Climate change activist Greta Thunberg graciously let Critters 3 star Leonardo DiCaprio post an Instagram pic with her on Friday.

DiCaprio, who also dabbles in climate activism, praised Thunberg in the post as a “leader of our time” and called upon world leaders to take her message seriously. He also called out the initiative Fridays for Future, which tracks and promotes climate strikes around the world.

More about Instagram, Social Media, Leonardo Dicaprio, Greta Thunberg, and Culture

Alexa Answers is somehow turning out even worse than expected. 

The program, launched in September, gives any idiot off the streets of the U.S. the chance to answer real questions posed to Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant by actual people. As any thinking internet user might have expected, just over a month into the service those answers range from unintentionally inaccurate, to deliberate trolling, to calculated misinformation. 

According to Amazon, here’s how Alexa Answers is supposed to work: “Discover questions Alexa doesn’t have an answer for, submit your own and share them with the world.” Read more…

More about Amazon, Alexa, Smart Assistants, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

The trick-or-treating is done. The jack-o-lanterns have been tossed. The office party was fine. Now, there’s only one post-Halloween task to take care of: your beautiful surplus of candy.

Candy is good, so having a lot of it is not necessarily a problem. But if you have “too much” candy, you have a few options for getting rid of it without causing unnecessary waste.

That being said, extra candy corn can go directly in the trash.

Donate it

Some nonprofit organizations seek out candy donations after Halloween, including Operation Gratitude and a few local chapters of the Ronald McDonald House.

You can also call shelters, schools, and nursing homes in your area to see if they’re accepting candy donations. Be sure to give them advance notice, though — if they don’t want candy, showing up unannounced with an enormous bag of candy is not the move. Read more…

More about Halloween, Candy, Culture, Web Culture, and Food

Maybe giving the U.S. president unfettered and relatively unregulated access to Twitter was a terrible idea?

A Saturday morning report from the New York Times comes with the chilling takeaway that savvy social media users outside the U.S. are gaming President Donald Trump’s Twitter habits. It’s an alarming prospect for anyone who treasures America’s continued independence – including the famously controlling president himself.

Trump’s habit of retweeting ideas he agrees with has strengthened the platforms, and therefore the influence, of what the report’s headline describes as “conspiracy-mongers, racists, and spies.” The NYT‘s deep-dive looks at the president’s 11,000-plus tweets, as well as the 47 accounts he follows and the accounts he’s retweeted. Read more…

More about Facebook, Twitter, Donald Trump, Tech, and Social Media Companies

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Tesla over alleged battery defects that have reportedly led to fires in the Model S and Model X.

On Oct. 24, the agency sent a letter informing Tesla that it planned to open a defect petition requesting that “certain battery management system software updates” be evaluated in Model S and Model X vehicles sold between 2012 to 2019 in the United States. It also requested information about those updates, as well as details on consumer complaints, lawsuits, and claims related to the alleged defects.

More about Tesla, Tech, Transportation, and Big Tech Companies

Don’t have an iPhone but still lusting after Apple’s newest AirPods? You’re probably not alone, though you might want to think twice before you sink $249 of your hard-earned cash into them. 

But, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re seriously considering it anyway. The good news: AirPods Pro definitely work with Android. The bad news? There might be a few hiccups. 

First, it should go without saying, but you’ll never get the same functionality with AirPods on Android. AirPods are meant to be used with iPhones and iOS. And unlike Apple’s Beats headphones, which have an Android app to make up for some of the functionality iOS users get automatically, Apple has no such solution for non-iOS AirPods users.  Read more…

More about Tech, Android, Airpods, Airpods Pro, and Tech

Money matters aside, sometimes there’s a gadget or gizmo you just have to have. For some, it’s the latest and greatest tech. For others, it’s a hyped-up product on Instagram. We’re not here to judge; we think you should treat yourself.

We’re in the final quarter of the year and you’ve worked your butt off. Get yourself something nice. Here are 15 sweet deals that will have you saying, “take my money.”

Ryze Tech Tello Quadcopter Iron Man Edition Powered by DJI

Learn to fly and feed your Marvel obsession with this Iron Man-inspired drone. You can capture perfectly stabilized 720p HD video and 5MP photos, plus explore the Avengers world with the immersive app. Plus, thanks to intelligent flight modes and aerial safety, even beginners can get in on it. Read more…

More about Tech, Gadgets, Lifestyle, Mashable Shopping, and Culture

Forget the Avengers — the most ambitious crossover in (beauty guru) history just broke the internet. 

Vlogger turned documentarian Shane Dawson and vlogger turned makeup maven Jeffree Star launched Conspiracy, a collaborative makeup collection, through Morphe on Friday. Dawson, known for his series of lengthy profiles on various YouTubers, began posting episodes of a new series called The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star. The five-part series turned out not to be another documentary, but a drawn out marketing campaign for their joint collection. They announced the collection in an hour-long finale on Wednesday, documenting the production process. Read more…

More about Shane Dawson, Jeffree Star, Shopify, Culture, and Web Culture

It’s a match made in data heaven.

After days of rumors, Google announced Friday that it would be acquiring wearables pioneer FitBit for $2.1 billion. In an industry where warring tech giants are battling for user loyalty, it’s a big deal. 

“It’s not every day a deal like this happens,” Forrester analyst Frank Gillett told Mashable over the phone.

The acquisition could have far-reaching ripples in business, showing that Google is seriously ready to compete with Apple in health and wearables, and up its presence in our lives wherever we go. But, if you’re a FitBit user, what does it mean for you? Read more…

More about Google, Data, Fitbit, Tech, and Health

Apple is a notorious Black-Friday-skipper. When it comes to great deals directly from the company: Zip. Nada. You’re not going to find much of anything. 

But because they list so many of their products with major retailers (ieWalmart, Amazon, Best Buy — you know, the usual suspects), those sellers are able to offer some pretty sweet opportunities for you to get the Apple device you’ve always wanted. Well, the older ones at least. Don’t expect to see an iPhone 11 Lightning Deal at any point.

Thanks to the team at BestBlackFriday.com, we have some insights on what we might see this year in terms of doorbuster deals on Apple products (note that Apple never does an official “ad preview,” so these are mostly educated guesses using data from years prior — aka good data!).  Read more…

More about Apple, Iphone, Macbook, Black Friday, and Mashable Shopping