Blogroll

Samsung Galaxy has lost its way, and I don't know where to turn

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 16:15

I've tested and reviewed dozens of smartphones over the years, but my daily driver has remained a Samsung since the Galaxy S4 launched in 2013. Sure, I've run with a Pixel or OnePlus for months at a time, but I always end up returning to Samsung.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Matter 1.5.1 gives your smart cameras an upgrade

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 16:07

Smart cameras are only as good as how reliably you can access them, and they have remained as one of Matter's trickiest challenges. The Connectivity Standards Alliance is addressing this with Matter 1.5.1, an incremental but meaningful update focusing on refining device performance and improving flexibility across ecosystems. The latest version is aimed at cameras and video doorbells that joined the Matter ecosystem last November.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Stop blaming your ISP—6 hidden bottlenecks secretly killing your gigabit speeds

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 16:00

A gigabit internet plan is more than enough for just about every household. But what do you do if, despite paying a lot of money for an expensive plan, your connection is still disappointing? Investigate, of course.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Krispy Kreme is celebrating NASAs Artemis II mission with a new space-themed doughnut — how to try

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:54

We know there is an awful lot going on in the world right now, but we shouldn't forget that humans are actually heading back into space. That's a big deal.

To mark the launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission — the first crewed flight to the Moon in over 50 years — Krispy Kreme has dropped a limited-edition doughnut that looks out of this world. It's a classic Original Glazed doughnut that's dipped in blue vanilla-flavored icing and topped with OREO crunch and white nonpareil stars. It's finished with a cookies-and-cream buttercream dollop and a red icing chevron — a sweet nod to the NASA logo.

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You can find these limited-edition doughnuts in-shop at participating shops nationwide or you can order for pickup or delivery through the Krispy Kreme app and website. The Artemis II doughnut is available through April 2 — don't miss out on this chance to celebrate this momentous occasion.

Categories: IT General, Technology

A24s Mother Mary trailer is worth it for the FKA twigs track

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:50

A24's latest look at David Lowery's upcoming film Mother Mary gives us more of an idea of what to expect when you blend Anne Hathaway and FKA twigs into a pop star dream.

In the trailer above, you can hear Hathaway's vocals on the film's second single, "My Mouth Is Lonely For You," written by the iconic English singer-songwriter; the first track "Burial" was unveiled in March. It's a bit of a moment for pop star-related A24 films right now, with the Mother Mary soundtrack not only including tracks written by FKA twigs but also Charli xcx and Jack Antonoff. The Mother Mary: Greatest Hits album arrives Apr. 17, just before the film releases, and I'll personally be blasting it loud enough to either help or very much hinder the marketing team's work.

Of course, the visuals mean everything here too, as the trailer shows The Devil Wears Prada 2 headliner as eponymous pop star Mother Mary, who reconnects with her best friend, costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel), before returning to the stage after a hiatus. Hathaway and Coel lead a formidable cast including Hunter Schafer, Atheena Frizzell, Sian Clifford, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Isaura Barbé-Brown, and Alba Baptista.

Mother Mary hits cinemas April 24.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The secret of “easy” multicolor 3D printing is how much filament it wastes

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:45

So you've bought a multicolor 3D printer, or you've added an upgrade kit to your existing model to give it the ability to make lovely 3D prints with multiple filaments. It's one of the biggest leaps you can take with 3D printing, and these machines are finally affordable for everyone.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Your browser is leaking your real location even with a VPN

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:30

VPN marketing has really pushed the dangerous idea that the second you hit connect, you're totally invisible and untraceable. It makes VPNs seem like a bulletproof shield or some kind of way to hide from those who want your data. It promises you total anonymity just by hiding your IP address, but that is not true. For real defense against tracking, you need more than just a VPN. You actually need to understand how the browser you use every day can work against you, because it's giving up your information, whether you use a VPN or not.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Dunkin’ is giving away over a million coffees for free today — how to claim yours on April Fools Day

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:27

April Fools' Day is a minefield of fake announcements and pranks, but Dunkin’ is offering some much-needed digital sincerity (and generosity) this year.

For the second year in a row, Dunkin’ is giving away an enormous number of free coffees to celebrate April Fools' Day. How many, we hear you ask. Last year, Dunkin' promised to give away a million free coffees, but a lot of people thought it was a prank. In an effort to prove how serious they are about this special occasion, Dunkin' is going one better and giving away 1,000,001 free coffees this year.

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Rewards members simply need to open the Dunkin’ app and enter the promo code STILLNOTAJOKE to qualify for this promotion. The giveaway is valid while supplies last and excludes extra-large and cold brew coffees. Not already a member? Don't worry, it's free to join.

The free coffee redemption is valid in your app for seven days, so you don't actually need to leave the house today. You can redeem your free cup and pick your moment to cash in.

What's great about this free giveaway is that it's actually free. There's no qualifying purchase or sneaky catch that requires you to jump through hoops. You just need to enter a code and away you go. That's how it should be.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Apple celebrates 50th birthday with homepage animation

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:08

Today, April 1, 2026 (no joke), is Apple's 50th birthday.

The company was launched by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on this day in 1976, essentially to market Wozniak's visionary Apple I personal computer.

Since then, it's grown into one of the largest, most successful companies ever created, with Apple products an important part of the lives of billions of people worldwide.

SEE ALSO: Everything Apple stopped selling in March. See the list.

To mark the occasion, the company did a little takeover of its own website, which now features a colorful animation highlighting some of Apple's most important products, from the earliest Macs all the way to the new Vision Pro.

"At 50 years, it’s only natural to look back. But Apple has always looked forward, building tools and delivering experiences that enrich people’s lives. As we celebrate how far we’ve come, we’re inspired by where we’ll go — together," says the text accompanying the animation.

SEE ALSO: Apple to issue emergency patch to protect iPhones from DarkSword spyware

Of course, this is by no means all that Apple is doing to celebrate. The company recently announced that the festivities will be held over several weeks. So far, Apple has made good on that promise with a series of surprise concerts, including a performance by Alicia Keys at Apple Grand Central in New York City.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The 4 drives I'll never use for Plex media storage (and you shouldn't either)

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:00

A Plex media server doesn't have to be the most complicated thing ever. But it often does get complicated when you take into account the fact that you need to choose storage, and not just any storage. While you're at it, here's all the storage formats that you should not use on your server.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This $5 ESP32 board is the ultimate choice for DIY smart home projects

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 14:45

Are you tired of looking at expensive smart home projects and just want to build some yourself, but don’t know where to start? The ESP32 is the ultimate option for both beginners and enthusiasts for DIY smart home gear, and the best module costs just $5.

Categories: IT General, Technology

File Explorer is sluggish, buggy, and missing features—here's what to use instead

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 14:30

Back in the day, when it was still called Windows Explorer, File Explorer was one of the best apps Microsoft included with Windows. It was fast, intuitive, and as stable as a rock.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Is it ever safe to leave your 3D printer unattended while printing?

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 14:15

Not only are the fumes potentially harmful, but certain parts of your 3D printer get hot enough to melt hard plastic. In a worst-case scenario, these parts could malfunction and cause damage to your printer or even start a fire.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Jon Stewart has a brutal reaction to Trump waffling about pens

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 14:12

There may be a war going on, but Donald Trump appears to be more concerned with ballrooms, past dining experiences, and even pens.

That's the vibe given in clips from Thursday’s cabinet meeting, presented by Jon Stewart in the monologue above, and the Daily Show host is less than impressed.

"That's a cabinet meeting during a f***ing war," says Stewart, after showing a montage of Trump waffling on about pens. "Don't tell us what you used to draw the map, just draw the f***ing map! All we keep hearing from this administration is why the American people have to sacrifice for Trump's vision of America's greatness. That these temporary disruptions are just part of the process. And why can't we be patriots? We have to be patient. We have to suck it up, whether it's high gas prices, or whimsical tariff inflation, or Draconian ICE raids, or temporary Bill of Rights suspensions. It's on us to understand. But Trump gets to be just the same old, 'Ain't I a stinker?', utterly self-absorbed, 'Remember-when-I-used-to-want-to-f*** hot girls?', twat self.

"Can you imagine any other president, let alone a wartime president, be this f***ing self indulgent?"

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Stephen Colbert gleefully recaps the best signs at the No Kings protest

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 14:12

The No Kings protest continued over the weekend, with thousands of people gathering together across the US to protest President Donald Trump and his administration.

And as always, people came with signs.

In the clip above, Stephen Colbert runs through some notable examples, including a large banner reading "Jimmy Kimmel has higher ratings than you!" ("I like that one," Colbert says) and a gigantic defecating inflatable of the president.

"Perhaps most impressive of all was this inflatable Trump pooping directly onto the constitution," says Colbert, playing footage of the impressive balloon. "That is mwah. Spectacular craftsmanship, above all else. Whoever made that should be proud, because one day their grandchild will ask them how they resisted the rise of American fascism, and they can proudly say: 'Well Tyler, your grandma and I worked round the clock with a team of fellow patriots to answer the eternal question of democracy, Can we make an angry balloon that looks like it's pooping fire? Yes, you can.'"

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Categories: IT General, Technology

4 new Netflix movies to watch in April

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 14:00

Spring is on the horizon, and with it comes a fresh slate of Netflix titles. This April, you can expect to stream a long list of movies, including Netflix's collection of older releases that are made available on the first day of the month.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Tinders fake height verification is now a real feature on another app

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 13:44

An April Fool's joke from Tinder in 2019 is now real.

Seven years ago, Tinder joked that it was adding height verification to its app. Now, in 2026, the matchmaking app Tenr has made that a reality.

SEE ALSO: 8 best dating apps and sites for singles in their 40s and up

"People care about height, and the app is all about not BS-ing and giving information up front," said Adam Moelis, the founder of Tenr. (Moelis also co-founded fintech company Yotta. In 2024, thousands of Yotta customers were locked out of their accounts and unable to access their money due to the failure of one of its banking partners. It appears that many customers are still locked out of their Yotta accounts as of this writing.)

What is Tenr?

Tenr is a matchmaking app that aims, as Moelis said, to cut the BS in dating. The fundamental idea is that it doesn't take a two or three-hour date to know if you're interested in someone, but only ten minutes. Users sign up, answer questions about themselves and their preferences, and Tenr "crunches the information" to give three to five matches a day. From there, you have a ten-minute date the app calls a "Tenr," and each party decides whether to meet in person.

AI helps screen people, but it's not the core feature of Tenr, Moelis said. "I don't think AI is good at assessing chemistry, and I think that's probably the most important thing in dating. It's like, do you guys have an energy match? Do you have chemistry? And I think AI can't do that right now. You still need the interaction with the other person." Hence, ten-minute dates.

How does the app verify height?

But back to height. Moelis is right: Height is important to people. For years, people have lamented that women want to date tall guys. Women have even used ChatGPT to catch men lying about it, and Tinder started testing a paid height preference last year. (Tinder told Mashable there isn't an update since then.) Hinge lets users select a height filter and there's even a "deal breaker" option that you can toggle if you're not open to seeing any profiles that don't fit your preferences.

I, for one, believe that we as a society need to stop obsessing about height in dating, but the preoccupation persists. And now, an app is getting in on it and using Apple's Measure app to ensure accuracy. (iPhone models 12 and up use LiDAR scanners — Light Detection and Ranging — to produce accurate measurements.)

"We thought it would be kind of a fun feature," Moelis said. "No other dating app is doing that because it's a little bit controversial, but we think it matters to people."

Here's how height verification works on Tenr: Using the LiDAR scanner on the iPhone camera, a friend can hold the phone and point it at you. It's pretty accurate — plus or minus an inch, said Moelis.

The feature went live a few weeks ago, and it's getting a fair amount of use. Moelis is actually surprised by the lack of negative reaction. Over 700 users have verified their heights so far (and the app is close to 6,000 sign-ups since May 2025).

Height verification, of course, isn't the app's only feature. Moelis also mentioned the Wingman, in which users can recruit friends to help choose their photos and leave testimonials about them. But for those who are tired of men lying about a few inches on dating apps, this might be the only way to catch them — before meeting them IRL, that is.

Categories: IT General, Technology

6 Linux command-line habits you need to break today

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 13:30

Whether you're new to Linux or you've been using it for years, you may have some bad command-line habits. If you can break these habits, you'll stop using the Linux terminal like a beginner and start using it much more efficiently.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Apple to issue emergency patch to protect iPhones from DarkSword spyware

Mashable - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 13:27

If you needed more proof of just how bad the DarkSword spyware is, Apple is about to issue a rare patch (via Wired) that addresses the issue on phones running iOS 18.

Why is this rare? Well, typically Apple will simply tell iPhone users to upgrade to the latest version of iOS (that's iOS 26.4 right now). But this time, everyone running iOS 18 on their phones is getting a patch of their own.

DarkSword is a web based tool that enables malicious hackers to steal data from iPhones, and it's publicly available for everyone to use. Apple already patched iOS 26 against DarkSword, but iOS 18 remains unprotected at writing time. As for why anyone would want to run iOS 18, there are folks who are simply slow to update their phone, and then there are those that may not want to switch to Apple's new "Liquid Glass" user interface that debuted in iOS 26.

It's not a small group. A survey by TelemetryDeck indicated that roughly 19 percent of all iPhone users were running iOS 18 at the end of February.

An Apple spokesperson told Wired that the new patch will be issued on Wednesday morning. This patch will not upgrade the phone to iOS 26; instead, users will remain on iOS 18, but will be safe against DarkSword.

SEE ALSO: iPhone exploit DarkSword has been released in the wild: How to protect yourself

Apple, of course, still encourages all users to update to iOS 26 and receive the company's "most advanced protections."

Categories: IT General, Technology

Anker’s new 10-in-1 Nano Power Strip keeps your desk clutter-free

How-To Geek - Wed, 04/01/2026 - 13:00

Anker believes it has a simple way to avoid a rat’s nest of cables and hubs on your desk: put it all into one box that clamps on to the side. The accessory maker has released a $70 Nano Power Strip that it claims will minimize clutter while keeping multiple devices fully charged.

Categories: IT General, Technology
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