Technology

There are plenty of good reasons to buy a new Honda Civic Type R. It’s quick, seriously fun to drive, and has a look that stands out in all the right ways.

Like many of you, I'm no stranger to Windows breaking itself after an update or otherwise ruining my day, but since I expect it to fail I tend to have backups and mitigations in place, so at worst it's annoying. As long as you don't use it for anything mission-critical, you're OK.

Linux Mint is a stable, reliable, and user-friendly Linux distro that provides a smooth transition for Windows users coming to Linux. But despite giving it several honest tries, I just don't seem to like it. Here's why Linux Mint and I just don't click, despite its objective merits.

We all want to treat our moms to the best, but sometimes the budget doesn't quite line up with the best of intentions. That's where freebies, voucher codes, and limited-time exclusives from popular restaurants come to the rescue.

You can find some really great food offers from the likes of Denny’s, Pizza Hut, Dunkin', and more popular names on Mother's Day this year. We've checked out everything on offer to bring you the very best, so you can treat her right this weekend.

Aroma Joe’s

Moms can get a free 24-ounce iced drink (any flavor) on Mother's Day.

Baskin-Robbins

Reward members get a BOGO free scoop on May 9. You might need to think of something else to do on Mother's Day, but it's still a nice early treat.

Denny's

Score $10 off online orders of $30+ when you get breakfast for delivery or pickup with the code MOMDAY. This offer is live from May 9-11.

Dunkin'

From May 9-10, Dunkin' is offering 3x points when you order either a 6- or 12-count donut box or 20- or 50-count of Munchkins.

Friendly’s

Moms can get a free medium sundae with any adult entrée purchase.

Morton's The Steakhouse

From May 7-10, Morton's The Steakhouse is dropping an exclusive Mother's Day menu that starts from $79 per person.

Outback Steakhouse

Outback Steakhouse is dropping a limited-time “Mum’s Day Menu” with filet mignon and lobster tail combinations. Looking to go all-out this Mother's Day? This could seriously impress.

Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut is serving up its famous Heart Shaped Pizza for Mother's Day. This limited-edition pizza is available at select locations nationwide through May 10.

Raising Cane’s

Caniac Club members get a BOGO Free Box Combo on May 10-11.

Ruth's Chris Steak House

Ruth's Chris Steak House is offering a Mother's Day brunch on May 9-10, starting at $49 per person.

Shake Shack

Get a free single burger with any $10 purchase using the app code for National Burger Month. OK, that's not a Mother's Day deal. But does she like burgers? If she does, it's a perfect Mother's Day deal.

TCBY

TCBY is giving moms a 6-ounce treat for free. This offer is only valid on May 10, but your mom can choose between a small cup or cone.

White Castle

White Castle is celebrating moms with a BOGO deal on combo meals. Plus, you can score 20% off any order this weekend by using the code WCMOM.

It's no secret that Milwaukee has a solid reputation and is one of the best power tool brands on the market, but that doesn't mean everything with its red-and-white logo is worth buying. Milwaukee makes a wide variety of tools, which is one of its strengths, but that also means some tools completely miss the mark or leave a little to be desired.

Depending on who you ask, the last people you'd want to stand next to at your neighborhood bar are the man who started the Iran war and the man who helped end abortion (their words, not ours). That's the premise of SNL's latest Cold Open, where Colin Jost's Pete Hegseth sulks into a barstool lamenting that nobody left in the Trump Administration can keep up with him drink-for-drink. That is, until Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh comes stumbling in, played by this weekend's host Matt Damon.

The two spend much of the sketch bonding over everything they've managed to accomplish — or inflict, depending on your perspective — since taking office. Hegseth is beside himself at the prospect of the Iran conflict actually ending and leaving him without a reason to exist, while Kavanaugh is in full waterworks mode over the "male loneliness epidemic." Rough night for powerful men.

Things do take a turn for the chaotic, however, when Aziz Ansari returns as FBI Director Kash Patel, instantly shifting the energy from sad-drunk to dangerous-drunk. Before long, the trio is floating the idea of a Trump third term.

Competitive gaming has evolved far beyond flashy shooters and fantasy worlds. Some of the most surprisingly intense e-sports scenes are built around software you probably used at work today. Here are some of the biggest ones.

3D printers have brought us closer to the world of Star Trek replicators, but we are still far away from sci-fi machines that can make anything at the press of a button. No single 3D printer is good at everything in equal measure.

I've been building PCs for something around 20 years, and seeing as it's a major hobby for me, I like to lurk around various PC building communities or talk to other PC owners. And one of the things that I see most often is worrying about the expensive stuff. Makes sense: if you spend over $1,000 on a GPU, you want to keep it safe.

Smart home forums are full of posts from people showing off the incredible dashboards that they've created, often displayed on wall-mounted tablets. While these dashboards can show you a lot of information about your smart home, there are many ways in which a simple E-Ink dashboard is a better option.

Everyone knows devices use more battery when screens are on—pushing pixels on a high-resolution display isn’t easy. But what if I told you enabling the always-on display on a Samsung Galaxy Watch could bring better battery life? Sounds wrong, but it’s true.

While the Western genre and its archetypes epitomize an iconic era in American history, most movies are generally just works of fiction. And while they make for great movies, it’s always those that are inspired by or at least nominally depict true stories that draw the most attention.

There are now more than a dozen Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) SUVs available for sale, with nearly every mainstream automaker offering at least one. Models like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson, and Mazda CX-70 are popular options. My personal favorite is the Lamborghini Urus SE, though its price tag is higher than the Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, and Mazda combined!

Kevin Hart is known for cracking jokes about his peers onstage. Now, the tables are turned, as Hart will be in the hot seat for The Roast of Kevin Hart, which streams live tonight on Netflix at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The roast will take place at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.

The Linux terminal is a powerful way to run programs on your computer from the command line. Using scripts, you can easily repeat common tasks, even using complex programming logic.

AI is already working its way into the average office worker's day, whether that means cleaning up emails, organizing notes, explaining confusing language, or making a giant document less painful to deal with. And with so many AI tools and subscription tiers out there, the real question isn't whether AI can summarize something. It's whether the summary is good enough to trust.

You can improve many items with 3D printed upgrades, but things don’t always fit perfectly the first time around. It’s frustrating to spend time and money waiting for an object to print, only to find out it was all for naught and you have to start again.

TL;DR: A lifetime license for Microsoft Windows 11 Pro is on sale for $9.97 (reg. $199).

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Windows 11 Pro $9.97
$199 Save $189.03   Get Deal

If you’re still running Windows 10, here’s the deal – Microsoft pulled the plug on support back in October of 2025, meaning no more security updates. If you’ve been putting off the upgrade, you can switch to Windows 11 Pro right now while it’s on sale for just $9.97 (was $199).

Windows 11 Pro brings a noticeably cleaner interface along with improved multitasking tools like snap layouts and virtual desktops, both of which are great tools if you regularly juggle multiple windows or work on several projects at once.

Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!

On the security side, you’re getting biometric login, Smart App Control, and BitLocker encryption, which is a huge step up from an OS that isn’t getting security updates at all. These enhanced security tools add an extra layer of security when you’re logging into your computer, block untrusted or dangerous apps, and lock down your information if anyone gets their hands on your device. They’re a must for anyone handling sensitive files or working remotely.

Think about what’s actually changed since Windows 10 launched over a decade ago. The way we work, the security threats we’re up against, and the tools we rely on daily have all evolved. Windows 11 Pro is built with consideration for these changes. Whether you’re working from home, managing files, or just tired of your OS feeling dated, this upgrade brings day-to-day improvements that people truly notice. At $9.97 for a lifetime license, it’s an easy call if you’re still on Windows 10.

Protect your PC and upgrade to Windows 11 Pro for $9.97.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Get lifetime access to ChatGPT, Gemini, and more with 1min.AI, today only for $74.97 (reg. $540).

Opens in a new window Credit: 1minAI 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime Subscription $79.97
$540 Save $460.03   Get Deal

If you’re juggling multiple AI subscriptions just to cover all your bases, there’s a smarter way to do it. 1min.AI pulls ChatGPT, Gemini, Mistral, and dozens of other top AI tools into one browser-based platform — and right now, a lifetime subscription is just $74.97 (reg. $540).

So what can you do about it? A lot, honestly. 1min.AI is built for the kind of work that usually requires four or five different tabs open at once. Draft blog posts, rewrite and tighten copy, generate social content, research keywords, and keep your brand voice consistent across every project. Need to crunch documents? You can summarize, translate, or chat directly with multiple PDFs at the same time. There are also tools to build slide decks, generate images from text prompts, upscale low-res photos, remove backgrounds, extend edges, and turn rough sketches into polished visuals.

Here’s just a few of the AI models:

• GPT

• Claude 3 Opus and Claude 3 Sonnet

• Gemini Pro 1.5

• Llama 3

• Mistral models

The plan comes loaded with 4,000,000 credits per month, and you can earn up to 450,000 additional credits through daily logins and small tasks. Credits work across writing, images, audio, and video — so you can shift your usage as the month demands. Unused credits roll over, so a slower month doesn’t mean wasted money.

The plan also supports up to 20 team members, with shared workspaces, an unlimited prompt library, unlimited storage, and unlimited brand voices. It’s a serious toolkit whether you’re a solo creator or managing a small team.

Lifetime access to 1min.AI’s Advanced Business Plan is $74.97 right now, but this offer expires May 10 at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, it’s gone.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

New York City, with the largest public school district in the country, was breaking ground on a novel, AI-themed high school when district leadership abruptly pulled the plug last month. They cited mounting parental concern and nationwide backlash to what has been labeled rapid, unsafe adoption of AI. 

Because there has been a rapid adoption of AI among students across the country. Used properly, the tech could transform learning, many argue, and fill gaps in an overburdened education system. But others worry it'll be a generational misstep that could worsen learning development.

Mashable spoke with a dozen stakeholders — parents, child safety advocates, AI literacy experts, tech leaders, and a state representative proposing stronger EdTech regulation — to lay out what is at stake when you add AI to the equation. 

SEE ALSO: How to defend yourself against AI cheating accusations AI moratoriums: Safe choice or miscalculation?

Dylan Arena, chief data science and AI officer for education solutions giant McGraw Hill, told Mashable that the history of EdTech is cyclical. First there was the introduction of the internet and computers wholesale. Then, there was the push for 1:1 devices (personal laptops, Chromebooks, tablets). Now, it's AI. 

He described similar hype cycles around personalized or "adaptive" learning (you'll hear this term surrounding AI, as well). Arena sees AI adoption as less an evolution and more a "pendulum swing or a wobbly spiral." AI, for what it's worth, is much older than our current LLM obsession will lead you to believe, and it's already been in classrooms. McGraw Hill's web-based AI assessment tool, ALEKS, was designed 25 years ago. 

"Early on, the conversation was about access: devices, connectivity, and digital materials. Now the conversation has to be about impact," said Melissa Loble, chief academic officer at EdTech giant Instructure. Instructure, which offers popular learning management system Canvas, announced partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic in 2025. "The benefits are real when technology is used with a clear purpose. We are not trying to add AI simply because it is new."

AI developers and tech proponents advocate for gated, human-administered AI experiences in the classroom, as well as administrative applications for teachers and staff, that will reduce workloads, enhance learning, and ease the friction of modern classrooms. They argue that future workforces will be defined by their ability to detect and leverage AI. Whether or not a student or educator intends to use it, they should at least know how AI operates.  

"On one hand, the demand for generative AI in schools has grown at an extraordinary pace. On the other, that pace has understandably raised important questions about safety and the long-term impact on learning," said Naria Santa Lucia, general manager of the Microsoft Elevate initiative. "Ideally, every school adopts AI with a clear plan that includes guidelines co-developed with educators, strong privacy protections, and dedicated time for teacher training to ensure students and teachers are best prepared for the future AI economy."

"Our priority in education is to ensure AI works to the benefit of learning and students," Leah Belsky, vice president of education at OpenAI, told Mashable. "To do so, we partner with teachers, institutions, and students to advance our tool and research outcomes. We launched ChatGPT for teachers to help teachers build deep fluency with AI so that they can play a key role in guiding students in how to use AI well."

Many agree that the tech's adoption shouldn't be rushed, and that popular generative AI tools don't yet have their place in K-12. OpenAI and Anthropic, for example, only offer their classroom products for higher education. 

"Our learning tools on Chromebooks are built with educators, giving them the control to decide what’s best for their students," said Google spokesperson Maggie Shiels.

The company reiterated that Gemini for Education, NotebookLM, and other Google AI products are compliant with child privacy laws, a leading concern in the debate. Students' chats aren't used for AI training and Gemini in Workspace isn't available to students under 18.

Most EdTech leaders Mashable spoke to share concerns about an overabundance of screen time among youth. Several acknowledged a concerning lack of long-term research on AI's impact on cognition and learning outcomes.

"The answer is not hype, and it is not fear," said Loble. "It is evidence, governance, and learning."

AI is the fastest growing consumer technology. It cannot be contained. - Amanda Bickerstaff, AI for Education

Those tools could be a genuine solution to public education's dilemmas, proponents say. "There is a real difference between purpose-built systems, systems built for educational outcomes, and general purpose AI," Ashish Bansal, founder of AI math tutor StarSpark.AI told Mashable. 

Bansal says that generative AI tools can address inequities between students with access to support at home and those without. Multimodal technologies, like live translation, can make school easier for second language learners. He argues for classrooms built on collaboration, social interaction, and group problem solving, with generative AI offering support for individual learning.

Several EdTech makers Mashable interviewed are of the camp that smaller AI solutions can address societal issues posed by Big Tech's universal models, but they require time and investment. Moratoriums or bans would render that near impossible.

AI moratoriums could also pose risks themselves, Santa Lucia and others warn.

"I understand the instinct, everyone wants to be sure we get this right, and we share that caution. But we believe the real opportunity is not to stop progress, but to shape it," she said. "The more constructive path in my view is to meet that moment with intentional design."

"In our judgement, there shouldn't be any AI-facing instruction for children in elementary schools," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

Vocally opposed to teacher replacement, AFT's stance is that educators should have the opportunity to learn about and deploy generative AI should they see fit, empowering them to make the choice instead of Big Tech. AFT partnered with Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic last year to launch the country's first National Academy for AI Instruction serving its 1.8 million members.

"AI is probably the most pronounced industrial revolution, certainly in my lifetime, but maybe in civilization," said Weingartern. "Every societal change shows up in teachers' classrooms." 

AI education is not a green light for adoption, or even advocacy, argues Amanda Bickerstaff, CEO of AI for Education, an AI literacy organization that partners with educational institutions and advises districts on ethical AI deployment. 

"We are living in an inflection point. When people think about generative AI, they often think of it like an app or device that can be turned off. But generative AI is more similar to the internet and electricity in that it's the power underneath the applications," she said. "[AI] is the fastest growing consumer technology. It cannot be contained."

The case for an AI pause

On April 16, a group of 250 organizations and experts convened by child safety nonprofit Fairplay penned a letter to schools across the U.S. and Canada calling for a five-year moratorium on classroom AI. It wasn’t the first. 

A few months prior, a group of concerned parents, teachers, and climate activists in New York City issued their own call for a two-year moratorium. The group was formed in the wake of an August Daily News op-ed written by NYC parent and public school teacher Liat Olenick. 

“It's really insidious,” Olenick said of Big Tech's presence in schools. "Our kids are not the client, they're the product." In Olenick's experience, both parents and educators are being thrown into the world of AI with little transparency or communication from districts. In addition to fears about AI's impact on the environment, she says the deployment of AI learning chatbots like Amira and Magic School AI in NYC elementary schools tipped her to do something. Investing in the future of our children and planet, Olenick argues, does not mean investing in AI.

A moratorium, however, is a common sense option to get districts to slow down, proponents say. 

Those pushing AI moratoriums argue that schools are jumping into a technology without fully knowing its ramifications. They cite the potential misuse of student data, as well as institutional security risks. Cyberattacks on K-12 schools have greatly increased in recent years, including a recent Instructure breach. 

But the biggest concern of people like Olenick is the effect of AI on young learners' brains. Recent, limited scale studies on chatbots have indicated overuse leads to poorer critical thinking and other developmental effects. 

Every pro-moratorium source Mashable spoke to expressed worry that more technology will worsen screen addictions, increase cognitive fatigue, and devalue the importance of human teaching and social interactions. Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, told Mashable that AI is supercharging existing problems across all of EdTech. 

They're going after our tax money, our district money, that is extremely precious and in short supply. - Anya Meksin, Schools Beyond Screens

Many sources called it a "Wild West" situation, and feared children were being used as guinea pigs in a nationwide AI experiment. They believe the argument that AI is ubiquitous, and that it will remain that way, is built on a faulty premise — that generative AI is good, effective, and in demand. The most concerned see a push for more AI as a thinly veiled attempt to solve understaffing with AI, not more funding.

Legislators, like Vermont House Representative Angela Arsenault, suggest pauses give time for regulation to catch up. "We fell so far behind with social media, and now we have fallen almost as far behind with EdTech in general. We are very quickly losing any opportunity we have to try to keep pace with AI." Arsenault and a growing number of bipartisan lawmakers have introduced a number of bills aimed at governing EdTech. 

"It's time for everyone to pause and ask what kind of society we want to see," said Anya Meksin, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) parent and deputy director of Schools Beyond Screens, one of the signatories of Fairplay's moratorium letter and co-authors of LAUSD's screen time limits resolution. In the last year, Schools Beyond Screens has grown to 2,000 members and 100 national chapters, advocating for reduced screen time in schools and a return to pencil and paper learning.

The urgency to adopt AI is manufactured, it's opponents argue. With mounting pressure from investors, companies must present a world where tech adoption is a need, not a want, one in which their billion-dollar evaluations are justified. School districts are just falling in line, having been "wined and dined" to spend tens of billions of dollars on tech over the last 20 years, said Golin.

"They're not nonprofits," said Meksin. "These are for profit companies going after public dollars. They're going after our tax money, our district money, that is extremely precious and in short supply."

In this framing, turning to smaller EduTech companies isn't a solution, either. Many still build on top of Big Tech's core models, they note, including OpenAI's GPTs. Most still want some form of tech in classrooms. 

"The notion that an AI is going to be able to differentiate instruction and personalize a lesson better than I can is Orwellian," said Joe Clement, a Virginia public school teacher and co-author of Screen Schooled, a 2017 book detailing the overuse of technology in U.S. classrooms. Clement describes an "enmeshment" of student technology and AI, making it challenging to avoid in education. He argues it's overburdening children and making it harder to build engaged, critical learners. 

SEE ALSO: I tried learning from AI tutors. The test better be graded on a curve.

While some believe AI is an equity gap filler, others believe it will exacerbate existing problems rampant across under-resourced schools. Many, like Clement, pointed to well-funded private schools pivoting away from 1:1 devices and technology in favor of hands-on human tutoring, leaving AI to the underfunded.

A ship without a rudder 

The lack of a unified voice, and little federal intervention, is further fragmenting the debate, sources explained. "The Federal Department of Education has really abdicated its responsibility of being a clearing house on best practices," said Weingarten. "In fact, they are doing the opposite. They're doing the bidding of Big Tech, as opposed to listening to the people." 

The Department of Education issued AI guidelines in 2025, but, to Weingarten's point, have ceded AI's ethical implementation to schools themselves. AI policies across the country are still being penned or are nonexistent. Rapid initial adoption has made it even more difficult to retroactively scale it back and reset. 

Confusion reigns and parents, teachers, districts, even students themselves, are trying to regain some semblance of control.

As Bickerstaff, the AI for Education CEO, puts it: "This is one of the noisiest things that's ever happened in education."