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Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Hulu with ads $11.99 per month Shop Now

Streaming services tend to go hard when it comes to Black Friday deals. It's the best time to sign up for most streamers, hands down, as you can typically score some serious savings on monthly membership fees.

But here's the thing: the prices of nearly every streaming service rise dramatically every year (it's honestly getting out of hand). And this year is no different. We've seen Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Peacock, Fubo, and YouTube TV all increase their costs in 2025, which makes us skeptical of what sort of streaming deals we'll see this holiday season.

Still, we're holding out hope that our favorite streaming deal of 2023 and 2024 will make a return in 2025: 99-cent Hulu subscriptions.

Will price hikes impact Black Friday streaming deals in 2025?

There's really no direct answer to this question, as in years past we've seen some streamers adjust their Black Friday discounts to coincide with price increases and others revive the same deals in spite of them. For example: In 2022, Peacock offered users an entire year of ad-supported streaming for just $1 per month. In 2023, they upped the price to $1.99 per month for one year. Then last year, after a price hike, they chopped that in half and only offered six months of ad-supported streaming for $1.99 per month.

On the other hand, Hulu upped the cost of its basic plan last year from $7.99 to $9.99 per month, yet it still dropped the best streaming deal for the second year in a row — ad-supported subscriptions for just $0.99 per month for an entire year. This gives us hope that despite the 2025 price hike — from $9.99 to $11.99 per month — the 99-cent deal will once again be resurrected.

The Black Friday deal we're hoping to see on Hulu

If Hulu does the unthinkable and revives the best streaming deal of 2023 and 2024, you could get an entire year of streaming for less than 12 bucks. After the latest price hike, that would mean you'd get an entire year of streaming for less than the price of a single month. Unreal.

Since the streamer kept the same deal alive after a $2 price hike last year, we're hopeful the same thing will happen in 2025. But TBH, even if they inflate the Black Friday deal to $1.99 per month for a year, we'd still be satisfied. That's still less than $24 for a whole year of streaming.

Besides the recent price hike, another thing that might complicate Hulu's Black Friday plans is the expected merge with Disney+. By 2026, Disney plans on folding the Hulu app into Disney+ to create a "fully integrated unified app experience." Users will still be able to sign up for Hulu as a standalone service, but there's no word yet on how the pricing will be effected overall when the full integration unfolds.

Why we love Hulu

Hulu is the streaming home of Mashable's favorite show of 2024, Shōgun, as well as one of our favorites of 2025, Dying for Sex. It's also where you'll find FX originals (like The Bear), episodes of ABC shows the day after they air, Neon movies fresh out of the theaters, and plenty of Hulu Original Series we love — like Only Murders in the Building and Chad Powers. It holds its own as one of the most well-rounded streaming services you can get. At $11.99 per month, it's one of the most expensive ad-supported streamers, which is why we'd love to see the 99-cent Black Friday deal revived.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle (16GB) $109.99 at Amazon
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We're less than a month out from the best deal-shopping time of the year — Cyber Week. Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we tend to see the biggest price drops ever on big ticket items, from laptops and TVs to headphones and e-readers. As far as e-readers go, Kindles are our favorites. And we're hoping to see some record-low prices in time for the holidays.

I actually bought my very first Kindle last year during Amazon's Black Friday sale and have never looked back. The basic Kindle retails for just $109.99, but we saw the price plummet to only $89.99 last Black Friday. Then, during Amazon's Prime Day event in October, it dropped even further to just $84.99. Could we see a new best price ever come Black Friday 2025?

Why we love the basic Kindle My Kindle is basically like a security blanket at this point — I bring it everywhere. Credit: Christina Buff

The Kindle Paperwhite is Mashable's resident e-reader expert's top pick. And while it's certainly a wonderful device, I would go to war for my basic Kindle. It's my pride and joy and I carry it with me everywhere. It's tiny enough to fit in my purse and whip out whenever there's a quiet moment in my day. Plus, it's the cheapest option, which is very important to me in a time when everything is outrageously overpriced. On a normal day, it's just $109.99, while the Paperwhite is $159.99 and the Colorsoft is $249.99. We're not even going to mention the prices of the new Kindle Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft.

The basic Kindle comes with 16GB of storage, which is plenty of room for thousands of books. It's the smallest Kindle in the bunch, which I personally find delightful for one-handed reading and portability (like I mentioned, it slips in my purse easily). It has the same screen resolution as the Paperwhite and the same sort of magic that makes you read at lightning speed. It's only downsides are that it's not waterproof and there's no warm light option. I personally haven't had an issue with the light — my eyes never feel strained from reading on the paper-like screen. As for the waterproof issue, you just have to be extra careful.

The Black Friday deal we hope to see on the basic Kindle

Earlier in October, during Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event, we saw the basic Kindle drop to $84.99 — a new record-low for the matcha color option and just the second time ever for the black option. I think Black Friday could beat that, at least by a few bucks. Sure, it may be wishful thinking, but I think we might see the budget-friendly e-reader drop to just $79.99 for the first time ever this holiday season. If that's the case, we will certainly let our readers know ASAP.

In any case, if you're in the market for an e-reader and want to follow my lead and grab the best budget Kindle, we recommend waiting until it's at least down to $84.99. Here's hoping for even less.

Opens in a new window Credit: Anker Anker Solix C1000   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Anker Anker Solix C1000 Gen 2   Get Deal

It's time to load up on Halloween candy, and while you're at it, why not start a holiday wish list? Black Friday is just a handful of weeks away and each year it seems retailers start dropping prices earlier and earlier. That means some of our favorite products could start seeing discounts soon. And what am I excited for? Portable power stations, of course. In particular, I'm hoping to see new record-low prices on the Anker Solix C1000 and the Solix C1000 Gen 2.

Why we love the Anker Solix C1000 and C1000 Gen 2

Both models of the Anker Solix C1000 provide a bit over 1,000Wh of capacity and both use long-lasting LiFePO4 battery cells which can last for a decade. Port options on both models of the Solix C1000 are great and give you plenty of AC options, USB-C, and USB-A.

Both models are exceptional options for taking along for a weekend camping trip or for keeping around the house in case of a power outage. You'll be able to keep phones and laptops charged up, but you can also use it for a strand of string lights at the campground or for powering up the coffee maker.

At home during power outages, both models will be able to keep the WiFi router powered up so you can spend the outage streaming your favorite Netflix series, rather than worrying about conserving phone battery.

The original Solix C1000 has the advantage of a built-in lightbar and one additional AC port. The newer Solix C1000 Gen 2 is lightweight, smaller in size, and quicker to recharge.

In addition to using a portable power station while camping or during power outages, I find the Solix C1000 to be useful when I visit my family's house during the holidays. The 1950s home doesn't have plentiful power outlets like modern homes do these days. That means it's hard to come by an outlet in some situations. Instead of plugging my phone in to recharge across the room, I pack the Solix C1000 Gen 2 and use it as my nightstand, powering up my phone. It's also great for pairing with a laptop when working from bed, not that I'd ever do such an ergonomically incorrect thing.

Since the Solix C1000 Gen 2 can recharge back to 100 percent in about 50 minutes, it takes no time at all to recharge.

The Anker Solix C1000 (left) and C1000 Gen 2 (right) would make for the best Christmas present for a camping friend. Credit: Lauren Allain / Mashable Pricing history of the Anker Solix C1000 and C1000 Gen 2

During October's Prime Day event at Amazon, we saw a record-low price on the older (but still awesome) Solix C1000. That sale brought the price down to just $379, for a major savings of $420 compared to the list price of $799.

The newer Solix C1000 Gen 2 was left out of record-low pricing during October Prime Day but not long after the sale ended, we saw a record-low. The current all-time low price for the Solix C1000 Gen 2 sits at $379.99 from Oct. 20.

Black Friday deal we hope to see on the Anker Solix C1000 and Solix C1000 Gen 2

Since both models are great and both have an all-time low price of about $379.99, I'd be thrilled to see them drop down to this price again. Of course, lower would be ideal, but this amount of power and convenience for $380 is well worth the price, if you ask me. If you see either of these models drop below $379.99, I would highly recommend clicking "buy" at a record-quick speed.

Keep in mind this would make an amazing gift for that friend who's always camping or a pal who works in the backyard often and runs massive extension cords across the lawn to power up tools.

Although a VPN encrypts your traffic and hides much of your online activity from your ISP, it’s a common misconception that it makes you completely invisible. Even with a VPN active, your ISP can still see specific details you might assume are hidden. Let’s explore what information they can access.

Everyone knows the moment. You hear a song playing out in the world, and you either just can’t quite remember the name, or it’s your first time hearing it, and you want to know more. What if your phone automatically identified it all on its own? That's the magic of Pixel's "Now Playing," and Apple is still scrambling to catch up.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that the VALUE function in Microsoft Excel is obsolete. You'll probably seldom need to use it on its own, but when combined with other functions, it's still as powerful today as when it was first introduced in 2007.

Windows 10 recently reached its end of life and I finally upgraded the last PC I had running Windows 10 to Windows 11. Despite how long I've been using Windows 11 on another PC, I still found the change a bit jarring. These apps made the transition a bit easier.

Affinity Photo and the other Affinity apps have a popular alternative to Adobe software, especially since they didn't require a subscription for access. Canva, the new owner of Affinity, has revealed a revamped version that is completely free to access.

I think EVs are pretty darn cool, and I like ICE vehicles too! A controversial opinion for some perhaps, but cars are cool no matter what they run on. What I don't like are gimmicks and fakery.

Every Android user has used the Google Play Store at some point, but what you might not know is that the Play Store app has a background service that is constantly running in the background. This background process is called “Google Play Services,” and it has access to everything on your phone.

The difference between Wear OS skins is not as evident as it is between Android skins, but it's there. Now, though, it's increasingly getting more marked, as Google is slowly but steadily removing its apps from third-party watches. The latest one is Google Clock.

UPDATE: Oct. 30, 2025, 5:32 p.m. Meta confirmed to Mashable that Threads ghost posts appeared in web searches after the 24-hour expiration period and that the issue had been fixed as of Oct. 30. "We found a bug that let expired ghost posts appear in web searches," said Meta spokesperson Jocelyn Jones. "We've fixed the issue, and ghost posts are back to resting in peace where they belong: only the original poster can see them in their archive. We apologize for the scare."

Be careful what you "ghost post" on Threads because it might actually live on forever.

It appears that at least some ghost posts — the new Threads feature Meta launched this week that automatically deletes posts after 24 hours — are being scraped by Google, making them searchable. While writing about the internet’s reaction to the feature, I tested this by plugging text from several screengrabbed ghost posts into Google Search. In multiple cases, I was able to find cached versions of those posts still appearing in search results.

Here’s a screenshot showing the text from Mark Zuckerberg’s own ghost post announcing the feature.

Credit: Screenshot: Google

Here's another screenshot of a Google result for what appears to be a ghost post from the Threads account @hi.nixson.

Credit: Screenshot: Google

Here's a Bluesky post, included in my initial article about the internet's response, that shows screenshots of those original ghost posts.

Everyone is Ghost Posting! Ghosting?

[image or embed]

— jack 🎃🍂 (@j4ck.xyz) October 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM

Here's a post on X, also included in my original story, featuring a screenshot of a ghost post from journalist Ben Werdmuller about Meta's alleged history in Myanmar.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Here is a screenshot of that post, which appears to be archived in Google results.

Credit: Screenshot: Google

When you try to click on any of these Threads posts, however, you’re met with a mostly blank page and an error message that reads, "Sorry, something went wrong. Try again." That tracks, since the posts themselves automatically disappear from Threads after 24 hours.

To be clear, not every ghost post appears to have been scraped. I tested text from several screenshots shared on launch day, and while some showed up in Google Search results, others didn’t.

Of course, no one should expect a ghost post — or any post, for that matter — to truly vanish. Screenshots exist, after all. If you say something offensive, controversial, or just plain spicy online, it's safe to assume it'll live forever somewhere.

Still, it’s surprising to see that Threads' "disappearing" posts might linger on Google, even after they’ve technically been deleted.

For a while, recertified hard drives were the secret weapons of anyone who wanted to do some self-hosting at home or run a large NAS, but recently the prices on these drives seem to climbing, making them much less of a good deal.

Google Maps is an extremely useful tool that millions rely on for driving and navigation instructions, but if your phone runs out of battery, you're in trouble. Smartphones have several battery-saving modes users can take advantage of, but now it sounds like Google's busy building its own ultra-low-power mode specifically for Maps.

A collection of 16 books centered around Raspberry Pi projects is available for only $18 dollars on Humble Bundle. The normal price for all 16 books would be $357. If you're looking to learn the ins and outs of developing a Raspberry Pi, this is a great place to get started.

If you have a Meta Quest headset, you can now use it as a multi-monitor setup for a Windows PC without third-party software. The app Mixed Reality Link is now available for most Windows 11 PCs.

As a South African, and despite it practically being our national sport, I'm not much one for patriotism or national pride. Yet, sometimes a fellow countryman does something so undeniably cool that I can't help but feel a little undeserved secondhand smugness.

Tesla's Robotaxi service officially went live in late June of this year in Austin, Texas. Since then, Elon Musk's much-touted autonomous driving taxi system has already seen quite a few crashes — and that's with a human safety monitor onboard.

According to a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Tesla Robotaxis have crashed four times since September. The most recent incident involved a robotaxi crashing into a "fixed object" while inside a parking lot, according to the EV news site Electrek, which noticed the updated crash information.

Recent Texas state law requires companies like Tesla to have a human safety monitor inside its Robotaxis due to its specific level of autonomous driving. These safety monitors are provided a killswitch to take over the vehicle in case something goes wrong with Tesla's self-driving system.

The NHTSA is a U.S. government agency responsible for enforcing motor vehicle regulations. Autonomous vehicle companies are required to report crashes to the agency within five days of being informed of these accidents. 

SEE ALSO: Feds investigating Tesla’s ‘Mad Max’ mode

The NHTSA requires automakers to share information regarding incidents with autonomous driving (ADS) vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The latter is what's typically found in regular Tesla vehicles with its Full Self-Driving system. However, robotaxis like Waymo's autonomous vehicles or Tesla's recently launched Robotaxis fall under the ADS category, marking this the first time Tesla has filed such reports under that designation.

With the two companies now operating ADS vehicles, Electrek compared the NHTSA incident reports between Tesla and Waymo. The outlet found that Tesla Robotaxis were involved in significantly more crashes per miles driven, despite Waymo vehicles not requiring a human safety monitor like Tesla Robotaxis. 

According to Tesla, Robotaxis have traveled 250,000 miles since the service launched in Austin in late June. Waymo's vehicles have traveled 125 million miles since the company launched its autonomous vehicles.

Breaking down the data, the report finds that Tesla Robotaxis crash approximately once every 62,500 miles. Waymo vehicles, which have been involved in 1,267 crashes since the service went live, crash approximately every 98,600 miles. And, again, Waymo does not have human safety monitors inside its vehicles, unlike Tesla's Robotaxis.

As Electrek points out, Tesla redacts a lot of information from its NHTSA reports, whereas Waymo provides more details about the crashes its cars are involved in. So, what exactly happened is unclear in many cases involving Tesla Robotaxis.

But, with the data we do have, it seems like Waymo has thus far bested Musk's Tesla when it comes to the more accurate autonomous vehicle system.

The iPhone 17 has been out for a little over a month now, and for some people, that's enough time to break their phones. If you already broke yours, the good part is that Apple is finally selling parts for these new phones. And in a pretty quick span, all things considered.

Samsung finally launched its Galaxy XR headset this month, so now everyone wants to know: What's the battery life like?

While Mashable has yet to perform nuanced battery testing of our own, we at least have official spec sheets to go off of right now. The big question is how the Galaxy XR's battery life compares to the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3, the two most mainstream competitors to Samsung's headset in the U.S.

Without wasting any more time, let's get into it.

SEE ALSO: Samsung reveals key features of upcoming Galaxy S26 smartphones Galaxy XR battery life compared to Apple Vision Pro

First, let's establish a baseline. Samsung's headset is rated for up to two hours of general use, and up to 2.5 hours of video playback. That's going to be our main point of comparison going forward.

As for Apple, the company actually, technically sells two versions of the Vision Pro now: One with an M2 chip, and one with a newer M5 chip. This matters because the two versions have slightly different rated battery capacities. The M2 version has the exact same "two hours of normal use and 2.5 hours of video playback" rating as the Galaxy XR. The M5 version, meanwhile, is rated for 2.5 hours of use and three hours of video playback.

So, in other words, Apple wins here if you buy the newest model.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy XR: How and where to get it Galaxy XR battery life compared to Meta Quest 3

Meta's device is a little different from the other two listed here because it has a built-in battery, instead of relegating the battery to a separate puck that you keep in your pocket. Other than that, though, the differences are minimal, as the Quest 3 is rated for 2.2 hours of use on a single charge. That puts it right in the same territory as Galaxy XR, but on a device that costs more than $1,000 less than the Galaxy XR.

Of course, there are other factors at play. Samsung's device is more advanced than the Quest 3 in terms of processing power, display quality, and number of sensors. That it holds up to the same level of battery life as Quest 3 despite doing so much more is perhaps a point in its favor. Still, don't expect to get more than three hours of use out of any of these devices.