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There are few things more pretentious than the Genius Verified series , which has over-the-top artists explain the lyrics to one of their songs in front of signature yellow background. YouTuber Zane Hijazi poked fun at the series with an explainer of his song "Boom," which he refers to as "a story" and a "positive epidemic." Explaining that his love interest has him feeling "like an animal," he makes sure to hold up a dog to explain that it too is an animal.  "We all have dirty little secrets," Zane continues. "But I, I have a little dirty secret ... I'm not wearing any underwear."  He then describes how he wants to take his "babe" on a long drive out of Los Angeles because he "only wants her presence." Read more... More about Youtube , Viral Videos , Genius , Culture , and Web Culture from Mashable http://bit.ly/2HHrKsq

Everyone starts off as a beginner. Even someone great at what they do like Michael Jordan was a beginner at basketball at one time and look how far it took him. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the Michael Jordan of droning one day. But for now, you have to start somewhere. We scoured the internet looking for the best and brightest drones for first-timers. No matter what your field of interest, like photography or racing, we found a drone that's perfect for you.  We also didn't forget all the kids out there looking to get into droning. We found just the right drones for children ages 8 and up, while also taking into consideration teenagers and parents who want to know there are safety features and settings that will help prevent accidents and mishaps. Read more... More about Tech , Drones , Quadcopters , Mashable Shopping , and Consumer Tech from Mashable http://bit.ly/2GcawRp

Brrrr.... It's cold in here.  The winter months can be harsh since the days are shorter and the weather is, of course, much, much colder — especially if you live in the midwest and east coast. Temperatures can drop down to below zero Fahrenheit from day-to-day, while having a roof over your head doesn't guarantee instant warmth. SEE ALSO: Polar vortex 2019: Combat the cold with these 50 products So how can you turn up the heat in one part of the home without turning it up everywhere else? If you invest in a good space heater, you can assure yourself a nice and toasty winter as you anxiously wait for the spring to finally come. Read more... More about Tech , Polar Vortex , Shopping Amazon , Space Heater , and Shopping Linkshare from Mashable http://bit.ly/2RwhvXG

The fight to reform sexual assault policies on campus is facing a maddeningly bureaucratic hurdle.  On the final day during which citizens could share comments with the Department of Education about its proposed changes to Title IX protections for sexual assault victims, the government website went down. SEE ALSO: 20% of Colleges Flout Federal Law in Handling Sexual Assault, Report Finds Starting at 10 am ET, comment submissions sections on regulations.gov and federalregister.gov were inoperable for "a few hours" Wednesday morning, and have been "finicky" since, according to organizers.  🚨Today’s the last day to submit comments on Betsy DeVos’ dangerous proposed Title IX changes, but the @UsEdGov site is 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧. This is unacceptable — @KLMarcusOCR , @BenjaminEW , @MHackman , this needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY. #HandsOffIX pic.twitter.com/oVYmcXrn2W — NWLC (@nwlc) January 30, 2019 Read more... More about Sexual Assault , Outages , Title Ix , Te...

Sorry, haters! Despite privacy scandal after privacy scandal, Facebook posted record profits last quarter.  As one Facebook employee recently put it, " Fuck ethics. Money is everything ." Revenue in Q4 hit $16.9 billion , up 30 percent from a year ago. Facebook also posted record profits of $6.9 billion. That's up more than 60 percent from the previous year.  SEE ALSO: Surprise! Facebook's ad targeting makes people uncomfortable, study says Facebook also gained users. Imagine Mark Zuckerberg climbing up this chart, standing atop the Q4 2018 column triumphantly, with what his friends assure him is a very human-like smile on his face.  Read more... More about Tech , Tech , and Big Tech Companies from Mashable http://bit.ly/2sTMbIl

If you've watched Netflix's Fyre Fest documentary , than you definitely know Andy King, the festival producer that Billy McFarland asked to perform oral sex with a customs agent in return for getting water to the festival site. It's one of the most jaw-dropping scenes in a movie full of them, and it has inspired a legion of memes — memes it turns out that King is totally cool with.  In a video released on Tuesday afternoon by Netflix, King says, in a fun bit of wordplay, "I'm completely blown away by the response to the documentary." King admits he had no idea before his sudden fame what "trending" meant, and he admits to originally pronouncing the word "meme" as "me me," which is hilarious considering King was supposed to help McFarland rescue his "festival" built on a mountain of social media scams savvy.  Read more... More about Memes , Netflix , Fyre Festival , Culture , and Web Culture from Mashable http://...

Do you miss your headphone jack on your expensive iPhone ? Quit crying because at least it isn't the Meizu Zero phone, which has no buttons, no ports, and no speaker holes whatsoever. Announced earlier this month, the Zero phone takes minimalism to the extreme, leapfrogging even Apple's seeming dislike for buttons and ports. The bragging rights won't come cheap: The hole-less phone is priced at $1,299. SEE ALSO: Xiaomi’s flexible phone is real and puts Samsung and Royole to shame Chinese phone maker Meizu's selling the Zero on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo with devices expected to be delivered in April. Read more... More about Mobile , Android , Meizu , Ports , and Buttons from Mashable http://bit.ly/2Tn646n

Officials in New York have announced "an investigation into Apple's failure to warn consumers about the FaceTime bug and slow response to addressing the issue."   SEE ALSO: Here's how to disable FaceTime on your iPhone, iPad or Mac Apple pulled support for its group calling feature in FaceTime late Monday, after it was reported that the feature could be exploited to eavesdrop on people without their consent. A teenager reportedly discovered the bug a week earlier while playing Fortnite with his friends, and his mother unsuccessfully tried to report it to Apple. Now, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Andrew Cuomo are saying the company didn't react to the issue fast enough. Read more... More about Tech , Apple , Facetime , Tech , and Big Tech Companies from Mashable http://bit.ly/2MHe3bL

Electric vehicle owners are discovering the harsh reality of driving a battery-powered vehicle in below-freezing temperatures like those sweeping across the Midwest. Most drivers know in theory that cold weather adversely affects the car's and its battery's abilities, but it's another thing to see your range plummet on the dashboard next to the frigid outside and interior temperature. In these type of conditions the vehicles have a hard time warming up. Even charging is slowed down. So on Wednesday, EV drivers were dealing with way less range than they were used to — and some Tesla owners couldn't even get into their frozen cars. Read more... More about Tesla , Polar Vortex , Model 3 , Batteries , and Cold Weather from Mashable http://bit.ly/2Rshi7N

It's been a wild 24 hours at Facebook HQ, and employees are not handling it well.  Following a blockbuster Jan. 29 report from TechCrunch detailing how Facebook paid teens to spy on their smartphones, and the subsequent backlash from Apple , employees of the social media giant have taken to the anonymous workplace discussion app Blind to vent. And oh boy, is it ugly.  For those unfamiliar with Blind , the app is designed to allow employees of major companies to semi-anonymously discuss the ins and outs of their workplaces. An employee of, say, Facebook, uses their corporate email address to confirm that they do in fact work there, and then is allowed to post on app message boards — but the app doesn't force them to confirm their title or other job details. Each post from a Facebook employee is marked as such. Likewise, any post from an Apple employee is clearly labeled as coming from an Apple employee.  Read more... More about Facebook , Apple , Blind , Tech , an...

TikTok is on the rise two years after Vine's tragic demise , but don't expect it to fill the void that Vine left. That's OK! The absolute chaos that TikTok embodies is exactly what we need in 2019.  If you've been spending time outside like a functional human and have no idea what TikTok is, here's a rundown: The app was formerly known as Musical.ly, a platform dominated by preteens lip-syncing to uncomfortably suggestive choreography. In August 2018, the app was bought by ByteDance and merged with its app TikTok.  SEE ALSO: People are eating their own fingers to Kidz Bop music on TikTok In the months since, the app has spawned increasingly bizarre — but hilarious — 15-second videos, from gummy bears serenading each other with Adele's "Someone Like You" to teens flexing their makeup skills on literal potatoes . TikTok users aspire to get a coveted feature on the apps "For You" page, which is basically a scroll-through version of Ins...

Facebook isn't the only company side-stepping Apple's developer policies in order to conduct paid " research " on people's browsing habits. Now, TechCrunch reports that Google has also been conducting paid research on people's internet habits through a VPN app called "Screenwise," which also appears to circumvent Apple's developer policies. The story comes just one day after the publication reported on a shady program called Facebook Research , which used a rebranded version of the social network's banned VPN app to study users' internet habits. The report resulted in Apple revoking Facebook's Enterprise Certificate, effectively bricking all of the company's internal apps.  Read more... More about Tech , Google , Apple , Tech , and Big Tech Companies from Mashable http://bit.ly/2TodrdB

Hanson Robotics, the people who presented the world with the human-like robot Sophia have added a new member to their family. She's called "Little Sophia," and is a 14-inch robot meant to get kids hyped on STEM, coding and AI. Read more... More about Mashable Video , Artificial Intelligence , Robotics , Hanson Robotics , and Tech from Mashable http://bit.ly/2Bapwfk

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UPDATE: Jan. 30, 2019, 3:25 p.m. EST The official Xbox Support Twitter account announced that the problems are fixed, about three hours after they were first acknowledged. The issues surrounding Xbox One console startup, sign-in, title update errors, and our status page have now been resolved. Thank you for sticking with us while our teams addressed these issues and we appreciate the reports. As always, we're here and we're listening. — Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) January 30, 2019 The original story is below. Xbox One consoles around the world have stopped working. Xbox One owners are reporting major problems with their consoles online with displays being stuck on black screens at startup, games not loading, and errors when trying to login to Xbox Live. Read more... More about Microsoft , Xbox , Xbox One , Entertainment , and Gaming from Mashable http://bit.ly/2RYSZn1

This post is part of Hard Refresh , a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter. There's something about going through someone's old belongings that is at once fascinating and eerie. However, there's certainly a fine line between rummaging through postcards at a flea market in Brooklyn and stepping foot into a rotting mansion on Long Island.  You can cross that line of invasion on YouTube. There, you'll find the corner of lively urban explorers sharing their findings as they explore decaying structures they may or may not have permission to do so.  Read more... More about Watercooler , Urban Exploration , Hard Refresh , Mansions , and Culture from Mashable http://bit.ly/2RZZqGc

Link up any Bluetooth controller to your iOS or Android device and play the game without touching the screen. Read more... More about Android , Ios , Mashable Video , Upgrade , and Bluetooth Controller from Mashable http://bit.ly/2BlC1VJ