usage
The Google Home Speaker Has Been Secretly Eating My Wi-Fi Data
My Smart Home Devices Have Been Secretly Eating My Wi-Fi Data, and I'm Not Alone My Google Home Speaker had been burning through more data than all the rest of my devices combined. As I looked into it further, I found other smart home devices that had the same problem. If you had to estimate how much data your smart speaker was using over the course of a couple of weeks, would you guess three terabytes? That's what one Google Home Speaker user discovered when he checked his home Wi-Fi's usage, according to Reddit posts reported on by 9to5Google. The Google Gemini-powered smart speakers have apparently been downloading huge amounts of data to the device over the past two weeks, which could put a serious damper on your Wi-Fi network.
How to use a ChatGPT Dot when it rolls out to you
Provided you're a Pro or Business Premium subscriber, your first Dot is included with your plan. In the future, OpenAI says it will allow people to pay for additional Dots, and to scale the output of each one by "either increasing its speed or the total amount of work it can take on per month." OpenAI hasn't stated how pricing will work once those options become available. Additionally, the company is offering "extended limits" for Dot usage for the first month of their availability. After that, your Dots usage will count against your plan allowance. Again, OpenAI hasn't shared exact usage terms, but it has said that talking to your Dot through ChatGPT will be free.
SpaceXSI unifies X and Grok under one monthly subscription
Look Up In My Bag Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable @Home Trending Now Mashable Selects Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook AI at School Safety Net All Series Each plan provides more usage-per-dollar than the comparable plan it replaces. Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car.
Meta says it's caught up to the frontier with its latest Wonder AI models
After spending more than a year and tens of billions of dollars rebuilding its AI efforts, Meta says that it has caught up with the frontier. The company introduced its two latest AI models, Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, both of which represent "a major leap toward personal superintelligence." According to Meta, the models are particularly adept at navigating legal, financial and health-related tasks, and are able to deliver "frontier coding performance." Both models also add "active memory" and "active focus," which Meta says will help people accomplish more over long periods of time. That's notable because Meta says it plans to bring Wonder to its personal agent Muse, beginning with paid subscribers.
New campaign disclosures reveal how much American political campaigns spend on AI tools
Mike Lawler, Ro Khanna, and Bill Cassidy campaigns have the top individual spending on AI. Mike Lawler, Ro Khanna, and Bill Cassidy campaigns have the top individual spending on AI. New campaign finance disclosure data shines a light on which US political campaigns are using AI tools and how much they are spending on them. Candidates', parties', and committees' spending reveals that AI is fast becoming an essential tool of politics. The candidates themselves are quiet about how they are using the technology in their own campaigns It's a sensitive issue that we have been tracking closely since we started writing our book, Rewiring Democracy, which examined how AI is beginning to influence politics. A September 2025 Pew survey of Americans found that more than 70% would think less of a candidate if they used AI to help write a speech.
The biggest issues with delivery robots are exactly what you'd think
Despite their problems, robot delivery likely isn't going to go away any time soon; on the contrary, it's predicted to vastly expand. A recent study by Transforma Insights suggests that the world will have 559,000 automated urban delivery vehicles by 2035, compared to 28,000 in 2025. Considering this prediction, this robot revolution could have a big impact on gig workers. For companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash, both of which have faced scrutiny when it comes to paying their drivers ethically, robots are an easy way to increase overall company profits. However, the distance limitations of current robot models -- about two miles -- tend to limit their usage to more urban areas, meaning that, at least for the time being, humans cannot be completely taken out of the equation.
Redditors say Anthropics expensive Claude plans offer far less usage than advertised
Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series Redditors say Anthropic's expensive Claude plans offer far less usage than advertised A viral thread on r/Anthropic accuses the company of misleading users about the benefits of its higher-priced subscription tiers. Chance Townsend is the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, covering tech, video games, dating apps, digital culture, and whatever else comes his way. He has a Master's in Journalism from the University of North Texas and is a proud orange cat father. His writing has also appeared in PC Mag and . A popular Reddit post in r/Anthropic titled More Drama has drawn significant attention this week, amplifying claims that Anthropic has been misleading customers about how much usage they actually get with its higher-priced Claude subscription plans.
Josh Parker Is One of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI
Follow this author to personalize your feed and get instant alerts. Follow Go to your personalized feed WHY FOLLOW? Smart Alerts: Get notified about major news as it happens. When Josh Parker joined Nvidia in 2023, there was just one other person on a team responsible for leading the sustainability strategy and public policy initiatives. It didn't deter him from his belief that they could make a difference.
ChatGPT's stricter teen mode starts rolling out today
Last September, after it was sued for allegedly enabling the tragic death of 16-year-old Adam Raine, OpenAI announced it was working on a system that would automatically identify teens and restrict their usage of ChatGPT. Nearly a year later, the company is putting that system to work as part of a new user experience it calls ChatGPT for Teens. "There's no need for a teen to create a new account or change anything; if we predict you're under 18, or you've told us so, this becomes your default experience," says Lauren Jonas, OpenAI's head of youth and families. ChatGPT for Teens is broadly built around two pillars: learning and safety. Starting with the former, it brings together a selection of features OpenAI has released over the last year to make ChatGPT a better teacher.
Claude's Record-a-Skill cut my research from hours to 30 minutes - but the magic has limits
I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen Claude's Record-a-Skill cut my research from hours to 30 minutes - but the magic has limits I used Claude Cowork to automate a workflow, and the result was remarkably effective, but it exposed four drawbacks. Claude turns narrated screen recordings into reusable skills. Last month, Anthropic announced a new Claude Cowork feature: the ability to narrate a screen recording and turn it into a Claude skill . I tried it and, well, as they say, All magic comes with a price. Let's set the stage by defining what we're after here. A skill is a very detailed canned prompt that can be run like a program from within Claude (and many other AIs).