Entertainment
What are the Backrooms and why are they so captivating?
In this episode of How It Hits, we explore the fascinating journey of “The Backrooms.” What started as a single, unsettling image posted anonymously on 4chan has blossomed into a massive internet subculture. Today, it boasts extensive Reddit lore, a viral YouTube found-footage series by Kane Parsons, and an A24 feature film.
Entertainment
How to watch De Jong vs. Zverev online for free
TL;DR: Live stream de Jong vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open for free on France TV. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
With a number of high-profile early defeats at the 2026 French Open, No. 2 Alexander Zverev is now the highest-ranked player in the men’s singles category. Indeed, the field has been blown wide open thanks to the exit of No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 3 Novak Djokovic, which gives Zverev a golden opportunity to win his first Grand Slam.
The German star now faces Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands in the fourth round. On paper, this should be a comfortable win for Zverev over the unseeded de Jong, but the Dutchman has had a fairytale tournament so far. He entered as a lucky loser and has unexpectedly fought his way to the fourth round, dropping relatively few sets.
Can de Jong do the unthinkable and eliminate the highest remaining seed to put yet another twist in the the tale of this Roland-Garros?
If you want to watch de Jong vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
How to watch de Jong vs. Zverev for free
De Jong vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open is available to live stream for free on France TV.
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France TV is geo-restricted to France, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in France, meaning you can stream the 2026 French Open for free from anywhere in the world.
Live stream the 2026 French Open for free by following these simple steps:
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Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
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Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
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Open up the app and connect to a server in France
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Connect to France TV
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Watch the 2026 French Open for free from anywhere in the world
$12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee)
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer pretty generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Roland-Garros without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream the 2026 French Open before recovering your investment.
If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming platforms from around the world, you’ll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.
What is the best VPN for sport?
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
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Servers in 105 countries
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Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
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Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
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Fast connection speeds
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Up to 10 simultaneous connections
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30-day money-back guarantee
A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).
Live stream de Jong vs. Zverev in the 2026 French Open for free with ExpressVPN.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for May 31, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 31 Pips
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically; 5-2, placed horizontally.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 2-3, placed vertically.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-3, placed vertically.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 1-3, placed vertically; 3-5, placed horizontally.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 6-5, placed vertically.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 31 Pips
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally.
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Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 1-3, placed horizontally; 4-2, placed horizontally.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed vertically.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 1-5, placed vertically.
Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 31 Pips
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 1-6, placed vertically; 1-5, placed horizontally.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally; 5-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally; 4-6, placed horizontally.
Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. The answer is 1-6, placed vertically; 6-0, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 1-3, placed vertically; 1-2, placed horizontally.
Number (18): Everything in this space must add up to 18. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed vertically.
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 6-0, placed vertically; 0-0, placed horizontally.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 1-3, placed vertically; 3-4, placed vertically; 3-6, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed vertically.
Number (18): Everything in this space must add up to 18. The answer is 3-6, placed vertically; 2-6, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Meta faces employee backlash over tracking tool
In April, Reuters reported that Meta would track U.S. employees’ mouse movements and keystrokes to train its AI agents. Weeks later, Meta laid off 8,000 employees, citing its AI push. Now, the company is facing backlash from remaining employees over the tracking tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), which may also violate European Union privacy rules, Reuters reports.
Last month, the company apparently told U.S. employees that it launched MCI to track how they work — including clicks and dropdown menu navigation — to build AI agents that can perform software tasks, Reuters reported. They were also told this would only impact employees in the U.S. and that privacy safeguards were in place.
Some employees have already complained about MCI, calling Meta an “Employee Data Extraction Factory,” Reuters reported. One complaint is that the tool is using so much data that workers’ home internet usage has spiked, and in some cases, using a month’s quota in days. Another complaint is that MCI is more over-reaching than Meta lets on, extending to code changes, a computer’s sleep and wake cycles, and URLs copied to a computer’s clipboard.
An internal post about this apparently disappeared, two Meta employees told Reuters. Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold told the outlet that the post was “fundamentally inaccurate.”
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In a document reviewed by Reuters, Meta stated that MCI would capture the contents of any email or direct message sent to U.S. employees, regardless of the sender’s location. According to a legal expert who spoke to Reuters, this may violate the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The question is whether data collection of EU resident data is considered “incidental” and whether the tool can pass a “purpose limitation” test.
Arnold told Reuters that MCI was installed only on U.S. employees’ computers and that, “In the interest of transparency, we notified non-U.S. employees that it was deployed on the computers of U.S. colleagues they may email or chat with in the normal course of business.”
“We carefully considered and mitigated potential privacy risks in both the development and deployment of this tool, and we are committed to complying with applicable laws and regulations,” Arnold stated to Reuters.
Earlier this month, Mashable reported that Meta (along with Google and TikTok) faces complaints from the EU regarding protections against financial scams.
Layoffs at other major tech companies this year, including Snapchat, Amazon, and Pinterest, have been pinned on AI. In 2025, AI was linked to 50,000 job cuts.
