Tech Boys

GET DOUBLE KINDLE POINTS: As of Jan. 17, get double Kindle Points for each Kindle purchase, today only. Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Double Kindle Points with each Kindle book purchase Kindle Rewards Get Deal Are you a voracious reader? Looking to get paid back for some of the money you spend on Kindle books? Amazon's Kindle Rewards program lets you earn points per dollar spent on Kindle e-books, and print books as well. You can redeem earned points for rewards and discounts (to buy even more books)/. And today, you can stock up on Kindle books and earn more points right now. As of Jan. 17, you can earn double points on all the Kindle books you purchase today as part of the Kindle Rewards program. Between 12:00 a.m. PT and 11:50 p.m. PT, you can shop 'til you drop and get six points per dollar you spend on Kindle title, and one point per dollar you spend on print books. SEE ALSO: Prime members can save on the brand new Amazon Kindle Colorsoft Sign...

Awesome Games Done Quick has already wrapped up for 2025 (with a cool $2.5 million raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation), but the philanthropic group has other programs year-round that raise money for worthy causes. Two of those are hosted by the Frame Fatales, a community for women and femmes in speedrunning under the GDQ umbrella. The group's Frost Fatales event runs from March 9-16 and will raise money for the National Women's Law Center . The schedule just dropped today and here are a few of the highlights. The event starts with a pair of my personal favorite games to watch: the punishing 2D platformer Cuphead followed by the wahoos of Super Mario Odyssey . I'm also amused that Lanaruse will run Coffee Caravan , but with the category "Any% No Coffee." That kicks of the show on March 13 at 1 PM ET. The March 14 lineup looks particularly exciting, with Jaypeg tackling Snufkin: Melody of Moomin-valley , GretaIceVixen and Corvimae showing off Pókemon Sword...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced today that's it's fining Block , the creator of Cash App and parent company of Square, $120 million in "refunds and redress" and a $55 million fine for how the company handled fraud on its payment platform. Per the CFPB, Cash App's Terms of Service at one point claimed that any bank linked to an account for transferring funds was responsible for addressing disputes around fraudulent charges, something that's not generally true under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act . Block would use that claim to avoid assuming responsibility, and when it would investigate a complaint, it relied on "intentionally shoddy investigation practices to close reports of unauthorized transactions in the company’s favor," CFPB's statement explains. Accessing any kind of customer service for Cash App was a challenge, too, according to the CFPB. Block included a customer service number on Cash App cards and in the...

On Jan. 15, 2025, the Supreme Court heard a case about  age-verification laws,   Free Speech v. Paxton . Its decision will significantly impact online free speech.  Age-verification laws vary by state but typically require users to submit identification in order to visit sites the states deem to have over one-third of explicit content hosted. ID can include submitting one's driver's license, a digital ID, or a facial scan. Since 2022, 19 states have passed age-verification laws, and all but one is currently in effect. The other, Georgia's , goes into effect July 1, 2025. Pornhub currently blocks 17 states from viewing content due to these laws.  SEE ALSO: 6 platforms gaining popularity as TikTok ban deadline nears Free Speech v. Paxton explained The Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton case initially began as a challenge to Texas's age-verification law by the adult industry trade organization, the Free Speech Coalition or FSC.  The perceived purpose of ...

Broadening out from its text-only beginnings and just days before millions may lose access to their beloved video app TikTok, Substack has announced it's adding a sitewide live streaming option for all users. The new video tool is an expansion of an earlier "bestseller"-only feature, which offered platform-based live streaming options to its top contributors, referred to as "publishers." Now, any contributor with at least 10 free subscribers can go live. Once the live stream is over, publishers will be sent an audio recording of the live stream and AI-generated clips to share on their pages, the platform writes. SEE ALSO: TikTok might go for a total shutdown in the US on Sunday Substack — one of the most popular personal publishing and newsletter platforms with more than 35 million active subscriptions — has been overhauling its offerings after a subscriber-hitting content moderation fiasco revealed the platform was hosting numerous alt-right and neo...

We're nearly a month into 2025, and it's time for another flagship smartphone announcement. Samsung's first Galaxy Unpacked event is on the books for January 22, and like past years, you'll be able to watch along from home. All signs point to the event including the launch of One UI 7 and a new lineup of Galaxy S25 phones (including Ultra, Plus and regular models) at the very least. The new phones are more or less guaranteed to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and sport some amount of design tweaks, and new colors. One UI 7 was technically already announced at a Samsung developer event in 2024 , but Unpacked should give the company to dig in to more of the details of how the operating system revamp will actually impact using the company's new devices.  Beyond that, Galaxy AI will be featured prominently, based on Samsung's original announcement of the event, and it seems possible the company could include an update on its wearables and more inf...

Love it or tolerate it, Valentine’s Day is the ideal time to right the gift-giving wrongs of the holidays. Were you sure your husband would love that faux-vintage turntable, only to find out later that what he really wanted was a weighted blanket? Did you misinterpret his months of hint-dropping about homebrewing, ponying up for the perfect craft beer kit, when he was actually talking about kombucha? The best Valentine's Day gifts for husbands give you a second chance to get it right. Instead of opting for something cliché or overly trendy, spend some time reading between the lines of his interests and hobbies. With that in mind, we’ve come up with a list of Valentine's Day gift ideas for over a dozen different kinds of husbands. Some are luxe versions of everyday items, while others are special-occasion splurges. And if you're still stumped for ideas, then dive deeper into our guide on unique gifts for men or peruse our list of the best gifts under $50 . from Mashabl...

Pixelfed is now available as a mobile apps for both iOS and Android. The open source, decentralized platform offers image sharing similar to Instagram. However, Pixelfed has no advertisements and does not share user data with third parties. The platform launched in 2018, but was only available on the web or through third-party app clients. The Android app debuted on January 9 and the iOS app released today. Creator Daniel Supernault posted on Mastodon Monday evening that the platform had 11,000 users join over the preceding 24 hours and that more than 78,000 posts have been shared to Pixelfed to date. The platform runs on ActivityPub, the same protocol that powers several other decentralized social networks in the fediverse, such as Mastodon and Flipboard . Many Instagram users have been seeking out alternatives to the Meta-owned platform after the company said it would eliminate third-party fact checking and revised its "Hateful Content" policy to allow denigrating com...

In 2020, amid a global pandemic that highlighted a staggering digital divide among Americans , the federal government pledged to do something.  Its solution? Some promising tech subsidies and a wave of funding for internet access initiatives , specifically high speed broadband. This money included the government's promise to fix the missing middle miles of fiber optic connections that have for decades kept many Indigenous areas offline. At the time, the round of funding was a history-making investment in supporting this internet infrastructure, filling a long-simmering institutional gap. Since then, much of the funding has been allocated and many government subsidized programs have run their course. But, years later, American Indian and Alaska Native households living on tribal lands still have one of the lowest broadband subscription rates in the United States, at 71 percent, with the national average at 90 percent, according to recent census data .  Connection to high s...

If the  U.S. government wants to ban TikTok , Americans might flock to a different Chinese social media app. About a week before the potential ban, TikTokkers are posting about moving to RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu. So many are migrating to the app that it hit No. 1 on Apple's U.S. App Store on Monday. Yes,  TikTok  might really be on its way out. It's unclear exactly what would immediately happen to the app on the Jan. 19 deadline — it'll likely  at least disappear  from app stores and stop receiving updates. The government could also ask internet service providers to block access, or TikTok itself could choose to leave. So perhaps it could be time to move to RedNote if that's indeed where TikTokkers are headed.  But don't worry, we've got the details on what you need to know about RedNote. What is RedNote? In short: It's a short-form video social media site. Well, duh. But it's not precisely the same thing as TikTok. As dupes like YouTu...