California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed multiple measures aimed at protecting the state's youth. These new laws include restrictions for potentially addictive social media features and limitations on how young users can interact with AI chatbots. The state is enacting restrictions on how teens can interact with chatbots from AI companies, including time limits. Chatbot makers will be required to implement mental health resources, safety protocols in case a minor discusses self harm and notifications for parents if a child turns off safety settings. California will now require "independent child safety audits and annual risk assessments" by AI companies.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. It took entirely too long to get the taskbar back on top without mods. But at least I found a cool new program with community-supplied tweaks. This morning I woke up to a freshly rebooted desktop. A bit annoying, but that's just something that happens with Windows 11 -- it reboots to install an update after a while, sometimes even when you don't ask it to.

Perhaps the most notable change this year is deeper integration with Apple Intelligence. HomeKit has never really taken advantage of AI features until now, but that changes with iOS 27. The Home app can now summarize important notifications, such as when someone was seen at your door or when smoke is detected. This is especially useful for people who have multiple cameras and smart doorbells at home, as it should prevent you having your lock screen flooded with Home app notifications. Speaking of cameras, they can now use AI to better detect faces or animals.

Look Up Back to School Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Say More Trending Now Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Creator Playbook Switch Off Mashable Voices Safety Net Versus All Series Half Hinge-style prompts, half Tinder-style swiping. Tabitha Britt is an award-winning freelance journalist, editor, and SEO/AEO strategist. Aside from reviewing dating apps and sex toys for Mashable, Tabitha is also the founding editor-in-chief of DO YOU ENDO -- a digital magazine by individuals with endometriosis, for individuals with endometriosis. She has a Master's degree in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism from The New School for Social Research and is a grad of Sextech School. You can find more of her work in various online publications, including,, and . All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Hily If you're burnt out on the usual apps and want a place to match and chat for free, Hily is worth the download. The premium tiers and distance filters take a minute to figure out, but the built-in quizzes and gamified features keep things fun.

Take full control of your desktop alerts by sending yourself recurring reminders and custom notifications triggered by specific events. While there are plenty of ways to limit notifications on our digital devices and avoid distraction overload, there's nothing inherently wrong with these alerts. They just need to be well managed and kept in their place. Keeping notifications useful and timely can help you get more done in the day, not less, and Windows 11 comes with built-in tools for setting up custom notifications that run on a schedule you specify. You can use these scheduled notifications however you want.

Don't let busted pipes or an overflowing washing machine dampen your day. Water plays an essential role in our homes, but it can also wreak havoc. Burst pipes, leaky toilets, and misbehaving appliances can stop your day in its tracks. Water leak detectors help reduce the risk by alerting you to problems quickly so you can act to prevent severe damage. Around one in 60 insured homeowners file a claim related to water damage or freezing every year, according to the Insurance Information Institute, and the average cost of the property damage is about $15,000. The longer a leak goes undetected, the more damage it does, destroying furniture and decorations, spawning mold and fungi, and even threatening structural integrity. I've tested many smart leak detectors over the past few years, and these are my favorites. Insurers love them, so before you go shopping, it's worth checking with yours to see what they offer or recommend, and whether installing a leak sensor can reduce your premiums. Shaped like a drop of water, this versatile standalone device alerts you within seconds of detecting a leak and offers compelling extras like temperature tracking at a reasonably affordable price.

Plus: Tens of millions of US and Canadian driver's licenses go up for sale on the dark web, the US military finally tries to tackle the risk online ad data poses to troops, and more. After reporting last week that the surveillance company Flock Safety is building an AI search tool for law enforcement, WIRED reconstructed Flock's latest search tool from code that the company sends to a police officer's browser and uncovered key details about how the tool works. OpenAI said this week that its Astra model, which will have a private release soon, is its first model with cybersecurity-related capabilities that the company defines as posing a "critical" risk in public release. Meanwhile, the AI chatbot platforms Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok all suffered outages on Thursday at nearly the exact same time. But while xAI said the Grok outage resulted from issues at a Memphis data center, the causes of OpenAI's and Anthropic's outages are unclear.

PCWorld reports that Windows 10 and 11 users are seeing false warning messages claiming Microsoft Defender has been turned off, despite the security software remaining fully active. The issue stems from a recent antivirus update bug, causing incorrect notifications across multiple Windows versions. Microsoft is aware of the problem and is working on a fix expected in an upcoming update, so users should not panic. Over the past few days, some Windows 11 users have been getting incorrect warning messages about Microsoft Defender--the operating system's built-in security solution--being disabled.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. I turned off most Windows notifications, and I'm not going back Your PC does not need your attention this badly! Windows notifications are a productivity tax. Here's how to control -- or better yet, eliminate -- them. Well, maybe not notifications themselves, but what they implicitly represent: pieces of information or action that you need to act on or react to .

A investigation also found that Uber had received reports of sexual abuse or misconduct every eight minutes between 2017 to 2022. In response, Uber stated that 75 percent of these reports were less serious. A Phoenix court subsequently found Uber partially liable for rape and violence its drivers committed against passengers . Uber has since expanded its safety measures, and now runs background checks on the past 99 years of a driver's life rather than just seven.