Tech Boys

People with kids, rejoice. That's because Roborock is releasing a robot vacuum that can help clear up all the little socks they leave all over the place. Announced at CES 2025 , the Roborock Saros Z70 is a pretty normal-looking circular robot vacuum, except for the part where a big robot arm is jutting out of it. Roborock says it will launch in the first half of 2025, but didn't include any pricing info. Look at this little guy. Credit: Roborock SEE ALSO: These are the best self-emptying robot vacuums that make life easier The arm is officially called OmniGrip, which Roborock insists is the "first-of-its-kind mass-produced foldable robotic arm" on a robot vacuum. It can allegedly take care of small items under 300g in size, like tissue paper, socks, and small towels. It's not really clear what the device does with these things, but apparently it can also clean hard-to-reach areas. SEE ALSO: CES 2025: Mashable's guide on what to expect I don...

If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands , the New York Times ' elevated word-search game. Strands requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically. SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections . If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle,...

Samsung's CES 2025 theme is "AI for all." Samsung Samsung is the 800-pound gorilla of CES, a global electronics giant that produces mobile devices, TVs and home theater products and kitchen appliances — just to name a few. It's traditionally used CES to remind the world that it's a major competitor in all those arenas, while offering a peek behind the curtain of some more cutting-edge tech, too.  In 2024, for instance, Samsung's CES press conference covered all the usual iterative updates — new TVs , new projectors , new soundbars — but also offered up some genuinely futuristic product first looks as well. And while we won't see the transparent MicroLED screens at the local Best Buy anytime soon, you can already buy the Music Frame speaker that was first shown off at CES 2024. But it's the Ballie robot , a two-time CES veteran, that we're most hoping will make a return appearance — ideally with a real-world release date this time. What to ...

Streams on TikTok Live were used to exploit children, according to a newly unredacted lawsuit filed by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes. The lawsuit says that TikTok was not only aware that TikTok Lives were exposing minors to concerning messages from adults, but the company also directly profited off of some of the exchanges through TikTok Live's virtual gifting system. Following an investigation by Forbes   into TikTok Live, TikTok conducted its own review called "Project Meramec," according to the suit. The company found that "hundreds of thousands of children" were getting around TikTok's age restrictions, hosting livestreams and interacting with adults.  Because TikTok pockets a portion of the sale of digital gifts in livestreams, the company was technically making money on "transactional gifting" over "nudity and sexual activity" that happened during streams. And since TikTok's algorithm favors livestreams where virtual gift...

Meta has nuked a bunch of its AI-generated profiles from Facebook Instagram, the company confirmed, after the AI characters prompted widespread outrage and ridicule from users on social media. The AI-generated profiles, which were labeled as “AI managed by Meta,” launched in September of 2023 , rolling out alongside the company’s celebrity-branded AI chatbots ( also discontinued ). Meta doesn’t seem to have updated any of these profiles for several months, and the pages seem to have been largely unnoticed until this week, following an interview published by the Financial Times with Meta’s VP of Generative AI, Connor Hayes. In the interview, Hayes spoke about the company’s goal to eventually fill its services with AI-generated profiles that can interact with people and function “kind of in the same way that accounts do.” Those comments brought attention to the extant fMeta-created AI profiles and, well, users were not exactly impressed with what they found. With handles like “hello...

Is the end nearing for GameStop? The video game retailer closed hundreds of stores right before the new year. Now, it seems even more GameStop stores will be closing as 2025 gets in full swing.  With the move to digital downloads and some video game consoles leaving physical media behind altogether, the writing has been on the wall for GameStop for a number of years. However, in 2021, the meme stock craze, led by investor Keith Gill also known as "Roaring Kitty," gave new life to the company. But, it doesn't appear like GameStop has been able to turn things around, at least when it comes to its retail stores. GameStop store closings Since 2020, GameStop has closed more than 700 stores. In December 2024, right before the new year, the company shuttered nearly 300 retail locations. While there has been no official announcement on the latest batch of closings, the first of 2025, local media outlets are starting to report on their local GameStop stores suddenly shutt...

Nick Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister turned Meta executive, is leaving after a seven-year stint with the social media company. Clegg announced his departure in posts on X and Threads, saying that “this is the right time for me to move on from my role as President, Global Affairs at Meta.” Clegg will be replaced by Joel Kaplan, a longtime policy executive and former White House aide to George W. Bush known for his deep ties to Republican circles in Washington. As Chief Global Affairs Officer, Kaplan — as Semafor notes —will be well-positioned to run interference for Meta as Donald Trump takes control of the White House. Clegg joined Meta in 2018 , a year after the British public deemed the former leader of the Liberal Democrats unelectable. The company then known as Facebook was looking to improve its political relationships after Cambridge Analytica and other scandals. In 2022, he was promoted to President of Global Affairs, a position that reported directly to ...

The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle embraces her inner Martha Stewart in the trailer for her upcoming Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan . It's the latest project to come from her and Prince Harry's streaming deal with Netflix ; other releases include 2022 docuseries Harry and Meghan and 2024 docuseries Polo . SEE ALSO: 2025 TV preview: All the TV shows you need to know, and where to stream them With Love, Meghan 's trailer sees the Duchess of Sussex sharing her "little tips and tricks" about everything from cooking for friends to buying and arranging flowers. You can also expect several high-profile guest appearances, including Mindy Kaling, Prince Harry himself, and perhaps most importantly, the royals' dear beagle, named Guy. With Love, Meghan premieres Jan. 15 on Netflix. from Mashable https://ift.tt/uzhnqUG via IFTTT

A Tesla Cybertruck pulled up to the glass entrance doors of Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year's Day, began emitting smoke and then exploded, according to authorities. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a media briefing that one individual in the car died and seven others sustained injuries. McMahill added that authorities were investigating "a number of leads." He also acknowledged the alleged terror attack in New Orleans early on New Year's Day, during which a driver rammed into a crowd, killing at least 10 people. Law enforcement later found suspected improvised explosive devices in the city. McMahill said local authorities were searching Las Vegas for any "secondary devices," adding that "...there does not appear to be any further threat to our community here, now." Tweet may have been deleted What caused the Cybertruck to explode? The cause of the Cybertruck's explosion outside of...

It's the start of a new year, which means a fresh crop of creative works have entered the public domain. Today, many materials that were copyrighted in 1929, along with sound recordings from 1924, become fair game to freely adapt, reuse, copy and share. The Center for Public Domain at Duke Law School collected some of the more notable properties that entered public domain with the start of 2025. This is a big year when it comes to film, with several seminal directors debuting their first projects with sound, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail and Cecil B. DeMille's Dynamite . 1929 was also the year when Walt Disney directed the iconic Skeleton Dance short animated by Ub Iwerks, as well as when Mickey Mouse starred in his first talkie. The intrepid Tintin and original Popeye characters have arrived in the public domain as well. The compositions for several great songs joined the public domain today. There are memorable show tunes like Singin' in the Rain and An ...

CNBC is getting in on the streaming game with a service called CNBC+ . The platform will have a global livestream with financial news happening in the US, UK and Asian markets. Subscribers can also watch full show episodes on demand. The service is available via iOS and Android apps or on cnbc.com.  According to Variety , CNBC announced the news and pricing plans for CNBC+ on January 1 in an email to people who had signed up for the network's digital offerings. Seems odd to announce a brand new property intended for business and financial professionals on a day when most companies are closed. CNBC is also one of the properties current owner Comcast is planning to spin off into a new company, which makes this a potentially challenging time for the network to launch an expensive new endeavor. And expensive is the key word. Not only is it costly to run a digital platform like this, but CNBC+ also doesn't come cheap for viewers. A regular subscription will cost $15 a month, whi...