Category Archives: Blog

TL;DR: The award-winning Sony Bravia AG9 4K OLED TV (65-inch) is on sale in the PCMag Shop for $3,099 — a total savings of $900 after code SAVE400.

Black Friday ain’t just Friday anymore.

Unfortunately, the deals pause for no one. As pissed as you are that consumerism is interrupting your annual tradition of stuffing yourself with stuffing, you’re pretty much forced to participate in the Thursday sales to avoid the big ticket items selling out.

If you’re in the market for a high-end 65-inch TV, PCMag has a deal that’ll let you skip that mess all together. Sony’s OLED Master Series line nabbed double awards at CES, and you can snag the 65-inch model for $3,099 when you use code SAVE400. To put it in perspective, that’s $400 lower than its lowest price ever at Amazon. (Editor’s note: PCMag is owned by Mashable’s publisher, Ziff Davis.) Read more…

More about Sony, 4k Tv, Oled, Mashable Shopping, and Shopping Pcmag

Augmented reality has the potential to change how we see the world — or, I guess if you want to get technical, the way companies show ads to us. 

The latest example of this breakthrough is courtesy of Google’s Pixel 4. The new smartphone, released Oct. 24, comes complete with a Google Lens-enabled AR surprise. As Android Police reports, when users point their new phone at the back of the Pixel 4 box, they are treated with an ad for Google’s Instagram account. 

“Welcome to #teampixel,” reads the animated ad. “Tap to join the global community @googlepixel.”

According to Android Police, tapping any of the photos displayed in the AR slideshow will take you to the Google Pixel Instagram account.  Read more…

More about Google, Augmented Reality, Google Lens, Pixel 4, and Tech

Ah, the open road. Nothing beats it. Wind in your hair, sun shining down. And wait, what’s that? Two humans on a motorbike being operated by a smiling dog?

If you’re not on the internet to see random videos of dogs driving motorbikes, then why are you here? 

(Author’s note: Please do not try this at home. It’s an adorable and funny thing for all of us to enjoy, but it’s definitely not safe for dogs or humans. Don’t put yourself or your pup at risk.) Read more…

More about Dog, Culture, Animals, and Web Culture

Jane Fonda continues to be a badass. 

The legendary actor and activist found herself being recognized on Friday for her work on the screen, but it was the way she accepted the award that is perhaps the most notable. She couldn’t attend the annual BAFTA Britannia ceremony in person, you see, because she was too busy getting arrested in D.C. for protesting inaction on climate change. 

That didn’t stop her from giving an acceptance speech, however.

“BAFTA, thank you,” said the actor as her hands were being zip tied by police in Washington D.C. “Thank you, for the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Films. Thank you.” Read more…

More about Climate Change, Jane Fonda, Culture, and Climate Environment

Traditionally, rodents don’t operate motor vehicles. It’s mostly a human thing. That didn’t stop researchers at the University of Richmond, which made the world a better place with some truly excellent footage of rats driving cars this week.

News of the newly empowered rats was first broken by New Scientist on Tuesday. The research team put some clear plastic containers on wheels, devised a steering mechanism out of copper wires, and put 17 rats to the test in small, enclosed driving areas. The rats that hit the target were given Froot Loops as well-deserved treats.

Text really doesn’t do it justice, though. Check out this footage, courtesy of the University of Richmond. Read more…

More about Science, Cars, Research, Rats, and Rodents

The mysterious lung illness that’s afflicted more than 1,600 vape users and claimed 34 lives (as of Oct. 22) has now been shown to disproportionate affect THC users.

That was one of the key takeaways after a Friday briefing from the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the agency’s principle deputy director, further confirmed that THC vapes obtained outside of legal supply lines – including those on the black market and those obtained from friends or family – seem to be the biggest offender.

“The vast majority of patients with EVALI” – that’s the acronym the CDC is using for this illness – “including those who died from their lung injury, had a history of use of e-cigarette, or vaping, products that contained THC,” Schuchat said.  Read more…

More about Cdc, Vaping, Vape, Thc, and Culture

Roaming charges are such a pain. 

A group of Russian researchers were feeling that reality hard recently, after a group of eagles fitted with tracking devices hit them with a serious cellphone bill. After summering in an area of Kazakhstan with no cellphone service, the steppe eagles began their expected migration — but not all of them took the expected route. 

According to volunteers at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, tracking devices on the eagles had attempted to send out multiple SMS messages per day all summer long. It’s how the researchers keep track of the raptors’ location, but none of the messages were going through. So, when a group of birds detoured into Iran and finally connected to a cellphone tower, the messages were all sent at once.  Read more…

More about Eagles, Sim Card, Tech, and Animals

Baseball players having fun with their walk-up music is nothing new, but the Washington Nationals exposed much of the world to one of the strangest ballpark traditions we’ve ever seen on Friday night.

In the midst of a 4-1 loss in Game 3 of the World Series against the Houston Astros, tens of thousands of Nats fans rhythmically chomped their hands together along with “Baby Shark.” Yes, the un-killable and bizarre children’s song echoed throughout an entire major league stadium in the middle of a World Series game.

Just see for yourself.

This attracted a ton of attention on Twitter, and for good reason. It’s a strange thing to see. That said, baseball fans are a little more used to it than the general public. “Baby Shark” first appeared at a Nationals game in June, when outfielder Gerardo Parra used it as his walk-up song as a tribute to his young daughter, according to NBC Sports. Read more…

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Joker has now earned more money at the worldwide box office than any other R-rated movie that came before it. Ryan Reynolds is totally chill with that.

Totally. Chill.

Reynolds of course stars in Deadpool, the previous #1 R-rated box office earner (worldwide) before Joker came barging in. So while we have no doubt his “YOU MOTHER F*CKER” poster is dispatched with love and respect, he’s justified in being a little spicy about it, too.

In case it’s not clear, the names listed at the bottom of the poster are references to other R-rated box office hits in the top 10 for that record.  Read more…

More about Box Office, Ryan Reynolds, Joker, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

Microsoft got a big win over Amazon to close out the week, but not everyone is going to be happy about it.

The Washington Post reported on Friday night that Microsoft won a $10 billion contract from the Pentagon for cloud computing services that will power data management for the military. It’s a fairly big upset over Amazon, which was expected to land the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (or JEDI) contract.

The two companies had been the finalists since April. 

Amazon Web Services is the leader in cloud computing market share by a country mile and Amazon itself has a higher data certification from the military than Microsoft, per the Post. There has been, and undoubtedly will be more, speculation that President Trump influenced the decision through public comments about it in recent months. Read more…

More about Microsoft, Amazon, Amazon Web Services, Cloud Computing, and Pentagon