Blogroll
The 15 terminal commands that made me forget about Linux file managers
Whether your file manager is KDE’s Dolphin, GNOME’s Files, or an alternative, it’s probably an essential part of your workflow, used daily to navigate and organize your files. However, Linux users have been performing these tasks for decades, long before GUI desktops even existed.
5 cheap gas cars that are so efficient you don't need a hybrid
Hybrid badges tend to dominate the fuel-economy conversation, but not every buyer needs electrification to keep running costs low. In 2026, several affordable gasoline-powered cars are proving that smart engineering, lighter weight, and efficient powertrains can still deliver outstanding mileage without the added cost or complexity of a hybrid system.
Samsung SmartThings now offers at-a-glance home security and pet updates—including on your TV
Samsung has given its SmartThings hub an AI injection that could make it more useful for tracking your smart home, and not just from your phone. The company's Now Brief feature, which provides timely AI-curated updates, now supports home security, Family Care (support for aging parents), and pets, and is coming to TVs and refrigerators "soon."
Bluetti just launched the FridgePower portable power station — preorders save at least $540
One of the biggest inconveniences when the power goes out is worrying about food spoiling in the refrigerator. A storm that knocks out power always seems to show up just a few days after doing a major fridge and freezer restock. We used to transfer items out of the fridge and into a cooler, but portable power stations made that a thing of the past. Bluetti, a leader in the portable power industry, has made things even easier.
Tucked neatly above the fridge, the Bluetti FridgePower will kick on automatically during an outage. Credit: BluettiThe Bluetti FridgePower is the brand's latest portable station, aimed directly at keeping the refrigerator and freezer cooling when the power cuts out. Unlike the majority of portable power stations that have a rectangular shape, Bluetti built the FridgePower to be slim to easily sit atop your fridge. It's less than three inches in height and has anti-slip silicone feet for better stability.
According to Bluetti's calculations, the FridgePower's 2,016Wh battery capacity will keep a refrigerator powered on for nearly 22 hours if the appliance pulls about 2,000Wh per day. Instead of worrying about food going bad during an outage or strategizing opening the fridge for 10 seconds to grab the milk as quickly as possible, you'll have the reassurance your fridge will stay powered on for about a day.
Bluetti FridgePower spec breakdownCapacity: 2,016Wh
Battery type: LiFePO4
Continuous output: 1,800W
Surge power: 3,600W
UPS: under 10 milliseconds
Weight: 43 pounds
Dimensions: 22.83 in. × 13.78 in. × 2.95 in.
Warranty: 5 years
In addition to setting the FridgePower either directly on top of your fridge or in a cabinet above, you can also mount the unit vertically to a nearby wall. The FridgePower has built-in wall mounting brackets and it comes with a mounting kit. That means you can easily set it up on a wall near the fridge in the kitchen or in the garage to power up the extra fridge or chest freezer.
Credit: BluettiIf the 2,016Wh capacity doesn't feel like enough, you can add up to three BlueCell 200 expansion batteries for a total of 8,064Wh. Each BlueCell 200 has identical dimensions to the FridgePower for perfect stacking ability.
Convenience of a dedicated fridge backupI've tested dozens of power stations and one of the most useful scenarios for them is to keep the fridge cooling. Not only does that mean food doesn't spoil, it's essential for some households that have medical supplies that need to stay cold. The majority of the power stations I've tested are capable of running a refrigerator for various amounts of time, but adding the Bluetti FridgePower to your home takes it to a new level of convenience.
When my home's power went out for almost 24 hours in December, I plugged the refrigerator into a 2,000Wh power station and left it sitting on the kitchen floor. But when I needed to charge my phone with the portable power station, I was tethered to the kitchen floor since it was keeping the fridge cooling. The Bluetti FridgePower serving as a dedicated fridge backup frees up any other portable power station you have to use around the house for lights, the WiFi router, and recharging phones.
Wall mounting is ideal in the garage for a chest freezer or extra refrigerator.. Credit: Bluetti Plentiful recharging optionsWith standard AC wall charging, the Bluetti FridgePower will take about an hour to go from 0 to 80% and about 105 minutes to reach a full charge. With a 1,000W solar panel, it'll take a bit over 120 minutes to reach full power. Bluetti also plans on launching the Alternator Charger 2 soon which will allow you to recharge the FridgePower with your car's alternator.
How to pre-order the Bluetti FridgePowerBluetti is launching the FridgePower via Kickstarter with big discounts for pre-orders. Between April 16 and May 31, early orders save at least 42%. Bluetti expects shipments to begin in early June to make use of during summer storms and hurricane season.
Bluetti FridgePower preorder details: Starter bundle Bluetti FridgePower $759 (save $540) Pre-Order Here Plus Bundle Bluetti FridgePower + BlueCell 200 $1,398 (save $1,100) Pre-Order Here Pro Bundle Bluetti FridgePower + two BlueCell 200 $2,097 (save $1,600) Pre-Order Here Max Bundle Bluetti FridgePower + three BlueCell 200 $2,699 (save $2,197) Pre-Order HereBluetti mentions these sale prices are super early bird offers. Once those sell out, prices will shift to normal early bird pricing. They're still good deals, just not quiet as attractive as the super early bird offers. A standalone FridgePower, for example, will shift from super early bird $759 to early bird $819.
If you live in an area that's prone to power outages and food spoilage is a major concern, the Bluetti FridgePower could be the perfect backup system. With these early bird sale prices taking at least $540 off, it's worth jumping on them asap.
The Pitt fans, you need to watch the Season 2 finale credits
Here's a PSA for everyone preparing to tune into The Pitt Season 2 finale tonight: Make sure you keep watching through the episode's credits.
The finale features the show's first mid-credits sequence, in which Nick Fury approaches Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) about putting together a team of elite TV doctors.
SEE ALSO: 'The Pitt' just showed what happens when medicine meets TikTokI'm totally kidding — about the Nick Fury part, anyway. The Pitt's mid-credits scene is very real, and it's certainly worth sticking around for. No spoilers for what the scene actually entails, but I will say it's less of an MCU-style teaser of what's to come in Season 3, and more of a cathartic button to Season 2. And after 15 hours of trauma cases and tense staff drama, you're going to want all the catharsis you can get.
That being said, if you want a teaser for Season 3, you're in luck. At PaleyFest LA, Wyle and The Pitt creator R. Scott Gemmill revealed key elements about what's next for the series, including when it would take place.
Featured Video For You How 'The Pitt's cinematographer created show's unique immersive style"It will be pre-Thanksgiving, moving into colder weather," Wyle told USA Today at PaleyFest. "The holidays are approaching. The weather's changing. People are turning on their heaters for the first time."
Wyle added the next season would be "explosive," which won't do anything to soothe my worries about The Pitt's staff's mental well-being. But in the meantime, the Season 2 mid-credits scene offers a sweet balm for that anxiety.
The Pitt Season 2 finale premieres Apr. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.
Students can get Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for free — but is it better than a MacBook Neo?
SAVE $625: College students can score one year of Microsoft 365 Premium, one year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a Xbox Wireless Controller totally free with the purchase of a Windows 11 laptop.
Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Windows 11 Ultimate College Bundle Shop NowWith the arrival of Apple's MacBook Neo, college students can rejoice in an affordable, colorful laptop. Now, Microsoft is rushing to make their laptops a little more enticing to the college crowd.
They're doing a pretty good job with the ultimate college bundle. With the purchase of a new Windows 11 laptop, students score one year of Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, plus a free Xbox wireless controller. That's $624.86 worth of product that students get completely free.
Microsoft 365 Premium is usually $199.99 for a one-year subscription, and includes access to all the essential Microsoft apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It also features cloud storage and advanced security to keep your papers organized and safe. But college shouldn't be all work and no play.
For some well-earned downtime, one year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is included too. That's access to over 500 games on Xbox consoles and PCs. Not to mention, you'll receive a free wireless Xbox controller for all your gaming needs.
To get the bundle, all you need to do is shop a qualifying Windows 11 laptop, which are available at Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, and Microsoft. Qualifying devices include the Microsoft Surface and Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 laptops.
Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Surface, 13.8-inch (Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $1,499.99 at MicrosoftGet Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Lenovo Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1, 16-inch (Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD) $1,049.99 at Best Buy
Get Deal How to redeem ultimate college bundle
Once you purchase your laptop, you'll have to redeem your offer. After setting up the device, an on-screen notification will pop up asking students to verify their student status. This requires a .edu college email address.
After your student status is verified, students will receive an email to redeem their Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft 365 Premium subscriptions. Additionally, they'll receive a unique promo code to redeem a custom controller within three days of verifying their student status.
You can now turn off YouTube shorts entirely
YouTube is letting users turn off the brain rot faucet on its mobile app.
The internet's home for all things video started rolling out a new setting in its iOS and Android apps that allows users to set a very strict daily limit for scrolling through the Shorts feed, per The Verge.
Specifically, you can now set it to zero minutes, effectively eliminating the Shorts feed as a viable part of the app. You'll still be able to see individual Shorts on a user's account page, but tapping on the Shorts tab at the bottom of the screen will instantly put up a message saying you've reached your limit for the day, disallowing you from watching Shorts there at all.
SEE ALSO: YouTube AI slop is a generational threat, child safety experts warn in new petition There it is. Credit: Screenshot: YouTubeYouTube originally rolled out a Shorts feed time limit feature a few months ago, but prior to this new rollout, the shortest limit was 15 minutes. After scrolling for whatever amount of time you set, the app would stop you from watching Shorts for the rest of that day. That option is still available, both for adult users to set for themselves and for parents to set for their kids, but it now exists alongside the zero minutes option.
Shorts have been successful for YouTube over the past few years as a TikTok competitor (or just a place where videos that originated on TikTok also show up), but it's also undeniably become a source of endless scrolling through AI and brain rot content for many people. Giving users the power to turn off the spigot for themselves is probably necessary.
I played this web game to discover my perfect coding font
Picking a font can be a tough task because there are so many to choose from. So why not pick a winner using a tried-and-tested method: the elimination tournament.
Why closing background apps on your phone is outdated advice that backfires
Do you have a habit of "closing" apps running in the background on your phone, hoping it'll improve performance or save battery life? If so, you should probably stop, because it's doing more harm than good.
"Theme Studio" is the customization tool Niagara Launcher users have been waiting for
Niagara Launcher has quietly become one of the best Android launchers available today. It originally grabbed attention for completely reimagining the Android home screen, and it has continued to improve upon that concept. The latest update brings a brand new customization tool and a company rebrand.
Grab the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro camera for its best-ever price at Amazon — save $80
SAVE $80: As of April 16, you can get the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo for only $368.99 at Amazon. That's an 18% discount and matches its best price on record.
Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo $368.99 at Amazon$449 Save $80.01 Get Deal
GoPro has long been the gold standard when it comes to action cameras, but the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro gives popular GoPro models a run for their money. It's tough, waterproof, and compact, can capture stable, crisp video in any lighting scenario, and actually last more than an hour. Plus, it's on sale for its lowest price on record.
As of April 16, the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro Adventure Combo (which comes with three batteries and a battery case) is on sale for $368.99 at Amazon. That's 18% or $80 cheaper than its list price and matches its best price ever, according to our favorite price-tracking tool camelcamelcamel.
Mashable Deals Be the first to know! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Get editor selected deals texted right to your phone! Loading... Sign Me Up By signing up, you agree to receive recurring automated SMS marketing messages from Mashable Deals at the number provided. Msg and data rates may apply. Up to 2 messages/day. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Thanks for signing up!Our friends at PCMag (also owned by Ziff Davis) tested the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and not only loved it, but also named it the best overall action camera for 2026. Highlights include superb 4K120 video footage, a waterproof build up to 65.6 feet, a compact and easily mountable design, effective digital stabilization, and the ability to record continuously without overheating.
What really takes it over the top compared to other action cameras, however, is its market-leading battery life. "The DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro provides the longest battery life we've seen from any action camera yet, running for far longer between charges than earlier entries in the series and bettering recent GoPro cameras by quite a bit," PCMag's reviewer writes. It'll last you over two hours at 4K60 and over three at 1080p30. Not to mention, with the Adventure Combo pack, you'll get three times that amount — an adventurer's and content creator's dream.
I used to hate non-upgradable laptops, but now I understand why they're winning
If you have fond memories of being able to upgrade your laptop’s components, I’m here to tell you that I’m right there with you. Except, in 2026, my view on that has changed, and I totally understand why companies stopped building user-upgradable laptops—and that’s okay.
Character.AI users can now role-play classic books like Pride and Prejudice
The artificial intelligence entertainment platform Character.AI introduced on Thursday a feature allowing users to role-play in more than 20 classic books, including Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby.
"Books" lets Character.AI users engage in open-ended chats based on these and other famous titles in the public domain. Users can participate as a character from the book or as the "character" they've created on the platform.
SEE ALSO: I 'dated' Character.AI's popular boyfriends, and parents should be worriedUsers can either follow the book's original narrative arc or go "off script" to interact with its characters as they wish. Additionally, Books offers "alternate universe remixes" in which players can overhaul a title's original premise, such as imagining Jay Gatsby in space. These remixes can be shared with the broader Character.AI community and subsequently browsed and played by other users.
In a blog post announcing the feature, Character.AI preemptively addressed the concern that it might encourage people to play classic literature rather than actually read it.
"Step into a story, talk to its characters, and there's a good chance you walk away wanting to pick up the original," the company said. "Not replacing books — but making them impossible to ignore."
Books lets users engage in open-ended chat with classic books like "Alice in Wonderland." Credit: Character.AIUsers without a paid subscription can try Books with a "handful of free turns," according to the company. Subscribers are able to explore the entire Books library.
Books will be available to users age 18 and older. Last fall, Character.AI shut down open-ended chats for teens, following lawsuits alleging that teens who used the platform experienced severe harm, including sexual abuse. The company settled the lawsuits earlier this year.
A spokesperson for Character.AI confirmed to Mashable that while users can prompt "romantic narratives" in Books, the company will moderate content that violate its terms of service, in addition to reviewing user reports of such behavior.
Character.AI policies prohibit certain types of behavior, including the depiction of excessive, graphic violence against people and animals; hate speech that demeans or promotes discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, and other characteristics; and content that promotes terrorism or violent extremism.
The policies also bar content that is obscene or pornographic, constitutes sexual harassment, and depicts the sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor.
"As with all of our content, [Books] interactions remain subject to our policies and our safety systems, including both automated and human review," the spokesperson said.
Street Fighter trailer packs a punch with Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li
Street Fighter's trailer unleashes the whole crew of elite warriors from Capcom's iconic video game franchise.
Set in 1993 and directed by Kitao Sakurai, the upcoming action film focuses on Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo). Once good friends, the pair have since become estranged. That all changes when Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament, a high-stakes series of fights that masks a deadly conspiracy.
As Street Fighter's trio battles to uncover the truth, they'll face off with some of Street Fighter's most formidable foes, including M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), Balrog (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), and Akuma (Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i).
The trailer showcases these fighters and more in all their aggressive glory, including some body slams from Zangief (Olivier Richters) and some elastic moves from Dhalsim (Vidyut Jammwal). Plus, there are several in-jokes for Street Fighter fans, like a remark tied to Chun-Li's impressive thigh strength.
And of course, it wouldn't be Street Fighter without a Hadouken, which Ryu unleashes in full towards the end of the trailer. To witness that (and several other awesome attacks), check out the full video above.
Street Fighter hits theaters Oct. 16.
It took years, but I finally audited my smart home: 8 major problems you should check
Some jobs seem to get put off forever, regardless of how important they are. Though I’m always tinkering with my smart home, rarely do I put my audit hat on and check the nuts and bolts.
How to use the ISNUMBER function in Microsoft Excel
At first glance, Excel's ISNUMBER seems almost too straightforward to be useful—it simply tells you if a cell contains a numerical value. However, its true power lies in its ability to act as a logical gatekeeper, turning messy errors and function outputs into clean TRUE or FALSE values.
Your SSD is doing extra work you don't know about—here's how to fix it
If you want your SSD to stay in peak condition without leaving even a smidge of performance on the table, I'd like to acquaint you with the TRIM command. TRIM not only keeps your SSD running at its best, but also reduces unnecessary operations that can, over time, negatively impact its lifespan.
Lee Cronins The Mummy review: Gore and bores galore
Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin brings his trademarks of creepy kids and wild gore to Lee Cronin's The Mummy, with mixed results.
On the one hand, the gore, when it comes, is spectacular. On the other hand, it's sandwiched within an underwhelming storyline that never truly lets loose.
SEE ALSO: What's new to streaming this week? (April 17, 2026) What's Lee Cronin's The Mummy about? Natalie Grace in "Lee Cronin's The Mummy." Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesCronin's take on a mummy story has no prior relationship to other mummy-related films, be that the 1932 Universal Monsters film, the Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz franchise (which has a fourth installment incoming), or the 2017 Tom Cruise flop.
Instead, it introduces an entirely new mummy tale focused on a bereaved family. Charlie and Larissa Cannon (Jack Reynor and Laia Costa) were once stationed in Cairo for Charlie's journalism job. While there, their daughter Katie (Emily Mitchell) went missing, kidnapped by a mysterious woman (Hayat Kamille) who lurked near their garden.
Eight years later, the Cannons have traded the deserts of Egypt for those of Albuquerque, where they live with their children Sebastián (Shylo Molina) and Maud (Billie Roy), as well as Larissa's mother Carmen (Verónica Falcón). Their grief over Katie lingers still. They keep her childhood bedroom intact, preserved in all its pink glory. They also haven't taken a vacation since her disappearance, too afraid of anything bad happening to their other children.
SEE ALSO: Warring couples keep 'Beef' juicy: Season 2 reviewHowever, the Cannons get some miraculous news when Katie (now played by Natalie Grace) shows up alive, having been found in an ancient sarcophagus. It's evident she's undergone a heavy amount of trauma in her time away: Her skin is scratched and peeling, her limbs are contorted in a strange rictus, and she's only able to communicate through a series of clicking teeth and wheezing breaths.
Confronted with their daughter's deteriorated physical condition, Charlie and Larissa are ready to do whatever it takes to help Katie feel safe again. Perhaps that's why they're willing to overlook the several perturbing things Katie does, from cavorting through their house's crawl space to straight-up headbutting Carmen. It's textbook possession, but Charlie and Larissa's love for their daughter and relief at having her back cloud any fear they may have of her... up to a certain point. However, that point comes far too late in Lee Cronin's The Mummy's punishing 135-minute runtime, making the pair seem less like concerned parents and more like classic horror movie idiots who make every bad decision until the movie tells them not to.
Again, the bereavement does give Charlie and Larissa some excuse here. Cronin, who also wrote the film, does a solid job exploring their guilt at Katie's disappearance, as well as their efforts to establish normalcy even as a supernatural evil wreaks havoc on their house. Yet after a while, their willful ignorance becomes almost comical.
Lee Cronin's The Mummy is as frustrating as it is gory. Billie Roy in "Lee Cronin's The Mummy." Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesDespite being presented as a reimagining of The Mummy, Lee Cronin's The Mummy is frustratingly formulaic. It draws heavily on creepy child tropes, including some Exorcist-level backbends and cursing, twisting them slightly to incorporate some mummy lore. Scenes where skin sloughs off like mummy's bandages are relentlessly stomach-churning, but other than that, we've seen this bag of tricks before.
The same goes for classic beats of mummy stories, including a trip to an archaeology professor who's able to unlock most aspects of the film's central mystery. Far more fascinating is what's taking place on the ground in Egypt after Katie goes home. There, Detective Zaki (May Calamawy) revisits Katie's missing persons case, hoping to solve a mystery that she first began looking into eight years ago. Her journey leads to some genuinely tense sequences, to the point that you wish this was more of a detective thriller than an Exorcist rehash.
Lee Cronin's The Mummy's saving grace — and the reason it will likely appeal to many — is its gore, which pulls no punches. Every tear of Katie's skin or bloody gnash of her teeth is a visceral nightmare, and Grace is wonderfully unsettling as the latest creepy kid in Cronin's arsenal.
Yet all this gore rarely leads anywhere. Even after the most upsetting set pieces (one involving nail clippers comes to mind), everything resets to mild concern. A family gathering unleashes some serious nastiness involving teeth and vomit and shredded flesh, ushering in carnage that... never comes. Instead, we cut to a restrained Katie, with no idea of the broader impact of her rampage. To the person in my theater who let out a bewildered, "That's it?" after that scene, I'm right there with you.
That scene feels like a promise unfulfilled, as does the rest of the film. Lee Cronin's The Mummy ultimately doesn't feel as much like a bold new horror saga as it does a hodgepodge of better films. Maybe some horror franchises, like a cursed sarcophagus, are meant to stay buried.
The beginner-friendly DJI Mini 4K drone is down to its best-ever price at Amazon — save $90
SAVE 30%: As of April 16, you can get the DJI Mini 4K for $209, down from $299, at Amazon. That's a 30% discount or $90 savings.
Opens in a new window Credit: DJI DJI Mini 4K $209 at Amazon$299 Save $90 Get Deal
My dad and my cousin are obsessed with drones, so I've spent enough time watching them fly to know two things: the really good ones are usually very expensive, and they're easy to crash if you don't know what you're doing (and sometimes, even if you do!).
If you've been wanting to get into the hobby without the steep learning curve (or the high price tag), this DJI model is a great place to start. Right now, the DJI Mini 4K is on sale for its best-ever price of $209 at Amazon. That's $90 off the list price.
SEE ALSO: DJI Mic 3 review: Ease and versatility for semi-pro producersDespite its tiny size, this drone has the practical features you need to get in the air quickly. It has a 4K Ultra HD camera paired with a 3-axis gimbal to keep your footage smooth and cinematic. Because it weighs under 249 grams, you don't have to worry about FAA registration or Remote ID for recreational use. It also has a maximum flight time of 31 minutes, Level 5 wind resistance (stable in winds up to 38kph), and a 10km video transmission range.
If you're worried about flying it into a tree or the ocean, it features one-tap takeoff and landing, stable hovering, and a GPS Return to Home (RTH) function, so you don't have to panic if you lose it. It even comes with intelligent QuickShots modes that automatically fly the drone in cinematic patterns to get you professional-looking shots with just a few taps (which could be good if you're a real estate agent or photographer!).
I tried a simpler Kindle setup, and now I'm reading more than ever
There are so many ways today for readers like me to consume content. You could check out an Audible subscription and, in turn, listen to some awesomely narrated audiobooks by celebrities, or check out some new releases. Or you could do it the old-fashioned way and head to your local bookstore to pick up the latest release. But for me, I’ve leaned more into e-reading.


