Entertainment
Lego is livestreaming a Pokémon Smart Play demo on July 31 — how to watch
TL;DR: Lego is livestreaming a demo of its new Pokémon Smart Play sets on July 31 at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT, just ahead of the collection’s official Aug. 1 launch.
If you’re the kind of person who still gets excited seeing Pikachu, Lego’s new Pokémon Smart Play sets are about to make your day. Lego is livestreaming a demo of the collection, giving fans a first look at how these sets work before they officially launch Aug. 1.
The demo streams July 31 at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT on Lego’s site. If you’re near a Lego Store, it’s also worth stopping by during the stream — Lego says visitors can score extra rewards on that day.
What makes these sets so much fun
Mashable’s Timothy Werth got hands-on with the sets ahead of launch, and by his own account, he came away completely won over — despite not even being a big Pokémon fan going in.
Mashable Trend Report
The sets are built around Lego’s Smart Brick, a modified 2×4 piece packed with an accelerometer, microphones, speakers, LED lights, a gyroscope, and a color sensor. It responds to Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures included in the sets, meaning your Pokémon can “talk” to each other, and light up or make noises as you play with them.
According to Werth, some of the small details are what really sell it: Pikachu, Squirtle, Bidoof, Geodude, Charmander, and Eevee all make adorable noises, chattering when placed near each other, and the Pikachu Treehouse Set even hides a tiny Murphy bed where Pikachu can lie down and snore.
However, not every set includes a Smart Brick, so if you want the interactive features, you’ll need at least one all-in-one set (starting at $69.99) — cheaper add-on sets start at $19.99. The full lineup launches Aug. 1, with a few sets already on Amazon and the rest up for preorder at Lego’s online store.
Even a casual Pokémon fan will get something out of this — Aug. 1 is coming for your wallet either way.
Entertainment
Everyones favorite earbuds are back down to $99 — shop Apple AirPods 4 now
SAVE $30: As of July 31, get the Apple AirPods 4 for just $99 at Amazon. That saves you $30 off its $129 price tag.
$99
at Amazon
$129
Save $30
If you’re an iPhone user, you can’t deny the convenience of Apple’s AirPods. The earbuds are perfectly pocket-sized and automatically connect to your iPhone, which means no unnecessary fussing with Bluetooth controls. The biggest downside to AirPods is the price.
When you’re used to the days of Apple providing a pair of EarPods with every phone, it’s a tough pill to swallow when you see AirPods $129 price tag. Luckily, you don’t have to spend that much on them.
Mashable Deals
As of July 31, get the Apple AirPods 4 for just $99. That saves you $30 off the earbuds’ list price for 23% savings.
Apple AirPods 4 debuted in 2024. They’re outfitted with the H2 chip and spatial audio. This pair doesn’t have active noise cancellation, but it is sweat- and water-resistant for your workouts. Plus, with the included charging case enjoy up to 30 hours of battery life.
Mashable Deals
Shop the Apple AirPods 4 at Amazon for $99 now and save $30.
Entertainment
Looking for the ultimate gaming upgrade this weekend? Save $400 on this LG UltraGear OLED gaming monitor.
SAVE 44%: As of July 31, you can get a 27-inch LG Ultragear OLED gaming monitor (27GS93QE) for $499.99 at Amazon. That’s a 44% discount or $400 in savings.
$499.99
at Amazon
$899.99
Save $400
If you’ve been wanting an OLED monitor but refuse to pay OLED prices, today is your day. Amazon just knocked 44% off the 27-inch LG UltraGear OLED gaming monitor, bringing it down to $499.99. That’s a record-low price.
OLED screens are notorious for being expensive, but they’re also genuinely worth it if you care about picture quality. Because this monitor features VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400, the blacks actually look black, not that washed-out dark gray you get on standard screens. It also has a 240Hz refresh rate and a 0.03ms response time, which is just a fancy way of saying your games will run super fast without tearing or lag.
Mashable Deals
A few other nice-to-have features: the screen is anti-glare, and the stand lets you adjust the height, tilt, and pivot to match your setup. Plus, LG includes a two-year warranty that covers the OLED panel itself.
Entertainment
Beat RAMageddon with $353 off the Kingston Fury Renegade G5 SSD
SAVE 48%: As of July 31, you can get the Kingston Fury Renegade G5 SSD (2048GB) for $379.99 at Amazon. That’s a 48% discount or $353 in savings.
$379.99
at Amazon
$732.99
Save $353
If you’re tired of deleting old games just to make room for a single new update, it might be time to look into upgrading your internal storage.
Right now, you can get the Kingston Fury Renegade G5 SSD (2048GB) for $379.99 at Amazon, down from $732.99. That’s a 48% discount or $353 in savings.
RAMageddon is making it harder to find the best Windows laptops. These 10 are actually worth it.
It’s still a spendy upgrade, but this is one of the fastest drives on the market. It delivers read speeds up to 14,800 MB/s and write speeds up to 14,000 MB/s, so game load times and large file transfers happen almost instantly. And because Gen 5 drives are known for running hot when pushed, Kingston designed this one with a specialized thermal layout (a 6nm controller and a 12-layer PCB) to help manage heat and prevent the drive from throttling under heavy workloads.
Mashable Deals
That said, there is one thing you should know before buying: it uses the standard M.2 2280 form factor and works with older Gen 3 and Gen 4 systems, but you need a motherboard that supports PCIe 5.0 to reach the advertised 14,000 MB/s speeds.
FIFA's Gianni Infantino sets deadline to approve funding plan
Padres win 5th straight, complete sweep of Rockies
