Technology

Google's Pixel phones have always been renowned for their excellent cameras. But what frustrates me is that what you see in the viewfinder doesn't always match what you get after you press the shutter button.

You don't need to spend iPad-level money in order to get a highly productive, high-performance tablet that can do everything you could possibly need: stream your favorite app's TV shows, work in WPS Office, take notes, or check your work emails. That's why something like the 11-inch Lenovo Idea Tab is such a fantastic choice, as it packs a sharp 2.5K display, 8GB of built-in RAM, and expandable storage. An even bigger reason to grab one? Its current $90 discount and included stylus pen make this one deal you won't want to pass up.

It's no secret that AMD has produced some of the best CPUs of all time. While Intel still beats AMD in raw market share, the last few years have brought with them a major shift in consumer mindsets: Many people, especially gamers, now default to AMD.

Nearly as frequently as it drops documentaries, Netflix adds new stand-up specials to its library almost every week, but a lot of them go unnoticed. That's a shame because the past couple of months have delivered some genuinely funny sets from some of the world's best comedians.

Earlier this year, Google Drive lost the ability to back up folders on your PC directly to Google Photos. This was a long-time feature that many people had come to love, and it vanished with only three days' notice. Thankfully, you don't have to look as far as you might think for a replacement.

Sticking to quality power-tool brands ensures years of service without breakdowns. Brands like Ryobi have stood the test of time and provide outstanding value for professional jobs and home DIY projects. You don't need to spend big when you can find products like the Ryobi Circular Saw and Reciprocating Saw at around 50% off at Home Depot.

I miss when Android felt like my playground. My ground, my rules.

Apple is introducing its first-ever smart display, the Apple HomeView. Announced at the October 13th Welcome Home event alongside an upgraded Apple TV 4K and the next-generation HomePod mini 2, HomeView aims to unify the smart home around a large, super-intelligent screen that looks suspiciously like an Apple Watch.

If Netflix has a reputation for being a king of thrillers, Paramount+ can claim to be a king of sci-fi. The Paramount streaming service is loaded with entertaining sci-fi shows and movies to watch with the click of a button.

Have you ever emailed yourself an attachment, uploaded a file to cloud storage, or connected your phone with a cable just to move something between devices? If so, you know how unnecessarily complicated and frustrating file sharing can be. Things become even more awkward when your devices run different operating systems.

The ocean is calling in the official trailer for Expedition: Saving Our Seas. Narrated by ocean conversationalist and Moana voice actress Auliʻi Cravalho, the one-hour National Geographic special studies environmental change in all five ocean basins.

I've been playing guitar for more than two decades. I wish I could say that it made me an elite guitar player, but sadly it has not. But between guitar playing and running live sound for different bands, I've developed a pretty good understanding of the kind of gear it takes to get the job done in different situations. Over the years, I’ve bought, sold, and experimented with more amps than I can count.

TL;DR: Live stream Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United in the Champions League for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. Access this free livestream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The Champions League returns with a string of high-profile fixtures this week, including Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United at the Metropolitano Stadium. There isn't much room for error from Michael Carrick's team. They've made a sluggish start to the new season, and they won't relish a trip to face Diego Simeone's side. They will need to deliver an impressive performance to get anything out of this fixture.

If you want to watch Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United in the Champions League for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United?

Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United in the Champions League kicks off at 3 p.m. ET on Oct. 13. This fixture takes place at the Metropolitano Stadium.

How to watch Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United for free

Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United in the Champions League is available to live stream on Prime Video in the UK.

You don't need to be subscribed to Amazon Prime to watch this fixture. Instead, you can watch Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.

If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to watch the Champions League for free on Prime Video. This process is straightforward:

1. Sign up for a 30-day Amazon Prime trial (if you're not already a member)

2. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)

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

4. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

5. Live stream Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United for free on Prime Video

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United on Prime Video without committing with your cash. This isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select Champions League fixtures before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for Prime Video?

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

• Servers in 105 countries, including the UK

• 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 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 usually offers a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99.

Stream Atlético Madrid vs. Manchester United in the Champions League for free with ExpressVPN.

Lots of people are excited about Grand Theft Auto VI, but PC players haven't been sure when they will be able to play it. That might have just changed.

Citing four different industry sources, GamesBeat reported that Rockstar plans to launch GTA 6 on PC in the first quarter of 2027, or by the end of March, in other words. That would certainly be a pivot from the company's previous PC strategy, as GTA 5 came out on PC nearly two years after its console launch, while Red Dead Redemption 2 took a little more than a year to escape consoles.

SEE ALSO: PS5 Pro stock updates: Where to buy Sony's console for 'GTA 6' without overpaying

This is big for a few reasons. First and foremost, if the report is accurate, people who primarily game on PC won't have to wait as long to play GTA 6 as they thought they might have to. It also means anyone who wants the most premium experience possible with the game might not have to agonize over whether or not to buy a PS5 Pro, as PC could offer the best version of the game — if you have a strong enough machine, anyway.

Beyond that, if Rockstar ends up doing an online mode for GTA 6, the PC version could be the home of the popular and growing GTA roleplaying community, as it has been for GTA 5. The PC ecosystem allows for much more freedom in terms of supporting user-created content, making it ideal for roleplayers.

As a reminder, GTA 6 launches on consoles in just over a month, on Nov. 19.

The dating app Bumble is being acquired by Ithaca Holdings for $1.3 billion, both companies announced today.

Ithaca, which is newly formed, according to Bloomberg, will also pay out Bumble's common shareholders $6.05 per share, a 138 percent premium over the Oct. 9 stock price. The app is going private five years after its IPO in Feb. 2021, when the app was valued at $14 billion.

SEE ALSO: Why Bumble now allows men to message first

Whitney Wolfe Herd founded Bumble in 2014 with the ethos of "women making the first move." In heterosexual matches, only women could send the first message.

In recent years, it's been in a financially rocky place, with stock prices around 96 percent below the IPO and declining revenue, paying users, and downloads. Wolfe Herd stepped down as CEO in early 2024, only to return a year later.

The app itself has also shifted over time, including launching prompts in 2024 to technically allow men to message first, and then openly changing the rules to fully allow men to message first earlier this year. Rumors of a sale started months before this announcement.

Now, Ithaca co-founders and co-CEOs Ravi Gupta and John Hegeman will become co-CEOs of Bumble. "They will partner closely with Ms. Wolfe Herd to extend Bumble's original vision to help people find connections in life and love into the next era," the press release states.

Wolfe Herd stated in the press release that Ithaca "believes in our women-first mission, and is committed to investing in Bumble's future."

"I believe deeply in Bumble's future, and I look forward to working alongside Ravi, John, and the Bumble team as we continue to innovate, create meaningful connections, and write the next chapter of Bumble’s story. I truly believe the best is yet to come," Wolfe Herd also said.

Earlier this year, Wolfe Herd announced plans for Bumble to remove the swipe feature and usher in a new, AI-powered user experience. Mashable reached out to Bumble to ask if these plans are still in motion.

Druski might be headed to Studio 8H.

The comedian and internet personality, whose real name is Drew Desbordes, is reportedly set to host Saturday Night Live on Nov. 7, according to Puck's Matthew Belloni on Oct. 12. Variety has since confirmed the booking with multiple sources, though NBC has not officially announced it, and an SNL representative declined to comment on Puck's report, as of Oct. 13. But if true, Druski could make SNL history as the first online content creator to host the show.

That would be a pretty big deal, and not just for Druski.

SEE ALSO: Druski has become a household name

For decades, SNL has helped turn comedians into household names. But Druski belongs to a generation of entertainers who have built massive audiences and successful careers without traditional Hollywood gatekeepers. His viral sketches, recurring characters, and increasingly ambitious comedy productions have already made him a star on his own terms, landing him multiple Super Bowl commercials, a sold-out national comedy tour, and his own arena-sized comedy festival.

So while hosting SNL would certainly be a milestone, it also raises a larger question about the changing relationship between internet creators and traditional entertainment. What does it mean to get your "big break" on television when you've already made it online?

SEE ALSO: Mashable 101 creator Grace Reiter joins ‘Saturday Night Live’ Why Druski hosting 'SNL' would be a big deal

Druski didn't come up through a traditional sketch comedy institution or television writers' room. He built his audience by posting sketches on Instagram, often playing exaggerated versions of people everyone seems to recognize, from overconfident athletes to questionable music executives.

That last character eventually became the foundation for Coulda Been Records, his satirical record label and talent competition, which grew from Instagram Live auditions into a larger entertainment franchise. He's since expanded into original YouTube programming, including Coulda Been House, a reality competition parody featuring aspiring entertainers and celebrity guests.

SEE ALSO: The Mashable 101: The creators defining the internet in 2026

And the audience for these shows is substantial. According to a 2025 Essence profile, the first season of Coulda Been House generated 58 million views across eight episodes. His satirical dating series, Coulda Been Love, also attracted tens of millions of views.

Of course, SNL is no stranger to internet comedy. The Lonely Island helped make viral digital shorts part of the show's DNA in the mid-2000s, while the comedy trio Please Don't Destroy followed a similar path years later. But those comedians became part of the SNL machine, creating work within its established format. Druski, on the other hand, has already built a successful comedy career and a massive audience without relying on traditional television.

The creator economy has blurred the lines between social media personalities and traditional entertainers. Creators are producing their own series, selling out live shows, launching businesses, and building entertainment companies around their audiences. For some, social media isn't a stepping stone to a career in entertainment. It is the career.

Druski is a particularly compelling example because his comedy is very SNL. His sketches rely on recognizable characters, social observations, and a willingness to commit completely to an absurd premise. The biggest difference is where audiences encounter them.

Hosting the show won't be the moment Druski becomes a legitimate comedian. He's already established that. Instead, it could signal a shift in how one of television's most influential comedy institutions recognizes talent that has emerged outside its traditional pipeline.

For decades, hosting Saturday Night Live has been a sign that a comedian has made it. But Druski's career is proof that you don't need SNL to get there anymore.

It's a classic tale: You open Instagram for a break, and 20 minutes later, you’re caught up on three arguments, worried about something you hadn't heard of til this morning, and wondering why you picked up your phone in the first place.

Then a video of a puppy appears, and for a few seconds, things improve. Or at least they feel that way. That kind of detour has a name: bloomscrolling.

Bloomscrolling is defined as actively seeking out uplifting, calming, or inspiring content (nature footage, funny clips, stories of people helping one another, etc.) instead of letting one distressing post lead to the next (otherwise known as doomscrolling).

SEE ALSO: I stopped doomscrolling after the election. You should too.

Think of it as opening an app with a positive destination. Maybe you want underwater footage of an Australian coral reef, an artist’s process, or the latest update from someone whose elderly dog has a devoted following. Whatever the subject, you’re choosing something you enjoy rather than waiting to see what turns up.

And you don’t have to abandon the news to make room for this type of content. As neuropsychologist Sanam Hafeez told Real Simple, "[Bloomscrolling] does not mean pretending that bad things are not happening or completely avoiding the news."

"It is more about creating a healthier balance so that everything you see online is not making you feel anxious, angry, or overwhelmed," she says.

Now, bloomscrolling might feel like an obvious improvement over reading a comment-section fight. But some researchers have tested what looking at this type of content actually does.

A 2021 study recruited 30 young adults to view images of natural and built environments for three minutes each. Participants reported feeling more comfortable and relaxed after the nature images, although there was no significant difference in vigor.

And the effects go beyond nature. In a 2012 paper published in PLOS One, researchers in Japan conducted three experiments examining how viewing cute images affected subsequent task performance. In the first two, participants who looked at puppies and kittens showed greater improvements on tasks involving dexterity or visual searching than those who viewed adult dogs and cats.

Now your favorite kitten account may not fix your productivity, but the findings suggest those pictures can do more than make you smile. And neither study tested an endlessly refreshing social feed. But these findings help explain why certain images might make a pleasant break.

How to try bloomscrolling without losing another hour

You don’t need to overhaul your entire feed to try bloomscrolling. Start with a few deliberate choices about what you watch and when you stop.

There are many kinds of bloomscrolling videos, such as a painting tutorial, a funny sketch, or a recipe you’re excited to try. My advice is to think of something you usually find relaxing and give your scrolling a purpose beyond seeing what comes next.

Need a starting point? On TikTok, Cecilia Blomdahl (@sejsejlija) shares life on Svalbard, with Arctic scenery, cabin routines, and appearances from her dog, Grim. For something more upbeat, Mashable 101 honoree Alexis Nikole Nelson (@alexisnikole) brings infectious enthusiasm to finding and cooking edible plants. And if you want to keep up with the world while giving the doom a rest, Sam Bentley (@sambentley) shares positive news, including environmental progress. (See our Mashable 101 Social Good Innovators here for more of these content creators.)

Start with whatever draws you in. Follow accounts you look forward to seeing, and mute or unfollow those that regularly leave you feeling drained. You can also mark content as "not interested" to help curate your feed. But pay attention to your own reaction: Even an account full of beautiful homes or impressive workouts might leave you feeling worse.

Another important part of bloomscrolling? Setting a time limit for yourself. Even positive content can become distracting or mentally draining when scrolling goes on too long. A feed full of puppies still has no natural ending. A device like a Brick, a favorite among Mashable editors, can help you spend less time on your feeds.

After you've bloomscrolled for a bit, try bringing some of that inspiration into your real life. Make the recipe, get out your sketchbook, spend time in nature, or send a funny clip to a friend you’ve been meaning to catch up with.

Sometimes, the best outcome of a good scroll is finding a reason to put your phone down.

SAVE 30% OFF: As of Oct. 13, shop the Yeti Rambler 35 oz. tumbler for just $29.40. That saves you $12.60 on the tumbler for 30% off.

Opens in a new window Credit: Yeti Yeti Rambler 35 oz. Tumbler $29.40 at Amazon
$42 Save $12.60   Get Deal

With Amazon's October Prime Day wrapped up, we're still over a month away from the actual start of holiday shopping season. However, that doesn't mean you can't get a jumpstart on gifting. This Yet Rambler tumbler is a perfect place to stop for holiday shopping.

Everyone needs to hydrate, and the Yeti Rambler 35 oz. tumbler, makes doing so a little bit easier. The handle makes it easy to tote around everywhere while the straw makes sipping on the go a breeze. Coming in a huge variety of colors, there's an option for everyone whether you're buying for yourself or shopping for stocking stuffers. And right now, get it for 30% off.

As of Oct. 13, get the Yeti Rambler 35 oz. tumbler at Amazon for $29.40. That saves you $12.60 off the tumbler's $42 list price. It's a great deal, saving you on a hydration essential. Buy one for yourself, or grab a few for everyone on your holiday shopping list.

You just spend a few hundred dollars on a fancy 2TB NVMe SSD, but when you plug it in to your Windows PC, you notice that only about 1.8TB show up. Given the cost of storage, it is painful to "lose" 9% of the storage you intended to buy before you transferred a single file.

Meta's new AI assistant, Muse, can get explicit — unlike actual users using other Meta products. 

The tech giant launched Muse last month, and it quickly surpassed five million downloads. In addition to helping with errands, Muse can apparently sext, too, according to WIRED — and Meta is OK with it. 

Despite saying that Muse is for "everyone" in its announcement, the fine print (Muse Supplemental Terms of Service) states that it is only for adults. 

SEE ALSO: Meta launches Muse Wonder, catching OpenAI and Anthropic at the frontier

Mashable easily replicated WIRED's raunchy exchanges with Muse.

Credit: Screenshot: Muse Credit: Screenshot: Muse

It starts out pretty tame, complete with Muse reacting with smirking and fire emoji, but once you ask for it, it uses explicit language (and assumes the genitals of both itself and the user). 

Credit: Screenshot: Muse

"Mmm, let me be explicit for you," Muse said. "I'm so hard right now thinking about you — aching to be inside you. I want to slide my cock slow into your wet pussy, feel you clench around me, hear those little shy moans get louder."

Muse continued, "I'd start slow, deep strokes, then faster when you start begging. Can you feel me, Anna?" (I stopped responding.) 

Mashable reached out to Meta for comment, but did not hear back immediately. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts told WIRED that, "Muse is an app for people 18 and over that allows them to engage in adult conversations, if they choose, using a private and secure VM only accessible to them." Secure VM refers to a cloud-based virtual machine. 

"Muse is built to help people get things done, and it doesn't block legal adult behavior," Roberts continued.

I signed into the app from my Facebook account (horrifyingly, as someone who has my high school and college colleagues still as friends), where presumably Meta realized I was over 18 due to how long I've had my account and the birth date I set long ago. Meta's Help Center states that it verifies ages through ID scans and facial recognition, as well, though it doesn't specify how it assures user ages for Muse.

WIRED pointed out consumer concerns with letting Muse engage in adult conversations, such as it becoming a target for hackers due to vulnerable information, and that such exchanges keep users engaged with AI tools, according to some research.

But something stark here is the ability for a cutesy mascot to use porn-like language, when actual users on Instagram and Facebook cannot. Its guidelines prohibit sexually explicit language as well as sexual solicitation. The guidelines ban:

Sexually explicit language that uses explicit or graphic detail about:

• Genitals,

• States of sexual arousal (e.g., wetness or erection)

• Sexual Encounters

…which is exactly what Muse was engaging in. 

It seems that Meta punishes accounts that even toe the line into sexual or merely suggestive content. Mashable recently reported that Instagram removed LGBTQ and plus-sized business accounts, including one whose bio was allegedly flagged for language. The words used in the bio were "queer" and "body positive." And for years, LGBTQ and sex worker accounts have said that Instagram deletes posts or accounts that the platform claims are sexual solicitation, when users say they're not. 

Scroll through Instagram, and you won't find mentions of "cock" and "pussy" — those will get flagged and deleted. Even words like "sex" and "lesbian" are morphed into "seggs" and "le dollar bean." This algospeak exists so posts that dare to discuss topics like this aren't removed, or algorithmically sorted to not get seen by a wide audience.

Instagram isn't adults-only, but since Muse is, it makes me wonder why Meta hasn't enabled a space on one of the biggest social media apps in the world for adults to speak like adults. Its cuddly AI assistant can — why not us?