Everything Amazon’s Alexa learned to do in 2017

Amazon’s Alexa is leading the AI assistant pack. Echo devices are dominating smart speaker sales, and that was before Amazon brought the devices to more than 80 nations around the world. To defend its crown, Amazon moved fast this year to outpace competitors like Google Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana.
Apple’s delayed HomePod is due out next year, while Samsung and Facebook are also reportedly planning to debut smart speakers.
It can be challenging to keep up with all the fea

Today is International Moon Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the role the Moon has played in our understanding of space. Held each year on July 20, the event commemorates the historic Apollo 11 mission and the first time humans set foot on the Moon.Keep reading to see what you can spot on the Moon's surface tonight.What is today’s Moon phase?As of Monday, July 20, NASA's Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon phase is in Waxing Crescent phase, with 38% of its surface visible. You wo

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine. There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from pr

Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you watch American 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 ove

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.Released in August 2025, 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 on to 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 each

When Sam Reid first sat down with Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko, they dug into the first three episodes of The Vampire Lestat, focusing on the Brat Prince's perspective on his makers and female fledglings. Now, in a post-mortem interview, he's dug into the season's mind-snapping finale, the Failure Finders, what's next for Lestat, and why Paul de Pointe du Lac (Steven G. Norfleet) makes a surprise appearance. In episode 7, titled "The Failures," Lestat faces the long tabl

Early on in The Vampire Lestat's first season, the eponymous anti-hero mentions a formatively traumatic moment that we finally see in full in the finale, titled "The Failures." When Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) was just a boy, his mother, Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle), took him to see their neighbors burn alleged witches alive. In the final episode of this season, Lestat finally stops deflecting about what this moment meant. At the long table, before the Failure Finders, he confronts his rese

As promised from the first glimpse of the aspiring rock star Brat Prince, The Vampire Lestat has been a wild ride. The third season of Rolin Jones' Interview with the Vampire was a chaotic odyssey led by Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), as he reconnected with his long-lost love Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), antagonized his documentarian Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), faced the wrath of his departed daughter Claudia (Delainey Hayles), taunted his ex Armand (Assad Zaman), hooked up with

With The Vampire Lestat, Interview with a Vampire fans witnessed Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) pursue his rock star ambitions in a bloody and wild tour across North America. In real life, Reid got a taste of the attention his character craves with The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only - LIVE. As advertised, Reid performed songs from The Vampire Lestat — written by Daniel Hart — before a live audience for one night only. Mashable was there. In my review of the event, I wrote,

After much fucking about, Lestat hit his find out era. In episode 7, titled "The Failures," while a decapitated Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) is tortured by a bitter Armand (Assad Zaman), Lestat is forced to face his past. We finally see the long table teased all season long in the opening credits.Earlier this year, Reid came by Mashable's studio for a Say More interview, where he talked Claudia, Magnus, and much more. Now, he and Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko reconnected

Well, when it came to predicting how Season 1 of The Vampire Lestat would end, I was way, way off.Show creator Rolin Jones went way off-book from Anne Rice's source material, crafting a fascinating, mind-bending finale. While the decapitated Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) had to face his ex-lover Armand (Assad Zaman), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) had to face the long table and its Failure Finders.Thankfully, both survived their brushes with death. But in the finale's final scene, Lest

Just two episodes after Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) threw a nauseating rat banquet, House of the Dragon upped its gross food game with another disgusting feast.The feast shows up in Season 3, episode 5, which reveals that Ormund Hightower (James Norton) has been bankrolling the murders of Gold Cloaks across King's Landing. By the episode's end, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and Ser Luthor Largent (Tom Cullen) have killed one man who was involved in the killings, and who claims he was

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you love the water.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 July 20, 2026
Where did Wordle come from?Originally created by engineer Jo

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you come in a small package.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, word or

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you like a good drink.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 the e

Rhaenyra's Small Council in House of the Dragon is growing larger by the day.The latest addition? Lady Sabitha Frey (Sarah Woodward), who appears to have been given a position mostly to compensate for Rhaenyra not giving her the already-promised Harrenhal."I had hoped a seat on the Small Council would suffice as recompense for House Frey's loyalty," Rhaenyra says, power-walking her way through the halls of the Red Keep."But Harrenhal was to be our recompense, payment for giving your Winter Wolve

All men must die, but apparently that goes double if you're wearing a gold cloak.House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 5 sees an already-embattled Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) contending with a new threat from inside King's Landing: The systematic murder of her City Watch, who are having their throats and bowels slashed open at an alarming rate.So, who is doing it, and why? Let's unpack.SEE ALSO:'House of the Dragon' Season 3 family tree: How the Targaryens, Hightowers, and Velaryons connect
What happ

There's a rich tradition of characters coming back from the dead in the House of the Dragon universe.We've already seen it happen with Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint), but now it appears that the Battle of the Gullet has unclaimed yet another victim.So, who else didn't die, and how did they make it out alive?SEE ALSO:'House of the Dragon' Season 3 family tree: How the Targaryens, Hightowers, and Velaryons connect
What happens with Tyland Lannister in Season 3, episode 5?After giving Aegon (Tom Gly

TL;DR: Live stream Spain vs. Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final for free on BBC iPlayer or ITVX. Access these free streaming platforms from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN, an Official Supporter of the FIFA World Cup 2026.The 2026 FIFA World Cup has delivered weeks of electric entertainment. We've had controversy, moments of ecstasy, and incredibly displays of talent from the best players in the world. And now we're down to the final, where Spain and Argentina will battle it out fo

The FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina is living up to the hype. And to add to the festivities was a fun but odd sight in the world of association football: a halftime show.Soccer is normally a brisk sport, but with this edition of the World Cup being co-hosted in the US (the first World Cup in the US since 1994), it's fallen into the American Sports Entertainment Vortex™. Which isn't a bad thing, minus the universal dislike for the hydration breaks, which many commentators h

TL;DR: Chipotle is giving away 100,000 free entrées during the 2026 World Cup final on July 19. During the match’s second hydration break, fans can watch a video on Chipotle’s Instagram, grab the code revealed at the end, and text it to 888-222 for a chance to claim free food.Chipotle is bringing some free food to the biggest football match of the summer. During the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday, July 19, the restaurant chain will give away 100,000 free entrée offers a

We're not sure why exactly, but we're the midst of a flurry of national food days. Fresh from National French Fry Day and National Hot Dog Day, it's now time to celebrate National Ice Cream Day. We're not in the business of picking favorites, but come on. We'll whisper it quietly, but this is our favorite. Not only is this ice cream we're talking about, but the free deals and limited-time promotions are elite.Sunday, July 19, is National Ice Cream Day. We're already seeing special offers from Ta

An artificial intelligence program used to classify prisoners' security levels in Ontario jails is disproportionately placing Black prisoners in maximum-security conditions, according to an investigation published by The Breach and a class action lawsuit filed against the province. The reporting, by journalist Desmond Cole, examined the Security Assessment for Evaluating Risk (SAFER) tool, which has been used in Ontario jails since 2021 to assign prisoners a risk score based on factors including

TL;DR: Sign up for a 7-day free trial of Apple TV+ through Prime Video Channels to watch select F1 races for free. Watch the Belgian GP for free with the Prime Video app.Opens in a new windowCredit: AmazonApple TV Prime Video ChannelWatch the Belgian GP for free with a 7-day trialShop NowThis season of F1 is strange for a number of reasons. The new regulations continue to result in a lot of uncertainty, which can lead to unpredictable racing. That's what we all want as fans, but even though ever