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Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 Insider Preview Build to the Dev Channel, which brings real-time translation and live captions to more devices. This was initially available only for Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs but is now extended to those using AMD and Intel processors.

Sure, the aging International Space Station has a well-known, ongoing leak. But it's not nearly in danger of imminently crashing.

NASA responded to a post on X, formerly Twitter, claiming that the "ISS is going to crash soon via de-orbit," and included a screenshot from a 4chan post with a blurry graph showing altitude data. The space agency likely responded in an attempt to get ahead of a dubious post that's picking up decent traction (with nearly 9,000 likes and hundreds of shares by the afternoon of Dec. 18).

"The International @Space_Station continues to orbit the Earth as planned, and the crew aboard is safe. You can track the space station’s current path anytime at https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/tracking_map.cfm," NASA posted on X.

SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills.

The post is an example of the deluge of misinformation available on X. Indeed, X has a feature, Community Notes, that the platform says allows users to "collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts" — and it can sometimes address egregious misinformation. But not always, and not immediately. Misinformation can thrive on the platform.

In this case, NASA's busy communications team thought it wise to respond. Such a response probably won't stop the conspiracy-minded — who can crave "knowledge" that makes them feel unique or superior — from sharing and amplifying the space station post, but perhaps it can inform some users and stem this particular wave of misinformation.

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NASA expects the space station to continue orbiting Earth and performing science through around 2031. A U.S. Deorbit Vehicle built by SpaceX will attach to the ISS and bring it down to Earth in a controlled, safe manner, specifically avoiding populated regions. In the 2030s, the space agency expects commercial space stations to take responsibility for providing a U.S. presence in low-Earth orbit.

You can often easily spot the space station, the largest structure ever built in space, when it passes above your home. Check out spotthestation.nasa.gov for an overhead sighting near you. It reflects lots of sunlight, making it the second-brightest object in the night sky after the moon.

You'll see, it's still there.

OpenAI is nearing the end of its "ship-mas" spree. Now, on the 10th day of this Christmas-tinged AI extravaganza, the company is revealing its most outlandish product to date—an information hotline called 1-800-CHATGPT.

AI-generated images are everywhere now, and the very best of them look so good you'd never know they were made by a machine and not by a human. But, how is this possible? The answer to how AI image generation works is both simple, and very complicated.

3D printing using plastic filament or light-cured resin is now a mature technology that many of us use in our homes, but 3D printing is evolving in many different directions, and one of the most exciting new takes on this technology is rapid liquid 3D printing.

Every year, Christmas seems to sneak up on me. Before I know it, I'm suddenly scrambling to make sure we're not the last person on our street to put lights up. This year was different—I managed to use my Smart Home to get into the Christmas spirit.

While EVs are the future, you can't go out and charge most of them like you would top up a gas car with gas at any station. ChargePoint wants to solve this problem by partnering with General Motors to build more charging stations, many of which will use a new, fancy universal port.

Google is speeding up the release of new Android versions. The second preview release of Android 16 has arrived, and the final version is still on track for the middle of 2025.

Apple's 10th-generation iPad is as fragile as ever. A solid case will protect your iPad from shattering when you drop it or scratching up when you put it in a bag. Cases can double up as convenient stands, too.

UPDATE: Dec. 18, 2024, 11:36 a.m. EST This story was updated after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear challenges on the TikTok ban.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) formally appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the expected TikTok ban, which looms over the social media company as January approaches. Meanwhile, TikTok had made its own case for intervention — and the court has now responded to the call.

"The Constitution imposes an extraordinarily high bar on this kind of mass censorship. The Supreme Court should take up this important case and protect the rights of millions of Americans to freely express themselves and engage with others around the world," wrote deputy director of ACLU’s National Security Project Patrick Toomey in the appeal. The amicus brief was submitted on Dec. 17 by the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

On Dec. 18, the U.S. Supreme Court formally agreed to hear challenges filed by TikTok and ByteDance, with oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10.

TikTok and its allies have called the ban a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech, and the company has consistently denied any connections to Chinese government intelligence or the sharing of American users' data, which is the leading justification for the forced divestment of TikTok from Chinese ownership.

SEE ALSO: Get ready for these scams in 2025

Barring a decision by the highest court, the ban, signed by President Biden in April, will go into effect Jan. 19. TikTok could have divested from its parent company, ByteDance, to comply with the law and halt an outright ban, but it had resisted any sale, most likely pending another court decision. Earlier this week, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals denied an emergency injunction submitted by TikTok that would delay the ban's effect until the Supreme Court could render an opinion under strict scrutiny. The Appeals court argued that highest scrutiny had been reached, and that national security interests justified the U.S. government's action.

The ACLU and its partners argued the court's reasoning was incorrect. "The D.C. Circuit failed to fully address the law’s profound implications for the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok," wrote the ACLU. "While the lower court’s decision correctly recognized that the statute triggers First Amendment scrutiny, it barely addressed users’ First Amendment interests in speaking, sharing, and receiving information on the platform. The court also perplexingly attempted to cast the government’s ban on TikTok as a vindication of users’ First Amendment rights, which it is not."

The ACLU has retained that the TikTok ban is a violation of federally protected rights, including free speech, calling the forceable sale "unconstitutional" in a statement released in March. A few months prior the civil rights organization argued that a ban on any such social media app would be "a dangerous act of censorship."

"Restricting citizens’ access to foreign media is a practice that has long been associated with repressive regimes," wrote Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, "and we should be very wary of letting the practice take root here."

Two of Japan's auto giants, Nissan and Honda, are reportedly in early talks to merge, according to The Nikkei, in a bold move to strengthen their position against China’s growing clout in the electric vehicle (EV) market.

SEE ALSO: Tesla Model Q: Are the rumors about the new, affordable Tesla true?

While no concrete plans have emerged yet — and both companies remain tight-lipped on the subject — Japanese broadcaster TBS suggests that an official announcement of these discussions could come as early as next week.

Back in March, Nissan and Honda signaled their willingness to collaborate by agreeing to explore a strategic EV partnership. But, as the BBC points out, a full-blown merger of two of Japan’s automotive heavyweights would send ripples through both the political and economic landscape — a merger risks jobs and partnerships with other companies like French manufacturer Renault.

According to the BBC, Honda and Nissan have been steadily losing ground in China, a market that represented nearly 70 percent of global EV sales as of November. Despite their combined global sales of 7.4 million vehicles in 2023, both brands are struggling to hold their own against cost-effective EV Chinese manufacturers like BYD.

With the first batch of Apple Intelligence features came a feature called Notification Summaries. While the ability to summarize incoming notifications saves time, it's far from perfect. Here's why I turned off the feature on my iPhone 16.

Take the smart home survey.

Here at Mashable, we’re always trying out the latest tech products to help our readers determine whether or not they’re worth it. But now, we want to hear from you about the products you use and love. In our first edition of our Smartest Home Readers’ Choice Awards, we’re asking Mashable readers about the smart home devices you use in your home and daily life.

So, take a few minutes to fill out our Smartest Home survey. Your thoughts and feedback might just grant your favorite gadgets a Mashable Readers’ Choice Award — plus you could win a $250 Amazon gift card.

We’ll be running this survey for about two months, and then we’ll crunch the numbers to see what you all deemed the best smart home tech.

How to enter

There are two methods to enter the Sweepstakes: (1) fill out the online survey, or (2) enter by mail.

1. Survey Entry: To enter the Sweepstakes through the online survey, go to the survey page and complete the current survey during the Sweepstakes Period.

2. Mail Entry: To enter the Sweepstakes by mail, on a 3 x 5-inch card, print your first and last name, street address, city, state, zip code, phone number, and email address. Mail your completed entry to:

Readers' Choice Sweepstakes - Smartest Home
c/o M. Kern
360 Park Ave South, Floor 17
New York, NY 10010

Mail Entries must be postmarked by Jan. 19, 2025, and received by Jan. 25, 2025. For official sweepstakes rules and promotion start and end dates, please click HERE.

OpenAI is taking a big step towards making ChatGPT the "everything app" by allowing users to call it on their phones and message it on WhatsApp.

As of today, you can call ChatGPT or message it in WhatsApp. By adding 1-800-ChatGPT, to your contacts list, you can call it and chat with it on a phone call. In the live demo, OpenAI shared how users can call ChatGPT on a road trip and ask it questions about sites and landmarks like the "Flintstone House."

SEE ALSO: How to try OpenAI's Sora right now

This was demoed on an iPhone, but OpenAI also shared how users can make calls with an old flip phone and a rotary phone, and lo-and-behold, ChatGPT picks up the phone and answers your questions. Calling with ChatGPT comes with 15 minutes of free calling for users with a phone plan in the U.S.

An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that data from voice calls and WhatsApps messages will not be used for model training.

ChatGPT phone calls wasn't on our 12 Days of OpenAI bingo card, but in hindsight it makes sense as part of OpenAI's overall strategy to embed its technology into our daily lives. "The mission of OpenAI is to make artificial general intelligence beneficial to all of humanity. And part of that is making it as accessible as possible to as many people as we can," said CPO Kevin Weil in the livestream.

Over the past few weeks OpenAI has launched ChatGPT features like Canvas for iterating on writing and code, Projects as smart folders for organizing your conversations, and full availability of its search engine ChatGPT Search. While other recent announcements focus on advanced features for OpenAI power users, these tools are geared towards attracting casual or less tech-savvy users, in order to engage a broader demographic range.

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Still to come, OpenAI is expected to launch agentic tools that can browse the web, write code on your behalf and even message you first. This was possibly hinted at by engineer Tibor Blaho and TestingCatalog who both reportedly discovered a feature called "Tasks" that enables users to automate future tasks like sending them news updates, in the manner of Google alerts.

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ChatGPT works in WhatsApp in a typical chatbot fashion, where you can message it for information — a pesto recipe for instance. Currently, this is text based, but interacting with ChatGPT on WhatsApp will soon come with support for images.

Spotify Wrapped and its many dupes sucked this year on just about every platform — except Strava.

Spotify was the first company to take all of the data we gave it throughout the year, neatly package it into a shareable format, and give us a Wrapped that we all actually enjoyed. It started a phenomena of Wrappeds, which seemed to peak this year with such hits as "Asana Wrapped" and Vanguard retirement account Wrapped. But we owe all good Wrappeds to Spotify's impact.

Unfortunately, those are all the compliments I can give Spotify this year. Wrapped 2024 was a disappointment. We didn't get genres, potentially thanks to Spotify laying off key data scientists this year, and it was way too much AI and not enough real creativity. As one Reddit user wrote, "This year's wrap is what happens when you replace creatives with AI."

"Past years had fun, unique ideas, like telling you what city your listening habits were most similar to or giving you an MBTI-like listening type. This year we don’t have any of that, just a bunch of AI 'features' that aren't very good. They didn’t even do as well with basic stats — where are my top 5 genres or the number of genres I listened to? And the graphics are incredibly uninspiring," another user wrote on Reddit. "I don’t want AI, I want something creative."

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Spotify Wrapped was so bad that it has people considering moving to Apple Music, even though that Wrapped was pretty boring, too. But there was less AI, it was less annoying, and, frankly, there's less hype about it — so it's not quite as disappointing when it doesn't hit.

Earlier this week, we got another Wrapped people were looking forward to and then, immediately, disappointed by: Goodreads Wrapped. It was designed by what I have to assume was a raccoon wading through peanut butter to click the wrong buttons on the most boring Canva template to ever exist. Just look at this:

It's bad! Credit: Screenshot / GoodReads So bad! Credit: Screenshot / GoodReads

The images aren't built in the dimensions necessary to share on social media, which kind of defeats the purpose of designing a social-forward Wrapped. It was at least expected — all Goodreads does is disappoint its users. We're still waiting on Wrappeds from other book tracking apps like Fable and StoryGraph, which tend to have more interesting visuals, so hope is still alive for the readers in the chat.

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By my estimation, there was just one Wrapped that didn't disappoint: Strava Wrapped, also called Year in Sport. It has everything you want: Interesting visuals, fun takeaways like who likes your posts the most, your top sports, your total time working out, your total days active, your total distance and elevation, and more. It was good because it was simple and data focused. There was not a lot of AI junk or weird, useless millennial-coded drivel a la Spotify's Pink Pilates Princess. Nearly every single post on X or Reddit about Year in Sport is some version of "forget your Spotify Wrapped, Year in Sport was actually good."

SEE ALSO: With Strava, no one runs alone anymore. That's the problem. Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted

There's an argument to be made that we use these apps to better ourselves with our own data. Spotify and Goodreads show us how our music and book taste might lack diversity, which could encourage us to listen and read differently. Strava shows us how much work we actually put into our fitness this year. But, more realistically, these apps make living performative and competitive, ultimately watering down the reason we actually enjoy reading, running, or listening to music.

To that end: Wrappeds are intended to be shared. Maybe you are more evolved, and you post your Wrapped on social media without the need for validation. Maybe you don't imagine anyone responding, "Wow, you have incredible taste and your dedication to bettering yourself makes you definitively better than everyone else." Not me, though.

I would love to be evolved enough to say that I read, run, and listen to music purely for the beauty of art and love of the game. Unfortunately, like seemingly everyone else online, I'm a hungry little rat scouring my tiny world for as much attention as I can possibly gorge myself on. And I was given nothing to eat.

Are you thinking about a new MacBook but confused between the M4, M4 Pro, and the M4 Max chipsets? Here's how to work out which M4 chip to buy based on the differences in performance, availability, and price.

Take advantage of steep discounts on smartphones for those last-minute holiday deals. Check out our top picks below:

Best Smartphone Deals Best Smartphone Deal Google Pixel 9 Pro XL $849 (Save $250) Get Deal Best Folding Smartphone Deal Motorola razr+ $659.99 (Save $240) Get Deal Best Budget Smartphone Deal Samsung Galaxy A35 $299.99 (Save $100) Get Deal

There's about a week left until Christmas, and the holiday season is officially in full swing. Have you finished your shopping yet? If there's someone on your list who might want a new smartphone, there's still time to score a great deal. Or maybe you're looking to upgrade your own tech. If that's the case, you can snag a great new phone for less right now, no matter what it is you're looking for.

Whether you want to try a folding phone for the first time in years or a new Android device that won't break the bank, there are some excellent options you can go for right now that are on sale for great prices. We're talking Google, Motorola, and Samsung, all letting you save hundreds on some of their most interesting devices right now.

We've rounded up some of our favorites that you can save on right now below, so don't miss out and grab them while they're still discounted ahead of the new year.

Best smartphone deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Google Pixel 9 Pro XL $849.00 at Amazon
$1,099.00 Save $250.00 Get Deal Why we like it

This large and in charge Android phone is one of the most powerful Pixel devices, and it comes with an array of features that'll tempt even iPhone owners. With a triple rear camera array that allows for high-quality 8K video, built-in Google Gemini AI support, and a gorgeous screen, it's already ahead of the class. Mashable's Kimberly Gedeon also praised it as being "totally worth it" based on its lengthy battery life as well as its display and camera, so if you're looking for a long-lasting phone that's powerful enough to tackle your everyday tasks, this is it.

Best folding smartphone deal Opens in a new window Credit: Best Buy Motorola razr+ $659.99 at Amazon
$999.99 Save $340.00 Get Deal Why we like it

How long has it been since you've used a folding phone? The Motorola razr+ is a great throwback that you'll love whipping out of your pocket in front of people, but it's also genuinely a fun little phone. Mashable's RJ Andersen called it "worth considering" and a "worthy opponent" to the Samsung Galaxy Flip5, with a great external display, "solid specs" and a variety of aesthetically pleasing colors. If you loved your Razr back in high school, you'll love it even more today.

Best budget smartphone deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Samsung Galaxy A35 $299.99 at Amazon
$399.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Why we like it

This budget-friendly Android phone is a great option if you're looking for something that can handle your day-to-day needs but with a few extra frills. It supports 5G, comes with an extremely bright AMOLED screen, and it's rated IP67 for protection from water, dirt, and dust. It has a respectable camera array, and it's speedy enough to tackle your favorite apps and games without too much heavy lifting. And it won't cost an entire rent check to procure, especially at this discount.

Florida Man won't be able to access the internet's biggest adult website soon.

Pornhub will block visitors from Florida starting Jan. 1, 2025, according to the porn site's parent company Aylo.

"You will lose access to Pornhub in 14 days," reads a pop-up message that displays on Pornhub for users accessing the site from the state of Florida.

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"Did you know that your government wants you to give your driver's license before you can access Pornhub?" the pop-up prompt continues. "As crazy as that sounds, it's true. You'll be required to prove you are 18 years or older such as by uploading your government ID for every adult content website you'd like to access."

Why has Pornhub banned Florida?

Pornhub's Florida ban is a response to Florida state law HB3, which Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law earlier this year. The law officially goes into effect at the beginning of 2025.

Florida's HB3 basically prohibits anyone under the age of 14 from having an account on a social media platform. However, the language in the bill can be construed to basically cover any online platform that serves material that can be considered "harmful to minors." 

Under the law, tech companies will be required to verify users' ages and delete any account belonging to users under the age of 14. If a child is 14 or 15 and wants to sign up for a social media platform, they would be required to get their parents consent. 

If a company fails to act based on the law, companies can be sued on behalf of the child and fined tens of thousands of dollars for allowing that child to set up an account.

Civil rights organizations like the ACLU have shared their opposition to the law, blasting it as "censorship."

“Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide, including Florida, have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard and dangerous,” reads a statement regarding Pornhub from Aylo, as first reported by Florida Politics. “Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws.”

Aylo says that the company supports age verification and restricting access to minors but believes this law goes about it the wrong way. The company has cited user safety and privacy issues as problems with the law's implementation as well as being an ineffective way to protect children from adult content.

Porn bans across the U.S.

Florida isn't the first state banned by Pornhub. Lawmakers in Republican-led states across the U.S. have passed strict age verification laws specifically targeting adult websites in recent years. 

Louisiana was the first state to require pornography websites to require visitors to upload ID before accessing the site in 2022. States like Arkansas, Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Virginia followed suit.

As a result, Pornhub has banned visitors from those states from accessing their website.

You may have seen social media posts or videos about a supposed ‘Tesla Phone’ smartphone built by the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. It’s not actually a real phone.

SAVE 14%: The AirFly SE Bluetooth transmitter is on sale at Amazon for just $29.99, down from the typical price of $34.99. That's a savings of $5 and the best discount we've ever seen at Amazon.

Opens in a new window Credit: Twelve South AirFly SE Bluetooth transmitter $29.99 at Amazon
$34.99 Save $5.00 Get Deal

We're about to enter some of the busiest travel days of the year. If you're lucky, your airline will have seat-back entertainment so you can get lost in a movie. But will you use those terrible wired headphones the airline provides? Nah. There's a better option.

As of Dec. 18, the AirFly SE Bluetooth transmitter is on sale at Amazon for just $29.99, down from the list price of $34.99. That's a savings of $5, or a 14% discount, and the lowest price we've ever seen at Amazon.

SEE ALSO: 50 last-minute gifts that will actually arrive on time

The AirFly SE turns any screen into a Bluetooth-enabled device, like your seat-back screen on an airplane or the treadmill at the gym. Just plug the AirFly SE into any 35mm headphone jack and connect your wireless earbuds or headphones to the dongle and, voila, a Bluetooth connection to something that otherwise can only accept wires. It can also be perfect for gaming devices.

The AirFly SE can get over 20 hours of life before it needs to recharge, so you'll be set for a long-haul flight or for your weekly schedule at the gym. Plus, the dongle can still be used while it's charging via a UBS-C cable.

You can control the volume from the AirFly dongle, and there's also an on/off toggle switch. Quick-pairing mode is also great for a speedy connection you don't have to mess with.

Instead of dealing with cheap airline-provided headphones, pack along the AirFly SE and connect to your seatback entertainment via Bluetooth to use your own earbuds or headphones. It's rare to see the AirFly SE discounted on Amazon at all, but this time it's the best price we've ever spotted — just $29.99.