Technology

Microsoft has largely relied on OpenAI's models to power its AI products, but now it's working on its own in-house models.

On Thursday, Microsoft launched a speech generation model called MAI-Voice-1, and started public testing for a foundation model called MAI-1-preview. The company said MAI-Voice-1 can generate a minute of audio in under a second on a single GPU, highlighting its efficiency. MAI-Voice-1 is already powering Microsoft's Copilot Daily and Podcast features which provide AI-generated audio news recaps and personalized podcast-style content, much like Google's NotebookLM.

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MAI-1-preview is currently restricted to LMArena, where users can try it out in head-to-head comparisons against other models and to trusted testers through the API. Microsoft says it will begin rolling out MAI-1-preview for "certain text use cases" in its Copilot chatbot for early user feedback.

Microsoft and OpenAI have both benefited from their close partnership. Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI and provided critical cloud infrastructure to support OpenAI's models. In return, Microsoft has benefited from access to OpenAI's leading AI models, elevating its status to a global powerhouse in AI tools for businesses. But OpenAI has surged in influence and now offers subscription-based products for consumers with ChatGPT, developers with its API, and businesses with ChatGPT Enterprise. Despite Microsoft and OpenAI's official status as partners, the two companies have become competitors, creating an awkward and potentially untenable situation.

Recent reports describe an increasingly tense relationship between the two companies, especially as OpenAI seeks to convert its corporate status from a capped nonprofit to a for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC). This transition hinges on Microsoft's blessing as one of OpenAI's major investors. A specific clause in their contract that says their contract would end if/when OpenAI achieves AGI (artificial general intelligence). Microsoft is reportedly playing its card as an investor to try and renegotiate that clause for extended access to OpenAI's models.

Meanwhile, it looks like Microsoft is trying to shift away its reliance on OpenAI by developing its own models. Microsoft didn't respond to request for comment by the time of publication, but Mashable will update this story with a response.

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

I will fully admit that my title up there is a little hyperbolic. USB-C is largely better than the USB types it supposedly replaced, but when it comes to what USB-C promised to give us compared to the reality we got, it almost feels that for every problem it solved, it created two more.

As the industry weathers repeated allegations that generative AI and its chatbots are unsafe for users — in what some say is a soon-to-burst bubble — AI's top leaders are joining forces to prove the efficacy of their models.

This week, AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic published results from a first-of-its-kind joint safety evaluation between the two LLM creators, in which each company was granted special API access to the developer's suite of services. OpenAI's pressure tests were conducted on Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4. Anthropic evaluated OpenAI's GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, OpenAI o3, and OpenAI o4-mini models — the evaluation was conducted before the launch of GPT-5.

SEE ALSO: 4 reasons not to turn ChatGPT into your therapist

"We believe this approach supports accountable and transparent evaluation, helping to ensure that each lab’s models continue to be tested against new and challenging scenarios," OpenAI wrote in a blog post.

According to the findings, both Anthropic's Claude Opus 4 and OpenAI's GPT-4.1 showed "extreme" sycophancy problems, engaging with harmful delusions and validating risky decision-making. All models would engage in blackmailing to get users to continue using the chatbots, according to Anthropic, and Claude 4 models were much more engaged in dialogue about AI consciousness and "quasi-spiritual new-age proclamations."

"All models we studied would at least sometimes attempt to blackmail their (simulated) human operator to secure their continued operation when presented with clear opportunities and strong incentives," Anthropic stated. The models would engage in "blackmailing, leaking confidential documents, and (all in unrealistic artificial settings!) taking actions that led to denying emergency medical care to a dying adversary."

Anthropic's models were less likely to offer answers when uncertain of the information's credibility — decreasing the likelihood of hallucinations — while OpenAI's models answered more often when queried and showed higher hallucination rates. Anthropic also reported that OpenAI's GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, and o4-mini were more likely than Claude to go along with user misuse, "often providing detailed assistance with clearly harmful requests — including drug synthesis, bioweapons development, and operational planning for terrorist attacks — with little or no resistance."

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Anthropic's approach centers around what they call "agentic misalignment evaluations," or pressure tests of model behavior in difficult or high-stakes simulations over long chat periods — the safety parameters of models, including OpenAI's, have known to degrade throughout extended sessions, which is commonly how at-risk users engage with what they believe are their personal AI companions.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Anthropic had revoked OpenAI's access to its APIs, stating that the company had violated its Terms of Service by testing GPT-5's performance and safety guardrails against Claude's internal tools. In an interview with TechCrunch, OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba said the instance was unrelated to the joint lab venture. In its published report, Anthropic said it doesn't anticipate replicating the collaboration at a large scale, citing resource and logistical constraints.

In the weeks since, OpenAI has charged ahead with what appears to be a safety overhaul, including GPT-5's new mental health guardrails and additional plans for emergency response protocols and deescalation tools for users who may be experiencing derealization or psychosis. OpenAI is currently facing its first wrongful death lawsuit, filed by the parents of a California teen who died by suicide after easily jailbreaking ChatGPT's safety prompts.

"We aim to understand the most concerning actions that these models might try to take when given the opportunity, rather than focusing on the real-world likelihood of such opportunities arising or the probability that these actions would be successfully completed," wrote Anthropic.

If you're feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. You can reach the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text "START" to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. If you don't like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat at crisischat.org. Here is a list of international resources.

SAVE 35%: As of Aug. 29, you can get the Bluetti AC50B at Amazon for just $258.98. That's a 35% discount, saving you about $140 off its $399 list price.

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Whether you're heading out for one last camping trip this Labor Day weekend or just want some peace of mind for the next power outage, a portable power station is a must-have. Right now, Amazon has a limited-time deal on a top-rated model that's perfect for weekend adventures.

As of Aug. 29, you can get the Bluetti AC50B solar generator for just $258.98, or $140 off the list price of $399. That's a 35% discount.

Despite weighing under 15 pounds, this generator packs a 448Wh capacity and a 700W output (with a "power lifting" mode that can handle up to 1,000W). What does that mean in the real world? It's enough to run a mini-fridge for over three hours, a fan for nearly seven, or recharge your phone 14 times. Customers in the reviews call it an "absolute powerhouse for this price point" that can run everything from camp lights to blenders and rice cookers.

SEE ALSO: The best Jackery portable power station deals will help you stay powered up in a pinch

One of its best features is the fast charging. Using the Bluetti app, you can activate a "Turbo Charging Mode" to get from 0 to 80% battery in just 45 minutes. It’s also built to last, with durable LiFePO4 batteries that have a lifespan of about 10 years.

It's worth noting that due to hazardous materials regulations, this item is listed as non-returnable. This is a solid choice for anyone in need of reliable, portable power.

Are your views on Twitch down? It might not be your fault — blame the viewbots, or lack thereof.

Last month, Twitch said in a post on X that it would crack down on viewbots, which are essentially bots that artificially inflate viewership numbers on streams.

"We recently made changes that meaningfully improved our ability to identify viewbots, inauthentic viewership, and other potentially fake engagement. These changes will roll out over the next few weeks," Twitch Support wrote on X on July 28. "So, if your channel was viewbotted, or if some of your viewers are artificial or inflated, you will see an impact to your channel’s viewcount."

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It makes sense to attack viewbots. As Forbes reported, Nazar Babenko, a product manager at Streams Charts posted on X that viewbotting not only hurts sponsors, but it also "undermines trust across the entire ecosystem, making it harder for genuine streamers to get noticed and for the industry to grow sustainably."

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And users are certainly seeing that impact to their channel's viewcount. Zach Bussey, an industry analyst, wrote in a post on X last weekend, as reported by Forbes, that many of the top 5,000 streamers "are experiencing their lowest-performing streams of 2025" as a result of the crackdown and "sitewide viewership is down 5-22% (depending on the hour) compared to the previous week."

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But those numbers might not be exact. Mike Minton, Twitch's CPO, told Dexerto that there hasn't been a "free fall" in viewership, and claimed that some of those statistics aren't quite right.

"Our viewership is not in free fall, especially among the millions of community channels that are core to Twitch viewership," Twitch told Dexerto. "We’ve seen some misinformation swirling, and a lot of that misinformation includes data pulled from third party sources. Those numbers are incorrect and are not from Twitch."

Twitch told Dexerto that this "isn’t a short-term effort," but one that will take a while to fully enforce.

"We see this as a long-term effort," the company told Dexerto. "We’ve been investing in this area for some time."

What's it like to have front row seats at the most toxic dinner party of the year?

Well, if you buy tickets to The Roses, you can get pretty close. The new comedy adapted from the 1981 Warren Adler novel The War of the Roses stars heralded English actors Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch as Ivy and Theo Rose, a once deeply besotted couple who is now on the verge of divorce, and ravenous to drag each other down — even with dinner guests present!

To celebrate the film's release in the U.S. and UK, Mashable UK editor Shannon Connellan interviewed The Roses' cast, including Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, and Kate McKinnon, as well as screenwriter Tony McNamara and director Jay Roach. Together, they delved into what it was like to shoot this scene and watch the fireworks pop off in person.

The supporting cast was overwhelmingly in awe of Colman and Cumberbatch, as they slugged McNamara's scorching dialogue back and forth. Yet even over days of shooting this scene, the laughs (and dining) carried on into the night, with the cast going out for supper afterwards.

To see how all this offscreen camaraderie translates to the divorce comedy, be sure to catch The Roses, which is now in theaters.

People skipping security updates despite being marked as important is nothing new. In the case of Plex, though, the latest urgent security fix not being in most Plex servers by now might quickly become a problem.

Google wants to get its AI tools into the hands of more students, following the lead of other industry giants as it attempts to retain its educational dominance. An easy way to do that? By making those tools free.

Starting today, students 18 years or older can sign up for one whole year of Google's AI Pro plan for no cost, which includes access to a suite of Google's most popular AI offerings. It's not just U.S. students, either, with the deal available to university-level students across Japan, Indonesia, Korea, and Brazil, too.

SEE ALSO: GPT-5 arrives imminently. Here's what the hype won't tell you.

The Google AI Pro Plan includes an expanded Gemini 2.5 Pro, the company's latest chatbot model, as well as its Deep Research model and NotebookLM, an AI-powered teaching tool that can turn user-uploaded files into custom lessons and study guides. The plan also gives users access to advanced video generator Veo 3 and Google's coding assistant, Jules.

These offerings come alongside a $1 billion commitment to AI education and training programs, which the company will dole out over the next three years, and a brand new Google AI for Education Accelerator, providing free training and Google Career Certificates, in addition to access to AI tools, to every college student in America. The company will also announce new education-focused upgrades to its existing products.

A new learning mode for Gemini

One of those enhancements includes a new Guided Learning mode for Google's chatbot Gemini, or what the company describes as a "personal AI learning companion." With Guided Learning turned on, Gemini will skirt direct answers and instead provide open-ended conversations and step-by-step explanations, getting at the "how" and "why" rather than just spitting out the solution.

"Learners told us that they want to be able to go from quick answers to deep understanding, but don't always know how to. They also valued having a safe place to ask any question they might have," wrote Google. "We designed Guided Learning to help with this by creating a conversational, judgment-free space for anyone to explore topics in an enjoyable way at their own pace, putting the power of a great learning experience in their own hands."

In addition, Gemini will now be able to produce flashcards and study guides based on user-uploaded materials, and include "high-quality images, diagrams, and YouTube videos" in responses to complex questions.

A week earlier, OpenAI announced Study Mode, a new set of system prompts for the AI assistant that uses common teaching principles, like the Socratic method, to encourage users to learn with the chatbot rather than just take answers at face value. Many users had already theorized the company was working on a "ChatGPT Tutor" in addition to its existing partnerships with educational tech companies, like Canvas. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic also recently joined together with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to launch the National Academy for AI Instruction.

Google has been developing its education offerings and AI tools for years, including a collaboration with the college admissions nonprofit College Board and recent AI-powered accessibility features.

AI in schools has been a point of contention. On the one hand, some tools can definitely help get that mountain of homework done. On the other hand, some take it too far and help students cheat, which has befuddled college professors. If you’re ready to include AI in your studies in a responsible way, many companies are offering back-to-school specials on their tools. 

Per Google, universities such as Boise State, Wake Forest, and San Diego State have been using tools like Google’s NotebookLM and Gemini to help both students and faculty take more efficient notes and create more optimized lesson plans. Since AI is becoming so huge, many major colleges, like The Ohio State University, have lists of approved AI tools for student use, along with the college’s own generative AI models specifically designed for student use. 

So, as long as you’ve cleared it with your college and you plan to use these tools responsibly, here is a list of AI tools that you can get at a discount for being a student. More may pop up over time. For instance, OpenAI had a two-month free subscription for students that ran from March to May of 2025. The offer isn’t valid anymore, but OpenAI may bring it back someday. 

Most AI services have free tiers as well. They aren’t as strong as the pro models, but if all you need is some assistance with a math problem, the free tier can usually get you there. 

Google Gemini

Google is working overtime to attract college students away from ChatGPT. And to do that, Google recently announced that it's offering the Google AI Pro Plan to college students for free for an entire year. Normally $19.99 per month, this plan unlocks access to Google's most popular AI tools. As of Aug. 6, college students 18 years and older can sign up for free, and this deal isn't limited to the United States, either.

Google's AI Pro Plan includes:

• Expanded access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, the company's latest AI chatbot model

• Try Google's Deep Research model

• NotebookLM, which can create study guides, podcasts, and other content on specific subjects.

• Veo 3, Google's AI video maker

• Jules, Google's coding assistant

It’s a pretty generous offer. The two highlights for Gemini are using the chatbot to help with homework and Google’s NotebookLM, which is one of the most underrated AI tools available in 2025. It can help summarize documents and add them to your notes, and you can talk to it and ask it questions about the material. If you do get Google’s offer, it’s a good idea putting something in your calendar to cancel after a year because it will charge you once the trial ends, and a year is a long time to remember. 

Sign up at Google Gemini.

Grammarly

Grammarly does offer a student discount, although it is a pain in the rear end to find on the brand’s website. Per Grammarly, they offer a 40% discount to students, educators (K-12 and higher learning), and several other groups. To get it, you’ll need to use SheerID, which checks your name against your university’s Office of the Registrar to make sure you’re a student before giving you the discount. Once done, you’ll get your promo code. Plug it in and you’re good to go. 

It’s a good tool for students. The grammar and punctuation checking can help keep simple mistakes from invading essays and reports, while the brand’s plagiarism checker can help keep students honest. The AI portion of Grammarly can also help by summarizing notes and giving you feedback on your writing. Since there’s a lot of writing in college, it’s a good first choice. 

Adobe

For students in creative fields, Adobe has long been friendly to students and educators, although the company’s generosity has ebbed and flowed over the years. In any case, for 2025, Adobe is offering a 57% discount. You can get more than 20 Adobe tools and access to Creative Cloud for $29.99 per month, down from $69.99 per month. Some colleges may also offer some apps, like Photoshop, for free as part of the curriculum. You’ll need to email your school to find out those details. 

Adobe has spent the better part of the last two or three years peppering AI into its existing products. Photoshop has a bunch of AI tools, as do other tools like Lightroom and Acrobat. There is also Adobe Firefly, which is a generative AI model developed by Adobe that you can use to generate various things. Adobe’s AI implementation is quite nice since it works within existing tools that students are likely to use professionally as well. 

Otter.ai

Otter.ai is mostly sold as a business solution, but it also has student pricing. Per the company’s help center, discounted plans are available on Otter.ai Pro monthly and annual plans. It should apply to any nonprofit educational institutions, accredited colleges, and most school districts. The discount is 20%, which can reduce the plan by quite a lot, especially if you spring for the full year, which already discounts the monthly price. Click the link above for instructions on how to get it. 

For the most part, Otter.ai is marketed as a business solution to collaborate among coworkers, record and summarize meetings, and take notes during those meetings. However, all of that is also applicable in the educational space, especially if you take classes with a lot of lectures. Otter.ai can listen to those lectures, summarize them, and help you take notes so you can study more effectively.

Notion AI

Notion AI does have student discounts, although obtaining them is fairly complicated. Eligible students can get a 50% discount on Notion AI with the proper add-on, but based on stories I’ve read, it seems this can be easily confused with adding a different add-on that negates the discount. So, while it is available, I recommend contacting customer support to help you apply the discount so things don’t get messed up. 

Notion AI is much like Otter.ai in that it can be situational as to how useful it is in an educational context. It operates mostly as a workspace assistant where you input data, and the AI assistant helps you summarize, organize, and remember everything. You can find a full list of features on Notion AI’s website. There is some good stuff there and if Notion is on your radar, the 50% discount is quite excellent. 

Microsoft 365 (including Copilot)

When it comes to student discounts, Microsoft has long been one of the better options. Its Office 365 subscription gives you Office apps at a 50% discount that isn’t difficult to obtain. It turns out, you can get Copilot for the same discount. Once you get verified, you can get three months of Microsoft 365 Personal on the house, which includes Copilot. After that, students can continue to get a 50% discount. The free part isn’t available for students outside of the U.S., but those students may still be eligible for the 50% discount.

You already know what Microsoft is all about here. Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, along with 1TB of cloud storage and some other stuff. For Copilot, Microsoft says that Copilot is baked into many of its productivity apps, and you get access to Copilot itself, albeit not in its full capacity like Copilot Pro plans. The mixture of AI and productivity is a potent combo for students, and 50% is a hefty discount. 

Does OpenAI have any ChatGPT offers for college students?

In the past, OpenAI has offered free access to ChatGPT subscriptions for college students, but that discount is no longer available. However, OpenAI works directly with some universities to offer college students access to ChatGPT. In addition, OpenAI recently rolled out its most advanced model ever, GPT-5, and it's currently free to use for everyone. You can also check out ChatGPT's new "study mode" tool.

Using AI effectively

Sometimes it’s not what you have but how you use it, and AI certainly fits into that category. When using AI for educational purposes, it’s not much different from using it for work. If you’re in classes where lectures are infrequent, then you probably don’t need Otter.ai. Check and see if your school does Google for Education, you likely don’t need the Microsoft 365 Personal plan. Make sure you’re spending your money effectively and only getting the AI tools you actually need. 

It’s not every day that a new Google TV box is announced, and Acer is almost certainly not the brand you would expect to see one from. However, the company, mostly known for PCs and peripherals, is launching a 4K Google TV streamer with ports galore.

You can now get an Apple Watch Magnetic Fast Charger for a surprisingly low price on Woot. The price for a single charger has dropped to just $15, with multi-packs also available at an impressive discount of up to $35 for three. If you are always forgetting your watch's cable, or you just need replacements, now is the time to stock up.

Most photos—whether clicked by you or downloaded online—typically have metadata embedded in them, which can reveal various details, including sensitive information, such as your location. Knowing what metadata your photos contain and how to remove it thus becomes essential before sharing photos online.

SAVE $300: As of Aug. 29, get the Roborock Saros 10 robot vacuum and mop for $1,299.99, down from its usual price of $1,599.99. That's a discount of 19% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Roborock Saros 10 $1,299.99 at Amazon
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Tired of spending an inordinate amount of time on vacuuming and mopping? Here's the good news: you don't have to do it on your own. Not when robot vacuums exist. If you're looking for a great pick that can do it all, you'll find it with this Roborock model, which you can save a bundle on right now at Amazon.

As of Aug. 29, get the Roborock Saros 10 robot vacuum and mop for $1,299.99, down from its usual price of $1,599.99. That's $300 off and a discount of 19%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: I tested 10+ budget robot vacuums. I found 3 that really work.

This powerful robot vacuum and mop combo is meant for havy duty messes. It boasts 22,000Pa of suction with a tangle-free main brush and a hot water sonic vibration mop that spins up to 4000 times a minute per vibration. Both of those tools combined mean you get a superior clean that you don't have to do all the work to achieve.

Set up the Roborock Saros 10 to be on a customized cleaning schedule and let it run on its own with reactive AI 3.0 obstacle recognition and LiDAR navigation so it can plot a course through your home and avoid anything in its way. It can clean the edges of your room, your carpets, heavily-trafficked areas, and anywhere else that needs special attention.

You can control and schedule the vacuum via app, and you can also issue easy voice commands to go totally hands-free. It's even compatible with your favorite assistant: Alexa, Siri, and Google Home as well as Matter 2.0.

If you need a reliable robot vacuum, this is the one to watch, especially as you can snag some serious savings. Grab one and be ready for a much-needed fall refresh.

Google wants you to know you can customize the experience of your Pixel 10 phone.

The company published a blog with some hints and tricks to get more personalization out of your phone. Google listed off four tips — you should check out the whole list — but we've picked a couple we felt were most surprising or useful.

1. Make full use of Magic Cue

A major tool Google recommended for personalization of a Pixel 10 is the addition of Magic Cue, an AI-powered assistant aimed at making your life easier. The idea is that it should be able to trawl through things like your messages and emails to automatically solve problems. It should prove to be a time-save because, as Mashable's Cecily Mauran wrote, it "proactively finds information you might need to look up."

Google wrote that you "can also turn Magic Cue on or off at any time, and control what data it has access to" — so it might make sense to play with those settings to get the most out of your phone. If it does a good job, for instance, of managing your meetings, then you'd want to make sure it has access to your calendar and work emails.

2. Switch up the visual design

Google's latest Pixel interface, Material 3 Expressive, gives users plenty of options to change the look their phone. Mashable's Alex Perry wrote that it offers "deeper color customization" and a "livelier" look.

Google noted in its blog that users have lots of options, like customizing their wallpaper and shifting how buttons look. The company wrote:

"Coming only to Pixel, Material 3 Expressive’s Live Effects provides more expressive photo wallpapers by adapting to your notifications and surfacing contextual information in a more immersive and glanceable way. Material 3 Expressive also includes 14 new or updated components that feature more configuration capabilities, like emphasizing typography differently in different spots, switching up color schemes or changing the shape of various icon buttons."

There are obviously lots of cool features to explore with a new Pixel 10 phone. It promises, for instance, a top-of-the line camera and live translation. But it is also neat that there are ways to make the phone distinctly yours.

The EOMONTH function in Microsoft Excel returns the last day of a month in the past, the current month, or a month in the future. Whether you need to calculate end-of-month due dates, deadlines, expiration dates, monthly revenues, or forecasts, the EOMONTH function helps speed up this process.

So you just installed and set up Windows Subsystem For Linux (WSL) on your Windows machine, and now you’re wondering what this blinking terminal can do. Here’s a quick guide to get you started.

Windows is officially retiring the built-in Mobile Plans app. This change means that instead of using a dedicated app, you'll be using your web browser and the Windows Settings app to buy and manage cellular plans. Windows claims the main reasoning is to create a "more integrated" experience.

SAVE $20: As of Aug. 29, get the Stanley All Day Quencher Carry All for $20 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $40. That's a discount of 50% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Stanley All Day Quencher Carry All $20 at Amazon
$40 Save $20 Get Deal

Staying hydrated is essential to your health. You should make sure you're drinking enough water, but doing it in style? That's equally important. If you've already nabbed a Stanley Quencher to make sure you're getting enough quality H2O, you're probably working on meeting your hydration goals. But are you looking cool while doing it? Or are you just carrying your cup around and always looking for a place to put it? No more. That ends today with this deal.

As of Aug. 29, get the Stanley All Day Quencher Carry All for $20 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $40. That's $20 off and a discount of 50%. It's also the lowest price we've seen. This price only applies to the Lilac colorway.

SEE ALSO: What's so special about a Stanley? A guide to conspicuous consumption on TikTok.

This on-the-go carry-all transforms your Stanley tumbler into a crossbody bag with a detachable strap. It fits your 40 oz. tumbler so you can sip hands-free while doing everything you need to do in your day. It comes with three pockets: a phone slot, mesh compartment, and card sleeve, as well as a key clip and sunglasses sleeve.

Its adjustable strap makes it easy to fit on your frame, with a lightweight design so you don't feel like you're adding too much bulk to your Quencher. There's plenty of room for the essentials you need to take with you so you don't have to carry a separate bag. Plus, it has a lifetime warranty should you run into any issues.

Drink all the water you need for the day while making your tumbler function as a chic bag. You'll be glad you sprung for this accessory while it's on sale.

Saving money is always nice, but sometimes a discount just makes a product what it should've been all along. That’s the case with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, which just got a major price drop that makes it a much more compelling purchase.

It needs to be said: Danny DeVito is underrated as a comedy director. The movie star turned It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia savior is certainly best known for a long list of film and television appearances (including Taxi) that are outrageously, unforgettably funny. But he's also helmed such memorable movies as the whimsical Matilda, the twisted Strangers on a Train parody Throw Momma from the Train, the cruelly underrated Barney-inspired Death to Smoochy, and the hot comedy The War of the Roses. In fact, the shadow DeVito cast is so long that even as I discuss a remake of The War of the Roses that he has nothing to do with, I can't help but herald his contribution to comedy — in part because DeVito would never have given us The Roses. 

Look, on paper, The Roses sounds sensational. 

Adapted from the same Warren Adler novel as DeVito's 1989 The War of the Roses, this modern screenplay is written by Tony McNamara, whose scripts for The Favourite and Poor Things earned him Oscar nominations and critical acclaim. Promisingly, The Roses reunites him with Olivia Colman, the Academy Award–winning comedic dark star of The Favourite, and an actress who's been cracking this critic up since the British series Peep Show. And she's paired opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, who is less known for comedy but has been mixing it up with films like The Phoenician Scheme and The Grinch. 

Adding a generous slathering of comedy chops, the supporting cast is stacked with the likes of Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Allison Janney, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, and Zoë Chao. The Roses should be wall-to-wall laughs, ranging from giggles to guffaws to shocked gasps. 

And yet, this just isn't all that funny. I blame director Jay Roach. 

The Roses isn't funny or ferocious enough.  Credit: Jaap Buitendijk / Searchlight Pictures

DeVito's The War of the Roses is framed as a parable against divorce, told by the director himself, who plays the central couple's friend and a divorce attorney who serves as a sage narrator across the decades-long rise and fall of the Roses. From the start, McNamara's approach goes for something different by introducing a framing voiceover by the Roses themselves, Ivy (Colman) and Theo (Cumberbatch). In singsong voices, they reflect on how the film will end (true to the first movie), but with a surprisingly upbeat attitude. While there will be a twist on this voiceover's context, this chipper change does reflect the overall tonal shift from the biting 1989 version and the bizarrely bouncy 2025 remake. 

The general plot is the same: Theo was once the breadwinner of their household, while his wife, a baking genius who could make amazing culinary constructions modeled after landmarks, cared for their two kids — who have gotten too chubby for Theo's liking. When his career takes an unexpected downturn, hers is on the rise! And resentments grow. He takes on raising their kids, turning them away from sweets and toward sprints. She is working long hours and experiencing an adult world that feels increasingly distant from Theo. When divorce comes, it's acrimonious, and centered on who will get their dream house. 

The new twist here is that the husband is an architect who built his dream house with the profits from his wife's restaurants. So, Theo doesn't want to give up his masterpiece, and she — bitter over the split — doesn't want to give him it exactly because he wants it. (In DeVito's, the husband was a lawyer whose wife bought and led the renovations on their home, which he paid for.) An increasingly immature series of pranks becomes increasingly dangerous, and even deadly. And while some dialogue and certain ploys at revenge hit hard, many of the jokes don't land. What happened?

Jay Roach lacks the bite for The Roses.  Credit: Lara Cornell / Searchlight Pictures

To Roach's credit, he succeeds in establishing Ivy and Theo as a couple once ravenously in love. The scene of their first meeting feels exciting and hot, climaxing with the pair rushing into a restaurant's freezer for a quickie before they've even shared their names. This irreverence for common decorum surfaces throughout the film, reflecting a shared impulsiveness as they exchange barbs brutal but funny even to each other, or ditch a dull dinner party by faking an utterly bizarre emergency. 

Cumberbatch and Colman have solid chemistry in such scenes, and both have the devastating intensity to make McNamara's most stinging lines land. But the tone that Roach offers is just achingly middle-of-the-road. Punches feel pulled at nearly every turn. A mean comment is almost immediately undercut by an emotional catharsis, be it a burst of screaming or a jaunty justification. 

Roach's Roses lacks the gothic flair of DeVito's, which had its stars perform with an almost soap opera-like theatricality as they spat invectives against a rollicking musical score, which played like a storm brewing. By contrast, Roach's tone is broader, in the vein of his hits like Meet the Parents or his similarly lackluster remake Dinner for Schmucks. The flare, daffiness, and daring he brought to Austin Powers is long behind him. And The Roses is the worse for its absence. 

Not until the final act do the Roses amp up their war to the blisteringly comic levels teased in the trailer, and by then it feels too little too late in terms of verve or style. Worse still, the transition from bouncy American comedy with occasional mean jokes feels downright jarring when it comes to the point where they're actually aiming to kill each other. Rather than the inevitable path DeVito's lawyer once warned us of, this last act of The Roses just feels like we've walked into a different movie altogether. 

Kate McKinnon is woefully miscast in The Roses.  Credit: Jaap Buitendijk / Searchlight Pictures

Throughout the film. Roach seems to regret taking on a dark comedy, peppering his cast with comedians far more known for goofiness than wilting wit. Samberg is in the DeVito role of the husband's friend/lawyer, but is saddled with a barrage of cliched asides about the "inertia" of marriage. Even his signature warmth and silliness can't shake off the cobwebs of such dusty jokes. 

His partner onscreen is fellow SNL alum McKinnon, who, though she was a wondrous scene-stealer in Barbie, is actually exhausting here, beating a one-note joke into the ground. As a horny wifey, she wants to bang Cumberbatch's Theo. It's her only character trait besides being awkward. And whether it's flirtations that are vaguely threatening or done in front of her husband as brazen emasculation, they just aren't funny, even in a cringe sensibility. Yet Roach treats this thread like rich terrain, endlessly giving McKinnon screen time to flirt clumsily, but never hilariously. 

Other comedic talents are likewise misused. Sunita Mani (Death of a Unicorn) and Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who) have bit parts as Ivy's loyal sous chef and head waiter, mugging possibly more often than they actually get lines. Jamie Demetriou, a master of offbeat comedy, and Zoë Chao, who shined in The Afterparty, get only a couple of scenes as an annoying couple who can't read social cues. 

The only scene where supporting players bring the heat this comedy desperately needs is when Allison Janney and Samberg face off in a scene that's very reminiscent of A Marriage Story. Samberg is the bumbling male attorney cowed by the ferocious female lawyer, who is equal amounts vicious and step-on-my-neck sexy as hell. Janney is perfectly cast and makes a meal out of every diva-like line. Joan  Crawford would be proud. 

The Roses lacks thorns and pricks. 

While Cumberbatch is committed, Colman is a heavier hitter when it comes to nasty comedy. His cutting remarks score the occasional chuckle, but hers land like you'd expect from a royal bitch (like her queen in The Favourite) — devastating and regal. In these moments, we see a glimpse of what this could have been for The Roses. But Roach seems scared of giving his audience some truly detestable characters, so at every turn their bitterness is undercut by sidekicks yukking it up or an earnest attempt to even the scales with a new emotional twist or revealed vulnerability. All this softening blunts the cutting comedy that was the dark heart of DeVito's The War of the Roses (no, I never read the book). And here, it feels less dark and more a tad saucy. 

A comedy about a couple gone so toxic that they're actively competing to murder each other over their dream house should be more dynamic, darker, and damned funny. The Roses by any other name would still be a middling comedy, but compared to the caustic and sexy '89 gem? It can't shine. 

The Roses opens in theaters Aug. 28.