YouTube videos won't play right now, and maybe that's for the best

What in the world are Flat Earthers going to do?

Everyone's second-favorite radicalization engine came crashing to a halt late Wednesday afternoon as YouTube videos refused to play. The website itself loads just fine, but videos only display error messages when users attempt to play them. 

According to DownDetector, which is owned by Mashable parent company Ziff Davis, reports of problems with YouTube started pouring in around 3:44 p.m. PT.

"If you're having trouble watching videos on YouTube right now, you're not alone – our team is aware of the issue and working on a fix," explained a YouTube spokesperson. "We'll follow up here [on Twitter] with any updates." Read more...

More about Google, Youtube, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3lrBQx4
via IFTTT

Google warns Google Drive users: Use it, or lose your files

It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your files are?

Google announced a new storage policy Wednesday governing user accounts, and while most of the resulting headlines focused of a new price tag for Google Photos, an important change went mostly overlooked. Notably, going forward, Google says that if you don't check in on your Google Drive files every now and then, it may delete them. 

Google frames this change as a way to tidy up abandoned digital detritus, perhaps left over from long-forgotten accounts. Which, maybe, sure. Or, alternatively, it may be that a Google user simply stored some valuable files away for a while — like one might with physical documents in a fire-proof safe — and simply hasn't peeked at them in a few years.  Read more...

More about Google, Google Drive, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

from Mashable https://ift.tt/35n6ZMj
via IFTTT

Get a Tineco cordless vacuum for $99 as part of Walmart's Black Friday sale

Save $50: The Tineco A10 Dash cordless stick vacuum is on sale at Walmart for $99 starting at 7 p.m. EST Nov. 11 in an early Black Friday deal. 

---

Surprise: you shouldn't have to go over the same spot on your floor a million times in order for your vacuum to actually pick up the mess. Seriously. It should take one or two sweeps and — voilà — you're done. So if cleaning your small living has been taking you hours that never seem to end, it's time for an upgrade. 

Luckily, you're just in time for Black Friday. Well, actually, you're a bit early but time doesn't seem to exist this year because the sales are in full effect — especially at Walmart. (Check out their 2020 deal plans here.)  Read more...

More about Black Friday, Mashable Shopping, Cordless Vacuum, Tech, and Consumer Tech

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3loUPIn
via IFTTT

This Shark IQ robot vacuum is $100 off at Walmart — get it for $199

SAVE $100: Get the Shark IQ Robot Vacuum R100 for only $199 from Walmart starting at 7 p.m. EST Nov. 11 in an early Black Friday deal.  

---

We've said it once and we'll say it again: Vacuuming sucks. Dragging around a big, heavy, loud vacuum to get your floors clean doesn't have to be the norm, since there are so many robot vacuums that can do it for you just as well. This Black Friday (and by that, we mean the entire month of November), you can find awesome deals on robot vacuums that will make your home smarter and cleaner. 

If you haven't heard yet, the second round of Walmart's Deals for Days begins Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. EST, where you'll be able to grab deals like this Shark IQ Robot Vacuum for $100 off. Don't wait if you see something you like — all these low prices are only good while supplies last.  Read more...

More about Black Friday, Robot Vacuums, Mashable Shopping, Tech, and Work Life

from Mashable https://ift.tt/36wco3f
via IFTTT

The new MacBooks don't have HD webcams, so we found a few for you

Read more...

More about Tech, Webcams, Macbooks, Tech, and Consumer Tech

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3kvNeqt
via IFTTT

Facebook argues its own tool showing conservative dominance isn't 'fully representative'

Listen to Facebook, just not a Facebook-owned analytics tool designed to provide insight into Facebook. 

That appears to be the argument made late Tuesday by Facebook's Alex Schultz in a frankly confounding blog post titled "What Do People Actually See on Facebook in the US?" Shultz serves as both Facebook's vice president of analytics and the social media company's chief marketing officer, a combination that perhaps helps explain his bizarre insistence that the Facebook-owned CrowdTangle tool, which consistently shows right-wing links dominating the platform, isn't "fully representative."

CrowdTangle, an analytics tool Facebook makes available to "select Facebook publishing partners," is designed to help users "[benchmark] the performance of [their] social media accounts vs those of [their] peers." Using the tool, for example, you can see which public posts had the most interaction during a certain time period.  Read more...

More about Facebook, Election 2020, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

from Mashable https://ift.tt/36sWlD2
via IFTTT

Apple SVP Craig Federighi is a mood and also a ‘daddy’

While most people are focusing on those new MacBooks with in-house chips that Apple announced on Tuesday, I have yet to move past that delightfully cringey moment brought to us by Apple's software chief Craig Federighi during the livestream.

In an effort to fully demonstrate how the new MacBooks now instantly wake from sleep mode with its latest operating system, MacOS Big Sur, Federighi decided to "set the mood." And by that I mean: The lights dimmed and he awkwardly opened up and stared at the MacBook Air as Barry White's Playing Your Game, Baby played in the background.

My friend immediately texted me saying, "Craig is such a vibe." To which I replied: "That's a nice way of putting it."  Read more...

More about Apple, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, Tech, and Consumer Tech

from Mashable https://ift.tt/38vnd81
via IFTTT

What is MeWe? Everything you need to know about the social network competing with Parler.

Now that you know everything about Parler, the conservative social network that’s currently the number one free app in the App Store, there’s yet another social network popular with Trump supporters that you may want to know about.

It's called MeWe, and it's currently the number two free app in the App Store.

Image: mewe

Here’s everything you need to know about the site competing with Parler for conservatives looking for a new online home.

What is MeWe? 

MeWe is an alternative social networking site that's currently experiencing a surge in new users as Trump supporters search for new platforms in order to avoid Facebook and Twitter. It bills itself as the “next-gen social network” and centers its sales pitch to new users around data privacy and providing an ad-free experience. Read more...

More about Conservative, Social Network, Tech, Social Media Companies, and Politics

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3ljN4n9
via IFTTT

The scariest horror movies on Shudder

Horror movies come in all shapes and sizes.

You've got your comedy horrors, your psychological horrors, your tense thriller-y horrors — and, of course, your genuinely scary horrors.

I'm not just talking about your run-of-the-mill, yikes-that's-a-bit-creepy kind of films, here, either. I'm talking about the truly terror-inducing — the type of movies you wake in the dead of night thinking about, and which stay with you for a long, long time after the credits have rolled. The horribly twitchy, sleep-with-the-lights-on-and-avoid-all-mirrors kind of movies.

Streaming platform Shudder has a lot to offer in this regard. Read more...

More about Horror Movies, Shudder, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3kjYfen
via IFTTT

How to watch Apple's 'One More Thing' event

The wait is almost over — Apple will officially unveil "one more thing" on Tuesday, Nov. 10 via livestream right from Apple Park. For those of you planning to tune in to the event, here's where you can watch.

Starting at 10 a.m. PT, you can stream the keynote right from Apple's website or opt to stream from the company's own YouTube channel. 

If you own an Apple TV device or another smart TV, you can also watch it on the big screen through the Apple TV app.

Apple remains tight-lipped as far as what's going to be announced, exactly. But it's very likely we'll see the company's first Mac with its own silicon. The transition from Intel to an in-house chip was originally announced at WWDC back in June, with a projected launch date towards the end of 2020.  Read more...

More about Apple, Macbook, Silicon, Tech, and Consumer Tech

from Mashable https://ift.tt/32wok3w
via IFTTT

Keep up with climate justice by following these five organizations

What is Parler? Everything you need to know about the conservative social network.

If you look at Apple's App Store charts today, you'll find an app called Parler sitting at the top of the free app category.

Haven't heard of Parler? Let us explain.

What is Parler?

Parler is a social network founded by John Matze and Jared Thomson, two Nevada-based conservative programmers, in 2018. The website bills itself as a “free speech” microblogging alternative to platforms like Twitter.  In the founders' opinions, big tech companies clearly have an anti-conservative bias and censor those views.

Image: Parler

During the summer of 2020, Parler became particularly popular with conservatives and Trump supporters as big social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter cracked down on misinformation. Users falsely claimed that new rules were targeting conservatives and that they'd been silenced.  Read more...

More about Donald Trump, Conservative, Tech, Politics, and Social Media Companies

from Mashable https://ift.tt/2UbBXRq
via IFTTT

Here's how many Trump posts have been flagged for misinformation since Election Day

Donald Trump likes to blame "Big Tech" for having it out for him. In reality, in response to reports that link social media to the spread of dangerous misinformation, both Twitter and Facebook were forced to implement new policies around the 2020 election to quell a problem of Trump's own making.

And boy, do his feeds — where practically every other post has been flagged for violating these new policies — reflect exactly how badly we needed those policies.

Over the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Trump had been making false, completely unsubstantiated claims around widespread voter fraud, as well as accusing the Democrats of rigging or stealing the election with absolutely zero evidence. Concerned that allowing Trump to spread blatant lies that cast doubt on the perfectly legitimate results of a democratic election would incite more unrest or even violence in America, those social platforms prepared by instituting new policies around flagging disputed claims and misinformation. Read more...

More about Facebook, Twitter, Donald Trump, Misinformation, and 2020 Presidential Election

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3eQBFsJ
via IFTTT

Miley Cyrus banger 'Party in the U.S.A.' returns to the charts after Biden-Harris win

Need some tunes to go with your Biden-Harris victory celebration? Join a huge chunk of the nation in jamming out to Miley Cyrus' 2009 pre-Bangerz hit, "Party in the U.S.A." 

On Saturday, the poppy jam — imagined in a time before the Trump administration was even a thing — began charting again nearly a decade afters its release. Cyrus shared a video on social media shortly after the presidential election was called, showing President-elect Joe Biden seemingly playing "Party in the U.S.A." into his microphone at a campaign event. 

The clip didn't really happen; it's a popular meme based on something that did actually happen with the song "Despacito" back in September.  Still, it was enough to fan the flames of a country already raging out to Cyrus' aughts classic. Read more...

More about Miley Cyrus, Party In The Usa, Entertainment, Music, and Politics

from Mashable https://ift.tt/36ldgaS
via IFTTT

GoFundMe pulls viral campaign that promised to uncover 'voter fraud' without evidence of voter fraud

The online crowdfunding company GoFundMe removed a viral campaign which could be read to imply the existence of widespread voter fraud Friday, placing itself firmly in the role of attempting to dispel election misinformation. 

As the U.S. presidential election vote count continued to drag on Friday afternoon, and the Trump campaign worked to delegitimize ballots, a parallel campaign was going viral on the fundraising platform — pulling in well over $200,000 from thousands of contributors. The goal was not some charitable cause, or to cover an unjust medical bill, but rather to uncover possible "voter fraud" in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. (There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.) Read more...

More about Gofundme, Misinformation, 2020 Election, Tech, and Politics

from Mashable https://ift.tt/355xkOZ
via IFTTT

Viral videos of poll workers filling in ballots don't show what Trump supporters want you to believe

Misinformation about the election count continues to rapidly spread throughout social media.

One particularly false, viral claim that has been passed around among Trump supporters on platforms like Facebook and Twitter over the past few days: Poll workers are filling out ballots at the counting centers in order to steal the election from the president.

This isn't true. Period. Here’s what’s really going on.

In an effort to be more transparent, some counting centers have livestreams running so people can watch the election workers count ballots. Unfortunately, the livestream videos are being deceptively edited in order to spread misinformation. Read more...

More about Facebook, Twitter, 2020 Election, Tech, and Social Media Companies

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3pfsmau
via IFTTT

Tesla released a tequila with a Tesla-price tag

Tesla released a branded tequila that costs about as much as you'd expect Tesla-branded tequila to cost. 

Tesla's tequila, which retails for $250 on the Tesla site, is packaged in a lightning bolt-shaped bottle mounted on a futuristic stand, which is etched with the one and only Tesla logo. According to the product description, Tesla Tequila is "100 percent de agave tequila añejo aged in French oak barrels, featuring a dry fruit and light vanilla nose with a balanced cinnamon pepper finish."

Image: tesla

Image: tesla

It's an April Fool's joke come to life. In 2018, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla was filing for bankruptcy, and that the company's CEO (himself) was "found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, surrounded by 'Teslaquilla' bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks." Read more...

More about Tesla, Elon Musk, Tequila, Culture, and Consumer Tech

from Mashable https://ift.tt/2JHylVa
via IFTTT

Facebook considers becoming mildly less convenient in hopes of saving democracy

Facebook is awash with election misinformation. And so, two days after the U.S. presidential election, it has decided to add "friction" to its spread.

So reports the New York Times, which notes that Facebook is considering the bold action of requiring "an additional click or two — before people can share posts and other content." That's right folks, democracy is saved because the kind of people who believe in baseless conspiracy theories like #SharpieGate and QAnon will surely be deterred by having to click a "share" button twice instead of once. 

The announcement, leaked to the New York Times by "two people with knowledge of the matter," appears to be Facebook's way of trying to get a handle on the beast it helped unleash on the world. And while it's nice that Facebook is considering taking this step of closing the barn door, it's hard not to think that the horse escaped years ago.  Read more...

More about Facebook, Social Media, Election 2020, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

from Mashable https://ift.tt/2I8lfzo
via IFTTT

Why you should update your iPhone right now. And no, it's not just for the emoji.

With everyone's mind currently elsewhere, it'd be easy to overlook the little prompt on your iPhone telling you it's time to update. That would be a mistake. 

On Nov. 5, Apple introduced the latest series of updates to iOS. And included along with the 117 new emoji are some very important security patches. Specifically, the fixes included in iOS 14.2 address real security vulnerabilities being actively exploited right now. That means someone is currently using them against iPhone owners. 

We know this because Ben Hawkes, the technical lead of Google's Project Zero bug hunting group, was kind enough to let the world know.  Read more...

More about Apple, Iphone, Tech, and Cybersecurity

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3mZmssa
via IFTTT

We proudly present Baby Yoda Cuteness Bingo

If you're only watching The Mandalorian for a brief respite from reality in the Force-sensitive arms of gentle baby Yoda... we forgive you.

Seriously, you don't have to care at all about the wider Star Wars canon (though that is pretty cool). We see you, and we accept you. What is The Child if not the best and most adorable unifying force in our galaxy?

In fact, we thought we'd make a little game out of the antics of our favorite green goober: Baby Yoda Cuteness Bingo. Cover a square for each cute the thing The Child does, whether it's in this week's episode, the whole season, the entire series, or those fan fics you read on weekends. We just want you to be happy. Read more...

More about Art, The Mandalorian, Disney Plus, Entertainment, and Star Wars

from Mashable https://ift.tt/3mVgok5
via IFTTT