Author: Awais

As families get together to share Christmas presents this month, Netflix has joined in the celebration with some special gifts. This massive streaming platform has plenty of new festive movies for subscribers to unwrap together this holiday season. It also has many other beloved films from past Christmases for audiences to revisit. From holiday animations to cheesy rom-coms, Netflix has a wide variety of films that are perfect for the holidays. After you’ve finished unwrapping your gifts on Christmas Day, you should gather around the TV and stream one or more of these five films on Netflix. Jingle Bell Heist…

Why Make This Creamy crab pasta is luxuriously simple, made with only five ingredients and ready in about 15 minutes.Delicate crab shines in a silky crème fraîche sauce—no heavy cream needed.It’s all tossed in the pasta pot for minimal cleanup. My husband is a pescatarian, so celebrating New Year’s Eve with prime rib or filet mignon is definitely out. On New Year’s Eve about 20 years ago, I whipped up fresh tagliatelle pasta tossed with crab meat, tarragon, lemon, and crème fraîche for my then-fiancé. It was so special that he’s insisted upon it every year since.  While it truly…

Looking for something great to watch at home? Streaming subscribers are spoiled for choice between Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Apple TV, Prime Video, Shudder, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. And that’s before you even look at the vast libraries of movies and television programs within each streamer!Don’t be overwhelmed or waste an hour scrolling through your services to determine what to watch. We’ve got your back, whatever your mood. Mashable offers watch guides for all of the above, broken down by genre: comedy, thriller, horror, documentary, and animation, among others. But if you’re seeking something brand new (or just new…

A festive fixture spanning the globe and dating back nearly 100 years, the Royal Christmas Message is a moment for a 10-minute timeout, from arguing over the cooking, pushing sprouts around your plate or festering on the couch.You can watch Royal Christmas Message 2025 online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free. Swipe to scroll horizontally King Charles’ fourth Christmas broadcast comes shortly after he shared positive news about his cancer journey, revealing that his treatment schedule can be reduced in 2026, something that’s only possible “thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to ‘doctors’ orders’.”Buckingham Palace…

Watch The Scarecrows’ Wedding for free on BBC (UK restricted)Outside the UK? Use NordVPN to unblock the BBCThe Scarecrows’ Wedding premieres on BBC One & BBC iPlayer on 25 December — 3:10pm GMT / 10:10am ET The Scarecrows’ Wedding is the BBC’s brand-new animated Christmas special based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s beloved picture book, adapted by Magic Light Pictures. Narrated by Sophie Okonedo and starring Jessie Buckley, Domhnall Gleeson and Rob Brydon, it’s a charming half-hour tale of love, loyalty and a wedding to remember — perfect festive viewing for families.Want to stream it for free? Here’s how…

This holiday season, some of us are going to be lucky enough to get shiny, new devices as gifts. Be it iOS or Android, smartphone or tablet, there are going to be plenty of fun things to download, play around with and learn on our new devices. From photography tricks and mobile games, to uploading contacts, and setting up all your favorite social apps, you’re going to be spending a lot of time tapping away on your new device.While you’re doing that, you should definitely take about fifteen minutes and spend some time thinking about your device’s security settings. This…

[Submitted on 17 Nov 2025 (v1), last revised 24 Dec 2025 (this version, v2)] View a PDF of the paper titled Bootstrapping LLMs via Preference-Based Policy Optimization, by Chen Jia View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Bootstrapping large language models (LLMs) through preference-based policy optimization offers a promising direction for aligning model behavior with human preferences without relying on extensive manual annotations. In this work, we propose a novel preference-based policy optimization (PbPO) framework that formulates the learning process as a min-max game between the main policy and a reward model (RM). The RM is constrained within a confidence set derived from…

Most microSD cards are fast enough for stashing photos, recording video and transferring files, but some will get you a little more bang for your buck than others. If you’re looking to boost the storage of your Nintendo Switch 2, Steam Deck, GoPro or any other device that still accepts microSD cards, we can help. We’ve thoroughly researched the market and several cards through a suite of benchmark tests. Here are the best that we’ve tested, along with some general advice on what to look for when buying a new card.Table of contentsBest microSD cards of 2026LexarStorage capacity: 128GB, 256GB,…

Smart home upgrades don’t just involve fancy, big-ticket items; your wall outlets deserve attention, too. As our homes fill up with devices, from phones and tablets to smart speakers and security systems, it is becoming essential to replace traditional outlets with smarter, more efficient options that better match our power needs.Over time, outlets wear out: They lose their grip, become inconvenient, or even pose a safety risk. Luckily, there are modern solutions. Whether you want to add USB ports, automate appliances or simply boost safety, replacing outdated outlets with newer models can make a big difference. There are quite a…

If it seems like Taco Bell is debuting new menu items every few weeks, you’re not wrong. The crunchy taco and cinnamon twists sure have a lot of company these days. In fact, during a recent episode of “The David Chang Show,” Taco Bell’s senior manager of food innovation, Brett Pluskalowski, confirmed that the popular Tex-Mex chain launches multiple new items every four to five weeks.  To make this possible, a team of 60 individuals collaborates in the Taco Bell Test Kitchen to try to invent the next Cheesy Gordita Crunch or Chalupa Supreme. Although the pace of new menu…