IT General

Chromebooks are renowned for their powerful safety and privacy features, but that doesn't mean you can just stop worrying about either of those issues. Any security system is only as strong as its weakest link, and you don't want that to be you.

Google Drive offers 15 GB of free storage, but that space can run out faster than you might think. But you don’t have to rush to buy extra storage. With a few simple cleanup steps, you can quickly reclaim space and make room for what really matters.

If you’re dreaming about a used, two-seat, V8-powered slice of American fun, the Chevrolet Corvette probably tops your list. It’s been turning heads and stealing hearts since the ’50s, and honestly, there’s nothing quite like it.

What do Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon have in common with an advocacy group called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) that represents students? They are all taking on the Texas App Store Accountability Act, a law that requires age verification from users in the state of Texas in order to download apps in app stores.

As Engadget reports, SEAT and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) have filed two separate lawsuits against the state to prevent the law from taking effect in Texas on January 1, 2026. 

CCIA has several Big Tech companies as members, including Apple, Google, Meta, Intel, Shopify, Amazon, and Uber.

The Texas App Store Accountability Act was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in May. Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly contacted Governor Abbott directly to try to convince him to veto the bill or alter parts of it. The law requires that companies that operate app stores, like Apple and Google, verify users' age before downloading apps or making in-app purchases. If a user is a minor, parental approval is required before any download or purchase is made.

App stores like Apple's App Store already provide users with parental controls that require kids to get approval before downloading apps or making purchases. However, those parental controls are optional, and parents must set them up themselves.

The law wouldn't make those parental controls optional in Texas. In fact, it goes a step further and requires companies like Apple and Google to verify every user's age before they are allowed to download or purchase anything from the App Store. 

Online age verification processes require users to provide a form of government ID to a platform in order to use the service. As with all online age verification processes, there are concerns over user data privacy and systems mistaking legal adults for underage users. 

"The First Amendment does not permit the government to require teenagers to get their parents' permission before accessing information, except in discrete categories like obscenity," said Ambika Kumar, a lawyer for the students' organization SEAT. "The Constitution also forbids restricting adults' access to speech in the name of protecting children. This law imposes a system of prior restraint on protected expression that is presumptively unconstitutional."

The CCIA has also put out a press release concerning its own lawsuit against the state over the law.

“We support online protections for younger internet users, and those protections should not come at the expense of free expression and personal privacy," senior vice president and chief of staff for the CCIA Stephanie Joyce said in a press release put out by the group. 

"This Texas law violates the First Amendment by restricting app stores from offering lawful content, preventing users from seeing that content, and compelling app developers to speak of their offerings in a way pleasing to the state," she continued. "That is why we are asking the court to strike down this law and to block it from being enforced while we demonstrate how severely it violates the U.S. Constitution."

So I was watching one of my favorite YouTube channels (Technology Connections) recently, when the channel casually posted a video about how DVD re-releases are worse quality than their previous imprints.

Fall is here, and with it comes a change of leaf colors, cooler air, and the scent of firewood and apples. But if you’re like my household, that also means switching decore from summer beaches to autumn vibes.

Amazon’s Ring cameras are getting cozier with law enforcement. This week, the company announced a new partnership that will make it even easier for police to access user footage. The deal gives more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies the ability to request Ring video through Flock Safety, a surveillance platform already used by police departments across the country.

According to the announcement, law enforcement agencies using Flock’s Nova system or FlockOS can "send a direct post in the Ring Neighbors app with details about the investigation and request voluntary assistance." Agencies must specify what they’re looking for — locations, timeframes, and the nature of the incident. Flock claims participating Ring users will remain anonymous and that cooperation is entirely voluntary.

The partnership marks yet another step in Ring’s renewed embrace of law enforcement, a sharp turn from its brief attempt to distance itself in recent years. In 2024, the company killed its Request for Assistance feature in the Neighbors app, which had allowed police to issue video requests without a warrant. At the time, Ring said it wanted to move toward a more "community-focused" model. That shift reversed course in April 2025, when founder Jamie Siminoff returned to Amazon.

Since his return, Ring has rolled out a series of new police integrations, including a deal with taser-maker Axon that lets officers request footage directly through Axon’s evidence management system. Amazon and Ring are also reportedly adding facial recognition capabilities and even an opt-in feature that would allow users to livestream their doorbell feeds straight to law enforcement.

Mid-size pickups are often praised for their toughness, towing capability, and off-road performance, but one Japanese contender manages to stand out for entirely different reasons. It blends car-like refinement with truck-level utility, delivering a driving experience that’s both capable and unexpectedly comfortable.

Best high-tech Halloween decorations of 2025 at a glance The Man, the Bones, the Legend 12-foot Giant-Sized Skelly with LifeEyes $299 Shop Now Best Home Depot skeleton alternative Home Depot 15-foot Grave & Bones Animated LED Gally-Crow $199 at Home Depot Shop Now Best Halloween lights upgrade Govee Curtain Lights Pro with 200 pre-set patterns $199.98 at Amazon Shop Now Best inflatable Halloween decoration Joyfy Inflatable UFO Alien Decoration (6, 9, and 12 feet) starting at $39.99 at Walmart Shop Now Best Halloween projector and holograms AtmosFX animated Halloween collection starting at $25 Shop Now Best solar-powered Halloween decoration Solar Scary Eyeball Lights (pack of 4) $39.98 at Amazon Shop Now Honorable Mention Oversized inflatable green octopus tentacles $53.99 Shop Now

The thriving Home Depot Skeleton fandom is just the most recent, concrete proof of a theory I've had for years: Halloween decorations (just overall Halloween nostalgia, actually) is a fleeting yet powerful antidote to the actual real-life horrors that persist around us.

While the high of Halloween during childhood is one we'll be chasing 'til death do us part, the one good thing about being an adult during Halloween is having adult money to spend on the cool decorations. You know, the ones that make people drive a little slower so that they can stare for a second.

SEE ALSO: Mashable What to Watch: Best scary movie recommendations, customized

If you're bored with your current humdrum string light setup, I scoured the internet to find the best high-tech Halloween decorations to up your game in 2025. For those of you with a yard, there are some super unique inflatables and towering animatroincs out there — but even apartment dwellers can get creative with some vibey RGB curtain lights and legitimately haunting projector scenes.

And, of course, we have to talk about Skelly. The infamous 12-foot skeleton from The Home Depot is a long-time favorite at Mashable, and this year it's actually possible to find him in stock, though you may need to go to your local store.

Skelly alternatives: other spooky animatronics at least 12 feet tall Credit: Home Depot Credit: Lowe's

For a second there, Home Depot's delayed Halfway to Halloween sale had my coworker (and Home Depot Skeleton historian) Haley Henschel worried that tariffs were affecting Skelly stock, among other staples in the Halloween industry. But rest assured: As of mid-October 2025, the beloved Skelly with LifeEyes is in stock for its usual $299, as well as Skelly's Cat and Skelly's Dog that Home Depot launched this year.

But for those who are already part of the Skelly Hive, there are other massive animatronics to expand your yard scene. Lowe's and Home Depot both have other 12-foot options, but the real queen here is Home Depot's new 15-foot Gally-Crow. The Gally-Crow was originally released with a Worricrow that's currently out of stock, but the Gally-Crow is arguably more harrowing (think scarecrow with a plague doctor mask) and 50% off. Yes, of course there are already people putting it inside their house.

• Lowe's 12-foot Immortal Nightwalker Motion-Activated Animatronic — $359.20 $449 (save $89.90)

• Lowe's 12-foot Lighted Talking Bone Collector Motion-Activated Animatronic — $449

• Home Depot 15-foot Grave & Bones Animated LED Gally-Crow — $199 $399 (save $200)

Full-scene outdoor lights Credit: Govee

Tired: orange string lights on the porch. Wired: themed full-scene LED arrangements on your windows, garage, or shrubbery.

Rather than the obnoxious black wires that make traditional Halloween lights tricky to camouflage, Govee's RGB curtain lights and net lights consist of hundreds of color-changing LEDs, connected by near-invisible wires in a grid pattern. Both types of lights are are waterproof and app-connected — that's where you'll be able to access a ton of pre-made patterns for Halloween, plus other holidays and everyday magic.

Get a set of Govee outdoor curtain lights for $199.98 (ideal for walls and other large, flat surfaces measuring 5.41 x 5.77 feet) or a set of Govee outdoor net lights for $99.99 on sale (ideal for bushes and fences, measuring 2.8 x 9.4 feet).

Not your mother's giant light-up inflatables Credit: Joyfy Credit: Joyfy

Halloween inflatables for the yard aren't an idea you've never seen before. But amidst the oversized Snoopys and Minions dressed as mummies on your street, I raise you a giant alien abduction scene or tentacles coming out of the grass — or even coming out of the windows. Both of these options are available in various sizes at Walmart, including a 12-foot version of the UFO inflatable. If you already have a Home Depot Skelly, that unlocks an easy idea for this year's theme.

• 6-foot UFO (just blue light) — $39.99

• 9-foot UFO (just blue light) — $49.91

• 12-foot UFO (just blue light) — $69.99

• 9-foot UFO (color changing) — $62.99

• Single pink octopus tentacle — $18.99

• Three green octopus tentacles — $53.99

• Three pink octopus tentacles — $53.99

High-quality animated spooky projector scenes Credit: AtmosFX

Halloween projections on the wall or side of a house can definitely be lame if they're crappy — but can be legitimately haunting if they're high quality. For anyone who already has an HD projector, AtmosFX is the ultimate destination for realistic Halloween projector scenes. From classic ghostly apparitions and zombies in the window to vintage (un)living portraits and Halloween stained glass, these bright, crisp phantasms move with lifelike animation and often come with sound. There are even options with movie characters: Be a real Trick 'r Treat stan with multiple Sam holograms or scare all human activity off your lawn with freaky animated glimpses of Art the Clown.

Skeptical about how legit these actually look? A majority of the 40+ listings in the Halloween collection include real photos from customers who are hyped on their own personal display — the AtmosFX fan club doesn't mess around. All AtmosFX projections come as downloadable .mp4 video files for projectors, TVs, or monitors that support HD downloads, but several are available on pre-loaded USB drives as well. Prices start at $25.

If you don't have a projector yet, Amazon has quite a few budget-friendly projectors with pre-set Halloween scenes. Go the actually-spooky route with a 3D grim reaper for under $20 or the cutesy spooky route with rotating cartoon ghosts, jack-o'-lanterns, and more for under $40.

Solar-powered eyeballs for the yard Credit: ASMAD

If you're paranoid about your spooky season electric bill, solar-powered Halloween decorations can be just as effective. These well-reviewed glowing green eyeballs come in bendy entanglements of eight and can be stuck in the yard to light a sidewalk or terrorize your garden. They charge on their own in the daytime through small panels attached to their stakes. For $39.88, you'll get a pack of four clusters for a total of 32 LED bulbs.

The new Predator film is so close, we can almost taste it, and while we’re all excited about its arrival, there’s been very little information about what to expect. The deets have been closely guarded and purposely kept secret for a huge reason. Other than a simple plot synopsis, all we’ve known is who is starring in the lead role—until now. For the first time ever in the franchise, you’ll be asked to sympathize with these mandible-mouthed beasts.

Are you looking for the easiest way to launch a file server for either internal or external access? Copyparty is what you’ve been looking for. With the ability to launch with zero configuration, Copyparty gets you a file server up and running in seconds.

If you've ever changed the keyboard on your Android phone, you probably went with one from Google, Microsoft, or Samsung. But there are many lesser-known keyboards that attempt to reinvent the whole typing experience on a smartphone. Are they actually usable? I tested some of the oddest to find out.

Windows is the de facto operating system, which means there are a lot of VPN options available for you. But not all of these options are great, or even safe. These VPNs are safe and effective—and one will be perfect for you.

Diane Keaton’s recent passing was a great loss. Young or old, she had a warm presence in the many comedies and romances she starred in over the years. From the coziest of comfort pictures to the most revered award-winning films, Keaton left behind a massive filmography, working with some of the top talents in acting and directing.

Among all the living directors we have today, Yorgos Lanthimos is definitely one of the weirdest. His films never feel conventional, always embracing the absurd, surreal, and often dizzying aspects of how bizarre humanity can get. He’s also made plenty of Oscar-winning films, making it impossible to ignore his odd pictures.

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems on the Internet. In fact, more than 43 percent of all websites run on WordPress. This makes the latest attack on WordPress sites by a new threat actor all the more concerning.

According to a new report from the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), a new threat actor codenamed UNC5142 has been successfully hacking into WordPress sites and using a brand new technique to spread malware across the web. UNC5142, according to the report, would find vulnerable WordPress websites often using flawed WordPress themes, plugins, or databases.

SEE ALSO: Notorious hacker group doxxes ICE and FBI officials in new leak, report says

The targeted WordPress sites would be infected with a CLEARSHORT, multi-stage JavaScript downloader that distributes the malware. The threat group would then deploy a new technique dubbed "EtherHiding," which is enabled by CLEARSHORT.

Google describes EtherHiding as "a technique used to obscure malicious code or data by placing it on a public blockchain, such as the BNB Smart Chain." This use of blockchain to spread malicious code is unique and makes stopping the spread of malware all the more difficult.

The smart contract containing the code on the blockchain would then call up a CLEARSHORT landing page, often hosted on a Cloudflare dev page, that utilizes a ClickFix social engineering tactic. This tactic tricks the website visitor into running malicious commands on their computer via the Windows Run dialog or Mac's Terminal app.

UNC5142's attacks are often financially motivated, according to Google. GTIG says it has been tracking UNC5142 since 2023. However, Google reports that UNC5142 suddenly stopped all activity in July 2025.

This could mean that this new threat actor group, which has been successfully carrying out its malware campaigns, just decided to call it quits. Or it could mean that the threat actor has altered its techniques, successfully obscuring its latest actions, and is still hacking into vulnerable websites today.

Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric vehicles (EVs) have come and gone in the U.S. Many struggled due to low demand, bad marketing, high prices, or weak execution in design and production.

We’ve officially hit the midway point of the month, but that doesn’t mean the content release schedules are slowing down. This week, we’re taking a deep-dive into true crime with the premiere of documentaries and adaptations, and we’ll also explore new seasons of Loot and The Diplomat. There’s even a Roald Dahl animated film, a must-see Martin Scorsese documentary cinephiles will love, and a legacy sequel film to an iconic 1997 slasher franchise.

This week, Android Auto dropped old phone support, LineageOS 23 is here, and Google added “Recovery Contacts” to Gmail. Plus, check out the suspicious OnePlus update and Samsung's XR Headset reveal.

Soundbars are pretty much a must-have for a lot of home entertainment systems these days. They give you a huge upgrade from the often wimpy, built-in speakers in modern TVs. For most people, the soundbar journey is super simple: plug it in, and bam, you've got instantly better sound. But tucked away beneath the sleek surface of these audio gadgets is a treasure trove of advanced features and functions that usually just go unnoticed, or people totally misunderstand them.