IT General

Another Amazon sale is upon us. ICYMI: Prime Big Deal Days, aka October Prime Day, returns Oct. 6 through Oct. 7 for 2026.

With deals dropping constantly throughout the event, shopping can get pretty overwhelming. We know all too well that it's easy to get caught up in the sales, indulge in some impulse purchasing, and experience a little buyer's remorse. No judgment.

As with every major Amazon sale, deals started popping off ahead of the official event kickoff, and there are lots more to come. If you run into some questions or concerns during your shopping journey — from classic cases of buyer's remorse to damaged packages to Prime membership questions — just know that you can always reach out to customer service.

SEE ALSO: How to cancel your Amazon Prime membership

Since contacting Amazon can be tricky at times, here are all the ways you can get in touch with customer service for a smoother online shopping experience before, during, and after the October Prime Day event. And yes, you can actually talk to a real person.

Amazon customer service help page

This is probably the most common and easiest way to find answers to common queries, such as Amazon’s return policies or international shipping information. The page contains a whole library of questions that users can get answers to, including how to track packages, cancel orders, or start a return. Your most recent purchases will pop up at the top of the page for easy navigation.

To access Amazon’s Customer Service Help Page, go to the website landing page and click on "Customer Service" in the top left of the screen. 

Amazon customer service email

Sometimes customer queries need to be addressed on a case-by-case basis, and the answers on the official website need to be more specific to better help shoppers. In these cases, users can email cs-reply@amazon.com and explain their issues. Remember that contacting Amazon’s customer service via email might not be the best option if you have an urgent question about your purchases, since customers are unlikely to receive a prompt response.

Amazon customer service phone number

Need a quicker reply? Call Amazon at 1-888-280-4331. When customers call this number, a bot answers and eventually connects them to Amazon staff, depending on the type of query. It’s important to note that customers should have a cell phone number connected to their Amazon account. Customers must enter verification codes sent to their linked contact information before using this service. In other words, things can get a bit tricky if you're sharing an account with someone else.

Amazon online chat service

Real-time chatting with Amazon representatives is the most convenient way to get all your questions answered. To use the live chat feature, return to the Customer Service help page and click on "Help with something else." When the list pops up underneath, choose "something else" once again. Another page opens with a list of more help options. Select "I need help with something else."

Now you've officially entered the chat. Type "Talk to associate" in the chat box. Amazon's messaging assistant might prompt you to give more info on your issue, which you can, but if you'd rather get to a real person ASAP, you can select "I need more help" from the pre-written responses.

From there, you can choose if you’d prefer to talk via chat or call. If you're looking for immediate help with a Prime Day purchase — be it due to buyer's remorse, a damaged package, an address change, etc. — this is your best bet to get your needs met.

For simple questions, Amazon's AI chat feature (launched in 2024) called "Rufus" can help customers solve some problems and make more informed purchase decisions.

Contact Amazon via social media

If your questions aren’t that urgent, you can contact Amazon Customer Service at @amazonhelp on X, @amazon on Instagram, and www.facebook.com/Amazon on Facebook.

You probably won't find many people who chose a Pixel phone for privacy reasons. Reputation aside, Pixel phones actually do have some great privacy features. However, you have to take the good with the bad.

Fall is the perfect time for DIY projects. It's not too hot, but not too cold, and as long as you have the right tool for the job, you'll be able to power through those hard tasks easier than ever. Whether you're new to the Ryobi ecosystem or have been buying for years, here are some of the best tools you'll need to level up your DIY game.

If you took last week's Paramount+ movie recommendations for a spin, you might be interested to know that Tuner and The Get Out are still holding at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, on Paramount+ for U.S. subscribers. But, sitting in the top spot during this last week of September is a ridiculously hilarious gang of idiots who've made a long career out of doing really, really dumb stuff. Jackass: Best and Last is their swan song, and it's my top pick this week.

TL;DR: Join Costco as a new Gold Star Member for $65 per year and enroll in auto-renewal to receive a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card by email.

Opens in a new window Credit: Costco Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + $20 Digital Costco Shop Card $65
  Get Deal

If you’ve been thinking about joining Costco, a promotion with StackSocial adds a little extra to your first year. Sign up for a one-year Costco Gold Star Membership ($65), enroll in auto-renewal, and receive a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card to put toward your first warehouse run.

A Gold Star Membership gets you into more than 500 Costco warehouses across the U.S., where you can stock up on bulk groceries, household basics, and Kirkland Signature products. Members can also fill up at the Costco Gas Station and have tires installed at the Costco Tire Center while they shop. If you want to stretch your grocery and gas budget further, that access may help reduce regular household costs. Each membership also includes one Household Card for an individual age 18 or older living at your address.

Here’s how to sign up:

1. Buy the one-year Costco Gold Star Membership voucher from StackSocial.

2. Follow the instructions in your confirmation email to activate your membership online. Use a valid email address and enroll in auto-renewal.

3. Pick up your membership card at your local Costco warehouse, and bring a valid photo identification.

Your Digital Costco Shop Card should arrive by email within two weeks of successful sign-up and auto-renewal enrollment. Use it at the warehouse on groceries and household items you already planned to buy. Just note that the Costco Food Court doesn’t accept it.

Join Costco as a new Gold Star Member for $65 and receive a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card for a limited time.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

If you want to catch every Avengers: Doomsday teaser in Avengers: Endgame Encore, be warned. Not every theater is showing all four extra scenes.

SEE ALSO: 'Avengers: Endgame Encore' sets up 'Doomsday' with 4 new scenes. Here's what happens.

Instead, only IMAX screenings of Avengers: Endgame Encore are showing all of the extra scenes, along with Infinity Vision theaters. Infinity Vision is not a new film format, but rather a certification program created by Disney to tell audiences which Premium Large Format theaters have met their criteria for an "exceptional" moviegoing experience.

Audiences were disappointed by the fact that IMAX and Infinity Vision screenings of Avengers: Endgame Encore got exclusive content, especially since the missing scene amounts to a good chunk of the extra four minutes tacked on to Avengers: Endgame. In an Aug. 25 press release, Disney did make note of the difference between screenings, writing, "An additional sneak peek at [Avengers: Doomsday] will also be available to audiences who see Avengers: Endgame Encore on IMAX and Infinity Vision-certified screens."

What happens in the exclusive Avengers: Endgame Encore scene?

The exclusive Avengers: Endgame Encore scene takes place in the headquarters of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), first introduced in Season 1 of Loki. There, the TVA's Mobius (Owen Wilson), Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), and Casey (Eugene Cordero) observe a troubling incursion. Two alternate Earths are about to collide, and they're firing missiles at one another.

From there, the number of incursions multiples. It's not long before thousands of universes are colliding, and the TVA is out of its depth.

"The multiverse is collapsing," Ouroboros says.

It's a foreboding set up for Avengers: Doomsday, one that could explain how the main MCU crosses over with the Fantastic Four's universe and the universe containing Fox's X-Men.

Avengers: Endgame Encore is now in theaters. Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters Dec. 18.

I've spent the past few weeks using the Asustor Lockerstor 2 Gen2+ NAS, and it is definitely a different experience than I'm used to. Focusing more on security and enterprise-grade features, this NAS is a great fit for small/medium businesses or enthusiasts, but it might not be the right choice for someone just starting out with homelabbing or self-hosting.

After two years, it appears we're getting a new Kindle. The news comes from leaked photos posted by Roland Quandt on WinFuture, showcasing 25 new photos of a new Kindle. In the photos, there appears to be a redesigned 12th generation of Kindle, an update to its 2024 predecessor.

From the photos, it appears the new Kindle e-reader will come in three different shades: black, light blue, and purple. It also appears that the device received an overall redesign. The most exciting change is something I'd hoped would come to a new batch of Kindles — a redesigned power button.

Here's your first look at the 12th Gen #Amazon #Kindle (s?). New colors, new design, Power button is now on the side. I know there are visual differences in the pics re the display and it's rounded corners. So this might be more than one new device. Official pics: winfuture.de/news,161586....

[image or embed]

— Roland Quandt (@rquandt.bsky.social) September 28, 2026 at 8:24 AM

In the leaked photos, the power button appears to be on the right side of the device, moved from its former position at the bottom. In my review of the 11th generation Kindle, one of my biggest complaints was its power button design, so a change is greatly appreciated. The 12th generation of Kindle also seems to have a more recessed screen that's flush to the edge, now more closely resembling the Kindle Paperwhite.

In addition to the 12th generation Kindle, we also appear to be getting a new Kindle Kids. While it looks like a standard Kindle, it includes a case and an extended warranty.

All the information we have about the new Kindles is inferred from the leaked photos, as there's been no other information provided with them. We're still waiting to learn more about the device's size, front light, storage space, and waterproof rating, or if any other Kindle devices are getting an update. At this time, we also have no details on the timeline and release of this device.

We suspect the new Kindle will cost $149.99, the recently raised price of the 11th generation of Kindle, but are waiting for Amazon to confirm.

Shop current Kindle models Amazon Kindle $149.99 at Amazon Shop Now Kindle Paperwhite $199.99 at Amazon Shop Now Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition $199.99 at Amazon Shop Now Kindle Colorsoft $289.99 at Amazon Shop Now Kindle Scribe $549.99 at Amazon Shop Now

Excel tables don't exactly sound exciting. You select some data, press Ctrl+T, and Excel gives you a nicely formatted block with distinct headers and banded rows. Very professional; very Excel. If that's all you think tables are for, I wouldn't blame you. I've been using Excel for decades, and even I sometimes take tables for granted. But the real benefit is what happens next.

TL;DR: Encrypt and privately share Windows files with an EncryptPro Personal Plan lifetime subscription for $39.99 (reg. $139).

Opens in a new window Credit: EncyptPro EncryptPro Personal Plan for Windows: Lifetime Subscription $39.99
$139 Save $99.01   Get Deal

Most file encryption tools make you build a locked vault, then wait while large files are decrypted before you can open them. EncryptPro encrypts files right on your PC and shares them through private PGP connections, and a lifetime subscription is on sale for $39.99 (reg. $139).

EncryptPro works fast and reliably to keep your files private. In testing on a standard machine, EncryptPro encrypted a 10.6GB file in just 35 seconds. Streaming decryption opens large files in seconds, so a 10GB video starts playing right away instead of waiting for the whole file to unlock. Every file and folder gets AES-256 encryption, and the app overwrites each original with zeros and then random data across multiple passes, so no readable copy gets left behind in the Recycle Bin.

SEE ALSO: 15 early October Prime Day tech deals, hand-picked by our gadget experts

Unlike other security software, you don’t need to open a separate window to use EncryptPro. Right-click any file or folder in Windows Explorer to lock or unlock it. Then just double-click an encrypted file to open it in its usual app. Encrypted folders are still browsable, and custom icons show each file’s group and lock state even when EncryptPro isn’t running.

EncryptPro uses a zero-knowledge setup, so the company can’t access your files, and you can verify that yourself with tools like Wireshark and Glasswire. Nothing gets uploaded or synced to a cloud server. Your encrypted files work from USB drives and external drives, and you can open them offline on any PC.

The Personal Plan adds PGP file sharing with no passwords to email, 5 password-protected Security Groups, and up to 10 one-to-one connections with 2 members each. Upgrade Lock rotates a connection’s keys whenever you want, cutting off anyone who doesn’t get the new password. One master password opens any group, so a forgotten group password won’t lock you out.

Your license works on three devices at once running 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, and future updates are included.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Samsung Galaxy phones are packed with exclusive features, controls, and a slew of pre-installed apps. So many, in fact, that they're sometimes all categorized as bloatware. It's easy to ignore the dozens of apps on your phone right out of the box, but many of Samsung's apps are great alternatives to Google's.

If you have multiple PCs or consoles at home or host LAN gaming parties like me, LanCache might be the magical setup you didn’t know you needed. I’ve recommended LanCache to small offices, gaming cafés, and even to friends who gave each of their kids a separate Xbox.

Keeping your home or dwelling safe and protected is easier than ever with the massive popularity of smart doorbells and indoor cameras. Ring continues to be one of the industry leaders and as tech and AI evolve, these units are becoming more and more affordable, and right now, you can pick up one of the brand's bestselling bundles from Best Buy for some insane savings—and its $80 off, too.

Plex is simple to install and use, and it performs marvelously. One thing that drives new users crazy though, is trying to access media on external USB drives. Here’s the easy way.

Anthropic just released Claude Sonnet 5.5, the second model in its Claude 5.5 family. It arrives less than a week after the company launched Claude Opus 5.5.

According to Anthropic's announcement, Sonnet 5.5 runs more than 30 percent faster than Sonnet 5 and costs up to 30 percent less for most work. The company describes it as a lower-cost complement to Opus 5.5, and that Sonnet 5.5 is best suited to well-scoped everyday tasks, such as fixing bugs and producing documents, slides, and spreadsheets. Anthropic said Claude Haiku 5.5 will arrive in the coming weeks.

SEE ALSO: Judge allows most of Reddit's lawsuit against Anthropic to proceed Anthropic benchmarks show big gains over Sonnet 5

Anthropic reported that Sonnet 5.5's top score edges out Opus 5.5's, though Opus 5.5 scored higher at every other effort level the company charted. On GDPval-AA v2.1, which measures real-world work across 44 occupations, Sonnet 5.5 scored 1,844. That is two points behind Opus 5.5 and about 400 points ahead of Sonnet 5. The company also said it is the first Sonnet model to beat Pokémon Red, working only from screenshots.

Credit: Anthropic / Mashable screenshot

Anthropic cautioned that benchmarks capture only part of a model's abilities. The company said its own testing and outside testing both found Opus 5.5 still clearly stronger at complex, open-ended work.

Early testers cited efficiency gains. In the press release, Slack principal engineer Curtis Allen said Sonnet 5.5 beat Sonnet 5 on nearly all of Slack's offline Slackbot evaluations, finishing "in fewer steps and with about 14% fewer output tokens."

Pricing and availability

Pricing is the same as Sonnet 5:

• $2 per million input tokens

• $10 per million output tokens

• $0.20 per million tokens for cache reads

The input and output rates are half of Opus 5.5's. Anthropic says the lower per-task cost stems from the model requiring fewer tokens to complete the same work.

Sonnet 5.5 is available now on all of Anthropic's platforms, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Developers can access it via the API as claude-sonnet-5-5, with zero data retention. Developers who run Sonnet with thinking off must switch to a new between_tools setting before migrating.

New safeguards

Anthropic said Sonnet 5.5's cybersecurity capabilities are comparable to Opus 5's. For that reason, it is the first Sonnet model to ship with cyber safeguards similar to those on Opus 5.5. Higher-risk cybersecurity requests will visibly fall back to Sonnet 5, while routine bug-fixing is unaffected. Biology safeguards are unchanged from Sonnet 5. Organizations can apply to the Life Sciences Verification Program for broader access. Sonnet 5.5 is also the first Sonnet model to launch with classifiers designed to block distillation attacks, in which bad actors extract a model's capabilities at scale.

On Anthropic's automated behavioral audit of roughly 1,850 scenarios, Sonnet 5.5 matched or improved on Sonnet 5 on most alignment measures. Opus 5.5 still performed slightly better overall. The company acknowledged that no set of evaluations catches every failure.

Flock CEO Garrett Langley is avoiding the public. Last week, as individuals testified to Flock's flaws in front of the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, Langley stayed home. He sent a letter in his stead.

But a group of ignited internet users believes the CEO, who runs an $8 billion surveillance technology company advertised as a security solution, should be put on display — and perhaps given a metaphorical swirly.

Using a previously circulated address that reportedly belonged to Langley and was shared online in an effort to doxx the CEO, a new group of anti-Flock users allegedly labeled his home as a public toilet. The reported listing is still unverified.

Others called on each other to share Langley's personal information en masse, including the unconfirmed address, to show what "endless surveillance for no good reason feels like."

SEE ALSO: Three takeaways from the Senate hearing on Flock's camera network

"This internet backlash against the Flock CEO hiding his own house while selling surveillance to everyone else is honestly poetic justice. why do tech executives think privacy rules only apply to them," wrote one user on X.

People on social media also noticed images of the address on Google Maps' Street View had been blurred from public view. A privacy feature offered at a homeowner's request, many found the anonymity ironic and began circulating unverified images of the home in response.

"Shame if he gets egged and TP'd on halloween," wrote a different X prankster.

In response to the purported doxxing, a recent thread on the r/AskConservatives subreddit asked, "Does the Flock CEO deserve privacy?"

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Flock is now synonymous with a nationwide surveillance apparatus enabled by the proliferation of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), used by law enforcement to document, profile, and track drivers regardless of their participation in actual crimes. The anti-ALPR movement has grown exponentially in the last year, culminating in a new bipartisan effort to cancel Flock contracts, regulate their use, or even ban them outright.

Legislators are largely responding to an online movement that has united communities to force Flock out of their towns, often turning to public protest and guerilla tactics to physically remove Flock devices. Over the weekend, for example, the DeFlock America Facebook group — an online gathering place for surveillance opponents — reached a milestone of more than 820,000 members.

Samsung Galaxy Watches are pretty capable devices with good hardware. With Wear OS, they also have solid software support. Google Play Store access makes customization and functionality virtually limitless. Samsung has done a good job giving users plenty of solid apps by default, but if you are like me, you won’t settle for the default offerings.

The allegations detailed in a former Cornell University student's lawsuit are horrifying. The student, identified in the suit as Jane Doe, alleges that seven fraternity members drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2024, ultimately prompting her to leave the university. Since she filed the lawsuit, students at Cornell and others beyond the campus have spoken out.

Among them is actress Florence Pugh, who had a message for men in particular:

"This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us. You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behavior as much as we are. How can you expect us to trust that it’s 'not all men' when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?... Colleges/schools/universities repeatedly fail women around the world. You build men that get taught through time and time again that they can do extreme harm and that they won’t be harmed in return. I’m no longer tired — I'm enraged by schools protecting boys, in fear of their futures being wrecked..."

But after Pugh shared the message with her 10.7 million Instagram followers, some of her anger shifted toward the platform carrying it.

According to Pugh, Instagram placed a "sensitive-content" warning over the post, preventing some followers from swiping through the carousel to read it. In other words, Pugh says Instagram restricted access to the very post she was using to call attention to the allegations.

Screenshot of Florence Pugh's Instagram profile grid, where you can see the grey grid post flagged as sensitive content. Credit: Screenshot: Instagram/@florencepugh

"Am I being censored for talking about rape?" she asked. When she tried sharing her statement again, Pugh said Instagram was "blocking me from reaching people."

Meta confirmed to TMZ that Instagram initially placed a sensitive-content label on Pugh's post. "We removed this label upon further review after we determined that it qualified for a newsworthy allowance," a spokesperson said. The post is now visible to adults without restrictions. It is, however, considered "age-restricted content" on the platform.

Instagram does have recommendation rules that can limit how widely certain content is recommended to people who don't already follow an account, even when that content is allowed to remain on the platform. But Meta did not say whether those rules affected the reach of Pugh's post.

Pugh, for her part, had already drawn her own conclusion: "Instagram, at least we can see what side you're on."

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

So why did the post receive a warning in the first place? Meta hasn't explained exactly what triggered it. The company's sexual exploitation policy allows victims to share their experiences, while prohibiting content that "depicts, threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault or sexual exploitation." In Pugh's case, Instagram ultimately determined that the post could remain unrestricted under its newsworthy allowance.

SEE ALSO: How to filter sensitive content on Instagram

And while the Instagram warning has drawn attention of its own, Pugh's original post was about what happened at Cornell and how the university responded.

The lawsuit alleges that some of the accused students received disciplinary measures that included writing essays. Cornell has pushed back on the suggestion that essays were anyone's sole punishment, saying it expelled and suspended students and barred the fraternity from campus.

The allegations are now getting another look beyond the university. After the former student filed her lawsuit, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten reopened the criminal investigation and said he intends to present the case to a grand jury. No criminal charges have been filed.

Pugh isn't the first person to question what happens when Meta's moderation rules get between users and conversations about safety and health, particularly those involving women and marginalized communities. Last year, The Guardian reported that more than 50 organizations focused on abortion access, reproductive health, and LGBTQ+ issues had experienced restrictions or account removals across Meta's platforms.

Fatma Ibrahim of Sex Talk Arabic, for example, said Instagram repeatedly told the organization that posts about sexual health violated its rules and that its page would no longer be recommended to other users. Meta denied targeting the groups because of their advocacy and said it had reinstated more than half of the accounts flagged by campaigners.

People who report sexual assault can already face significant barriers to being heard. As attention around the Cornell allegations continues to grow, Pugh's experience raises a broader question about how Instagram handles those conversations and what its moderation systems deem too sensitive to show.

I knew this day would come, but my GPU is finally struggling to run new games within its 8GB of VRAM, even at lower settings and resolutions. This is not inherently a problem, things do move on after all. But, it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

October is barreling toward us and will arrive at the end of the week, and with it comes a brand new swath of catalog movies on October 1, including all five Twilight movies, three Psycho films, The Devil Wears Prada, and a couple of great ones I'll fill you in on below, so keep reading.