Technology

It's the new year, and you know what that means—it's time to start carefully curating your music listening so you can convince people you have great taste when Spotify Wrapped drops.

If you have multiple people using your Windows 11 PC, you can enable disk quotas so your users don’t end up using more than the allowed storage space. You can set a system-wide quota or a user-specific quota, as I’ll explain.

If you want to free up storage space without deleting files, enabling NTFS (New Technology File System) compression is a good idea. I’ll show you how this works and how to enable it for your files or drives on Windows 11.

By now, you've probably heard of the Dead Internet Theory, and at first glance, it seems a bit silly. With all the friends you know online, the internet's content can't be mostly bot-created, right? Well, AI may be making the Dead Internet Theory a reality faster than we expect.

Connections is a game from the New York Times that challenges you to find the association between words. It sounds easy, but it isn't—Connections categories can be almost anything, and they're usually quite specific. If you need a hand getting the answers, we've got you covered.

This past week, Mark Zuckerberg set off a rapid reversal of policies — from DEI initiatives at Facebook to recommended political content at Threads and Instagram — and finished the week off with a nearly three-hour interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. It reads as what some users are calling a transparent attempt at bootlicking as preparation for a new political reality in the U.S. He doesn't seem too fearful of that assumption, either: Just last month, Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund and on Rogan's podcast, released on Friday, he said he's "optimistic" about president-elect Donald Trump because "he just wants America to win."

It was such a busy week for Meta that even the most steadfast Zuckerberg news junkies might have missed some of his transformative decisions. Here's a recap of all the changes a man with the net worth of over $200 billion made to one of the most powerful and influential tech companies in the world just a week before Trump takes office.

Fact checkers are out

Zuckerberg is following in the footsteps of MAGA supporter X's Elon Musk in getting rid of fact checkers in favor of community notes. He announced on Tuesday that "it's time to get back to our roots around free expression" by "simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes." The decision was faced with incredible — albeit expected — backlash from civil and human rights organizations. As Press Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights Nora Benavidez said in a press release, "Content moderation has never been a tool to repress free speech; it is a principle that the platforms themselves developed to promote dialogue and protect truth for users."

SEE ALSO: Meta ditches fact-checking for community notes ahead of second Trump term

He defended his decision on Rogan's podcast saying he employed fact checkers who "were too biased" and claimed his own company's fact checking process was "something out of 1984." It's a remarkable comparison to a book written by a democratic socialist and member of the anti-Stalinist Left. Makes you think — has Zuckerberg read the book?

Hate speech is in

Meta decided to lift prohibitions against some hate speech on its platforms. Within these new guidelines, Meta platforms will allow users to post content that calls women property, refers to specific ethnic groups as "filth," and claims that gay and trans people are "mentally ill," despite the APA declaring 52 years ago that homosexuality is not a mental illness, for instance. Users can liken protected characteristics including "race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, and serious disease" to inanimate objects, property, and diseases. The platform also won't take action against posts that argue in favor of gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination.

SEE ALSO: Fury over Meta's relaxed hate speech policies: "I really think this is a precursor for genocide"

"We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like 'weird,'" Meta wrote. A spokesperson told CNN in a statement that Meta will still prohibit some slurs and attacks and will enforce its remaining bullying, harassment, and violence policies.

DEI initiatives are out

For some reason, Zuckerberg decided to get end its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, according an internal memo obtained by Axios on Friday. Janelle Gale, Meta's vice president of human resources, wrote the memo and said Meta would still assemble "cognitively diverse teams, with differences in knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences" but it will no longer offer equity and inclusion training. As the New York Times reported, the company "eliminated its chief diversity officer role, ended its diversity hiring goals that called for the employment of a certain number of women and minorities, and said it would no longer prioritize minority-owned businesses when hiring vendors."

SEE ALSO: DEI programs at Meta are done, company says

"The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing. The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI," the memo reads, according to Axios. "It reaffirms longstanding principles that discrimination should not be tolerated or promoted on the basis of inherent characteristics. The term 'DEI' has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others."

Tampons are out

According to the New York Times, facilities managers were instructed to remove tampons from men's bathrooms in Meta’s offices in California, Texas and New York. Meta previously provided this for nonbinary and transgender employees who use the men's room. As Katie Notopoulos, a tech reporter for Business Insider, wrote on Bluesky, it's a clear attempt at virtue signaling.

"Probably only ever used by a handful of employees, but work for the facilities team to have to remove," she wrote. "Like, it took physical labor and coordination across 3 offices to do this."

Trans and nonbinary Messenger themes are out

Speaking of virtue signaling, Meta also deleted trans and nonbinary themes on its Messenger app this week, 404 Media first reported. These themes are a fun way to decorate your chats — a "love" them turns it pink, for instance. The trans and nonbinary themes turned the colors of the chats to match the trans or nonbinary pride flags. It's difficult to conjure up a reason these might have been disabled beyond an attempt to match its other new anti-LGBTQ policies.

Political speech on Instagram and Threads is in

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram and Threads, announced on Thursday that the platforms will be recommending political content to users once again. You can adjust your political content control to less, standard, and more, but the default will be standard. While some users are glad to have politics back on the platform, they are concerned about the timing with the removal of fact-checkers. It is a stark reversal from its March 2024 approach to distancing itself from political content.

SEE ALSO: Instagram and Threads will now recommend political content

"Our intention is to introduce political recommendations in a responsible and personalized way, which means more for people who want this content and less for those who do not," Mosseri posted on Threads about the decision. "Our plan is to continue to listen to feedback, learn, and iterate over the next few months."

Dana White is in

On Monday, Meta announced that Dana White, the famous Trump ally and president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, would join its board of directors — yet another move that the Washington Post noted "could be seen as Zuckerberg's latest maneuver to improve ties with Trump." White was added alongside John Elkann, the billionaire CEO of the investment company Exor and Executive Chair of Ferrari and Stellantis, and Charlie Songhurst, a tech investor. The announcement comes a week after Nick Clegg, the former Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, announced he would leave his post as Meta's policy chief.

Google monitors our locations, how we interact with its services, our web browsing habits, and more. While it claims this data collection improves user experience, it often comes at the expense of privacy. To take control of your data, here are some settings you should adjust in your Google account.

Smart home products dominate the Consumer Electronics Show each year, and CES 2025 was no different. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

Creating a copy of a form in Microsoft Forms is straightforward, whether you want to save the duplicate in your own OneDrive or send it to someone else as a template. However, it's important to know exactly what gets copied, and whether you can stop your form from being recreated by others.

Sony has been pretty great about leveraging their history for nostalgia points in recent years, and for their 30th anniversary, they've given us retro PlayStation themes for our consoles. Yay! But, for a "limited time". Boo!

This was a big week for Windows and PC news, with plenty of new hardware revealed at CES and some important Windows changes. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

As our Windows laptops tirelessly work for us, issues can gradually sneak in. If ignored, these issues may lead to costly repairs or even replacements. To ensure your laptop stays in top condition, you must routinely check its hardware health. Here are a few simple tips to help you do just that.

Forget Instagram filters and endless digital albums—instant cameras let you create one-of-a-kind snapshots to cherish or share as meaningful mementos. With classic cameras from Polaroid and Instax combining classic charm with creative possibilities, every shot is timeless.

CES 2025, one of the biggest tech events of the year, has officially come to a close. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed this week, from CES and beyond.

I like to take on a reading challenge every year. By downloading a few reading apps on my iPhone, I find it's a lot easier to stick to my reading habits and see the challenge through. Here are my favorites.

I love renewable energy for the way you can turn everyday infrastructure into stuff that provides power. While it's a big project to line the rooftop of a shed with solar panels, Anker's new solar umbrella is a much easier way to make your backyard a place you turn to for power. I can't wait to order one.

It wasn't difficult to find a common thread among the new Windows laptops showcased at CES 2025. Beyond your expected next-generation refreshes, tech's biggest trade show was all about getting more people to buy into the idea of AI-powered PCs this year.

With consumers still hesitant to embrace AI laptops, prioritizing hardware upgrades over fancy software features, companies' selling points had to come from myriad angles. Most embraced affordability, committing to bringing Qualcomm's upcoming entry-level Snapdragon X processor to dozens of budget-friendly machines. (Copilot+ PCs that cost as much as nice Chromebooks? Yes, please.) Some explored new build materials, targeting eco-conscious consumers with chassis made from oyster shells and ultralight "plasma ceramic aluminum." One manufacturer straight-up renamed all of its long-standing laptop lines in the hopes of helping shoppers more easily find the AI PC that best suits their needs — though it doesn't seem to have gone over so well.

SEE ALSO: Best of CES 2025: Everything that stole the show, according to our experts

And then there's Lenovo, which launched a funky new "rollable" display AI laptop simply because it wanted to see what was possible with OLED technology. It's actually real this time, too.

After countless hours on the Las Vegas Strip and much deliberation, here are our three favorite AI laptops we saw at CES 2025 — plus a few noteworthy honorable mentions.

Best AI laptop overall: Asus Zenbook A14 Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Made from a magnesium-aluminum alloy called "Ceraluminum" that's sleek, tough, and 100 percent recyclable, Asus' new 14-inch ultraportable weighs as little as 2.18 pounds, depending on the model — making it the world's lightest Copilot+ PC. It features a beautiful OLED display, a gesture-controlled touchpad, and a battery life of up to 32 hours per charge, which is an unrivaled number among the laptops in Mashable's testing database. Asus hasn't explicitly said as much, but all things considered, this is an obvious answer to the Apple MacBook Air. (Those digits in its name even look like the word "AIR.") It's quite competitively priced, too.

Starting Jan. 13, a Snapdragon X Elite configuration will be available at Best Buy and Asus' website for $1,099.99. Look for a $899.99 Snapdragon X variant at Best Buy this March.

Read Mashable's hands-on review of the Asus Zenbook A14.

Most innovative AI laptop: Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

We saw it coming from miles away, but Lenovo's new 14-inch business laptop with a "rollable" OLED display is officially heading to market soon. Users can expand the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6's screen with a simple hand gesture or the touch of a dedicated key; the display slides smoothly up from under its keyboard, adding 50 percent more vertical real estate. Lenovo took two years to work on this design after introducing it as a concept, and it's super sturdy and polished in person. It's a compelling new alternative to dual-display laptops for serious multitaskers, provided you can afford it.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 will start at $3,499 when it launches sometime later in Q1 2024.

Read Mashable's hands-on review of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable.

Most unexpected AI laptop: Acer Aspire Vero 16 Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Acer's latest Aspire Vero 16 brings new meaning to the term "clamshell laptop": Its chassis is partially made from oyster shells harvested in Taiwan, where the company's headquarters is based. The shells are cleaned, crushed, and mixed with a blend of over 70 percent post-consumer recycled plastic, resulting in a durable gray case with a slightly speckled appearance. Under its hood, it runs on Intel's just-announced Core Ultra 200H processors.

The Aspire Vero 16 will start at $799.99 when it goes on sale this coming April.

Read Mashable's hands-on review of the Acer Aspire Vero 16.

Honorable mention: Lots of new GeForce RTX 50 Series gaming laptops Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Nvidia's GeForce RTX 50 Series announcement was one of the biggest moments of CES 2025, and we got brief looks at several upcoming gaming laptops that will use them. (That includes the refreshed Razer Blade 16, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and G16, and the HP Omen Max 16, which is pictured above.) We didn't actually get to play anything on them — they just looped a few clips in our demos — so we don't have much to say about them right now except that they all look really flashy and expensive. However, we look forward to reviewing a slew of them once they start trickling out in March. Next-gen PC gaming is nearly upon us.

Honorable mention: Asus Adol 14 Air Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Asus dedicated a small corner of its CES showcase to its scented notebook made in partnership with fashion designer Anna Sui, which has a subtle, swappable fragrance diffuser built into the center of its lid. It's gimmicky, sure, but also extremely adorable. The notebook is available in four pastel finishes, including a purple one with butterfly accents and a matching quilted travel case. It's only available in China right now, but wider availability could be imminent. Put me down for one, please.

Thanks to AirPlay, you can wirelessly extend or mirror your Mac's screen to an external display such as an Apple TV, certain smart TVs, or other devices running AirPlay receiver software. Here's how.

Typically, you stream Plex in the standard places: on a TV, a smartphone, tablet, or computer. What if I told you that you could stream Plex (or Jellyfin) through your terminal? That's exactly what the new mov-cli-jellyplex plugin does. Here's how it works.

Gaming can be an expensive hobby, especially if you prefer to buy new games on the day of their release. But if you want games that justify the price tag, start looking for ones with high replay value rather than exorbitant hour counts.