Blogroll

Your social platforms might have less fodder for Saturday Night Live sketches after removing the remaining Trump family-members-turned-political-leaders from your follows, but the new administration includes a fresh cast of characters. 

President Joe Biden has a host of grandkids, and two dogs. Vice President Kamala Harris is married to the country's first Second Gentleman, who has two young adult children from a previous marriage. Then, the White House cabinet is shaping up with nominee confirmation hearings that aren't likely to be struck down in a Democrat-controlled Senate.

Here's how to follow along online for the next four years whether it's on Twitter, Instagram, or even TikTok. Read more...

Of the few genuinely wholesome things to have captivated the world since January 2017, Fiona is up there with the best of them.

Born six weeks premature on Jan. 24, 2017, the Cincinnati Zoo's young hippopotamus child was a beacon of delight during a particularly dark moment in American history. She's been with us ever since, and now she's celebrating four years of life.

Happy birthday, Fiona! 

The zoo rang in Fiona's latest birthday in much the same way it has every other year: With cake, pictures, video, and a charity drive. That means there's all sorts of adorable media for you to gawk at as you wish this very special hippo a very special day. Read more...

Earlier in January, a medical study done by the Heart Rhythm Society (first spotted by MacMagazine) suggested the iPhone 12 and MagSafe accessories can interfere with medical devices — such as defibrillators and pacemakers. Now, a few weeks after the study was published, Apple has updated its support documentation with more information related to the issue.

In case you're unfamiliar, Apple first announced that its MagSafe technology was included in the iPhone 12 at an October 2020 hardware event. Basically, each of the new iPhones comes with an array of magnets around the wireless charging coils, allowing you to clip it onto any of Apple's new wireless "MagSafe" chargers. Read more...

Tesla hired and then almost immediately fired a software automation engineer earlier in January for allegedly stealing proprietary information about the electric car company. Now the company is suing the engineer.

In a court filing from Friday, Tesla sued software engineer Alex Khatilov for downloading Tesla files to his Dropbox account. Tesla claims he stole thousands of files pertaining to automation for Tesla business processes like supply chain, inventory, product planning, and more. In the suit, Tesla estimates the files represent "200 man-years of work."

Tesla has its own backend software called WARP Drive and the company claims Khatilov, in his first three days on the job, stole system scripts, or code files in the computer programming language Python. Electrek has the U.S. District Court complaint uploaded with all the details of the suit.  Read more...

Eyes on the ball, folks.

There's general agreement at this point among people who aren't actively lying to the American public about the 2020 election that Ted Cruz bears some responsibility for the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6. So it's not really a leap to view Cruz's sudden interest in beefing with Seth Rogen on Twitter as a limp attempt to get people thinking about something else.

The Hollywood star rocketed to the top of Twitter trends on Sunday morning after a days-long back-and-forth with Cruz. The antagonistic tweeting escalated after a late Saturday comment from the Senator that described Rogen as "a Marxist with Tourette's," referencing a neurological disorder that manifests with physical and verbal tics. Read more...

After much anticipation, the first trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong has finally dropped.

The new movie is the latest installment in a series that started back in 2014, with the reboot of Godzilla. In the years that followed, Warner Bros. released both Kong: Skull Island (2017) and Godzilla: King of Monsters (2019). Now, the two worlds are officially colliding, part of the studio's so-called "MonsterVerse."

Godzilla vs. Kong arrives in both theaters and the HBO Max streaming service on March 26. Read more...

It's been a busy weekend for SpaceX.

The company sent yet another rocket racing off into orbit on Sunday morning after a planned Saturday launch was called off due to inclement weather. The rocket, dubbed Transporter-1, is loaded with some very special cargo: A gigantic pile of satellites.

There are 143 in total aboard Transporter-1. Of those, 133 belong to government and business interests. The other 10 are Starlink satellites, the orbital high-speed internet project spearheaded by SpaceX.

Notably, Transporter-1's cargo makes this particular launch more historic than most. The 143 satellites it's ferrying up into the space are "the most spacecraft ever deployed on a single mission," according to SpaceX. Read more...

In 2021, Microsoft woke up and chose brutal honesty. 

In its latest ad for the Surface Pro 7 (by way of MS Power User), the company spent 30 seconds listing all the ways it believes the 2-in-1 laptop is better than Apple's MacBook Pro.

The video starts out by going after what many consider the MacBook Pro's greatest weakness: the Touch Bar. Comparing it to the Surface Pro's stylus and touchscreen capabilities, the young boy praising the device points out:

It appears that Apple is aware of how awful the Touch Bar feature is, though. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company is planning on replacing it with physical keys for the upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch models. Read more...

We get it. With data breaches happening all the time, it’s important to have a strong WiFi password. But when your friend comes over to live-tweet the latest Bachelor, it can be tedious to type in a password that looks like a cat tap-danced on your keyboard. Thanks to the developers at Apple, there is now a feature that helps you share your WiFi password from your iPhone. 

First things first: Make sure that both the device that’s sharing the password and the device receiving it are up to date with the latest versions. Otherwise, this feature won’t work. Apple added it with the iOS 11 update, so sharing your password is only possible with a device that has this version or higher. If your devices are up to date, skip the next section and go straight to how to share your password. Read more...

While a year's tuition at Harvard University will set you back nearly $50,000 (and that’s before room, board, and fees tack on another $20K), there’s a much cheaper option that doesn’t involve braving Massachusetts winters, or having to be admitted to the prestigious university at all. All you need is an internet connection to take certain Harvard courses for free in the comfort of your own home, thanks to the university's fabulous online learning portal. 

You have options. There are free courses as well as courses that are free to audit, which means you can take the course for free but there is a cost to upgrade for additional content and/or to receive a verified certificate from HarvardX.  Read more...

In the days before refrigerators, chemical preservatives, and fossil-fueled transportation, starving to death in the winter was a much more pervasive fear. Fermentation first arose more than 10,000 years ago, when the first known yogurt was (probably accidentally) created in North Africa, which paved the way for a crucial and healthy form of preservation that reshaped our relationship with food and survival.  

Fermentation gives us a wide range of delicious concoctions, like sour pickles, funky kimchi, intoxicating alcohols, addictive cheeses, tasty breads, and so much more. As food preparation methods go, it’s one of the easiest ways to turn raw food into something spectacular — and have it keep for weeks or months. Read more...

When we spend so much of our time online, we’re bound to learn something while clicking and scrolling. Discover something new with Mashable’s series I learned it on the internet.

Toccara King loves people. The 39-year-old was a gregarious Florida kid — a dancer, cheerleader, and gymnast — raised by her military grandparents and later joined the military herself. She said she's always had the spirit of a self-starter.

After working as a Verizon telemarketer for eight years and then relocating to Charlotte, North Carolina, she decided to start a moving company with her friend in 2015. It was a way to combine her love of people, customer service, and travel. But it was also a bad idea, she said. There were too many moving parts (pardon the pun), and in 2017 King was arrested for her involvement in a marijuana trafficking scheme. The moving business "had more customers than I could actually keep up with... It was hard to keep employees... And I winded up here in jail, so I wasn't able to get that far into it," King explained.  Read more...

When we spend so much of our time online, we’re bound to learn something while clicking and scrolling. Discover something new with Mashable’s series I learned it on the internet.

When I was a teenager in the 1990s, I borrowed a library book on the prophecies of Nostradamus. For weeks I annoyed my family with all the supposed evidence for its main claim, that the 16th century French mystic had predicted the end of the world in 1999. Luckily, the World Wide Web wasn’t really a thing yet, so after I returned the book my Nostradamus fever broke. Only years later did I look back and see my confirmation bias. I’d felt the now-familiar thrill of doing research, without realizing that what I was researching was bullshit — from mistranslated start to misinterpreted finish.  Read more...

There's no reason why you shouldn't have a reusable water bottle in 2021. Buying single-use plastic water bottles isn't just terrible for the environment, but all those little purchases can really add up.

Once you make the decision to drink all your water from one bottle, you'll never go back. Still looking for the perfect bottle? Allow us to help with this lineup of truly unique reusable bottles on sale for up to 40% off.

The Vapur Anti-Bottle is everything a plastic water bottle isn't: reusable, foldable, freezable, and more. For a limited time, you can snag a pack of two for 34% off and pay just $14.99 (regularly $22). Read more...

TL;DR: Prepare for jobs in cloud computing with this 2021 Cloud Computing Architect Certification Bundle, on sale for 98% off — just $29.99 — as of Jan. 24.

If you’re interested in learning the essentials of cloud computing — and if you've got about 30 bucks and 21 hours to spare — you can get started today.

With the help of this cloud computing training led by Idan Gabrieli, you’ll become a savant in solving latency issues and improving overall tech processes for companies. The training covers everything from cloud computing basics to microservices to machine learning and is designed especially for beginners in the field. Gabrieli (B.Sc. and MBA) is an entrepreneur, cloud and AI expert, and presales manager with a vast technical background. Read more...

From filling out job applications to going on interviews, job hunting can feel like a full-time gig on its own. To be successful and finally land your dream gig, preparation is key.

Set yourself up for success with this list of courses that cover all the things you didn't learn in school — like how to write an effective cover letter or optimize your LinkedIn profile. They're all discounted as of Jan. 24, so now's a great time to dive in.

A good resume and cover letter go hand-in-hand. Sign up for this cover letter course while it's on sale for just $9.99 ($199 value) for a limited time. Read more...

TL;DR: Charge up to four different devices with the PowerHub Wireless Charging Station. As of Jan. 24, get it for $79.99, a 20% savings.

If your 2021 resolution was to get organized, you need to think about ways to pare down items you use daily. Even necessary accessories and trinkets like chargers can be condensed — and the PowerHub, a multi-port wireless charger, can help you do just that.

The PowerHub charger has a Qi charging pad that displays your phone upright, which means it's great for desks or nightstands. On the side of the PowerHub, there are three ports, including two USB charging ports and one 18W PD port. If you're doing the math, you've probably figured out what that means: You can charge up to four devices at one time. Read more...

Is there anything more useless than a dead smartphone? It's essentially just a hunk of dead weight. To ensure your device is always powered up and ready to go, you're going to want to upgrade from the crappy charging cable your phone came with — if it even came with one at all.

In addition to the accompanying cable not being as durable as other options, there's no denying how inconvenient it is. Whether it delivers a slow charge or it's too short, these challenges prove it's time to explore what else is out there. Here are 15 durable and more convenient options on sale for up to 72% off.  Read more...