Tech
6 AdultFriendFinder features other hookup sites lack
For 30 years now, AdultFriendFinder has quietly positioned itself as the internet's premier adult dating site and a go-to destination for singles chasing casual flings and hookups. Their success hasn't been an accident. They've stayed on top of the game, and even survived the emergence of dating apps, by forging a unique identity to help them stand out in an incredibly crowded and competitive field.
If you're looking to let your freak flag fly, AFF offers you the greatest variety of ways to do it — here are six features AdultFriendFinder has that you won't find on any other dating site.
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Naked content
One of the first things you'll discover after creating an AFF account is that the site doesn't shy away from hosting nudity, nor is it hard to come by. In fact, it's extremely common for people's profile photos to contain genitalia or full-frontal nudity rather than the typical headshot you're likely to find on most other dating sites.
The nudity isn't confined to photos, either. You can host videos on your profile, including explicit videos, and there are webcam feeds live at any given time that feature amateur and professional models in various states of undress.
If you find yourself distracted by all of the nudity or just want to browse the site in public without getting arrested, you can turn on the adult content filter by navigating to your profile settings in the top right of the screen, scrolling down to Content Filter and then selecting either No Nudity, Some Nudity or Everything (the default setting, naturally).
Live webcam feeds
There's certainly no shortage of webcam sites on the internet, but it's rare to find a dating site that hosts live webcam feeds, not only of professional models but also of regular men and women looking for connection.
Navigate to the Live Action menu at the top of your AFF window and choose between either Member Webcams or Pro Models. Once you've made this choice, you'll be able to create even more specific search filters, including by gender (Men, Women or Trans), Nude or Non-Nude, and even by proximity to you.
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One thing to note, however: while free members can view webcam feeds (including more than one at a time), only Gold members and above can actually chat with models.
Discussion forums, blogs, and group chats
Unlike traditional dating sites, which only seek to match people in one-on-one interactions, AdultFriendFinder encourages group dynamics, especially in their Community section. Here you'll find not only personal blog posts by AFF users commenting on their experience, sharing stories or posting queries, but also group discussion boards organized around literally hundreds of interesting topics.
Many of these are sexual in nature (there's a polyamory group, for example, and a "women who like older men" group), but many are organized around interests and hobbies, including politics, tech, travel, movies and music.
Best of all, you can participate in these communal discussions without having to subscribe to AFF's Gold membership, which helps to keep these places more lively than they would otherwise be if only paying members could access these spaces.
Erotic stories
Fun fact: erotic fiction now accounts for approximately 25 percent of all fiction sold in the United States, so it's hardly surprising that erotic writing ("literotica" for those in the know) would be a major draw. What is surprising, however, is how few online dating sites take advantage of it.
AdultFriendFinder members who wish to read or write sexy stories, real or imagined, can navigate to the Community menu and select Stories, where they'll uncover a near-unlimited array of stories, novels, fan fiction and even erotic poetry.
If you're feeling adventurous, you can explore the stories at random, but AFF also deploys a clever tagging system that allows you to search by topic, with popular options including First Time, Sci-Fi, TSTV (trans and transvestite), and Voyeur.
Popular stories achieve higher ratings and greater on-site visibility, and popular authors can actually build a large following on the site, so whether you're eager to read more erotic fiction or aspire to write some, AFF has you covered.
Contests
One of the more fun aspects of AdultFriendFinder is that it genuinely seeks to cultivate a sense of community and actively encourages its users to spend more time on the site, especially in the public-facing sections. Their on-site contests are a fantastic example of this in action.
About once a month, the site hosts a themed photo contest, asking members to submit photos and then allowing the rest of the site to vote on which submissions best reflect or embody the contest caption.
The most recent photo contest theme was "Velvet Secrets: Valentine's Masquerade," while prior contests include "Naughty & Nice" for the holidays and "Midnight Mischief." Winners get a special badge they can display on their profile, as well as tons more profile visibility, so there's a strong incentive to participate.
To enter, scroll to the Community menu and then find Contests at the very bottom of the options list. If there's an active contest and you are logged in to your account, you'll be given the option of participating.
Kink-based profile search
Every online dating site or app has a profile section, where you can fill out pertinent personal information such as your sexual orientation, level of education, and whatever hobbies, interests or special skills you have that might make you stand out from the crowd, but AdultFriendFinder takes things a step further by offering members the opportunity to list their kinks.
If you navigate to your profile name in the top right of your AFF screen and then select Dating Profile and Edit Profile, you'll have the opportunity to add to your My Kinks section. Popular options here include BDSM, voyeurism and cross dressing, but the full list is far more extensive.
Best of all, these kink lists aren't merely decorative. If you have a premium account, you can actually search out other members by their chosen kinks, allowing you to find the people in your area who like exhibitionism or have a foot fetish, for example.
There's no shortage of online dating sites, and even no shortage of hookup-first sites, but when it comes to adult dating, AFF clearly separates itself from the competition with its wide array of kink-friendly features and accommodations.
Tech
Get a spring skin glow-up with this rare discount on the Shark CryoGlow Cooling + LED Face Mask
SAVE UP TO 20%: As of April 14, save up to 20% off the Shark CryoGlow Cooling + LED Face Mask at Sephora with promo code SPRINGSALE. Discounts vary based on Sephora Beauty Insider member tier.
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Ready to get serious about your skincare? A face mask is always a good idea. But while disposable masks are a one and done situation, products like Shark's CryoGlow Cooling + LED Face Mask can help you look and feel your best in the long run over and over again. And thanks to Sephora Savings Event going on right now, you can score a rare discount on this Shark mask as a member of Sephora's Beauty Insiders program.
As of April 14, save up to 20% off the Shark CryoGlow Cooling + LED Face Mask at Sephora with promo code SPRINGSALE. Discounts vary based on Sephora Beauty Insider member tier. To receive this discount, you must be logged into your Sephora account and a part of the Beauty Insider program. Beauty Insiders receive 10% off, while VIB members receive 15% off. Rouge members receive the highest discount of 20%, which will apply to your order and the mask discounted automatically at checkout.
Mashable Senior Shopping Reporter Leah Stodard took this mask for a spin for 10 months, and confidently labeled it the "best LED mask" she's tried. It's more than a red light mask, however, as it can emit red, blue, and infrared light to help treat everything from fine lines to acne. These addiitons help the mask to stand out from the competition, with the added benefits of its other colored light components.
It also offers special cooling techniques which, aside from giving you a comfortable, airy freeze all over your face, can help to tighten your undereye area and surrounding zones. It has three adjustable chill levels for your comfort, as well as four special treatments optimized by dermatologists you can rely on for each session.
If you've been on the fence about trying this mask out, now's the time to go ahead and give it a try, especially as the mask rarely goes on sale on its own. Take advantage of the discounted percentages for Beauty Insiders and try it out for yourself now.
Justin Bieber wants you to take a chill pill, but this time he's not asking screaming fans to calm down at his show.
We're talking Bieber's SKYLRK fashion brand, the clothing label follow-up to his now-defunct Drew House project from 2018. Home to a variety of hoodies, tees, sunglasses, and a selection of "Bieberchella" merch right now, SKYLRK is the pop star's latest venture aiming to outfit fans with his name and his brand. It also saw one of its first collabs in 2026: the Shark ChillPill Personal Fan SKYLRK-Exclusive.
This limited edition personal fan, which Shark debuted earlier last month, is marketed as a "personal cooling system": a 3-in-1- fan, mist, and InstaChill device that offers "high-speed airflow up to 25 ft/sec", dry-touch misting, and Shark's special cooling plate that the company claims to drop skin temperature by up to 16 degrees on contact.
With 11 hours of battery life (on its lowest speed setting), you should be able to shake off some of the high heat we're expecting across the summer, or at the very least soothe you back to sleep if you wake up overheated and the other side of the pillow doesn't help.
How to buy the Shark ChillPill Personal Fan SKYLRK-Exclusive
While the fan comes in a variety of fun colors (bright teal Glacier, magenta Dragon Fruit, lavender Haze), it's Bieber's SKYLRK version that'll be catching eyes this summer as it comes in a shocking red-orange shell dubbed "Heat". While most of the ChillPill colorways are available to buy on both Amazon and Shark's online storefront, the SKYLRK Heat colorway is only available via SKYLRK and the Shark storefront.
Right now, it looks like SKYLRK no longer features a listing for the ChillPill, so if you want to get your hands on the SKYLRK Exclusive Heat version of the Shark ChillPill, head over to the Shark online storefront, where the Heat colorway is still in stock. It's the same price as the rest of the ChillPill options, so you can still snap up a fashionable color for the second weekend of Coachella or to cool off any time the blazing summer heat starts getting to you.
With Bieber's SKYLRK and Coachella performances going viral ahead of Weekend 2, now's the time to go ahead and lock yours in. We can't imagine the ChillPill will be around much longer.
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When people watched NASA's Artemis II mission return to Earth, they saw helicopter views of little orange-clad figures exiting the spacecraft onto a raft.
But the U.S. space agency has since released a short closeup video of the Navy recovery team as it opened the hatch on Friday, April 10. The trained divers and medical officers entered the tiny 330 cubic-foot Orion capsule, greeted the four astronauts.
From video cameras mounted on the recovery team's helmets, shown in the X post below, it's as if you're right there with them. The team cheers and claps, with shouts of "let's go!" followed by "four green" (a callout that the crew was OK).
"Welcome home," the recovery team said to the Artemis II crew, Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, the first humans to fly around the moon since 1972.
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Up close, the spacecraft, dubbed Integrity by the crew, appeared battered and singed as it bobbed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California. The capsule had just plummeted through Earth's atmosphere, a fiery descent that put the crew through a 25,000 mph ride.
During that intense and dangerous phase, the astronauts experienced nearly 4Gs, a pressure pushing against them equal to four times their bodyweight. Without proper training, those conditions, coupled with adrenaline overload, could cause a person to blackout.
But as the recovery team soon discovered, not only was the returning crew healthy, they were in high spirits, smiling as they waited through the procedures to leave the spacecraft. At the end of the video, one of the recovery officials, referred to as "Vlad," said he had something for Wiseman. The clip ends before that "something" is revealed.
"Jesse, Steve, Laddy, and Vlad….such an incredible feeling to welcome you aboard Integrity after a nearly 700,000 mile journey," Wiseman said in a post on X. "Forever thankful for your service to our crew and the nation."
What is clear is that the people who welcomed Artemis II back to Earth seemed just as exhilarated as the astronauts themselves. Before climbing inside the crew's living quarters for the 10-day journey, the team almost forgot to place the seal cover over the bottom edge of the hatch in their haste to see their friends.
Artemis II, which launched April 1, marked NASA's triumphant return of human-led space exploration. It planned the voyage as the critical shakeout cruise for the spacecraft before the agency attempts to land on the moon. During the flight, the Artemis II crew put Orion through its paces, testing everything from propulsion and communications to how well humans can live, work, and make scientific observations far from home.
Credit: NASA / Bill Ingalls
Packed with cameras, sensors, and experiments, the mission turned the crew into both test pilots and test subjects, gathering data to shape future Artemis voyages. A successful journey vets the hardware and flight controllers for a moonwalk planned for 2028.
NASA isn't just motivated to get back to the moon for the moon's sake but to practice keeping humans alive in another world for extended periods. That's crucial before sending astronauts on a months-long spaceflight to Mars, perhaps possible in the late 2030s.
A new space race also sets the timeline for the Artemis campaign. The United States wants to land on the moon again before China, which is extremely close to achieving its first human moon landing.
If you thought the splashdown meant Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen could finally relax, you'd be wrong. Just hours after landing, NASA tested the crew's mettle again with an obstacle course.
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