Blogroll

The most important scene in a movie is the first one. It might be the only chance to grab someone's attention and motivate them to finish the movie. The opening scene only lasts five to ten minutes, so it's crucial for a film to establish an enticing hook to reel audiences in. The idea of an excellent first scene is even more important when streaming at home, since the viewer can exit the movie at any point without penalty.

SAVE $30: As of Oct. 21, the DJI Neo 4K Drone is on sale for $169 at Amazon. That's a 15% discount on this palm-sized camera drone.

Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Neo $169 at Amazon
$199 Save $30   Get Deal at Amazon

Holding out for a camera drone that doesn't require a pilot's license, an FAA registration form marathon, or a giant suitcase full of gear is officially over. The ultra-portable DJI Neo is down to just $169, knocking 15% off its regular price tag and bringing top-tier aerial footage well under the $200 mark.

Tipping the scales at a featherlight 135 grams, this mini drone is lighter than most smartphones. Because it comes in way below the federal weight limit, casual flyers can bypass FAA registration and Remote ID entirely. You simply unbox it, charge the battery, and take off — no paperwork, no test taking, and no bureaucracy standing between you and incredible 4K video clips.

What makes the Neo an absolute blast for beginners and solo creators is its dead-simple controls. You don't even need to use a remote or hook up your phone if you don't want to. Just place it in the palm of your hand, press a quick button, and watch it lift off automatically. Built-in smart tracking features lock onto you to keep you centered in the frame while you walk, run, or hike, making it feel like traveling with your own personal robotic camera crew.

Despite its tiny footprint, it shoots crisp, stabilized 4K footage and comes built with full-coverage propeller guards so you won't chew up the blades if you bump into a tree branch or bedroom doorframe. Whether you fly it completely hands-free using palm gestures, use voice controls, or pair it with your phone, this deal is easily the best entry point into drone photography right now.

Get this DJI Neo 4K drone while it's still discounted.

TL;DR: Keep your important info secure with this lifetime subscription to LegacyLocked Digital Estate Planning Vault, which is on sale now for just $49 (reg. $99).

Opens in a new window Credit: Mind2Matter LegacyLocked Digital Estate Planning Vault: Lifetime Subscription $49
$99 Save $50   Get Deal

When someone needs access to your important documents one day, you don’t want them to dig through your emails and scramble through scraps of paper to find everything. The LegacyLocked Digital Estate Planning Vault gives you a single encrypted space to organize all the information your family might need.

Right now, you can lock in a lifetime subscription to LegacyLocked Digital Estate Planning Vault for only $49.

You don’t realize how many important documents you have floating around until you try to consolidate them and find yourself digging through drawers, folders, and inboxes. LegacyLocked Digital Estate Planning Vault lets you sort them in one convenient place — with folders for financial accounts, insurance, legal records, crypto, and key contacts so you don’t have to scramble to find them all.

With LegacyLocked, your vault lives right on your device, not a cloud account. Every item is encrypted on your device before it’s saved in the vault.

Besides ensuring their security, keeping your files on the device rather than in the cloud also means they’re always accessible, even offline. You’ll also have a global search feature that lets you find items easily, as well as local action history to keep tabs on any changes.

With LegacyLocked, your usual lists and account info give a boost of security with encryption. There are folders for everything you need to store, and dedicated item types that save each kind of record in a format tailored to that type of information.

This lifetime subscription gives you permanent access without recurring fees. Windows and Mac desktop apps are available, and you’ll receive access to all future software updates. Since your vault is local to your device, you also get to choose how your trusted individuals can access it when they need to.

Get this lifetime subscription to LegacyLocked Digital Estate Planning Vault for only $49 today.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Nothing says "relaxing vacation" like a list of chores to finish before checkout. It’s a common issue for travelers staying in Airbnbs to find themselves forced to strip beds, wash dishes, and take out the trash before catching a flight — all while still paying a cleaning fee.

But now, Airbnb is putting limits on that routine. For reservations booked on or after Nov. 20, hosts generally won’t be allowed to ask guests to do the housework any longer.

SEE ALSO: Airbnb adds a bunch of new features for travellers What can Airbnb hosts still ask guests to do?

The update, announced by Airbnb on Oct. 20, draws a distinction between light tidying and cleaning the rental for its next occupants.

Here's how the company breaks it down:

• Dishes: Hosts can ask you to leave used dishes in the sink, but shouldn't ask you to wash and put them away.

• Laundry: Gathering used towels is allowed. Stripping beds or starting a load of laundry generally isn't.

• Trash: Hosts can ask you to separate garbage and recycling into designated indoor bins, but shouldn't ask you to haul it off-site.

• Air conditioning: Hosts shouldn't tell you to avoid an amenity advertised in the listing, though they can ask you to turn it off when you leave.

Airbnb may make exceptions based on the property, the stay, and local conditions. Some examples include putting trash in an animal-proof container in bear country and limiting shower time during local drought restrictions.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

There is an interesting financial wrinkle: Airbnb takes a cut of cleaning fees. Its single service fee, which is 15.5 percent for most hosts, applies to the nightly price and additional host charges, including cleaning. At that rate, $15.50 of a $100 cleaning fee goes to Airbnb. That means, if hosts raise those charges to cover more work, Airbnb could collect more, too.

No surprise rules after you book

The changes also address another familiar frustration: finding out about the rules only after the reservation is already paid for. Under the new policy, all house rules and requests must appear in the designated listing section when you book. That means no additional requirements slipped into a message, posted on the fridge, or delivered in person after arrival.

And hosts generally can’t attach their own fines or penalties, either. Hosts who persistently violate the policy could face a warning on their listing, reduced visibility in search, or other action from Airbnb.

To make those expectations harder to miss, Airbnb is displaying rules more prominently on listings, in guests' Trips tabs, and in reservation reminders. Listings with unresolved cleaning requests may also carry an alert reading "includes cleaning requests" — useful information before committing to a weekend away.

If this all sounds familiar, Airbnb has been working on the checkout chore problem for years. Back in Nov. 2022, the company said guests shouldn’t have to strip beds, do laundry, or vacuum before leaving. Its 2023 summer update made checkout instructions visible before booking and let guests flag excessive requests in reviews. Airbnb also said it would remove listings that repeatedly received low ratings over unreasonable chores.

Airbnb guests have entered the chat

The announcement has prompted plenty of travelers to celebrate and share their own horror stories.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

One user recalled a stay that required stripping beds, washing every dish, cleaning the kitchen, and hauling trash to the road — despite a $100 cleaning fee.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Another said a host in Florida had tried to charge an additional $250 after their stay because they hadn’t washed and replaced the bedsheets and towels, taken out the trash, or swept the floor. According to the post, Airbnb customer service intervened and told the host they couldn’t charge extra for those tasks.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

On Reddit, where a discussion in r/technology has drawn roughly 18,000 upvotes and 1,400 comments in 4 hours, users commiserate over similar experiences.

"We once had a host call us screaming because we piled the dirty towels in the bathtub instead of washing and drying them," one commenter wrote. Another described being asked to take garbage to an off-site dump that charged for disposal and closed on Sundays. The host told them, "You have to take it out on Saturday then bring your Sunday trash home."

"If you have to put your existing paying guests to work preparing your property for your future paying guests, while also charging everyone a cleaning fee, maybe hosting just isn't for you?" said one X user.

But the conversation also includes other frustrations with Airbnb. One X user argued that the combination of prices rivaling luxury hotels and an "extensive chore chart" had eroded the service's appeal. "There’s almost zero reason not to stay in a hotel at this point," he wrote. "Too late. So many of us have moved on back to hotels. Less hassle and cheaper," a Reddit user wrote in response to Airbnb's latest update.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Not all guests could agree on where basic courtesy ends and an unreasonable chore list begins, though. "I never minded dishes, but laundry was asking a bit much," one Reddit user wrote. Another said washing dishes and taking out trash seemed reasonable, particularly when food waste could start to smell.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Still, the online frustration hasn’t translated into an overall decline in Airbnb's business quite yet. In its second-quarter 2026 results, the company reported revenue of $3.6 billion, up 17 percent from a year earlier. Its combined "Nights and Seats Booked" metric, covering stays and experiences, rose 10 percent. So though some travelers may have sworn off the platform, bookings are still growing.

Nevertheless, Airbnb has drawn its line in a longstanding debate over what it means to be a good guest. Whether hosts and travelers can agree on it is another matter.

There are plenty of ways to get into homelabbing. Some of us repurpose something we already own (I built my first home server using an old laptop), while others prefer to pick up a cheap starter device like a Raspberry Pi or mini PC.

There's good news if you've ever had Android apps scramble your contact list, or change contacts behind your back. Google has outlined how the upcoming Android 17 QPR2 update will limit how apps can modify contacts.

Looking to build your first software application but not sure where to start? Web development might be the best place. That's where most developers start, including me. After so many years of programming, I think it was a wise decision.

TL;DR: Learn piano from home with flowkey’s 5-year Classic Plan on sale for $79.99 (reg. $899).

Opens in a new window Credit: Flowkey flowkey Piano Learning App: Classic Plan (5-Year Subscription) $79.99
$899 Save $819.01   Get Deal

Whether you’re just starting or looking to build on your existing skills, flowkey lets you learn piano at your own pace without sacrificing progress. Its flexible lessons and guided practice make it easier to fit playing into your schedule, and this deal brings the five-year Classic Plan to just $79.99 (regularly $899) for a limited time.

Flowkey is designed to make practicing feel approachable instead of intimidating. Whether you’re sitting at a keyboard for the first time or returning after a long break, the app guides you through each lesson at your own pace. It even listens while you play, offering instant feedback so you know when you’ve nailed a note — or when it’s time to try again.

The Classic Plan includes access to more than 1,000 classical and public-domain songs, featuring composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Bach, Debussy, Liszt, and Brahms. You’ll also unlock every course and exercise, covering everything from reading sheet music and learning chords to proper hand positioning and rhythm.

Helpful tools like Wait Mode, Slow Motion, Loop, and separate hand practice make difficult sections easier to master without feeling rushed. Because your subscription works across phones, tablets, and computers, it’s easy to fit practice into your schedule.

With five years of access, this is an easy opportunity to start building those piano skills while this offer is still available.

For a limited time, get a five-year subscription to the flowkey Classic Plan for a one-time $79.99 (reg. $899).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

One dodgy text message can ruin your day. Scammers are getting better at making fake messages look legitimate, and the red flags aren’t always easy to spot at a glance. As an Android phone user, I want better protection without having to second-guess every text that lands in my inbox.

Meta, which has fought numerous youth safety lawsuits this year, now faces a $25 billion penalty for violating New Mexico's consumer protection laws. The order, made Wednesday by a New Mexico judge, is the latest development in a lawsuit filed against Meta by the state in 2021.

The case stemmed from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the U.K.-based data firm employed by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign exploited Facebook features to harvest and misappropriate the personal data of more than 50 million users.

SEE ALSO: Meta: We're sorry for banning No Kings Instagram account

New Mexico's lawsuit argued that Facebook generally misled consumers about its data privacy practices, as well as its efforts to moderate misinformation and hate speech. Last month, a New Mexico jury found Meta liable for nearly 44 million violations of the state's consumer protection statute.

The jury found that Facebook's unfair and deceptive practices extended to messaging shared by its executives, including Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's then-chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

"Facebook continued making public representations concerning users' control of data, third-party data misuse, misinformation, hate speech, and equal enforcement after employees, researchers, and senior personnel had internally identified that Facebook could not make good on its public promises," Judge Francis J. Mathew wrote in his decision.

Meta said the decision and penalty make it "all but impossible" to do business in New Mexico, according to a statement obtained by Yahoo! Finance.

"At its core, this lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech to enforce new rules for what people can say online," said C.J. Mahoney, Meta's chief legal officer. "We are confident we will prevail on appeal."

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission separately levied a record $5 billion penalty against Facebook for violating consumers' privacy.

In August, Meta made a $17 billion settlement with states that sued the company for allegedly designing addictive platforms. Earlier that month, a separate New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay nearly $1 billion in a different case about youth mental health and data privacy.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement that the consumer privacy lawsuit made clear that companies must abide by the state's consumer protection laws.

"This case has always been about more than one company or one scandal," Torrez said. "It is about whether corporations can mislead consumers about what happens to their personal information without facing meaningful consequences."

I've been using Calibre for at least eight years to manage my eBook collection. It's done the job really well. But as a Jellyfin user, I like the convenience of having all my content on a single media server and want something similar for my books. The recent updates in Jellyfin 12 have introduced eBook and audiobook enhancements that now make it much more practical.

I've been using Windows long enough to accumulate an embarrassing list of software recommendations that didn't last. I've tried apps that looked revolutionary for a week, productivity systems that demanded more maintenance than the work they were supposed to organize, and utilities that seemed essential right up until I stopped opening them.

I didn’t take to smart home tech right away, but solar is different — I’ve always loved the idea of solar panels. Now I have plenty of them, and as it turns out, solar and smart home tech go hand in hand.

Microsoft offers a wide range of apps on various platforms, but most people only think about Office. While Word and Excel are pretty good on Android, it's Microsoft's other apps that are probably more useful to most people. Let's check them out.

One of the most influential RPG developers of all time is no more. And just like that, another beloved gaming studio is closing its doors for good.

Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that powerful video game publisher Electronic Arts is shutting down RPG studio BioWare, which had been around in some form or another since 1995. This move came as part of a wider layoff of around 400 employees. According to reporter Jason Schreier, BioWare's headcount at the end was around 50.

Minutes after Bloomberg broke the news, the BioWare X account shared a heartfelt message with gamers:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Whether or not you've ever played a BioWare game, you've most likely heard of them or played something inspired by them. The studio made its name in the late 90s and early 2000s with hit RPGs like the original Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Neverwinter Nights. All of those games, as well as the studio's later works, helped pioneer and popularize storytelling that was shaped by player choices.

SEE ALSO: 'Final Fantasy Resonance' doesn't hit as hard as the classics, but it's still a fun throwback

BioWare arguably hit the apex of its popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s with the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. Both franchises saw massive success early on before waning a bit with controversial entries like Andromeda and Veilguard, but you do not have to look far on the internet to find people who love every single game BioWare made. A new Mass Effect was in the works at BioWare when the studio was shut down, but that title has been canceled, per Bloomberg.

Some gamers will argue that this development was inevitable given the events of the past few years. As Variety and Bloomberg reported last year, after the release of Veilguard, EA laid off some BioWare employees. EA was recently acquired by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. Cuts were always a possibility after a big acquisition like that, and BioWare evidently found itself in the crosshairs once more.

If you're buying the new iPhone Duo, Apple's first-ever foldable, the first thing you should do is marvel at its opening animation. The very next thing you should do is get a case for it. Not only is the Duo an expensive phone, but it's also a slippery one, according to Mashable's Stan Schroeder.

Since regular iPhone cases won't fit its passport-style design, you'll have to buy a brand-new protective case for your Duo. Below, I've rounded up over a dozen of the best iPhone Duo cases available ahead of its release on Friday, Oct. 23, including options from popular brands like OtterBox and Casetify with kickstands, MagSafe, and/or hinge protection. Prices range from $30 to $129.

If you haven't locked in your iPhone Duo preorder yet, you can save up to $1,200 with various carrier offers. Just know that it might be a couple weeks until yours arrives: The Duo sold out almost instantly when preorders opened on Oct. 16, and it's currently on backorder pretty much everywhere.

The best iPhone Duo cases so far Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPhone Duo Case $79 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple iPhone Duo Folio with Kickstand $129 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Casetify Casetify iPhone Duo Impact Case $88 at Casetify.com
  Shop Now at Casetify.com Opens in a new window Credit: Casely Casely iPhone Duo Bold Flex Case + MagSafe $80 at Casely.com
  Shop Now at Casely.com Opens in a new window Credit: dbrand dbrand Grip Case with MagSafe for iPhone Duo $54.90
  Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: kate spade new york kate spade Protective iPhone Duo Case with MagSafe $64.99 at Best Buy
  Shop Now at Best Buy Opens in a new window Credit: OtterBox OtterBox iPhone Duo Lumen Series Case $69.99 at Best Buy
  Shop Now at Best Buy Opens in a new window Credit: OtterBox OtterBox Foldable iPhone Duo Defender Series Pro XT Case $89.99 at Amazon
  Get Deal at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Pitaka Pitaka iPhone Duo Edge Case $49.99 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Torras Torras Ostand Q3 VegSkin for iPhone Duo $71.99 at Amazon
$89.99 Save $18   Get Deal at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Speck Speck Presidio Perfect-Clear Fold MagSafe iPhone Duo Case $64.99 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Spigen Spigen Nano Pop MagFit Case for iPhone Duo $29.99 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Spigen Spigen Ultra Hybrid Pro MagFit Case or iPhone Duo $39.99 at Amazon
  Shop Now at Amazon Opens in a new window Credit: Spigen Spigen Slim Armor Pro MagFit Case for iPhone Duo $69.99 at Amazon
$89.99 Save $20   Get Deal at Amazon

If some of your usual websites aren’t working today, their operators may have temporarily shut them down to keep hackers out.

Two serious security flaws have been discovered in PHP, a programming language that helps websites run. On vulnerable servers, those flaws could allow hackers to run their own commands or access sensitive information. Because PHP is used across so many different websites, the same security problem has left operators around the world scrambling to protect their systems.

A fix became available on Oct. 21, but releasing it doesn’t automatically secure every affected site. Website operators and hosting providers still need to install the update on their servers. Some have taken sites offline or restricted features while they do that work, creating disruptions for visitors along the way.

SEE ALSO: PHP vulnerability: PHP security issues today explained From gaming services to government websites

Those precautions have disrupted everything from online forums to gaming services. 4chan switched to read-only mode while awaiting a PHP security update, while Wikimedia, the organization behind Wikipedia, took supporting tools offline until they could be safely patched. In a statement to Mashable, the Wikimedia Foundation confirmed its recent downtime was related to the PHP security issues.

Fur Affinity, Pinboard, and Miraheze also announced precautionary shutdowns, while games including Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Granblue Fantasy, and Princess Connect! Re:Dive announced maintenance to address PHP vulnerabilities.

Government websites have taken similar precautions. Reuters identified the Port of Rotterdam, Dutch football association KNVB, government portal Overheid.nl, and the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre among those taken offline. Finnish government public web services, Belgian foreign ministry websites, French prefecture websites, and several German federal websites also underwent preventive shutdowns. Taking these services offline doesn’t necessarily mean they were hacked — it can help prevent that from happening.

Other disruptions haven’t been publicly linked to PHP. Pokémon Sleep, Pokémon HOME, and Pokémon Champions underwent emergency maintenance, but a PHP connection remains unconfirmed. GOG also announced maintenance without specifying a cause, while Duolingo reported increased errors without mentioning the vulnerability. In addition, DownDetector users are reporting problems with popular tools such as the Internet Archive and Asana, though those issues couldn't be directly linked to the PHP security update.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Here’s what we know about the PHP-related disruptions and the other outages happening alongside them.

Which websites are affected by the PHP security update?

The following sites and services have announced PHP-related restrictions or shutdowns, or have been reported to have taken them. These disruptions occurred at different points on Oct. 21, so some services may have returned as operators completed their updates.

• OpenStreetMap’s wiki and secondary services: Its operations team temporarily shut down several supporting services, including its wiki. The announcement concerns those services, rather than the main map.

• Choice of Games: The interactive fiction publisher announced an overnight shutdown of its website while awaiting the security update.

• GrapheneOS forum: The project temporarily took its discussion forum offline. This concerns the forum, rather than the GrapheneOS phone operating system.

• Umamusume: Pretty Derby: The game’s maintenance notice identified a PHP vulnerability on its servers, according to Dexerto.

• Something Awful: The forums posted a maintenance notice linking their temporary shutdown to the PHP vulnerability. The forum homepage was accessible during our check.

• 4chan: The imageboard switched to read-only mode while awaiting an urgent PHP security update, according to reporting quoting its notice. That limits posting without necessarily preventing people from reading existing threads.

• Wikimedia supporting services: The organization behind Wikipedia took services including Toolforge and Cloud VPS offline. Wikimedia also warned that users might encounter wiki outages during the work. (Its announcement does not describe a complete shutdown of Wikipedia.)

• Fur Affinity: The art community announced it would take its site offline until it could apply a patch, citing the PHP vulnerability.

• Miraheze: The wiki hosting service said it was taking all services offline to protect its systems while awaiting a PHP patch.

• Pinboard: The bookmarking service said it had taken itself offline to protect users' data until patches became available.

• Granblue Fantasy: The game issued a maintenance notice related to the PHP vulnerability.

• Princess Connect! Re:Dive: The game also announced maintenance to address the PHP issue.

• Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond: The game underwent emergency maintenance that Japanese technology outlets linked to the PHP security issue.

• CHUNITHM: The rhythm game’s international account announced emergency maintenance following reports of a PHP vulnerability.

• Pokémon Sleep, Pokémon HOME, and Pokémon Champions: The games underwent emergency maintenance, though a direct connection to the PHP vulnerabilities has not been confirmed.

• Port of Rotterdam: Its website was taken offline as a precaution.

• KNVB: The Dutch national football association’s website was taken offline.

• Overheid.nl: The Dutch government portal was taken offline.

• Dutch National Cyber Security Centre: The cybersecurity agency took its public-facing website offline as a precaution.

• Finnish government public web services: State IT provider Valtori shut down the services as a precaution.

• Belgian foreign ministry: The ministry temporarily took its websites offline.

• French prefectures: The Interior Ministry temporarily took local administrative offices’ websites offline.

• German federal websites: Federal IT provider ITZBund temporarily deactivated several websites as a preventive measure.

SEE ALSO: OpenAI says GPT-5.6-Sol helped find the PHP flaws now shaking the internet When will affected websites be back?

There’s no single restoration time. Each operator needs to update its affected systems and make sure its services can safely return.

That process can be more complicated for organizations hosting tools managed by different people. Wikimedia, for example, said some volunteer-run services require their individual owners to make changes before they can come back online, potentially extending their downtime.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

Before O'Neil Thomas had millions of followers, he had a third-grade Christmas production and a serious case of stage fright.

But the nerves didn’t last past curtain call. Watching family members, faculty, and staff stand and applaud, he knew he wanted to keep performing. "I felt something really warm in my heart," Thomas tells Mashable. "I was like, 'I think this is something I want to do for the rest of my life.'"

By high school, he was studying performing arts, writing scripts, and filming YouTube sketches between classes and auditions. And as new platforms arrived, he kept finding new places to perform, learning what audiences responded to and how his comedy could work differently on each app.

Over the past decade, Thomas, 29, has grown his audience to more than six million across social media platforms, with fans following his social commentary, comedy sketches — like his YouTube series Shady Family — and viral recreations, including his take on Beyoncé's Grammy-award-winning album Cowboy Carter's cover art (which earned a shoutout from her team). But his latest project brings that work back to the passion that started it all: acting.

His vertical "microdrama", the 7:33 minute Investigator, Investigator, was selected for New York's inaugural Alza Film Festival, held Oct. 16–18, where he also joined a conversation aptly titled "What Does Creator Even Mean" to discuss the increasingly blurred lines between creators, filmmakers, actors, and producers, especially as the vertical series boom is getting bigger.

For Mashable's Creator Playbook, Thomas sat down with deputy editor Olivia Tauber ahead of the festival to explore his beginnings as a performer, how he brings an actor's approach to content creation, the comedians who inspire him, and how he gives viewers a reason to keep coming back.

Credit: O'Neil Thomas/Mashable

Mashable: You started out as an actor before becoming a creator. What drew you to acting, and how did that transition happen?

O’Neil Thomas: Honestly, it all started in the third grade. That’s when I found my calling for acting. I was in our first-ever Christmas production, and it was my first time ever onstage. I was terrified when I was first doing it.

But something about doing the lines, getting off the stage, and then, at the end, for curtain call, where all the cast and crew are on the stage, and I see all the family, the faculty, staff just standing up and clapping — I felt something really warm in my heart. I was like, "I think this is something I want to do for the rest of my life."

View this post on Instagram

Ever since that moment, I just went full-fledged into learning about comedy and acting, sketch comedy and everything. When I got into high school, I went there for performing arts. Whenever I wasn’t auditioning or in classes, I was just putting myself on camera. So I kind of learned the ropes as I went along.

I’d write my own little scripts and make my own little YouTube sketches, and just really enjoyed doing that. Over time, as more apps came to grow, I kept finding myself on a new platform, really testing it out and learning how to write my own stuff.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. 

What did you learn about making content for different platforms?

I learned that each platform has its own purpose, which I do love, because you don’t want different platforms to all serve the same way.

I like to credit my previous work on other platforms, like Vine and YouTube growing up. I really learned to study the algorithm and study what the audience is saying in the comment section. From there, I can learn, okay. This short-form works best on this platform. This long-form works best on this platform.

It’s a really fun challenge. One of my series that’s really popular now is a short-form series, Shady Family, but I’ve been able to transition it into a full-fledged, long-form episodic series.

I think that’s definitely something I've learned while cross-posting. Each thing has its own purpose, and once you know how to reach your audience and meet them where they are, you’re good.

Take me through your creative process.

It depends on the day, the week, the planning. There are some times that I do fully strategize and execute, like, here’s this episode that’s going to release this day, this week, this month. I have that scripted series that I take more time to nurture and really grow.

Then there’s also the occasion where I’m scrolling, and something really funny is going on. There’s a really funny conversation happening, and I want to throw my hat into the race.

When it comes to my scripted stuff, I really have to sit down in my own writers' room. I’m on my laptop somewhere in my house, and I break it down into an outline. What’s the overall story that I want to tell for this episode, and how do I see myself from start to finish?

View this post on Instagram

From there, I’m able to put in some jokes. I love writing the jokes in real time because I’m able to test it out. I kind of know how it’s going to respond, so I’m able to add a joke in, take something out. Maybe it’s not working well, or maybe this one isn’t the right time for it.

It’s more of a full-fledged showrunner process when it comes to my scripted stuff. I can just pop my camera in front of my face and press record [for other videos].

Are there comedians, actors, or creators who inspire you?

Honestly, I want to say it kind of changes. But as of right now, Druski is a huge one. I love Druski’s commitment to his craft, and it’s something that I find really admirable, especially in the social landscape that we’re in.

He’s someone I can really admire, who can take my concept to the next level and hire a whole production company for it.

SEE ALSO: Is Druski hosting 'SNL'? Here's why it would be a big deal for internet creators.

Quinta Brunson is also a huge role model for me because she’s able to navigate the social landscape and transition into the traditional TV space, which I absolutely love. I love the writing styles. I love their comedy, and I’m really inspired by them, for sure.

Building an audience is one thing, but getting people to stick around is another. What do you think has helped you do both?

I feel, number one, it’s how I show up on the platform, and I show up as authentically myself.

I think we’re in an age now where a lot of people do want to try this, and they see the success behind it. We’re still in the really scary world of perception, and I do not care about being perceived at all.

I think that resonates really well with my audience. They love seeing me whenever I show up. I can see a trend and add my own funny twist to it to really make it my own.

They say that they see a lot of themselves in me. It also makes me feel like that’s another good reason why they want to stick around, just to see what else I’m up to, what else I’m creating, and what else I’m doing.

Read more of our creator coverage, sign up for our Trending Now and Top Stories newsletters or get Mashable push alerts to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

Are you wanting to start building out your homelab, but aren't sure where to start? The best approach that I've found is separating your services from the beginning with a two-system setup. Thin clients are cheap and readily available basically everywhere, and it's not hard to find a NAS, either. So, if you're wanting to kickstart your homelab setup, try the two-tier approach I lay out below.

OpenAI says its AI models helped uncover the critical PHP security flaws that have websites across the internet scrambling.

In a blog post on Wednesday, the company said it had spent the past two months leading a coalition of PHP maintainers, security researchers, and security companies to deal with the vulnerabilities, now nicknamed "PHP2SHELL." In its own Wednesday blog post, the PHP foundation thanked OpenAI, among other industry partners and cybersecurity researchers.

The newly exposed flaws could allow attackers to take over servers running PHP, the programming language behind a large share of the web. OpenAI called the bugs one of the most impactful security problems in recent memory.

SEE ALSO: PHP vulnerability: PHP security issues today explained

According to OpenAI, security firm Calif found one of the critical flaws using the company’s GPT-5.6 Sol model as part of Patch the Planet, an OpenAI security program. Security company Wiz also discovered and reported both vulnerabilities on its own, OpenAI said. PHP’s maintainers led the work on the fixes. OpenAI, Wiz, Cloudflare, and other partners contributed research and helped prepare protections before the flaws went public.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman added more detail in a post on X. He said PHP was the first programming language he learned, which gave him a personal connection to the work.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

According to Brockman, the bug had existed in PHP for 14 years. A smaller version of it was found in 2024, but wasn’t treated as serious at the time. Calif found a version of the bug in August, and OpenAI’s own team independently found a more complete version in September.

The coalition planned to disclose the flaws on Oct. 22, Brockman said, but details leaked early, and PHP’s maintainers released the fixes a day sooner. He said the two months of preparation still mattered, because the fixes were complicated and an earlier leak could have caused far more damage.

OpenAI said it also worked with U.S. government agencies on the response, including the White House’s Super Intelligence Force, the Office of the National Cyber Director, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

OpenAI says PHP won’t be the last case of this kind. The company said it has already found several other serious vulnerabilities and expects similar discoveries to rise sharply in the coming months. Brockman pointed to a separate remote code execution flaw that Node.js, another widely used web technology, disclosed on Wednesday.

This year, new AI models like GPT-5.6-Sol and Claude Mythos have led to a rapid rise in bug discoveries, pushing some zero-day bug initiatives to shut down entirely, as Mashable reported previously.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters or get Mashable push alerts today. 

Brockman wrote that the current way of handling bugs like these is "slow and manual," and won’t scale as AI gets better at finding them. OpenAI is now asking the security community for feedback on a new process for coordinating disclosures. One idea that floats is having governments or other authorized defenders constantly scan the internet for vulnerable systems. They would warn site owners when they find one and, in extreme cases, patch the systems themselves.

OpenAI also acknowledges the risk in its pitch. The same AI capabilities that helped find these bugs could help attackers build exploits faster. To put more of those tools in defenders’ hands, the company says it has committed $1 billion toward subsidized access to its security tools for organizations that protect essential services. It is also releasing a tool that helps site operators check whether they’re running a vulnerable version of PHP.

Meanwhile, the internet is having a week

The patch scramble has been very visible. Wikipedia went down Wednesday morning, and the Wikimedia Foundation confirmed to Mashable that the outage was tied to the PHP vulnerabilities. The foundation said it had taken other systems offline as a precaution until they could be safely patched.

Other popular sites have also gone down or posted maintenance notices. According to Downdetector, sites having trouble in the midst of the PHP issues include Asana, GOG, Duolingo, Capital One, Bitbucket, Moodle, Quest Diagnostics, Final Fantasy XIV, War Thunder, and the Internet Archive. Most haven’t said whether their problems are connected to PHP, but, again, the programming language runs much of the internet.

Even outside of the response from the cybersecurity arm of the U.S. government, other world leaders are getting involved too. Japan’s prime minister made an unusual public appeal on X, urging anyone who runs a website to act that night, according to a translation of the Japanese-language post.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The PM asked site owners to check whether their public websites use PHP and to install the fix as soon as it was released at 11 p.m. Japan time on Oct. 21, which matches PHP’s 10 a.m. ET release.

For most people, the impact should be limited to some sites being temporarily unavailable. Regular users don’t need to install anything, since the fix is up to the companies running the sites.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.