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When Amazon introduced its Alexa smart speakers, it seemed like it was going to change the way we would control our smart homes. I bought several Echo devices for my home, but the reality never lived up to expectations. There are plenty of reasons why I stopped using Alexa.

If you've been manually copy-pasting prompts, jumping between Projects, or settling for inconsistent Claude output, you're doing it the hard way. Skills—Claude's modular, loadable prompt system—are specifically designed to solve this problem. That's evident in the skills catalog growing past 1.5 million entries.

If you own a laser cutter, you've probably run into the same problem: the machine itself is straightforward enough, but creating a good design file can feel like a separate, much more complicated project. Between juggling design software, manually prepping images, and preventing the snapping or burning of materials can bury anyone in technical busywork.

Home Assistant apps are software containers that are deployed by Home Assistant OS. This additional software runs alongside Home Assistant, rather than within it. They’re different to integrations (which only affect Home Assistant by adding new services and devices) and altogether more powerful.

Samsung makes excellent phones, and I've been buying and reviewing them for the last 14 years. A prime example is the fancy new Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is arguably the best Android you can buy. But after getting the Ultra and using it for a while, not only do I regret it, but I inevitably returned it and kept my older, smaller model.

It's 2026. A lot of us have given a whole lot of thought to our network setups. We've gone over settings that might make the network feel slow, addressed dead zones, and probably invested in things like a VPN to make sure the connection stays private and secure.

Milwaukee makes hundreds of excellent tools, but if you're just starting your toolbox or are a new homeowner on a budget, certain tools are must-buys. Whether you've already bought your first tool or need a good drill, here are six capable Milwaukee tools worth adding to your collection.

At WWDC 2026, Apple relaunched its AI efforts with iOS 27, featuring Siri AI that is more powerful, helpful, and conversational, while protecting your privacy. Here are the top three iOS 27 features you should know.

Most remote access setups ask you to do something that defeats the purpose before you've even started. You poke holes in your firewall, set up a centralized server, and spend time managing configuration just to reach your own machines. Tailscale takes a different approach. It builds a private mesh network across your devices without requiring you to touch a single router setting or expose anything to the public internet. It's worth the quick setup time.

Suddenly, the Milky Way's central black hole is starting to look a little less like a weirdo. 

Astronomers have discovered a large cone-shaped void in gas surrounding Sagittarius A*, the galaxy's supermassive black hole, that could solve a longstanding mystery. 

All active black holes should blow winds or jets of material back into space while they're feeding, according to theory. That process is how supermassive black holes shape the galaxies around them. But no matter how hard astronomers have looked, they haven't seen our black hole, dubbed Sgr A* for short, pushing anything back out. 

New images from a Northwestern University-led research team now suggest this cone tunneling through a fog of cold gas is evidence of that missing wind. It was almost literally an arrow pointing back at the black hole, said Mark Gorski, who co-led the study.

"This is the first time we've had a clean enough view to see the wind's imprint," Gorski said in a statement. "We looked at the data and said, 'There it is. There is the thing that everybody's been looking for for 50 years.'"

SEE ALSO: A NASA orbiter around Mars suffered an abrupt demise

In reality, the discovery wasn't that straightforward of an a-ha moment. Only after the team had overlaid their picture with data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory did their observations begin to make sense. That gave them confidence the odd cone wasn't just an imaging artifact, they said. 

"When you find something that no one has seen before, the first thought that runs through your mind is not 'Oh my God, we made a discovery,'" said coauthor Elena Murchikova, in a statement. "It's 'Oh my God, what's wrong with my analysis?'" 

Astronomers combined radio and X-ray data from the ALMA and Chandra-X telescopes to study the cone-shaped void near the Milky Way's central black hole. Credit: NASA / CXC / Northwestern / M. Gorski / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / ALMA / K. Arcand and P. Edmonds

Scientists believe virtually all large galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their core. These are regions millions to billions of times more massive than the sun. In fact, so much mass is packed into these small spaces that gravity becomes strong enough to prevent anything from escaping — even light. 

These black holes don't just sit around, waiting for gas, dust, and stars to fall in, but they influence how their galaxies evolve around them by sucking in material and also blowing material that comes near their boundary — called the event horizon — back out.

By taking high-resolution observations with Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array in Chile over about five years, the team was able to map cold gas near the black hole in unprecedented detail. This ALMA image is 100 times deeper and 80 times sharper than previous maps, according to the researchers.

The cone stretches one to three light-years away from the black hole. The simplest explanation after careful consideration, according to the team's findings published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, is that a fast, energetic stream of hot material has launched out of the black hole's region, shoving colder gas in its path out of the way.

The ALMA radio telescopes in Chile spent five years observing the Milky Way's central region to create high-resolution maps of surrounding cold gas. Credit: ALMA /S. Longmore et al. / ESO / D. Minniti et al.

The team determined it would take more energy than could be provided by all the stars in that area to create the conic gap. The researchers estimated the wind has probably been blowing for 20,000 years or more.

Based on the image, the direction of Sgr A*'s wind seems somewhat tilted and uneven, which suggests it may be weak and mangled by surrounding gas as it travels.

How this feature has escaped the notice of previous researchers is not too surprising, the researchers said. In order to see into our own galaxy's center, astronomers have to look through the plane of the Milky Way, which is thick with gas, dust, and ionized structures. Sgr A* may also be in a quieter lull, making the distant activity harder to spot.  

Some scientists have previously suggested that the lack of wind or jets could mean Sgr A* is an exotic black hole — an outlier among hundreds of billions of others like it. If anything, Murchikova is now convinced of the opposite. 

"It shows that our black hole is not unique, and our place in the universe is not unique," she said.

You probably didn’t know your Google Pixel could run a full-fledged AI agent—but it can, and it’s far more practical than it sounds. The kind of automation that once required a laptop now fits in your pocket, and getting started doesn’t require any coding knowledge or command-line experience. I’m not a programmer, yet I’ve been using Claude Code on my Pixel 10 to automate a chunk of my repetitive daily tasks.

Tech editors from CNET, Mashable, and PCMag share their first impressions of Apple Intelligence and Siri updates and news from WWDC 2026. Do these updates make the iPhone more desirable and where have seen these features before?

Tech Experts from CNET, PCMag, and Mashable discuss the vibes we felt from WWDC 2026. Was there a passing of the torch from Tim Cook?

It's no secret that Google has commitment issues. It's the sort of company that likes to throw everything at the wall to see what sticks. Most of these failures are software, but the Google graveyard has a fair bit of hardware buried in its cold, hard soil too.

NASA's X-59 jet has broken the sound barrier for the first time, a major milestone in the effort to build a quiet supersonic aircraft for civilians. 

The sleek, needle-nosed airplane exceeded the speed of sound for the first time on Friday, June 5. NASA test pilot Jim "Clue" Less took off in the plane at 11:08 a.m. PT and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California about 81 minutes later. At the aircraft's top speed, it went Mach 1.1 — about 713 mph — at an altitude of 43,400 feet. 

The X-59 is experimental, part of the so-called QUESST mission to transform passenger air travel over land. Because existing supersonic aircraft produce loud sonic booms at high speed, the U.S. government bans routine supersonic flights over populated areas. But the X-59, designed by NASA and its contractor Lockheed Martin, is expected to tame the boom into a mere thump. 

NASA captured the achievement from the vantage point of a chase plane, which kept pace with the speedy experimental jet to monitor the test. You can watch the historic moment when it clocked supersonic speed in the video below. 

"X-59 goes through the number!" NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said on X. "We are rebuilding our X-plane portfolio and getting NASA back in the business of radical airframe and engine flight test!"

SEE ALSO: NASA may use a one-legged robot to explore a Saturn moon. Watch it hop.

An X‑plane is a U.S. aircraft designed to test new flight technologies and ideas. The goal of the X-59 is to provide regulators and the airline industry with the evidence needed to reconsider restrictions on supersonic aircraft.

Most people think of NASA as the gateway to space, but the organization is first and foremost the nation's civil aeronautics agency (quite literally, the A comes before the S). The U.S. government legally requires NASA to lead such research — the kind private companies can't do. 

Future tests will see the X-59 go even faster. NASA wants the plane to ramp up to 925 mph. At that rate, a nonstop flight from New York to L.A. would take less than three hours. That would cut current flight times in half. Today's commercial airlines typically cruise at 550 mph, getting their passengers across the country in about 5 to 6 hours.

If you were expecting to see the X-59 zip through the sky, the video might feel underwhelming. Because the chase plane, a NASA F-15, followed the flight at the same speed, the jet didn't rush headlong out of frame. Instead, it appeared to serenely revel in the clouds. 

Thanks to the chase plane, the video also didn't capture the X-59's signature thump. The F-15 filled the air with a cacophony of its own sonic booms. 

Reaching supersonic speed is a crucial milestone, but the most critical test has yet to come. Soon the aircraft will surge to Mach 1.4, which should get it up to that 925 mph goal while flying at 55,000 feet. After crossing that hurdle, the test campaign will shift to a new phase focused on validating the shushed boom. 

A sonic boom happens when a plane flies faster than sound because pressure waves condense into a single shock that hits the ground like a sudden air explosion. To mitigate the sound, engineers designed the X-59's long spear-like nose to spread out the pressure shifts along the aircraft. The concept should turn the single shock into a series of smaller pulses.

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One tradeoff in the new silhouette is that the slim nose doesn't allow room for a traditional cockpit window. Instead, the pilot flies with a high-definition display screen that combines images from cameras. Test pilot Less spent hundreds of hours in a simulator using the unconventional vision system before flying the actual plane. 

After Less made his first flight at the controls of the X-59 in March, he said the lack of a windscreen didn't make him feel like he was flying blind. If anything, he felt he had better "visibility" because the image processing on his display reduces glare and improves contrast. 

"It really felt comfortable," he said during a news conference after the March flight. "Even though I wasn't seeing out the front, I could see out the sides and match that up."

These days, it's not uncommon to see new generations of tech launch with higher prices than their predecessors.

Yet Marshall announced its latest Bluetooth speaker, the Stockwell III, on June 9 with a price of $249.99 — the same as the price of the Stockwell II. This decision is even more exceptional considering the older speaker launched seven years ago.

Despite the decision to keep the speaker at the same price point, Marshall is rolling out some significant improvements. Below, we break down what to expect from the speaker.

Marshall Stockwell III: Price and specs

The Marshall Stockwell III will be available for purchase on Aug. 4 on Marshall's website and at Costco for $249.99. Spec-wise, here's what to expect from the speaker:

• Battery life: 40 hours

• IP rating: IP55 rated

• Drivers: One three-inch woofer and two 1.75-inch wide band drivers

• Sound features: True Stereophonic 360-degree all-around audio

• Charging: USB-C

• Materials: Silicone sleeve, PU leather strap with velvet lining, brass control panel, metal front and back grilles

• Size: 7.1 x 5.9 x 2.8 inches

• Weight: 2.9 pounds

• Extras: Modular and replaceable parts, including the battery, grilles, silicone sleeve, and carrying case

• Colors: Black, brass and cream

Better battery and options for longevity

The headline news with this upgrade is the battery life, which Marshall doubled from 20 hours on the Stockwell II to 40 hours on the Stockwell III.

The IPX4 water- and dust-proof rating of the Stockwell II gets boosted to IP55 on the Stockwell II, and the control panel gets a cosmetic upgrade with the brass detailing. Still, you can adjust bass and treble settings directly from the speaker as you could with the past generation, in a design choice that feels very aligned with Marshall's branding. Newly added is the M-button, which allows you to access your presets directly from the speaker.

The brass panel is a design upgrade that elevates the Stockwell III. Credit: Marshall

Another major update is the replaceable parts, which have the potential to add some serious longevity to this speaker's battery life. This isn't the first time Marshall has pulled this move: the newly released Milton headphones also come with the option to buy and replace your own battery. In addition to the Stockwell III's battery, you can also replace the strap, front and back grilles, silicone sleeve, and carrying case.

The Stockwell III versus other Bluetooth speakers

When our sister site PC Mag reviewed the Stockton II back in 2019, they called out the impressively well-rounded sound with "rich bass and bright highs." While the reviewer appreciated the performance of the Stockton at the time, they did mention it was on the pricier end.

That's not unusual for Marshall, and though we can't speak firsthand to the experience of the Stockwell III, it is notable that there are options to replace parts on this speaker. The 360-sound feature also boosts this speaker's value prop, especially as it delivers in performance. That said, there are more affordable Bluetooth speaker options, including from Marshall (if the design is what draws you in most).

Marshall Stockwell III: How to buy

The Stockwell III speaker isn't yet available, with its official launch slated for Aug. 4 on Marshall's website and at Costco.

Donald Trump made the decision to attend game three of the NBA Finals at New York's Madison Square Garden on Monday, where he was roundly booed — and Seth Meyers was just as unimpressed as Knicks fans.

"Come on, man, why you gotta ruin everything?" asks the Late Night host in the clip above. "Can you just let us have this one thing without making it all about you? Do you even care about the NBA? As far as I can tell, your only connection to the sport is the similarity between your complexion and the surface of a basketball.

"By the way, Trump going to a Knicks game makes it 100 times funnier that he did not go to his own son's wedding," Meyers added. "What a knife twist. I bet when Don Jr. was little, Trump would play catch with the neighbor's kid."

SEE ALSO: Jon Stewart mercilessly questions 'Elmo' over controversial NBA post

The host goes on to play a clip of Trump responding to a question about the high price of tickets to see the New York Knicks vs the San Antonio Spurs, saying "it's sort of, semi-free to watch it on television" and "it's the way life goes."

"Next time you're wondering why the president hasn't fixed the economy, just remember he uses terms like 'sort of, semi-free,'" says Meyers. "Second, 'that's the way life goes' is such a funny thing to say when you were elected to change how life was going."

Want more of the best of late night? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter.

CNET's Bridget Carey and Scott Stein share their first impressions immediately following Apple's WWDC 2026 event. What stood out? What fell flat? And what felt left out?

TL;DR: Amazon has the Magic: The Gathering Marvel Super Heroes Jumpstart Booster Box available from $119.94 through marketplace sellers, knocking $47.82 off its $167.76 list price. Although, you can also preorder for as low as $114.43 with TCGplayer and $114.99 with Walmart.

Opens in a new window Credit: Magic: The Gathering Magic: The Gathering Marvel Super Heroes Jumpstart Booster Box (24 Packs) $119.94 at Amazon
$167.76 Save $47.82 Pre-order Here

If you’ve been waiting for a cheaper way to jump into Magic: The Gathering’s big Marvel crossover, Amazon has now shaved nearly $50 off one of the easiest products in the lineup to crack open and start playing.

As of June 9, the Magic: The Gathering Marvel Super Heroes Jumpstart Booster Box is available on Amazon from $119.94, with the lowest-priced listing currently sold by Collectors Expedition and including free delivery between June 30 and July 1 — getting to your door slightly after its June 26 release date. 

If you prefer to buy your trading cards from Amazon directly, the Jumpstart Booster Box sold and shipped by Amazon currently costs $123.93. That’s a 26% discount, saving $43.83, with free delivery currently set for Monday, June 29. 

More importantly, this version comes with Amazon’s preorder price guarantee, meaning if the price drops again before release, you should pay the lowest Amazon price offered between checkout and launch. 

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Amazon isn’t technically the lowest overall storefront, though it’s close. Walmart currently has the box for $114.99 through third-party seller Cataclysm Games, while TCGplayer listings start at $114.43 with shipping included. At that lowest price, you’ll only be paying $4.76 per pack.

Inside the box, you’ll get 24 Jumpstart Boosters, each containing 20 Marvel Super Heroes-themed cards. Every pack features one of 51 possible Marvel themes, and because each one includes the lands needed to play, you can just grab two packs, shuffle them, and start battling right away.

Among other MTG deals going on Amazon right now, you can also grab the 24-pack Avatar: The Last Airbender Jumpstart Booster Box on sale for just over $85. For more from the Marvel Super Heroes expansion, though, you can preorder the 30-pack Play Booster Box for $139.55.

If you’re also a Pokémon TCG fan, although currently not available on Amazon, the newly announced Pitch Black expansion — Booster Packs, ETBs, Display Boxes, and Booster Bundles — is available to preorder at TCGplayer.

SAVE OVER $100: As of June 9, the Beats Studio Pro are on sale for $169.95 at Amazon. This is $180.04 off their full price of $349.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Beats Beats Studio Pro $169.95 at Amazon
$349.99 Save $180.04   Get Deal

Before its big Prime Day sale starts, we've already spotted some excellent early deals at Amazon. Among them are some great headphone deals. If you've been looking for a new pair to keep you company this summer, the Beats Studio Pro are a good option that's popped up at the retailer with a stellar discount.

As of June 9, every available color of the Beats Studio Pro headphones has dropped to $169.95. This is a massive 51% discount from their full price of $349.99. That's a mighty nice offer to take advantage of, especially on a pair of headphones that Mashable's Alex Perry described in his review as "excellent on most of the levels that matter."

SEE ALSO: How to sign up for Amazon Prime in time for Prime Day

That's not the only high praise the Beats Studio Pro have received, either. They're the top pick in Mashable's roundup of the best Beats headphones; writer Alex Bracetti highlights their sound quality and lossless audio, explaining that Studio Pros "come with custom 40-millimeter drivers and a built-in DAC that enables lossless audio when connected with a USB-C cable." He also notes that the headphones' Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) compares with Apple's AirPods Max. That's great news for those looking to have a reliable pair of headphones for their next trip or commute into work, who want to zone out from people or traffic noise around them. On top of that, the Beats Studio Pro also boast up to 40 hours of battery life.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to save on the Beats Studio Pro headphones at Amazon.

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