When you've got a case of the Sunday scaries, sometimes the best cure is a cozy movie and a few hours of pretending Monday doesn't exist. Luckily, Paramount+ has plenty of feel-good options to help you squeeze a little more joy out of the weekend before it's over.

Paramount+ added over 120 new movies in September — and, of course, the highly anticipated second season of "MobLand" — but you don't need to go searching to figure out what to watch. Let me do the hard work for you.

I’ve rounded up three movies that make particularly good Sunday-night viewing: "Blue Eyed Girl" for a bittersweet dose of midlife introspection, "Clue" for a wildly funny murder mystery drenched in nostalgia, and "You’ve Got Mail" for the ultimate warm-and-fuzzy rom-com comfort watch. These movies are perfect for keeping those Monday blues at bay, so let's dive into the best feel-good movies on Paramount+ to watch right now.

'Blue Eyed Girl' (2025)

I'm adamant that a "feel good" movie doesn't have to mean shallow; so long as you walk away feeling lighter than you started, I argue there's plenty of room to explore the messier side of being human in 90 minutes while still ending things on a positive note. "Blue Eyed Girl" gets that, balancing love, loss, and laughter in a tender homecoming story grounded in the recognizable charm of Minneapolis streets.

This midlife coming-of-age dramedy stars Marisa Coughlan as Jane, a Minneapolis native who puts her successful Hollywood career on hold to head home and take care of her father (Beau Bridges) after his latest suicide attempt. She bickers with her sisters (Elia Coupe, Bridey Elliott), bumps into an old high school fame (Sam Trammell), and navigates the liminal space between youth and middle age, where “what could have been” meets “what is," learning to love herself through it all.

Watch "Blue Eyed Girl" on Paramount+ now

'Clue' (1985)

Ok, so it's not a feel-good movie in the traditional sense, but this movie never fails to put a big ol' smile on my face, so I think that counts! Plus, I'm sure I'm not alone in still grieving Tim Curry, and he's iconic as "Clue's" kooky but lovable butler Wadsworth. Based on the board game of the same name, "Clue" brings six strangers together for a dinner party at a secluded New England mansion hosted by Wadsworth and the soon-to-be-deceased Mr. A. Boddy (get it?).

The guests — Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd) and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn) — soon find themselves the prime suspects, especially after more bodies start turning up. Cracking the case won't be easy. A fun fact about this movie: There are multiple endings for how its core mystery wraps up, which were initially screened at different cinema locations, but are now all included on the movie’s digital/streaming release.

Watch "Clue" on Paramount+ now

'You've Got Mail' (1998)

Rom-coms are the Ford truck of feel-good movies: reliable, comforting, and somehow always able to haul your emotions out of whatever funk you're stuck in. One of the best rom-com pairings of all time, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, dominated the genre in the early 90s, following up "Sleepless in Seattle" with "You've Got Mail," a comforting hug in movie form that still feels surprisingly relevant, more than 20 years later.

The two play rival bookstore owners — she's the owner of a cozy, family-run shop while's he's a business executive of a major bookstore chain that just opened a new branch in her neighborhood. Unbeknownst to them, they have been anonymously exchanging emails under screen names, and begin falling for each other as they grow closer. Neither realizes the other’s true identity, but when the truth comes out, it threatens everything between them.

Watch "You've Got Mail" on Paramount+ now

More from Tom's Guide

• 'MobLand' season 2 kicks things off with a bang in a bloody season premiere and the return of Tom Hardy
• 5 best new movies to stream this weekend on Netflix, Paramount+, Prime Video, and more (Sept. 19-20)
• 3 new to Paramount+ movies you need to stream this weekend (Sept. 18-20)

I recently had a chat with a client who complained of tight hips and said he was trying to stretch more often. I asked him if he does any mobility routines in his own time outside of training, and he said no. Just a week later, he started appearing in my online group mobility classes and said he couldn't believe how much harder it feels than "just stretching."

That's because building flexible muscles and mobile joints isn't about sitting in a cross-legged position or touching your toes; it's about combining strength, balance, control and stability, moving your body and increasing range of motion.

Recently, I traveled to Greece for work and was both short on time and desperate for time alone in the gym. So, I put together a short hip mobility routine that acted as a dynamic warm-up before some quick treadmill sprints. Below, I show you how to do them and why. I recommend one of the best yoga mats before getting started.

If you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, or you're currently pregnant or postnatal, I recommend seeking advice before starting these exercises.

Watch: Your next dynamic warm-up is here

The routine: 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 3 rounds. Add or reduce the number of rounds if you prefer.

• Seated knee drives: Sit on a yoga mat with your legs in front of you. Come down onto your elbows with your back straight and gaze ahead. One at a time, draw a knee toward your chest with control, pause, then slowly lower the leg again. Add a band around your feet or above both knees for added intensity and resistance. Why? Your hip flexors assist with lifting your legs, so this move will help activate and strengthen them, plus your deeper stabilizing core muscles will also wake up. Runners can really benefit from this move.
• Up and overs: Sit with your legs in front of you and place a block or weight to one side. Place your hands by your hips for support or behind your head for an extra challenge. Engage your core and draw your navel in, keeping your chest proud and back straight. Lift your legs up and over the blocks, then back again. Slightly rotate as you move, engaging your waist. Why: I use this move to activate my core and ensure my hip flexors aren't taking over a core-based movement. It prepares your hips and abs for movement.
• Overhead squats: Stand with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart and raise your arms overhead, pulling your shoulders back and down. Engage your core, sit your hips back and lower into a squat, keeping your arms punched overhead with your biceps close to your ears. At the bottom of the squat, pause, then drive up through your legs to stand. Imagine you're holding a tray of champagne above your head that you don't want to spill. Why? OH squats train thoracic and lower-body mobility, strengthen the legs and activate your core and shoulders. Add a weight or block for more resistance.

What are the benefits?

Sometimes I feel like I spend 80% of my life talking about hips, but they really are an important and often neglected muscle group worth talking about, so I will continue to talk about them.

The up-and-over exercise is technically a core exercise, and it targets the obliques, abs and deeper core muscles like the transverse abdominis and the stabilizing hip flexors. Rotational motion is an effective way to strengthen your waist, which will help your body resist unwanted motion and impact.

Knee drives focus on activating the muscles used for lifting the knees, as you would when running or climbing. Using a band is particularly useful as your muscles must move against the force of the band to produce movement. I find this supportive exercise helpful if I have been sitting at a desk for too long during my working day.

Finally, overhead squats. Ask anyone on the street to perform an overhead squat for you, and I'd say 7/10 people won't be able to keep their arms lifted overhead. More often, the chest travels forward, and the arms end up parallel to the ground. It's not just a shoulder mobility issue; it can be thoracic, meaning upper body, or even lower body, meaning the hips, knees, or ankles. Squats will train your lower body, but overhead squats will make your upper body work hard so that you can shelve load in an upright position.

Control these movements and start with your bodyweight before adding bands or weights. You have plenty of time to progress through the exercises as you get stronger.

Always focus on finding length through your spine and keep your chest proud. If you struggle to engage your core properly during workouts, learn this 5-minute bracing routine first.

Give these a try, and let us know how you get on in the comments.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

More from Tom's Guide

• I teach people how to be more mobile: 3 low-impact back and shoulder moves that build stability and strength after 40
• I’m a personal trainer who works with clients aged 65+ daily. Here are the 2 exercises I always recommend when it comes to building mobility and balance
• A Pilates instructor shares a 6-move routine for over-60s to build balance, mobility and functional core strength

You don’t have to burn a hole in your pocket to get strong performance, and the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W proves it. The 15 HX B14W is excellent for casual gaming, thanks to its 165Hz refresh rate, and it’s good for productivity, too, with strong performance across the benchmark board. Its design is subtle while the build quality is solid. I also love the wide color coverage and accuracy, and all of these things come together to deliver one of the best budget laptops.

But few things in life are perfect, and the 15 HX B14W isn’t one of them. Its screen is a little dim, even at peak brightness, and it appears slightly washed out. Battery life is nothing to write home about either.

Should you still buy it? Read my full MSI Katana 15 HX B14W review to find out.

MSI Katana 15 HX B14W review: Specs

MSI Katana 15 HX B14W review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A budget gaming laptop with a 15.6-inch QHD display and 165Hz refresh rate
• Who is it for? Casual gamers on a budget
• How much does it cost? The MSI Katana 15 HX B14W starts at $1,284 / £1,299
• What do we like? The QHD display’s color coverage and accuracy, strong gaming and everyday performance on a budget, and the subtle design
• What don’t we like? The dim display, and short battery life

MSI Katana 15 HX B14W review: The ups

There’s a lot to love about the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W. It sports a subtle design, its color rendition is fantastic, and it boasts strong performance across gaming and productivity. Oh, and it doesn’t cost a lot either.

Subtle design, solid build

I’ll be honest: I’m not a huge fan of loud laptops laden with RGB lighting on their lids to tell the world that you are, in fact, a Gamer with a capital G. The MSI Katana 15 HX B14W keeps things low-key and subtle with its inconspicuous design. Branding’s limited to the MSI dragon on the lid, which is black and blends in with the laptop’s all-black design. Though the laptop is made entirely of plastic, it doesn’t feel cheap, tacky or too plasticky. The matte finish is lovely, and feels great to slide your fingers across (don’t look at me like that, you’ve done it, too).

The 15 HX B14W packs a 15.6-inch QHD non-touch screen, so the laptop measures 14.13 x 10.31 x 1 inches. It’s slightly bigger than the Alienware 16X Aurora ($2,499) and the HyperX Omen 15 ($1,099), also 15- and 16-inch laptops. While it isn’t as compact as, say, a 13-inch MacBook Air M5 ($1,099), the 15 HX B14W slides into most backpacks, and at 5.29lbs, I had no issues carrying it to and from work.

The 15 HX B14W’s design is as practical as it’s good-looking. There are plenty of ports for hooking up keyboards, mice, headsets, and other peripherals. All the ports are located along the left and right edges instead of ‘round the back, like on the Alienware 16X Aurora or the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI ($1,699). On the left, you’ll find two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and a third is located on the right, along with USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 / DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1 and ethernet ports. There’s also a 3.5mm jack for headphones and external microphones.

Beautiful QHD display

There’s no point in spending money — regardless of the amount — on a laptop that doesn’t feature a stunning display. Thankfully, the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W does, and it’s a joy to look at, work on, and play your favorite games on. Its 15.6-inch QHD screen has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, and it has a refresh rate of 165Hz which, for casual gamers, should suffice.

I’ll discuss the 15 HX B14W’s gaming performance in detail shortly, though, and for now, I’d like to talk about the vivid screen. Whether I was gaming or watching videos on YouTube, I thoroughly enjoyed the color rendition. The 15 HX B14W does a great job of displaying deep, rich blues and reds, inky blacks, and textured pastels. I felt immersed in the games I played and the videos I watched on YouTube.

It’s important to note that the 15 HX B14W doesn’t come with an OLED screen, regardless of the configuration, and if an OLED display is a necessity for you, I’d recommend the HyperX Omen 15 or the Alienware 16 Area-51 ($2,529).

Even though it doesn’t feature an OLED panel, the 15 HX B14W goes above and beyond when it comes to color coverage and accuracy. In my lab testing, the 15 HX B14W covered 151.3% of the sRGB color space and 107.1% of the wider DCI P3 gamut. MSI’s offering trumps nearly all of its competitors, barring the HyperX Omen 15. At 151.3% sRGB coverage, colors don’t appear oversaturated, nor do they carry a neon effect.

Alongside wide color coverage, you’re also getting superb color accuracy. The 15 HX B14W achieved a Delta-E score of 0.07. Delta-E is basically a numerical representation of how much two colors differ, and the closer the score to zero, the better. The 15 HX B14W 0.07 score means that colors displayed on its screen are as accurate as they can be. It also upstages its competitors, as you can see above. The differences are fairly negligible, though.

Strong performance across the board

For a gaming laptop that costs under $1,500, the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W puts in a strong performance across the board. This depends on the configuration you settle for, of course, but my review unit didn’t let me down, regardless of what I did on the laptop. It came fitted with an Intel Core i7 14650HX CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

Running multiple applications, having over 20 tabs open in Microsoft Edge, and having Steam running in the background wasn’t an issue for the 15 HX B14W. I didn’t experience any unresponsiveness or lag, but it should be noted that its fans can get quite loud. Thankfully, I didn’t experience any overheating. The same can’t be said for the similarly priced Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI, which I was benchmarking at the same time as the 15 HX B14W. The Neo 16 AI’s fans, air ducts and keyboard got quite hot, in comparison.

After using the laptop for a while, I benchmarked the 15 HX B14W to see how it fared against its rivals. On Geekbench 7, which tests overall CPU performance, the 15 HX B14W pulled in a solid multi-core score of 16,584, outclassing the HyperX Omen 15 and the MacBook Neo ($699) — though the latter is underpowered and is more of a productivity-focused notebook. That’s still respectable for a budget gaming laptop. The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI takes the crown here, with an impressive multi-core score of 23,100.

I then conducted our Handbrake video editing test, which transcodes a 4K video to 1080P, and the 15 HX B14W did so in three minutes and 24 seconds. That’s on par with the HyperX Omen 15 and the Alienware 16X Aurora. The 15 HX B14W also blows past both the MacBook Neo and the MacBook Air M5. Well played, MSI.

Last but not least, I ran the SSD BlackMagic Disk Speed to measure the 15 HX B14W’s write and read speeds. Again, the 15 HX B14W performed decently here, with 3,490 write and 3,902 read speeds (both measured in MBps). That’s solid SSD performance for a laptop that starts at $1,284 / £1,299. In everyday use, the 15 HX B14W didn’t give me much to complain about. The laptop booted up in seconds, as did applications, and transferring files from one folder to another was quick, too. This is an excellent everyday laptop for those on a budget.

Excellent for gaming

The MSI Katana 15 HX B14W is a powerful and competent gaming laptop, boasting a 165Hz refresh rate and the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series graphic cards. At its native resolution of 2560 x 1440 and thanks to DLSS 4.5, running the best Steam games without any issues is a walk in the park for the 15 HX B14W. Visuals are nothing short of stunning, and as I mentioned earlier, there’s no unresponsiveness or jittering.

I ran a few in-game benchmark tests to see how the 15 HX B14W fared, and it performed formidably. Counter-Strike 2 ran comfortably at 159fps, close to the laptop’s 165Hz refresh rate. This didn’t come as a surprise to me as Counter-Strike 2 isn’t the most demanding game — so how did the 15 HX B14W perform in more challenging titles?

Pretty well, actually! With the highest graphics settings enabled in Forza Horizon 5, the in-game benchmark reported an average framerate of 54fps. F1 25, on the other hand, ran at 30fps in Ultra High (lifelike) graphics mode. Both games are extremely system-hungry and intensive, but I didn’t experience any lag or issues when playing them.

All three framerates were recorded with the resolution set to 1440P, and you’re bound to get even better fps at 1080P, if it’s raw performance you’re after. The 15 HX B14W holds its own against the likes of the HyperX Omen 15. For a budget laptop, the 15 HX B14W really doesn’t let you down.

Reasonably priced

If you’re a casual gamer or even a student on a budget, the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W is one of the best gaming laptops you can buy today. Though not without its faults (more on that shortly), this is still a formidable notebook that delivers without breaking the bank. The 15 HX B14W starts at $1,284 at Best Buy U.S. / £1,299 at Currys U.K. This basic configuration features NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 graphics card, 16GB memory, and a 512GB SSD.

Unlike the Alienware 16X Aurora whose price skyrockets the more you add to it, the 15 HX B14W’s topline configuration doesn’t leave a hole in your pocket. Priced at $1,999 at Best Buy U.S. / £1,799 at Currys U.K., it packs an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB memory, and a 1TB SSD. It’s worth keeping an eye out for discounts, too, especially during Black Friday sales.

The 15 HX B14W is also cheaper than some of its primary competition, like the Alienware 16X Aurora ($2,499), the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI ($1,699), and the Alienware 16 Area-51 ($2,529).

MSI Katana 15 HX B14W review: The downs

There isn’t a lot wrong with the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W, but it’s worth noting that its screen isn’t the brightest, and battery life is short.

Not the brightest display

Though the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W boasts excellent color coverage and accuracy (as discussed earlier), its panel isn’t the brightest. It appears slightly washed out and dim. My lab tests confirmed the Katana 15 HX B14W’s poor performance, especially against its competitors.

In my lab testing, the Katana 15 HX B14W reached a peak brightness of just 262.2 nits which is pretty poor, bluntly put. All of its competitors outperform it — by a mile, at least. The similarly priced Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI has a peak brightness of 520.8 nits, while even the cheaper MacBook Neo is almost twice as bright.

Even with the brightness turned all the way up, I struggled to see the screen properly under bright office lights, and with sunlight coming through the windows right behind my chair in the office. I found my four-year-old MacBook Air M2 ($1,099) brighter than the 15 HW B14W — it reached a peak brightness of 495 nits in our lab tests!

Short-ish battery life

Gaming laptops, especially those that don’t cost a fortune, aren’t always known for their long battery life. Most of them need to be kept plugged in constantly if you’re playing intensive games, like Cyberpunk 2077 or Forza Horizon 6. The MSI Katana 15 HX B14W is no different. Its battery life is nothing to write home about.

In our in-house battery test where the laptop continuously browses the web and streams videos with brightness set to just 150 nits, the 15 HX B14W lasted five hours and nine minutes. Not great, given that all it was doing was pretty light work. When playing Cyberpunk 2077, I got a low battery notification after just over an hour.

While neither of those figures are good, it’s important to note that other gaming laptops struggle just as much. The Alienware 16X Aurora, for instance, is pricier than the 15 HX B14W and lasts just a minute over three hours. The HyperX Omen 15 enables you to surf the web for nearly nine hours on a single charge, but gaming quickly drops to 45 minutes, according to our real-world testing.

You can see other competitors’ battery performance in the table above. The 15 HX B14W, then, isn’t an anomaly, and its short runtime isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker.

MSI Katana 15 HX B14W review: Verdict

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed testing the MSI Katana 15 HX B14W for gaming and work. Its 165Hz refresh rate delivers smooth motion across video games, while the CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series GPU ensure responsiveness and speed. You also get exceptional color coverage and accuracy, making the 15 HX B14W fit for watching movies and photo editing.

While the 15 HX B14W doesn’t feature the brightest screen or the longest battery life, they aren’t dealbreakers. You’re still getting a competent gaming laptop that doesn’t break the bank while delivering stunning visuals. For students going back to school, casual gamers on a budget, and everyone else in between, the 15 HX B14W easily warrants a recommendation.

As someone who reviews tech for a living, I have more of an early adopter mindset when it comes to gadgets, which means I sometimes overlook little quirks because overall, this new piece of tech is just so darn cool.

However, I’m not like most people, which is why my wife plays a crucial role with any smart home tech I bring home to test. She’s far more skeptical than I am, and less tolerant of those little idiosyncrasies. Her mindset is: do we really need this in our home?

It’s a welcome reality check to my enthusiasm and has helped me become a much better product reviewer over the years.

For example, I once installed the Brilliant smart light switch in our dining room that had a touchscreen instead of a physical button. In addition to turning on the lights, you could also control music playback, talk to Alexa, and even use it as an intercom and a mini digital picture frame. But to turn the lights on and off manually, you had to tap the screen, then slide your fingers up or down.

That little extra bit of effort — plus the fact that it didn’t always respond when you tapped it — drove her crazy. She hated it “with the fury hot as a thousand suns” whenever it wouldn’t respond properly to touch. “I want to walk into a room and flick my hand without thinking or stopping and know that I will be able to see,” she said. Plus, these switches cost $299 each when we tested them; they're now $599.

I ultimately swapped it out for another smart light switch (one from Lutron), which has a physical control, and it also let me set up a wireless switch on the other side of the room without calling an electrician. I haven’t heard a complaint since.

Another thing that drove her bonkers was a $2,000 in-home robot that was more or less an iPad on wheels. It stood about four feet tall, rolled around, and was designed to follow you around, so that you could carry on video calls throughout your house. Not only was it huge, but it freaked out the dog and was terrifying to our then 3-year-old daughter.

“I thought that it would perhaps be a decent option for someone who had certain mobility deficiencies,” she said, “but why would it be necessary for anyone with typical motor skills?”

It quickly got boxed up and shipped out. I think it’s safe to say that any future robot that comes into our house will have a very high bar to clear. “If I’d been given a choice, it would have met the same fate as the printer in ‘Office Space',” she said.

You can forget about smart speakers — Alexa, Google, and Siri have all been banished to my attic office. We only ever really used them for turning our lights on and asking them to play music, and the idea that a device was always listening was unsettling.

Tech that I have brought home that she likes is things that just work with no fuss and disappear into the background. The aforementioned light switches, for instance. There are a few scattered throughout the house that are smart, in that I can set them to turn on and off on a schedule and connect them to smart assistants, but outwardly, they look just like any other non-smart switch.

One of her favorite items I’ve brought home was the Luma Indoor Composter. “It’s saved me from being swarmed by flies every time I open the barrel composter (which had been chewed through by an enterprising rat),” she said. “We’ve significantly reduced food waste and have done a great job feeding our garden with a dramatically expedited timeline. Sometimes it smells a little earthy in the kitchen while it’s on, but we just use it at night to avoid that problem.”

Sadly, the composter no longer appears to be in stock, but the model we have is still going strong two years later.

Holiday decorations are a winner. “We’ve had some fun Christmas lights which have a variety of themes we can wrap around our tree,” she said. “Want candlelight without worrying about setting the house on fire? How about an ombré rainbow one night and Chanukah blue and white the next (for the pizza bagel households like ours)? We can have all that and more without having to disturb a single ornament.”

The Alexa-enabled Big Mouth Billy Bass? Not so much.

It can be easy to get swept up in hyperbolic marketing claims and shiny new features; who doesn’t want a phone that can take better pictures, or a refrigerator that knows when you’re running out of milk? But as my wife proves, if those smart devices can’t smoothly replicate the dumb devices they’re replacing, then they’re not very smart at all.

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“Reacher” is not the best show ever made. It’s not even the best show on the air currently. I sometimes cringe when Reacher drops a cheesy, sarcastic line like “They didn’t say the magic word” or “They broke my toothbrush.”

What I can proclaim is that “Reacher” might be one of the few shows that understands the assignment. Through four seasons, it has mastered the action formula so well that it's one of the most enjoyable shows on television.

Fans just got more of the Reacherverse in “Neagley,” the spinoff series centered around Maria Sten’s Francis Neagley. And so far through the first half of the season, “Neagley” also understands the assignment.

'Reacher' believes in KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid

In the Reacherverse, simplicity is perfection. Jack Reacher, played by Alan Ritchson, is a drifter who fights for those who can’t defend themselves and delivers justice when he deems it necessary. His form of justice usually involves his fists, so the authorities typically have to look away since it’s not always legal.

Like P.A.C.E. in the excellent “Rebel Ridge,” “Reacher” is a show that believes in acronyms. The acronym you need to worry about right now is KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. So many shows abandon what works and try to reinvent the wheel, leading to poorly received seasons later in a series’ run. “The Walking Dead,” “Arrested Development,” and “Killing Eve” delivered excellent initial seasons before driving full speed off a cliff during later seasons.

It’s certainly an oversimplification of the plot and the show’s core mystery at the center of every season. However, I don’t think my synopsis is too far off from what happened to Reacher in Georgia, New York/New Jersey, Maine, and Philadelphia.

“Reacher” reminds me of a cop or medical show that runs in prime time on broadcast television. There might be a few surprises along the way, but for the most part, it’s a similar plot every season, featuring the same protagonists battling new antagonists.

And you know what? That is a tried-and-true method that has worked for 50 years, and it will likely work for 50 more as long as AI hasn’t replaced us yet.

Escapism at its finest

I don’t watch “Reacher” to be lectured about the world. I can turn on the news or listen to a podcast if I want to check in on current events. That’s not to say “Reacher” is apolitical. It may not deliberately pick a side, but the show revolves around an old-school lawman who distrusts politicians and the government. When the system fails, Reacher takes matters into his own hands. That’s not how our world works, but there’s satisfaction in watching a TV show about a guy who walks around with his toothbrush, solving problems with his fists.

“Reacher” is my perfect form of escapism. All you have to think about is the mystery. Who is responsible for this wrongdoing, and who will Reacher have to kill to get answers? Simple enough. I don’t need to spend hours on Reddit learning about the Targaryen family lineage in “House of the Dragon” or reading about the physics of parallel universes in “Dark Matter.”

That is unnecessary in “Reacher.” In season 1, Jack Reacher is arrested for murder upon arrival in Margrave, Georgia. Reacher must find out who framed him for murder and get to the bottom of this conspiracy. It's short, sweet, and to the point.

You know what else is good about escapism? You can suspend disbelief during the action sequences. Reacher is a more athletic version of Paul Bunyan who happens to be awesome at hand-to-hand combat. Reacher never loses a fight, but unlike Vin Diesel in the "Fast & Furious" saga, Ritchson is willing to take some damage to give off the illusion that he might be defeated.

Reacher will pull rabbits out of a hat every episode. You just have to accept it. In Season 3, Reacher somehow became an Olympic swimmer and pulled off an ocean swim despite heavy currents. Hang off a helicopter? Reacher does it with ease. Kicking a car to set off an airbag? No problem. Yet I find myself the most offended by Reacher’s innate ability to sprint in boots. He’d beat Usain Bolt in a race if both had to wear Timberland boots.

'Neagley' looks to carry the torch

If you ever wanted to see a female version of “Reacher,” you'll get that with “Neagley.” The series revolves around Francis Neagley, a security professional who served with Reacher in the Army. She’s likely Reacher’s only friend, too.

While working as a private investigator in Chicago, Neagley gets pulled into a mysterious case that ends with the death of her childhood friend. Neagley teams up with a local detective (Greyston Holt) to investigate an enigmatic cult that likely played a hand in the death of her friend.

I’ve seen half the episodes, and if you feared that “Neagley” wouldn’t deliver, think again. It still hits the same beats of a “Reacher” episode: Neagley fights the bad guys, though she prefers to shoot a gun over hand-to-hand combat. She pulls rabbits out of her hat and constantly gets out of impossible situations. However, the show explores more of Neagley’s backstory, including her haphephobia.

“Reacher” and “Neagley” are television done right. Sign me up for double-digit seasons.

Watch "Reacher" and "Neagley" on Prime Video.

The popular Fitbit Air is one of the best fitness trackers of 2026 thanks to its wallet-friendly price tag, reliable tracking, and simple-to-use design. However, it’s far from the only affordable, screen- and subscription-free fitness tracker out there.

I’m currently reviewing the Luna Band, a device I initially got hands-on back in January at CES in Las Vegas, and then again in early September at IFA in Berlin.

The Luna Band is a direct competitor to not just the Fitbit Air but also the Garmin Cirqa, and notably splits the difference, cost-wise, between the two. Feature-wise, all three trackers promise no-fuss insights into your daily movement, workouts, sleep quality, and overall well-being.

I’ve already covered the key differences between the Luna Band and Garmin Cirqa. Here are the five most important things to know when comparing the Luna Band vs. Fitbit Air.

1. The Luna Band is $50 pricier

When it comes to price, the Fitbit Air has the Luna Band beat. Google’s screenless tracker starts at just $99, while the Luna Band is $149. That said, the latter is still a better bargain than the $199 Garmin Cirqa.

2. But none of Luna’s features are paywalled

While the Fitbit Air is less expensive upfront compared to the Luna Band, in the long run, the Google tracker might end up costing you more.

Unlike the higher-end Whoop 5.0, neither the Garmin Cirqa nor the Fitbit Air nor the Luna Band require you to sign up for a subscription to use basic features. However, both Garmin and Google paywall some of the more advanced features behind a monthly/annual cost.

For example, access to Google Health Premium for the Fitbit Air is $9.99 a month or $99 for the year. Meanwhile, the Garmin Connect+ plan is $6.99 monthly or $69.99 annually.

Luna takes a different approach, as noted numerous times on the Luna Band product page: All of the Luna Band’s features, including personalized AI insights, are subscription-free for the life of the device.

3. The Luna Band has better battery life

The Luna Band also has a higher battery life rating than the Fitbit Air: up to ten days per charge — the same as Garmin Cirqa — versus seven days per charge for the Google wearable. That said, I’ve personally verified the claims of the Fitbit and Garmin, but not the Luna Band, so stay tuned for real-world verification.

4. But the Fitbit Air is smaller and lighter

Of these three trackers, the Fitbit Air is by far the lightest and most comfortable, thanks in part to a narrower strap and more compact tracking tech. In terms of weight, the Fitbit Air clocks in at just ~14 g, compared to ~26 g for the Luna Band; the Garmin Cirqa weighs ~22 g.

5. The Luna Band uses haptic feedback to deliver notifications

While both the Fitbit Air and Luna Band support haptic feedback, on-device vibrations are a much bigger part of the user experience for the latter. For example, the Fitbit Air only buzzes when you set a “Smart Alarm” to wake you up via haptics at an optimal time in your sleep cycle. That’s basically it.

On the Luna Band, users can set the device to vibrate for health alerts, notifications, and alarms. Haptics can also be set to automatically “nudge” you throughout the day to stand up and/or move around.

What are your thoughts on the Luna Band? Would you consider purchasing one over the competition? Moreover, which 2026 screenless fitness tracker do you like the most? Let me know below.

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Exactly two years on from the release of the AirPods 4 ANC, there's a new cheap earbud in town: the AirPods 5. And, oh boy, are the newest earbuds even cheaper. At just $124/$149 (standard case vs wireless charging case), the AirPods 5 are actually the most inexpensive AirPods ever released.

And the best part? The AirPods 5 have ANC as standard. No paying $50 for ANC this time around; the $124 AirPods come with the feature as standard. Sure, there's a "premium" and "budget" model — the $124 standard charging case version has an hour less battery than the $149 wireless charging case — but this is pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things.

But should you upgrade if you have the AirPods 4 ANC? What are the differences between the AirPods 5 and AirPods 4? I've got all the answers and more. Spoiler alert: I genuinely think the AirPods 5 are some of the best cheap earbuds on the market right now.

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Specs compared

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Price

While the AirPods 4 ANC are technically discontinued, you can still purchase them at Amazon U.S., Best Buy, and Walmart. Currently, they're discounted to $149 down from the MSRP of $179, which is still a whopping $20 pricier than the brand-new AirPods 5.

There are a few different versions of the AirPods 4 ANC and AirPods 5, so I'll quickly walk you through them.

The AirPods 4 come with and without ANC. The non-ANC version are $99, while the ANC version are $149 (discounted).

The AirPods 5 come with either a standard charging case or a wireless charging case, $124 and $149 at Amazon, respectively. Both versions have ANC as standard.

This is a huge step in the right direction, and I know I'm not the only person happy with Apple's switch-up. Charging $50 extra for ANC in 2026 is audacious. Of course, the AirPods 5 still have a "basic" and "premium" version, but this is in the form of a wireless or wired charging case, so it's much more palatable — and the price difference is only $20.

Winner: AirPods 5

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Design & features

As Apple's "entry-level" earbuds, neither the AirPods 5 nor the AirPods 4 ANC can hold a candle to the AirPods Pro 3 in terms of features. Even so, the AirPods 4/5 offer a different design than the Pro 3 that some might find more comfortable. That being said, if you struggle with silicone ear tips, you'll be much better off with the 5 or 4.

But how do you choose between 5 and 4? Appearance-wise, the 4 and 5 are pretty identical. Both have the plain stem design we're familiar with, and both are relatively small. Both stay in my ears well enough, but aren't as snug as the Pro 3.

The AirPods 4 ANC and AirPods 5 wireless charging cases are noticeably tiny. They're just 0.8 inches thick and 1.8 inches wide, and weigh just 1.2 ounces.

The AirPods 5 have volume swipe, which is a much-loved addition.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the AirPods 5 durability now matches the AirPods Pro 3. While both AirPods 4 models were just IP54-rated, the IP57 rating on the 5 means the earbuds/charging case can survive underwater for around half an hour, as opposed to mere splashes.

In theory, you could fall in a pool with the AirPods 5 in your pocket, and they'd survive.

Physical features aside, both the AirPods 4 ANC and the AirPods 5 have Apple's flagship H2 audio chip. But what does this actually mean in real life? What can these earbuds actually do?

In short, they have access to sophisticated Siri integration. You can ask your earbuds complex things like "Hey Siri, what did John just text me?" or "Hey Siri, play XYZ track right now".

The AirPods 4 ANC and 5 also have Live Translation, which was one of the standout features of Apple Intelligence. Of course, you need an AI-enabled iPhone to use AI features.

Even so, many AirPods 4 and AirPods 5 features are identical. Take a look at this.

The big glaring issue with both earbuds are their support for the Bluetooth 5.3 standard. Yes, one of the biggest tech brands in the world — if not the biggest — is releasing earbuds in the grand old 2026 with Bluetooth 5.3. This Bluetooth version came out in 2021. Samsung released its entry-level Galaxy Buds 4 with Bluetooth 6.0.

In real terms, this means the AirPods 5 might not be as reliable as earbuds with 6.0, and they don't have as large a range. You'd be able to get further away from your Samsung buds before they disconnect.

However, both the AirPods 4 ANC (2024) and AirPods 5 (2026) have Bluetooth 5.3, but because the 4 are older, I'm more forgiving. Apple, please do not release the AirPods Pro 4 or AirPods 6 with Bluetooth 5.3.

Even so, the AirPods 4 and 5 have all the same Apple ecosystem integration. This is seamless, and I have nothing bad to say about this. It's the main reason why I can't quit my AirPods.

Winner: AirPods 5.

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Sound quality

This might be a somewhat controversial opinion: I don't think the AirPods 4 ANC sound good. At all.

The treble tends to err on the side of "tinny", and some percussion feels metallic and overly crisp. While the bass sounds controlled and confidently handled, this is upset by the lack of warmth in the treble.

Consequently, I'm not a huge fan of the AirPods 4 ANC. Even though they're the entry-level AirPods, and therefore I'm not holding them to the same standard as AirPods Pro 2/3, there are cheaper earbuds that actually sound better.

But the AirPods 5 are completely different. Bass is more controlled and elegant, while there's no unpleasant tinniness in the treble. "Punishers" by Die Spitz is an atmospheric rock track with soft female vocals and all-encompassing bass. Every layer of this track sounded clear on the AirPods 5, whereas the AirPods 4 pushed the bass back and made the rolling guitars sound a little crunchy.

This is true in pop and electronic genres, too. "Space Cadet" by sim0ne balanced the immersive synth motifs with the sped-up vocals excellently, and the hyperspeed DnB-tinged percussion didn't overpower the piano notes. When I listened with the AirPods 4, the higher-frequency synths and some of the snare drum effects were a little tinny.

Winner: AirPods 5

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: ANC

ANC on the AirPods 4 is merely fine. I could still hear myself typing; I could hear general office sounds like moving chairs and a particularly overloaded gaming laptop.

ANC on the AirPods 5 is slightly better, but only slightly. I could still hear myself typing, as well as office conversations. While walking around the city, most ambient sound was minimized, but I could still make out high-frequency sounds like laughter and squawking seagulls.

So, while the AirPods 5 cinch this round, neither are groundbreaking ANC-wise. For that, you'd need earbuds with a silicone ear tip.

Winner: AirPods 5

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Call quality

Call quality on both the AirPods 4 ANC and AirPods 5 is excellent. At this point in the wireless earbud life cycle, you can safely assume all big-name earbuds will have great call quality.

When testing the AirPods 4 ANC and the AirPods 5, my voice was clear and audible, even while walking through busy city streets. One wasn't better than the other — both are tip-top.

Winner: Draw

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Battery

The AirPods 4 ANC have just 4 hours of listening time with ANC (up to 20 hours with the case). Yes, 4 hours. No, that's not a typo.

It pains me to write this, but the AirPods 5 also have just 4 hours of listening time (20 hours with the case). The wireless charging case version offers 5/30 hours. This is simply not good enough in 2026.

When much, much smaller brands (EarFun) offer 8 hours with ANC on $99 earbuds, this discrepancy can't help but sting. Sure, the AirPods 5 may be running more power-intensive features, but the EarFun Air Pro 4+ can do everything the AirPods 5 can, and more. AI live translation? Yes. Lossless Bluetooth playback? Yes. Strong ANC? Yes.

In the future, I'd like to see Apple go for 6 hours as the bare, bare minimum.

Winner: Draw

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Verdict

There is zero competition here. You should definitely get the AirPods 5 over the AirPods 4.

For starters, the AirPods 4 (even on sale) are actually more expensive than the AirPods 5. If that hasn't convinced you, I don't know what will.

Secondly, the AirPods 5 sound so much better. There's zero tinniness, more control across the low end, and more liveliness in the treble. In short, they're just better to listen to. The AirPods 5 sound more like AirPods Pro 3 than the AirPods 4.

Without a doubt, you should grab the AirPods 5. This is the upgrade we've been waiting for.

AirPods 5 vs AirPods 4 ANC: Ratings scorecard

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I have a confession to make: When I first saw the iPhone Duo announced at September’s ‘Surprise and shine’ keynote, I was happy to see Apple enter the foldable market — but I wasn’t entirely sold on the device.

My limited experience with various Android foldables has been positive — but it’s always left me feeling like I’d rather pair a small regular phone with a mini tablet instead of having them sandwiched together. So I went into a brief hands-on demo with the iPhone Duo this week with a healthy amount of skepticism. And of course I’m going to reserve full judgment for when Tom’s Guide can test and review the device properly — but three things immediately stood out to me after spending a half hour with Apple's $1,999 handset.

These were things you just don’t appreciate when you look at pictures or watch videos of the device; you need to hold it in your hand to really appreciate them. And I’m not talking about the crease.

The weighting is perfect

In an effort to make folding phones as thin and light as possible when folded, I’ve noticed they sometimes feel too flimsy when unfolded. Case in point is last year's Oppo Find N5, which is the foldable I've spent the most time with and measures just 4.21mm when open (8.93mm thick when folded) and weighs 229 grams (8.07 ounces).

The iPhone Duo, by comparison, is 5.2mm when open and weighs 254 grams (8.96 ounces). If your first instinct is to shudder and recoil because thinner and lighter is always better, then I’m here to tell you it’s not the case when you hold the device in your hand.

Part of the reason I like using a tablet is that there’s some degree of heft and chunk that you can actually grip onto when you’re reading, sketching or watching something. Not enough to make your arm sore, of course, but enough to make it feel like you’re holding something that won’t snap in half. The iPhone Duo nails that balance perfectly, and it was super reassuring the second I picked it up off the display table.

The matte display rocks

I’m not going to talk about the crease (yes there is one, and yes, you can see it if you look closely) or the animation, but what was really cool about the Duo’s inner display was the Nano-texture finish. It gives it this epic level of matte quality that Apple says is scratch-resistant and 40 percent stiffer than the competition.

My use case for foldable phones is chiefly about productivity — for my sins I look at spreadsheets more than Netflix movies while commuting — and the Duo’s inner display is so easy on the eyes I couldn’t help but feel it’d be perfect for this. Reflective glare from aggressive overhead lighting is expertly muted by this matte texture for readability and functionality.

If you want to read ebooks, or when you come to use an Apple Pencil to sketch or take notes, I’m convinced the decision to go matte will make this a quality experience.

It’s a fingerprint magnet

Okay, this isn’t exactly a positive point, but I need to make it anyway. The iPhone Duo comes in two shades: Star White and Night Sky. And the latter seemed — to me, at least — a fingerprint magnet. In all the images, you’re likely to see the finely polished Ceramic Shield back looking flawless. And it does... until you start pawing at it with greasy fingers. For what it's worth, I didn’t notice this as much on the Star White colorway.

It seems petty to dunk on such a well-engineered device for something so trivial, especially since Apple has achieved an IP68 protection rating. That means it's safe against both water and dust and (as with the weight example above) this really does feel like a durable device in the hand. If you're one of the people who wraps their iPhone up in a case anyway, then you can completely ignore this entire point.

Bottom line

There is, of course, way more to unpack with the iPhone Duo when it hits the market in October. And I have more thoughts on things like the camera performance and iOS 27 that I’ll write up if and when I get more time with it. But the points above were just what sprung instantly to mind the minute I picked it up. If you want more, read my colleague Mark’s in-depth hands-on with the Duo following his experience with it at Apple Park.

But from my very brief time with it, my takeaway is that Apple’s long-awaited entry into the foldable phone category has arrived in style. Everything from the feeling of snapping it shut to the way the passport-style form factor nestles into your palm is sublime. There’s certainly a high price of entry, but after using the iPhone Duo myself, I think a lot of people will be willing to pay it once they actually get to experience it in their own hands.

Let me know what your thoughts are about the iPhone Duo in the comments below. Are you interested in trying one, or are you happy with a regular, non-folding phone? I’d love to hear from you.

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There is nothing quite as puzzling as finding a random, messy clump of leaves crammed beneath your shed ramp or behind stacked boxes in your garage. Most homeowners assume a stray cat, rat, or squirrel is making a mess on their property, reaching straight for the broom to sweep it away and block off the gap.

Before clearing it out, take a closer look. That unsung leaf pile might not be random yard debris at all. It could be a temporary den built by an opossum. Unlike birds or mice, North America's only native marsupials build nests that look completely different from other common yard critters.

Once you know what to look for, you can stop worrying about structural damage and recognize that you simply have a temporary guest taking shelter for a few days.

What an opossum nest actually looks like

Unlike birds that weave intricate cups or squirrels that build neat dreys high in trees, opossums build simple, un-woven dens designed purely for short-term insulation.

An opossum nest looks like a tight, compressed bundle of yard debris stuffed firmly into a cavity. It lacks any neat architectural pattern, often resembling a simple pile of swept-up leaves.

They primarily gather dry leaves, fallen grass, twigs, and shredded bark. In suburban areas, they will also tuck in human scrap like paper, fabric, or plastic wrappers.

Opossums stay low. Look for dens tucked beneath deck steps, under shed foundations, inside hollow logs, or behind stacked boxes in cool, dark garage corners.

The leaf trail telltale sign

Opossums have a unique way of gathering nesting materials using their prehensile tails. They pick up leaves or grass with their mouths, pass the bedding under their bodies with their feet, and wrap the tip of their tail tightly around the bundle to carry it back to their den.

If you spot accumulated piles of dry leaves stuffed into small gaps or cavities under a porch or shed, an opossum may be building its nest nearby.

3 common opossum myths

Before trying to remove an opossum, it helps to separate internet myths from wildlife facts:

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The rom-com genre is an enduring crowd favorite, and it keeps getting new entries every year. This past year has seen big-name titles like the Jennifer Lopez-led "Office Romance," Netflix's "People We Meet on Vacation" adaptation, the sci-fi romance "One Night Only," and more.

But that ever-expanding world of rom-coms can mean that you might have missed out on some fun and frisky flicks over the years. That's where Tom's Guide has come in. We've delved into Hulu's extensive streaming platform and pulled out three under-the-radar romantic comedies that are well worth a watch.

If you're looking for something lighthearted, swoon-worthy and with a feel-good ending, here are three rom-com movies on Hulu that you probably haven't seen but should add to your watch list.

'The Ultimate Playlist of Noise'

This 2021 Hulu original is of the musical rom-com tradition (think "Music & Lyrics," "Begin Again" and what have you)—Marcus Lund (Keean Johnson) is a high school senior who is obsessed with all things music and sound, and harbors a crush on a fellow singer, Wendy (Madeline Brewer).

After learning he must undergo brain surgery that will render him deaf, however, Marcus decides to embark on a cross-country road trip to record the Ultimate Playlist of Noise, an audio bucket list of all his favorite sounds before silence takes over, with Wendy joining in for the ride to New York City.

Stream "The Ultimate Playlist of Noise" on Hulu now

'Palm Springs'

The millennial answer to "Groundhog Day," this 2020 favorite stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as two wedding guests—he, the carefree Nyles, and she, the depressed Sarah—who have a chance encounter at the Palm Springs-set nuptials of Sarah's half-sister.

They share a mutual attraction, but one that gets significantly more complicated when the duo discovers the next morning that they have been inadvertently sucked into a mysterious time loop, meaning they cannot escape the wedding nor each other.

"Strong performances, assured direction, and a refreshingly original concept make Palm Springs a romcom that's easy to fall in love with," praises the critical consensus over on Rotten Tomatoes, where the sci-fi-tinged romance has a stellar 94% approval rating. (J.K. Simmons, Meredith Hagner, Camila Mendes, Tyler Hoechlin, and Peter Gallagher also star.)

Stream "Palm Springs" on Hulu now

'Maybe I Do'

Now, we won't lie to you; this one wasn't loved by critics. (It earned a pretty abysmal 31% Rotten Tomatoes rating.) But just look at that splashy cast: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey, William H. Macy, and the late, great Diane Keaton. We've undoubtedly gone soft in the wake of Keaton's passing, but we're never going to say no to watching the beloved actress delight in a genre she so excelled in.

The gist is this: With marriage on the brain, blossoming couple Michelle (Roberts) and Allen (Bracey) invite their parents to finally meet—only to make the horrifying discovery that their respective parents not only already know one another but also are secretly having affairs with each other.

Stream "Maybe I Do" on Hulu now

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It seems like once you hit a certain age, the passage of time hits warp-speed levels of fast.

My years as a child, teen and 20-year-old felt like they lasted the longest, as I experienced so many amazing events during my upbringing. But as soon as I hit 30, the years just began blending as life just sped on by. There have been some monumental changes that have occurred during my seasoned years—I’m grateful to still be relatively healthy, staying busy with a rewarding career, having a steady income and being a part of a strong social circle.

As I near the end of my 30s (which has gone by much faster than I expected), I’m now in the mindset of a pre-planner, ready to set myself up for greatness in my 40s. You can never start too early when the time arrives for you to start putting the many things in practice that can make your older years infinitely more rewarding.

To set me up for success, I asked ChatGPT and Gemini a simple question: “What are the 7 main things everyone should learn after they're 40?” The life lessons they supplied me with gave me a new outlook on life and the best ways to thrive in my later years.

ChatGPT’s sage advice

These are ChatGPT’s four pointers on how everyone should live through their 40s:

• How to manage your money for the long game: Learn how much you actually need to live well, how compound growth works, how to avoid lifestyle inflation, and how to prioritize retirement savings, emergency funds, debt reduction, and appropriate investing. Lesson: After 40, financial freedom often comes less from making more money and more from keeping enough of it.
• How to choose your relationships: By 40, you should start recognizing the difference between people you know, people you like, and people who genuinely make your life better. Invest in the friends and family members who reciprocate. Stop chasing people who repeatedly demonstrate that they don't value the relationship. Lesson: Your social circle becomes increasingly important because you're no longer just accumulating experiences — you're deciding who gets to share your life.
• How to handle change and uncertainty: Careers change. Parents age. Children grow up. Relationships evolve. Technology transforms industries. Your priorities can change dramatically, too. Learn how to adapt without constantly feeling like you're starting over. Lesson: You don't need to know exactly what the next 10 years look like. You need to become comfortable figuring things out as they happen.
• How to enjoy your life without waiting for "someday": A surprisingly important lesson: stop postponing everything good. Don't automatically assume you'll travel when you retire, pursue hobbies when you're less busy, or spend more time with people you love when work slows down. Build enjoyable experiences into your current life. Lesson: Retirement isn't guaranteed, and neither is perfect health, unlimited free time, or having the people you love around forever.

My bank’s financial adviser has been ringing my phone off the hook lately (and I’ll admit to not returning his call yet…). So that first tip stood out to me as a clear sign that I need to sit down with him and have a conversation about setting myself up for a good financial future.

I have a pretty solid group of friends and family members that improve my life as much as I hope I do theirs. There are certainly a few people I know who value the money and gifts I give them over a casual chat over the phone and random hangouts with no strings attached—those are the ones that I’ll have to keep a distance from as I get older.

The words “change” and “uncertainty” are a part of my industry, so I’ve gotten used to that. What I have a harder time dealing with is the changes that hit me in my personal life. I know I’ll have to get over their mindset, as my relationships may change for the worse and my priorities expand (especially if I ever have a family). I’m guilty of putting off my friendly get-togethers for weeks on end—I’ll be sure to make a habit of following up on them more frequently and actually being in attendance more often than not.

Gemini’s useful counsel

And here are the three most useful bits of life advice that Gemini provided me with:

• Strength Training and Mobility over Pure Cardio: Muscle mass naturally decreases by 3% to 8% per decade after age 30, and joint stiffness accelerates if neglected. While cardio is great for heart health, prioritizing resistance training and mobility work (like yoga or dedicated stretching) protects bone density, keeps your metabolism active, and prevents back and joint pain.
• Deepening Sleep Architecture and Stress Recovery: Sleep isn't just about feeling rested; it is the brain’s primary mechanism for clearing cellular waste and regulating hormones. After 40, your body becomes less forgiving of chronic sleep deprivation and unmanaged stress. Learning proper sleep hygiene, managing cortisol levels, and incorporating daily recovery practices directly affect long-term cognitive health.
• Cultivating "Beginner’s Mind" (Neuroplasticity): Cognitive flexibility requires deliberate effort as you age. Picking up entirely new skills—learning an instrument, mastering a language, or taking up a complex hobby—forces the brain to build new neural pathways. Staying a beginner keeps your mind sharp, resilient, and adaptable.

Gemini’s advice proved to be as eye-opening as ChatGPT’s. Switching my focus in the gym, making more of a concerted effort to develop a healthy sleeping regimen and going out of my way to acquire new skills are three other facets of my coming 40s that I need to adopt.

Once I finally reach that age, I’ll definitely zero in on those tips—I’ve been meaning to learn Japanese and finally get over my fear of roller skating by actually getting proficient at it, so those are two goals I’ll look to achieve in my 40s.

The takeaway

ChatGPT, Gemini and the additional advice of the people I know who are currently in their 40s & have lived through them already gave me a wealth of useful information to incorporate into my life. Those tips had a clear focus on maintaining one’s physical health for the better, being financially competent, being comfortable with periods of uncertainty and more.

With all those words of wisdom for anyone about to approach their 40s, I now have a clearer picture of what I should and shouldn’t do by the time I exit my 30s.

More from Tom’s Guide

• Snapchat launches its own AI — and says Snap Intelligence will 'anticipate your needs'
• ChatGPT is now my go-to for recommendations — 7 prompts I use to find new movies, music, games and more
• I asked ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini what’s happening right now — some of the answers were shockingly outdated

When summer wanes and the leaves begin to turn, that’s around the time I start getting questions about Black Friday. People who know that I cover the TV business for a living begin to ask: Is it worth waiting until Black Friday to buy a new TV?

In the months leading up to November, some folks feel as though they’re in an awkward, pre-sale-season limbo, and with so much hype around holiday sales events, it’s easy to see why.

Before you commit to holding off on a new purchase or go all-in on that new big-screen this weekend, here’s what you ought to consider.

There are advantages to shopping for a TV on (or around) Black Friday

The benefits of buying a TV around Black Friday are twofold. The first is obvious: Stores competitively cut prices during their Black Friday sales events in order to entice shoppers ahead of the holidays.

The second benefit isn’t quite as obvious, but it’s nevertheless relevant: Since these sales arrive at the end of the calendar year, many newly released TVs have already seen several rounds of price cuts by the time the sale starts.

This creates a perfect storm of savings opportunities. Stores slash the prices of already-discounted sets, and this double-dipping takes some TVs down to their lowest price on record.

As a result, most new TVs are “on sale” during Black Friday sales events, either because they’ve already seen discounts throughout the year, and/or because a retailer is cutting their price as part of the sale.

The key question, then, is how much savings one is leaving on the table by shopping ahead of Black Friday.

How much money do you save by buying a TV on Black Friday?

After over ten years of testing, reviewing and tracking the sales of TVs, I’ve developed a not-so-scientific, vibes-based answer to this very question: a few hundred bucks.

How much is a few hundred? Well, sometimes it’s $200 and sometimes it’s $500. Some TVs crash by over $1,000, and others, weirdly, climb in price.

“But Michael,” you might be saying, “doesn’t that make the word ‘few’ inaccurate? Don’t words have meaning? Are we not trying to have a society here?”

Consider this: Some TVs are released exclusively on Black Friday and debut on sale. That doesn’t stop retailers from slapping a big ol’ “$800 off!” label on the listing, referring to an original price that technically never really existed.

In other words, we don’t exist in a realm that makes much sense. Besides, sale prices are impossible to predict. Brands are constantly affected by forces great and small that contribute to when products go on sale (and for how much).

So, if you ask me how much extra money you’re spending by buying a TV now instead of waiting until Black Friday, I’ll tell you what I tell everyone else: probably a few hundred bucks. And that brings me to my final point.

If you want a new TV right now, you shouldn't wait until Black Friday

I know, I know: This piece of advice seems like a bit of a cop-out.

“Buy a TV if you want a TV” may seem like an obvious statement to make (and it is), but the truth of the matter is that no one but yourself can decide if — ahem — a few hundred bucks is more valuable than having a new TV between now and Black Friday. Nor can anyone tell you which models are most likely to get the biggest discounts when these sales events start churning out deals.

I can tell you two things with certainty: Most new TVs will be on sale during Black Friday, but most of these models are already relatively close to what will eventually be their lowest price.

Your particular circumstances and preferences matter more than anything else in this scenario. Maybe the risk of spending more on a TV now than you will in a couple of months is worth having a new screen to look at during football season. Perhaps you're really itching to do that marathon of "The Lord of the Rings" sooner rather than later.

Just for fun, let’s take a look at one of the most popular TVs among our readers during Black Friday last year: the LG C5 OLED.

According to my records, in late September of 2025, the 65-inch C5 was $1,699 at Best Buy. When Black Friday rolled around a couple of months later, the same model had fallen to $1,399.

The LG C6 OLED — the C5's successor — appears to be following a similar trajectory. At the time of publishing, the 65-inch LG C6 is $1,599.

While there's no way to know for sure, my hunch is that this model will settle between $1,299 and $1,399 at major retailers during Black Friday sales events. If I'm correct, the cost of skipping the wait will be about $200 to $300.

In other words, a few hundred bucks.

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"The Split Up" is a fresh spin-off from "The Split" and takes us into the heart of Manchester with the Kishan family delivering legal drama.

Here's how to watch "The Split Up" online from anywhere with this VPN — and potentially for free.

If you enjoyed "The Split" you're obviously going to be invested in "The Split Up" right from the get-go. This show brings the same legal tension and family drama that creator Abi Morgan is famous for, but funnels all of that into the setting of Manchester as rising star Aria Kishan looks to inherit the family firm.

Across six episodes the family deal with elite clients seeking divorce, while Aria has to handle her own relationship issues and the grief of losing her mother, too. If that wasn't enticing enough, Sanjeev Bhaskar is a cast regular and there are also guest stars popping up including Jameela Jamil, Lenny Henry, and Jane Horrocks to add a level of star quality to proceedings.

Ready to watch the band's epic tour? Here's how to watch "The Split Up" online and from anywhere, with a free option on offer, too.

How to watch 'The Split Up' from anywhere

Thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network), "The Split Up" should be available to Brits no matter where they are. The software allows your devices to appear to be back in the U.K. and watch iPlayer for free, as if you were back home.

Not all VPNs works for this — but NordVPN (try risk-free) does (we use it daily).

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. Try NordVPN.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're away from the U.K. and want to view a U.K. service, you'd select U.K. from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the show. Head to BBC iPlayer to watch "The Split Up" online and on-demand.

Watch 'The Split Up' in the U.K.

"The Split Up" will be broadcast on BBC One, with the fist episode airing on Sunday, September 20 at 9 p.m. BST. Episode two will air on Monday, September 21, with new episodes following for the next two Sundays and Mondays.

If you miss the broadcast, you can replay it on BBC iPlayer. The full boxset will be available on there from September 20.

Outside the U.K.? You don't have to miss the show if you are a Brit living abroad because you can watch your usual streams from anywhere with a VPN.

Can you watch 'The Split Up' in the U.S., Canada or Australia?

Unfortunately, as the show is tied to the BBC, there is no way to watch "The Split Up" on any linear TV channels in the U.S., Canada, or Australia (or anywhere outside of the U.K.). The series will not be playing on any streaming services, either.

It's possible it may be released at a later date on British services such as BritBox, but there is currently no plan for that, either.

The solution? NordVPN can unlock your stream if you're a British resident so you can watch "The Split Up" from anywhere.

'The Split Up' — all you need to know

'The Split Up' - cast

• Ritu Arya as Aria Kishan
• Sanjeev Bhaskar as Dhruv Kishan
• Connor Horrigan
• Aysha Kala as Maya Kishan
• Arian Nik as Kav Kishan
• Danny Ashok as Neal
• Dimitri Leonidas
• Mawaan Rizwan
• Sindhu Vee
• Victoria Ekanoye
• Tom Forbes
• Lenny Henry
• Jane Horrocks
• Jameela Jamil
• Debbie Rush

'The Split Up' - trailer

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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Longevity tests aren't necessarily an obvious challenge; they can include simple tasks like balancing on one leg or getting up from the floor without using your hands. I say "simple," but as we age, if we don't maintain muscle mass and strength, bone density, mobility and balance, those tasks actually become secretly challenging.

The natural loss of lean muscle mass and strength later in life, a process known as sarcopenia, can impact your balance, meaning injuries, falls, or trips could become more frequent. If you're curious about where you stand, now is the time to test it.

The aim after around 40 is to maintain functional ability. If you're unable to do this balance and power exercise on both sides, I recommend trying resistance workouts using single-sided exercises and balance training or mobility drills to help improve things.

Below, let's test yours.

Watch: The single-leg sit and stand test

If you experience pain at any time, stop and rest. If you're working with an injury or health condition, I recommend seeking advice before starting these exercises, especially if you find it difficult to stand on one leg or have lower-body joint issues.

The test

• Sit on a chair or low stool with your feet hip-width apart on the ground in front of you. Extend your arms away from you or place your hands on your hips
• Shift your weight into your right leg, then lift your left leg into the air. Engage your core and lean slightly forward without hunching
• Press through your right leg to stand up with as much power as you can
• From standing, try to sit down again, remaining balanced on your right leg, keeping your left leg extended
• Swap sides.

The 'why'

First and foremost, this is a test of strength, power and balance, but adding it into your routine with or without weights can also build single-leg strength, control and stability in your lower body and core.

Avoid allowing your knee to cave inward, as this places pressure on the knee joint. As you stand and lower, try to keep the movement controlled without rushing.

This is also a unilateral exercise, meaning you'll work your left and right sides individually. Working this way is particularly useful if you, like pretty much everyone else, have a dominant side and weaker or imbalanced areas. Identifying these through balancing tests will help you to fix them, making exercise and daily tasks easier in the long run.

Think of all the types of activities you do while balancing on one leg: tying laces, climbing, running, or stepping onto something.

If you have tight or weak hips, lower your leg a little or softly bend the knee. You can also use a higher surface to make things easier, or use one foot as a kickstand for a gentle assist.

To make it more challenging, lower the height of the chair or stool, keep your floating leg straight and high, or consider holding a weight.

Your ability to stand up unassisted and balance on one leg is a great measure of aging. This can be due to changes in proprioception, neuromuscular control, core strength and joint stability impacting your ability to stay independent.

If there's a huge difference between the left and right sides, I strongly recommend adding more single-sided strength and balance exercises to your routine. Single-leg deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats and lunges are great examples, alongside practicing sitting and standing on one leg.

Over time, balance training will help strengthen your joints, muscles and ligaments, build power, which can improve exercise performance, plus help prevent injury and make daily life a lot easier.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

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Watch FREE 2026 UCI Road World Championships live streams to see who will get to wear the rainbow bands for the next 12 months.

Returning to Canada for the first time since 2003 this year’s road Worlds are based in and around the city of Montreal. There are 13 gold medals to be won over the week starting with the TT events on Sunday the 20th and ending with the Men’s road race a week later.

Any riders who have ridden the Grand Prix de la Montréal will be familiar with the road race circuit as it’s an exact replica of the undulating course which treats the riders to an ascent of Mount Royal each lap. The TT courses are different though, based on the roads around the old town and the port.

All the World's best riders will be present from Demi Vollering and Lotte Kopecky to Remco Evenepoel and Tom Pidcock apart of course for one very big name, Tadej Pogačar after he crashed out of the Vuelta and was forced to end his season.

See below for a full preview of events.

You can watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 live streams from anywhere with a VPN, and potentially for FREE.

Watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 live streams for free

FREE UCI Road World Championships 2026 streaming is available in multiple countries:

Abroad? If you're based in any of these countries but aren't at home during the race, don't worry — you can unblock your usual local stream with a VPN. We'll show you how to do that below.

Watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 streams from abroad

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching the cycling on your usual subscription service?

You can still watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 live streams thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software enables your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So, it's ideal for sports fans away on vacation or on business. Our favourite is NordVPN. It's the best in the field:

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're in the U.S. and want to view an Australian service, you'd select Australia from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to SBS On Demand or another streaming service and watch the action.

How to watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 live streams in the U.S.

Cycling fans in the U.S. can watch the 2026 UCI Road World Championships on FloBikes. A subscription will set you back US$155.88 for the year or US$39.99 on a monthly basis.

If you're out of the US but still want to watch the 2026 UCI Road World Championships then don't forget to explore the VPN route set out above, which will help you access your subscriptions from anywhere.

How to watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 live streams in the U.K.

In the UK, the BBC will be showing selected events from the UCI Road World Championships live and on-demand for FREE on BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website

The UCI Road World Championships are also is streaming live each day on TNT Sports in the UK.

TNT coverage in the UK is on the HBO Max platform. It costs £30.99 per month, though there is a better value £25.99 "saver plan" available if you sign up for a 12-month term.

Streams will be spread out across the TNT Sports Channels.

If you're currently traveling overseas, don't worry, as you can use NordVPN to watch your usual service from abroad.

How to watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 live streams in Canada

Fans in Canada can watch the UCI Road World Championships 2026 on free streaming service CBC Gem

As host of this year's World Championships, a deal has been struck with the local broadcaster meaning you can watch all the action at no cost.

Not at home right now? Use NordVPN or another VPN service to trick your device into thinking you're still in Canada.

How to watch UCI Road World Championships 2026 live streams in Australia

The UCI Road World Championships 2026 are available on Stan Sport in Australia.

Prices start at AU$9.99 for a standard sub with the Sport add-on coming in at AU$20/month. This also gets you access to a host of other sport, including Premier League and Champions League football and Nations Championship rugby.

Outside Oz? Use NordVPN or another VPN service to trick your device into thinking you're still in Australia.

2026 UCI Road World Championships Preview

Kicking off the championships will be the Women’s Elite TT and starting as favourite on the predominantly flat course will be the 2025 World Champion Marlon Reusser. She will however have to hold off the challenge of Britain's rising star Zoe Bäckstedt, who at just 21 is 14 years younger than Reusser and riding the elite champs for the first time.

In the Men’s event later the same day you’d have to be crazy to bet against Remco Evenepoel, who is currently in a class of his own when it comes to the TT. Going for his 4th title in a row the only rider with a realistic chance of beating him is the Italian great Filippo Ganna, however the climb to the finish may just be too steep for him.

After the Elite TT’s on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are for the U23, Junior and the mixed relay events run over various permutations of the roads used for the elite races.

With the TT medals awarded it’s time to begin the road races and these kick off with the Women’s Under 23 and Men’s Junior race on the Thursday followed by the Men’s U23 and Women’s Junior on the Friday. All covering different distances the one thing they have in common is the inclusion of the event's signature climb, the infamous Mount Royal.

After the warm up acts have finished it’s time for the show-piece events, the Elite Road Races. First up are the women on Saturday as they face 180 kilometres including 8 laps of the city centre circuit which means eight ascents of Mount Royal. Favourite to take the win, and her first rainbow bands is the Dutch rider Demi Vollering as she aims to cap a sensational season. The only riders in with a sniff of beating her are likely to be Paula Blasi, Elisa Longo Borghini and the 2025 Tour de France winner Kasia Niewiadoma.

If there is a hot favourite for the women’s race the men’s is the total opposite. In the absence of Tadej Pogačar who is sidelined with injury there are now a whole host of riders who will be dreaming of claiming the rainbow bands. Covering 274 kilometres and climbing 3,800 meters the course is hilly but nothing these riders won't be used to and keeps the door open for all sorts of styles to triumph. Heading the list must be Evenepoel though who will be aiming to double up by winning the TT and the RR but behind him you could take your pick from Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert, Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro and of course 2023 champion Mathieu van den Poel.

2026 UCI Road World Championships event schedule

Sunday, 20 September | Women’s elite individual time trial | 39.2km | 09:00 - 11:20

Sunday, 20 September | Men’s elite individual time trial | 39.2km | 12:45 - 15:15

Monday, 21 September | Women’s U23 individual time trial | 20.3km | 09:00 - 10:40

Monday, 21 September | Men’s U23 individual time trial | 31.3km | 12:00 - 14:25

Tuesday, 22 September | Team time trial mixed relay | 40.6km | 08:30 - 11:15

Tuesday, 22 September | Men’s junior individual time trial | 10.7km | 12:15 - 14:25

Tuesday, 22 September | Women’s junior individual time trial | 10.7km | 15:15 - 16:45

Thursday, 24 September | Women’s U23 road race | 134km | 09:00 - 12:45

Thursday, 24 September | Men’s junior road race | 134km | 13:30 - 17:00

Friday, 25 September | Men’s U23 road race | 174km | 09:00 - 13:20

Friday, 25 September | Women’s junior road race | 80.4km | 14:15 - 16:35

Saturday, 26 September | Women’s elite road race | 180.4km | 09:00 - 14:10

Sunday, 27 September | Men’s elite road race | 273.7km | 09:00 - 15:40

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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

I have spent an inordinate amount of money at Ikea since I moved into my house; you can easily find at least two Ikea products in every single room. But recently, the thing I've been liking the most about the Swedish retailer is its growing range of extremely affordable electronics. It seems too good to be true, but so far I haven't been let down by them.

Needless to say, I've been quite eager to try out Ikea's Västmärke Qi2 wireless charging stand which debuted last December. Clearly other people have had the same idea, because I've had to wait months for the charger to come back in stock here in the U.K. I'm not even exaggerating either: Not only have I been waiting for this to come back in stock since May, Ikea already seems to have run out.

Considering the Västmärke stand is just £9 here in the U.K. (roughly $12), it's no surprise that people would want to get their hands on it, even if they did have to spend a little extra for one of Ikea's 30W charging bricks. If there's a cheaper Qi2 charger out there, I haven't come across it.

Sadly Ikea U.S. isn't quite so generous in the price, and American buyers will need to pay $30 for a Västmärke stand of their own — $5 more than the original launch price. That's still a cheap price for a Qi2 stand, but it's on a par with other budget chargers on sale from big names like Belkin and Anker.

What is the Västmärke wireless charging stand?

Västmärke is cheap for a reason, and that reason is that it's primarily made out of cork and plastic. There are no premium materials here, like metal or rubber.

Personally, I think it looks like a cheap product, though I admit that I may be letting the fact I hate touching cork skew my opinion a little bit. I really can't stand the stuff, but I can't fault Ikea for using a material that is cheap, sustainable and biodegradable.

There's no charging brick in the box, but the Västmärke does come with its own 47-inch (120cm) USB-C cable. The cable is built into the stand, though, so if it breaks you can't just replace it with a new one.

Looks and materials only form part of the equation, though. What sets the Västmärke stand apart from most cheap wireless chargers is that it's fully Qi2 certified. For those who don't know, Qi2 wireless charging is faster than the original Qi1 standard, and offers more advanced charging protocols in the process. This includes adaptive charging speed that lets your phone dictate how much power comes in, rather than being forced to accept a fixed flow of electricity.

Crucially, though, this is a magnetic Qi2 charger. That means any Qi2 capable phones, including most iPhones and the Google Pixel 11 series, will connect to the charger using a built-in ring of magnets. Other phones, such as Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, can also take advantage of this with special Qi2-compatible cases. The use of magnets ensures that wireless charging coils are perfectly aligned, which means better overall efficiency — leading to faster charging and less heat.

The downside is that the Västmärke stand is limited to 15W charging speeds. That's fine for some phones, but there are phones like iPhone 18 Pro and Google Pixel 11 that support up to 25W Qi2 wireless charging. So bear in mind that such phones will not be wireless charging as fast as they physically can.

What's it like using Västmärke?

Cork aversion aside, I can't say I've seen a wireless charging stand that looks aesthetically pleasing on its own. So credit where it's due, Ikea's created something that doesn't look industrial and clunky. Even if the design does feel a little bit cheap.

From a performance perspective, I can't fault Västmärke in any way. The magnet snapped onto the back of my Pixel 11 Pro XL and iPhone 17 Pro Max as advertised, and immediately kicked off the wireless charging session right away. That includes both phones' special charging display modes, better known as "Standby" on iOS and the simple "Screen saver" on Android.

The magnetic connection is nice and strong, which makes it easy to pick up the phone without disconnecting the stand. That can be good and bad, depending on your point of view, and like most magnetic chargers a little bit of effort is needed to ensure your phone is disconnected when you need it to be. The rubber base on the bottom of the Västmärke ensures there is enough friction to do that pretty seamlessly, though.

There's not much more I can say about the charging process itself. The Västmärke recharged both of my phones without issue, and according to my USB-C power meter it was hitting the speeds you'd expect from a 15W wireless charger.

Surprisingly it did register power levels in excess of 15W at times. I'm not sure why, but when recharging my Pixel 11 Pro from zero percent, the power rose to just over 18W at certain points. That's no big deal for the phone, it can handle up to 25W wireless charging, but it was weird to see considering the Västmärke is a 15W charger.

I can only assume that the stand was charging at a full 15W, with the rest of the energy being wasted somewhere along the way. Wireless charging is notorious for producing heat, after all, and the Västmärke is no exception to that. So maybe avoid using it during heat waves, unless you have a very large fan nearby.

Bottom line

I'd be pretty impressed with the Västmärke wireless charging stand, even if I'd paid the full $30 for it. But for £9/$12? That's an absolute no-brainer, and none of my criticisms matter. I may not be a fan of the overall design, but I can't really be mad that a cheap stand looks cheap. Certainly not when its wireless charging capabilities rival those of other, pricier Qi2 chargers I've used.

The Västmärke charging stand feels like it's too good to be true. These are prices that you'd normally expect from no-brand wireless chargers that max out at 10W if you're lucky. Instead, this is an Ikea product, and after so many years of offering cheap chargers and other electronics, I feel as though it's more than earned my trust.

If you're in the market for a wireless charger, and your nearest Ikea has the Västmärke in stock, I definitely recommend picking one up. Especially if you're in the U.K., because it probably won't be there for long.

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Golf is an expensive sport. You could easily spend thousands of dollars on clubs, a pair of the best golf shoes and don't even get me started on the price of tee times. It's maddening, but we golfers keep coming back for more. Gluttons for wallet punishment, are we?

But if you own a 3D printer (I used the Bambu Lab A1 Combo to print these products), there are some golf-related accessories you can print that are actually useful. I tried tons of different 3D prints for golf, and there are three in particular that stand out as being useful, especially for practicing in the simulator or on the range.

And best of all, they're readily available without any custom 3D design knowledge required, so even if you're a complete beginner to the world of 3D printing, you can send these designs to your printer and take part in the fun.

Now, I'm not saying there are huge cost savings with these, since a 3D printer costs more than you'd spend on these particular accessories. But if you 3D print a bunch of other stuff and add these to the rotation, you will take a little weight off your wallet.

Plus, there's the satisfaction of knowing you made something for yourself that you'll actually use.

Golf Ball Dispenser Pro

For me, the Golf Ball Dispenser Pro is the ultimate 3D-printed golf accessory. It gives you much of the same functionality as driving ranges with auto-tee capabilities, but at home (or at a cheaper range that doesn't offer it). While it's a slightly more complicated print, it does print everything you need to use the dispenser (except a golf ball, which is used as a weight).

I highly recommend printing the funnel so it can hold a few extra balls, since it means you don't have to fill it as often and you can keep your practice flowing without stopping (there's an even larger ball garage that has come out since I printed mine, but I haven't tried it, so I can't speak to how well it works). Between the funnel and the actual dispenser, you can step up your practice game in a big way without spending much money.

Weighted Tee Base for Golf Simulator

When you're practicing in the simulator or range, your tees fly all over the place. That's where this Weighted Tee Base for Golf Simulator comes in. Products like the K2 Golf tee holder do a similar job, but they're pricey. If you own a 3D printer, some sand (or something heavy you can fit inside it) and a rubber-band tether, you can print this weighted tee base and save a lot of cash.

I definitely enjoy not having to chase my simulator tees all around the room with every tee shot. When practicing driver, this lets you get more shots off in less time, which will help you improve faster. After all, good practice is all about efficiency, and this simple 3D print gives you that.

Golf Tee Elevator

Maybe I'm just being weird, but I'm very particular about the height of my golf tee. At the same time, I'm terrible about using the same type of tee all the time. I usually use whatever I pull out of my bag, which makes lining up the exact height a pain.

When I saw the Golf Tee Elevator on MakerWorld, I found the solution. No matter what kind of tee I grab (or find on the ground near the tee box), I can slot it into this and set it in the ground at the perfect height.

Does it really make a difference in the quality of my tee shots? Probably not, but the consistency gives me one less thing to think about, and any distraction you can get rid of on the course is a good thing.

Golf and 3D printing, together at last

MakerWorld has tons of other 3D-printed golf accessories, such as tees, a grip training aid, alignment stick holders, and more. However, the three listed here are the ones that have really been game-changers for me personally. But don't be afraid to expand out and try other fun golf prints. You never know what's best for you until you try.

And what do you have to lose besides some filament and a couple of hours of print time?

More from Tom's Guide

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• 'I noticed how much farther and straighter it was flying': PGA Tour pro Ben Griffin on playing a cheaper golf ball at The Masters

I can think of precious few movies from the last 10 years that I get excited about watching again for work. "Anatomy of a Fall" is one of them. Every time I re-watch it, I notice something new, both delightful and heartbreaking in equal measure. It's an intelligent thriller where a suspicious death puts a marriage under a microscope, hushed arguments of fights past hashed out in court while their young son watches on.

"Anatomy of a Fall" is about to leave Netflix this week on Sept. 23, so I have an excuse to yap about this Oscar winning that starts as a psychological thriller and ends with a courtroom drama for the history books. If you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth a watch before it leaves one of the best streaming services. Netflix got hundreds of new movies in September, but as always, it means we're saying goodbye to other great ones on our watchlist. So while it's still on Netflix, don't miss "Anatomy of a Fall."

Still not convinced? I hear ya. Who wants to waste their precious streaming time with a dud? Here's everything you need to know about why "Anatomy of a Fall" deserves a spot on your watchlist.

What is 'Anatomy of a Fall' about?

The title breaks things down splendidly. If a husband falls to his death after a fight with his wife, who's to say it wasn't murder? That's the premise of Justine Triet's Palme d'Or- and Oscar-winning movie, "Anatomy of a Fall."

It's the kind of film where you quickly realize you must choose whose word to trust. But really, who is telling the truth doesn’t matter as much as how their stories make you feel. A cast impeccably led by Sandra Hüller in the performance of a lifetime, that you inevitably grow to root for.

"You must never lie to yourself," a mother tells her son, played by Milo Machado-Graner, a genuine talent beyond his years. His father, the equal parts conniving and charming Swann Arlaud, winds up dead. Suicide? Or defenestration? (Please indulge me, I rarely get the chance to use the word.)

Let me set the scene with the movie's iconic opening sequence. A younger woman (a student?) records an interview with an older woman while an objectively sick saxophone instrumental spoils the gay panic clear on display. It's hilarious both with and without context, and sets the tone exquisitely.

Stream 'Anatomy of a Fall' on Netflix now

Sometimes a movie doesn’t have to do anything more than execute a simple premise well. I said the same thing of “Obsession." The setting is scrumptious — the a-frame attic of my dreams on a snowy mountain cabin. In a weird way, it makes "Anatomy of a Fall" a perfect summer send-off in these Unprecedented Times. It's hard to explain exactly without spoiling the steady drip of discovery at the heart of this film, so if I'm being annoyingly vague, I apologize. I will continue to be.

"Anatomy of a Fall" is spectacle in a glorious sense. It'll hypnotize you in the way films were once known for; the kind where you'd look up at the clock and realize an afternoon's disappeared. The meatier themes give eagle-eyed viewers plenty to gnaw on as you get lost in Triet, Hüller, and the rest of these movie magic scientists breaking down the anatomy of a fall again, and again, and again.

Also, this is purely self-indulgent, but shout-out to Antoine Reinartz for the French Phoenix Wright impression I didn't know I needed. I love it when a side character completely kills a role, and this man had me obsessed.

So check out "Anatomy of a Fall" on Netflix before it's gone. Pro tip: If you miss that Sept. 23 deadline, there's another place you can stream it. All you'll need to do is sign up for a Kanopy account for free with a public library card or university login. Kanopy's library is stacked with over 30,000 movies, TV shows, and educational videos, and like the rest of the best streaming platforms, it's constantly rotating its stock. That includes some newer releases on Kanopy too, like 2022's "Marcel the Shell With Shoes On" and "Everything Everywhere All at Once."

Watch "Anatomy of a Fall" on Netflix

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Waking up at 3 a.m. is a recurring sleep problem I can’t seem to shake. Just when I think I’ve kicked the problem for good, I find myself wide awake in the middle of the night, unable to fall back to sleep again.

Exhausted and frustrated, I sought the advice of Dr. Aric Prather, a world-renowned sleep expert and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. He instantly identified a key new mistake I’m making in the lead up to bedtime and explained how it could be causing my new wave of middle insomnia (3 a.m. wake-ups).

Here's what Dr. Prather, a published author, discovered, and why he recommends a 'two-hour digital buffer' at bedtime to reduce my chances of waking up at 3 a.m. and feeling exhausted the night day.

My key mistake

The quiet hours in the lead up to bedtime is usually an opportunity for me to catch up on unfinished work. Then I can climb into bed with one less thing to worry about.

But according to Dr. Prather, a sleep expert at BetterSleep, that's my big mistake. And it could be a driver for why I'm waking up at 3 a.m. again. “Working outside of normal hours can be detrimental to sleep when it becomes a regular habit.”

• Research shows that working outside of work hours is associated with worse sleep quality.
• Also, those who work late experience a larger Cortisol Awake Response (CAR), which can lead to 3 a.m. wake ups.

Evidence shows that engaging our brains in work-related activities — even if for a short time — can make it difficult for our brains to then switch off in order to fall into deep, restorative sleep.

“The issue is the difficulty of mentally transitioning from work to rest. Evening emails, deadlines, and unfinished tasks can keep the brain alert, making it harder to detach psychologically from work before bed.

“This can delay sleep, reduce sleep quality, and contribute to fatigue the following day,” says Dr. Prather.

So, although you might only spend a few minutes responding to work queries, the difficulty is ensuring your brain has enough time to disengage from 'work mode' in order to prepare for sleep.

“Even after you close your laptop, your mind may keep processing work-related concerns, making it harder to get restful sleep,” says Dr. Prather. “This can contribute to nighttime awakenings.

Cortisol rising

And there's science to support that thinking. A small month-long study of 58 employees found that checking emails outside of work hours was associated with worse sleep quality.

The same study also highlighted that those who worked in the run up to bedtime had a larger Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR). CAR is a term to describe the natural rise in the hormone cortisol that begins around 3 a.m. and reaches its peak upon waking, helping you to feel alert.

But instead of a natural and steady rise, a larger CAR can indicate a surge of cortisol at 3 a.m., waking you up from sleep. Could checking a few emails really cause that?

"A larger Cortisol Awakening Response may also indicate changes in the body's stress-response system, although it is not, by itself, a definitive measure of poor sleep," says Dr. Prather.

"The best way to understand the connection is to track when you work, when you go to bed, and when you wake up over several weeks," advises the sleep expert. "If the 3 a.m. awakenings consistently follow evenings of work, that pattern is worth taking seriously."

The simple routine change

After tracking my own nighttime routine habits and my 3 a.m. wake ups, there's undoubtedly a clear correlation between the stints I work in the evening and the frequency of my nighttime awakenings.

So, instead of working in the run up to bedtime, I've been implementing a 'two-hour digital buffer' to wind down for better sleep.

Here Dr. Prather explains why it works: "Creating a digital buffer is a great strategy, and setting aside the final 60–120 minutes before bed for non-work activities can make a meaningful difference."

Dr. Prather says that the goal is to give ourselves a meaningful window in which to transition from productivity to rest.

"During that time, I would try to engage in calming activities, such as reading, watching light television, taking a warm shower, stretching, and meditating.

"Basically, you are looking for activities that create a feeling of calm. The specific activities are less important," says Dr. Prather.

It's early days, but swapping emails for analogue activities, such as reading in bed, is already lowering the frequency of the dreaded 3 a.m. wake ups.

Other habits I'm using to stop waking up at 3 a.m.

As we shift through sleep cycles, waking up at night is normal. It happens multiple times a night and we rarely remember it. However, waking up at night becomes an issue when we can't easily fall back to sleep.

As someone on an ongoing journey to improve my sleep, I know there's rarely ever really one simple 'fix' to sleeping better.

In addition to avoiding working late into the evening, these are the habits I try to stick to in order to reduce the frequency of my 3 a.m. wake ups:

• Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule: Your circadian rhythm functions best when you stick to a regular sleep routine, helping you fall asleep faster and wake up feeling refreshed.
• A comfortable sleep environment: After years of waking up at night due to an uncomfortable bed, I now sleep on the best mattress for my sleep style.
• Create dark and quiet sleep space: Ambient light and noise pollution can lead to nighttime disturbances. To combat those, I wear a blackout eye mask to bed and pop in my Ozlo 2 sleepbuds to drown out any sound.

When you share a fence line with your neighbor next door, understanding property boundaries and your legal rights can easily get confusing. This often comes to light when painting shared fences, or even trimming your neighbor’s overhanging trees.

But if your neighbor has a fruit tree and its tasty harvest keeps dropping into your yard or over the fence, what should you do?

While it might seem fine to gather them for your own pie (finder’s keepers, no?), you’ll need to know the rules and legalities first. What’s more, who’s responsible for clearing up the mess in your yard?

To avoid a potential dispute, I asked the experts what the rules are when it comes to your neighbor's falling fruit in your yard. Is it ever okay to eat it, and how do you approach your neighbor about the ongoing issue?

So before you take a bite out of that tempting apple, here's everything you need to know.

Do I have the right to collect and eat fallen fruit?

If your neighbor’s fruit keeps falling in your yard, surely it belongs to you, right? Wrong.

According to legal experts, this isn’t entirely the case — and can even be considered ‘theft’. “The law about windfall fruit is clear-cut: fruit belongs to the person who owns the tree, not the person who owns the ground on which it lands,” states Stacy Kemp Ferrari, Founder & Managing Partner at Kemp Law Group.

So, what if their fruit trees are overhanging your property line? “It doesn't matter if their branches are hanging over your fence, as those branches are still their property and this includes any windfall fruit that may drop onto your lawn,” adds Ferrari.

“And you cannot eat them if you did not get any permission from the owner of the tree. Picking it up and eating it could be classed as conversion (a civil offense) and in some cases, even theft.”

With that said, dealing with a heavy crop of windfall apples on your lawn can be a nuisance. But should you return the fruit to your neighbor?

“It's a nice thing to do even if you're not required to return fallen fruit, plus it protects you from other issues later on,” suggests Edward Susolik, CEO & President of Callahan & Blaine, PC.

“In some places you are expected to bring trimmed branches that were hanging onto your property and any fruit they had back to your neighbor, so returning the fruit or at least telling your neighbor creates good faith and that matters if things get to the point of escalating.”

However, when fruit starts to rot and accumulate in large quantities, it can quickly invite unwanted pests such as rodents into your yard. Should this turn into a persistent problem, you’ll need to address the situation (calmly) with your neighbor regarding their fruit trees right away.

“Calmness and presenting the facts on the specific issue is the best way to go about it — then provide a written recap through a follow-up text or email that summarizes what was said,” advises Susolik.

How do I talk to my neighbor about this?

Speaking to your neighbor about uncomfortable subjects can be daunting, but it shouldn’t be. What’s more, it will save you the hassle of a potential neighborhood dispute in the long-run.

Experts agree there is nothing wrong with a quick knock on your neighbor’s door to ask permission to help yourselves to some of the fallen apples.

“This conversation could sound like, 'Hey, I love your apple tree. I'm not sure if you are aware but they are falling into my garden,” suggests Nikkita Torres, mediator and founder of Neutral Voice Mediation.

“How the conversation is started and how the neighbor is approached will directly reflect the outcome. This person is a part of your daily life because they live next to you. Your home should be a space that you come to and find peace and safety, not a war with your neighbor. “

So if you want to avoid any neighborhood wars, be sure to keep these rules in mind before picking up fallen fruit.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to prepare fruit trees for winter — 7 expert tips
• 5 rude habits your neighbors hate
• This Martha Stewart-approved trick shows you how to protect your trees

I’ve been dinging Apple for years for holding back on giving serious shooters like me what we’ve been asking for: true manual camera controls. But while testing the iPhone 18 Pro Max, I found myself initially distracted by another headline grabber: the variable aperture camera.

To be fair, it genuinely changes the mechanics of shooting with a phone — not just an iPhone. Instead of relying on simulated portrait blur, you get authentic optical depth of field and true light control. That's the exact tool I want when dialed into chasing a specific aesthetic.

But the longer I’ve spent working inside Apple’s revamped Camera app, the more I’ve realized my attention was pulled in the wrong direction. The real star of the show isn't the moving physical blades — it’s Pro Controls. Here’s why.

Not all iPhones get it

Pro Controls finally makes the native iOS Camera app feel less like a basic point-and-shoot and more like a serious mirrorless rig. Quite simply, it’s the dedicated manual shooting suite I’ve been demanding for years, with granular controls for exposure, shutter speed, white balance, focus, aperture, resolution, and more. Best of all, these tools are accessible right from the viewfinder — no more jumping into the system Settings just to tweak a shooting parameter. But there’s a catch.

Apple is keeping the feature strictly walled off, making it exclusive to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. I was crossing my fingers that it might trickle down to the iPhone 17 Pro series via the official iOS 27 update, but that’s not happening. Just as surprising, the upcoming iPhone Duo won’t get Pro Controls either.

A familiar layout with depth under the hood

Along the edge of the viewfinder are the essential toggles for white balance, aperture, exposure compensation, flash, and Live Photos. They remain there for quick, one-tap access, but reaching the rest of the Pro Controls requires digging a little deeper by tapping the camera settings icon.

Doing so opens a floating overlay where you can adjust shutter speed, manual focus, format options, and more. It’s also where you can toggle a live histogram, select a Photographic Style, or tweak Night mode.

Interestingly, Apple includes separate controls for aperture and depth. The former physically moves the blades on the main sensor to cycle through four hardware aperture stops, while the latter controls simulated bokeh — fake background blur, as I call it. Both have their place, but I far prefer the authentic falloff of the physical aperture.

If there’s one issue I have with this setup, it’s that there doesn't appear to be a way to customize which parameters stay pinned to the primary screen. Personally, I couldn't care less about Live Photos or the flash. I just hope Apple realizes this and gives shooters the freedom to organize the layout that best suits them with subsequent software updates.

Video also gets the Pro treatment

Stills aren’t the only beneficiary on the iPhone 18 Pro series — Pro Controls makes its way over to video recording as well. While the suite isn’t quite as extensive as the photo side, Apple included the two parameters that matter most for serious video work: physical aperture and manual shutter speed.

Unlocking shutter speed is a huge win for videographers like me who juggle multi-camera workflows. Previous iPhones locked shutter speed behind automated computational exposure, often resulting in unnatural or jittery motion blur that.

Being able to manually dial in your shutter speed makes it far easier to cut footage from the iPhone 18 Pro alongside dedicated cameras. For instance, you can lock in at 1/50 or 1/60 to maintain natural motion blur, or crank it to 1/240 to give fast-paced action sequences that dramatic edge.

Bottom line

At the end of the day, Pro Controls is the real camera upgrade I’ve been asking for because I no longer need to rely on third-party apps just to take full creative command of a shot. Everything I need is finally baked directly into the native Camera app, with zero subscription fees or clunky workarounds.

The only glaring omission left on the table is manual ISO control, which Apple stubbornly keeps locked down. Even with that limitation, Pro Controls is the definitive feature that transforms the iPhone 18 Pro series from a mere point-and-shoot smartphone into a genuine creative powerhouse.

More from Tom's Guide

• iOS 27 has a hidden Mac Easter egg — here's how to trigger it
• iPhone 18 Pro benchmarks: Apple just built the most powerful phones we've ever seen
• iPhone 18 Pro Max and 18 Pro battery life tested — the results are surprising

Adel el Hallak has a DGX Spark sitting in his house. It runs AI jobs overnight, and if he forgets to give it something to do before bed, he feels bad about it.

"At home I feel guilty if I don't kick off my job for it to work on all night," el Hallak, Nvidia's VP of Product, tells Tom's Guide. "It doesn't make noise. And I feel guilty if I don't do that for something on a personal front — because it's plugged in anyway."

It's a small, endearing detail from a wide-ranging interview — but it also points at where AI is headed, particularly local AI. Because when the person in charge of Nvidia's AI product strategy is already living with a personal AI computer in his home, treating it more like an appliance than a server, it could mean a lot of us will be doing the same thing in just a few years.

The case for ditching the cloud

Right now, most people interact with AI through a browser or app. That means, when you prompt ChatGPT or Perplexity or any other AI assistant, your data travels to a data center, and a response comes back. It works, but there's a cost — both financially and in terms of privacy. Every question you ask, every document you upload and every personal detail you share lives on someone else's infrastructure.

El Hallak thinks local AI changes that equation. "I could run a good enough model on my system at home," he said. Essentially, if the model runs on hardware you own, your data never leaves your house, and there's no monthly subscription.

The math is worth thinking about. Nvidia's DGX Spark currently retails for $4,699 — not cheap by any measure. But a ChatGPT Plus subscription runs $20 per month, or $240 per year. Over five years, that's $1,200 — and you still don't own anything. The Spark, meanwhile, runs unlimited queries with no per-token billing, no usage caps, and no internet required.

That's not an apples-to-apples comparison, of course. GPT-6 and Claude are significantly more capable than the open-source models you'd run locally on a Spark. But for a growing number of tasks — summarizing documents, drafting emails, searching your own files, running a coding assistant — a local model with 128GB of memory and access to Nvidia's full CUDA stack is more than enough.

It's not just for developers

The DGX Spark launched last October as what Nvidia called "the world's smallest AI supercomputer." At the time, it was squarely aimed at developers, researchers, and data scientists. It runs Linux. It weighs 2.6 pounds. It's the size of a Mac Mini.

But the ecosystem building around it is starting to look more consumer-friendly. As I wrote last month, Perplexity just launched Portable Computer, which packages a local AI model, agent tools, app connectors, and a sandboxed runtime into a single system that runs on DGX Spark hardware. Every task starts on your machine. If the local model hits something it can't handle, it asks your permission before sending that one step to the cloud. Your files stay put.

El Hallak sees this as a trend, not an outlier. He pointed to harness providers — the companies building the software layer between a model and a user — making setup dramatically easier. "You're not doing installs via a command line or a pip install," he said. "They're making it easier — like the old days of using Windows and setting up an application. They're bringing it back to a GUI."

If that sounds familiar, it should. It's the same arc that turned network-attached storage from a hobbyist pursuit into something Synology sells at Best Buy. The hardware existed for years before the software made it approachable.

The RTX Spark laptops change the picture

The DGX Spark desktop is the proof of concept. But the real consumer play may be what's coming next: RTX Spark laptops, which pack the same GB10 silicon into notebook form and are expected to ship this fall from Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, MSI, Acer, and others. Microsoft is building a Surface Laptop Ultra around the chip.

These aren't AI-only machines — they run Windows 11, play games, and handle conventional laptop workloads. But their 128GB of unified memory means they can also run large language models that would choke any current consumer GPU. The laptop version of what el Hallak has sitting on his desk at home, but without the Linux-only limitation.

"The fact that you will have the model running locally with a harness and a runtime that are made easier to install — I think it's going to really usher in local AI," el Hallak said.

The real argument isn't performance — it's ownership

El Hallak told a story from the enterprise world that translates perfectly to consumers: "There was a point where people were proud of the leaderboards and how many tokens they're using. Then somebody in their IT department got their bills, and all of a sudden I became a cost optimizer."

Anyone who's watched their Claude usage creep up — or hit the limits of a free tier — knows the feeling. And as AI agents get more capable and start touching more personal data (your calendar, your email, your finances), the question of where that processing happens isn't theoretical anymore.

"Local AI is just going to bring more tokens, and tokens equate to intelligence," el Hallak said. "When you pair intelligence with a harness, you're able to do things, and then the runtime secures it."

Or, as he put it more casually: "Data centers in the house."

More from Tom's Guide

• AI is turning ordinary photos of kids into sexual abuse imagery — here's how to protect your family
• OpenAI paid contractors to read ChatGPT conversations — here's how to protect yourself
• I stopped reading the fine print myself after discovering this overlooked ChatGPT trick

When I say my AirPods Pro 3 have gotten me through hundreds of miles, I’m not exaggerating — I’ve worn them for two half marathons, a marathon, and all the training miles in between.

Yet last week, Apple announced the new AirPods 5 — starting at $129, with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and sensor controls. Could these be a cheaper alternative for runners?

To find out more, I left my trusty AirPods Pro 3 at home and went for a 22-mile run with the AirPods 5 for company. Read on to find out what happened.

Here are 3 things I liked

They're much better than the AirPods 4

Unlike the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 5 have an open-ear design; in other words, there’s no silicone tip that allows you to customize the fit. I’ve always struggled to get the regular AirPods to stay in my ears, making them next to impossible to work out or run in.

I didn’t have the same issue with the AirPods 5, and they mostly stayed put for the entire three-hour run. They did move slightly when I laughed, alone, listening to my podcast, and again as I moved my head erratically to check for a bike behind me, but I’ll forgive them for both slips.

They also have sensor controls on the buds themselves, which make it much easier to turn the volume up and down mid-run without having to reach for your phone.

They’re a lot more affordable

While I wasn’t thinking about this on my run, it’s worth noting that for a free sport, running is super expensive. Before you’ve even signed up for a race, you’ve probably spent a decent amount on a pair of running shoes and a sports bra or running shorts. If you’re looking for a pair of headphones you’ll wear on your commute, in the office, and for a run, you’ve probably considered AirPods.

There are two different options when it comes to the AirPods 5. You can spend $129 and get them without a wireless charging case, or $149 with wireless charging. The AirPods Pro 3 cost $249.

The noise canceling isn’t as good, but that’s ok

A drawback with the open-ear design is that the ANC isn’t quite as good. However, when you’re running or cycling around the city, I’d argue that this is actually a positive. I could hear bikes coming up behind me, or traffic, as I ran to the trail.

Here are 2 things I missed

The battery life

My AirPods 5 were at 80% charge in the morning, but by the time I’d used them for my son’s daycare drop-off, to walk the dog, then run for three hours, they were making the dreaded low battery sound by my final few miles. The AirPods 5 promise four hours of listening time, six hours without ANC for the $129 option, five hours of listening time, or seven hours without ANC for the $149 option.

When you compare this to the eight hours of playback, or 10 in transparency mode on the AirPods Pro 3, I think I’d still reach for the latter during a marathon. That said, if you’re not running for four hours, the case boosts the AirPods 5 battery life to 20-22 hours.

The heart rate monitor

The big headlines when the AirPods Pro 3 launched were that they featured a heart rate monitor for the first time, and during our testing, it’s pretty darn accurate. While I normally have multiple monitors strapped to every pulse point, it’s a cool feature for when I’m doing a relaxing yoga class or Pilates session screen-free.

So which should you buy?

If you have the budget, the superior ANC and battery life of the AirPods Pro 3 make them a great choice; plus, with the different silicone buds, you’ll almost definitely get a better fit. That said, for $129-$149, the AirPods 5 are a fantastic runner-up, and I’ll definitely be using them when I’m not working out going forward, just probably not for my next marathon.

More from Tom's Guide:

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 review: I ran 22 miles to test Apple’s ultimate adventure watch
• Apple Watch Series 12 review: A new heart rate sensor and a readiness score make this the best smartwatch on the market
• My sleep-tracking earbuds discovered how this one thing in my nighttime routine ruined my sleep — here’s why I won't do it again

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love that September marks the start of the build-up to spooky season, with colder evenings, darker nights and Halloween slowly creeping closer. It also gives me another excuse to stay indoors with a blanket and watch a new movie or settle in for a full-on binge of a new show. Luckily, Prime Video has quite a few releases to look forward to over the next few weeks, making the start of fall even more exciting.

There’s a little bit of everything coming to the streaming service, from a highly anticipated romantic comedy based on a bestselling novel to Mike Flanagan’s new eight-episode take on one of Stephen King’s most famous stories. There’s also a long-awaited sci-fi series set in the world of a beloved futuristic franchise, which arrives later in the season. With all three offering something very different, these are the three Prime Video releases I’m most excited to add to my fall watchlist.

‘The Love Hypothesis’

A movie we’re actually getting very soon is “The Love Hypothesis,” a romantic comedy adapted from Ali Hazelwood’s 2021 New York Times bestselling novel. I’m a huge sucker for romance films just as much as I am for horror, and this one looks like it’s going to deliver plenty of yearning. I also have high hopes considering it’s directed by Claire Scanlon, known for her work on “Set It Up,” which is one of the best modern rom-coms of all time. There’s no better time than fall to cozy up with a charming flick, and I’m confident this could be Prime Video’s next No. 1.

Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart) is a Ph.D. candidate whose life takes an unexpected turn when her best friend starts dating Olive’s former crush. To convince her best friend that she has moved on, Olive impulsively kisses Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), an intimidating professor at her university. Rather than causing the awkward encounter she expects, the moment leads to an unusual arrangement. Adam agrees to pretend to be Olive’s boyfriend, giving both of them something they need. However, their established rules become increasingly difficult to follow.

Stream on Prime Video starting September 23

‘Carrie’

Stephen King is my favorite horror author, which feels pretty natural given how much I love the genre, so I’ve seen several film adaptations of his most popular books. When Prime Video announced a TV adaptation of “Carrie,” it quickly became one of my most anticipated releases of the year. The project also marks Mike Flanagan’s fourth major Stephen King adaptation, following “Gerald’s Game,” “Doctor Sleep” and “The Life of Chuck.” Judging by the trailer, “Carrie” brings telekinesis into the modern world, with cyberbullying, social media and viral videos all playing a part in the story.

Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) has spent most of her life sheltered at home by her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). Following the sudden death of her father, Carrie is sent into public high school for the first time, where she struggles to adjust to her unfamiliar surroundings and classmates. After a humiliating incident is filmed and shared online, Carrie finds herself at the center of a viral scandal. Meanwhile, strange abilities begin to emerge as she adjusts to her new life.

Stream on Prime Video starting October 7

‘Blade Runner 2099’

“Blade Runner 2099” functions as a direct TV continuation of Ridley Scott’s original 1982 masterpiece and Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049,” shifting the neo-noir franchise 50 years forward in the canon timeline. Even though we only have a teaser trailer right now, it already looks very promising from a visual standpoint, and I have no doubt it will retain the cyberpunk feel of the previous films. The pairing of Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer is also particularly compelling, and I’m excited to see what these two bring to the franchise.

Set 50 years after the events of “Blade Runner 2049,” the series follows Cora (Hunter Schafer), a fugitive who has spent years moving between identities while trying to protect her brother. When she takes on one final identity as a Blade Runner, she is partnered with Olwen (Michelle Yeoh), a Replicant who is nearing the end of her life. Together, they set out to track down a runaway whose hidden secret could threaten the future of Los Angeles. Soon, Cora and Olwen find themselves drawn into a dangerous conspiracy involving the city’s rogue Replicants.

Stream on Prime Video starting November 25

More from Tom's Guide

• 7 movies I can’t wait to watch in theaters in fall 2026
• 3 new to Prime Video thriller movies to watch this week
• 3 feel-good movies on Prime Video to stream now

Lane Kiffin's antics have made LSU vs Ole Miss one of the most hotly-anticipated NCAA college football grudge matches in some time. It was bad enough that Kiffin left the Rebels on the eve of their first CFP campaign in program history — to leave for their hated SEC rivals was unforgivable. And then came everything else...

Here's how you can watch LSU vs Ole Miss live streams from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for FREE.

Kiffins has since embarked on what can only be described as a one-man provocation tour. He's poached Ole Miss players and coaches, and attempted to inflict irreparable damage on college football by signing NFL players — a stunt that LSU only abandoned at the risk of expulsion from the conference.

It's unfortunate, but ultimately not surprising, therefore, that extra security is being deployed at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium.

One of the Ole Miss players Kiffin attempted to coax to the Tigers is Heisman Trophy contender Trinidad Chambliss, and Sam Leavitt's shoddy performance last weekend showed why. Leavitt threw three interceptions and was sacked five times, but LSU eventually found their groove to run out 45-14 winners over Louisiana Tech.

The Rebels didn't waver in their 41-9 victory over Charlotte, with Chambliss, Kewan Lacy and Deuce Alexander all starring in the blowout. However, there remain question marks around the Ole Miss defense, while running back Lacy's showdown with LSU linebacker TJ Dottery — a former Rebel — will be fascinating.

Check out all of the TV and streaming details below to find out how to watch LSU vs Ole Miss from anywhere, including free options.

Can I watch LSU vs Ole Miss live streams for free?

Anybody with an antenna picking up ABC can watch this huge NCAA game for no additional charge.

If you're in the U.S. and don't have access this way or through cable, OTT cable alternatives such as Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV all carry ABC and offer a free trial to new customers.

In Australia, LSU vs Ole Miss is being shown on Kayo Sports, which comes with a 7-day FREE trial for new customers.

Away from home? You may not be able to tune in like you normally would due to regional restrictions. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution. Use a VPN to watch LSU vs Ole Miss for free — we’ll show you how to do that below.

Watch LSU vs Ole Miss from anywhere

Away from home and blocked from watching the LSU vs Ole Miss game?

You can still tune in live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear as if they're back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. Ideal for fans away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN. It's the best on the market:

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you want to watch your Kayo Sports stream of the game, you can choose 'Australia' from the server list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Kayo Sports and watch LSU vs Ole Miss 2026/27 live.

How to watch LSU vs Ole Miss live streams in the U.S.

The LSU vs Ole Miss game is being televised by ABC nationwide in the U.S.

Not got cable or an antenna? Sling TV is one of the best cable TV alternatives that carries ABC in a number of cities across the country (check here to see whether yours is covered). You'll need either a Sling Select or a Sling Blue plan, costing $19.99/month and $54.99/month respectively.

Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV are further OTT options for cord cutters, all three of which include ABC and come with a free trial for new subscribers.

Away on vacation or business? You need a VPN to watch your regular NFL 2026 streams. NordVPN is the one we recommend.

How to watch LSU vs Ole Miss live streams in the U.K.

American football fans in the U.K. can watch LSU vs Ole Miss on specialist sports streamer DAZN.

DAZN's NCAA College Sports plan starts at £99.99 if you're willing to pay for a year upfront, £8.99/month if you commit to 12 months, or £12.99/month on a rolling basis. It's also home to NCAA basketball and March Madness.

If you're on holiday outside the U.K., you can still follow your usual college football live streams by using one of the best VPN services, such as NordVPN.

How to watch LSU vs Ole Miss live streams in Canada

In Canada, LSU vs Ole Miss is being shown on TSN Premium, which starts at CA$29.99/month.

If you're outside Canada but have a subscription, you can watch LSU vs Ole Miss with the aid of a VPN, such as NordVPN.

How to watch LSU vs Ole Miss live streams in Australia

The LSU vs Ole Miss game is being shown on ESPN via Foxtel in Australia.

Don't have Foxtel and don't want to subscribe? ESPN's college football coverage is available to stream on Kayo Sports, with its affordable, commitment-free plans starting from just AU$30/month, and hosting plenty of NFL, cricket, AFL, rugby, F1 and more.

Anybody who hasn't used the service before can choose between a 7-day FREE trial and 1 month for AU$1.

Alternatively, all college football games shown on ESPN are available to live stream via Disney Plus too. A subscription starts at AU$9.99/month or AU$179.99/year.

The game is not available to stream on DAZN in Australia.

Not in Australia right now? You can use a VPN like NordVPN to tune in on your accounts as if you were back home.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to watch NFL 2026/27 with Sling
• The best streaming VPNs
• How to get NFL Sunday Ticket for the 2026-2027 season

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Watch UFC 331 live streams as Joshua Van vs Alexandre Pantoja 2 headlines a huge MMA night from the Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles. Pantoja returns to the Octagon for this rematch of current and former UFC flyweight champions with a chip on his shoulder after the Brazilian dislocated his elbow 26 seconds into their first fight. The Brazilian feels as if Dana White subsequently dropped him like a stone.

Here's how you can watch UFC 331 live streams from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for just $1.

For a fighter with four straight successful UFC title defenses to his name, who was once at No.4 in the pound-for-pound rankings, and who became the first men's flyweight in the history of the promotion to win a title bout over the age of 35, Pantoja gets surprisingly little fanfare — something that hasn't gone unnoticed.

Van, on the other hand, became an overnight star when he took the belt last December. The 24-year-old has since embellished his reputation with a gripping title defense against Tatsuro Taira, which went the distance. However, as Pantoja has been keen to remind prospective viewers all week, Van didn't actually beat him in the first place.

It has all the ingredients for a band-tempered grudge match, and Arman Tsarukyan's lightweight clash with Mauricio Ruffy for a potential title shot stands to be a stupendous warmup act.

Keep reading for where to watch UFC 331 live streams online and on TV.

How to watch UFC 331 from anywhere

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching UFC 331 on your usual subscription?

You can still watch Van vs Pantoja 2 live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear as if they're back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN. It's the best on the market:

How to watch UFC 331 live streams in the U.S.

In the U.S., Paramount Plus is showing UFC 331 headline act Van vs Pantoja 2, as well as each of the 11 supporting fights. Best of all, there's no PPV!

Paramount+ offers two plans: Essential and Premium. Essential is priced at just $8.99/month (or $89.99/year) and includes standard Paramount Plus content, plus UFC numbered events.

We've found a sneaky hack that will get you an Essential (not Premium) subscription — the plan comes bundled with a 30-day trial to Walmart Plus, which costs just $1!

If you’re currently outside the U.S. but don't want to miss out, you can use a VPN such as NordVPN to tap into your usual coverage.

How to watch UFC 331 live streams in Canada

In Canada, the UFC 331 main card is available through a variety of PPV providers, including YouTube, DAZN, Sportsnet, Bell, Rogers and UFC Fight Pass.

The PPV cost for this one is CA$69.99, with main card action starting at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. The prelims, meanwhile, are also on Sportsnet Plus and TVA.

Canadian traveling abroad? You can use a VPN to access your usual platform — we'd recommend trying NordVPN.

How to watch UFC 331 live streams in the U.K.

The UFC 331 main card and prelims are being shown on TNT Sports 1 in the U.K.

A TNT Sports subscription is available through TV providers such as Sky TV, Virgin Media and EE TV. Alternatively, UFC fans can live stream TNT Sports' prelims coverage via HBO Max from £25.99/month.

Early prelims and prelims are available to watch on UFC Fight Pass too.

Away from the U.K. right now? NordVPN will unblock your Van vs Pantoja 2 live stream.

How to watch UFC 331 live streams in Australia

In Australia, Van vs Pantoja 2 and the rest of the UFC 331 main card is being shown on Kayo Sports PPV or Foxtel Main Event for a PPV costing AU$59.95.

All of the action before that goes out on Paramount Plus too, while the prelims are available to watch on the free-to-air 10 platform from 9 a.m. AEST on Sunday morning.

Outside Oz? Use NordVPN to stream your preferred coverage.

UFC 331 full fight card

Main Card (9 p.m. ET)

• MAIN EVENT: Joshua Van (c) vs Alexandre Pantoja 2 — Flyweight title
• Arman Tsarukyan vs Mauricio Ruffy — Lightweight
• Patrício Pitbull vs Choi Doo-ho — Featherweight
• Gable Steveson vs Sean Sharaf — Heavyweight
• Alonzo Menifield vs Iwo Baraniewski — Light Heavyweight

Prelims (7 p.m. ET)

• Marlon Vera vs Charles Jourdain — Bantamweight
• Tai Tuivasa vs Robelis Despaigne — Heavyweight
• Michael Aswell Jr. vs Yoo Joo-sang — Featherweight
• Ryan Gandra vs Osman Diaz — Middleweight

Early prelims (5 p.m. ET)

• Edmen Shahbazyan vs Brunno Ferreira — Middleweight
• Casey O'Neill vs Eduarda Moura — Women's Flyweight
• Giga Chikadze vs Joanderson Brito — Featherweight

Van vs Pantoja 2 tale of the tape

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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Directors Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan have a chokehold on Netflix subscribers with their "Monster" series, a true-crime anthology show that dives into some of the most disturbing murders in U.S. history. The latest, "The Lizzie Borden Story," hit Netflix this week, and it wasted no time shooting to the #1 spot on the Netflix top 10.

If you've already binged Borden's tragic tale and you're looking to watch more Netflix shows with high-stakes courtroom drama, bloodshed, and scandal, I've got you covered. Netflix's library is stuffed with great shows, but you don't have to dig through it all to figure out what to watch next. I've already done the hard work for you.

Whether you’re drawn to the quiet paranoia of 19th-century murder, the cold analytical minds tracing serial killer instincts, or the jaw-dropping secrets behind a modern family dynasty, Netflix is packed with series that capture that exact same tension. If you're ready to dive into another obsession where no one tells the whole truth, here are three chilling, true-crime-inspired dramas to stream next.

'Alias Grace'

The vibe: 19th-century murder, unreliable narrators, and women slaying (literally)

What it's about: Based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, this miniseries dramatizes the real-life 1843 case of Grace Marks, a poor Irish immigrant and domestic servant in Canada who is convicted of murdering her employer and his housekeeper. A stable hand (Kerr Logan) who works for the same household is also convicted and hanged for the crimes, while Grace receives a life sentence in prison.

Years later, a psychiatrist is brought in to assess Grace’s mental state, giving her a chance to tell her story. Like "Lizzie Borden," "Alias Grace" explores whether a woman trapped by Victorian social constraints was an innocent victim or a calculating mastermind — but either way, she knows she'll be remembered as one of the most notorious women of the 19th century.

Watch the entire "Alias Grace" miniseries on Netflix now

'Mindhunter'

The vibe: A slow-burning psychological crime thriller with more tension than bloodshed

What it's about: Set in the 1970s, "Mindhunter" follows two FBI agents as they pioneer criminal profiling techniques would transform the way investigators understand and catch serial killers for decades. Despite its grim subject matter, the show is especially violent, focusing instead on the psychological tension of the agents’ interviews with convicted killers.

The performances and cinematography are excellent, while the deliberate pacing will have you hooked. This is a series best savored rather than binged, so resist the urge to race through episode after episode. If you loved the deep dive into the psychology of violent crimes in Murphy and Brennan's "Monster" franchise, this is gold-standard viewing.

Watch both seasons of "Mindcrawler" on Netflix now

'The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal'

The vibe: A jaw-dropping Southern true-crime saga fueled by a string of increasingly disturbing revelations

What it's about: For a less salacious and more documentary-style true crime tale, look no further than "The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal." This docuseries unpacks the web of secrets behind the Murdaugh family, a prominent South Carolina family with some serious skeletons in their closet.

The series centers on the 2019 death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, the 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, and the subsequent investigation into family patriarch Alex Murdaugh. Through interviews with people connected to the family and the cases, it unravels the Murdaugh family's ties to these bloody affairs and more scandals that rocked the community over the years. Like in "Lizzie Borden," there's plenty of family dysfunction and sensational court drama to keep your interest.

Watch both seasons of "The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal" on Netflix now

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• 3 new Netflix shows you should binge-watch this weekend (September 18-20)
• 5 Netflix movies and shows I can’t wait to watch in fall 2026
• Everything new on Netflix in September 2026

September is flying by, and if it could please stop, that'd be great. We're on weekend number three, and the question of what to watch is rearing it's ugly head again.

The Netflix top 10 is a great tool for cutting through the noise, but not everything that makes the cut is worth your time. That's why I'm here every weekend to highlight which movies in the Netflix top 10 actually live up to the hype. It's been a pretty lackluster summer for Netflix so far, and already I'm seeing some of its biggest new releases like "The Whisper Man" fall down the ranking, if they're not already gone entirely.

Meanwhile, other movies from a few years back are topping the charts, like Guy Ritchie's much-beloved "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" is at #2, followed close behind by "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," an animated adventure I promise you'll love. And it's a must-watch with the studio's latest venture, the Filipino folklore inspired "Forgotten Island," hitting theaters on September 25. Tyler Perry's latest dramedy reboot, "Why Did I Get Married Again?" is also a solid option for a breezy weekend watch.

None of these picks fit the vibe? No worries: Our guide to everything new on Netflix this month has plenty more recommendations on what to watch. So without further ado, here are the three must-watch movies in Netflix’s top 10 this weekend. Enjoy!

This article is based on Netflix's top 10 movies list in the U.S. as of 11:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, September 19 2026.

Best movies in the Netflix top 10

'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' (2023)

Guy Ritchie's "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" landed on Netflix this week, and wasted no time crashing into the top 10. If you're in the mood for some more gritty action after "The Gentleman" season 2, this has all of Ritchie's signature hallmarks, with over-the-top characters, slickly produced action and bombastic set pieces aplenty. Viewers love it too, judging by its 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Inspired by the true story of a secret group of British soldiers during World War II, this heavily fictionalized take on the Special Operations Executive follows Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) as he puts together a ragtag team of operatives to help turn the tide of the war using less conventional means. Led by Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding and Alex Pettyfer, “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” is a pulpy, action-packed war movie that's light on story but an easy and entertaining watch nonetheless.

Watch "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" on Netflix now

'Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Again?' (2026)

Netflix subscribers and Tyler Perry go together like peanut butter and jelly, so it's hardly surprising to see his latest "Why Did I Get Married Again?" still kicking around near the top of Netflix's ranking. This reboot brings back most of the original cast of "Why Did I Get Married?" and "Why Did I Get Married Too?" for an Italian wedding — including Diane (Sharon Leal), Sheila (Jill Scott), Troy (Lamman Rucker), and Mike (Richard T. Jones). The only one missing is Janet Jackson's Patricia, replaced by a new character named Roselyn (Taraji P. Henson).

Jasmine (Armani Greer) and Wesley (Everett Osbourne) are a young couple just days away from saying "I do" at a grand destination wedding in Italy. Their nuptials has older wedding guests reflecting on the highs and lows of their own marriages, but as the less-than-happy couple wrestles with going through with the ceremony, everyone starts to take a good, hard look at their own happily-ever-afters.

Watch "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Again?" on Netflix now

'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish' (2022)

"Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" climbed to the 4th spot from #8 last week, and I'm pleased as a possum eating peach seeds to see it. I've been singing this movies praises since it came out. To this day, I've still never seen the original 2011 "Puss in Boots," but this is more of a reboot than a sequel that adopts a new style, combining the vibrant animation of the "Spider-Verse" movies with the sweeping pastels of an illustrated storybook.

And the cast is hilarious to boot, especially John Mulaney as the delightfully evil Jack Horner and Florence Pugh's Goldilocks, the head hauncho of a three bears crime family (Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, and Samson Kayo). "Narcos" star Wagner Moura does a phenomenal job in his first-ever voice acting role as the grim reaper come to collect his due. Antonio Banderas returns as the beloved Puss, now on his last life after cheating death one too many times. He sets out with his old flame Kitty (Salma Hayek) and new sidekick Perrito (Harvey Guillen) to find a shooting star and wish for more lives before his time is up.

Watch "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" on Netflix now

Netflix top 10 movies right now

1. "The Seemingly Perfect Family" (2026)
2. "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" (2023)
3. "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Again?" (2026)
4. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" (2022)
5. "Best of the Best" (2026)
6. "Those Who Wish me Dead" (2021)
7. "The Whisper Man" (2026)
8. "Shark Tale" (2004)
9. "The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist" (2026)
10. "The Angry Birds Movie 2" (2019)

More from Tom's Guide

• 'Seemingly Perfect Family' hits No. 1 on Netflix, but viewers hate it — here are 3 better thrillers to watch instead
• 5 best new movies to stream this weekend on Netflix, Paramount+, Prime Video, and more (Sept. 19-20)
• How to get Netflix for free

Paramount+ is regularly adding new shows to binge-watch. This weekend is no exception. The streaming service releases new episodes of hit shows every week. Sometimes, even entire seasons at once. It added over 120 new movies and shows on September 1 alone. It even has some live sporting events, including all major events from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

This weekend, let's start with a show that's just getting started: "MobLand" season 2. Once you're done watching that premiere (and catching up on season 1), be sure to watch the "Lioness" season 3 finale, arriving on Paramount+ this Sunday (September 20). Finally, check out the "South Park" season 29 premiere, which arrives each week on the day after it debuts on Comedy Central.

Here are the three new to Paramount+ shows you need to binge-watch this weekend. If you need more recommendations, check out everything new on Paramount+ in September 2026 for more options.

'MobLand' season 2

Genre: Crime drama series

What's it about? "MobLand" centers around the Harrigan crime family. This gang of drug lords is led by patriarch Conrad (Pierce Brosnan), matriarch Maeve (Helen Mirren) and Conrad's second son Kevin (Paddy Considine). But the show largely focuses on the family's fixer, Harry (Tom Hardy). He cleans up all their messes, including a gang war in season 1. In season 2, he'll be trying to fend off the cold, calculating Kat McAllister (Janet McTeer) while struggling to keep his own marriage intact.

Why you should watch it: This show didn't start without some bumps, but "MobLand" season 1 ended with a stunning finale. This next batch of episodes looks to be starting on a high note too, with a bloody season 2 premiere. So make sure to check it out this weekend and to catch up on season 1 if you haven't already.

Watch the premiere of "MobLand" season 2 on Paramount+ now

'Lioness' season 3

Genre: Spy thriller series

What's it about? Zoe Saldaña stars in this spy thriller as CIA operative Joe McNamara. She is in charge of Lioness, a program that inserts women operatives undercover and then takes down enemy targets in the war on terror. Once embedded, these women typically bring down their marks by getting close to the women around the dangerous characters and then finding an exploit from there.

Why you should watch it: "Lioness" season 3 has Joe dealing with a sticky situation, to say the least. But she's not the only one in trouble. Audiences initially loved this season, but it's now 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. That's a notable drop from the 91% it had been rated by fans at the start of the season. Hopefully it can stick the landing with an epic season 3 finale.

Watch the first seven episodes of "Lioness" season 3 on Paramount+ now. Episode 8 (season finale) premieres on September 6

'South Park' season 29

Genre: Animated adult comedy series

What's it about? "South Park" features the voices of Trey Parker and Matt Stone as Stan, Eric, Kyle and Kenny. These four, their friends and their families are used by the creative duo to pillory ... well, just about everyone and everything. Last year, it was mostly U.S. President Donald Trump who took the brunt of Parker and Stone's wit. Given that the show is now technically "South America," a nod to Trump's penchant for naming things after the U.S., I would expect President 45/47 to bear the brunt of their comedic slings and arrows once again.

Why you should watch it: Last year, "South Park" season 27 was one of my top 10 shows of 2025. I can't wait to see if season 29 can be a contender in 2026.

Watch the premiere of "South Park" season 29 on Paramount+ now

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• 'Resident Evil' review: Officially the best video game movie of all time, but also Zach Cregger's worst
• 'Slow Horses' season 6 kicks things off with a stunning death, and I'm still in shock
• Alan Ritchson does his best John Wick impression in a hyper-violent 'Reacher' season 4 finale

You can stream Brighton vs Arsenal in the Premier League for free on CazeTV from anywhere in the world with Proton VPN.

Kick-off arrives at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT/ 3 p.m. BST / 12 a.m. AEST (Sun).

The Seagulls have impressed so far this season and, after four games, have managed to net 13 goals, with big wins over Aston Villa and Coventry. However, today they face their toughest test in the form of Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta's side have started the season in fine form and will be looking for five wins from five heading into the international break.

To make things even better, Brighton vs Arsenal is being streamed for free on CazeTV in Brazil and we've found a way you can stream it in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

How to watch Brighton vs Arsenal for free

Brighton vs Arsenal is free via CazeTV's YouTube in Brazil with no subscription or account required.

It is geo-restricted to Brazil so you will need a VPN if you're traveling outside the South American country right now.

▶︎ ACCESS CAZETV FROM ANYWHERE WITH PROTON VPN — we've tested it on CazeTV's YouTube and it unblocks streams perfectly.

How to watch Brighton vs Arsenal free from anywhere

CazeTV's YouTube channel is geo-restricted to those in Brazil.

Soccer lovers that are traveling or working abroad for this weekend's game will need to use a VPN to access their local free stream.

There are lots of VPNs but Proton VPN will allow you safely unblock the stream of Brighton vs Arsenal — plus you can save 70%.

Which devices can I watch CazeTV's YouTube with?

You can use YouTube on all of the following devices and platforms:

Amazon Fire TV: Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cube and compatible Fire TV devices
Android: Android phones, tablets and Android TV devices
Apple TV: Supported Apple TV models
Chromecast: Chromecast and Google TV devices
Gaming Consoles: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and other supported consoles
LG: Selected LG Smart TVs
Mobile Apps: iOS (16+) and Android (9.0+)
NOW: NOW TV devices and supported NOW platforms
Roku: Supported Roku streaming players and TVs
Samsung: Selected Samsung Smart TVs and devices
Sky: Sky Glass, Sky Q and Sky Stream pucks
Vestel: Selected Vestel Smart TVs
Vodafone TV: Vodafone TV Play and supported Vodafone TV devices
Web Browsers: Chrome, Edge and Firefox
Xbox: Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

More from Tom's Guide

• How to watch Premier League 2026/27
• How to watch "Ludwig" season 2
• How to watch CazeTV from outside Brazil

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Watch Newcastle vs Hull City sees the surprise package of the new Premier League season looking to extend their unbeaten start and add another crucial three points to their tally. Hull City have started strong with wins over Man Utd and Coventry, before securing an impressive point against Chelsea last time out.

The Tigers will have survival on their mind, first and foremost, and another win this weekend would go a long way to giving them the foundation to establish themselves as a top flight team. For Newcastle, survival may also be a key objective, considering the exodus of top players leaving the North East this summer.

After losing manager Eddie Howe, and star men like Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, and Anthony Gordon, Matthias Jaissle has his work cut out. He's not made a bad start, but will be desperate to record a home win here and climb the table as quickly as possible.

Here's how to watch Newcastle vs Hull in the 2026/27 Premier League from anywhere in the world.

How to watch Newcastle vs Hull from anywhere

A VPN is handy piece of software that can make your device appear as if it's back in your home country, so you can unlock your usual service. The best VPN service right now? We recommend NordVPN – it does everything and comes with up to 75% off.

Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance if you're away in the U.K. and want to view your usual U.S. service, you'd select U.S. from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to your streaming service and watch the game.

How to watch Newcastle vs Hull live streams in the U.S.

Newcastle vs Hull is being televised on NBCSN in the US.

NBCSN is carried by YouTube TV and Fubo, which both offer free trials.

Peacock subscribers can also watch Newcastle vs Hull on the day or catch up after the match. If you have Peacock Premium you can watch live broadcasts, while a basic Peacock will only allow you to play the match on-demand once it's over.

Not in the U.S. right now? Use a VPN while traveling overseas to watch live streams from your usual subscription.

Is Newcastle vs Hull available to watch in the U.K.

In the UK, there is a 3 p.m. blackout in operation, meaning Saturday games at that time cannot be shown on live television. As a result, there is no option to watch Newcastle vs Hull live on the day.

The best option is to watch the highlights on Match of the Day, which plays on BBC One on Saturday nights. You can catch the show on BBC iPlayer, too.

Those abroad can still follow the game by using one of the best VPN services, such as NordVPN.

How to watch Newcastle vs Hull live streams in Canada

Newcastle vs Hull is available to watch on Fubo in Canada.

Prices start at CA$31.49/month for Fubo's Sports Monthly package. You can also access Fubo's Premier League coverage through an eligible DAZN subscription.

Temporarily away from the Great White North? Don't let that stop you - you can still watch the Champions League via a VPN like NordVPN.

How to watch Newcastle vs Hull live streams in Australia

Stan Sport is the place to go to watch Newcastle vs Hull in Australia.

Stan Sport costs AU$29.99/month — that's AU$9.99 for the Basic package and AU$20 for the Sports add-on.

Outside of Australia today? Use NordVPN and stream online from anywhere.

More from Tom's Guide

• How to watch F1 2026
• Champions League streaming guide 2026/27
• How to watch Premier League

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Even though we’re already in the middle of September, I technically count this month as part of the spooky season build-up. The colder evenings, darker nights and countdown to Halloween always put me in the mood for a good horror movie. So, there’s no better time to start getting excited for October by delving into some of the most iconic horror movies ever made.

As a huge horror fan, I’ve watched more than my fair share of slashers, supernatural nightmares and creature features over the years, but the classics are classics for a reason. From “Psycho” and “The Exorcist” to “Alien,” “Halloween” and “Scream,” these are the movies that helped shape the genre we know and love today. But how well do you actually remember them? I’ve put together 12 tricky questions to test your knowledge.

If you’re still in the mood for a movie challenge, there’s plenty more to test your knowledge on. Try my classic movie quiz next, or see if you can guess these famous movie taglines — you might be surprised by how many you remember!

If you enjoyed this quiz, then please bookmark our Quiz section and visit our Polls page to have your say on all manner of topics, from the best Hollywood movies to the latest Apple releases.

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Bad news, Apple Watch power users: the latest watchOS 27 software release removes the easiest way to quickly and efficiently jump between apps.

In watchOS 26 and earlier, users could simply double-press the digital crown at any time to jump back into the previous app they were using. This functionality, unofficially called the “app switcher,” is unfortunately no longer available in watchOS 27.

Here’s everything you need to know about the removal of the app switcher function for Apple Watch in watchOS 27.

watchOS 27 removes the app switcher function

I just updated my Apple Watch Series 11 to watchOS 27, a process that took longer than expected (several hours). While I’m largely impressed with the new software — these are the 7 watchOS 27 features you should try first — it falls short in two regards.

First, Apple removed the fan-favorite Walkie-Talkie app for no apparent reason. Second, and perhaps much more noticeable, double-tapping the digital crown no longer brings you to the last app you used. Instead, it defaults to displaying the new “Dynamic App Grid” with your seven most-used apps.

Oddly, a single click of the digital crown also launches the Dynamic App Grid, which seems redundant/oddly un-Apple-like. What gives?

Apple has bigger plans for the digital crown double-tap