We used Boring’s Not-A-Flamethrower to burn away the worst of 2018

As 2018 comes to a close, it’s hard not to look back at the year with some bitterness.

Okay, okay, 2018 wasn't complete trash for everyone. But for all the highs, there were an equal amount (if not more) lows that made the year kind of suck.

We're not here to be a Debbie Downer and dredge up all the bad moments 2018 threw at us, so instead we're using this very last day of the year to cleanse the past and ring in 2019 in Mashable style: by burning it all away 🔥.

Armed with our new little friend, the Boring Not-A-Flamethrower, we torched some of the year's worst times — trends and products that rightfully deserved to be incinerated. Read more...

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The Most Crazy Expensive Phones of 2018

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Annual list of words to ban wants to get rid of Trump's favorite word in 2019

Even our vocabulary needs a fresh start for 2019.

This has been a rough year in so many ways, even for the words we use — and particularly for those that President Donald Trump is constantly tweeting out. That's why one group is proposing we ban the word "collusion." 

Lake Superior State University has unveiled the 44th edition of their annual "List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness" and while it's heavy on cliches, it also features plenty of Trump-related phrases. 

SEE ALSO: There's now a hilarious GoFundMe to build escalators over Trump's border wall Read more...

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NYPD surveillance drone will fly above Times Square on New Year’s Eve

It's a bird, it's a plane — it's a...surveillance drone?

For the first time in history, the New York Police Department will fly a drone over Times Square to monitor the crowd during the annual New Year’s Eve celebration. The drone will surveil the event alongside more than 1,200 cameras in order to assist around 7,000 police officers who will be on duty, according to the Associated Press.

The remote-controlled quadcopter will never fly directly over the crowd and will be tied to a building in an enclosed area as a safety precaution.

The NYPD will also be deploying technology that prevents unauthorized drone usage during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square. Read more...

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Watch Celine Dion go gaga for Lady Gaga at her concert

The power of Celine Dion's love for Lady Gaga is strong and, um, not subtle.

The singer recently attended a Gaga concert in Las Vegas and revealed how much of a Gaga stan she is.

I mean just look at that incredible arm span.

Yes @celinedion!! 👏👏👏👏🎉 THE Queen of Vegas showing support for our newest superstar, @ladygaga!
Gaga gave her a big shout-out from the stage & said Celine… https://t.co/JdvxyKd6yD… #WomenSupportingWomen #LadyGaga #CelineDion #GagaVegas @FOX5Vegas @ParkTheaterLV #Enigma pic.twitter.com/uAUOnovrME

— RACHEL SMITH (@RACHELFOX5) December 31, 2018

SEE ALSO: Ariana Grande has been perfecting her Celine Dion impression since she was a kid Read more...

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10 social media New Year's resolutions that will make your online life a little better

As 2018 comes to a close, it's only a matter of time before New Year's resolution posts start rolling into your timelines. 

But the barrage of empty promises and half-hearted resolutions on social media just make me want to scale back on my social media usage altogether. Forget hitting the gym more or learning new skills. From subtweeting less to toning down my finsta, here are 10 social media resolutions I will probably (not) follow through with in 2019. 

SEE ALSO: Your New Year's resolution to read more is a swipe away

1. Stop checking Twitter right before bed 

Me: Early to bed, early to rise...but let me just check twitter for 5 minutes before I sleep

Me at 5 a.m: pic.twitter.com/WOUtYZkSCb

— Four-eyed Edo boy™ (@Alex_Houseof308) May 28, 2018 Read more...

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Here's how to get a Lyft discount on New Year's Eve

New Year's is always a mess. It starts with such high expectations and then the ball drops, it's midnight, and you have no way to get home without spending a small fortune on a hard-to-find taxi or surging ride-hailing trips.

While it's near impossible to avoid a costly ride home soon after midnight or right when the bars and parties shut down, you have some cost-saving options.

SEE ALSO: Uber and Lyft IPOs will make a lot of people rich. But what about the drivers?

First the obvious: If you haven't downloaded the Lyft or Uber apps yet, you've got up to $20 of free rides waiting for you. But for the majority of us partygoers, those are well-used apps. So in several big cities across the U.S., Lyft is offering some discounts. Read more...

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Research: Some Android apps share your data with Facebook without consent

A worrying number of popular Android apps share user data with Facebook without user consent, new research from Privacy International shows (via Financial Times). 

Here's the worst part: Staying off Facebook doesn't protect you from this.  

SEE ALSO: Veteran tech journalist Walt Mossberg quits Facebook, because yeah

Privacy International, a London-based charity that focuses on improving people's personal privacy, examined 34 popular Android apps, each installed from 10 to 500 million times, between August and December 2018.

All of these apps share data with Facebook through its SDK (software development kit), which is fine if the users have in some way consented to this. But the organization intercepted data as it was sent (using a freely available, open-source tool) and found that at least 20 of these apps (roughly 61 percent) "automatically transfer data to Facebook the moment a user opens the app." Read more...

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7 of the best computer speakers to give your audio a boost

Computer and home theater setups have at least one thing in common: The out-of-the-box speakers that come with both are just not that good. 

Thankfully, there are plenty of speaker setups to choose from to give your computer's audio that extra punch. And better yet, it doesn't just have to be for a desktop.

It should be noted that the best quality speakers are typically going to be for a traditional desk setup rather than a laptop. The right speakers will deliver booming audio, and might even allow for a surround-sound setup, which makes everything better.

SEE ALSO: 10 of the best laptops for Windows 10 Read more...

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See what Chelsea legend said about Pogba's goal celebration

France legend Claude Makelele has accused Paul Pogba of disrespecting his opponents with his goal celebrations. The Manchester United scored a double in United's 4-1 win over Bouremouth at Old Trafford and celebrated his goals with his trademark...

>>> Read on Here

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Apple Watch, MacBook Pro, Bose, Google Home, KitchenAid, Instant Pot, Keurig, and more on sale for Dec. 31

Well, you did it. You made it through 2018. And whether you're a bit battered and bruised or had your best year ever, there's no denying that 2019 is swiftly rolling in.

Start the new year off right: With big savings. We're rounding up the best deals from Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Macy's, and more on tech like smart home devices and 4K TVs, kitchen products like Instant Pot's multi-cookers, and Amazon video streaming and home security devices. 

In addition, we also found great deals on Udemy online courses starting at just $9.99. If your New Year's resolution involves learning something new and exciting, Udemy has amazing online courses on web design, animation, and more.  Read more...

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Painful local news fail happens at the worst possible time

Being a newscaster is high pressure, reading the news live every day and knowing that if you slip up it'll be there for the internet to see.

And that's exactly what happened to Brianna Clark, an anchor on Kentucky's WPSD, who badly mangled the name of Deidre Mengedoht, a Louisville police officer who was killed in a Christmas Eve car crash.

Where her very off-the-mark pronunciation came from is a mystery — a painful, cringe-inducing mystery. But it's very unfortunate timing.

The Louisville Police Department has launched a fundraiser to benefit Officer Mengedoht's 9-year-old son here. Read more...

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Psychic Reveals His Predictions For 2019, Including A Royal Baby Girl

A Psychic who says he was an Egyptian queen in a past life has Meghan Markle will have a baby girl.

Nicolas Aujula, 33, has predicted an action packed 2019 and also reckons Taylor Swift will get engaged and Philip Hammond will launch a leadership bid.

Nicolas says he has successfully predicted major events ranging from the Syrian conflict to the winner of The Apprentice.

He claims that since his childhood he has been able to sense spirits and see things before they happen, usually through visionary dreams.



Also working as a past life regression therapist, hypnotherapist and psychic astrologer, south Londoner Nicolas has made a number of predictions for the New Year.

He said: “A lot of people have been asking me if Theresa May will stay in power. I don’t follow politics very closely myself, but one name that keeps coming to me is Philip Hammond.

“I don’t know if he’ll come to power himself or just try to, but he’s definitely one to keep an eye on.”

Explaining that it is hard to pinpoint exact dates for his astonishing visions, Nicolas admits that sometimes it is only in hindsight that he can interpret what they meant.

He continued: “I’ll say these predictions are for 2019 and beyond, as some may not necessarily happen next year, but perhaps further in the future.

“The interpretation is just as important as the vision itself. Sometimes, words or images will come to me and I won’t be able to make sense of them until something has happened that makes me look back and realise what I was told.”

Nicolas' top psychic predictions for 2019
• The Royal Baby will be a girl
• Taylor Swift will announce her engagement
• Nicole Kidman will become pregnant
• Sunderland football club will move up a league
• Philip Hammond may launch a leadership bid

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My 2018 Was Tough, I Cried Openly In Public Alot- Damilola Adegbite

Damilola Adegbite has explained how part of 2018 was very tough for her and how she cried alot through the year. There was even a time she cried so hard openly in church that she needed to be taken to the pastor's office for special prayers. It's a bit teary... Her words;

''I thought to share my biggest testimony of 2018 with someone somewhere who has lost hope.

I was fighting a serious battle for over a year. A battle I knew I could never ever have won by power nor by might. So instead, I decided to pray HARD about it. Oh dear, I disturbed God on this matter. I would sing, dance, cry, praise,worship; day and night.


A whole year passed and nothing happened. But I refused to give up.

On the 17th of May (a day before my birthday), I went to a mid week service. I dragged myself to church that day. I was overwhelmed. I had no strength left in me. My head kept telling me to give up, but my heart and spirit said NO

There was an altar call in church that day for people who desperately needed God to show up for them. I joined about a hundred other people. I tried to control my emotions. A few tears escaped and I would quickly wipe them away but at some point, I let go. I showed my father, how much pain I was in. For those few minutes, I couldn’t care less which blogger, friend or foe was watching. Damilola Adegbite?! Crying like a baby in church? Me I was ready for the jist to be everywhere by the next day, but I was even more ready to risk it all for a breakthrough. Little did I know, that my day had come.

After the prayers, we got up. My face was a mess so I bent my head and was walking back to my seat. I had taken a few steps when someone touched my shoulder so gently. I turned around and it was my pastor’s wife. Prior to this, I had NEVER met her. She looked at me so kindly and pulled me into her arms, right there in front of the whole church. That was it, I burst into tears like a baby. Before I could even figure out what was happening, I was taken into the pastor’s office and asked to wait to see my pastor and his wife after service. Small me!! To cut the long story short, hmmm, words can never explain. God gave me a MASSIVE ARMY. Spiritual, financial, emotional, every arsenal that I could ever need to fight and win this battle.

Here’s to you my friend. Keep pushing! Don’t loose hope! Refuse to be intimidated! If your hopes and dreams didn’t manifest in 2018, DO NOT GIVE UP! Your time is almost here. Keep holding on ️''

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Prince Philip Becomes First Person In The UK To Grow Rare Delicacy After 12 Years Of Trying

Prince Philip is believed to be the first person in the UK to sucessfully grow rare black truffles known as 'black diamonds'.

The Royal has finally achieved his ambition of growing the delicacy at Sandringham after more than a decade of perseverance.

The gastronomic treats have been harvested from Philip's organic 'truffiere' plantation on the Queen's estate in Norfolk where he is spending much of his time during his retirement.

The 97-year-old is believed to have been sharing the delicacies, which have a market price of around £600 a kilogramme, with other members of the Royal Family to savour at meal times.


But some of his prized crop is thought to have found its way to the visitor cafe at Sandringham which has been serving a seasonal £7.95 starter of Sandringham game and Norfolk truffle terrine with pickled vegetables.

Philip spent £5,000 on buying special truffle-impregnated trees in 2006 after being told that the alkaline soil at Sandringham was an ideal environment for them.

He had the 300 oak and hazel saplings planted on a one acre plot beside the Royal fruit farm on the estate, which also produces blackberries for Ribena.

It was revealed in 2009 that two Italian hounds, specially trained to sniff out truffles, had failed to find any in the root systems of the trees.

But Philip who started overseeing the estate after marrying the Queen, carried on regardless and his patience has finally been rewarded in recent years.

Adrian Cole, a director of Truffle UK, which supplied the saplings to Sandringham, said: "They have been highly successful."

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How to Disable and Remove Windows 10 Account Sync Settings

Windows 10 lets you synchronize settings on all devices you sign into with your Microsoft Account. Some of these settings include themes, language preferences, and passwords. But what if you don’t want your old settings to transfer over? Here’s how to disable and remove all account Sync settings on Windows 10.

How Do Sync Settings Work?

Sync Settings were first introduced with Windows 8 and are available for any Windows 10 device you sign into with your Microsoft account.

By default, when you enable Sync settings, Windows uploads various system settings and preferences to OneDrive. When you sign in to another device with the same account and on which you’ve also enabled sync settings, those settings all transfer over. It’s really handy if, for example, you like your desktop and laptop to look the same or you want to retain all your settings on a fresh install.

The following is a list of the settings that get synced to your Microsoft account:

• Theme – Desktop background, user tile, taskbar position, etc.
• Passwords – Windows credential manager, including Wi-Fi profiles
• Language Preferences – Spelling dictionary, system language settings
• Ease of Access – Narrator, on-screen keyboard, magnifier
• Other Windows Settings – A full list of Other Windows Settings

RELATED: Understanding the New Sync Settings in Windows 10

How to Disable Account Sync Settings on a Device

Disabling Sync settings in Windows 10 lets you limit what information Microsoft sends to the cloud and stores on their servers. Whether you want to disable a single setting or stop syncing altogether, this is how you can gain control of your settings once and for all.

Note: If you have multiple devices that all use Sync settings with your Microsoft account, you need to follow these steps for each device to disable and remove Sync settings completely.

Open up the Settings app by clicking the Start button and then the Settings cog. You can also press Win+I.

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