Tech Boys

Mastodon seems to be recovering after a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that took down its primary mastodon.social instance. As TechCrunch notes , the platform began reporting issues early Monday morning as much of the Mastodon-operated server became inaccessible.  It's not clear who might be behind the attack, but Mastodon's head of communications Andy Piper described it as a "major" incident. A couple hours later, Mastodon shared on a status page that it had implemented countermeasures and that users should be able to access mastodon.social once again. Piper said that "some ongoing instability is a possibility" as the site recovered. It's unclear if any other instances of the service were also targeted; mastodon.social is run directly by the nonprofit and is the largest server on the federated platform.  Mastodon is the second decentralized platform to be targeted with a DDoS in recent days. Last week, Bluesky also dealt with a signifi...

Apple's first foldable iPhone, unofficially dubbed the iPhone Fold , is expected to debut in September. Now new leaks show how the phone will likely differ from the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 lineup. Apple is several years late to the foldable smartphone market, but don't count Apple out based on speed. After all, the company was late to MP3 players and smartphones — and the iPod and iPhone were the results. Leakers with decent track records are showing dummy cases for the iPhone Fold on X. And that gives us a clear sense of how this foldable will set itself apart from the competition. Don’t miss out on our latest stories:  Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google . iPhone Fold vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Design differences Most flagship foldables have roughly the same width and length as a regular smartphone when folded, but earlier leaks suggest Apple has adopted a wider design. You can see that in the latest photos of alleged iPhone Fold dummy units an...

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you knit. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 20, 2026 Where did Wordle come from? Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble , music identification game Heardle , and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once .  Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times , and TikTok...

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Despite the months-long feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon, the National Security Agency is using the AI company's new Mythos Preview, according to Axios , which spoke to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic announced Mythos Preview at the beginning of April, describing it as a general-purpose language model that is "strikingly capable at computer security tasks." But back in February, Trump ordered all government agencies to stop using Anthropic's services after the company refused to budge on certain safeguards for military uses during contract talks.  The news comes days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other officials, reportedly to discuss Mythos. The White House later said the meeting on Friday was "productive and constructive," though President Trump said he had "no idea" about it when asked by reporters, Reuters reports. According to Axios' sources, the NSA i...

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you can never sit down. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 19, 2026 Where did Wordle come from? Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble , music identification game Heardle , and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once .  Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Time...

TL;DR : This rare Microsoft bundle deal gives you a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows and Windows 11 Pro for only $42.97 (reg. $418.99) through May 17. Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft The Ultimate Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License + Windows 11 Pro Bundle $42.97 $418.99 Save $376.02   Get Deal Looking for an affordable way to make your old PC feel new again? If you don’t have the funds to buy a brand new computer, don’t worry. The Ultimate Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows lifetime license and Windows 11 Pro Bundle is the next best thing, offering your computer a total upgrade for only $42.97 through May 17. Don’t count out your dusty old PC . This Microsoft bundle is here to give it a total facelift for less than $50. It kicks off with a lifetime license to some of the brand’s most popular tools — Microsoft Office, which you’ll pay for once and enjoy without any subscript...

The James Bond franchise has a long history of getting pop stars to record its theme songs (perhaps most memorably with Live and Let Die ), and it looks like that tradition will now extend to video game adaptations about the fictional spy. IO Interactive has announced that Lana Del Rey co-wrote and performed the theme for 007 First Light , the developer's playable James Bond origin story. "First Light" is written and performed by Lana Del Rey and composer David Arnold, and like the moody and abstract opening credits released alongside the song, could vaguely gesture at the themes of the game. IO Interactive has previously said that its game focuses on a young, inexperienced and more reckless Bond, before he developed his trademark cool. The developer is also integrating the stealth mechanics it perfected in Hitman into the upcoming game. Del Rey's personal gaming experience may begin and end with her hit "Video Games," which was apparently written a...

The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission have safely returned to Earth , but if your Moon fever has yet to break, or you're curious to get a big picture view of how the second of a planned five Moon missions was pulled off, PBS has a new documentary you'll want to watch. The hour-long Return to the Moon was produced for PBS' NOVA and aired on TV on April 15, but you can view the episode in its entirety on YouTube right now. Return to the Moon covers the history of NASA's Artemis program, and specifically the planning and preparation that went into Artemis II. Per the documentary's official description: Follow the four members of the Artemis II crew as they embark on a perilous 10-day journey to orbit the Moon, venturing beyond Earth orbit for the first time since Apollo and farther into the Solar System than any humans have gone before. And get an inside look at the preparations needed to overcome the extreme engineering challenges of human-crewed spaceflig...

"Don't read books. Play them," says AI-powered role play platform Character.AI in a promo for its latest simulation feature: Books .  If you were as alarmed as I was at that first line (we are in a literacy crisis! ), let me explain. The new feature feeds public domain titles — classics like The Great Gatsby , Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , Pride & Prejudice , and Frankenstein — into the platform's AI so that users can play as characters within the stories themselves. Users can "remix" the tales, adding new characters, changing the plots, or creating entirely new universes. Or you can just live inside the classic story as it is.  SEE ALSO: Character.AI users can now role-play classic books like 'Pride and Prejudice' The platform itself is intended for multi-layered, multimedia role play, from written or audio conversations to AI-generated comic strips and music videos. Users can upload descriptions and even art of their original...