How to watch ‘The Sympathizer’ at a glance:

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The Sympathizer, one of our most anticipated shows of 2024, is now streaming. The new limited series from legendary filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Decision to Leave, The Handmaiden, Oldboy) brings Robert Downey Jr. to the small screen following his Oscar win for Oppenheimer. In The Sympathizer, Downey Jr. plays not one, not two, but four different roles. The series also stars Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, and the lovely Sandra Oh.

HBO and A24’s take on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is already seeing a flood of excellent reviews pouring in (including our own). If you want a taste of it for yourself, here’s everything you need to know about how to watch The Sympathizer online.

What is The Sympathizer about?

Adapted from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel of the same name, The Sympathizer follows a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy in the final days of the Vietnam War, as well as his new life as a refugee in the United States. It mixes classic espionage thrills with dark comedy and cross-culture satire, making for a story that blends multiple genres.

“Our narrator, simply known as “the Captain” (Hoa Xuande), struggles under duress to recall the events of his life as clearly as possible. The purpose of this recollection? A confession he’s writing in a Vietnamese reeducation camp, where any lapse in memory or particularly clear detail could mean the difference between life and death,” Mashable’s Belen Edwards writes in her review of the series. “Given the confession’s context, The Sympathizer is never far from a brutal reminder of the stakes at play. Tragedy haunts its blend of satire and espionage thriller throughout, resulting in challenging, can’t-miss TV magic.”

Read our full review of The Sympathizer.

Here’s the official trailer:

When is The Sympathizer streaming?

The first episode of The Sympathizer premiered on HBO and Max simultaneously on April 14, 2024 at 9 p.m. ET. The seven-part series will air new episodes weekly on Sundays, with the season finale falling on May 26.

Is there a Max free trial?

Sadly, there’s no active Max free trial through HBO directly or through third-parties like Prime Video or Hulu. Keep an eye out, though, as we’ve seen free trials pop up sporadically (then disappear just as quickly). However, Max does offer free episodes through its Watch Free portal. There are tons of HBO originals included on the platform, including White Lotus, Succession, The Last of Us, and Euphoria, so you can test the waters with a single episode of each before committing to a subscription.

The best Max streaming deals

Before you sign up for a Max subscription, make sure to double check that you don’t already have access to Max through a previous subscription, a third party, or a cable, internet, or wireless provider. If you do still need to sign up for access, check out the two streaming deals below.

Best Max deal for most people: Save up to 20% on an annual plan

Rather than paying a monthly fee, you can sign up for a Max annual plan and save up to 22%. The Max with ads monthly subscription will run you $9.99 per month, which adds up to about $119.88. With an annual plan, you’ll pay just $99.99 per year — that’s 17% in savings. The Ad-Free annual plan goes for $149.99 per year (reg. $191.88), which saves you 22% (the biggest savings of all three plans), and the Ultimate plan is $199.99 per year (reg. $239.88), which saves you about 17%.

Best Max deal for Cricket customers: Free Max with ads for customers on the $60/month unlimited plan

Being a Cricket Wireless customer certainly has its perks. If you’re on the $60 per month unlimited plan through Cricket, you get Max With Ads for free (as long as your account remains in good standing). Just head over to the Max app or navigate to Max on a browser, then sign in with Cricket as your provider. Your Cricket credentials will then unlock full access to Max With Ads (typically a $99.99 per year value) without you having to pay any extra money. If you’re a Cricket customer on a different plan, you can upgrade or switch over to secure the deal at any time. Check the terms and conditions on the Cricket website to learn more.

What are the different Max subscription tiers?

Similar to the former HBO Max streaming tiers, Max offers three different subscription plans: With Ads, Ad-Free, and Ultimate Ad-Free. Here’s a breakdown of the differences between each tier.

Max With Ads — The most affordable option includes two concurrent streams, 1080p resolution, and 5.1 surround sound quality. There are no offline downloads and only light ads for $9.99 per month (or $99.99 per year).

Max Ad-Free — As the name suggest, this option cuts out the ads and offers two concurrent streams, 1080p resolution, 5.1 surround sound quality, and 30 offline downloads. It costs $15.99 per month (or $149.9 per year).

Max Ultimate Ad-Free — The most expensive of the tiers, this option includes four concurrent streams, up to 4K UHD resolution, Dolby Atmos sound quality, and 100 offline downloads. It’ll cost you $19.99 per month (or $199.99 per year).

2024 has not been good to Tesla so far. 

EV sales are on the decline, which led to the Elon Musk-led company laying off 10 percent of its workforce on Monday. Now there’s a major problem with Tesla’s newest vehicle, the Cybertruck, which has apparently forced the company to halt production, sales, and deliveries.

While Tesla has yet to confirm the problem, some Tesla Cybertruck owners have reported on social media that they have experienced a major safety issue in which the accelerator pedal gets stuck when it’s being pressed down.

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Tesla customers who had ordered the Cybertruck have posted on the internet that their deliveries have been suspended due to either a recall or a “stop-sale.”

A well-known Elon Musk fan account on X, which usually reports on Tesla news, also reported that the company has stopped Cybertruck deliveries due to the accelerator issue.

One Cybertruck owner uploaded a video on TikTok to demonstrate what’s going on with the accelerator. It appears a pedal cover is coming loose and sliding up the pedal. It can then reportedly get wedged in an indent on the floor of the Cybertruck. This issue happens when the accelerator is pushed all the way down causing the vehicle to go “full throttle,” as the Cybertruck owner in the video puts it. The individual says he was able to stop the vehicle by holding down the brake pedal, which overrides the acceleration pedal, but the Cybertruck would immediately accelerate again if he took his foot off the brake.

Tesla’s long-awaited Cybertruck was first delivered to customers who had preordered the vehicle late last year. However, since the very beginning, Cybertruck has been plagued with complaints from customers about a variety of issues.

As Tom’s Guide reports, Cybertruck owners have blasted the car over everything from shoddy build quality issues to braking and accelerating at random.

“My truck has been in service longer than I’ve owned it,” said one Cybertruck owner on X who has faced numerous issues with his brand new vehicle.

The previously mentioned Musk fan account said the delivery halt was for seven days, but it’s unclear exactly when Tesla will fulfill Cybertruck deliveries again. It’s also unclear what the company is doing about what appears to be a major design flaw with its accelerator pedal given that such an issue could potentially have fatal consequences.

Sony is gearing up for the launch of the PlayStation 5 Pro and encouraging developers to optimize their games for the new console.

Aiming to overcome the original PS5’s limitations, the PS5 Pro focuses on enhanced ray tracing performance, which has been a challenge for the base model. The Verge reports that the upcoming PS5 Pro will dramatically improve how games handle ray-traced graphics, aiming for stable frame rates and higher fidelity — in stark contrast to the current model’s performance.

When ray tracing isn’t on point, the result can be glitchy or unnatural light or reflections — including stutters or low frame rates — which can break your feeling of immersion. 

Developers are being prompted to prepare not only new games but also to update existing titles under the “Trinity Enhanced” label, after the console’s codename. This label assures players of enhanced features such as superior ray tracing, higher resolutions, and better overall performance.

According to leaks, the PS5 Pro will boast a significant speed advantage, approximately 45 percent faster than its predecessor, with enhanced titles supporting better resolution and frame rate. This upgrade mirrors the enhancement strategy seen in Xbox Series X and Series S games, although Sony’s focus appears to be meant for native PS5 games only.

The necessity of these upgrades is evident, as even high-profile PS5 games like Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 16 have struggled with performance issues on the original PS5. With the introduction of the PS5 Pro, Sony aims to not only address these issues but also to enhance the gaming experience significantly, making it an exciting prospect for gamers looking to upgrade.

We still haven’t seen the iPhone 16, but we keep learning more about it every week.

This week’s revelation is that the cameras on the iPhone 16 Pro might feature a small, but meaningful, improvement over last year’s models. According to an aggregator called “yeux1122” on the Korean news platform Naver (as spotted by MacRumors), Apple is using advanced manufacturing techniques to improve future iPhone cameras.

To be more specific, Apple is reportedly looking into using atomic layer deposition (or ALD) equipment for making iPhone cameras. In layman’s terms, that would allow Apple to put anti-reflective coatings on its cameras. This would theoretically fix iPhone camera issues like lens flare and ghosting, which can happen when shooting directly at or behind a bright light source.

In other words, Apple would be killing a couple birds with one stone at the hardware level. This may not be a flashy feature to be advertised in press releases or trailers, but it’s a small improvement that iPhone photographers would probably enjoy. However, as MacRumors pointed out, this could potentially be something Apple introduces next year instead of with the iPhone 16.

We’ll find out in September.

SAVE $194.29: The Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic rowing machine is just $205.70 at Amazon, down from the usual price of $399.99. That’s a 48% discount.

Don’t feel like spending spring at the gym? Bring home a machine that offers one of the best whole-body workouts at a huge discount thanks to today’s deal at Amazon.

As of April 16, the Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic rowing machine is $205.70, marked down from the normal price of $399.99. That’s a 48% discount or a savings of $194.29.

The Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic rowing machine uses a magnetic tension system that’s designed to be both smooth and quiet. Dial resistance up or down between eight levels of tension while getting a comfortable ride on the padded and ergonomic seat.

You can track your rowing progress and speed on the large LCD console while the non-slip foot pedals keep you securely planted on the rowing machine. The handlebars are also made with a slip-resistant material and a soft, padded foam for a more comfortable grip.

The rowing machine’s steel rail folds upward, creating a more compact footprint for easy storage. The built-in wheels are also ideal for when you need to roll the rowing machine into a different room or into the closet and out of sight. Since we’re well into the spring season, you could even roll the Sunny Health rowing machine outside for a workout in the fresh air.

If you’re looking to work out at home, the Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic rowing machine is just $205.70 at Amazon and offers a full-body workout at a fraction of the usual price.

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Whether you’re hoping to use your tax return to do some retail therapy or you’re simply a sucker for a sweet discount, we’ve handpicked some of the most impressive deals we could find at Amazon today. It’s not a big shopping holiday or anything, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t all-time low prices on big-name products — like Samsung Galaxy or Amazon Echo.

Here are the best Amazon deals of the day for April 16, handpicked by us. And don’t miss out on our picks from Monday, April 15, as many of those deals are still live.

Our top pick

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ may not be as fancy or impressive as the brand’s new Galaxy Tab S9 lineup, but not everyone is looking for a tablet that practically doubles as a computer. Some shoppers just want a reliable tablet that can handle basic tasks proficiently without breaking the bank — and that’s exactly what you’ll get with the A9+. Our friends at PCMag (which is owned by Mashable’s publisher, Ziff Davis) called it the “best low-cost Android tablet you can buy,” noting that it “succeeds at everything a low-cost tablet should.” The A9+ sports an 11-inch screen, quad speakers powered by Dolby Atmos, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor, and expandable storage up to 1TB. It’s typically pretty affordable at $219.99, but as of April 16, you can keep an extra $60 in your wallet and snag it for only $159.99. That’s 27% in savings and the lowest price on record.

Yesterday, April 15, we featured the Echo Pop as one of our top Amazon deals of the day at $22.99. Today, April 16, you can snag that same deal and pick up a free TP-Link Kasa smart color bulb. Who doesn’t love free stuff? The Echo Pop is the cheapest way to add Alexa to your home via smart speaker. “For people who like to keep music playing, and who also use Alexa as a home assistant, the Echo Pop is a perfect addition to any room in the house,” Mashable’s reviewer wrote.

If you’re looking for the best bang for your buck in a rowing machine, check out the Sunny Health & Fitness magnetic rowing machine. On any given day, it’s relatively affordable at $399.99, but as of April 16, it’s practically a steal at $205.70 — that’s 48% in savings and just $5 away from its lowest price in a year. With eight levels of adjustable magnetic resistance, an extra-long 48-inch slide rail, and an LCD panel that displays time, count, calories, and more, this rower is basically customizable for any type of rower.

The Garmin Vivofit Jr. 3 is sure to get your little ones excited about moving their bodies. The swim-friendly tracker offers fun rewards via a parent-controlled app, which can help keep your kiddo both intrigued and safe. And as a bonus, the battery lasts up to a year, so you don’t have to constantly throw it on a charger. As of April 16, it’s on sale for just $69.99 — that’s a savings of 22% and matches its lowest price to date.

None of these deals catching your eye? Check out Amazon’s daily deals for even more savings.

YouTube is ramping up its enforcement against ad-blockers, by blocking certain third-party apps. On a totally unrelated note, did you know YouTube offers a paid ad-free subscription?

On Monday, YouTube posted an update saying people who use third-party ad-blockers “may experience buffering” or get a playback error. YouTube’s terms of service bans ad-blockers and now the video streaming giant is getting serious about enforcing this. [An ad-blocker] prevents the creator from being rewarded for viewership, and Ads on YouTube help support creators and let billions of people around the world use the streaming service,” said the announcement.

Last October, YouTube announced a “global effort” to crack down on ad-blocking services on the platform, per The Verge. Previously, this was rolled out to smaller groups and targeted specific ad-blockers. Users could still find a workaround by downloading a third-party app via YouTube’s API. But now YouTube is closing off all ways of ad-blocking by prohibiting third-party apps that do this as well.

This is undoubtedly a good thing for creators who make money from YouTube content, but a bummer for casual viewers, although we kinda get it. YouTube is in the delicate position of having to keep creators happy in addition to its advertisers and users. But this time, users are losing out. On the surface it’s a classic case of enshittification, or locking in users by offering a free service then gradually making it worse to force users to sign up for the premium version, but on the other hand, you could just sit through the ads.

By making YouTube videos unplayable, viewers are forced to turn off their ad-blockers or sign up for a YouTube Premium account which is $14 a month. Revenue from subscription fees is shared with creators in the YouTube Partner Program.

Connections is the latest New York Times word game that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for April 16’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

What is Connections?

The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer. If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories

Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Greatly surprised

• Green: Things a journalist write

• Blue: Smooth with no angles

• Purple: Layout of a theater

Here are today’s Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Flabbergast

• Green: Bit of Journalism

• Blue: On The Same Plane

• Purple: Theater Sections

Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to Connections #310 is…

What is the answer to Connections today

• Flabbergast: FLOOR, ROCK, SHOCK, SURPRISE

• Bit of Journalism: ARTICLE, FEATURE, REPORT, STORY

• On The Same Plane: EVEN, FLAT, FLUSH, LEVEL

• Theater Sections: BALCONY, BOX, ORCHESTRA, STAGE

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday’s Connections.

If you’re a gamer with a design bug, IKEA thinks you’ll love it’s new collection of “gaming furniture,” due in stores in September 2024.

The furniture giant says that its 20-piece Brännboll collection “challenges traditional gaming design” and should more peacefully co-exist in aesthetic harmony within your home than, say, a Secretlab gaming chair.

But the collection seems more like a brilliant marketing ploy than a genuine attempt to meet gamers where they are. Much of Brännboll looks like regular old IKEA furniture, accessorized with an Asus ROG Ally console or a Meta Quest 2 VR headset. The gaming market is currently estimated to be worth about $282 billion in the US alone and IKEA’s only previous foray into the industry was a small line of black and red gaming furniture in 2021.

A tall standing cabinet harbors a hidden fold-down tabletop with storage for a PC and monitor.
Credit: IKEA

A rolling castor stores gaming tech and accessories.
Credit: IKEA

Some pieces do actually make sense for gamers, like a tall standing cabinet that opens to reveal a fold-down tabletop with storage for a PC and monitor (also a handy piece for folks working at home). A second item, a green desk chair, resembles the design of the kind of traditional gaming chairs IKEA claims to be moving away from. A third piece, the “easy chair,” is described as providing a new “dynamic component of the virtual gaming experience” by “engag[ing] the gamer physically, swinging from side to side in harmony with their movement.”

The core of Brännboll is the easy chair and several low-to-the-ground seats, including an inflatable donut-shaped concoction that is so light it can be hung from a hook on the wall. A mouse pad, rug, and throw and storage solutions like a wall-mounted cabinet, wheeled castor, and a multifunctional basket round out the collection.

With its plan to return samples from Mars in jeopardy, NASA is now making a desperate plea for outside help to save the costly and complex mission.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson and the agency’s head of science, Nikki Fox, announced Monday they will seek suggestions from the greater space industry with a formal request for ideas. The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has been overseeing the mission from California, has already laid off about 530 employees — about 8 percent of its workforce — and 40 contractors in the face of budget constraints.

NASA will solicit new concept proposals for the mission that could reduce spending and hasten the timeline. The agency is also asking other NASA campuses to weigh in. By the fall, they hope to have some new ideas to consider.

When asked what happens if there aren’t any practical solutions, administrator Bill Nelson quipped, “Better than not to try.”

“I suspect if folks at NASA and our contractors and our centers and JPL put their minds to it, these are folks who can figure out rather difficult things,” he said during a call with reporters.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has been overseeing the mission from California, has already laid off about 530 employees — about 8 percent of its workforce — and 40 contractors in the face of budget constraints.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

Mars Sample Return, a complex mission to bring rocks and dirt back from the Red Planet, has been at a crossroads since last year. The mission’s swelling costs have led to layoffs and warnings of cancellation from Congress.

Independent reviews have found that the mission would likely cost upward of $11 billion to achieve by the 2030s — or would require delays that would set back the return to at least 2040. That spending projection is more than 50 percent higher than a range recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

But the nonpartisan Planetary Society has said the program is too important for NASA to scrap.

“Do the science, do it now, and do it with balance,” wrote Casey Dreier, the group’s senior space policy adviser.

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NASA’s Perseverance rover, a car-size lab on six wheels, has been collecting samples from the Jezero crater since 2021 with the hope they can be returned to Earth for scientific scrutiny.

Over the course of its exploration, Perseverance has been drilling into rocks and filling pairs of sample tubes so that each has a backup supply. The plan has been for the rover to eventually deliver the samples to a robotic lander equipped with a rocket to bring them back for study.

“Better than not to try.”

Plan B for recovering the Mars backup samples has been to use drones to take them to a lander.
Credit: NASA illustration

If Perseverance couldn’t make the transfers, Plan B would involve recovering the duplicate tubes from the ground where the rover is intentionally dropping them. In that scenario, drones similar to the recently deceased Ingenuity helicopter would pick them up and fly them to a lander.

Once the 30-or-so sample tubes had left Mars on the rocket, another spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet would bring them some 140 million miles back to Earth, according to the original plan. (With both planets constantly moving, their exact distance is always changing.)

The plan has been for the rover to deliver the samples to a robotic lander equipped with a rocket at a later time to bring them back to study.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

NASA sent Perseverance to the crater because it’s a place where planetary scientists think microscopic organisms — a.k.a. life — might have potentially existed long ago. The region is thought to be a dried delta, where water once emptied from a river into a lake. The remaining rocks may contain relics or clues about ancient life forms, if there ever were any.

The mission, a partnership with the European Space Agency, would not only include the first attempt to bring back dust and dirt from another full-fledged planet but also the first launch from the surface of another planet. Recovering the samples would fulfill one of the highest priorities of the scientific community for the next decade.

“This is not just a grab-a-rock mission,” Fox said. “These are very carefully, scientifically curated, and selected samples [from] a very diverse set of locations.”