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Getting actors to tease their upcoming projects with a word or two is a trend on The Tonight Show, and in the clip above Finn Wolfhard really steps up to the plate.

Stranger Things only has four episodes left of its final season, and host Jimmy Fallon goes through episode by episode, asking Wolfhard to sum them up in one spoiler-free word.

The words Wolfhard picks, in order?

• Crispy

• Shocking

• Enlightening

• Emotional

We'll find out exactly what he means soon enough. In the meantime, we have a lot of burning questions ourselves.

Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. Volume 2 premieres Dec. 25, and the series finale premieres Dec. 31, both at 8 p.m. ET.

Getting actors to tease their upcoming projects with a word or two is a trend on The Tonight Show, and in the clip above Finn Wolfhard really steps up to the plate.

Stranger Things only has four episodes left of its final season, and host Jimmy Fallon goes through episode by episode, asking Wolfhard to sum them up in one spoiler-free word.

The words Wolfhard picks, in order?

• Crispy

• Shocking

• Enlightening

• Emotional

We'll find out exactly what he means soon enough. In the meantime, we have a lot of burning questions ourselves.

Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. Volume 2 premieres Dec. 25, and the series finale premieres Dec. 31, both at 8 p.m. ET.

As AI creeps into nearly every realm of our world, it feels like you need to be in investigation mode all the time to sniff it out. The tension between the literary world and AI is especially present these days. ChatGPT is now a tool for creation, with writers being encouraged to use the large language model to write stories — but consumers aren't asking for it. In fact, they're asking how to avoid. Libby users have been especially keen to spot the presence of AI, which has infiltrated audiobooks in a big way.

As pointed out by user @ems.book.shelf_ on TikTok, AI audiobooks have arrived on Libby, the app that connects public library card holders with their library's e-book and audiobook collections.

This isn't the first instance of AI and Libby crossing over. On Nov. 20, 2025, Libby posted an article launching its 'Inspire Me' feature, which uses large-language-model generative artificial intelligence to recommend and suggest books to users.

The 'Inspire Me' feature is easy enough to avoid, but an underlying issue on Libby is the presence of audiobooks that are narrated by AI. For dedicated audiobook listeners, losing the human touch of a real person's narration is devastating. So if you want to steer clear of AI, here's how to spot AI audiobooks in Libby.

How to spot AI audiobooks and Libby

After sharing the news that AI content is available on Libby, TikToker @ems.book.shelf_ also shared how to spot it within Libby. Which AI audiobooks are available will vary from library to library, so rather than provide an extensive list of AI audiobooks, you'll need to do some searching.

Total Time

• 5 min

What You Need

• Libby app

Step 1: Search for AI voices

In the Libby app, go to the search bar and look at two specific terms: Digital Voice and Synthesized Voice. This will display all the titles that feature AI voice narration, which is commonly referred to as either a digital or synthesized voice.

Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Step 2: Browse through results

Once you've searched, click into individual book listings. In each book's details, the narrator will be listed. Any books that use AI will have the narrator listed as either a 'synthesized voice' or 'digital voice.' If you're looking to avoid AI, don't borrow these books.

Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

As AI creeps into nearly every realm of our world, it feels like you need to be in investigation mode all the time to sniff it out. The tension between the literary world and AI is especially present these days. ChatGPT is now a tool for creation, with writers being encouraged to use the large language model to write stories — but consumers aren't asking for it. In fact, they're asking how to avoid. Libby users have been especially keen to spot the presence of AI, which has infiltrated audiobooks in a big way.

As pointed out by user @ems.book.shelf_ on TikTok, AI audiobooks have arrived on Libby, the app that connects public library card holders with their library's e-book and audiobook collections.

This isn't the first instance of AI and Libby crossing over. On Nov. 20, 2025, Libby posted an article launching its 'Inspire Me' feature, which uses large-language-model generative artificial intelligence to recommend and suggest books to users.

The 'Inspire Me' feature is easy enough to avoid, but an underlying issue on Libby is the presence of audiobooks that are narrated by AI. For dedicated audiobook listeners, losing the human touch of a real person's narration is devastating. So if you want to steer clear of AI, here's how to spot AI audiobooks in Libby.

How to spot AI audiobooks and Libby

After sharing the news that AI content is available on Libby, TikToker @ems.book.shelf_ also shared how to spot it within Libby. Which AI audiobooks are available will vary from library to library, so rather than provide an extensive list of AI audiobooks, you'll need to do some searching.

Total Time

• 5 min

What You Need

• Libby app

Step 1: Search for AI voices

In the Libby app, go to the search bar and look at two specific terms: Digital Voice and Synthesized Voice. This will display all the titles that feature AI voice narration, which is commonly referred to as either a digital or synthesized voice.

Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Step 2: Browse through results

Once you've searched, click into individual book listings. In each book's details, the narrator will be listed. Any books that use AI will have the narrator listed as either a 'synthesized voice' or 'digital voice.' If you're looking to avoid AI, don't borrow these books.

Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

Sabrina Carpenter has gone day drinking with Seth Meyers, joining the Late Night host for a Christmas-themed edition of his regular alcohol-fuelled segment. Eschewing espresso martinis for beer and Long Island iced tea, the duo began with a game of Truth or Drink, in which Meyers quickly hurt his own feelings by asking Carpenter to rate him. Apparently, seven was not the score he was hoping for.

"I thought seven was sort of giving!" Carpenter later exclaimed, defending her assessment. "Like, I thought seven was sort of like, there's room to grow! I don't know, like, I thought seven was more than five!"

Despite Carpenter's good intentions, 51-year-old Meyers did not agree with her claim that he is still growing.

"I feel like I've just met a ghost on Christmas," quipped Meyers, referencing Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. "You're like, 'I'm from the future! You're an eight!"

They also inexplicably played with red light therapy masks, attempted to make animal noises, and partook in classic Christmas games such as "unwrap alcohol while wearing oven mitts then make the other person drink it" and "drunkenly decorate Meyers like a Christmas tree while singing 'Silent Night.'"

If your team always returns from the holidays more exhausted than energized, you’re likely dealing with the end-of-year productivity paradox: The final weeks of December, when everyone already feels stressed and depleted, are overloaded with deadlines, meetings, and last-minute obligations. This stress ultimately undermines productivity and momentum in the new year. A “Wrap-Up Week” can […]

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Most of you reading this are probably using one of the popular “free” email services, but they aren’t really free, are they? In exchange for letting these companies analyze the contents of your email and track you across the web, you have the “privilege” of looking at targeted advertising stuffed in between your legitimate emails.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Empty.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

BLANK

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Unmarried.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for December 17, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

UNWED

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Payment receiver.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for December 17 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for December 17, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answer

PAYEE

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Another time.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for December 17 Hurdle Word 4 answer

AGAIN

Final Hurdle hint

A predatory fish.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

MORAY

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

The teaser trailer for Disclosure Day has been released, offering a glimpse at Steven Spielberg's upcoming sci-fi film. Ironically, Disclosure Day's teaser doesn't actually disclose all that much. What we do know is that aliens appear to be involved.

Offering more vibes than plot details, the trailer features Emily Blunt as a Kansas City weather presenter who begins making strange sounds while on air — sounds which are definitely not the weather forecast. Meanwhile, Colin Firth is wired up to a machine and appears distressed by whatever is on the screen in front of him, while Josh O'Connor is determined to give "full disclosure to the whole world, all at once." What is he disclosing? It isn't clear. However, the crop circles and extremely suspicious deer may have something to do with it.

Disclosure Day will arrive in theatres June 12.

HBO Max has released the official trailer for The Pitt's second season, bringing back Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) for a fresh shift at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Unfortunately for him, it looks no less gruelling than the first one we saw.

Picking up 10 months on from the last season, The Pitt Season 2 takes place during a busy July 4 weekend in the emergency room. It'd be unsurprising to see some firework-related injuries, which tend to significantly increase around Independence Day. If that wasn't stressful enough, it looks as though a cyber attack will take the emergency room's computer systems offline during this shift, forcing the team to "go analogue." It seems like a perfect recipe for chaos in an already busy emergency department.

Alongside Dr. Robby, Season 2 sees the return of Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball), nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa), Dr. Mohran (Supriya Ganesh), Dr. McKay (Fiona Dourif), Dr. King (Taylor Dearden), Dr. Santos (Isa Briones), and medical students turned interns Whitaker (Gerran Howell) and Javadi (Shabana Azeez). Also joining them will be new physician Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi).

The Pitt Season 2 arrives Jan. 8 on HBO Max.

Reactivate those Pip-Boys and set your Spotify listening age to 87, as Prime Video's adaptation of post-apocalyptic game franchise Fallout is back with a second season. And of course, we're in for more Easter eggs, needle drops, and details from Bethesda's games that you might recognise from your travels through the Wasteland.

For Season 1, showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner recruited production designer Howard Cummings and set decorator Regina Graves to bring the retro-futurist and post-apocalyptic details of the Fallout games to the screen, from those instantly familiar "Please stand by" screens to the famous T-60 power armor. In Season 2, there's more Sugar Bombs, irradiated enemies, and Vault-Tec facilities where that came from.

SEE ALSO: 'Fallout' Season 2 review: Our introduction to New Vegas is a blast, and more relevant than ever

Here's a handy guide to the game elements the Fallout show includes — one we'll be updating each week as the episodes drop.

Fallout Season 2 includes key locations from the games including Fallout: New Vegas Let's gooooo. Credit: Courtesy of Prime

The Fallout TV series covers a lot of ground within the post-apocalyptic Wasteland featured in multiple Fallout games. In Season 1, the characters came across the games' Red Rocket gas stations, Super Duper Marts, and a thrown-together town akin to the game's cities of Megaton, Rivet City, New Reno, and Diamond City. But in Season 2, it's all about New Vegas, a crumbling, post-apocalyptic version of the City of Lights which forms the core setting for the third Fallout game.

While Episode 1 doesn't reach New Vegas, it's always on the horizon, with Lucy (Ella Purnell) and Cooper Howard/The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) following her father's trail there. But in the very first scene, the pair are in quite a predicament within the The Great Khan raider hideout, a location in Fallout: New Vegas located in the Mojave Wasteland. For the Fallout show, the gang's base is actually the Dino Dee-lite Motel, another location from Fallout: New Vegas, which features that giant T-rex.

Lucy's sniper spot is straight out of "Fallout: New Vegas." Credit: Bethesda

Vault-wise, this season's underground locations are Vaults 31, 32, and 33, all with their own predicaments and mysteries. But there are also plenty of empty vaults to explore like the game — and in episode 1, Lucy and Coop find Vault 24, a vault that was actually cut from Fallout: New Vegas (meaning the TV series has a blank slate for its backstory). Right near the entrance to this vault, the pair walk through the Starlight Drive-In, an iconic location from Fallout 4. You'll see on the cinema's marquee that the very last movie to be shown here was A Man and His Dog 3, starring none other than Coop.

One of the most intriguing new locations in the series is the underground Vault-Tec tower, where Lucy's dad Hank (Kyle MacLachlan) heads to at the end of episode 1. We can't say much more.

Featured Video For You What tech would the 'Fallout' cast steal from the show? Fallout brings the armor, weapons, and gadgets of the games to life. Back into the vault with Woody Thomas (Zach Cherry). Credit: Lorenzo Sisti / Prime

One of the most impressive elements of the Fallout series is the impeccable production design, especially on details like armor, weapons, and gadgets — but not the games' signature aim-support V.A.T.S. system (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System). In Season 2, there's just as much to delight fans new and longtime.

For one, every Vault Dweller including Lucy still wears the franchise's signature Pip-Boy on their wrist, a wearable computer that's used in Season 1 for its inbuilt map and navigation, Geiger counter, torch, and more. This season, the devices take on additional uses; Lucy uses hers to open Vault 24 in episode 1. The Pip-Boys also feature the game's ubiquitous Vault Boy, Vault-Tec's thumbs-up mascot, who we learned last season is based on Cooper.

Frances Turner (Barb Howard) has her own Pip Boy. Credit: Lorenzo Sisti / Prime

Armor-wise, the Brotherhood of Steel's preferred T-60 power armor from Fallout 4 is back in all its lumbering glory, along with plenty of raider leathers and vault jumpsuits.

That iconic power armor in "Fallout 4." Credit: Bethesda

And weapon-wise, while Season 1 featured game selections from automatic turrets to miniguns and the Junk Jet from Fallout 4, Season 2 starts with a bang and Fallout: New Vegas' grenade launcher.

Fallout relies on aid just like the game. You're gonna need food, drugs, and friends. Credit: Courtesy of Prime.

You can't survive the Fallout games without aid items, and neither can the characters in the series. Season 1 featured the franchise's love for Atomic Age foods made for Vault-Dwellers like YumYum Deviled Eggs, Insta-Mash, Nuka-Cola, and Sugar Bombs, the latter of which is a cereal shaped like tiny nuclear bombs — and it plays an important role at the end of episode 1. Notably, the flea soup Lucy drinks in episode 1 is not from the game and is entirely the messed up creation of the showrunners.

Aid goes beyond food in Fallout, however, with stimulants and anti-radiation meds the tip of the drugberg. The first season included crucial-in game items like RadAway (to clear radiation poisoning), Jet (a chemical stimulant or "chem" used regularly by Cooper), and injections called "stimpaks" that instantly heal. There's not many chems used in episode 1, but there could be ahead.

Plus, it's no fun traversing the Wasteland alone, and in the Fallout games, you can bring your friends along for company (and the perks and storylines you'll unlock). In Season 1, the series included companions like the Mister Handy robot butlers, one of whom was voiced by Matt Berry, and introduced a glorious dog named CX404, otherwise known by the terrible name of Dogmeat. The pooch is back for Season 2.

Fallout's enemies are right out of the game. Watch your back. Credit: Lorenzo Sisti / Prime

Enemies abound in the Wasteland, and the Fallout series has already featured plenty of them, from Raiders (gangs of outlaws) to Fiends (cannibals). Creature-wise, Season 1 included Radroaches (irradiated cockroaches), Yao Guai (mutant bears), Feral Ghouls (zombie versions of the mutated humans), and a giant anglerfish. In Season 2, we've only really seen one band of Raiders — the Great Khans of Fallout: New Vegas —  however the sinister forces within the vaults (and the past?) seem more of a threat at this point.

One famous foe missing from the Fallout TV series? The game's fierce and omnipresent Super Mutants; you can spot one for a second on a "Wanted!" poster in Season 1, episode 6. Our fingers are crossed.

Perhaps all this detail makes you want to play the games for the first time — or all over again? 

Fallout Season 2 premieres Dec. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on Prime Video, with a new episode every week.

There's moment in Fallout Season 2 that isn't directly an ode to the late, great David Lynch but it absolutely, 100 percent is.

In the very first episode of the second chapter, there's a fleeting scene that Twin Peaks fans might find unexpectedly heartwarming in the middle of this forsaken Wasteland. And it involves a damn fine cup of coffee.

SEE ALSO: 'Fallout 2' is full of game details. Here's a handy guide.

Late in Season 2, episode 1 of the TV adaptation of Bethesda's Fallout game franchise, we meet up with former Vault 33 overseer Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) who has trudged across the Nevada desert in T-60 power armor all the way to a massive underground Vault-Tec tower. It's completely devoid of life, instead a silent shell of a pristine office building.

Plus, Hank's got over 400,000 unread messages to attend to — it's been at least 200 years since anyone's checked them. With an aim for caffeination and his golden Pip Boy strapped on, Hank makes himself a pot of coffee and takes a sip — and if you don't think MacLachlan's character is about to remark that it's a "damn fine cup of coffee," you need to watch more Twin Peaks.

Featured Video For You What tech would the 'Fallout' cast steal from the show?

In this scene, MacLachlan could very well be paying tribute to his longtime friend and Twin Peaks/Blue Velvet/Dune director, who died at 78 in January this year. The actor has long been synonymous with the phrase after playing Agent Dale Cooper in Lynch's iconic mystery series. The FBI special agent insists on taking a moment for his daily brew, and giving oneself a daily present while investigating horrific crimes, preferring "two cups of good, hot black coffee" for himself.

While Hank doesn't actually utter the words despite subtle "say the line, Bart," teasing, there's definitely a smile and a pause — enough for Lynch fans to fill in the famous line themselves.

If you're a U.S.-based TikTok user who was anxiously counting down the days until the social media app was banned on Dec. 16, 2025, then there's good news. Christmas came early — you can start counting down the days until Jan. 23 instead.

Dec. 16 was, in theory, the latest deadline for TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, to wrap up a sale of its U.S. business. That was supposed to happen by law (the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act of 2024, if you're feeling formal) on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025; in fact, there was a brief shutdown.

The deadline has been extended four times, via executive order, since the Trump administration gained power on that date. The first delay took us to April 4, 2025. On that date, another executive order gave ByteDance until June 19, 2025 to sell. Then, guess what: a June 19 executive order pushed the deadline back until Dec. 16, 2025.

In the meantime, we seem to be no closer to a TikTok sale. By multiple accounts, negotiations have become bogged down, in part because the Chinese government takes a dim view of the U.S. strong-arming one of its companies and views the deal as leverage. Not to mention that a constantly-extended deadline isn't a real deadline at all.

SEE ALSO: How to vote for the TikTok Awards 2025 — plus date, nominees, and how to watch

Trump, who has repeatedly drawn attention to his own following on TikTok, may appear like he's tactically delaying the ban. But he's also keen to take credit for the possibility of a sale, and it doesn't exactly take an international diplomacy expert to see weaknesses in this game of hardball. You just have to know one of 2025's most popular political truisms: TACO.

Indeed, on Sept. 25, Trump issued another executive order directing the U.S. Attorney General to take "no action for noncompliance" against TikTok for "120 days from the date of this order" — which brings us to Jan. 23, 2026. Why? Because, Trump wrote, "a plan has been presented to me to undergo a qualified divestiture of TikTok’s United States operations."

That plan was said to involve a $14 billion sale of the U.S. arm of TikTok to a consortium including Oracle, which is led by Trump backer Larry Ellison. But no further details have materialized, and the Chinese government insists the sale isn't going ahead — leading to widespread confusion.

So will TikTok be officially banned in the U.S. on Jan. 23, 2026, 368 days after the original ban was said to go ahead? Your guess is as good as ours — but given the evidence of the past year, it probably wouldn't be wise to bet your life savings on it.

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MagellanTV is dedicated to documentaries, not sitcoms or reality shows. Every section is curated for viewers who prefer learning over laugh tracks. The library features more than 4,000 films and series, with playlists focused on major events, scientific discoveries, ancient history, and true crime investigations.

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MagellanTV works across mobile, desktop, and most smart TVs, and supports casting with Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, and other compatible devices. The platform is ad-free, with new documentaries added every week, making it a practical plus for viewers who go through content quickly.

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Some people possess an innate talent for finding gifts on a budget. No matter the occasion (Christmas, anniversary, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day) or recipient (wife, husband, boyfriend, teens, in-laws), they somehow nail it every time — winning the unofficial "best gift-giver" award among those who are lucky to know them. If you're not the most intuitive gift-giver, fear not. We've put together a list of the best gift ideas for under $50, from expected-but-useful stocking stuffers to cool items they definitely don't have yet. These unique budget-friendly gift ideas span such a variety of categories that you're bound to find something up their alley. You might even catch a few on sale.

ChatGPT Images doesn’t roll off the tongue like Nano Banana, but OpenAI finally has an answer for Google's uber-popular AI image editor. The company's "new flagship image generation model" is available now in ChatGPT Images and in the API under the model name GPT Image 1.5.

OpenAI has been on a tear recently, in fact. The company, which was rumored to be in a “code red” state following the launch of Google Gemini 3, launched GPT-5.2 last week. Today, OpenAI continues its counterattack against Google’s newfound momentum in the AI space with a rather large update to ChatGPT Images, promising to generate better images, edit images more effectively, and do so more quickly. 

“Whether you’re creating something from scratch or editing a photo, you’ll get the output you’re picturing,” OpenAI says in its announcement post. “It makes precise edits while keeping details intact, and generates images up to 4x faster.”

In addition to the update, which does not appear to have a catchy name like Google’s Nano Banana, OpenAI also launched a new Images tab within the ChatGPT app and browser. In addition to being a dedicated space to create images, the new ChatGPT Images also acts as a sort of discovery and brainstorming feed to give you ideas of what to create. OpenAI says that the new feature is “designed to make image generation delightful — to spark inspiration and make creative exploration effortless.”

SEE ALSO: These 6 Nano Banana Pro prompts are wild with the Gemini 3 upgrade

For general performance, the latest update seems like a refinement rather than something totally new. OpenAI says the new ChatGPT Image model will be more reliable, adhere better to user intent, and keep details more consistent across multiple outputs. That last bit has been a bit of a meme in the AI user community, and many have tried the 100x ChatGPT image trend to see what they come up with. 

OpenAI’s announcement post includes the full list of updates with GPT Image 1.5, plus some impressive examples of the new image model at work.

ChatGPT Images vs. Nano Banana

Nano Banana is the nickname for Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, Google's AI image generator. The tool has proven remarkably capable as a fast and easy-to-use AI image editor, and as its popularity has grown, Google has integrated it into Gemini, Google Photos, Search, and Messages. So, how does the new ChatGPT Images compare?

It took all of about 10 minutes, but GPT-Image-1.5 immediately took first place on LMArena’s Text-to-Image leaderboard, bumping Nano Banana Pro to second place. However, real-world examples so far have been a little mixed. 

I asked both Nano Banana and the new ChatGPT Images to edit the same photo, and received very similar results.

Using the same prompt and image, I asked both models to edit a photo of my car from nighttime to daytime.

The original image Credit: Joe Hindy

While both models earn a passing grade, Google's version looks better to my eye.

Left: The result from Nano Banana. Credit: Joe Hindy / Google Gemini Right: The result from ChatGPT Images. Credit: Joe Hindy / OpenAI How to try the new ChatGPT Images

Per OpenAI, the update is rolling out as we speak to all users, so it should be available to try immediately. In short, all you need to do is head to ChatGPT and look for the new Images tab. You can find the tool at chatgpt.com/images. As per usual, free users will have very limited access.

The new image model is also available in the OpenAI API, and you can check the pricing on the OpenAI website. So, developers and people with their own AI tools can start using it right away.

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

The successful Fallout TV series, based on the game of the same name, is back for season two as of December 16, 2025. Amazon did well to stick the landing last time around, so we’re looking forward to sinking our teeth into the next batch of episodes.

The artificial intelligence boom has become truly unavoidable, even for those who don't use AI in their daily lives at all.

Case in point: The world of personal computers, especially laptops and smartphones.

We're in the midst of a worldwide memory shortage, due in large part to the sudden explosion of AI data centers around the world and their enormous demand for these computer components. That's sparked an ongoing shortage of crucial hardware such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), Samsung DDR5 RAM, and SSDs. As a result, smartphone prices could rise 6.9 percent in 2026, according to a CNBC report on the memory shortage.

Now, Samsung has reportedly doubled the contract price of DDR5 memory drives. At the same time, Framework, makers of easily repairable, enthusiast-centric machines, just doubled prices on those exact components. And as suppliers hike prices on memory hardware, device manufacturers will most likely pass that cost onto consumers, experts say.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. SEE ALSO: Forget the em dash — Redditors share 6 giveaways that something was written by AI

Samsung is hardly the only brand affected by the memory shortage. HP has warned that it will have to raise prices on its PCs starting next year because there just isn't enough memory to go around, per our colleagues at PCMag. The same goes for Lenovo and Dell, according to PC Gamer. In fact, RAM is in such short supply that some analysts are predicting laptop makers will push more low-performance 8GB RAM laptops on consumers in 2026 out of necessity. Either way, customers lose.

Additionally, it doesn't seem like there's an end date on any of this. Despite recent fears over an AI bubble, the AI industry is hardly slowing down. The need for more data centers could be indefinite, as far as anyone can tell.

All of this is to say that if you want a new laptop or PC, or even just parts for a PC, you better get to shopping now. That DDR5 RAM you need might cost a whole lot more in just a few months.

Steam Replay 2025 has released, giving players a detailed look back at their massive gaming hours from the past year. This annual wrap-up, which Valve first introduced in late 2022, has become a key moment for gamers. It's a good way to see where your free time went, at least.

From radroaches to deathclaws, there are a lot of things in Fallout that I'm happy don't exist in real life. But there are several elements of its sci-fi technology that I wouldn't mind having around for day-to-day use. Who wouldn't want a handy-dandy Pip-Boy on their wrist?

However, the cast and showrunner of Fallout have their own ideas about what technology they'd steal from the series.

SEE ALSO: 'Fallout' Season 2 review: Our introduction to New Vegas is a blast, and more relevant than ever

In an interview with Mashable, Fallout co-creator and showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet revealed she would steal cold fusion, the revolutionary, limitless power source introduced at the end of Season 1. That technology continues to play a big role in Season 2, as the forces of the wasteland jockey to control it — and the fate of the world.

Meanwhile, Aaron Moten, who plays Brotherhood of Steel Knight Maximus, would choose an item that's very on-brand for his character: the T-60 power armor suit.

"Just for getting groceries, or walking the dog," Moten joked. "Just the simple things in life, where you want to be impervious."

Walton Goggins, who plays the Ghoul/Cooper Howard, opted for a different route entirely.

"I don't like technology, you know? A phone depresses me. I'm going to be the only person to just say nothing," Goggins said. "You can have it, you can keep it! I don't want to live in that world!"

The response sounds like it came straight from Cooper Howard's mouth. "He avoids technology for sure," Goggins said. "He's an analog guy, which I think makes him so appealing, at least to me, anyway."

To learn more about the Fallout cast's technology of choice, and their favorite Fallout creatures, check out the full video above.

Fallout Season 2 premieres Dec. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on Prime Video, with a new episode every week.