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I've been building PCs for over 20 years, so naturally, I get why people do it: it's fun, and you get a great computer at the end. But beyond the fun, is there any reason to spend the time and money anymore when a plug-and-play mini PC can absolutely replace your daily driver for almost anything but gaming?

AI agents have moved well beyond answering questions. They can now open folders, write code, and click through websites on your behalf. Here are three of the wildest things I’ve handed over to them, and what each one taught me about where this technology actually helps.

SAVE OVER $20: As of Oct. 22, the Anker Solix C200 DC portable power station is marked down to $129.98 at Amazon. That's $20.01 off its full price of $149.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Anker Anker SOLIX C200 DC Portable Power Station $129.98 at Amazon
$149.99 Save $20.01   Get Deal at Amazon

Anker isn't waiting until November to hop on the Black Friday bandwagon. The company has already dropped plenty of early deals for shoppers to check out, including portable power stations.

Over at Amazon, the Anker Solix C200 DC is marked down to $129.98. Compared to paying its full price of $149.99, this offer saves you just over $20. It's currently marked as a limited-time deal, so the clock is ticking to save.

SEE ALSO: The 65+ absolute best stocking stuffers for 2026

The Anker Solix C200 DC may be small, but it's still packed with power to keep your devices charged up while you're on the go. It comes with a 192Wh battery that delivers a 200W output, plus five charging ports to handle your tech: a 100W USB-C, a 140W USB-C, a 15W USB-C, and two 12W USB-A ports.

And speaking of taking it on the go, it's 39% smaller than similar power stations, so bringing it along on a camping trip won't feel like a hassle. This power station is also easy to recharge, with three options: a 140W USB-C PD 3.1 port, 100W solar panels, or a car socket.

Don't let a low battery get you down. Act fast to save on the Anker Solix C200 DC while it's on sale at Amazon.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC for a one-time $114.97 (reg. $149.99) through Oct. 25 — includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC: One-Time Purchase $112.97
$149.99 Save $37.02   Get Deal

Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations aren’t going anywhere. Neither are the monthly fees that often come with productivity software. Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC is just $114.97 (reg. $149.99) through Oct. 25, and it’s a one-time purchase for lifetime access.

This edition includes the 2024 desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, which means it is a practical toolkit for students, families, and anyone who regularly works with documents.

Word handles everything from school essays to personal correspondence, with advanced formatting controls and collaboration features that let multiple people work on the same document.

Excel offers Dynamic Arrays and functions such as FILTER, SORT, and UNIQUE, which help organize information and automatically update results when data changes.

PowerPoint includes presentation recording with voice, video, and closed captions, while OneNote gives you a convenient place to organize notes and ideas.

One major advantage of the desktop apps is offline access. You can write, edit spreadsheets, and create presentations without an active internet connection, then sync supported files when you’re back online.

The software also supports real-time collaboration, making it easier to work on group assignments or shared family projects when connected.

Unlike Microsoft 365, this version doesn’t require monthly or annual subscription payments.

A couple of important details: Office 2024 Home doesn’t include Outlook, and each license covers one Mac or Windows PC. The one-use activation code is linked to your Microsoft account rather than the device itself.

For anyone who prefers familiar productivity software without recurring fees, this is a straightforward way to get the essential Office apps.

Get Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC for just $114.97 (reg. $149.99) through Oct. 25.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Community developers have ported Samsung Galaxy Watch apps and watch faces to other Wear OS watches, including the Pixel Watch. Here are some of the most useful ported apps.

The Netflix machine keeps on pumping out shows. One of the streamer's notable advantages over its competition is its ability to turn licensed shows into hits. Look at what happened with Suits, a show that soared to new popularity in 2023 on Netflix despite having concluded its run on the USA Network in 2019.

Once, putting Windows on the Internet without installing antivirus was practically inviting disaster.

If you're a true audiophile who does the majority of their listening from home, paying for wireless or Bluetooth features and noise cancellation may matter way less than ensuring you get the most out of your favorite music and albums. Sennheiser's HD 660S2s put the focus back on sound and comfort, with their wired and open-back design that's built for settling in and listening in its purest form. Generally a steep investment, but right now, you can score these legendary-sounding headphones on Woot with a $300 savings—while supplies still last.

Do you have a truck or garage full of Milwaukee tools that you've been using for years, or even decades? Milwaukee makes excellent tools loved by DIYers and professionals everywhere, but not all of them are perfect. Product recalls are rare for the brand, but a recall or safety notice is surprisingly easy to miss, even though they're pretty important.

Battery life on my Pixel Watch had slowly slipped from comfortable to disappointing, and I blamed the hardware. Three everyday apps were the real culprits. Once I understood how each one worked behind the scenes, though, the fixes were relatively straightforward.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, my childhood Halloween hauls were 70 percent Clark Bars. Emptying my bag onto the living room floor, I’d channel my inner Ralphie from A Christmas Story, muttering a disappointed "Ohhhhh fuuudge!" at all that local chocolate.

Because Clark Bars were manufactured in Pittsburgh, customers at the local G.C. Murphy or Thrift Drug could scoop up giant bags at markdown prices. Clark had Halloween cornered in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Times have changed. Those stores are gone, Clark Bars are rare, and I’m old enough that I don't have to say "fudge" when I'm angry. But one thing hasn't changed: kids still treat trick-or-treating like a game of neighborhood Rolo roulette. Back then, anything besides a Clark Bar was a coveted confection.

After I reluctantly grew up, I went into retail, leading media relations for Kmart and Sears. Our Kmart stores would load up on cheap candy before Halloween, and sales always topped costumes or decorations. Corporate buyers spent months planning exactly what to sell, how much to order, and where to ship it across 1,000 stores. Then, like clockwork on Nov. 1, the leftovers went on clearance. Apparently, peanut butter cups don’t age well on store shelves.

SEE ALSO: Hello Nancy put over $248 worth of sex toys in a $79 Halloween mystery box — and I'm here for it

That human-driven process seems so stale now. Nowadays, people snicker at the butterfingers of humans, proverbial pez heads who can let things slip be-twix their fingers. But don’t be too quick to kiss humans goodbye.

Today, childhood nostalgia is being systematically optimized away by advanced predictive analytics and logistical AI. The invisible hand of the candy aisle knows your neighborhood’s demographic profile better than you do, and it has already decided if your zip code deserves the "good stuff." Where I grew up, we wouldn’t be getting Toblerone, that’s for sure.

Global candy manufacturers and big-box retailers openly deploy AI-driven "demand sensing" models. Retailers now feed past transactions, social media trends, and hyper-local product inventory into machine learning networks. By analyzing this data, algorithms can forecast exactly how a specific neighborhood will shop.

The system cross-references local census records and homeownership rates to shift delivery pallets before the first plastic pumpkin hits shelves. Quite frankly, that is a helluva lot of data.

The result is a hyper-focused predictive allocation engine. If a well-to-do suburb experiences a millennial baby boom, something like Walmart’s demand-forecasting algorithms catch the trend early. By analyzing local sales history and foot traffic, the system uses machine learning to automatically trigger massive shipments of premium, multi-brand chocolate variety packs to those specific high-demand stores weeks in advance.

Conversely, if you live in a high-density urban apartment block of young professionals or an aging retirement community, the AI predicts low trick-or-treater turnout. Premium inventory is rerouted elsewhere, leaving your local store shelves bare of anything but low-tier hard candies.

In other words, your neighbors couldn't buy the good candy even if they wanted to; the algorithm decided they weren't worth the shipping cost. What a snobby algorithm.

Then I got to thinking, what happens when these algorithms collide with regional history, creating an inevitable feedback loop? Take my childhood Pittsburgh data. Today's predictive AI won't see a city of disappointed children. Nope, it will only see a massive, recurring seasonal spike for Clark Bars.

Blind to our melt-away misery, the algorithm would flag this as a "regional preference," boost bulk buying, slash the price, and flood local shelves. By automating past behavior, the machine ensures future generations face the exact same crisis I did. A lot of kids like me venting an "Ohhhhh fuuudge!"

The algorithm isn't just looking backward, either. It also parses unstructured data like live weather forecasts. If the machine catches even a whiff of rain on Oct. 31, it can instantly reduce shipments of trick-or-treating candy to your entire region, prioritizing indoor alternatives like party kits or ghoulish plastic backdrops.

The system is also secretly scrolling social media. The second a viral TikTok video of an influencer with a trending marshmallow ghost Peep with bug eyes catches fire, the algorithm intercepts the digital signal. It immediately diverts entire shipping containers of Peeps to the hip, urban zip codes driving the clicks, leaving the surrounding suburbs out of the loop.

To the TikTok victor go the Peep spoils.

We spend a lot of time fretting about generative AI replacing human artists or stealing digital identities. Yet, the most immediate way AI alters our culture is deceptively invisible; quietly sucking the random, chaotic joy out of a community holiday and dressing it in the costume of an optimization spreadsheet.

So, when the kids dump their plastic pumpkins onto the living room rug this year, look closely at the haul. Don’t curse the house down the street for handing out generic chocolate or cheap hard candy. They weren't being stingy.

They were just the unfortunate casualties of a cold, unfeeling algorithm. The machine unwrapped their zip code, crunched the numbers, and chewed on the fact that their neighborhood simply didn't possess the premium metrics required for a Reese's Cup.

By trying to optimize our choices, the algorithm inadvertently condemns them to a bleak, automated future of pure, inescapable Clark Bars. “Ohhhhh fuuudge!”

This article represents the opinions of its writer.

John Casey is a columnist at Raw Story, the Advocate, Daily Beast, and Outsports. He's also the author of Love: The Heroic Stories of Marriage Equality.

Got a spare M.2 slot in your PC? Instead of waiting for SSD prices to drop to finally be able to populate it, which could take a few years, you can use it for something else. As long as it’s an NVMe slot, which means it has PCIe connectivity, and not a SATA-only slot, you can use it for all kinds of purposes, such as hooking up an eGPU, equipping your PC with a local AI accelerator.

One of the major Chrome alternatives is close to going away. The Browser Company has confirmed that the Arc browser will shut down on December 22, 2026 as its successor Dia nears.

Tell me if this sounds familiar. You have an older smart TV that's no longer compatible with your favorite streaming apps like Netflix, Prime Video, and others. It's actually fairly common because nothing lasts forever, and software updates eventually stop. That's especially true with electronics, and that's exactly why your Google TV has an expiration date.

Skullcandy's products will no longer just feature Sound by Bose — they'll be an official part of the Bose brand, too.

Following the collaboration between the two brands that brought Bose-engineered audio and tech to the budget brand's products, Bose announced an acquisition of Skullcandy on Oct. 21.

What this means for Skullcandy and Bose

This comes just over a year and a half after the release of the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC earbuds, the first pair of Skullcandy buds to come with the Sound by Bose designation. In my testing of those earbuds, priced at $99, I found they featured an impressive soundscape for the price point that felt worthy of the Bose name. While not exactly like a pair of Bose earbuds, they did feel like an elevation over what I expected sonically from Skullcandy.

Though not twins, the Bose-powered Skullcandy earbuds and Bose earbuds do bear a resemblance. Credit: Skullcandy Credit: Bose

The Skullcandy brand will remain its own distinct brand under Bose, with the headquarters remaining in Park City, Utah. The press release announcing the acquisition detailed that Bose wanted to retain "Skullcandy’s design, understanding of its consumers, and authentic community connections," as it helped create new products and growth for the brand, providing "new ways for Bose to meaningfully connect with consumers where it has less presence today."

SEE ALSO: The 10 best cheap wireless earbuds, tested by audio experts

In other words, the success of the collaboration between the two brands seems to have offered Bose the opportunity to go more aggressively after the budget consumer market, a corner that Skullcandy has been firmly situated in for years. For comparison, Skullcandy's cheapest earbuds, a pair of wired earbuds, go for $14.99. Bose's cheapest earbuds, the new wired ANC buds, go for $99.99. Wireless- and ANC-wise, Skullcandy's buds start at $104.99 while Bose's most affordable pair clocks in at $179.99.

The path to acquisition tracks for Bose

The writing was on the wall with Bose acquiring Skullcandy, especially considering their latest Skullcandy collab, the Crusher 1080 headphones. Released just this past July, the press release called these headphones the "most advanced headphone in Skullcandy's history," powered with Sound by Bose, Bose QuietControl 6-mic adaptive noise cancellation, Bose TrueSpatial with head tracking, and the Bose WaveForm Audio Engine.

SEE ALSO: We tested every pair of Bose headphones and earbuds. We found 5 we love, and 1 to buy on sale.

The president of Bose Audio Technology and Chief Strategy Officer Nick Smith said the collab was "an exciting example of how Bose innovation can reach more listeners through distinctive new products and experiences," which sounds like a line that could've easily fit in the acquisition press release.

This purchase of Skullcandy is Bose's third acquisition of the year, though the first of a consumer audio brand. On Oct. 1, Bose acquired Firelight Technologies, the maker of an interactive audio software program. Earlier this year, Bose bought StreamUnlimited Engineering GmbH, a connected audio platform.

Nothing beats unwinding with your favorite songs after a long day, and high-quality headphones like Sony's WH-CH720N can elevate the experience with their outstanding audio quality.

Birdbuddy has launched two new smart bird feeders ahead of the holiday season, including the compact, budget-friendly Birdbuddy Nook (starting at only $99). The other is a next-generation flagship model, the Birdbuddy Home, which retails for $219 and replaces the Birdbuddy Pro.

Both feeders initially debuted at CES 2026 as the Birdbuddy 2 mini and Birdbuddy 2, respectively. As of Oct. 22, they're now widely available for purchase at various retailers.

Opens in a new window Credit: Birdbuddy Birdbuddy Nook $99 at mybirdbuddy.com
  Shop Now at mybirdbuddy.com Opens in a new window Credit: Birdbuddy Birdbuddy Home $219 at mybirdbuddy.com
  Shop Now at mybirdbuddy.com

Birdbuddy sent me both models to try ahead of their release. Since it can take a while for wild birds to find new feeders, I enlisted the help of my pet parrot, Melon, to evaluate their upgraded cameras. (He also helped me test out Birdbuddy's AI-powered species identification feature, which you can read about here.) Here's what stood out to me as I unboxed them and set them up in the front yard of my Chicago apartment.

Birdbuddy Nook: A basic smart feeder for under $100

The Nook is a small, minimalist hopper feeder that's ideal for tight spaces like balconies and patios. Its modular design comes in a cute sage green finish.

The Birdbuddy Nook doesn't come with a solar roof by default. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The Nook is much more affordable than the Birdbuddy Home, but it requires more maintenance. It can only fit about three and a half cups of birdseed, so it needs more frequent top-ups. And its $99 base model doesn't have solar charging capabilities; you'll have to monitor its battery life and bring it inside to sit on an outlet occasionally.

You'll get a solar roof attachment if you opt for the Birdbuddy Nook Solar ($159) or the Birdbuddy Nook Extended Edition ($199.99), which also includes a larger perch and a Birdbuddy Family Premium membership. You can buy the bigger perch à la carte for $34, but full disclosure: I could not for the life of me figure out how to install it without possibly stripping its screw holes.

Here's what comes in the Birdbuddy Nook Extended Edition. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Based on my initial testing, the Nook Solar is an essential upgrade for three reasons. First, I like not having to worry about charging my feeder. Second, I think the Nook looks a little cheap and unfinished without its roof — there are little gaps on the sides where it's meant to snap on. Thirdly, the USB-C port where its roof plugs into its battery is located right in the middle of its reservoir, and it's a pain to clean tiny seeds and dust out of it.

Birdbuddy Home: A bigger smart feeder with all the fixings

The Home is an all-in-one hopper feeder with two built-in solar panels, dual-band WiFi for a more reliable connection, and a taller reservoir that can fit around five and a half cups of seeds. A bright red-orange perch accents its slate blue finish.

There's a solar panel on either side of the Birdbuddy Home's roof. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The Home has the same mic and camera as the Nook, but adds a built-in speaker. It chirps the first time you install the camera and verbally guides you through the app and WiFi pairing process.

Between the Nook Solar and the Home, I prefer the latter. It has a hatch in the back that makes seed refills easier, whereas you have to remove the entire top of the Nook to access its reservoir. Additionally, the Home has two solar panels on either side of its roof, so it's more likely to get ample sun exposure. The Nook's roof attachment only has a solar panel on one side.

Here's what the Birdbuddy Home looks like before it's assembled. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The Home also comes in an Extended Edition ($249.99) with a bigger perch and a Family Premium membership.

Birdbuddy camera quality Those two lines on either side of the lens tell you whether your new Birdbuddy's camera is positioned in landscape or portrait mode. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Both new Birdbuddies have an updated 2K HDR camera with a scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass casing. Here's how it compares to the shooters on older Birdbuddy feeders, which had an oblong design instead of a round one:

• It's faster at pairing with the Birdbuddy app (I can attest to this — it only takes a few seconds)

• It has a wider field of view (135 degrees versus 122 degrees)

• It works in landscape or portrait mode

• It "wakes up" faster once the feeders' motion detectors sense a bird

• There's no longer a delay on its livestream

Before I mounted the Home outside, I bribed my parrot Melon into stepping in front of its camera by putting a few peanuts in its tray — his favorite treat. A couple minutes later, the Birdbuddy app sent me a "postcard" with a 30-second video clip and six photos it took automatically during his visit.

Smile, you're on "Candid Camera." Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The clip Birdbuddy recorded had very clear audio and colorful, detailed picture quality, but its photos weren't all that great; one was a blurry close-up of Melon, and the five others were of his back. I took some more shots manually using the photo capture feature on the Home's live feed and they turned out much better.

Left: Photos taken by the Birdbuddy Home automatically. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable Right: Photos taken with the photo capture feature on the Birdbuddy Home's livestream. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The Birdbuddy app tells me that Cooper's hawks, red-breasted nuthatches, and white-throated sparrows have been spotted near me this week. Let's hope they're ready for their close-up.

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Birdbuddy claims the AI model powering its species identification feature can recognize about 11,000 different types of birds, or "nearly every bird species in the world." As I was setting up its two new smart feeders for testing, I wondered: Does that include Melon, my Alexandrine parakeet?

Does Birdbuddy know ball?

Melon, as seen on the camera of the new Birdbuddy Home in my office (his room). Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Not to sound like a total bird hipster, but you've probably never heard of Alexandrines, an older and lesser-known species of chatty green parrots native to southern and southeastern Asia. They're not available at chain pet stores and are very often confused with Indian ringneck parakeets, their much more popular relatives with smaller beaks, shorter tails, and no crimson wing patches. (There are a lot of ringnecks on TikTok — see Hamlet of "what doing???" fame.)

Needless to say, I figured Melon would give Birdbuddy's AI a real challenge.

The verdict That red wing patch should be a dead giveaway to true parrot heads. Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

Disappointingly, but not fully unexpectedly, Birdbuddy guessed wrong. Right after I got Melon in view of the next-gen Birdbuddy Home, the Birdbuddy app sent me a notification saying that I was just visited by a "rose-ringed parakeet" — another name for an Indian ringneck. I submitted feedback within the app to let Birdbuddy know that its guess was close but ultimately incorrect.

The good news is that most people won't have exotic parrots visiting their house on a regular basis. I'm hoping Birdbuddy will have an easier time recognizing my native wild birds; the Home is currently mounted in the front yard of my Chicago apartment, if someone could kindly alert the area pigeons.

Left: Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable Right: Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable

The new Birdbuddy Home ($219) and Birdbuddy Nook ($99) are now available for purchase.

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. 

Opens in a new window Credit: Birdbuddy Birdbuddy Nook $99 at mybirdbuddy.com
  Shop Now at mybirdbuddy.com Opens in a new window Credit: Birdbuddy Birdbuddy Home $219 at mybirdbuddy.com
  Shop Now at mybirdbuddy.com

Rising gas prices. The Iran War. AI's effects on the economy.

Across the United States, Americans are worried about a multitude of major challenges.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he called Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, one of the biggest tech companies on the planet, to discuss a pressing issue that's been on his mind: Changing the name of the Atlantic Ocean.

At a rally in South Carolina, Trump shared that after successfully getting Google Maps to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario to Lake America, he tried to pressure the tech giant to do the same for the Atlantic Ocean.

“We have a lake and we have a gulf, now we need a river and we need an ocean," Trump said at the rally, as reported by the Washington Post.

Trump said that he “called Google Maps," which he described as "really great with the lake" regarding his prior requests. 

"They're still rattled from the Gulf," Trump said, adding that he called Pichai because he wanted to see if Google would be up to changing the name of the Atlantic Ocean too.

"Sundar, I'm thinking of the Atlantic Ocean," Trump claimed he said in the call.

However, it seems that renaming the Atlantic Ocean as the American Ocean was one step too far for Google, which has previously kowtowed to Trump's geographical demands. (Google's previous Google Maps changes only appear for U.S. visitors to the platform)

"No, no, no. This time, I’m not doing it," Pichai said, according to Trump's version of events. "Please don’t ask us to do that."

According to Trump, Pichai's reasoning was that "oceans are different" because they "cover a lot of countries."

After the call, Trump said he'd "probably pass" on renaming the Atlantic Ocean after his call with Google. The tech giant has yet to confirm the call with the president occurred. 

"I think let's keep it the Atlantic Ocean, right?" Trump told rallygoers, before turning his attention to the West Coast.

"Pacific Ocean," Trump added. "We're going to call it the American Ocean."

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I've spent decades using Excel, so I'm wary of add-ins that promise to revolutionize my spreadsheets but demand my email address or charge for features Microsoft already provides through tools like Power Query. But a handful of free add-ins genuinely earn their spot on the ribbon. I'll start with a couple of handy Office add-ins I use regularly, then move on to the heavier hitters that do real work in my spreadsheets.