IT General

I increasingly find myself drawn to digital books, though how enjoyable they are depends entirely on the device that I read them on. With the rise of phone-sized eReaders, I decided to pit one up against another reading-focused option, a book-centered phone.

We've spent the better part of the last couple of decades phasing out legacy computer ports in favor of newer standards. While VGA and DVI are largely a thing of the past now, why is it that some rather expensive motherboards still carry that ancient six-pin PS/2 port for connecting keyboards and mice when most peripherals have switched to USB?

Executives from iconic publications like Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Vanity Fair are descending on Washington to lobby for another AI regulation bill, this time tackling the threat AI poses to their bottom lines and longevity.

Introduced to the House in July, the bipartisan Stealth Bot Prohibition Act would prohibit the deployment of "stealth bots," or unidentified AI agents tasked with scraping and indexing a website's content, without disclosure. Should it pass, bot scrapers and their purposes would have to be clearly identified to website publishers or risk civil penalties under the Federal Trade Commission. Attorneys general would also be authorized to take action against AI scraping.

SEE ALSO: Kids aren't learning to type anymore

Backed by the trade nonprofit News/Media Alliance, the group is calling for federal regulation to level the playing field as AI dominates website traffic, search, and discoverability — and puts many publishers at risk.

"We are drowning in bot traffic that is hurting our ability to serve our readers, and existing technical tools simply aren’t enough to protect our content from malicious actors that can disguise their identity," wrote News/Media Alliance president Danielle Coffey at the time of the bill's introduction. "We need transparency and accountability for bad actors, as well as enforcement mechanisms that require the most basic transparency disclosure."

Debi Chirichella, president of Hearst Magazines, publisher of Esquire, Elle, and Men's Health, and newspapers including the Houston Chronicle, has called the legislation a step toward a "clean internet."

"AI companies are using disguised bots to scrape and steal original journalism with zero accountability," said Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast, which publishes magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker.

Despite concerns about the technology's impact on the industry and news literacy, many of the industry's heavyweights have negotiated ways to profit from their content being used for AI training and search.

Condé Nast entered a multi-year partnership with OpenAI in 2024, joining other major players like the Associated Press, The Atlantic, and TIME to officially license its content for profit. The Guardian and Axios signed licensing deals with the same AI developer last year, while the Washington Post entered an agreement allowing ChatGPT to surface its original reporting.

Google signed its first AI licensing deal with the Associated Press in Jan. 2025. The Associated Press also has a deal with Microsoft, along with People Inc. and USA Today Co. Meanwhile, Meta entered the game late, signing a multi-year licensing and training contract with seven publishers, including CNN and Fox News. Amazon has nabbed agreements with the New York Times, Condé Nast, and Hearst.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Most smart TVs do more than display images and videos—they collect information. Sometimes, that information is just about your viewing habits using automated content recognition (ACR). Other times, your TV records snippets of conversations or information about other devices on the network or in Wi-Fi range.

You don't have to give up the conveniences of digital music when you prefer the sound of vinyl, provided you're willing to put in some work. Reddit user Simon Trost has built a Raspberry Pi-based "Now Playing" screen, the VinylPi64, that automatically detects songs playing on your turntable.

Technology has a habit of quietly removing things we thought would be around forever. Floppy disks gave way to USB drives, film cameras were lost to digital photography, and vinyl was barged out of the way by CDs and streaming before making an unexpected comeback. Sometimes the replacement is better, but other times you spend years wondering why someone decided the old way needed fixing. Excel has had plenty of those moments.

In the Android world, performance is king. Leaked benchmarks bring praise or ridicule to phones that have never been touched. Everyone wants the latest and greatest Snapdragon chip. As a long-time Pixel user, I've never been concerned with any of this.

With less than two months until Grand Theft Auto VI finally arrives on Nov. 19, Rockstar Games is opening the vault.

Game Informer published its GTA 6 cover story on Tuesday, speaking with several members of Rockstar's leadership, including co-studio head Aaron Garbut and senior vice president of narrative Rupert Humphries. The feature fills in many of the gaps left by Netflix's 27-minute extended look in August, especially regarding the game's setting, its systems, and just how much of Florida Rockstar is trying to cram into a single map.

Here's everything new we learned, plus a quick refresher on what we already knew.

What we already knew

The basics have been locked in for a while. GTA 6 follows Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, a criminal duo that players can switch between. They're a Bonnie and Clyde-type duo, and you'll be responsible for nurturing or breaking apart their relationship.

SEE ALSO: An AI startup founder is trying to vibe code his own 'Grand Theft Auto' game

The game returns to Vice City, Rockstar's take on Miami, inside the fictional state of Leonida. Mashable's breakdown of the Netflix extended look covered a lot of gameplay ground. A slow-motion aiming mode, a morality or honor indicator shaped like a small demon head, and Red Dead Redemption 2–style interactions with NPCs. Additionally, we know there will be racing, base jumping, and a more detailed carjacking system.

Most of the supporting cast had been introduced before, too, though Game Informer's roundup includes one fun detail: actor Stephen Root has said he voices Brian Heder, a veteran drug runner who assigns missions and lets Jason live rent-free in one of his properties.

Leonida is Rockstar's biggest map ever

According to Garbut, Leonida is the largest world Rockstar has ever built. It's roughly twice the size of GTA 5's map and denser, with far more interiors. Garbut summed up the appeal of Florida as "America dialed up to 11."

Game Informer confirmed the map's six main regions: Vice City, Leonida Keyes, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park. Rockstar's senior vice president of environment art, Paul MacPherson, told Game Informer that the team studied North Florida cities such as Jacksonville, Panama City, and Ocala. That region promises ATV trails, a mud park party, nighttime demolition derbies, farms, and bass fishing.

Don't expect a Disney World parody, though. When Game Informer asked about Orlando's theme parks and the Space Coast, MacPherson stopped short of confirming them. He said the team had to narrow down which landmarks made the cut and suggested those exact locations may not be in the game.

Jason and Lucia's relationship is up to you

The nurturing of Jason and Lucia's relationship, as stated earlier, is not new. What is new is that Jason and Lucia always stay partners, but players decide whether they remain friends or become a romantic couple.

SEE ALSO: Is playing 'GTA 6' cheating? We asked a relationship therapist.

Game Informer reports the bond grows through missions and small gestures like holding hands, opening doors, answering calls and texts promptly, and accepting invitations to activities together.

Rockstar says there's no gameplay advantage to either path. However, parts of the story will reflect the state of their relationship. Game Informer also reports that player decisions, big and small, can shift the story enough that Rockstar is encouraging multiple playthroughs.

Hurricanes are real, and the weather is local

Owen Shepherd, Rockstar's vice president of art for lighting and rendering, told Game Informer the weather system has been rebuilt to be localized and persistent. That means you can stand in sunshine while watching a storm soak the next neighborhood over, which any Floridian will recognize.

Rain leaves lasting puddles behind, rainbows can appear in the right light, and a new wind system moves hair, debris, water, and swamp grass. Tropical storms and hurricanes are confirmed. Rockstar didn't say how often they hit or whether they affect gameplay or the story.

More than 170 animal species

Rockstar vice president of dynamic art Michael Kane confirmed that Leonida features over 170 animal species, including more than 60 bird types and over 30 land mammals. Confirmed species include:

• Florida natives: manatees, flamingos, and pelicans, plus the alligators we've already seen.

• Invasive species: green iguanas, feral cats, cane toads, armadillos, and rhesus macaque monkeys.

• Marine life: sharks, whales, rays, sea turtles, and jellyfish, each with distinct movement behavior.

Borrowing from Red Dead Redemption, some animals will be trackable and sorted into Rare, Discoverable, and Legendary categories.

Leonida's residents are also getting an upgrade. NPCs now vary in height, body type, and skin details such as freckles and tattoos, and their fashion varies from region to region. Rockstar even has a Los Angeles team dedicated solely to writing NPC chatter.

Want a little free money for Prime Big Deal Days, aka Amazon's upcoming "October Prime Day" sale? You can earn up to $25 in credits toward your purchases during the event by placing some Amazon Now orders this week.

Available in dozens of U.S. cities, Amazon Now is the retailer's on-demand delivery service. Eligible shoppers can have groceries and household essentials like cleaning products dropped on their doorsteps in 30 minutes or less. (Randomly, select Apple devices are also eligible for Amazon Now deliveries. That includes the latest AirPods 5 and MagSafe cases for the new iPhone 18 Pro.)

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Now Spend at least $25 to earn a free $5 credit for Prime Big Deal Days (up to $25 total). Shop Now

Through Saturday, Oct. 3, every Amazon Now order of $25 or more earns you $5 in Prime Big Deal Days promo credits and free shipping. You can earn a maximum of $25 in credits via five separate orders. In other words, you won't get $25 in credits for placing one giant Amazon Now order of at least $125. This isn't a very eco-friendly way to shop, but I digress.

Credit: Amazon

If you earn any credits from Amazon Now orders this week, you'll get a push notification from Amazon's mobile app when Prime Big Deal Days starts on Tuesday, Oct. 6, letting you know that you can start spending them. They'll expire when the sale ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Crucially, this free credits offer is only available to members of Amazon's Prime program. If you haven't had an active Prime membership within the past 12 months, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.

Power tools need to meet the highest standards and be tough enough for years of on-site work. You get what you pay for, and it's not worth cutting corners because cheap products will let you down when you need them the most.

I went into my TrueNAS Scale versus Unraid test with a pretty strong assumption about how it would end. TrueNAS Scale had almost everything I normally look for in a homelab server. Unraid looked more convenient, but I expected that convenience to come with compromises I would eventually find annoying.

Linux is an important part of modern development, and Windows users often rely on a separate app like Docker Desktop to get started. Now, Microsoft is making it easier to run Linux containers on its operating system through Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). The feature was first showcased at Build 2026 and entered public preview in June. Now, it’s available for everyone with the latest WSL update.

Apple's new CEO John Ternus debuted a new generation of iPhones in September, and he's reportedly gearing up for the company's next big launch under his leadership.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the source of virtually all news on unreleased Apple products, reported today that Apple is preparing a big entry into the smart home market, with a new smart display, HomePod, and Apple TV device on deck for October.

Gurman reported that the display will act as a smart home hub and, together with the HomePod and Apple TV, will "serve as a showcase for Apple's new Siri AI assistant." Gurman said the display will be able to recognize different members of a household, providing personalized answers and information. The Apple Post referred to the new smart display as the HomePad (Gurman used Apple's internal name, J490), but the official name is unknown at this time.

Apple's HomePod speaker line hasn't been refreshed since the launch of the HomePod (2nd Generation) device in January 2023. However, Gurman said Apple is preparing to release a new HomePod Mini, in particular.

The Apple TV lineup is likewise due for a refresh. The last Apple streaming device was released in 2022, even as the Apple TV streaming service has become an awards show darling. Apple TV broke records at this year's Emmy awards, bringing home 29 awards in total. On top of that, Apple TV broke viewership records in September, recording its highest-ever weekly viewership, according to Deadline.

So, when can you look for the new Apple smart home devices?

According to Gurman, Apple fans should circle Oct. 13 on their calendar.

There are a few things you should double-check before turning a laptop into a NAS. While you definitely can just do it, these three BIOS options are definitely worth double-checking before diving down the rabbit hole.

SAVE $50.99: As of Sep. 30, get the Shark CryoGlow LED Face Mask for $299 at Amazon. That's down from its usual price of $349.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Shark CryoGlow LED Face Mask $299 at Amazon
$349.99 Save $50.99   Get Deal

When it comes to skincare, you can spend a small fortune trying to cover all of your concerns: premature aging, dryness, dullness, you name it. It makes total sense that you might seek out home treatments that can help target several of those things all at once for less. Enter the Shark CryoGlow LED Face Mask, an affordable way to target all of these issues at once, and it's on sale for an even better price right now ahead of Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days.

As of Sep. 30, get the Shark CryoGlow LED Face Mask for $299 at Amazon. That's down from its usual price of $349.99, saving you 15%.

SEE ALSO: Shark CryoGlow mask review after 10 months: The only way I'll ever stop using this is if Shark releases a new one

This face mask emits red, blue, and deep infrared light and offers under-eye cooling to help treat fine lines, acne, tired or slack skin, and a plethora of other issues. It's an anti-aging treatment meant to work in tandem with the rest of your beauty routine, and it can replace those expensive medspa visits, which can easily run into the hundreds of dollars per treatment.

Mashable Senior Shopping Reporter Leah Stodart took the CryoGlow mask for a spin and awarded it the Mashable Choice Award with a 4.5/5 score. Stodart said: "After three months of initial palpable improvement to my acne and six more months of a maintained glow, I can confirm that the Shark CryoGlow is a much-needed middle ground between OTC skincare and pricey procedures."

If you're looking for a good way to augment your current routine or want to try something new without having to splash out on multiple professional treatments, this is a great option with low risk and high reward. Just be sure to grab it while it's currently discounted.

On this, the final day of Bisexual Visibility Month, I must say my piece about a sexuality label controversy before I once again disappear into the ether until next September.

It centers around musician King Princess, who identifies as a lesbian. This week, a Nov. 2024 appearance on the podcast Celebrity Book Club with Steven & Lily resurfaced on social media, in which the singer-songwriter said, "I've taken a lot of dick."

SEE ALSO: TikTok's algorithms knew I was bi before I did. I'm not the only one.

"Sometimes you get bored, and you're just like, 'I'm just gonna ride a cock,'" she continued. "People get really shook when I say that… I'm not bi, but why would I exclude myself?"

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"I would fuck a dude if I was bored enough," she said. 

If you know anything about the online sapphic community, you'd be able to guess this would start a firestorm. And it did. King Princess's name trended on Reddit, with threads in various subreddits like r/lesbiangang and r/lesbianactually expressing disappointment and confusion. The conversation bled into X, Instagram, and TikTok, with reactions ranging from commenters saying she's "yet another bisexual cosplaying as a lesbian" to "lesbian deserves better than this" to "hot takes" that it's OK for her to identify as a lesbian and express this. 

King Princess herself responded to the controversy in now-deleted TikToks, saying she's never dated or fallen in love with men, she's just slept with them because, "Why not?" She rejected the notion that she's less of a lesbian because she's not a "gold star," a term in the lesbian community to refer to a lesbian who has never slept with men.

In another deleted response, King Princess asserted that she's a lesbian and that it's unfair to bi people to equate her with that. 

"The amount that I actually care about men romantically or sexually is so small…it would be inappropriate to call myself bisexual," she said. "You can't tell me what my sexuality is."

As a bisexual person who has written about how bisexual people are plagued with the worry that they're not queer enough, and how bisexual women are routinely the Pride punching bag, here is my take.

Is King Princess bisexual?

Only King Princess can answer this question. I think she's right that strangers can't tell her what her sexuality is. But if she came up to me and begged, "Anna — whom I have previously never met and know nothing about except your exceptional coverage of LGBTQ issues on Mashable.com — please, please tell me what you think my sexuality is!" I would, honestly, say bisexual. 

Labels exist to fit the person, not the other way around. From my observations online, some people are changing what labels mean so that they can squeeze themselves into a certain identity, instead of reflecting on their actual desires and behaviors and choosing the label that coincides with it. "Lesbian" connotes not sleeping with men, ever. Right? So, how does what King Princess describes fit into lesbianism?

It's my bisexual opinion that if you're 99 percent attracted to one gender and one percent attracted to another, that still makes you bisexual. I get frustrated when "straight" women like to make out with other women but poo-poo the thought that they're bi. I don't see much of a difference between that and what King Princess said.

I hear the lesbian community's frustration about this, as well. This is far from the first time a celebrity who once identified as a lesbian has come out as bisexual (or pansexual) and dating a man. Jojo Siwa is a recent example. Reneé Rapp came out as a lesbian in 2024 after previously saying she was bi, but in a 2025 podcast appearance, she wondered out loud, "What if in 10 years I don't like that identity either? What if in 10 years I'm completely different?"

I can imagine this is vexing to lesbians who are certain their identities won't change. 

I do wonder if the reluctance to identify as bisexual is because of the public opinion about it. As I wrote earlier this year, bisexual people are a little annoying. We are a gray area of sexuality, and the human brain prefers things to be black-and-white. We don't fit into the monosexual box. We question societal and gender norms, and we often have to be loud about it.

Societal stigma against bi people still exists. This summer, discourse about how some straight women don't want to date bisexual men recycled around yet again. And as of this month, there's new data about it: Two-thirds of straight women are unwilling to date a bisexual man, according to YouGov. 

It's not just straight women, either. The same research found that a third of straight men are unwilling to date a bi woman, and one in five lesbians feel the same about bi women.

When asked why, straight people couldn't articulate why. One in six gave non-answers, like saying it's their preference or that they just don't want to. Others said they're afraid a bisexual person would cheat, a longtime stereotype against bisexual people. 

So, yeah, I understand why someone may not want to be a part of the bi community. We're not exactly universally beloved. We're called liars, cheaters, and sluts. We're told we don't exist. But given that most people in the LGBTQ community identify as bisexual (in the U.S., anyway), we're also not alone.

It also doesn't help that King Princess has thrown other sapphic pop stars under the bus with an (also now-deleted) comment that, "You guys also might wanna check on the pop divas who are actively lying about being gay…in fully committed relationships with men on the DL." This has since spun into a sort of witch hunt, with social media users speculating about who, exactly, she meant.

How King Princess identifies is her business. But the controversy around her comments suggests that, in 2026, people are more interested in deciding who fits within an identity than in understanding the people who use it.

If you're already thinking about holiday shopping and sorting out your budget for the season, Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days sale is for you. Back for its fifth year in a row in 2026, October Prime Day is another Prime-exclusive event that falls in the sweet spot between actual Prime Day in the summer and Amazon's Black Friday event (which will be here before you know it).

SEE ALSO: Try Amazon Prime for free for 30 days to get access to October Prime Day 2026

For those already antsy about their Black Friday haul this year, the October Prime Day event presents a perfect opportunity to snag a bunch of your Amazon stuff early — and at a discount. It's easy to get your wires crossed when it comes to the sale's actual kickoff, especially with so many deals already live, but we've got you covered with the full schedule, plus any other details you might need to know.

What time does Prime Big Deal Days 2026 start?

Considering the fall event is commonly referred to as "October Prime Day" (possibly more so than its legitimate name), you've probably gathered that it's in October. Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days 2026 will start on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 3:01 a.m. ET (12:01 a.m. PT). Let the countdown begin.

The deals run for two full days, with new deals dropping as often as every five minutes throughout the event. While most deals that go live on the first day typically hang around through the second, some are time-sensitive, like lightning deals that have been fully claimed or a viral item that has sold out.

When does October Prime Day 2026 end?

The 48-hour Prime Big Deal Days shopping period officially closes at 3:01 a.m. ET on Oct. 8 (11:59 p.m. PT on Oct. 7), but some deals will likely linger for days (weeks, even) after. But again, if you're in the market for a very specific hot ticket item, we recommend grabbing it as soon as you see it on sale.

What are the best October Prime Day deals this year?

Like the flagship Prime Day sale in July, Prime Big Deal Days is a great time to buy things like Apple products, TVs, noise-cancelling headphones, and of course, Amazon's own devices like Echos and Fire tablets (fingers crossed for some Kindle deals as well). But just because something is on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it — it also doesn't mean every deal is a true steal. Don't be afraid to check price-tracker tools like camelcamelcamel to get some insight. Or, just let us do the work for you.

Follow along in Mashable's Prime Day hub, where we sort out all of the best deals in every category and highlight what's worth adding to your cart in real time. If you're ready to get your shopping started already, our team has gathered some impressive early discounts worth checking out.

Deals we've already seen ahead of Prime Big Deal Days: Best Prime-exclusive deal Audible Standard $0.99/month + free $20 credit with Prime (save $32) Get Deal Best free deal Kindle Unlimited free for 3 months (save $35.97) Get Deal Best Apple deal Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 512GB) $1,299 (save $200) Get Deal Best deal under $50 Amazon Echo Dot $39.99 (save $40) Get Deal Best headphones deal Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) $319 (save $40) Get Deal Best TV Deal Amazon Ember 55-inch Artline QLED 4K TV $499.99 (save $400) Get Deal Best SSD deal Samsung SSD 990 Pro (2TB) $389.99 (save $250) Get Deal

Milwaukee is one of the most popular tool brands, and many enthusiasts might even know that the company has been around for over 100 years. But what you might not know is that Milwaukee invented many power tools, like the Sawzall, and other new technologies during that century.

I made the switch to Mac as my daily driver two years ago after decades of being a Windows user. Still, I spend enough time between the two PC platforms — and both have their pull. I understand the appeal of having access to the same software everywhere. Windows has an enormous software library, but it’s not the same thing as what Mac’s best apps offer. The most celebrated macOS apps aren’t just functional—they’re known for their design, workflow, and tight integration with the operating system.

Amazon is overhauling its media streaming devices. The shopping giant has not only introduced a revamped Fire TV Stick 4K, but is slimming down its lineup and promising more software upgrades.