Don't miss this sale on 'Sid Meier's Civilization VI' and its expansion pack

The Sid Meier's Civilization series of turn-based, strategic city simulators has been turning regular gamers into visionary, calculating, and occasionally bloodthirsty emperors since 1991. Here are the basics: gamers take the role of ruler and, starting with a tiny settlement, you build up your civilization into a mighty empire. Whether your reign is one of peace and enlightenment or one of terror and might is totally up to you. And that's why it's awesome.

SEE ALSO: Dell's G7 15 gaming laptop is finally on sale for the first time ever

The game blends a fun, propulsive pace with smart, addictive gameplay, and the series has evolved into one of the most unique experiences in video games—culminating with Civilization VI and its recent expansion, Rise & Fall.  Read more...

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This charging cable is wrapped in some 10,000 stainless steel chainmail links

It's a tale as old as time — you purchase a new iPhone charger in high hopes that it's finally "the one," only to watch it gradually deteriorate right before your very eyes. And so you go through the five stages of grief, buy another substandard cable, and the cycle repeats all over again.

If you want to spare yourself from any more charging-related heartbreak, the Fuse Chicken Shield Lightning Cable is the key.

SEE ALSO: Power up three devices at once with this $25 power bank

Winner of iPhone Life Magazine's "Best of CES 2018" award, this lightning cable is as robust and durable as they come. It's wrapped in more than 10,000 stainless steel chainmail links, making it durable and totally badass. If Thor's special weapon was a wire instead of a hammer, and he asked Eitri the Dwarf to forge him one that would defeat Thanos, this is probably what he would get. Read more...

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Save $100 on this gorgeous, curved-screen gaming monitor from Asus

Some gamers are laptop people, some gamers are desktop people. If you weren't thrilled with the Asus gaming laptop we wrote about on Wednesday, you're about to be real happy.

Because this beautiful, curved 31.5-inch screen full HD gaming laptop from Asus is less than $300 today.

SEE ALSO: 12 of the best online dating sites for geeks, nerds, sci-fi buffs, and more

The Asus Curved VA326H monitor will not only look hella nice sitting on your desk, but will give you  high quality picture details. The full HD (1920x1080p) is impressive on its own, but the 144Hz refresh rate is seriously crazy (for reference, even the fanciest, biggest smart TVs only have a refresh rate of 120Hz). The curved (instead of flat) screen and the ultra fast refresh rate is ideal for sports and video games that have a frequent horizontal panning, meaning no lag and playing in real time. You'll basically be in Fortnite but IRL. Read more...

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This could be the beginning of the end for the smartphone ‘notch’

The race to build a smartphone that has an uninterrupted, edge-to-edge screen may soon be ending.

Lenovo has confirmed a June 5 launch event for its next handheld, the Z5, which is rumored to be the first all-display smartphone. The technology giant shared invites and a look at the back of the phone on Weibo.

SEE ALSO: Google's AI Assistant can now make real phone calls and it's frightening to listen to

Chances are this device is not destined for the U.S., or larger Western hemisphere, as the event is taking place in Shanghai. It comes a full week before Vivo's June 12th event where they will be showing a final version of the concept Apex Full View. Read more...

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Xiaomi's new Mi 8 Android phone shamelessly copies the iPhone X

Xiaomi built its mobile empire with iPhone knockoffs, and it looks the company hasn't outgrown the habit.

The Chinese tech titan announced a trio of new phones on Thursday, including the new Mi 8. And would you look at that — it has a notch, its own Animoji ripoffs, and a Face ID unlock clone.

In other words: It's an iPhone X that runs Android.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi's e-scooter is everywhere because it's fast, fun, and easy to ride

The three phones announced are the Mi 8, Mi 8 Explorer Edition, and the Mi 8 SE. Casual observers will be most interested in the bold choice of the Explorer Edition having a transparent back that lets you see the phone's guts, but eagle-eyed Xiaomi followers are probably wondering what happened to the Mi 7? Read more...

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Teens are breaking up with Facebook faster than we thought

In case we needed any more proof of just how bad Facebook's teen problem is, a new study suggests it could be even worse than we thought.

Just 51 percent of teens say they use Facebook, according to a study from the Pew Research Center.

SEE ALSO: Snapchat might soon offer an alternative to 'login with Facebook'

That's a significant drop from 2015, the last year Pew published a similar study, when Facebook was the most popular social platform among U.S. teens. At that time, 71 percent of teens said they were Facebook users.

Now, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat are significantly more popular among younger users than Facebook. In 2015, Instagram was a distant second to Facebook, with 20 percent of teens, and Snapchat came in third with 11 percent. (YouTube wasn't part of the 2015 survey.) Read more...

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This veteran firefighter and amputee is building powerful prosthetics for extreme sports

Braden Leonard is the founder of Hand Made Prosthetics – a startup designing robust prosthetic gear for people with limb loss who want to pursue extreme sports. Leonard is currently an Autodesk BUILD resident and is using emerging tech to find ways of upgrading what's possible for upper limb prosthetic devices.  Read more...

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Best Amazon deals for Thursday, May 31: Eufy Robovacs, blenders, Amazon devices, and more

We're prepping for summer thunderstorms today, y'all. While Wednesday was all about planning an upcoming camping trip, today we're making plans for rainy 50-degrees-in-June weather.

SEE ALSO: 7 of the best slow cookers right now, according to Amazon reviews

Amazon went hard with the gaming stuff today: Find deals on multiple graphics cards including the well-reviewed MSI Gaming Radeon 8GB VR ready CFX Graphics Card  or the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 MINI 8GB GDDR5 256-bit Graphics Card, as well as a crazy good discount on a gorgeous curved monitor with 144Hz refresh rate from Asus. If you're more of a movie person, you can save up to $60 on Christopher Nolan DVD sets like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Dark Knight, Blade Runner, and more. Read more...

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Trip Huddle from Kayak aims to make planning group vacations effortless

Kayak is aiming to make some waves in the world of trip planning. Or rather, calm some of them, especially when it comes to group trips.

Booking a group trip can be difficult, and one person is generally elected or appointed the leader. 

Trip Huddle from Kayak still needs a leader to start the process, but it does make the other legwork quite easy... with democracy! The new tool, available today, lets members of the group vote on details.

SEE ALSO: 30 things Netflix would have to do to make me cancel my account

I have been playing around with the feature for the past couple of days, and it's pretty intuitive and straightforward. The leader starts by naming the trip (such power!) and then selects suggestions on destinations, dates, and accommodations. Those suggestions then go to the other travelers, sent in the simplest way possible: a link you can paste into a text message or email thread. The planner can also enter email addresses of individuals in the group, too. Read more...

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Grindr, other dating apps are working to add STD notification features

Popular dating apps could soon help stop the spread of record high STD infections among their users.

Grindr and other primarily gay dating apps are exploring ways to add the ability for people who test positive for an STD to notify partners using the app, Mashable has learned in multiple interviews with public health experts.

According to Dr. Heidi Bauer, the chief of STD control at the California Department of Health, and Dan Wohlfeiler, director of the health consortium Building Healthy Online Communities (BHOC), STD partner notification messages are currently under consideration by several different app-makers, including Grindr, with one possibility already in the design and piloting phase. Read more...

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Spotify CEO admits the company bungled policy on artists like R. Kelly

With the dust settled from the controversy over Spotify's ban on promoting artists like R. Kelly, its CEO admitted they messed up the rollout.

The streaming company received backlash after announcing its policy on hate speech and hateful conduct, which meant Spotify wouldn't allow music from artists who contravene this to be promoted on its playlists or anywhere in its service.  

SEE ALSO: Uber will resume its self-driving program, looks to offer driver benefits

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told Recode's Code Conference on Wednesday that they "rolled this out wrong" and that they "could've done a much better job" on communicating its new policy. Read more...

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Consumer Reports flips, recommends Tesla Model 3 after braking fix

Only about a week after the independent review publication Consumer Reports determined it couldn't recommend the all-electric Tesla Model 3 sedan, it's flipped.

On Wednesday, CR came out with an updated overview of the newest Tesla, noting it had "big flaws." Now it's recommending the vehicle.

SEE ALSO: Tesla just missed its Model 3 target, but that’s not stopping Musk from setting more aggressive goals

Last week, issues with braking distance and touchscreen controls prevented the review site from recommending the more affordably priced sedan. After Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised "over-the-air" updates to improve braking, CR gave the car another chance. Read more...

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LG has yet another phone for 2018, and it might be the best one yet

It's not déjà vu — LG has yet another new phone, following the release of its flagship LG G7 ThinQ earlier this month and the LG V30s that came out in February. 

The LG V35 ThinQ is the new kid, merging the V30s design with features that we first saw on the G7. 

However, there are three differences between the V35 and the G7. First, you don't get a traditional 6.1 inch QHD+ OLED screen, instead of an edge-to-edge one. Second, a larger 3,300mAh battery is on board. And third, there's more power on the inside thanks to 6GB of RAM. 

SEE ALSO: Meet the 10-year-old drag kid shaping the future of drag youth Read more...

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NBA exec reportedly operated five secret Twitter accounts to criticize players and staff

Anonymity on Twitter is sacred, and here's a delightful reason why it still rocks.

On Tuesday, The Ringer published an in-depth investigation into five outspoken, basketball-focused Twitter accounts, laying out the considerable evidence that Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo was actually the one secretly operating them all. 

SEE ALSO: Jack Dorsey's verifications-for-all plan is bad news for Twitter

A deep-dive into the accounts' activity showed that Colangelo was allegedly using these anonymous accounts as a way to vent about his players and coaching staff, and defend (and even leak) his own strategy and choices.  Read more...

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OnePlus' $70 Bullets Wireless earbuds are a great alternative to BeatsX

OnePlus Bullets Wireless

$69

View Product

The Good

Affordable price • Long battery life • Water-resistant

The Bad

Wire can be a little long • Janky case • Magnetic on/off only works with select OnePlus phones

The Bottom Line

The OnePlus Bullets Wireless are inexpensive and decent-sounding wireless neckbuds that last long.

Mashable Score3.25

Cool Factor1.0

Learning Curve5.0

Performance4.0

Bang for the Buck3.0

OnePlus is sitting pretty on top of the Android world with its new OnePlus 6, but it aspires to be more than just a phone maker.

Like Apple and Samsung, it's cooking up an ecosystem of products that work with its phones. Though the OnePlus 6 still has a headphone jack, the Chinese startup knows wireless is the future. That’s why it’s selling the OnePlus Bullets Wireless. Read more...

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Even IKEA stores are succumbing to e-tail death

Apparently, not even all the cutesy indie dates in the world could inundate IKEA from the growing threat of e-commerce.

On Tuesday, the Tennessean reported that Ikea had nixed its plans to open a superstore in Nashville. The decision apparently was due to Ikea's desire to "align with current online shopping trends," and not the Nashville economy.

Ikea also has plans in the works for new stores in Georgia, Colorado, California and Texas, according to the Tennessean. Mashable has reached out to Ikea to ask whether it has changed its plans for any of these new developments, and will update this story when and if we hear back. Read more...

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When Will Your Phone Have 'True' Wireless Charging?

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