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The most acclaimed LGBTQ movies of the 2020s — All of Us Strangers, I Saw the TV Glow, Fire Island, Leviticus, even Tár — have little in common with Blue Film. Yet writer/director Elliott Tuttle’s Blue Film holds a 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, even with two very flawed characters and a subject matter most audiences would run from.

Unlike most of the aforementioned films, Blue Film contains no romance or sweetness. While Blue Film's characters are as complicated as Lydia Tár, they are not exceptional performers like she is, nor do they have any of the trappings of success, like money, partners, or kids. Blue Film is about one person who has done unspeakable things and another who humiliates lonely people for cash. Not only are the characters difficult to identify with, but their disclosures and interactions throughout the movie make it intentionally uncomfortable for the audience.

While Blue Film was adored by critics, it hasn't yet found a wide audience. Now that it's been released on streaming, it may find more people willing to confront its difficult story.

I recently connected with Tuttle and the movie's stars, Reed Birney and Kieron Moore, about Blue Film. One thing I wanted to know was what Birney and Moore thought of Tuttle's script. Both actors said they were fascinated by the characters, thought of them as challenges, but weren't sure anyone would actually see such a movie.

"What are the odds of a low-budget movie about a pedophile having an audience?," Birney, a Tony winner who also executive produced Blue Film, said. "For it to come out and be greeted so rapturously and so seriously, I'm still in complete disbelief... even when people don't like it, I understand why they don't like it."

SEE ALSO: The big question LGBTQ daters are asking, according to Hinge What's Blue Film about?

The movie's protagonist, Aaron Eagle (Moore), is an LA-based queer camboy who performs for a gay male audience. He’s hostile to his online audience, peppering them with slurs, which seems to be what they want. A pathological liar, Aaron refuses to be honest about his life before he became a cam boy. He's also insecure, posturing an extreme version of masculinity by taking up as much space as possible and using his formidable size to intimidate. He’s pretty hard to like, at least in his current incarnation.

Aaron may have been more endearing before heartbreak — and life in LA — hardened him. The movie’s plot kicks into gear when Aaron heads to the home of a fan who's offered $50,000 for a night with him. Answering the door in a ski mask is Hank (Birney), and just like that Blue Film shifts into horror-thriller territory. The shocks will soon arrive, but there are no weapons, per se.

See, Hank is no stranger. He was one of his teachers back in Maine. Recently released from prison for trying to sexually assault one of his students, Hank is now in Los Angeles specifically to see Aaron, whom he believes he was in love with. That's news to Aaron.

What follows is an all-night conversation between the two men as Hank works to break down Aaron’s defenses and extract some truths from him. Hank is hiding a lot, too, but he seems more adept at opening up and offering up some version of his past, even if it’s filled with delusional thinking and bullshit justifications. Hank is a pedophile, and he seems too oddly comfortable with that fact. Some viewers will recoil at that, others will stay to see what happens.

Blue Film is a dark movie, with a hopeful ending.

Hank is a deeply damaged man who has hurt children, but is superficially a much nicer person than Aaron — while Aaron broods and deflects, Hanks smiles and inquires. Thanks to Aaron's youth and the fact that he’s never done anything remotely as evil as Hank, the younger man seems salvageable in comparison. Because the movie is bookended with Aaron, Tuttle seems to indicate his Blue Film is not about redeeming Hank or making the audience sympathize with a pedophile. Yet Hank is an unexpected force for good to grown Aaron.

At one point, Hank talks about the two men as children and asks Aaron if he ever feels pity for his younger self. It’s a question at the heart of the film — do we ever offer compassion to our earlier versions, our innocent childhood selves eventually beaten into cynicism by life? Can we ever drop our adult armor and get back some of that joy and wonder? Hank reminds Aaron of the earlier self he's discarded; a likable kid who loved to sing. At the end of the encounter, Aaron is humming to himself in the shower and then napping peacefully, with the weight of his double identities seemingly sloughing off his shoulders. This suggests Aaron may have a chance at reclaiming some of his more innocent, joyful self.

Tuttle says he began journaling before the script came together. He was writing about his own adolescent sexuality and the story "became this whole other thing about loneliness and the way we explain ourselves to ourselves," he told Mashable.

Blue Film offers no easy answers.

The conversation that constitutes the majority of Blue Film is occasionally interrupted by beer guzzling, weed smoking, and flashes of sex that end almost as fast as they begin; in that regard, there are some similarities between Blue Film and the 2011 gay classic Weekend, which explored how a short, chance encounter between two men can lead to a deep connection; maybe even a relationship. But, unlike Weekend, there is no climactic kiss in Blue Film, or even an indication its characters will ever see each other again.

Still, both movies speak to the queer experience of adopting personas to shed identities that no longer suit us. While Weekend used a sexy, confident twink as a foil for its repressed/depressed protagonist, Tuttle utilizes a pedophile to the same end. It’s a bold choice, and certainly not for everyone.

"It gave me a great reassurance of how intelligent audiences are," Moore said of the response to his film debut. "People want to watch things and pick them apart and decide how it makes them feel rather than being told how to feel."

Blue Film is available to stream on Apple TV and Prime Video.

The most acclaimed LGBTQ movies of the 2020s — All of Us Strangers, I Saw the TV Glow, Fire Island, Leviticus, even Tár — have little in common with Blue Film. Yet writer/director Elliott Tuttle’s Blue Film holds a 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, even with two very flawed characters and a subject matter most audiences would run from.

Unlike most of the aforementioned films, Blue Film contains no romance or sweetness. While Blue Film's characters are as complicated as Lydia Tár, they are not exceptional performers like she is, nor do they have any of the trappings of success, like money, partners, or kids. Blue Film is about one person who has done unspeakable things and another who humiliates lonely people for cash. Not only are the characters difficult to identify with, but their disclosures and interactions throughout the movie make it intentionally uncomfortable for the audience.

While Blue Film was adored by critics, it hasn't yet found a wide audience. Now that it's been released on streaming, it may find more people willing to confront its difficult story.

I recently connected with Tuttle and the movie's stars, Reed Birney and Kieron Moore, about Blue Film. One thing I wanted to know was what Birney and Moore thought of Tuttle's script. Both actors said they were fascinated by the characters, thought of them as challenges, but weren't sure anyone would actually see such a movie.

"What are the odds of a low-budget movie about a pedophile having an audience?," Birney, a Tony winner who also executive produced Blue Film, said. "For it to come out and be greeted so rapturously and so seriously, I'm still in complete disbelief... even when people don't like it, I understand why they don't like it."

SEE ALSO: The big question LGBTQ daters are asking, according to Hinge What's Blue Film about?

The movie's protagonist, Aaron Eagle (Moore), is an LA-based queer camboy who performs for a gay male audience. He’s hostile to his online audience, peppering them with slurs, which seems to be what they want. A pathological liar, Aaron refuses to be honest about his life before he became a cam boy. He's also insecure, posturing an extreme version of masculinity by taking up as much space as possible and using his formidable size to intimidate. He’s pretty hard to like, at least in his current incarnation.

Aaron may have been more endearing before heartbreak — and life in LA — hardened him. The movie’s plot kicks into gear when Aaron heads to the home of a fan who's offered $50,000 for a night with him. Answering the door in a ski mask is Hank (Birney), and just like that Blue Film shifts into horror-thriller territory. The shocks will soon arrive, but there are no weapons, per se.

See, Hank is no stranger. He was one of his teachers back in Maine. Recently released from prison for trying to sexually assault one of his students, Hank is now in Los Angeles specifically to see Aaron, whom he believes he was in love with. That's news to Aaron.

What follows is an all-night conversation between the two men as Hank works to break down Aaron’s defenses and extract some truths from him. Hank is hiding a lot, too, but he seems more adept at opening up and offering up some version of his past, even if it’s filled with delusional thinking and bullshit justifications. Hank is a pedophile, and he seems too oddly comfortable with that fact. Some viewers will recoil at that, others will stay to see what happens.

Blue Film is a dark movie, with a hopeful ending.

Hank is a deeply damaged man who has hurt children, but is superficially a much nicer person than Aaron — while Aaron broods and deflects, Hanks smiles and inquires. Thanks to Aaron's youth and the fact that he’s never done anything remotely as evil as Hank, the younger man seems salvageable in comparison. Because the movie is bookended with Aaron, Tuttle seems to indicate his Blue Film is not about redeeming Hank or making the audience sympathize with a pedophile. Yet Hank is an unexpected force for good to grown Aaron.

At one point, Hank talks about the two men as children and asks Aaron if he ever feels pity for his younger self. It’s a question at the heart of the film — do we ever offer compassion to our earlier versions, our innocent childhood selves eventually beaten into cynicism by life? Can we ever drop our adult armor and get back some of that joy and wonder? Hank reminds Aaron of the earlier self he's discarded; a likable kid who loved to sing. At the end of the encounter, Aaron is humming to himself in the shower and then napping peacefully, with the weight of his double identities seemingly sloughing off his shoulders. This suggests Aaron may have a chance at reclaiming some of his more innocent, joyful self.

Tuttle says he began journaling before the script came together. He was writing about his own adolescent sexuality and the story "became this whole other thing about loneliness and the way we explain ourselves to ourselves," he told Mashable.

Blue Film offers no easy answers.

The conversation that constitutes the majority of Blue Film is occasionally interrupted by beer guzzling, weed smoking, and flashes of sex that end almost as fast as they begin; in that regard, there are some similarities between Blue Film and the 2011 gay classic Weekend, which explored how a short, chance encounter between two men can lead to a deep connection; maybe even a relationship. But, unlike Weekend, there is no climactic kiss in Blue Film, or even an indication its characters will ever see each other again.

Still, both movies speak to the queer experience of adopting personas to shed identities that no longer suit us. While Weekend used a sexy, confident twink as a foil for its repressed/depressed protagonist, Tuttle utilizes a pedophile to the same end. It’s a bold choice, and certainly not for everyone.

"It gave me a great reassurance of how intelligent audiences are," Moore said of the response to his film debut. "People want to watch things and pick them apart and decide how it makes them feel rather than being told how to feel."

Blue Film is available to stream on Apple TV and Prime Video.

Google has some new AI tools for users to mess around with.

The company announced in a blog post on Tuesday that Nano Banana 2 Lite and Gemini Omni Flash are now available. These are a couple of new toys that live within Google's suddenly very expansive AI ecosystem, both serving a different purpose.

SEE ALSO: Google confirms death of its Nest speaker lineup

For starters, Nano Banana 2 Lite is a speedy, cost-effective image generator that Google says is designed for people who currently use the original Nano Banana model. It can apparently spit out images four seconds after text inputs, making it ideal for prototyping. According to Google, this model is now available in Google AI Studio, other developer-centric tools like Gemini API, and consumer-facing places like the Gemini app and AI Mode in Google Search.

On top of that, Gemini Omni Flash is now available in a public preview in Google AI Studio and Gemini API, as well as in the Gemini app and Google Flow. This tool is designed for video generation and editing, allowing users to use natural language, video, and text inputs to get the results they want with Omni Flash. However, there are limitations: Videos can only be 10 seconds long, and Google says character consistency in scene changes is problematic at the moment.

Feel free to go check these out whenever you have a moment.

Google has some new AI tools for users to mess around with.

The company announced in a blog post on Tuesday that Nano Banana 2 Lite and Gemini Omni Flash are now available. These are a couple of new toys that live within Google's suddenly very expansive AI ecosystem, both serving a different purpose.

SEE ALSO: Google confirms death of its Nest speaker lineup

For starters, Nano Banana 2 Lite is a speedy, cost-effective image generator that Google says is designed for people who currently use the original Nano Banana model. It can apparently spit out images four seconds after text inputs, making it ideal for prototyping. According to Google, this model is now available in Google AI Studio, other developer-centric tools like Gemini API, and consumer-facing places like the Gemini app and AI Mode in Google Search.

On top of that, Gemini Omni Flash is now available in a public preview in Google AI Studio and Gemini API, as well as in the Gemini app and Google Flow. This tool is designed for video generation and editing, allowing users to use natural language, video, and text inputs to get the results they want with Omni Flash. However, there are limitations: Videos can only be 10 seconds long, and Google says character consistency in scene changes is problematic at the moment.

Feel free to go check these out whenever you have a moment.

Ford and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have announced a recall affecting 741,195 trucks and SUVs in the United States due to a rollaway risk. A software glitch in certain models can cause the transmission to lose the ability to hold the vehicle in park, allowing it to move unexpectedly if the parking brake is not set.

The U.S. has gone wild for Obsession. Writer/director Curry Barker's twisted horror movie about a wish gone wrong is not only a box office hit, but also the highest-grossing Focus Features release of all time. Audiences have screamed, critics have raved — especially over the impeccable performance of leading lady Inde Navarrette.

While the film centers on an aimless young man called Bear (Michael Johnston), it's Navarrette's cursed girl Nikki who's become the internet's obsession. When Bear wishes for his crush to love him more than anyone else, Nikki becomes a horrifically distorted version of herself, who lives only for his attention.

Today, Obsession comes to digital, and with it comes a featurette clip, in which the film's cast looks back on how Navarrette brought this harrowing portrait of being trapped by male desire to such vivid life.

SEE ALSO: Stephen King posts his 2-line review of 'Obsession'

As seen above, Johnston and fellow castmates Cooper Tomlinson and Megan Lawless share what it was like to be on set as Navarrette created Nikki. For her part, the heralded actress credits Barker with helping her work on finding the physicality for Nikki and her "uncanny valley" look. And he marvels that this scream queen was new to letting loose with a good yell.

Obsession is available for now available for purchase on digital. Obsession will be released on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-Ray and DVD on July 14. These options include more behind-the-scenes footage and a commentary track from Barker.

The U.S. has gone wild for Obsession. Writer/director Curry Barker's twisted horror movie about a wish gone wrong is not only a box office hit, but also the highest-grossing Focus Features release of all time. Audiences have screamed, critics have raved — especially over the impeccable performance of leading lady Inde Navarrette.

While the film centers on an aimless young man called Bear (Michael Johnston), it's Navarrette's cursed girl Nikki who's become the internet's obsession. When Bear wishes for his crush to love him more than anyone else, Nikki becomes a horrifically distorted version of herself, who lives only for his attention.

Today, Obsession comes to digital, and with it comes a featurette clip, in which the film's cast looks back on how Navarrette brought this harrowing portrait of being trapped by male desire to such vivid life.

SEE ALSO: Stephen King posts his 2-line review of 'Obsession'

As seen above, Johnston and fellow castmates Cooper Tomlinson and Megan Lawless share what it was like to be on set as Navarrette created Nikki. For her part, the heralded actress credits Barker with helping her work on finding the physicality for Nikki and her "uncanny valley" look. And he marvels that this scream queen was new to letting loose with a good yell.

Obsession is available for now available for purchase on digital. Obsession will be released on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-Ray and DVD on July 14. These options include more behind-the-scenes footage and a commentary track from Barker.

After a tough 2025, the news about the U.S. labor market has been trending positive, at least for the second quarter of 2026. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 20 fell by 12,000 to 215,000, the Labor Department reported recently. That number beat analyst expectations of around 225,000 new applications, according to the Associated Press.

Even with the good news, around 7.3 million are still looking for work, according to May numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For many, the hunt for work begins with polishing one's resume and cover letter — and using AI to do so.

Employers and HR directors are also using AI to screen their large piles of CVs. So, what does AI want to see on your resume and cover letter? In the second edition of our series on making AI love your resume (check out the first story here), we connected with Shaun Pichler, Ph.D., a professor at the Department of Management at the College of Business & Economics at California State University, Fullerton. Pichler, also the senior editor of the Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology and co-editor-in-chief of Human Resource Management, walked us through the realities of the modern job search.

Many people assume AI does the first pass on most resumes and applications. Have you found that to be true?

Pichler: This really depends on the type of job and the employer. AI screening is more likely among entry-to mid-level roles as compared to, for instance, executive roles. It is also more commonly used among large employers of choice that receive high volumes of applications per vacancy. I wouldn’t say that AI does the first pass on most resumes and applications because recent survey data indicates that a little less than half of responding organizations use AI for recruiting in general. And it is common for recruiters to selectively review applications from referrals and other priority applicants without using AI whatsoever.

Does AI have a bias against AI-constructed CVs/resumes/cover letters?

This is an interesting empirical question. Since LLMs tend to prefer self-generated content, there is reason to posit that AI actually has a positive bias in favor of AI-constructed resumes. While there is one conference paper that found large language models prefer resumes created by themselves, there just haven’t been enough studies done on this topic to draw any meaningful conclusions, at least not yet — but give it a couple of years.

There are many websites that claim to help job seekers optimize their CVs for AI. With AI changing and adapting so quickly, can those sites still be trusted to know what AI wants?

There is very little verifiable evidence to suggest that a third-party vendor can meaningfully help a candidate optimize their resume for AI. My suggestion to job candidates is to use multiple LLMs, like ChatGPT and Claude, to help them with their resumes instead of paying money to a third-party vendor. My personal opinion is that this is a waste of money in most cases.

Any tips for people trying to retrofit their resumes for AI and make them stand out within the algorithm?

Yes, but my suggestions apply whether the resume is being reviewed by AI, a human, or both, which are to mirror the language of the job posting/description, highlight important keywords, quantify one’s experience when possible, and focus on job-relevant information. The key here is tailoring the resume to the job posting, something that can take a lot of time and can be streamlined by using AI, so long as the applicant gives an LLM adequate information, such as their resume alongside a narrative of their accomplishments, as well as the job posting.

After a tough 2025, the news about the U.S. labor market has been trending positive, at least for the second quarter of 2026. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 20 fell by 12,000 to 215,000, the Labor Department reported recently. That number beat analyst expectations of around 225,000 new applications, according to the Associated Press.

Even with the good news, around 7.3 million are still looking for work, according to May numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For many, the hunt for work begins with polishing one's resume and cover letter — and using AI to do so.

Employers and HR directors are also using AI to screen their large piles of CVs. So, what does AI want to see on your resume and cover letter? In the second edition of our series on making AI love your resume (check out the first story here), we connected with Shaun Pichler, Ph.D., a professor at the Department of Management at the College of Business & Economics at California State University, Fullerton. Pichler, also the senior editor of the Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology and co-editor-in-chief of Human Resource Management, walked us through the realities of the modern job search.

Many people assume AI does the first pass on most resumes and applications. Have you found that to be true?

Pichler: This really depends on the type of job and the employer. AI screening is more likely among entry-to mid-level roles as compared to, for instance, executive roles. It is also more commonly used among large employers of choice that receive high volumes of applications per vacancy. I wouldn’t say that AI does the first pass on most resumes and applications because recent survey data indicates that a little less than half of responding organizations use AI for recruiting in general. And it is common for recruiters to selectively review applications from referrals and other priority applicants without using AI whatsoever.

Does AI have a bias against AI-constructed CVs/resumes/cover letters?

This is an interesting empirical question. Since LLMs tend to prefer self-generated content, there is reason to posit that AI actually has a positive bias in favor of AI-constructed resumes. While there is one conference paper that found large language models prefer resumes created by themselves, there just haven’t been enough studies done on this topic to draw any meaningful conclusions, at least not yet — but give it a couple of years.

There are many websites that claim to help job seekers optimize their CVs for AI. With AI changing and adapting so quickly, can those sites still be trusted to know what AI wants?

There is very little verifiable evidence to suggest that a third-party vendor can meaningfully help a candidate optimize their resume for AI. My suggestion to job candidates is to use multiple LLMs, like ChatGPT and Claude, to help them with their resumes instead of paying money to a third-party vendor. My personal opinion is that this is a waste of money in most cases.

Any tips for people trying to retrofit their resumes for AI and make them stand out within the algorithm?

Yes, but my suggestions apply whether the resume is being reviewed by AI, a human, or both, which are to mirror the language of the job posting/description, highlight important keywords, quantify one’s experience when possible, and focus on job-relevant information. The key here is tailoring the resume to the job posting, something that can take a lot of time and can be streamlined by using AI, so long as the applicant gives an LLM adequate information, such as their resume alongside a narrative of their accomplishments, as well as the job posting.

Luxury cars have that obvious appeal — sharp design, strong performance, and a level of polish that feels effortless. But that premium feel isn’t always tied to a premium badge, even if most dealerships want you to think it is.

Your phone may have a colorful case and a cool wallpaper, but it's in your pocket or bag most of the time. A smartwatch is on your wrist, out there for the world to see. That's why I was so happy to finally find a watch face that fit my specific needs.

If you're planning to upgrade your computer's memory or buy a new device soon, now may be the time to do it.

That's according to tech analysts who are sounding the alarm: RAM prices are about to rise by nearly 50 percent in the coming weeks.

According to a report from Jefferies Equity Research analysts, memory chip pricing is expected to rise between 40 and 50 percent in the third quarter of 2026 — between July 1 and September 30, in other words.

SEE ALSO: Thank the AI industry for tech price increases: See the full list

Hoping that relief is on the horizon, in the form of increased supply to meet the demand? Alas, that doesn't seem likely anytime soon either. 

Memory prices are expected to rise even further, between 30 and 40 percent more, in the fourth quarter (October through December). And it only gets worse next year; analysts project memory price hikes will continue with a year-on-year increase of 40 to 45 percent in 2027.

Memory chip manufacturers, like Samsung and Micron, have already sold a good portion of their output to companies building out AI data centers. That means fewer chips for consumers in the form of PCs, smartphones, and video game consoles. Demand from AI companies is skyrocketing, going far and beyond what the manufacturers can keep up with. 

As Mashable previously reported, Micron has warned that RAM shortages could last into 2028. In February, hard drive manufacturer Western Digital shared that its "top 7 customers" had bought out all of its storage supply for the year. In addition, the company said that these companies were already buying up its supply into 2028.

As a result of AI-driven shortages, consumer products have skyrocketed in price. Apple recently raised the price of its MacBooks by as much as $500. Gaming companies have also struggled with the shortages. Microsoft recently raised Xbox gaming console prices by as much as $150.

Recent leaks suggest that Sony will either have to sell its upcoming PlayStation 6 console at a minimum of $960 or push the launch date back into 2028 or even beyond that.

In short, RAMaggedon is well and truly here.

If you're planning to upgrade your computer's memory or buy a new device soon, now may be the time to do it.

That's according to tech analysts who are sounding the alarm: RAM prices are about to rise by nearly 50 percent in the coming weeks.

According to a report from Jefferies Equity Research analysts, memory chip pricing is expected to rise between 40 and 50 percent in the third quarter of 2026 — between July 1 and September 30, in other words.

SEE ALSO: Thank the AI industry for tech price increases: See the full list

Hoping that relief is on the horizon, in the form of increased supply to meet the demand? Alas, that doesn't seem likely anytime soon either. 

Memory prices are expected to rise even further, between 30 and 40 percent more, in the fourth quarter (October through December). And it only gets worse next year; analysts project memory price hikes will continue with a year-on-year increase of 40 to 45 percent in 2027.

Memory chip manufacturers, like Samsung and Micron, have already sold a good portion of their output to companies building out AI data centers. That means fewer chips for consumers in the form of PCs, smartphones, and video game consoles. Demand from AI companies is skyrocketing, going far and beyond what the manufacturers can keep up with. 

As Mashable previously reported, Micron has warned that RAM shortages could last into 2028. In February, hard drive manufacturer Western Digital shared that its "top 7 customers" had bought out all of its storage supply for the year. In addition, the company said that these companies were already buying up its supply into 2028.

As a result of AI-driven shortages, consumer products have skyrocketed in price. Apple recently raised the price of its MacBooks by as much as $500. Gaming companies have also struggled with the shortages. Microsoft recently raised Xbox gaming console prices by as much as $150.

Recent leaks suggest that Sony will either have to sell its upcoming PlayStation 6 console at a minimum of $960 or push the launch date back into 2028 or even beyond that.

In short, RAMaggedon is well and truly here.

Love Island USA has become one of the internet's biggest reality TV obsessions over the past couple of summers, and its fans are doing a lot more than watching hot twenty-somethings couple up.

The reality dating show, which airs every night except Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock, gives viewers a near-daily stream of developments to analyze, from bombshell arrivals and public votes to recouplings, shifting loyalties, and the small villa moments that can turn one Islander into a fan favorite or send another into the internet's crosshairs. Fans track, post, and debate every change in the villa like it is a sport (with better swimwear).

So maybe it was only a matter of time before someone tried to put a market around all that forecasting.

Kalshi, the prediction market platform, has been offering Love Island USA contracts this season, giving users a way to trade on outcomes connected to the show, including which couple will win, which Islanders might be eliminated next, and which couples could finish in second or third place. They have also partnered with creators to launch a breadth of TikTok and Instagram ads.

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"Because the fandom around Love Island is so popular, we knew our traders would be excited about getting in on the action," Kalshi spokesperson Clarissa Bronfman tells Mashable. "Trading on the outcome of shows like Love Island allows fans to feel like they're part of these moments."

According to Kalshi, Love Island USA markets brought in more than $20 million in trading volume across the first two weeks of the season, a major figure for an entertainment market. For comparison, the most recent Oscars race for Best Picture, one of the biggest awards-season betting events, drew about $25 million in volume. Kalshi’s Week 2 elimination market closed with $3.3 million traded, more than the $2.8 million traded on the winning couple market at the time.

The demand was not limited to an early burst of curiosity. Bronfman said trading has been "exceptionally popular," with total trading volume for Love Island U.S. and UK markets reaching nearly $40 million as of Monday, June 29. She said trades crossed $1 million in cumulative volume within the first week around the premieres and reached a single-day peak of nearly $3 million traded on June 11.

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Currently, Kalshi's winning couple market has Trinity Tatum and Bryce Dettloff as heavy favorites, with an 80 percent chance of winning (both Melanie and Sincere and Zach and Kayda have a 33 percent chance of landing in the top three). There are also weekly elimination contracts — Amora and Kenzie were both priced around 56 and 37 percent in the Week 5 market.

Kalshi is not the only prediction market platform turning Love Island USA into something tradable. On Polymarket, users have also been able to trade on Season 8 outcomes, down to even what might be said during a specific episode (for example, the word "red flag"). A spokesperson from Polymarket declined to comment on their Love Island trading platform.

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Love Island is different from a traditional awards show or sporting event, though, because fans are not only watching from the outside. Sometimes, they shape what happens next.

Often, the producers prompt fans to vote for their favorite (or least favorite) cast members on the Love Island app, and each time, the fandom certainly mobilizes: The Love Island USA app crashed during both a June 9 and June 16 vote and later climbed to the top of the App Store.

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When asked about the ethics and integrity of markets where users can influence outcomes through public voting, Bronfman says, "We draw a hard line against insider trading — it's prohibited on Kalshi."

She also says it has safeguards in place to detect suspicious activity on its platform. Kalshi uses Know Your Customer checks for everyone who trades on the platform, which Bronfman describes as "very similar (and more extensive) than signing up for a bank."

"When people trade, we use advanced AI surveillance technology that tracks for any irregular trading and investigates suspicious trading activity," Bronfman adds. "We go beyond looking at individual households and look at people’s social connections as well."

Prediction markets are expanding just as sports betting has become a massive part of American digital life. Americans legally wagered nearly $167 billion on sports in 2025, according to the American Gaming Association, and online betting has transformed how many fans experience games. Some states — like Illinois, Nevada, and most recently Michigan (as of June 29) — have placed bans or taxes on prediction markets as state governments debate whether to classify them as financial exchanges, gambling platforms, or something in between.

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The sports gambling world has been built, for the most part, around men. Men are nearly twice as likely as women to report gambling-related problems, and sports betting has become one of the clearest examples of how quickly gambling products can move from occasional entertainment to an everyday phone habit.

So when prediction market companies start using pop culture, influencers, and reality TV to reach more women, it raises a question: Is this just another way for fans to engage with the shows they love, or is it opening a new pathway to betting addiction for an untapped market?

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According to Bronfman, there are "3x more female traders" in Love Island markets compared with other Kalshi markets, and "2/3 of new Love Island traders are women."

Kalshi and Polymarket have both experimented with pop-culture contracts and social media strategies that look different from a sportsbook ad during a football game, setting wagers on — for example — Taylor Swift's wedding venue, Dancing with the Stars cast members, or the Bachelor drama.

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It doesn't mean every fan trading on these outcomes is treating Kalshi and Polymarket like a sportsbook. Prediction markets differ from betting platforms; their contracts are described as "event-based trading," where users buy and sell positions against each other rather than placing bets against the house. In that framing, a Love Island contract is less like a traditional sportsbook wager and more like a stock price fluctuating around a future event.

But for users, the actual experience can still feel familiar, potentially hooking a new prediction-market audience one recoupling at a time.

Beatbot's Sora 70 robot pool cleaner is a high-tech way to clean your swimming pool. CNET Video Producer, Stephen Beacham, tested it out for a week and shares his thoughts on what it's like to use the app-connected cleaning device. 

Timothée Chalamet has caught the sci-fi bug. Following the release of Dune: Part Three, the Oscar nominee will remain in the realm of space and aliens with Illumination's upcoming Not Alone.

SEE ALSO: 'Werwulf' trailer: Robert Eggers and Aaron Taylor-Johnson unleash the beast within

The film, out in April of 2027, marks Chalamet's animation debut. He stars alongside Selena Gomez, herself no stranger to animation thanks to roles in the Hotel Transylvania movies. The pair voice Joe and Fran, employees at Space Burst, a company working on a revolutionary rocket launch.

Not Alone's first teaser trailer highlights the budding romance between the two, complete with flirting, blushing, and the promise of a dinner date. However, Joe and Fran's love story gets derailed when Space Burst's rocket collides with an unknown object and begins hurtling back to Earth — and it's bringing aliens with it.

Up until this point, Not Alone's teaser is quietly sweet, with even a hint of melancholy at the threat of the rocket colliding with Earth. With the aliens' introduction, though, the trailer reminds us that this is an Illumination movie. And Illumination loves nothing more than its weird little guys. (See: the entire Minions franchise.)

Not Alone's weird little guys are a crew of Gumby-looking aliens. Unlike the Minions, they speak English — and they're all voiced by UK comedy royalty. Named Dunk (voiced by Rob Brydon), Welly (voiced by Diane Morgan), and Shirm (voiced by Jamie Demetriou), this alien trio is on the run from their home planet's zealous Officer Zandro (voiced by Brett Goldstein). They wind up hiding out in Joe's home. Will their presence help or hinder his chances with Fran? And how will this first contact end up impacting the rest of Earth?

Not Alone hits theaters in April of 2027.

At a glance

• AI agents often fail because their instructions, or skills, are manually modified with no guarantee of improvement. SkillOpt turns skill editing into a training process, making agent behavior more reliable without changing model weights.
• SkillOpt treats an agent skill file as a trainable parameter outside a frozen target model, turning skill writing from one-shot prompting into a controlled optimization process.
• Across six benchmarks, seven target models, and three execution modes, SkillOpt is the best or tied-best method in all 52 evaluation cells, improving performance without updating model weights.
• SkillOpt keeps skills compact and auditable through bounded text edits, validation gating, rejected-edit feedback, and slow/meta updates, avoiding uncontrolled prompt drift.
• The optimized skills transfer across model scales, agent harnesses, and related tasks, suggesting that they capture reusable workflow knowledge rather than benchmark-specific instructions.

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed as agents that gather evidence, call tools, and execute multi-step tasks. For these agents, the hard problem is no longer whether they can call a tool, but whether they can complete tasks reliably and consistently. Today, agent skills typically come from three sources: experts write them by hand, a frontier model generates them one-shot, or the agent loosely revises them after execution. None of these approaches behaves like a deep-learning optimizer. They lack step-size control, held-out validation, and any memory of revisions that failed. As a result, skills tend to grow longer and drift with each rewrite, and a revision that seems perfectly reasonable can quietly degrade real task performance. This uncontrolled skill evolution has become a major obstacle on the path from agent prototype to dependable, production-grade deployment.

In our recent paper, SkillOpt: Executive Strategy for Self-Evolving Agent Skills, we reframe the question from “how do we write a better prompt?” to “how do we train the skill?” SkillOpt treats the skill file as a trainable parameter living outside a frozen target model, bringing a training-style optimization loop, consistent gains across 52 evaluation cells, and a compact skill file that stays readable, auditable, and transferable.

Figure 1. A frozen target model executes tasks while a separate optimizer model trains the skill layer from trajectory feedback, exporting the reusable skill file best_ skill.md through validation gating. How SkillOpt works Video 1. SkillOpt’s optimization loop, from trajectory collection to the exported skill file.

SkillOpt organizes skill editing as a forward–backward–update cycle in text space. In the forward pass, the frozen target model executes a batch of training tasks with the current skill; the rollout batch size controls how much evidence each update receives. In the backward pass, a separate optimizer model reads the resulting trajectories in reflection minibatches, distilling patterns to preserve from successful trajectories and patterns to correct from failures.

In the update step, the optimizer proposes small add, delete, and replace edits; candidate edits are merged, deduplicated, ranked, and clipped by a textual learning rate—a per-step edit budget. Every candidate skill must then pass a strict validation gate: it is adopted only if it scores strictly higher than the current skill on the held-out validation split. Rejected edits are not discarded; they enter a rejected-edit buffer that serves as negative feedback for later optimizer calls in the same epoch. On a slower cadence, an epoch-wise slow/meta update consolidates longer-horizon lessons that single batches cannot reveal (Figure 2). Together, bounded edits, validation gating, and best-version selection keep skill optimization controllable and auditable, so the skill converges instead of drifting.

Figure 2. The SkillOpt pipeline: trajectory collection, minibatch reflection, bounded text updates, validation gating, and epoch-wise slow/meta updates jointly constrain skill training. Consistent gains across benchmarks, models, and execution modes

We evaluated SkillOpt across six benchmarks (SearchQA, SpreadsheetBench, OfficeQA, DocVQA, LiveMathematicianBench, and ALFWorld), seven target models from frontier-scale GPT-5.5 to the small open-weight Qwen3.5-4B, and three execution modes (direct chat, Codex, and Claude Code). Counting each combination as one evaluation cell, When measured against human-written skills, one-shot LLM skills, Trace2Skill, TextGrad, GEPA, and EvoSkill, SkillOpt delivered the best or tied for -best results on all 52 cells. These performance improvements are unusually large for a method that updates no model weights. With GPT-5.5 in direct chat, SkillOpt raises the six-benchmark average from 58.8 to 82.3, a +23.5-point absolute improvement—and +5.4 points above an oracle that picks the single best competing method per cell. The largest gains appear on procedural benchmarks: SpreadsheetBench rises from 41.8 to 80.7, OfficeQA from 33.1 to 72.1, and LiveMathematicianBench from 37.6 to 66.9. The same interface carries over to agentic loops, lifting GPT-5.5 by +24.8 points inside Codex and +19.1 inside Claude Code over no skill.

video series

On Second Thought

A video series with Sinead Bovell built around the questions everyone’s asking about AI. With expert voices from across Microsoft, we break down the tension and promise of this rapidly changing technology, exploring what’s evolving and what’s possible.

Explore the series Opens in a new tab A small model plus a skill file

Approaching the next model tier SkillOpt also narrows the gap between small or open-weight models and frontier models—without changing any weights or adding any extra model calls at inference. After optimization, GPT-5.4-mini’s six-benchmark average (64.3) exceeds the no-skill baseline of the larger GPT-5.4 (59.7), and GPT-5.4-nano (57.4) exceeds the no-skill baseline of GPT-5.2 (51.3). Qwen3.5-4B, a 4-billion-parameter open-weight model, surpasses GPT-5.2’s no-skill baseline as well. Gains that once required a larger model can now be approximated by one optimized skill file.

Skills that transfer: train once, reuse everywhere

The optimized skill file captures reusable task-solving procedures rather than instructions overfit to a single model, benchmark, or execution environment. This is why the same skill can still improve performance when transferred across model scales, agent harnesses, and related tasks. In our transfer experiments, skills continued to deliver gains when moved across model scales, across execution harnesses, and to a nearby math benchmark. The clearest example is cross-harness transfer: a spreadsheet skill trained inside Codex, dropped into Claude Code with no further optimization, lifts the no-skill baseline from 22.1 to 81.8 (+59.7)—slightly above the 80.4 achieved by training directly inside Claude Code. Because the two harnesses expose different tool surfaces, this suggests SkillOpt learns general workflow logic, not just harness-specific recipes.

Compact, readable, and built from very few accepted edits

The deployed artifact, best_ skill.md , is neither an opaque parameter blob nor an ever-growing log. Across six case studies, the median final skill length is roughly 920 tokens, and because the validation gate rejects most proposals, only one to four edits are accepted into the final file. OfficeQA’s +39.0-point gain comes from a single accepted edit. The learned rules read like a seasoned practitioner’s advice. Component ablations confirm that the controls do the work: removing the rejected-edit buffer lowers scores on all three ablation benchmarks, and removing both the meta skill and the slow update drops SpreadsheetBench from 77.5 to 55.0. A new adaptation layer for the agent era SkillOpt points to a lighter-weight path for domain-adapting agents: instead of fine-tuning weights, hard-coding task logic, or hand-tuning prompts, teams can train a small, versionable, auditable natural-language skill layer—wherever automatic evaluation or a reliable verifier exists.

By bringing learning rates, schedules, validation splits, rejected samples, and slow updates to agent skills, SkillOpt suggests that training need not be limited to model weights. Procedural knowledge outside the model can also be optimized.

When that process is controlled, validated, and recorded, a natural-language skill becomes a stable, transferable, and reversible adapter between frontier-model capability and real-world workloads. Read the full paper, visit the project page at aka.ms/skillopt (opens in new tab), or explore the SkillOpt GitHub repository at github.com/microsoft/SkillOpt (opens in new tab). Teams building agentic workflows can use SkillOpt as a foundation for training reusable skills against their own tasks and verifiers. See also our companion project, SkillLens.

Paper GitHub SkillLens Project Page Opens in a new tab

The post SkillOpt: Agent skills as trainable parameters appeared first on Microsoft Research.

FREE PHONE: As of June 30, get a free Samsung Galaxy S26+ from T-Mobile when you activate a new line or trade in an eligible phone on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Samsung Galaxy S26: Free with T-Mobile   Get Deal

If you're in the market for a new smartphone, your best bet right now is T-Mobile.

Whether you're looking to trade in your old device or want to start fresh with a new carrier, you can snag 2026's Samsung Galaxy S26+ for free. There are a couple of ways you can go about taking advantage of the deal, but either way you slice it, you're getting a phone that's normally $1,099.99 without having to nickel and dime yourself to death.

As of June 30, get a free Samsung Galaxy S26+ from T-Mobile when you activate a new line or trade in an eligible phone on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan. That means you can take your old device and trade it in (after consulting the list of eligible trade-in devices, of course) or simply opt to start up a new phone plan on either eligible option. Additionally, if you're already on Go5G Next or Go5G plans at T-Mobile, you'll qualify for the free phone.

SEE ALSO: The 5 best smartphones of 2026 so far: See if yours made the cut

But you don't just walk in and get a free phone or place a $0 order for the device. There are some fees that will apply. You'll receive 24 monthly bill credits for the device when adding a line or trading in an eligible phone on the qualifying plan of your choice. The only catch is, you'll need to pay taxes and a $35 device connection charge to complete the deal.

You can complete the deal online or in-store, so if you want the phone sooner rather than later, that's an option. Just be advised that you will need to pay a bit of cash in return for the spoils. If that sounds like a great deal to you (and really, it is), you can sign up right now and have your phone ASAP. And who doesn't want a free phone this summer?

Best REI 4th of July deals at a glance: Best camping deal REI Half Dome 2 Tent with Footprint $246.69 (save $82.31) Get Deal Best Yeti deal Yeti Tundra 45 Cooler $260 (save $65) Get Deal Best water sports deal Bote Aero Inflatable Paddle Board $399.99 (save $179.01) Get Deal

Prime Day ended last week, but we have plentiful 4th of July sales on the agenda this week. One of the most shoppable sales right now is the REI 4th of July sale. This annual event marks one of the retailers best sales of the year, and the timing couldn't be better now that we've realized what gear doesn't deserve to come along on this summer's camping adventures.

REI is a membership co-op that specializes in outdoor gear, but unlike retailers like Amazon, there's only a one-time lifetime membership fee of $30. Plus, if you sign up for a membership now, you'll get a free $30 member bonus card to spend on a purchase of $50 or more. The membership comes with great benefits like exclusive discounts, free shipping, and access to local events.

SEE ALSO: Shop for a new mattress during 4th of July sales when you can take up to 60% off

As someone who spends as much time as possible outside, I've scrolled the endless pages of REI's 4th of July sale to find the best deals I'd buy myself. Here are my top recommendations to shop during the sale. Keep in mind prices jump back to normal after July 6, so shop early to get the best selection.

Best camping deal Opens in a new window Credit: REI REI Half Dome 2 Tent with Footprint $246.99 at REI
$329 Save $82.01   Get Deal Why we like it

Every great camping adventure needs a great tent. With over 45 years of design, the REI Half Dome tent proves its worth in the outdoor. This model is designed to sleep two people during three seasons. It weighs a bit over five pounds packed, and it comes with an included rainfly and footprint. Durability includes using 7000-series aluminum poles, ripstop nylon for the rainfly, and breathable 75-denier polyester taffeta for the upper walls.

More camping deals

• Sawyer Squeeze Water Filtration System — $48.69 $64.95 (save $16.26)

• Dometic GO Hydration Water Jug (11 Liters) — $55.99 $70 (save $14.01)

• Marmot Sawtooth Sleeping Bag (Regular) — $144.73 $299 (save $154.27)

• Hest Foamy Sleeping Pad (Regular) — $263.19 $329 (save $65.81)

• Nemo Dragonfly Bikepack OSMO 1P Tent — $362.73 $519.95 (save $157.22)

• Big Agnes Wyoming Trail 4 Tent — $499.93 $999.95 (save $500.06)

Best Yeti deal Opens in a new window Credit: Yeti Yeti Tundra 45 Cooler $260
$325 Save $65   Get Deal Why we like it

As a special deal for REI members, the 4th of July sale gives you access to 20% off any one Yeti item. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Yeti Tundra 45 Cooler. With the REI member discount, the cooler drops to just $260 in your choice of nine colorways. Yeti is well known for their durable coolers, and the Tundra 45 is large enough to hold 54 cans without ice or up to 37 pounds of ice. Plus, it has one removable dry goods basket.

If you're not in need of a large hard cooler, check out the rest of the Yeti selection that's also eligible for a one-item 20% discount during the sale.

Best water sports deal Opens in a new window Credit: Bote Bote Aero Inflatable Paddle Board $399.99
$579 Save $179.01   Get Deal Why we like it

It's hard to match the serenity of a calm summer evening spent out on the water. The Bote Wulf Aero inflatable paddle board with a paddle is on sale during the REI sale for $399.99, down from the standard price of $579 for a great 30% discount. At over 11 feet long, this SUP is great for beginners, and it's suitable for anyone who weighs up to 315 pounds.

When you're finished with chilling out on the water, the Bote deflates and easily stores in the included carrying backpack. That's great news for easy storage during the off season.

More REI 4th of July deals

• Fjallraven Pocket Bag — $30.93 $45 (save $14.07)

• Thermacell E65 Rechargeable Mosquito Repeller — $37.39 $49.95 (save $12.56)

• Helinox HeliDrop Game — $59.89 $79.95 (save $20.06)

• Osprey Zealot 30 Pack — $83.73 $130 (save $46.27)

• Nemo Vantage 20 L Endless Promise Everyday Adventure Daypack — $97.73 $179.95 (save $82.22)

• Chaco Rapid Pro Sandals — $97.49 $130 (save $32.51)

• Coleman Snap 'N Go 55-Quart Collapsible Hard Cooler — $179.99 $240 (save $60.01)

• Cannondale Quick CX 3 Bike — $679.19 $849 (save $169.81)

Meccha Chameleon has become one of the breakout indie hits of the summer, racking up over 10 million copies sold since launching on Steam earlier this month, according to the developer lemorion_1224.

The newest and hottest friendslop game on the block sees players tackle a hide-and-seek party game that tasks "Hiders" with painting their bodies to blend into colorful stage backgrounds while "Seekers" race to find them before time runs out — a simple premise that's proven to be a hit for friend groups looking for chaotic multiplayer fun.

Meccha Chameleon is currently only available on PC via Steam. There is no confirmed release on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, or mobile devices.

Is Meccha Chameleon on Xbox?

No. Meccha Chameleon is not available on Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One, and it is not part of Xbox Game Pass. No release date or porting plans have been announced.

Is Meccha Chameleon on mobile (iOS/Android)?

No. There is currently no mobile version of Meccha Chameleon, and no announcement has been made regarding a future release on iOS or Android.