There’s nothing better than blasting music outdoors when you’re hanging out with your friends at a party of by the pool. You should invest in a high-quality speaker to make sure those memories stay with you forever! The Sonos Move 2 portable speaker is now bringing the price down from $499 to $399.
Sonos Move 2 Speaker
24-hour battery life, 10 meter Bluetooth range, 5-inch speakers
As of August 10, the Sonos Move 2 portable speaker is 20% off. According to CamelCamelCamel, this is the lowest price it’s been at since last year, so now’s the best time to hop on this deal!
The Sonos Move 2 has improved over its predecessor by introducing two tweeters instead of just having one. Not only is the audio more immersive, but the bass and vocals sound as lively as ever. It’s almost like you’re at a live performance! With the Trueplay feature, the speaker automatically continues to adjust the sound depending on the surroundings. This way, you’ll get the most optimal audio while having the best listening experience possible.
The speaker comes with a built-in handle, letting you take it anywhere with ease. It’s also rated IP56 so you won’t have to worry about any water splashes or dust particles interfering. Plus, it’s made up of shock-absorbent material that guards against accidental drops. The 24 hour battery life also lets it last for the entire party, and the included wireless base gives the battery a boost when needed.
Our audio expert Tim Gideon awarded it an “Excellent” rating. In our in-depth review, he said, “The Move 2 improves upon with predecessor with stereo audio and longer battery life, making it the best Sonos speaker for listening to music outside.”
Ella Langley‘s “Choosin’ Texas” is unquestionably the biggest hit single of the year, and all that’s left to decide is where the seemingly unstoppable song ultimately lands among the biggest chart hits of all time. The country crossover smash just landed its 17th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which gives it still more bragging rights, as the tune is now in sole possession of the No. 4 spot on the list of historic chart-topping streaks.
As of last week, “Choosin’ Texas” was tied with three other songs that had also landed 16 weeks at No. 1: Morgan Wallen‘s “Last Night,” Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” and Mariah Carey and Boys II Men’s “One Sweet Day.” Now that she has left those songs in the dust, there are just three more tunes to surpass to set an all-time record: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” each of which was No. 1 for 19 weeks, and Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” the all-time record-holder with 22 weeks on top. Not long ago, it would have seemed impossible to imagine anyone edging past Carey’s holiday perennial, but with the roll Langley is on, another six weeks at No. 1 is not a laughable goal.
One reason to think that “Choosin’ Texas” may not be slowing down much, if at all, on its march toward setting further records: it just reached the top 10 on Billboard’s pop airplay chart for the first time this week, as stations that would have never, ever played a traditional country song find themselves giving in to audience demand. Overall radio play for the song was up 4% for the week, because of the added pop play, according to Billboard.
Langley landed another week at the top despite a strong showing from Ariana Grande, who has two songs in the top 10 as a result of the “Petal” album’s release. Leadoff single “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” which debuted on top when it came out in May, jumped back up from No. 8 to No. 2. One other song from the new set made it into the upper ranks: “Petal,” the album’s title track, debuted at No. 4.
Of course, the Grande resurgence means that country songs do not occupy all five of the chart’s top spots, as they did on last week’s historic chart. But the representation for the genre is barely diminished. Wallen’s “Been by Now” dropped just one position, to No. 3, in its second week out. Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” fell two spots to No. 5. Stella Lefty’s freshman smash “Boston” dropped a single spot to No. 6. The Wallen/Langley duet “I Can’t Love You Anymore” dropped three slots to No. 7. And Langley’s “Be Her” slipped one spot to No. 10.
Obviously, there is not much room in the top 10 at present for anyone who is not either a country star or Ariana Grande. But two songs that don’t fit either of those criteria made the grade. “Dracula” by Tame Impala and Jennie is at No. 8, down two spots from last week, and Olivia Dean’s “So Easy (to Fall in Love)” is right behind it at No. 9, also down two slots.
While Grande wasn’t able to surge past Langley to reclaim the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100, she does own the top position on the Billboard 200 album chart with “Petal,” as reported Sunday. (Langley’s “Dandelion” album is No. 4 on that chart.)
This week’s metrics for “Choosin’ Texas,” as reported by Billboard, add up to 24.9 million official streams (down 2% for the week) and 54.5 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 4%)..
If “Choosin’ Texas” manages to go the distance and somehow beat “All I Want for Christmas” as the all-time leader in weeks at No. 1, it may be a short-lived victory, of course, since the Carey song has tended to go No. 1 for a few weeks every December in recent years. But who knows — at this rate, listeners could yet choose Texas over Xmas.
Ann Hui, the Hong Kong New Wave pioneer whose films have chronicled the lives of her city’s ordinary and overlooked for nearly half a century, will receive the 2026 Camellia Award at the Busan International Film Festival, presented in partnership with Chanel.
The 79-year-old director will accept the prize — awarded to filmmakers who have advanced the standing of women in the industry — at the festival’s opening ceremony on Oct. 6 at the Busan Cinema Center.
“In my previous years I felt unwilling to receive such taking-stock prizes because I wished to continue making movies,” Hui said in a statement. “Now that I’m nearly eighty and find it difficult to make a film, I think the prize comes just in time for me to appreciate it more.”
Since her 1979 debut The Secret, Hui has directed 27 features and two feature-length documentaries. Her work helped define the Hong Kong New Wave, with films that move across genres but return to her perennial theme — the struggles of everyday life at the margins, portrayed without sentiment: Vietnamese refugees in Boat People (1982), a daughter’s reckoning with her Japanese mother in Song of the Exile (1990), the small dignities of working-class life in The Way We Are (2008), an aging servant and the family she raised in A Simple Life (2011).
Hui is already one of the most decorated directors of her generation. She has won best director at the Hong Kong Film Awards six times, more than any filmmaker in the ceremony’s history, and three times at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards. Twice — with Summer Snow in 1995 and A Simple Life in 2011 — her work swept best film, director, actor and actress at the Hong Kong awards. In 2020, she became the first female director to receive Venice’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, sharing that year’s honor with Tilda Swinton. She was previously honored in Busan in 2014 as the Asian Filmmaker of the Year.
Established in 2024, the Camellia Award takes its name from a flower that is both Busan’s civic emblem and, famously, Gabrielle Chanel’s favorite. Korean production designer Ryu Seong-hie (Oldboy, Decision to Leave) was its inaugural recipient, followed last year by Taiwanese actress and filmmaker Sylvia Chang.
“I am so happy to return to Busan,” Hui added, “and meet an audience that is among the most savvy and cinematically literate in the world.”
Comedian, actor, and entertainer Bill Bellamy will be presented with the Icon Award at the 2026 Whats Funny Comedy Festival, recognizing his decades of excellence and impact on stand-up comedy and entertainment.
The Whats Funny Comedy Festival was co-founded by Knowledge Beckom and Lil Rel Howery (“Get Out,” “Rel,” “Vacation Friends 2”) with the mission to spotlight Black and Brown comedians and make Chicago the “next great home of comedy discovery.”
The festival’s upcoming third edition will be held September 19-26 at venues throughout Chicago, including Comedy Bar, Laugh Factory, Bellagio 223, ETA Theater, and Wax Vinyl Bar. More than 50 comedians from 20 cities will perform in showcases, including Cousin Tiera, Correy Bell, Eva Evans, Rich Thomas, Shang and Chris ‘CP’ Powell, host of the latest reboot of BET’s “Comic View.”
On Sept. 21, Bellamy will receive the Icon Award during the inaugural Whats Funny Today Show Chicago Comedy Legends ceremony. Bellamy will be honored alongside 15 Chicago comedians whose careers helped shape the city’s comedy legacy. The celebration will conclude with a live taping of the “Whats Funny Today Show” podcast featuring Bellamy and special guests.
Another one of the week’s marquee events will be the live taping of Howery’s next stand-up comedy special on Sept. 20; his previous special, “Rel Talk,” was filmed during the inaugural Whats Funny Comedy Festival and released on Tubi last year. Howery will also lead a master class, sharing insights from his journey through stand-up, television and film.
“The Whats Funny Comedy Festival was created to celebrate the incredible legacy of Black comedy while creating meaningful opportunities for today’s comedians to learn, perform, and build lasting careers,” Beckom, the festival’s co-founder and executive director, said in a statement. “Every year we strive to elevate the experience for audiences and performers alike, and 2026 will be our biggest and most impactful festival yet.”
For the full schedule, tickets and additional information, visit the Whats Funny Comedy Festival website.
Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum has elevated quantum security and privacy since its 2023 roadmap.
Ethereum researchers are increasingly relying on STARKs and AI-assisted formal verification.
The roadmap also includes native rollups and explores a future beyond the EVM.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says quantum resistance, privacy, and AI-assisted security have become greater priorities for Ethereum since he published his 2023 roadmap.
In a post on X on Monday, Buterin said he updated his 2023 roadmap to compare its original goals with Ethereum’s current “Strawmap”—a working outline of the network’s long-term technical priorities.
“What’s most striking, however, is that some completely new things are in the strawmap that are not in this diagram, because they were not in the 2023 roadmap at all,” Buterin wrote. “These reflect changing priorities.”
Among those priorities are stronger privacy and scaling designed for a post-quantum world, alongside efforts to push the “lean-ification of the spec,” or simplify Ethereum’s technical specifications.
“A common theme in scaling, found in both state types and zkzk frames (both new ideas), is that instead of trying to maximally scale all Ethereum activity,” Buterin wrote. “We try to create specialized mechanisms that have more restrictive properties that make them more scaling-friendly, while supporting the heaviest loads incurred by users and applications today (eg. token transfers, swaps) and tomorrow (eg. privacy protocols).”
According to Buterin, advances in AI are making it practical to apply the technique more extensively to Ethereum.
Buterin said Ethereum is increasingly relying on STARKs, a cryptographic technology used to verify computations, and AI-assisted verification, to check that the protocol works as intended.
“This can only be safe with formal verification, which is itself only feasible with modern AI tools,” he wrote.
Buterin’s post comes as Ethereum has accelerated preparations for “Q-Day” and the potential threat posed by quantum computers.
In January, Buterin urged developers to adopt quantum-resistant cryptography before the threat becomes immediate, and the Ethereum Foundation formed a dedicated post-quantum team. In February, Buterin outlined a phased plan to replace four potentially vulnerable components of Ethereum’s cryptographic architecture.
In July, Buterin put quantum safety and privacy at the center of his proposed “Lean Ethereum” overhaul, which calls for replacing quantum-vulnerable cryptography with quantum-safe alternatives.
“Ethereum will be quantum-safe. Ethereum will put users’ privacy first. Ethereum will be secure,” Buterin wrote. “Ethereum will be censorship-resistant. Ethereum will be highly performant and scalable while satisfying the above. And Ethereum will be Lean.”
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Worldcoin [$WLD] surged by over 10% in the last 24 hours and sustained the upward momentum for the fourth day in a row to cross the $0.34 resistance.
The price move places $WLD at a critical point as buyers attempt to invalidate the bearish structure that has dominated price action since June.
Besides, the current rally helped $WLD break out above the upper boundary of the pennant consolidation pattern, indicating the potential formation of a trend reversal. A daily candle close above $0.34 will confirm the breakout.
Source: TradingView
Worldcoin’s trading activity is also supporting the recovery
That’s not all; Worldcoin’s trading volume has recorded a 150% increase to $211 million, suggesting a sharp increase in market participation as the token surges aggressively.
The surge in volume provides stronger confirmation for the breakout because sustained buying activity can help prevent the move from becoming a short-lived price spike.
Source: Santiment
Derivative data is also sparking similar signals
Worldcoin’s Open Interest gained by 10.44% to $169.4 million over the same period, indicating that traders are adding new positions as price momentum strengthens.
The network’s rising Open Interest alongside a price rally suggests fresh capital is entering the market and could amplify $WLD’s upside if buyers maintain control.
Source: Coinalyze
Moreover, long positions currently account for approximately 60% of total $WLD market exposure, giving bulls a modest advantage. This positioning supports the bullish setup, although an excessively crowded long market could also increase liquidation risks if $WLD fails to sustain its breakout.
Source: Coinalyze
Is $0.40 next for the bulls?
More than $1 million in liquidity remains concentrated between $0.37 and $0.40, creating a significant liquidity pocket above the current price.
If buyers sustain momentum, $WLD could be drawn toward this zone as its price action hunts for the unmitigated liquidation clusters.
Source: CoinGlass
Final Summary
$WLD gained by more than 10% in 24 hours, breaking above $0.34 as buyers challenge the token’s recent bearish structure.
Rising volume, Open Interest, and $1 million-plus liquidity between $0.37 and $0.40 could support a move toward $0.40.
Singapore’s Silver Media Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesian boxing legend Chris John to develop “Dragon’s Dojo,” a mobile-first vertical animated series drawing on Indonesian folklore.
The project marks the first chapter of the ASERYA Asian Mythology Franchise.
The venture unites Silver Media Group with Chris John, longtime Indonesian TV executive Harun Kurniawan and Koollab Studios as co-production partners.
“Dragon’s Dojo” launches the ASERYA Universe, an interconnected Asian mythology franchise spanning animation, comics, games and merchandise. The universe pairs real-world figures with young protagonists, folklore and mythical beings drawn from across the continent, with the goal of introducing Asian stories to global audiences.
The story follows ancient creatures appearing in the modern world, prompting heroes from different countries to confront a rising darkness threatening the region. In “Dragon’s Dojo,” Chris John takes on an animated alter ego, cast as the head instructor and mentor at the show’s namesake martial arts academy, which works with young people facing hardship. As creatures from Indonesian mythology emerge to threaten his students’ community, Chris and his pupils find their fight extends beyond monsters to their own inner struggles.
The series is designed as a multi-platform franchise with potential extensions into comics, games and merchandise.
Chan Gin Kai, founder and CEO of Silver Media Group, said Asia holds some of the richest histories, cultures and mythologies in the world, but many of these stories remain little known outside their home countries.
“With ASERYA, we want to build an interconnected universe where these stories can come alive for a new generation of audiences,” Chan said. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ is the beginning of that journey in Indonesia, combining the legacy of a true champion in Chris John with the power of mythology, action and values-driven storytelling. As we open the door to a wider universe of stories from across Asia, we hope to share this rich heritage with the world.”
Chris John said martial arts involves more than learning how to fight, teaching discipline, respect, courage and how to face life’s challenges. “Throughout my career, boxing has taught me that the greatest victories are not only achieved in the ring, but also in overcoming the challenges we face every day,” he said. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ brings these values into an exciting adventure where young people can discover their strength, purpose and the courage to find their own path while experiencing the richness of Indonesian mythology.”
Kurniawan said Indonesia has extraordinary stories, legends and cultural heritage passed down through generations. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ gives us an opportunity to bring these elements into a contemporary format and introduce them to audiences around the world,” he said. “We are creating something that is proudly Indonesian while being part of a much larger Asian storytelling universe.”
Koollab Studios co-founder Oliver Guse said the future of entertainment will be shaped by the collaboration between human creativity, technology and new approaches to storytelling. “At Koollab Studios, we believe innovation should empower creators to tell bigger and more ambitious stories while preserving the authenticity and emotional heart that make them meaningful,” Guse said. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ represents an exciting opportunity to combine creative vision with new production possibilities, bringing Indonesia’s rich culture and mythology to audiences around the world.”
“Dragon’s Dojo” is in development, with production and release details to be announced.
Silver Media Group, founded by Golden Horse Award-winning producer Chan Gin Kai, manages a portfolio of more than 1,500 intellectual property assets spanning film, animation, games and graphic novels. The company has partnered with a fund manager licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to establish the Silver Media Fund, an institutional-grade media investment vehicle focused on developing and financing scalable IP.
Koollab Studios was co-founded by Guse, who has spent three decades working in animation production, and focuses on production workflows built around emerging technologies.
Followers of the blind Bulgarian mystic, who died in 1996 aged 84, have claimed that two of her five prophecies for 2026 have already come true, leaving the remaining predictions to play out in the next few months.
They’re not predictions of world peace or us all winning the lottery, either. Instead, some are actually pretty bleak.
The first new prediction is perhaps the wildest: Baba Vanga is said to have claimed that a massive spacecraft will visit Earth this year.
We could soon be sharing our planet with aliens (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Reportedly set for November, she alleged that it will enter the atmosphere and mark humanity’s first official contact with an extraterrestrial civilisation.
However, the mystic was unclear about whether the visitors come in peace or as a threat. Hopefully, it’s the former. We’d have no qualms about E.T making an appearance on Earth.
Unfortunately — and due to the state of world affairs right now — the second is a little easier to believe.
Alongside meeting aliens, Baba Vanga also predicted that 2026 would be the year World War III breaks out.
Baba Vanga is said to have predicted everything from COVID to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami (Picture: Getty Images)
Interpretations of the prophecy say China would attempt to seize Taiwan.
Meanwhile, it’s claimed that tensions between Russia and the US would escalate into direct conflict.
Finally, the third prophecy suggests that Russian President Vladimir Putin will lose power and be replaced by a new leader, all before 2027 starts.
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For almost 20 years, Putin has ruled Russian politics. The 73-year-old is also set to stay in office until 2036, after he signed a law which allowed him to extend his rule.
That is, unless the prophecy is correct.
Putin’s future is reportedly uncertain too (Picture: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Speculation about Putin’s future — both political and health-wise — has circulated for years. There have been many conspiracy theories surrounding the leader, from him using body doubles to claims that he had died.
“We view this as the first of several rulemakings the SEC will undertake to provide regulatory certainty for crypto assets after the Senate failed before the August recess to advance the Clarity Act on crypto market structure,” TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote in a client note sent after the SEC’s notice.
The proposal is expected to give a path to crypto firms enabling them to raise capital for projects without triggering SEC registration requirements, and the businesses are also expected to be provided an exit path for getting clear of the agency’s jurisdiction when they’re not engaged in hands-on management of the projects anymore.
Before this, Atkins and the agency had rolled through a lengthy series of crypto policy statements meant to clarify its regulatory position on digital assets, but the staff statements have little long-term durability. A formal rulemaking would be more difficult to reverse in the future.
But the rule will likely take further months to develop and finalize. This first stage will come with a comment period — typically two or three months — and be followed by a potentially lengthy rewrite.
Reg Crypto would join some of the other significant steps the agency has taken or is still working on to foster the U.S. crypto industry. One of the major moves was a joint stance with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on a “taxonomy” to define how they view various crypto assets and which jurisdictions they belong in. The agency is also still working on its tokenized securities approach, which Atkins routinely mentions as one of the SEC’s marquee crypto maneuvers.
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A jaw-dropping photo taken with an iPhone 250 miles above Earth has captured the incredible sight of a super typhoon over the Pacific Ocean.
The image was taken by Nasa astronaut Anil Menon while aboard the International Space Station (ISS), offering a stunning bird’s-eye view of the colossal storm system churning across the ocean below.
The picture, which was taken on August 2, reveals a tightly wound spiral of towering cloud bands wrapped around a clearly defined eye as the cyclone made its way across the western Pacific.
While the dramatic photo looked like it had been photographed using specialist camera equipment, it was actually taken on an iPhone – a capability made possible after Nasa recently began allowing astronauts to carry personal smartphones on missions.
Sharing the image, Menon wrote: ‘The Pacific Ocean this morning from the cupola with an iPhone.’
The super typhoon as seen from space – and it’s breathtaking (Picture: Anil Menon/Cover Images)
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Viewed from orbit, the immense scale of the weather system becomes clear, with the storm dominating hundreds of miles of open ocean in a single frame.
He didn’t identify the storm by name, but Menon’s image is believed to have captured Super Typhoon Dolphin, which rapidly strengthened over exceptionally warm waters before moving towards Japan earlier this week.
A tree submerged in a river after Typhoon Dolphin hit China’s Zhejiang province (Picture: AP)
China has evacuated more than 1,000,000 from their homes after the typhoon brought heavy rain and strong winds, triggering a red alert.
Winds hit 94mph when it hit the Zhejiang province on Sunday.
The photograph was taken from the ISS’s Cupola – a seven-window observation module widely regarded as offering astronauts the best views of Earth.
