Journalism is no easy feat, especially for on-air reporters. From being in the middle of a crime scene to speaking with bystanders on the street, they have to face fears many people have — and in front of a camera, no lessAustralian reporter Sarah Cawte had one of those experiences recently as a snake wrapped around her suddenly struck at her mic. 

“He just bit my microphone,” Cawte gasped as the snake draped around her like Britney Spears’s iconic VMA performance went for the head of her mic. After following instructions to stay still, Cawte managed to get back on track and read her lines about snake safety and how snakes are often more scared of humans. In a later interview, Cawte said she was afraid of the snake biting her hand but she ended up getting the shot she needed — and afterwards she needed the snake off her, pronto. “As soon as that was done I said to the snake handler, ‘Get it off me!'” Read more…

More about Viral Video, Culture, and Web Culture

Facebook and Twitter are once again pretending there’s nothing wrong with deceptive behavior in politics.

During Tuesday night’s State of the Union, House speaker Nancy Pelosi upstaged Trump by ripping up his speech. It happened near the end of the evening, just as the president concluded his remarks. The moment predictably went viral, garnering a lot of chatter on social media and memes — including Pelosi later saying she “tore it up.” 

The Trump administration also hopped on the meme bandwagon with an edited video. The 5-minute clip, posted to Trump’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts on Thursday, intercut the Pelosi moment with the president praising national heroes like the Tuskegee Airmen and gold star families during his speech. The text overlaid on the video reads, “Powerful American stories ripped to shreds by Nancy Pelosi.” It has amassed 4.7 million views on Twitter and 2.5 million views on Facebook thus far. Read more…

More about Facebook, Twitter, Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, and State Of The Union

This year’s short film animations were mind-blowing, it was almost impossible to rank them all. Read more…

More about Mashable Video, The Oscars, Animation, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

Google Maps turns 15 years old on Feb. 8, marking a decade and a half of the service telling us which exit to take, recalculating when we completely miss it, and not yelling at us about it like a human with a street directory would.

It’s definitely made some aspects of travel easier. But it hasn’t been without its issues. 

In celebration of Google Maps’ 15th year, here are 15 times things went, shall we say, just a little bit (or a lot) off the map, for better or worse.

1. Man says he caused fake traffic jams on Google Maps with 99 phones

Google Maps’ live traffic updates are intended to make the commute a bit easier. However, according to Berlin-based artist Simon Weckert, the system by which it gathers its information is highly exploitable. In a 2020 performance piece, Weckert dragged a little red handcart full of smartphones down deserted streets, apparently generating a false traffic jam when Google Maps interpreted them as numerous cars. Read more…

More about Tech, Tech, Smartphones, and Consumer Tech

Samsung is about to show off its next generation of flagships and, crucially, its next foldable phone.

The company is holding its annual Unpacked event in San Francisco on Feb. 11 where the phone maker is expected to reveal its S20 lineup, an improved AirPods competitor, and an intriguing-sounding foldable phone. 

Mashable will be reporting live from the event, which you can also follow along via live stream on Samsung’s website starting at 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST. And, by most indications, the event will be jam-packed with announcements. 

Here’s what we’re expecting: Read more…

Three versions of the S20

More about Tech, Samsung, Smartphones, Consumer Tech, and Tech

Donald Trump’s face is making America do a double take again.

On Friday, photographer William Moon, who posts his photos on the Twitter account @photowhitehouse, captured a photo of the president walking across the South Lawn of the White House after returning from Charlotte, North Carolina, and boy is it unsettling.

You’ll immediately notice that Trump’s face is glowing orange. I’m talking Big Tangerine Energy here. Definitely more bronzed than usual. Not only is his face clearly covered in tinted makeup or tanner of some sort, but there’s also clear line where the makeup ends. Trump’s hair is blown back a bit, and his pale scalp halo hovers above what looks like an orange mask. Read more…

More about Memes, Donald Trump, White House, Culture, and Web Culture

Well, this is awkward. It appears that Facebook and Messenger’s official Twitter accounts has been hacked. 

The accounts were briefly taken over by hacking group OurMine, a group known for taking over prominent social media accounts. 

It appears the hackers were able to get off several, near-identical tweets, which attributed the account takeovers to OurMine. “Well, even Facebook is hackable but at least their security is better than Twitter,” the tweets, which have since been deleted, said.

In one message, which has also been deleted, the hackers tagged gossip vlogger Keemstar. Read more…

More about Tech, Facebook, Twitter, Ourmine, and Tech

Last night I had an extraordinary experience, one I never thought I’d have again: I browsed Netflix on my Apple TV with zero anxiety. 

That’s because the streaming giant has finally done what it should have done years ago. It has given us an option to stop those damned trailers from automatically playing, with sound, on every show and movie in every version of its interface. (The feature needs to be opt-in rather than opt-out, but maybe all the positive press Netflix has received for this minimal change will lead to a larger one.) 

Under the automatic trailer regime, which was introduced in 2017, I’d flick through a minimal number of categories like “trending” or “popular” as fast as I possibly could. I’d rarely even make it to “my list.” If I skipped from one item to the next in under a second, I wouldn’t get a noisy, unwanted trailer in my face. If I had to get up from the couch before making a decision, I’d select a random show and hit “episodes,” just to stop the trailers. Or I’d exit Netflix altogether, which is surely something the company doesn’t want.  Read more…

More about Netflix, Hulu, Streaming Services, Entertainment, and Big Tech Companies

Doesn’t it suck when your favorite movies and TV shows get removed from Netflix? 

When Netflix lost Friends at the beginning of the year, fans of the show were really disappointed. But, hey, that’s showbiz. Rights to movies and TV shows get bought, sold, and expire all the time.

But did you know that Netflix has removed movies and TV shows from its service at the demand of foreign governments? Thanks to Netflix’s new efforts to be more transparent, we now know for the first time exactly what content has been removed due to these demands.

According to Netflix’s 2019 Environmental Social Governance report, the company has removed nine titles in its streaming history in compliance with government takedown demands. The takedowns all occurred between 2015 and 2020. Read more…

More about Movies, Netflix, Transparency Report, Streaming Services, and Governments

Known Twitter-porn fan Ted Cruz is upset about something on the internet. Or, more specifically, someone. 

The Texas senator and official beard boy signed a letter yesterday addressed to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey complaining about the presence of certain unsavory characters on the social media platform. It seems that Cruz wants Dorsey to kick both Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif off Twitter. 

Cruz, along with three other Republican signatories, argues that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to Khamenei (it doesn’t actually apply to any “speech” on Twitter as Twitter is a private company), and that if Twitter doesn’t get its shit together and remove the Ayatollah from its platform then there will be issues.  Read more…

More about Twitter, Iran, Ted Cruz, Tech, and Big Tech Companies