Amelia Dimoldenberg has been dating like it’s her job. She started her “Chicken Shop Date” series as a university student, taking British rappers out to eat and then stonewalling them with a silly questions and a straight face. In the past two years, she’s taken her awkward charm to the red carpet, hosting interviews at the Brit Awards and the Golden Globes, where she had very real chemistry in a widely-viewed exchange with Andrew Garfield.
As an Amelia stan (a chicken shop chick? A nugget? One of Amelia’s Bedelias? Still workshopping a fandom name…) I thought it only right to point new fans in the direction of some of her best poultry-focused work.
1. Chunkz and Yung Filly
I’d never heard of Chunkz or Yung Filly before watching their Chicken Shop Date and now I’ll never forget them. Between explaining the meaning of “bundas” and razzing Yung Filly’s raucous laugh, the duos’ date is one of Dimoldenberg’s most-watched for a reason.
2. Jack Harlow
Harlow and Dimoldenberg have real chemistry, though from what I’ve seen of Harlow on red carpets, he could have chemistry with a brick wall. It’s hard not to be charmed by his bad British accent and natural humor, and Harlow’s charisma comes close to making Dimoldenberg break character.
3. Louis Theroux
This iconic video may have birthed the top TikTok sound of 2022 — the tune “My money don’t jiggle, jiggle” — but Dimoldenberg and Theroux’s sit down is one of her deepest meals to date. Theroux is almost too earnest for Amelia, creating a vibe that’s more wholesome than romantic.
4. Keke Palmer
Keke Palmer could narrate paint drying and be entertaining, so pairing her up with Dimoldenberg is a sure-fire win. They feel more like besties than baes but the love is still palpable.
5. Aitch
Despite their date going less than swimmingly (it’s hard to come back from telling someone they resemble a prawn), Amelia and rapper Aitch must have had chemistry outside of the chicken shop because they ended up dating IRL. Amelia appeared in his music video for “Baby” and, though it was probably a PR stunt, we can always hope the love was real. The pair has since broken up, but remain friendly. When “Baby” was nominated for song of the year at the 2023 Brit Awards, Amelia congratulated Aitch on the red carpet with a box of items he had left at her place.
6. Nella Rose
Nella Rose, the bubbly YouTuber behind the viral “Are you not ashamed of yourself, are you not embarrassed?” meme brings out Amelia’s best physical comedy. The two dance, giggle, and stumble over their words in this truly delightful match up.
7. Dutchavelli
One of the top comments on this video is “I love how she gets tough men [to] giggle like school boys, it’s hilarious” and that pretty much sums up Dimoldenberg’s tete-a-tete with rapper Dutchavelli.
8. Daniel Kaluuya
Daniel Kaluuya walks into the chicken shop ready to get his flirt on. He makes eyes at Dimoldenberg but deflects her questions about having time for a girlfriend, playing hard to get. The signals are mixed, but the chemistry is definitely there.
Bonus: Jesse Lingard and Bernardo Silva
Although not technically a chicken shop date (it takes place in a stadium cafeteria), this double header contrasts a softspoken and sometimes confused Bernardo Silva with the more outgoing Jesse Lingard. It’s one of Dimoldenberg’s best attempts at scoring a boo.
This is part four of four in our series testing the Lucid Air Touring, the new ‘midrange’ luxury EV from Lucid Motors. Follow the coverage here.
“It’s an asshole car,” a friend laughed as I drove her around San Francisco. And I had to admit, she had a point.
Earlier that day, I was parked in a slim EV spot at Whole Foods, next to an accessible spot where a woman was getting something out of her car. When I approached with the key fob in my pocket, the car did what it always does, automatically unfolding the side mirrors.
In this case, however, that unfolding blocked the woman’s path to the sidewalk, forcing her to walk around the car. I apologized profusely and began wondering whether Lucid founder (and Tesla Model S designer) Peter Rawlinson’s engineers had considered an everyday city situation like this.
Golden Gate, silver fox: The Lucid Air Touring in San Francisco. Credit: Lucid Motors
But that wasn’t the only reason my friend lobbed her loving insult. The top-down surround camera view encourages you to look at the car and the few inches around it when pulling out of a parking lot; pedestrians don’t appear unless they’re right next to it.
Annoyingly, surround view also replaces the navigation screen at speeds below 15 mph, often preventing me from seeing where my next turn was.
Also, the way the car annihilates distance had by now encouraged me to do all the things you associate with performance car drivers, including weaving impatiently around other traffic. There wasn’t an orange light where I didn’t think I could make it across the intersection in time, apparently.
And then there’s how low the car rides. This helps with its aerodynamics but also makes it hard to get out. I assumed my legs would adjust – heck, I’m a runner, with thighs to match – and it would feel less awkward after a week. It did not.
At least I didn’t do what my friend did getting out of the passenger side one last time, banging her head on the top of the door, sending her sunglasses flying. Nevertheless, she couldn’t stop laughing. The car could be a privileged asshole sometimes, but it was also undeniably fun.
Lucid’s leading indicators
Another friend in the tech world had taken a ride in one of the earliest Lucid Air prototypes years ago, but hadn’t seen the final product. So I drove us down Highway 1 to Pacifica – a beautiful, windy stretch of road you may recognize from multiple car commercials – and he drove us back.
His verdict? Overall, “it was a joy to drive,” he said. Suspension and traction exceeded his expectations, especially on the curves. The acceleration, zero to 60 in as little as 3.4 seconds, is most noticeable when you’re merging onto the freeway and never fails to delight.
SEE ALSO:
The Lucid Air Touring test: 10 days in the latest luxury EV
But there were negative points I hadn’t considered. My friend noted that the roll cage – those bars to the left and right of the large glass canopy – were larger and more vision-obstructing than he’d expected. “Not sure I’d make that trade off” in day-to-day driving, he added.
He wasn’t a fan of the non-intuitive navigation system, or the way that key information like the car’s current range seemed to blend into the display.
He did at least master the turn signal, the extreme sensitivity of which had annoyed me since my first Lucid test drive. The Lucid’s left and right blinkers stop automatically after making a turn, but not when changing lanes – unless you give the turn indicator a non-intuitive longer press down, apparently. The blinker noise is so quiet I failed to notice it under music, and the blinker light blends into the display too easily.
I’d never quite felt like an older driver with his signal stuck on before now.
Reluctant return
The end of the Lucid Air Touring. Credit: Lucid Motors
I didn’t quite realize how much I’d fallen in love with the Lucid Air Touring until it was time to give it back. If I was the kind of person who could drop a thousand Benjamins on a new EV, I’d give this one some serious thought.
Though the hefty 4,850-lb vehicle never quite worked as a city car – the turning circle is too small, the parking awkward even with the autopark setting (which seemed a little too eager to swing out into the oncoming lane) – the Lucid did give me an incredible sense of easy access to everywhere.
Random unplanned long-ish drives that might have otherwise seemed like a chore, like meeting my friend at a conference the next day to return the sunglasses that the low door had knocked off her head, became a joy.
The Lucid is also a great car to just sit in, something I would find myself doing more and more at the end of a drive. It’s not just that the car doesn’t have an off button, which never stopped feeling weird (you’re supposed to set it in park with a click of the right gear stick and just walk away while it locks itself).
SEE ALSO:
I drove the Lucid Air. It’s the future of cars.
It’s also the Dolby Atmos speakers, providing the clearest, crispest sound I’ve ever enjoyed in any vehicle. Even if the software does require you to turn the sound up from its midpoint every time you get in the car – another weird choice – it’s easy to control via the steering wheel.
You have to manually stop a song if you don’t want it blaring when you exit the EV (a very asshole car move), but who wants to stop a song when it sounds this good?
After handing over the weird rubber key fob thing, I returned to my old cars with new eyes. In my Toyota RAV4, oddly, I found myself driving more slowly. The Lucid Air hadn’t led me to be interested in speed per se, but in electric speed, preferably generated by as equal an amount of braking as possible.
The Toyota has a dial that shows you when your braking is charging the vehicle; I pay a lot more attention to that dial now.
The Fiat 500e, however, I found myself driving faster around town. Because why not use the incredible torque that you’ve got in such a light EV? No point in sipping mileage when it can just be plugged in every night; where charging on a basic level 1 charger and filling it up isn’t a pipe dream. Lacking the Lucid Air’s heft, I still felt somewhat like I was driving one (the lighter city-friendly version, at least).
And that, ultimately, is why it’s worth at least taking a test drive in any model of Lucid Air if you have the opportunity, even if you’d never consider buying one. Its hyper-engineered features may not fully account for the real world yet; its software is a work in progress; but fundamentally, this is how all electric cars should feel, and hopefully all will soon enough.
Even if Peter Rawlinson loses the long term war with Elon Musk for the luxury end of the market, the Lucid legacy will live on in other designs — and in all drivers who got to experience it.
The Thwaites Glacier, an ice formation the size of Florida, can change the world. And the latest research shows that some of its most vulnerable spots are in greater danger than previously thought.
Thwaites holds a colossal amount of ice, enough to gradually raise sea levels by over two feet, though its collapse in a heating climate could unleash many more feet from neighboring glaciers. The Antarctic glacier has destabilized, retreating back nearly nine miles since the 1990s. If much of it progressively melts in the coming decades and centuries, large swathes of coastal cities and populated areas around the globe could become submerged, and easily thrashed by storms. For this reason, scientists are now intensely researching where Thwaites is melting, and how fast it might melt. These are monumental questions for Earth’s future denizens.
Take it from researchers who traverse the continent’s callous ice plains to document Thwaites’ rapid changes.
“Thwaites is the one spot in Antarctica that has the potential to dump an enormous amount of water into the ocean over the next decades,” Sridhar Anandakrishnan, a professor of glaciology at Penn State University, told Mashable in 2021.
That’s why, for better or worse, Thwaites has earned the moniker “Doomsday Glacier.” But, crucially, civilization is not inherently doomed, climate scientists emphasize. We are not hapless; we have energy choices that can limit the worst consequences of climate change.
The latest 2023 research, straight from the West Antarctic source, further shows how the glacier is melting. The critical point is beneath Thwaites’ ice shelf, which is the end of the glacier that reaches over the ocean. Crucially, ice shelves ground themselves to the ocean floor, acting somewhat like “a cork in a bottle” to hold back the rest of colossal glaciers from flowing unimpeded into the sea. So if the ice shelf eventually goes, so can the glacier (though this process progresses from over many decades to centuries).
Glaciologists drilled through nearly 2,000 feet of Thwaites’ ice shelf to lower down a yellow, miniature submarine-like robot called Icefin, into the dark water, allowing them to view what’s happening at this vulnerable grounding region. The recent research, just published in the science journal Nature, shows two main findings:
The glacier continues to melt underwater, but along the flat expanses that make up a majority of this ice shelf, this thinning is occurring more slowly (some six to 16 feet, or two to five meters, per year) than researchers expected.
Yet, Thwaites is melting faster than expected in cracks beneath the critical floating ice shelf. Scientists suspect relatively warmer water is seeping into the natural cracks and crevasses, which amplifies melting at these weaker points (shown in the footage below).
“Thwaites is the one spot in Antarctica that has the potential to dump an enormous amount of water into the ocean over the next decades.”
SEE ALSO:
What will actually happen when the so-called ‘Doomsday Glacier’ disintegrates?
While glaciologists are still revealing the complicated underwater melting mechanisms, the bigger picture is clear. The glacier is losing ice; and just small amounts of ice loss in this critical grounding zone may result in major overall ice loss.
“Our results are a surprise but the glacier is still in trouble,” Peter Davis, an oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey who took some of the recent measurements at Thwaites, said in a statement. “If an ice shelf and a glacier are in balance, the ice coming off the continent will match the amount of ice being lost through melting and iceberg calving. What we have found is that despite small amounts of melting there is still rapid glacier retreat, so it seems that it doesn’t take a lot to push the glacier out of balance.”
The Icefin robot exploring the ocean under sea ice. Credit: Schmidt / Cornell / Icefin
What scientists saw beneath the Doomsday Glacier
On the recent excursion to West Antarctica, researchers camped on the remote Thwaites ice shelf and dropped the robot Icefin down into the water beneath. The rare imagery shown in the British Antarctic Survey video below reveals what’s happening to the thinning ice. Melting in cracks has left “staircase-like” formations on the Doomsday Glacier’s underside.
“Warm water is getting into the cracks, helping wear down the glacier at its weakest points,” Britney Schmidt, an associate professor of astronomy and earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University who worked on the new Thwaites’ research, said in a statement.
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The Icefin footage is invaluable, because there’s currently no other way to access this almost unreachable zone in one of the most remote places on Earth. And the new footage underscores an important point: researchers don’t yet fully grasp the melting processes underneath one of the world’s largest, and most momentous, glaciers.
“It’s showing us that this system is very complex and requires a rethinking of how the ocean is melting the ice, especially in a location like Thwaites,” Davis said.
On this map of Antarctica, the Thwaites Glacier is shown on the left, located in West Antarctica. Credit: British Antarctic Survey
How much sea level rise is expected?
Already, sea levels globally have risen by some eight to nine inches since the late 1800s. But considerably more is in store.
Today, Thwaites’ melting contributes four percent to the ocean’s sea level rise. In the coming decades and centuries, however, that number may shoot up if the glacier becomes detached from the ocean floor and “the cork pops off the bottle,” so to speak. Ice could flow unimpeded into the sea, eventually resulting in feet of sea level rise.
Sea level rise is accelerating, driven by the melting of ice and the thermal expansion of the oceans. Seas are currently rising by about one-eighth of an inch each year. Between now and 2050, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects sea levels around the U.S. to rise by around another foot.
By the end of the century, climate scientists estimate global sea levels overall will rise by some 1.5 to 2.5 feet, and continue rising. How much is largely dependent on how colossal glaciers like Thwaites and nearby Pine Island respond to warming conditions, and warming waters.
Ocean heat content has been rising for decades because the seas absorb over 90 percent of the heat humanity traps on Earth. Credit: NOAA
Importantly, the effects of warming on ice masses like Greenland and Antarctica hinge largely on the most unpredictable part of the climate change equation: humans. Driven by prodigious fossil fuel burning, heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has skyrocketed in the last century. CO2 levels are now the highest they’ve been in over 3 million years. How high will they go?
Love is in the air and tweets are on the timeline.
Valentine’s Day was this past Tuesday and, of course, lots of people posted about it. People in love, people out of love, people who love love, people who don’t believe in love, they all posted. We went ahead and collected eight tweets about Valentine’s Day and the week surrounding it for your enjoyment. Enjoy!
1. Don’t be too cute because that can be a danger to everyone, including yourselves.
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2. This is entirely on-brand for Sen. Bernie Sanders. It’s perfect.
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3. Happy Valentine’s Day to this swan and this swan only.
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4. OK, at LEAST marry me if you won’t be my valentine. Like don’t be rude.
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5. This isn’t the worst idea I’ve ever heard. You’d probably be right a bunch of the time.
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6. This kid is really smart. Maybe he needs to work a little on thinking about other peoples’ feelings. But this kid is really, really smart.
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7. The poor suffering of parents on Valentine’s Day is unmatched. Just hours and hours of work for…nothing. Nothing at all.
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8. An, finally, obligatory dril tweet about the holiday.
We almost missed it with all that TV we were inhaling this week, but it’s the weekend! We did it! And with it yet another fresh Wordle to solve. As always, we’re here with a few hints and tips to help along.
If you prefer to just be told the solution, you can jump to the end of this article for February 18’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather work through it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans have even sprung up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the Wordle answer for February 17.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that brings joy to your heart. But if what brings you joy is strategy, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately it has since been taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Why are there two different Wordle answers some days?
Though usually Wordle will only accept one correct solution per day, occasionally it will rebel against the norm and deem two different answers acceptable. This is due to changes the New York Times made to Wordle after it acquired the puzzle game.
The Times has since added its own updated word list, so this should happen even less frequently than before. To avoid any confusion, it’s a good idea to refresh your browser before getting stuck into a new puzzle.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
Here’s hoping this clue will help or benefit you.
Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
Today, one letter appears twice — and non-consecutively.
Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter A.
SEE ALSO:
Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL.
What’s the answer to Wordle today?
It’s time to reveal today’s Wordle answer, so get your last guesses in!
Are you ready?
The solution to Wordle #609 is…
AVAIL.
Don’t feel discouraged if you didn’t get it this time. The beauty of Wordle is that there’s always a new one to try the next day, and we’ll be here again with more helpful clues and hints.
Elon Musk’s worst enemy may very well be his own website.
On Friday, Twitter owner Elon Musk began pushing back against reports that the company tweaked the platform’s algorithm in order to specifically boost Musk’s own tweets this past week.
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“Several major media sources incorrectly reported that my Tweets were boosted above normal levels earlier this week,” tweeted Musk. “A review of my Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months, especially as a ratio of followers, shows this to be false.”
Musk further explained that there was “a bug that briefly caused replies to have the same prominence as primary Tweets, but that has now been fixed.” At the time, Musk did acknowledge an issue with the “algorithm.”
However, Musk’s claims are refuted by Twitter’s own data, which does show a big boost in impressions on Musk’s tweets that line up with the reported timeline for the algorithm changes to Twitter.
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Queensland University of Technology researcher Timothy Graham analyzed the data, which was pulled directly from Twitter’s official API, and found that impressions on Musk’s tweets were up 737 percent on Feb. 13, the day after the Super Bowl, shortly after the reported algorithm changes were made. In the days that followed, well after Musk’s tweet acknowledged an algorithm issue, the daily impressions on Musk’s tweets nearly tripled.
Musk supported his version of the story by tweeting about what he called a “review” of his “Tweet likes & views over the past 6 months.” As evidence of this review, he provided a screenshot of the 311 million impressions one of his tweets — the one about putting the cocaine back in Coca-Cola — received in April of last year, and noted that none of his subsequent tweets have “come close” to that number yet. But it should be noted that individual tweets from users with less than even 1,000 followers routinely go viral and rack up millions of views.
As Platformer first reported, Twitter engineers were tasked with making changes to the website shortly after the Super Bowl on Sunday after one of Musk’s tweets failed to perform as well as a similar post from President Joe Biden. The next afternoon, a “fix” to Twitter was pushed out that “artificially boosted Musk’s tweets by a factor of 1,000.”
The change to Twitter’s algorithm was so obvious that users started complaining that their feeds were being filled up with Musk’s tweets.
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Regardless, Musk is claiming that the Platformer report was “bogus” and that the outlet’s source is a “disgruntled employee who had been on paid time off for months, had already accepted a job at Google and felt the need to poison the well on the way out.” Musk then claimed that Twitter would take legal action against the individual.
Platformer’s Casey Newton replied that Musk’s claims were inaccurate and that the outlet stood by its story.
This isn’t the first time Twitter’s own data has debunked claims from Musk or his defenders this week.
On Thursday, Musk fans falsely claimed that a Mashable story regarding Tesla unsubscribing from Twitter Blue was false. A Community Note was attached to Mashable’s tweet linking to the story insisting that because Tesla is business verified with the gold checkmark, it could not be a Twitter Blue subscriber to begin with.
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Musk signaled his support for this usage of Twitter’s Community Notes in a tweet.
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However, Twitter’s own data as pulled from its official API showed that Tesla did indeed unsubscribe from Twitter Blue in the past week. Furthermore, the data provided examples of business verified accounts with gold check marks which are also subscribed to Twitter Blue, disproving the claim that Tesla’s Twitter Blue subscription wasn’t possible in the first place.
The Community Note was later removed from the Mashable tweet linking to the Twitter Blue story.
What started as an engaging way for Stephanie Black, a PhD candidate in Archeology at Durham University, to share how similar we are to our ancestors quickly escaped the confines of academia TikTok and became the preeminent trend on the platform this week — so popular that even Drew Barrymore participated.
Informally known as the ancestor trend, in these videos creators don makeshift costumes and conduct imaginary conversations with their ancestors through their captions about how their lives have and haven’t changed with the passage of time. All the videos are soundtracked by a pitched up edit of “Pierre” by Ryn Weaver, a sound that’s been used in over 29,000 videos. For example @zaytchik.bunny posted a video of herself dressed as a modern girl, a girl in 1930, and a 15th century peasant girl all eating soup on a winter’s night to feel better. In another video @_happy_dagger_ has a conversation with a 500 BC woman bonding over writing sapphic poetry.
SEE ALSO:
Here’s why women are showing off their bedside tables on TikTok
Some of these videos see creators earnestly connect with their culture and traditional practices. In one video @psitsvvic chats with a Chinese woman 1,200 years ago about hair sticks. In another @dontgotaclueintheworld connects with her foremother over staining her nails with henna. Additionally, many of the videos are created by members of historically marginalized communities talking to their predecessors about the progress that has and has not been made — a common response from the creator’s ancestor is “we can do that now?” Other uses of the trend aren’t quite as heartfelt, and instead poke fun at the absurdity of modernity.
Black is part of a niche on TikTok where historians, archeologists, and medievalists try to make their fields accessible to the average viewer. She often posts about archeological discoveries or papers that she finds particularly interesting. It was after reading about Neanderthals on the coast of what is now Portugal harvesting crabs that she was inspired to post the video that accidentally started the trend. “I thought it would be cool if I could do someone ‘talking’ in the modern day to one of the Neanderthals to show how we’re connected because you can read this academic article and about the statistical analysis they did…but it’s not necessarily accessible to other people,” Black explained to Mashable. “I wanted to be like we eat crabs and if you stuck us with the Neanderthals roasting crabs in that cave 90,000 years ago we couldn’t talk to them, we are completely different, but we could have sat there and eaten crabs with them.”
Black posted the trend-starting TikTok on Feb. 9. Credit: TikTok / archthot
She knows that the TikTok algorithm prioritizes her comedic videos that use a trending audio, so when she set out to make the crab video she chose “Pierre” due to its change it pitch that allows for a seamless transition between herself and the Neanderthal. She made many follow up videos ranging from fast food in ancient Rome to weaving in ancient Egypt. Her format swiftly took off among TikTok historians with @historical_han_ posting a series of videos that reflected how skincare and make-up practices have evolved from ancient times and soon after it went mainstream.
“History can be quite abstract and in these videos the TikTok community is making these people real,” explained Black. “People realizing they have a connection to the past is really beautiful and I love how everyone’s done it in their own unique ways.”
UPDATE: Feb. 17, 2023, 5:00 p.m. EST This list has been updated with the latest and greatest gaming deals across the internet. Here’s a quick look:
BEST PLAYSTATION DEAL: The PlayStation 5 is back in stock. Need we say more? — $499.99
BEST XBOX DEAL: The Elite Series 2 is the best Xbox controller on the market, and the Core version is still great, even without the back paddles — $114.99$129.99 (save $15)
BEST NINTENDO SWITCH DEAL: The Nintendo Switch OLED has yet to be surpassed by other handheld consoles, and it’s rare that it goes on sale (as long as you don’t mind pre-owned) — $319.99$349.99 (save $30)
BEST PC DEAL: The 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G7 is a fantastic place to start for those who want to try out a curved monitor — $688.27 $799.99 (save $111.72)
Gaming is a pricey hobby to keep up with. Not only are a staggering number of must-play titles released each year, but they’re also expensive. (Yes, games cost $70 now.) That’s why each week, we’re bringing you the best gaming deals we can find, so you can stay in the know about the hottest new games without stressing over video game-induced debt. Whether you’re looking to catch up on your backlog with discounted titles or are hoping to freshen up your setup with some new hardware, we’ve got you covered.
SEE ALSO:
Best gifts for gamers: Consoles, accessories, new releases, and more
PlayStation deals
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Credit: PlayStation
Our pick: PlayStation 5 (opens in a new tab)
$499.99 at PlayStation Direct
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Why we like it
While this isn’t a deal per se, it’s important enough to be our top pick this week. Sound the alarm, because PlayStation 5 consoles are back in stock just about everywhere, and it might stay that way for the foreseeable future. It only took two years for the shortage woes to subside, but it seems like the tide has shifted. PlayStation Direct also has stock of the Digital Edition, as well as God of War Ragnarokbundles for both PS5 console variations.
PlayStation games
The Last of Us Remastered— $17.99$44.99 (save $27)
The Last of Us Part II— $39.99$59.99 (save $20)
Grand Theft Auto V — $19.99$59.99 (save $20)
Resident Evil Village — $29.99$69.99 (save $40)
Final Fantasy VII: Remake — $31.99$59.99 (save $28)
Elden Ring — $52.99$59.99 (save $7)
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga — $31.98$59.99 (save $28.01)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy— $44.99$59.99 (save $15)
The Quarry— $44.99$69.99 (save $25)
Sonic Frontiers— $39.99$59.99 (save $20)
Lost Judgment — $17.99$69.99 (save $52)
PlayStation hardware and accessories
WD My Passport 2TB external hard drive — $58.95$79.99 (save $21.04)
WD BLACK SN850 2TB Internal SSD — $239.99$359.99 (save $120)
Sony-INZONE H3 headset — $78$99.99 (save $21.99)
PlayStation DualSense (Cosmic Red – Renewed) — $68.98$73 (save $4.02)
Xbox deals
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Credit: Microsoft
Our pick: Xbox Elite Series 2 Core controller (opens in a new tab)
$114.99 at Amazon (save $15)
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Why we like it
The Elite Series 2 is the top of the line when it comes to Xbox controllers, and the budget Core version is nothing to scoff at. As long as you don’t mind giving up the back paddles, you’ll still get the one-of-a-kind construction, swappable thumbsticks and d-pad, hair triggers, and more great customization options.
Xbox games
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — $13.99$59.99 (save $46)
Mass Effect Legendary Edition— $53.99$59.99 (save $6)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon — $13.30$59.99 (save $46.69)
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut — $15.97$59.99 (save $44.02)
The Quarry— $29$69.99 (save $40.99)
Resident Evil Village — $29.99$39.99 (save $10)
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy— $44.99$59.99 (save $15)
Xbox hardware and accessories
Xbox Series S — $249.99 $299.99 (save $50)
HyperX CloudX Flight — $110.99$159.99 (save $49)
Microsoft Xbox One— $129.99$139.99 (save $10)
Nintendo Switch deals
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Credit: Nintendo
Our pick: Nintendo Switch OLED (opens in a new tab)
$319.99 at GameStop (save $30)
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Why we like it
The Nintendo Switch OLED is the best Switch yet. It’s that simple. The screen is bigger, better, and more clear. The sound system has higher fidelity than ever, and both the battery life and storage have gotten huge upgrades. If you don’t have a Switch yet, this one is a no-brainer. Get one pre-owned for $30 off the original price at GameStop.
Nintendo Switch games
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — $39.99$59.99 (save $20)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass — $13.99$19.99 (save $6)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope — 39.97$59.99 (save $20.02)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons — $49.94$59.99 (save $10.05)
PowerA Enhanced wired controller and slim case, Pikachu High Voltage — $29.88$43.99 (save $14.11)
PowerA Enhanced wired controller and slim case, Mario Fireball — $29.88$43.99 (save $14.11)
Hori Nintendo Switch Split Pad Pro — $44.98$49.99 (save $5.01)
PC gaming deals
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Credit: Samsung
Our pick: Samsung Odyssey 32-inch G7 gaming monitor (opens in a new tab)
$688.27 at Amazon (save $111.72)
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Why we like it
Curved gaming monitors may not seem like game-changers right away, but they certainly can be. Samsung’s curved 100R panel attempts to replicate the curvature of the human eye to cut down on strain and increase immersion, which makes playing feel better. The monitor also features a 240Hz refresh rate, 1ms response times, AMD FreeSync Premium support, WQHD resolution, and HDR10 compatibility.
UPDATE: Feb. 17, 2023, 3:00 p.m. EST This list has been updated to reflect the latest mattress deals during Presidents’ Day weekend. Check out our top picks below:
BEST BUDGET MATTRESS DEAL: The Bear Original mattress is breathable, comfortable, and more affordable than most other brands — $649$998 (save $349)
BEST HYBRID MATTRESS DEAL: The Layla Hybrid mattress is a flippable mattress that employs both firm and soft sides, making it a great option for all types of sleepers — $1,499$1,699 (save $200)
BEST BED-IN-A-BOX DEAL: The Purple Plus mattress comes with a cushion-y, premium foam layer for added comfort — $1,499$1,899 (save $400)
Splurging while online shopping isn’t always advisable — unless you’re shopping for a mattress. In that case, we recommend worrying less about the price tag and more about the quality of what you’re buying. That doesn’t mean you should scoff at a solid discount, though, and that’s exactly what we’re here for. Every week, we’ll be rounding up all the best mattress sales from across the web. Time for some sweet deals and sweet dreams. (Note: All prices are for queen-sized mattresses.)
SEE ALSO:
The Presidents’ Day weekend sales are here and these are the best ones
Best budget mattress deal
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Credit: Bear
Our pick: Bear Original mattress (opens in a new tab)
$649 at Bear (save $349)
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Why we like it
The Bear Original mattress may be on the cheaper side, but fortunately, that doesn’t seem to affect the quality. Featuring four separate layers, the Bear Original employs a breathable quilt cover, cooling gel, dynamic memory foam, and firmer support foam to create a mattress that’ll keep you cozy throughout the night. For Presidents’ Day, it’s even cheaper than usual — just $649 for a queen size.
Best hybrid mattress deal
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Credit: Layla
Our pick: Layla Hybrid mattress (opens in a new tab)
$1,499 at Layla (save $200)
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Why we like it
The Layla Hybrid mattress is like having a firm and soft mattress all in one; just flip it depending on your needs. One side is firm for those who need a little extra support, and the other is soft for added comfort. It’s a good choice for all types of sleepers.
Best bed-in-a-box-deal
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Credit: Purple
Our pick: Purple Plus mattress (opens in a new tab)
$1,499 at Purple (save $400)
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Why we like it
Purple is one of the most popular online mattress brands for good reason: Purple mattresses are known for being ultra-comfortable. The Purple Plus is no exception — it comes with a premium foam layer, a 2-inch GelFlex Grid that cradles your pressure points, and a foam core that cuts down on bounce.
More mattress deals by brand
Amerisleep
Save 30% on adjustable bed bundles
Avocado
Save up to $880 sitewide with code SAVE10
Bear
Save 35% sitewide
Bear Hybrid mattress — $1,126 $1,732 (save $606)
Beautyrest
Save $900 on select mattresses and adjustable sets
Birch
Save 25% sitewide
Brentwood Home
Get 10% off sitewide
Brooklyn Bedding
Save 25% sitewide for Presidents’ Day
DreamCloud
Save 25% on everything for Presidents Day
The DreamCloud Luxury Hybrid mattress — $899 $1,199 (save $300) + free cooling pillow, sheet set, and mattress protector
The DreamCloud Premier Hybrid mattress — $1,199 $1,599 (save $400) + free cooling pillow, sheet set, and mattress protector
Eight Sleep
Pod 3 mattress — $3,195 $3,395 (save $200)
Helix
Save 25% sitewide with code PDS25
Leesa
Save up to $978 on mattresses
Leesa Original mattress — $1,099$1,299 (save $200)
Leesa Original Hybrid mattress — $1,299$1,499 (save $200)
Sapira Hybrid mattress — $1,699$1,999 (save $300)
Legend Hybrid mattress — $2,099$2,599 (save $500)
Studio mattress — $749$799 (save $50)
Nectar
Save 33% sitewide
Nest Bedding
Save hundreds on select mattresses
Purple
Save up to $900 on mattress sets
Saatva
Save up to $500 on mattresses
Serta
Save up to $1,000 on mattresses and adjustable base sets
Sit n’ Sleep
Save up to 50% on mattresses
Sleep Number
Save up to 50% on smart beds and more
Tempur-Pedic
Save up to $500 on adjustable mattress sets
Tuft & Needle
Save up to $650 on mattresses, bedding, furniture, and more
Susan Wojcicki is stepping down as CEO of YouTube after nine years, effective immediately. She has named Neal Mohan, who has served as Chief Product Officer for the company for the past seven years, as her successor.
“I’ve decided to step back from my role as the head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she wrote in a company blog post. Wojcicki will now take on an advisory role across Google and Alphabet.
SEE ALSO:
‘I wore the MSCHF Big Red Boots.’ This YouTuber told us all about his experience.
In her post, Wojcicki lauds Mohan’s work launching the very successful YouTube TV, as well as helming YouTube Music, Premium, and Shorts. She also notes that Mohan has led the company’s Trust and Safety team, which will become even more important as “the promises of AI,” as she puts it, become a potential area of growth.
It’s the end of an era for YouTube, which has weathered public scrutiny over its handling of hate speech, content moderation, and misinformation during Wojcicki’s tenure. When she joined the platform in 2014, it had just crested one billion users and “YouTubers” were still considered oddities. Now YouTube hosts 2.5 billion users worldwide, and YouTube creators have made full-fledged careers out of their channels.
A friend of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Wojcicki was one of the earliest employees at Google and in her own words, “managed marketing, co-created Google Image Search, led Google’s first Video and Book search, as well as early parts of AdSense’s creation, worked on the YouTube and DoubleClick acquisitions, served as SVP of Ads,” before heading up YouTube.