IT General

Stop me if you've heard this before: "I don't have enough time in the day." I don't have the stats, but I'll go out on a limb to say that 99% of us, including myself, have muttered that common phrase before. In my case, I talk about not having enough time when it comes to streaming. I watch a lot of shows for work, but I struggle to find things to stream when pressed for time. That could mean having some time during a lunch break or needing to wind down before bed, for example.

TL;DR: Through August 23, you can get Microsoft Office for life for only $42.97 (reg. $219).

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License $42.97
$219 Save $176.03   Get Deal

Software subscriptions are only a good option if you won’t be using the apps for long. For apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that you’ll be using indefinitely, buying them outright is a much smarter option. Right now, you can even pick up a lifetime license for Microsoft Office on sale for only $42.97. That’s less than half the price of a single year of Microsoft 365, but this offer ends soon.

Most people have been using Microsoft Office long before cloud apps and browser-based alternatives became the norm. With this deal, you can install the full Office suite on a single device for lifetime use at home or at work without worrying about monthly renewals, annual price hikes, or surprise charges down the line.

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This license includes all the core apps most people actually rely on: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote. That means drafting documents, crunching numbers, building presentations, managing email, and organizing notes using the full desktop versions of each app. Unlike free alternatives or web-based tools, you get access to the complete feature sets, which makes a difference when you’re working on longer documents, detailed spreadsheets, or presentation-heavy projects.

Once you purchase, your license key and download links are delivered instantly, so there’s no waiting around to get started. Microsoft also includes lifetime customer support, which can be helpful if you ever need assistance with installation or troubleshooting.

Instead of committing to yet another recurring subscription, this one-time purchase lets you snag software you’ll likely keep using for years.

Get Microsoft Office for life on sale for only $42.97. Sale ends Aug. 23 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

NASA's Hail Mary attempt to rescue a falling spacecraft has failed, leaving scientists to grieve the eventual loss of a key space telescope later this year. 

The space agency hired Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies to build a small servicing spacecraft to push the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory about 150 miles higher, into a safer orbit. The contractor had less than a year to build and plan the urgent mission. Their rescue craft, called LINK, launched on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket on July 3. 

But ongoing problems with LINK's "attitude control" system — the orientation equipment — since then mean the mission will not capture and boost Swift as planned, officials announced Wednesday. 

The demise of the NASA spacecraft, which will likely burn up in Earth's atmosphere in a matter of months, will eliminate a crucial telescope for catching brief, one‑time‑only events in the sky. In its absence, scientists will have fewer tools to chase the most powerful explosions in the universe, called gamma-ray bursts, as well as black hole flares and changing comets. 

"This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a statement. "The team moved with extraordinary speed to give Swift a chance to carry out more science while advancing capabilities America will need for satellite servicing in the future."

SEE ALSO: NASA: SpaceX rocket crash made basketball court-size moon crater

For nearly two decades, Swift was on the lookout for gamma-ray bursts, brief blasts of high‑energy light that can outshine entire galaxies for a few seconds. It launched in 2004 into low-Earth orbit, a few hundred miles above the planet, and was only supposed to run for two years. 

Swift outlived predictions and became the go-to first responder for ephemeral cosmic events over the years, whipping around in less than a minute to new targets of interest.

Though the observatory had been going strong, with all of its instruments still in good shape, a combination of solar storms and a thickening upper atmosphere dragged the spacecraft down and made it unstable. That quashed earlier hopes that it could continue working into the 2030s. 

Katalyst officials said the team will still try to carry out a close flyby with LINK, short for Lightweight In-space Navigation and Kinematics, to test navigation and docking techniques for future satellite servicing missions.

"We took on this high-risk, high-reward challenge and are proud of the milestones we reached along the way. We have already learned a tremendous amount," said Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee in a statement. "Now our job is to turn those lessons into something durable — building a repeatable playbook to inform future rendezvous and proximity operations and satellite servicing."

NASA repeatedly described the effort as a "first‑of‑its‑kind" mission on an unusually short timetable. They have framed the project as a step toward an era where future spacecraft might include standard attachment points and replaceable parts, so small robotic "space mechanics" can fix or refuel them instead of letting expensive hardware burn up in the atmosphere. 

"NASA should be willing to move quickly and take smart risks when the potential return is worth it, and that is exactly what we did with this mission," Isaacman said.

Since Hayden Panettiere’s death at 36 on Aug. 16, fans have been revisiting the actress’s life in public — from her childhood roles and Heroes fame to her candid discussions of addiction, motherhood, and postpartum depression.

SEE ALSO: Tributes flow online for 'incredible light' Hayden Panettiere

One allegation from the final months of her life is now drawing particular outrage.

While promoting her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere claimed that Neutrogena tried to end its longtime partnership with her after she publicly discussed experiencing postpartum depression. Her representative prevented the brand from immediately dropping her, she said, but her contract was not renewed the following year.

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Fans are turning their anger into calls for a boycott.

A Reddit post targeting Neutrogena has received more than 7,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments, while many other X and TikTok posts accuse the company of punishing Panettiere for speaking candidly about her mental health. Neutrogena’s own social media accounts are also being flooded with comments from people promising to stop buying its products.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What did Panettiere say about her Neutrogena contract?

The actress began appearing in Neutrogena advertisements in the mid-2000s, eventually becoming closely associated with the brand’s cleansers and acne products.

Then, in September 2015, less than a year after giving birth to her daughter, Kaya, Panettiere appeared on Live with Kelly and Michael. During the interview, she said she could relate to her Nashville character’s struggle with postpartum depression.

"There’s a lot of misunderstanding," she told the hosts, describing the condition as painful and frightening. "Women need a lot of support."

Panettiere later explained that she had not arrived at the interview planning to discuss her own mental health. The subject came up, and she answered honestly. However, Panettiere later said that those comments put her relationship with Neutrogena in jeopardy.

During a May appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, Panettiere said she received a call informing her that the company wanted to fire her for violating a morals clause in her contract.

"Of all the things that they would fire me over, this was the last thing I thought they would fire me over," she said.

Her representative pushed back, Panettiere recalled, preventing Neutrogena from immediately ending the agreement. But she said she understood that the relationship was effectively over, and that the company did not renew her contract the following year.

What hurt most, Panettiere said, was how quietly the decade-long partnership ended. Panettiere recalled receiving no goodbye or acknowledgment from the people she had worked with at the company.

"I remember that really breaking my heart," she told Shetty.

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Panettiere repeated the allegation in her memoir and in a May interview with The Hollywood Reporter. By telling the story publicly, she hoped other companies would think twice before treating someone similarly.

Neutrogena has not discussed Panettiere’s claims or publicly explained why its partnership with the actress ended. The company also did not respond to requests for comment from multiple outlets when the allegations first attracted attention in May.

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After Panettiere's death, the anger has spread well beyond angry X posts and compilation videos on TikTok.

As boycott calls continue to flood social media, shares of Neutrogena parent company Kenvue — which also owns Tylenol, Band-Aid, and Aveeno — fell more than 2 percent on Monday, giving the backlash even more momentum.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage, sign up for our Trending Now and Top Stories newsletters or get Mashable push alerts to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

CachyOS has earned a reputation for being fast, but because speed is easiest to benchmark in frame rates, it’s often discussed in the context of gaming too.

At a glance:

GTA VI will be a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S console exclusive at launch, with no confirmed PC release date. Given Rockstar's history, a PC port seems likely to arrive eventually, but PC gamers should brace for a wait that could stretch well into 2027 or beyond.

The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI is set to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on Nov. 19, 2026, but PC players will have to wait. Rockstar has confirmed that the game is console-only at launch, with no PC version officially announced.

Rockstar and Take-Two haven't given an official reason for skipping PC at launch, but a few factors are typically cited when publishers stagger releases this way.

Console hardware is standardized, which tends to make optimization more straightforward than building for the huge range of PC configurations. Some industry data has also indicated that consoles generate higher per-unit revenue, giving publishers an incentive to front-load console sales.

SEE ALSO: GTA 6 leaks: Map and gameplay potentially revealed

A more cynical take is that Take-Two could just be double-dipping, hoping fans who can't wait for the PC launch will buy the console first, then buy the PC version later. A PC Gamer poll found that 39 percent of respondents said they're fine waiting for a port rather than needing it on day one, suggesting a meaningful share of the PC audience isn't treating the delay as a dealbreaker.

However, there could be another, less finacially motivated reason for all of this.

Speaking to YouTuber KiwiTalkz, former Rockstar producer John Ricchio explained that building for consoles first and scaling up to PC is technically easier than the reverse, since consoles have fixed, predictable hardware. According to IGN, Ricchio said it's simpler to start with tighter constraints and add polish later than to build a PC-first game and then try to trim it down to fit console limitations.

This wouldn't be the first time Rockstar has held back a PC release. If you look at several past Rockstar games, you can see that there's a significant amount of time between the console launch and the PC port.

Grand Theft Auto 4 was released in April 2008 and didn't reach PC's until that December. Grand Theft Auto V was released in Sept. 2013, and its PC counterpart was released 19 months later in April 2015. Red Dead Redemption 2 arrived on PC roughly a year after its console release.

The one exception was Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, which launched simultaneously across platforms in 2021. Based on that track record, a GTA VI PC port, if it follows the usual pattern, could be a year or more away.

Have an Amazon Fire TV device? Well, you just got Alexa+, Amazon's AI assistant, for free — whether you like it or not.

On Wednesday, Amazon announced that the company would now include Alexa+ at no cost with every Fire TV device.

This includes the current-generation Amazon Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Ember smart TVs, as well as other smart TVs by third parties, such as Hisense, TCL, and Panasonic TVs running on the Fire TV operating system.

Amazon says Alexa+ will roll out to all U.S. customers with a Fire TV device automatically. Users will not have to take any action or download any additional apps.

Previously, the only way for users to access Alexa+ was to subscribe to Amazon Prime or pay $19.99 per month specifically for the AI assistant service.

The Alexa+ AI assistant provides users with ways to interact with the movies and TV shows that they are watching or find new content based on their entertainment preferences. Users can ask Alexa+ for specific film and television recommendations based on genre, cast, year of release, and more. Users can also ask Alexa+ questions regarding the content they are currently viewing. 

Alexa+ can also perform other tasks, such as providing real-time weather updates or sports scores. Users can connect Alexa+ to other smart home devices. With this utility, Alexa+ can broadcast your Ring camera feed on your smart TV or even lock a door with a paired smart lock.

According to Amazon, Alexa+ is already a hit with users. Amazon says that Alexa+ customers "have nearly twice as many conversations on Fire TV as they did with the original Alexa." The company claims that millions of customers already use the service. Amazon says that Alexa+ recommendations have improved too, with customers picking the AI assistant's top recommendations "over 40% more than they were with the original Alexa."

Amazon is now looking to expand on that user base exponentially with the new rollout to all Fire TV users. In doing so, Amazon follows in the footsteps of other Big Tech companies like Google, which also grew its Gemini user base by rolling out its AI features to its existing product offerings at no additional cost to users.

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Meta’s smart glasses have officially become so controversial that even Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) doesn’t want them around. Well, at least not the consumer version.

In a memo issued Aug. 18, acting ICE Director David Venturella told employees that Meta’s camera-equipped glasses count as personal body-worn cameras and therefore cannot be worn in federal workplaces.

"The use of Meta Glasses or similar devices could unintentionally capture, record or transmit sensitive information, potentially compromising privacy and legal protections," Venturella wrote, according to The New York Times.

The rule applies to all ICE employees, not only agents conducting raids or interacting with the public. It also covers similar personal devices capable of recording audio or video.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson emphasized that the agency is not introducing a new policy. "Personally owned body-worn cameras and unauthorized recording are prohibited, as they always have been," the spokesperson told The Times. Meta declined to comment.

SEE ALSO: Meta’s smart glasses have a new look and the same privacy problem

ICE and Border Patrol personnel have repeatedly been spotted wearing their own Meta smart glasses during immigration operations and protests. A March investigation by The Independent found sightings of DHS agents wearing the glasses in at least six states. In some cases, agents appeared to use them to photograph or record members of the public.

Footage examined by 404 Media showed a Border Patrol agent recording an immigration raid with the glasses’ indicator light illuminated, despite DHS rules that bar employees from recording with personal devices.

The issue isn’t simply that the glasses contain a camera. ICE already has an official body-camera policy that governs when agency-issued devices should be activated, how their footage is stored, and when employees can review recordings.

The problem with employees bringing their own smart glasses is that ICE loses control of the footage. Recordings could end up on a personal phone or pass through Meta’s platform, leaving the agency with little oversight of who can access them, whether they are preserved as evidence, or what other sensitive information they might capture.

Those concerns are hardly unique to ICE. Meta's glasses look similar to ordinary Ray-Bans but can capture photos and video from the wearer’s point of view. A small white light is supposed to signal when the camera is recording, though critics argue that the indicator is easy to overlook — and can potentially be circumvented.

That discreet design has helped turn the glasses into a privacy nightmare. Creators and pickup artists have used them to film strangers for social media content, sometimes attracting millions of views before the person recorded knows the video exists.

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The backlash has moved beyond angry comment sections (where many have dubbed the glasses as "pervert glasses"). Businesses, court systems, and conferences have begun restricting camera-equipped glasses, while Apple has reportedly delayed introducing its own version as it develops additional privacy protections and tries to distinguish its product from Meta’s.

The irony is that DHS wants smart glasses of its own. Its fiscal 2027 budget proposal sought $7.5 million for new enforcement technologies, including prototypes capable of providing agents with real-time information and biometric identification. Democratic senators urged the department to abandon the plan, citing the risk of agents scanning people without their knowledge. DHS has not detailed how the glasses or their data would be managed.

For now, ICE employees will have to leave Meta’s glasses at home. But the next pair agents wear could come directly from the government...and know far more about the people standing in front of them.

You no longer need a subscription just to make use of advanced AI on your Amazon streaming stick or TV set. Amazon is making Alexa+ available on Fire TV devices for free, saving you the expense of either a Prime or Alexa+ subscription.

With AI chatbots like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini becoming our go-to thinking partner/co-worker, more often than not, we use them extensively. Like many, I love using Claude (web or app), especially for high-value tasks such as brainstorming ideas, solution architecture for apps, document generation, or data analysis. However, as a free-tier user, I frequently hit the rolling 5-hour session limits.

20 years ago, the computers in your car mostly handled fuel injection and ignition timing, shifted the transmission, and triggered the anti-lock brakes when something went wrong. Each one ran on a dedicated chip, wired to do exactly one job, and nothing changed unless a mechanic swapped the part.

If your For You page has recently started whispering about a creek, don’t worry: You have not accidentally wandered onto FishingTok.

"Quiet on the creek" is the latest TikTok catchphrase to escape the app. People are whispering it, dancing to it, and dropping it into comment sections whenever someone reveals a little too much information. But where did it come from, and what does it mean?

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The sound comes from rapper Saucy Santana, who turned a resurfaced livestream clip into a song. In the original video, Santana is eating snapper with his friend, rapper Yung Miami, when he recalls fishing with his family as a child.

"I used to go fishing when I was a little girl," Santana says. "You gotta be real quiet on the creek."

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As Santana explained during an Aug. 13 appearance on The Breakfast Club, his grandmother warned the children not to stomp, throw rocks, or make enough noise to scare away the fish.

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Although several early explanations described the clip as coming from a July 2026 TikTok Live, Santana said it was recorded about two years earlier, likely during an Instagram Live at Yung Miami’s house. After someone resurfaced it this summer, viewers began flooding Santana’s livestreams with references to the creek.

Once he realized how far the joke had traveled, Santana decided to capitalize on it, he said.

"People pay to go viral, people pray to go viral, and I’m doing it authentically," he told The Breakfast Club. "This moment is so big, though. Let me do something about it."

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Santana called producer Tre Trax and livestreamed much of the process of choosing a beat, writing and recording the song, and developing its dance. He said he finished the track in a few hours, and clips from the studio session had already taken over his For You page by the time he got home.

"Quiet on the Creek" arrived July 17, only days after the phrase began spreading far and wide.

What does 'quiet on the creek' actually mean?

Online, the fishing advice has become a metaphor for moving in silence.

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Someone might stay quiet on the creek about a new relationship, an upcoming promotion, or any other good news they do not want to announce prematurely. Think "keep it on the down-low," "don’t jinx it," or "stop telling everybody your business."

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Santana offered the example of knowing that a promotion is coming but keeping it private until the official announcement. He also acknowledged that one verse applies the phrase to a discreet relationship with a man who already has a partner. However, Santana rejected the idea that “quiet on the creek” refers exclusively to closeted men, saying it can describe any situation in which sharing too much might spoil a good thing.

Creators perform its simple dance by bouncing their shoulders, covering their mouths, and putting a finger to their lips. Others pair the sound with scenes of people sneaking around, stealing a late-night snack, or trying not to get caught doing something naughty.

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Celebrities soon joined in. Lizzo, Monica, Da Brat, Ice Spice, and Judy Dupart, and Love Island USA alum Serena Page participated in versions of the trend. Damon Wayans even revived Blaine Edwards, his In Living Color character, for an Instagram video.

Santana said the TikTok audio generated over 200,000 creations in one day and remained the platform’s No. 1 song when he appeared on The Breakfast Club in August. "Quiet on the Creek" debuted at No. 45 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, marking his first Billboard appearance since 2022. As of Aug. 19, it had accumulated more than 3.6 million Spotify streams, while its audio and official music video had each attracted millions of YouTube views.

The success follows a familiar pattern for Santana, whose songs "Material Girl" and "Walk" also found enormous audiences through social media. This time, all it took was an old fishing story and an internet incapable of keeping quiet.

Everything and everyone has a story. But not all of them are true.

I still remember my first undergraduate journalism class when I heard the famous phrase "he who controls the media, controls the mind." Ever since, I have stayed acutely aware not only of the narratives directed at me, but also of those I tell myself about who I am.

I started my career at the epicenter of the greatest storytelling genre of all time; Hip Hop. First as an assistant at Def Jam Records, then into management at Universal Music Group and Atlantic Records. A scrawny kid from Long Island with deep roots in Queens, where I was born, I realized I was standing on the side of the industry that kept telling the story wrong. The lyrics called for community infrastructure, better schools, and economic justice. We were selling the opposite, packaged in staged photoshoots and videos.

A young person who never sees himself represented with dignity learns to price himself accordingly. That is the machinery of a culture quietly deciding who counts, and I have watched it up close. That instinct never left me, and it surfaced again in the spring of 2020, watching an industry perform enlightenment with its eyes closed.

What started as a simple text to a few friends, "do you see what's happening? We need to do something. These black squares are stupid!" turned into the Black Owned Media Equity and Sustainability Institute (BOMESI). The first person to raise their hand was Rhonesha Byng, founder of Her Agenda, and now cofounder of BOMESI Foundation serving as its Chief Mission Officer.

By the summer of 2020, we were done watching a market be mistaken for a favor. Diverse publishers were stronger as one voice than as hundreds fighting alone for scraps. One of our first projects was a verified directory of Black-owned publishers: 50 names then, nearly 400 now, including Blavity, The Root, and Her Agenda.

SEE ALSO: How Black Girls Code is preparing underrepresented kids for the AI revolution

Here is the math we couldn't unsee. There is a multicultural consumer market in this country worth trillions, and Black-owned media receives roughly two percent of total advertising spend, about the same share it held decades ago, despite everything that has supposedly changed. Diverse-owned publishers who spent generations earning the trust of their audiences watch the dollars that trust generates flow somewhere else. In any other category, a gap that wide between market size and investment would be called an arbitrage opportunity, and capital would rush to close it. Because this one wears the label "diversity," the industry treats it as a liability to manage instead of what it is: the most underpriced audience relationship in American media.

We built BOMESI to correct that error at the root. Reaching the fastest-growing audiences in America is not a favor; it is a distribution strategy. Buying media from the outlets those audiences trust is marketing, the plain arithmetic of reach, resonance, and return. For too long, that work lived on a special budget, reported to a special officer, insulated from the core business, so it could be deleted the moment the political weather turned.

In the aftermath of 2020, it was. I watched the pledges arrive with fanfare and leave through the service entrance, and sympathy dollars dry up the instant sympathy became inconvenient. Sympathy carries no contract and no renewal clause, a poor foundation for anything durable.

BOMESI stands on sturdier ground. We unite more than 300 Black-owned and 2,200 diverse-owned publishers into a powerhouse network reaching roughly 100 million households a month, and put that scale to work three ways. We build the ecosystem: shared ad technology, collective sales, first-party data no platform can take away. We provide the education and resources publishers need to scale their businesses and stand their ground. And we drive economic empowerment by moving real advertising dollars to the outlets that earn them; through deals, not penance. Penance expires; contracts renew.

Let me be precise: BOMESI operates as an advocacy and strategic-resource organization, and I correct anyone who reaches for the word charity, because it misreads the enterprise. The systemic underinvestment that made this organization necessary is real, and we name it plainly rather than soften it.

The wins belong to the publishers' own resilience; the coalition supports that resilience rather than taking credit for it. The humanity of these communities does not depend on a business case, though the business case has always held up on its own terms. The moral argument was sufficient long before I learned to lead with the economic one. The moral case tells you what is right; it has never once told a CFO what is durable.

BOMESI was created because the moral case and the economic case point in the same direction, and the only thing standing between a company and acting on both is some nerve. The audiences are still here. The publishers are still building. The trillions in spending power never moved. What went missing was the industry's courage to act on what it already knew. BOMESI exists to make that courage structural, to build infrastructure that outlasts any single news cycle and keeps diverse-owned media telling its own stories, in its own voice, for the decade ahead.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This article represents the opinions of its writer.

DéVon Christopher Johnson is a media entrepreneur and a marketing expert with over 19 years of experience in creating and leading diverse and inclusive multimedia platforms. He is the Founder and CEO of BOMESI, a non-profit organization that supports and empowers underrepresented media outlets to thrive and grow. He is also the founder and CEO of BleuLife Media Group, a full-scale media company that speaks to the modern and aspirational multicultural male audience through print, digital, podcasts, events, and influencers.

TL;DR: T-Mobile is offering the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 when you trade in an eligible device on a qualifying Experience Beyond plan, with credits paid out over 36 months.

Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Claim by trading in an eligible device on the Experience Beyond plan. Get Deal

Samsung's summer Unpacked event didn't hold back. Alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the company introduced a wider, more productivity-focused Z Fold 8 Ultra, the pocket-sized Z Flip 8, an updated set of Galaxy Watches, and its first-ever pair of smart glasses built around Gemini AI — a full Unpacked lineup with something for every kind of Samsung fan.

The Z Fold 8 has garnered a lot of attention, and T-Mobile is backing it with one of its best offers of the year: the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is yours with an eligible trade-in on the Experience Beyond plan, no matter what condition your old phone is in.

Here's how to qualify for the deal:

Trade in an eligible device and add a line on the Experience Beyond plan, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 (256GB, normally $1,899.99) is paid off through up to 36 monthly bill credits. There's also a $35 device connection charge, plus applicable taxes and fees, so it's not entirely cost-free, but the device itself is covered.

If Experience Beyond isn't the plan for you, T-Mobile has scaled-down versions of the same offer:

• Experience More, with trade-in: up to $1,100 off

• Most other plans, with trade-in: up to $500 off

• Simple Choice plans, with trade-in: up to $250 off

All of these pay out the same way, as monthly bill credits over up to 36 months rather than an instant discount, so the savings only fully materialize if you stay on the plan for the full term.

There's also a separate switcher incentive: trade in your phone, activate a new line, and port your number over from another carrier, and T-Mobile will send up to $800 via a prepaid Mastercard — on top of whatever device discount you already qualify for.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is available in cream, lavender, and graphite, and you can upgrade from the base 256GB to 512GB for more storage.

You might not have to buy a Google Pixel to get an Android smartphone with Qi2 magnetic wireless charging built-in. Well-known leaker Evan Blass has revealed that Motorola is working on a Moto Snap charger that hints at Qi2 coming to its broader phone lineup.

As districts across the country debate the efficacy of tech-enabled classrooms, Google wants to upgrade the average students' school supplies with new AI features. And they don't even need to leave the Google homepage to find them.

SEE ALSO: What parents should know about ChatGPT for Teens Google Search becomes a study helper

Announced today, Google is refashioning Search and AI Mode into a one-stop shop for homework help. When users turn to Google's query box for questions, they will also be able to ask the search engine to come up with visuals to understand tricky concepts — much like Gemini's interactive visuals announced last year — or create practice quizzes across a variety of subjects.

Search can help students study for standardized tests in collaboration with education companies The Princeton Review, Careers360, PhysicsWallah, and Akira Enem.

Users can also upload images of assignments and study guides to get detailed help using Lens and AI Overview, or connect Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) while in AI Mode to further personalize homework help. With all this data in hand, Search can leverage AI Mode conversations, files, and more to generate entirely personalized study documents, the company explained.

Is Google Search safe for kids?

Google has spent the last year overhauling the classic Search experience with the help of AI.

Last month, child safety watchdog Common Sense Media declared Google's AI-powered Search posed an "unacceptable risk" to minor users. Across the country, students have access to Google's AI features, including Search, through the company's Classroom suite and Google devices like Chromebooks. At the time of the report, Google had blocked access to Gemini for users under 18, but many K-12 students could still interact with the AI model indirectly through Search.

In the weeks following, Google reportedly opened up Gemini access to minors using its Classroom app. Via a new Gemini tab on student accounts, users could ask the chatbot for help with assignments, create study resources, and generate images linked to materials provided by teachers, the New York Times reported.

Google told Mashable that Common Sense Media's study of AI Overviews and AI Mode was flawed. "Our AI Search features are an incredibly useful way for kids and teens to learn, explore and make sense of information and the world," the company said. "This report tests a narrow set of ambiguous and contrived queries that don’t reflect how people use Search and aren't an effective way to measure product safety and helpfulness."

More Back to School upgrades

Google's homework features aren't limited to Search, however. The company is also upgrading Gemini with a brand new student hub, centralizing its school-focused AI tools. Intended to help users manage their customized study resources, users can have Gemini automatically sync study dates, assignment deadlines, and test notifications to Google Calendar.

Google will be adding visualizations, like graphs and charts, to Notebook lesson plans over the coming months. They will also be able to access Google's Deep Research mode while using Gemini Live voice chat.

Google AI Pro for free

Starting today, U.S. college students can get a free year of Google AI Pro or bundle Google subscriptions (like Google AI Pro and a YouTube Premium) at a discount. Students outside the U.S. are eligible for 12 months of Google AI Plus, the company's lower tier subscription, at no cost.

In some ways, your GPU is just an expensive and fancy way to turn electricity into heat and noise. These high-performance components try to squeeze every possible frame out for you, but the cost of the last few frames is much higher than the first few.

Google Maps is great for finding the quickest way from point A to point B. However, when I choose a specific route and share it with someone else, it sometimes sends them on a different path. I found a simple workaround that keeps shared journeys much closer to the route I originally chose.

Used EVs are becoming some of the best bargains on the market, with steep early depreciation putting vehicles that once cost close to $60,000 within reach for around the price of a new Toyota RAV4. This particular luxury SUV is a perfect example. At just three years old, well-cared-for models can be found for roughly $35,000, giving buyers access to a genuinely upscale interior, more than 300 miles of driving range, and the kind of technology usually associated with far more expensive vehicles.

Most of us have had an app freeze at exactly the wrong moment. I used to open Task Manager, hunt through the list, and force it to close. Windows 11 has a much quicker option, though, and it takes seconds to enable.