Technology news

The countdown to the midterm elections on Nov. 6th is ticking. And while you were busy recovering from Halloween party hangovers this weekend, Will Ferrell was out there rocking the vote.
The actor and comedian was spotted in Georgia over the past few days knocking on doors in support of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who's sparking a lot of hope for a liberal shift in the traditionally red state. SEE ALSO: How to follow the 2018 midterms without losing your sanity
Aside

At a price typically reserved for semiconductor companies, telecoms, and pharmaceutical giants, IBMannounced today it would pay a record $34 billion in cash and debt to acquire enterprise open source provider Red Hat. Eclipsing Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, this is the biggest software acquisition in history. It’s not the biggest tech acquisition ever, though, as that title belongs to Dell’s $67 billion buyout of data storage business EMC.
You can learn abo

Of the 161 volcanoes found in the United States, 18 of them are considered a "very high" threat in any eruption scenario.
That's a stat from the "2018 update to the U.S. Geological Survey national volcanic threat assessment." As the mouthful of a title suggests, the report lays out which volcanoes in the U.S. have the greatest chance of erupting. The last such report from the USGS was issued in 2005.
SEE ALSO: Volcanoes, ranked
At the top of the list, unsurprisingly, is Hawaii's Kilauea, which c

IBM announced this afternoon that it will acquire open-source software company Red Hat for $34 billion. The deal will help IBM expand its reach as an enterprise cloud computing provider.Red Hat describes itself as a leading provider of open source software and services for enterprise customers, focusing on cloud computing and Linux servers. In 2012, it became the first company providing open-source software to surpass $1 billion in revenue. It will now become a part of IBM’s Hybrid Cloud

Joe Jonas won hearts and Halloween itself on Saturday night with one of the best one-sided couple costumes we've ever seen.
Going as the ultimate stan of his bride-to-be, Sophie Turner, Jonas attended a costume party dressed as Sansa Stark, her Game of Thrones character. Meanwhile, the actress behind Sansa went as... an elephant. Perfection.
SEE ALSO: Maisie Williams will be Sophie Turner's bridesmaid because Stark sisters stick together
In case the iconic red wig wasn't a dead giveaway, Jonas e

After rumors flew around this weekend, IBM today confirmed that it would acquire open source, cloud software business Red Hat for $190 per share in cash, working out to a total value of $34 billion. IBM said the deal has already been approved by the boards of directors of both IBM and Red Hat but is still subject to Red Hat shareholder and regulatory approvals. If all goes as planned, the acquisition is expected to close in the latter half of 2019.
The deal is all about IBM, which has long

A baby kangaroo is safe, thanks to the quick actions of two Australian police officers who waded into the surf to pull the young marsupial from the waves.
The rescue happened Saturday afternoon at Safety Beach in Victoria, where local police responded to reports of a young kangaroo in the water. 
SEE ALSO: These X-rays of zoo animals are extraordinarily creepy
They said it had already made its way out of the waves by the time they arrived, and they were attempting to contain it while waitin

Do us favor and check how many emails are in your inbox. 
A couple dozen? A couple hundred? A couple thousand? Regardless of the number, we can all agree that managing your bustlin' inbox is easier said than done. We cringe at the tought of how many times we've waited months to reply to someone sitting in our inbox.
SEE ALSO: 8 of the best wireless keyboards to keep your desk neat and tidy
You're not aloneStudies show the average worker gets approximately 200 messages per day and spends two

A group of Muslim activists is stepping up to help in the wake of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday. 
One day after the shooting, the group has raised more than $50,000 (and counting) through a crowdfunding campaign to help the victims of the shooting and their families.
SEE ALSO: Trump's indefensible response to the synagogue shooting draws outrage
"Through this campaign, we hope to send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that&nb

We have a hard time imagining the Mother of Dragons doing anything frivolous, between needing to reclaim her throne and save Westeros from White Walkers and all.
But apparently, when Emilia Clarke wasn’t raining down fire and blood in her Game of Thrones auditions all those years ago, she was showing off her dance moves.
SEE ALSO: Emilia Clarke just got the best 'Game of Thrones' tattoo
During a speech from showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' at the Britannia Awards on Friday, Oct. 2

Donald Trump did more than just play the victim-blaming game after Saturday's horrific synagogue shooting. He also abandoned an umbrella as he climbed aboard Air Force One.
In a clip that quickly went viral, Trump is seen walking up the stairs leading to his presidential jet, umbrella in hand. As he reaches the door, Trump's hand drops lower and lower until the umbrella is scraping the floor. Seconds later, he ditches it entirely and disappears into the plane.Unbelievable — Trump doesn't k

For the past six years, Information is Beautiful has hosted awards for the best data visualizations and interactive stories. The organization recently announced the shortlist for the 2018 awards (winners will be announced on December 4th), which run the gamut from the psychological effects of movie genres to how spring is arriving earlier and earlier. Check out some of our favorites below, and be sure to look up the rest here. Image: Alberto Lucas López, National Geographic
Frames of Min

In August, an iOS 12 developer beta seemed to confirm rumors that the next iPad Pro would ship with ultra-thin bezels, and without a home button. Now, a new icon spotted by 9to5Mac seems to further confirm the redesign.This new icon, which 9to5Mac says is found within iOS, provides a much better look at the upcoming device, showing off thin bezels, rounded corners, no notch, and no home button. The icon also shows off a the volume buttons on the side, with a sleep/wake button on the top. The si

I first saw Hasan Minhaj, creator of Netflix’s Patriot Act, in the fall of 2015. He was performing the early version of Homecoming King, which would become a groundbreaking Netflix special, at the 179-seat Cherry Lane Theater in the West Village. The audience was half-full, a respectable Thursday turnout, and a house manager came over to me and my friends and asked if we’d like to move up and sit in the front row. 
For the next hour-plus, Minhaj spoke directly to us, as he does

Many Burning Man art projects — the good, the bad, and the ugly — have the same origin story. Invariably, one of the 70,000 attendees at the noncommercial desert festival start a conversation with the words "wouldn't it be great if ..." 
The Big Imagination project began that way too — and grew into a group that raised and spent just short of $1 million to bring a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet (or rather, 3/4 of one) to Burning Man this year. But the final execution of its plan was

It appears that one platform Fallout 76 won’t appear on is the Nintendo Switch. The game was first announced back in June for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC, but during a panel at an Australian convention this weekend, Bethesda executive Pete Hines noted that while the studio considered the console, it just “wasn’t doable.”
During the panel, Hines said that the Switch “is part of every conversation with dev we have now about what we’re doing going forward because

China’s first attempt to reach orbit via a private launch company failed yesterday. On Beijing-based startup LandSpace attempted the first launch of its three-stage Zhuque-1 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gobi desert, and while the rocket successfully lifted off, it failed to reach orbit.In a post to Chinese microblogging site Weibo (via The Financial Times), LandSpace says that while the launch was successful, an error occurred during the third stage, and the rocket f

It can be difficult to find time to finish a video game, especially if you only have a few hours a week to play. In our biweekly column Short Play we suggest video games that can be started and finished in a weekend.
Midnight Scenes is a series of short, spooky games that feels like an interactive take on The Twilight Zone. Developed by Octavi Navarro, who also made The Librarian, the games capture the feel of the TV series with the same iconic black-and-white aesthetic and similar settings and

Gab, the self-described "free speech social media platform" that's provided a home for people like the suspect in Pittsburgh's synagogue shooting (as well as a lineup of noteworthy racists), is losing support.
PayPal has banned Gab, while hosting company Joyent has reportedly given the site until Monday, Oct. 29 to find a new home. Stripe, another well-known online payment service, is also apparently in the process of severing its relationship with the site. 
SEE ALSO: Please understand: Co

The iPhone XR teardown is in.
The repair experts at iFixit have put Apple's latest iPhone to the test and shared their findings. Though the phone is similar in many ways to Apple's new flagships, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, there are a few important differences.
SEE ALSO: iPhone XR review: For once, cheaper is better
All in all, iFixit rated the iPhone XR a 6/10 in repairability, which is the same score given to the iPhone XS and and iPhone XS Max. But though they were rated the same, the t

Apple may have announced a whole slew of new hardware in September, but the Cupertino company isn’t done yet: Apple has a second event on Tuesday, October 30th, where it’s expected to announce new iPad Pros, an updated MacBook Air, and more.Here’s everything we’re expecting to see:
New iPad Pros
The main star of Tuesday’s event is expected to be a pair of new iPad Pros, which are getting completely overhauled with a new design. It’s the iPad equivalent of the

Hours after Paypal confirmed that it had suspended social network platform Gab, two additional companies have informed the site that they plan to suspend their services: payment processing site Stripe, and cloud hosting company Joyent.Last night, Gab posted a screenshot of a notification from Joyent, which says that it “received notice of breach of the Joyent Terms of Service,” and that it would suspend the site as of 9:00AM ET on Monday, October 29th. Gab says that it will “l

If you’ve been on Twitter in the past week, you may have seen this bewildering wing menu. I saw it a few days ago, and it has consumed my thoughts in every unoccupied moment since. We know nothing of where it came from or why, although it’s probably safe to assume it’s a wing place.
theres gotta be a better way to convey this information pic.twitter.com/pHEswDU0TC— sean (@seanposting) October 21, 2018It’s weird, of course — just set a price per wing! —

One bright summer morning four years ago, two park rangers set off hiking up a dormant Alaskan volcano. 
But like a light switch, the weather changed.
Vicious winds brought frigid, sideways rain. It didn't relent. Usually dry ditches transformed into swiftly flowing creeks, and the rivers grew higher. 
The rangers found rocky shelter to wait out the storm, but one foolish ranger — ill-equipped with cotton socks that day — experienced both an immeasurably miserable and nearl

It's that time of the year again, folks — that serene, short period before the hectic holiday shopping season where your wallet still feels comfortably padded, and your bank statement shows a balance with multiple zeros. 
Willing to part with a few of those precious dollars? You're in luck: For a limited time, you'll find the following nine gadgets, gizmos, and gifts on sale at too-good-to-pass-up discounts in the Mashable Shop. Plus, enter the coupon code BOO15 to save an extra

After all the huffing, puffing, canvassing, and hand-wringing, the 2018 midterm elections are nearly here. Now it's time to hunker down and prep for election night, leaving just one question: how can we make it through our first post-Trump national election without losing our sanity?
SEE ALSO: 10 political podcasts to help you keep your sanity before the midterms
We're still suffering from New York Times needle-related flashbacks thanks to that tense November night two years ago, and things cert

It sure is a good time to be a gamer. 
With the release of consoles that support 4K resolution and HDR graphics, coupled with the mainstream affordability of big-screen TVs, the gaming experience has never been better. But as any serious gamer knows, it’s important to know what to look for when choosing a television that’s going to pair well with your gaming experience. Sure, size matters (insert crude joke here), but so do things like input lag, response time, picture quality,

It's Troll Week on Mashable. Join us as we explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of internet trolling. We all want to believe that our neighbors are pure beings who can do no wrong, but often that's really not the case. With so many people living in a single area, there will always be a few one-offs who stick out for all the strangest reasons.
But with the Nextdoor app, you can keep track of all of the important things that happen in your neighborhood, like how strongly your neighbors fee