29% off.

The Kindle Scribe has 16GB of storage and comes with its basic pen to get you writing. In addition to writing in your e-books, the Scribe includes a notebook feature for journaling. Plus, it converts handwritten notes to text and allows you to mark up PDFs too. The anti-glare screen is perfect for reading in the sun and the weeks of battery life means you can leave the charger at home while on vacation. This deal is live now and available through the end of the Amazon Book Sale.

Of the Kindle family, the Paperwhite Signature is our favorite pick overall thanks to its features and reasonable price. While the Paperwhite Signature isn't on sale during the Amazon Book Sale, we still think it's worth the price if it fits your reading desires.

Best subscription deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Kindle Unlimited at Amazon
Subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and get your first three months free Get Deal

Voracious readers need Kindle Unlimited. The subscription service includes millions of e-books, audiobooks, and magazines for just $11.99 per month. But thanks to the Amazon Book Sale, you can get your first three months free. That saves you $35.97 while giving you access to millions of reads.

There's no commitment with the Kindle Unlimited subscription — cancel at any time. If you're not into it after your three-month trial, go ahead and cancel for no charge.

Best book deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Books up to 60% off during the Amazon Book Sale Get Deal

For loyal readers of physical books, the Amazon Book Sale is for you too. Limited-time deals are available across all genres from cookbooks to romance. Find major savings on classics like Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye to new releases like Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle.

More book deals

• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo — $5.77 $12.99 (Save $7.22)

• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison — $6.83 $16 (Save $9.17)

• House of Ash and Shadow by Leia Stone — $7.10 $12.99 (Save $5.98)

• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides — $7.50 $21 (Save $13.50)

• Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman — $7.90 $17 (Save $9.10)

• By the Book by Jasmine Guillory — $8.33 $15.99 (Save $7.66)

• The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein — $8.41 $18.99 (Save $10.58)

• It Ends with Us: A Novel by Colleen Hoover — $8.49 $16.99 (Save $8.50)

• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid — $8.50 $17 (Save $8.50)

• One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid — $8.84 $18 (Save $9.16)

• The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel by Richard Osman — $8.92 $18 (Save $9.08)

• Artemis by Andy Weir — $10.27 $18 (Save $7.73)

• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón — $10.75 $19 (Save $8.25)

• House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune — $11.01 $18.99 (Save $7.98)

• Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle — $11.73 $27 (Save $15.27)

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen — $13.34 $25 (Save $11.66)

• Babel by R.F Kuang — $14.94 $20 (Save $5.06)

• Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files: A Cookbook by Deb Perelman— $18.16 $20 (Save $16.84)

• Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer — $21.64 $36 (Save $14.36)

• Kitchen Gear: The Ultimate Owner's Manual by Lisa McManus and Hannah Crowley — $23.70 $40 (Save $16.30)

• The Lord of the Rings: Special Edition by J.R.R. Tolkien — $106.11 $250 (Save $143.89)

Featured Video For You How to make Amazon returns and contact customer service Best e-book deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon E-books up to 90% off Find e-books during the Amazon Book Sale for as low as $0.99 Get Deal

If you're picky about the books you want to read, then maybe Kindle Unlimited isn't for you. The good news is, during the Amazon Book Sale, e-books are available at jaw-dropping prices. Seriously, you can save up to 90% on buzzy books like Babel by R.F. Kuang.

More e-book deals

• Babel by R.F. Kuang — $1.99 $20 (Save $18.01)

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien — $1.99 $30 (Save $28.01)

• Wool by Hugh Howey — $1.99 $19.99 (Save $18)

• Finding Me by Viola Davis — $2.99 $12.04 (Save $9.05)

• The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri —$2.99 $16.61 (Save $13.62)

• Rouge by Mona Awad — $3.99 $18.99 (Save $15)

• Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami — $12.99 $18 (Save $5.01)

• Sarah J. Maas starter bundle: A Court of Thorns and Roses, House of Earth and Blood, Throne of Glass — $28.49 $45.60 (Save $17.11)

Remember meme stocks?

In early 2021, the stock price of video game retailer GameStop pumped immensely after a Reddit community of traders, led by a trader known as Roaring Kitty (or DeepFuckingValue on Reddit), started buying en masse. This in turn caused the demise of hedge fund Melvin Capital that was shorting GameStop stock (shorting, in the simplest of terms, is betting on the stock price declining). It also marked the beginning of a trend in which communities of smaller traders were able to substantially move the prices of certain stocks, often opposing the directional bets of larger entities such as hedge funds. That was the dawn of the meme stock era.

While the trend was short lived, largely dying down in late 2021, it now appears to be back. On Monday, after nearly three years of dormancy, Roaring Kitty's account on X started posting a series of memes and crypto video excerpts. While it's hard to discern what, exactly, each of them means, the consensus is that Roaring Kitty is back in business, and stock traders have taken notice.

Tweet may have been deleted

After lingering in the $10 to $18 region for nearly the entirety of 2024 so far, the price of GameStop (whose stock ticker is $GME) soared to $80 in the past two days, before settling down at the current (premarket) price of $51.31. The price of another meme stock, AMC Entertainment, more than doubled at one point, following Roaring Kitty's return.

For those who were shorting $GME and $AMC, the news was not good. According to Predictive Analytics' Ihor Dusaniwsky, shorters are down well over $2 billion this week.

Tweet may have been deleted

How can one man's tweets move stock prices so violently? Keith Gill, Roaring Kitty's real name, achieved fame by holding a long position (essentially, betting on the price rising) in GameStop for years, turning a relatively meager $53,000 position into tens of millions of dollars and gaining a cult following in the process.

The question on every trader's mind, however, is whether the trend of meme stocks pumping is sustainable, or if it's a one-off event spurred by Roaring Kitty's return (some have pointed out that Roaring Kitty hasn't been active on other social channels such as YouTube, indicating someone else may have been tweeting from his account).

SEE ALSO: That iconic Trump meme may save eyes this solar eclipse

Right now, there's no definitive answer. Roaring Kitty's Twitter account is still posting riddles, with some Reddit traders capitalizing on the stock price moves. The ranking of Robinhood on Apple's App Store has gone sharply up in the past couple of days, which is another indicator that retail investors are back (in early 2021, Robinhood soared to the top of Apple's app store as numerous investors joined in to trade meme stocks). The trend could fizzle out or it could once again wreak havoc in investing circles. One thing is certain: This time around, the professionals are taking notice.

Dearest gentle reader, it's almost time to return to the Ton for another simmering season of courting, crushes, and conniving in Netflix's Bridgerton.

Having spent the last two seasons pursuing the romantic, deeply horny long-games of the Duke of Hastings and Daphne Bridgerton, then Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton, and a spinoff season on Queen Charlotte and her beloved King George, Season 3 shifts attention to another leading pair.

This time, based on the fourth book in Julia Quinn's novel series, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, Shondaland and new showrunner Jess Brownell focus on the covert heart of the series, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), and her longtime crush Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).

SEE ALSO: All your 'Bridgerton' Season 2 crushes, ranked

But before we get there, what happened again last season and where did everyone end up? We've done a quick rundown of everything you need to remember from Season 2 of Bridgerton before you watch Season 3, from the enemies-to-lovers tale of the Viscount and Viscountess to the worst friendship fallout in the Ton, all of which culminated in the gilded Featherington Ball.

Penelope and Eloise's friendship sits in ruins BFFs no more. Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

At the end of Season 1, Penelope Featherington was revealed as the secret identity of the Ton's prolific scandal sheet publisher, Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews). But while we're allowed in on it as viewers, there's only a few people within the series who know, and by the end of Season 2, unfortunately one is now her best friend Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie).

Eloise has been hunting Lady Whistledown's identity for two seasons, but in Season 2 her enthusiasm made her a target of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) as her number one suspect. If you remember, the Queen despises the author's influence and recruited Eloise to find out who they really were in Season 1. In Season 2, Eloise followed the trail to the printing shop used by Whistledown, where she met young printer and covert women's rights campaigner Theo Sharpe (Calam Lynch), and their romance blossomed. Unfortunately for Eloise, her visits (along with her outspokenness on society) drew the Queen's suspicions. Eloise swore her innocence to the monarch, but it was no use, as the Queen threatened Eloise and her family with social ruin unless she confessed to being Lady Whistledown.

SEE ALSO: It's time for 'Bridgerton' to say gay

With Eloise about to falsely confess with a counterfeit society paper, Penelope took matters into her own hands, writing a scathing blast about her best friend's visits with Theo — "unchaperoned, with improper company, political radicals in fact" — to disprove Eloise's guilt. The pamphlet diverted the Queen's wrath but socially ruined Eloise. Suffice to say her romance with Theo crumbled too.

Following this, Penelope rested her pen after being "done ruining the lives of others" through gossip. However, in the Season 2 finale, Eloise figured out her friend's secret identity when Penelope flexed her keen powers of observation at the Featherington Ball. While Pen danced with Colin, Eloise stole into her friend's room and discovered her secret stash of money hidden beneath the floorboards (the profits made from her publications) and confronted Penelope, running through the juicy details only Pen would have known about. It's a horrible fight, with Eloise feeling deeply betrayed, and the two parted on non-speaking terms.

However, Penelope's fight with Eloise did not obliterate her penchant for writing, as we saw her return to her writing desk at the end of Season 2.

Colin scorned Penelope romantically in public Pen heard what you said, Colin! Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

It's one of the biggest moments in Bridgerton Season 2 that will be important for Season 3, and honestly, we're still reeling from it. Penelope has long yearned for the affections of her friend Colin, though has remained firmly in the Regency friend zone — including through Colin's engagement to Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker) in Season 1. But things seemed slightly flirty in Season 2.

Channelling big "I've just returned from my gap year" energy after returning from Greece, Colin strolled around Season 2 with suddenly mature pep in his step. Though he danced often with Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen), he sent Penelope mixed signals, praising her "constant and loyal" personality throughout the season. Penelope's hopes were high at the Featherington Ball, and when Colin asked Pen to dance, he dropped some big words: "I will always look after you, Penelope. You are special to me." 

However, after her fight with Eloise, Penelope stumbled upon Colin speaking about his dance to a group of young men on the terrace. When they questioned him on his intentions with Pen, he scoffed, "Are you mad? I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington. Not in your wildest dreams."

NO! NOOOOO. NO. We were all crushed right there with Pen in this scene, and this is where Season 3 will pick up. Perhaps, if there's forgiveness elsewhere on the horizon, we can still hope for a Peneloise romance?

Kate and Anthony are happily married These two. Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

After the steamy enemies-to-lovers romance between Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the pair were finally married at the end of Season 2. Remember the Viscount was engaged to Kate's sister, Edwina (Charithra Chandran), but she absconded from the altar the minute she realised her sister and Anthony were very obviously in love. This pissed off Queen Charlotte for a moment, as she does not like to be wrong about things, and she'd chosen Edwina as her "diamond" of the season.

The Bridgertons and Sharmas were publicly ruined by the scandal, but not for long — and MVP Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) never abandoned them, despite being socially ostracised by association.

At the end of the season, after Anthony and Kate had sex in the garden, Kate galloped off into a storm, fell off her horse, and was badly injured. Anthony was riddled with guilt. However, his mother Viola, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), helped him embrace his true feelings, speaking to their shared unprocessed grief over Lord Bridgerton's sudden death years earlier. Anthony proposed at Kate's bedside, a move she assumed was a "misguided obligation of duty". Deciding to return to India, she sent him away. 

"Be the sister I know that you are" 😭 Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

Edwina and Kate's sisterly relationship was rattled after the wedding fail, however Edwina's wisdom and forgiveness helped them through Kate's guilt. After Edwina gave her sister the major "be the sister I know that you are" pep talk at the Featherington Ball, Anthony and Kate danced together in full view to a string version of "Wrecking Ball", despite the judgmental stares of the Ton. But Queen Charlotte stepped in to quiet the haters, with Edwina giving her blessing. Both the Bridgertons and the Sharmas are saved from ruin, hurrah!

In the garden, Anthony declared his love for Kate, and she the same, and we left them in newlywed bliss playing croquet on the lawn with the rest of the Bridgertons.

The Featheringtons almost lost it all — again Lord Jack Featherington almost got away with passing off glass as gemstones. Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

While the Bridgertons and the Sharmas spent much of the end of Season 2 in social ruin, the Featheringtons had clawed their way back from financial destitution after Lord Featherington's gambling debts saw him murdered in Season 1. Their troubles seemed solved with the arrival of the family's smarmy cousin Jack (Rupert Young), whose engagement to Prudence Featherington (Bessie Carter) proved one of the ickier pairings in the Ton. The season crescendoed with the family's opulent Featherington Ball, a grand show of stability and wealth. With the Queen herself in attendance, the Featheringtons were back in the game.

In the season finale, however, at the Featherington Ball, Colin Bridgerton exposed Jack as a charlatan selling fake glass jewels as gemstones. Having previously been interested in investing in the gems, Colin demonstrated the scam by smashing Cressida's "ruby" necklace into smithereens in front of Penelope, Lady Featherington (Polly Walker), and Jack himself. Out of respect for the Featheringtons, Colin did this dramatic exposé in private, telling Jack to return the money he'd spent on this crooked scheme and to leave town — a move that made Pen fall even harder for her crush.

J'accuse! Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

Jack tried to convince Lady Featherington to leave town with him for America, suggesting a romantic future for the two of them despite his engagement to her daughter (the two had kind of been in cahoots the whole season). But if there's one thing you shouldn't come between, it's Portia and her daughters. Lady Featherington sent Jack packing without a penny and the forged signature promise that once one of her daughters has a son the Featherington estate will transfer to him. Byeeee.

Will had a tough start opening his gentlemen's club Colin had to eat some humble pie after Will told him so about Jack. Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

What of Will Mondrich (Martins Imhangbe), the best mate of the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page)? In Season 2, Jack Featherington had also blackmailed his way into holding court in Will's new bar, after convincing the boxer to throw a match to split the winnings — Will wanted to provide for his wife Alice (Emma Naomi) and their children. Will had opened a gentlemen's club that aimed to be a more inclusive alternative to the posh White's club (IRL it's the oldest gentlemen's club in London, founded in 1693). But business was slow and he was indebted to Jack, who wielded it over him.

When Colin got wrapped up in Jack's dealings, taking a meeting at the bar, Mondrich tried to warn him of Jack's shady side, but Colin defended him as the head of the Featheringtons. So, at the end of the season, after Jack's corruption was exposed, Colin ate humble pie with Mondrich and brought all his mates back to his bar, apologising. But as you've already read, it's not all Colin needs to apologise for.

How to watch: Bridgerton Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Netflix. Season 3 will drop in two halves, with Part 1 streaming on May 16 and Part 2 on June 13.

Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short), and Mabel (Selena Gomez) head for Hollywood in Season 4 of "Only Murders in the Building" Season 4. Watch the teaser.

Eight TikTok creators are suing the U.S. government in order to prevent a law that would ban the app unless its parent company divests.

First reported by the Washington Post, the 33-page complaint was filed Tuesday, arguing that the law violates First Amendment rights by "[promising] to shutter a discrete medium of communication that has become part of American life", calling the law an "extraordinary restraint on speech."

"In supporting the Act, lawmakers claimed that TikTok 'manipulate[s]' American minds and disseminates 'propaganda' that would 'use our country’s free marketplace to undermine our love for liberty.' But it is the Act that undermines the nation’s founding principles and free marketplace of ideas," reads the complaint.

SEE ALSO: Is the White House being hypocritical about TikTok?

The case, filed in the the federal Court of Appeals in DC, is asking for the court to declare the law unconstitutional and ultimately prevent it from being enforced.

The creators, who also expressed in the complaint how TikTok has changed their lives and livelihoods, range across home states, age, and occupations. The list is as follows: cattle rancher Brian Firebaugh (@cattleguy), baker Chloe Joy Sexton (@chloebluffcakes), activist and creator Kiera Spann (@famousblonde), rapper Topher Townsend (@tophertownmusic), lifestyle creator Talia Cadet (@taliacadet), footballer Timothy Marin (@timbosliceoflife12), Love & Pebble co-founder Paul Tran (@loveandpebble), and beauty and comedy influencer Steven King (@btypep).

Some of the petitioners, including Townsend, Spann, and Firebaugh, have posted on TikTok about their decision to take up the suit. Townsend explained, "No platform is perfect and TikTok is the closest I've found to this day," adding in the video that he is "forever grateful" to the app. According to the Washington Post, each of the creators explained that TikTok is an invaluable instrument for self-expression, speech, and connection.

The suit also stated that TikTok has a "profound effect on American life", and expressed how the app changed the lives of the petitioners: "They have found their voices, amassed significant audiences, made new friends, and encountered new and different ways of thinking—all because of TikTok’s novel way of hosting, curating, and disseminating."

King, one of the petitioners, told the Post, "On TikTok, we’re able to consume and receive information that is not filtered, that hasn’t had a narrative driven by politicians. We have direct access to find out what is happening around the world at our fingertips."

The creators are represented by Seattle-based firm Davis Wright Tremaine, which specializes in cases involving the First Amendment and previously represented five TikTok creators in Montana when they fought last year's proposed state ban (which was also passed into law).

TikTok itself is covering the creators' attorney fees for this suit. The app is currently suing the government, too, having filed a lawsuit on May 7, shortly after President Biden signed the bill into law. TikTok's suit called the ban "unconstitutional".

The teaser for "You're Cordially Invited", a wedding mix-up comedy starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, has dropped.

"The Daily Show" host Desi Lydic poked fun at GPT-4o.

If there's anything that undoubtedly unites everyone, it's that we all had terrible sex education in school. Yet, some members of parliament in the United Kingdom are under the impression kids are learning too much. 

In May 2024, reports emerged that the government plans to ban schools in England from teaching sex education to children under age 9.

In March 2024, Conservative member of parliament Andrea Jenkyns said during a parliamentary discussion that she supported a complete ban on sex education in schools. "As a mother of a primary school age child myself, I do not want him or other children to learn about sex full stop, whether that's straight or gay," she said. "I also don't want to see children at primary school being taught about changing gender – we need to be protecting the innocence of children and their childhood, especially at primary school age." 

SEE ALSO: What teachers and parents wish they could tell kids about porn

On social media, Jenkyns' comments have resulted in a mixture of support, opposition, and general concern, with some agreeing with her that sex education is a danger to innocence, and others believing the opposite. Her comments have not occurred in a vacuum. Rather, it's a small part of a widespread moral panic towards sex education that's been brewing in the political arena for the last few years, and the ongoing "trans debate" in the British media is intrinsically linked, often used as the key reasoning to ban sex education in the first place. 

Many members of the government have shared worries for what's being taught in sex education, expressing that there's too much LGBTQ+ content and sexual content, though there's little evidence pointing to a real issue. 

As concern continues to grow for the sex education's future, Mashable analysed the key comments about sex education from the political arena over the last year and spoke to experts to understand the current state of sex education, which improvements really need to be made, and why a lot of the concern over these lessons is misplaced. 

What's inappropriate about sex education?

Concern over what is being taught in sex education has been expressed by politicians and parents alike. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when and why this all started, but it's important to consider the backdrop on which these conversations are happening. 

In 2018, the bill FOSTA-SESTA was passed in the United States, which was designed to help stop trafficking but regrettably doesn't distinguish consensual sex work from trafficking which causes problems for all sexual content on the internet.. And because the bill focuses on the internet, it has impacted users across the world. Though this bill is designed to stop trafficking on the internet, it affects those who are consenting to sex work too, and that loops in just about everyone who talks about sex on the internet. That includes, of course, online sex education.The result: sex information of all kinds is regularly flagged by social media algorithms as sexual solicitation, and sex education online is getting harder to find. 

What's more, "Don't Say Gay" bills have been passed in multiple states in America from Florida to Louisiana which mirror Section 28, prohibiting LGBTQ+ people from expressing themselves fully, and being able to access the education they need in schools. 

It's possible these moves are influencing conversations in the UK. Here, concerns about sex education are less focused on trafficking, though, and instead appear to boil down to a few sensationalised myths: 

• Children are encouraged to be transgender in their sex education classes.

• Children are being sexualised by sex education.

• Learning about sex causes children to lose their innocence.  

Most of these myths were reinforced in Jenkyn's speech, but she's not the only politician to take a stand against sex education in some way. One of the most prominent voices in this debate is member of parliament Miriam Cates. Back in March 2023, she claimed during a parliamentary debate that, during RSE classes, British schools were teaching "graphic lessons on oral sex", lessons in "how to choke your partner safely" and that there are "72 genders". 

Cates then claimed those classes were "age inappropriate, sexualising and undermining of parents" and called for a review of RSE materials in secondary schools, which prime minister Rishi Sunak committed to delivering by the end of 2023. 

The politician didn't provide any direct sources for these claims, and in response, James Bowen, director of policy for the NAHT, the organisation for school administrators, stated they "have found [no proof that] suggests students [are] being exposed to materials that are inappropriate for their age is a widespread issue – if it were, we would anticipate that it would have been addressed on a case-by-case basis." 

Notably, the report also doesn't detail any specific sources for the claim that "safe choking" is being taught in schools. Rather, it includes content from Cliterally the Best, a blog and popular sex positive Instagram account, which isn't currently being used as education content as part of the British RSE curriculum. 

Andrew Hampton, education expert and author of Working with Boys, Creating Cultures of Mutual Respect in Schools believes that, sadly, some of this moral panic could stem from typical classroom strategies for teaching sex education more openly and non-judgmentally, and that this well-meaning practice is being misinterpreted by some politicians. For instance, Cates alleges that children are being taught how to safely choke each other. But Hampton thinks it’s more likely that children are asking about choking unprompted, especially as the sex act becomes more popular in porn and in bedrooms, and that teachers are simply doing their jobs by explaining what it means.

He tells Mashable: "A common strategy in teaching sex education in schools is to have kids shout out words they've heard relating to sex or anything they want to know more about, and then the teacher will write those words on the board and offer further explanation." 

Hampton explains that because there's been a recent rise documented in choking in pornography, on TikTok, and in popular media, it's likely children are asking about it in their sex education classrooms. "So a teacher might explain it, and explain the risks too, if a child asks about it. But it won't be that choking is actually part of the lessons," he says.

SEE ALSO: KinkTok is rife with misinformation. Here's why that's dangerous.

But, doubling down on this supposed need to change up RSE, the Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan said last October that she had written to schools in England ordering them to make the materials used in children's sex education available to be seen by parents. She warned headteachers there can be "no ifs, no buts, no more excuses" about it. 

The report Sunak organised is not yet complete (or, at least, not available to the public), so there is still no evidence available to suggest any of these accusations are true, while evidence of a moral panic piles up. So, where is this idea that kids are learning too much coming from? Are they learning too much?

Sex education is still falling short 

The short answer is no. It's an odd sentiment to suggest kids could be learning too much beyond their years as relationships and sex education (RSE) as a mandatory subject in schools has only been part of UK legislation as recently as September 2020. 

It's especially inaccurate to suggest children could be learning too much about queer topics, as Cates and Jenkyns seem to believe, since it only became legal for teachers to share advice and learnings for homosexual students in 2003, thanks to Section 28.

Sex education is really only just getting started The same year that sex education became mandatory in the United Kingdom, 58 percent of young people reported not learning enough about certain subjects they found to be important, such as information about pornography, and a survey from 2023 proved students want more their sex education at school to include more 'open discussions' and more information about 'real life sexual scenarios.' 

As for the allegations that sex ed leans too far towards LGBTQ+ topics, a  Terrence Higgins Trust survey of young people aged between 16 and 24 further found that one in seven had not received any sex and relationships education (SRE) during their time at secondary school, with almost two thirds given lessons a maximum of only once a year.

SEE ALSO: Top 5 NSFW sites to learn what porn didn't teach you

Data from Safe Lives also says LGBTQ+ students feel significantly less comfortable, less confident about where to go for support about relationship or sexual abuse; and a notably smaller proportion have a strong understanding of toxic and healthy relationships. The majority of LGBTQ+ students (61 percent) disagree that LGBT+ relationships are being threaded throughout RSE, even though it's legally required. 

Despite all the evidence that sex education is paramount and needs development, not reduction, Sunak announced Conservative Party's press conference in October that they would work to allow parents to oversee their children's sex education at school, and be able to pull them out of those lessons if they saw fit. While that might seem fair enough to some people, there are myriad reasons why giving parents this kind of control over their children's sexual knowledge is a very bad idea. 

Why parents shouldn't veto their children's sex ed 

Allowing parents to control their children's sex education comes up a lot in the sex education debate, but it comes with a lot of dangers. 

Research from Planned Parenthood found that over 20 percent of parents are not talking to their children about sex at home, and the ones that do speak about it are likely to skip important conversations like consent. So, if children are to be pulled out of school sex education, they're unlikely to get it anywhere else. 

Missing out on RSE has a significant effect on sexual development. Anabelle Knight, certified sex educator at sex toy company Lovehoney, tells Mashable that a lack of sex education in school has a direct consequence of poor sexual behaviour and understanding in adults, particularly in groups that are underrepresented in the teachings. 

She's right — Harvard Medical School found that comprehensive RSE helps to prevent sexual violence, for instance, while another study from the Council of Europe found it generally forms safer and more inclusive communities for children. If that wasn't enough, one study from The Journal of Adolescent Health examined sex education and its effects on children as they develop into adults for an entire three decades, and linked thorough sex education to a better understanding and appreciation of "sexual diversity, dating and intimate partner violence prevention, development of healthy relationships, prevention of child sex abuse and improved social/emotional learning". The study also notes that for the best chances of these social developments occurring, children need to start learning RSE in elementary school (primary school in the UK) and those lessons need to be LGBTQ+ inclusive. 

For example, she explains the LGBTQ+ community has to look elsewhere for the sex information they should have learned in school. "One of the most common – and easily accessible – places to learn about sex is in pornography, which portrays an unrealistic, often male-centric view of sex and intimacy." In short, not being offered sex education in school has drastic consequences on our relationships, including that with ourselves, in later life." 

Knight explains that consent is one of the most important things that people of any age can learn, and arguably the younger the better. "Not only is it important for children to learn that they have autonomy over their own bodies, but also that they must respect others' boundaries," she explains. 

SEE ALSO: Is Instagram shadowbanning LGBTQ and sex ed accounts?

"Teaching children about consent and sexual relationships before they experience them means that they are much better prepared for when they do. In order for anyone to make an informed decision they must first be… informed," she adds.   

Some parents also don't have their children's best interests in mind. Some parents will prioritise their political beliefs over the safety of their children. Some parents are homophobic, and wouldn't be okay with their children being queer of any kind, and may block their children from sex education to stop them from learning about it due to their own ulterior motives. 

It's a difficult reality to reckon with, but some parents also abuse their children. 37 percent of children who undergo child sex abuse experience this from a family member, or a family friend according to the Office of National Statistics.

With all this in mind, Knight says it's vital for children to learn about sex from a professional, regulated, and safe source. Parents are clearly not the right option for this. 

While panic over sex education contents increases, journalist Sophia Smith Galer found in a VICE report that the UK government has only spent half of the £6 million it promised in 2019 to spend on compulsory sex education in schools. This is demonstrative of a lacking sex education, not an overbearing one. Perhaps, instead of focusing on rumours without evidence, we should instead consider the glaring improvements left to be made, what the science says about supporting young people's safe sexual development, and the misplacement of funds in this space. 

UPDATE: May. 15, 2024, 11:15 a.m. CEST Added new government plans to ban sex education for under 9s in schools in England.

Ilya Sutskever is leaving OpenAI, and we have questions. One in particular.

Announcing the move on X on Tuesday night, the company's chief scientist said he made the decision to leave himself.

"The company's trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama, @gdb, @miramurati and now, under the excellent research leadership of @merettm. It was an honor and a privilege to have worked together, and I will miss everyone dearly," Sutskever wrote, adding that his next endeavour is a project "that is very personally meaningful" to him, with details coming "in due time."

Tweet may have been deleted

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted about the move as well, calling Sutskever "easily one of the greatest minds of our generation."

"OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together. I am happy that for so long I got to be close to such genuinely remarkable genius, and someone so focused on getting to the best future for humanity," he wrote.

Altman also noted that Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI's director of research, is going to be OpenAI's next chief scientist.

While both Altman and Sutskever indicated that Sutskever's departure has to do with his ambition to do a personally meaningful project (both using this exact same phrase), it's hard not to relate the move to OpenAI's recent leadership crisis, in which Altman was temporarily ousted from the company, with Sutskever leading the move (before backpedaling and saying he deeply regretted Altman's firing).

Tweet may have been deleted

That something was amiss was so obvious that the internet turned the situation into a meme. "What did Ilya see," once referenced by OpenAI once-investor, now-critic Elon Musk, refers to the (conspiracy?) theory that Sutskever saw something alarming in Altman's leadership, prompting him to initially support Altman's ousting. The question was, jokingly or not, immediately asked as a reply to both Sutskever and Altman's posts on X.

It's not just Sutskever that's left; Jan Leike, the researcher that was co-leading OpenAI's Superalignment team which worked on the problems of "steering and controlling" AI that's much smarter than humans, also left the company. Early on Wednesday, he simply tweeted "I resigned."

Tweet may have been deleted

Musk elaborated on his concerns about OpenAI in a lawsuit against the company in which he had once invested. In the filing, he demands OpenAI to become a nonprofit again, arguing that the company's latest AI model is too powerful to be (essentially) owned by Microsoft, which has a large stake in OpenAI. It's unclear where, exactly, Sutskever stands on the matter.

Given the tone of Sutskever and Altman's post, it's unlikely we'll (soon) find out the intricacies of Sutskever's departure from OpenAI. It'll nevertheless be interesting to see what Sutskever's "personally meaningful" new project will be.

Featured Video For You OpenAI reveals its ChatGPT AI voice assistant

With all the turmoil that's been going on inside OpenAI, the company appears to be on an upward trajectory, having recently launched its most powerful publicly available AI model so far, GPT-4o.

Not content to just let us sit with the news of AI Overviews coming to search, Google has launched a new "Web" filter in search that will show you only text-based links in results. Looks like there's still room for a little old school internet within the AI of it all.

Launched on Tuesday to coincide with the tech giant's I/O event, the additional filter will let you switch between Google's refined results tabs as you would with Images, News, Videos etc. The "Web" tab was launched in the U.S. yesterday and will roll out globally Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: Everything announced at Google I/O, including AI Agents, Ask Photos, and more

Google's Public Liaison for Search, Danny Sullivan, posted a thread about the new filter on X, formerly Twitter.

"We've added this after hearing from some that there are times when they’d prefer to just see links to web pages in their search results, such as if they’re looking for longer-form text documents, using a device with limited internet access, or those who just prefer text-based," a post read.

Tweet may have been deleted

It's one of a flurry of announcements made at Google's I/O developer-focused event, particularly around Search, The company also announced the rollout of AI Overviews in the U.S. (worldwide soon) that will show AI-generated summaries atop results, as well as Search by Video, Planning with Search, and Contextual Search — Mashable's Chance Townsend has more detail on these.

The I/O event also saw the company drop plenty of AI announcements centred around Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 1.5 Flash, including DJ mode for Google's Music FX, an Ask Photos feature, AI personal assistants known as AI Agents, a video generator like OpenAI's Sora called Veo, and plenty more.

Mashable's Tim Marcin has a guide to I/O for you, check out everything Google announced.

Whether the 16-inch Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 laptop appeals to you depends on your budget.

Starting at $900, Lenovo’s large hybrid laptop can do a lot for the price. Its convertible display can exist in four different configurations of varying usefulness. Plus, its storage options are good enough for the majority of people who don’t work in high-intensity fields. And finally, its fully adorned keyboard gives it a leg up over something like a MacBook.

But thanks to a decidedly not-so-slender profile and awkward trackpad placement, you may be better off spending a little more money (or less) to get something more convenient for everyday use. (Maybe take a look at our best laptops page for some inspiration.)

SEE ALSO: Lenovo Yoga Book 9i review: A sick dual-screen laptop with life-changing productivity Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16-inch price and specs

The review unit I tested costs $899 on Best Buy and has the following specs:

• Intel Core Ultra 5 125U processor

• 512GB storage

• 16GB RAM

• Intel Iris Xe graphics

• 16-inch display with 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution and 60Hz refresh rate

There aren't a ton of variations on those specs for consumers to choose from. You can optionally get an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor with 1TB of storage, but that brings the price up to $1,049.

While the display, processor, and GPU specs aren’t necessarily anything to write home about, the storage and RAM figures are worth highlighting here. A minimum of 512GB internal storage (with a more expensive 1TB option) and 16GB RAM will help ensure that people can keep their data around and work with several programs or tabs open at once. 

Considering that this is priced as a somewhat low-level school or work laptop, those memory and storage specs aren’t bad. You might want more storage if you do longform video editing, though.

Opens in a new window Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16-inch
Get Deal What I like about Lenovo Yoga 7i 16-inch

While there's very little about the Yoga 7i that I would call "remarkable," there's still plenty to like. Between its audiovisual presentation and convenient privacy features, Lenovo packed a decent number of bells and whistles into this laptop.

Huge, convertible display Tent mode. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

As a daily MacBook Air user, the thing about the Yoga 7i that hit me the hardest was just how big and versatile the display is, if you want it to be.

Sixteen inches and a slightly-higher-than 1080p resolution are both pretty solid figures for the price, even if it’s just a lowly LCD display rather than the fancier OLED ones found in Lenovo’s more expensive products. In my testing, I found the Yoga 7i was best used for streaming. I used it extensively as a second monitor during an incredibly busy weekend of watching both the NBA playoffs and NFL draft at the same time.

I know — I’m really cool, but that’s not the point here.

Of course, this isn’t just a normal laptop, hence the “2-in-1” part of the product name. The Yoga 7i’s display can be bent backwards into a few different configurations: one that uses the keyboard as a base, one that props the device up like a tent, and one that just turns it into a giant tablet.

None of these are new in the world of hybrid laptops, but they are all presented and accounted for here. It’s hard to say how the hinge would hold up after years of bending the screen back, but in my limited testing, it felt sturdy enough to withstand everyday use.

Privacy features

While I appreciate Lenovo including both a fingerprint reader and a physical webcam cover, these features are becoming increasingly standard on laptops, even some of the best cheap laptops. Therefore, I'm hesitant to give them too much credit for the inclusion.

That said, the substantially more expensive MacBook Air that I work on every day doesn’t have a webcam cover, so clearly, the rest of the industry still has some catching up to do. Good on Lenovo for including both of these features, even if they aren’t novel.

Loud speakers

I feel pretty strongly that if you’re going to watch something on a laptop, you should most definitely use headphones. Laptop speakers, by and large, exist for utility; they’re on the device because they have to be, but it’s never an ideal way to experience audio.

Still, Lenovo’s Yoga 7i speakers are pretty thunderous by laptop standards. I was able to hear what I was watching from across the room at less than half volume, while pumping it up all the way produced a sound that was loud enough to put me in danger of pissing off my neighbors. That didn’t happen, thankfully, but it’s good to know that a $900 laptop can do that.

Full-featured keyboard It's a good keyboard. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

All that really needs to be said is that the Lenovo Yoga 7i’s keyboard has both a full function row and a full number pad. There you go! What more do you need?

But seriously, it’s a solid enough laptop keyboard that wins on features, if not especially on feel. Having all of those buttons is great and enables all the different keyboard shortcuts one could hope to use in a work environment. 

It’s a double-edged sword, though. Including a number pad on the right side means that everything else is just a little squished together. While the Yoga 7i’s device footprint is a bit wider than my MacBook Air, the non-number-pad part of the keyboard is actually a bit narrower. It’s certainly something you’d get used to after using the laptop every day, but the process of getting used to it wasn’t great. Still, the keys are pretty substantial regardless and the amount of key travel is satisfying enough.

What’s ‘meh’ about Lenovo Yoga 7i 16-inch

Of course, nothing is perfect, but also not every imperfection is worth raking a device over the coals about. When it came to the ports and one aspect of the Yoga 7i's display, I wasn't head-over-heels for the laptop.

Port placement Ports! Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

When it comes to port selection, the Yoga 7i is competitive with others in its class. Between a single HDMI port and two USB-C Thunderbolt connectors, you’ve got a plethora of options for external displays, even if one of those USB-C ports should be left open for charging purposes. There are also two USB type-A ports and a headphone jack.

That’s all well and good, but I don’t love the port placement here. The left side contains the HDMI port and both Thunderbolt connectors, as well as the headphone jack. The right side, meanwhile, contains two USB type-A ports and an SD card slot.

Personally, I would’ve preferred more symmetry. Relegating both USB-C ports to one side means you can only charge the Yoga 7i from one side. Similarly, if you use a standard USB mouse, you better be right-handed.

Refresh rate

As I’ve mentioned a few times, the Yoga 7i isn’t exactly priced as a premium product, so some concessions are expected. One of those is that the display, for all its size and resolution, only comes with a 60Hz refresh rate.

To be fair, the Yoga 7i isn’t necessarily meant as a high-end gaming laptop, so frame rates higher than 60 fps don’t really have a place here. But for basic web browsing and scrolling, even a 90Hz refresh rate would’ve made the laptop feel a bit more premium and responsive. 

It’s not a big deal, but something worth noting.

What I dislike about Lenovo Yoga 7i 16-inch

Unfortunately, the physical design of the Yoga 7i leaves a bit to be desired. Put simply, it's heavy and the trackpad isn't real fun to use.

A little unwieldy It's not small or light. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

Laptops are supposed to be portable, right? The whole point is that you can carry it with you from place-to-place without really noticing it. This is one area where the Yoga 7i falls a little short.

Its 4.63 pound weight is quite noticeable. Picking up the Yoga 7i with just one hand to move it around feels slightly treacherous, especially since the center of gravity resides where the keyboard and display meet. It always feels a little like it’s about to fall out of your hand when you first lift it up. I don’t love that.

Yoga 7i’s weight, combined with the necessary width of a 16-inch display, means this might be a difficult device to use on an airplane, unless you pay for first class. That’s far from the only thing that matters about a laptop, but we can’t pretend like it’s not important.

Trackpad placement

The Yoga 7i keyboard is mostly pretty good, as discussed previously. The trackpad is another story.

Lenovo annoyingly decided to go with a left-of-center alignment for the trackpad. This means that while I’m resting my hands on the keyboard, my wrist is almost always touching the trackpad, leading to a lot of unintended mouse clicks that got in the way of my daily routine. 

Another rather bothersome result of the trackpad’s placement is that finger taps that feel like they should be left clicks instead register as right clicks too often. At least, that happened way too often for me, a person who primarily navigates the trackpad with his right hand.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 16-inch Geekbench score

Lenovo’s Yoga 7i, packed with an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, delivered a 9,121 multi-core score in our CPU testing, courtesy of the benchmarking software Geekbench (which tests for CPU performance).

Going beyond the numerical score, I never had any serious performance quibbles with the Yoga 7i. As long as you use it for what it was designed for (everyday web browsing and work), it operates smoothly. 

Lenovo Yoga 7i 16-inch battery life

This is one area where Lenovo can chalk up a big ol’ W for itself.

I tested the Yoga 7i’s battery life by looping a 1080p video in full screen from a 100 percent charge until the device died. That process took a whopping 10 hours and 33 minutes. 

By comparison, the dual-screen Yoga Book 9i only achieved seven hours under the same circumstances, at more than twice the price. And since everyday work tasks generally don’t require that you loop an HD video for nearly 11 hours straight, you can certainly expect to get through a full work day on one charge.

Lenovo Yoga 7i 16-inch webcam and microphone

The Yoga 7i isn’t necessarily a budget laptop, but the parts of it that you use for video calls aren’t really anything to write home about.

A lil' fuzzy! Credit: Alex Perry

As you can see from the image, the 1080p webcam produces results that are a little fuzzy and washed out — and that’s before video call compression enters the picture. It’s fine for a weekly check-in with your boss, but you wouldn’t want to film a movie with it.

As for the built-in microphone, it, well, sounds like a laptop microphone. Testing produced audio that was a little tinny, but fully intelligible. Again, these features are meant for work calls and not professional recordings. If you want better results, get a real webcam and a real microphone.

Is the Lenovo Yoga 7i 16-inch worth it?

This is a tough question to answer because it really depends on what you want and need from a laptop.

Gamers can and should look elsewhere, given the specs. People who need to do intense video editing or 3D modeling can probably do better, as well. The Yoga 7i is specced and priced for people who work on the computer but don’t work like that on the computer, if you catch my drift.

If you need a bulky, sturdy machine for streaming things and answering emails, you can certainly do worse. The versatility and size of the display helps matters, as the Yoga 7i can (in a pinch) be an entertainment machine, too. But it’s not especially portable or remarkable in any other way.

Still, it’s not as expensive as a MacBook and has a way more functional keyboard, if nothing else. 

Opens in a new window Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 $899.00
Get Deal

This is not just another sublime image of the largest storm in the solar system, Jupiter's Great Red Spot. 

Look closer… a little closer…

Come on, you're going to have to try harder than that. Get in there.

Do you see it now? That's not a speck of dust on NASA's Juno spacecraft camera. That's a moon, orbiting its enormous mother planet in space. 

The teeny tiny moon is Amalthea, and though it was caught zipping in front of the very ruddy eye of Jupiter's long-lived high pressure zone, astronomers say this moon is in fact the reddest object in the solar system. Scientists think its hue is caused by sulfur from the nearby Jovian moon Io, a world with active volcanoes.

SEE ALSO: Saturn apparently has 145 moons. So eat it, Jupiter. Tweet may have been deleted

The images released this week were taken as the spacecraft swooped about 165,000 miles above Jupiter’s clouds in March during its 59th close flyby. Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt processed the probe's raw camera data to enhance the clarity of the pictures.

Juno has an instrument, dubbed JunoCam, that was designed not just to take great closeup photos of Jupiter but to engage the public. The science team allows citizens to process the camera's images and polls the crowd for what to focus on next. 

Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for over seven years. The spacecraft is studying the origin and evolution of Jupiter, looking for its core, mapping its magnetic field, measuring water and ammonia in the atmosphere, watching for its auroras, and homing in on Jupiter’s moons and dust rings. 

Two images of Jupiter taken by the spacecraft Juno in March reveal tiny Jovian moon Amalthea as it passes by. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt

During its primary mission, the spacecraft collected data on the gas giant's atmosphere and interior. Among its discoveries was finding that the planet's atmospheric weather layer extends way beyond its water clouds. 

After completing 35 orbits, the spacecraft transitioned to studying the entire system around Jupiter, including its rings and moons. The extended mission will continue for another year or until the spacecraft dies. Juno will eventually burn up in Jupiter's atmosphere as its trajectory erodes. The spacecraft is not at risk of crashing into and possibly contaminating Jupiter's moons, some of which may be habitable worlds. 

NASA's Galileo spacecraft took images of Amalthea, center, in January 2000, revealing a world of craters, hills, and valleys.  Credit: NASA / JPL / Cornell University

Amalthea, just one of Jupiter's 95 official moons, was first discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard in 1892. It is about 100 miles wide and clumsily shaped like a potato because it lacks the mass to form into a more symmetrical sphere. Almost 25 years ago, scientists got to see this little moon up close with the help of NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which revealed a pell-mell world of craters, hills, and valleys. 

Amalthea is within the orbit of Io, the closest of Jupiter's four large moons, along with three other oddly shaped mini moons: Metis, Adrastea, and Thebe. It's so close to Jupiter, in fact, it only takes Amalthea half of a day on Earth to circle its planet. 

This moon is a mysterious little place in the solar system. Scientists have discovered that it gives off more heat than it gets from the sun — perhaps a result of Jupiter's magnetic field stimulating electric currents within its core or the planet's gravity causing tidal stresses. 

Featured Video For You NASA video shows stunning scene from extremely volcanic world Io

TL;DR: Through May 22, master the beloved Microsoft app with this Microsoft Excel training bundle. It's on sale for just $34.97 for a limited time.

In many different types of business environments, proficiency in Microsoft Excel is more than just a skill on your resumé; it’s a necessity. Whether you're a beginner looking to learn the basics or a more experienced user hoping to refine your knowledge professionally, this Excel online learning bundle aims to provide comprehensive training to boost your abilities and confidence in this essential tool. You can get it on sale for $34.97 through May 22.

This bundle includes sixteen courses totaling almost 99 hours of learning content. Beginners can start with the Microsoft Excel 2021/365: Beginners Course, which has 100 lessons to get newbies up to speed on these versions of Excel. There are also multi-lesson intermediate and advanced courses on Excel 2021/365 as well.

Tap into Excel 2019 (or 365) with ground-up learning that shows you how to create and navigate workbooks. You'll also learn to work with dates, enter text and numbers, and understand essential functions and formulas. The advanced Excel 2019 course takes things a bit further, showing you how to use detailed formatting tools, understand advanced charting and graphing, and connect to other databases outside of Excel.

Other courses cover a wide range of topics, including MS Excel 2019 for Mac, Pivot tables (both beginner and advanced), using the software for business and data analysis, advanced formulas, VBA, and more.

Don’t miss the opportunity to enhance your professional skills all from the comfort of your own space.

Until May 22 at 11:59 p.m. PT, check out The 2024 Ultimate Microsoft Excel Training Bundle on sale for just $34.97.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: StreamSkill The 2024 Ultimate Microsoft Excel Training Bundle $34.97 at the Mashable Shop
$399.00 Save $364.03 Get Deal

TL;DR: Through May 22, this one-time purchase gets you a lifetime license to OfficeSuite, a Microsoft Office alternative, for only $24.97 (reg. $119.97).

Gone are the days of popping over to your friend's house just to use their Microsoft Excel or Word to type a report. Having a reliable and efficient office suite of your own is now essential for anyone looking to stay productive at work, school, or home. Of course, Microsoft Office can be pricey. This offer gets you a lifetime license to OfficeSuite, a compatible and cost-effective alternative to Microsoft Office, for under $25 — or $24.97 (reg. $119.97) to be exact.

The beauty of OfficeSuite is that it's compatible with nearly all major document formats, including those from MS Office, Google Docs and Sheets, and Adobe PDF. It's a comprehensive set of tools that includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, mail (Windows PC only), and PDF software. It's also an ideal alternative because you can use it across devices and platforms, including phones, tablets, and desktops.

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"If there's a failmarriage in there, nine times out of 10 that's what's gonna draw me in more than anything," Azhar, a 24-year-old student in London, told Mashable.

Online, there's a habit of assiduously categorizing everything you watch and read into types and tropes. And this tendency is particularly pronounced in romance spaces. There's slow burns, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, and most recently, Azhar's favorite: the failmarriage. 

SEE ALSO: This is how those sexy 'Challengers' fan edits got made so quickly

"It's a marriage where the couple, whether they love each other or not, has problems and knows they're having those problems, but won't separate or divorce," Isabella Montoya, a 20-year-old student in Texas, told Mashable. Usually there's cheating, high stakes, and someone deploying puppy dog eyes. So far its use is limited to describing fictional relationships — and for many young people, the dynamic is a major draw for a movie or TV show.

Failmarriages on big and small screens

"It's really boring when you're watching something and the couple is together and love each other. No one wants to watch that," Noa Bourne, a 24-year-old student and writer in Maryland, told Mashable.

The term rose to prominence to describe Tom (Matthew Macfayden) and Shiv (Sarah Snook)'s relationship in Succession due to their marriage of convenience rife with resentment. But failmarriage aficionados retroactively apply it to couples ranging from The Sopranos' Tony (James Gandolfini) and Carmela (Edie Falco) to Mad Men's Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones) to Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) from Better Call Saul.

The latest fictional relationship given the moniker is Challengers' Tashi (Zendaya) and Art (Mike Faist). The tennis film moves through time, jolting from different moments in Tashi and Art's careers and relationship. It portrays when they first meet as teenagers and their time playing tennis at Stanford before Tashi sustains a career-ending injury. In the present day, Tashi is Art's coach and they're in the throes of a failmarriage.

Tashi and Art's relationship — and their individual relationships with a third tennis player, Patrick (Josh O'Connor) — is teased out as the film progresses. It's full of complexities, giving fans lots to sink their teeth into. But there's one scene that epitomizes what viewers love about their failmarriage. The night before Art's showdown with his former doubles partner and Tashi's ex-boyfriend, Patrick, he implores Tashi to tell him that she'll still love him even if he loses. She replies, "What am I, Jesus?" He says, "Yes." Later in the conversation, Tashi tells Art that she'll leave him if he loses. 

"When she says that if he doesn't win the match that she's going to leave them, that indicates to me that her marriage is only about tennis. And if there's no tennis, there's no marriage," explained Bourne. A marriage based on something external is a textbook failmarriage, but it's not just that drawing fans in. There's a romantic tragedy to it.

"Even though that marriage isn't supposed to work, there's still that gravitational pull," said Azhar, who requested to go by her first name only for privacy reasons. "He knows Tashi isn't in love with him or even warm towards him, yet he will still do anything for her because of this intangible connection he has to her that hasn't wavered in the 12 years they've known each other."

Psychology of the failmarriage

Failmarriage is one of many terms that's proliferated online in recent years. It's an example of compounding — when you put two words together to create a new word with an intuitive meaning — Nicole Holliday, an associate professor in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at Pomona College, told Mashable.

"It's a lot of words to say, 'Well, Tashi and Art are using each other and nobody's happy,' so we've created a shorthand for this thing that we see," said Holliday. 

It's similar to other compounds and portmanteaus that gain traction online like tradwife, thanks to creators chasing their viral moment. "With these words, especially when they're compounds that are very accessible concepts, somebody with a lot of reach generates it and other people will start using it, spreading it across the internet," said Holliday. "On TikTok people compete to coin new terms, because it will get them more engagement."

She attributes the term's popularity to its utility and that it taps into a preexisting dissatisfaction with the institution of marriage.

From 2006 to 2020, the proportion of high school seniors that expected to marry in the future fell from 81 to 71 percent, according to Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research. While the divorce rate in the U.S. declined between 2008 to 2022 according to the same center, so did the marriage rate. A fixation on doomed marriages is on par with these changing attitudes.

Beyond the lack of love and insistence on staying together, there's another throughline in failmarriages: wealth. A prerequisite of a failmarriage is that there's an advantage to staying together. "Tashi and Art can give each other tennis and Shiv can give Tom Waystar Royco, but you don't see that in middle class marriages because what is there to stay married for?" said Bourne. Montoya agreed, "A failmarriage only works when there's a lot of money or power at stake." 

Despite failmarriages' lack of love, those attracted to this dynamic find it deeply romantic and stirring. "These people stay together because it's convenient for them, and isn't there something kind of romantic about that?" explained Bourne. "Art loves Tashi, but he knows that she loves tennis more and he stays with her."

Montoya wondered if finding failmarriages romantic is delusional and a symptom of seeing romance everywhere. "I've never been in a romantic relationship. But I'm a big hopeless romantic. I love romcoms. So if there's any dynamic with chemistry, I just like it."

House of the Dragon is bringing audiences back to the wild world of Game of Thrones as Season 2 readies for its premiere on HBO and Max. Season1 laid out the twisted family tree of the Targaryen clan, wherein a battle over succession to the Iron Throne was a recurring source of anguish and violence. But after much death, squalid war room debates, and dragon play, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) ready for war, as teased in the trailer.

But what else might we expect from this fantasy epic's second season?

More ghoulish deaths seem a certainty. As House of the Dragon tackles the next section of George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, fans will expect more sex and violence. But our wishlist craves more from some characters, less from others, and overall, more chaos!

Here's everything we're hoping to see in Season 2 of House of the Dragon.

SEE ALSO: Everything we know about 'House of the Dragon' Season 2 Daemon needs to die.  Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen. Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Matt Smith is devilish fun as the Second Son from hell. In Season 1, he not only metaphorically fucked over his brother the king over and over, but he nonmetaphorically fucked his niece/wife Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy), resulting in several sons/cousins. And yeah, when it comes to catty reaction shots, Daemon delivers so hard you can practically hear the RuPaul's Drag Race shade rattle. But if Game of Thrones taught us anything, it's that troublemakers this trouble-making are doomed. We're ready for it. Blaze of glory — here he comes? — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

Vengeance for Luke!  Elliot Grihault as Prince Lucerys "Luke" Velaryon. Credit: Gary Moyes / HBO

Poor Lucerys Velaryon (Elliot Grihault). He was just a boy, trying to help his mother, Rhaenyra. But he was bested by his cousin/uncle Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), first in the race to gather allies, then in a sky battle that pitted their dragons against each other. Sure, Luke's Arrax was nimble, but Aemond's Vhagar is the biggest beast in the skies. One good chomp, and Luke went from could-be monarch to in-flight meal. 

Season 1 ended with Luke's mother learning of the wretched news. Season 2 is sure to kick off with a fiery response from Rhaenyra or her hot-headed hubby/uncle Daemon. And we can't wait. — K.P.

More dragons.  Bring 'em on! Credit: HBO

This note is evergreen: Always more dragons. Dragons flying, fighting, serving as the most stress-inducing taxi service in Westeros. Just more. Please and thank you. — K.P.

We want more chaos characters. 

When it comes to twisted Targaryens, royal intrigue, and deeply warped romances, House of the Dragons has been delivering as a solid prequel to Game of Thrones. But we would welcome more chaos characters.

Look, there's a good base with the ever-smirking Aemond, the mercurial Daemon, and whatever the Crabfeeder's deal was. But there's no one on the series who is giving us the ruthless wit mixed with the devil-may-care glee of early seasons' Tyrion Lannister. There's no dame as cutting as Lady Olenna "Tell Cersei it was me" Tyrell. And frankly, House of the Dragon would be better with a bit more cutting comedy in its castles. — K.P.

A cheeky "Negroni Sbagliato... with prosecco in it" cameo. Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Remember that dastardly anachronistic Starbucks coffee cup that accidentally made its way into Game of Thrones? If a glass of Emma D'Arcy's "Negroni Sbagliato... with prosecco in it" could just happen to appear in House of the Dragon — surely Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen or Queen Alicent Hightower could use one — we'd likely join whichever team's home base it appears in. — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor

A Rhaenyra and Alicent reconciliation. Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Before Rhaenyra and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) were mortal enemies, they were the best of friends — and wouldn't it be lovely to see them rekindle that friendship once more?

We got glimmers of hope in Season 1 just before the death of Viserys (Paddy Considine), but it was all downhill from there. Between Alicent's play to put Aegon on the throne and Luke's death, there's simply no hope of a friendly Rhaenicent reunion. That's not the kind of conflict you can just hug out.

Still, a girl can dream! — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

Less incest. Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Having a Targaryen-centric show without incest is like having The Winds of Winter come out this year — it's not going to happen. But this is our wish list, and I'm shooting for the moon here! And on that moon, I don't have to keep track of the most tangled family tree this side of the Hapsburgs. — B.E.

SEE ALSO: Who's who in 'House of the Dragon': The Targaryen family tree More of Aemond being dramatic.

Sporting that stylish eye patch, a rich curtain of blond hair, and a frankly inspiring number of "Strong"-themed jokes, Prince Aemond Targaryen was Season 1's drama king. We need far more of this in the second season. I want to see him smirking coldly, showing disdain for anything frivolous, and — most important of all — striking fear in the hearts of Rhaenyra's remaining children. A showdown with Daemon would also be nice. — Sam Haysom, Deputy UK Editor

More scheming from Larys Strong.

Is Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) a terrible person?

Well, given that he arranged the murder of both his brother and dad in Season 1, that seems undeniable. But irredeemable villains are the lifeblood of Westeros, and we absolutely need more of them. Remember how much we all loved to hate Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) in Game of Thrones? Even though most of the characters in George R.R. Martin's world are gray, there need to be a few out-and-out monsters just so we have people to root against. — S.H.

More battles.

There were some truly epic battle sequences in Game of Thrones, but so far House of the Dragon has only really had that episode 3 skirmish between Daemon and the Crabfeeder. I'm not saying we need a massive, Battle of Winterfell-scale war, necessarily — these things need to be built up to — but it would be fun to watch another small clash or two this season, just to get that sweet, sword-wielding fix. — S.H.

House of the Dragon Season 1 is now streaming on Max; Season 2 premieres on HBO and Max June 16.