Animal Crossing and the Switch go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The life simulator is all about short but daily interaction with your town by maintaining friendships and keeping those damn weeds at bay. Bringing that kind of experience to a portable console like the Switch feels like a no-brainer.

SEE ALSO: 10 video games we can’t wait to lose ourselves in this holiday season

So you can understand why people were in uproar when Nintendo failed to announce any plans to port the beloved franchise to their equally popular portable console during June’s E3.

But cry no more, animal friends.

Tom Nook delivered the announcement on Thursday at Nintendo Direct that Animal Crossing Switch (a working title) is coming in 2019. And we’re still screaming about it.

At first, we thought it couldn’t get better after the announcement that your assistant in the game, Isabelle — at first considering a coup to take over your town as the new mayor — is joining the fight as a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate playable fighter. But that was just icing on the cake.

Right before Direct ended, Tom Nook’s wearied face appeared from the darkness, talking about “work” he had to get to. And what he means by that is putting us players to work again, in his ponzi scheme of keeping us in perpetual bell debt through home loans.

Nintendo didn’t provide any other details, outside of the working title and the 2019 release. But I guess playing as Isabelle in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Dec. 7, 2018 will have to suffice for now.

Missy Elliott met her long lost sister on Ellen — her funky white sister, that is.

Mary Halsey’s karaoke cover of “Work It” went viral last month. Declaring herself “Missy’s funky white sister,” Halsey rapped a flawless rendition of the song during a karaoke barbecue. Inexplicably holding an antler, she nailed the “ti esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tup” while another woman danced behind her with a plate of food. 

SEE ALSO: Missy Elliott very much approves of this cover of ‘Work It’

Missy Elliott herself praised the cover, tweeting, “She straight killed ‘Work It’ sound effects and all. I love it.” 

Halsey rapped a cover on The Ellen Show, antler and all. Halfway through her incredible performance, Missy Elliott joined in, completely surprising Halsey. 

Halsey, being the funky white sister that she is, barely missed a beat and resumed rapping with her idol. 

According to her interview with Ellen, Halsey said “Work It” has been her go-to karaoke song for the past 15 years. And although she knows what the lyrics mean, she “wasn’t thinking about them” when she was singing them. 

It looks like the two long lost sisters are friends now — Elliott even pulled the “it’s a video” while taking a selfie with Halsey. 

“Mary u are a gem!” Elliott tweeted.

Can it get any cuter than this?

The cruise ship wasn’t big enough for the both of them. 

On September 10, somewhere in the Mediterranean, two well-known rivals in the cryptocurrency space stood awkwardly poolside. A crowd, sporting a mix of cryptocurrency-themed t-shirts and bikinis, lounged nearby on the ship’s upper deck. One man, sweatpants sloshing in the water, steadied a tripod. The Bitcoin versus Bitcoin Cash debate was about to begin. 

It only took 37 seconds to spiral out of control. 

SEE ALSO: Inside the Vegas nightclub that launched its own cryptocurrency

The CoinsBank Blockchain Cruise, chartered to take cryptocurrency die-hards from Barcelona, to Monaco, to Ibiza, and then back, was in its fourth day, and a highly billed event had managed to drag a few likely hung over attendees out from their below-deck cabins. Jimmy Song, a venture partner at Blockchain Capital LLC, was to argue the relative merits of Bitcoin (BTC). Early Bitcoin adoptee and Bitcoin Cash evangelist, Rover Ver, was to speak on behalf of Bitcoin Cash (BCH). 

Bitcoin Cash was born following a 2017 Bitcoin hard fork, and despite BTC’s and BCH’s shared history, the two cryptocurrencies and their respective boosters have become the blockchain’s very own Montagues and Capulets — each disparaging the other at every conceivable opportunity, with both sides lobbing accusations of fraud and deception. 

It was perhaps to be expected that the debate wouldn’t go smoothly, but just how quickly it went off the rails surprised even those in attendance. 

Song, cowboy hat atop his head and microphone in hand, attempted to introduce the format of the event — a “Lincoln-Douglas style debate” — but was soon interrupted by Ver. 

Shouts of “no Roger” emanated from the crowd, as Ver told the audience to “calm down.”

It quickly spun out from there, with Song repeatedly telling Ver to “sit down” as Ver angled for the microphone. 

“Do you want to debate me or not,” Song demanded. “OK then sit down,” he repeated as he stood behind the podium. 

Bickering over whether or not Ver would get a one minute introduction before the official start of the debate continued on, with Song addressing the crowd and Ver shouting at the top of his lungs. 

They heatedly yelled over each other as the crowd jeered. 

Three minutes had passed, and things were not going well. And then someone handed Ver a mic.

You better believe Song wasn’t having that, and so he stormed offstage saying he was “refusing to do the debate.”

Finally with the stage all to himself, Ver attempted to speak but was immediately shouted down by a angry shirtless man yelling from the pool. And that’s all just the first five minutes. The video is over 40 minutes long. 

In the end, despite all the bullshit, one clear consensus did manage to emerge: If these people are the future of finance, then we should all pray for a return to the past. 

After Wednesday’s Apple event, you’d be forgiven for thinking the iPhone, as a product category, is now horribly fragmented.

We don’t have just one, but three different iPhone models: the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. While the pattern of three choices mirrors what Apple did last year, this year’s event confirmed it wasn’t just a one-off. We should expect releases in triplicate for the foreseeable future.

SEE ALSO: The new iPhones are jaw-droppingly expensive in Europe

It’s getting increasingly hard to remember, but there used to be a time when Apple treated the iPhone as a one-size-fits-all product. That hasn’t been the case since 2014, the first year Apple released the iPhone 6 Plus alongside the iPhone 6. Here were two phones, both with state-of-the-art internals, with different form factors. Which was “the iPhone” proper? That was up to personal preference.

Since then we’ve had several iterations of the two-phone lineup and even a come back for the older 4-inch size in the iPhone SE. No model was definitively the iPhone, though — not even last year’s iPhone X. Even though it was demonstrably superior to its peers in the lineup, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, it was too expensive and experimental to be an iPhone for the masses. Even those who evangelize it would probably have a hard time recommending it to someone who just wants “an iPhone.”

So when Apple unveiled three new phones at its event on Wednesday, it appeared the act of buying an iPhone became more confusing than ever. But for a big chunk of Apple’s customer base, things just got dramatically clearer, thanks to the iPhone XR. 

Once the XR arrives in Apple’s lineup in October, no model will be more definitively “the iPhone.” It takes much of the hardware and features of the more premium iPhone XS models and puts them in a $749 package — still not cheap, but much more in the ballpark of what most Apple customers can afford. In that way, the iPhone XR is conceptually similar to the iPhone 5C, Apple’s last attempt at an iPhone for the rest of us.

The 5C wasn’t an outright failure, but most buyers weren’t fooled: The tech inside its “unapologetically plastic” exterior was a year old. The iPhone XR, however, has the same chip and overall design as the iPhone XS and XS Max: it’s state-of-the-art. It’s missing some premium features, though: it has a lower-resolution LCD screen instead of an OLED, there’s no 3D Touch, and the trim is aluminum instead of steel. But those upgrades aren’t important to many buyers. They just want to know they’re getting an iPhone, and that it’s one of the new ones.

The one exception is probably the camera, but even here, Apple has done some impressive work to ensure the iPhone XR doesn’t feel like a downgrade. When I tried out the iPhone XR’s camera at the launch event, I was impressed with the quality of the phone’s Portrait Mode — a popular feature of Apple’s dual-camera phones — even with the new depth-of-field adjustment feature. 

Add to that the edge-to-edge design (its bezels are larger than the iPhone X’s, but few will care) and the TrueDepth camera system that enables Face ID and things like Memojis, and it suddenly gets harder to see the lines between the iPhone XR and the premium XS and XS Plus. The multiple color finishes might strike some as a indicator of cheapness (Apple brought that on itself), but since most phones spend their lives wrapped in a case, the question is mostly moot.

Some customers will balk at the 6.1-inch screen size. That’s fair, though, for many, the aversion to larger screens is really an aversion to a larger form factor. While the iPhone XR is larger than the iPhone X, it’s not enormously so. We’ve been cooking in larger smartphone screens for years, and if you’ve already gone big, the XR isn’t a leap.

The size, the chip, and the features also bestow a confidence that the iPhone XR won’t feel obsolete that quickly. The mobile world moves so quickly that nothing’s future-proof, but this phone is definitely future-resistant. As analyst Ben Thompson observes, this is still going to be a great phone two years from now. 

The iPhone XR isn’t last year’s device, like the iPhone 5C was, and it’s not an expensive, almost-experimental design that’s more future than present, as last year’s iPhone X was billed. It’s also not so expensive that you start to wonder why you paid more for your phone than your laptop, a feeling the iPhone XS models are sure to inspire. This is simply the iPhone — the one you should buy if owning a smartphone with that name is the thing that matters to you the most.

Imagine the worst beach trip you possibly can. Now here’s a worse one.

Seven people were injured on Thursday when a cliff face collapsed onto Navigio Beach on the Greek island of Zakynthos, triggering a landslide. According to the Associated Press, the incident began when a large chunk of limestone fell from a cliff into the ocean, creating a large wave that caused several small boats to capsize.

SEE ALSO: French beach town bans swimming because of a very horny dolphin

Beachgoers started to run from the landslide immediately:

Rescuers from the local coast guard and the fire department soon arrived on the scene to evacuate the beach and prevent boats from approaching.

Thankfully, none of the victims’ injuries were life-threatening. One woman was reportedly treated for a fractured vertebra.

The beach is also known as Shipwreck Beach.

Every year when Apple holds its big iPhone event, there’s always one older-generation model that’s removed from Apple Stores.

This year is no exception. Apple has finally put the iPhone 6S out to pasture. Bye-bye, iPhone 6S!

SEE ALSO: Apple unveils iPhone XS and massive iPhone XS Max

But while Apple may not be selling it’s 3-year-old iPhone anymore, the existing iPhone 6S devices out in the wild still have a lot of life left in them. So really, the 6S isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

A recent study by analytics company Mixpanel confirmed this notion by suggesting that the iPhone 6S is currently the second most in-use iPhone model in the world. Second only to the iPhone 7, the iPhone 6S is more popular than the iPhone 8 and iPhone X with 13.01 percent of the iPhone market share, according to the study.

Of course, with the release of three brand new iPhones this year, the 6S will certainly see that percentage fall as users decide to upgrade their older phones. 

Last year, Mashable explained why the iPhone 6S was the last of the great iPhones. Much like the mid-2015 Macbook Pro, the iPhone 6S is the last model that features the original design that brought its respective product into greatness. Back in 2017, we made the case for keeping your iPhone 6S, and there are a number of reasons why that still holds true today. Here’s a rundown:

1) The iPhone 6S is the very last iPhone model with a headphone jack.

That little 3.5mm headphone jack might be the most obvious reason some users are holding onto their iPhone 6S. The removal of the headphone jack starting with iPhone 7 was a big deal when it happened, and judging by every model since, there’s no going back. 

With the iPhone 6S, there’s no need to replace all your headphones and buy new ones with a lightning connector. You don’t have to spend the extra money to buy a dongle, either. Headphone jacks may be a thing of the past soon, but we’re not quite there yet. Most popular headphones still come with a wire.

The iPhone 6S is also the last iPhone to have a real button. Starting with the iPhone 7, the “button” on iPhones stopped being an actual button. The home button after the 6S was nothing but a visual. 

Using haptic feedback, the “button,” if you can really call it that, was powered by software and only made a clicking sound and vibration when you pressed it. And, going by the latest phones, full touchscreens are now going to be our only options. But with the iPhone 6S, I still have a home button that I can press whenever I damn please — even if the power is off and the battery is dead.

2) The iPhone 6S was the first to include many features that are still used in iPhones today

Many of the features that were new with the iPhone 6S are still apart of even the latest announced iPhone models. For example, the 6S was the first to include Live Photos. It was the first of Apple’s smartphones to offer 3D Touch. While other aspects of the iPhone camera have been upgraded in future models, the 6S was the first with a 12-megapixel camera, and Apple has kept that as the standard for all new iPhones, including the new iPhone XR. 

Selfies also became reasonably good with the iPhone 6S, as the front-facing camera jumped from 1.2-megapixels in the previous iteration to 5 megapixels. That was a big jump in quality, and quite honestly, just fine even for today’s selfie standards.

3) New iPhones are freaking expensive

Sure, the new iPhones are faster. But come on. Do you really always need that shiny new gadget? The answer is no, you probably don’t. The iPhone 6S is still fast and supported by Apple. The 6S is light, not too big, not too small, and most importantly you’ll save a ton of money. In fact, one of the reasons I went with the iPhone 6S is because it was the last of the AT&T subsidized iPhone models. 

Until 2017, when Verizon was the last carrier to drop iPhone subsidies, you could pick up a new base model iPhone for $199 — all you had to do was sign a 2-year contract. No purchasing a thousand-dollar iPhone at full price. No monthly fees to payoff that full-priced phone through a loan. No need to trade in a phone you haven’t fully paid off. After 2 years of service, that normally priced $649 iPhone 6S was fully yours to keep, and all it cost you was $199. 

With the base model iPhone XS starting at $999 and the high-end iPhone XS Max model topping out at $1,449, there’s no way I’d possibly pay to upgrade when I last paid $199 for my phone.

4) It’s almost like Apple wants you to keep your old phone. Almost.

Of course Apple releases new iPhones in hopes that you’ll upgrade and give them more money. But after public outrage over Apple’s admittance that they slow down your older phones on purpose, the company is doing things a little different with their next iOS release.

Apple has announced that iOS 12 will basically be its most friendly mobile operating system for older model iPhones ever. They’re focusing on performance issues with this latest release and have said that the new iOS will actually make your older iPhones, like the 6S, even faster than they are already. 

Combine that with the fact that iPhone 6S owners still have 3 months to replace their battery with a brand new one, thanks to that aforementioned iPhone slowdown scandal, it’ll be like getting a new brand new iPhone for a total of $29.

So, here’s to all the iPhone 6S users that will once again pass on Apple’s latest, expensive phone offerings and keep their cheaper beloved 3-year-old model. Hold onto it for as long as you can. I’ll be doing exactly the same.