Tech
Bluesky breaks silence on outage and reveals cause
Bluesky, the social media app popular with X expatriates, suffered a widespread outage on Thursday, April 16.
And in a thread posted on the official Bluesky profile, the app's leaders revealed the cause of the outage — a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
"Our team received a report of intermittent app outages at about 11:40pm PDT on April 15, 2026," the post read. "They worked through the night to mitigate a sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which intensified throughout the day."
Fortunately, Bluesky also said there was no evidence that any user data had been compromised in the attack, which affected the Bluesky app, feeds, notifications, and search. The company said it would provide further information by 1 p.m. ET Friday.
The Bluesky status page indicated the app was fully online as of this writing; the app reports a 99.983 percent uptime over the past 90 days.
A DDoS attack is relatively simple and low-effort for cybercriminals. In this type of attack, hackers send a massive number of requests to overwhelm servers. DDoS attacks have been around since the early days of the World Wide Web, and as the Bluesky outage shows, they can still cause problems.
The Bluesky outage began affecting users in the early morning hours, with the service DownDetector recording thousands of user error reports. (Disclosure: DownDetector and Mashable are both owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis.)
Bluesky saw massive growth after Elon Musk took over Twitter, and again following the second election of President Donald Trump. However, its growth has stalled more recently, and data shows that daily active users on Bluesky have declined.
Mashable reached out to Bluesky with questions about the attack, and we'll update this story if we receive a response.
Tech
The Sony XM6 earbuds are the best audio product Ive tested this year — and theyre back at their lowest price ever
Save $31.99: Take 10% off the Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds at Amazon as of April 20. This brings them down to $298, instead of their list price of $329.99.
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As a headphones reviewer, I get plenty experience testing out the latest and greatest audio has to offer. As a budget-buys lover, I don't always see the point of increasingly high price points.
Then, I tried the Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds. At $329.99, these earbuds aren't cheap, sitting at an even higher price than Bose's flagship earbuds and the Technics EAH-AZ1000, another Mashable favorite. However, as of April 20, the Sony buds are down to a slightly better $298, marking a return to their lowest price ever.
Don't get me wrong — I get that $300 isn't exactly chump change. That said, I consider these earbuds an investment for anyone who wants the absolute best blend of sound, comfort, and noise cancellation. To be clear, I still think the Bose QC Ultra 2 buds lead the category on the comfort scale, but between the best noise cancellation and sound I've tried on a pair of earbuds, I get why these are priced the way they are.
As these are Sony buds, the companion app also offers great customization, with a 10-band equalizer for finding the sound that's just right. At eight hours per charge, their battery life is also competitive with other noise-cancelling favorites of Mashable's, like the Apple AirPods Pro 3.
I loved the XM6 earbuds when I first reviewed them earlier this year, and I continue to love them months later. Unless the audio space throws a real curveball, I imagine these will be one of the best releases of the year.
SAVE 20%: As of April 20, you can get the Sony QD-OLED 77-inch BRAVIA XR A95L Series 4K Ultra HD TV for $3,999.99, down from $4,999.99. That's a 20% discount or $1,000 savings.
Hooking up a PlayStation 5 to a mediocre screen is a quick way to ruin the graphics you paid for. If you want your games to look the way they were intended, you need a TV that can keep up with the console.
Right now, you can get the Sony QD-OLED 77-inch BRAVIA XR A95L Series 4K Ultra HD TV for $3,999.99 at Amazon, down from $4,999.99. That's a 20% discount, or $1,000 in savings.
Since Sony makes both the console and the TV, you'll get exclusive features like Auto HDR Tone Mapping that optimize the picture quality while you play. It has HDMI 2.1 for 4K gaming at 120Hz, so you don't have to deal with lag, and there's a dedicated Game Menu to adjust your settings on the fly. When you put the controller down, the QD-OLED screen gives you pure blacks and bright colors for movie night, with Google TV built in so you have all your streaming apps in one place.
SAVE $120: As of April 20, the DJI Mini 3 beginner-friendly drone is on sale at Amazon for only $299 with an on-page coupon. That's nearly 30% in savings and its best price on record.
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Everyone from real estate agents to marketing managers to casual Instagrammers could use a drone to capture more enticing footage. But drones don't typically come with the most affordable price tags, which is why we're highlighting this deal we spotted on the DJI Mini 3. At nearly 30% off, it's the cheapest we've ever seen it.
As of April 20, the beginner-friendly DJI Mini 3 is down to $299 with an on-page coupon at Amazon. That's $120 off its list price of $419 and just the second time we've seen the price drop this low. Just be sure to check the box that says "coupon price" to score the discount.
Weighing in at just half a pound, the DJI Mini 3 is true to its name. It folds up to an even more compact size for transport. It captures 4K HDR video and its innovative gimbal design allows for true vertical shooting and dynamic angles. Translation: you'll be able to snap some truly epic shots for social media. You'll get about 38 minutes of flight time before you need a charge or battery swap, but you can extend that to up to 51 minutes if you purchase the Intelligent Flight Battery Plus (sold separately).
The Mini 3 is level 5 wind-resistant, so you can still take flight and capture footage in less than ideal conditions. Plus, intelligent features like auto takeoff, RTH (return to home), and precise hovering help beginners get started without a steep learning curve.
It's not every day the popular DJI Mini 3 goes on sale for $120 off. If you're in the market for a beginner-friendly drone, click on that coupon box and snag it while you can.
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