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If you've ever been in a minor fender bender and wished you had footage to back you up, you'll understand why dashcams have gone from niche accessory to near-essential kit. The VIOFO A329S 3CH takes that logic further than most—it doesn't just cover the front, it covers the front, the cabin, and the rear simultaneously—all in 4K, 2K, and 2K.

The advertising industry presents several major awards, such as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the CLIO Awards. Now, a new awards show honors the best AI-generated ads.

The Generated Awards took place on May 27 in New York City, where the Generated Group presented 9 awards to AI video creators and brands. Many of the nominated ads were "spec ads," unofficial creations by AI hobbyists and creators. However, ads from Google and the Gorilla Glue Company were also considered.

For instance, "Pac-Man Reimagined," winner of the "Best Visual Effects" award, is not actually an advertisement from Bandai Namco Entertainment, which owns Pac-Man.

Still, the event shows just how quickly the advertising agency is adapting to new AI technology. Last year at Google I/O, the company dropped the AI video model Veo 3 like a bomb, and ever since, we've had to question every viral video we've seen. Since then, we've seen rapid advancements in text-to-video models. AI video creators often use multiple video models, including Veo 3.1, Seeddance 2.0, Kling 3.0, and Luma Ray3, as well as tools to improve the resolution to 4K.

SEE ALSO: How to identify AI-generated videos online

Google has explicitly pitched Veo as a tool for quickly creating advertisements at scale, and multiple ad agencies now specialize in creating low-cost AI ads. Coca-Cola's most recent holiday campaign was centered on a controversial AI video, and Jeep has several AI-generated commercials on the air now.

As I've said before, whether you like it or not, I think artificial intelligence in advertising is a train that can't be stopped.

Over email, I asked Tanya Porquez, the Generated Group CEO, if AI-generated ads should have mandatory disclosure requirements. She said, "I don’t think there should be a required disclosure unless there is a legal requirement."

"We’re going to have a crawl-walk-run situation where 'made with AI' disclosures are present to build public trust. There is a transparency issue where people want to know that they’re not being manipulated by AI tools. For example, in New York they’ve passed legislation to require disclosure of AI-created people, something we welcome. I can understand why they’re asking for it now at this early state."

The Generated Ads: See the winning ads

To see what advertising could look like in the near future, I've gathered all the award winners into this piece. You can watch them for yourself to see if you can tell the difference between what's real and what's not.

Some of the videos are more obvious than others, and feature the tell-tale glossy sheen that's a hallmark of many AI videos. However, as with AI-generated images, the tells are becoming harder and harder to spot.

See all the nominated ads and awards at the Generated Group's website. Though this should be obvious, please note that all of these videos contain AI-generated content.

Best storytelling: "Perfection by Mistake" by Michal Kuzminski Best Direction: "Meet the New Chief Tough Officer at The Gorilla Glue Company" by The Gorilla Glue Company Best Audio Experience: "Instant Grind, Nescafe" by Blackbrightstudio View this post on Instagram

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Fictional Ad of the Year: "Puppramin" by PJ Accetturo Spec Ad of the Year: "Vans" by Çağlasın Yılmaz and Bilgehan Yoldas Commercial of the Year: "The Watch" by Runway Creative and J. Felipe Orozco

Replacing a polished, multi-billion dollar service like Spotify or Apple Music with self-hosted software seems daunting, but it actually isn't.

At the Summer Games Fest in Los Angeles, Capcom teased the release of the much-anticipated remake of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, a game that was originally released on the Sega Dreamcast in the year 2000, before many of the franchise's modern fans were even born.  

In classic Capcom fashion, the trailer hints at far more than it reveals, opening with a high-angle night shot of Paris before descending into first-person POV as a woman (Claire Redfield, we assume, the heroine of the original game and of the beloved Resident Evil 2) enters a quaint French hotel where it's heavily hinted that her brother Chris has been staying. We get a brief glimpse of the disheveled hotel room (look closely, and you can see the iconic Resident Evil lighter on the coffee table) before an unknown person knocks on the door and the music turns ominous. 

SEE ALSO: 'Alien: Isolation 2' trailer hints at the terror to come

Our first-person character opens the door only to be accosted by an unseen stranger, and suddenly both the music and the visuals switch up, giving us glimpses of factories, dead insects, gold-encrusted pistols, and a scary-looking island being approached by helicopters before the camera takes us back to Paris in a third-person perspective, showing us Claire Redfield with a knife to her neck. 

When the title screen emerges, we're given another important clue: the new game is going to be called Resident Evil: Veronica rather than Code Veronica, which indicates that Capcom will probably treat this title more like a reimagining rather than a straight remake, which is more or less how they treated the next-gen remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4.

The last thing we see, after a shot of some menacing zombies, is the year 2027, which suggests the game has been in development for some time and that fans still have a wait ahead of them. But given the fan reaction across social media, Capcom might have another hit on its hands.

Most homelabs begin with dashboards because dashboards help manage mess and make things look clear. Most people use things like Grafana panel, Portainer, a Proxmox summary tab, and an uptime monitor to make a bunch of services look like infrastructure until you realize that the system only helps when you are already looking at it. That is where Gotify started to make sense. A dashboard waits for me to check it, but a good alert tells me when something needs a look.

You might think that an all-SSD NAS is a waste of money—and you'd be right. However, I still find a use for one in my homelab. Here's how I use my all-SSD NAS when I have several other storage systems already in my homelab.

The most exciting part of building a smart home is adding new gadgets. Whether it's a cool new sensor, smart plug, camera, or light bulb, it's easy to keep expanding your setup over time—especially now that even inexpensive devices are Matter-compatible.

If your Linux system is running low on storage, you don't need to spend hours going through files and deleting what you don't need. There's an easier way to do it. Let me show you what I do when I need to declutter and clear up space.

Are you in the mood for a rom-com this weekend? Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein star in Office Romance, a new movie now streaming on Netflix.

Bluetooth is one of those convenient features we all use so much that we often take for granted. In recent years, Bluetooth quality, range, and reliability have greatly improved, but we still deal with frustrating disconnections at times. We've all been there, forgetting a device and trying to re-pair it, but there's one setting that should eliminate most of those problems.

Supports are a necessary but often frustrating part of 3D printing. These structures serve as a base for overhanging elements, so that your model doesn’t warp or sag in unexpected ways.

Building an Excel dashboard usually means spending an entire afternoon on layout design. So, I pitted ChatGPT against Gemini to see which tool automates the grunt work best—and only one came close to what I hoped for.

From swarms of lovebugs along the Gulf Coast to dust storms on the Southern Plains and pollen blanketing nearly the entire country, keeping your car clean this time of year is a real challenge. And that’s not even counting the daily barrage of rain, mud, and road grime.

Who’s up for a weekend full of thrilling, pulse-pounding entertainment on Amazon Prime Video? These types of shows thrive on tension, unexpected twists, and complex characters to pull audiences into worlds where danger lurks around every corner and nothing is ever quite what it seems, and that's where we're heading.

Buying an ESP32 development board can be a little confusing for a newcomer. These dev kits are available from a variety of different manufacturers at slightly different prices, and some even come embedded in other devices.

Hulu tends to fly under the radar next to its flashier rivals like Netflix and Prime Video (it also pumps out fewer titles each month), but tucked inside that Disney+ bundle is one of the best catalogs in streaming, including stunning FX shows like Alien: Earth and The Bear, a bottomless true-crime well, comedies, thrillers, and more.

Excel and other spreadsheets are ubiquituous in business because they let you create simple graphics. If you want to take your reports and presentations to the next level, you might want to consider learning Python to create powerful visualizations that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Windows on Arm is finally maturing to the point of being truly usable, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 only helps its case. With a fantastic build quality, great performance, and a gorgeous screen, this is one of my favorite 14-inch Windows laptops I've ever used.

Portable fans are a hot-weather staple. When I got married on a sweltering July day, one of my bridesmaids passed me a portable fan, which didn't leave my side all day. So it's no surprise that personal fans are coming back in even bigger ways this summer.

Personal fans can be found for under $20, but this year, some big names in appliances are joining the trend. Dyson dropped its $99 personal fan, but not before Shark launched the ChillPill this year. Shark's personal fan features the most unique and elaborate design of any personal fan. Even Justin Bieber collaborated with Shark on a special edition of the ChillPill just in time for Coachella.

So I put the Shark ChillPill to the test on the hottest day of the year, and spoiler, my cats might love this fan more than I do.

Dyson HushJet Mini Cool $99.99 at Best Buy
  Shop Now at Best Buy Shop Now at Dyson Shop Now at Amazon Shark ChillPill $149.99 at Shark
  Shop Now at Shark Shop Now at Best Buy Shop Now at Amazon An innovative design, but is it practical? The Shark ChillPill fan looks like a a small pair of binoculars, but twists so you can hold one side while the other blows cool air. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The design is unlike any fan I've encountered IRL. It's two cylinders stacked on top of each other. The piece with the actual fan can twist to work from different angles. Rather than a wand-like grip, it's bulkier, which makes it feel awkward to hold. That said, the design makes it exceptionally easy to set down on surfaces. Suddenly, I had a mini desktop fan. I liked it best when stationary and imagined that, if I had used it while walking, it might have felt too big to hold.

The ultimate test will be when I take it on my European honeymoon and see how it holds up in the peak summer heat, whether I'm walking through ruins or lounging in a cabana.

It comes with three swappable fan heads

The ChillPill comes with three different attachments. The basic fan head, a misting fan head, and a metal cooling plate — each of which felt particularly useful in my time testing it on a sweltering day.

The Shark ChillPill comes with three swappable heads, including a cooling plate. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The standard head doesn't need explanation, while the other two have a little more flair. The attachment with a stainless steel surface is a cooling plate that claims to lower skin temperature by up to 16 degrees Fahrenheit. While I can't confirm that exact amount, I can say that on a 90-degree day when I was sweating without air conditioning, it was an incredible relief when pressed to my wrists, neck, and temples.

For those in dry heat, the misting head is particularly attractive. I tried it out in the New England humidity, and I have to say, it was still so refreshing, especially in the hottest temperatures. For as much as I love it, my two water-loving cats love it more, eagerly running over whenever I turn it on.

The only downside to the misting head is that it has a mini tank and runs out fast, especially when you turn up the speed. You can shut off the misting to conserve water, and then it operates like a standard fan head.

10 speeds of cool that's most effective up close The screen displays what speed the fan is set to and as you can see, also displays the battery status, too. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The Shark ChillPill is secretly pretty smart. It has slightly different controls based on which fan head you use, and it automatically registers when you swap them. On the side of the ChillPill is an on/off switch, but to start it, you need to press the digital screen, which turns on the cooling function.

There are 10 speeds to choose from, and on sweaty days, I found I never needed to go beyond level three for a nice breeze. But I also didn't necessarily want to, as the ChillPill gets loud fast. If you were to crank it up to 10 in a public space, it would be making a scene. However, you do need to turn up the fan strength if you have it positioned far away, as I didn't find it had a very long reach.

Battery life made for summer travels The Shark ChillPill's misting function in action. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

When fully charged, the fan lasts up to 11 hours. Using it intermittently over a few weeks, the battery held strong. The battery's strength is pretty impressive, and I'd feel confident bringing it on summer travels, knowing it will last all day and only need to be charged overnight. It recharges via USB-C, which most phones and tech use these days, meaning you won't need to pack an extra charger.

Let's talk about the price

Part of the appeal and widespread use of portable fans is their affordability. Most options on Amazon are under $20, and even Shein and Temu sell them alongside festival wear (though we're not sure we recommend them). So it's startling to see the Shark ChillPill's price of $149.99. It's more expensive than Dyson's portable fan ($99.99) and/or even a home fan like the super powerful Vornado 660 ($89.99). It's the same price as Shark's larger, more powerful FlexBreeze HydroGo Pro.

Even with its features and extra fan heads, and even though I love the fan, I still think it's way too expensive. If it were just $100, I'd say it was a good value, but for such a small, limited-use device, I don't think it's a great value, especially when you can get a much larger fan for much less than $150.

Is the Shark ChillPill worth it? Is the Shark ChillPill worth $149.99? We're undecided. Credit: Samantha Mangino / Mashable

The Shark ChillPill is the most unique take on the personal fan that I've ever encountered. With 10 speeds, it's effective at cooling you down, even on the hottest of days. With special attachment heads like the mister and cooling plate, it goes above and beyond most portable fans. Even with powerful settings and long battery life, it isn't without its downsides. Its innovative design may serve more as a hindrance, especially when you're on the go. But more importantly, is it worth its $149.99 price tag? I'm not so sure.

If you're eager to spend the money, the Shark ChillPill is an effective and useful way to stay cool, but I think you should wait to buy it until it's on sale.

Shark ChillPill $149.99 at Shark
Available in haze, matcha, carbon, glacier, iced latte, dragon fruit, and rose gold colorways Shop Now at Shark Shop Now at Best Buy Shop Now at Amazon

Paul Rudd (Anaconda, Friendship) Nick Jonas (The Jonas Brothers), and legendary filmmaker John Carney (Once, Sing Street) meet up with Mashable Executive Producer Mark Stetson and to discuss their new film Power Ballad.

Out of SXSW, Power Ballad got a lot of love from critics, who cheered its feel-good comedy vibe. Paul Rudd stars as Rick Power, a middle-aged American who came to Dublin 15 years ago on tour with his rock band. What might have been a path to fame and fortune was rerouted when Rick met the cool girl who'd become his wife (Marcella Plunkett), and they had a daughter (Beth Fallon) together. Nowadays, he still rocks, but as the lead of a wedding band called the Bride and Groove. As such, he mostly plays cover songs, though he still yearns to make music of his own. So, when one wedding gig throws him in the path of former boy bander Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), his life has the potential to change forever. The two spend the night jamming, sharing songs, and connecting on all things songwriting. What starts as potential buddy film, quickly takes a turn towards the unexpected. Power Ballad becomes a cautionary tale of what happens when ambition overtakes the pure love of making music.

In the interview with Mashable, Rudd, Jonas, and Carney talk about the creative process and the songs they wish they had been lucky enough to write.

Power Ballad is now in theaters.