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Discord in App Store

Back in early February, popular messaging app Discord announced that it would roll out age verification in order to keep its teenage users safe on the platform. By the end of the month, after facing significant backlash, Discord announced that it would be pausing that rollout while addressing some of the issues.

According to Discord, those age verification checks will now be rolling out.

Discord has launched a system that already estimates users' ages based on several factors, such as general activity levels, communities and servers joined, games that an account is connected to, and how old a user account is.

The company has also assured users that no messages, calls, or other content have been analyzed to make an age determination.

SEE ALSO: Discord defaults to teen experience for all users

Discord must believe in its model, as the company says that 90 percent of its users will not have to do or change a thing. However, Discord knows that mistakes will be made. The company says that any user can check the age group they've been assigned to by going to User Settings and checking Account Status. 

The main backlash against Discord's age verification system centered on the privacy and security concerns that came with the facial age estimation and ID upload methods. Discord says that if a user has to verify their age, there are now additional methods to do so that don't require facial age estimation or ID verification. These alternative methods include a credit card authorization, allowing the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to share a user's age range, a Google Wallet confirmation, or an AgeKey credential.

Adult users on Discord will notice no changes to how the platform works. Teenage users will still be able to message friends, join voice calls, and join non-age-restricted servers. However, age-restricted content and spaces will be blocked. In addition, extra safety protections have been added in cases where a non-friend attempts to message a teenage user.

Discord says it has already launched age verification checks in places like Texas, where it's required, and wants to get ahead of age verification laws as they expand globally.



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Nibble All-Around Knowledge App (5-Yr Subscription)

TL;DR: Learn new things in your spare time with this five-year subscription to Nibble All-Around Knowledge App, on sale for just $49.99 (reg. $449.95).

Nibble All-Around Knowledge App (5-Yr Subscription)
Credit: Nibble

Your phone doesn’t have to be a black hole of time-wasting. If you’ve got the right apps, you can turn your spare time into something way more productive. The Nibble All-Around Knowledge App serves up bite-sized lessons that help you learn something new during your morning commute, on your lunch break, or in line at the grocery store.

Right now, you can snag a five-year subscription to Nibble All-Around Knowledge App for just $49.99.

Make your phone time more productive

If you think you don’t have time to learn something new, think again. The Nibble All-Around Knowledge app was designed for today’s busy schedules, offering bite-sized lessons that teach you new things in just ten minutes.

Work on your self-improvement on the go with these handy audio episodes you can listen to anytime. The app is filled with lessons on over 20 topics, from art and AI to history and personal finance, so you can pick something you’ve been meaning to dive into.

Nibble’s flexible learning paths let you choose between a guided learning journey or hopping around depending on your mood. After you listen to lessons, explore the topic further with interactive AI experiences, such as chatting with historical figures. There are also learning games to see how much you’ve retained.

Nibble offers app and web access, and your account tracks your progress so you can access it easily across devices. This five-year subscription gives you unlimited library access, and you’ll never run out of lessons thanks to new content being added every month.

Snag a five-year subscription to Nibble All-Around Knowledge App for just $49.99.

StackSocial prices subject to change.



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the new microsoft surface laptop 13-inch, surface pro 12-inch, and surface mouse

Microsoft is giving its compact Surface devices a subtle refresh. Today at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, the U.S. tech giant announced the Surface Laptop 13-inch (2nd edition) and Surface Pro 12-inch (2nd edition) with the Snapdragon X2 Plus chip. The latter will support a new AI-powered drawing and annotating tool called Microsoft Ink Canvas.

Externally, both new Surface devices gain 25 percent brighter touchscreen displays and new black color options. They're otherwise identical to their predecessors from spring 2025.

The updated Surface Laptop 13-inch and Surface Pro 12-inch will hit the market on Oct. 13, starting at $1,199 and $1,149.99, respectively. They'll be joined by a redesigned Surface Mouse with built-in haptic feedback and a customizable action button, which will start at $79.99.

Notably, both new Surface devices start with 16GB of RAM. This summer, Microsoft downgraded the base configurations of their first-gen counterparts to 8GB of RAM to lower their prices under $1,000 amid the global memory shortage. Mashable asked a Microsoft rep if the company will continue to sell those older models as budget options, and we'll update this story if we hear back.

SEE ALSO: Memory wars: Microsoft announces big price increases for Surface laptops

The Surface Laptop 13-inch and Surface Pro 12-inch are smaller, lighter, and more affordable versions of Microsoft's flagship Surface devices. In June, the company introduced the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 with Snapdragon X2 Plus and X2 Elite chips.

Same look, new chip

the microsoft ink canvas tool
The Surface Pro 12-inch (2nd edition) will come pre-loaded with Microsoft's new "Ink Canvas" AI feature. Credit: Microsoft

The X2 Plus is a mid-range processor that will give the new compact Surface devices "18 percent more efficient battery performance, over 60 percent faster graphics, and 95 percent faster on-device AI" than their predecessors, said Brett Ostrum, corporate vice president of Surface devices, in a blog post. For reference, last year's inaugural Surface Laptop 13-inch and Surface Pro 12-inch ran on the original Snapdragon X Plus chip from 2024.

The X2 Plus will also power Ink Canvas on the Surface Pro 12-inch. Users will be able to handwrite prompts for Windows 11's Copilot assistant directly on the device's touchscreen with a Surface Slim Pen (sold separately for $129.99). Ostrum described Ink Canvas as "a pen-first experience for sketching, annotating, generating images, and summarizing text."

Ink Canvas will come pre-installed on the new Surface Pro 12-inch and be available for download on other compatible Windows devices starting Oct. 13.

Microsoft Surface Laptop, 13-inch (2nd edition) specs

the microsoft surface laptop 13-inch 2nd edition
Credit: Microsoft

  • CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus

  • GPU: Qualcomm Adreno

  • Battery life: Up to 22.5 hours of video playback

  • Memory: 16GB or 24GB RAM

  • Storage: 256GB or 512GB UFS

  • Screen size and tech: 13-inch touchscreen display with 1,920 x 1,280 resolution, 500 nits of brightness, and 60Hz refresh rate

  • Webcam: 1080p

  • Ports: Two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and a headphone jack

  • Wireless connectivity: WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4

  • Dimensions: 11.25 x 8.43 x 0.61 inches

  • Weight: 2.7 pounds

  • Chassis material: Aluminum

  • Colors: Violet, platinum, and black

  • Full-sized backlit keyboard and Precision touchpad

Microsoft Surface Pro, 12-inch (2nd edition) specs

the microsoft surface pro 12-inch 2nd edition
Credit: Microsoft

  • CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Plus

  • GPU: Qualcomm Adreno

  • Battery life: Up to 15.5 hours of video playback

  • Memory: 16GB or 24GB RAM

  • Storage: 256GB or 512GB UFS

  • Screen size and tech: 12-inch touchscreen display with 2,196 x 1,464 resolution, 500 nits of brightness, and 90Hz refresh rate

  • Cameras: 1080p front camera and 10MP rear camera

  • Ports: Two USB-C ports and Surface Pro 12-inch Keyboard connector port

  • Wireless connectivity: WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4

  • Dimensions: 10.8 x 7.47 x 0.3 inches

  • Weight: 1.5 pounds

  • Chassis material: Aluminum

  • Colors: Violet, platinum, and black

  • Stylus and keyboard sold separately; has built-in storage for Surface Slim Pen

Microsoft Surface Mouse specs

the microsoft surface mouse
Credit: Microsoft

  • Inputs: Left, right, and middle click support with customizable action button and mechanical scroll wheel

  • Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth 6.0; up to three devices

  • Wireless range: 32.8 feet in open area and 16.4 feet in office setting

  • Sensor: 1,000dpi (400dpi to 2,400dpi adjustable)

  • Exterior material: Silicone

  • Colors: Platinum and black



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A group of people dancing under colorful lights in front of a go-go dancer cage.

The nightlife minutiae of a small town in Massachusetts may not seem like traditional fodder for a 24-hour news cycle. But turn that drama into a more-than-1,500-word Boston Globe article, sprinkled with apéritifs for online discourse? Well, that's a recipe for virality.

That's what happened when the Globe reported on a recent public skirmish between community members and the owners of Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue, a lesbian bar and event space in Greenfield, a town of just 17,000 people.

SEE ALSO: YouTube's microdrama boom is getting bigger

The Last Ditch is one of just 36 lesbian bars in the U.S., as chronicled by the Lesbian Bar Project. It's a nightlife outlier amid a post-COVID bar and club scene that has had to reckon with a decline in public socialization — let alone one that has addressed the alarming decline of number of lesbian bars across the country long before the global pandemic.

But the bar's reputation as a gathering place for Greenfield's Sapphic community is now marred by a dramatic series of events that started with a single Instagram post.

The Aug. 31 alert to customers began as an explanation of the venue's updated mask policy. Where the space used to require KN-95 masks at all times, Last Ditch was moving towards more mask-less events — specifically opening up Saturday nights to maskless customers. The response from commenters online was a no-holds-barred flurry of irate messages, accusations of ableism and racism, and even calls for violence from former customers who said their previously safe space had been compromised.

From there, the situation spun out of control, chronicled by the Globe as a series of apologies, retractions, public meetings, and online debates that set a group of COVID-conscious collectives against a fractured bar leadership.

The quotes and comments referenced in the article were sure to get attention: Some Last Ditch patrons referred to the Saturday night change as a "mass disabling event" and a "eugenicist" attack. "People like you kill disabled people in the name of your own leisure and convenience," wrote another commenter.

The internet responds to the Last Ditch effort

Like the rabid commenters and enraged community the feature profiles, the internet couldn't be normal about the story's increasingly bizarre anecdotes and comments from the Last Ditch's opposition.

Users called it possibly the best reporting of the year, some of their lives. Screenshots of users' favorite enraged comments — like "one had enrolled in clown school" (a Last Ditch owner is currently enrolled in clown school) and "I hope your venue gets firebombed" — have proliferated online.

Within 24 hours, the story had become 2026's "Cat Person" or "Bad Art Friend."

But percolating throughout the humor-filled posts is unabashed, homophobic commentary on queer and disabled communities. Quotes of the Globe's reporting included images of staff and customers ripped from the bar's social media pages, posted alongside unwarranted commentary on their appearances. Some took the opportunity to attack liberal and leftist ideologies at large, with one user calling the Last Ditch's initial Instagram post — not the response it engendered — an example of "intergalactic woke batcrapitude."

And the Boston Globe has benefited from the viral tale, too, allegedly gaining more than 1,000 subscribers after it went live.

"We started this project as a small group of friends with a burning desire to keep unapologetically queer spaces alive in Western Mass," wrote Last Ditch leadership in an Instagram plea from April 20. "Not to make money, not to garner notoriety. Just to maintain, expand, and serve our queer community."



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AI chatbot logos

While AI true believers worry about doom-and-gloom scenarios of AI destroying the world, some major financial institutions are sounding the alarm over a more grounded AI-related concern: scams.

On Tuesday, a consortium of big global banks put out a "principles paper" detailing their apprehensions regarding AI assistants as it relates to commerce. It also details principles that they would like to see followed as AI companies develop and continue to work on the technology.

Namely, the banks are concerned that AI agents empowered to act on behalf of customers will lose money to scams and fraud and, in turn, hurt merchants.

"As highly regulated financial entities, we are focused on managing risk effectively as emerging technologies arise," reads the opening of the paper. "Consumers are unclear if AI agents will act in their interests."

"They are concerned that AI agents may buy the wrong thing or spend too much – or even worse, lose their money to scams and fraud,"  the paper continues. "They are not sure whether they will be protected or who they ​will need to go ​to if things ⁠go wrong."

The paper, called Building Trust in Agentic Commerce, was published by Bank of America, Capital One, ASB Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ING Group, and NatWest Group.

Agentic commerce introduces new safety risks, with potential for higher rates of scams, fraud and disputes. There may be mismatched expectations between consumers, AI agents and merchants on what product or service should be provided, or when and how, or who would be liable if an AI agent exceeds its authority. Some providers may engage in unsafe practices, including requesting consumer card details and entering them directly into websites, prioritizing payment methods with lower protections, and not complying with payment processing standards and payment scheme rules. Malicious actors may attempt new attack vectors for scams and fraud, including compromising or impersonating AI agents and merchants, and engaging in new forms of social engineering.

The groups also voiced their concern for merchants and business owners, as the rise of AI shopping chatbots can likely lead to an uptick in credit card disputes and chargebacks due to the actions of the AI agent.

The paper outlines five principles — Transparency, Safety, Privacy & Data, Choice, and Interoperability — which the banks would like to see the AI industry follow.

For example, the financial institutions believe that the AI companies should prioritize consumer and merchant safety and consent when it comes to users' data and privacy. The banks would also like the AI companies to respect consumers' choices in the market without locking them in with restrictions.

The paper's release date certainly had interesting timing. It was released within 24 hours of the reported discovery of a serious zero-day vulnerability within Meta's Muse agentic AI assistant. The paper was also dropped within hours of Amazon's announcement that the e-commerce giant would be blocking Muse from making purchases on its platform.



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A Waymo in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Waymo just announced a new transit rewards program that incentivizes pairing robotaxi rides with public transit.

The transit rewards program is now available to Waymo employees in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it will open to the Bay Area public in a few weeks, according to the Google-owned autonomous rideshare company.

The program requires a Visa credit or debit tap-to-pay card (rival credit card Mastercard already offers transit incentives on most major U.S. systems, many of which already offer tap-to-pay in lieu of transit cards or tokens).

"To participate, riders will link their Visa card in the Waymo app," according to a statement from Waymo. "When riders in the SF Bay Area use their Visa card to take a Waymo trip and public transit within 2 hours of each other, we will automatically issue $2.85 in Waymo Cash, which is the cost of a bus fare in San Francisco." The Waymo Cash is loaded into the app and can be used for future robotaxi rides.

Over two dozen San Francisco Bay Area transit agencies are participating in Waymo's rewards program, according to the company.

In announcing the rewards, Waymo also stated the company is leasing 40 parking spots at stations within the Caltrain commuter system, which covers a wide swath of the Bay Area. Waymo vehicles will occupy the parking spots and be available to take riders from train stations to their destinations.

SEE ALSO: How California's high-speed rail is already helping the planet

Waymo says that half of its riders in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix already use transit, and the program will encourage more ridership on buses and trains.

The new rewards program received the blessing of state transportation officials and San José Mayor Matt Mahan.

"San José has always believed innovation should make everyday life work better," Mahan said in a statement. "This partnership does exactly that by using new technology to strengthen public transit, not replace it, making regional travel more seamless and giving people more ways to get where they need to go."



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A graphic showing of the X Numbers launch

X has introduced a new way for users to be contacted on its messaging service without sharing a phone number or following each other. The company launched X Numbers on Tuesday, giving XChat users a private code they can share with people who need to message or call them without a mutual follow.

According to X's Help Center, anyone who enters a user's enabled X Number can message them even if the user doesn't follow them or has a closed inbox. Those conversations go straight to the inbox instead of message requests, and the sender can also place calls, depending on the recipient's call settings.

Despite its name, X says an X Number isn't a phone number. It's also separate from the safety numbers Chat uses to verify identities in encrypted conversations.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's SpacexAI faces another lawsuit from child sexual abuse survivor

The feature is optional, and X says users can turn it off or refresh it at any time. Refreshing generates a new code, cutting off new contacts who only have the old one. X notes that people a user has already messaged can see their X Number and may share it with others, though a "Hide from others" setting can prevent that. The company also says users will be notified when someone contacts them through the code.

To set one up, X says users can open Chat, enter their Chat PIN if prompted, open the inbox dropdown menu, and tap "Number."

The launch is the latest step in Elon Musk's long-stated goal of turning X into an "everything app," a vision often compared to China's WeChat, which combines messaging, payments, and other services.

X launched its standalone XChat app on the App Store on April 24, positioning it as a WhatsApp competitor. The app has been pitched on the idea that users already have an X account and a network of contacts, so they don't need to exchange phone numbers. X Numbers extends that approach to people outside a user's existing network.

The company has also moved into payments. X Money went live on July 27, but only for premium subscribers. On Aug. 31, X announced that X Money was available to all Premium and Premium+ subscribers with U.S. accounts. The service isn't yet available to free users.

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