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The online audio sphere is plagued by myths. Most are fairly harmless, but it's nevertheless valuable to get the facts. Here are some of the most pervasive audio myths, and the truth behind them.

Setting up your speakers requires more than simply plugging them in. Improper positioning can undermine the performance of even the finest audio systems. Here are some common speaker placement mistakes you must avoid for clear, balanced sound and to get the most out of your audio system.

One of the most unpopular new Windows features is doing a lot to earn that reputation.

Microsoft Recall, which is an AI-driven tool that constantly screenshots your PC activity to build a searchable database of everything you've ever done, apparently can't always filter out sensitive information like credit card and Social Security numbers. This is according to real-life testing done by Tom's Hardware, which found that this information (whether it was dummy text or real) would occasionally still get captured by Recall screenshots, which could theoretically then be viewed by someone else.

SEE ALSO: I just demoed Windows 11 Recall: 3 useful features that may surprise you

The security risks here are numerous and obvious. There is a filter for cutting out sensitive information from Recall screenshots that is on by default (imagine if it wasn't), but per Tom's Hardware, it only works some of the time. On obvious e-commerce websites, credit card numbers generally get filtered out. But in other places, like PDF forms, the filter doesn't catch them.

Recall has easily been the most talked-about and controversial part of Microsoft's recent push into artificial intelligence. It's been called a "disaster" by security experts, and underwent a delay earlier this year, ultimately being released for testing in October.

If you do a lot of shopping online, maybe think about turning Recall off.

Sound matters. Among the many labels you’ll encounter when setting up a soundbar or home theater, “ARC” and “eARC” are sure to pop up. But what do they actually mean, and why should you care?

Tumblr is taking a page from Reddit and Facebook with its new "Communities" feature, which are digital spaces like subreddits and Facebook groups.

"Communities are a new and easy way to connect with the people on Tumblr who get it," Tumblr said in a post announcing the feature. "You can invite mutuals who share your obsessions to a private Community or start a public Community for the things you love and watch all the new friends pile in. Like a clown car, Communities can fit (almost) as many people in ‘em as you want."

Communities — which allows users to create a space for anything from a D&D campaign to cat photos — has been available to some users in beta but officially launched across the platform on web, iOS, and Android on Thursday, Dec. 12.

SEE ALSO: The inside story of how Tumblr lost its way

You can get started by browsing though Communities that already exist, like aesthetic, writing, and TV shows, or you can create your own Community.

It's not a huge surprise that Tumblr would copy its more successful social media sisters. The platform has been struggling to maintain relevancy after it banned porn in 2018, and it's kind of the Thing Platforms Do — copy whatever else is successful and see if you can't make it slightly better. Look at Instagram Reels copying TikTok, or Facebook Stories copying Snapchat. So...TikTok Communities when?

Taking acoustics into consideration is key for creating the optimal listening environment. Here are the key facts about room acoustics and how to improve yours.

You can now talk to Google's AI hosts that, in effect, will turn your meeting notes into a podcast.

NotebookLM, Google's AI-powered teaching tool, first debuted the Audio Overview tool in October. In short, it takes source material — e.g., meeting notes, diary entries, legal briefs — and condenses it into a podcast-like product where two AI hosts discuss the pertinent info. The idea is to provide a different mode of taking in the information, perhaps for the person too busy to read or who learns better via audio.

SEE ALSO: Google's crazy AI podcasting tool NotebookLM gets some upgrades

Now, in theory, you could ask the AI hosts questions should confusion arise or you need more info.

Wrote Google in a blog post about the update to NotebookLM:

"Over the last three months, people have generated more than 350 years worth of Audio Overviews. Today, we’re starting to roll out the ability to 'join' the conversation. Using your voice, you can ask the hosts for more details or to explain a concept differently. It’s like having a personal tutor or guide who listens attentively, and then responds directly, drawing from the knowledge in your sources."

Google did warn that it's a new feature and that the AI hosts may "pause awkwardly before responding and may occasionally introduce inaccuracies." That's to be expected, considering AI introducing inaccuracies isn't exactly a new or novel problem.

You can find the new tool by clicking the "Interactive mode (BETA)" button on a new audio interview.

Most people are aware of Google's AI efforts with Gemini, but there's also NotebookLM, an AI-powered notebook that also happens to be pretty useful. Now, it's getting updated—and among the updates, there is now a brand-new premium version as well.

California continues to build out what is already one of the largest clean vehicle networks in America, made up of more than 150,000 public and shared private electric vehicle (EV) chargers.

On Dec.11, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced another $1.4 billion investment in its charging and hydrogen refueling network, the largest in the country, serving light, medium, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles.

"An important part of achieving our clean car future is building chargers in every corner of California, especially in neighborhoods historically left behind. With this investment, and the help of the private sector, we’re building a bigger, better vehicle charging network that ensures Californians can reliably and affordably get where they’re going," said California governor Gavin Newsom.

SEE ALSO: Was your phone targeted by China's Salt Typhoon hack? Your provider might not tell you.

The billion-dollar allocation will see a four-year deployment of 17,000 more chargers, with the goal of reaching 250,000 chargers in the next few years. The announcement comes as part of California's Clean Transportation Program, a funding effort to deploy zero-emission transportation and fuel technologies as part of the state's climate change goals.

The Biden administration has invested heavily in building out the country's electric vehicle infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with a wave of clean energy fund announcements as his term nears it end. On Dec. 12, the Department of Energy (DOE) unveiled a $1.25 billion loan guarantee to EVgo Swift Borrower, operators of the nation's largest EV charging networks. The loan will see 7,500 new fast chargers added nationwide.

"There are currently more than 204,000 publicly available charging ports, with nearly 38,000 new public chargers already having been added this year and nearly 1,000 new public chargers being added every week thanks to a combination of direct federal funding, federal tax incentives, state and local funding, and private investment," the DOE explained.

In October, the administration announced $44 million in funding to reduce EV battery costs and reduce their environmental impact. In November, the Department of Energy released. $70 million in funding for small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs), specifically targeting the automative and electric vehicle industry. The agency simultaneously announced $17 million in grant funding for local and territorial governments to "improve energy efficiency, reduce climate pollution, and lower overall energy use."

The holiday season is here, whether you're happy about it or are a Grinch. It's a time to shop, enjoy the festivities, and spend time with family, but make sure you avoid all the holiday fraud. Unfortunately, every year, thousands of people fall victim to scams.

Whether it's for music, gaming, podcasts, or TV shows, we often find ourselves relying on headphones to get ourselves through the day. While one pair might do the trick, you're still better off getting multiple pairs of headphones. Here's why.

On day seven of "12 Days of OpenAI," the company announced Projects in ChatGPT — a way to customize and organize your chats.

Well, they aren't all going to be bangers. But this one has been deemed useful by the OpenAI team for creating and organizing various projects by pulling ChatGPT's various capabilities into one place. That includes Canvas support and connection to the web via ChatGPT Search.

SEE ALSO: Why is ChatGPT's Santa Mode only for ages 13 and up?

Today's announcement wasn't a massive technological breakthrough like Sora or GPT-5 (if that's still happening). Instead, it focused on user experience tweaks to make ChatGPT more of an everything app, that's your go-to for writing, research, programming, web-search, and soon to come executing multi-step tasks. It may have not been a super exciting update, but it hints at OpenAI's plans to further embed ChatGPT into everyday life.

Tweet may have been deleted

In the demo, CPO Kevin Weil, joined by OpenAI's Drew Schuster and Thomas Dimson showed how Projects could be used to create a Secret Santa project. Schuster uploaded the Secret Santa group and their requests, then asked ChatGPT to randomly assign them to each other. He then asked ChatGPT to draft an email to the group. In another example, Schuster uploaded notes about various home appliances and used ChatGPT to ask when he should change the water filter in his fridge. This is useful if you're super organized and already wrote down important notes about home maintenance. Or you could check your notes.

Moving on, Dimson used Projects to create a personal website while leaning on ChatGPT Canvas to modify the website template. ChatGPT recognized the template code and correctly made the modifications.

Projects was shipped (live in the livestream) to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Teams users, with Enterprise and Edu users receiving the feature early in the new year.

If you're shopping for new headphones, one key decision you'll need to make is whether to pick a wired or wireless Bluetooth model. Each setup has some notable upsides and downsides, so let's go over all of them.

GET DOUBLE KINDLE REWARDS: On Dec. 13, get double Kindle Rewards points on all purchases. Earn six points for every dollar spent.

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Honestly, no matter what time of year it is, being curled up with a good book is pure bliss. However, with the cold weather of winter setting in, you have to admit that it's the ideal season to be hunkered down under a blanket (or two) with a warm beverage in hand and a good read in the other.

The cozy holiday season kicked off with spectacular deals on Amazon's 2024 Kindle models during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And if you got your hands on one of these sleek e-readers, you're probably thinking it's time to stock your library full of the year's best books. Luckily, you can find Kindle e-books marked down up to 90% off, running as low as $1.99.

Plus, make sure you're signed up for Kindle Rewards, because for one day only, you can earn double points. On Dec. 13, earn six points for every dollar spent. Not sure if you're signed up for Kindle Rewards? Our guide on Kindle Rewards has everything you need to know about the program.

PS: If you missed out on the Kindle deals, you can still find the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite marked down to $134.99, saving $25 on the e-reader.

Best book deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon 'Long Island Compromise' by Taffy Brodesser-Akner $1.99 at Amazon
$13.99 Save $12.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Bestselling author Taffy Brodesser-Akner followed up her hit novel Fleishman Is in Trouble with her latest novel, Long Island Compromise. This family saga follows the 1980 kidnapping of Carl Fletcher and reverberations of the event that still shakes his family today.

You can find this 2024 release for just $1.99, saving you $12 on the Kindle e-book. Not only is this deal a bargain, but you'll earn double points toward your Kindle Rewards.

More Kindle book deals

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The holiday season, for many, is more of a shopping season – and with lots of online shopping comes the need to track a lot of packages. Google, however, is making keeping track of all those packages a little easier, through an update to one of Gmail’s best features.

Credit: Google

The Gmail package-tracking feature was first launched in 2022, allowing users to tap on an email to get a summary of a package's status, including when it was shipped and when it's expected to arrive. For this holiday season, however, the feature is getting a bit of an update to make it even more useful. It's easy to make use of too, though you will have to enable it.

Enabling it is pretty easy if you have a package on the way. All you have to do is open up an email related to a package, and tap the "Allow" button under the prompt notifying you that you can track your packages in Gmail. 

SEE ALSO: Google announces 'agentic' Gemini 2.0 with image and audio support

Alternatively, you can preemptively enable package tracking so that it’s on and ready to go when you start shopping. To do so, all you need to do is open the Gmail app on your phone, then tap on the three-line menu button on the top left-hand corner. Hit the "Settings" option, then look for "General Settings" on Android or "Data Privacy" on iOS, and find the "Package Tracking" option. Opt into it, and you should be good to go.

After you do so, you’ll get cards at the top of your inbox telling you the status of any packages as those statuses change or delivery dates approach, and you’ll get expanded cards at the top of related emails – which will allow you to jump straight to tracking or details related to the package.

You only need to opt into package tracking once, and after you do so, Gmail will automatically track your packages – handy for those who buy a lot online.

Features like this are likely to get increasingly supercharged over the next few years, as AI becomes more integrated with our digital lives. It's not hard to imagine a not-too-distant future when you’ll be able to ask Google’s Gemini for a summary of packages, only to have it surface these cards in the Gemini interface. In fact, it’s so not hard to imagine that I had to check that it didn’t already work (it doesn't). You can, however, ask Gemini in the Gmail window to summarize any packages, and it'll do its best to do so in text form. While it wasn't quite perfect when I tried this, it got pretty close, surfacing information about packages that were recently delivered, and some that I'm expecting over the next few days.

Regardless, Gmail’s package tracking tool makes things a little more visual and a little more seamless.

RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys has already picked up Best Picture nominations from the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, as well as a spot on Mashable's list of the best movies of 2024. Now, a new trailer gives us a closer look at the much-lauded film.

SEE ALSO: The 25 best movies of 2024, and where to watch them

Adapted from Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Nickel Boys relies heavily on first-person POV shots to put the audience in the visceral position of identifying with its protagonists in Jim Crow-era Florida. We inhabit the perspective of 16-year-old Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), who is wrongfully sent to the Nickel Academy "reform" school, which Whitehead based on the Dozier School for Boys in Florida. There, Elwood and other students endure unbearable abuse from the staff. Yet Elwood also finds a friend in fellow student Turner (Brandon Wilson), whose POV we also inhabit at times.

In his review for Mashable, Siddhant Adlakha writes, "The camera constructs a powerful sense of self and personhood through the kind of thoughtful, propulsive artistry the American mainstream has seldom seen, making its opposition to violence and racist oppression wholly self-evident through its visual approach. The film is unlike anything else, but it feels intimately familiar."

Nickel Boys is now in limited theaters.

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With Thanksgiving falling so late in the month in 2024, it feels like Christmas is sneaking up on us. Even if you got a head start on holiday shopping during Black Friday, you might be looking at your list, checking it twice, and realizing you've still got a lot more gifts to cross off. We're now less than two weeks away from Christmas and with all the last minute shopping that many of us are doing, products might end up with delayed deliveries.

Don't get stuck with nothing under the tree this year, as Amazon's made it easy to find products that will arrive by tomorrow. And if you want a hand, we sorted through the best deal at Amazon that are available to arrive next-day.

How do I find products that arrive by Christmas? Amazon makes it easy to find deals that ship the next-day with its delivery filters. Credit: Mashable

If you don't want to read every product's listing to see when it will ship, Amazon has a filter for sorting deals. Along the sidebar, you can filter products by delivery day. That way you can find items that will arrive by tomorrow. And if you're in a super time crunch, you can even find same-day shipping available.

Best next-day deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Echo Dot $22.99 at Amazon
$49.99 Save $27.00 Get Deal Why we like it

The Amazon Echo device line-up is sprawling. You can find everything from a multitasking smart speaker to a touchscreen smart home hub. The best next-day deal on Echo devices right now is the Amazon Echo Dot. This device has a quality speaker and built-in assistant, so you can play music just by calling out to Alexa.

Not only does it arrive by tomorrow, but it's down 54% ahead of the holidays. Find it for just $22.99, saving you $27.

More next-day Amazon deals

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Shop our top picks from the Discover Samsung sale:

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Though the holidays are right around the corner, there's still time to save on some of the gifts your tech-savvy loved ones have been asking for all year. You can rely on events like the Discover Samsung Sale to deliver some great prices on goodies like TVs, phones, watches, tablets, and more even when it's the last minute before time to give out presents from beneath the tree.

Right now, you can score great savings as part of the winter Discover Samsung event, which is chock-full of goodies you won't want to pass up. From the picturesque Samsung The Frame 4K TV that you can utilize as an art canvas in your living room to the versatile Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, there's a little something for everyone on sale.

To make things easier for you, we've highlighted a few of our favorite items that are on sale right now. Check them out below and make sure you snap up what you're interested in before these sale prices disappear.

Best TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung 75-inch The Frame QLED 4K TV $1,599.99 at Samsung
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This TV is far more than just a TV. It's a gorgeous, 4K OLED canvas that you can hang up in your living room and turn into a work of art when you're finished watching your favorite shows and movies. It features a wide variety of art from Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, and other artists from the New York Museum of Modern Art. But you can also watch reality TV and action flicks on it, which is an amusing fact. This fan-favorite TV is heavily discounted, so if you've been waiting for the perfect centerpiece for your living room, you may just have found it here.

Best phone deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 $1,399.99 at Samsung
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If you've been thinking about trying a new folding phone, you can't go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, which opens up to a large, tablet-like screen to give you double the real estate. When closed, it functions like a normal smartphone so you can call and text, but the larger screen gives you plenty of room for apps, gaming, and whatever your heart desires. Plus, with Samsung's Galaxy AI features, you have access to a whole additional world of functionality, including photo editing tools that you'll love.

Best smartwatch deal Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra $489.99 at Samsung
$649.99 Save $160.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Tired of your Apple Watch? Or know someone who wants an Android-based smartwatch instead? The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 doesn't disappoint. Mashable's Alex Perry praised its "big and useful display" as well as its "thorough suite of health and fitness features" and "more than adequate battery life." It's a great option for Android users and a sleek watch in its own right, with all the functionality you'd expect from a smartwatch and the design you'd want from a traditional one.

More Samsung deals

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After a few years dabbling all over the place, I've returned to Apple Music, and while making myself at home again, I realized that the music video selection and system, coupled with owning an Apple TV box, is a severely underrated feature.

You're heartbroken, and you're on Instagram. You type in your ex's name through tears in the search bar. It was a messy breakup; you squint so you can't see whether they archived photos of you two, and with shaky fingers, you tap their profile and unfollow them. 

The next day, you see a tagged photo of them at the top of your feed. Their friend — who you still follow — posted it. Once again, you're in tears. You're spiraling. How did this happen?

SEE ALSO: Social media dos and don'ts after a breakup

Likely, "the" algorithm. Across the internet, users have complained about being confronted by profiles and memories they'd rather not see. If that's happened to you, you're not alone — researchers spoke to Mashable about why this happens, and what you (and the platforms) can do about it.

How do algorithms work?

Social media algorithms are complex, and the platforms don't reveal a lot about their inner workings. What we do know is that social media networks rely heavily on who you interact with; Instagram, for example, states that its "algorithm relies on 'signals' based on how you interact with the app, and how other people interact with you." The posts you see depend on who you engage with — your "network," naturally.

A lot of algorithms make assumptions based on who you're interacting with, often for months or years, data scientist Kristine Snyder told Mashable. If suddenly you don't want to act with one or more people you shared a lot of data with for years, the algorithm may not figure that out quickly.

Algorithms "just look at whether those connections were there before and assume that they're still there until there is sufficient data to say that they're not," Snyder said. "And it can take a significant amount of time for there to be sufficient data for the algorithm to understand that those connections are not there anymore."

Why social algorithms hurt post-breakup

Humans react to a breakup with empathy; not so with an algorithm. "Algorithms are not generally encoded to be empathic," Snyder said. If there's no feedback mechanism in a network — like blocking someone — the algorithm needs time to gather new data to determine you don't want to interact with this person anymore.

"Algorithms are not generally encoded to be empathic."

"You can't capture the totality of human life and human experience into bits and bytes just yet," said assistant teaching professor in the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder, Anthony Pinter. 

Pinter studies life transitions and ways people manage their data after experiencing such transitions — such as breakups. (His recent work is about music and breakups, and he's currently running a survey about breakup songs you can participate in.)

In a 2019 paper "Am I Never Going to Be Free of All This Crap?", Pinter and his co-authors observed that people had unexpected, upsetting encounters with content related to ex-partners due to the Facebook algorithm. This happened in various places on Facebook — the social network in which the paper focused — like on their feed, in groups, or with the "On This Day" memory feature.

The paper also delved into another post-breakup problem: Mutual friends. Even if you unfollow or block your ex, you might still be connected with your ex's friends and family. These connections complicate what you should do with your online presence after a relationship ends. Some people Pinter and his co-authors spoke to for the paper stated it wasn't always appropriate or practical to disconnect from an ex's network. 

Though the paper was published several years ago, "the ways in which these platforms are still leveraging loose ties and third-tier connections to make recommendations, is still potentially problematic," said Pinter, such as recommendations for who you should follow on Facebook or Instagram.

When you break up with someone, "you're breaking up with an entire network to some degree," Snyder said. An algorithm isn't necessarily going to recognize how a whole network of relationships shifts after a breakup.

"Those kinds of things where something was a connection, and then all of a sudden, those connections are broken in a way an algorithm has no way of understanding — that's where issues can come in," she said.

Ultimately, we're not in control of what we see on our social media feeds, so seeing something that upsets us might be inevitable. "When you're not the one making the decisions about what you see, it's really hard to avoid those things that are going to continue causing that hurt and pain in a way where you can heal from it — without just leaving social media altogether," Snyder continued.

What can social media platforms do?

"Humanizing algorithms" is difficult for platforms to do, for multiple reasons.

One reason is because there's a trade-off between stability and responsiveness when building algorithms, Snyder said. Social media algorithms aren't built to adapt to sudden changes like a breakup. "It's just really hard to have an algorithm that's built for one thing to work really well for something else, where things are changing suddenly," she said. 

Another challenge is that different people react to breakups differently. In research published in 2022, Pinter and co-author Jed Brubaker identified two types of people post-breakup: past-focused "archivists" and future-focused "revisionists." The former usually don't delete data off their social media platforms because they believe doing so would be inauthentic to who they are now. The latter type of person does delete data because who they were in the past (or who they were with) isn't who they are moving forward.

"It turns out that to design features for these two very different kinds of people is probably difficult," said Pinter, "because to design a feature for one type of person almost inevitably creates a feature that is going to harm the other type of person." Designing an algorithm that encourages users to delete data may offend the person who believes doing so is inauthentic — but designing something that encourages retention may not work, either.

Pinter has some suggestions for what platforms can do, like giving users better tools to keep memories but keeping them in places that are only accessible to them. That does exist in some form — like Instagram's archive — but the problem with that archive, Pinter said, is that it's hidden and it's "just a bucket that you dump posts into." So he suggests an archive with organizational capacity so users can pick and choose what they see in their archive. 

"There's a really ripe area here for designers and other researchers to think about in the sense of, 'What if it isn't just deletion, but what if our archival features are better?'" Pinter asked. 

Platforms can also provide an easier way to unfollow someone without having to tap on their profile, like the option to do so in the search bar, he said.

A risk of better algorithmic features for breakups is forcing users to provide even more data to platforms than they already do, but there might be ways around that. Features like Facebook's Relationship Status can also be operationalized to tailor algorithmic suggestions or changes if you go from "In A Relationship" to not, Pinter suggested.

SEE ALSO: 31 best breakup movies to mend a shattered heart What can users do to 'fix' their algorithm?

This issue is difficult from both a designer's and a user's perspectives. 

"It's a difficult space to navigate, either as somebody who's had some event in their life, or all of a sudden they are not seeing somebody anymore or for somebody trying to design an algorithm that can possibly deal with those things," Snyder said.

Pinter recommends users delete data if they don't want it to be fodder for recommendations — but even that is imperfect. In the 2019 paper, Pinter observed that "participants who had sworn that they deleted everything, and it turns out they hadn't, so they were still getting sort of upsetting or unexpected recommendations." Pinter also caveated that he himself is a future-facing person, but noted that other research shows that getting space after a breakup is important for healing.

Then again, you might not want to delete your ex from your life. "Network connections are not always that black and white," Snyder said. Sometimes, you might want to unfollow or block your ex, but not in every case.

"It can be really difficult when you undergo some sort of breakup, you don't want to cut out all the good things that you had from that, in addition to like, to having the breakup, you want to remember the good things," she continued. 

That answer lies with you. Most likely, whether you unfriend or keep those loose ties, it will take time for the algorithm to catch up. Pinter also advised users to think carefully about what they post online moving forward.

You can also take a social media break for a while. While there are possible changes platforms can implement to make a break-up easier, they don't exist yet — and taking some space from the platforms themselves might be the best solution right now. When in tears, exit the Instagram app.