IT General

9 open-source apps I install on every Samsung Galaxy phone

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 14:45

I've owned a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE for more than three and a half years now, and while I recently demoted it to my secondary phone, I continue using it at least a few days each week. I've got tons of apps installed on it, with a good chunk of them being open source.

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to watch the 2026 Madrid Open online for free

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 14:36

TL;DR: Live stream the 2026 Madrid Open for free on RTVE. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The French Open isn't all that far away, so it's time for the best players in the world to take to the clay to sharpen up before the second Grand Slam of the season. The good news for top players is that there is ample opportunity to do just that, with a number of high-profile tournaments taking place at this time of year.

Following on from the Barcelona Open is the Madrid Open, with a number of top players competing in this popular event. For many, this will be a dress rehearsel for the main event at Roland-Garros.

If you want to watch the 2026 Madrid Open for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

What is the Madrid Open?

The Madrid Open is an annual professional tennis tournament played on clay courts at the Caja Mágica in Madrid. The defending singles champions are Casper Ruud and Aryna Sabalenka.

When is the 2026 Madrid Open?

The 2026 Madrid Open is the 24th edition of the event on the ATP Tour and 17th on the WTA Tour. This year's event takes place from April 21 to May 3.

How to watch the 2026 Madrid Open for free

The 2026 Madrid Open are available to live stream for free on RTVE.

RTVE is geo-restricted to Spain, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Spain, meaning you can unblock RTVE from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the 2026 Madrid Open by following these simple steps:

  1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (we tested ExpressVPN and it works great)

  2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

  3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Spain

  4. Visit RTVE

  5. Watch the 2026 Madrid Open for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch the 2026 Madrid Open before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to the best free streaming sites from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for RTVE?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on RTVE, for a number of reasons:

  • Servers in 105 countries including Spain

  • Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

  • Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

  • Fast connection speeds

  • Up to 10 simultaneous connections

  • 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the 2026 Madrid Open for free with ExpressVPN.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This "meme" distro actually laid the groundwork for modern desktop Linux

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 14:30

RebeccaBlackOS is a fan-made Linux distribution (the title is a reference to the singer of the viral song "Friday," which I'm listening to for the first time as I write this). It sounds like a meme distro, but unlike actual meme distributions (Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber Linux come to mind), RebeccaBlackOS wasn't abandoned within months. Its developers have regularly released updates for the past 14 years, with the latest upgrade rolling out on February 22, 2026. Surprisingly, it's actually a useful and practical distro for Linux users.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Hinges latest feature makes date planning a little easier

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 14:26

Today, dating app Hinge is launching a new feature to skip over the talking phase: Date Ideas.

With Date Ideas, users can share their intention to go out and meet in-person. When updating one's profile, a user can select three Date Idea options, including writing their own. Think: drinks, seeing a movie, taking a walk, going on a picnic, and the like.

SEE ALSO: Is Hinge really 'designed to be deleted'? I tested it to find out.

Then, if a potential match is viewing a profile with set Date Ideas, they can pick one and select when they're free from a drop-down menu. This doesn't automatically schedule a date (there's no integration with Hinge and Google Calendar...yet, anyway), but the intention of getting off the app is already there if they match.

Credit: Hinge

Date Ideas is the latest feature Hinge added to make it a little easier to meet and chat with someone instead of "liking" endlessly. In Dec., Hinge added AI-driven Convo Starters to avoid a lackluster first message. And last Feb., Hinge added Match Note, a private way daters can let someone know something intimate about them that may be difficult to bring up but they want them to know right away (f.e., that they're sober).

Every feature Hinge designs is built around the metric of getting people to meet in real life, Hinge's Chief Product and Technology Officer, Ben Celebicic, told Mashable. So, every feature starts with a challenge that daters feel.

"In this specific case, the core challenge we heard was that they match, they feel super excited about matching with someone, but then they get stuck in a messaging state and never make a plan," he said. The dreaded pen pal trap.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best free dating apps to find your spring fling

The app's research team, Hinge Labs, found that 79 percent of daters want to skip small talk and just plan a date, according to a March 2026 survey of 700 respondents. "So that's how this idea was born," Celebicic said.

Looking broadly at Hinge's plan for 2026, Celebicic said the team wants to stay attuned with what Gen Z wants. It seems that whatever Hinge is doing is working, seeing as its direct revenue and paying users have soared year-over-year both last year and the year before.

Tinder, meanwhile, is declining in both metrics. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Spencer Rascoff — CEO of both Tinder and Match Group, Tinder and Hinge's parent company — said they want more women to use Tinder, and to increase the overall user base of the app.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This Italian luxury SUV drives like a sports sedan and undercuts its German rivals

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 14:15

Luxury SUVs from German brands have long set the standard for performance, prestige, and premium design. But for buyers who want sharper handling and more personality without paying the usual premium, one Italian contender makes a surprisingly strong case. It delivers the kind of driving engagement typically associated with a sports sedan, while still offering the space and practicality expected from an SUV.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Why '90s giant TVs looked amazing but were actually terrible to own

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 14:00

I clearly remember the first time I walked into someone's house in the 1990s and saw a rear-projection TV. At the time, we had just upgraded to a 20-inch Panasonic TV, which was a big step up from the 11-inch TV we'd had up to that point.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon is on sale ahead of May the 4th — save on the 25th Anniversary model

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 13:33

SAVE OVER $10: As of April 22, the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon A New Hope 25th Anniversary model is discounted to $67.99 at Amazon. This is $17 off its list price of $84.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Lego Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon A New Hope 25th Anniversary Model $67.99 at Amazon
$84.99 Save $17   Get Deal

May the 4th is right around the corner, which is exciting news for Star Wars fans, especially those with a love of Lego. It's a great time to grab some new sets or save on ones that have caught your eye. Thankfully, some great deals have already started to drop, including on the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon A New Hope 25th Anniversary model.

As of April 22, this Lego Millennium Falcon set is on sale for $67.99 at Amazon. Usually it's listed for $84.99, so this saves you $17 overall. Not to mention, it's just cents away from its lowest-ever price of $67.95.

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And what better set to piece together ahead of May the 4th? This Lego Millennium Falcon set comes with 921 pieces that create the iconic ship as seen in A New Hope. Once you've completed it, it also comes with a display stand and nameplate to show it off alongside a Lego Star Wars 25th Anniversary brick.

Keep in mind that since it's mainly a display model with quite a lot of pieces, it's recommended for adults. However, if you know a younger fan who would love to have it on their own display shelf, just give them a helping hand with the assembly.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to save on the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon A New Hope 25th Anniversary model at Amazon. And if you're looking for more Star Wars sets, check out Lego’s May the 4th Star Wars drop which is already live.

Categories: IT General, Technology

You’re using the wrong app to open ZIP files on Windows

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 13:30

When you open a ZIP file on your Windows PC, what happens? Does an app like WinRAR or 7-Zip pop up and show you the contents of that archive?

Categories: IT General, Technology

23 of the best AI courses you can take for free this month

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 13:22

TL;DR: A wide range of AI courses are available to take for free on Udemy.

It's difficult to keep up with the world of AI. There's always something new right now, which can leave you feeling like you're drowning.

Trying to keep your head above water? Udemy is throwing you a lift raft in the shape of online courses on AI. You can find lessons on chatbots, AI agents, and machine learning. And better yet, a number of the best online AI courses are totally free to take on Udemy.

We've checked out everything on offer and lined up a selection of standout courses on AI:

There's always a catch, and in this case it's that these free online courses don't include certificates of completion or direct instructor messaging. You do still get unrestricted access to all the video content and you can learn at a pace that suits you, so it's not all bad.

Find the best free AI courses on Udemy.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Nicola Coughlan is awkwardly nostalgic in SNL UK promo skit

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 13:10

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan is hosting SNL UK this week, four weeks after she had a cameo appearance in the first episode during Tina Fey's monologue — but you'd think she'd been away for years.

In the clip above Coughlan enters the stage with exaggerated nostalgia, greeting cast members Hammed Animashaun and Annabel Marlow as if she hasn't seen them in years.

"I don't even know if you guys remember me," she says. "It's Nicola Coughlan. I was actually here for the first ever episode of SNL UK."

A few moments later, after she's dismissed everyone, the host takes some time to yell at the empty theater.

"I'm back!" Coughlan cries. "Finally! Take that, Tina Fey! I'm the captain now."

Want more of the best of late night? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Stop avoiding ESP32 projects— this kit removes the biggest barriers to entry

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 13:00

ESP32 boards are a cheap way to build your own smart devices, but the thought of having to solder pins or wire things up to a breadboard can be enough to put people off. If you're yet to try making your own ESP32 devices, there's a new kit on the way that will make things much easier.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The DJI Mini 5 Pro drone is at a record-low price at Amazon — save $550 on this beginner-friendly drone

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 12:52

SAVE OVER $500: The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,049 at Amazon. That's over $500 off the list price of $1,599.

Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo $1,049 at Amazon
$1,599 Save $550   Get Deal

What's in store for the drone market in 2026? We're honestly not sure. Legislative pressure is mounting on DJI imports, but we expected stock to be dipping already. That's clearly not the case, because stock is readily available on Amazon and some of the most popular drones are heavily discounted for a limited time.

The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is down to $1,049 at Amazon. That's over $500 off a beginner-friendly drone that offers professional specs without the hassle of FAA paperwork.

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Lightweight drones like this have historically had to compromise on quality, but that's not the case here. The Mini 5 Pro offers a massive 1-inch CMOS sensor, so whether you’re shooting 50MP stills or 4K/120fps slow-motion, the dynamic range is staggering.

The DJI Mini 5 Pro also makes use of forward-facing LiDAR that powers the new Nightscape Omnidirectional Sensing, allowing the drone to dodge branches, power lines, and buildings even when you can’t see them on your screen. The last thing you want to do is crash your brand new $1,099 drone. This helps avoid that haunting scenario.

You're also getting 42GB of internal storage with this discounted drone. That means you can actually capture a full afternoon of 4K footage without needing an external card at all. It's a simple feature that makes a huge difference for users.

Save over $500 on the DJI Mini 5 Pro this week.

Categories: IT General, Technology

AdultFriendFinder vs. Plenty of Fish: Most legit, success rates, and more

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 12:43

In the online dating world, AdultFriendFinder and Plenty of Fish are certified OGs. These veteran dating sites were first established more than two decades ago, before both the social media era and the smartphone era. Yet both sites have continued to stay relevant, attracting millions of visitors from all over the world searching for connection. 

That, however, is just about where the similarities end. In fact, you’d have a hard time finding two online dating sites less alike. Plenty of Fish operates like a conventional dating site, even adopting the smartphone-like “yes-or-no” carousel approach. AdultFriendFinder feels more like an X-rated site with a social media system built in. 

Of course, rather than treating them as alternatives, you can choose to view them as complementary, with one offering a personality-first approach to dating more likely to deliver long-term connection and the other adopting a sexuality-first method that makes finding short-term, salacious fun easier than ever.

Intrigued to learn more? We put these two giants of the online dating world to the test to discover their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Opens in a new window Credit: AdultFriendFinder AdultFriendFinder   Learn More Opens in a new window Credit: Plenty of Fish Plenty of Fish   Learn More

As both dating sites have been around forever, AdultFriendFinder and Plenty of Fish clearly deliver the goods for their users, but it’s striking to see just how different their respective approaches can be.

Site design

The contrast between the two sites is immediately evident from the aesthetic choices. Plenty of Fish uses softer, pastel colors and a clean, minimalist aesthetic to focus your attention on a single part of the website: your user profile, for example, or the profile of a prospective match. AdultFriendFinder, on the other hand, has a crowded site layout with ads, live streams, and user-generated content all sharing space and vying for your attention.

The AFF approach gives the impression that there’s a lot going on, like you just stumbled into a massive party, while the PoF approach is simultaneously less intimidating and less exciting. There’s another major difference that’s quickly apparent: AFF is an “adult” dating site, with nudity enabled by default in your profile settings, meaning a lot of what you will see on site is indistinguishable from an X-rated tube site, while Plenty of Fish curates their content much more heavily: no risqué live streams or genital-only photos in sight.

SEE ALSO: All your Hinge questions, answered

And speaking of that X-rated content: because AFF allows nudity on its site, it’s ineligible for inclusion on the most popular app stores, so you’re mostly confined to the on-site experience, while Plenty of Fish has an app in both the Google Play and Apple App stores, so you can swipe on the go as well. 

By the numbers

While both sites are tight-lipped about their user information, independent reporting from Business of Apps suggests that Plenty of Fish has approximately 10 million active users at any one time, compared to AdultFriendFinder’s two million active users, with both sites having a roughly 60-40 male-female skew in their gender ratio, though more recent reporting suggests AFF may be closer to 65-35 today. 

In either case, there’s no shortage of people for you to discover and talk to, though the farther you live from an urban hub, the more generous you’ll have to be in your search parameters. 

The typical dating profile

Another obvious difference between the two sites is their approach to profile creation. With AFF, you can set up a profile in seconds, with no verification steps and minimal required data entry. Plenty of Fish, on the other hand, asks you a bevy of personal questions, from your level of education and whether or not you own a car to if your parents are divorced or still together and if you want kids or not. PoF also requires that you verify the phone number tied to your account using a six-digit verification code, while AFF only requires email verification.

AFF has its share of personal questions as well, but they’re not so much related to your religion or smoking habit as they are to your kinks and sexual preferences. Their popular My Kinks tab allows users to fly their freak flags freely, and then re-incorporates that information into one of their search options, so if, for example, you have a foot fetish, you can search for other people who share your fetish or they can search you out based on that fetish. 

User experience

One thing you’ll quickly realize when using both sites is that PoF is a lot more generous in what they allow non-paying users to do. With AFF, you can basically only engage with other people in public spaces like the chat rooms and discussion forums. In fact, you can’t so much as view someone’s full profile without purchasing a Gold membership.

With PoF, by contrast, you can actually use the site, view user profiles, like user profiles, and even speak to other singles, all without spending a dime. That being said, a Premium or Prestige membership on Plenty of Fish still represents a massive quality-of-life upgrade, giving you unlimited likes, read receipts on messages, an ad-free site experience, and some pretty cool bonus features like the ability to see who has liked your profile or a Rewind button for when you accidentally skip over a profile that caught your eye. 

SEE ALSO: All your Tinder questions, answered

From a purely aesthetic perspective, the PoF site is much cleaner and less distracting, even in the way it serves you ads, while the AFF site makes up for its busy design by offering a much wider variety of potential activities, including live streams, chat forums, blogs and sexy stories.

Success rates

The major difference between the two sites boils down to the users and what they’re looking for online. In general, Plenty of Fish users seem to be more dedicated daters, aspiring to long-term relationships and meaningful connections, while AdultFriendFinder’s users are much more obviously content with short-term connections, whether that’s a sexy chat or live stream or an in-person meetup. 

In practice, that means that you’ll find AFF a much easier place to start a conversation or find a fling, while PoF users are clearly more selective in who they talk to, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that “success” is easier on one site than another. It also helps that AFF offers more venues for interaction: you can try to message a single person, sure, but you can also search out people who share your hobbies, interests or kinks and speak to them in a more public context like a forum or a live chat, which removes a lot of the stakes of one-on-one communication. 

On the other hand, if you’re after something more long-term and high-stakes, Plenty of Fish users appear to be much more aware of what they want and what they don’t want in a partner. They’re at a stage of life when they’re taking dating seriously and PoF caters to this crowd, putting critical life information (are you a smoker? do you have kids?) front and center. 

In other words, you’ll find the most success by being honest with yourself about what you’re looking for and choosing the appropriate dating site. Can you find love on AFF or a fling on PoF? Most definitely. But it will also be an uphill battle, given how the two sites are set up. 

Categories: IT General, Technology

I bought a Linux tablet, and it’s both better and worse than Android

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 12:30

When I recently built a privacy-focused desktop, I knew I wanted a tablet–not a laptop–to go with it. Instead of an Android tablet, I purchased one running Linux. Here’s how it has fared.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Soundcore Sport X20 by Anker earbuds have dropped to $69.99 at Amazon — save $30

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 12:26

SAVE $30: As of April 22, the Soundcore Sport X20 by Anker earbuds have dropped to $69.99 at Amazon. This is $30 off their list price of $99.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Soundcore Soundcore Sport X20 by Anker $69.99 at Amazon
$99.99 Save $30   Get Deal

If the spring weather has you taking your workouts outdoors, it's nice to have a reliable pair of earbuds that can keep you company. Not only does this mean solid sound quality, but a good fit that won't fall out. If you're looking for a new pair, the Soundcore Sport X20 are our favorite budget workout earbuds, and they're even on sale right now at Amazon.

While they're usually listed for $99.99, the Soundcore Sport X20 by Anker earbuds have dropped to $69.99 as of April 22. All available colors are on sale at this price as well, so you can find an option that best suits your style.

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No matter if you're a runner or lift weights, the Soundcore Sport X20 will stay in place thanks to their adjustable ear hooks. These can be extended and rotated so you can find a fit that feels secure before jumping into your routine. Our roundup of the best headphones and earbuds for working out, where these landed as the best budget earbuds, said the "swivel ear hook mechanism bends and twists to different ear shapes and wraps gently around the ear for optimal comfort and fit."

As for how they sound? Our roundup notes that, "Adrenaline will rush through your body when pressing play on workout tracks" as "Bass is aggressive, but not overwhelming." They truly shine in terms of battery life, with "Up to 12 hours per charge and a charging case that holds an additional 48 hours is clutch for all types of earbuds users (not just gym rats)."

Considering they're marked as a limited time deal right now, the Soundcore Sport X20 by Anker earbuds may not be on sale for long. Be quick to save at Amazon.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Xs custom timeline feature will sting for TweetDeck mourners

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 12:02

X has added the ability to sort your feed into multiple topic feeds, if you're still on the platform. And yes, it sounds exactly like TweetDeck (RIP).

Announced Wednesday, the Elon Musk-owned platform now lets users build "Custom Timelines," that collate up to 75 feeds on the home tab.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk found liable for defrauding Twitter investors

In an X post, Nikita Bier, the company's head of product, revealed the Grok-powered feature, which is available in early access to those paying $8 per month ($84 per year) for X Premium, and only on iOS (Android promised "soon").

"It's powered by Grok's understanding of every post with the algorithm's personalization — meaning every timeline is made just for you," wrote Bier. "And it works even better when it's a topic you already engage with."

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

If you're a TweetDeck mourner, this might sting. The social media dashboard, which let users organise their feed across topics and accounts, was rebranded as XPro in 2023 and moved behind the X Premium (formerly Twitter Blue) subscription.

Giving X users the ability to organise their own timeline topics might also address the For You feed algorithm's lurch to the far right, though that remains to be seen.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Score the Garmin Venu 3S for its best-ever price at Amazon — save over $100

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 11:52

SAVE OVER $100: As of April 22, the Garmin Venu 3S (41mm) is on sale for $339.99 at Amazon, its lowest-ever price at the retailer.

Opens in a new window Credit: Garmin Garmin Venu 3S $339.99 at Amazon
$449.99 Save $110   Get Deal

If you're shopping around for a smartwatch, but want a more stylish option for your wrist, the Garmin Venu 3S deserves your attention. This sleek smartwatch has a nice design, is packed with features to help you throughout the day, and is discounted right now at Amazon.

As of April 22, the Garmin Venu 3S (41mm) is on sale for $339.99 at Amazon. This is $110 off its original list price of $449.99, and marks its lowest price point so far at the retailer. Act fast to scoop it up at this price while the deal is still live.

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The fashionable design is certainly a plus for those who like a smartwatch they can wear while working out and while doing everyday activities, but the Garmin Venu 3S has plenty of helpful features for your daily routine. Some of its features include wrist-based heart rate, stress tracking, and personalized sleep coaching, alongside workout benefit and recovery time for those with fitness goals in mind, just to name a few.

Its display is bright and colorful as well, so you can clearly see your stats on screen. Its battery life can keep up with you for up to 10 days when it's in smartwatch mode.

If this delightful Garmin Venu 3S (41mm) has caught your attention, this is a great opportunity to save on it at Amazon.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The DJI Power 1000 is down to its lowest-ever price at Amazon — get $350 off right now

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 11:48

SAVE $350: As of April 22, the DJI Power 1000 is on sale for $349 at Amazon. That's a 50% discount off the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Power 1000 $349 at Amazon
$699 Save $350   Get Deal

Portable power stations are always helpful to have on hand. Whether it's to see you through an unexpected power outage or to keep devices like your phone and laptop running while traveling, they're a simple way to stay connected.

If you've been looking for something reliable, check out this latest Amazon deal on the DJI Power 1000. This model is currently reduced by $350, bringing the price down to $349. And according to camelcamelcamel, it's never been priced lower than this.

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This portable power station is a high-capacity unit that is designed to handle heavy appliances. It provides up to 2,200W of continuous output for everything from camping gear to power tools, so this is a great option to take with you on the go.

It recharges really fast too, reaching full capacity in around 70 minutes via mains power, but it also supports fast solar charging if you choose to add these on as an extra. And since it's built with a durable LFP battery, it’s rated for up to 4,000 charge cycles and has an estimated lifespan of around 10 years. It even has a built-in battery management system that helps protect against over-current, over-voltage, and over-discharge.

This is a limited-time deal at Amazon, so don't miss out.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Jimmy Kimmel responds to Tucker Carlson apologizing for supporting Trump

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 11:41

Tucker Carlson, once a big supporter of Donald Trump, is now saying he regrets his decision to back the president — but Jimmy Kimmel has little sympathy.

"That's big," Kimmel says in the clip above, after playing a video from The Tucker Carlson Show of the host saying he's "sorry for misleading people" about Trump. "Tucker Carlson apologizing for helping Trump get elected. I believe they call that liar's remorse."

With a clip, Kimmel goes on to assure viewers that even though Carlson has changed his views on Trump, he still says doctors are "like, the worst people in America."

"Thanksgiving at the Carlson's must be a barrel of laughs. 'Doctors are the worst people.' I hope that when Tucker Carlson shows up at an emergency room one day, all he hears from the doctors is this," says Kimmel, cutting to a montage of Carlson's own disturbing laugh. "Sometimes laughter is the worst medicine."

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Tim Cook era at Apple is defined by 5 achievements

Mashable - Wed, 04/22/2026 - 11:15

Few CEOs ever arrived in the job with as tough an act to follow as Tim Cook did in 2011, replacing the late great Steve Jobs in his fast-declining days. Fewer still rise to the occasion — and get to leave so extraordinary a legacy to the next guy.

Apple's head honcho, age 65, announced Monday that he'll be stepping back come September. Cook will step into an emeritus role as Executive Chairman, while John Ternus takes the reins as CEO.

And out of all the major technological, financial, and logistical achievements of the past 14 years — which we've listed below — some business experts believe this in itself may be the greatest.

1. Apple's second successful succession

"Cook’s legacy will extend beyond any products or shareholder value he created," Laurie Barkman, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, tells Mashable. "Two successful transitions at the highest level do not happen by chance. They reflect a process embedded in the company’s operating model."

Given how often ego-driven CEOs make a mess of their succession, paralyzing their executive team in the process — heck, just watch Succession for a taste of how bad it can get — this is no mean feat. That kind of operational mess is one of the reasons the average S&P 500 company lasts just 18 years.

But Cook, formerly Jobs' Chief Operating Officer, was always known for sweating the logistics details. And that's why Apple just celebrated its 50th birthday, looking more secure than ever.

Crucially, during Apple's lean years before the iPhone, Cook saved the company by keeping inventory as low as possible. Controversially, he's kept his China-dependent tech giant growing during a year of high tariffs by any means necessary, including cozying up to a president who doesn't reflect Cook's California values.

Now, by handing over the reins in such a calm and clear fashion, at a time of his choosing — as much as two years earlier than some analysts expected — Cook is showing off the well-oiled machine that Apple has become.

In short, taking Apple from "a one-time founder handoff into an institutional succession," Barkman says, should be regarded as "Tim Cook’s greatest accomplishment."

2. From Jobs' billions to Cook's trillions

The mercurial Jobs may have co-founded Apple, and he may have championed Apple's ultimate money-making product, the iPhone, during his 1997-2011 return. But Jobs' own ego-driven exit from the company in 1985 meant years were wasted in the wilderness, and even once he returned, he had to spend a decade pulling Apple back from the brink of irrelevance and extinction.

It worked, of course; Jobs bowed out when Apple shares were worth $350 billion in total, or $349 billion more than when Jobs took the company public. But consider what Cook did: his steady hand on the tiller took the company from $350 billion to more than $3.9 trillion in shareholder value.

Under Cook's tenure, Apple became the first company in the world to pass the $1 trillion and then $2 trillion mark. Only one tech company can claim that it created more shareholder value in the last 15 years, and that's NVIDIA — the main beneficiary of the AI craze.

SEE ALSO: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang says AGI is here — sort of

And how did Cook do this? In large part, by making sure the iPhone didn't go the way of the original Macintosh. The Mac was beautiful, pricy, and rapidly snowed under by boxy beige PCs running the Macintosh-like Windows, which almost killed Apple in the 1990s.

The smartphone wars looked like they were going the same way, with cheaper Android phones, particularly models made by Samsung, in the Windows seat. But thanks to Cook's diligence, Apple just overtook Samsung as the world's most popular smartphone manufacturer.

3. Apple made something new

Tim Cook, it's fair to say, is a pretty cautious guy. He prefers to iterate rather than innovate. The iPhone 5, the last version of the device developed under Jobs, wasn't too many worlds away from the iPhone 17 unveiled by Cook last year. The most memorable upgrades in between — the iPhone 7's lack of headphone jack, the on-screen notch in the iPhone X, last year's Liquid Glass — felt like tinkering around the edges.

The same goes for the iPad, introduced in 2010; the MacBook, introduced in 2006; and the Apple TV device, introduced in 2005. Design tweaks, cameras, color choices, and under-the-hood upgrades aside, these devices are all pretty much the same as they were when Steve Jobs last stepped into an Apple Store in 2011.

But there are a few new major Apple product categories Jobs wouldn't recognize — and we're not just talking about the Apple Vision Pro. (Jobs may at least recognize the reality distortion field Cook's company built around this pricy augmented reality headset, and he'd probably agree with Cook's move to pivot to smart glasses as soon as possible.)

The biggest product launched during the Cook era is the Apple Watch. First conceived by designer Jony Ive after Jobs' death and unveiled in 2014, the Apple Watch quickly became the world's top wearable. More than 100 million people currently use one, even if Apple Watch updates are the least exciting part of a modern Apple keynote event.

SEE ALSO: How does the Apple Watch Series 11 stack up against the Series 10? Let’s compare.

And then there's the AirPods family of Bluetooth headphones — original (2016), Pro (2019), and the over-ear Max (2020). All were well received, and their success had a lot to do with Cook's acquisition of Dr. Dre's Beats headphones company for $3 billion in 2014. Arguably Cook's riskiest move, the Beats purchase has since paid dividends — in headphone expertise as well as Beats sales.

4. Apple became a streaming giant

Never mind the Apple TV device, which would probably have found its way to a 4K version by now, no matter who was CEO. Cook's larger legacy is the other Apple TV, a.k.a. the streaming service formerly known as Apple TV+. Launched in 2019, its secret sauce was Apple Studios, which took care of the all-original programming.

By focusing on quality and courting the biggest names in Hollywood, Apple Studios racked up an impressive series of wins in a short space of time. CODA (2021) became the first Best Picture Oscar-winner from any streaming service; Netflix had been chasing that prize for a decade. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) made Martin Scorsese's passion project a hit in theaters, and F1 (2025) became the highest-grossing sports film of all time.

SEE ALSO: Everything coming to Apple TV in 2026

Apple TV shows, meanwhile, have done what seemed impossible in the age of almost-infinite streaming. They've cut through and become part of the cultural conversation in a way we haven't seen since Game of Thrones. Just as that show came to define TV in the 2010s, the 2020s are practically owned by Apple hits such as Emmy darling Ted Lasso (2020-), Severance (2022-), and Vince Gilligan's Pluribus (2025-), the latter quickly becoming its most-watched show ever.

And as if that wasn't enough, Apple went to town on sports programming (MLB, MLS, Formula One), kids' shows and movies (Sesame Street, Charlie Brown), plus one word: Oprah. If any streaming service is starting to resemble an old-school TV network with a new flavor, it's Apple TV. And by giving away a free year of subscription with Apple products — while resisting annoying Amazon-style ads — Cook has cannily ensured millions of us get hooked on its output.

5. Avoiding the AI trap

Conventional wisdom holds that Cook's greatest weakness during his 15 years was his approach to AI. When ChatGPT was conquering hearts and minds in 2023, Cook was loath to even use the acronym AI in the pre-recorded keynotes he pioneered. Instead, he said Apple software had already been using "machine learning" for years. (Fact check: true.)

Cook's belated compromise came in the form of Apple Intelligence, powered by an on-device version of ChatGPT — but Apple's creaky 2011-era voice assistant, Siri, stood out like a sore thumb (pending a major 2026 upgrade). Even now, Cook seems to be betting that a quiet majority of consumers were turned off by AI and wanted its features to be limited, with a focus on privacy, accuracy, and mental health protections.

SEE ALSO: Apple may have already given us a big hint about AI Siri

Cook may yet be proved right. Because here's the thing about tech world conventional wisdom: it's almost always wrong when applied to Apple.

Conventional wisdom said the company should have sold itself to Microsoft in 1997, leaving (we now know) $3 trillion in value on the table. Conventional wisdom said the original iMac should have had a disk drive and no USB ports; it single-handedly made USB a global standard. Conventional wisdom said consumers would never buy an MP3 player with a mere 5GB of storage; enter the iPod.

If the Cook-Ternus version of AI turns out to meet consumers where they're at, rather than wowing tech media and investors first with outrageous claims, nobody will care that Apple took a few years to get there. If Apple Silicon (particularly the AI-friendly M5 chip) is ultimately more important than NVIDIA's specialist GPUs — which they will be, if data center expansion continues to stall — then the company Cook built will easily snatch back the "world's most valuable" crown from its rival.

And Tim Cook, Apple CEO emeritus, will look like a very smart cookie indeed.

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