Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Whether you’re flight’s been delayed or your Hot Pocket is just too hot, contacting customer service is, usually, a pretty bad experience. 

Things have gotten so dire that we’ve all collectively resorted to passive aggressively tweeting at brands to get them to pay attention. Surprisingly, sometimes it works well! Other times make you question if there’s an actually human behind the velvet brand Twitter curtain. 

YouTuber and former Vine star Drew Gooden decided to test the limits of what social media mentioning can actually get you in terms of a response. 

In the style of an indignant brand complaint, Gooden tweets at Delta Airlines, digging for a response due to his uh, unfortunate accident. Delta does not have the most stellar reputation for quick nor efficient customer responses, as comedian John Mulaney gleefully points out in his infamous Delta bit. Read more…

More about Twitter, Prank, Delta Airlines, Drew Gooden, and Culture

There’s a fun new entry in the #BottleCapChallenge. An MIT robot that can mimic humans tried out the latest trend that’s taking social media by storm.  Read more…

More about Mashable Video, Robot, Robotics, Mit, and Bottle Cap Challenge

This robot uses a camera to detect ripe fruit and the best way to pick it. Read more…

More about Mashable Video, Robot, Harvesting, Future Blink, and Tech

Just below the American Museum of Natural History large dinosaur bones are stored and researched in the Big Bone Room.  Read more…

More about Mashable Video, Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Fossils, Natural History Museum, and Whats In The Basement

Facebook is trying to shine a light on one of the more confusing  aspects of the advertising industry: how webs of seemingly unrelated companies use your data to serve ads.

The social network is updating its advertising settings to make it a bit easier to see how advertisers are getting your information, why you’re targeted for specific ads, and how to opt out of them.

To make this happen, Facebook is making a couple updates. The most notable change are new sections in Facebook’s advertising preferences that lets you see exactly how companies wind up with your info.

The first section, labeled “advertisers who have uploaded a list with your information and advertised to it,” includes businesses you’ve frequented (either online or IRL) that have uploaded your information to  Facebook.  Read more…

More about Tech, Facebook, Advertising, Social Media Companies, and Tech

As products jockey for your attention on Prime Day, some of them will be playing dirty.

Fake reviews on Amazon tend to surge around Prime Day, according to an analysis by the free review integrity analytics service Fakespot. This year’s Prime Day is right around the corner, spanning two days, July 15 and 16.

Fake reviews are always out in force in the world of e-commerce, not just on Amazon. But on Prime Day, when shoppers flock to the retailer, there’s an even larger push by companies seeking to feature their products to deploy fake reviews that boost ratings and visibility. 

“Companies publish fake reviews ahead of Prime Day because it helps move their products up the product ranking page,” a Fakespot representative said. “If anyone is searching for alternatives to Prime Day deals, they will see their products.” Read more…

More about Amazon, Reviews, Prime Day, Prime Day 2019, and Tech

TL;DR: If you love Stranger Things, then you’re going to flip for the new themed Monopoly game — available for pre-orders now.

Now that you’re done binge-watching the latest season of Stranger Things (well, most of us are, right?), it’s time to move on to the next big streamable TV show.

… Unless you’re like us and just cannot remove yourself from the town of Hawkins just yet. Like, how are we just supposed to jump ship and abandon our favorite crew of adventurous teens to go and watch The Office for the billionth time? (No offense to The Office fans — that show is still great). 

More about Netflix, Board Games, Monopoly, Stranger Things, and Mashable Shopping

Dystopian fiction is by definition a showcase of the worst case scenario. To write it, creators must take horrible realities and stretch them to their logical, if pessimistic, conclusion. In a lot of ways The Handmaid’s Tale does dystopia fairly well — it draws upon modern misogyny, extremist pseudo-Christian ideology, and observable human rights abuses and imagines a world where all of society is governed by those terms. 

The problem with writing a dystopia is that worst case scenarios are subjective. Everyone’s nightmare looks different to the person standing next to them. Margaret Atwood, who wrote The Handmaid’s Tale book even has a quote that speaks directly to this concept: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”  Read more…

More about The Handmaid S Tale, The Handmaid S Tale Deaths, Ofmatthew, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

NYC’s Baccarat Hotel offers this $5K cocktail with some of their most expensive spirits, including a rare 1920s Green Chartreuse liqueur. Read more…

More about Mashable Video, Expensive, Drinks Alcohol Hotel, Lifestyle, and Other

The film premieres in the U.S. on July 19. Many critics praised the actors’ performances, while acknowledging the similarities to its original.

Read more here. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Movies, Disney, Mashable Video, and The Lion King