Technology

When every little thing costs a small (or big) fortune, now's not the time to go shopping for a new PC. It's more important than ever to stay on top of maintenance and to keep an eye on the state of your computer. This helps you step in before anything ever goes south, and can save you lots of time and money on unnecessary repairs, replacements, and upgrades.

You'll want to act quickly if you've been eying a Meta VR headset, as the company is raising prices for its entire Quest lineup on April 19. The entry-level Meta Quest 3S with 128GB of storage will climb from its current $300 to $350, while the 256GB version will jump from $400 to $450. The steepest increase affects the flagship Quest 3, which will surge from $500 to $600 for its lone 512GB variant.

If you’ve ever read the phrase "lifetime fluid" with regard to vehicle maintenance, you might be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief. It sounds like one less bill to worry about. However, lifetime in this context is more of a marketing term referring to the length of your vehicle’s factory warranty, not its actual life beyond that.

Nothing makes me happier than a free weekend. Between the grind of the 9-to-5 lifestyle and the pressure of fulfilling social obligations, a weekend of rest and relaxation feels like a luxury. If I find myself with an open weekend, I love to start a show that I know I can finish before work on Monday morning.

Hot on the heels of YouTube Premium’s recent price hike, Google is quietly dangling a discount that may or may not soften the sting depending on how deep you’re already in the company's ecosystem.

I don’t like the idea of storing my files on someone else’s PC, losing access whenever the internet goes down and having to trust strangers not to take a peak—and that was before companies started training AI models on whatever files they could get their hands on. I’ve long dreamed of going local only, but I’m starting to realize the many ways in which self-hosting my own cloud is worse.

There are some parts of your home that are full of smart home devices; I have a lot of smart devices in my living room, kitchen, and bedroom, for example. Other areas can often get neglected, including utility rooms or even your outdoor space. Here are some Home Assistant projects that can give those areas some love.

Whether your file manager is KDE’s Dolphin, GNOME’s Files, or an alternative, it’s probably an essential part of your workflow, used daily to navigate and organize your files. However, Linux users have been performing these tasks for decades, long before GUI desktops even existed.

Hybrid badges tend to dominate the fuel-economy conversation, but not every buyer needs electrification to keep running costs low. In 2026, several affordable gasoline-powered cars are proving that smart engineering, lighter weight, and efficient powertrains can still deliver outstanding mileage without the added cost or complexity of a hybrid system.

Samsung has given its SmartThings hub an AI injection that could make it more useful for tracking your smart home, and not just from your phone. The company's Now Brief feature, which provides timely AI-curated updates, now supports home security, Family Care (support for aging parents), and pets, and is coming to TVs and refrigerators "soon."

SAVE $625: College students can score one year of Microsoft 365 Premium, one year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a Xbox Wireless Controller totally free with the purchase of a Windows 11 laptop.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Windows 11 Ultimate College Bundle   Shop Now

With the arrival of Apple's MacBook Neo, college students can rejoice in an affordable, colorful laptop. Now, Microsoft is rushing to make their laptops a little more enticing to the college crowd.

They're doing a pretty good job with the ultimate college bundle. With the purchase of a new Windows 11 laptop, students score one year of Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, plus a free Xbox wireless controller. That's $624.86 worth of product that students get completely free.

Microsoft 365 Premium is usually $199.99 for a one-year subscription, and includes access to all the essential Microsoft apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It also features cloud storage and advanced security to keep your papers organized and safe. But college shouldn't be all work and no play.

For some well-earned downtime, one year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is included too. That's access to over 500 games on Xbox consoles and PCs. Not to mention, you'll receive a free wireless Xbox controller for all your gaming needs.

To get the bundle, all you need to do is shop a qualifying Windows 11 laptop, which are available at Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, and Microsoft. Qualifying devices include the Microsoft Surface and Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 laptops.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Surface, 13.8-inch (Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,499.99 at Microsoft
  Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Lenovo Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1, 16-inch (Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD) $1,049.99 at Best Buy
  Get Deal How to redeem ultimate college bundle

Once you purchase your laptop, you'll have to redeem your offer. After setting up the device, an on-screen notification will pop up asking students to verify their student status. This requires a .edu college email address.

After your student status is verified, students will receive an email to redeem their Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft 365 Premium subscriptions. Additionally, they'll receive a unique promo code to redeem a custom controller within three days of verifying their student status.

YouTube is letting users turn off the brain rot faucet on its mobile app.

The internet's home for all things video started rolling out a new setting in its iOS and Android apps that allows users to set a very strict daily limit for scrolling through the Shorts feed, per The Verge.

Specifically, you can now set it to zero minutes, effectively eliminating the Shorts feed as a viable part of the app. You'll still be able to see individual Shorts on a user's account page, but tapping on the Shorts tab at the bottom of the screen will instantly put up a message saying you've reached your limit for the day, disallowing you from watching Shorts there at all.

SEE ALSO: YouTube AI slop is a generational threat, child safety experts warn in new petition There it is. Credit: Screenshot: YouTube

YouTube originally rolled out a Shorts feed time limit feature a few months ago, but prior to this new rollout, the shortest limit was 15 minutes. After scrolling for whatever amount of time you set, the app would stop you from watching Shorts for the rest of that day. That option is still available, both for adult users to set for themselves and for parents to set for their kids, but it now exists alongside the zero minutes option.

Shorts have been successful for YouTube over the past few years as a TikTok competitor (or just a place where videos that originated on TikTok also show up), but it's also undeniably become a source of endless scrolling through AI and brain rot content for many people. Giving users the power to turn off the spigot for themselves is probably necessary.

Picking a font can be a tough task because there are so many to choose from. So why not pick a winner using a tried-and-tested method: the elimination tournament.

Do you have a habit of "closing" apps running in the background on your phone, hoping it'll improve performance or save battery life? If so, you should probably stop, because it's doing more harm than good.

Niagara Launcher has quietly become one of the best Android launchers available today. It originally grabbed attention for completely reimagining the Android home screen, and it has continued to improve upon that concept. The latest update brings a brand new customization tool and a company rebrand.

SAVE $80: As of April 16, you can get the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo for only $368.99 at Amazon. That's an 18% discount and matches its best price on record.

Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo $368.99 at Amazon
$449 Save $80.01   Get Deal

GoPro has long been the gold standard when it comes to action cameras, but the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro gives popular GoPro models a run for their money. It's tough, waterproof, and compact, can capture stable, crisp video in any lighting scenario, and actually last more than an hour. Plus, it's on sale for its lowest price on record.

As of April 16, the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo (which comes with three batteries and a battery case) is on sale for $368.99 at Amazon. That's 18% or $80 cheaper than its list price and matches its best price ever, according to our favorite price-tracking tool camelcamelcamel.

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Our friends at PCMag (also owned by Ziff Davis) tested the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and not only loved it, but also named it the best overall action camera for 2026. Highlights include superb 4K120 video footage, a waterproof build up to 65.6 feet, a compact and easily mountable design, effective digital stabilization, and the ability to record continuously without overheating.

What really takes it over the top compared to other action cameras, however, is its market-leading battery life. "The DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro provides the longest battery life we've seen from any action camera yet, running for far longer between charges than earlier entries in the series and bettering recent GoPro cameras by quite a bit," PCMag's reviewer writes. It'll last you over two hours at 4K60 and over three at 1080p30. Not to mention, with the Adventure Combo pack, you'll get three times that amount — an adventurer's and content creator's dream.

If you have fond memories of being able to upgrade your laptop’s components, I’m here to tell you that I’m right there with you. Except, in 2026, my view on that has changed, and I totally understand why companies stopped building user-upgradable laptops—and that’s okay.

The artificial intelligence entertainment platform Character.AI introduced on Thursday a feature allowing users to role-play in more than 20 classic books, including Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby.

"Books" lets Character.AI users engage in open-ended chats based on these and other famous titles in the public domain. Users can participate as a character from the book or as the "character" they've created on the platform.

SEE ALSO: I 'dated' Character.AI's popular boyfriends, and parents should be worried

Users can either follow the book's original narrative arc or go "off script" to interact with its characters as they wish. Additionally, Books offers "alternate universe remixes" in which players can overhaul a title's original premise, such as imagining Jay Gatsby in space. These remixes can be shared with the broader Character.AI community and subsequently browsed and played by other users.

In a blog post announcing the feature, Character.AI preemptively addressed the concern that it might encourage people to play classic literature rather than actually read it.

"Step into a story, talk to its characters, and there's a good chance you walk away wanting to pick up the original," the company said. "Not replacing books — but making them impossible to ignore."

Books lets users engage in open-ended chat with classic books like "Alice in Wonderland." Credit: Character.AI

Users without a paid subscription can try Books with a "handful of free turns," according to the company. Subscribers are able to explore the entire Books library.

Books will be available to users age 18 and older. Last fall, Character.AI shut down open-ended chats for teens, following lawsuits alleging that teens who used the platform experienced severe harm, including sexual abuse. The company settled the lawsuits earlier this year.

A spokesperson for Character.AI confirmed to Mashable that while users can prompt "romantic narratives" in Books, the company will moderate content that violate its terms of service, in addition to reviewing user reports of such behavior.

Character.AI policies prohibit certain types of behavior, including the depiction of excessive, graphic violence against people and animals; hate speech that demeans or promotes discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, and other characteristics; and content that promotes terrorism or violent extremism.

The policies also bar content that is obscene or pornographic, constitutes sexual harassment, and depicts the sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor.

"As with all of our content, [Books] interactions remain subject to our policies and our safety systems, including both automated and human review," the spokesperson said.

Street Fighter's trailer unleashes the whole crew of elite warriors from Capcom's iconic video game franchise.

Set in 1993 and directed by Kitao Sakurai, the upcoming action film focuses on Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo). Once good friends, the pair have since become estranged. That all changes when Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament, a high-stakes series of fights that masks a deadly conspiracy.

As Street Fighter's trio battles to uncover the truth, they'll face off with some of Street Fighter's most formidable foes, including M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), Balrog (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), and Akuma (Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i).

The trailer showcases these fighters and more in all their aggressive glory, including some body slams from Zangief (Olivier Richters) and some elastic moves from Dhalsim (Vidyut Jammwal). Plus, there are several in-jokes for Street Fighter fans, like a remark tied to Chun-Li's impressive thigh strength.

And of course, it wouldn't be Street Fighter without a Hadouken, which Ryu unleashes in full towards the end of the trailer. To witness that (and several other awesome attacks), check out the full video above.

Street Fighter hits theaters Oct. 16.

Some jobs seem to get put off forever, regardless of how important they are. Though I’m always tinkering with my smart home, rarely do I put my audit hat on and check the nuts and bolts.