It’s 11 a.m. on a Tuesday in Los Angeles, and I am hunting for traffic.

That’s right, I’m trying to actually find a jam on the freeway, not avoid one. Because I’m riding in the latest Mercedes-Benz S-Class which comes with the most advanced level of its “Driver Assist” technology, and I want to see what this extremely smart and luxurious car can do.

After traveling east on the I-10 Freeway, we exit at Crenshaw Blvd., only to get right back on the freeway going west. We know we’ll start to see some tail lights soon, thanks to the curve at an upcoming exit that always, no matter what, causes a slowdown. Sure enough, we come to a crawl within minutes.

At that point, my driver — a Mercedes autonomous driving engineer named Lucas — shows me that he has gotten a prompt on his dashboard, offering to switch to “Drive Pilot” mode. He accepts with a push of the button on his steering wheel, which means the car has officially taken over. A light on the wheel turns aqua, and I can see his feet aren’t on the pedals, despite the fact that we are certainly in stop-and-go traffic. Lucas keeps only a light touch with his left hand on the steering wheel (since the vehicle is still in the “testing” phase, so truly hands free is not legal, yet). But really he’s using his right hand to select a massage for both of us: He picks “Deep waves,” and our plush seats spring into kneading and vibrating action. It’s safe to say I forgot about the traffic.

Look ma, no hands.
Credit: Mercedes-Benz

Currently, all legal autonomous driving vehicles require drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, even when they’re using AI features like automatic lane changes or brake assist. This is called “Level 2” autonomous driving. But Mercedes’ not-yet-legal-to-be-sold in-America AI lets drivers take their hands off the wheel, and focus on something other than the road entirely, like the center console which lets users browse the web, watch YouTube, check email, and yes, even select a massage. 

This is called “Level 3” autonomous driving, which means the car is the true pilot of the car — but only under very specific conditions. The conditions a Mercedes car has to meet in order to activate this automation is that the car has to be on a freeway, and be going under 40 mph. That is, it has to be stuck in freeway traffic.

I was able to see this type of automation in action because Mercedes has permission to test it on California roads from the California DMV. But in Germany, the tech has already passed its trial run: At the end of last year, Mercedes-Benz became the first automaker to get legal approval for this type of robo-car (that is, one with “Level 3” autonomous driving). As for the U.S., Mercedes says it is working with the American states of California and Nevada to gain approval, which it hopes to get by the end of 2022, with its cars hitting U.S. roads in 2023. Daumen drücken!*

(*Fingers crossed, in German, obviously.)

The green light means Drive Pilot is engaged.
Credit: Mercedes-Benz

The international adaptation has proved somewhat tricky. Germany has road rules (that people actually follow) for everything from the setup of a construction zone to lane changes. But needless to say, things aren’t quite so rigid in America.

“This makes life not easy,” Georges Massing, one of Mercedes’ heads of autonomous driving systems, said.

But the automaker has tricked out its S-Class, as well as its all-electric EQE, with three types radar, lidar, and computer vision sensors that act as a car’s eyes and ears. In addition to the car’s computer, it’s connected to a network where it can access real-time information about roads and traffic conditions.

Radar, Lidar, and cameras. One big happy robot family.
Credit: Mercedes-Benz

Speaking of traffic, things seem to be speeding up on the I-10. A gap begins to grow between us and the car in front, but the Mercedes reacts. Lucas gets vibrations and audio cues, and the screen says that it’s time to take the car out of Drive Pilot mode. My human driver takes back the reins, and we begin cruising back to Santa Monica.

Though fully enjoyable, I remarked to Lucas that the ride — my first in an autonomous vehicle of any kind — felt totally ordinary.

“That’s the goal,” Lucas said. “[To be] so safe that it’s boring.”

Contrary to what many headlines about autonomous driving might lead people to believe, safety seems like a big selling point for this use of AI in particular. It’s common while stuck in freeway traffic to look over and see people playing on their phones and even watching Netflix. Essentially, people are already not paying attention to the road when they’re in a jam, because the experience is so boring and excruciating and doesn’t really require full use of your faculties. So if a car can manage the stop-and-go while you zone out, that could be a safer way to manage the behavior that people are already engaging in. Theoretically, at least — Mercedes will have to prove that the car can do what they say it does to American authorities first.

As we’re waiting at an intersection once we’ve gotten off the freeway, an autonomous delivery cart rolls on by through the crosswalk. We roar with laughter, because this robot-on-robot interaction just seems too perfect.

Via Giphy

In retrospect, I wonder if this is what a safe, convenient future really looks like —  or if it’s the picture companies selling AI as an integral improvement upon our current lives are trying to paint for us.

At least fancy cars can give you a really good massage now, though.

It’s almost time for Bridgerton to sweep back into our lives in all its glory, but some of us could use a refresher on what happened in the addictive Netflix drama that premiered in Dec. 2020.

Each Bridgerton novel by Julia Quinn focuses on a different sibling’s quest for love, but that means there’s a whole lot of recurring characters rotating in and out of the periphery (including the youngest two Bridgertons, whom we are not ready to commit to memory). To keep things simple, we’ll go by family, and we’re only catching up with the Season 1 characters who play a significant role in Season 2.

Here’s where everyone left off on Bridgerton.

The Bridgerton siblings

Can you name everyone in this photo? Can I? Can anyone?
Credit: Netflix

We last saw the Bridgerton family gleefully welcoming eldest daughter Daphne’s (Phoebe Dynevor) son into the world. Now that she’s happily married to Duke Simon of Hastings and they ignored their communication issues and had a child, they’ll never have problems again! Regé-Jean Page will officially not be in Season 2, so if you’re planning to watch just for a glimpse of his Hotness, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

With Daphne settled, the focus has shifted to Eloise’s debut (Claudia Jesse) and Anthony’s (Jonathan Bailey) shocking decision to find a wife after things ended once and for all with Siena (Sabrina Bartlett). Anthony is an emotionally unavailable playboy who doesn’t believe in love, so everyone involved in this courtship has their work cut out for them.

Elsewhere, Benedict (Luke Thompson) grew increasingly interested in art (to say nothing of the attractive men teaching him about it) and Colin (Luke Newton) decided to travel the world after having his heart broken by Marina (Ruby Barker). Expect Colin to lean fully into his new persona as Guy Who Studied Abroad Once while Penelope grapples with her ongoing feelings for him.

The Featheringtons

Pitch: A “This Is Us”-style Featherington spinoff.
Credit: Netflix

Season 1’s biggest Featherington revelation by far was that none other than young Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) was the one behind Lady Whistledown. She’s kept this a secret from everyone until now, but Eloise was determined to learn Whistledown’s identity, even accusing fake French modiste Madam Delacroix (Kathryn Drysdale). If she wants to stay in the shadows, Lady Whistledown will have to get creative.

The Featheringtons also find themselves in a tight spot with no finances to speak of and no man of the house to bail them out. Lord Featherington (Ben Miller) ostensibly died off-screen in the Season 1 finale…but did he? And even if he did, will his financial mismanagement catch up with his wife and daughters?

The crown & the town

Most of the ton does not matter in a show explicitly named after just the one family, but a handful of Season 1’s key players are still in the mix.

Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) came close to stealing the Duke from Daphne, and things didn’t work out with the Prince so she’s still very much in play. The queen herself gets more involved this season (probably because she’s getting a spinoff), pouring herself into the social season to avoid the reality of her husband’s deteriorating memory.

BONUS: The Sharmas

Lady Danbury welcomes the Sharma family from India this season.
Credit: Netflix

You don’t actually need a primer on Kate (Simone Ashley) and Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), other than that they’re new to this scene, the talk of the town, and Ashley looks frankly out-of-this-world in teal Regency dresses. Everything else will be explained when Season 2 premieres.

Bridgerton returns to Netflix March 25.

• Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ is this year’s horniest period drama, period

• ‘Bridgerton’ fans yearn for the Duke of Hastings with Regé-Jean Page’s exit

• A very serious ranking of all your ‘Bridgerton’ crushes

Netflix continues to take swings on turning video games into TV. The latest is Tekken: Bloodline, an anime adaptation of the classic fighting game series. Its first trailer is here at last.

I don’t follow the Tekken games myself, but the belief among observant fans is that the story picks up prior to the events of Tekken 3. The anime’s star is Jin Kazama, a young man and martial arts expert who sharpened his skills from a young age under the tutelage of his mother. But when an evil force takes everything from Jin, he sets out on a quest for vengeance and power that leads him to the high-stakes “King of Iron First Tournament.”

Games don’t always have the most comprehensible stories, and that’s especially true for enduring fighting game staples like the Tekken series. That’s both a hurdle and an opportunity for Bloodline‘s creators. They can’t count on viewers to know the series lore inside and out, but at the same time that opens up the possibilities for artistic license to twist the fiction in cool directions.

It’s not clear which studio is making Bloodline, but Netflix has seen some success with its previous game adaptations. Castlevania and Dota 2 have both gotten the anime treatment from the streaming service, and the League of Legends-source series Arcane has been a buzzy addition since it hit the service in 2021.

Plenty of major players in the video game industry have stepped up to support Ukraine after Russian forces invaded back in February. But games these days don’t get much bigger than Fortnite, especially when a new season is launching.

As the hit battle royale remained offline Sunday morning ahead of Chapter 3’s second season launch, developer Epic Games announced its plans to support humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine. All money earned in Fortnite between March 20, the day the new season kicks off, and April 3 will be split between four organizations that have been providing aid during the conflict.

In a corresponding move, Microsoft joined Epic in making the same pledge: Net profits from Fortnite sales on Xbox platforms will go to the same spread of charities.

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Of the four charities Epic and Microsoft are supporting, three are led by the United Nations: U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), U.N. World Food Programme (UNWFP), and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Fortnite‘s donations will also support Direct Relief, a U.S.-based nonprofit that, in their own words, is on a mission “to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies – without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay.”

It’s hard to say what two weeks worth of Fortnite profits amounts to in dollars, but it’s likely not a small number. The game accounted for roughly $9 billion in revenue across 2018 and 2019, and Epic — which also licenses out one of the most widely used game development tool packages in the industry and operates the currently money-losing Epic Games Store — made $5.1 billion in 2020.

A new season launch is always the busiest time for Fortnite, with normal Item Store sales bolstered by committed players buying their seasonal Battle Passes. This new one also brings a number of exciting features and additions, including a Doctor Strange outfit that’s unlockable via the Battle Pass and a “no build” mode, which turns off Fortnite‘s signature building mechanics in the battle royale game.

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• Humble Bundle launches ‘Stand with Ukraine’ charity offer

• What social media platforms are doing to stop misinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

• How to keep up with the news from Russia and Ukraine

It’s worth noting that this isn’t Epic’s first move to support Ukraine. As the business world moved to isolate Russia financially shortly after the invasion began in late February, the Fortnite maker joined others in suspending its commercial activities in Russia.

Epic opted against cutting off all of its services there, however, noting in its announcement that “we’re not blocking access for the same reason other communication tools remain online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open.”

After weeks of enduring dark news stories and the heaviness that comes of feeling lost in a cycle that won’t let up, stepping onto the crunchy snow of rural Vermont for a weekend gave me an instant feeling of relief.

It’s not that I love the cold, or being in a remote part of an unfamiliar state that is very, very far north. In fact, my Arizona blood rejects the first sight of a snowflake, and I have watched enough horror movies to be wary of any secluded, wooded experience that involves my partner and me getting there via a small car with no 4-wheel drive.

I didn’t know we were also signing up for a weekend without service, because I tend to not think critically about any adventure in front of me — something I consider both a flaw and a strength. But once there, the inability to contact anyone outside of the confines of our AirBnb yurt, glance at a single news alert, or receive any emails or Slack notifications sent me into such an overwhelming state of joy that I’m still harboring its reverberations days after returning to the city.

I’m not the first person feeling the need for a digital detox or the bliss, if temporary, that can ensue. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, the majority of American adults have their phones on them all day long, disrupting their lives with an unprecedented presence of incoming notifications. Having that connectedness completely revoked, cold-turkey, was as shocking as the storm that swept over our yurt the first night. Over the weekend, despite returning to my phone multiple times throughout the day expecting to see notifications (thanks, muscle memory), I was met by nothing but silence and a dark screen. At first this was weird. Then it started to be … nice.

Then there’s the sleep. I am, at my core, afraid of most things. With wind whipping around our yurt, a fire blazing in our wood stove, and leaves crunching and snow sneaking down around us, I assumed sleep would be thoroughly out of the question. As more snow fell, the roof of our yurt grew heavy and bloated with it; eventually the snow became so heavy that avalanches of ice flushed down the sides of our building. All those unfamiliar sounds couldn’t possibly result in a restful slumber, I thought. But I was wrong. I hadn’t considered what it would mean not to have the physiological effects of the blue light of my screen glowing at me at all times, and the truth was, despite the very real fear I experienced that we could be featured as the main characters of a bad true crime podcast, I slept better than I have most nights in my own technology-filled home.

At first this was weird. Then it started to be … nice.

When I got back to the city, where my sleep was not nearly as restful, I found one study about how people who read a print book instead of an e-reader at night experienced better melatonin release, fell asleep faster, and felt more rested the following day. That was part of it, sure. But also, I realized that the technology break had allowed me to deepen my connection not only with my partner, but also with myself.

According to multiple studies, people feel more connected to others and also find others more empathically attuned when cell phones aren’t around during the conversation. While I cooked, I paid close attention to how the garlic on the stove simmered flavor into the beans. I felt the fire in the wood stove heat up the room, listened to my partner recount the intimate details of cutting firewood for said wood stove in the snow, and felt the sting of the cold wooden floor under my feet. I’m fairly certain I’d be unable to be so present if I was waiting on a text or a call or streaming Love Is Blind — or doing all three at once.

This was a temporary digital detox for me, a momentary break from the world of perpetual connection. As soon as we hit the road and got better service, I posted on Instagram, and I’ve spent hours since on TikTok. But the time away was an opportunity for me to check in with my own connection to technology and how it affects my relationships and experiences in the real world. By participating in a screen-free weekend that was completely out of my control, I’ve decided to take some of it into my life in Brooklyn. I’ll be turning my phone off for larger chunks of my day as a way to use real effort to reclaim my time.

TL;DR: As of March 20, the $1,794 Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle ft. Rosetta Stone is on sale for just $169.15 with code LEARN10NOW — that’s a 90% discount.

You can’t put a price on knowledge. But if you could, $169.15 ain’t so bad — and that’s all it costs to get a lifetime of learning through Rosetta Stone and StackSkills for a limited time.

First up in the Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle is lifetime access to Rosetta Stone, the world’s leading language-learning app that makes it possible for beginners to become fluent in a second, third, or 24th language. You’ll have unlimited access to all 24 offered languages and you can learn any of them at your own pace and on your own time through interactive software and proprietary speech-recognition technology.

Our friends at PCMag (which is owned by Mashable’s publisher, Ziff Davis) have deemed it the best premium software for learning a foreign language and gave it the coveted Editors’ Choice Award five years in a row. It’s particularly useful for beginners and is designed to help you build conversational skills and develop your command of the language through reading, writing, and speaking to native speakers.

The bundle also provides lifetime access to StackSkills (which we’ve featured before), the online learning platform for mastering today’s most in-demand skills. You’ll instantly gain access to a pre-selected library of over 1,000 courses, plus 50 new ones that are added monthly. Courses span all kinds of subjects, including IT, development, graphic design, finance, business, marketing, and more. Plus, they cover all levels, from beginner to advanced. Whether you want to learn for fun or for a potential career advancement, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from within the StackSkills curriculum.

Lifelong learning by any means is a way to stay sharp, open up opportunities, and live an enriching life. This bundle gives you two unique ways to commit to doing so.

Use the code LEARN10NOW to slash an extra 15% off the already-discounted price and get lifetime access to both Rosetta Stone and StackSkills for just $169.15.

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of March 20, you can get 15 Bottles of Mixed Wines from Wine Insiders for just $85, which is 71% off their regular price of $300.

Can you ever really have too much wine? Sometimes you want a sweet red. Other times you want a crisp white. And on special occasions, you might even break out the sparkling ones. In other words, the answer is no, which is why this deal from Wine Insiders is so enticing. For a limited time, you can add 15 bottles of mixed wines to your collection for only $85 — that’s about 71% off the usual cost and comes out to less than $6 a pop.

This isn’t a wine club you need to subscribe to. It’s just a one-off deal where you get a bunch of wine delivered to your doorstep for a steal. The mix of reds and whites includes wines that Wine Insiders customers have particularly loved and rated highly. Does that mean you’ll love every single one? Probably not. But you can always save the ones you don’t like for when you have company over — or gift them at the next housewarming party you attend.

We’ve featured a similar deal before, most recently ahead of Valentine’s Day. We like Wine Insiders because they eliminate the middlemen by partnering up with top wineries from across the globe. Bottles go straight to your front porch, ready for you to uncork them. 

Wine Insiders also sorts through the wines to ensure customers are only getting the best. Its wine-tasting panel of experts only approves about five out of every 100 sampled. Their efforts have paid off, too, as their selections have earned over 1,000 awards since 2015 — like the Wine of the Year award for their St. Désir Syrah/Merlot at the 2021 Sommelier Challenge International Wine and Spirits Competition.

Order a box of 15 of these expert-approved wines to your doorstep for just $85 for a limited time.

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of March 20, you can get The 2022 Complete Raspberry Pi & Arduino Developer Bundle — worth $1,800 — for just $39.99, which saves you 97%.

So, you’ve got a Raspberry Pi. Now what? Learning to program it isn’t as easy as pie, unfortunately, but this Complete Raspberry Pi and Arduino Developer Bundle breaks it down in a beginner-friendly fashion.

The bundle features nine courses and 61 hours of content on the hands-on programming basics you’ll need to get started with your Raspberry Pi. Your instructor will be Edouard Renard, a software engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded a robotics startup in 2016. He’s built a complete robotic arm from scratch with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Ubuntu, and ROS and will help you work your way towards building fun projects of your own.

There’s no time like the present to start tinkering with everyone’s favorite single-board computer, as it celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. What better way to celebrate than with your own Raspberry Pi project? People have used the Pi’s versatile hardware to build everything from a Game Boy-inspired portable gaming console to DIY speakers.

But before you get ahead of yourself, you’ll have to learn the basics. The Raspberry Pi for Beginners course is a solid starting point that spans 10 hours and leads you through installing your Raspberry Pi OS, programming with Python 3, building circuits, controlling your Raspberry Pi with Python, and more. Fortunately, Python is widely considered one of the easiest languages to learn. But you’ll still need to dedicate some time to practicing your skills with hands-on coding projects, which you can find in the included Python 3 course.

Other courses cover the basics of Arduino, ROS2, C++, Object Oriented Programming (OOP), and practical Linux commands. With lifetime access, you’ll be able to work through the content on your own time — so there’s no need to rush.

This bundle of courses is just $39.99 ($1,800 value) for a limited time and can help you get started with your Raspberry Pi in honor of its tenth birthday.

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: The SiftEase Litter Box Cleaner, usually $45, is $39.99 as of March 20 (that’s 13% off).

You may think scooping poop is a necessary evil that comes with being a cat parent. But that’s where you’re wrong. You shouldn’t be subjected to that stinky task, no matter how much you love your furry child. That’s what SiftEase is for.

The SiftEase Litter Box Cleaner eliminates the need for scooping all together, so you can finally cut the crap (literally). It’s usually $45, but you can get it on sale for $39.99 for a limited time and save 13%.

When your cat uses their litter box, instead of potentially contaminating the unused litter by pushing waste around, you can just dump the entire contents into the SiftEase box. The waste will collect at the top, while the fresh, unused litter carefully sifts to the bottom of the container. By ensuring the litter that remains is clean, you can eliminate some of the stink you’ve become accustomed to. And don’t pretend like your cat doesn’t stink. You’ve just become nose-blind.

The seven-inch deep basket in the SiftEase means you don’t have to be super particular when pouring in the litter. Just dump it in and watch the magic happen. You can even dump multiple litter boxes into the SiftEase without having to empty it.

See the SiftEase in action:

It takes just a few seconds to dump the litter into the sifter, then dump the waste on top into the trash. So, not only can the SiftEase potentially rid your home of litter box odors, but it might end up saving you time as well. Dealing with poop is still a necessary parenting problem, whether your kids are human or feline. But with the right tools, you can make the process easier and less gross.

Snag the SiftEase for $39.99 for a limited time.

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of March 20, you can get the Izzo Swami 6000 Golf GPS on sale for 20% off, which makes it $119.99 instead of $149.

When you know what you’re dealing with in terms of the specs of the course you’re on, the distance you’re swinging, and more, you can boost your game without having to give it much thought.

With the Izzo Swami 6000 Golf GPS, you can level up your skills using a simple tool that fits in your pocket or on your belt loop. And for a limited time, it’s on sale for 20% off.

The GPS comes preloaded with over 38,000 golf courses located worldwide. You never have to download them or pay a subscription fee; simply turn on the device to gain access. It even features hands-free auto-course recognition and advanced auto-hold technology, so it does all the work for you no matter where you are.

The GPS also provides accurate measurements and distances to the front, center, and back of the green. It even measures transport distances to hazards and doglegs — all of which can be incredibly helpful when you’re playing a course you’ve never played before. Use it as your own personal digital scorecard, GIR, PPR, and individual shot distance measurement keeper.

When you can see your stats in real-time, you can see where your holes are and where you need to improve. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of improving your game.

Thanks to a clear, two-inch display, the GPS is easy to read, even on the brightest days. It’s also water-resistant, lasts up to 16 hours on a single charge, and updates regularly to ensure accuracy.

Here’s a sneak peek at the Izzo Swami 6000 in action:

For a limited time, you can shave 20% off of the regular retail price ($149) and take it home for just $119.99.

 Prices subject to change.