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Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Most of my friends and relatives know that I'm a self-confessed geek and will often buy me tech gifts that they're sure I'll love. Sometimes, however, they would have been better off saving their money. If you're looking to buy something for a tech lover, please don't get them these gifts.

If you’ve ever had to reinstall everything on your Mac, or even on a second machine, you’ll know what a struggle it is. Even keeping track of what’s installed can be a pain if, like me, you’re constantly trying out new software.

Streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music give you access to hundreds of millions of songs, but they're quite restrictive in how you can use them. They may not include some of the music you want to listen to, and you may not be able to play those streaming services through some of your speakers. Music Assistant allows you to play music from a wide range of sources on almost any speaker in your home.

Melissa McCarthy served up some of her classic physical comedy in a new Saturday Night Live sketch about what happens when a sales associate is just really, really nice to you on a particularly bad day.

SEE ALSO: Netflix to buy Warner Bros.: 5 properties Netflix would own under deal

Playing a severely touch-starved and jealous suburban woman, McCarthy doesn't quite know how to respond to cast member Jeremy Culhane's kindly grocery store employee, who has just handed her some soft and tasty Raclette. McCarthy, the owner of a pack of ill-behaved dogs, gives Culhane a family heirloom, pats him with soft caresses, and violates several other HR policies, all in the name of a little bite of cheese. I get it.

The spirit of Christmas has taken over 30 Rock, and this week's Saturday Night Live host, Melissa McCarthy, joined in with a sketch about spreading joy through acts of kindness.

Well, kind of.

Following her young neighbor's heartwarming decision to shovel her snowy path, McCarthy — the elderly, seemingly innocuous grandma next door — decided to return the favor, with a series of gifts that escalate in terrifying, hilarious ways.

SEE ALSO: What's new to streaming this week? (Dec. 5, 2025)

A bully (Marcello Hernandez) hog-tied on the front lawn, two women and a pimp on the doorstep, a gun in a nicely-wrapped box — it's like some kind of messed-up Grinch fable. Grandma might be a psychopathic killer, but her misguided attempts are still spreading holiday cheer.

Colin Jost's Pete Hegseth returned to Saturday Night Live this week to kick off the Melissa McCarthy-hosted episode, featuring Dane Cook jokes, 6-7, and the ongoing conflict with Venezuela.

The Defense Secretary sauntered into the White House press room like a WWE superstar, crushing cans and berating journalists with insults like a particularly annoying middle school bully as he answered questions about what he dubbed "Operation Kill Everybody."

"As you probably read in some gay newspaper, we're now at war with Venezuela," the government leader told the press pool.

SEE ALSO: Where to watch the best holiday movies

Hegseth was joined by "reporter" Matt Gaetz (Sarah Squirm) and "high-energy Alpha" President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson), with the latter nodding off in the corner while dreaming about NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani.

Driving today is all about balancing focusing on the road while trying to handle all the other things that happen when you are navigating busy streets. Waze understands that the best way to make roads safer and get the most efficiency is by letting drivers chat with the app.

2025 is the year I bought both a Nintendo Switch 2 and a Samsung Galaxy XR headset, but my favorite tech purchase isn’t either of those things. That would, surprisingly, be a night light. But this isn’t just any night light.

If you work with PDFs a lot, you often have to choose between expensive proprietary software or free alternatives that have lackluster features or questionable privacy and security. But what if I told you that you can have the best of both worlds? It's called BentoPDF.

Whether you're looking to download a GPU-specific driver, trying to determine whether you'll be able to play a new game at a reasonable frame rate, or checking the specs on an unfamiliar PC, knowing exactly what GPU you're dealing with is an important piece of information. Here are a few ways you can do it.

I've always struggled to concentrate on work. When I should be working, my mind starts to wander, or I end up falling down a tech rabbit hole trying to fix something that takes far longer than I expect. I've tried Pomodoro timer apps, but they never worked for me, so I decided to build my own using Home Assistant.

I recently realized that my phone's chaos didn't come from the apps—it came from a lack of direction. It was powerful enough to do anything, so it ended up distracting me with everything. To fix this, I decided to give it a dedicated purpose—turning it into my personal project management system!

During its half-century of existence, Microsoft has brought forth a plethora of products, but the company also has a number of inventions under its belt. While some are quite popular, you probably wouldn't guess they were invented by the Redmond Giant.

If you’re the type that throws away the packaging your PC parts come in, thinking it’s just fancy cardboard, you’ve come to the right place. I diligently collect the boxes my PC parts come in—and here’s why you should consider doing the same.

Alfa Romeo is making a dramatic statement with the return of its twin-turbo V-6, but this time, exclusivity is the name of the game. The new Giulia and Quadrifoglio Stelvio special editions will be offered only in select markets, and U.S. buyers won’t see a single example. With extremely limited production numbers, these models are shaping up to be some of the rarest Alfa Romeos ever produced, rarer than even some hypercars.

One thing that really slowed me down when tinkering with my Raspberry Pi 500+ is not being able to seamlessly copy and paste between it and my MacBook Pro. I went searching for a solution and, after a few failed attempts, found something that works.

I’ve only got one device left running Windows 10. It's an older tablet PC that I mostly use for media playback. It’s been a reliable little workhorse for years, but it isn’t eligible for Windows 11, so it’s stuck where it is. I still use Chrome on it every day, and like a lot of people holding onto older hardware, I’ve started to wonder how much longer that’s going to last.

There are very few small years for video games, but 2025 felt like a big and mildly weird one in a lot of ways.

It was a year relatively lacking in big-budget first-party bangers from the likes of PlayStation and Xbox, though you'll see a bit of the former on this list. Nintendo had a big year, finally launching the Switch 2, but still, the most talked-about game of the year was a Japanese RPG made in France. Aside from all of that, it was a big year for soccer, non-French-RPGs, lonely hikes, and hotly anticipated sequels to indie smash hits.

Enough of the preamble. Here are Mashable's (unranked) picks for the best video games of 2025.

SEE ALSO: 'Metroid Prime 4: Beyond' is the 'Metroid' you want 90 percent of the time Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter The combat is so, so good. Credit: GungHo/Falcom/Steam

For me, personally, 2025 was defined less by games that came out this year and more by a long-running series of turn-based RPGs known as Trails in the English-speaking world. There are more than a dozen of them, most of which are at least 50 hours long, and they all connect narratively. The best point of comparison, in terms of the breadth of its story and the sheer number of characters to keep track of, would probably be A Song of Ice and Fire. It's a massive commitment, but I have truly loved playing through the series this year.

And what a nice coincidence it was that developer Nihon Falcom decided to release a shiny new from-the-ground-up remake of Trails in the Sky, the very first game in the series, in late 2025. Aside from just being a great entry point into this incredible series, Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter is an astounding RPG on its own merits. Its art style brims with personality, the unique real-time/turn-based hybrid combat is my personal favorite RPG combat of the year, and it's fascinating to see the seeds for future high-stakes storytelling planted in this humble, low-stakes adventure.

If any of this sounds at all interesting to you, start with this game and keep going after that. There's also a remake of the second game coming in the near future.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach They went nuts with the weather in this one. Credit: Kojima Productions/PlayStation

While I will stop short of calling Death Stranding director Hideo Kojima an unprecedented genius, I do think he represents what I would love to see out of big-budget game development: Eccentric creators with cool ideas given massive amounts of money to make whatever they want, no matter how off-putting the elevator pitch for the project might be.

Death Stranding 2 is certainly less off-putting than its flawed 2019 predecessor, thanks to more forgiving combat and an overall design philosophy that empowers the player more than it disempowers them. That doesn't make it any less goofy, though. This is a game with pizza-based martial arts, a kind and helpful talking doll by your side at all times, a truly confounding central performance from Norman Reedus, and a climactic shirtless electric guitar battle at its conclusion.

Most importantly, Death Stranding 2 is a much more confident take on the ultimate masculine power fantasy of being emotionally unavailable and pondering public infrastructure projects. Its personality shines through where it didn't in the first game, and it's going to stick with me as much as anything I played this year.

Mario Kart World That dolphin is riding a motorcycle that looks like a dolphin. Credit: Nintendo

The first of two early Switch 2 exclusives on this list, Mario Kart World is also perhaps the most divisive game in that category so far. Some people, like me, love its focused design, increased sense of chaos, and astoundingly fun Knockout Tour mode. Other people feel that the open-world portion of World is half-baked and that a lack of post-launch support has stifled its long-term viability as a multiplayer game.

That's fine, I guess, but I never needed Mario Kart World to be Fortnite. In fact, I'm glad it's not. Nintendo created a great racing game full of fun activities to enjoy, and most importantly, it doesn't require your constant attention. If you want to put it down for weeks or months at a time and come back later, you won't miss anything. Mario Kart World also shies away from embarrassing, undignified corporate crossovers, rounding out its character roster with random Mario enemies instead of SpongeBob SquarePants and Hatsune Miku.

Between all of that and a truly astonishing and dense soundtrack full of loving renditions of songs from across the Mario universe, Mario Kart World is a great celebration of Nintendo's mascot and a great entry point into the Switch 2 as a console.

Despelote Play 'Despelote' at your earliest convenience. Credit: Panic/Steam

Despelote speaks for itself better than I could ever put into words. You should really just plop down $15, play through it in the 90 minutes it takes to finish, and come back here instead of reading more.

In case you can't or don't want to do that, though, Despelote is a first-person narrative adventure about growing up in Ecuador in the early 2000s, as the country's national men's soccer team attempts to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in its history. Time is measured by game days and further contextualized by political and economic instability that fades into the background because you're playing as a child who cares more about soccer than anything else in the world. Its environments are hazy and dreamlike, resembling half-formed childhood memories better than almost any other game I can think of.

More than anything, Despelote transports the player to a very particular time and place, focusing on a culture that often receives little attention in video games. I choose to celebrate that.

Donkey Kong Bananza Pauline is so cool. Credit: Nintendo

Our second Switch 2 exclusive understands one crucial aspect of video game design: Punching things until they explode is a lot of fun.

Donkey Kong Bananza is notable for a few reasons. One is that it marks the return of one of Nintendo's oldest characters as a 3D platformer hero, his first game in that role in 25 years. Another is that he got a fresh redesign and a new best friend in the infinitely charming Pauline, a singing teenage girl who joins DK on his quest to the core of the planet. Bananza marries tons of personality with highly destructible environments, all of which will fall to DK's fists on a long enough timeline.

A 3D platformer where you can ignore the baked-in level design and simply punch your way to the goal works remarkably well. I'm not sure if Bananza is as good as Super Mario Odyssey (the last game from this development team), but it's definitely worthy of being on this list.

Ghost of Yotei Pretty. Credit: Sucker Punch/PlayStation

PlayStation's Ghost of Yotei is one of the few games on this list that I have not personally had time to check out yet, but our reviewer George Yang adored his time with the open-world samurai adventure. His take on the quest design really stood out to me:

"Ghost of Yotei has one of the best open-world formats out there, and that’s due to how seamlessly its side quests and exploration unfold. As Atsu travels across Ezo, NPC characters will call out to her, signaling that they have a side quest for her to tackle. It’s worth doing them too, as they reward Atsu with new equipment or money to help her on her journey. The side quests aren’t mindless fetch quests either — each one has a story that expands Yotei’s lore and worldbuilding. For example, one quest had Atsu rescuing an imprisoned gambler who maintained a winning streak against Saitō’s lackeys, showing not only their lack of morals but their pettiness, too."

It's hard to make open-world games feel fresh in 2025, but by all accounts, Yotei does an admirable job of that. If you want to luxuriate in gorgeous visuals and do cool sword tricks for a few dozen hours, here you go.

Hades II The part where you play 'Hades II' is still unparelleled. Credit: Supergiant Games/Steam

I have to admit that Hades II has not stuck with me for hundreds of hours in the same way the first game did in 2020. Its faults include a story that wraps up in a rather unsatisfying manner and the fact that it's been done before.

Still, even taking into account a lack of novelty, I think Hades II just barely makes the cut here because more Hades is still more Hades. Developer Supergiant Games marries its usual excellent art direction, audio design, and variable combat mechanics into something that's downright thrilling to play at its best. Introducing a second route to the game also dramatically increased the variety therein. I don't think Hades II measures up to its predecessor, but it doesn't have to in order to make this list.

Baby Steps I'm getting stressed just looking at this. Credit: Devolver Digital/Steam

Baby Steps, the newest joint from developer Bennett Foddy, is a game you can consume entirely via social media clips of players failing hilariously, if you want. It's another in a long line of games about physics-based movement, where the act of walking requires intent and precision, and nothing is handled for you automatically. Merely going up a set of stairs is a challenge here. Turning the mundane into profound obstacles is a significant part of the appeal of Baby Steps and similar games.

On top of all of that, Baby Steps is just strange (complimentary). It's a game where weird things happen on a regular basis, as a reward for sticking with it through the frustration. I have a feeling Baby Steps will have some of the longest-lasting appeal of any 2025 release.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Heck yes dude. Credit: Nintendo

I don't know if any 2025 video game had more weight on its shoulders than Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. It's the first Prime game in 18 years, following extensive delays and a general sense among Metroid fans that Nintendo had lost interest in the series. It also had to contend with some pre-release controversy surrounding a certain engineer, which led some fans to believe the game was beyond saving before it even came out.

I am pleased to report that Metroid Prime 4 is great, regardless of the anxiety surrounding it. Samus Aran's latest adventure combines rock-solid level design with a haunting desert hub that you traverse on a kick-ass motorcycle. It's the best-looking Switch 2 game so far, and it has a great sense of atmosphere, along with excellent music. Most importantly, it proves that Metroid Prime can still work in a modern context, even if that engineer guy is really irritating.

Honorable Mention: Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition I beg you to give this one a shot. Credit: Nintendo

At the risk of putting too many Nintendo games on this list, I do want to shout out Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. It's an oft-requested Switch remaster of the last great Wii U exclusive, a gargantuan open-world RPG about human refugees trying to make a life on a distant alien planet after Earth's destruction.

Xenoblade X has one of the three or four best open worlds in any video game, ever. Every inch of it is thoughtfully designed, including the vast, empty stretches of it. It feels alien and hostile when it needs to, and also awe-inspiring and beautiful when it needs to be those things, too. And after about 40 hours, you can fly around the world in a mech, which recontextualizes your relationship with the planet in a heartbeat. It's a remarkable progression of scale that I've never seen another open-world game pull off.

Honorable Mention: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 The combat rules. Credit: Sandfall Interactive/Steam

I mentioned earlier that the most talked-about game of 2025 was a JRPG made in France. That would be Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a gorgeous turn-based RPG inspired by several genre classics (and some other, more obscure titles), but with a bleak tone and aesthetic all its own. Set in a world where everyone above a certain age is killed every year (with the number going down year by year), Clair Obscur tells a tale of loss and grief that didn't personally work for me, but did work for plenty of other people I know.

What did work for me was its excellent combat, which synthesizes turn-based battles with real-time dodge and counter mechanics. The result is a game where you can break the math, or just get really good at countering enemy attacks. Or, you can be like me and do both, resulting in a final boss fight that lasts about 20 seconds. The point is that Clair Obscur has excellent combat, great music, a fun world to explore, and exciting boss fights, regardless of how much its story does or doesn't affect you.

Samsung is undoubtedly one of the best TV brands out there. It sells a variety of budget, mid-range, and luxury models that deliver excellent performance across multiple verticals. These include design, low-latency gaming, picture quality, and smart home integration. One area that doesn’t receive much attention is sound.

The average consumer will be satisfied with their TV’s default sound settings. Those who value detail and nuance — not so much. Don’t get me wrong now. Samsung TVs are fine for enjoying music performances, movies, and video games. But many critics agree that their sound quality could be improved. Well, let’s change that.

Whether you already own a Samsung TV or plan to buy one, know that you can tweak the audio output on these devices for optimal listening. Numerous upscaling sound features are sitting on the backend waiting to be discovered. You just need to know what they are and where to find them. We assembled this guide to help you get started.

Here are 7 ways to greatly enhance the sonics on your Samsung TV.

1. Adjust the equalizer Credit: Alex Bracetti / Mashable

The majority of Samsung TVs come with a manual 8-band EQ. It looks and operates similarly to the EQ on other wireless audio products (e.g., Bluetooth speakers, earbuds, headphones). Once opened, you can adjust the bass, midrange, and treble, which is done through the remote controller. If you need some assistance understanding frequency ranges, check out our guide on how to customize your EQ settings.

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> Sound -> Expert Settings

2. Switch the sound modes Credit: Alex Bracetti / Mashable

Samsung offers three sound modes: Amplify, Adaptive Sound (Optimized), and Standard (default). Each mode modifies sound performance based on preference. Amplify will boost mids and high tones, which is ideal for dialogue-heavy content, while Optimized makes special effects more immersive. Standard is basically the equivalent of a flat EQ; sound is balanced with no emphasis on a specific frequency range. 

• Home [Button] -> Quick Settings -> Sound Mode -> Expert Settings (Newer Models)

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> Sound -> Sound Mode (Older models)

3. Unlock the power of Q-Symphony

This proprietary feature gets you surround sound by syncing your TV’s audio output with a Samsung soundbar. You can connect both devices using an HDMI cable, optical cable, or through Wi-Fi. Samsung says to change the source on the soundbar to “D.IN for a cable connection, or Wi-Fi when establishing an internet connection.” Press the Source button on your TV remote to cycle through options.

A more current Samsung TV is required for this setup. Click this hyperlink to check out a list of compatible models.

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> Sound -> Sound Output on your TV -> select "TV + Soundbar"

4. Turn on Dolby Atmos Credit: Alex Bracetti / Mashable

Anyone who owns a pair of spatial audio headphones has likely experienced Dolby Atmos. It’s the most common 3D audio format out there. Enabling the feature will deliver theatrical surround sound best enjoyed in your living room. There is one caveat — you must own external speakers that support Dolby Atmos. 

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> Sound -> Expert Settings -> Dolby Atmos Input (toggle on)

5. Enable Auto Volume Credit: Alex Bracetti / Mashable

Turning this on will equalize sound across different channels and sources and keep volume output consistent. 

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> Sound -> Expert Settings -> Auto Volume

6. Shift sound output to the left or right Credit: Alex Bracetti / Mashable

Listeners with hearing impairments will want to take advantage of the Balance feature. Simply put, it allows you to freely adjust the sound to deliver more sound from the left or right speaker. 

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> Sound -> Expert Settings -> Balance

7. Adaptive Sound

Think of Adaptive Sound as an auto-generated EQ. It analyzes a room’s acoustics and your TV’s audio signal in real time to create a clearer and more natural sound profile. Not every Samsung TV comes with the same version. You may see “Adaptive Sound,” “Adaptive Sound+,” or “Adaptive Sound Pro” when navigating through the settings.

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> General & Privacy -> Intelligent Mode -> Adaptive Sound

• Home [Button] -> Settings -> Sound -> Sound Mode -> Adaptive Sound (Newer TVs)

TL;DR: Live stream Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics in the NBA for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The NBA season is taking shape. Not many fans expected the Toronto Raptors to be so high up in the standings at this stage, but those boys have got something good going this season. The energy is infectious, and they'll be expecting to roll over the Celtics this weekend.

If you want to watch Raptors vs. Celtics in the NBA for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Raptors vs. Celtics?

Raptors vs. Celtics in the NBA starts at 3:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 7. This game takes place at the Scotiabank Arena.

How to watch Raptors vs. Celtics for free

Raptors vs. Celtics in the NBA is available to live stream for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.

This free live stream is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can secure access with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can access free live streams of the NBA from anywhere in the world.

Stream the NBA for free by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime (if you're not already a member)

2. Subscribe to a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

3. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

4. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

5. Watch the NBA from anywhere in the world on Prime Video

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Learn More

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer money-back guarantees or free trials. By leveraging these offers, you can watch NBA live streams without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does mean you can watch select games from the NBA before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for the NBA?

ExpressVPN is the best service for accessing free live streams on platforms like Prime Video, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

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A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream the NBA for free with ExpressVPN.