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This story is part of Gift Guideour year-round collection of the best gift ideas.

Buy someone a book as a gift, and they have… one book. Buy someone a book-reading device, and they have access to almost any book ever published. I especially appreciate how E Ink readers have remained mostly single-function devices, focusing on reading (and occasionally note-taking), rather than branching out into games, video chats or work apps.

The most famous digital book reader is Amazon’s Kindle line, which uses E Ink displays and supports Amazon’s ebook storefront. Current models offer self-illuminated touchscreens, eliminating the need for an external book light. But beyond Kindle’s hardware, the Kindle app works on smartphones, iPads and other devices.

Other alternatives exist if you don’t want to buy through Amazon. For instance, Rakuten’s Kobo ebook readers work with most third-party vendors using the ePub book standard. And both Kobo and Kindle let you freely read loaner books from your local library.

We’ve also rounded up even more ebook readers hereand tested several big-screen multifunction E Ink devices that are more tablet-like and add stylus support.

My biggest overall shopping tip is that most Kindle devices are frequently on sale, and sometimes offer stacking trade-in deals on top of that, so you can often expect to pay less than the official retail price.

Dan Ackerman/CNET

Yes, Amazon’s top-end Kindle is too expensive for what it is, but when I upgraded from a Kindle Paperwhite to the Oasis a few years

Twitter verification used to mean “Twitter has checked you are who you say you are.” As of this morning, the only thing it means is that you’re coughing up eight dollars to join the club because Elon Musk decided that anyone can buy a “verified” check mark without any verification at all.

In the hours since, some hilarity has ensued.

Jesus Christ, an existing parody account on Twitter, was also able to get verified:

Twitter is already taking action on some of these accounts: fake Nintendo, fake Trump, fake Valve, and fake LeBron have had their accounts suspended, for example. (Mario was up for roughly two hours, Valve for even longer.) Others are still around. The company says it is “aggressively going after impersonation and deception.” But it seems like it’ll be a game of whack-a-mole.

While Musk has claimed that this new system will deter spammers, it’s now crystal clear how it can empower fake news — though users can still check to see why an account was verified if they click or tap on the badge instead of blindly retweeting.

Twitter also briefly attempted a two-tier check mark system this morning, but Musk “killed it” after just a few hours.

Not for the first time, HBO’s House of the Dragon presented a perplexing character decision in need of further dissection. from Laena Velaryon’s suicide to foot fetishes, season 1 of the Game of Thrones prequel series is absorbing, to say the least. The latest episodes — episode 9 — saw Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, aka The Queen Who Never Was, take her turn in the spotlight.

Let’s discuss that huge final scene with the Princess and why she chose not to burn a certain family to cinders.

Warning: Spoiler ahead.

Why didn’t Rhaenys burn the Hightowers?

Despite having been imprisoned by the Hightowers, Princess Rhaenys chooses to spare their lives — for now. After escaping her room with the help of defected knight Erryk Cargyll, Rhaenys finds herself swept up in Prince Aegon’s coronation ceremony. She slinks away as Aegon receives the Conqueror’s crown, managing to descend beneath the floorboards and reunite with her red-hued she-dragon Meleys. Rhaenys and Meleys then burst through the floorboards, sending the ceremony into chaos.

Facing down the Hightower clan — including Queen Alicent, her father Otto and her son Aegon — Rhaenys has the opportunity to end the Hightowers’ reign for good. All she has to do is say “Dracarys,” the High Valyrian (language of the old Valyrian Freehold) word for “Dragonfire” and order Meleys to breath fire. Instead, Meleys lets out a deafening shriek. Rhaenys shares a meaningful look with Alicent, who’s standing protectively in front of Aegon, before she and Meleys

There’s one scene in episode 7 of Andor that sent me reeling.

It starts out weird. Cassian Andor, having pulled off an impossible heist on the Galactic Empire, was doing what any reasonable criminal would do in the aftermath: partying it up in what can only be described as “Space Ibiza.” Getting boozed up by night, lounging off the hangover at the beach by day. A strange vibe for a universe usually dialed in on space wizards duking it out with laser swords, but I digress.

While lounging, Cassian – a passerby in a completely new, separate crime he has no involvement in – gets pulled up by a Stormtrooper and is interrogated on the spot, accused of taking part in a crime he merely witnessed.

Anyone watching that scene who’s been interviewed by a rogue cop almost certainly had a knot in their stomach. Cassian, polite and forthcoming, frantically tries to avoid trouble as he is slowly ensnared by a calculated series of leading questions, resulting in him being imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. It’s a scene both brutal and baffling in its truthfulness. What feels initially like parody slowly unravels into something horrifying. The outcome feels depressingly inevitable: This is what happens when you allow fascism to flourish without recourse.

It’s funny, but Andor – a spinoff show focused on a character from a spinoff movie – is literally the first Star Wars