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A journalist’s inclusion in a national security discussion served as a reminder that you might not know every number in the chat — and that could be a big problem.

Napster was only around for roughly three years before it shut down in 2002. The company faced multiple lawsuits from major record labels and bands like Metallica, as Napster's users freely shared music and other files online. Yet, despite its short life, the peer-to-peer file-sharing platform changed the music industry forever, altering how consumers acquired music and ushering in what eventually would become modern-day music streaming.

Now, 25 years after its launch, Napster was just acquired for a whopping $207 million by a 3D tech company called Infinite Reality. And the company says it has big plans for the Napster brand.

"With this acquisition, we're expanding and reimagining Napster, empowering artists with new audience monetization and engagement capabilities, underpinned by iR’s immersive technology, AI-powered tools, and audience network," Infinite Reality said in a statement.

SEE ALSO: The early internet kept showing us the future, and we rolled our eyes every time

In a press release, Infinite Reality laid out some of its plans for Napster, including 3D virtual spaces where "fans can enjoy virtual concerts, social listening parties, and other immersive and community-based experiences." Infinite Reality also plans to let artists sell physical and virtual merchandise and event tickets through the platform. Additionally, the company wants to provide brand sponsorship opportunities for artists.

While most internet users know the infamous peer-to-peer version of Napster, the brand has been chugging along for the past decade as a legal, paid music streaming service. Ironically enough, of all the music streaming services, Napster reportedly pays artists the most per play. 

According to Infinite Reality, current Napster CEO Jon Vlassopulos will continue with his role as CEO of the company.

“By acquiring Napster, we’re paving a path to a brighter future for artists, fans, and the music industry at large,” said Infinite Reality cofounder and CEO John Acunto. "I firmly believe that the artist-fan relationship is evolving, with fans craving hyper-personalized, intimate access to their favorite artists, while artists are searching for innovative ways to deepen connections with fans and access new streams of revenue. We’re creating the ultimate music platform where artists can thrive in the next wave of digital disruption.”

Major video game franchises like Fortnite have held virtual in-game concerts with great success over the past few years. Other platforms like Turntable.fm, which went viral in 2011 before shuttering in 2013, failed in their attempts to create communities out of digital music streaming. It'll be interesting to see how Infinite Reality approaches the concept, especially as Mark Zuckerberg's Meta backtracks on their own "metaverse" concept.

SAVE $800: As of March 25, the Roborock Qrevo Master robot vacuum is on sale for $799.99 at Amazon's Big Spring Sale. That's a full 50% off of its original $1,599.99, and its lowest price ever at Amazon.

Roborock Qrevo Master $799.99 at Amazon
$1,599.99 Save $800 Get Deal

Amazon never disappoints with robot vacuum deals at its big sales, and the Big Spring Sale is timed perfectly between the Black Friday and Prime Day seasons. A ton of options hit 30% off or more, but as someone who tests robot vacuums for a living, narrowing down my top one or two recommendations for someone is easy. I simply scan the list for my ultimate favorite robot vacuums that I've tested at home.

Lo and behold, the Roborock Qrevo Master (my favorite from all of 2024) is 50% off for the spring sale. Originally retailing at a steep $1,599.99, the Qrevo Master is down to $799.99 — a whole $100 less than its Cyber Monday price a few months ago. Is it still on the premium end of the price scale? Yes. Does it do more than pretty much any other robot vacuum going for $800? Hell yes.

Though the Qrevo Master has been dethroned as the most powerful Roborock I've tested by the new Saros 10R from CES, it's still one of the most solid cleaners you'll find. Its 10,000 Pa of suction is speaking to pet owners keeping up with kibble, kitty litter, or shedding from more than one pet on multiple floor types. I was most psyched about its mopping capabilities, however. The dual spinning mopping design has become my own personal gold standard over a singular flat pad.

This is corner detailing that most Roombas just can't achieve. Credit: Leah Stodart / Mashable

One of those spinning pads operates on a hinge that can flex the pad out from under the circular vac to mop along edges or in corners. The visual satisfaction is one thing, but the relief of the mystery sticky stuff along my kitchen counter baseboards being taken care of is priceless.

Other premium features packed into the Qrevo Master include self-washing and drying mopping pads, small obstacle avoidance, and a livestream pet camera on the botvac itself.

Opens in a new window Credit: Our Place Our Place Wonder Oven $145 at Amazon
$175 Save $30 Get Deal

For the longest time, I didn't understand the air fryer thing. If I have a perfectly good oven, why do I need another appliance taking up unnecessary counter space? But things changed when the Our Place Wonder Oven entered my life. While I originally received it as a gift, I would buy it 10 times over with my own money.

I don't love the idea of a single-use appliance, especially as an apartment dweller. If something is going to take up precious counter space, it better earn its keeps. The Wonder Oven truly does, as it can toast, reheat, bake, broil, and air fry. It comes with three different trays — an air fryer basket, baking tray, and toasting rack — to help get your cooking jobs done. And not to mention, it's far cuter than your average air fryer. I love the retro-inspired design, and while I wish it had digital controls, the knobs work well.

I've found the Wonder Oven to be key to getting the crispiest bites. Yes, I use it to air fry chicken nuggets to crispy perfection, like any respectable adult, but it does more nuanced jobs, too. On the left of the Wonder Oven is a compartment to add a splash of water so you can use steam to elevate your bakes. I particularly like this feature when it comes to reheating a stale baguette, which magically tastes fresh from the bakery after a trip in the Wonder Oven.

Not to mention, it's the best way to warm up leftover pizza. When set to the reheat setting, leftover slices have crisp crusts and freshly melted cheese.

With Amazon's Big Spring Sale, I was thrilled to see the Our Place Wonder Oven marked down to $145. That saves 17% off its standard $175. While I'd tell you to buy it at full price, I urge you to buy it when it's $30 off. Plus, with summer coming, it's the perfect way to avoid turning on your oven once the heat rolls in.

Character.AI, a leading chatbot platform facing lawsuits related to youth safety issues, introduced a new supervision tool designed to give parents a peek into how their children are using the product.

The "parental insights" feature is meant for caregivers whose children are younger than 18. The tool is accessible via the child's account preferences. From there, the user must add the adult's email address and then invite them to receive a weekly activity report compiled by Character.AI.

SEE ALSO: American Psychological Association sounds alarm over certain AI chatbots

The report includes daily average time spent on the platform, on both mobile and the web; a list of top characters that the teen engages with frequently; and the time spent with each character. The report doesn't include a transcript of the user's chat with their companions.

If the teen decides to revoke their parents' access to this data, they can do so through their account but that request must be confirmed by the adult.

Character.AI described the feature as a "first step" toward providing parents with information about their child's activity on the platform. In recent months, the company has implemented a number of new safety efforts, including a separate model for teens, as well as disclosures that characters are not real people.

The changes come in the wake of two lawsuits against Character.AI, alleging that the product uniquely harmed children who engaged with it.

In October, bereaved mother Megan Garcia filed a lawsuit after her son, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide following intense communications with a character on the platform. In December, two mothers in Texas filed another lawsuit against Character.AI alleging that the company knowingly exposed their children to harmful and sexualized content.

The company said in its announcement about the parental insights feature that it would keep refining the tool: "We will continue to listen to teens, their parents, and leading teen safety organizations as we evolve our parental insights tool to most effectively meet our community’s needs."

A24's upcoming The Legend of Ochi promises a return to handcrafted fantasy adventure films, and the studio has released a first-look featurette to prove it.

The first look opens with a behind-the-scenes shot of the film's hero, Yuri (Helena Zengel), riding a shopping cart down a grocery store aisle. On her back is a small golden-furred creature like something out of Gremlins. This is one of the Ochi, a mystical being from Yuri's home island of Carpathia. It's also a remarkable puppet.

SEE ALSO: 'The Legend of Ochi' trailer unveils the cutest movie monster of the year

"As we were shooting, you could see all five puppeteers standing around in plain clothes, and if you looked at the puppet, you were like, 'That's a real living thing,'" writer-director Isaiah Saxon says in the first look.

The featurette shows more examples of the puppets — and even an Ochi exoskeleton! — in action, as well as a deeper look at the fantastical journey Yuri must undertake to reunite her Ochi friend with its mother.

"There is a slow dial that gets turned up towards fantasy and magic over the course of the film," Saxon says. "Growing up, I felt that the deepest mysteries were found in nature, and I hope to share that same feeling that anything is possible."

The Legend of Ochi also stars Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Finn Wolfhard.

The Legend of Ochi hits theaters Apr. 25.

The app, which was introduced in 2014 and has hundreds of millions of users, is widely viewed as the safest messaging tool because of its encryption technology.

Have you experienced a moment when technology created a "Good Connection" in your life? We're talking good deeds, long-lost friends and family reunited, and more empowering tales made possible by some sort of digital detail. Share your story below and it could be selected to appear on Mashable.

BUY 2 GET 1 FREE: As of March 25th, Amazon's Big Spring Sale is offering 3 for the price of 2 on select movies, music, and books.

Opens in a new window Credit: Chappell Roan / Miles Davis / Nosferatu Amazon's Big Spring Sale buy 2 get 1 free deal Get 3 books, movies, or albums for the price of 2. Shop Now

If you've been loading up your recommendations list, now is a good time to bring in the haul.

As part of Amazon's Big Spring Sale, the retailer is offering a buy 2 get 1 free deal on media, including books, movies, and records (Target is running the same type of deal during its Circle Week sale). Take advantage of the deal to load up on new films like Nosferatu, classic records like Abbey Road on vinyl, and acclaimed novels like Percival Everett's James.

SEE ALSO: Headphones and speaker deals live from Amazon's Big Spring Sale: Save on Sony, Bose, Sonos, and more

Whether you're looking to scoop a bunch of bestsellers for less, you want to nab some film classics on disc, or you're expanding a record collection (digital music works too), this sale has you covered.

The vinyl roster includes contemporary award winners like Chappell Roan's The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess on double vinyl and genre definers like Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. Beyond vinyl, we're stoked on this Akira Movie 4k Steelbook 4K UHD set.

Age-verification laws have popped up across the United States in the past few years, especially in the South. Typically, they require people to submit proof that they're an adult if they visit a website where over a third of the content hosted is explicit. In January, the Supreme Court heard a case about the constitutionality of age-verification laws, and its decision will likely come down this summer.

That case, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, began as a challenge to Texas's age-verification law specifically (but SCOTUS's decision will have national ramifications). Coincidentally — or not — a bill calling for age verification for online sex toy sales has just been introduced in Texas, as well.

SEE ALSO: The Trump administration accidentally texted military plans to a journalist. The White House says it's fine.

404 Media first pointed out that Senator Angela Paxton, wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, sponsors this bill. Ken Paxton is the Paxton in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton.

The sex toy bill, S.B. 3003, proposes age-verification methods similar to those used by some states for porn sites, such as requiring users to submit a government-issued ID or using a third-party verification service. Violations of this would subject site owners to a $5,000 fee and a misdemeanor charge.

According to a recent study from New York University, age-verification laws don't work. One reason is that if a site isn't based in the U.S., it may not feel the need to comply. Another is that people can use a VPN to pretend to be in another location. Presumably, the same would be true for this bill.

But, as explained in Mashable's rundown of age-verification laws, these laws aren't just about preventing minors from accessing porn sites. They're about reaching the true goal of Project 2025 (the conservative blueprint for Trump's second presidential term), which is an outright ban on porn. One state, Oklahoma, has already introduced a bill to criminalize porn and imprison its creators.

Free speech advocates who have spoken to Mashable in the past say that the best way to actually prevent minors from looking at explicit sites is through device-level filters.

OpenAI has native image generation in ChatGPT and Sora.

In a livestream led by CEO Sam Altman as well as members of OpenAI team, the company demoed new capabilities in image generation that's driven by the GPT-4o model.

Previously, image generation was powered by DALL-E and largely existed in a separate app that users had to switch over to. Now, that image generation is native to the ChatGPT app, the model's responses will understand contextual prompts without specific reference to an image, can follow prompts for reiterating on a generated image, and is better at rendering text according to the company.

SEE ALSO: A new AI test is outwitting OpenAI, Google models, among others

With image generation in ChatGPT, OpenAI's goal is to make it more useful rather than just a novelty. That means it can generate diagrams, infographics, logos, social media posts, and other graphics.

Altman also said that the model leans into "creative freedom," saying "what we'd like is for the model to not be offensive if you don't want it to be, but if you want it to be within reason, really let people create what they want."

Native image generation for ChatGPT is available today for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and Free users within the chat experience, with access rolling out to Enterprise and Edu users soon.

Have a story to share about a scam or security breach that impacted you? Tell us your story. Email submissions@mashable.com with the subject line "Safety Net," or use the form below. Someone from Mashable will get in contact directly if your story is selected to be featured.

The company’s chatbot can now create elaborate and unusual images.

Dates for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) have officially been announced. WWDC 2025 will take place from June 9 to 13, with the keynote taking place on June 9.

Apple shared the official date on its website on Tuesday, saying the entire conference will be streamed online, with the keynote taking place in person at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA. Sessions will be free to all developers. Apple executives also took to X to share the news.

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WWDC is Apple's annual event that showcases new software updates. That means the tech giant will announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, tvOS 19, watchOS 12, and visionOS 3.

According to Bloomberg, iOS 19 will be "one of the most dramatic software overhauls," in Apple history so expectations are high for new features that will likely put Apple Intelligence at the center. This might also include major advancements to Siri as Apple has promised, although the Siri overhaul is rumored to have run into setbacks.

The iOS 19 update is rumored to have major design changes, including a refresh of icons, menus, apps, and more. Insiders also expect a newly refresh macOS 16 design.

Mark your calendars for June 9.

TL;DR: Scan anything, anywhere, with this lifetime subscription to iScanner, now A$39 (reg. A$317) with coupon code SCAN through 27 April.

Raise your hand if you've had to drive to your parent's house to borrow their printer. If most of us don't have the space for clunky printers, chances are we also don't keep a scanner at home. That's what iScanner is for: transforming your iPhone or iPad into a handy scanning machine. 

Right now, a lifetime subscription to this convenient scanning app is just A$39 with code SCAN, saving you A$253 if you purchase before 27 April. 

This multi-tasking app saves you serious desk space

Even if you're one of the few with a physical scanner still in your presence, you can now clear some counter space thanks to iScanner. And while you're at it, you can throw away that dusty old filing cabinet, too. 

iScanner is a popular scanning and document management tool that lets you knock items off your to-do list from anywhere. Need to save a receipt for taxes? Do you have a contract you need to digitize? You can scan any document using just your phone or tablet. 

Students, entrepreneurs, educators, and stay-at-home moms alike will all find endless uses for a scanner in your pocket. The AI-powered tools ensure your documents' borders are detected and automatically adjusted while also straightening scan pages and ditching curves and skews. 

Thanks to AI, you can also use iScanner to help you solve complicated math problems. Or put its OCR technology to the test and let it help you decipher text in up to 20 languages.

Once things are scanned, the app becomes a full PDF editor and file manager. Edit your scans, including signing them, adding text, or auto-filling them with custom templates. Then, simply use the drag-and-drop feature to keep them safe and organized.

Scanning something confidential? You can also protect files and folders by locking them with a PIN. 

Secure iScanner for life with code SCAN, bringing the price down to A$39 through 27 April at the Mashable Shop.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: BP Mobile iScanner App: Lifetime Subscription AU$39
AU$317 Save AU$278 Get Deal

Google, OpenAI, DeepSeek, et al. are nowhere near achieving AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), according to a new benchmark.

The Arc Prize Foundation, a nonprofit that measures AGI progress, has a new benchmark that is stumping the leading AI models. The test, called ARC-AGI-2 is the second edition ARC-AGI benchmark that tests models on general intelligence by challenging them to solve visual puzzles using pattern recognition, context clues, and reasoning.

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According to the ARC-AGI leaderboard, OpenAI's most advanced model o3-low scored 4 percent. Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash and DeepSeek R1 both scored 1.3 percent. Anthropic's most advanced model, Claude 3.7 with an 8K token limit (which refers to the amount of tokens used to process an answer) scored 0.9 percent.

SEE ALSO: How Grok 3 compares to ChatGPT, DeepSeek and other AI rivals

The question of how and when AGI will be achieved remains as heated as ever, with various factions bickering about the timeline or whether it's even possible. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said it could take as little as two to three years, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said "it's achievable with current hardware." But experts like Gary Marcus and Yann LeCun say the technology isn't there yet and it doesn't take an expert to see how fueling AGI hype is advantageous to AI companies seeking major investments.

The ARC-AGI benchmark is designed to challenge AI models beyond specialized intelligence by avoiding the memorization trap — spewing out PhD-level responses without an understanding of what it means. Instead it focuses on puzzles that are relatively easy for humans to solve because of our innate ability to take in new information and make inferences, thus revealing gaps that can't be resolved by simply feeding AI models more data.

"Intelligence requires the ability to generalize from limited experience and apply knowledge in new, unexpected situations. AI systems are already superhuman in many specific domains (e.g., playing Go and image recognition)" read the announcement.

SEE ALSO: I compared Sesame to ChatGPT voice mode and I'm unnerved

"However, these are narrow, specialized capabilities. The 'human-ai gap' reveals what's missing for general intelligence - highly efficiently acquiring new skills."

To get a sense of AI models' current limitations, you can take the ARC-AGI test for yourself. And you might be surprised by its simplicity. There's some critical thinking involved, but the ARC-AGI test wouldn't be out of place next to the New York Times crossword puzzle, Wordle, or any of the other popular brain teasers. It's challenging but not impossible and the answer is there in the puzzle's logic, which is something the human brain has evolved to interpret.

OpenAI's o3-low model scored 75.7 percent on the first edition of ARC-AGI. By comparison, its 4 percent score on the second edition shows how difficult the test is, but also how there's a lot more work to be done with reaching human level intelligence.

The Trump administration accidentally added a journalist to a not-so-secret Signal group chat to discuss imminent military plans. As sports business analyst and former ESPN correspondent Darren Rovell posted on X (then Twitter) during the 2016 presidential election, "I feel bad for our country. But this is tremendous content."

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The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to a Signal group chat with several apparent U.S. government officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and more. Goldberg wasn't sure it was a legitimate group chat because not only would it be highly unusual for U.S. government officials to use Signal, but it would also be pretty stupid to include a journalist in that chat.

But, alas, the chat is real, which Goldberg discovered after the chat decided on U.S. airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, and then the airstrikes took place. After the airstrike, the chat was filled with seemingly celebratory emoji, which, as the internet has pointed out, feels weird.

SEE ALSO: How influencers and politicians built an unregulated supplement empire

The general lack of care put into orders that have a direct impact on people's lives is not inherently laughable. It's horrifying. The chat named active CIA agents, and if their identities were revealed, it could put their lives and their missions in danger. This particular strike killed 53 people, according to the Houthis, and the leak of these plans could have had disastrous effects on U.S. agents in the region and beyond.

Yet, in response to what former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called "the highest level of fuckup imaginable," online posters rolled up their sleeves and got to work. They made a callback to the JD Vance big head memes. They brought up Partiful. They created copypasta messages. They tied it in with the current obsession with morning routines. Because on the internet, nothing is sacred — especially not a text from the U.S. National Security Advisor after a deadly airstrike that reads: "👊🇺🇸🔥"

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SAVE $100: As of March 25, the Apple Watch Series 10 is on sale for $299 in the Amazon Big Spring Sale. That’s a 25% discount off its regular $399 price.

Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Watch Series 10 $299 at Amazon
$399 Save $100 Get Deal

Have you been patiently waiting for the Amazon Spring Sale to deliver record-low prices on Apple products? You haven't had to wait long, because the Apple Watch Series 10 is down to $299. Normally $399, this 25% discount drops this new model down to its lowest-ever price.

In fact, every configuration of last year's Apple Watch Series 10 is now on sale at its all-time low price, saving shoppers up to $120. We've rounded all the best deals on this new model for your convenience, because we're nice like that.

SEE ALSO: The best Apple deals in Amazon's Big Spring Sale: New iPads and M4 MacBook Airs are already on sale

With the Apple Watch Series 10, you can take an ECG on the spot, track your sleep, get a heads-up about irregular heart rhythms, and even get estimates for ovulation. Users get full workout tracking, real-time training load metrics, and depth and water temperature sensors for teunder-the-sea adventures. And yes, it’s water resistant up to 50 meters.

Bag the best deal on the Apple Watch Series 10 in the Amazon Big Spring Sale.

23andMe is going bankrupt, and now is the time to rescue your data.

The ancestry search company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the weekend, which immediately caused alarm in privacy-focused individuals. A company on the verge of financial collapse is probably not one that can be trusted with your literal DNA, they argued. One could also argue 23andMe was never trustworthy to begin with, but let's focus on the present.

If you've ever submitted a saliva test to 23andMe, the company has valuable data of yours on file. The good news is you can fix that. Here's how.

SEE ALSO: 23andMe is for sale — and so are 15 million people's genetic records How to delete your 23andMe data

The one silver lining to all of this is that deleting your 23andMe data seems very easy:

1. Log into your account and go to "Settings"

2. Scroll to "23andMe data" and click "view"

3. Go to "Delete data" and click "Permanently delete data"

4. Go through the confirmation process

You'll also be given a chance to download your data before deletion, which couldn't hurt. Also, importantly, you can delete the genetic test sample you submitted to 23andMe by going back to the "Settings" menu and finding "Preferences." You should almost definitely do all of these things ASAP.

For years, educators and parents have implored Instagram to address student bullying and harassment that often starts on the company's platform and later shows up in the classroom.

Now the platform, which is owned by Meta, is rolling out a program that allows educators to directly report safety issues like bullying directly to Instagram.

The Schools Partnership program will launch with a pilot that's open to all middle and high schools in the U.S. The International Society for Technology in Education, a nonprofit that focuses on edtech, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, helped develop the initiative.

SEE ALSO: I'm quitting Instagram. You should too.

When participating schools report content or accounts to Instagram that may violate the platform's community standards, those reports are prioritized for review. Additionally, Instagram will provide status updates and notifications once the platform takes action.

The program requires schools to have an Instagram account and provides them with a profile banner to indicate that they're an official platform partner.

Meta told Mashable that schools that have tested the program so far have typically designated a single administrator, like an assistant principal, to receive relevant safety reports and then share them with Instagram. Per Meta's policy, official school accounts should be run by school officials, not by a parent-teacher organization volunteers.

The process of reporting — and quickly resolving — Instagram-related harassment and bullying has been a key concern of educators and parents in recent years.

In October 2022, the American Federation of Teachers, a union representing 1.7 million educators in the U.S., partnered with the nonprofit organization ParentsTogether to demand that Instagram take gossip accounts seriously.

A petition sponsored by AFT and ParentsTogether asked Instagram to enforce the platform's community guidelines "by taking down all accounts that solely or primarily feature bullying content" and prioritize bullying and harassment reports made by verified school accounts.

Nicholas Perrone, principal of Edgewood Magnet School in New Haven, Conn., praised Instagram's new program after testing it prior to the official launch.

"Instagram listened to these reports and took them seriously," Perrone said in a statement shared with Mashable. He noted that the school had alerted Instagram about cases of bullying or harassment, online violence, and imposter accounts. "What's more, it led to a decrease in negative online content that could have resulted in serious safety concerns for our students."

Meta said in its announcement that middle and high schools can sign up for a waitlist to join the program via their Instagram settings, by selecting "account type and tools" or "business tools and controls." They can also learn more and sign up for the waitlist on Instagram's website.