Blogroll
T-Mobile nationwide outage knocks thousands of phones into "SOS"
You're not alone if your phone is suddenly showing "SOS" instead of the familiar "5G" in the status bar. Tens of thousands of people across the country appear to be without T-Mobile service right now.
Don't wait for Honda—the Kia Telluride Hybrid is here with 329 horsepower and 33 MPG
When the Kia Telluride launched for 2020, it became an instant hit for a number of reasons, but one seems to really stand out. Buyers got a three-row SUV that looked upscale and felt luxurious without the higher sticker price. Kia actually skipped the 2026 model year for the Telluride, jumping into a full redesign for 2027, which included the addition of a hybrid powertrain.
Your Galaxy Watch’s hidden developer mode unlocks these 4 features nobody talks about
A rite of passage for every Android user is unearthing the secret Developer Options menu. You may have already done this on a phone, but Samsung Galaxy Watches also have it. But there’s no reason to enable developer mode if there’s nothing cool to toggle on—here are a few things to try.
4 excellent Netflix movies to watch this week (July 27-August 2)
It's the last week of July, and Netflix has already shown us what it has in store for U.S. subscribers in August—including the claustrophobic sci-fi horror The Last House, a chilling thriller starring Robert De Niro and Adam Scott (The Whisper Man), and some great documentaries, too. But you need a good movie to watch now, which is where we come in.
This Swedish SUV proves you don't need a German badge to get luxury—and it'll save you thousands
German luxury brands have long dominated the entry-level premium SUV segment, but they're no longer the only compelling option. As prices continue to rise and desirable features are increasingly locked behind expensive option packages, buyers are starting to look beyond the traditional choices in search of better overall value.
Forget the 2027 Lexus RX—this year's model costs less and delivers everything you need
Search for "2027 Lexus RX" right now, and you'll find spy photos of a camouflaged prototype near the Nurburgring, reports of a mid-cycle refresh coming later this year, and plenty of guessing about a three-row RX L. What you won't find is anything from Lexus itself. The automaker's newsroom page for 2027 models lists one vehicle so far, the electric TZ. The RX isn't on it. Or at least not yet.
Tired of serials? These 5 Netflix shows let you watch in whatever order you want
Serials have become the backbone of the streaming era, especially on Netflix. Serialized television is when a show's plot unfolds in sequential order over the course of a season. It's long-form storytelling that typically works best with dramas—Stranger Things, The Crown, etc. Watching the episodes in release order matters. Often, these shows are binged because the complex character arcs and cliffhangers encourage streaming multiple episodes at once.
YouTube Premium is adding Peacock, and here's what it means for your bill
Streaming bundles have become the new normal in the industry, and no service has an aggressive strategy as much as Peacock. Now, NBCUniversal is pulling off its biggest crossover yet—Peacock Premium is coming to YouTube Premium in the U.S.
This forgotten Windows shortcut from the '90s replaces your worst terminal habit
Most people who use the Command Prompt regularly have a muscle memory routine of pressing the Up Arrow key until the right command comes back around. It works, but it's slow, and if you run the command more than a few steps back, you're in for some cycling. There's a faster way that's been sitting on Windows since the early 90s, and most people have never seen it.
Xbox is down: Major outages stop sign-in, game launches
Microsoft's Xbox is currently experiencing widespread service disruption. The tech giant's games division has confirmed outages affecting multiple parts of its online ecosystem, according to VGC.
As of this writing, Xbox's own status page lists "major outage" conditions across four services: Account & Profile, Games & Gaming, Store & Subscriptions, and Apps & Mobile.
The Account & Profile status warns that users may be unable to sign in, may get disconnected mid-session, or may lose access to features that require sign-in, including most games, apps, and social features. The Store & Subscriptions page notes that some games may not appear in the Store, while the Apps & Mobile status flags problems launching apps.
All four services list the issue as identified, with a fix still pending.
SEE ALSO: Microsoft cuts 3,200 Xbox jobs, spins off four studios in major layoffsData from outage-tracking site Downdetector shows the bulk of user complaints center on launching games, which accounts for 65 percent of reported problems, followed by gameplay issues at 13 percent and server connection problems at 12 percent.
The official Xbox Support account acknowledged the issue on Sunday morning, stating that engineers were "actively working to mitigate" errors affecting sign-in, game libraries, and game launches, and pointed users to its status page for updates.
Team Xbox then posted a follow-up update at 2:03 PM EST, stating "our teams are focused on multiple investigation angles and remain hard at work. Thanks for your patience while teams keep working — we'll share more details as they become available."
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.The outage comes just a week after PlayStation Network suffered its own multi-hour outage, which VGC reported began shortly after the open beta launch for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, leaving PS5 owners locked out of PSN and any games requiring a sign-in.
Thingiverse used to be the gold standard for 3D printing models, but these 3 sites beat it now
Are you still using Thingiverse to find models for your 3D printer? It’s time to upgrade your 3D model search engine with these three sites that are better in just about every way.
I won't buy another USB charging cable without this feature
Are you tired of untangling cables and chargers just to plug your phone or tablet in? I was, and I decided to finally do something about it. After adding retractable cables to my arsenal, I realized this was the upgrade I had been needing, and there's no going back for me.
This Hyundai SUV delivers luxury without the premium price
For years, buying a luxury SUV meant paying a premium for the badge as much as the vehicle itself. If you wanted a quieter cabin, better materials, and the latest technology, brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Cadillac were the obvious destination.
Shared a Claude conversation? Google may have seen it.
If you've used Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude, and shared any of your Claude conversations with friends, those chats may have been publicly available via Google.
That's what emerged this weekend when Reddit users noticed that shared Claude conversations were being indexed by Google Search. Seemingly private conversations between users and the AI chatbot, in other words, were publicly searchable on Google.
According to Reddit, those affected included a Claude user who was creating a crypto wallet and accidentally exposed keys to the currency, and a lawyer asking the chatbot for legal advice on whether they had to self-report a breach of conduct.
RedditAnthropic has since addressed the issue. Google appears to have de-indexed and removed all shared Claude conversations from its search engine as of this writing.
How did this happen?By default, Claude conversations are private. However, there is a feature which lets users share specific Claude chats. When doing this, Anthropic creates a static page that allows users to share the chat with others — and also made it indexable by search engines.
Simple "noindex" tags can be included in a web page's code, telling search engines not to index a page. It does not appear that Anthropic used those tags. That means each shared Claude conversation had the potential to be indexed by Google.
Reddit users were able to find shared Claude conversations by searching for "site:claude.ai/share." This query would pull up all indexed pages using that URL structure, which every shared Claude conversation utilized.
Does AI have a privacy problem?The shared Claude chats have since been removed from Google. But this isn't the first time we've seen insecure AI chatbot conversations.
Last year, ChatGPT users experienced the same issue; their shared conversations were also being indexed by Google. OpenAI pulled the feature once users began finding shared conversations in Google Search.
The same thing happened with Claude before too. Just one month after the ChatGPT incident, shared Claude conversations were discovered in Google Search. Anthropic was able to remove them from Google and addressed the issue at the time, saying it had blocked search engine crawlers. Yet it seems shared Claude chats were still being indexed.
Mashable has reached out to Anthropic for more information, and we will update this piece if we hear back.
How can I check privacy on my Claude conversations?If you've never shared a Claude conversation, you have no need to worry. This wasn't a leak of private conversations, which is what all Claude chats are by default. The issue affected only shared Claude chats.
If you have shared Claude chats, then there's a chance your conversation was publicly available via Google Search.
To manage that feature, simply login to your Claude account, go to Settings, followed by Privacy, then Shared Chats, and click on Manage. You should see a list of all your shared chats, and sharing can be turned off for all of them.
3 exciting Netflix thrillers to watch this week (July 27-August 2)
Kevin Hart has become one of Netflix's most valuable stars. His latest comedy movie, 72 Hours, quickly shot to No. 1 on Netflix, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Perhaps one of these thrillers will surge into the Top 10 this week.
Nantuckets No influencers sign reignites debate over social media tourism
Influencers have been barred from cafes, prevented from filming inside workout classes, and blamed for overwhelming picturesque towns. Now, a Nantucket craft store has condensed that years-long backlash into two words: "No influencers."
The sign hangs inside the Four Winds Craft Guild, which has sold handcrafted Nantucket baskets, purses, artwork, and carvings on the island since 1948. When the store shared a photo of it on Instagram over the weekend of July 26, the post revived a familiar debate over what businesses gain — and what customers, employees, and residents may lose — when creators turn physical spaces into content.
SEE ALSO: Why are cafes, restaurants, and even towns banning influencers?Influencers have become increasingly important in modern advertising. A single TikTok video or Instagram post can introduce an independent shop, restaurant, or destination to prospective customers without the business having to pay for a traditional ad campaign.
In a 2025 Sprout Social survey, 32 percent of consumers said they had purchased something through an influencer’s sponsored post within the previous year. That figure climbed to 53 percent among Gen Z and 48 percent among millennials. Businesses can easily track at least some of those purchases through personalized discount codes, affiliate links, and in-app storefronts.
But the attention creators generate can also lead to crowded rooms, tripods blocking walkways, customers recording strangers, and elaborate photo shoots unfolding while employees try to do their jobs. For businesses in small or already crowded destinations, an influx of visitors can create more disruption than revenue.
The sign quickly sparked reactions in Four Winds's Instagram comments, including from Paige Paul, the influencer and Dairy Boy founder formerly known as Paige Lorenze, who took her husband's surname after marrying tennis player Tommy Paul. Paul, who launched her own Nantucket storefront for Dairy Boy in May, pushed back against the sign, arguing that it dismissed an industry in which women have built businesses and gained economic independence.
"If you call yourself a feminist but proudly put up a 'No Influencers' sign, it’s worth asking who you are attempting to delegitimize, and why," Paul wrote. "Mocking women when they become powerful in a new industry isn’t new. It’s just a strange message coming from a store that celebrates a craft with such a rich history of women shaping the island and its economy."
“For those who don't know, the creator economy is overwhelmingly driven by women," she continued. "One woman with a loyal audience can successfully launch a business at a scale that would have once required corporate backing and massive advertising budgets. That’s a win. This sign isn’t."
Four Winds did not back down from the controversy. Although the store deleted its original Instagram post, it shared a notice indicating that its account had been reported and responded through its Instagram Story, according to Page Six.
"Imagine being so bored with life that you spend your pastime trying to report a photo on IG that makes you feel uncomfortable," the business clapped back.
Businesses are still setting boundaries around influencer filmingThe disagreement did not begin on Nantucket. Businesses have spent years attempting to capture the benefits of social media exposure without allowing their spaces to become unrestricted sets.
In 2023, Mashable reported that Dae, a design shop and cafe in Brooklyn, had introduced a no-photo-shoot policy after creators began bringing tripods into the space and staging elaborate productions. Customers could still take quick pictures of their food and drinks, but larger shoots were no longer allowed.
SEE ALSO: The Mashable 101: The creators defining the internet in 2026"We love food and drink photos (clearly),” Dae wrote on Instagram at the time, "but the TikToks and Instagram photoshoots have gotten a bit out of control for us."
Similar conflicts have unfolded elsewhere. After an influencer requested a free stay in exchange for coverage, a hotel in Ireland banned all bloggers. A cafe in Taiwan prohibited influencers after customers began staging disruptive photo shoots. In Pomfret, Vermont, officials temporarily closed roads near popular fall foliage locations after residents complained about traffic, trespassing, property damage, and visitors blocking roads to take pictures.
As marketing director Sarah Blocksidge told Mashable at the time, "The reality is that some businesses just aren’t suited for the influx of people an influencer can attract, which can wind up hurting the business more than helping it."
2026 brought more of the same conversation. In May, Tracy Anderson Method studios began prohibiting drop-in visitors from filming during workouts. Monthly members, who reportedly pay around $900, could still record. Steven Beltrani, president of Tracy Anderson’s studios, said the policy was intended to reduce disruptions, preserve the studio environment, and protect members’ privacy, though some found it hypocritical and "insane."
Nantucket is already confronting the effects of online attentionNantucket residents and officials are still grappling with how to manage the island’s growing number of visitors.
That debate surfaced again in May, when Paul opened Dairy Boy’s first permanent store on Nantucket over Memorial Day weekend. Videos and photos soon showed customers lining up outside, prompting residents on the r/Nantucket subreddit to debate whether businesses like Dairy Boy were capitalizing on the island’s social media appeal — and making it feel more “commercialized and trend-driven” in the process.
The island received another burst of buzz on July 9, when Peacock released The Five-Star Weekend, an adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel set on Nantucket.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.Even before filming began, members of the Nantucket Select Board worried that a major television production could disrupt the island and ultimately draw even more visitors during its already crowded summer season. The board approved the production but revised Nantucket’s filming policy after the shoot concluded.
Officials have also introduced restrictions at the Sconset Bluff Walk, a scenic public path that passes through the yards of privately owned homes. Residents have reported visitors leaving the path, trespassing, damaging landscaping, and gathering near homes for photo shoots. Influencers are not solely responsible for those problems, of course, but viral photos and videos shared online have introduced the location to a much larger audience.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.Enforcing boundaries around that attention is becoming more difficult. Producing content no longer requires a tripod or professional camera. A smartphone, or even camera-equipped smart glasses, can record an entire visit without attracting much notice.
Four Winds has not said whether the sign represents an actual ban, a rule against filming, or simply a joke about disruptive visitors. Without that explanation, the sign became the center of a much bigger debate over whether influencer attention helps businesses — or creates more problems for the people around them.
And in the process, Four Winds received exactly the kind of online attention its sign appeared to reject.
If you ever shared a Claude chat, your private data could be on Google
Your private chats with Anthropic's Claude might be very public. Searchers have discovered that many Claude conversations are searchable in Google, some of them containing sensitive information.
Automakers are obsessed with bigger screens and more apps—I just want better phone integration
Automakers have made infotainment a major selling point, and during a test drive, dealers are quick to point out the size of the screen, the built-in apps, the voice controls, and all the connected features packed into the dashboard. I understand why. Technology helps make a car feel newer and more advanced, especially when two models are otherwise difficult to separate.
The Sonos Ace are one of the most comfortable pairs of headphones weve tested — and theyre on sale for $120 off
Save 30%: As of July 27, you can grab the Sonos Ace headphones in black for $279 at Amazon, knocking $120 off their $399 list price.
Opens in a new window Credit: Sonos Sonos Ace $279 at Amazon$399 Save $120 Get Deal
Many flagship headphones prices would suggest otherwise, but it is actually possible to get ultra-comfortable headphones with top notch sound quality and not pay over $400.
Part of the play? Knowing when to shop. As of July 27, the Sonos Ace headphones are just $279 at Amazon, which puts them $120 below their $399 list price. While not their most rare price drop, it's still an excellent value for headphones that look great and have the performance to match.
In the long line of headphones Mashable's team has tested, the Sonos Ace stand out as one of the most comfortable pairs, alongside options like the Bose QuietComfort Ultras. In her review of the Aces, Mashable's Miller Kern wrote that they compared to Sony in terms of sound quality, stand out for their Sonos soundbar compatibility, and an excellent battery life (at 30 hours per charge, it is on par with the aforementioned Bose's and the Sony XM6 headphones).
Other notable features include on-ear tactile controls, replaceable ear cups for future proofing, and solid ANC. At the time of writing, the deal is only available on the black colorway of the headphones.
I don't trust Wi-Fi routers anymore, so I built my own
Your router is one of the most important devices you use regularly, but unless you purchase a prosumer router, you probably can't do that much with them. The firmware is locked down, security updates are issued on someone else's timetable, and they often have remote management features enabled that you can't get rid of.


