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Million-dollar diamonds, priests with neck tattoos, full-on resurrection... These are all elements of the narrative puzzle Rian Johnson pieces together in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

The latest Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) whodunnit transports audiences to the quiet town of Chimney Rock, where local church Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude has been rocked by a murder most foul, that of controversial Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Following a Good Friday mass, Wicks popped into a sealed room just off the altar, where he collapsed, stabbed by a dagger with a devil wolf head pommel.

SEE ALSO: 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' trailer sees Josh O'Connor accused of an impossible crime

The clearest suspect in this textbook locked-room mystery is Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), a young priest who challenges Wicks' prejudiced teachings. He's also been caught on camera threatening to cut Wicks out of the church, so things don't look great for him.

But of course, as in any Knives Out mystery, things are rarely as they seem. Although there was animosity between Wicks and Jud, it wasn't Jud who killed him. Instead, the murder came from within Wicks' own flock of religious followers. Was it lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) or her adopted son and incendiary political hopeful Cy (Daryl McCormack)? Wicks' number-one devotee Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close) or sci-fi writer Lee Ross (Andrew Scott)? Doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner) or cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny)?

Let's break down the killer's twisted plot.

Who killed Jefferson Wicks in Wake Up Dead Man? The ensemble of "Wake Up Dead Man" lays eyes on a murder. Credit: John Wilson / Netflix

Not one, but two members of Wicks' flock were behind his murder. It was Nat who dealt the killing blow, but it was Martha who set the whole plan in motion.

Before we get into Martha's motive, let's get into her and Nat's methodology. It starts with the two devil wolf head lamp toppers from local bar Il Diavolo. Nat stole one, and Martha nabbed the other when Jud hurled it into the church in anger. She painted the heads red and sewed one into Wicks' Good Friday vestments, which explains the red thread the police found by Wicks' body. That head was also attached to a remote control device. When Wicks went into the side room to drink from his flask, Nat set off the device, which popped a squib of blood onto the robes. Martha and Nat also laced the flask with medical-grade tranquilizer, causing Wicks to fall unconscious.

That means Wicks wasn't dead when Jud initially found him. His actual death came when Nat entered the room in order to investigate. Using Martha's horrified reaction as a distraction, Nat stabbed Wicks with the devil wolf knife and got rid of the device. That's how you pull off a locked-room murder in a church, folks!

Wait, why did Martha want to kill Wicks in the first place?

But hold on, why did Martha, Wicks' ride-or-die disciple, want him dead? You think he'd be the last person she'd wish death on, right?

The answer is a tale 60 years in the making, and it all starts with Wicks' mother Grace (Annie Hamilton), also known as "the harlot whore." Grace remained under her father Reverend Prentice Wicks' (James Faulkner) roof until his death, hoping to gain access to his hidden fortune — and a ticket out of her miserable existence in Chimney Rock. However, Prentice didn't want Grace to succumb to the temptation of Eve's apple, and so he passed away without telling her where he'd hidden it.

Turns out, Eve's apple wasn't just a metaphor for temptation. It was Prentice's fortune: a literal diamond, worth millions, that Prentice swallowed as his final communion. He invited Martha to witness it, telling her that with the fortune gone, it would no longer be a corrupting force within his family.

Martha harbored this secret for 60 years, never once giving it up. (Although she certainly goaded a distraught Grace about it.) But when Jud questioned whether she or anyone in Wicks' flock could actually confess their deepest sins at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, she decided to take him up on that challenge. She revealed the location of Eve's Apple to the priest hearing her confession. The big problem? She thought she was talking to Jud, when in reality, she was talking to Wicks.

Knowing his grandfather's fortune lay close at hand changed Wicks. He ordered a construction company to open his grandfather's mausoleum so he could remove Eve's Apple from his skeleton. After that, he planned to fly the coop and burn his flock in his wake, including busting Nat for treating patients while under the influence of alcohol. Following his grand exit, he would embrace the grander political aspirations of Cy, who is actually his son. For Martha, these were all signs of the corruption of temptation. Wicks' covetous sin would bring the downfall of the church she'd worked to uphold for decades, and she couldn't fail her duty to the church. Sure, she can excuse the bigoted rhetoric, but this is where she draws the line.

So how could Martha preserve both the church and Wicks' image? By killing him, obviously. Oh, and then reviving him.

How did Martha "revive" Wicks? Kerry Washington and Glenn Close in "Wake Up Dead Man." Credit: Netflix

In waking up dead man Wicks, Martha hoped to stage "a holy mystery, unsolvable and divine." Of course, she couldn't really resurrect Wicks. But she could enlist the help of a surprisingly accurate Wicks body double: her husband Samson (Thomas Haden Church).

A very alive Samson was entombed in the mausoleum, not Wicks' corpse. When Nat sent him the signal, Samson burst out of the purposefully shoddy coffin he'd built himself, went digging in Prentice's rib cage for Eve's Apple, then opened the mausoleum's Lazarus door from the inside. Anyone watching the security footage of Samson emerging into the night would see what looked like a newly revived Wicks reuniting with Samson. The reality of the scene was that Samson, dressed as Wicks, was reuniting with Nat, dressed as Samson.

From there, Nat, Samson, and Martha were supposed to dispose of Eve's Apple. Samson would then tell the world his story of meeting the resurrected Wicks, who gave him his blessing before ascending to heaven. It would be Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude's own miracle, one in the vein of the resurrection of Lazarus, or even Jesus Christ himself.

But Martha didn't count on Jud stumbling onto the scene, or Samson knocking him out. Nor did she factor Nat's greed into the equation. When he lays eyes on Eve's Apple, it's like Gollum catching sight of the One Ring for the first time. And just like Gollum, he jumps straight to murder. He takes out Samson, then stages the scene to look like Jud did it.

Nat attempts to continue his murder spree by poisoning Martha with a lethal dose of pentobarbital. Unluckily for him, she already knew about Samson's death, so she pulled a Reverse Uno straight out of the Sicilian's challenge in The Princess Bride, switching their tea cups so he drinks the poison instead. From there, all Martha had to do was stage Nat's corpse to look like he was drowning Wicks in a vat of acid. Talk about improvise, adapt, overcome.

What happens to Martha in the end? Josh O'Connor and Glenn Close in "Wake Up Dead Man." Credit: Netflix

Martha winds up confessing all of her sins of her own free will to Jud. She does so after taking pentobarbital herself, passing away in the church. Before she does, though, she finds forgiveness for those she harbored hate for in life, including Grace. Jud recites the Sacrament of Reconciliation and gives her the grace of forgiveness. I'm not sure I could look past the full-on murder or hero worship of a monstrous man in order to forgive someone, but then again, I'm not a priest, and Jud is just better than me.

As for Eve's Apple, it officially "disappeared." However, Jud cheekily hid it within the new crucifix he made for Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. With that, the ugly legacy of the Wicks family, including Wicks' nasty teachings and rants against his own mother, fades away, leaving the church in a better place. Yes, there are unfortunately still Wicks truthers out there who believe in the miracle, all based on Cy's inflammatory videos. But in Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude itself, the future looks bright for Jud, who prepares to welcome everyone who steps through his doors.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is now streaming on Netflix.

It's hard to imagine a company appearing to put its thumb on the scale for another company more than Bob Iger's Disney just did for Sam Altman's OpenAI.

The very day Disney took legal action against Google for what it says is unlicensed use of its intellectual property, it also licensed some of that property for use in Sora, the video generator made by Google's main rival, OpenAI. Just to make it clear which side of the AI feud the Mouse House was on, Iger also invested in Altman's company to the tune of $1 billion.

But coincidence of the timing aside, it's also hard to imagine the deal doing more good for Altman than it does for Iger.

OpenAI is spending so freely at the moment that $1 billion will cover 3-4 weeks of its estimated losses (see below for the math) or one-thousandth of its spending commitments.

Based on those numbers, OpenAI needs more than 1,001 Disney deals just to keep going. (Could be there's a movie in that!) And now, on top of that, OpenAI will pay the world's largest media company so its users can make a video using one of Disney's approved characters.

Disney, meanwhile, gets a chunk of the company, the glory of being a player in AI, and a carefully curated, user-created stream of new content for Disney+. It's lose-win!

SEE ALSO: Everything is fine: Disney CEO Bob Iger says OpenAI deal isn't a threat to creatives.

Why would Altman accept a deal like that? Perhaps because of the sheer scale of the hole OpenAI is in. That scale may become clearer this month, in a flurry of investigations and estimates. OpenAI is in trouble, declared the Atlantic — and in one of the publication's sickest burns ever, dubbed the ChatGPT maker the "Netscape of AI."

(Netscape was also a pioneer of the web browser, but couldn't compete when tech giants like Microsoft built their own models; in the end, AOL bought Netscape).

How much money is OpenAI really losing?

That takedown looked mild next to a typical tech journalist's summary: "You have no idea how screwed OpenAI actually is." (And that was written before the "Code Red" Altman declared last month, when Google Gemini was launched and OpenAI started hemorrhaging users.)

How screwed, exactly, is a moving target. Just ask Deutsche Bank, which also started hammering nails in OpenAI's coffin this month. Deutsche analyst Jim Reid has estimated the company's losses going forward at a staggering $140 billion, between 2024 and 2029 alone.

Given the commitments OpenAI has made to spending on new infrastructure — more than $1 trillion, or 1,000 Disney deals — Reid may be optimistic in suggesting the company will be around that long.

We can't examine the books, given that OpenAI is also the world's largest private company, but it seems Altman has fully embraced a burn rate of spending that makes the dotcom bubble era look sensible.

In the first half of 2025 alone, according to The Information, revenue at OpenAI was $4.3 billion; total expenditure was $17.8 billion.

"No start-up in history has operated with expected losses on anything approaching this scale," Reid wrote.

No kidding. When you make a billion-dollar deal with Disney, and that deal covers less than one month of your losses, then ... well, you too might have panic sweats. And you too might be looking for as many deals with as many more Disneys as possible.

Disney now joins the ranks of Softbank, Microsoft (which made its first $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019), or NVIDIA (which made a $100 billion deal with OpenAI that ties them into using NVIDIA chips). These are the companies you need in your corner if your cash is going to run out at any time.

Maybe you'd be looking for a bailout from one of these deep pockets, or all of them, down the line. Maybe you'd even be looking for a U.S. government bailout, as some sources suggest.

And maybe, if all is lost and OpenAI's valuation heads south, you'd be hoping for someone like Iger to do for OpenAI what AOL did for Netscape.

Apple released new updates to its core operating systems today, with the 26.2 versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and visionOS available now.

As expected, the iPhone update iOS 26.2 is getting the most attention. Apple's official description of the update says it offers "enhancements to Apple Music, Podcasts, and Games, as well as other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your iPhone."

How to update to iOS 26.2, iPadOS 26.2, macOS 26.2, watchOS 26.2, and visionOS 26.2

Apple makes this process pretty simple; if you have automatic updates enabled, your device may already be updated to the new OS.

To manually update, go to your device's settings, tap or click on "General," and then "Software Update." From there, you'll see options to update immediately or later in the evening while you're asleep.

What's new with iOS 26.2?

The beta of this update has been available since November, so there may not be surprises if you follow all of the latest beta developments and bug fixes. But if you don't (and why would you?), here are the key updates:

• Your "Favorite Songs" playlist will appear in "Top Picks" on the Apple Music home tab

• Offline lyrics will be available for downloaded songs in Apple Music

• Automatically generated chapters make it easier to navigate episodes in Podcasts

• New filters in the Games library

• Improved support for third-party mobile controllers

• New Lock Screen customization options, including more or less opacity for Liquid Glass

• Enhanced safety alerts

• AirDrop verification codes when connecting with unknown contacts

• New navigation options in Apple News

• A new accessibility setting that makes the screen flash when you receive a notification

What's new with iPadOS 26.2?

The release notes for iPadOS 26.2 highlight 17 changes and bug fixes. The update "enhances the new windowing system introduced in iPadOS 26 with familiar drag and drop gestures for tiling app windows and creating a Slide Over window," as well as enhancements to Apple Music, Podcasts, and Games, and essential security updates.

Most of the key changes are the same as with iOS:

• Multitasking gestures to quickly tile windows or place an app in Slide Over by dragging app icons from the Dock

• New drag and drop gestures for the iPad windowing system

• Your "Favorite Songs" playlist will appear in "Top Picks" on the Apple Music home tab

• Offline lyrics will be available for downloaded songs in Apple Music

• Automatically generated chapters make it easier to navigate episodes in Podcasts

• New filters in the Games library

• Improved support for third-party mobile controllers

• New Lock Screen customization options, including more or less opacity for Liquid Glass

What's new with macOS 26.2? The new Edge Light feature in macOS 26.2. Credit: Apple

MacOS introduces one of the most notable changes with this round of updates — a new video calling feature called Edge Light.

"Edge Light simulates a ring light by illuminating the borders of your screen, providing a pleasing fill light when you make a video call in low light. And to ensure that you always have access to your content, the effect automatically recedes from the area around your mouse pointer...Edge Light works best in low-light conditions, such as dim indoor lighting at night. You can combine it with any of the other effects."

Google is always introducing new experimental AI tools, like that time it tried out AI-generated podcasts in Google Search results. Another such AI-powered experiment has hit the proverbial airwaves. This time, it’s a Gemini-powered tool that it’s calling "Disco," which can take a web browser tab and turn it into an interactive web app. 

The process is fairly simple. You take a browser tab and ask Disco to make it a web app with its GenTab function. The AI then creates a simple web app that houses all of the information from the browser window. This includes interactive elements that can help visually explain information from the browser window. The presentation is controllable based on how you prompt the AI. 

In one example that Google used, it created a Disco web app from a webpage about entropy and showed an example of what entropy might look like. There is also a tool that helps you take that information and summarize it for use in writing.

Another example Google used was planning a winter trip. In the GenApp that Disco generated, it included information about the location, a Google Maps map of the surrounding area, integration with the user’s calendar, and an itinerary builder that used Google Maps map pins to show where everything would be. It showed all of this and more in an interactive user interface. 

Google also showed off the ability to make an interactive meal planner and a vegetable garden planner. In short, if you want to plan something, this might actually be a useful tool.

The general idea appears to be combining web browsing for the purposes of research, and combining it with the ability to plan or research things more deeply. Instead of just reading 15 webpages about a certain topic, you can generate a web app that will guide you through the material. Similarly, instead of opening tabs for your calendar, Google Maps, and other tools to plan a trip, you can have Disco’s GenTabs make a web app that houses all of those tools in one spot. 

It’s an interesting pivot for Google. Most AI companies are currently investing in web browsing via the AI browser idea, which includes Perplexity’s Comet and Copilot Mode in Microsoft Edge. Google has the Chrome browser with Gemini baked in already, so this is a different way to explore the notion of web browsing with AI.

Google says that Disco will eventually be a platform that will house multiple features. GenTabs, the functionality described above, is the first such feature for that platform. Currently, users will have to sign up for a waitlist if they want to try it out, but the waitlist does say that approved testers will likely be chosen for future Disco features as well.

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Yesterday, just as OpenAI celebrated its 10-year anniversary, the AI company launched GPT-5.2, its latest series of AI models to power ChatGPT. The latest release is allegedly in response to OpenAI’s rumored “code red” state, as the AI market share leader is reportedly bleeding users to Google's Gemini 3 and other AI chatbots. 

The main competition appears to be between Gemini 3 and GPT-5.2, as Google’s Gemini 3 has made pretty big waves since it launched in mid-November. Gemini 3 and GPT-5.2 appear to be neck and neck in most metrics, showing that OpenAI still has the chops to compete with the top dogs. However, Grok 4.1 is also a mainstay on leaderboards, and it's put up some pretty good scores of its own. 

So, if you’re curious how GPT-5.2 compares to Grok 4.1, we can offer an initial assessment. Keep in mind that GPT-5.2 is still fresh out of the box. This means that the benchmark scores will certainly change over time as more people get their hands on it to run it through its paces. 

GPT-5.2 vs. Grok 4.1: LMArena rankings

GPT-5.2 isn’t ranked on most of LMArena’s leaderboards at the time of this writing. Thus, it makes it difficult to compare the two directly from here. That doesn’t mean that we can’t try. According to OpenAI, GPT-5.2 is a few percentage points higher in almost every metric compared to GPT-5.1, which is ranked on LMArena. 

Assuming GPT-5.2 usurps GPT-5.1 in every category, we can conclude that GPT-5.2 will either be at or very close to the top of the leaderboards. In the one metric where GPT-5.2 exists on LMArena at this time — which is WebDev — OpenAI’s model is currently ranked second overall (above Grok). 

So, we can conclude that GPT-5.2 will probably rank higher than Grok in almost every category, although Grok may retain its second-place finish on the Text leaderboard, where it places just below Gemini 3.

GPT-5.2 vs. Grok 4.1: Benchmark tests

Since GPT-5.2 is so new, it hasn’t shown up on a lot of independent benchmark tests yet. For the time being, we have to rely on OpenAI's self-reported benchmark scores. Keep in mind that these scores are part of a press release and have not been independently verified. 

• Creative Writing v3 - GPT-5.2 vastly outperforms Grok 4.1 here, with an ELO Score of 1675.5 versus Grok 4.1’s 1268.6.

• GDPval-AA - GPT-5.2 also wins this one, scoring a 1474 versus Grok’s 1041.

• GPQA Diamond - GPT-5.2 pulls out another win here, but the gap is much lower, with GPT-5.2 scoring a 90.3% and Grok 4 scoring an 87.7%.

• AIME 2025 - GPT-5.1 beats Grok with a score of 95.7% to 92.7%. It stands to reason that GPT-5.2 will top the leaderboards here and beat Grok as well. 

• FrontierMath - Another big win for GPT-5.2 here, with a much higher accuracy than Grok 4.

The other benchmarks pretty much tell the same story. GPT-5.2 beats Grok 4.1 on benchmarks, and the margins aren’t typically very close. Real-world results may vary, though, as benchmarks only really tell part of the story. 

GPT-5.2 vs. Grok 4.1: Availability

Both AI models are generally available to the public via OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Grok’s chat platform, respectively. In terms of features, both have AI chatbot functionality and the ability to generate images directly from the AI chatbot. ChatGPT can make videos with the help of Sora 2, while Grok can generate videos and images from its Grok Imagine platform. Both Sora and Grok Imagine lag far behind rivals like Google's Veo 3 and LumaAI's Ray3, however.

Availability is largely the same, as most people interact with ChatGPT and Grok directly through their interfaces. However, ChatGPT is integrated into more products than Grok, giving it a leg up in terms of overall availability. 

GPT-5.2 vs. Grok 4.1: Pricing

For GPT-5.2, you have to get the pro version of ChatGPT, which starts at $20 per month or $200 per month, depending on what you want. Grok’s free version also limits you to Grok 4, and not Grok 4.1, so you also need a subscription for Grok 4.1. A SuperGrok subscription starts at $30 per month and goes up to $300 per month if you want more access. 

That gives GPT-5.2 the edge, as everyone who passed the first grade knows, $20 is less than $30. 

As for which one is worth it more, you’ll have to try out both AI platforms for yourself and see which one performs better for the kind of work you want them to do. Benchmarks and price tags don’t mean much if one of them simply doesn’t work as well as the other for your particular use case. 

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.

In November, Amazon announced that it was launching AI video recaps for TV shows.

In theory, this could be useful, as now that fans often have to wait years in between seasons of a show, plot recaps are often very necessary before binge-watching a new season. In practice, however, viewers have spotted several errors in a video recap for the first season of the Fallout TV series, which is gearing up for Season 2.

GamesRadar pointed out that the show's AI video recap incorrectly identifies the time period of the show's flashbacks, telling viewers they take place about 120 years earlier than they actually take place in the show's chronology. On top of that, the recap mischaracterizes a pivotal plot point at the end of Season 1, completely botching the main character's primary motivation.

It's a real, "You had one job!" situation for Amazon's AI technology.

When the feature was announced in February, an Amazon blog post hailed the AI-powered recaps as "groundbreaking." Yet anyone familiar with the limitations of large-language models knows that they are famously prone to hallucinations and inaccuracies.

An AI video recap for the TV series 'Tom Clancy.' Credit: Amazon

“Video Recaps marks a groundbreaking application of generative AI for streaming,” Gérard Medioni, vice president of technology at Prime Video, said in a November press release. “This first-of-its-kind feature demonstrates Prime Video’s ongoing commitment to innovation and making the viewing experience more accessible and enjoyable for customers.”

And here's how Amazon says the AI recaps are created:

Creating each video recap is a multistep process. With the help of generative AI, the Video Recaps feature analyzes a season’s key plot points and character arcs to deeply understand the most pivotal moments that will resonate with viewers as they enter the next season.

Then, the AI finds the most compelling video clips and pairs them with audio effects, dialogue snippets, and music. These are all stitched together with an overarching AI-generated voiceover narration to deliver a theatrical-quality visual recap.

Unfortunately, fact-checking or human review doesn't seem to be one of the steps.

After gaming journalists started writing about the error-filled AI videos, which featured an AI voice-over and clips from the show, Amazon seemingly pulled the feature from Fallout and other Prime Video series, as The Verge reported.

For AI critics in gaming media, this was a prime opportunity to make puns about the "fallout" from another failed AI tool. Many creative professionals are extremely hostile to generative AI in all its forms, as Mashable has reported.

Yet Amazon has given no indication that the feature is gone for good, and it may yet return. Amazon is all-in on generative AI, after all, as are millions of AI users.

In the meantime, you can always rely on human-created season recaps from publications like, say, Mashable.

While Waymo continues its expansion across America's roads (and highways), some concerns about the self-driving cars persist. The worries mostly concern autonomous vehicles hallucinating or disobeying traffic rules — such as driving past stopped school buses — but a new anxiety was unlocked this week in Los Angeles, when a female Waymo customer discovered a man hiding in the car's trunk.

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As reported by the local Fox affiliate, the woman recorded the incident, confronting the man. "Why are you in it?" the unnamed woman asks. "They just put me in it," the man responds. "Who put you in it?" the female customer says. "The people," he says.

SEE ALSO: Can Waymo reduce America's shocking number of road deaths?

No arrests were made since no crime was technically committed, according to Fox11.

A Waymo spokesperson explained to Mashable that the man climbed into the trunk after a previous rider left it open. Waymo added that police helped remove the man after the female passenger alerted them, and Waymo's Rider Support team assisted the woman during the process. The spokesperson said that the support team already has protocols for addressing situations like these and is implementing changes to improve them.

"We're committed to keeping our riders safe and earning the trust of the communities where we operate," a Waymo spokesperson tells Mashable. "This experience was unacceptable, and we are actively implementing changes to address this." 

One of the touted benefits of Waymo is the safety it offers lone passengers, especially women; hundreds of thousands of Uber and Lyft customers have allegedly been victims of sexual assault.

The Fox11 report also noted that a Waymo recently drove through an LAPD standoff, slowly cruising between a suspect on the ground and police officers with their guns drawn.

Google just made whatever pair of headphones you own a bit more useful.

As part of a broader expansion of Google Translate, the company is rolling out a beta for live language translation using headphones, Google announced in a blog post. Google says the feature supports more than 70 languages and, most importantly, works with "any pair of headphones," presumably provided that they have a microphone on them in some capacity.

"We’re bringing Gemini’s most powerful translation capabilities to Google Translate for text, launching a beta experience for live speech-to-speech translations with headphones, and adding new languages to the app for practice and skill building," the blog post reads.

And according to Google VP of product and search Rose Yao, Gemini doesn't just translate each word you hear; it provides meaningful translation to capture the meaning and intent of the speaker.

"Say you’re trying to translate an English idiom like 'stealing my thunder.' Now, it's easier than ever to get a more natural, accurate translation, instead of a literal word-for-word translation. Gemini parses the context to give you a helpful translation that captures what the idiom really means," Yao wrote in a blog post.

You can try the new live translation feature by opening the Google Translate mobile app with your headphones paired and tapping the "Live translate" button.

Apple got a lot of press when it introduced live translation with AirPods at the September iPhone event, and previously, this Google Translate feature was only available for users with Pixel Buds, the company's wireless earbuds. Now that Android users can use live translation on their preferred headphones or buds, Google has taken a big step closer to universal live translation.

SEE ALSO: Android now lets you share live video on emergency calls

But, as I said, this is a beta, so it's not fully cooked yet. As such, it's only available in the U.S., Mexico, and India right now, and crucially, only Android users have access at the moment. Google says the feature will come to iOS in 2026, but for now, iPhone users are stuck with Apple's more limited live translation.

Large-language models like ChatGPT and Gemini often excel at language translation, and live translation is one of the more promising use cases for the technology.

The Emmy–winning medical drama The Pitt returns to HBO Max on Jan. 8, but you can watch its opening scene right now.

SEE ALSO: 'Euphoria' Season 3 gets first look in HBO Max's 2026 trailer

HBO Max has released the first 90 seconds of Season 2, which returns viewers to the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Like in Season 1, every episode represents one hour in a 15-hour shift. This time, though, the shift takes place on July 4, so you can bet you'll see grill burns, firework accidents, and more making their way through the Pitt's doors.

None of that chaos is on display in The Pitt Season 2's opening scene, though. Instead, these 90 seconds showcase Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch's (Noah Wyle) commute to work. It's a beautiful sunny morning as he rides his motorcycle across Pittsburgh's bridges, and — wait a second, sorry, Dr. Robby, who works in an emergency department, is riding a motorcycle? Without a helmet? Has this man not seen enough motorcycle and bike accidents to know this is a bad idea? What in the midlife crisis is this?

It's not long before The Pitt says goodbye to those sunny summer skies, though, because once Dr. Robby checks in, he and his staff are locked in on whatever July 4 will throw their way. Still, with Dr. Robby's apparent destructive streak shining through, I'm not just worried about the incoming patients. I'm also worried whatever's going on with him.

The Pitt Season 2 premieres Jan. 8 on HBO Max.

Sony's perpetually upcoming electric vehicle is going to allow for a degree of license plate customization never thought possible before.

According to TechRadar, Sony's Afeela EV (which has been showcased at multiple CES events in previous years but still isn't on sale) will pioneer something new: digital license plates. Sony is partnering with a company called Reviver to incorporate its RPlate technology, which allows you to customize what's on your license plate with a smartphone app.

For vanity plate fans, life may never be the same.

SEE ALSO: Motorola might announce a book-style foldable phone at CES 2026

Per TechRadar, it's a simple HD display that allows you to switch between black and white backgrounds, with the additional ability to write custom messages along the bottom of the plate, presumably while maintaining your given license plate number above those. Examples of possible messages include social media handles or catchphrases, though as TechRadar pointed out, it's not yet clear if profanity will be allowed.

Many U.S. states also have various laws governing how license plates must appear on vehicles, and a technology like this would have to comply with a lot of various state laws and regulations.

These, and other questions about the Afeela, will have to wait for the car's launch to be answered. It still isn't out, despite first appearing at CES in 2023, and it's rumored to cost nearly $90,000 for U.S. drivers. That's a lot of money to spend for goofy license plate capabilities.

If you're an AT&T customer who was impacted by the company's data breaches in 2019 and/or 2024, then you still have time to file a claim in the $177 million class action settlement. In October, the deadline to file was extended to Dec. 18, so you have a little less than a week.

The first of the two large-scale breaches was discovered in March 2024, after customer data appeared on the dark web. AT&T later explained in a statement that the breach compromised the addresses, social security numbers, and passcodes of users in a database dating back to 2019. An even larger data breach was uncovered in late 2024. This second breach exposed the telephone numbers and records of calls and texts of nearly every AT&T customer, and took place between approximately May 1 and Oct. 31, 2022, and on Jan. 3, 2023. 

SEE ALSO: 5 big tech settlements you might be eligible for in 2025

Following a class action lawsuit, courts ruled in June that the company would dole out $177 million to affected AT&T customers who had accounts between 2019 and 2024. Claimants were divided into two classes: account holders affected by the March 2024 breach would split $149 million, while customers whose communications were downloaded in the July incident would share $28 million. Direct payments to users who suffered financial losses were paid first — up to $5,000 for the first class or $2,500 for the second — according to the company.

Now, everyone else whose data was exposed is splitting the pile.

How much money is available in the AT&T settlement?

Technically, an AT&T customer who suffered proven financial losses because of both incidents could be eligible to receive up to $7,500. However, those larger payments were paid early. AT&T should have contacted you directly if you qualified, so if you think you were impacted by the breach but haven't been notified, you'll want to check your spam folder. Per our colleagues at PCMag, look for emails from Kroll Settlement Administration LLC or the email address attsettlement@e.emailksa.com.

As is usually the case in these class action settlements, manage your expectations. After those initial payments to customers who experienced financial losses, the remaining $177 million will be divided among a much larger pool of customers.

Often, the final payment amount in big tech settlements like this is under $30.

How to claim your AT&T settlement money

According to the settlement website, affected customers have until Dec. 18 to claim their cut, and impacted users should have already received a settlement notice containing a Class Member ID. If you would like to opt out of the settlement, or want to object to your classification under the settlement, you were required to physically mail in a request by Nov. 17.

The settlement's final approval hearing will be held on Jan. 15.

To be paid, you must fill out the settlement claim form. You will need your Class Member ID, as well as an email address, AT&T account number, or full name. Be prepared to fill out payment information, such as a direct deposit or checking information.

Who is eligible for the AT&T settlement?

There are different eligibility requirements for the two settlement classes in the case:

• For Class 1: eligibility extends to any living person whose personal identification information was exposed by the March incident

• For Class 2: eligibility extends to AT&T account owners or "line or end users" whose numbers or direct communications were downloaded by bad actors

How much money will I get in AT&T settlement?

We can't provide an exact dollar amount. In a much larger Amazon settlement, affected customers were expected to receive up to $42.86 per person. And in the YouTube privacy settlement, affected customers are expected to get between $30 to $60.

Customers will be paid based on the severity of the data breach.

• For Class 1: Individuals who had their Social Security Numbers exposed (Tier 1) will receive five times more money than those who did not (Tier 2)

• For Class 2: Individuals who did not prove a documented financial loss will receive a share of the remaining settlement funds (Tier 3)

Have questions? You can call the settlement hotline (833) 890-4930 to get answers or visit the settlement website.

SAVE $598: As of Dec. 12, the Hisense 65-Inch S7N Canvas QLED 4K TV is down to just $699.99 at Amazon. That's 46% off its list price of $1,297.99 and a new best price ever.

Opens in a new window Credit: Hisense Hisense 65-Inch S7N Canvas QLED 4K TV $699.99
$1,297.99 Save $598   Get Deal

Black Friday TV deals never disappoint. This year, we saw plenty of record-lows on QLEDs in just about every size, with 65-inchers really making a splash. But somehow, one of our favorite 65-inch TVs has now surpassed that Black Friday price weeks later.

As of Dec. 12, the Hisense 65-Inch S7N Canvas QLED 4K TV is down to just $699.99 at Amazon. That's 46% off its list price and a new best price ever, beating its Black Friday price by nearly $200.

Essentially Hisense's dupe of Samsung's The Frame TV, the 2025 Canvas TV has a matte finish that makes it look like a giant piece of artwork, rather than a giant hunk of tech hanging on your wall. It has a better refresh rate over The Frame at 144Hz versus 120Hz, making it a better pick for gamers. Plus, it supports Dolby Vision and has a 4K display with Quantum Dot technology (check out our guide to TV specs for more information on QLED displays). Mashable's TV expert Leah Stodart calls it a "well-liked underdog in the market previously dominated by Samsung."

Of course, it's real selling point is that it turns your screen into famous works of art. Deputy Shopping Editor Miller Kern owns this TV and said it "looks stupid good in a gallery wall and really does blend in with other artwork and wall hangings, especially in art mode."

At full price, it's a bit of a splurge, but at nearly 50% off, it's a major steal. We can't imagine it dropping any further in price, so if you have an art TV on your wishlist, add the 65-inch Hisense Canvas TV to your cart ASAP.

SAVE UP TO $140: As of Dec. 12, Kindles are back on sale. Find the basic Kindle for as low as $89.99, or score major savings on the Kindle Scribe, which is down to $309.99, saving $140. But don't worry, the fan favorite Kindle Paperwhite is also on sale.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle $89.99 at Amazon
$109.99 Save $20   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle Paperwhite $134.99 at Amazon
$159.99 Save $25   Get Deal

Amazon went all out during Black Friday with its Kindle deals. Every e-reader hit its lowest price ever, including the basic Kindle down to $79.99 and the Kindle Paperwhite down to $124.99. The savings were so good, we expected them to be the last sale of the year on the devices, but Amazon always has some tricks up their sleeves.

As of Dec. 12, we've spotted the entire Kindle collection back on sale. Temper your expectations though. The prices aren't as good as we saw during Black Friday: to be exact, prices are about $10 higher. So while these aren't the lowest price ever, they're still pretty good deals that we recommend shopping, especially if you're looking to gift a Kindle this holiday season.

The Kindle Paperwhite, our favorite Kindle here at Mashable, is discounted down to $134.99. That brings the device down to $25, saving you 16% off its $159.99 list price. For a budget pick, the equally great budget Kindle is down to $89.99. That's not quite as sweet as its $79.99 Black Friday price but still makes it the only Amazon e-reader under $100.

The biggest savings are on the Kindle Scribe (64GB) which is all the way down to $309.99, saving you $140 off its $449.99 price. But there are plenty of deals to shop across the Kindle line-up. And don't wait to buy, Black Friday prices came and went fast and this surprise sale is sure to follow suit.

More Kindle deals Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle Signature Edition $159.99 at Amazon
$199.99 Save $40   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle Colorsoft $189.99 at Amazon
$249.99 Save $60   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle Scribe (64GB) $309.99 at Amazon
$449.99 Save $140   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Kindle Kids $99.99 at Amazon
$129.99 Save $30.00   Get Deal

SAVE 50%: As of Dec. 12, the DJI Power 1000 Portable Power Station is on sale for $349 at Amazon. That's a 50% discount off the $699 list price, making this the best price we’ve ever seen for a power station with these specs.

DJI Power 1000 Portable Power Station $349 at Amazon
$699 Save $350   Get Deal at Amazon

I’m not a doomsday prepper or anything, but living on the water in a hurricane-prone area has taught me to be prepared. My internet goes out if the wind blows the wrong way, and dealing with a dead laptop and a dark apartment while waiting for power to return is not my idea of a fun weekend. So, I've been shopping around for a portable generator to keep those unpredictable weather patterns at bay, and I just found a killer deal on the DJI Power 1000.

SEE ALSO: The DJI Power 2000 portable power station is down to its lowest-ever price — almost half off

Right now, the DJI Power 1000 Portable Power Station is on sale for $349 at Amazon. That's a 50% discount off the $699 list price, making this the best price we’ve ever seen for a power station with these specs. (It's also a DJI Direct product, so you won't have to worry about sketchy, third-party sellers.)

It offers 1024Wh of capacity, an unbeatable 2200W continuous output (with a 2600W Peak), and features the superior, long-lasting LiFePO4 battery technology rated for 4,000 cycles. But the best feature is the speed: using grid power, the Power 1000 gets back to 100 percent charge in just 70 minutes (or 0-80 percent in 50 minutes). Plus, it is ultra-silent at just 23 dB during operation.

SAVE $400: As of Dec. 12, get the Roborock Qrevo S5V robot vacuum and mop for $499.99, down from its usual price of $899.99 at Amazon. That's a discount of 44% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Roborock Qrevo S5V robot vacuum and mop $499.99 at Amazon
$899.99 Save $400   Get Deal

It's high time you invested in a robot vacuum. Take it from us: they can make all of those household chores you dread doing a much less annoying task. They can not only vacuum but mop as well, and some of the best ones even clean up after themselves and empty their own debris. It's a win win, really, and you can get a great Roborock model on sale at Amazon right now.

As of Dec. 12, get the Roborock Qrevo S5V robot vacuum and mop for $499.99, down from its usual price of $899.99 at Amazon. That's a discount of 44% and the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: 7 gadgets to help keep your home clean, from robot vacuums to electric scrubbers

This combo robot vacuum and mop is an all-in-one option that not only sucks up dirt and debris and washes hardwood flooring, but dries the floor after it's done. It can also empty debris into its own base, so you don't have but minimal interaction with the unit itself. The result? A cleaner home and less overall work for you.

The mess is transferred to a special tank in the vacuum and it can hold it there for up to 7 weeks, which is long enough for you to forget it's there, then drop it into a trash can and start the cycle all over again. Of course, it also includes your typical robot vacuum amenities as well, with custom path creation, cleaning schedules, compatibility with all your smart home apps and setups, and more, which means you're getting a fully-featured setup here that can do it all.

Stop spending all your time cleaning and let a robot handle it. You've spent enough years of your life flying solo with the tidying tasks.

AI has loomed large in the realm of love in 2025. And it's set to loom even larger in 2026, according to a major sex toy retailer's predictions for the year ahead.

Twenty-five percent of Gen Z and 26 percent of millennials have already spoken to AI about sex, per the TwentyTwentySex report by Lovehoney, the UK's leading sexual wellness retailer.

In fact, more people are turning to AI for advice (52 percent) over speaking to their friends (32 percent) or their partners (22 percent), according to the brand, which surveyed 2,022 nationally representative respondents.

SEE ALSO: 4 reasons not to turn ChatGPT into your therapist

People are treating AI as their sex therapists, per the report. Interestingly, the data shows that young men are more likely to have spoken to AI about sex (30 percent of Gen Z men and 34 percent of millennial men). While getting a bit of sex advice from ChatGPT might sound harmless, experts warn against using AI as a therapist, stating that the risks of doing so (like it becoming a harmful feedback loop) are not worth it.

Lovehoney's report states that "2026 is expected to mark a major shift in how we seek guidance, validation, and connection." The sex toy brand is calling this trend "digital threesomes," although I don't think that means anyone will be jumping into bed with an LLM anytime soon.

At the same time, daters are also shifting their love lives away from the digital realm, turning instead to real-life connections. We've seen the rise of offline dating events, with singles flocking to singles' nights, including speed dating, coffee shop dates, run clubs, and many more activity-based socials.

Lovehoney states that "with dating app fatigue at an all-time high, more singles will turn to real-world connections." Thirty percent of Gen Z have met a sexual or romantic partner through dating apps, compared with 35 percent of millennials.

Sexologist Elisabeth Neumann, head of user research at Lovehoney, said: “With dating apps in decline, we're seeing the return of analogue intimacy, from office romances to speed-dating nights."

"This trend could unfold in stark contrast to technological advancements, with technology itself seducing us through AI dating coaches, digital threesomes, and fantasy-fuelled escapism."

Motorola already has a foldable on the market with the revived Razr, a flip phone-style foldable, but rumor has it the mobile company has more coming soon.

Motorola sent a physical invite to Android Central in the mail that heavily suggests a book-style foldable, perhaps similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold series (and eventually the long-rumored iPhone Fold), will debut at CES 2026 in January.

The big tells in the package are a small folding book with a wooden finish (the Motorola Razr Ultra was available with a wood finish as well), and a card that rather unsubtly says "We're getting ready to unfold new perspectives at Lenovo Tech World," which is a CES-adjacent showcase on Jan. 6 in Las Vegas.

SEE ALSO: All the foldable phones you can buy in 2025: Are these smartphones finally worth buying?

There isn't much more to the invite than that, but it's still enough to make the mind wander a bit.

Motorola has been steadily releasing clamshell-style Razr foldables for a few years now, but it has yet to dip into the Z Fold-esque world of book-style foldables. Both kinds of devices fill different market niches, so it makes sense that Motorola would want to expand its customer base.

We're only a few weeks away from finding out, at any rate.