Tech Boys

Two weeks ago, OpenAI announced it would be delaying the release of its "Adult Mode, " an NSFW chatbot setting that lets users engage in erotic chats and generate "smut." An anonymous source from the company recently told journalist Alex Heath the delay was based on updated priorities, a move that appeared to align with OpenAI's decision to scale back in light of ongoing legal battles , build upon GPT 5.4 , and score deals with the federal government . But interviews with anonymous insiders, published this week by the Wall Street Journal , tell a different story. SEE ALSO: Child safety group blasts YouTube for million dollar gamble on AI content for kids The company's well being advisory council said in a January meeting that they were in unanimous agreement that the company should not move forward with the proposed adult mode, insiders told WSJ . Concerns from psychologists and cognitive scientists had gone ignored, they said, after warning that X...

Spotify is introducing a way for subscribers to get bit-perfect playback of songs if they listen on Windows. The company's newly announced "Exclusive Mode" gives the music streaming app complete control of audio processing on your PC so you can listen to songs exactly as they were mastered. "Without Exclusive Mode turned on, your computer may alter audio before it reaches your DAC by resampling it, mixing other system sounds in, and changing the volume," Spotify writes. With the mode enabled, all other sounds from your computer are disabled so Spotify can deliver the highest quality and most accurate version of a song possible. Exclusive Mode will help maintain fidelity while you’re playing a song, but to make sure you're not losing quality anywhere else in the chain, you'll still want to listen with wired headphones connected to a DAC or digital-to-analog converter, and opt to use Spotify’s lossless streaming option. Exclusive Mode is only available...

TL;DR: Live stream Manchester City vs. Real Madrid in the Champions League for free on Prime Video . Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN . The Champions League is slowly creeping towards its latter stages, and Real Madrid have one foot in the next round. They confidently beat Pep Guardiola's Manchester City 3-0 in the first leg of their matchup , and now they take that advantage to the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City will need to produce something special to overturn that lead. Forget Mbappe and Vinícius Júnior. It was Federico Valverde who starred in that first-leg contest . Can he lead his side to another victory this week? If you want to watch Manchester City vs. Real Madrid in the Champions League for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need. When is Manchester City vs. Real Madrid? Manchester City vs. Real Madrid in the Champions League kicks off at 8 p.m. GMT on March 17 . This fixture takes place at th...

At GTC 2026, NVIDIA and Bolt announced what they hope will be a symbiotic partnership. Bolt gets NVIDIA technology that would be costly and impractical to build on its own. Meanwhile, NVIDIA not only gains a major customer but also access to the European rideshare company’s driving data. Bolt says its fleet data will build a "learning engine" for autonomous vehicles (AVs) using NVIDIA tech. The rideshare company will use NVIDIA Cosmos to curate and search driving data. It will tap into NVIDIA Omniverse to reconstruct digital twins of real-world driving logs, then use Cosmos again to generate and augment data at scale. NVIDIA's Alpamayo model , designed specifically for AVs, will help the AI learn how to drive safely and appropriately in European cities. Finally, Bolt will integrate NVIDIA's Drive Hyperion platform into its AVs. "Autonomous vehicles require a full-stack approach that unifies AI models, high-performance compute, and a robust sensor architectu...

Siri's development over the years has been less than stellar, especially compared to competing voice assistants from Google and Amazon, but if the rumors are true, work on the new Siri update is so much of a hassle that Apple is delaying the release of its next-generation Apple Home products. Last year, notorious Apple scooper Mark Gurman told Bloomberg that the Cupertino-based tech giant had been working on a slew of new home products, including long-overdue updates to their HomePod and HomePod Mini, indoor security cameras, and even a tabletop robot with a motorized arm, all to be controlled by the sound of your voice. SEE ALSO: Apple reveals celebration plans for its 50th birthday This aggressive foray into the smart home market was originally slated to launch last year, but was delayed until spring of 2026. Another, more recent  report from Gurman  has highlighted the growing disconnect between Apple's hardware and software divisions as the main cause of another d...

Bad news for the more than 180 million Americans signed up for Amazon Prime: the service is revamping its membership structure and locking 4K video streaming behind a higher-cost tier, charging customers an additional $4.99 per month to unlock the highest-resolution experience. Prior to the change, regular Prime members paying either $14.99 per month or $139 per year could stream in 1080p HD or 4K/UHD, while customers eager to stream ad-free could pay an additional $3 per month. Now, however, the basic Prime Video package restricts users to 1080p streams, while the ad-free experience is being upgraded and rebranded as "Ultra." SEE ALSO: Alexa+ is now available to everyone in the US, and free for Prime members To further entice customers to upgrade their subscription, Amazon is throwing in additional perks for Ultra members, including an increased download capacity for offline viewing (from 25 to 100), support for Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision picture, and an incr...

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a student. 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 March 15, 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 ...

Today's Connections: Sports Edition is easy for people that watch Conference Championship week. As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans. Like the original Connections , the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle , Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. 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 What is Connections: Sports Edition ? The NYT 's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic , the Ne...

A month after Seedance 2.0's launch in China sparked cease-and-desist letters from Disney and Paramount Skydance over its use of copyrighted materials, its developer ByteDance has reportedly hit pause on the release of the AI video tool in other regions. According to The Information , which spoke to two anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter, ByteDance has suspended Seedance 2.0's global rollout. Engadget has reached out to ByteDance for comment and will update this story if we hear back with more information.  Seedance 2.0 caught heat from Hollywood studios almost immediately upon its release, after user-generated videos including a viral AI clip of Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise sparked concerns that copyrighted works were used in training the model. In February, ByteDance told the BBC that it is "taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users." It's unclear whe...

Meta AI should soon be better at surfacing international news content thanks to a set of new deals with publishers. The company announced new agreements with international outlets and offered additional details on its recent deal with News Corp.  The latest deals bring French newspaper Le Figaro , Spanish media company Prisa and German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung into the fold. Together, along with News Corp, which runs a number of outlets in the UK, these sources should give Meta AI better access to timely info about world events. Meta didn't disclose terms of the deals — The Wall Street Journal previously reported the News Corp arrangement was worth up to $50 million a year — but it said that it intends to link out to the relevant news sources. "These integrations will also facilitate easier access to information by linking out to articles, allowing you to visit these partners’ websites for more details while providing value to partners, enabling them to reach new au...