IT General

If you've spent any time on audiophile forums (I'm so sorry) you've probably run into the idea of headphone "burn-in" or "breaking in" a new set of headphones like a new pair of shoes or something. Many audio enthusiasts swear by this and will leave their headphones playing music for hundreds of hours in the belief that it will make them sound better.

Vinyl's having a big comeback, though of course it's always had its hardcore fans. It's now been joined by a renewed interest in CDs and even cassette tapes, often by people who were born after these formats were common, but Vinyl still holds its own unique niche.

By no means should "downgrading" your car be seen as a bad thing. Especially in this day and age, consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of many critical factors when purchasing a car, whether leasing or buying outright.

If you work primarily off a laptop, you’re likely already aware of the productivity and comfort benefits that a few small gadgets can provide. The best part is that many of them can make a meaningful difference without draining your wallet.

The widgets panel on Windows 11 gives you quick access to information like news, weather, stocks, and more. However, I really don't like it, as it takes up a good amount of taskbar space and often interferes with my workflow by popping up unexpectedly. If you also don't find the widgets panel helpful, here's how you can disable it completely.

Samsung’s long-rumored Project Moohan looks like it’s finally about to drop. The company’s answer to Apple’s Vision Pro VR headset is reportedly set for an October reveal — complete with a hefty price tag.

According to Upload VR, preorders will open on Sept. 29, with a staggered global launch: Oct. 13 in Korea, followed by Oct. 21 worldwide. Moohan was first announced more than two years ago, with its design revealed late last year — but detailed specs are still scarce. What we do know, thanks to leaks, is that the headset will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, a beefed-up version of the chip powering the Meta Quest 3 and 3S.

The price is looking quite painful, however. Leaks point to a range between $1,799 and $2,999, which is far higher than the Quest 3 ($499) but still under Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro and Sony’s enterprise-focused $4K+ headsets.

At least you’re getting serious display tech for the money: a 1.3-inch Micro-OLED panel boasting 3552×3840 resolution, high brightness, and a wide color gamut. That works out to 13.64 million pixels per eye — nearly two million more than the Vision Pro and leagues ahead of the Quest 3’s 4.56 million.

If your device takes ages to boot, and you blame it on its age, you’re mistaken. I used to think the same until I found the real culprit—too many apps loading at startup. Turning off unnecessary apps made my device boot faster. I applied this change on two devices, and here’s the difference it made.

Hybrids might seem tricky with two power sources under the hood, but when done right they’re actually easier to live with than a regular gas car.

Color has finally come to e-readers, opening up a richer digital reading experience for anyone who uses Libby for graphic novels, prefers color epubs, or simply enjoys seeing a book’s cover in full color. But with more devices offering the feature, which one stands out? For us, the Kobo Libra Colour is the clear winner.

When we write about e-readers, Kindle is usually the first name that comes to mind. But in the color e-reader market, Kindle has been late to the party. That delay opened the door for other brands to step in with stronger devices. We’ve rounded up the best color e-readers, and here are the ones that stood out.

Having tested my way through a lot of e-readers — and now color e-readers — I’ve found a universal truth: while the colors are accurate, they often look a bit washed out. No matter which brand you use, that’s going to be the case. The muted tones don’t outweigh the convenience and portability of color e-readers, but it’s worth tempering your expectations.

Don’t expect the vivid, punchy colors of an iPad screen. An iPad has a max nits of 500 (a measure of brightness), while Kobo and Kindle e-readers max out at 94.

One of the main features that was removed from macOS Tahoe was the app launcher, Launchpad. A lot of people didn't use it and won't miss it, but for people like me who used it every day, it's a big loss. Unfortunately, there's no way to bring back Launchpad, but there are other options you can use instead.

Are you dual-booting Windows and Linux but struggling with a clunky boot process and system conflicts? Wondering why your setup feels less smooth than promised? Well, here are five essential BIOS settings that, when changed, can potentially fix these headaches immediately.

If you have an ASRock gaming motherboard, chances are it comes with a couple of “Lightning Gaming Ports” on the rear for your mouse and keyboard. A "gaming" USB port sounds fancy, but does it actually do anything, or is it just another USB gimmick?

Saturday Night Live is back for its 51st season — though it won’t look quite the same. Several fan-favorites, including Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner, have exited. But at least one constant remains: Kenan Thompson, who is now entering his jaw-dropping 22nd season.

This season of SNL premieres Oct. 4, led by Bad Bunny in his second turn as host, with Doja Cat as the musical guest. On Oct. 11, Amy Poehler returns for her third time (and her second as a solo host), joined by Role Model. And to close out the month, Sabrina Carpenter will be pulling double-duty on Oct. 18 as both host and musical guest.

October lineup:

• Oct. 4: Bad Bunny / Doja Cat

• Oct. 11: Amy Poehler / Role Model

• Oct. 18: Sabrina Carpenter (host + guest)

As exciting as the lineup is, the cast shakeup is just as dramatic. Alongside the departures of Gardner and Nwodim, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, and Emil Wakim are also out. Taking their places are Tommy Brennan, Dropout TV regular Jeremy Culhane, Kill Tony podcast favorite Kam Patterson, and TikTok creator Veronika Slowikowska.

Column headers in Excel datasets provide context for the data in each column, making the information easier to read and understand. However, column headers spanning two or more rows can cause problems. Luckily, Power Query can help you fix this.

Grand Theft Auto VI is among the most anticipated games of all time — and now, whispers of another delay are spreading, even as Rockstar stays silent.

Right now, Grand Theft Auto VI is officially slated for release on May 26, 2026, following Rockstar’s decision to push its original “late 2025” window into next year. According to Insider Gaming, the expectation is that publisher Take-Two Interactive will reaffirm the May date later in 2025 — only to announce a delay the following February.

To be clear, nothing has been confirmed. The speculation is being fueled by a swirl of reports and commentary from gaming journalists and leakers. Insider Gaming editor-in-chief Tom Henderson said on his podcast that he doesn’t believe the game will hit its rumored May 2026 launch, though his information isn’t solid enough for a formal report. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, one of the most trusted reporters in the industry, cautioned back in May that “there’s no guarantee that May 2026 is a sure thing.”

As for what that delay might look like, Henderson suggests October 2026 is more realistic, while PlayStation leaker Millie A has floated September 2026. Either way, fans may be waiting longer than expected for Rockstar’s next juggernaut.

For now, it’s all rumor. Mashable contacted Rockstar Games for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Many of us fear the Linux terminal and might even hesitate to open it. Why is that? Probably because it’s all text, endless commands, and not a single graphical button in sight. It gives off the vibe of a serious, no-nonsense boss. Strictly business and no fun allowed.

This was another busy week for tech news: Apple finally released iOS 26 and its other major software updates for the year, Google announced an AI-filled update for the Chrome browser, new desktop and distro updates in the Linux ecosystem, and a lot more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

The Boox Tab X C is a massive e-reader, sporting one of the largest e-ink screens on the market. While it comes with a hefty price, it includes a lot of great features for e-reader lovers. However, it's not without a few grating performance issues.

Mashable recently visited DEEP's campus –  the company building deep sea habitats with the mission to get people to live under water by the end of this decade.

We'll take you underwater in a submarine to see where the habitats will first be tested, then we’ll go inside Sentinel – one of the two habitats DEEP is currently developing, and explore the history of the technology, as well as what it could mean for the future of marine biology and deep sea exploration.

Apple's big September event has come and gone and the new iPhone 17 line of smartphones has just hit stores.

While we're nearing the end of 2025, there's actually still a whole lot more to talk about when it comes to new Apple products – explicitly, new products that Apple didn't mention at its big event.

Apple still has plenty of newly updated and upgraded devices on the way. Here's what to expect to still hear about from Apple by the end of this year, early 2026, and beyond.

New iPads are on the way and could possibly be announced as soon as October by Apple.

According to Bloomberg's Apple insider Mark Gurman, the iPad Pro could be announced next month. The upgraded version of Apple's Pro tablet will receive an upgrade from Apple's M4 chip to the M5. It would be the first iPad Pro upgrade since May of last year.

The iPad Air and iPad base models are also due for upgrades, but those are expected to arrive in March or April of next year. The iPad Air will be upgraded from the M3 chip to the M4. The new Apple base model will also receive a more powerful chip, expected to be an upgrade from the A16 chip which last powered the iPhone 15.

Before the Apple Event 2025 where we got the iPhone Air, some rumors suggested we could get a surprising announcement along with it: The long-awaited sequel to AirTags.

We expect the AirTags 2 to look similar to the original model, even though they haven't gotten an update since their release in 2021. (Apple, if you're listening, make the new version flat, please.) Look forward to a longer tracking range and better battery life, at a minimum.

When will they be released? Smart money is still on a 2025 release date for the AirTags 2.

We've already been introduced to the new iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. However, we have yet to meet Apple's newest budget model smartphone in the iPhone 17 family: the iPhone 17e.

The big upgrade here, like with the iPads, is going to be with its chipset. The iPhone 17e will likely receive the same A19 chip found now found in the iPhone 17 base model, which is an upgrade from the iPhone 16e's A18 chip.

It also looks like Apple is moving to an annual release model for its budget iPhone as well. The iPhone 16e just came out earlier this year. Its predecessor, the third generation of iPhone SE, came out in 2022. So, if we get an e version of the iPhone 17, we'd expect it to arrive around February 2026.

While the AirPods Pro 3 were announced at the latest Apple event, there doesn't seem to be any new Airpods Max on the horizon for a little while – but they are on the way,

According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the Airpods Max 2 are scheduled for launch in 2027. Not much is known about the upgrades it will receive, but it is expected to be the lightest headphones Apple has offered yet.

The most current Apple TV 4K model was launched in 2022 so a new Apple TV device is certainly on the way. 

According to reports, a new Apple TV could be announced by the end of the year. This new version of Apple's set-top TV box would get an upgrade to the A17 Pro chip, which means Apple TV would be able to handle the processing power required for Apple Intelligence. 

Could an AI assistant be coming to your TV courtesy of Apple? We'll find out soon enough.

Apple's smart speakers, HomePods, were supposed to get an upgrade last year, in 2024. This included a new version of Apple's HomePods meant to compete with Google Nest Hub. 

However, those announcements never came to fruition amid reports that the release of the new devices were postponed. Then the rumors said to expect the new HomePods in early 2025. When that didn't happen, the device was said to be announced during Apple's WWDC in June.

Here we are now, post-Apple's September iPhone event without any new HomePods in sight.

The HomePods Mini 2 is still rumored to be announced before the year's end, but don't be surprised if that gets pushed back again.

But, the rumored HomePod smart home hub with a smart display appears to almost certainly be delayed until next year.

Last, but certainly not least, is Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Both of the company's laptop lines are expected to receive an update by the end of this year or early 2026. 

According to Bloomberg's Apple insider Mark Gurman, Apple should soon be announcing its new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, upgraded with its new M5 chip. Since Apple rolled out its Silicon chipset, the company has typically introduced the new MacBook Pro line in October. There was one year where the M2 version of Apple's laptops were rolled out in January, so if October comes and goes without a new MacBook Pro announcement, look to early next year as the release date.

The new MacBook Air line with the M5 chip is slated for the first half of 2026 as well so it's possible both Apple MacBook models' release dates could line up.