• Lego’s newest set is an accurate, brick-built recreation of the Endurance
• The ship was used on a trans-antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton
• It’s made from over 3,000 Lego bricks and is over 31 inches long

Lego’s next Icons set is getting ready to sail, and it might just be the perfect companion build to one of the latest documentaries to hit Disney Plus. The new Icons The Endurance Set is a 3,011 brick-built recreation of the iconic ship helmed by Sir Ernest Shackleton.

It’ll launch on November 29, 2024 – aka Black Friday – for $269.99 / £229.99 / AU$399.99, about three weeks after Endurance dropped on Disney Plus; it premiered on November 2, 2024.

The ship was a trans-antarctic expedition led by Shackleton, which became stuck in the ice in 1915. Miraculously, the crew and Shackleton survived and made it back on the ship’s lifeboats, including harrowing days in Antarctica.

Australia is planning to pass “world-leading” legislation to protect children from harmful social media use. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the law, which will enforced later next year, will ban under-16s from using social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook, X, Instagram and likely Google’s YouTube.

“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese said during a news conference on Thursday. Citing how excessive social media use is harming the physical and mental health of children, Albanese highlighted risks to girls in particular from harmful depictions of body image, and misogynist content aimed at boys. “If you’re a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, at a time where you’re going through life’s changes and maturing, it can be a really difficult time and what we’re doing is listening and then acting,” Reuters quoted the PM as saying.

The island nation is currently testing age-verification systems using biometrics and government IDs to block children under 16 from accessing social media platforms. Reportedly, the legislation will not exempt underage users with parental consent or those who already have active accounts.

The prime minister said the law will tabled in the Australian Parliament later this month and it will come into effect next year, after it is ratified by all lawmakers. “The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won’t be on parents or young people,” PM Albanese said.

Australia’s Law Minister Michelle Rowland said the platforms affected by the new law would include Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X. Rowland added YouTube is also likely to fall within the scope of the legislation.

Industry representative body DIGI called the move dangerous and said it would only encourage children to explore darker, unregulated parts of the internet. Sunita Bose, Managing Director of the body including  Meta, TikTok, X and Alphabet’s Google as members, said, “Keeping young people safe online is a top priority…but the proposed ban for teenagers to access digital platforms is a 20th-century response to 21st-century challenges.” Bose said creating age-appropriate spaces and digital literacy was the way forward.

Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.

Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.

How to play Strands

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strand answers

Today’s spanagram

We’ll start by giving you the spangram, which might help you figure out the theme and solve the rest of the puzzle on your own:

Today’s Strands answers

• SHAKE
• CLAP
• POINT
• FIST
• PEACE
• PINCH
• WAVE
• PRAY

The Google Store offers a plethora of accessories for Pixel products, even from third-party manufacturers. However, until now, it has yet to sell third-party bands for its smartwatches. That just changed with the inclusion of the Spigen Rugged Band for Pixel Watch devices in the Google Store. Plus, there’s a new silicone bumper designed for the Google TV Streamer.

The Spigen Rugged Band for Pixel Watch devices now available in the Google Store

The Spigen Rugged Band is available in both 41mm and 45mm sizes. While the name mentions that it’s designed for the Pixel Watch 3, the 41mm version is compatible with the Pixel Watch 2 and the original Pixel Watch. The band features a sporty design reminiscent of Casio watches. Spigen says the new band has “carbon fiber accents and a matte finish.”

The band uses a traditional “slide and lock” adjustment system based on holes and a hook. The brand claims that this ensures an ideal fit for any situation. Spigen also boasts that the band is sturdy and flexible, so it should hold up to rough use for a long time without any issues.

The new Spigen Rugged Band for Pixel Watch devices is available in a sober black color for $34.99 from the Google Store. Interestingly, it’s also available on Amazon for a lower price ($24.99). Spigen hasn’t confirmed if it will release more colors in the future.

A bumper to protect your Google TV Streamer too

Spigen also released a silicone bumper for the Google TV Streamer. The accessory will be quite useful in case of accidental drops thanks to the built-in rubber perimeter. It does not cover the top of the device, presumably to prevent any interference with wireless signals. Plus, there’s a lanyard and adhesive that will make it simple for you to mount the device behind your TV or on any vertical surface.

Unlike the band for Pixel Watch devices, the bumper is available in two colorways: hazel and porcelain. You can purchase the bumper, officially called the “Spigen Silicone Fit,” from both the Google Store and Amazon. Again, the price on the Google Store is significantly higher at $39.99 compared to Amazon’s $29.99.

While Activision has been striving to its notoriously huge Call of Duty games so they take up less storage space, you may still need more room on your console. That’s true even if you have the with 2TB of built-in storage. Games can quickly fill an internal SSD and if you’re an Xbox Series X/S gamer, Seagate’s expansion card is perhaps the way to go.

The 2TB variant is on sale at the minute. It has dropped to . That’s $160 off the regular price.

Seagate

Seagate’s expansion card is one of the best options for expanding your Xbox Series X/S storage. A 2TB version has dropped to $200, its lowest price to date.

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$200 at Amazon

Look, proprietary storage stinks, but the choice for Series X/S owners looking for more space is largely between Seagate’s Storage Expansion Card and WD’s Black C50. It’s possible to store Series X/S games on a regular external drive, but you’ll need to move them to internal storage or an expansion card anyway to actually play them. If you don’t want to deal with shifting large files around and waiting for transfers to complete, or you don’t want to delete and download games more than is necessary, an expansion card is the way to go.

Seagate’s version is one of our picks for the . The 2TB version should give you ample space — at least until you start filling it up with all of the huge Call of Duty games that have .

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.