Technology

Extreme weather events can put stress on mobile networks, causing people to lose connectivity at the worst possible time — in the midst of natural disaster.

So, to improve network reliability and support first responder communication during emergencies, AT&T has implemented Geo Modeler, a new generative AI system that dynamically adjusts its mobile network. AT&T shared the news in an exclusive announcement to Mashable, and company leaders said the AT&T Geo Modeler system is now in effect nationwide.

"If we have a disaster, an outage or if cell towers are undergoing maintenance, Geo Modeler in concert with our network automation autonomously compensates to minimize customer impact and maintain connectivity for emergency personnel," said Raj Savoor, VP of Network Analytics and Automation at AT&T.

Using generative AI, Geo Modeler will predict strain on the AT&T mobile network, allowing the company to be proactive. That could mean adjusting the tilt of a radio antenna, boosting power to a specific signal, or making recommendations on where to deploy extra equipment.

Savoor said that AT&T has been using an early version of Geo Modeler in the field this past year, including during the deadly flash floods that hit Central Texas in July.

Geo Modeler is just the latest example of scientists using AI to track, predict, and respond to extreme weather events, which are becoming more common as the climate warms.

"Imagine utilizing AI to adapt to unexpected changes in our network infrastructure, remotely resolving coverage gaps or other challenges in near real-time," Savoor wrote in an AT&T blog post that will be published later today. "This is now a reality and being delivered by the AT&T Geo Modeler."

So, how does Geo Modeler work? "Using ray tracing, the Geo Modeler simulates radio transmissions in complex geospatial environments and integrates with multiple internal systems to help automate network decisions and change how the network is configured to improve overall performance," Savoor explained.

Ray tracing is an advanced 3D rendering technology most often associated with video games. Put simply, Geo Modeler uses ray tracing and other technology to create a virtual model of the AT&T mobile network. The new AI system can then forecast coverage gaps and provide solutions.

AT&T provided this example of a Geo Modeler data visualization. Credit: AT&T

Savoor said that the system will still be closely monitored by employees to ensure the AI provides accurate recommendations.

Geo Modeler will also support first responders

After a natural disaster, AT&T supports the efforts of first responders with its FirstNet platform, which the company describes as "the only nationwide, wireless communications platform dedicated to and purpose-built for America’s first responders." Geo Modeler will improve FirstNet network reliability, even in very challenging environments, AT&T says. Likewise, Geo Modeler will be able to optimize the network to make it easier for first responders to deploy drones for surveying or rescue operations.

Geo Modeler will also benefit the AT&T Network Disaster Recovery program, which transports equipment, such as cell towers mounted on trucks, into disaster areas. In addition to adjustments to its radio antennas and cell phone towers, Geo Modeler will be able to provide recommendations to support the NDR program.

Now, in the event of a hurricane, tornado, or wildfire that puts stress on its mobile network, AT&T told Mashable that both customers and first responders are more likely to stay connected, potentially saving lives.

Velin Kounev, the chief scientist on the project, said that Geo Modeler was developed in-house over four years and is already being used in various ways.

“Whenever a tower goes down, we immediately, in 15 minutes, know about the tower going down,” Kounev said. “We know the impact it has, and sometimes the impact of the tower may be hundreds of kilometers away…So on a human level, what that means is that when there's hurricanes, when there's [tornadoes], we can very accurately predict if there's going to be a degraded performance somewhere in our network, and we can also compensate for the degraded performance in real time.”

Geese are so ever-present on my TikTok algorithm, it's starting to feel like my FYP is an empty soccer field.

Apologies for the dad joke — I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm trying to remove it. But seriously: The band Geese — not the infamously aggressive bird, nor the jam-band Goose — has become a core subject in certain corners of TikTok. My For You Page? Fully Geese-pilled, to borrow the parlance of our times.

And I'm not alone. Scroll through TikTok, and you'll find people posting about Geese, making fancams of Geese, sharing meme edits of Geese, and circulating rooftop footage of the band's Brooklyn pop-up show.

You might even see acclaimed actor Cillian Murphy talking about Geese.

We’ve seen this phenomenon before. TikTok is a platform largely defined by sounds, so it makes sense that it’s become a launchpad for musicians. At Mashable, we've covered how the platform helped indie supergroup Boygenius become mainstream giants, assisted in rocketing Chappell Roan to pop stardom, and functioned as a discovery tool and stabilizing force for smaller artists.

Meet The Mashable 101: The top creators keeping the internet interesting in 2025

It's unclear if Geese will follow the same meteoric path as Boygenius or Roan, but TikTok has already marked them as a signifier of good taste and coolness. Their new album Getting Killed has earned rave reviews, following frontman Cameron Winters' stellar solo debut Heavy Metal earlier this year. Heck, you might've heard the semi-viral "Love Takes Miles" from that album on TikTok already.

SEE ALSO: How Boygenius went from indie supergroup to internet darlings

Geese has momentum. Their sound is weird yet accessible — guitar-forward rock with eccentric twists and catchy hooks. Winters' lyrics are weird, edgy, and filled with the dark sorts of references the internet loves. (Example: If you want me to pay my taxes / You better come over with a crucifix / You're gonna have to nail me down.) It doesn't hurt that the band is young and looks exactly like how you'd picture a cool rock band to look in 2025.

It also doesn't hurt that they're NYC born-and-bred in a time when effectively all the U.S.-based cool kids on TikTok live in NYC. Put simply, Geese is exactly the kind of band primed to blow up on TikTok right now.

Google Trends backs it up: Searches for Geese have spiked in recent weeks, outpacing both their namesake bird and the band Goose.

Credit: Screenshot: Google Trends

And yes, interest in Geese outpaces both geese (the birds) and Goose (the band).

Credit: Screenshot: Google Trends

So if your FYP is drowning in Geese content, just know you’re not alone. It could be worse. They’re a lot more listenable than the actual honking kind.

Meet The Mashable 101: The top creators keeping the internet interesting in 2025. From meme-makers to movement-starters, these are the people powering our timelines today.

New AI products are coming faster than most people can keep up. Within the last few months, we’ve seen GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, and Grok 4. More recently, we've seen major updates to ChatGPT rivals like DeepSeek and Claude Sonnet. With all of the heavy hitters dropping new tools, you may be wondering what else is around the corner. 

As it turns out, a lot. The big companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft perpetually have new models and tools in production. Upstart AI companies are also hard at work. Each release is more complex than the last, and they will no doubt help productivity at least a little bit. 

So, if you’re interested in what’s coming down the pipes in the somewhat near future, here are some AI productivity tools you might find useful that should be out sometime soon. 

Google Veo 3 Fast

Google recently announced a couple of big things with its Veo 3 AI video generation model. For the regular Veo 3, it now has the ability to generate vertical videos like you see on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. In addition, users can also use Veo 3 to turn still images into videos in the Gemini app as well as the Photos app. These changes have already begun rolling out. 

Veo 3 Fast was also announced. This model is a scaled-down version of Veo 3 that offers faster video generation at lower resolutions. In addition, it can create videos with sound, which is something they could not previously do, according to TechCrunch. Veo 3 Fast is rolling out in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand at the moment with a wider release planned in the future. 

Zoom AI Companion 3.0

Zoom announced the latest version of its AI Companion in mid-September. The new model makes several improvements over the prior model. The buzziest tool for AI models in 2025 is the AI agent, which is included in Zoom AI Companion 3.0. Per Zoom, the agentic AI will “help users deliver higher quality work by harnessing insights from their conversations and get more work done more efficiently.”

Some of the new features include note-taking capabilities, the ability to generate summaries based on things the user has written, and a retrieval function that lets users search across their workplace to find information. This integrates with Google and Microsoft as well, giving Zoom’s AI companion plenty of information to chew on. These new features will begin rolling out in September 2025 and continue over the next few months, so keep an eye out if you’re a Zoom AI fan. 

Microsoft AI in Notepad

The venerable Notepad has remained largely unchanged for almost its entire life, but that is about to change. Microsoft announced that it was stuffing some Copilot intelligence into Notepad. The features are fairly predictable here and include various AI-powered writing tools to help the user write better. That includes a Rewrite feature that improves clarity and adjusts tone along with a summarize function that gives you an overview of what a Notepad file contains. 

It can also write for you. Microsoft says you’ll be able to give the AI a prompt and it’ll write out content “quickly and effortlessly.” When this fully launches, it’ll be a global release with the only a few countries being left out. AI in Notepad is currently available to Windows Insiders users, which means it’s only a matter of time before it comes out. 

Notion 3.0

Notion bills itself as an “all-in one” AI that can do everything from take notes, search the Internet, conduct research, and even help you build a website. The company announced Notion 3.0 on September 18, and it’s a pretty big release. Much like Zoom AI Companion 3.0, the name of the game with this release is the AI agent. 

The big draw of the new release is that Notion’s AI agents can do anything for you that you could natively do in Notion before the AI agents released. Per Notion, these new agents are capable of “over 20 minutes of multi-step actions with a state-of-the-art memory system.” That’s pretty impressive. Users will be able to build multiple agents as well, so you can have an army of agents doing things for you, which can certainly make work easier. 

OpenAI Browser

One of the more anticipated releases coming eventually is OpenAI’s AI-powered web browser. Rumors have been circulating about this browser for months, but no official release date has been announced as of this writing. The browser would go toe-to-toe with juggernauts in the space like Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, which all already have AI features like Gemini in Chrome and Apple Intelligence baked in. 

Not much is known just yet, but there are some obvious factoids that we can glean. OpenAI will almost certainly pack a ton of AI into it with native support for ChatGPT. The AI giant already has its own search engine, which will also likely make an appearance in the browser. ChatGPT has somewhere between 500 million and 700 million active users, so an AI-powered browser may cause quite a stir. 

Grok 5, Gemini 3, and GPT-6

These releases are still quite far away, but there is already information about each one. Grok 5 will apparently go into training in late 2025 with a 2026 release date. Elon Musk is already bragging about Grok 5, stating that it has a chance to equal human intelligence. It probably won’t, but it’s definitely something to think about. 

For GPT-6, Sam Altman has already talked about the upcoming model a little bit. He says that GPT-6 will do a better job of adapting to the user, likely to avoid the same backlash that GPT-5 received on launch. Gemini 3 is definitely on the way, but there aren’t many concrete details about it right now as Google hasn’t announced anything yet. All three are expected to define how good AI can be in 2026. 

And even more...

Above is just a taste of what’s to come. There are so many AI startups popping up left and right that it’s legitimately difficult to keep track of them all. The big companies are still always working on something new, and we’re never more than a year away from the next big AI model from any of the big companies. Each of them should push the boundaries further and help increase productivity in their own way. 

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

At times, watching Bruce Springsteen biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere feels like watching a musical episode of The Bear.

The most obvious similarity is that Jeremy Allen White leads both projects, but The Bear comparisons aren't solely his fault. Even without White, writer-director Scott Cooper's take on the Boss is eerily reminiscent of Carmy Berzatto: He's a tortured artist haunted by a difficult family life. His quest for perfection in his work leads him to push away everyone around him, including his girlfriend, Faye (Odessa Young). He's also struggling with his mental health, bottling up his darker feelings and expressing them in his music.

SEE ALSO: NYFF 2025 preview: 14 films you'll want to see for yourself (and how)

The latter is ostensibly the focus of Deliver Me From Nowhere, which chronicles the writing and recording of Springsteen's sixth studio album, Nebraska. But while the film's music remains classic as ever, and while White does an admirable job channeling Springsteen, Deliver Me From Nowhere fails to deliver anything revelatory about the actual emotions behind the music.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere falls into cliché. Jeremy Allen White in "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere." Credit: Macall Polay / 20th Century Studios

Like 2024's Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, Deliver Me From Nowhere opts not to chart its subject's career from beginning to end. Instead, when Deliver Me From Nowhere opens, Springsteen is already a star, growling out "Born to Run" in front of a rapturous crowd on his sold-out The River Tour.

Despite being a massive success, Springsteen is a troubled soul. He thinks often of his childhood — rendered in black and white in the film — primarily his relationship with his abusive father (Adolescence's Stephen Graham) and concerned mother (Gaby Hoffmann). Between early concert footage and these flashbacks, Deliver Me From Nowhere falls quickly into cliché. But at least the film's concert and recording studio sessions provide it with a jolt of musical adrenaline. The flashbacks, on the other hand, are a cheap shortcut to trauma.

SEE ALSO: 'A House of Dynamite' review: Idris Elba leads an all-star ensemble nuclear-war thriller

Springsteen's father's characterization boils down to the constant presence of a lit cigarette and a can of beer. Springsteen's mother is the stereotypical portrait of a woman trapped in a marriage with a dangerous man. The two scream at each other behind closed doors, the kind of scene that's been done to death. Yet it's this childhood and these relationships that serve as the bedrock of Springsteen's anxieties as he works on Nebraska. And because that past is so thinly drawn, the core of the movie falls flat.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere can't find the pain in the music. Jeremy Allen White in "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere." Credit: 20th Century Studios

Deliver Me From Nowhere uses the oldest tricks in the book to convey Springsteen's depression. He lays, despondent, around his rental house. He almost breaks down while driving, speeding his car toward oblivion before braking and letting out a yell.

Yet these images, while obvious signifiers of pain, lack a clear motivation. Deliver Me From Nowhere is always telling audiences that Springsteen is suffering. At one point, Springsteen mentions that when he goes home, "the quiet can get a little loud," a line that feels ripped straight from The Bear. Elsewhere, his music producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) remarks on the feelings of guilt and shame Springsteen evokes in his Nebraska recordings.

SEE ALSO: 'After the Hunt' review: Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri wade into sexual politics

Neither the guilt nor the shame come through in Springsteen's writing and recording process, though. Instead, the process reads as simplistically linear: Springsteen watches Terrence Malick's Badlands; researches its real-life inspiration, murderer Charles Starkweather; then turns around and writes the song "Nebraska." He recalls his father taking him and his sister to play near a mansion on a hill, and boom, "Mansion on the Hill" is born. There are no surprises, no real discoveries about the emotions driving the music.

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Even drama surrounding Springsteen's personal life and his relationship with Faye feels empty. Their early interactions are rife with sappy-sweet, contrived dialogue, while Springsteen's decision to distance himself from her rings hollow. A scene where Faye confronts Springsteen about how absent he is could easily be subbed out for Carmy and Claire's (Molly Gordon) confrontation from The Bear Season 4, and you'd have the same result.

Jeremy Allen White delivers a great performance as Bruce Springsteen. Jeremy Allen White in "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere." Credit: Macall Polay / 20th Century Studios

As flawed as Deliver Me From Nowhere is, one area where it doesn't falter is the casting of White as Springsteen. Camouflaged somewhat behind a pair of brown contacts and some sideburns, White channels Springsteen's melancholy with the same careful vulnerability that earned him an Emmy for The Bear. Make no mistake, though. While the arcs of both Carmy and Springsteen are oddly similar, these are not copycat performances.

White's Carmy so often feels on the verge of exploding with anger or grief, while his Springsteen carries a steady sadness with him at all times. If Carmy is a pressure cooker, Springsteen is a deep lake.

White brings his all to Deliver Me From Nowhere's many musical scenes, singing Springsteen's hits and the occasional cover song at the Stone Pony until veins pop out of his neck and his face is covered in sweat. Does his own singing match up seamlessly with the Boss's? No way. But the swelling energy of the concert sequences and White's full-throated commitment bring the performances home.

Still, White does his best work in Deliver Me From Nowhere's quietest moments. In one sequence, he sits in silence for a good long while before his face crumples and he lets out great, heaving sobs. It's an astounding moment of catharsis, and further proof of White's ability as a performer to bring deep sorrow to life. If only the rest of Deliver Me From Nowhere had the emotional heft to back that sequence up.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere was reviewed out of the New York Film Festival. It hits theaters Oct. 24.

As AI tools get more sophisticated, more people are viewing AI as not only a “question and answer” type of tool, but also as a full-blown collaborator. This can have plenty of benefits, such as helping you refine your work or giving you some cool ideas to get started. With the right approach, you can do the same. 

Most of this takes place in the AI chatbot space. You can talk to ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Claude like you can with a person, and it’ll respond like a person, although maybe not all the time. Advanced AI chatbots like ChatGPT even have tools you can use to make the bots feel more personable. It just takes a little creativity and the right settings. 

Get better at writing prompts

When asking your AI chatbot of choice questions, you can formulate the questions in such a way that it will respond in a more collaborative way. For instance, I asked ChatGPT what a good headline would be for the article you're reading now. ChatGPT gave me a bunch of ideas sourced from similar articles on the Internet, which served as a jumping-off point for me.

Once I changed the prompt to asking for help concocting a headline that was short, to the point, and witty, but done in a way that wouldn't scare anyone off. ChatGPT immediately said that it understood the request and gave me some better suggestions. It then asked me if I wanted to lean more toward playful cleverness or professional wit. It then spit out even more ideas and then asked me more questions. 

This back-and-forth question-and-answer session is doable with almost any topic, and all of the major chatbots now do it. It gives the feeling of collaboration right away, and without any additional work other than a willingness to actually talk to the thing. 

Use the memory feature

Most modern AI chatbots from the big companies have a memory feature. This feature grants AI the ability to remember things you tell it so that it can reference these things in future conversations. This can go as deep as remembering all of your past conversations, or you can explicitly tell the bots to remember specific things, which the bot will reference when answering questions later. 

This can go a long way to making an AI feel collaborative as it eventually learns as you interact with it, and its answers will be tailored to you. The more you use it, the more customized the answers become, and the more you can engage with the AI chatbot in a way that’s unique to you. For instance, I have a memory with ChatGPT where I request that it ask me follow-up questions after answering my inquiries. That way, I can keep talking to it if I need to. I usually don’t, but it’s nice that it asks, and sometimes it even asks me a question that makes me think more deeply about the topic at hand.

One word of warning: Be careful about entering any sensitive company information into a chatbot. This is one of the most common AI security risks at work. So, if you do intend to use AI for work and want to include such data, it’s worth taking a look at your company’s data policy to make sure that you don’t wind up sharing something that’ll get you in trouble. 

Collaborative AI features exist

General Internet nomenclature states that collaborative AI features are essentially anything that the AI does on your behalf that saves you time. This can be anything from analyzing data to responding to emails on your behalf. There are myriad tools online from places like Relay.app, Make, and Zapier that can do these sorts of AI automations for you. Alternatively, you can ask AI to do stuff on your behalf or even give you feedback about stuff so that you can progress. 

One fun example I saw online was from a musician who recorded all of their various parts, mixed it together, and uploaded it to an AI for feedback. They then made changes based on what the AI said and repeated this process until they found something they liked. There are tons of other examples of using AI for brainstorming sessions to come up with new ideas instead of asking the AI to do all the work for them. 

Basically, treat it like a partner and not a tool

AI chatbots have evolved to a point where they can hold reasonably good conversations, and with that comes the ability to treat them more like a partner than a tool. They can still be used as a tool, and with the kinds of small, menial, repetitive tasks that AI can perform without complaint, they can even feel like a coworker. However, the main way to make AI feel like a collaborator is to talk to it like one. It’ll talk back. 

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Artificial intelligence is being increasingly leveraged in workplaces nationwide. Those who make use of the tools available to them have the opportunity to streamline their work – sometimes even automating basic tasks.

In general, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of tasks that you can potentially automate with AI, from daily research tasks to Excel spreadsheets and even down to helping you schedule your daily workflow from sources like your calendar and Slack. If we did all of them right now, this article would be tens of thousands of words long. So, we’ll get you started with a few simple things you can automate to make you a more productive worker. 

There are tons of options out there. For this one, we’ll keep the tools simple (and free), so these are things you can create right now without paying any money. However, if you have programming experience, web development experience, or don’t mind paying, the world is your oyster for this stuff. 

Get a daily summary of your emails

I’ve been writing for almost two decades, and one of the things I hate the most is reading email. It’s not uncommon for me to get north of 50 per day, even on the weekends, so having an AI read it for me and summarize everything is nice to have. Fortunately, I can link AI to my email and have it summarize my emails for me every day. Here’s how I do it. 

The tools you’ll need:

Really, all you should need here is Zapier. It’s one of the best for automation, especially for beginners. 

How to do it:

• Go to Zapier’s website and log in or create an account. You can use your Gmail account for quick sign-up if you want to. 

• On the main dashboard page, click the Zap button to create a new automated workflow. 

• In the prompt, simply tell it that you want a daily summary of all of your emails over the previous 24 hours. I have mine do it at 8 a.m. EST, but you can specify a time that works for you. 

• Give it some time, and Zapier will set this up for you. 

• Authenticate your Gmail account when it asks you to. You can always revoke these permissions later if you want to. 

• Use the AI chatbot on the left side to let it know that you’ve authenticated your email. 

• It’ll finish setting up the task for you. 

• Once done, it’ll ask you to run a test to make sure that it works. If you run into issues, ask the AI chatbot to help you. 

Once the task is created, you’ll get an email summary of all of your emails over the last 24 hours. This can be further configured to only some senders, certain types of emails, and more. The only warning is that sometimes the setup can be a little finicky. Fortunately, the AI chatbot can help with most issues. 

Send Google Calendar notifications in Slack

App integrations are beautiful things. You can probably already get something like this with your smartphone, especially with things like Samsung’s Morning Brief feature, which is powered by AI anyway. In any case, you can have AI summarize your daily tasks pretty easily. 

For this one, we’ll show you how to make the AI send you information about an upcoming Google Calendar event to a Slack channel. 

Tools you’ll need:

For this one, we’ll use Relay.app. It has a pretty simple workflow generator that lets you fine-tune how you want things to work. You’ll need to authenticate your Google Calendar and Slack accounts to make this work.

The method:

• Go to Relay.app’s website and create an account. You can use your Google account for easy account creation. 

• Once on the dashboard, tap the New workflow button to get started. 

• First, add a trigger. Select Google Calendar and then Event upcoming. 

• Fill out the required information based on your preferences and hit Done. 

• Next, tap Add step, find Slack, and use the Send message option. 

• Once again, fill out the information as needed, choosing the Slack channel you want to use. Hit Done when finished. 

• Once everything is set up, enable the trigger with the toggle. 

From now on, your upcoming Google events will be sent to the Slack channel of your choice. This is admittedly a very simple setup, but with a little imagination, you can do this for all sorts of stuff. Relay.app supports Asana, AirTable, Trello, and other project management platforms. Thus, you can simply substitute out Google Calendar for those (or set up separate automations for each one), and you can get the AI to message you about just about any task from anywhere you want automatically, keeping you in the loop at all times. 

Automate responses to business emails

Technically, this is something you can already do in most email clients, but this can be automated with AI as well. The nice thing about it is that you can also have the AI do other things while it responds to the email, giving you some additional information to sift through later. 

Tools you’ll need

For this one, Make is the tool of choice. You’ll need to create an account. As with the others, it’s quick to do with a Google account. 

The method:

• On the Make dashboard, click the Make AI Tools button. 

• Choose the Automated responses to business emails option. 

• From here, Make will guide you step-by-step through the process. 

• You’ll start by connecting a business email account. 

• From there, you’ll explain to the AI what you want to accomplish and what you want your emails to say. 

• You can then set up a Google Sheets to keep track of emails and responses. 

• Finally, you can finish the process by drafting your auto-response email.

Each step has its own configurations, but the site does a pretty good job of guiding you through everything. Once it’s done, your emails will have automatic responses that are logged in a Google Sheets file. Easy stuff!

Automatically take notes at meetings

As someone who attends several dozen meetings a year, having a way to go back and see what happened is very helpful. In almost every professional environment I’ve been in, the company will usually post the meeting video in full. However, spending an hour re-watching a meeting is time-consuming, and it can be done much faster with AI. 

Tools you’ll need

Otter.ai is the site we’ll be using for this one. You’ll need to have an account for it as well. 

Most of the setup for Otter.ai will occur during the step-by-step setup process, which will include downloading an app for iOS, Android, or macOS. Windows users can either use a Chrome extension or the website itself. 

The method

• Start your Zoom or Google Meet meeting.

• Open Otter on your preferred platform and hit the record button. 

• Sit and wait.

• Once the meeting is over, Otter will create a summary and notes for your viewing pleasure. 

The free version of Otter is limited to 30 minutes per conversation, so if your meetings run long, you may want to get pro. Otherwise, this is one of the easiest AI automation tools on the Internet. You literally just hit the record button, and Otter does the rest. 

Remember: You're barely scratching the surface of what's possible

There are many other ways to automate your daily workflow with AI, but these are smart ways to get started. Keep in mind that each task can be further customized for even more productivity gains. For instance, you can add more to the email summary and have it include your calendar as well. It really depends on how deep you want to go and what you want to automate. 

Admittedly, the best stuff is hidden behind technical know-how or subscriptions. For instance, Made allows you to make custom AI agents, but you need a subscription for that. ChatGPT’s Agent Mode has a Tasks function that lets you automate stuff like reminders or summaries, but that is also a premium feature. Others, like Microsoft’s Copilot Vision for Windows, are still in their infancy and aren’t quite ready for prime time yet. 

TL;DR: Stop paying monthly for Microsoft Office. Grab a lifetime license for Mac 2021 with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote for just $59.97 (MSRP $219) through Oct. 19.

If you’re tired of subscription fees piling up just so you can get your work done, this offer is your escape hatch. Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac is available as a one-time purchase, which means no recurring costs, no renewal emails, and no surprises. You install it once, and it’s yours forever — just how software should be.

Ideal for families, students, or small businesses, this bundle includes all the apps you’d actually use every day. Whether you’re spinning spreadsheets, sending professional emails, or whipping up a last-minute presentation, you’ll have the tools to get it done smoothly.

What’s Inside the Lifetime License:

• Word – Write, edit, and format documents the easy (and offline) way.

• Excel – Manage budgets, projects, and data like a pro.

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• Outlook – Organize your inbox and calendar without stress.

• Teams (Basic) – Stay connected with coworkers, clients, or classmates.

• OneNote (Free) – Capture ideas and notes in one digital notebook.

This license is tied to your Microsoft Account, not your device. That means you can replace your Mac without losing access.

Get a lifetime license to MS Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac while it’s just $59.97 (MSRP $219) through Oct. 19.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License $59.97
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TL;DR: Check out the SGS-certified, FDA-compliant, antibacterial, and durable Taima Pure Titanium Cutting Board V2 on sale for $89.99 (MSRP $329.95).

Your kitchen tools should work as hard as you do, and the Taima Pure Titanium Cutting Board V2 is built to handle just about anything. Unlike wood that warps or plastic that sheds micro-particles, Taima is made from 99.89% pure titanium — SGS-certified, FDA-compliant, and entirely non-toxic. This means your board won’t absorb bacteria, odors, or stains, no matter how messy dinner prep gets. At $89.99 for a limited time, it’s an investment in safer cooking and a cleaner kitchen.

Beyond being tough, Taima is kind to your knives. Its titanium surface is softer than steel, so blades stay sharper longer. That’s a major upgrade over glass or ceramic boards that can wreck edges in a single session. Cleanup is just as simple — the non-porous surface wipes down easily, resists lingering smells, and goes right into the dishwasher. With juice grooves, polished edges, and a sturdier design in this V2 edition, every detail is built for performance and comfort.

Durability is where Taima really shines. Titanium doesn’t rust, corrode, or wear down over time, so this board is designed to last for life. It also resists extreme temperatures, meaning you can safely move it between the freezer and the oven. Whether you’re slicing produce, carving meats, or just looking for a surface that won’t stain after one beet salad, Taima delivers reliability with every use.

Over 30,000 happy customers already use Taima boards, praising their ease of cleaning, safety for kids, and peace of mind compared to plastic or wood.

Take advantage of this deal on the Taima Pure Titanium Cutting Board V2 today while it’s still available for $89.99

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Taima Taima Pure Titanium Cutting Board V2 (Large, 18" x 12") $89.99
$329.95 Save $239.96 Get Deal

TL;DR: If you want to keep your files within arm’s reach, secure them on this 2TB Western Digital Elements Portable USB 3.0 External Hard Drive, on sale now for $64.99 (reg. $79.99).

Creeped out by the cloud? You’re not the only one. If you don’t like the idea of keeping your precious digital keepsakes on those expensive cloud storage services, the Western Digital Elements Portable USB 3.0 External Hard Drive provides an affordable alternative ready to secure 2TB of your data.

Right now, this convenient storage option can be yours for just $64.99 (reg. $79.99).

Take control of your data with this 2TB hard drive

Whether you’re tired of paying the expensive monthly storage fees or you simply don’t love only being able to access your important files while connected to WiFi, it may be time to cut the cloud storage cord. The Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive strikes the perfect balance — offering a physical place to save your important files with an ample 2TB of storage space.

This 2TB external hard drive keeps your files within reach at all times. It’s extremely lightweight — weighing in at just .29 pounds — making it easy to bring along anywhere. This Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive is also made with over 50% post-consumer recycled plastic, so you can rest easy knowing that it’s eco-friendly.

The SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 3.0 connectivity provide speedy data transferring. It also offers easy plug-and-play expandability if you ever need to expand your storage capacity.

A 3-year limited manufacturer warranty is included for peace of mind. But just a reminder — the Western Digital Elements external hard drive should be handled with care, as small drops can cause damage that could lead to data loss.

Secure 2TB of data for life with this 2TB Western Digital Elements Portable USB 3.0 External Hard Drive, on sale now for $64.99 (reg. $79.99).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Western Digital Western Digital Elements Portable USB 3.0 External Hard Drive (2TB) $64.99
$79.99 Save $15 Get Deal

With a title like Bone Lake, two possibilities come to mind: The first is that this horror thriller might be set on a lake with a dark past, full of human remains, bones included. The second is that "Bone Lake" is a place to bone — sexually — making it exactly the kind of place where a crazed killer might stalk for prey. And hey, my dude, congrats to you for being right on both counts. 

As any horror fan worth their salt might hope, Bone Lake delivers as a trashy thriller about sex and murder. But it's also smarter than its title suggests. And yet, it's still plenty stupid in a terrific way. How? Let's dive in.

What's Bone Lake about?  Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego (Marco Pigossi) in "Bone Lake." Credit: Bleecker Street and LD Entertainment

In two words: vacation friends. You know that phenomenon where you meet total strangers while vacationing and get way more personal with them in a short period than you might have predicted? Maybe it's the warm summer air, the scenic views, the flowing drinks, or the sexy excitement of a getaway weekend. But something pushes you to places risky and unknown on a vacation, for better or deadly. 

For Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego (Marco Pigossi) that means sharing their rented lake house with a spirited couple who show up unannounced. Not long after Sage and Diego have had vacation sex on a bearskin rug, Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita) appear at the front door with their suitcases in tow. It seems there's been a scheduling screw-up here at Bone Lake. But hey, it's a big house. Why not share?

So begins a slippery slope of social pressure that has Sage and Diego fighting temptation and then for their lives. (This is why more people need to watch Speak No Evil!) 

Bone Lake is a gory and graphic horror romp.  Maddie Hasson as Sage in "Bone Lake." Credit: Bleecker Street and LD Entertainment

Before we meet these lovely and curious couples, Bone Lake kicks off in '90s classic slasher fashion with a grisly cold open killing. In a dense and vibrantly green forest, two completely naked people are running for their lives while holding hands. What's going on is not immediately clear. But then an arrow bolt zings dangerously close. Before the opening title card, these two will die in a grisly and salacious spectacle.

With a particularly nasty bolt shot to the balls, screenwriter Joshua Friedlander sets up an audience expectation for gruesome violence. Yet within this scene of death, these gnarly blows, and even the man's abrupt decision to say "fuck this" and try to flee on his own, reflect a dark sense of humor that director Mercedes Bryce Morgan will masterfully weave through the film. 

The opening promises us something unapologetically wild and violent and sexual. And the movie as a whole is so rich in all these illicit thrills that it might have you shouting at the screen as you would with a particularly scandalous episode of reality TV or a brutal pro wrestling match. Bone Lake is happy to stroke our basest interest in blood and boning. And it will have you moaning.

Bone Lake also offers a thoughtful exploration of a relationship in trouble.  Alex Roe as Will in "Bone Lake." Credit: Bleecker Street and LD Entertainment

There's tension between Sage and Diego as they drive up to the house, and it's because they're in an awkward moment of transition. Diego dreams of becoming a novelist, and freelance journalist Sage has taken a full-time editor job so he can walk away from his professor position and focus on his writing. It's a shift in dynamic that's disrupted their sex life. But Diego's hopeful that the allure of Bone Lake — plus the engagement ring he's planning to propose with — will turn things around for them. 

However, when Will and Cin come twirling in, the energy of Coachella bursting from their flawless skin and ravenous eyes, both Sage and Diego bristle with jealousy. On one hand, there's the fear that intimate proximity to these sexy strangers could lead to infidelity. But there's also an envy of these two — so young, so carefree, so in love. 

Rather than offering crudely sketched characters, Friedlander's script paints Sage and Diego as a couple who truly understand each other, sharing a similar sense of humor and laughs from their inside jokes. He also explores the ways in which they've failed each other. The unspoken regrets and resentments bubble under the surface as Cin and Will intensify their seduction campaign. But to what end?

Incredibly, as bonkers as this movie gets, the hero couple at its core feels grounded and familiar enough to keep Bone Lake's audience invested — if these two can survive what this vacation brings their way. 

Bone Lake's ending will have you screaming.  Sage (Maddie Hasson) and Diego (Marco Pigossi) in "Bone Lake." Credit: Bleecker Street and LD Entertainment

It's less that Bone Lake is scary and more that it's outrageous. A no-holds-barred fight scene plays out to the sneering sounds of The Exploited's "Sex and Violence." With this song choice, Morgan manages to make us laugh at this life-or-death moment without disengaging us from the stakes of the face-off. Instead, the song seems to illustrate the smug glee of the killer, further infuriating their could-be victim.

Elsewhere, classic slasher tools like axes and chainsaws will come into play. But Bone Lake, for all its indulgences, refuses to treat Sage like a Final Girl cliché. Her defenses will not be the frantic fleeing of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the concentrated self-rescuing of the Scream franchise. Instead, her path is hacked at with swings unpredictable and exciting. Morgan will satisfy slasher fans' bloodlust. But then, true to the smart emotional core of Sage and Diego's story, she'll give us a final beat with a cinematic allusion so unexpected that I screamed with laughter. It's unpredictable and perfect. 

Bone Lake is the rare horror movie that relishes in the trashier aspects of the genre, swooning over sordid sex and grisly violence, but also manages to be cheeky and smart. It'll pull you to the edge of your seat and have you cackling, yelling at the screen, and gasping in delicious shock. Hot, horrifying, funny, and surprising, Bone Lake is a total banger. 

Bone Lake opens in theaters Oct. 3. 

AI agents are all the rage right now. Google announced its “agentic era” for Google Gemini back in spring 2025, while Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and the other big players in the AI space have each announced their own AI agents. As with any new technology, it’s possible to use these new tools for productivity at work. In fact, that’s why they were designed. 

So, what is an AI agent? The short version is that it’s an AI that can perform actions on behalf of a user. This can be anything from conducting deeper research to literally taking over your mouse and keyboard to perform tasks for you. It’s a very broad and inexact definition, but in short, if it can do more than a chatbot, then it’s largely considered an AI agent. 

If this is something you want to try, here are the best AI agents you can get right now.

Agent.ai

To start the list, there are a number of AI agent services out there that will let you build out your own AI agent for your specific use case. These services include Stack AI, n8n, Gumloop, Agent.ai, and many others. With some minor differences based on the platform, most of these services do the same general thing. They focus on giving users an easy way to create a custom agent without needing to know how to code. 

Another similarity that these services have is that they scale out for enterprise use, which is how most of their marketing is done. In any case, of the ones listed above, I think Agent.ai is arguably the best one for beginners. It’s set up like a marketplace of sorts where you can choose AI agents that perform the functions you want. Should one not be available, you can either request that one be made or you can create one yourself. 

Many of these charge a subscription fee. For example, Gumloop has a limited free version with a $37 per month Pro mode. So, if you decide to use one of these services, make sure to check out the price and the restrictions so you know what you’re getting into. 

Claude

Anthropic’s Claude is one of many AI chatbots with an AI agent function that can be taught to do things. This is a solid example of a more hardcore option as you essentially have to build your AI agent yourself using Claude as the AI powering the whole thing. This requires knowledge of development, APIs, and Anthropic’s development tools. The benefit is that once you get over the learning curve, you can customize your AI agent to do what you want. 

SEE ALSO: What's new with Claude 4? And why it's becoming my favorite AI tool

There are some “agentic tools,” according to Anthropic, that you can access right away. Claude Code is the biggest example. It’s a popular option for vibe coders. You can tell Claude Code what you want to make and the AI will whip something up for you. That’s the easiest way to get an AI agent from Anthropic. 

ChatGPT Agent

OpenAI was among the first big AI companies to jump on the AI agent bandwagon over the summer. Its agentic AI is something more in line with what you would expect from an AI agent. You can do things like ask it to check your calendar and brief you on the day ahead or ask it to make you a shopping list. The AI will then perform the task for you. In the future, AI agents will likely be able to complete purchases for you as well, but this functionality is limited.

Per OpenAI, ChatGPT performs these tasks on its own “virtual computer” of sorts, where it’ll store your data and recall it as needed, and then create things for you like the aforementioned notes and lists. ChatGPT’s Deep Research function technically falls under this purview as well. The only downside is that you can’t use the feature unless you’re a Pro or Enterprise subscriber. 

Google Gemini

Google has dived into the world of AI agents arguably more so than any other company. Google has this functionality baked into Gemini almost everywhere. So, let’s go down the list. Gemini CLI is an AI agent that lives in your terminal and helps you do things like fix bugs in your code, create new features, and test your software to make sure it works. This is different from Google’s Gemini Code Assist, which operates like Claude Code in that it creates new code based on natural language prompts. 

Google has even baked Gemini into Chrome. This allows Gemini to see what your browser sees and then tell you about the contents of the webpage. Google has been rapidly improving since it launched, and eventually, Google plans to add functionality that will allow it to actually control the browser on your behalf. So, you would, in theory, be able to tell it to go onto Amazon and order your shampoo, and then it would do it without additional input. To be clear, we're not quite there yet, as Amazon reportedly isn't super excited about AI agents replacing actual customers on its site.

Since ChatGPT Deep Research counts as an AI agent, Gemini’s Deep Research feature does as well. That’s accessible from the Gemini chat window. From there, ask it a question and it’ll put together a ton of resources to help research more complex topics. Toss in the ability to build your own AI agent through Google Cloud’s Agent Development Kit, and that covers almost all of the bases. 

Microsoft Copilot

Like Google, Microsoft has packed AI agents into a lot of its products. That includes Copilot Vision in Edge, which works like Google’s Gemini in Chrome where the AI can interact with your browser and summarize what it sees there. Much like Gemini in Chrome, there’s a bright future there but it only does basic stuff at this time. 

There are productivity agents available as well. You can create your own using Microsoft Copilot Studio. Microsoft says that these can do anything from analyzing data to helping with social media and automating various tasks. One such agent is available in Microsoft Visual Studio, where it functions like Claude Code and Gemini Code Assist. Microsoft also makes this available on GitHub. 

Perhaps the most interesting AI agent in Microsoft’s arsenal is Copilot Vision for Windows. This is an AI agent that works on your Windows PC and can see your web browser and other apps that you have open on the desktop. It’s currently fairly limited as it only works with up to two apps at once, but over time, it’ll likely gain the ability to do stuff on your computer whenever you want it to. 

Convergence Proxy

Convergence Proxy is arguably the most fun AI agent in terms of what it can do. It’s an AI agent that comes with several built-in workflows that can do the kind of cool sci-fi stuff that will be more common in the future. For example, you can have Proxy interact with your browser, and it’ll go to web pages and log into stuff for you. It’s not perfect, because things like CAPTCHA confuse it, but it’s still quite neat. 

In reality, this is best used for simple tasks like gathering data, solidifying travel plans, and other things like that, while its integrations with things like G Suite, Salesforce, Slack, BambooHR, and other products give it additional power to do more things. Pair that with its ability to learn from your habits, and there is a lot of potential here to have an AI handle your nonsense tasks while you do more work. 

It has a free version that lets you have up to five sessions per day as sort of a demo. There is a pro version for $20 per month that removes the roadblocks and lets you use it freely. 

There’s still a lot of room to improve

AI agents are pretty cool, but a common theme that I ran into while doing this article is that they are still fairly limited. Most AI agents are custom-built for a single task or workflow, while general use AI agents like Copilot Vision for Windows are largely in their infancy. So, the above options are about as good as it gets right now within a margin of error, but there is an expectation that this technology is on pace to get a lot better in the very near future.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

AI is rapidly changing our world, and that's especially true in the office. From the advent of new AI services like ChatGPT, to the integration of large language models into consumer products like iOS, Android, Windows, and Google Workspace. But AI isn’t just a way to search for information. If you know how to leverage generative AI, it can be a huge productivity booster. As a business leader, knowing how to use popular AI chatbots and dedicated AI business tools is quickly becoming non-optional.

AI can also get expensive, and quick. If you’re building a new business, it’s perhaps not even worth looking at some of the higher-priced enterprise AI tools yet. Thankfully, there are tons of more affordable AI tools for small and growing businesses. Here’s a look at some of the best AI tools for business owners.

ChatGPT

Let's start with a tool you're probably familiar with already. ChatGPT may not be business-focused specifically, but there are plenty of good reasons for small businesses to have access to a do-it-all chatbot like ChatGPT. You might find it useful for answering everyday questions about accounting, or as a sounding board during brainstorming sessions. And that barely scratches the surface of what ChatGPT can do. ChatGPT can generate marketing material, generate and edit emails, or help you build custom apps through vibe coding.

It goes without saying that you should never blindly follow advice or information from ChatGPT or any other AI assistant — always double-check any information ChatGPT gives you before you implement it, and consider whether ChatGPT’s recommendations are actually useful for your particular business or not.

ChatGPT can be used for free, but the $20-per-month plan increases usage limits. There’s also a $200-per-month plan, which has the maximum usage limits and new experimental features. As your business grows, you can also look at OpenAI's enterprise ChatGPT plans.

Descript

For most small businesses, marketing is an important method for growth, but it can also be one of the biggest expenses that small businesses face. Descript is an easy way to get started with editing video content for the purpose of business marketing, allowing you to cut together videos by editing the transcript like you would a Word document. Descript generates the transcripts using AI, plus it lets you overdub videos with AI voices and offers a range of effects to help enhance your video. It also helps you remove filler words like "um" from recordings easily. If you don't know too much about video editing but feel like video needs to be an important part of your marketing, then Descript is worth taking a look at.

Descript starts at $16 per person per month and ranges up to $50 per person per month. Plans range based on the number of transcription hours you get, as well as other features like 4K exports and AI speech.

Cursor

Your website, apps, and other software can be an important part of how your business runs – but if you don't have much experience with coding, it can be tricky to improve those services. Even if you do have tons of coding experience, you've probably spent countless hours working on your website and software. Cursor can help in both of these situations, allowing those with little experience to work on their code using AI and allowing those with tons of coding experience to more easily find bugs, refine and improve their code, and more. 

Cursor is an AI coding platform that lets you talk to an AI assistant in natural language. It can code on its own based on your feedback, or it can help you refine your code to ensure everything is running as smoothly as possible.

Cursor has a free trial, but it’s only so you can test it out for two weeks. After that, you’ll need to subscribe to either the $20-per-month Pro plan or the $200-per-month Ultra plan.

Canva Magic Studio

Businesses don't just rely on video and their website for marketing; they also rely on images and graphics. These images and graphics can appear on a website, but they can also appear in social media, on ads, and in presentations. Once upon a time, you had to pay an expensive designer with years of Photoshop training, but thanks to generative AI, we're living in a post-Photoshop world.

Canva Magic Studio is Canva’s suite of AI-based tools. Canva customers can use natural language prompts to create graphics for advertising campaigns, refine existing graphics with AI-based editing tools, and elevate pitch decks with improved visuals. Canva even has video-based tools, allowing you to create and edit videos without spending hours learning video-editing tools through trial and error. 

You can access some AI-based tools in the Canva Free plan, but usage is very limited. To get the most of Canva Magic Studio, you’ll need to subscribe to the $120-per-year Canva Pro plan, or one of the business-focused plans.

Jasper

Marketing and advertising aren’t all about video and graphics — it’s also about text. Plenty of AI tools can generate text, but Jasper is built specifically for creating and editing copy in a more organized way. It can handle general marketing copy, blog posts, social media posts, and more – plus you can upload examples of previous marketing copy to help give it a sense of your product, style, and general brand voice. Jasper also has a range of other helpful tools, including image tools, chat tools, and more.

Jasper costs $69 per month per person, but you can get a discount by paying yearly.

Otter AI

If your business involves having a lot of meetings, then it can be useful to have those meetings transcribed. Otter AI is perfect for this. It can transcribe your meetings, then allow you to search through the transcriptions so you can retrieve information about meetings later down the line. It also serves as an AI note-taking tool, automatically summarizes meetings, and has an AI chat feature that those in meetings can use to find out information.

There’s a basic free plan, but most businesses will want to subscribe to one of the paid plans, which start at $8.33 per user per month.

Julius

Running a business often involves collecting and processing large amounts of data, and it can be difficult to really put that data to use to grow your business. Julius is designed to do this. With Julius, you can upload all kinds of different data, then ask basic questions in natural language using one of the many built-in models. It can even create charts based on your prompts, and it supports the uploading of large files. You can do all of this without having to code, but if you do want to code for advanced work, you can do so with R, Python, or SQL.

There's a free plan that offers basic features, but many businesses will want to upgrade to a paid plan, which starts at $16 per month.

Shortcut AI

Despite all the advances in generative AI, many chatbots still can't help you edit spreadsheets directly. That's exactly what Shortcut AI is meant to do. This newly launched service uses AI to do all the tedious footwork and formatting that goes into building complex spreadsheets. If you can never quite remember how to create a pivot table, or simply need help managing large spreadsheets, try Shortcut AI. Think of it as the intern you can't quite afford yet.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

AI is revolutionizing how we build software, and at lightning speed. Plenty of software engineers are moving toward a new normal where they essentially ask AI tools to code for them, then step in to fix errors and double-check work, for example. But thanks to vibe coding, it’s actually pretty easy to get started with software development, both with consumer-grade AI tools like ChatGPT and with dedicated software engineering tools with AI built into them.

The term “vibe coding” has certainly become a bit of a buzzword, but don't hold that against it. This phenomenon isn't just a passing trend. The promise of vibe coding is that one day soon, you’ll be able to create functional software simply by describing it in natural language.

Have a sweet idea for an app or website, but don’t have the coding know-how to actually make it yourself? Vibe coding is the answer. Here’s how to get started with vibe coding, so you can turn your ideas into reality.

Getting started

Before you start vibe-coding, it’s worth thinking about the kind of software you want to build and how much experience you have in coding and software development, if any. The good news is that AI is going to take care of most of the actual coding, but a basic understanding of how code works will be helpful, especially if you need to troubleshoot or your idea is too advanced for basic tools.

If you don’t have any coding experience, then it’s perhaps worth using a consumer-grade AI tool to help you figure out the right approach for your project. Essentially, basic AI chatbots like ChatGPT are likely to work fine for simpler tasks like single-file websites, but as soon as you start needing to manage multiple different files, in different types and folders, and with different folders of resources like images, you’re likely to need to rely on more professional coding tools. Many websites can be made in a single HTML file, but the more complicated they get, the easier it is to split them out into multiple files.

Rest assured, we’re here to help you get building, even with professional tools. I have some coding experience, and was able to get a professional coding setup together for very little money. Don’t assume that just because you’re new to coding, professional tools are off-limits to you — it’ll just take a little more effort to get started using them. You can also read about the pros and cons of using ChatGPT, Grok, and Claude for coding projects.

Vibe coding with beginner toolsCreating the code

If your project is basic enough, you may be able to build it straight from an AI chatbot, like ChatGPT or Claude, without even needing to pay for a subscription (though a subscription will likely help as you troubleshoot and customize your project).

In these tools, vibe-coding is much more about the prompt than anything else. ChatGPT and Claude can create decently fleshed-out websites and web apps, but take the time to be as descriptive as possible about what you’re looking for, down to the design, features, and look of the software. Here’s an example:

• Bad prompt: Make me a website that shows me the time in different time zones.

• Better prompt: Make me a website that shows me the time in different time zones. I should be able to select the time zones I want displayed when I first open the website, after which they should display in both analog and digital time formats, with a list of three of the major cities in those time zones. The website should have a colorful design, with a retro feel.

I ran both of these prompts through ChatGPT, and honestly, got decent results with both – but there’s no denying that the second had more direction in terms of how it worked and how it looked.

Credit: Christian de Looper Credit: Christian de Looper

In both instances, ChatGPT will create a simple HTML file, and you’ll be able to see all of the code it created, and a preview of what the website itself will look like. If you’re happy with it, you can move on, but if not, you should be able to ask ChatGPT to make revisions to better match your original vision. Just keep in mind that it’s not uncommon for services like ChatGPT to create bugs, and then have trouble finding or fixing those bugs.

Going from code to product

If you’re just tinkering around for fun, maybe you never intended to actually create a final product that anyone can access on the web, but if you want others to be able to access your project, you’ll need to upload the files that ChatGPT created to a web hosting account

That process really has nothing to do with AI, though ChatGPT or another tool might be able to help guide you through the steps. The basic gist is that you’ll need to buy a domain name (the name of your website) and pay for hosting from a service like GoDaddy, where you’ll upload the .html file that ChatGPT created, after which you’ll be able to access the website from any web browser.

You might notice that I’ve really only focused on actual websites, and not other kinds of software, like apps. That’s because, for the most part, if you’re going to create apps or more advanced websites, it’s probably worth getting set up with more professional tools that can look at multiple or many files at a time, making edits to those files as needed.

Vibe coding with professional tools

If you’re willing to use more professional tools to vibe code, then you can do so without paying too much. I’m not making a guide on all the different tools you can use to code — so for the purpose of this guide, I’m going to focus on using Cursor, which is an AI-first code editor that you can try out for free, after which you’ll need to pay a subscription starting at $20 per month. Despite being a professional tool, Cursor makes it relatively easy to chat with an AI assistant through a dedicated chat pane. Here you’ll be able to ask the AI assistant to make edits to your project, and ask questions about the project as a whole.

Here’s a quick overview that details how to get started with Cursor.

• Download and install Cursor from the website. Make sure you pick the right version for your computer. 

• When you first open Cursor, you’ll be asked to log in or sign up with a new account. 

• You may be asked if you want to import VS Code settings. If you’re not new to coding, you may want to do so — but if you don’t know what VS Code is, then chances are you don’t have VS Code settings to import in the first place.

• Follow the on-screen instructions to get set up with a project. If you’re new to coding, select “Agent” in the quick-start menu, and don’t worry about installing any Terminal commands.

• When you’re ready to start creating, click the “Open Project” button and select or create a folder where the project files can be stored. 

The Cursor interface is split up into a few different columns. By default, you’ll see your project’s files and folders on the left, an editor showing the code in those files in the middle, and a chat column on the right. The Cursor AI has two modes — Agent and Ask. Agent directly edits your code and the files in your project, while Ask lets you ask questions about your project without risking it making edits to the code if you don’t want it to. You can still ask Agent questions — but it might take those questions as direction, and start editing code.

While the Cursor agent can help with the actual code of a project, you still might need to use external tools or services during the creation of your project. For example, if you’re adding images or other media to your project, or you want to make use of complicated APIs to enhance your project, you’ll need to do so on your own. Cursor should be able to help guide you through the steps of doing so — but you may need to directly ask it to give you those steps. Make sure to note your skill level when you do so, so it can give you steps that are as easy to follow as possible. 

After you’ve created something in Cursor, you’ll need to test it — and then, if you want to actually publish it, you’ll need to follow the appropriate steps to do so. Those steps vary dramatically depending on what you’ve made – whether it be an app, a website, or something else entirely. AI assistants may be able to help guide you through those steps, but remember that for things like apps, you may need to pay to create developer accounts with the likes of Apple and Google. 

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

SAVE $45: As of Oct. 1, the Kindle Paperwhite Kids is on sale at Amazon for $134.99. This is 25%, or $45, off its list price of $179.99 and marks its best price yet.

Opens in a new window Credit: Kindle Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids 16GB $134.99 at Amazon
$179.99 Save $45 Get Deal

If you've been hoping to score some discounts on Amazon's own devices, the good news is quite a few are already marked down ahead of the Prime Big Deal Days sale event next week. Some are even down to their lowest price yet right now, including the Kindle Paperwhite Kids. If you've had your eye on one for your children, now is a great time to grab it.

Usually, the Kindle Paperwhite Kids is listed for $179.99, but it's currently on sale for $134.99. This makes for $45 in savings from its retail price, and again, marks it lowest price yet, according to price tracker camelcamelcamel. It's a device that's well worth picking up for avid young readers, too.

SEE ALSO: How to sign up for Amazon Prime ahead of Prime Big Deal Days

Packed with 16GB of storage, there's plenty of space on the Kindle Paperwhite Kids for younger readers to fill up their digital library. It also boasts a seven-inch Paperwhite display, an adjustable warm light, and a glare-free display so they can read in any sort of lighting situation, whether they're inside or outside or even reading at night.

On top of that, the Kindle Paperwhite Kids also comes with six months of Amazon Kids+ — which is a subscription for kids between the ages of 3-12 that offers unlimited access to thousands of books in their age range as well as a fun, kid-friendly cover. Keep in mind that after six months the Amazon Kids+ subscription will automatically renew at $5.99/month, but you can cancel at any point from the Amazon Parent Dashboard or by contacting Customer Service.

Don't miss out on the Kindle Paperwhite Kids down to $134.99 right now at Amazon. It's not the only Kindle discounted ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, either. Check out our breakdown of early Amazon device deals to see even more Kindles on sale right now.

Amazon's Prime Day has quickly become one of the biggest retail events of the year. So much so that there are two a year. October's event is set to kick off next week, Oct. 7, but with so much anticipation for a bargain, Amazon has already released some early deals.

Yep, a whole week early, you can find early Prime Day deal stamps across TVs, earbuds, and even high-end fitness trackers, including Garmin, Apple, and Fitbit. So if you need a new watch to track your 5K or monitor your sleep, we've rounded up some of Amazon's best early deals on fitness trackers.

Best Garmin deal Opens in a new window Credit: Garmin Garmin vívoactive 5 $226 at Amazon
$299.99 Save $73.99 Get Deal Why we like it

The Garmin vívoactive 5 was recently replaced as the newest model by the vívoactive 6, but the 5 still holds a special place in our hearts. This is what we'd call a perfect all-rounder fitness tracker, perfect for tracking long runs and cycles while also still having a great range of lifestyle features like sleep tracking, stress levels, and body battery. It's also a vast improvement over the vívoactive 4, and even has a bright AMOLED display, making it appear even more high-tech.

More Garmin deals

• Garmin Forerunner 55 — $149.99 $199.99 (save $50)

• Garmin Lily 2 — $249.99 $299.99 (save $50)

• Garmin fēnix E — $499.99 $799.99 (save $300)

Best Apple Watch deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Watch Series 10 $329 at Amazon
$399 Save $70 Get Deal Why we like it

You can't go wrong with an Apple Watch, especially if you're an iPhone user. With the recent release of the Apple Watch 11, the 10 has naturally gone down in price, which ups the appeal as well. And for fitness and lifestyle tracking, there's a whole lot to shout about this watch: ECG, fall detection, and cycle tracking, to name just a few. The sleep tracking is fairly advanced too, and the sleep apnea notifications are a bonus. Go on, close those rings.

More Apple Watch deals

• Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) — $179 $249 (save $70)

Best Fitbit deal Opens in a new window Credit: Fitbit Fitbit Versa 4 $149 at Amazon
$199.95 Save $50.95 Get Deal Why we like it

I frequently cite the Fitbit 4 as my favorite Fitbit model, and for good reason. If you're looking for a fitness tracker that does a bit of everything, without breaking the bank, this is a stellar choice. It's got a neat design, controlled by a responsive touchscreen. Activity tracking covers just about anything, from running, swimming, cycling, and general workout sessions. It also gives you a sleep score each morning, presented alongside a breakdown of time spent in light, deep, and REM sleep. For short to medium runs, basic lifestyle tracking, and style, this is a fantastic budget option.

Other Fitbit deals

• Fitbit Inspire 3 — $79.95 $99.95 (save $20)

• Fitbit Sense 2 — $199.95 $249.95 (save $50)

• Fitbit Charge 6 — $134.49 $159.95 (save $25.46)

SAVE $50: As of Oct. 1, the Echo Show 8 is on sale for $99.99 at Amazon. That's a 33% savings on the list price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Echo Show 8 $99.99 at Amazon
$149.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal

Amazon's smart home devices are some of the best on the market. From speakers, displays, and dots, these products can control pretty much all the smart products in your home (like light bulbs and robot vacuums). At the center of these devices is the Echo Show, a smart home hub. It's touch screen controlled and has all the features of your favorite Alexa device and even more.

And as of Oct. 1, the Echo Show 8 has a great early Prime Day discount, saving you $50. The new list price is $99.99, a low price we've not seen as low since January. There are two colors to choose from, white or charcoal, and both are at the same reduced price.

This version of the Echo Show 8 comes with a sharp 8-inch HD screen and spatial audio, so shows, music, and recipe websites look and sound more natural. You can pair and control compatible devices with Zigbee, Matter, and Thread without a separate smart home hub.

You can even video chat from this device, where you'll benefit from the 13 MP auto-framing camera and noise reduction. When you’re not using it, the screen can double as a digital photo frame through Amazon Photos.

Get this Echo Show 8 deal from Amazon now.

On Tuesday, OpenAI announced Sora 2, the company's "flagship video and audio generation model" that's powering its new Sora app.

But what exactly is Sora 2, and how can you try it out for yourself? We've broken down everything we know so far below.

SEE ALSO: OpenAI reportedly plans to launch TikTok-like app with Sora 2 launch What is Sora 2?

Sora 2 is the engine behind a new OpenAI video app called Sora. It's essentially an upgrade to the capabilities of OpenAI's video generation tool, adding sound to videos, enhancing realism, and introducing a "Cameo" feature that allows you to cast yourself or your friends in videos you've created.

How to try Sora 2 yourself

Sora 2 is currently available through the Sora app, which is in turn only available – at the time of writing – in certain countries.

"The Sora iOS app⁠ is available to download now," reads OpenAI's site. "You can sign up in-app for a push notification when access opens for your account. We’re starting the initial rollout in the U.S. and Canada today with the intent to quickly expand to additional countries. After you’ve received an invite, you’ll also be able to access Sora 2 through sora.com⁠."

We tried to find the Sora app from the UK, but it doesn't appear to have made it across the pond yet. There's no official word on how long it takes for access to open once you've downloaded the app, either.

How much does Sora 2 cost?

It's free! At least for now.

"Sora 2 will initially be available for free, with generous limits to start so people can freely explore its capabilities, though these are still subject to compute constraints," reads the site. "ChatGPT Pro users will also be able to use our experimental, higher quality Sora 2 Pro model on sora.com⁠ (and soon in the Sora app as well)."

Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert have swapped late night war stories, with the latter giving his first interview since news of the Late Show's cancellation broke in July.

SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert announces 'Late Show' cancelled, CBS claims Trump deal unrelated

Revealing that he found out about his show's cancellation a mere day before its Emmy nomination, Colbert told Kimmel that their mutual manager James "Baby Doll" Dixon broke the news after requesting a 15-minute meeting. Considering that supposed five-minute meetings with Dixon apparently take an hour, this unusual request alerted Colbert that something strange was going on.

"I come home two and a half hours later," Colbert recounted. "And I walk into the apartment and [Colbert's wife] Evie goes, 'What happened? You get cancelled?'"

Colbert then explained how he told his crew, having initially debated whether to keep the Late Show's cancellation a secret so they could enjoy the summer break. He ultimately held off just until after they'd filmed the next day, so that his staff would be informed but wouldn't have to film the show while still digesting the news. Colbert's public announcement of the cancellation was recorded immediately after, the host having told the audience not to leave.

"I was so nervous about doing it right — because there was nothing in the prompter, I was just speaking off the cuff — that I fucked up twice and I had to restart," said Colbert. "And the audience thought it was a bit. And they started going, 'You can do it! Come on, Steve! You can do it!' Because I always messed up on the sentence that told them what was happening. And then I got to the sentence that actually told them what was happening and uh, they didn't laugh."

Kimmel shared that he was actually at a No Kings protest when he learned of Colbert's cancellation, and that he was "absolutely shocked because it's not right."

"I mean, it's their ball and they can take it home if they want," said Colbert. 

"They don't have any balls, Stephen," said Kimmel. "Let's be honest."

The two late night hosts subsequently discussed Kimmel's more recent suspension, with Colbert showing a clip of the moment he found out the news while filming the Late Show.

"The first people I texted when I got the news that we were pulled off the air, I came into my office and I told some people, and then I texted you and Jimmy [Fallon] and Seth [Meyers] and the two Johns [Oliver and Jon Stewart] to let you know what had happened," said Kimmel, listing off his fellow late night talk show hosts.

"A bit of collateral damage I think from that whole scenario was it happened to be Jimmy Fallon's birthday the next day.... But you on that day sent a text to the group wishing Jimmy a happy birthday, and you wrote, 'Fallon, I think it's really selfish of you to have a birthday right now given how divided this country is. If anyone deserves a birthday it's Kimmel. But you just do whatever makes you happy, I guess.'"

The U.S. federal government shut down at midnight on Wednesday, bringing a halt to numerous government services after Congress could not agree on a crucial funding bill. Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration was quick to point the finger at its opponents, clearly blaming Democrats for the shutdown. However, it even went so far as to feature its accusations on an official government website, potentially violating the law.

SEE ALSO: Government shutdown looms. Will online services be disrupted?

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) added a blatantly partisan pop-up notification to its home page, which was also repeated on a bold red banner.

"The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands," read the prominent message. "The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people."

Shortly after the shutdown came into effect, the HUD pop-up and banner had both been altered to instead read, "The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need."

NPR reports that staffers at multiple government agencies also received emails on Tuesday from the White House Office of Management and Budget laying blame on Congressional Democrats.

The HUD website less than an hour prior to the government shutdown coming into effect. Credit: Mashable screenshot: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) The HUD website less than an hour after to the government shutdown came into effect. Credit: Mashable screenshot: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

While President Donald Trump frequently blames Democrats for his setbacks and grievances, his administration publishing such sentiments on an official government website carries new concerning implications. The HUD popup may be a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees in the U.S. government's executive branch from taking part in partisan political activities. (The President and Vice President are exempted from this legislation.)

Nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has filed a Hatch Act complaint against HUD secretary Scott Turner over the popup.

"This is such an obvious violation of the Hatch Act that it raises the question: 'How on Earth does HUD think they can get away with this?'" said Craig Holman, a government ethics expert with Public Citizen. 

"The answer is that the Trump administration has managed to neuter the ethics enforcement offices in the executive branch. Those who are responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act — namely, the Office of Special Counsel, followed by the Office of Government Ethics and the Attorney General’s office — have all been taken over by Trump loyalists or those who are intimidated by Trump."

Even so, Holman expressed hope that the "sheer crassness" of the popup message may still force the ethics offices to act.

"The public sees it. The world sees it. And it is clearly partisan and political," said Holman. "To turn a blind eye to what everyone else sees may be too embarrassing.”

The government shutdown took effect due to Congress' failure to pass a funding bill to keep it operational. While Republicans backed a short-term funding bill that would have kept the government operational until Nov. 21, Democrats refused to vote for it unless they agreed to extend federal healthcare subsidies and reverse cuts to Medicaid. Democrats instead put forward a separate bill which included such changes to keep healthcare more affordable, and would have funded the government through October. Republicans similarly refused to support it, leaving both parties at an impasse.

On Tuesday, Trump stated that, if a government shutdown went ahead, his administration would take the opportunity to make changes that are "bad for [Democrats] and irreversible." Specifically, the president declared an intention to lay off a significant number of Democrats while cutting programs that they advocate for. Trump holds the record for longest U.S. government shutdown, having seen a 35-day shutdown during his first term as president in 2018.

The moon is shining nice and bright tonight, so let's take a look at what we can see tonight, day 10 of the lunar cycle.

The lunar cycle is a series of eight phases of the moon. NASA explains that these phases occur as the Sun illuminates varying portions of the moon while it moves around our planet. The cycle in general lasts around 29.5 days.

Keep reading to see what you can see when you look up tonight, Oct. 1.

What is today’s moon phase?

As of Wednesday, Oct. 1, the moon phase is Waxing Gibbous, and according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation, 65% of its surface is illuminated tonight.

There's more than half of the moon is illuminated tonight, with lots to see. You won't need any visual aids to see the Mare Crisium, the Mare Vaporum, and the Mare Fecunditatis. With binoculars, you can add the Archimedes Crater, Endymion Crater, and the Mare Nectaris too. Lucky enough to have a telescope nearby? Set it up and you can also see the Linne Crater, Apollo 12 landing spot, and the Descartes Highlands.

When is the next full moon?

The next full moon will be on Oct. 7. The last full moon was on Sept. 7.

What are moon phases?

According to NASA, the moon’s phases are part of its 29.5-day orbit around Earth. As the moon moves, the angles between the Sun, Moon, and Earth shift, creating the changing phases we see. From our perspective, the moon sometimes appears full, sometimes seems to vanish completely, but we always see the same side. What changes is how much sunlight is reflected off its surface, depending on its position in orbit.

This is how we get full moons, half moons, and moons that appear completely invisible. There are eight main moon phases, and they follow a repeating cycle:

New Moon - The moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye).

Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter - Half of the moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-moon.

Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon - The whole face of the moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous - The moon starts losing light on the right side.

Last Quarter (or Third Quarter) - Another half-moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.