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Some people possess an innate talent for finding gifts on a budget. No matter the occasion (Christmas, anniversary, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day) or recipient (wife, husband, boyfriend, teens, in-laws), they somehow nail it every time — winning the unofficial "best gift-giver" award among those who are lucky to know them. If you're not the most intuitive gift-giver, fear not. We've put together a list of the best gift ideas for under $50, from expected-but-useful stocking stuffers to cool

ChatGPT Images doesn’t roll off the tongue like Nano Banana, but OpenAI finally has an answer for Google's uber-popular AI image editor. The company's "new flagship image generation model" is available now in ChatGPT Images and in the API under the model name GPT Image 1.5.OpenAI has been on a tear recently, in fact. The company, which was rumored to be in a “code red” state following the launch of Google Gemini 3, launched GPT-5.2 last week. Today, OpenAI continues its counter

The artificial intelligence boom has become truly unavoidable, even for those who don't use AI in their daily lives at all.Case in point: The world of personal computers, especially laptops and smartphones. We're in the midst of a worldwide memory shortage, due in large part to the sudden explosion of AI data centers around the world and their enormous demand for these computer components. That's sparked an ongoing shortage of crucial hardware such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), Samsung

From radroaches to deathclaws, there are a lot of things in Fallout that I'm happy don't exist in real life. But there are several elements of its sci-fi technology that I wouldn't mind having around for day-to-day use. Who wouldn't want a handy-dandy Pip-Boy on their wrist?However, the cast and showrunner of Fallout have their own ideas about what technology they'd steal from the series. SEE ALSO:'Fallout' Season 2 review: Our introduction to New Vegas is a blast, and more relevant than ever
In

SAVE $100: As of Dec. 16, the De'Longhi 15-bar manual espresso machine is on sale for only $99.95 at Amazon. That's a 50% price drop and its lowest cost to date.Opens in a new windowCredit: De'LonghiDe'Longhi 15-Bar Manual Espresso Machine$99.95 at Amazon $199.95 Save $100.00 Get DealMost espresso machines come with major sticker shock, so finding one for under $100 is a huge deal. Whether you're looking for a last-minute gift for less than $100 or you want to treat yourself, this De'Longhi

SAVE $90: On Dec. 16 only, the 15-inch touchscreen Skylight Calendar is on sale for $229.99 as the Best Buy drop of the day. That beats its $249.99 Black Friday price by $20 — get the rare deal in the Best Buy app.Opens in a new windowCredit: SkylightSkylight Calendar 15-inch smart touchscreen calendar and chore chart$229.99 $319.99 Save $90Find savings in the Best Buy appGet DealThe best gift for a parent is ultimately the gift of less chaos. You could buy them AirTags, offer to watc

SAVE $100.01: As of Dec. 16, get the Shark Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo for $599.98, down from its usual price of $699.99 at Amazon. That's a discount of 14%. Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonShark Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo$599.98 at Amazon $699.99 Save $100.01 Get DealHere's one indelible truth: No one enjoys spending all their time cleaning their floors. It's a thankless task, and it's one that always needs to be done if you want to keep a tidy house. Thankfully these days we have robot

SAVE $1,150: The Anker Solix F2000 portable power station is on sale at Amazon for $849, down from the list price of $1,999. That's a 58% discount.Opens in a new windowCredit: Anker SolixAnker Solix F2000 portable power station$849 at Amazon $1,999 Save $1,150 Get DealWinter officially arrives in just a few days. But you've probably already been feeling cool temps and dealing with seasonal storms. If high winds, torrential rains, or ice storms threaten a power outage, there's a better way c

SAVE $400: As of Dec. 16, the TCL 85-inch T7 QLED 4K TV is on sale for only $999.97 at Amazon. That's nearly 30% off its list price of $1,399.99 and matches its Black Friday cost.Opens in a new windowCredit: TCLTCL 85-inch T7 QLED 4K TV$999.97 at Amazon $1,399.99 Save $400.02 Get DealFrom holiday movies to the Olympics to the NFL playoffs, there's plenty of excuses to snag a new TV this season. Not to mention, it's one of the best times to score a big screen for a big discount.As of Dec. 16

There is probably not a universe where The Housemaid was going to be a "good" movie in any traditional sense. It's based on the trashy Freida McFadden novel of the same name, with a twist suited to a Dateline episode. Still, the adaptation could have been a fun movie, or a good bad movie. But instead, it's another Sydney Sweeney-fronted dud following Madame Web, Eden, and Christy.In adapting McFadden's book, director Paul Feig could have leaned hard into the erotic thriller aspect of the novel,

Stephanie Valentine, also known online as Glamzilla, is passionate about beauty. She loves finding a formula that works and discovering exactly why it does so. She loves hunting down new products, giving her audience her first impression, and diving into the details. The makeup artist and influencer has over one million subscribers on YouTube and Instagram, but it's on TikTok where her content truly shines. With 2.7 million followers on the app, it's no wonder that she was nominated for the

A quick look at the best last-minute gift card dealsUber $100 e-gift card $15.00 at Amazon(save $15)Get Deal PlayStation Store $100 e-gift cardFree $15 Target gift card with purchaseGet DealBlackhawk OC Game & Grub $50 e-gift card (GrubHub, Xbox, Buffalo Wild Wings, more)$42.50(save $7.50 at Staples)Get DealHulu $50 e-gift card$42.50(save $7.50 at Staples)Get Deal
So you just made the connection that Christmas is less than 10 days away and you're scrambling for a good last-minute gift idea.

SAVE $50: As of Dec. 16, get the Anker Soundcore Boom 2 portable speaker for $89.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $139.99. That's a discount of 36%. Whether you've got holiday parties to attend or you're throwing one of your own, music can add some much-needed ambiance to any get-together. This year, bring holiday music and other fun additions wherever you go with an affordable portable Bluetooth speaker that's perfect for spreading holiday cheer. As of Dec. 16, get the Anker Soundcore

GET A FREE $5 STARBUCKS GIFT CARD: Buy a $25 Starbucks gift card and receive a free $5 Starbucks e-gift card while supplies last.Opens in a new windowCredit: StarbucksStarbucks gift cardbuy $25 worth of Starbucks gift cards and receive a free $5 Starbucks e-gift cardGet DealLast week, we were all buzzing with news that Starbucks was releasing more viral Bearista Cups via the app. Fast-forward to today and we're all virtually running around Milan collecting red Starbucks cup in an attempt to win

Oh, you don't want an AI chatbot on your TV? That's too bad, buddy, because you're getting one. Well, if you have an LG smart TV, at least. Tech site Tom's Hardware spotted that users began complaining that a recent software update to LG TVs included the addition of Microsoft Copilot and it could not be deleted. The complaints first surfaced on Reddit's r/mildlyinfuriating, which feels right. The post has racked up some 36,000 upvotes and thousands of comments, most of which expressed annoyance.

Food delivery can get tricky in the wee hours of the night.That was the case in McCracken County, Kentucky earlier in December for one couple, anyway. According to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office, a local husband and wife ordered delivery via DoorDash "shortly after midnight," but when they started eating the food, they experienced burning sensations in their noses and mouths. A glance at security doorbell footage revealed that the Dasher had sprayed a substance on the food before handin

After an unprofitable 2025, it might be the end of an era for iRobotRoombas, as we know them, might cease to exist at this time next year. It sounds like iRobot is planning on continuing the product line under Picea ownership, but we don't know when the next new Roombas can be expected. Here's how we got here.SEE ALSO:How to make your robot vacuum work better: 3 setup tips to do right now
Amazon and iRobot called it quits with their pending acquisition back in 2024, and things have only gone dow

The first-ever U.S. TikTok Awards are officially taking over Hollywood on Dec. 18, 2025 — and Mashable will be on the red carpet and inside the venue, covering the night as it unfolds in real time.Designed to honor the creators, trends, and cultural moments that defined TikTok this year, the show marks the platform’s biggest attempt yet to turn internet virality into a full-scale awards spectacle. Think: the For You Page, but live, loud, and happening all at once at the Hollywood Pal

SAVE $50: As of Dec. 16, the Sonos Era 100 is on sale for $169 at Amazon and other retailers. That's about 22% off the full list price of $219 and matches its Black Friday price.Opens in a new windowCredit: SonosSonos Era 100$169 at Amazon $219 Save $50 Get DealWith the exception of Black Friday, Sonos doesn't offer many big discounts on its products throughout the year. So when you see a good price, you should snag it. For instance, now's the time to grab the Sonos Era 100, as it's on sale

Pornhub suffered a hack of information related to its Premium members and is reportedly being extorted with sensitive member data, according to the tech site BleepingComputer. The porn company confirmed the hack with a statement on the support section of its website. Wrote the company: "A recent cybersecurity incident involving Mixpanel, a third-party data analytics provider, has impacted some Pornhub Premium users. Specifically, this situation affects only select Premium users. It is important

SAVE $50: As of Dec. 16, get the Oral-B iO Electric Toothbrush for $59.99, down from its usual price of $109.99, at Amazon. That's a discount of 45%. Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonOral-B iO Electric Toothbrush$59.99 at Amazon $109.99 Save $50.00 Get DealIf a whiter smile and cleaner teeth are important to you, you're not alone. Lots of folks would love to improve their oral hygiene, and that's something simple you can do by swapping out your toothbrush. Our recommendation? Toss the man

SAVE $600: The Roborock Saros 10R is on sale at Amazon for $999.99, down from the list price of $1,599.99. That's a 38% discount that matches the record low.Opens in a new windowCredit: RoborockRoborock Saros 10R$999.99 at Amazon $1,599.99 Save $600 Get DealTis the season to get behind on household chores. It's hard enough to stay on top of cleaning during non-holiday periods, but now it seems quite nearly impossible. There's glitter on the living room floor, flour on the kitchen floor, and

Zoom Video Communications, the company best known for keeping remote workers connected during the pandemic, announced last week that it had achieved the highest score ever recorded on one of artificial intelligence's most demanding tests — a claim that sent ripples of surprise, skepticism, and genuine curiosity through the technology industry.The San Jose-based company said its AI system scored 48.1 percent on the Humanity's Last Exam, a benchmark designed by subject-matter experts worldwi

Zencoder, the Silicon Valley startup that builds AI-powered coding agents, released a free desktop application on Monday that it says will fundamentally change how software engineers interact with artificial intelligence — moving the industry beyond the freewheeling era of "vibe coding" toward a more disciplined, verifiable approach to AI-assisted development.The product, called Zenflow, introduces what the company describes as an "AI orchestration layer" that coordinates multiple AI agent

It has become increasingly clear in 2025 that retrieval augmented generation (RAG) isn't enough to meet the growing data requirements for agentic AI.RAG emerged in the last couple of years to become the default approach for connecting LLMs to external knowledge. The pattern is straightforward: chunk documents, embed them into vectors, store them in a database, and retrieve the most similar passages when queries arrive. This works adequately for one-off questions over static documents. But the ar

The dating app Coffee Meets Bagel found a few contradictions in its first Dating Realness Report — which seems to sum up dating in 2025.Over nine in 10 daters are looking for something serious, according to a survey of over 1,000 21-35 year-olds in the U.S. (who are working professionals either actively looking for a relationship or aren't actively searching but are open to one). Specifically, 61 percent are seeking a spouse, and 31 percent are looking for a long-term partner. But 93 perce

If you don't play Roblox, your introduction to the online virtual world might be through less-than-stellar stories in news outlets about the company's legal woes due to child safety issues. Roblox is quickly making moves to address that and looking at the company's 2025 user data, it's easy to see why that's the case: Roblox is extremely popular among young people.As Roblox previously boasted, half of the U.S. population under the age of 16 were on the platform. A whopping 151 million users logi

Post-apocalyptic shows give me a sense of both anxiety and calm.Anxiety because, obviously, the world has ended. When I think of anxiety-inducing things to put on screen, societal collapse and environmental destruction are tough to beat. The calm, on the other hand, comes from knowing that as bad as things get in the show, at least it's just that: a show. There is no zombie fungus out to get me like in The Last of Us, no alien virus hive mind like in Pluribus, no Arctic volcano-mega tsunami-nucl

As enterprises accelerate the deployment of LLMs and agentic workflows, they are hitting a critical infrastructure bottleneck: the container base images powering these applications are riddled with inherited security debt. Echo, an Israeli startup, is announcing a $35 million in Series A funding today (bringing its to-date total to $50 million in funding) to fix this by fundamentally reimagining how cloud infrastructure is built.The round was led by N47, with participation from Notable Capital,

With the first two films in the Avatar franchise, Cameron delivered a glorious new sci-fi world I adored getting lost in. I went gaga for every new piece of Pandoran flora and fauna the films introduced. Bioluminescent trees? Stunning. Floating mountains? Sign me up. Benevolent space whales? I think I'm in love.These wondrous creations came to life through groundbreaking technology, much of it, like Avatar: The Way of Water's underwater motion capture, completely new as well. That's a lot of "ne

SAVE $31.60: Pokémon TCG's Mega Venusaur ex Premium Collection is just $46.39 at TCGplayer, a massive $31.60 less than Amazon's current price tag of $77.99.Opens in a new windowCredit: The Pokémon CompanyMega Venusaur ex Premium Collection$46.39 at TCGplayer $77.99 Save $31.60 Get DealYou can't beat that feeling of trust when buying from an online retailer you know. Amazon is a solid example thanks to its next-day Prime delivery, but they're not always the cheapest. The proble

SAVE $36.33: The Lugia ex & Latios ex Premium Collection is $62.99 on TCGplayer. That's $36.33 cheaper than Amazon's current $99.32 listing, showing the sorry state of big box retailer inflated pricing.Opens in a new windowCredit: The Pokémon CompanyLugia ex & Latios ex Premium Collection$62.99 at TCGplayer $99.32 Save $36.33 Get DealPokémon TCG has a pricing problem in 2025, and it's not just scalpers and stock shortages causing the problem. Big box retailers such as

MARKET VALUE: Pokémon TCG's Destined Rivals Booster Bundle is currently $58.29 on Amazon, which is down to market value when compared to TCGplayer listings starting at $58.49.Opens in a new windowCredit: The Pokémon CompanyDestined Rivals Booster Bundle$58.29 at Amazon $65.88 Save $7.59 Get DealDestined Rivals is the best-looking set to collect in the Scarlet and Violet era, in my opinion. While Journey Together brought back Trainer Pokémon, Destined Rivals nailed it by

TL;DR: iBUYPOWER is offering an an extra discount on any RDY Prebuilt PC with code 12DEALS. This is part of its 12 Deals of Christmas promotion that's running until Dec. 24.Opens in a new windowCredit: iBUYPOWERiBUYPOWER 12 Deals of Christmas: Save extra with 12DEALS Get Deal'Tis the season to treat yourself to some sleek new tech for the holidays. If a PC upgrade has been on your mind, iBUYPOWER is holding a 12 Deals of Christmas sale event until Dec. 24. This event features 24-hour Flash

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're constantly changing.If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.SEE ALSO:Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO:NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for December 16, 2025
Where did Wordle come from?Originally created by

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're a good judge of character.Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, wo

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you're a film buff.Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through ea

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you know your defunct football.As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans. Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we've served up some hints and tips to get you o