Author Archives: Carol Edwards

The Van der Waals speaker uses magnetic ferrofluid to visualize the music you play through it, creating shapes and spikes.

UPDATE: Dec. 15, 2021, 3:40 p.m. EST This list has been updated to reflect pricing and availability as of Dec. 15.

• BEST SAMSUNG DEAL: Samsung Galaxy Book Pro, a nice alternative to the similarly priced MacBook Pro — $479.99 $899.99 (save $600)

• BEST GAMING DEAL: Razer Blade 15, a powerful gaming laptop that’ll keep you playing on the go — $1,762.25 $2,599.99 (save $837.74)

• BEST 2-IN-1 DEAL: Asus Chromebook Flip C434, an affordable 2-in-1 for those who want the basics of a laptop and a tablet at once — $460.91 $569.99 (save $109.08)

What’s better than a great laptop? A great laptop that’s cheap. Nowadays, even budget machines can pack the punch to carry you through whatever’s on your to-do list, whether it’s work, watching Netflix, or endlessly browsing social media. If you’re looking to pick up a new laptop but don’t necessarily want to drop your life savings in one go, we’ll be compiling a list of the best deals on cheap laptops right here, each and every week.

Best Samsung deal

Why we like it

We love Apple, but MacBooks aren’t the only laptops out there. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro is a nice alternative to the similarly priced MacBook Pro, with a stunning display, a speedy 11th-gen Intel Core processor, a 20-hour battery life, WiFi 6E support, and a sleek, ultra-thin design.

Best gaming deal

Why we like it

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced model is packed with solid internals that’ll work well for PC gaming newbies and seasoned players alike. Under the hood, you’ll get a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10875H processor with up to 5.0 GHz max turbo and 8 cores, as well as an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card that has the power to run some pretty visually intense games. The 300Hz screen provides buttery-smooth frame rate performance and offers full HD visuals within a bezel-less display. It’s all housed within a thin, compact body that you can take anywhere.

Best 2-in-1 deal

Why we like it

Having your laptop and your tablet in one place is a convenience that you need in your life. The Asus Chromebook Flip C434 is a fantastic budget 2-in-1 device, with speedy performance, a full HD touchscreen, and components that should be able to handle all of your daily tasks.

More great laptop deals

• Microsoft Surface Laptop Go — $699.99 $899.99 (save $200)

• Microsoft Surface Go 2 — $399.99 $549.99 (save $150)

• Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 — $699 $1,489 (save $790)

• 2020 Apple MacBook Air — $899 $999 (save $100)

• Apple MacBook Pro — $1,299.99 $1,799.99 (save $500)

• Lenovo Yoga 6 — $749.99 $949.99 (save $200)

• Acer Swift 3 — $670 $849.99 (save $179.99)

• Windows 10 Pro Laptop — $279 $399 (save $120)

• Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 4 — $179.99 $249.99 (save $70)

• Lenovo IdeaPad 3 — $191.29 $219.99 (save $28.70)

• Lenovo IdeaPad S340 — $724 $799.99 (save $75.99)

• HP Spectre x360 — $899.99 $1,098.99 (save $200)

• Dell Vostro 7510 — $1,279 $1,827.14 (save $548.14)

• HP Pavilion 15-inch gaming laptop — $799.99 $899.99 (save $100)

How to shop for a new laptop:

Choosing a laptop is entirely dependent on what you’ll be using it for. Beginner laptop owners need something user-friendly and straightforward, frequent travelers need something light with a long battery life, designers and gamers need top-notch 4K graphics and quick central processors, and everyone needs something that will last. 

The first thing you should do is ask yourself a simple question: PC or Mac? This is an important question, as it’s going to make a world of difference in what you can and can’t do with your computer. Are you a gamer? A video editor? A business professional? An Apple device owner? The answer to any of these will probably point you towards your final answer. If you’re constantly buying the new iPhone every year, editing YouTube videos, recording a podcast, or other creative endeavors of the sort, your best bet may be a Mac laptop. Apple obsessives will be happy with their Mac’s compatibility with their other Apple products, and everyone can benefit from Macs’ propensity to have better virus protection than that of a PC. 

That brings us to the perks of picking up a PC. You can still complete a number of creative projects on a personal computer, but where PCs really shine are their options for customization. PCs are much easier to upgrade part-by-part, as they aren’t constrained to Apple-manufactured products (like Macs). And because there is a seemingly endless supply of PC manufacturers, there are a lot more options from what brand you chose, to the software you buy, to the type of graphics card you pick out for your gaming rig. Yes, gamers should always go the PC route — they are far more powerful than what a Mac laptop can handle, and also give you the option to connect VR headsets, if you’re into that sort of thing.  

What size laptop should you get?

This really comes down to two things: Personal preference and lifestyle. Personal preference is self-explanatory, really — do you like having a huge display, or do you prefer something more compact? Lifestyle is where practicality comes into play. If you’re traveling often and usually have your computer on your back in some way, you’re going to want to go with something more light and compact (thin, 11-inch models will most likely be the best). But if you’re a huge movie buff who doesn’t normally take their laptop on the road with them, spring for a 15-inch (and higher) screen with a bulky construction so you can have epic Netflix sessions. If you’re getting a gaming laptop, you should probably “go big or go home,” as well.  

How much should you spend on a new laptop?

This is much more subjective, and at the end of the day, it’s really going to come down to your budget. But, if money isn’t the number one concern for you, you should really think hard about what you’re going to use your laptop for. Need a device with lots of power under the hood and bountiful storage space? Aim for something in the $800 and beyond range. Only using your laptop to edit the occasional Google Doc? Then you can probably get away with spending way below the $500 mark. In other words, don’t blow your savings if you don’t need to. And if you’re looking to go all out, meaning buying a laptop with every bell and whistle imaginable, you can get a monster of a machine for somewhere closer to $2,000.

Are cheap laptops worth it?

You know the old saying: You get what you pay for. But thanks to the technology boom of the last few decades, a cheap laptop can actually take you pretty far and won’t break down immediately. It’s all about knowing which one to select. Depending on what you use your laptop for the most, staying stingy might be your best option. Check out our roundups for the ones that we think are worth it — here are our favorite cheap laptop models under $500, and the best under $300.  

What does it mean when a laptop is certified refurbished?

Don’t let the words “refurbished” or “renewed” scare you away — these types of devices are usually perfectly viable options and can end up saving you a lot of money without sacrificing much of anything.

A refurbished device, in its simplest terms, is a product that has been bought, but then returned for some reason. Notice that we didn’t necessarily say that it was returned due to some sort of fault on the device’s part. While that can certainly be true in some cases, it isn’t always. Oftentimes, a certified refurbished laptop never even left its original packaging.

While yes, saving money is a huge benefit of buying a “refurb,” it’s far from the only reason to consider getting one. What’s great about refurbished devices is that they undergo rigorous performance tests to ensure that they are still in good condition (sometimes more strictly than the stuff coming right off the production line). There’s also a chance that any refurbished laptop you buy may have been so lightly used, that it could almost be considered brand-new (just way cheaper).

We’re big fans of buying refurbished gear for kids, especially when it comes to electronics. If you’re shopping for a laptop for a kid who is under the age of 15, then refurbished is really the way to go. For kids of high school age and beyond who are a bit more careful with their digital gear, then a new laptop isn’t as risky. Of course, it depends on the kid.

Explore related content:

• Our picks for the best 2-in-1 laptops of 2020

• The best blue light glasses for combatting digital eye strain

• 13 cheap laptops you can get for under $500

For a brief moment, their worlds had changed.

On Tuesday afternoon a Coinbase “display issue” changed the balances of an untold number of customers’ accounts — making many of them billionaires in the process. Billionaires on paper, that is, because as Coinbase hastily pointed out in a statement on Twitter, no real trading was affected by the glitch.

“We’re aware some customers are seeing inflated values for non-tradable crypto assets on Coinbase.com and Coinbase Wallet,” read the Coinbase statement acknowledging the error. “This is a display issue only and does not impact trading.”

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But that message came too late for those who saw their inflated accounts and, if even only for a heart-stopping minute, thought they were rich.

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And while for some customers the sheer size of the sums involved would have been enough of a red flag, that a cryptocurrency could suddenly spike tens of thousands of percentage points is, itself, not impossible. After all, just this past October Shiba Inu coin (SHIB) was up 60,000,000 percent. So it’s perhaps understandable why some Coinbase customers might have believed, in error, that they had finally made it.

Others, however, knew from the jump that something on Coinbase’s end was busted and their gains were imaginary.

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We reached out to Coinbase in an attempt to determine what went wrong behind the scenes. We received no immediate response. Perhaps its PR team saw their inflated Coinbase wallets and decided today was a good day to quit.

So, you hate your job and you’re going to quit. You could write a letter of resignation, or give your boss a call — or have a couple of C-list celebrities tell your company for you.

After more than two years at a tech startup, RB was feeling disrespected. They hadn’t gotten a raise or promotion during their annual performance review, there was a reorganization of the company that left morale low, and, plainly, they just didn’t want to work there anymore. 

“I just said it as a hypothetical to a friend, like, ‘oh, wouldn’t it be funny if I hired Ghostface Killah to quit my job for me or something,'” RB, who asked to not use their last name, told Mashable. “… I tend to keep friends that have a tendency to just commit to the bit super hard. So we just egg each other on until I just did the thing.”

The best way to hire someone famous to quit your job for you is to use Cameo, which lets people pay for custom videos — like a happy birthday message, a get well soon note, or anything else — from select celebrities. Cameo told Mashable its seen a 30 percent growth year-over-year on job quitting requests, from users like Chris Diamantopolous, All Felt No Filter Puppets, Chris Sapphire, and Colton Dunn. 

Ghostface Killah isn’t currently taking any Cameo requests, unfortunately, so RB couldn’t go that route. But something almost better came to mind: The Island Boys, twins from Florida who made their fame from TikTok videos of them singing and rapping, were available. So, on a Friday, the 35-year-old in Brooklyn, New York, rush-ordered a video from the Island Boys and asked the duo to quit for them. On Monday, they posted it to a company-wide slack channel.

Tweet may have been deleted

“We’re letting you know that Robert doesn’t want to work there anymore because they’re island boys,” the Island Boys said on the Cameo, which RB posted to Twitter, censoring the name of the company they were quitting.

Their coworkers on Slack immediately responded with the island emoji, the skull emoji, and affirming DMs.

“Initially I was thinking of chewing them out with it,” RB said. “But then I thought it would just be funnier to treat them like I felt like they were treating me and I felt like the Island Boys were like, ‘OK, you’re gonna clown on me? I’m gonna clown on you back.’ And also I feel like it conveyed that I’m good. I’m not bitter.”

But using Cameo to quit is a bold choice, and not just because, as RB put it, you’re “sort of throwing a molotov cocktail on your way out.” These videos can cost anywhere from $5 to $2,500. The Island Boys’ base rate is $200 right now, but RB says “it’s the best money I’ve ever spent in my life, easily.” And as for the molotov cocktail of it all? RB isn’t worried.

“I’ve always like bounced back from every stupid thing I’ve done in my life,” they said. “And usually for the better.”

Beyond Cameo, this is a trend we’ve seen blow up over the past year. People are quitting their jobs at record numbers. In August, 4.3 million Americans, or 2.9 percent of the entire workforce, quit their jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. They’re quitting for a variety of reasons, from pay to family pressure, and more. And one huge reason, UC Berkeley economist Ulrike Malmendier told NPR, is because the pandemic and remote work have “changed the way we view our lives and the world.”

RB wants everyone who isn’t happy with their job, and has the ability to leave it, to do just that. And we’re hoping they’ll ask celebrities to do it for them.

NFTs have already felt the wrath of gamers. 

Now, comic book lovers, superhero movie fans, and Marvel aficionados alike are lashing out against NFTs, too.

On Tuesday morning, the late Stan Lee’s Twitter account sent out a tweet promoting NFTs of the Indian superhero Chakra the Invincible that will be sold in the coming weeks. The link in the tweet, “chakraverse.io,” sends users to a website belonging to Orange Comet, a company that creates NFTs for brands and sports teams.

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​​”From championing diversity to embracing new tech, Stan was 1 step ahead of the curve,” reads the tweet. “To honor his innovative spirit, Stan’s 1st Indian hero, Chakra The Invincible, debuts in his own NFT (digital art) collection from 7:30pm PT 12/27-12pm PT 12/29! Sign up: http://chakraverse.io”

The backlash to this promotional tweet being sent from Stan Lee’s Twitter account was swift and unforgiving.

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“Can’t believe Stan Lee came back from the dead just to promote an NFT,” replied popular YouTuber Dolan Dark.

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“Using Stan Lee’s twitter account to promote an NFT gets you sent straight to hell,” tweeted Twitter user @Ter0me.

“The fact they never retired his Twitter after his passing is one thing, but using him to promote something like NFTs is absolutely disrespectful…” said @SuperiorArtemis while sharing a meme quoting Stan Lee’s line from his cameo in Spider-man: Homecoming.

“Don’t make me come down there, you punk,” reads the meme.

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Even the official Dictionary.com Twitter account got in on the NFT dunking.

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What makes this particular advertisement more distasteful is that it’s being promoted as something being done in memory of Stan Lee.

“Honoring what would have been Stan Lee’s 99th birthday on December 28th, we are inviting all of Stan’s fans to celebrate his amazing legacy with us by sharing ownership in a limited NFT collectible around one of his first international superheroes,” reads the Orange Comet website.

Stan Lee was the mastermind behind some of Marvel Comics’ most beloved superheroes, such as Spider-man, Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and X-Men, among many others. He was such a beloved figure in the comic book world that he made cameos in every Marvel Universe film from Iron Man all the way up until Avengers: Endgame.

Sadly, Stan Lee passed away in November 2018 at the age of 95.

NFTs, or non fungible tokens, are basically digital collectibles, usually in the form of digital art. When buyers purchase an NFT, they aren’t actually purchasing the actual art but the token that’s connected to the art, which gets recorded to the blockchain, basically to prove they “own” the piece on the blockchain.

The NFT market has exploded over the past year along with the rest of thee cryptocurrency industry as buyers look to invest in speculative assets. The digital artist Beeple, for example, sold an NFT of his work at auction in May 2021 for $69 million.

However, NFTs are gradually experiencing more of a pushback from the average internet user.

Critics complain that much of the art made for the purpose of NFTs are quite ugly. Many NFT projects consist of just a few original art assets which are then combined via computer generation to automatically create thousands of “unique” pieces. Some critics find NFTs to be exploitative – basically, NFT advocates are looking to commodify anything and turn everything into a speculative asset like a stock. NFTs are also incredibly bad for the environment, as the majority of the industry is based on the energy-wasting Ethereum network.

According to Orange Comet’s website, the Chakra NFT drop will include 6,880 different NFTs at a yet to be determined price. The NFTs will be released on the Polygon network, which is more energy efficient than the incredibly wasteful Ethereum network.

It should be noted that Marvel is not involved with this NFT project. Stan Lee did create Chakra the Invincible, but Marvel was not involved with this particular character.

As NFTs spread into different internet cultures, they seem to meet heavy resistance at every turn. However, just like with the rest of cryptocurrency, there’s big money in the form of venture capitalists, brand marketers, and other wealthy techies who will continue to push NFTs where they’re generally not wanted.

So, hang in there, true believers. You’ll likely be seeing a lot more of NFTs invading your favorite fandoms.

Succession Season 3 delivered an explosive finale on Sunday, with a betrayal-laden shit storm that saw Shiv, Kendall, and Roman defeated by Logan.

But while some fans wring their hands over board seats, a contingent of theorizers suspects the biggest bomb of the episode went undropped. Is Shiv Roy pregnant?

Pregnancy planning throughout the season

The politically-minded heiress discussed her fertility at length this season, with her underhanded husband Tom showing an almost unnerving enthusiasm for procreation. 

The subject is first broached in episode 5 “Retired Janitors of Idaho.” With Tom worried his role in the cruises scandal will end in prison time, Tom tells Shiv he wants to conceive before being sent away. He subsequently reveals that he has been tracking Shiv’s menstrual cycle on his iCalendar — “It’s not creepy,” he assures her — before suggesting the couple aim to sync her gestation period up with his detention sentence.

Shiv is predictably mortified, saying, “I don’t want to be your fucking incubator for when you’re in prison doing chin-ups and reading Knausgård.” But the conversation begins a critical discussion for the couple that’s raised again later.

If you had just been nice to him ONE TIME…
Credit: Screenshot: HBO

Fast forward to the penultimate episode 8 “Chiantishire.” Shiv has a dicy conversation with Caroline about how “some people just aren’t made to be mothers,” which leads to her telling Tom she now does want to have a baby. The pair proceed to have a brutally misguided boink, with Shiv telling her husband she doesn’t love him mid-foreplay and Tom taking that (understandably) personally.

The following day, Tom confronts Shiv about their crumbling marriage — and the all-important baby. Shiv hand waves the relationship issues away as a misunderstanding, before retooling her promises on the baby front. She lays out a multi-year plan to freeze a collection of her and Tom’s embryos, to which he says, “So we could be looking at like ten years? Ten years is like two-and-a-half Olympics.” Shiv tells him she’ll think about it.

Parallels in Tom’s telling of the Nero myth 

OK, Nero.
Credit: Graeme Hunter/HBO

All this marital discord lays essential groundwork for Tom to betray Shiv during the finale. 

In episode 9 “All the Bells Say,” Tom sabotages Shiv, Kendall, and Roman’s plan to stop the sale of WayStar RoyCo, effectively aligning himself with Logan and Greg. This satisfies the foreshadowing told to Greg in episode 4 “Lion in the Meadow,” during which Tom offers an abbreviated version of the Roman myth of Nero. 

“Sporus was a young slave boy, and he was Nero’s favorite,” Tom explains. “Nero pushed his wife down the stairs, and then he had Sporus castrated and he married him instead. And he gave him a ring and made him dress up like his dead wife…I’d murder and marry you in a heartbeat.”

Tom’s telling of the myth doesn’t account for the wealth of confusion that comes with ancient stories, but it does seem to closely parallel the death of Neros’ second wife Poppaea Sabina. Critically, Poppaea was pregnant at the time of her death. So, was Shiv also with child at the time of her metaphoric slaying?

Pregnancy symptoms from the finale

There are two clues central to the “Shiv is pregnant” fan theory from the finale. They’re a bit flimsy, admittedly. But with a baby Roy on the brain (and Season 4 so far off), it’s easy to see everything as proof of pregnancy.

First, Shiv drinks water at the Collingwood-Munion wedding reception. More importantly, she toasts with water — a major faux pas someone like Shiv would know to avoid. 

Theoretically, this implies that Shiv already knows she is pregnant and is consciously avoiding alcohol. But that bumps against the implication that she and Tom had not been having sex up until their fateful night in episode 8, seemingly the night before. (She’s seen drinking wine immediately before that scene, FWIW.) So it’s unlikely Shiv would know she was pregnant if they conceived then.

Credit: Screenshot: HBO

Credit: Screenshot: HBO

Second, the final shot sees Shiv grab at her belly. Fans who think she’s pregnant (from episode 8 or earlier) argue that’s an instinctive move, reflecting of a subconscious need for Shiv to protect her womb. Fans who don’t think she’s pregnant say it’s just a well-acted reaction, conveying the “gut punch” feeling she would be getting when what Tom did to her starts to sink in. 

Someone get this woman a stick to pee on!
Credit: Screenshot: HBO

An additional dangler in the pregnancy symptoms mess comes from the top of episode 8, in which Shiv is seen wallowing in bed instead of making it to a board meeting. Was she making a point or experiencing morning sickness?

Maybe!
Credit: Screenshot: HBO

Of course, we won’t know if Tom and Shiv’s baby is for real until Season 4 next year. But with so much suggesting they’ll soon be a family of three — and the way a pregnant Shiv would give the character a small bit of much-needed, narratively rich leverage over that traitorous Tom — it’s probably best to go ahead and save the date for a Succession baby shower. Maybe put it in your iCal?

Succession is now streaming on HBOMax.

What a scene.

For the first time, a spacecraft has entered the sun’s hostile outer atmosphere, called the corona, and captured scintillating imagery of the scenery inside. NASA announced the momentous event, achieved by the space agency’s pioneering Parker Solar Probe mission, on Dec. 14.

NASA’s probe has a 4.5-inch-thick shield to protect its cameras and other instruments from temperatures that reach some 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The speeding craft snapped the unprecedented images below in April 2021, when it swung 6.5 million miles from the Sun’s surface. Inside the corona, we can see structures called “pseudostreamers,” which are long, radiant beams shooting out from the sun. The probe passed above, below, and around the streamers.

In the top row of images, NASA explained the pseudostreamers are seen moving upward, and in the bottom row they’re angled downward.

Pseudostreamers captured by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.
Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Naval Research Laboratory

An artist’s conception of the Parker Solar Probe travelling through the sun’s atmosphere
Credit: NASA

The Parker Solar Probe is doing much more than capturing wild solar scenes. The greater mission intends to dramatically improve scientists’ understanding of the sun’s intense, dynamic activity, particularly its powerful solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of energized particles constantly traveling out of the sun’s atmosphere that, during space weather storms, can “disrupt everything from our satellites in space, to ship communications on our oceans, to power grids on land,” writes NASA.

Space weather experts and solar scientists want to better grasp solar winds and even predict when hugely damaging storm events might occur.

“Parker’s measurements of the solar wind, just a few million miles from the Sun’s surface, will reveal new details that should help shed light on the processes that send it speeding out into space,” NASA explains.

For much of the Parker Solar Probe’s travels around the sun (and in the solar wind), it barrelled through a “busy barrage of particles.” But things changed dramatically once the spacecraft entered the corona, though it was only there for a few hours. Everything calmed down.

“Passing through the pseudostreamer was like flying into the eye of a storm.”

“Passing through the pseudostreamer was like flying into the eye of a storm,” NASA reported. In the corona, the sun’s dominant magnetic fields control the movement of particles emanating from the sun, so there’s more organization and less chaos.

In the coming years, the space probe’s journey around the sun will bring it swooping within 3.8 million miles of our star’s surface. Expect more intense imagery, and discovery.

“I’m excited to see what Parker finds as it repeatedly passes through the corona in the years to come,” Nicola Fox, the director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, said in a statement. “The opportunity for new discoveries is boundless.”

It’s not every day that a TV fan falls in love with a new workplace comedy, but there’s a high chance that the ones you hold near and dear had something to do with Justin Spitzer. Spitzer has over 15 years of TV experience, including creating Superstore and writing for another scrappy little comedy called The Office. His latest project, American Auto premiered Monday on NBC. 

The show begins at Payne Motors, where a new CEO (Ana Gasteyer) has taken the reins after years of working in pharmaceuticals. This might just be another job on the resume, but she quickly finds that creating and selling cars is hardly the breezy joy ride she expected. 

“Superstore was so much about these people whose lives and jobs are at the winds of this giant corporation and it can seem from that perspective, like they’re making these sort of arbitrary or even mean-spirited decisions,” Spitzer tells Mashable in a Zoom interview. “So it’s a lot of fun now to jump to the other side of things and try to understand why those decisions get made, and how reasonable people who don’t view themselves as bad — who really aren’t — sometimes find themselves forced to make them.”

Mayo as Dori, Tye White as Jack, Jon Barinholtz as Wesley
Credit: Greg Gayne / NBC

Spitzer actually conceived of American Auto after The Office, but it didn’t move forward. When Superstore got the greenlight, he turned back to his dead pilot about the motor industry and “took it for parts” — like Superstore‘s beloved central romance between Jonah (Ben Feldman) and Amy (Ferrera). The bones for those characters are the same as American Auto‘s Jack (Tye White) and Sadie (Harriet Dyer). Themes like professionalism, power dynamics, and relationships outside of work all carried from The Office through Superstore to American Auto.

“What I like about workplace comedies is you have people that don’t necessarily want to be together, that have very different backgrounds, very different interests, and they’re forced to spend lots of time together in often not the most ideal space,” Spitzer says. “That’s every element you want for conflict, which is what you want as a storyteller.”

And it’s distinct — at least at first — from ensemble shows about friends or family, who choose each other’s company. There’s a drive to workplace comedies, Spitzer says; goals, deadlines, bosses, and more. His shows aren’t about everyone loving each other and getting along because that’s not the reality of most workplaces. It’s like in The Matrix, he says: If everything is great all the time, humans won’t accept it.

“You find those moments and like, one nice moment is enough to sustain you for six more episodes,” he says. “And then when you have like, one really great moment of kindness or a really up ending, it feels like ‘Oh my god.’ You feel really excited. If you do that every single week, it’s like, yeah, they’re following the formula.”

Sadie (Harriet Dyer) and Jack (Tye White) are TV’s next will-they/won’t-they.
Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

While The Office regularly dipped into characters’ personal lives and Superstore stayed largely contained, American Auto branches out to mirror its executives’ lives. They go to press conferences and presentations, important meetings, and even take a private jet. At least three episodes significantly depart from the office setting, leading Spitzer to compare the show to Veep more than his previous work. It also lacks — or at least alters — one crucial element: The bumbling boss.

“It’s great to have a boss who’s kind of dumb or making mistakes because then even if the other characters are smart, they have to go along with it,” Spitzer says. “And then that generates story and comedy. In this show, Catherine [Gasteyer] is smart and competent. She still makes mistakes — and and that’s where I think it was helpful to have her come from a very different industry — but that’s something that presents its own challenges.”

After all these years, Spitzer isn’t sure he’s cracked the perfect workplace comedy formula, but he’s learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, and how he himself can benefit from the creative process.

“Superstore, those first seasons, I approached everything with fear,” he says. “And now I think I approach everything with dread.”

That sounds bleak, but he elaborates: In the early days of Superstore, Spitzer simply didn’t know if things would work out, if he’d even have the right budget or script or anything resembling a show at the end of the day. These days, he knows everything will be done, but the road to getting it there could still be rocky. 

“Also, I think I trust myself more to say we’ll figure this out,” he adds. “Like not everything needs to always be moving the story forward. Let’s make sure we have time for — whether it’s a break room meeting in Superstore or conference room meeting in American Auto — to just let the characters be funny and interact, and we’ll find elements of it as we go.”

The first two episodes of American Auto are now streaming on NBC and Hulu. The show returns Jan. 4.

UPDATE: Dec. 14, 2021, 3:05 p.m. EST We’ve gathered up some of the best deals from across the Apple universe, including the biggest markdown ever on the Apple Watch Series 7 and an enticing price slash on the MacBook Air.

• BEST MAC DEAL: The MacBook Air (M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) is a great choice for portability matched with processing power that won’t break the bank — $799.99 $999.99 (save $200)

• BEST REFURBISHED DEAL: iPhone 11 (64GB) — no matter your carrier or plan, you can score a good deal on this iPhone — $492.00 $569.00 (save $77)

• BEST IPAD DEAL: 2021 12.9″ iPad Pro (WiFi, 128GB), a tablet with the right power and screen size for creatives — $999.00 $1,099.00 (save $100)

• BEST IPHONE DEAL: The iPhone 13 Mini (64GB) at Verizon is a mini phone with plenty of storage space and a battery life worth bragging about — $0 with select trade-ins or BOGO with any unlimited plan $699.99 (save up to $699.99)

• BEST APPLE WATCH DEAL: The Apple Watch Series 7 (41mm, GPS) is Apple’s newest smartwatch available for its lowest price ever — $349 $399 (save $50)

• BEST ACCESSORIES DEAL: The AirPods Pro are the perfect earbuds for staying focused — $179 $249 (save $70)

You could really kill some time trying to dissect the iron grasp Apple has on the general population, but when it comes down to it, its products look good, work well, and stay cutting-edge — of course people like them. Whether your favorite day of the year is its annual September reveal event or you just want a solid computer no matter the brand, Apple’s got you covered. Sure, it is a little notorious for its higher prices, but we’ve rounded up the best deals on iPads, AirPods, and more to help you out. Check them out below.

Mac and MacBook deals

Why we like it

Check out Mashable’s official review of the MacBook Air.

While we’ve seen the MacBook Air have some pretty decent markdowns in the latter half of the year, this $200-off deal is one of the best we’ve ever seen on a laptop that boasts top-notch portability, 18-hours of battery life, and M1 power. Best Buy’s deal only lasts until the end of Dec. 14 and Amazon is sold out of this laptop as of the time of writing, so if you’re looking to upgrade, you’ll want to act quick.

More Mac and MacBook deals

2020 MacBook Pro, 13-inch

• MacBook Pro (M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,099 $1,299 (save $199.01 with on-page coupon)

• MacBook Pro (M1, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,249.99 $1,499 (save $249.01 with on-page coupon)

• MacBook Pro (Intel Core i5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,299.99 $1,799 (save $500)

2020 MacBook Pro, 16-inch

• MacBook Pro (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,899.99 $2,399.99 (save $500)

• MacBook Pro (Intel Core i9, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,299.99 $2,799.99 (save $500)

2020 MacBook Air, 13-inch

• MacBook Air (M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) at Best Buy $799.99 $999.99 (save $200)

• MacBook Air (M1, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) at Amazon — $1,049.99 $1,249.00 (save $199.01)

• MacBook Air (M1, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) at Best Buy — $1,049.99 $1,249.99 (save $200)

More Macs

• 2021 24″ iMac (M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $1,399 $1,499 (save $100)

• 2020 Mac Mini (M1, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $569.99 $699 (save $129.01)

• 2020 Mac Mini (M1, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $749.99 $899.00 (save $149.01)

• 2020 21.5″ iMac with Retina 4K (Intel Core i5, 256GB) — $1,199.99 $1,499.99 (save $300)

Refurbished Macs and MacBooks

• Renewed 2019 21.5″ iMac (Intel Core i3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $669.99 $1,099.99 (save $430)

• Refurbished 2019 21.5″ iMac (Intel Core i3 3.6GHz, 8GB DDR4, 1TB HDD) — $869.99 $1,299 (save $429.01)

• Refurbished 2019 MacBook Pro (Intel Core i5, 256GB) — $1,070.99 $1,699.99 (save $629)

• Refurbished 2017 MacBook Air (Intel Core i5, 128GB) — $414.99 $999 (save $584.01)

iPad deals

Why we like it

Check out Mashable’s official review of the 2021 iPad Pro.

This iPad comes loaded with an M1 chip, meaning it’s up to more intense tasks like editing high quality video footage or rendering 3D models. Basically, it’s your best bet for an iPad that could feasibly be used as a laptop. While it might not be the best option for the casual user, for creatives that need their tablet to handle a little heft, this tablet is definitely worth a second look. If you are shopping for the holidays, it is important to note that this iPad is not expected to arrive until after Christmas, but hey, sometimes the best things are worth waiting for, right?

More iPad deals

• 2020 11″ iPad Pro (WiFi, 256GB) — $749.99 $899.99 (save $150)

• 2020 12.9″ iPad Pro (WiFi, 256GB) — $949.99 $1,099.99 (save $150)

• 2021 11″ iPad Pro (WiFi, 512GB) — $979 $1,099 (save $120)

• 2021 12.9″ iPad Pro (WiFi, 128GB) at Amazon — $999 $1,099 (save $100)

iPhone deals

Why we like it

Check out Mashable’s official review of the iPhone 13 Mini.

If you’re picking up some new phones for more than one person this holiday, it’ll be difficult to find a better deal than this buy one, get one on the iPhone 13 Mini at Verizon. Though this model looks quite similar to its predecessor, the starting storage of 128GB and improved battery life definitely justifies the upgrade.

More iPhone deals

• iPhone 12 Mini (64GB) at AT&T — $1 per month for 36 months on an unlimited plan, then receive up to $594 in bill credits

• iPhone 12 (64GB) at AT&T — $15 per month for 36 months on an unlimited plan, then receive up to $190 in bill credits

• iPhone 13 (128GB) at AT&T — $0 with an eligible trade-in and unlimited plan $799.99 (save up to $799.99)

• iPhone 13 Pro (128GB) at AT&T — $0 with an eligible trade-in on an unlimited plan, with installed payment plan $999.99 (save up to $999.99)

• iPhone 12 Mini (64GB) at Verizon — $0 with a new line on an unlimited plan $599.99 (save $599.99)

• iPhone 13 Mini (64GB) at Verizon — $0 with select trade-ins or BOGO with any unlimited plan $699.99 (save up to $699.99)

• iPhone 13 (128GB) at Verizon — $0 with an eligible trade-in on an unlimited plan or BOGO with any unlimited plan $799.99 (save $800)

• iPhone 13 Pro (128GB) at Verizon — $0 with select trade-ins $999.99 (save up to $999.99)

Apple Watch deals

Why we like it

As if we didn’t have enough evidence of this “unprecedented” holiday shopping season, Apple’s latest smartwatch is down to its lowest price ever at both Walmart and Amazon, beating its Cyber Week price by about $30. You can grab the watch with a higher charging speed, bigger watch face, and increased workout support at both retailers and it should arrive in time for Christmas. At the time of writing, Amazon had sold out of the midnight color.

More Apple Watch deals

Series 7

• Apple Watch Series 7 (41mm, GPS) at Amazon — $349 $399 (save $50)

Series 6

• Apple Watch Series 6 (40mm, GPS) — $349 $399 (save $50)

• Apple Watch Series 6 (44mm, GPS) — $349 $429.99 (save $80.99)

SE

• Apple Watch SE (40mm, GPS) at Amazon — $229 $279 (save $50)

• Apple Watch SE (44mm, GPS) at Amazon — $259 $309 (save $50)

Series 3

• Apple Watch Series 3 (38mm, GPS) at Walmart — $169 $199 (save $30)

• Apple Watch Series 3 (42mm, GPS) at Walmart — $199 $229.00 (save $30)

• Apple Watch Series 3 (38mm, GPS) at Best Buy — $169 $199.00 (save $30 and get six months of Apple Fitness+ free)

• Apple Watch Series 3 (42mm, GPS) — $199 $229.00 (save $30 and get six months of Apple Fitness+ free)

Refurbished

• Refurbished Apple Watch Series 6 (40mm, GPS + Cellular) — $399.95 $499 (save $99.05)

• Renewed Apple Watch Series 5 (44mm, GPS) — $287.99 $429 (save $141.01)

Apple accessories deals

Why we like it

Check out the official Mashable review of the AirPods Pro.

While they are a bit pricier than they were during Black Friday, $70 off some of the best noise-canceling earbuds out there is a pretty stellar deal, especially if you’re already deep in the Apple ecosystem. We anticipate that just like years past, these will be a hot holiday pick, so if you catch them out of stock, they’re also available at Walmart for a mere 99 cents more.

More Apple accessories deals

• AirPods (3rd gen) — $149.99 $179 (save $29.01)

• AirPods Pro at Walmart — $179.99 $249 (save $69.01)

• AirPods (2nd gen) — $89.99 $159 (save $69.01)

• AirPods with Wireless Charging Case at Best Buy — $149.99 $199.99 (save $50)

• AirPods Max— $479 $549 (save $70)

• Beats Studio 3 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones — $199.99 $349.99 (save $150)

• Beats Solo Pro — $129 $299.95 (save $170.95)

• Powerbeats Pro Totally Wireless Earphones — $149.95 $249.95 (save $100)

• Apple TV 4K 32GB — $169.99 $179 (save $9.01)

• Apple TV 4K 32GB (first generation) — $119.99 $159.99 (save $40)

• Apple Pencil 2 at Amazon— $99 $129 (save $30)

• Apple Pencil 2 at Best Buy — $99 $129 (save $30)

• Apple Pencil (first gen) at Walmart — $79.99 $99 (save $19.01)

• Apple Pencil (first gen) at Best Buy — $79.99 $99.99 (save $20)

• Apple HomePod Mini — $79.99 $99.99 (save $20) ✨

More related content:

• 8 monitors to take your MacBook Pro to the next level

• MacBooks aren’t the only great laptops — and this list proves it

• Best headphones for iPhone owners: Think outside the (AirPods) box

Apple’s latest iOS brings more than just a dubious Voice Plan to the table.

The company behind the iPhone released its latest operating system, iOS 15.2, Monday, and hot damn is it a doozy. The update includes 38 (thirty-eight!) separate privacy and security fixes in addition to its more flashy and hyped components — and you should really go ahead and download it.

Notably, these patches are for the iPhone 6s or later, meaning unless you have a pre-2015 Apple smartphone this message is very much for you.

And just what, exactly, does this latest version of iOS fix? Here’s a partial, and by no means exhaustive, list:

• “Playing a malicious audio file may lead to arbitrary code execution”

• “A user in a FaceTime call may unexpectedly leak sensitive user information through Live Photos metadata”

• “Processing a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution”

• “A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges”

• “Processing a maliciously crafted file may disclose user information”

• “A person with physical access to an iOS device may be able to access contacts from the lock screen”

• “A person with physical access to an iOS device may be able to access stored passwords without authentication”

• “A malicious application may be able to bypass certain Privacy preferences”

• “An application may be able to access a user’s files”

Now, to be clear, it’s a good thing that Apple has disclosed these vulnerabilities and issued patches for them. Operating systems, whether they be from Apple or Google or anyone else, have problems. Whether or not, and how quickly, those problems are resolved is the real question.

Thankfully, when it comes to the latter, you can do your part and update today. To do so:

1. Plug your iPhone in, and go to Settings

2. Tap General

3. Go into Software Update

4. Select Download and Install

5. Enter your passcode and hit Done

6. Agree to Apple’s Terms and Conditions

7. Sit back and relax as your iPhone downloads iOS 15.2

It may not be as flashy as upgrading to an iPhone 13, but the security updates in iOS 15.2 are a lot more important — and won’t cost you a penny.