Tech Boys

Save $45: As of Oct. 4, the Owl edition of Echo Dot Kids with Echo Glow is 50% off, down $45 from its list price of $90 on Amazon. Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Echo Dot Kids with Echo Glow $49 at Amazon $89 Save $40 Get Deal Amazon’s Alexa device built for kids is on sale right now. This is coming on the heels of their recent reveal of their new models of the Echo , Amazon’s Alexa-enabled smart speakers. The Kids Echo Dot with Echo Glow is a smart speaker designed especially for family use. Set timers with different color lights, play music, listen to bedtime stories, or audiobooks on the Echo Dot. This particular bundle comes with a year subscription to Amazon Kids+, which gives you access to tons of stories, games, and educational Alexa features. Parents have complete control of the device through the Amazon Dashboard, which can set limits on use, filter any media, and review the device use history at any time. The Echo Dot and Echo Glow can foster creativ...

Redemption Road's absolutely bonkers-looking medieval shooter, Kingmakers , was slated to launch in Early Access on October 8, but now its release has been pushed back with no new date in sight. The developers posted an update on Steam to say that the scheduled launch, just days away, "will no longer be possible," going on to explain that they need "a bit more time on content polish before we feel good about charging money for it." A statement posted by the developers of Kingmakers announcing that the game is delayed Redemption Road Games Kingmakers has generated a fair amount of hype since it was announced last year, and it sits among the top wishlisted titles on Steam. The game sends players "back in time to a war-torn medieval era with a vast arsenal of modern weapons," from guns to tanks. And if you've seen the trailers , you know it's not just the concept that's bananas — the gameplay we've been shown so far is completely o...

SAVE $150: As of Oct. 4th, this 3i G10+ robot vacuum and mop combo is on sale for 33% off. That’s $150 off its list price of $449 on Amazon.  Opens in a new window Credit: 3I 3i G10+ Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo $299 at Amazon $449 Save $150 Get Deal This 3i G10+ robot vacuum and mop combo is a deal when it’s not discounted. It’s new patented technology compresses dust and dirt, allowing you to forgo emptying the device and avoiding the self-emptying station situation. Mashable’s senior shopping reporter Sarah Stodart says it's "The most impressive robot vacuum under $500." Right now, though, it’s under $300. Stodart reported that on her test run , the 3i G10+ robot vacuum’s advanced LiDAR technology expertly and correctly mapped her apartment, taking care to note bedrooms and bathrooms via distinguishing items like toilets and beds. “The G10+ also steered around socks and fake pet waste (clumps of brown sugar). While it did identify most phone and l...

Amazon gift cards usually come with the starting balance printed on the physical card or mentioned in the email if you receive an eGift card. But what if you want to check the balance on a gift card that you previously redeemed to see if you have enough left over to splurge during the two-day Prime Big Deal Days sale in 2025 (which officially kicks off on Oct. 7)? Or maybe you want to reload a gift card you've already used up? Check the state of your gift cards before your shopping spree this season by following the steps below. How to check your Amazon gift card balance on your desktop Follow these simple steps to check or reload your Amazon gift card balance: Total Time 2 minutes What You Need Computer Step 1: Navigate to Amazon Open the Amazon website. Step 2: Accounts & Lists Click on Accounts & Lists in the top right corner of the screen. Credit: Screenshot: Amazon website Step 3: Select Gift cards A new menu page will open on the webs...

Taylor Swift loves a good mystery. From the countless Easter eggs she drops for fans to releasing albums like The Life of a Showgirl without any singles ahead of time, Swift tends to shield her next moves in cloak-and-dagger secrecy. Now that secrecy has extended to her upcoming music video for The Life of a Showgirl 's Shakespeare-inspired lead single, "The Fate of Ophelia." SEE ALSO: The ultimate 'The Life of a Showgirl' shopping guide for Taylor Swift fans For her past two non-rerecorded albums, Swift released videos for her lead singles — Midnights ' "Anti-Hero" and The Tortured Poets Department 's "Fortnight" — on YouTube on the same day as their album's release. For "The Fate of Ophelia," though, fans will have to go to movie theaters first to experience Swift's next music video, where it's playing as part of The Official Release Party of a Showgirl . Running from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5, the 89-minute lon...

Fitness tech appears to be having a strange spat. Earlier this week, Strava filed a lawsuit alleging that Garmin infringed on its patents for two features related to tracking exercise routes: segments and heatmaps. It's also claiming that Garmin violated a Master Cooperation Agreement by developing its own heat map feature. The complaint (via The Verge) is seeking a permanent injunction to stop Garmin from selling any items with segments or a heat map features, which would amount to a majority of Garmin's hardware products as well as its Connect tracking program. The lawsuit on its own is a surprise. Strava and Garmin are two major players in fitness tech that have worked together for about a decade, the pair have a number of integrations between their platforms. It also seems unlikely that Strava will make much headway with the case. DC Rainmaker , which first picked up on the lawsuit, has a thorough timeline of the companies' patent filings that strongly suggests the a...

At a glance, it makes sense why Dwayne Johnson would want to make The Smashing Machine . A biographical drama about UFC fighter Mark Kerr, the new film from writer/director Benny Safdie explores the highs and lows in the ring and beyond it. But it wasn't Safdie, the celebrated co-helmer of Uncut Gems , that came to Johnson. It was the other way around. And yet the movie almost didn't happen, except for an awkward moment Safdie shared with his Oppenheimer co-star Emily Blunt. How did all of this lead to a hard-hitting drama that has critics praising Johnson's dramatic chops? Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko spoke with Johnson, Safdie, and Blunt during a virtual junket, and learned how one vulnerable question and a missing sweater played an unexpected role in The Smashing Machine coming to life. Considering the intensity of MMA fighting, Johnson felt the energy from Uncut Gems would be a good fit for Kerr's story. So, they met in 2019 to talk about it, a...

Over the last couple of weeks, the internet has been enjoying what is arguably the most wholesome week on the Internet — Fat Bear Week. After a record-breaking week of votes, this year’s winner has been crowned, and the king of Fat Bear Week 2025 is 32 Chunk. For the uninitiated, Fat Bear Week is an annual event held by Explore.org and Katmai National Park in Alaska. Since the inaugural Fat Bear Week in 2014, voters have tuned in and watched as the Alaska brown bears (also called grizzly bears) gorge themselves on salmon and pack on the pounds in preparation for the long winter hibernation. Bears are photographed at the beginning of the season and again at the end, and people vote on their favorite fat bear transformation.  This year, 32 Chunk had the votes on his side. The mammoth male bear survived a broken jaw, which he nursed throughout the season, as the wild bears at Katmai don’t receive veterinary care. Despite this, 32 Chunk found his inner Payton Manning, Tiger Woods,...

Forbes has published an investigation into Amazon's efforts to court law enforcement clients for artificial intelligence and surveillance services. The article reveals that not only is the company promoting Amazon Web Services as a potential police tool, but it has been partnering with other businesses in that sector to use its cloud infrastructure. According to the Forbes report, Amazon's partners that are pitching police departments include car tracking tools and license plate readers from Flock Safety, gun detection by ZeroEyes, real-time crime center apps from C3 AI and Revir Technologies, and AI that helps compose police reports from Abel Police and Mark43. The piece estimated that the police tech business is worth $11 billion. Based on emails sent by members of Amazon's law enforcement and safety team, the company is working awfully hard to get a share of those billions. The company's aggressive sales work has raised outcry for privacy issues around how police...

Yesterday, rumors started to spread in the tech world that a gamer had accidentally received the upcoming Xbox ROG Ally X gaming handheld weeks before its official launch. The gamer even took to Reddit to post an early review of the device, in a now-deleted thread. If you hang around the tech space long enough, you'll eventually hear stories of unsuspecting customers getting new devices ahead of schedule. Case in point: Earlier this year, some folks who pre-ordered the Samsung Galaxy S25 received their units a few days before launch thanks to expedited shipping error. Usually, these surprises happen a few days early at the most, which makes it very interesting that someone is claiming they received the Xbox ROG Ally X more than two weeks early. The story started to spread thanks to the deleted Reddit post titled "WTFF ALMOST 3 WEEK BEFORE!" from a user named Technical_Fun77. The Redditor expressed their very great surprise that they received the unit so early, an app...