IT General
This 10" touchscreen car display makes an old car feel new again for under $70
TL;DR: Elevate your car's entertainment system with the ESSGOO Portable Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto car display, now $64.99 (reg. $89), with free shipping.
Looking for an easy way to make your car feel new again? How about one that is under $70? The ESSGOO Portable Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto car display can give your front seat a facelift, and right now, it's on sale for just $64.99 (reg. $89), with free shipping, for a limited time.
This touchscreen car display gives your car a new lease on lifeLet the ESSGOO Portable Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto car display bring your car's entertainment system into 2025. It's compatible with any vehicle model operating on 12-24V, and easily mounts to the dash or the windshield with no professional tools required.
After you finish the hassle-free installation, you can enjoy the large 2.5D 10.26" HD touchscreen. It's compatible with iOS 7+ for Wireless Car Play and Android 11+ for Android Auto so you'll have access to your smartphone right there on the screen.
Enjoy a wireless, hands-free experience on the road as you navigate your favorite apps, go-to navigation helper, or music streaming services from the display. The intelligent brightness adjustment keeps the screen visible, and the original car reversing image is supported for your safety.
When you're not driving, you can easily cast a video from your smartphone with help from AirPlay and Mirror Link, with audio transmitted through the included AUX cable or FM.
While this car display won't give you that new car smell, it should provide the new car feel.
Secure your own ESSGOO Portable Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto car display, complete with free shipping, for just $64.99 (reg. $89) while supplies last.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Opens in a new window Credit: ESSGOO 10" Touchscreen Telescopic Mount Wireless Car Display with Apple CarPlay & Android Auto Support $65$89 Save $24 Get Deal
The best robot vacuums and mops of 2025 so far, tested hands-on at home
UPDATE: Mar. 18, 2025, 5:00 a.m. EDT Multiple new mopping Roombas were announced on March 11, 2025. I'm in the process of getting my hands on them for at-home testing and will update this guide accordingly.
Despite the enthusiasm of actors in Swiffer commercials, few people are smiling at the workout that is manually mopping their floors.
If you experience similar dread when faced with vacuuming, the best robot vacuum and mop combos will cross those two chores off of your list (three, if you count digging your old mop out of the closet as a chore in itself).
Are robot vacuums good at mopping?I'm not saying you can expect a hybrid robot vacuum to scrub your kitchen grout with the same tenacity you would get with a toothbrush, but robot vacuums have gotten much better at mopping over the past few years.
Since 2020-ish, most robot vacuum companies have added at least one (several, in most cases) hybrid model to their lineup, with prices ranging from $200 to well over $1,000. You can generally expect the mopping technique to get a little more meticulous as price goes up, so the type of mess that your 2-in-1 model will need to conquer becomes a big deciding factor. Are you mostly concerned with wiping up spur-of-the-moment spills, or will you be a stickler about dried-on stains that call for more heavy-duty scrubbing?
SEE ALSO: As a Dyson stan, I wouldn't tell anyone to buy the Dyson 360 Vis Nav robot vacuumFortunately, both ends of the pricing spectrum provide way more bang for their buck in 2024 than they did in the early 2020s. The mere presence of a cloth and a water tank is far from good enough at this point — now, the best robot vacuums and mops are armed with more mechanics attempting to mimic the elbow grease that a human with a mop or Swiffer would provide, like pressurized and/or spinning mopping pads (rather than lackadaisical, stationary ones). Most modern 2-in-1 robot vacuums can also mop with real germ-fighting cleaning solution rather than just water — key in upping my own personal confidence in walking around barefoot.
SEE ALSO: iRobot just completely overhauled its lineup with 8 new Roombas for 2025But arguably, the most pivotal shift 2-in-1 robot vacuums saw in the past year isn't on the robot vacuums themselves but in their docks. Past automatically emptying the dust bin, the best robot mop combos also cross post-mopping maintenance off of your list by automatically washing and drying their own mopping pads, then refilling themselves with clean water from the dock. With one of these fancy self-cleaning stations, your robovac will be ready to mop again almost immediately — a clutch change from an older, more basic design that had us all choosing between manually washing a smelly mopping pad after each use, letting it mop with a dirty pad, or just avoiding the mopping feature altogether.
Not sure how fancy of a hybrid robot vacuum you even need at home? I've tested 15+ of the most popular robot vacuum and mop combos at a range of prices on my own floors at home, narrowing down your options to the top four robot vacuums that also wash your floors so far in 2025.
(Note that each vacuum's retail price is listed by default, but that I've also noted the most common sale price each vacuum frequently drops to in "The Good" section. And yes, robot vacuum deals are common all throughout the year — not just during a shopping holiday like Black Friday.)
What is an autopen? Trump calls Bidens pardons void because they were signed by the machine.
President Donald Trump has claimed that pardons signed by his predecessor Joe Biden are invalid. His reasoning: They were allegedly signed with an autopen, a signing machine used by the U.S government for decades. Unfortunately for Trump, presidential pardons legally don't need to be signed at all.
On Monday, Trump declared that several pardons Biden had issued were "VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen" (emphasis original). Previously used by multiple past presidents, autopens are programmable machines with mechanical arms that can automatically write a given signature.
SEE ALSO: Trump and Musk hosted a Tesla ad at the White HouseSpecifically, Trump's announcement targeted preemptive pardons Biden had issued to members of the House committee who investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Biden granted these pardons hours before Trump's inauguration, aiming to shield the House committee members from the incoming president's retaliation.
Trump had made no secret of his intent to go after those who investigated the attack, previously stating on his social media platform Truth Social that they "should be tried for Fraud and Treason." Now the president is attempting to eliminate obstacles to doing so, alleging not only that Biden didn't sign the pardons, but that he was completely unaware that they were even happening.
"Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!" Trump claimed on Truth Social. "The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime."
Trump has not offered any evidence supporting these allegations. When asked by a reporter whether any such evidence exists, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt merely stated, "You're a reporter, you should find out." Typically it is the duty of the party making allegations to provide proof of their claims.
Biden released a statement announcing the pardons at the time they were issued. He had also spoken about the possibility of issuing them in prior interviews.
Did Trump invalidate Biden's presidential pardons?Despite Trump's attempts to invalidate Biden's pardons, with the president stating on Truth Social that House committee members "are subject to investigation at the highest level," his declaration doesn't have any actual legal impact.
Regardless of whether Biden used an autopen to sign the House committee pardons, a signature is not needed to grant a presidential pardon. In fact, there are no "necessary Pardoning Documents" as Trump suggests. Last year, a U.S. court determined that while having a presidential pardon in writing is proof that it occurred, the Constitution does not require them to be written down at all, much less signed. As previously mentioned, Biden's statements made clear that he had issued the pardons.
Can a U.S. president use an autopen to sign documents? Credit: The Autopen CompanyEven if a signature was required, the use of an autopen does not render a document void. Though the validity of documents signed by an autopen hasn't been tested in court, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published an opinion in 2005 stating that it is legal for presidents to sign bills with an autopen. This advice was issued in response to former president George W. Bush's request for guidance on the matter.
"The President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law," wrote the DOJ. "Rather, the President may sign a bill… by directing a subordinate to affix the President’s signature to such a bill, for example by autopen."
Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to sign a bill into law with an autopen when he extended the Patriot Act in 2011. He subsequently used it several other times to sign bills when unable to put pen to paper in person. Biden also used the autopen to sign at least one bill. If all documents signed using an autopen were found to be invalid, there could be notable consequences far beyond the House committee.
U.S. officials had already used autopens to sign letters for decades, including former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Trump himself has admitted to using an autopen, telling reporters on Sunday that "we may use it, as an example, to send some young person a letter because it's nice." However, Trump claimed that he hasn't used the machine to sign documents of consequence.
"To sign pardons and all of the things that [Biden] signed with an autopen is disgraceful," Trump said, appearing to briefly acknowledge that Biden did in fact sign them.
Trump did concede on Sunday that the validity of Biden's pardons would be a matter for a court to decide, though the White House has not given any indication that it has filed a legal challenge. Even so, the president seems to have already made up his mind about the issue, regardless of the lack of evidence.
How to watch Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers online for free
TL;DR: Live stream Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers on Sling TV.
The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers will meet this week for two highly anticipated matchups in the MLB Tokyo Series, which marks the start of the 2025 regular season.
All eyes are on the Cubs and Dodgers — two teams with decades-long cult followings. The Dodgers have really been in the spotlight since Japanese player Shohei Ohtani signed a record-breaking contract with the team back in 2023. Rōki Sasaki just joined the Dodgers in January, and fans are eager to see both Japanese natives play in their home country.
Even though the games are in Tokyo, you can easily watch them in the US. We've also got you covered on how to watch from anywhere else in the world.
When is Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers?The first Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game of the series takes place at 6:10 a.m. ET on March 18.
The two teams will face off at the Tokyo Dome. The game will air on Fox.
How to watch Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles DodgersBoth Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers games this week can be streamed using Sling Blue and Sling Orange + Blue subscriptions on Sling TV.
Opens in a new window Credit: Sling Sling TV Sports Plan Shop NowSling TV offers its Orange & Blue package of 48 channels at $55 per month. Sign up to enjoy a first-month discounted rate of $27.50.
Sling TV’s sports channels feature ABC, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, FS2, NBC, NFL Network, and SEC Network.
If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to unblock your favorite streaming service. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the U.S., meaning you can unblock live streams of the MLB from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Cubs vs. Dodgers from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.
Sign in to your favorite streaming service
Watch Cubs vs. Dodgers from anywhere in the world
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including the U.S.
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.
Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get DealThe best eSIM for Japan in 2025
TL;DR: The best eSIM for Ireland is Saily. Save 5% on Saily eSIM data plans with the exclusive coupon code MASHABLE10.
The World Expo 2025 will take place in Osaka. The mega event is forecasted to attract a significant audience, with around 500 events taking place over the course of six months. With several million international visitors expected, there will be a huge number of people looking for the best way to stay connected. This is where an eSIM can help.
If you're looking for the best eSIM for Japan in 2025, we have all the information you need.
What is an eSIM?An eSIM is a digital product that allows users to activate a data plan without needing a physical SIM card. Users can switch service providers via software settings, meaning you don't need to swap SIM cards when attempting to avoid roaming charges.
What is the best eSIM for Japan?The best eSIM for Japan is Saily, a product from Nord Security.
Saily covers over 200 countries and territories, including Japan. When in Japan, you can choose between five Saily plans (1GB, 3GB, 5GB, 10GB, or 20GB) for a period of one week or 30 days. Users get 24/7 customer support, straightforward installation, and automatical activation upon arrival. And if you run out of data, users can easily top up their plan and continue using the services without interruption.
Saily's best eSIM deals for Japan are as follows:
1GB (1 Week) — $3.60 $3.99 (save 10%)
3GB (30 Days) — $7.20 $7.99 (save 5%)
5GB (30 Days) — $9.9 $10.99 (save 5%)
10GB (30 Days) — $16.19 $17.99 (save 5%)
20GB (30 Days) — $22.49 $24.99 (save 5%)
Something to note is that all plans have a 30-day activation period. If you purchase a plan and don't activate it, it will be activated automatically after 30 days.
Opens in a new window Credit: Saily Saily: eSIM for Japan 10% off with exclusive coupon code MASHABLE10 Get DealHurdle hints and answers for March 18, 2025
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.
SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hintA common unit of volume.
SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answerLITER
Hurdle Word 2 hintA line of people.
SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for March 18, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 AnswerQUEUE
Hurdle Word 3 hintThe opposite of straight.
SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 18 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for March 18, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answerCURLY
Hurdle Word 4 hintA symbol for Valentine's Day.
SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for March 18 Hurdle Word 4 answerCUPID
Final Hurdle hintA protective covering.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answerLINER
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
What Is a Blue Moon and When Is the Next One?
Blue moon, as a term, is pretty misleading. It's neither particularly rare, as suggested by the popular idiom "once in a blue moon," nor blue in color. So, what does a blue moon signify? Here's everything you need to know.
The Ugly Stepsister trailer has big The Substance vibes
"What if Wicked and The Substance had a grubby baby?" This was the headline for my review of The Ugly Stepsister out of Sundance 2025, as I cheered this twisted fairytale full of violent beauty treatments and body horror.
SEE ALSO: How 'The Substance' broke the Oscars moldDirected by Emilie Blichfeldt, The Ugly Stepsister re-imagines the tale of Cinderella from the perspective of one of her maligned siblings. Elvira (Lea Myren) wants only to be friends with her pretty and proper new stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss). Well, that and she pines endlessly for the love of the prince, who publishes poetry that has her swooning into romantic fantasies. So when Elvira's mother promises her a path to wowing royalty at the upcoming ball, she'll do whatever it takes — even if that means a medieval nose job without anesthesia. And things only get more gruesome from there.
As promised in my review — which is pull-quoted in the above trailer — "The Ugly Stepsister is a deranged and dizzying achievement, folding in a classic story with a bitingly modern satire and bold body horror...Simply put, The Ugly Stepsister is savagely brutal and yet strangely beautiful."
The Ugly Stepsister opens in theaters in the U.S. on April 18; the U.K. theatrical release follows on April 25.
Why are people leaving ChatGPT for this new AI?
TL;DR: Get an AI Magicx lifetime subscription for $64.99 with code MAGIC35 (reg. $99.99). Fewer than 50 are left in stock.
You know the feeling — you ask ChatGPT for help with a creative project, and it spits out something…underwhelming. It’s fine, but it could be better. That’s why so many writers, designers, and creators are moving to this new AI tool for content creation.
AI Magicx is what ChatGPT wishes it could be. The layout of preset templates for writing, images, coding, and more is insanely refreshing compared to the simple chatbot’s text-based prompts. Using them is even sweeter — and cheaper. Own AI Magicx for $64.99 using code MAGIC35 at checkout (reg. $99.99).
The content creator’s dream toolNo more arguing with ChatGPT when you have a deadline on that article or marketing ad — see what AI Magicx’s tools have to offer. Having prebuilt templates for each need makes it much easier to communicate with each AI and get better results.
Let’s say you want to generate an AI logo. Rather than sending over a muddled paragraph to ChatGPT, simply:
Describe your logo in a text box
Choose a logo style
Select a color palette and background color
Hit generate
AI Magicx also hardly limits you as a creator. Each month, you get an unlimited number of AI words and up to 500 images and logos.
Own these AI writing and design tools for life with code MAGIC35 at checkout, dropping the price from $99.99 to $64.99.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Opens in a new window Credit: AI Magicx AI Magicx: Lifetime Subscription (Rune Plan) $64.99$99.99 Save $35 Get Deal
Ubuntu Linux 25.04 Will Be a Great Upgrade for Games
Windows has typically been the platform of choice for gaming, but Linux is becoming an increasingly useful option for playing games as well. With Ubuntu 25.04, you might be getting a cool feature that will squeeze more performance out of your computer.
Gemini's AI Summaries Are Coming to Google Docs
Google Workspace is introducing a new feature for Google Docs that uses AI to summarize documents. This feature is built on Gemini AI technology and allows users to create summaries of their texts.
How the Discovery of Uranus 240 Years Ago Doubled the Size of the Solar System
Uranus' accidental discovery 240 years ago greatly enhanced our understanding of the solar system, doubling the size of the solar system as we knew it at the time. Here's how a German astronomer stumbled upon the ice giant.
Google Is Finally Fixing Chromecasts After a Week of Downtime
After over a week of the Chromecast (2nd Gen) and Chromecast Audio being completely nonfunctional, Google is finally rolling out a fix for the streaming devices.
Googles new AI model is being used to remove image watermarks
It's bad enough that tech companies trained their AI models on content that doesn't belong to them. Now, however, it appears that at least one AI model is being used to remove watermarks from images so others can use content that doesn't belong to them, too.
Social media users have recently discovered that Google's new Gemini 2.0 Flash AI model can be used to remove watermarks from images.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.As reported by TechCrunch, this isn't completely new. Other AI image models have been able to remove watermarks. However, Gemini 2.0 Flash appears to be better than all other AI models at this particular task.
Gemini 2.0 Flash doesn't just remove the watermark. It fills in the gaps in the image that are left from removing the watermark.
Based on what users on platforms like X and Reddit have shared, it appears that Gemini 2.0 Flash does have some trouble removing certain types of watermarks, such as semi-transparent watermarks. As TechCrunch notes, Google has only made the model available via its developer tools platform, and the company has currently labeled Gemini 2.0 Flash’s image generation feature as “experimental” and “not for production use."
RedditHowever, for photographers and other artists, this is certainly a concerning use of the tool, at least until Google puts some guardrails on the AI image generation feature.
Photographers often depend on watermarks to identify their work as their own; when someone purchases the work, the watermark is removed for that person's use. But if any internet user can just run the image through an AI model to remove the watermark, artists will certainly experience problems getting paid. (Note, also, that in most cases removing a watermark without the permission of the creator is copyright infringement, and illegal under U.S. law.)
The future issues here likely won't be with Google's specific AI tool. The issue is that this is possible with an AI model to begin with. Even if Google adds guardrails to protect copyright holders from uses such as this, there will likely be other third-party AI tools that will replicate these features. In fact, as we previously mentioned, they already are. And soon, they'll probably be just as good as Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model, too.
Shocker: The M4 MacBook Air Is Still Not Super Repairable
The new M4 MacBook Air might be a great upgrade in performance and pricing, but unfortunately, it’s still far from easy to repair. iFixit has released its teardown results for the latest MacBook, calling it “a mix of good intentions and frustrating limitations that continues to fall short of what consumers deserve in a premium laptop.”
The 10 best Amazon Echo devices for a smarter home
Among Amazon's flagship devices like Kindles and Fire TVs, Echos are the star of the show. These multitasking smart home devices do a little bit of everything in nearly every room in the house. Whether you need a smart speaker, alarm clock, or hub for your other smart devices, there's an echo to help you out. Amazon's list of devices is ever-growing, so we've tested them to find the best Echo devices for your smart home.
Plus, with the announcement of Alexa+, Echo devices are now getting supercharged with extra AI features. Alexa+ will soon be available to Prime members on all Echo devices, making these smart home devices more capable than ever.
If you're ready to invest in an Echo, you don't need to buy these devices at full price. They're almost guaranteed to go on sale during events like Prime Day and Black Friday. Last Prime Day, we saw discounts of up to 58% on devices including the Echo Pop, Dot, and Spot. So if you are going to buy an Amazon smart home device, it's worth holding out until the next sale.
Upcoming changes to Echo devicesFor existing Echo owners, or those looking to become ones, a major change is coming affecting user privacy. Recently Amazon sent out an email to users saying the "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" feature on the device will no longer be available as of March 28. But what does that mean?
Previously, the "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" setting allowed the devices to process requests locally without sending them to Amazon servers. However, with that setting no longer supported, all requests will now go through Amazon servers. Plus, if you do have that setting turned on after the change goes into effect, you'll lose access to the Voice ID feature as well.
While Amazon promises that all information requests are encrypted and secure, it still means that the retailer has access to all of that data.
What can an Echo smart speaker do? Trying out the new Echo Spot smart alarm clock. Credit: Samantha Mangino / MashableAll Echo devices utilize Amazon Alexa's AI superpowers — it's just a matter of which form you want your Echo to take. The Echo and Echo Dot are smart speakers that you can use for music, phone calls, calendar reminders, or news alerts. Amazon Echo Show devices, on the other hand, can do all of the aforementioned audio stuff, but they also boast colorful displays for making video calls, streaming entertainment, or managing your day. Think of Echo Shows as stationary, more affordable tablets, essentially.
Most Echo devices are designed to act as smart hubs within your home, but some Echo devices can also be taken on the road. Echo Auto brings hands-free Alexa functionality to the car, while Echo Buds and Echo Frames can travel with you anywhere.
What can Alexa+ do?Alexa is to Amazon as Siri is to Apple, and is the driving force behind every Echo. But Alexa just got a big upgrade. Now there's Alexa+, a new AI-powered version of Alexa coming to Echo devices in March 2025. (Amazon provided only a loose timeframe for the launch, but Alexa+ early access will roll out to Echo Show devices first.) For Prime subscribers, Alexa+ will be included in membership, and non-subscribers will have to pay $19.99 a month for the service.
Alexa has an answer to almost anything you ask. Just by shouting out, you can play music, adjust the volume, and set an alarm or timer. And that's just naming a few options. On devices like the Echo Show, you can also ask Alexa to pull up recipes or answer questions that come up while cooking. With Alexa+, the AI agent doesn't just respond to commands but can actually engage in conversation.
Here's a short list of what Alexa+ can do:
Provide a highlight reel of the day's security footage
Read stories to kids
Plan a date night
Book restaurant reservations
Control your smart home technology from one central hub
Access your calendars and set reminders
Get answers to any question you can think of
Make phone calls (and video calls with an Echo Show)
Get the latest weather and news
Follow recipes
Shop on Amazon
Stream music (and video on an Amazon Echo Show)
Play games
There are more than 100,000 Alexa skills that you can utilize via an Echo device, and Amazon is always adding more.
Alexa gets supercharged when other smart home tech comes into the picture. If you have a smart thermostat or smart light bulbs, as long as they're compatible with the Alexa system, you can create routines through your Echo. That can be as simple as telling Alexa to turn on the lights in one room or programming Alexa to turn the thermostat down before you come home.
If you're ready for an Alexa-powered home, read on for the 10 best Amazon Echo devices of 2025.
How to schedule an Instagram DM
There's a new Instagram feature that could prove to be revolutionary for three very specific communities:
Guys who want to be the first to say "happy birthday"
People who don't want to seem too eager but also don't want to forget to message a new friend
Dudes who say "good morning, beautiful" but want to sleep in
That's right. You can schedule messages on Instagram DMs now — here's how:
SEE ALSO: New Instagram DM features allow you to translate, schedule, and pin messages Total Time- 1 min
- Phone
- Instagram app
Step 1: Type our your message
Type out the message you want to send, but don't press send immediately.
Credit: Screenshot / InstagramStep 2: Schedule the message.
Press and hold on the green send button until a time dial pops up. By moving the date and time on the clock, you can choose when you'd like your message to send. You can schedule up to three months in advance.
Credit: Screenshot / InstagramStep 3: Your message is scheduled
You know your message was properly scheduled if it says, "1 scheduled message," above where you'd type a message. If you'd like to unschedule your message, simply tap the line that says "1 scheduled message" to see the message and click either "edit," "copy," or "delete."
Credit: Screenshot / InstagramThe feature was announced alongside many other new features, including translating directly within DMs and pinning messages to chats. Most of the features, including scheduling messages, are not available on desktop but are available on the Instagram Android and iOS apps.
You Can Watch Whole Movies in These Video Games
If you know where to look, you can watch full-length, real-world movies inside video games. Whether it would be a good viewing experience is up for debate, but at least now you know that if you somehow lose access to all streaming services and Blu-rays, you can boot up these games for some cinematic entertainment.
Smart Home Privacy Takes a Blow as Amazon Kills Alexa Local Processing
Alexa devices will no longer offer a "do not send voice recordings" setting after March 28th. Future Alexa recordings must be sent to the Amazon cloud, though you can still ask Amazon to automatically delete voice requests after they're processed.
Meta wants AI to write your Instagram comments
AI is all over social media. We have AI influencers, AI content, and AI accounts — and, now, it looks like we might get AI comments on Instagram posts, too. What are any of us doing this for anymore?
App researcher Jonah Manzano shared a post on Threads and a video on TikTok showing how some Instagram users now notice a pencil with a star icon in their comments field, allowing them to post AI-generated comments under posts and videos.
SEE ALSO: Meta is diving into AI-powered humanoid robots"Write with Meta AI," the tool says, with two subsections: "how to use this tool" and "how it works."
Under "how to use this tool," it says, "Get suggested captions based on the photo you're sharing. You can always edit the suggestions or try again."
And under "how it works," it claims, "Meta AI can analyse photos, including facial features, to help you write."
In the video on TikTok that Manzano shared, three comment options are: "Cute living room setup!" "love the casual vibe here," and "gray cap is so cool." Unfortunately, all three of these are clearly computer-generated slop and take an already shaky human interaction down a notch.
It's hard to know why you'd want to remove the human element from every aspect of social media, but Instagram seems to be going to try it anyway. Meta did not immediately respond to Mashable's request for comment.