Technology

3 fascinating Paramount+ docuseries to binge this weekend (May 8-10)

How-To Geek - 4 hours 48 min ago

We're just a week away from the big premiere of Taylor Sheridan's newest Yellowstone offshoot, Dutton Ranch, which will undoubtedly draw much attention to the throngs of Paramount+ subscribers hungry for more Duttons. But I believe that a TV diet balanced by a regular dose of realism is healthy, and that's where I come in with your weekly lineup of docuseries.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Why pay for 20 different AI subscriptions when this has all of them for $75?

Mashable - 4 hours 49 min ago

TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to ChatPlayground AI’s Unlimited Plan is on sale for $74.97 (reg. $619) — 87% off.

Opens in a new window Credit: ChatPlayground AI ChatPlayground AI: Lifetime Subscription (Unlimited Plan) $74.97
$619 Save $544.03   Get Deal

If you’ve ever typed the same prompt into ChatGPT, and then Gemini, and then Claude just to see which one gives you the best answer, ChatPlayground AI was basically built for you. This new AI platform lets you send prompts to multiple models at the same time, and a lifetime subscription is on sale now for $74.97 (reg. $619).

ChatPlayground AI lets you run any prompt across 20+ AI models at once, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. Instead of toggling between tabs and losing your train of thought, you get side-by-side comparisons in the same tab you’re working from, so you can quickly grab the best response and keep it pushing.

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Beyond chat features, ChatPlayground lets you generate images and PDFs, as well as upload existing images for context-aware answers. You can also streamline any task with prompt engineering tools and saved conversation history. Whether you’re writing, coding, or brainstorming, having everything in one place cuts down on the back-and-forth. Priority customer support is included, too, so you’re not left guessing how to troubleshoot on your own if anything goes sideways.

If you’re paying for multiple AI subscriptions month to month, those costs add up fast. This lifetime deal is worth doing the math on. Right now, the Unlimited Plan is on sale for $74.97 — down from $619. That’s a one-time payment for permanent access to all the models you’re already using, no renewals required.

Stop paying monthly with a ChatPlayground AI Unlimited Plan lifetime subscription for $74.97.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Whoop trackers will provide users with on-demand video access to licensed clinicians

Mashable - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 23:27

Whoop, a screen-free fitness wearable with more than 2.5 million users, announced that it's bringing on-demand video consultations with health professionals to its subscriber base.

According to Whoop's announcement on Friday, live consultations with licensed clinicians will be offered to users in the U.S. starting this summer. Whoop is touting the fact that clinicians will have access to an array of biometric data collected in the app, and how that will aid experts in interpreting a user's health information.

Of course, it's probably not a coincidence that Whoop's announcement comes just one day after Google and Fitbit released their Whoop competitor, powered by Google Gemini.

To support users' fitness goals, Whoop is also partnering with the health records company HealthEx to provide Electronic Health Record (EHR) syncing. Under this partnership, Whoop users can keep track of their health history, including diagnoses, medications, and procedures, from right within the app.

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SEE ALSO: I ran the NYC Marathon wearing 7 fitness trackers and they all watched me throw up

"Unlike traditional healthcare experiences that rely on brief, episodic snapshots, these consultations begin with a comprehensive understanding of the member’s health, powered by months of continuous data and, when available, bloodwork and medical history," Whoop says in its announcement.

While many of Whoop's newly announced features will be included in its paid membership, live video consultations will require an additional cost for users, which has yet to be announced.

“WHOOP is a membership, and we take that seriously,” said Whoop Chief Product Officer Ed Baker in a press release. “We’re always asking how we can deliver more value to our members, and these upcoming features are some of the most meaningful we’ve ever built, from bringing clinician support directly into the app to advancing our AI coaching to be more personal and actionable than ever.”

In a statement to CNBC, Whoop stated that the live consultation feature is not meant to replace a primary doctor or emergency visit.

Along with these live on-demand video consultations with health professionals, Whoop is also adding an assortment of new AI features, such as AI-powered personalized coaching.

Speaking of personalized coaching, this will be accessible under one of Whoop's new AI features called My Memory, which will serve as a centralized location to view, manage, and train Whoop's AI. In addition, Whoop is also a Proactive Check-Ins feature, which will provide personalized recommendations to users, such as when to sleep ahead of a big event or reconfiguring a training regimen based on a user's travel plans.

SEE ALSO: Oura Ring vs. Whoop: A fight of the best fitness trackers
Categories: IT General, Technology

Amazon is rebranding Fire TV—here are the 3 big changes, including the new name

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 23:26

Amid plenty of news from Fire TV, from the newly launched Fire TV Stick HD to the Ember Artline TV, Amazon also quietly made a major announcement that it would be waving goodbye to the Fire TV name. As of April, Amazon has welcomed in a new title for its line of smart TVs.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Amazon Web Services outage enters second day. Heres what we know.

Mashable - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 23:08

Since May 7, an Amazon Web Services outage has caused ripple effects across the internet.

As the AWS outage entered its second day on Friday, Amazon reported recovery efforts were underway.

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In its most recent update, posted at 12:29 p.m. ET, Amazon acknowledged that recovery "efforts are slower than we had previously anticipated," and that "Full recovery is still expected to take several hours."

DownDetector, a platform where internet users can submit error reports, showed a spike in problems with AWS starting around 8 p.m. ET on Thursday. User error reports slowed into Friday, then spiked again around 4 p.m. ET.

(Disclosure: DownDetector and Mashable are both owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis.)

DownDetector reports ongoing problems at AWS. Credit: DownDetector

The outage centered on the US-EAST-1 Region, and CNBC reports it temporarily shut down trading on the popular apps FanDuel and Coinbase. The popular web analytics company Chartbeat also experienced issues, which it attributed to AWS outages.

A May 7 update on the Coinbase status page stated: "Coinbase experienced service disruptions due to increased temperatures in the affected AWS service. Our team is working to implement a fix and will continue to provide updates. Your funds are safe."

The last major AWS outage affecting the US-EAST-1 Region occurred in October 2025. As Mashable reported at the time, a wide range of apps were seemingly impacted then, including Amazon, Roblox, HBO Max, Venmo, Lyft, Signal, and AT&T.

Internet outages have occurred regularly over the past 12 months. Because AWS provides cloud hosting and other internet services, problems with AWS can cause widespread issues across the web.

Mashable reached out to AWS for more information, and we'll update this story if we receive a response.

This is a developing story...

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Categories: IT General, Technology

The wheels are coming off the Cybertruck. Thats not just a metaphor.

Mashable - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 23:07

Elon Musk's favorite truck isn't selling very well. Compounding that, Cybertrucks don't seem to be all that great at guaranteeing to drivers that their wheels won't fall off.

Two years after the Cybertruck recall that made Tesla's angular EV a popular joke (remember the unnecessary foot pad that could slip off, because soap, and jam the accelerator?), the automaker is recalling all the models with 18-inch steel wheels it sold during that time. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that cracks can form in wheel rotors, eventually separating them from the hub, especially when driving over "higher severity road perturbations."

If you're keeping score, then add rough roads to the things that Musk's "apocalypse-ready" vehicle may not have been best equipped to handle at launch — a list that definitely includes soap and glue, and may, some owners report, include car washes. Our comprehensive list of Cybertruck recall reasons is here, but the TL;DR of faulty parts include windshield wipers, inverters, tire pressure monitoring systems, the backup camera, and steel panels that could also fall off.

Neither the NTSB nor Tesla knows of the wheels actually coming off in any consumer's Cybertruck. But what's got to sting Tesla is that this may have something to do with the small number on the roads, rough or otherwise. Only 173 Cybertrucks with 18-inch steel wheels have been sold between 2024 and 2026, the national recall has revealed. They include the cheaper $71,000 rear-wheel drive Cybertruck, announced in April 2025 and quietly discontinued in Sep. 2025.

That's not the total number of Cybertrucks sold, but it's also not as far off as you might think. We're a long way from Musk's claim that Tesla was going to sell a million Cybertrucks a year, or Tesla's official expectation of 250,000 sales in 2024. Just ask the Kelley Blue Book, which estimates 38,965 Cybertrucks sold in 2024. That slipped to 20,237 in 2025, marking a record-breaking decline in the EV world.

SEE ALSO: Tesla just tied the knot with Elon Musk, for better or worse. (Probably worse.)

And that decline came despite Musk goosing sales through a significant amount of self-dealing. As the Los Angeles Times points out, more than 1,300 of the 7,100 Cybertrucks registered in the U.S. in the last quarter of 2025 were owned by Musk's other companies, including SpaceX.

And now? In the first quarter of 2026, the Blue Book says, the Cybertruck sales nosedive has continued at roughly the same rate we saw between 2024 and 2025. That is, a 48 percent decline year on year. Curiously, that's the same overall decline seen across all Tesla vehicles in Germany in 2025, after Musk threw his support behind the extreme right AfD party. (There's still no sign that Tesla will ever sell the Cybertruck in Europe.)

In short, Musk's politics aren't helping him with left-wing or moderate consumers in Europe or the U.S., and his pricey, problematic truck isn't helping him find buyers in conservative U.S. red states either. What's left? Tesla, increasingly reliant for its valuation on the unproven future prospect of Optimus robots that may fall over and self-driving taxis that only just began production, will have to answer that question sooner or later.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This Japanese SUV might be the only vehicle most families ever need

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 23:00

SUVs have completely taken over the American car market, and at this point, there’s one for just about every kind of driver. You can spend Bentley money on something ultra-luxurious, buy a rugged Toyota built for the trails, or grab a cheap compact crossover that still handles everyday life with ease.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Dirty Frag vulnerability in Linux lets hackers do more damage—here's how to protect yourself

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 22:44

The Linux community is dealing with its second major security risk in as many weeks. Security researcher Hyunwoo Kim has disclosed a new zero-day vulnerability, Dirty Frag, that gives intruders more control over virtually any Linux distribution once they have an initial foothold.

Categories: IT General, Technology

3 features that make Google Pixel’s “context-aware” voice typing better than any keyboard

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 22:00

You probably already know Gboard offers a great voice typing experience. What you might not know is that on a Pixel device, Gboard also supports voice editing. You can take a messy voice draft and use commands to make precise edits, formalize it, or rewrite it—all without touching the screen.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Subaru's sales crisis comes down to one uncomfortable truth: It needs more than one hit

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 21:45

Subaru’s rough 2026 isn’t slowing down. After posting sales declines through the first quarter, April’s numbers show the Japanese automaker is still struggling to regain momentum. Nearly every major model in the lineup is down year-over-year, and the brand has now sold almost 30,000 fewer vehicles in 2026 than it had at this point last year.

Categories: IT General, Technology

5 award-winning Netflix movies to watch this weekend (May 8-10)

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 21:30

Award season may not be a year-round celebration, but that doesn't mean your watch list cannot get in on the celebrations every day. Netflix's catalog of award-winning films, shows, and documentaries gives you several options to pick from when you sit down for a cozy watch.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Forget vinyl and CDs: What's MiniDisc like in 2026?

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 21:07

MiniDisc is one of the most under-appreciated audio formats of all time. It combined the digital benefits of a CD with the mix tape abilities of a cassette in a pocketable package.

Categories: IT General, Technology

A $30 USB drive just saved me from a $500 PC repair bill

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 21:00

When it comes to PCs, few things can ruin your day as much as when things just don't work. PC-related problems lead to hours of troubleshooting, frantic googling, and frustrated muttering under your breath. I've been there.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Google Maps has a power-saving mode that extends battery life by 4 hours—but there's a catch

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 20:46

Using Google Maps for navigation is great. It combines live traffic updates, changing routes, and voice commands all from my phone. However, the heavy demands of constant GPS pings, ongoing data streaming, and a bright screen drain even large batteries very quickly. However, you can make a quick change to a minor setting to see a major benefit.

Categories: IT General, Technology

3 satirical superhero shows to watch on Prime Video this weekend (May 8 - May 10)

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 20:00

While I enjoy a good superhero show, I adore those that are satirical in nature. Nothing beats a good laugh. Luckily, Amazon Prime Video is home to several acclaimed satirical superhero series, and they each function in hearty ways that deconstruct the genre piece by piece.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Intel will make chips for Apple—what does that mean for Windows PCs?

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 19:56

Intel has reportedly reached a deal to manufacture Apple chips just days after rumors emerged of ongoing talks, and the consequences could be profound even if you're an avid Windows PC user.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Disney+ app could see major changes, new report reveals

Mashable - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 19:47

Disney is apparently looking to create the only app Disney fans will ever need for the rest of their lives.

Bloomberg reported that new Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro wants to create a sort of "super app" that would blend the streaming functionality of Disney+ with other apps meant for real-life experiences, like Disney Cruise Line Navigator. The idea would be to put Disney's very important theme park, resort, and cruise line businesses in front of more eyeballs than usual, though at this stage, it's not entirely clear if this would mostly manifest as advertisements or a deeper layer of app functionality.

SEE ALSO: The best Disney+ deals and bundles in April 2026

“Disney+ becomes the primary relationship between Disney and its fans, the place where everything comes together,” D'Amaro said in an earnings call this week.

There are pros and cons to this, just like anything else.

On one hand, if you're a real Disney-head, it would probably be more convenient to use the same app to watch The Mandalorian and book a trip to Orlando than the way things currently work. On the other hand, there are probably a lot of people (myself included) who like to occasionally watch things on Disney+, but don't have any real interest in Disney's cruise line or theme parks. For that audience, this could get a little annoying or unwieldy.

At any rate, it sounds like this is still a very early plan, so it might take a while to happen, or it might not happen at all. Maybe by the time it comes around, the vibe around cruise ships will be better than it is right now.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

6 ways to repurpose your old Motorola phone

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 19:45

Own an old Moto Android phone but don’t plan to give it away or sell it? Instead of keeping it in some dim, dusty drawer and pulling it out every few months to check whether its battery has turned into a spicy pillow, you can repurpose it into something useful and keep using it on a daily basis.

Categories: IT General, Technology

I ignored my PC's second Ethernet port for years (until it fixed my home network)

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 19:30

That extra Ethernet port on the back of your motherboard is one of the most underrated bits of hardware on a modern PC. Most people glance at it once during the build, plug a cable into the other one, and forget it exists for the rest of the system's life. I did just the same thing, never caring for it much.

Categories: IT General, Technology

3 stunning HBO Max documentaries to watch this weekend (May 8-10)

How-To Geek - Fri, 05/08/2026 - 19:01

By the end of the week, I totally get the appeal of just turning your brain off and watching a mindless episode of Too Hot to Handle. But sometimes the most restorative weekends come by adding a bit of real-life perspective to your gray matter, with a good documentary. Luckily, HBO Max has some of the best quality ones around, and I've got a few suggestions below.

Categories: IT General, Technology
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