Technology

For most people, the story of graphics cards starts with Nvidia and AMD. The reality is quite different.

When it comes to anime, your watch list will always be well-fed. There's a show and trope out there for all your moods and curiosities, whether you're into fast-paced action and adventure or mellow stories that focus on romance or friendship.

Grocery delivery service Instacart will pay $60 million in consumer refunds to settle a lawsuit over unlawful tactics, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shared on Thursday.

The FTC lawsuit claimed that Instacart engaged in several deceptive methods, including:

• Falsely advertising "free delivery" to customers' first order when they actually needed to pay a service fee as much as 15 percent

• Falsely advertising a "100 percent satisfaction guarantee," implying full refunds that Instacart didn't offer

• Failing to disclose the terms of Instacart+ membership enrollment, such as that consumers would be charged at the end of their free trials

"Instacart misled consumers by advertising free delivery services — and then charging consumers to have groceries delivered — and failing to disclose to consumers that signed up for a free trial that they would be automatically enrolled into its subscription program," director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Christopher Mufarrige, stated in the FTC's press release. "The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services to ensure that competitors are transparently competing on price and delivery terms."

On Thursday, Instacart released its own press release concerning the FTC lawsuit. In it, the company states that although it reached this settlement, "We flatly deny any allegations of wrongdoing by the agency, and we believe the foundation of the FTC's inquiry was fundamentally flawed. And to avoid potential confusion, we want to clarify that, as of this settlement announcement, we are not aware of any other pending FTC investigations. We stand firmly behind the integrity, transparency, and value of our programs."

Instacart shared that:

• It clearly displays all fees before checkout, and is clear on what "$0 delivery" means

• The Instacart+ membership complies with regulatory standards and is one of the most "clear, straightforward, affordability-focused, ad consumer-friendly subscription programs on the market"

• It's easy to try and cancel the Instacart+ membership

In addition to the $60 million settlement, Instacart agreed to stop the practices alleged in the FTC's lawsuit, including misrepresenting delivery costs. The company must also clearly outline its subscription terms and obtain express consent for transactions of its subscriptions.

If you're trying to get into the terminal app on your Ubuntu computer, why not start with some lighthearted fun? There are some command line Easter eggs that won't do anything but entertain you, and I've gathered some of the best.

Netflix is bidding farewell to a popular TV series in the new year, meaning subscribers don't have much time to watch it. You will have to take advantage of the show's finite availability on the streaming platform. So, whether it's to start the series for the first time or to rewatch favorite episodes, the clock is running out on access to Lost via Netflix.

Waymo suspended service of its driverless robotaxis in San Francisco during a blackout that hit many of the city's residents on Saturday night.

Around a third of San Francisco residents were without power for hours due to a fire at a Pacific Gas and Electric substation, The San Francisco Standard reported. During the blackout, people noticed that Waymo vehicles appeared to be blocking intersections and causing traffic congestion. Waymo announced that evening that it had suspended service in the city due to the power outages, Mission Local reported.

San Franciscians shared photos and videos on X:

Autonomous Waymo vehicles are designed to treat non-functional signals as four-way stops, but the scale of the blackout led to instances of cars stalling for longer than usual to confirm the state of affected intersections, according to Waymo. The majority of active trips were successfully completed before the cars pulled over or returned to depots.

The company didn't share with Mashable what percentage of the self-driving fleet was impacted, or why the driverless vehicles stopped working during the blackout.

Waymo's spokesperson, Suzanne Philion, told Mashable in an emailed statement that, "We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage. Our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon."

While power began to be restored around 9:10 p.m. last night, some outages remain early Sunday morning according to PG&E's map.

Around 4 p.m. PT Sunday, a Waymo spokesperson updated Mashable and stated, "We are resuming ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yesterday's power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions. While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events."

"Throughout the outage, we closely coordinated with San Francisco city officials," the spokesperson continued. "We are focused on rapidly integrating the lessons learned from this event, and are committed to earning and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve every day."

This is the latest in a recent series of Waymo incidents. Just this month, a viral video showed a driverless Waymo seemingly driving straight into traffic, a Los Angeles woman discovered a stranger in the trunk of her Waymo, and Waymo issued a software recall following reports of the cars illegally passing school buses in Austin.

Back in November, Waymo was hit with a wave of criticism in San Francisco after an autonomous car struck a beloved neighborhood cat.

UPDATE: Dec. 22, 2025, 9:26 a.m. EST This article has been updated with further information and an updated statement from Waymo.

The year is drawing to an end, which means Apple's 2025 App Store Awards have recognized the best apps for all your Apple devices. The contenders for iPhone's App of the Year were strong, but I was not surprised at which app emerged as the winner.

All the popular power tool brands produce a ton of excellent tools, and that means you have endless options to choose from. And sure, Milwaukee, Ryobi, DeWALT, and others all make many similar items, but Milwaukee also offers some rather obscure items you've probably never seen or heard of. Here are a few that you'll likely want to buy once you're aware of them.

Christmas and nostalgia go hand in hand, and this year I’m overdosing on both with the help of my Raspberry Pi. One thing I remember fondly from childhood is playing Christmas-themed games and demos on my Amiga, so I figured now is the perfect time to relive the classics.

Are you still using gigabit Ethernet as the backbone of your homelab? It’s time to stop. As we get ready to enter 2026, it’s time to leave 1998 in the past and embrace a multi-gig future.

It’s easy to forget that the Android Auto display in your car is literally your phone. So, if you’re out of cell signal range, the maps you need to navigate aren’t going to be very useful. That is, unless you’ve planned ahead—I’ll give you two options.

For most Americans, the idea of owning a $130,000 sedan sounds ridiculous. Even if you could swing it, there are better ways to spend that kind of cash, and waiting for depreciation can feel like a gamble.

Last night's episode of SNL was Bowen Yang's last as a cast member. He announced his departure from the show on Instagram just a day before the show, after the release of a teaser with him and host Ariana Grande, and musical guest Cher.

Yang's final sketch featured him as an employee of the Delta One Lounge, pouring eggnog for flyers for one final shift.

"I'm going to miss everything about this place. The way it smells. Celebrities would come through. Just last week, Josh O'Connor was here," he said, referring to the actor and last week's host.

He gets a call from an elderly-looking Ariana Grande who tells Yang she's proud of him for everything he's done (with eggnog, of course) over the years — even when the eggnog was rotten. He and Grande then sing a rendition of "Please Come Home for Christmas," and he's eventually joined by Grande in the lounge.

"I just feel so lucky that I ever got to work here," Yang said, definitely not referring to the Delta One Lounge. "And I just wanted to enjoy it for a little bit longer. Especially the people. I've loved every single person who works here because they've done so much for me, especially my boss."

But within the sketch, Yang wasn't referring to Lorne Michaels but Cher, who emerges as the "CEO of Eggnog at Delta." The three of them close out the song and the sketch with a teary farewell to Yang.

The last SNL of the year kept making jabs at the redacted Epstein files that dropped on Friday (followed by a disappearance of some of them by Saturday). First, an Epstein-heavy cold open with James Austin Johnson's Donald Trump, and then a Weekend Update filled with references to the disgraced financier.

Anchor Colin Jost joked that it's the time of year when we're all talking about "the man who flies through the air to visit children all over the world"...Jeffrey Epstein. Fellow anchor Michael Che then assumed that the Department of Justice couldn't release all the files on Friday because they "ran out of black ink."

Weekend Update stayed on politics this week, taking aim at RFK's move to ban transgender affirming care, Marjorie Taylor Greene's engagement, and Trump's apparent health problems. They also made fun of Vanity Fair's interview with White House officials, like Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who said Trump had an "alcoholic's personality."

"Hey, don't you dare compare him to my friend, Michael Che," Jost said.

USB-C is finally making its way into everything, and I’m in no position to complain. After spending much of my life lamenting the design decisions that went into USB-A, mini USB, and the dreaded micro USB connectors, I for one welcome USB-C ubiquity.

I write about tech every day, which means taking a lot of screenshots. The built-in Windows Snipping tool works for the occasional screenshot, but it doesn't work for my regular workflow. I can't configure the hotkeys, the annotation tools are limited, and there are no tabs or autosave features. If you want something better than the snipping tool, try any of these screenshot tools.

The superhero genre may consist mostly of multiverse mayhem and larger-than-life battles, but there have also been occasions where heroes have embraced the holiday spirit. Sometimes our beloved heroes are dragged into a villain's scheme while their worlds celebrate, while others have focused on their own efforts to take a break with their loved ones during the festive period.

For the last SNL of the year, President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) got into a festive mood — by talking about Jeffrey Epstein for the umpteenth time.

The cold open wasn't the first time SNL mentioned Epstein, even in cold opens. But it was the first episode since the recent release of new files pertaining to Epstein on Friday, followed by the quick removal of some of them on Saturday.

Referencing Trump's Wednesday night primetime address to the nation, Johnson's Trump showed up to the podium surrounded by Christmas decorations by an ornate fireplace. He discussed the recent renaming of the Kennedy Center to include his own name, and ribbed that it'll also happen to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. He said he's putting his name on so many buildings "because we had to take it off of so many files," referencing the heavily redacted Epstein files.

"We had so many Trumps in there, we had to put them somewhere," SNL's Trump said.

The rambling cold open also mentions Trump's announcement of the Hunger Games-like Patriot Games, Venezuela, and somehow, the Indigo Girls. But there was time to celebrate the season, too. "I'm doing my own version of Nativity now," Johnson's Trump said. "Where kings from the Middle East bring gifts for me like gold and airplane and casino deal in Dubai."

Google recently released its own code editor, Antigravity. Based on Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code, Antigravity brings a lot to the table. I’ve been using it for the past few weeks, and here’s why I think it should be your IDE of choice.

3D-printed gifts can be a real mixed bag. On the one hand, you have the power to craft something truly unique, but on the other, you’re at risk of giving someone another one of those articulated dragon models they never asked for.