Mashable

Walmart is finally getting tap-to-pay — but social media is considerably less impressed with the apparent AI-generated advertisement announcing it.

A photo posted to X shows an in-store display promoting the rollout with a cheery "Fast! Easy!" message, alongside images of a smartphone and payment terminal. Look a little closer, however, and the terminal’s keypad dissolves into the familiar visual gibberish associated with generative AI. The buttons feature mangled symbols, illegible characters, and, apparently, two 7s. Yes, two.

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"AI is so scary it’s like the words you read in your dreams where it doesn’t actually say anything," one user wrote. Others were frustrated that one of the world’s largest retailers appeared to have used generative AI for such a basic piece of marketing. "I despise AI generated advertisements for businesses," one person wrote. "Billion dollar corporation," another user posted, criticizing Walmart for seemingly declining to hire a graphic designer.

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Another user pointed out that "Walmart has been using AI" for some time now.

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The wonky keypad is precisely the kind of tell that has become synonymous with "AI slop": a polished-looking image that falls apart as soon as you inspect the details.

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It’s the same phenomenon showing up in restaurant menus filled with AI-generated nightmare food, where impossible ingredients and plastic-looking meals replace photographs of the products customers might actually receive.

As I wrote last week: Please stop putting AI-generated food on the menu. While we’re at it, perhaps stop putting AI-generated payment terminals next to the register, too.

SEE ALSO: Please stop putting AI-generated food on the menu

The mangled keypad isn’t the only part of the sign making people do a double take. Walmart is promoting tap-to-pay like a futuristic convenience in 2026, even though tapping a card or phone has been routine at other retailers for years. Until now, contactless-minded Walmart shoppers generally had to open the company’s app and scan a QR code using Walmart Pay.

That part of the story baffled plenty of international onlookers more than the malformed keypad did. "Why is the USA’s payment system still stuck in the last century," one person asked. "I’m sorry wdym you don’t have tap to pay in 2026," another wrote.

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So, yes: Walmart customers are finally getting the convenience they’ve been asking for. They may just want to avoid pressing the second 7.

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.

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.

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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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.

OpenAI confirmed on Tuesday that its unreleased Astra model has reached a dangerous new milestone, while simultaneously confirming that it was forging ahead with a public launch.

In a blog post, OpenAI said that Astra has reached a "critical" cyber capability threshold, meaning the model could pose existential risks to cybersecurity. OpenAI's Preparedness Framework tracks risk levels in three categories: biological/chemical, cybersecurity, and AI self-improvement.

OpenAI said that this is the first time any of its models has been evaluated at the critical level in the cyber domain.

The same blog post also stated that Astra will be "available soon," but that its most advanced cybersecurity skills will be reserved for select testing partners, in the interest of public safety. The AI company said it was still preparing to safely release Astra and would be transparent about the potential threat level.

On X, Sam Altman addressed the tension between declaring Astra uniquely dangerous while also pushing ahead with a public launch. Altman said that "Astra has been done training for a while now" but that OpenAI has been "slowing things as needed to ensure that we can do sufficient work on safety and alignment."

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"There is an obvious tension here: on one hand, Astra is very good and we are excited to see what people will build with it," Altman wrote. "On the other hand, we are clearly in a phase of development where we believe caution is warranted, and we are pacing our progress to ensure that we can meet the safety standards required by new capability levels."

Of course, this isn't the first time an AI company has hyped up one of its models as dangerously powerful ahead of a big launch.

"Limiting access to the most advanced cybersecurity features to select partners is a fair mitigation, and I don't think OpenAI is being reckless here," said Tal Kollender, Founder and CEO of AI cybersecurity firm Remedio. "Their framework is built to allow release with the right safeguards, but the security story is that defense hasn't caught up to any version of this, gated or public."

What makes Astra potentially dangerous?

OpenAI previously rated GPT-5.6-Sol as a "high" risk in the cyber domain, but Astra is even more capable. OpenAI says it scored 100 percent on the ExploitBench benchmarking test.

"Under our Preparedness Framework, a model reaches the Critical cybersecurity threshold if it can identify and develop functional zero-day exploits of all severity levels in many hardened real-world critical systems without human intervention, or can devise and execute end-to-end novel strategies for cyberattacks against hardened targets given only a high level desired goal," an Aug. 7 OpenAI blog post stated.

In recent months, advanced frontier models from Anthropic and OpenAI have developed rapidly at agentic coding and cybersecurity hacking. As a result, the prospect of AI agent swarms hacking critical infrastructure no longer seems far-fetched, especially after the Hugging Face hack. In that incident, swarms of AI agents developed by OpenAI escaped a secure testing environment and hacked Hugging Face, acting autonomously in order to pass a test. Meanwhile, thanks to a deluge of AI-discovered bugs, some zero-day bug bounty programs have been forced to shut down entirely.

SEE ALSO: The OpenAI-Hugging Face hack was worse than we thought

"While Astra was not involved in the Hugging Face incident, we have incorporated our learnings⁠ from that incident into our safety approach," OpenAI's blog post states. "Based on retrospective testing, we believe our production safeguards at the time would have prevented the Hugging Face incident. We have since implemented even stronger safeguards for Astra, including training the model to more reliably refuse harmful cyber requests and respect safety restrictions, additional protections against misuse, and monitoring that can stop potentially unauthorized activity."

In its blog post, OpenAI also detailed some of the other safety precautions developed around Astra, with two goals in mind: preventing bad actors from accessing the model and stopping Astra from taking unwanted actions on its own. The company said it's tightened its secure sandboxes and stepped up "offline detection and threat disruption" efforts.

"Nation-states and well-funded attackers aren't waiting on Sam Altman's release calendar," Kollender told Mashable. "If a frontier lab's internal model can find and chain zero-days without a human in the loop, assume adversaries are within a generation of the same capability, gatekept or not."

On the same day OpenAI made these announcements, Anthropic announced the launch of Fable 5.1, an update to its latest frontier-level model. Fable is based on Claude Mythos, the model Anthropic deemed too dangerous to release because of its cybersecurity coding abilities.

If the pace of AI development is starting to remind you of War Games, keep one other fact in mind: While advanced frontier models do pose escalating cybersecurity risks, the same models will also benefit cybersecurity defenders in the long run.

UPDATE: Sep. 2, 2026, 1:26 p.m. EDT This article has been updated with comments from Sam Altman shared to X and quotes from a cybersecurity expert.

UPDATE: Sep. 2, 2026, 9:29 a.m. EDT A previous version of this article stated that Astra was the first OpenAI model to be evaluated as a "critical" threat in any of the three categories in the company's Preparedness Framework (chemical/biological, cyber, self-improvement). The company has only said that Astra is the first model to reach the "critical" threshold in the cyber domain.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

In the aftermath of Meta's recent $17 billion settlement, the culmination of a litigious debate over its alleged role in social media addiction and youth mental health, all attention was on the platform's promises.

As part of the settlement, Meta said it would invest further in what many are now referring to as industry-leading app guardrails. The company would also deliver a precedent-setting $12 billion payment to state attorneys general. Another $5 billion will be added if Snap, TikTok, and YouTube agree to implement their own safeguards. Many honed in the specific platform changes included in the agreement — including greater age assurance and stronger time limits — and the potential downstream effect Meta's changes could levy on its competitors. 

But others, including a group of survivor parents, perked up at a different, less flashy promise. 

SEE ALSO: 5 of the biggest changes coming to Instagram, Facebook

"I think legislation would have been the best answer to this issue," an unnamed Meta official told reporters during a press call following the settlement. The official went on, alluding to recent attempts to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA): "It would be better to have this done by a legislature, which can immediately bind all of our competitors to the same rules."  

The comment was a shock to folks working behind the scenes to advance tech regulation, including Maurine Molak, an advocate and co-founder of Parents for Safe Online Spaces (ParentsSOS). The organization has been fighting for years to pass child safety legislation like KOSA despite Big Tech's roadblocks. Molak was in the room during Meta's 2024 congressional hearing, at which Zuckerberg apologized to a group of families, including Molak, whose children had died by suicide.

"I was livid," Molak told Mashable. "For them to come out and act like KOSA was the answer to these issues after knowing the millions of dollars they spent lobbying against [it]? I was incensed." 

The Meta official implied that the time had passed for Congress to advance the bill during this session, which infuriated Molak in particular. "Who makes Meta the overseer of Congress' calendar?" she asked. Molak helped pass Texas' anti-cyberbullying legislation, David's Law, in 2017, in honor of her son.

"This deal is designed to lead us to basically the same place," the Meta official said, likening the stipulations of the settlement to the protections outlined in bills like KOSA.

The sentiment was a nail in the coffin for ParentsSOS.

"It is morally bankrupt to suggest the settlement is the same thing as [legislation]," said ParentsSOS member Chris McComas, mother of Grace McComas, who died by suicide following intense cyberbullying in 2012. McComas said the company's press release read like PR spin, not an acknowledgment of guilt. "It shouldn't be seen as a good guys trying to do the right thing. They are in trouble. They see the writing on the wall, and they are trying to save themselves." 

So the parents penned a letter. 

He needs to put his money behind his words. - Maurine Molak, ParentsSOS Calling on Zuckerberg to back the bill

"Dear Mr. Zuckerberg," the letter begins, addressed directly to the Meta CEO and dated Aug. 28, 2026. "We read, with great interest, your open letter to TikTok and YouTube calling for industry standards to protect kids online in the wake of your company’s settlement with the state Attorneys General. We wholeheartedly agree with you…"

The letter was sent just two days after the comments were made by the unnamed Meta official, but nearly a month after a neutered version of KOSA was passed by the House as the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act. It still needs to be voted on by the Senate.

"Fortunately there is still time to pass this life-saving legislation this Congress," the group wrote. "Given your recently changed views on needing federal legislation to prevent online harms within the industry, will you stop lobbying against KOSA; publicly pledge your support for the bill; and share your support with President Trump and leaders in Congress?"

The letter was strategic, both McComas and Molak told Mashable. On one hand, it takes Meta's comments at face value and extends an olive branch to the company, which has so far been the main opposition to ParentsSOS's advocacy efforts, they say. 

On the other hand, it calls out what Molak referred to as a "brazen" implication that Meta was cleaning up an industry rife with ne'er-do-wells. "We know what kind of person Zuckerberg is," said Molak. "We needed to shame him into helping us pass KOSA. He needs to put his money behind his words."

The response, as of this story's publishing, has been silence. Neither Molak nor McComas expressed surprise that Meta would drag its feet on pushing for legislation publicly. 

Mashable also reached out to Meta regarding the letter prior to publication. The company declined to comment, directing the publication to Meta's previous newsroom post. 

What is KOSA?

ParentsSOS has been pounding the pavement around Capitol Hill to pass KOSA, a piece of federal legislation that has become synonymous with cases surrounding teen mental health, social media addiction, and suicide. 

In a simple reading, KOSA would mandate default safeguards for underage internet users, including parental controls, communication limits, and location privacy, as well as design features like the ability to turn off infinite scroll, autoplay, and other incentives to stay online. The bill also requires the Secretary of Commerce, Federal Communications Commission, and Federal Trade Commission evaluate the efficacy of age verification systems at the "device or operating system level." 

ParentsSOS, which calls KOSA "a wildly popular bipartisan bill" in the letter, says Meta may be using KOSA as protection from further litigation. In fact, Meta has recently shifted its stance and begun working with, rather against, regulatory proponents — conversations aimed at carving out specific protections to avoid astronomical fines for violating said law, company insiders recently told Politico. 

We needed to shame him into helping us pass KOSA. - Maurine Molak, ParentsSOS

"[KOSA] can't happen for immunity," said McComas. "It needs to happen for the lives of American children and families that are forever torn apart when one of them is lost."

Many other organizations have backed the bill, including the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). "The Kids Online Safety Act with its strong Duty of Care would compel Meta and other tech platforms to design their products with children in mind and Congress should pass this quickly," said NCOSE leadership in the wake of the settlement. 

Enough is Enough, an internet safety nonprofit that helped pass the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in 2000, also called on the Senate to pass KOSA, noting its "strong Duty of Care" provisions that they argue could deliver needed protections. "Hopefully, this settlement will end the lobbying to protect Big Tech and instead focus on protecting kids," the organization wrote.

Parent rights advocacy group ParentsTogether has previously backed KOSA and called for additional Senate inquiries into Big Tech following the settlement decision. "As Congress advances federal online safety legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act, we urge lawmakers to set strong, clear standards for every platform while preserving states' and families' ability to sue," the nonprofit wrote. "Federal law can raise the floor nationwide; access to the courts is what keeps companies honest in between. Our children deserve both."

There's other legislation on the table, too, many of which are looped into the larger KIDS Act. For example, Enough is Enough also called on Meta to back the federal App Store Accountability Act, a federal version of laws recently passed by states like Texas which mandate stricter age verification and parental controls for app marketplaces. Meta has previously called on regulation of marketplaces rather than stipulations on platforms themselves.

Organizations pushing KOSA are up against a massive lobbying machine backed by Big Tech. According to an analysis of lobbying disclosures by campaign finance reform nonprofit Issue One, companies have spent a combined $226,000 per day pushing back on legislation in 2026. The numbers have escalated as AI companies have gained a hold in federal policymaking.

"When Meta says 'industry wide standards,' that means they know they will lobby to enact a very weak set of safeguards. But now, it must [be] clear to all, that Meta can never be trusted when it comes to protecting and supporting young people," Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, told Mashable. "We need more litigation, a push for strong state laws, and a major D.C. push for national policy that finally reins in Meta, Google, and the other industry leaders." 

Why is KOSA controversial?

Online safety regulation isn't just swimming against the tide of Big Tech money. KOSA has proven to be a highly divisive bill among digital privacy advocates since its initial introduction in 2022. 

Critics have warned the bill —  and related online safety legislation — could be opening up a Pandora's Box of First Amendment violations. Responding to early versions of KOSA, critics noted language that could serve as a backdoor for internet-wide censorship, including posts featuring LGBTQ content, and have expressed doubt over controversial age verification systems. 

SEE ALSO: What would ethical age verification look like online?

KOSA's Duty of Care stipulations, which critics argue could lead platforms to over-censor protected speech to shield themselves from the law, have previously been called into question by groups like the ACLU, GLAAD, and the Internet Society. A group of 90+ civil society organizations signed onto a 2022 letter opposing early versions of KOSA. Critics have continued to push back against the constitutionality of the bill and related legislative attempts like the App Store Accountability Act. 

Much like child safety groups, privacy groups warned the settlement could provide momentum to pass the long-awaited regulation. But the settlement itself also poses concern.

Deep in the terms of Meta's settlement was a minor legal loophole, effectively granting the company permission to retain and use children's data for training age assurance models and designing guardrails. The agreement bars states who signed on from suing the company under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which is the basis for many ongoing claims. 

"Under this settlement, young users will now have less access to Meta products, and a lesser ability to exercise their rights to speak, access information and art and culture, associate and form communities, and play," wrote the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The settlement also embeds age assurance into every product, mandating the collection of even more personal information from users of all ages; this enshrines Meta's harmful surveillance into law."

In an Aug. 26 statement, the Center for Democracy & Technology warned the settlement's age assurance promises could pose potential risks to privacy and free expression rights online. "Given the well-documented risks age assurance techniques pose to all users’ rights to access the web privately, securely, and anonymously, this commitment raises significant concerns and its implementation must be closely observed," the organization wrote. 

Despite these criticisms — which McComas describes as red herrings seeded by Big Tech itself — KOSA is still viewed by proponents as the only solution to what has become one of the most pressing issues of our time. "I believe it will start saving lives right away," said McComas.

TL;DR: Amazon's discounted Prime for Young Adults membership ($7.49/month after a 6-month trial) now includes 5% cash back on move-in essentials and groceries through September 15, plus free 30-minute delivery on Amazon Now orders over $25.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Prime for Young Adults $7.49 at Amazon
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If you can't bear the thought of living in a dorm room for another second (I def get it; I had three roommates my senior year of undergrad), and you're moving into your first apartment on a tight budget — like Ramen-noodles-every-night kind of budget — you'll be happy to know that Amazon has a special membership tier just for you.

SEE ALSO: Apple's Back to School sale just got extended to Sept. 24 — more time to score up to $150 in gift cards

Right now, you can get Amazon's "Prime for Young Adults" membership for just $7.49 a month (or $69 a year), which is half the cost of a standard Prime membership. If you sign up for the trial, you'll get six months free up front. This tier, designed specifically for students pinching pennies, gives you all the benefits of Prime, including free shipping, Prime Video, and a free Grubhub+ membership.

On top of the usual stuff, Amazon added a few new perks for the back-to-school season:

• 5% cash back on groceries and essentials: Through Sept. 15, Amazon is giving Prime for Young Adults members 5% cash back on everyday grocery essentials, plus home, kitchen, and office gadgets. Once you hit a $5 balance, you can apply it directly to your next checkout. It caps at $100 per purchase and $500 a year.

• Amazon Now 30-min delivery: Prime for Young Adult members get free 30-minute delivery on Amazon Now orders over $25. Even better: If you're a first-time user, you'll get $5 off your first $25+ order (plus the free delivery), and another $5 off your second $25 order.

SAVE $540: As of Sep. 1, get the DJI Power 2000 Portable Power Station for $759.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,299.99. That's a discount of 41%.

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$1,299 Save $539.01   Get Deal

The hotter days may be behind us, but fall can still bring several severe storms that could knock your power out. Not to mention cold weather is on the horizon, which can also put you in an electricity-related bind if you happen to be in the path of a blizzard or other snowstorm. Be ready for all of these situations and more with a portable power station. You can grab one right now on sale at Amazon for an excellent price.

As of Sep. 1, get the DJI Power 2000 Portable Power Station for $759.99 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $1,299.99. That's $540 off and a discount of 41%.

SEE ALSO: The 6 best power stations for camping keep you both online and off-grid

The DJI Power 2000 has a 2,048Wh capacity and manages to remain quiet while in operation. It weighs under 50 poiunds and is compatible with up to 10 DJI Expansion Battery 2000s, which can juice your portable power station up to 22,000Wh. That means your entire house could be powered in a pinch should you need it.

It also comes with plentiful ports: three standard AC options, four USB-A ports, four USB-C ports, and two SDC ports so you can recharge drones in an expedient manner. It also has a 30-amp plug. It's equipped and ready to make sure you have enough power to handle whatever emergency comes your way, so if you're looking for a way to stay afloat when nasty weather approaches or just need an easy way to stay in touch while off-grid, this is a great option.

Best Labor Day appliance deals at a glance: Best fridge deal Hisense 18.1 ft Counter-Depth Refrigerator $499 (save $250) Get Deal Best washer deal GE 4.5-cu ft Top Load Washer $599 (save $250) Get Deal Best washer-dryer combo deal LG WashTower Stacked Laundry Center $1,899 (save $800) Get Deal

Labor Day is basically the awkward cousin of shopping holidays. You're not exactly thrilled it's here (RIP, summer), and it definitely lacks the pizzazz of Black Friday. But it does come with one perk: It's undeniably the best time of year to score a deal on those more expensive home essentials, like mattresses and major household appliances (e.g., washers and dryers, refrigerators, and dishwashers).

SEE ALSO: Shop the REI Labor Day sale: We found late summer outdoor and camping deals

This year, big-box retailers like Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, and even Amazon are rolling out their holiday savings events. Right now, most appliance markdowns are about $15 to $20 shy of their all-time-low Black Friday prices. Frankly, paying an extra twenty bucks is well worth it if your washing machine has gone kaput, but I expect even bigger discounts as we get closer to the holiday weekend.

Whether your fridge is on its last leg or you've finally decided to upgrade the laundry room (honestly, good for you), I've scoured through the deals to help you find the best bang for your buck.

Here are the best Labor Day appliance deals you can shop right now.

Best major kitchen appliance deals Opens in a new window Credit: Hisense Hisense 18.1 ft Counter-Depth Refrigerator $499 at Lowe's
$749 Save $250   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: LG LG 24-cu ft Top-Mount Refrigerator $879 at Home Depot
$1,199 Save $320   Get Deal Why we like it

The Hisense 18.1 ft Counter-Depth Refrigerator ($499 at Lowe's, down from $749) is an unbeatable deal. It sits flush with your counters so it shouldn't stick out; it's garage-ready, and comes with a two-year warranty — which is double what most appliance brands give you.

If you need more storage space, you'll want the LG 24-cu ft Top-Mount Refrigerator, marked down to $879 (saving you $320) at Home Depot. At 24 cubic feet, it's about as roomy as a top-freezer fridge gets.

Shop deals on fridges, dishwashers, and more

• Frigidaire 24" Front Control Built-In Dishwasher — $299.99 $377.99 (save $78)

• GE 30 in. 4.8 cu. ft. Freestanding Gas Range — $699 $799 (save $100)

• LG FlushFit 24" Top Control Smart Built-In Dishwasher — $599.99 $1,049.99 (save $450)

• LG 36 in. 28 cu. ft. 3-Door French Door Refrigerator — $1,799 $3,099 (save $1,300)

• Samsung Bespoke 36 in. 29 cu. ft. 4-Door French Door Refrigerator — $1,799 $3,199 (save $1,400)

Best laundry appliance deals Opens in a new window Credit: GE GE 4.5-cu ft Top Load Washer $599 at Home Depot
$849 Save $250   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: LG LG WashTower Stacked Laundry Center $1,899 at Lowe's
$2,699 Save $800   Get Deal Why we like it

If you're looking for a no-frills machine that won't cost you a fortune, the GE 4.5-cu ft Top Load Washer ($599, down from $849) is a great buy. It features a classic dual-action agitator, a large 4.5-cu ft. capacity, and a Boost setting that adds an extra 15 minutes of soaking to get out tough stains.

For those of you who want something a little bougier, the LG WashTower Stacked Laundry Center is down to $1,899 (saving you $800). It gives you full-sized capacity in half the floor space (perfect for smaller apartments!), features moisture sensors, and a steam cycle that's claimed to pull out over 95 percent of pet dander.

Shop deals on washers and dryers

• Whirlpool 7-cu ft Vented Electric Dryer — $499 $719 (save $220)

• LG WashTower Stacked SMART Laundry Center — $1,899 $2,699 (save $800)

• LG 4.5-cu ft Stackable SMART Front Load Washer — $929 $1,199 (save $270)

• GE Profile UltraFast Ventless All-In-One Washer Dryer Combo — $2,199 $2,999 (save $800)

Best Labor Day appliance deals at a glance: Best fridge deal Hisense 18.1 ft Counter-Depth Refrigerator $499 (save $250) Get Deal Best washer deal GE 4.5-cu ft Top Load Washer $599 (save $250) Get Deal Best washer-dryer combo deal LG WashTower Stacked Laundry Center $1,899 (save $800) Get Deal

Labor Day is basically the awkward cousin of shopping holidays. You're not exactly thrilled it's here (RIP, summer), and it definitely lacks the pizzazz of Black Friday. But it does come with one perk: It's undeniably the best time of year to score a deal on those more expensive home essentials, like mattresses and major household appliances (e.g., washers and dryers, refrigerators, and dishwashers).

SEE ALSO: Shop the REI Labor Day sale: We found late summer outdoor and camping deals

This year, big-box retailers like Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, and even Amazon are rolling out their holiday savings events. Right now, most appliance markdowns are about $15 to $20 shy of their all-time-low Black Friday prices. Frankly, paying an extra twenty bucks is well worth it if your washing machine has gone kaput, but I expect even bigger discounts as we get closer to the holiday weekend.

Whether your fridge is on its last leg or you've finally decided to upgrade the laundry room (honestly, good for you), I've scoured through the deals to help you find the best bang for your buck.

Here are the best Labor Day appliance deals you can shop right now.

Best major kitchen appliance deals Opens in a new window Credit: Hisense Hisense 18.1 ft Counter-Depth Refrigerator $499 at Lowe's
$749 Save $250   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: LG LG 24-cu ft Top-Mount Refrigerator $879 at Home Depot
$1,199 Save $320   Get Deal Why we like it

The Hisense 18.1 ft Counter-Depth Refrigerator ($499 at Lowe's, down from $749) is an unbeatable deal. It sits flush with your counters so it shouldn't stick out; it's garage-ready, and comes with a two-year warranty — which is double what most appliance brands give you.

If you need more storage space, you'll want the LG 24-cu ft Top-Mount Refrigerator, marked down to $879 (saving you $320) at Home Depot. At 24 cubic feet, it's about as roomy as a top-freezer fridge gets.

Shop deals on fridges, dishwashers, and more

• Frigidaire 24" Front Control Built-In Dishwasher — $299.99 $377.99 (save $78)

• GE 30 in. 4.8 cu. ft. Freestanding Gas Range — $699 $799 (save $100)

• LG FlushFit 24" Top Control Smart Built-In Dishwasher — $599.99 $1,049.99 (save $450)

• LG 36 in. 28 cu. ft. 3-Door French Door Refrigerator — $1,799 $3,099 (save $1,300)

• Samsung Bespoke 36 in. 29 cu. ft. 4-Door French Door Refrigerator — $1,799 $3,199 (save $1,400)

Best laundry appliance deals Opens in a new window Credit: GE GE 4.5-cu ft Top Load Washer $599 at Home Depot
$849 Save $250   Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: LG LG WashTower Stacked Laundry Center $1,899 at Lowe's
$2,699 Save $800   Get Deal Why we like it

If you're looking for a no-frills machine that won't cost you a fortune, the GE 4.5-cu ft Top Load Washer ($599, down from $849) is a great buy. It features a classic dual-action agitator, a large 4.5-cu ft. capacity, and a Boost setting that adds an extra 15 minutes of soaking to get out tough stains.

For those of you who want something a little bougier, the LG WashTower Stacked Laundry Center is down to $1,899 (saving you $800). It gives you full-sized capacity in half the floor space (perfect for smaller apartments!), features moisture sensors, and a steam cycle that's claimed to pull out over 95 percent of pet dander.

Shop deals on washers and dryers

• Whirlpool 7-cu ft Vented Electric Dryer — $499 $719 (save $220)

• LG WashTower Stacked SMART Laundry Center — $1,899 $2,699 (save $800)

• LG 4.5-cu ft Stackable SMART Front Load Washer — $929 $1,199 (save $270)

• GE Profile UltraFast Ventless All-In-One Washer Dryer Combo — $2,199 $2,999 (save $800)

John Ternus spent his first day as Apple's chief executive doing what most office workers do: sending out emails.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who obtained the note, Ternus sent a staff-wide memo to preview what he called a standout showing at next week's iPhone event and to publicly thank Tim Cook, who spent 15 years at Apple's helm.

Ternus, who previously ran Apple's hardware engineering organization, told staff he's looking forward to what comes after the September 9 launch just as much as the event itself. Gurman reported that Ternus called the coming iPhone reveal "phenomenal" in the memo, a preview that lines up with Apple's plans to introduce its first foldable iPhone and push further into smart home hardware, according to Bloomberg's reporting.

The memo also included a tribute to Cook, who is staying on at Apple as executive chairman rather than leaving the company outright. Ternus credited his predecessor with sharing his knowledge throughout the transition and framed Cook's tenure as one defined by strong values, according to Bloomberg. Tuesday also marked Ternus's debut on X, where he joins Cook and marketing chief Greg Joswiak as the company's most visible executives on the platform.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Per Gurman's reporting, Joswiak indicated that Ternus will have more to share when he takes the stage at next week's "Surprise and Shine" event.

Cook, for his part, sent his own farewell note to staff a day earlier, telling employees he'll miss the daily work but is confident in the direction Ternus will take the company.

Ternus's promotion caps a long climb inside Apple. As we've detailed in an explainer of the incoming CEO, Ternus joined Apple in 2001 after a brief stint as a mechanical engineer, working his way from the product design team to VP of hardware engineering in 2013 and senior VP in 2021.

Apple has credited him with hardware wins, including the iPhone Air and the MacBook Neo, as well as a pivotal role in the company's shift to using in-house Apple silicon. Ternus, at 50, is stepping into the CEO role at the same age Cook was when he succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011, and people close to the company see him bringing a more product-first, Jobs-like sensibility to the job than his predecessor.

With AI widely seen as Apple's biggest competitive gap, Ternus's handling of the newly overhauled Siri is likely to be one of the first major tests of his leadership. For now, though, all eyes are on next week's keynote, the first major product event of the Ternus era.

Top Apple Deals we found this week:

• Apple AirTag 2 (4-Pack) — $79.99 $99 (save $20)

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

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

• Apple iPhone Air (256GB, unlocked) — $849.99 $999.99 (save $150)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,849 $1,999 (save $150)

• Shop all the best Apple Labor Day deals

John Ternus spent his first day as Apple's chief executive doing what most office workers do: sending out emails.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who obtained the note, Ternus sent a staff-wide memo to preview what he called a standout showing at next week's iPhone event and to publicly thank Tim Cook, who spent 15 years at Apple's helm.

Ternus, who previously ran Apple's hardware engineering organization, told staff he's looking forward to what comes after the September 9 launch just as much as the event itself. Gurman reported that Ternus called the coming iPhone reveal "phenomenal" in the memo, a preview that lines up with Apple's plans to introduce its first foldable iPhone and push further into smart home hardware, according to Bloomberg's reporting.

The memo also included a tribute to Cook, who is staying on at Apple as executive chairman rather than leaving the company outright. Ternus credited his predecessor with sharing his knowledge throughout the transition and framed Cook's tenure as one defined by strong values, according to Bloomberg. Tuesday also marked Ternus's debut on X, where he joins Cook and marketing chief Greg Joswiak as the company's most visible executives on the platform.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Per Gurman's reporting, Joswiak indicated that Ternus will have more to share when he takes the stage at next week's "Surprise and Shine" event.

Cook, for his part, sent his own farewell note to staff a day earlier, telling employees he'll miss the daily work but is confident in the direction Ternus will take the company.

Ternus's promotion caps a long climb inside Apple. As we've detailed in an explainer of the incoming CEO, Ternus joined Apple in 2001 after a brief stint as a mechanical engineer, working his way from the product design team to VP of hardware engineering in 2013 and senior VP in 2021.

Apple has credited him with hardware wins, including the iPhone Air and the MacBook Neo, as well as a pivotal role in the company's shift to using in-house Apple silicon. Ternus, at 50, is stepping into the CEO role at the same age Cook was when he succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011, and people close to the company see him bringing a more product-first, Jobs-like sensibility to the job than his predecessor.

With AI widely seen as Apple's biggest competitive gap, Ternus's handling of the newly overhauled Siri is likely to be one of the first major tests of his leadership. For now, though, all eyes are on next week's keynote, the first major product event of the Ternus era.

Top Apple Deals we found this week:

• Apple AirTag 2 (4-Pack) — $79.99 $99 (save $20)

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

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

• Apple iPhone Air (256GB, unlocked) — $849.99 $999.99 (save $150)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,849 $1,999 (save $150)

• Shop all the best Apple Labor Day deals

As the creator economy becomes increasingly crowded, individuals may be looking for new ways to get seen. According to a new report from Giggster, having an OnlyFans link in your Linktree is apparently the way to obtain search visibility.

SEE ALSO: How many OnlyFans millionaires are there? New report reveals the hard numbers.

In an analysis of nearly 5,000 verified, person-led Linktree profiles in the U.S., those with OnlyFans links were a major driver of creator search visibility, Giggster reported. Fifty-five percent of profiles analyzed had OnlyFans links, yet they accounted for 76.4 percent of the share of Ahrefs Traffic Value. (Ahrefs Traffic Value is an estimate of the monthly cost of a page's organic traffic if it were purchased through pay-per-click advertising.)

The median traffic value of an OnlyFans-linked profile was around 8.2 times higher than that of one without an OnlyFans link.

This is antithetical to what adult creators discuss in terms of visibility on social media. Last year, for a story on age-verification laws, porn performer Siri Dahl told Mashable that Instagram has become strict with the links allowed in people's bios, and that Linktrees were starting to get "blacklisted" due to their association with OnlyFans creators. (Neither Instagram nor Linktree responded to Mashable's request for comment at the time.)

In May, creator platform ONA published an article about Instagram reach dropping after adding a Linktree or OnlyFans link, as well.

Giggster's report also found that the top creators overall hold a majority of the search value. In Washington, for instance, the top 10 percent of creators generate nearly all (96.3 percent) of the state's creator search value. California has the lowest concentration of the 10 states Giggster named, but the top 10 percent still generate 81.6 percent of its search value.

As the creator economy becomes increasingly crowded, individuals may be looking for new ways to get seen. According to a new report from Giggster, having an OnlyFans link in your Linktree is apparently the way to obtain search visibility.

SEE ALSO: How many OnlyFans millionaires are there? New report reveals the hard numbers.

In an analysis of nearly 5,000 verified, person-led Linktree profiles in the U.S., those with OnlyFans links were a major driver of creator search visibility, Giggster reported. Fifty-five percent of profiles analyzed had OnlyFans links, yet they accounted for 76.4 percent of the share of Ahrefs Traffic Value. (Ahrefs Traffic Value is an estimate of the monthly cost of a page's organic traffic if it were purchased through pay-per-click advertising.)

The median traffic value of an OnlyFans-linked profile was around 8.2 times higher than that of one without an OnlyFans link.

This is antithetical to what adult creators discuss in terms of visibility on social media. Last year, for a story on age-verification laws, porn performer Siri Dahl told Mashable that Instagram has become strict with the links allowed in people's bios, and that Linktrees were starting to get "blacklisted" due to their association with OnlyFans creators. (Neither Instagram nor Linktree responded to Mashable's request for comment at the time.)

In May, creator platform ONA published an article about Instagram reach dropping after adding a Linktree or OnlyFans link, as well.

Giggster's report also found that the top creators overall hold a majority of the search value. In Washington, for instance, the top 10 percent of creators generate nearly all (96.3 percent) of the state's creator search value. California has the lowest concentration of the 10 states Giggster named, but the top 10 percent still generate 81.6 percent of its search value.

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on Nov. 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. As far as anyone knows, it could be years before there's a PC version of the hotly anticipated open-world crime game (fortunately, we don't think it will take that long). But if you want to play the game right away, then it's time for you to figure out which version to buy.

After pre-orders opened, IGN reported that PS5 versions of the game were outselling Xbox at an eight-to-one ratio. Microsoft denied these numbers, of course, but if IGN's readers are representative of gamers as a whole, then players are certainly leaning in a very clear direction.

So, should you play GTA 6 on PS5 or Xbox? There are a lot of variables that make this a difficult question to answer. That said, we're going to do our best. Here is everything you need to know before buying GTA VI on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S/X

SEE ALSO: Could GTA 6 teach Gen Z how to be in a relationship? Grand Theft Auto VI: PS5 or Series X?

The first thing to note here is that the only official gameplay footage we've seen of GTA 6 comes from a 26-minute extended look released on Netflix in late August. It lived up to the hype, but less than half an hour of carefully curated footage is not a great way to determine the technical ins and outs of a video game.

It's also worth pointing out, though, that the Netflix footage was captured on PlayStation 5. Sony has even said in its marketing that the game "plays best on PS5."

"Thanks to the close partnership between Sony Interactive Entertainment and Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto VI will play best on PS5 by taking advantage of PS5’s immersive features to deliver a deeply engaging single-player experience when it launches on November 19," a Sony blog post reads.

The company hasn't divulged any real details as to how or why it's best on PS5, though. Until the game is in our hands, we can't know for sure, though.

One thing we do know is that GTA VI is a graphical powerhouse. Digital Foundry, an outlet known for technical breakdowns of video game visuals, called it arguably "the most impressive example of real-time game rendering" they've seen yet. The power differential between the PS5 and Series X is not particularly significant, so based on what we saw on Netflix, there's every reason to expect that the Xbox Series X version will be comparable, at least.

Just be warned that, according to Digital Foundry (and also according to what little I know about video game rendering), the game will almost certainly not ship with a 60 frames per second mode, and it may not ever get one on these consoles. But 30 FPS is fine; you'll get used to it.

What about Xbox Series S?

One major question a lot of folks will have is whether GTA 6 will still look good and play well on an Xbox Series S. Both Xbox and PlayStation consoles are prohibitively expensive right now due to RAMageddon, so the cheaper Series S represents the best value of the bunch at $500. It's cheaper because it's a weaker device, though. It's compatible with the same games as the Series X, but many of those games are compromised in some way.

We don't know anything about the Series S version of GTA VI right now. But if I had to guess, I would assume it runs at a lower resolution and has some other settings turned down, at the very least. I would be stunned if Rockstar released it in an unplayable state, but weirder things have happened.

More information about GTA VI's tech specs on these platforms is sure to come out before Nov. 19, and we'll keep you updated as it comes in.

'Grand Theft Auto VI' for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X $79.99 at Amazon
  Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Best Buy Pre-order Here at GameStop 'Grand Theft Auto VI' Ultimate Edition: PS5 or Xbox $99.99 at PlayStation Store
  Pre-order Here at PlayStation Store Pre-order Here at Xbox Pre-order Here at Rockstar Games

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on Nov. 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. As far as anyone knows, it could be years before there's a PC version of the hotly anticipated open-world crime game (fortunately, we don't think it will take that long). But if you want to play the game right away, then it's time for you to figure out which version to buy.

After pre-orders opened, IGN reported that PS5 versions of the game were outselling Xbox at an eight-to-one ratio. Microsoft denied these numbers, of course, but if IGN's readers are representative of gamers as a whole, then players are certainly leaning in a very clear direction.

So, should you play GTA 6 on PS5 or Xbox? There are a lot of variables that make this a difficult question to answer. That said, we're going to do our best. Here is everything you need to know before buying GTA VI on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series S/X

SEE ALSO: Could GTA 6 teach Gen Z how to be in a relationship? Grand Theft Auto VI: PS5 or Series X?

The first thing to note here is that the only official gameplay footage we've seen of GTA 6 comes from a 26-minute extended look released on Netflix in late August. It lived up to the hype, but less than half an hour of carefully curated footage is not a great way to determine the technical ins and outs of a video game.

It's also worth pointing out, though, that the Netflix footage was captured on PlayStation 5. Sony has even said in its marketing that the game "plays best on PS5."

"Thanks to the close partnership between Sony Interactive Entertainment and Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto VI will play best on PS5 by taking advantage of PS5’s immersive features to deliver a deeply engaging single-player experience when it launches on November 19," a Sony blog post reads.

The company hasn't divulged any real details as to how or why it's best on PS5, though. Until the game is in our hands, we can't know for sure, though.

One thing we do know is that GTA VI is a graphical powerhouse. Digital Foundry, an outlet known for technical breakdowns of video game visuals, called it arguably "the most impressive example of real-time game rendering" they've seen yet. The power differential between the PS5 and Series X is not particularly significant, so based on what we saw on Netflix, there's every reason to expect that the Xbox Series X version will be comparable, at least.

Just be warned that, according to Digital Foundry (and also according to what little I know about video game rendering), the game will almost certainly not ship with a 60 frames per second mode, and it may not ever get one on these consoles. But 30 FPS is fine; you'll get used to it.

What about Xbox Series S?

One major question a lot of folks will have is whether GTA 6 will still look good and play well on an Xbox Series S. Both Xbox and PlayStation consoles are prohibitively expensive right now due to RAMageddon, so the cheaper Series S represents the best value of the bunch at $500. It's cheaper because it's a weaker device, though. It's compatible with the same games as the Series X, but many of those games are compromised in some way.

We don't know anything about the Series S version of GTA VI right now. But if I had to guess, I would assume it runs at a lower resolution and has some other settings turned down, at the very least. I would be stunned if Rockstar released it in an unplayable state, but weirder things have happened.

More information about GTA VI's tech specs on these platforms is sure to come out before Nov. 19, and we'll keep you updated as it comes in.

'Grand Theft Auto VI' for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X $79.99 at Amazon
  Pre-order Here at Amazon Pre-order Here at Best Buy Pre-order Here at GameStop 'Grand Theft Auto VI' Ultimate Edition: PS5 or Xbox $99.99 at PlayStation Store
  Pre-order Here at PlayStation Store Pre-order Here at Xbox Pre-order Here at Rockstar Games