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Take the sting out of Tax Day with free Krispy Kreme donuts and more
Nobody likes filing their taxes (or do they?), but a select few fast food restaurants are offering some financial relief to celebrate Tax Day.
On April 15, you'll be able to score a dozen Original Glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme with the purchase of any regular dozen donuts at their usual price.
Krispy Kreme Tax Day dealBest of all, the offer applies to in-store purchases, drive-thru pickup, and even to-go orders made through the Krispy Kreme app (use the code TAXBREAK at checkout).
You can read more about the promo on the Krispy Kreme official website, but suffice it to say a lot of families may be indulging after paying their accountants a visit.
But Krispy Kreme isn't the only restaurant offering a break that you can grab on Tax Day and beyond.
Burger King, QDOBA dealsBecause April 15 falls on a Wednesday this year, Burger King's Whopper Wednesday discount applies, meaning you can pick up a regular Whopper for $3.99 or a Small Whopper Combo for $6.99.
Meanwhile, burrito chain QDOBA has instituted a Tax Day Guac Relief program, to highlight the fact that their guacamole is always free. To take advantage of the deal, first join their rewards program and then fill out a short survey about all of the times you've been forced to pay for guac in the past.
As a reward, you'll score $5 off a full-sized entree, redeemable between April 20 and 26. And the Tax Day Guac Relief forms? Naturally, they're due on Tax Day, April 15 — but what's a bit more paperwork when the payoff is so sweet?
If you want some much-deserved Tax Day relief, or if filing your taxes has inspired you with a new appreciation for a good deal, celebrate submitting your return with some well-deserved chow.
7 reasons most 3D printer owners should just stick with basic PLA
PLA, or polylactic acid, is the most common material of choice for filament deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printers. It looks like plastic, smells like plastic, and probably tastes like plastic. It’s the filament that most of us start with, and it’s the one that many of us should stick with in all but the most exceptional circumstances.
I freed up 10GB on my Android phone with this free open-source app
Over time, Android phones and tablets accumulate a lot of junk files that take up space and clutter your storage. I found a wonderful free app that makes it easy (and fun) to clean up the mess. It even has a "feature" for keeping or deleting personal files just by swiping right or left on them.
Your old soundbar isn't trash—here's what to do with it instead
We've all gone through the soundbar upgrade cycle. You start off with a cheap soundbar that's at least better than your TV's built-in audio but later buy a much nicer unit or even go all out with a surround setup.
6 unexpected downsides of foldable phones
I love foldables. After taking a break from smartphones, foldables caught my eye and led me back in. But there are downsides—some I reflected on, and some I didn't!
Cheap to buy and cheap to own: This EV will actually save you money
5 tiny Windows utilities that fix annoyances Microsoft still hasn’t
Windows 11 looks sleek and modern, but it still suffers from usability and quality-of-life shortcomings that make running it daily a bit tedious. Luckily, several developers have created free programs that make up for those deficits.
Don’t sleep on Ryobi’s Hybrid tools: Here’s why they’re the smart buy
If you're a Ryobi fan and own several of those bright green tools from Home Depot, there's one type of tool from the company you don't want to miss. Have you ever seen Ryobi's "Hybrid" tools that work with or without a battery? If not, you'll want one.
Putting WSL2 projects on your Windows drive is killing your performance—here's why
When you first start using Windows Subsystem for Linux, everything appears to work. You can clone a repository, install dependencies, run your app, and even convince yourself that you now have "Linux on Windows."
Your internet is down, but your network isn't—3 things that keep working during an outage
If you have an internet outage—presumably not right now, because you're more than likely reading this article on the internet—it's a common misconception that the network part of your computer is completely out of use.
I use Waze every day, but I still keep Google Maps for this one feature
For your morning commute, Waze is unmatched. It's a dynamic, social marvel that uses crowdsourced data to pinpoint a stalled car or a police officer, dependably shaving precious minutes off your drive. However, it has one major drawback compared to Google Maps.
Windows file management doesn't have to be manual—here's what you're doing wrong
Dealing with a mounting pile of digital data can feel like a never-ending battle, especially when you're stuck performing every bit of file organization by hand. The volume of daily downloads, project assets, and documents turns your workspace into a cluttered mess. If you find yourself clicking through generic filenames or navigating a labyrinth of deeply nested folders just to find one spreadsheet, you're managing files the hard way. Use the hidden power of built-in Windows automation to organize your files and finally stop wasting time.
3 tremendous Paramount+ documentaries to watch this weekend (April 10-12)
Some of my favorite documentaries focus on the world of sports. From the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat, athletic competitions are more dramatic than soap operas. This weekend, spend some time perusing the documentary section on Paramount+. I picked three documentaries that should appeal to most fans.
Home Assistant's IR proxy turns your dumb TV into a smart one—for under $10
Home Assistant continues to add great new features with every update. In Home Assistant 2026.4, a new Infrared integration was added that can enable you to control dumb devices in your home that use infrared remotes. These include devices such as TVs, air conditioning units, audio devices, and more.
This free plugin instantly turned my Obsidian notes into a beautiful website
A premium Obsidian subscription gives you access to Obsidian Publish, a platform where you can publish Obsidian vaults as websites. You can write in Markdown, hit publish, and the platform will automatically publish it as a website. However, if you don't want to buy the subscription, there is a way to get this exact feature for free.
I turned an old iPhone into a Home Assistant security camera (it works for Android too)
Your old smartphone isn’t doing much good just sitting in a drawer, so why not turn it into a portable security camera for your Home Assistant server? That’s exactly what I did with my old iPhone, and the same trick works with Android smartphones too.
These 8 useful Bash patterns are hiding in real projects—here's how to use them
Shell scripting is full of secrets and hidden tricks, so it pays to have a few patterns up your sleeve. For inspiration, try these scripts from real projects, including Homebrew, BashBlog, and nvm. By learning from these examples, you can improve your own shell scripts and master new techniques.
ELEGOO Centauri Carbon 2 Combo review: Color goes mainstream
When ELEGOO released the original Centauri Carbon, it was a true market disruptor. A modern, CoreXY 3D printer that stood toe-to-toe with models at twice the price. The Centauri Carbon 2 is effectively a more refined version of that printer.
We tested the 9 best headphones and earbuds for working out
If you have strong preferences for your workout gear — and strong feelings on Hoka versus Brooks (we're not getting in the middle of that debate) — then finding the right pair of workout headphones can be extra challenging.
The best headphones for working out need to withstand movement, sweat, and the elements. Plus, you don't want something you're constantly fussing with; your headphones should help you stay focused during your exercises.
Mashable reviewers have tested many pairs of headphones and wireless earbuds, and we can tell you which products stay put during a workout, and which buds will go tumbling onto the sidewalk as soon as you break into a run. To make sure we're recommending the right products, we tested over a dozen of the best sports earbuds, headphones, and bone conduction headphones from brands like Bose, Beats, Apple, and Shokz.
How to pick headphones for working outThe right headphones for you depend significantly on the kinds of workouts you like to do and where you like to do them. If you like to run outdoors, you need headphones that keep you safe in busy areas with reliable noise transparency, such as bone conduction headphones or open earbuds. If you're pumping iron at the gym, you might prefer sports earbuds that block out the world with active noise cancellation so you can lock in for your reps. And some people just prefer the look and feel of traditional over-ear headphones. We found reliable options in each category, but in general, most athletes prefer the best wireless earbuds for working out.
SEE ALSO: Open earbuds guide: What they are, who should buy them, and why they're popping up everywhereFor this guide, we looked for two universal specs in all of the headphones we tested. First, workout headphones need to be wireless, giving you a full range of movement. You don't want to get tied up on the stair climber.
Second, workout headphones need to be sweat- or water-resistant. This one is obvious. When you're working out, you're getting sweaty, and you want headphones that won't freak out at the first sign of moisture. Your gym earbuds don't have to be fully waterproof, but this will be helpful for outdoor athletes.
So, whether you're hitting the gym or the pavement, here are the best earbuds and headphones for working out.
Recent changes to this guideFor our most recent update in April 2026, we swapped out the Bose Ultra Open earbuds for the Shokz OpenFit Pro earbuds. In our testing, we found the Shokz buds offer a better value for a similar (and sometimes superior) experience.
In September 2025, we replaced the Apple AirPods Pro 2 with the newly released AirPods Pro 3. Likewise, we swapped out the previous-gen Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds for the QuietComfort Ultra (Gen 2) buds.
In a previous update, we removed the discontinued Jabra Elite 8 Active (Gen 2). These buds previously occupied the top spot and provided remarkable battery life, fit, and sound quality in a highly durable package. We still recommend it if you’re lucky enough to find a pair online at a reasonable price (they sell for $300 on eBay).
We also tested additional products that ultimately didn't make the cut, including the JBL Reflect Aero noise-cancelling earbuds. Despite appearing to have a similar design to the Beats Fit Pro — the earbuds themselves, not the ear tips — were so big they couldn't comfortably fit in the ear, a troubling design that caused them to fall out constantly.
Health AI and the law: Could your chatbot doc testify against you?
Last July, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told viral podcaster Theo Von that it's "screwed up" that conversations with an AI helper aren't afforded the same legal protections as conversations with a human advocate.
"imo talking to an AI should be like talking to a lawyer or a doctor. i hope society will figure this out soon," Altman posted to X.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.The CEO has repeatedly advocated for stronger privacy protections for his chatbot's conversations with users, even as states have cracked down on AI bots advertised as therapeutic or legal experts.
But user privacy is not the sole reason why people like Altman are pushing for a tougher shield between chatbot conversations and the court, legal experts tell Mashable — there's also a self-serving motivation. If LLMs remain untouchable by courts, it insulates not just AI users, but the companies, too. In fact, Altman's comments to Von may have been prompted by OpenAI's very own legal troubles: Courts were demanding the AI giant save and eventually hand over its user chat logs as legal discovery, an action that could be blocked if AI were viewed the same in the eyes of the court as a therapist, doctor, or attorney.
What's one way to accomplish that? Push for a cultural shift that treats AI guidance with the same reverence as human professionals, starting with our health.
SEE ALSO: Using ChatGPT Health? Read this first. What exactly is "AI privilege"?"Privilege has a certain meaning to lawyers and in the legal context," explained Melodi Dinçer, senior staff attorney for the Tech Justice Law Project. There's the standard attorney-client privilege, for example, as well as psychiatrist-client privilege and spousal privilege. Communications to clergymen, political votes, and trade or state secrets are also recognized by courts. In all these instances, communications between the two parties are confidential and not admissible in court proceedings.
States have their own privilege rules as well, covered under state law for cases held in state courts. Some states, Dinçer said, extend privileges to conversations between you and your general practitioner, in addition to your psychiatrist. But many states don't. This is all elucidated in Rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Dinçer explained, which allows federal courts to recognize privileges broadly that the state courts already acknowledge.
If you are being sued, for example, the other side of the lawsuit cannot admit your therapist's session notes, nor could they admit confidential conversations between you or your lawyer or your spouse.
"The entire purpose of [client privilege] is to be able to have frank and open discussions with these providers in order for them to provide the best advice to you," Lily Li, a data privacy and AI risk management attorney and founder of Metaverse Law, told Mashable. "And from a societal perspective, we want individuals to be frank and open and honest with their attorney, physicians, and psychologists."
But these are conditions placed on human relationships, not digital ones. If you believe an AI chatbot is as effective as a human therapist or a legal consultant, should those communications be protected, too? Some AI developers, like Altman, say yes.
AI chatbots: Tools or people?"The Open AI copyright lawsuit brought this into sharp focus," said Li. She is referring to a series of recently consolidated copyright cases, 16 in total, opened against OpenAI from publishers, artists, and writers over the last few years. The issues at hand — which include questions of fair use and how to handle the data used to train LLMs — are a kind of temperature gauge for assessing AI's perception in the eyes of the court.
Because of this, legal experts have been closely monitoring how courts categorize AI developers, their products, and user data contained within them. More specifically, they need to track how the law is treating LLMs, including their training data and chat logs, during evidence and discovery.
We don't want a situation where there's just a pure liability shield. - Lily Li, Metaverse LawIn February, a federal judge decided that legal strategy documents generated by Anthropic's Claude chatbot — and then sent by a client to their lawyer — were not covered by attorney-client privilege. The decision made headlines. The judge in the case relied in part on Anthropic’s own privacy policy to determine if the chats were protected. Because Anthropic's rules don't promise full privacy when using its public product, and because the communications didn't occur between a licensed attorney with the understanding of them being confidential, the privilege didn't apply. The documents were fair game.
But that same month, a different judge in a different, albeit similar, case ruled the opposite. In this instance, attorney-client privilege applied to AI-generated work because the output became an "attorney-client work product," according to the judge. The chatbot wasn't a "person" in this use case, but a tool used by counsel and client. That's an important distinction, because if the chatbot had been seen as a third-party entity, the client would have been voluntarily giving confidential information to it in a manner that could waive the recognition of privilege.
These are just a few early federal district court cases, involving what are referred to as matters of first impression. Basically, no one's ever asked these questions, and we are only in the beginning stages of figuring them out.
Meanwhile, the copyright cases involving OpenAI have engendered more questions about discovery and data. Not long before the two aforementioned rulings, OpenAI successfully appealed a decision ruling the company had waived its attorney-client privilege, opening up access to previously privileged data. The company had been ordered to hand over millions of anonymized ChatGPT conversation logs, as well as internal communications.
Companies like OpenAI have pushed back against such discovery, arguing for its confidentiality. Judges ruling in favor of admitting data have reasoned that removing personal identifiable information, narrowing the focus of logs, and not disclosing data externally makes the digital troves admissible in court. The legal landscape is riddled with questions such as these.
Across the board, AI developers are pushing to keep their internal data out of discovery. And while user privacy is one of the most pressing issues in the age of AI, enumerating AI privileges in a legal context poses a conundrum. How do we protect users' private data, without making it impossible to hold AI's makers accountable?
"We don't want a situation where there's just a pure liability shield," Li said.
A new Mashable series, AI + Health, will examine how artificial intelligence is changing the medical and health landscape. We'll explore how to keep your health data safe, dive into using AI to decipher your blood work, learn how two women are using AI to detect a dangerous form of heart disease, and much more.
Health AI is big businessEarlier this year, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, a new consumer-facing "mode" for its tentpole chatbot that intends to turn the AI into a personal health guru. The company encourages users to upload their medical histories to better personalize the experience. The data is not currently protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the nation's dominant health privacy regulation.
Other companies followed OpenAI's lead, with Anthropic, Microsoft, and Amazon releasing their own health-oriented chatbot companions — some HIPAA compliant and some not — in the months since. OpenAI competitor Google has long been investing in AI for medical use cases, mainly for clinicians and researchers. Fitbit, owned by Google, offers personal health coaching using an integrated Gemini assistant. The company is also building a "conversational diagnostic AI agent," referred to as an Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer (or AMIE).
Altman and his competitors are flocking to the profit potential of the healthcare industry, even if an AI privilege rule isn't yet on the horizon. In January, OpenAI acquired the health startup Torch, and the Altman-backed MergeLabs, a biotech company interested in brain computer interfaces (BCIs), obtained an $850 million evaluation.
According to a recent report by Menlo Ventures, $1.4 billion went toward healthcare-specific generative AI solutions in 2025. The vast majority of that flowed to AI startups. And these stats only encompass clinical-grade products, tools produced by companies like OpenEvidence and Hippocratic AI intended for medical professionals, not spending on commercial products, such as ChatGPT Health.
A world with human-chatbot privilege?Among the non-clinical grade products, wellness devices, and non-HIPAA compliant chatbots, a lack of regulation and legal clarity alarms many privacy experts. Some posit that the uncertain policy landscape could be a boon for AI developers, launching their own health AI products into a regulatory miasma in a strategic move to push the company's profit and legal gains.
As chatbots accumulate more "confidential" conversations, more privileges under Rule 501 may be implicated. In states that shield communications with your physician, would AI "doctors" count, too? Or consider a less obvious example posed by Dinçer: Say a user asks a chatbot how they contracted a sexually transmitted infection despite their spouse testing negative, could the prompt and response be presented as evidence — or would it trigger another form of protection, like spousal privilege?
In a hypothetical world with sweeping AI privileges, or even one in which chatbots are looped into existing privilege rules, AI companies may try to refuse admitting blatant evidence of malfeasance. For example, if an AI company was sued for misleading individuals about their health, prosecutors couldn't use internal records or chat analytics containing people's health records.
Perhaps, Dinçer suggests, if more users are inputting their personal medical records, X-rays, or other sensitive information into the consumer-facing product — and if more and more AI companies are connected in a web of personal identifiable information and health tech — courts would be more inclined to entertain the idea of privilege extending to AI.
This may be part of the reason — besides revenue — companies try to engender the same kind of trust in AI assistants as we have in human professionals. With so many already consulting AI for their health needs, and companies like OpenAI already facing heaps of litigation, it's no mystery why executives like Altman want to keep chatbot conversations away from the prying eyes of lawyers and judges.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, previously filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.


