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Many football fans are not choosing between watching the game and scrolling TikTok, but are doing both. Now TikTok wants to make that habit official.

Days before the 2026 NFL season begins, TikTok and the NFL announced a new multiyear partnership that will bring more highlights, archival footage, player-focused videos, and other official content to the platform. The agreement will also introduce NFL hubs where fans can find scores and schedules, then follow links to tune into game broadcasts.

There is already a sizable audience waiting for all of it. According to TikTok, posts using #NFL increased by more than 32 percent between August 2025 and August 2026. The league’s main @NFL account has more than 20 million followers, while eight international accounts serve fans in markets including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, France, Australia, and the UK and Ireland.

At first glance, this might sound like another agreement to put sports highlights on social media. But TikTok and the NFL have been building toward something much bigger for years.

Credit: TikTok

TikTok and the NFL first teamed up in 2019, when the league launched its official account with highlights, sideline footage, behind-the-scenes videos, and hashtag challenges. Its first campaign, #WeReady, invited fans and creators to celebrate their teams ahead of the NFL’s 100th season.

The partnership did not stay confined to the For You page for long. Beginning in 2021, the companies staged the annual NFL TikTok Tailgate, a livestreamed Super Bowl pregame event that combined musical performances with appearances from players and creators. By its fourth edition in 2024, headlined by Gwen Stefani, TikTok said the event attracted 2.2 million live viewers.

Later that year, TikTok and the NFL renewed the partnership and promised to add more long-form football content. At the time, TikTok said videos from the league and its 32 teams had generated more than 5 billion views during the 2023 season.

Of course, TikTok is not the only platform chasing football fans. Its longtime rival YouTube has been moving directly onto the field. YouTube replaced TikTok as the official sponsor of the Super Bowl Tailgate in 2025, after becoming the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket in 2023.

That gives YouTube something TikTok largely lacks: the games themselves. So instead of trying to become another traditional broadcaster, TikTok appears to be going after everything surrounding the action.

As part of the renewed partnership, the NFL will use TikTok GamePlan, which connects videos to hubs featuring scores, schedules, standings, official accounts, and broadcast links. In other words, TikTok wants every spectacular catch or sideline moment on your For You page to bring you closer to the live game.

SEE ALSO: Disney and the NFL just paired every team with a character — here's your team's match

TikTok has good reason to believe this pipeline could work. According to the company, 85 percent of sports fans on TikTok use the platform as a second screen during live events, while 42 percent are more likely to watch a live match after encountering related sports content on the app.

TikTok is also bringing the NFL to Pro Events, the standalone app it piloted during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The app rewarded fans for exploring tournament content and completing tasks with stars redeemable for merchandise, TikTok Shop discounts, or charitable donations. A dedicated NFL hub will reportedly launch in the coming weeks.

And where there are more ways for fans to engage, there are naturally more places for brands to advertise. TikTok is expanding its Pulse Premiere program so advertisers can place ads directly after videos from participating NFL teams.

The partnership could be especially useful as the NFL looks beyond its home turf. The league is staging a record nine international games across seven countries in 2026 and has made attracting millions of additional fans outside the United States a major part of its long-term strategy. TikTok’s regional NFL accounts give the league a way to keep reaching those audiences long after the teams leave town.

"The NFL isn’t just a sport, it’s a year-round way of life where fandom thrives through game-day highlights, daily trends, and player personalities," TikTok Global Head of Sport Rollo Goldstaub added in the announcement.

One of the biggest problems with switching from Windows to Linux has always been software compatibility. Linux has thousands of applications, but there are still Windows programs that people depend on for work, school, creative projects, and everyday computing.

After trying endless note-taking apps over the years, Google Keep became my go-to. Whether I needed to capture a fleeting idea, create a grocery list, or jot down notes from my editor, Keep always had my back.

Most people don't think about their car's A/C until it stops working, and by then the repair bill is already uncomfortable. This is something you either crank up in July or forget about entirely until next summer. The problem is that neglect is exactly what kills it. A lot of the failures that send people to the shop are easily preventable if you start adding in a few habits.

What you see up there are my two copies of Robocop. One is the version that people saw in theaters, and the other is the version that director Paul Verhoeven wanted people to see in theaters, but had to edit slightly to get past the ratings board.

The parallel port is gone as of the time I'm writing this. But its demise was long and drawn-out, even as supposedly better alternatives came along and tried to take its place. Here's how it finally met its ultimate demise, long after it was supposed to.

I used to spend ages crafting ChatGPT prompts, telling it exactly how to behave, what steps to follow, and how to format the answer. But ChatGPT has changed, and so has OpenAI's prompting advice. With the release of GPT-5.6, OpenAI's newest model guidance puts more emphasis on clearly stating your goal and less on micromanaging how ChatGPT gets there.

Ask any director, and they'll tell you that filming a movie is rather difficult. Now try shooting a movie where the protagonist is constantly on the move. That is one of the several challenges director Kevin Macdonald faced in The Runner, a new Prime Video action movie starring Gal Gadot.

Every fall, LEGO celebrates the day when young witches and wizards return to Hogwarts for another year of adventures. The official LEGO Back to Hogwarts 2026 shopping event starts Aug. 29 and runs through Sept. 6. 

Whether you’re from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin — fans young and old will want to get their paws on the two new Harry Potter LEGO sets, limited-time gifts, and geek-out-worthy brick merch from your favorite fantastical world.

Plus, your kiddos can hone their real-life building skills with the intuitive LEGO Builder app. Now that’s something even Muggle parents can obsess about. Here’s a sampling of what the event has up its sleeve: 

Early access to the new Ministry of Magic collector’s set  Opens in a new window Credit: LEGO The Ministry of Magic Collector’s Edition $449.99 at LEGO
  Shop Now

The massive 3,491-piece set has three different levels for builders 18 years and older, including a subway station and the Hall of Prophecies. Kids will love flushing the 14 mini-figures from the public restroom down into the Ministry. Collectors will love the golden wizard statue and 25th-anniversary Lynx Patronus figure. 

A new Mini Hogwarts Castle casts its spell Opens in a new window Credit: LEGO Mini Hogwarts Castle $39.99 at LEGO
  Shop Now

This 700-piece set stands only 5.5 inches high, but it packs infinite adventures for ages 10 and up. Kids can build microscale versions of the Great Hall and Astronomy Tower, lift up the East Wing to reveal the ancient Chamber of Secrets, and gaze into the Mirror of Erised. When the Harry Potter and Hedwig owl mini-figures take flight on Harry’s broomstick, the magic is real.

Score cool gifts until Sept. 6

Your wand won’t get you first dibs on new Harry Potter sets or gifts with purchase during the 2026 LEGO Back to Hogwarts event. But a free LEGO Insider membership will. 

For example, members who purchase The Ministry of Magic Collector’s Edition can score a shiny metal display of Harry Potter’s phone-booth portal to the Ministry of Magic. Members can also redeem Insider points for 25th anniversary Harry Potter baubles.

Anyone who spends $40 or more on qualifying Harry Potter merchandise will get the Dumbledore's Office with Harry Potter set. You can also nab the Ministry Munchies and The Daily Prophet Stands for free with a qualifying $130 purchase. 

Back to school isn’t a bummer when it coincides with the LEGO Back to Hogwarts shopping event. From Aug. 29 to Sept. 6, snag two new Harry Potter LEGO sets and more perks than you can wave your wand at.

The internet isn't exactly known for bringing out the best in people. Every so often, though, it channels all that collective energy into something genuinely helpful — like buying a car seat for someone you've never met.

That is what happened after Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper began surprising expectant parents by purchasing items from their Babylist registries. Cooper, who announced in May that she is expecting her first child with husband film producer and Unwell co-founder Matt Kaplan, had been turning to her audience for pregnancy and parenting advice. Clearing registries became a way to return some of that support.

"Clearing out registries was a way to thank the community for all their incredible support and advice," Cooper said in a release. "Reading their stories and seeing what that meant to them made me want to find a way for Unwell to keep paying that forward." Recipients definitely felt the love, posting emotional reactions and unboxing videos as cribs, car seats, mattresses, and swaddles arrived at their homes.

The best part of the story, though? Other people began doing the same thing.

Strangers opened strangers' registries and bought whatever they could afford. For some, that meant a pack of bottles or a box of diapers. Others helped clear entire lists. What began as a celebrity giveaway grew into a much larger chain of people paying the gesture forward.

Online generosity is hardly new. Crowdfunding links have become fixtures beneath viral videos, while kindness creators have built enormous audiences around giving cash, houses, or cars to strangers and inviting viewers to contribute.

One registry became thousands Credit: Babylist

Babylist, an online baby registry and shopping platform, soon joined Cooper and her Unwell media network to formalize the effort under the #BabylistItForward banner. The company committed to supporting more than 1,000 families, with Pampers also contributing to the campaign.

The response suggests the idea touched a nerve — according to figures shared with Mashable, more than 15,000 expectant parents replied to the launch post in less than an hour.

Many left their own registry links. Others nominated a friend, sibling, co-worker, or partner. Between the requests, parents started discussing which products they had actually used, what first-time parents could skip, and where less expensive alternatives might work just as well. Babylist's campaign page recorded 3,279 gifts from the company’s team as of Aug. 31.

Credit: Babylist

For Babylist, the response also demonstrated that parents were looking for more than products. Jennifer Hyman, the company’s incoming CEO, told Mashable the partnership was intended to reach parents when they need "answers, reassurance, and connection." Cooper, Babylist, and Unwell also plan to crowdsource parenting advice and product recommendations, spotlight families' stories, and support charitable organizations working with parents during pregnancy and early parenthood.

Brands of different sizes got involved, too. Los Angeles diaper bag company Mina Baie promised to purchase gifts from five parents’ registries and award diaper bags to 20 others, while UPPAbaby offered to clear five full registries and purchase one of its strollers from 50 additional lists. Cozy Crew Club invited parents to share their stories for a chance to receive registry gifts and store gift cards, and mom-founded baby brand Kiplie offered portable changing mats while acknowledging that it could not clear entire lists. Itzy Ritzy, meanwhile, offered to purchase up to $300 worth of its products from each selected registry.

SEE ALSO: Alex Cooper parlays podcast prowess into entrepreneurial domination

Other creators and reality stars, including Colton Underwood, Harry Jowsey, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Anneliese van der Pol, also invited parents to leave their registries in the comments of their own posts.

Meanwhile, viewers without large platforms continued the effort by buying individual items for families whose stories appeared in their feeds.

Examples of this trend in action are heartwarming: Wyatt Morris, an active-duty service member, is expecting a daughter with his wife, Breanna. Morris posted their Babylist registry on TikTok and later returned with a follow-up video after viewers reportedly purchased every last item.

The internet's attention is notoriously unpredictable, but it's always heartening to see a viral moment turn into tangible support for people who truly need it. The trend may disappear, but the items arriving at families' doorsteps — and the difference they make — won't.

The best Labor Day tech deals at a glance: Best Apple deal Apple AirTag (2nd Gen, 4-pack) $79.99 (save $19.01) Get Deal Best laptop deal HP OmniBook 3 16 (Snapdragon X, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $599.99 (save $550) Get Deal Best TV deal TCL 65-inch QM8L Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 (save $1,102) Get Deal Best headphones deal Sony WH-1000XM5 $198 (save $201.99) Get Deal Best smart home deal Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select $19.99 (save $30) Get Deal

We're still a few days out from Labor Day, but retailers' holiday sales are already live in full force. It's an especially good time to shop if you've been thinking about upgrading some older tech: For one thing, these sales offer some welcome relief from RAMageddon-related price hikes (which just keep coming, ugh). For another, they're probably your last real chance to save on big-ticket gadgets like laptops, TVs, and premium headphones until late October, when early Black Friday festivities get going.

Below, I've rounded up a big batch of the best Labor Day tech deals that I could find at Amazon, Best Buy, and beyond. That includes new record-low prices on devices from brands like Apple, Sony, and TCL, with discounts soaring as high as 60%.

Most retailers' Labor Day sales run through Labor Day proper on Monday, Sept. 7, so I'll continue to update this story into the long weekend.

Best Labor Day Apple deal Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirTag (2nd Gen, 4-pack) $79.99 at Amazon and Walmart
$99 Save $19.01   Get Deal

Individual AirTags are marked down to $24 this week, but if you snag a four-pack on sale for $79.99, you're only paying $19.99 per tracker. (That deal is up for grabs at both Amazon and Walmart, by the way, and it's a new all-time low.) Apple updated the AirTag with a louder speaker and a bigger finding range at the beginning of the year. Mashable's Stan Schroeder called it "a useful little thing" that "saved me a lot of worrying once when my baggage got lost," rating it a 4.2/5.

Read Mashable's full review of the Apple AirTag (2nd Gen).

AirPods deals

• Apple AirPods 4 — $99 $129 (save $30)

• Apple AirPods 4 with ANC — $148.99 $179 (save $30.01)

• Apple AirPods Pro 3 — $199 $249 (save $50)

• Apple AirPods Max 2 — $479 $549 (save $70)

iPad deals

• Apple iPad, 11-inch (A16, WiFi, 128GB) — $399 $449 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $649 $749 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $849 $949 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M5, WiFi, 512GB) — $1,299 $1,399 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,399.99 $1,499 (save $99.01)

MacBook deals

• Apple MacBook Neo (A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $689.99 $699 (save $9.01)

• Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M5, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,699 $1,799 (save $100)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,849.99 $1,999 (save $149.01)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M5 Pro, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,759.99 $2,999 (save $239.01)

More Apple accessory deals

• Apple AirTag (2nd Gen) — $24 $29 (save $5)

• Apple Pencil (USB-C) — $69.98 $79 (save $9.02)

• Apple Pencil Pro — $97 $129 (save $32)

• Apple Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad — $199 $249 (save $50)

• Apple iPad Magic Keyboard Case for iPad Pro (11-inch) — $225 $299 (save $74)

Best Labor Day TV deal Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 65-inch QM8L Mini-LED QLED 4K TV $1,397.99 at Amazon
$2,499.99 Save $1,102.00   Get Deal

Offering a sharp, ultra-bright picture and boasting a clean, virtually bezel-free design, this TCL display is our favorite 65-inch QLED TV for most people. It's an especially good pick for folks "who know they'll be doing a good amount of their TV watching in the daytime," wrote Leah Stodart, Mashable's former TV expert. That's you, college football fans. Its Labor Day sale price of $1,397.99 on Amazon — a 44% savings — marks its lowest price ever. That beats a rivaling deal at Best Buy by $2.

50- and 55-inch TV deals

• Insignia 50-inch F50 4K TV — $159.99 $299.99 (save $140)

• Amazon 50-inch Omni QLED 4K Fire TV — $259.99 $469.99 (save $210)

• LG 55-inch LX7B Gallery Mini-LED 4K TV — $699.99 $1,299.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 55-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,499.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 55-inch U6 Pro Mini‑LED 4K Fire TV — $497.99 $849.99 (save $352)

65-inch TV deals

• LG 65-inch LX7B Gallery Mini-LED 4K TV — $899.99 $1,799.99 (save $900)

• Hisense 65-inch S7 Canvas Hi-QLED 4K TV — $997.99 $1,999.99 (save $1,002)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 7 Mini-LED QLED 4K TV — $1,298 $1,598 (save $300)

• Samsung 65-inch S85H OLED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $1,999.99 (save $602)

• LG 65-Inch B6 OLED 4K TV — $1,399.99 $1,999.99 (save $600)

• Samsung 65-inch S90H OLED 4K TV — $1,597.99 $2,697.99 (save $1,100)

• Hisense 65-inch UR9 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,699.99 $2,199.99 (save $500)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 II QD QLED 4K TV — $2,498 $3,299.99 (save $801.99)

• Samsung 65-inch S95H OLED 4K TV — $2,799.99 $3,399.99 (save $600)

75-inch TV deals

• Hisense 75-inch U6 Pro Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $797.99 $1,399.99 (save $602)

• Hisense 75-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,197.99 $1,999.99 (save $802)

• Samsung 75-inch R85H Micro RGB 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,799.99 (save $800)

• Sony 75-inch Bravia 7 II RGB 4K TV — $2,299.99 $3,099.99 (save $800)

• Samsung 75-inch The Frame Pro QLED 4K TV — $2,397.99 $2,797.99 (save $400)

• Samsung 75-inch R95H RGB 4K TV — $3,799.99 $4,499.99 (save $700)

Deals on 80-inch TVs and larger

• Insignia 85-inch Class F50 Series 4K Fire TV — $599.99 $899.99 (save $300)

• Hisense 85-inch U6 Pro Hi-QLED Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,097.99 $1,999.99 (save $902)

• Samsung 85-inch M80H Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,199.99 $1,799.99 (save $600)

• Hisense 85-inch U7 Mini-LED ULED 4K TV — $1,397.99 $2,499.99 (save $1,102)

• Hisense 100-inch U6 Mini-LED 4K TV — $1,999.99 $2,999.99 (save $1,000)

• Hisense 85-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $2,199.99 $3,499.99 (save $1,300)

• TCL 98-inch QM7L SQD-Mini-LED QLED 4K TV — $2,497.99 $3,999.99 (save $1,502)

• Hisense 100-inch UR8 RGB Mini-LED 4K TV — $3,499.99 $5,999.99 (save $2,500)

Best Labor Day headphones deal Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-1000XM5 $198 at Amazon and Best Buy
$399.99 Save $201.99   Get Deal

The last-gen Sony XM5s are an honorable mention on our best headphones guide because they're sooo similar to the newer XM6s, and because they're frequently on sale. (The $460 XM6s really only add folding ear cups and slightly better sound out of the box.) This week, the XM5s are chilling at their lowest price yet: Amazon and Best Buy both have them listed for $198 during their Labor Day events, which is a whopping 51% off their $399.99 MSRP.

Read Mashable's full review of the Sony WH-1000XM5.

More headphone deals

• Sony WH-CH520 — $38 $69.99 (save $31.99)

• Anker Soundcore Q20i — $39.97 $69.99 (save $30.02)

• Marshall Major V — $89.99 $169.99 (save $80)

• Sony ULT Wear — $148 $249.99 (save $101.99)

• Beats Studio Buds + — $149.95 $169.95 (save $20)

• Nothing Headphone (a) — $159 $199 (save $40)

• Bose QuietComfort — $199 $359 (save $160)

• Beats Studio Pro — $249.95 $349.99 (save $100.04)

• Sonos Ace — $299 $399 (save $100)

• Bose QuietComfort Ultra — $329 $449 (save $120)

• Sony WH-1000XM6 — $398 $459.99 (save $61.99)

Best Labor Day laptop deal Opens in a new window Credit: HP HP OmniBook 3 16 (Snapdragon X, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) $599.99 at Staples
$1,149.99 Save $550   Get Deal

This 16-inch PC is the best battery life laptop we've ever tested: It lasted 40 hours and 14 minutes in a video rundown test. Its portable design and large, colorful display are also highlights — it's "great for streaming movies and juggling multiple documents" on the go, to quote my review. This model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage would make a great daily driver for folks with basic workloads (think web browsing and sending emails). It's 47% off at Staples right now; the same configuration is $90 pricier on HP's website.

Read Mashable's full review of the HP OmniBook 3 16.

More Windows laptop deals

• HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (Snapdragon X2 Elite, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,799.99 $2,249.99 (save $450)

• Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S (Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070Ti, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,899.99 $2,199.99 (save $300)

• Asus Zenbook Duo (Intel Core Ultra 9 386H, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,199.99 $2,499.99 (save $300)

• Dell XPS 14 (Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,699.99 $3,149.99 (save $450)

Chromebook deals

• Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (MediaTek Kompanio Ultra, 12GB RAM, 256GB UFS) — $579 $749 (save $170)

Best Labor Day smart home deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select $19.99 at Amazon and Best Buy
$49.99 Save $30.00   Get Deal

A slew of Amazon's smart home devices saw price hikes last month, but fortunately, most of the lineup is on sale for Labor Day. The biggest discount is going to the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, Amazon's cheapest 4K streaming stick: It typically retails for $49.99 these days (previously $39.99), but it's currently listed for just $19.99 at Amazon and Best Buy — an impressive 60% savings. It's only $2 away from its record-low Prime Day price.

More streaming stick deals

• Amazon Fire TV Stick HD — $17.99 $39.99 (save $22)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $39.99 $69.99 (save $30)

• Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max — $49.99 $84.99 (save $35)

• Amazon Fire TV Cube — $109.99 $199.99 (save $90)

• Amazon Echo Studio — $194.99 $219.99 (save $25)

Smart speaker and display deals

• Amazon Echo Pop Kids — $29.99 $49.99 (save $20)

• Amazon Echo Dot Kids — $54.99 $89.99 (save $35)

• Amazon Echo Dot — $54.99 $79.99 (save $25)

• Amazon Echo Show 5 — $69.99 $99.99 (save $30)

• Amazon Echo Spot — $69.99 $109.99 (save $40)

• Amazon Echo Dot Max — $94.99 $119.99 (save $25)

• Amazon Echo Show 8 — $149.99 $199.99 (save $50)

• Amazon Echo Show 11 — $189.99 $249.99 (save $60)

• Amazon Echo Show 15 — $269.99 $349.99 (save $80)

• Sonos Era 300 — $379 $479 (save $100)

Smart thermostats

• Google Nest Thermostat — $79 $129.99 (save $50.99)

Looking for more Labor Day sales?

• The best Labor Day deals already live: Shop mattresses, tools, and TVs

• The best pre-Labor Day deals on Apple products

• The best Labor Day sales on mattresses, bedding, and pillows

• The best Labor Day home improvement deals from The Home Depot

• Shop the Ruggable pre-Labor Day sale on washable rugs

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood at a podium today (Sep. 2) and said the words "moratorium on generative AI" to a national audience. To those fighting to ban artificial intelligence in schools across the country, this moment was huge.

Mamdani, speaking alongside NYC Chancellor Kamar Samuels, announced the new comprehensive, human-first AI policy for the nation's largest school district. "The tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary," Mamdani said to press. "We do not see it that way."

The new guidelines — an update to a system-wide AI rulebook launched in March — include a ban on chatbots and a one-year pause on the use of AI tools for students in pre-K through the eighth grade. The guidelines also bar individualized screen time for pre-K through second grade. The city says around 38 programs were flagged by the district as violating new policies following an audit of the system's current EdTech, which will either be removed entirely or have their AI features "disabled."

New York City's new policies are some of the strictest AI guidelines in the state, potentially nationwide.

SEE ALSO: Is Meta finally backing a federal kids safety bill, or is it all PR? Nationwide call for AI bans

New York City schools are not the first to place limits on AI use among students, following a concerted, nationwide effort from parents, educators, and child safety advocates who have joined together to call for moratoriums on the technology and a hard line on tech usage in classrooms.

One such group is the AI Moratorium (AIM) Coalition, made up of local and national parent organizations like environmental group Climate Families NYC, Class Size Matters, and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. The AIM Coalition has been on the front lines of the fight in NYC. In April and July, the group held public rallies urging the mayor's office to intervene in proposed AI adoption across the NYC school system.

The group has gathered more than 6,000 signatures on a petition to the mayor's office calling for a two year AI moratorium across city schools, and penned a second letter to Mamdani on behalf of the group NYC Artists Against AI. The letter has been signed by more than 200 creatives, including actors Elliot Page and Mark Ruffalo and Broad City stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobsen.

"We are excited about the fact that our youngest learners won’t be exposed to artificial intelligence," said Dr. Kaliris Salas, member of the AIM Coalition and Racially Just Public Schools, during a press call following the announcement. "We are also concerned about our older learners."

SEE ALSO: The fierce battle over AI in schools NYC's AI policy has glaring gaps, advocates say

"There are a lot of holes in the policy, if we are being honest," said Liat Olenick, AIM Coalition and Climate Families NYC organizer. "But Kindergartners will not be talking to chatbots this fall, and that is huge progress. We made that change this year."

First, advocates say, one year is not enough. "We are calling for an inclusive, democratic, deliberative process including parents, students, and educators to collectively develop an evidence-backed AI and EdTech policy for our schools," said Kyle DeAngelis of the Movement of Rank and File Educators. "One year is not long enough for that process to play out with the depth and care it requires."

While the new policy bans access to general chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT, it also includes carveouts for AI-powered tools that already exist in classroom management and education software, referred to as "boxed" curricula.

NYC leaders have not provided information about access to Google Search, for example, which child safety advocates have recently flagged as a backdoor to genAI chatbot access. In addition, Leonie Haimson of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy said the district is still allowing access to YouTube despite widespread backlash.

"We are the largest school district in the country and can use our purchasing power to demand tools that turn off AI," said Dr. Kelly Clancy of Parents for AI Caution in Educational Spaces (PACES). "It’s also a reason we need regulation of Big Tech as a precondition of exposing kids across the country to these products."

The policy still allows unlimited staff use of generative AI, advocates flagged, as well as unclear mechanisms for evaluating AI products, contracts, and spending.

Significantly, the guidelines do not cover high school classrooms. The city confirmed to AIM Coalition Steering Committee members on Sept. 1 that it's currently piloting AI programs in 180 high schools. Leadership did not say which schools were involved in programs. The coalition told reporters that they did not get clear answers on curriculum or formal opt-out policies for new AI technologies among high schoolers.

NYC high school students joined the AIM Coalition press call to urge the district to expand its policies. "I'm upset that the high school students were left behind," said rising junior and organizer Ariana Ahmed Misha.

"We need to consent. We need to have the choice to say no," said student and organizer Yelani Joseph. Joseph's school is one of the 180 testing AI tools in the classroom. Ahmed Misha and Joseph have both appealed directly to the chancellor to improve AI policies, including AI literacy programs, across NYC.

In responses to questions posed by coalition members during the Sept. 1 meeting, NYC schools clarified that screen time limits are recommendations, not mandates, for grades 3-8.

During a Sept. 2 press call, the city also backtracked on a promise to revoke students' access to Amira, a controversial AI-powered software that the district had said it would ban just a day prior. Now, the city plans to limit access to specific AI features in the app.

David Monahan, campaign director of child safety nonprofit Fairplay, said in a statement that the policy had too many exceptions and failed to address racial bias and the environmental impacts of AI.

"There are still a lot of open questions," said Edgar Alfonseca, member of the NYC DSA Tech Action Working Group. Alfonseca and many other child safety advocates are critical of the influence of Big Tech in classrooms, particularly the high dollar amount spent on deals between districts and AI companies. "We don't see this policy addressing the fundamental problem, which is that EdTech and Big Tech companies are able to reap tremendous profit from public school system dollars."

Advocates feel they still need to remain vigilant despite the progress.

"They are building the plane as it is flying," said Clancy.

I have been loyal to iOS since 2018. I liked the polished iOS experience and reliable day-to-day performance. But one Samsung feature kept tempting me to buy their phone. Samsung offered me something Apple still doesn’t: DeX, a full desktop-style interface that runs from my phone. It became a game-changer for my productivity.

Smartphone case makers appear to have dropped a sneak peek at Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone Ultra devices.

Several third-party manufacturers have already published product listings for cases designed for Apple's upcoming line of smartphones. The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone Ultra are all expected to be announced at Apple's big September event next week.

Case makers ESR, Benks, and Torras have all listed cases for the next generation of iPhones before Apple's official announcement. Each company's listings feature renders of the devices outfitted in their respective case products. 

The ESR listings show four potential case color options for the "iPhone 2026 Pro Max": deep burgundy, light gray, black, and misty blue. Additional product photos for a clear case on ESR's website fully showcase the latter iPhone color option.

These are the exact four long-rumored colors for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max phones.

ESR clear iPhone 18 Pro Max case Credit: ESR The four listed color options for the 'iPhone 2026 Pro Max" are deep burgundy, light gray, black, and misty blue. Credit: ESR

While the cases are notable, it's also worth noting that the base iPhone 18 is conspicuously missing from these companies' early product listings. This seemingly backs up reports that Apple isn't planning to release the new base-model iPhone alongside the Pro, Pro Max, and Ultra models next week. Rumor has it the regular iPhone 18 may not arrive until as late as March 2027.

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Torras listed their iPhone 18 Pro cases on Amazon but have since removed them. ESR and Benks both showcase product photos of their upcoming iPhone Pro and Pro Max cases on their websites, and as of publishing, the case listings are still live. ESR lists its iPhone cases under an "iPhone 2026" category on its website.

Benks, on the other hand, specifically mentions the devices by name. Their color options are listed as black mist, blue mist, and purple mist. A clear case appears to show a silver iPhone as well. In its deleted Amazon listings, Torras called the colors "island blue" and "plum purple."

Benks Blue and Purple iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max cases Credit: Benks

In addition to their iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max cases, Benks also features renders of its iPhone Ultra cases.

Benks' iPhone Ultra case product listing doesn't give away the device's potential color choices, but it does seem to showcase what the front and rear of the device look like when opened. The product renders show the overall shape of the foldable device and two camera lenses on the back of the iPhone Ultra.

Benks iPhone Ultra cases Credit: Benks

We don't believe these are official photos of the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, or iPhone Ultra, however. The ESR photos show a portion of the display featuring the same artwork Apple used in official photography for the iPhone 17 Pro. However, some phone case companies do receive information, specifications, or dummy units of unreleased phones in advance, usually under strict embargoes that forbid them from revealing this info until the devices are announced.

The artwork on the phone screen matches the artwork Apple used in images of the iPhone 17 Pro. Credit: ESR

While these renders could be accurate representations of the unreleased phones, they don't appear to be official Apple photos. But they do give Apple fans who are counting down the days until the September 9 "Surprise and Shine" event something to hold them over.

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For the past couple of years, Spotify Wrapped has left me underwhelmed. The insights it serves up never feel all that “insightful” — which is strange, because Spotify clearly has a mountain of data on my listening habits. So I decided to get my hands on all that data and build my own Spotify Wrapped. I requested my full listening data from Spotify and processed it myself in Excel to dig up the kind of insights Wrapped never gives me.

Home Assistant 2026.9 update is out today. And it aims to solve the everyday guesswork that comes with running a smart home. The latest release answers questions like why an automation fired, which entities need your attention, or seeing how Matter devices are connected. The September update also has several other changes that make the open-source home automation platform more polished.

I tend to hold on to my vehicles for a long time, which means things eventually wear out or stop working the way they should. I also try to handle repairs myself whenever it makes sense. Sometimes that's as simple as replacing a sensor or tracking down a bad connection, but the hardest part is usually figuring out what's actually wrong.

Android phones, especially the most expensive models, are pretty capable devices. They have as much RAM as some laptops, and their processors are often as fast as laptop CPUs from a few generations ago.

Nvidia's GTX cards may be too old to support any modern, demanding uses, but they're still among the best GPUs of all time.

A whistleblower working inside the United States Postal Service (USPS) has told Congress that a brand-new system for screening mail-in ballots — built in a matter of months, against the advice of the agency's own staff — is so rushed and untested that it risks mass rejection of legitimate ballots just as the 2026 midterms approach.

The allegations are laid out in an anonymous disclosure filed on Aug. 30 with the office of Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) through the nonprofit legal group Whistleblower Aid. The whistleblower, described as a federal official with direct knowledge of the project, says USPS leadership pushed for a Sept. 1 launch despite internal warnings that the software hadn't been properly built or tested, and that development continued at points even while federal courts had ordered the work to stop. Blumenthal's letter demands USPS turn over records and answer detailed questions about the system by early September.

The launch of the new portal is partly in response to a Trump executive order from March 31 directing USPS to write new rules governing how mail-in and absentee ballots move through the postal system. Trump has been adamant the 2020 election was stolen from him, even as recently as last month, as he cited a dubious Census Bureau report to back up his "election fraud" claims.

A 2025 Brookings analysis found that mail-in voter fraud was "very rare," according to their findings. An additional analysis by American Immigration Council also concluded that the Heritage Foundation's report on noncitizen voting proved there "is no crisis of noncitizen voting" and that it's "exceedingly rare."

The White House's purported aim is to verify that only eligible, registered voters receive ballots by mail, using unique barcodes tied to state-maintained voter lists. The EO also adds that states that do not comply could lose federal funding. The U.S. Constitution mandates that election laws are under state supervision, which includes the tabulation and tracking of mail-in ballots.

USPS published a proposed rule in June and a final rule on Aug. 26 that, for the first time, gives the Postal Service a gatekeeping role over ballot mail — meaning USPS can now refuse to mail ballot batches that state election officials have already prepared and approved. According to Blumenthal's letter, USPS has never previously had this kind of authority over how states run their own ballot mail.

USPS has not yet responded publicly to the specific whistleblower allegations. Here's what the new system is supposed to do, and why the disclosure says it might not work.

How the new system is supposed to work

To carry this out, USPS has been building an entirely new piece of software called the Federal Ballot Mail Portal. Per the disclosure, the process has three parts:

1. The Portal itself, where state election officials upload a list of every registered voter getting a mail ballot, along with each ballot's unique barcode, creating a statewide "Mail-In and Absentee Participation List."

2. A manifest check, where officials separately upload a batch manifest. This is basically an inventory of the specific ballots they're about to mail into an older USPS bulk-mail system. USPS then automatically checks whether the barcodes in that manifest match the ones already logged in the Portal.

3. A physical scan at the post office, where USPS employees scan a sample of the actual ballots in a batch to confirm the physical barcodes match what's on file, before agreeing to mail the batch at all.

What's causing the most alarm from lawmakers and critics is that if either check fails, USPS won't mail the ballots.

The whistleblower says USPS is enforcing what amounts to a zero-tolerance policy. If even a single ballot's barcode in a batch fails to match or scan properly, the entire batch gets bounced back to the state, the whistleblower alleges.

In action, as the whistleblower describes it, if a state were to bring 10,000 ballots to USPS and just one can't be verified either cause a voter recently changed their name or moved, USPS would decline to mail the other 9,999 as well. States would then have to pull the whole batch, fix the one ballot, and resubmit the entire manifest to restart the verification process from scratch.

Barcode scanning errors aren't hypothetical, either. The disclosure cites a 2017 audit by the USPS Office of Inspector General that looked at problems with package-tracking scanners; among its findings, one unspecified issue was tied to roughly one in 20 scans coming back wrong. Apply even a fraction of that error rate to ballot batches instead of packages, and a meaningful number of valid ballots could get swept up in a rejected batch.

There's also no clear appeals process. The final rule says voters or election officials will be told about "escalation procedures" if they want to challenge a rejection, but doesn't specify what those procedures actually are — and voters may not find out their ballot was part of a rejected batch until it's too late to get another one or vote in person.

How this affects the 2026 Midterms

According to the disclosure, USPS didn't start serious work on the Portal until around mid-June 2026 and was targeting a Sept. 1 launch. The whistleblower says a project of this complexity would normally take nine months to a year, and cites a member of the Postal Regulatory Commission making a similar estimate publicly.

When staff raised concerns about the compressed schedule, one senior official is said to have brushed them off, insisting the launch simply had to go perfectly with no room for error. Additionally, a federal court order blocked the ballot-mail provisions of the executive order on June 25, but the whistleblower alleges that the order was ignored, and work started up again in the days following the ruling.

By the whistleblower's account, the complete system wasn't even assembled in a testing environment until the week of Aug. 24 — leaving roughly four working days for customer-facing testing before the planned launch, on a system meant to help run a federal election. Sen. Blumenthal has given USPS until Sept. 4 to answer a list of questions, specifically whether USPS actually paused work as required, who authorized development to continue, and whether any testing has been done to catch false rejections. The senator also gave a Sept. 8 deadline to hand over internal records.

Altogether, the USPS mail portal is one of many avenues the White House is pursuing to change the rules governing mail voting before November's midterms. On Aug. 24, the Supreme Court's conservative majority let the administration move forward on the executive order. The majority didn't rule on whether the order was legal — it said the challenge was premature because the rules hadn't been finalized yet, reasoning states couldn't show they'd actually been harmed.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans tried and failed in early August to push through a pared-down version of the SAVE America Act requiring photo ID at the polls, after leadership concluded they didn't have the votes for the full bill, which would also mandate proof of citizenship to register and roll back mail voting more broadly. That measure has now failed at least six times this year, but GOP leaders say they'll try again when the Senate reconvenes in this month.

Through these various legal levers, the administration has several routes still open to reshape how — and whether — millions of mail ballots get counted this fall, even without a single bill becoming law.