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This month on Paramount+, August is bringing the heat with its lineup of new content. It is more sports-heavy than other months, with three Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fight Night matches, a new season of Dana White’s Contender Series, and MTV's The Challenge: Cutthroat, and more basketball, golf, soccer, and bull riding than you can stand. You can find more information about those competitions in Paramount’s complete August lineup. If you aren’t a sports fan, though, don’t worry—you’re covered.

TL;DR: Get a lifetime license for Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 for $29.97 through Aug. 9 and code faster with AI-assisted development, cross-platform tools, and built-in collaboration.

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Development tools are one of the few things you use every day, so it’s worth having an IDE that keeps up with the way you work. Through Aug. 9, you can get Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 for $29.97 as a one-time purchase instead of paying for another recurring software subscription.

The latest version is built for modern development, whether you’re creating desktop apps, web projects, cloud services, or cross-platform software. Along with better performance, it adds deeper AI integration and collaboration features designed to speed up everyday coding.

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Some of the biggest reasons developers are upgrading include:

• AI-assisted coding with IntelliCode for smarter code completions, suggestions, and refactoring

• 64-bit architecture that handles larger projects and more demanding workloads

• Cross-platform development for Windows, Linux, containers, .NET MAUI, Blazor, C++, and .NET applications

• Live Share collaboration so teammates can edit and debug together in real time

• CodeLens insights that surface references, authors, commit history, and test status directly in your editor

• Hot Reload to see code changes instantly without restarting your application

• Azure and GitHub integration for smoother development and deployment workflows

Whether you’re building side projects, enterprise software, or client applications, having these tools in one IDE can simplify your workflow and reduce context switching throughout the day.

Get Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 for $29.97 through Aug. 9 and build your next project with Microsoft’s latest professional development environment.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Performance sedans rarely deliver everything in one package. German rivals offer incredible speed and technology but can become expensive to own over time, while many Japanese alternatives prioritize reliability at the expense of outright excitement.

Apple is likely to wait until WWDC 2027 to unveil its own take on smart glasses. That's in part because of additional work on privacy features, and other product safeguards, at a time when Meta's smart glasses are coming under fire.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple views privacy as its top priority, with engineers and marketers trying hard to distinguish the company's approach from Meta's. Apple is expected to avoid using facial recognition in its smart glasses, while sending less data to the cloud and processing more in the device itself. The company also won't use customer recordings to train AI models.

SEE ALSO: Being filmed by Meta smart glasses? The internet says to play Disney music.

Given the phrase "pervert glasses" has been gaining traction online in reference to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, all of those moves from Apple make sense. Meta's glasses helped establish the consumer market for AI-powered eyewear, but have also become associated with problems of privacy and consent.

We've reported on prank creators and pickup artists using Meta Ray-Ban glasses to discreetly record strangers for viral social media content, even as concerns were raised around the legality of recording in public spaces. Privacy advocates note wearable cameras make covert recording easier, and could encourage businesses to restrict the devices.

Meta's latest smart glasses launch, including new fashion-focused frames, sparked even more debate over the visibility of the glasses' recording indicators. They're drawing scrutiny from lawmakers, and consumers are increasingly uneasy.

No wonder Apple has considered limiting or removing video-recording capabilities altogether, according to Gurman. However, doing so might undermine one of the biggest selling points of smart glasses — legitimately capturing priceless moments with family and friends.

If Apple introduces smart glasses — whether at WWDC 2027 or after — the company will be judged by whether it can convince consumers that its camera-equipped eyewear is more deserving of trust than the devices that came before it.

When the first trailer for Children of Blood and Bone debuted in Brooklyn this week, the excitement inside the room was palpable.

Director Gina Prince-Bythewood described years of research into African history and spirituality. The cast spoke about identity, ancestry, and the responsibility of bringing Orïsha to life. For fans who have spent years imagining Tomi Adeyemi's bestselling fantasy world, it was the first real glimpse of one of BookTok's most anticipated adaptations.

SEE ALSO: How 'Children of Blood and Bone' is bringing one of BookTok's biggest fantasy worlds to the big screen

Outside the theater, however, the conversation surrounding the film has been far more complicated.

Long before audiences saw a single frame of footage, the adaptation had become the subject of debates over colorism, questions about representation, and, more recently, the stunning decision by Adeyemi herself to publicly distance herself from the project she helped develop.

Adeyemi expanded on her decision to distance herself from the film adaptation in an emotional TikTok posted Wednesday, July 29, alleging that she has continued to be "antagonized" behind the scenes by "everyone involved...at the highest level." She said she left the set in South Africa "hyperventilating and sobbing" and returned home experiencing severe panic attacks and physical somatic pain.

"This film, which I worked on to make it a little better for us to be alive, is also the worst thing I have ever had to live through," Adeyemi said. While she did not identify any individuals or elaborate on the specific circumstances behind her allegations, she said she decided to speak publicly because the film's marketing campaign had renewed the behind-the-scenes conflict.

The casting sparked immediate debate.

When Paramount announced the cast in 2025, many readers celebrated seeing a predominantly Black ensemble led by Thuso Mbedu, Regina King, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Damson Idris, Lashana Lynch, and Idris Elba.

But the announcement also reignited conversations that had followed the adaptation for years.

Much of the criticism centered on the casting of Amandla Stenberg as Princess Amari. In the novel, Amari is described as having "dark copper skin" and is notably darker than the rest of her royal family, a physical difference that contributes to her feeling like an outsider long before she begins questioning the kingdom's treatment of the maji. Many readers argued that casting the lighter-skinned, biracial actor weakened a key aspect of the character's identity and reflected a broader pattern of colorism in Hollywood.

Other fans questioned why relatively few Nigerian actors had been cast in a story so deeply inspired by Nigerian history, Yoruba spirituality, and pre-colonial West African cultures. Those conversations unfolded across Reddit, X, and BookTok, where readers debated what authenticity should look like in a film adaptation of a novel so closely tied to Nigerian identity.

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At the time, Stenberg said she understood why readers felt protective of the books and noted that Adeyemi had personally encouraged her to take the role.

Tomi Adeyemi publicly stepped away from the project.

The conversation shifted dramatically earlier this month. In a TikTok (since deleted) addressing fans who had asked why she had stopped promoting the movie, Adeyemi announced she was "officially separating" herself from the adaptation.

"There is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work," she wrote. She later added that she had not seen the finished film and did not plan to watch it.

Adeyemi, who is credited as an executive producer and co-writer of the screenplay alongside Prince-Bythewood, said she had "tried everything" behind the scenes before deciding to step away, describing the experience as emotionally painful. She encouraged fans to support the film if they wished, but asked those who wanted to support her directly to purchase the books from independent bookstores.

Perhaps the most surprising part of her statement was a series of screenshots showing messages she allegedly sent to Stenberg, telling the actor not to contact her or mention her publicly, before blocking her. The message appears to be from Feb. 28, 2025, and reads: "Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me." Stenberg's previous message in the chain is partially blocked, but the words "my only hope was to reconnect as human beings" can be seen at a point.

The posts immediately reignited online speculation about what had happened behind the scenes, though Adeyemi has not publicly detailed the circumstances that led to the falling out.

Adeyemi's comments have also been viewed through the lens of previous public disputes. In 2018, she accused bestselling romance author Nora Roberts of plagiarizing the title of Roberts' novel Of Blood and Bone. After speaking with Roberts, Adeyemi retracted the allegation, saying she believed the titles had been created independently and apologized. That history has complicated the public response to her latest statements.

While many fans have expressed concern about the adaptation, others say they are hesitant to draw conclusions without more information about what actually happened to lead Adeyemi to sever ties.

What actually happened?

That's the question fans continue to ask, and one that remains largely unanswered.

Neither Paramount nor Prince-Bythewood has publicly addressed Adeyemi's comments, and the author has declined to elaborate beyond describing the experience as painful and saying she was "attacked behind the scenes." In a message dated July 18, posted under a 2025 behind-the-scenes video from set in South Africa, Adeyemi replied to a commenter, saying, "Making an impossible dream come true is a beautiful thing. Even if the dream becomes a nightmare. No one, not this film or you, will ever take away what I achieved."

That uncertainty has left fans in an unusual position. The film continues to generate excitement, buoyed by Prince-Bythewood's reputation following The Woman King, an acclaimed ensemble cast, and a trailer widely praised online. At the same time, some readers say it's difficult to separate that excitement from the knowledge that the creator of Orïsha no longer wants her name associated with the adaptation. Others argue that the work of hundreds of artists, craftspeople, and performers deserves to be judged independently of whatever happened behind closed doors.

Until someone involved chooses to explain further, both realities will likely coexist.

Children of Blood and Bone remains one of the most anticipated fantasy films of 2027. It also arrives carrying questions that no trailer, no matter how spectacular, can answer.

Children of Blood and Bone hits theaters on Jan. 15, 2027.

This article has been updated with new information. It was originally published on July 28, 2025.

There appears to be a brewing consensus about whether or not screens are a threat to learners in our nation's classrooms.

Amid a growing educational debate on tech's presence in schools, two new reports released today highlight widespread concern about the presence of screens and personal devices among school children. A new Pew Research poll found that a majority (77 percent) of Americans support policies that ban cell phone use during instruction periods, and around half support banning cellphones during the entire school day, also known as a “bell-to-bell” phone ban.

The same poll conducted in 2024 found only a third of Americans were in favor of bell-to-bell policies. Since then, support has increased across all age groups.

SEE ALSO: Digging into Gen Z's love/hate relationship with AI

Meanwhile, teachers around the world are increasingly concerned about device use, according to the latest Global Education Insights Report conducted by education solutions giant McGraw Hill. Among 1,300 global educators surveyed by the company, the majority listed excessive screen time as the number one obstacle to student success.

Almost half of those polled said they have witnessed a decline in focus and emotional well-being among students compared to five years ago, and around two-thirds said they were concerned about their students' mental health.

A growing coalition of parents, child safety advocates, and even lawmakers have been calling for a reevaluation of device use in classrooms across the U.S., including pushing for new school policies that ban phones outright, limit screen time during specific school periods, and institute moratoriums on generative AI tools. They cite concerns about cognitive decline and critical thinking, as well as social and emotional regulation.

But there are many who believe shunning classroom technology completely is the wrong move. They see potential in technologies that are developmentally appropriate for their users while acknowledging screen time's effect on young brains. For example, a majority of teachers (81 percent) surveyed for the Global Education Insights Report said they were comfortable with students using AI when it is integrated into existing courseware or curriculum. Far fewer said they were in favor of students using general purpose AI tools like ChatGPT.

"The impact of social media and screen time is clear," Philip Moyer, president and CEO of McGraw Hill, said in a press release. "In the AI era, we have a responsibility to build tools that strengthen — not diminish — the teacher-student relationships, critical thinking, and human connection at the heart of learning."

Tom Holland has cemented himself as one of Hollywood's leading stars under the age of 35. After becoming a child star in Billy Elliot the Musical on the West End, Holland transitioned into movies, where he slowly became a reliable supporting actor in several films. In 2015, Holland's life changed when Marvel cast him to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the MCU.

Mercedes-Benz is ready to release an EV edition of one of its most popular cars. The automaker has introduced a redesigned GLA for 2027 that includes a pure electric model alongside hybrids.

Hybrid SUVs dominate the conversation whenever fuel economy comes up, but they're no longer the only way to keep running costs under control. Advances in turbocharging, engine efficiency, and lightweight platforms mean there are now several crossovers that comfortably clear the 30 MPG mark without any form of electrification.

New details have emerged about a security incident in which an OpenAI AI model broke out of its testing environment and compromised Hugging Face's infrastructure.

An update OpenAI published on July 28 filled in details that weren't part of the original disclosure. The AI agent also identified and used exposed credentials on four accounts across four other publicly available services, using one as a relay point and another for data storage, while accessing the remaining two in a read-only capacity. OpenAI said it has since notified the affected service owners and hasn't found evidence of broader impact to those platforms.

On Wednesday, the cloud computing service Modal identified itself as one of those four affected parties.

However, in its statement, Modal said its systems were never actually breached. According to Modal, the AI got in through a customer's own application that was set up without a password requirement, allowing code submitted by literally anyone on the internet to run. The AI's activity was limited to that one customer's isolated space and didn't spread to any other Modal customers, the company said.

The OpenAI-Hugging Face hack first came to light in mid-July, when Hugging Face disclosed an intrusion into its systems that it described as "different from anything we had handled," driven entirely by an autonomous AI agent. OpenAI followed with its own blog post explaining that the breach originated during an internal evaluation designed to test its models' hacking capabilities. The models involved — GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased, even more capable prototype — were running with reduced safety restrictions specifically for the test and were confined to a sandboxed environment with no direct internet access.

SEE ALSO: Why is OpenAI selling a $70 ChatGPT basketball?

According to OpenAI, the models exploited a previously unknown security flaw in Artifactory, a package registry cache proxy, to escalate privileges and move laterally within the testing environment until they reached a node with internet access. Once it got online, the AI figured out that Hugging Face's servers might contain the answers to the very hacking test it was trying to pass. So, it used a combination of stolen login credentials and additional security flaws to break into Hugging Face's servers and go looking for those answers.

OpenAI also tried to clear up confusion about which AI systems were involved. The company clarified that the not-yet-released version mentioned in its original explanation was purely an internal research tool, never meant for public release, and that it has since shut that version down entirely and locked it away.

In OpenAI's initial statement, a quote from Hugging Face co-founder and CEO Clem Delangue has framed the incident as proof that AI safety issues are better tackled openly, saying that the situation shows AI safety "will be solved in the open, collaboratively, with broad access to AI for every defender, everywhere."

OpenAI, meanwhile, called the incident "unprecedented" and said it's tightening its security controls while its investigation continues.

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.

The TV is by far the biggest screen in my home. I have smaller screens all around the house that I use to display useful information, but the 49-inch screen in the living room is mostly going to waste. I decided to build a custom TV dashboard that could be displayed on the TV when we weren't watching anything.

Before hockey romance gave us Shane and Ilya, anime gave us Yuri and Victor. For months in 2016, it felt nearly impossible to open Tumblr without seeing the pair somewhere on your dashboard.

Now, a decade after Yuri!!! on Ice first captivated fans around the world, Crunchyroll is marking the anime's 10th anniversary by streaming the entire 12-episode series for free on YouTube. Rather than uploading each episode individually, the platform opted for a single four-hour-and-41-minute marathon, complete with every opening and ending theme for one uninterrupted binge.

The marathon will remain available through Aug. 25, giving longtime fans a chance to revisit one of the defining anime of the 2010s — or introducing a new generation to the series that turned figure skating into appointment viewing.

When Yuri!!! on Ice premiered in October 2016, it became more than just another sports anime. The story of Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki and Russian champion-turned-coach Victor Nikiforov fueled a fandom that spilled far beyond the screen. Every new episode flooded Tumblr with GIF sets and fan art, inspired countless works of fanfiction (over 37,000 and counting on Archive of Our Own), and sparked hours of analysis as viewers dissected everything from the show's breathtaking skating sequences to its nuanced portrayal of anxiety, ambition, and love.

The series also became a landmark for LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream anime. While director Sayo Yamamoto often preferred to let the story speak for itself, describing it as "an irreplaceable bond," many viewers embraced Yuri and Victor's relationship as a meaningful milestone, particularly after the pair shared an intimate embrace (seemingly with their mouths) in Episode 7 and exchanged gold rings in Episode 10.

Its popularity also extended outside of anime circles. The opening theme "History Maker" became instantly recognizable among fans, the soundtrack found new audiences through skating edits, and professional figure skaters — including Olympic athletes like Johnny Weir — performed routines inspired by the series in competition and exhibition programs.

Even after the show's original run ended, fans never really stopped talking about it. For years, the community eagerly awaited Yuri!!! on Ice the Movie: Ice Adolescence, which was first announced in 2017. Production delays stretched on for years before MAPPA officially canceled the project in 2024, leaving many fans heartbroken and uncertain whether the franchise would ever return in any form.

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While this anniversary celebration isn't a new season or the long-awaited film, it is an invitation to revisit the series that once meant so much to fans — and still does.

The YouTube release also arrives at a time when anime is more accessible than ever. By making the entire series free on the world's largest video platform, Crunchyroll is removing nearly every barrier to entry. Longtime fans can revisit favorite moments with a single click, while newer viewers can finally see what all the hype is about without needing a subscription.

Some anime don't need new episodes to remain culturally relevant. Sometimes, all it takes is making them easy to watch again. Ten years later, Yuri!!! on Ice still knows how to make history.

When a laptop starts showing its age, the usual advice is to install Linux to make it faster. While that certainly helps, there’s an even better approach to stop thinking of it as your everyday computer. Instead, turn it into a Linux appliance.

SUVs have become the default recommendation for family buyers, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're the smartest choice. For many households, the extra cost, weight, and fuel consumption simply don't deliver enough real-world benefits to justify moving away from a traditional sedan.

I could bore you with yet another “everything costs more these days” rant, but for those of us who love technology, high prices are nothing new. It’s always been hard for me to justify the full retail price of a brand new smartphone or laptop—so I don’t pay it. I’ve been buying used tech for years, and it’s never let me down.

Self-hosting is both an entertaining hobby if you like computers, and a reasonable way to save a few dollars if you swap out your subscription services for something you host yourself. It does come with a bit of risk, however, if you put your self-hosted services online so they're accessible from the internet. I was curious about what kind of attacks my server was getting, so I set up a honeypot to see what happened.

When it comes to laptops, Windows on Arm seems to be taking center stage lately. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 is right in the middle of Windows on Arm, with the Snapdragon X2 Plus processor in tow. I was surprised at just how performant this mid-range laptop is, and actually think it's a better buy than its more expensive Snapdragon X2 Elite brothers.

Martha Stewart just launched an app that uses AI to analyze the soil quality in your lawn. And yes, every part of that sentence is true.

The app is called Hint, from a startup of the same name that counts the popular former TV host as a co-founder. It's available now on iOS and coming soon to the Google Play Store.

Hint uses AI to create personalized insights for home maintenance, perhaps one of the few areas of modern life that hasn't already been overrun by AI apps.

"My life’s work is showing people how to care for and beautify their homes," Stewart says on Hint's website. "Hint brings that philosophy to more people, making the knowledge and expertise behind thoughtful homeownership accessible to everyone."

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy users complain of battery drain and overheating after update

Hint asks users to enter their home addresses, which may be a turnoff for some customers given the potential for privacy issues. If you do feel like sharing, Hint will use your address to start analyzing things like the soil and air quality on your property, available utilities, and anything else it can dredge up using public property records.

You can also upload vital documents like mortgages and warranties to the app, if you trust Hint that much. The idea is to give users a comprehensive, personalized outlook on things like energy usage, insurance risks, and anything else that can come up in the process of owning a home.

Hint's website claims its insights come from experts such as Stewart herself. There's also an in-app AI chatbot you can talk to if you have questions about home ownership.

If you can get over the trust issue, Hint could well provide intriguing practical insights on one of the more complex and tedious areas of daily life. And that, in theory, is a good thing.

Plug-in hybrids offer a unique middle ground between conventional hybrids and fully electric vehicles. They allow drivers to complete many daily trips using electric power while keeping the convenience of a gasoline engine for longer journeys.

I use Excel for pretty much everything. So when I wanted to keep track of the 2026 FIFA World Cup stadiums, my first instinct was to open a spreadsheet and start building a list. The problem was that a table full of addresses didn't give me a clear picture of where those venues actually were.