Technology

Excel is a brilliant tool for managing data. You can store data, organize, analyze, and even visualize it. However, Excel is not a database, as it lacks many of the primary features a database system offers. No relational integrity, data constraints, or foreign-key support. That's where DBeaver earned a spot on my PC.

Google Pixel has a good reputation in the Android world — this is the brand you buy if you want Android as Google's designers intended. But Google's vision for Android seems increasingly at odds with what matters most to Pixel owners, and it's starting to push people away.

The Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) runs a real Linux kernel inside a lightweight virtual machine right inside your copy of Windows. It's an awesome piece of technology that lets you run Linux apps and do Linux things from within Windows with no dual-booting or any of that other malarkey.

If there's one thing that annoys me about modern internet-connected technology, it's that everything is a subscription these days. Features that should just be part of an appliance, or performed locally by an app, now depend on siphoning a few dollars from your account every month.

I hate driving in a silent car. I love having music playing, singing along to my favorite songs, and occasionally dancing in my seat at a red light (don’t judge me).

I'm just old enough to have participated in the last few years of the floppy disk era, and although I don't feel a particularly strong sense of nostalgia about floppies, I do think that they're interesting. In any case, I've recently started archiving old screen saver disks and screwing around with floppy disk cameras, and I was surprised by all of the tactile, sensory memories that my mind had chosen to bury away.

Walmart is on the defensive after a bombshell Groundwork Collaborative report that it has patented technology to personalize prices. According to the Oct. 5 report, "The Walmart Watchtower," several patent applications describe the data Walmart can collect about its users, from songs on your playlist to your credit report.

Dynamic pricing is the practice of changing prices in a 24-hour period depending on conditions like the weather, and it's something that some policymakers are fighting against. Surveillance pricing, which is similar, uses customer behavior and characteristics to price the same products differently.

SEE ALSO: Claude sent phony tip about an unsolved murder to Philadelphia police

"Combined with the miles-long list of personal data it collects on shoppers, outlined in its most recent privacy notice, these patents show Walmart building detailed consumer profiles — and the infrastructure to deepen them — seemingly so it can price people, not products," the report states.

The report goes on to allege that Walmart plans on charging more depending on who a customer is and what they need, such as charging new parents more for baby products. Another example is adjusting prices based on items in one's cart, like charging more for mayo if someone is already buying tuna.

The report also discusses Walmart's in-house AI shopping assistant, "Sparky," and claims that customers who use it spend more than those who don't (and that Walmart executives brag about this).

The report is written by Groundwork's president and CEO, Lindsay Owens, and its vice president of policy, advocacy, and research, Elizabeth Pancotti.

Walmart's executive vice president of corporate affairs, Dan Bartlett, responded to the report the same day with an open letter on X (and on Walmart's website) specifically to Owens. He denied Groundwork's accusations, saying the report repeatedly mischaracterizes Walmart's pricing practices and use of technology. Walmart won't pursue dynamic pricing and has committed not to, he said.

"Your comments about Sparky also draw unfounded conclusions. We do not use AI to upcharge our customers," he added.

Owens then responded to the "baseless attacks" on Oct. 5 with a new statement. She said, "The confusion around Walmart's pricing practices is of its own making. Walmart says one thing in its damage-control letters to customers, another to its investors behind closed doors, and a different thing entirely to the United States Patent and Trademark Office."

She said she released a new analysis of Walmart patents so Americans can decide for themselves. She also voices concerns about Spark's capabilities and safeguards, particularly following the Hugging Face incident.

Groundwork Collaborative was also part of the Dec. 2025 Consumer Reports investigation about Instacart's price tests, which it claimed upped customers' grocery bills. Instacart ended the tests after a public outcry from both customers and politicians.

Spooky season is here, which means I'm making room on my October watch list for witches, ghosts, and characters that make for interesting stories. Netflix has plenty to choose from, whether you want a supernatural mystery with a shade of comedy or a proper horror series that haunts you for days.

Most productivity software sells you a clean interface and a recurring charge for features you could build yourself in an afternoon. I've paid for tools that promised to do a lot, and they ended up being spreadsheets. People write Excel off as old or basic, but it can do math, it saves everything, and it works offline.

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier for who watch Texas football.

As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight, and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections: Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. Here's a hint for today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: MLB abbreviations

• Green: Frontcourt basketball

• Blue: Texas football

• Purple: Involves a ball

Here are today's Connections: Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: MLB Teams, On Scoreboards

• Green: Terms for a Frontcourt Basketball Player

• Blue: A Texas College Athlete

• Purple: Ball___

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections: Sports Edition #747 is...

What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?

• MLB Teams, On Scoreboards: MIA, MIL, SEA, TEX

• Terms for a Frontcourt Basketball Player: BIG, CENTER, FORWARD, POST

• A Texas College Athlete: AGGIE, LONGHORN, MUSTANG, OWL

• Ball___: HOG, MARKER, SECURITY, STATE

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalog.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for October 10, 2026

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for October 10, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for October 10 Pips

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-6, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 1-6 placed vertically; 4-4, placed vertically.

Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 2-0, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically.

Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically.

Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 0-5, placed vertically; 5-6, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (1): Everything in this space must be greater than 1. The answer is 5-6, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for October 10 Pips

Greater Than (9): Everything in this space must be greater than 9. The answer is 5-6, placed horizontally; 4-1, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-3, placed horizontally.

Equal (1): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 1. The answer is 4-1, placed vertically; 1-2, placed vertically.

Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally.

Greater Than (9): Everything in this space must be greater than 9. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally.

Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 1-2, placed vertically; 4-4, placed horizontally.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for October 10 Pips

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-2, placed vertically.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 2-1, placed horizontally.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-3, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-3, placed horizontally.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 5-3, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically.

Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally.

Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.

Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-5, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 3-2, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed vertically.

Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally.

Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

I realized recently how much of my phone life quietly depends on Google. Calendar for appointments, Keep for random thoughts, Chrome for basically everything, Maps when I’m lost, and Authenticator when Google decides I need another security code. It’s convenient, sure.

No one takes shots at bad movies and performances quite like the Golden Raspberry Awards, better known as the Razzie Awards. While the Oscars celebrate the best movies of the year, the Razzies reward the worst movies of the year. It's supposed to be a joke, but the Razzies have sometimes taken cheap shots. Thankfully, the Razzies eventually put age limits on their nominations.

There’s a common belief that Windows has more apps — and better ones, too — than Linux. And sure, that’s true in a few categories. If your work depends on Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud, Windows is definitely the better platform. However, that superiority doesn’t hold across the board. Some really capable apps exist only on Linux, so if you’re on Windows, you can’t use them. Here are three of my favorite Linux-exclusive apps.

Claude Haiku 4.5 sent the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) a false homicide tip, Anthropic and the PPD announced.

In an Oct. 9 blog post about Anthropic investigating unintended model actions, the company described the incident and several others in which different Claude models performed actions they weren't asked to perform.

SEE ALSO: Anthropic IPO docs reportedly reveal over $40 billion in losses last year

In this case, Claude Haiku 4.5 was tasked with generating and performing example tasks on randomly-selected webpages. The model landed on a PPD tip form about an unsolved homicide. The model was instructed not to log in, create accounts, enter personal data, make purchases, or "submit anything destructive," according to the post — but the list of don'ts didn't include submitting forms.

So, Claude filled out the tip form:

I may have information regarding this case. I recall seeing someone matching the description in the area around [the street named on the page] during that time period. Please contact me if this information is relevant.

Claude didn't fill in the name or contact fields, nor did he provide a description of the imaginary suspect.

The PPD provided more details in a statement shared with 6abc Philadelphia. Claude submitted the form to PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com on July 18. The tip went to spam and was never acted upon. Anthropic discovered the incident on Sept. 28 and notified PPD on Oct. 7.

The statement went on to say that PPD has a vetting process for tips, including a human review, before any follow-ups. "Those PPD safeguards limited the impact of this incident," PPD stated. "They do not diminish the seriousness of an AI system presenting fabricated information as though it came from a person with knowledge of a homicide."

"Unsolved cases involve real victims, grieving families, and investigators working to secure answers," the statement went on. "Technology companies must take all appropriate steps necessary to prevent their systems from submitting false information to law enforcement."

Other rogue actions described in the blog post included exploiting software flaws, circumventing restrictions to access gated data, and using URL shortening services. In the post, Anthropic insisted these behaviors were "significantly less severe" than in previous incidents, and the real-world impact was minimal.

It feels like we never reminisce like we used to, but the past was clearly better in many ways. There are some 1990s gadgets that were so awesome or ahead of their time that they still put current tech to shame.

The dream of "one cable to rule them all" is finally a reality, and dozens of devices are better off because of it. USB-C gave us permission to own fewer single-use cables than we used to, and it opened the door to interesting functionality that would otherwise be impossible, like running data, power, and video between a single port on a laptop and a monitor.

For $150, you can walk into most brick-and-mortar stores and buy an inexpensive soundbar that sounds like a tin can, or you can start assembling a real 5.1 from the basic pieces.

Everyone from Instagram influencers to big-name CEOs seems to be saying the same thing: AI is going to be the end of SaaS (Software as a Service). And while I’d love a world with fewer subscriptions, when I look around, I see quite the opposite. If anything, more software subscriptions are popping up every year, often at absurdly inflated prices.

Up until Oct. 3, Los Angeles-based lingerie brand Cantiq had over 100,000 followers on Instagram. Designer and owner Chelsea Hughes told Mashable that Instagram was its number one source of traffic and revenue — the lifeblood of the gender- and size-inclusive brand.

Then, seemingly without warning, Instagram owner Meta banned the account, and Hughes' personal Facebook was also suspended. The account was restored on Oct. 9, but not before personal strife from Hughes and public scrutiny, including Mashable reaching out to Meta about the incident.

"I can't even get into…the Meta Business Manager app," Hughes told Mashable on a phone call while the account was down. "I can't access anything. So ten years of work down the drain."

SEE ALSO: Instagram put a warning on Florence Pugh's 'Cornell 7' post. Why?

Hughes believed this was the work of discriminatory AI. In March, Meta announced plans to enforce its content guidelines with advanced AI models. 

"If you are a 3X and you're wearing the same bra as another person in an extra small, that AI will scan and say that that 3X person is showing more skin just because they have a larger body," she said. "It is not about them being more sexual. It is not about them selling sex or anything like that. It's just based on the fact that there are more square inches on their skin than on a smaller size, and that's just not fair."

Cantiq is one of many businesses facing these takedowns. In the last few months, numerous gay bars and nightclubs in Los Angeles and Austin have also reported that Meta has removed their business accounts. 

Thick Enterprises, which platforms, showcases, and trains dancers in larger bodies, also had their Instagram account removed recently. It was restored around the same time as Cantiq's account. Chantal, its co-owner and experiential director (who declined to give her last name), told Mashable while the account was down that she believed this was "a targeted puritanical culling of fat and queer spaces."

"The fact that it has happened in these last two months, you're like, oh yeah, this is definitely queer erasure. This is fatphobia. This is taking marginalized groups and labeling them as sexual deviants, and that's incredibly dangerous," Chantal said.

On Oct. 9, Meta told Mashable via email that it enforces its policies regardless of the account holders or the type of content they post, and linked to its sexual solicitation and sexually explicit language policy outlining the types of content that can lead to enforcement. (Both Hughes and Chantal said they work to keep their content compliant with Meta's policies.)

"It has felt like 1984"

LGBTQ accounts, accounts of sex workers, sex educators, reproductive activists, and the like have made similar claims over the years: Instagram banned them despite following its community guidelines. There have also been many accusations of shadowbanning, or not being seen in Instagram's Search or Explore pages. (Instagram has denied that shadowbanning exists.)

Now, it seems that Meta's bans are coming for LGBTQ and plus-sized-focused businesses.

Nonprofit Repro Uncensored (RU) gathers reports of Meta banning accounts, and it's getting these reports pretty constantly at this point, its executive director, Martha Dimitratou, told Mashable over the phone. Between March and Oct. 2026, RU recorded approximately 905 cases of digital censorship globally, she said, including 135 in the U.S. In Aug. and Sept. alone, RU received 275 reports worldwide, including 60 in the U.S.

Supporting marginalized and progressive accounts isn't a priority of big tech, especially in this political climate, Dimitratou added.

"Meta is fully aware of this problem and yet it continues, over and over, to suspend LGBTQ accounts that are not in violation of its policies," a GLAAD spokesperson told Mashable over email. "Rather than committing to solving the systemic problem, and ensuring its AI moderation systems are not flagging LGBTQ language and resources as violative, the company restores an account only after a public outcry."

This is what happened to Precinct, a bar in Los Angeles. Its Instagram account was restored after its general manager, Jeremy Lucido, and others urged Precinct's patrons to contact Meta.

View this post on Instagram

"We have been targeted, and we've been left with very few real resources or ways to get help," Lucido told Mashable over email. 

Platforms like Meta have created a system where businesses like Precinct depend on social media to reach their customers and community, but when something goes wrong, they're repeatedly shut out of the channels they rely on to operate, he continued.

"Meta's users, creators, and advertisers are entitled to have the company's products function safely and fairly. They deserve an explanation and implementation of an actual solution. Meta must fix this problem, now."

Hughes told Mashable that, before the ban, several words in Cantiq's bio were flagged — but that the only words in the bio were "queer," "body positive," and the size range of Cantiq's clothes (6X to XS). She requested a review of this, and a few days later, the account was gone.

"I'm banned from the platform with no recourse, no specifics. Just, 'You violated our community standards, and now you're banned,'" she said prior to the account restoration. Since she couldn't repeal the decision because whenever she tried to log into her account, she received an error message, she asked followers on her personal account to contact Meta, and also reported the incident to RU. She even paid for the highest level of verification on her personal account to get enhanced support.

Chantal, meanwhile, woke up on Aug. 27 to find the @thickenterprises account had been banned on Instagram. The night before, the account had no posting or feature restrictions. 

Instagram apparently stated that a poster for a show on Aug. 14, nearly two weeks earlier, was "soliciting sex and posting nudity." But no one was nude; Chantal made sure no posts violated Meta's community guidelines, and the decision to change the business's name from Thick Strip to Thick Enterprises was partly due to efforts to adhere to them. (Chantal said it had been called Thick Strip since 2018, and it was never an issue until 2026.)

The accounts of several Thick Enterprises dancers were also removed, Chantal told Mashable. Like Hughes, she believes this is due to discriminatory AI. 

"It's our belief that the AI moderation system is reading these larger bodies as being nude because we have more skin," she said. "This algorithmic bias is baked into this coding, and we believe it because our peers who are smaller in this industry don't seem to be facing this disproportional enforcement of these community guidelines."

Chantal also said that everything she posts will be labeled "body positive" — even if that's not what the content is about. "I'll post a photo of me at the beach, or a photo of me in a pretty outfit, and I'll say I'm a business owner, or I went to a concert, or summer joy, and every single post will mention body positivity."

She believes Meta's AI content moderation oscillates between reading bigger bodies as "body positivity" or vulgarity. 

"I have felt surveilled," she said. "It has felt very 1984."

The impact of Meta's content moderation

On Oct. 1, Meta's Oversight Board (an independent body that reviews the company's content enforcement decisions) announced that it's conducting new research to provide guidelines on how to use AI content moderation "in a way that respects free expression, reduces harm and adheres to recognized human rights standards."

While the Oversight Board initially welcomed AI use in content moderation in March, it noted the well-known risks associated with LLMs, such as inherent biases and hallucinations, as well as their struggle to handle nuances of communication, such as sarcasm, humor, and coded language. 

These businesses are facing the human impact of these pitfalls.

Before Cantiq's account was restored, Hughes said this "might be the final nail in our coffin," given the economy and the fact that lingerie isn't recession-proof. 

"One of the main ways we've been able to survive this storm that a lot of people are going through is because of our popularity on Instagram." She had to think of her five employees and their livelihoods, too.

Lucido of Precinct said that as the process becomes automated, getting an actual person to look at a problem feels nearly impossible. When accounts are removed — without explanation or human support — it results in missed promotions, disrupted communication, and potentially lost business. 

"An apology after the fact doesn’t undo that," he said. "We need reliable human support, clear explanations, and accountability when these systems repeatedly fail our community."

Meanwhile, big brands like Kardashian-owned Skims seem to be allowed to post whatever they want. In 2025, Mashable reported that Skims was able to post about pubic hair underwear while smaller creators get banned for showing less sexual content.

"Not only is it discriminatory towards the plus-size community and the queer community, but it's also just discriminatory to small businesses in general," Hughes said, "and we're the ones that need them the most."

Chantal said the deletions have made her feel like she's doing something wrong by existing as an adult and empowering others, but she knows in her heart of hearts it's not illegal nor wrong.

"It's been a battle inside of me…feeling this pressure to bow to our digital overlords and the way that they want to run the internet. Do I do that for the sake of still existing on this platform, or do I stay authentic to how we are?" she asked. 

But seeing other businesses' and people's accounts removed made her realize it's not her fault. "We're all just victims," she said.