Author Archives: Carol Edwards

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, especially if you’re Amazon.

In a press release Wednesday, the e-commerce giant announced its strongest holiday season in the company’s history. According to Amazon, more items were ordered from the company during this year’s holiday shopping season than ever before.

Amazon said in the U.S., more than one billion items were shipped by the company for free through its Amazon Prime service. The company also said that tens of million people started an Amazon Prime trial or subscription this holiday season in order to take full advantage of the free, fast, and last minute shipping options. The final Prime Now delivery before December 25 was on Christmas Eve at 11:30pm in Berkeley, Calif. Read more…

More about Amazon, Christmas, Ecommerce, Alexa, and Holiday Shopping

Tesla CEO Elon Musk will be the first to remind you that time is running out if you want a federal tax credit on a new Tesla vehicle.

After Dec. 31, a $7,500 tax credit on Tesla’s all-electric vehicles will start shrinking. Next year, Tesla buyers can still apply for a tax credit, but it will only be half of the $7,500 awarded this year. The credit drops to again to $1,875 in the second half of 2019.

Tesla reached the threshold of 200,000 electric vehicles sold in July, which triggered the phase-out period of the tax credit. All Model S, Model X, and Model 3 vehicles delivered before Dec. 31 will receive the original tax incentive. Other electric car companies will continue to offer the full tax credit into 2019 until they hit the cap. Read more…

More about Tesla, Elon Musk, Model 3, Electric Vehicles, and Tech

Whether you were into squishing foam or cutting soap, the strangely soothing sounds of ASMR video definitely had a moment in 2018. 

Now, research from Samsung may make those videos a lot easier to create. The company is previewing a new research experiment that uses AI and a phone case shaped like human ears to make it easier to create ASMR videos with just your phone.

It’s called the aiMo and the idea, according to Samsung, is to simulate the human ear. The combination of the case and AI is able to capture richer and more realistic sound, the company says. Read more…

More about Tech, Gadgets, Samsung, Asmr, and Tech

Comedian Dan Hirshon bravely takes on the Bob Ross Challenge.

The Bob Ross Challenge is not affiliated with The Joy of Painting or its producers. Read more…

More about Funny, Art, Diy, Comedy, and Painting

It’s the holidays. You’re on the couch. Or in an Uber. Or walking while looking at your phone. And you’re scrolling. You’re bored and you’re looking on Instagram and Twitter for something to click on.

Well, stop all that and bring your aching thumbs over here. Rather than see other people open presents and drink eggnog, read some of Mashable’s best longform content of the year. 

The poison and the tomb

The first in a three-part series, this is the story of one family’s journey back to their contaminated home on the Marshall Islands. The  island nation of roughly 50,000 people has been hit hard by climate change as it continues to reel from WWII nuclear bomb tests. Read more…

More about Longform, End Of Year 2018, Culture, and Web Culture

‘Twas the night before Christmas and as the fire roared and the Christmas tree lights sparkled, Trump started talking to children about Santa.

It didn’t go over well.

As the president took a phone call from a 7-year-old named Coleman, he insinuated that Santa wasn’t real.

With a chuckle, the president said: “Are you still a believer in Santa Claus? ‘Cuz at 7 it’s marginal, right?” 

Coleman was patched through to a White House line after calling a government-run Santa tracker, presumably because he believed in Santa and wanted to know his location. The tracker, organized by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is organized by volunteers who field calls from curious children wanting to know where Santa is as Christmas approaches. The president and first lady traditionally take NORAD calls on Christmas Eve.  Read more…

More about Christmas, Santa, Santa Claus, Culture, and Web Culture

Feeling jolly is overrated anyway. 

Forget the preps — this holiday season, get in touch with your inner emo kid and jam out to some sad Christmas songs. What’s more festive than mourning a lost love or getting angry over not going home to spend time with family? 

Here are 11 angsty Christmas songs for you to mope over. 

1. Blink-182 — “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas”

2. Wham! — “Last Christmas”

3. Coldplay — “Christmas Lights”

4. Prince — “Another Lonely Christmas “

5. All Time Low — “Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass”

More about Songs, Holidays 2018, Culture, and Web Culture

Sure, family trips can get uncomfortable even under the best of circumstances. But have you ever seen one turn this terrifying?

The first trailer for Jordan Peele’s Us follows a family (led by Black Panther‘s Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke) on a beach vacation interrupted by the unexpected arrival of four visitors.

Even more shocking and more disturbing is that those visitors turn out to be themselves. 

It’s a literal manifestation of what Peele, during a trailer presentation in Los Angeles last week, told us would be the theme of the movie: the “undeniable truth” that “we are our own worst enemies.”  Read more…

More about Us, Movie, Jordan Peele, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

New year, new deals… well, almost.

The thing is, we’re still hung up on a handful of bargains on apps in the Mashable Shop from the past 12 months — so much so that we’re offering them once again for an additional 19% off their sale prices, provided you enter the coupon code NEWYEAR2019 at checkout. Hope that’s OK with you.

Check ’em out:

1. Private Internet Access VPN

Protect your online privacy while surfing the web at mind-blowingly fast speeds using this industry-leading VPN service from London Trust Media, which uses powerful Blowfish CBC encryption to keep your personal information locked down without lag. Read more…

More about Apps And Software, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Stackcommerce, Mashable Deals, and Tech

When the news is so jam-packed with chaos, uncertainty, and just generally a lot of quite miserable stuff, it’s always nice to find something reliably capable of lifting the spirits.

Carpool Karaoke does a pretty decent job of ticking this box — and 2018 was no exception.

From random celebrity cameos to important discussions about Justin Bieber’s underpants, here are some of the highlights…

1. Melissa McCarthy’s random cameo in Christina Aguilera’s episode.

Alongside the outrageous harmonies and the entertaining segment where James Corden learns how to sing in a gravelly “Fighter” voice (0:30), Christina Aguilera’s episode also features a surprise guest appearance from Melissa McCarthy (2:58).  Read more…

More about Uk, James Corden, Ariana Grande, Carpool Karaoke, and Christina Aguilera