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Mashable is a leading source for news, information & resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's 25 million monthly unique visitors and 10 million social media followers have become one of the most engaged online news communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.
Updated: 55 min 1 sec ago

Dwyane Wade's Miami statue has the internet in tears

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 15:14

Dwyane Wade is the latest athlete to suffer the slings and arrows of the internet's jokes after having the bad fortune of a bewilderingly unrecognizable statue.

In the annals of the internet, typically speaking, you see the word "unrecognizable" to describe a celeb whose weight fluctuated or hair changed. But in this case, I'd wager it'd be hard to decipher if this statue was intended to be Wade, were it not for the Miami Heat jersey. It was unveiled Sunday in front of Miami's Kaseya Center, honoring a moment in which the retired NBA legend shouted "this is my house" after a big shot.

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I mean...come on. At least, to my eye, that does not look like Wade. It's perhaps not as bad as that infamous Cristiano Ronaldo debacle from 2017, but it's reminiscent. There is a long history of these sorts of bad statues, but the Wade one really isn't great. Sports pundit and Ringer founder Bill Simmons said it's the worst he's ever seen.

The internet, naturally, responded with jokes.

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Wade himself said he loves the statue, so perhaps that's all that matters.

How long does it take to get off the Apple Intelligence waitlist?

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 14:41

As part of its big week of Mac announcements, Apple let slip on Monday morning that the first wave of Apple Intelligence features have been let loose unto the world immediately.

Of course, that doesn't mean anyone with a newer iPhone, iPad, or Mac can just use Apple Intelligence right now. It would be silly to simply allow people to use features that are out. Instead, you need to go through a (hopefully quick and painless) process to get Apple Intelligence activated on your iPhone. Here's how it works.

SEE ALSO: Apple Intelligence is finally here, but these 5 features won’t be available until December Apple Intelligence: How long it takes to get off the waitlist

On its support website, Apple has a handy how-to list for getting Apple Intelligence off the ground on your device. Here's a basic rundown of how it works:

  1. Update to iOS 18.1

  2. Go to Settings

  3. Go to "Apple Intelligence & Siri"

  4. Tap "Join Apple Intelligence Waiting List"

According to Apple, everyone has to sit on the waiting list before they can use Apple Intelligence. The company says you can expect to be let off the waiting list "within a few hours" of joining it, but wait times may vary. Ideally, it'll be less than a day, but we'll have to wait and see how it works for people online before knowing for sure.

As a reminder, this is just the first step of Apple Intelligence infecting all your devices. This rollout features rools for summarizing and proofreading text and removing unwanted images from existing photos, but heavily generative features like Genmoji and Image Playground aren't available yet.

Philadelphia sues Elon Musk for his $1 million voter payouts

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 14:41

Elon Musk's dubious $1 million voter lottery is getting a dose of legal scrutiny, as the city of Philadelphia sues the billionaire and X owner to stop the swing state payouts.

The city's district attorney Larry Krasner is accusing Musk of trying to influence voters and running an illegal lottery, opening up the business owner to local prosecution under the state's strict lottery regulations. Krasner has asked a judge to order Musk stop the giveaway immediately, with more than 280,000 Pennsylvanians already signed up for the raffle.

SEE ALSO: The truth about voting machine security in the 2024 election

The payouts come from Musk's new America PAC, created to back the presidential campaign for Donald Trump and support "constitutional values," which ostensibly include secure borders and free speech. Musk has donated more than $118 million to the PAC, eclipsing other high-dollar contributions from the likes of the DeVos family, the Winklevoss twins, former U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft, and Jimmy John's founder James Liautaud.

Following the super pac's unveiling, Musk said he would award daily $1 million payouts to randomly-selected voters residing in swing states who signed his petition to "support the Constitutional rights to free speech and bear arms." The giveaway wasn't the first money offer from the billionaire, and many have questioned the payouts' legality under federal law. Others expressed concern about personal data privacy for those entering.

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To get around finance laws, Musk has called the lottery winners "America PAC spokespeople" and refers to the six-figure offers as "paychecks," not winnings. According to the lawsuit, Musk's actions also violate consumer protection laws by allegedly favoring winners that have attended Trump rallies. The Justice Department has also warned Musk against further action under the America PAC "lottery." Trump has avoided associating with the lottery, but has called on Musk as an ally.

Musk has recently joined the Trump campaign trail in addition to his vocal support for the candidate online. A recent New York Times report alleges that Musk's motive for supporting the twice-impeached former president is to protect himself and his companies from dozens of federal probes and to maintain his billions in government contracts.

'The Sticky' trailer: Margo Martindale, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 14:32
"The Sticky," starring Margo Martindale and Jamie Lee Curtis, hits Prime Video December 6.

Watch Saoirse Ronan stun male actors into silence on 'The Graham Norton Show'

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 13:19

It's not often a talk show goes silent. After all, it's right there in the name — it's a talk show.

But actor Saoirse Ronan did just that on a recent episode of The Graham Norton Show, the British talk show that typically features a roundtable discussion among famous folks. Ronan was the lone woman on the panel, which also featured actors Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, and Eddie Redmayne and the host, Norton.

SEE ALSO: 'The Outrun' review: Saoirse Ronan leads a tender and poetic addiction drama

Redmayne mentioned being taught how to use a phone as a defensive tool for his role in the assassin series The Day of the Jackal. Mescal and Norton cracked a few jokes about searching for your phone in a self-defense situation.

"Who is actually going to think about that?" Mescal said while miming the act of pulling a phone out of his pocket. "If someone actually attacked me, I'm not going to go 'phone.'"

The men laughed and Redmayne agreed, before Ronan pointed out that, actually, women need to constantly think of ways to defend themselves.

"That's what girls have to think about all the time," she said.

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A hush immediately overtook the panel and the crowd, and the male actors made sounds of agreement while nodding.

Then Ronan broke the silence with, "Am I right, ladies?" which was met with applause and cheers.

It has become a super viral moment, with lots of people posting clips online and people loving the point Ronan made.

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It was a brief moment in the show, but Ronan powerfully reminded the room how different the world can be for women and men.

Open-source TikTok alternative Loops coming to the fediverse

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 13:14

The fediverse is growing.

Loops, an open-source TikTok clone, has started to accept sign ups, as first reported by TechCrunch.

The short form, looping video platform will provide an open-source alternative to TikTok in the same way that Mastodon provides an alternative option for X, formerly Twitter. Loops was created by Daniel Supernault, the founder of the open-source Instagram alternative Pixelfed. The project is being financed by user-support.

For those unfamiliar, the fediverse is a group of social media platforms that are working together through a federated protocol in order to allow users to communicate and interact with one another between social networks. A number of online platforms like Mastodon, Wordpress, Flipboard, and even Meta's Threads have joined the fediverse in the past year or so. By implementing this protocol, Threads users can choose to have their content automatically become accessible on platforms like Mastodon.

Loops will work much like TikTok, allowing users to post short form videos as well as comment on and share clips. However, for new users, content will be held in a moderation que as they build their "trust score." This trust score will also help the platform hide certain comments and apply warning labels to clips. Users with high trust scores will be able to post content immediately without having to wait for approval.

SEE ALSO: Bluesky gains half a million new users in one day after X changes how blocking works SEE ALSO: Bluesky is developing paid subscriptions — but will always be free to use, it says

As with most open-source platforms, Loops is user privacy-oriented. The platform says it will not sell user data to third-party advertisers or allow user content to be used to train AI.

It will be interesting to see an independent alternative to TikTok. While the viral video platform has found competition with YouTube Shorts, most other attempts to take on TikTok have yet to be successful. Facebook, for example, tried to take on TikTok with an app called Lasso which it eventually shut down in 2020.

Will Loops be successful? Judging by the surge in popularity for X alternatives like Bluesky and Threads, it certainly has a shot.

Timothée Chalamet showed up at the Timothée Chalamet lookalike competition

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 13:14

On Sunday afternoon in New York City's Washington Square Park, Timothée Chalamet "did the funniest thing possible" by showing up to his own lookalike competition.

SEE ALSO: What is facial contrast makeup? It's the latest TikTok trend dictating how to feel beautiful.

Over 1,000 people gathered in the park after signs advertising a Chalamet lookalike competition with a $50 cash prize appeared all over Lower Manhattan and social media. The sign directed potential Timmys and attendees to a Partiful event that boasted over Tk RSVPs.

At 1 p.m. yesterday, the event (and madness) ensued under the Washington Square Arch, which was live-streamed across news channels and social media. There were Wonka Timmys, Bob Dylan Timmys, and Dune Timmys battling it out for a giant trophy and $50 check, and the New York Police Department showed up and arrested a Timmy. But it was Chalamet's surprise appearance that caused the biggest stir online.

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A tweet with over 450,000 likes and 15 million views broke the news. It featured a photo of the real Chalamet posing with a lookalike and said, "LMAOO TIMOTHEE CHALAMET ACTUALLY SHOWED UP TO THE TIMOTHEE CHALAMET LOOKALIKE CONTEST IN WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK." The user replied with a charming video of Chalamet surprising his lookalike.

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Fans were quick to post footage from every angle of Chalamet's quick walk through the crowd and comment on their favorite part of the saga. One wrote, "the best part is him making his way through that entire crowd and no one noticing because there’s 100 other people that look like him there." Another said, "him arriving in a mask i know his dramatic ass wanted a big reveal he’s so funny."

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Chalamet's surprise arrival came after a photo of him walking next to one of the posters advertising the event while shooting his upcoming film Marty Supreme circulated on social media. One user posted that image next to a photo of Chalamet at the event, writing, " This was the greatest cultivation of events."

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The silly competition and Chalamet's appearance brought joy to New York City and fans far and near, a rarity in today's social media climate. One user wrote, "Such charm, such whimsy… the city needed this." Another said, "timothee chalamet lookalike contest is giving me the most joy i’ve felt in a hot minute."

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Google's AI Overview is rolling out worldwide

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 13:00

Google's AI Overviews are rolling out to over 100 more countries today, including Australia and New Zealand, bringing the algorithmically generated search summaries to millions more users five months after its US launch. It seems pretty safe to say the search giant considers the feature a success.

"We can actually do better than what's on your Search page," Hema Budaraju, Google's Senior Director of Product Management for Search, told Mashable.

SEE ALSO: The new Google AI Overview layout is a small win for publishers

Rather than completely replace your standard Google Search, Budaraju stated that AI Overviews are intended to be a "jumping off point" for further investigation, quickly addressing questions that are more complex, nuanced, or have no immediate answer. As such, they may not appear for more straightforward questions which are satisfactorily answered by the Search results page.

"We add AI Overviews where we believe that it has additional value," said Budaraju.

Noting that AI Overviews have been tested "extensively," Budaraju emphasised that Google focused on Search quality and safety, implementing extra precautions concerning important topics such as health information. 

"For us, quality and responsibility is very important to the system," said Budaraju. "And some of it is learning — learning very actively through our users and learning very actively through our system."

According to Google, its testing has shown that users find search results with AI Overviews more helpful, and that younger people aged 18 to 24 have higher engagement with the feature. Users are reportedly staying longer on websites when they do click through as well. Hopefully this means people are being vigilant about thoroughly double-checking any information they're served with authoritative sources.

AI Overviews will be rolling out globally in the coming weeks, and will be available in all currently supported languages regardless of the country users access the feature from. At present, Google's AI Overviews are available in English, Hindi, Indonesia, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Credit: Google

Google initially launched AI Overviews for U.S. users in May, and was very quickly met with both jokes and criticism. Users posted screenshots of incorrect AI-generated summaries on social media (some of which were wrong to a dangerous extent), while Mashable's testing found that AI Overviews were generally "a little worse" than standard Google Searches. 

Though Google claimed that "a very large number" of screenshots were faked, the company did state that it was working to address issues with AI Overviews via improving its algorithms and removing erroneous responses.

Such improvements were apparently enough that Google felt comfortable rolling out AI Overviews to the UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil in August. It also updated the AI Overview interface, more prominently displaying relevant websites on the right side of the page instead of below the generated summary. With today's rollout, millions more will now have access to Google's AI-generated search summaries.

Today's your last chance to score $100 off YouTube's NFL Sunday ticket

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 12:58

GET $100 OFF: Don't miss out on $100 off YouTube's NFL Sunday Ticket! Today's the last day to score this deal and watch every out-of-market NFL game this season.

Opens in a new window Credit: YouTube Our pick: NFL Sunday Ticket $379.00 at YouTube
$479.00 Save $100.00 Get Deal

We’re just one month into football season, and if you haven't already bought an NFL Sunday Ticket subscription, today's your last chance to take advantage of a limited-time offer that could save you $100.

As of Oct. 28, you can score $100 off YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket package, which gives you access to every out-of-market NFL game on Sundays. Typically, the full-season NFL Sunday Ticket package costs $479, but with this limited-time deal, you can get the full season for $379. (If you’re a student, you can get it for $199.)

SEE ALSO: So your NFL team stinks: The 2025 NFL Draft online resources you need to survive

In addition to watching every out-of-market NFL game on Sundays, the NFL Sunday Ticket package through YouTube lets you watch up to four live games on one screen in multiview. You can also get unlimited in-home streams and two streams outside your home, so you can watch games on your smartphone, tablet, or other connected devices. Plus, you can track your fantasy football players throughout the games with Fantasy View.

Want even more? This deal is also available for the NFL Sunday Ticket + NFL RedZone package, which gives you all the benefits of the NFL Sunday Ticket and up to seven hours of live football coverage with Scott Hanson, featuring up to eight games within the octobox.

Note: This subscription will auto-renew at the regular price after the season ends. If you don’t want that to happen, cancel before the renewal date.

Apple Intelligence is finally here, but these 5 features won’t be available until December

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 12:37

Apple’s much-anticipated Apple Intelligence suite is finally rolling out with iOS 18.1, bringing a range of AI-driven features straight to your iPhone. The free update is live as of today, though some of the more advanced tools are slated to drop in December, per Apple’s latest announcement.

SEE ALSO: Every Apple Mac announcement so far

Leading off the announcement was Apple’s new Writing Tools—a versatile assistant designed to elevate your writing across the board. Writing Tools will let you rewrite, proofread, and summarize text directly in apps where you’re typing, from notes to messages. Apple Intelligence also includes a revamped, more conversational Siri and a new notification summary system that aggregates key updates across your emails, group chats, notes, and more.

SEE ALSO: Apple just announced the M4 Apple iMac: Here's how to pre-order it Still waiting for key Apple Intelligence features

More features are set to arrive in December with three new tools: Genmoji, Image Playground, and Image Wand.

Genmoji lets users create personalized emojis based on descriptions or photos, allowing for unique likenesses of family and friends. Image Playground enhances user-created sketches with AI, turning rough drawings into refined images. Image Wand goes a step further, generating images based on on-screen context—like creating bird illustrations while reading about birds. These tools build on the AI features in iOS 18.1, pushing Apple deeper into the generative AI space.

SEE ALSO: The real AI update: Apple launches iOS 18.2 developer beta

Apple is rolling out updates to Writing Tools, adding context-specific prompts that let users generate creative text—like transforming a dinner invite into a poem. Apple is also integrating ChatGPT’s data directly into Writing Tools and Siri, enhancing response depth and variety to better compete with popular language models.

According to Apple, the iPhone 16 lineup will also be getting a unique addition with Visual Intelligence — a feature limited to these models due to its integration with the new Camera Control button. Visual Intelligence allows users to look up information by simply pointing the camera at an object, bypassing the need to snap a photo or navigate photo app settings. It’s not revolutionary, but it streamlines searches.

Apple Intelligence won’t be available for all devices, with support limited to newer models. Only users with an iPhone 16 series (including the 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max), iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, iPads with an A17 Pro or M1 chip and later, and Macs running on M1 chips or newer will have access.

Netflix just made it easier to stan their shows

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 12:36

A new era of fandom has entered the villa: Netflix will now let you save and reshare your favorite scenes directly to your friend and followers. That's right. No more black screens or scrounging the timeline for ripped clips to share to your stan account, the app will do it for you.

Introduced to iOS users exclusively on the Netflix app, the new Moments feature allows users to pause their content, save a clip of what they just watched to their account (to revisit over and over again, of course), and then share to external social media platforms, group chats, you name it. Saved Moments will live under the "My Netflix" tab, and media rewatches will begin wherever you last saved a Moment. The feature will be added for Android users in the coming weeks, the company said.

SEE ALSO: What to Watch: Best scary movies

Fans at large have turned clip sharing into an economy of its own. As a popular way to evangelize your favorite shows, movies, or actors to the greater public, started by the mid-2000s GIF obsession, clip sharing has taken over apps like TikTok and Twitter on dedicated clip farming accounts that rake in millions of views. Until now, attempts to screen record or screenshot Netflix content have been fully blocked by the site, leaving most of the internet's beloved fancam makers and stan accounts at the whim of ripped illicit recordings of their favorite media.

The company will also release a celebrity video series featuring Netflix stars going over their favorite scenes. "You know that feeling when a scene, character, or line from a show or movie just sticks with you," Netflix chief marketing officer Marian Lee shared with Variety, "And you can’t help but text your friends, ‘You have to watch this, it’s so good!?' Our new campaign is all about celebrating these unforgettable moments, taking you back to the feeling you had when you first became obsessed with a great show on Netflix."

The new feature may be a calculated advertising move for Netflix itself, with viral clips often dictating public interest in both new and old media.

SEE ALSO: This is how those sexy 'Challengers' fan edits got made so quickly

But as some rejoiced, other users were quick to point out the irony of Netflix finally allowing a (monitored) version of content sharing, while at the same time cracking down on password sharing, striking its most affordable plans, and erasing digital content — including originals — from its platform.

Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted How to save and share a Moment Total Time
  • 2 min
What You Need
  • Netflix mobile app

Step 1: Download the Netflix app and log in to your account.

Step 2: Begin playing your favorite piece of media.

Step 3: When you get to your favorite part, tap on the screen and select "Moments" on the bottom left corner of the screen.

Step 4: Hit "Save" on the scene (timestamp will be included).

Step 5: You can save Moments in the app or export them to platforms like X, Instagram, or Facebook, or send them directly to your friends with a link.

Beats Studio Pro headphones are 51% off — plus deals on earbuds and speakers

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 12:19

SAVE UP TO 51%: Beats headphones and speakers are on sale at Amazon. Shop the Beats Studio Pro headphones for $169.99, saving $180 for 51% off.

Best Beats Deals Best Beats deal Beats Studio Pro headphones $169.99 at Amazon (Save $180) Get Deal Best earbud deal Beats Studio Buds+ $129.99 at Amazon (Save $39.96) Get Deal Best speaker deal Beats Pill $126.99 at Amazon (Save $22.96) Get Deal

We're still a month out from Black Friday, so it's a little too soon to call these early Black Friday deals. However, this week is bringing a bounty of deals across categories, including marked down MacBooks and tablets. On the headphone front, Beats are offering killer deals on their entire line-up.

Beats were Apple's first endeavor into the headphone market, and while AirPods have taken the lead in popularity, we're still big fans. The Beats Fit Pro are some of our favorite workout headphones and the Beats Studio Buds+ make for a great alternative to AirPods. And while those models are on sale, the best deal comes on the Beats Studio Pro headphones.

Best Beats deal Opens in a new window Credit: Beats Beats Studio Pro headphones $169.99 at Amazon
$349.99 Save $180.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Noise-cancelling headphones are crucial when you need to block out noisy environments or people — we all have an office yapper. However, with models topping $200, $300, or $400, making the investment is not easy. That's why we always keep our eyes peeled for big markdowns and this week, it's all about the Beats Studio Pro.

Compatible with both Apple and Android systems, the Beats Studio Pro deliver fantastic sound and incredible battery life at 24 hours with ANC and 40 hours without. They're normally $349.99, but this week, you can find them down to $169.99. That's just four cents away from its lowest price ever. That gives you $180 off for 51% savings.

More Beats deals

Apple just announced the M4 Apple iMac: Here's how to pre-order it

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 12:14
Where to pre-order the M4 iMac Apple Store Apple iMac (M4) Starting at $1,299 Pre-order here

Mac Week is officially here, and Apple's kicked it off with an iMac announcement.

As of Oct. 28, the M4 Apple iMac is available for preorder, starting with 16GB of unified memory, 256GB of storage, and an 8-core CPU and GPU for $1,299. So far, you can pre-order the Apple desktop from the Apple's online store, but we'll be updating this post as it becomes available from more retailers. The computer officially launches on Friday, Nov. 8.

The 24-inch iMac doesn't come with major upgrades from the M3 iMac, which was released almost one year ago to the date, after no M2 iMac was released in 2022. However, there are three major differences: the M4 chip, new colorways, and Apple Intelligence features the brand has been teasing out since June. On that last point, Apple also announced today that some of these features are already live for folks with more recent iPhones, iPads, and Macs, but even more will become available in December.

SEE ALSO: Every Apple Mac announcement so far

Like the M3 iMac, the M4 iMac supports up to 24GB of unified memory, 10-core GPU, and sports a 4.5K Retina display. As for how their speeds compare, Apple focused on the performance difference between the M4 and M1 chip (which was two generations back on the iMac). In its press release, Apple claims the M4 iMac is up to 1.7 times faster than the previous model — in the release for the M3 iMac last year, Apple wrote the "iMac with M3 is up to 2x faster than the prior generation with M1." While it's hard to glean how the two most recent models compare, one thing is clear: They're both faster than the M1 iMac.

M4 iMac users will also get a 12MP Center Stage camera, four USB-C ports, and the ability to connect up to two 6K external displays.

Shopping for little ones this holiday? Get 10% off when you spend $25 on toys at Amazon

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 11:49

GET 10% OFF: Stretch your holiday budget further! As of Oct. 28, you can get 10% off when you spend $25 or more on a wide selection of toys. Shop for birthdays, holidays, or just because. This offer ends Oct. 31, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Spend $25, get 10% off Get Deal

Whether you have a big family or just a few little ones to shop for this season, a discount or two can help stretch your holiday budget.

Right now, Amazon is offering a 10% discount on $25 or more toy purchases, making it a great time to stock up on gifts for the tikes in your life. All you have to do is add the toys to your cart, and the discount will be automatically applied once you've reached the $25 threshold.

SEE ALSO: The best gifts for teenage girls, according to teenage girls

With a wide selection of toys for kids of all ages, Amazon has plenty of options to choose from. You'll find classic board games and puzzles, like Yahtzee Classic and Twister Jr. Splash, educational toys, stuffed animals, action figures, and more. There are also a ton of arts and crafts supplies on sale, including chalk sets, coloring books, and wood-building kits.

No matter what kind of gift you're looking for, odds are you can find it and save 10% in the process.

Amazon deal of the day: The M2 iPad Air is $100 off for the first time ever

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 11:39
Check out the best Amazon deals of the day as of Oct. 28: OUR TOP PICK Apple 11-inch iPad Air (M2, 128GB, WiFi) $499 at Amazon (save $100) Get Deal BEST HEADPHONES DEAL Beats Studio Pro $169.99 at Amazon (save $180) Get Deal BEST SMARTHOME DEAL Amazon Echo Hub $124.99 at Amazon (save $55 with on-page coupon) Get Deal BEST KIDS DEAL Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro (32GB) $109.99 (save $80) Get Deal

We're exactly one month out from Thanksgiving, which means Black Friday season is creeping up on us. Honestly, though, there's no need to wait to start ticking off your shopping list. Amazon has already started dropping prices on its own gadgets. Not to mention, Apple is delivering plenty of exciting discounts. We've rounded up a few of the best deals we could find today to help you kick off your shopping.

Here are our top picks for the best Amazon deals of the day on Oct. 28. If you don't see anything that catches your eye, stay tuned the rest of the week as we select new deals each day.

Our top pick Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple 11-inch iPad Air (M2, 128GB, WiFi) $499.00 at Amazon
$599.00 Save $100.00 Get Deal

The M2 iPad Air saw its first price drop before it even made its official debut back in May. It's seen multiple discounts since, including on Prime Day, but none have been as big as today's $100 discount. As of Oct. 28, you can grab the 11-inch M2 iPad Air with 128GB of storage and WiFi connectivity for just $499 instead of $599. It may not be a massive design change from the previous generation, but it's definitely a welcome upgrade. As Mashable's Kim Gedeon noted in her review, "The M2 chip brings sweet energy efficiency and a performance uptick."

Opens in a new window Credit: Beats Beats Studio Pro $169.99 at Amazon
$349.99 Save $180.00 Get Deal

Not only did Mashable reviewer Alex Perry give the Beats Studio Pro 4.5 out of 5 stars, but he also awarded them a Mashable Choice badge of honor. Between their rich, immersive sound, solid active noise cancellation, and tremendous battery life, "It's hard to find a pair of over-ear headphones with a better all-around experience than Beats Studio Pro," he writes. Typically these headphones would run you $349.99, but you can pick them up at Amazon as of Oct. 28 for only $169.99. That's over half off and just a few cents shy of their lowest price ever.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Echo Hub $124.99 at Amazon
$179.99 Save $55.00 with on-page coupon Get Deal

Essentially the brain to your smart home, the Echo Hub offers a full-featured control panel with instant access to all of your smart gadgets — lights, switches, cameras, thermostat, doorbell, etc. Rather than keeping the control center locked inside of someone's smartphone, anyone can play music, stream videos, ask Alexa questions, dim the lights, see who's at the door, or adjust the temperature all from one central location. With a limited-time on-page coupon, you can snag it for only $124.99 instead of $179.99. That's 31% in savings and matches its record-low price from Prime Day.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro (32GB) $109.99 at Amazon
$189.99 Save $80.00 Get Deal

Designed for your 6- to 12-year-old, the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro came out last year and was marketed as Amazon's "best kids tablet yet." It features a 10.1-inch 1080p full HD display, a lightweight design, 3GB of RAM, up to 13 hours of battery life, and is 25% faster than the previous generation. Plus, of course, it includes a durable case (with a built-in kickstand) that can stand up to all of your little one's adventures (and messes). As of Oct. 28, it's back down to just $109.99 from $189.99. That's a savings of 42% and matches its all-time low from October's Prime Day.

None of these deals catching your eye? Check out Amazon's daily deals for even more savings.

Every Apple Mac announcement so far

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 11:36

Last week, Apple promised a week of new Mac announcements in the near future. Well, the future is now, and Apple has unveiled a new Mac device and released Apple Intelligence.

Let's not waste any time. Here are all of the announcements Apple made this week.

SEE ALSO: Remember the legendary iMac G4? Apple's smart display might look just like it Apple Mac week: Every announcement made

Apple isn't disappointing with its week of announcements. Here's what we know about so far.

Apple Intelligence is out now It's here. Credit: Apple

Hey, remember earlier this year when Apple announced its suite of AI features? Some of those are out now.

Apple confirmed on its Newsroom blog that the first wave of Apple Intelligence features are now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. If you have a device in one of those product families made within the last two years or so, you now have access to features like Rewrite and Proofread, which can help you craft the perfect email. Siri has also become more conversational, while a new Photos app feature lets you erase unwanted objects from the frame using AI.

Journalists should also take note because the Notes and Phone apps now allow users to "record, transcribe, and summarize audio," per Apple's blog post. If you want to make custom AI-powered emoji, though, you'll have to wait until the next batch of features drops.

A new M4-powered iMac Pink! Credit: Apple

Surprise! There's a new iMac, starting at $1,299. It runs on Apple's latest in-house M4 chip, which Apple claims gives it big performance boosts over the M1 iMac. No word on how it compares to the M3 model, though. Regardless, Apple claims it's up to 1.7x faster than the M1 model. It also comes in seven colors: silver, blue, purple, pink, green, yellow, and orange.

Apple also updated the included peripherals, such as the keyboard and mouse, with USB-C ports. Here are some other noteworthy specs:

  • 24-inch 4.5K display

  • 12MP front camera

  • 16GB starting RAM, up to 32GB

  • Four USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports

  • Apple Intelligence features

All of that sounds great, but the big selling point is obviously the pink model.

This article will be updated as more announcements come in.

The M3 MacBook Air is $249 off at Amazon

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 11:06

Save $249.01: As of Oct. 28, you can save 22% on the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. That brings the laptop down to $849.99, instead of the usual $1,099 you'd shell out.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple 13-inch MacBook Air (M3, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) $849.99 at Amazon
$1,099.00 Save $249.01 Get Deal

We may be about to get some brand new MacBooks, but if you love scoring a great deal, looking to the year-old models is never a bad idea.

As of Oct. 28, the same Monday that Apple's SVP of Marketing Greg Joswiak teased the start of "an exciting week of announcements," Amazon dropped the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air (8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) to $849.99, putting it just 99 cents away from its lowest price ever. You'll have to clip the on-page coupon, and the deal is only available on the space gray and midnight models, but you're also saving over 20% on a MacBook that dropped seven months ago.

SEE ALSO: Best cheap laptops for 2024: Every model under $1,000 that we've tested and loved

Mashable recommends the M3 Air as the best MacBook for most people, because it comes in a lightweight frame, isn't quite as much of an investment as the Pro, but still gives you plenty of processing power for everyday tasks, like browsing the web, writing, and having upwards of 15 tabs open. The M3 Air in particular allows you to connect up to two external displays, as long as the laptop itself is closed, making it a solid option for a work-from-home machine.

If you're looking for an even cheaper MacBook, you can also check out the M2 MacBook Air, which, thanks to an on-page coupon, is also on sale for its lowest price ever at $699.99.

Google is working on an AI tool that can browse, shop, and book flights for you

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 11:06

Google is working on a AI tool that could take over your computer with a simple command. According to The Information, the tool, dubbed internally as Project Jarvis, can browse the internet and perform tasks like purchasing products and booking flights on its Chrome browser.

The tool reportedly works by taking screenshots of a computer screen and "interpreting the shots before taking actions like clicking on a button or typing into a text field," much like Microsoft's controversial Recall feature, although that is used for storing and retrieving a user's computer behavior.

SEE ALSO: OpenAI's AGI readiness team has been dissolved

A better comparison of Jarvis's capabilities is the analysis feature Anthropic launched last week for its Claude large language model (LLM), which can write and run JavaScript code. However, unlike Claude, which is tailored to programmers for operating software applications, Jarvis is reportedly browser-based, which one could imagine being marketed towards a more mainstream audience for shopping, booking flights, and various productivity tasks.

Enhancing productivity and automating certain mundane tasks is the direction Google has taken many of its AI products in search of killer use cases. Google has AI features for Workspace apps like summarizing and writing text in Gmail and Docs, but the competition has been fierce. Google has lagged behind OpenAI, which recently launched a purported reasoning model called o1 that might soon evolve to have more autonomous web-browsing capabilities.

According to the report, Project Jarvis might launch in December with the release of the latest version of its Gemini LLM.

Watch Brian Cox as Santa Claus in 'That Christmas' trailer

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 11:05
"That Christmas" hits Netflix December 4.

This week shop tablets up to 39% off from Apple, Amazon, Samsung

Mon, 10/28/2024 - 11:02

SAVE UP TO 54%: This week, shop major savings on tablets at Amazon. Find deals like the Apple iPad 9th generation for $199.99, saving $129.01 for 39% off or the Amazon Fire 7 Kids for just $59.99, knocking $70 off the price for 54% savings.

Best tablet deals Best tablet deal Apple iPad, 9th generation (A13 chip, 64GB, Wi-Fi) $199.99 at Amazon (Save $129.01) Get Deal Best Amazon Fire tablet deal Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet $59.99 at Amazon (Save $70) Get Deal Best Samsung tablet deal Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ Plus $169.99 at Amazon (Save $50) Get Deal

With Black Friday around the corner, we're hunting down the early deals to make the holiday shopping season a little bit easier. Whether you plan on shopping in-person or online, it never hurts to browse to find the best early deals.

Tablets are having a moment this week, with deals on Amazon Fire tablets, Apple iPads, and Samsung tablets all coming in real hot. Tablets are up to 39% off, and you can find deals under not just $200, but under $100, too. Here are all the best tablet deals this week.

Best tablet deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPad, 9th generation (A13 chip, 64GB, Wi-Fi) $199.99 at Amazon
$329.00 Save $129.01 Get Deal Why we like it

Apple iPads have become the go-to tablet, and for good reason. Even older models, like the 9th Generation iPad, are still zippy thanks to the A13 chips that power them. Compatible with the first generation of Apple Pencil, you can use the tablet for work and play as you can illustrate, read, stream, and navigate the internet all from this 10.2-inch tablet. Plus, it's the first iPad to dip under $200. Find it now for 39% off, saving $129.01.

More iPad dealsBest Amazon Fire tablet deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet $59.99 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $70.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Amazon is taking us by surprise with some stellar deals on Fire tablets. The deals are back down to their lowest price ever, including on the Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet. This tablet is loaded with parental controls that prevents ad-free content and limits screen time. Plus, if it breaks within two years of purchase, Amazon replaces it completely free.

It's down to $59.99 ahead of Black Friday — its lowest price ever. That saves you $70 for 54% off.

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