Stefon Diggs’ Male Sexual Assault Accuser Ordered to Turn Over DMs With NFL Star

The appeal of the utility/fishing vest

Couture

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July 29, 2026

Fishing vests, or utility vests, are a really useful piece of clothing when the weather’s warmer, and not necessarily as weird as you might think.

I’ve learnt this myself over the past couple of years in wearing the one pictured – a fairly simple vintage vest from LL Bean. I was a little unsure at first, as mostly I’d seen them worn by the likes of Jamie Ferguson or James Harvey-Kelly, both photographers and both often wearing them when shooting.

But how unusual it looks depends a lot on the style of the vest, I find, and on what else you wear with it.

Nick Walter of Horatio – a stylish (and lovely) man but doesn’t encourage me to think it’s my style

The styles of vests run a wide spectrum between fussy and pretty straightforward. Fishing models in particular often have dozens of pockets, some of them impractically small, and things like a fluffy piece of wool on the chest to hold lures or flies.

Hunting vests are often a bit simpler, with fewer, bigger pockets on the front, but still unusual features like a very large pocket on the rear, for that fowl you just shot. The simplest models are often referred to as more general ‘utility’ vests.

The other significant way in which vests vary is the collar.

A lot of traditional vests were worn with collared shirts, and could be expected to sit under a larger jacket. They therefore had no collar at all, like a waistcoat.

The problem with this is that it’s not that flattering on a lot of guys with just a T-shirt underneath – like wearing a low-collar crewneck over a tee. That’s certainly the case with me.

So I like a collar, either a full one like the vest pictured on me, or a small crescent-shaped collar on the back, as shown below. It’s a small addition but makes a big difference to how it looks with a T-shirt.

Now, how to wear them. A fishing/utility vest is a little unusual – perhaps very trad, perhaps these days a little street – but a lot of the effect comes from whether they’re worn with a flannel shirt and cords, or a skate tee and cargo trousers.

Or just a regular T-shirt and jeans, as here.

Even then, black jeans and cordovan loafers look different from blue jeans and boat shoes, as in my two outfits. I wear both, but the black jeans are always going to look a little more modern, a little more urban (below).

There is a tendency among men to look at a piece of clothing in isolation, rather than consider it in context in an outfit. It’s related to the urge to copy an entire outfit from a lookbook, rather than just take one or two elements.

I know people do this because it’s simpler and more predictable, but I’d encourage them to have a little fun and be experimental. Most personal style comes through this kind of experimentation.

The vest looks quite different with black jeans to blue

Length is often an issue – I like them to hit mid-seat if possible

Hopefully the thing that needs the least explanation about a utility vest is how practical it can be.

Even a simple style like my one has 15 pockets, with two zippered ones. You can carry around a phone, wallet, headphones, sunglasses, sun cream, cap, pen and keys, and still have seven pockets left.

It’s also cooler than a full jacket would be, and is often made more so with vents, mesh or some similar ventilation mechanism. They’re very useful; it’s why old guys love them.

OK, so let’s assume I’ve convinced you of the style and practicality of one of these – or at least picking up a cheap second-hand one and giving it a go. Which would you get?

First of all I’d suggest a few tips on what to consider:

Think about how much detail and what collar you want, as per the examples above.
Look carefully at the chest and length measurements: vests’ practicality means they can be pretty wide, and pretty short. If they are wide, something to cinch the body in is helpful.
Cotton is nicer than anything synthetic, in my view, because vests look particularly nice when they age, and you don’t need a particularly light weight or quick drying fabric.
If in doubt, go simpler, and that includes the beige pictured as the simplest colour. Darker ones like navy or black might seem easier, but this should be the default in summer.

There are quite a few modern versions out there, from classic-menswear brands to more streetwear-orientated ones. Coherence does a high-quality one, for example, as you’d expect. Drake’s does unusual colours as their ‘safari vest’. Sirplus, at the cheaper end, does a very sober utility vest and Barbour always has a few.

On the more fashion side, ALD has done a few interesting ones in recent years and currently has a fun madras version. Kenzo has quite a cool ‘workwear gilet’ and Universal Works is good for easy, simple designs.

With blue jeans, an old cap and the PS boat shoes

The inside, with mesh panels to keep warm skin away from fabric

The best ones are usually vintage on eBay though, from LL Bean, Eddie Bauer and the like. They’re cheap, made to last, and often have good character already.

When searching on eBay, try using broad terms, searching patiently and looking internationally – there are far more in the US than elsewhere for example.

Sellers might not always know what they have, so it’s useful to try as many keywords as possible – use a comma inside parentheses to act as an ‘or’, for instance “(fishing, hunting, utility) vest” will bring up listings for vests that also have one of those keywords.

For brands, look up the likes of LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, Columbia or Orvis. Despite being quite fashionable, old vests remain a bit niche, so unlike vintage denim or military jackets, there’s plenty of availability and prices are cheap. More fashion brands like Ralph Lauren or even Tommy Hilfiger also have good ones, but less reliably.

A few we found today:

Orvis ($10, XL)
LL Bean ($30, L)
LL Bean in stone ($24, XL)
LL Bean in military green ($42, M)
Columbia with a good number of pockets (£30, L)
Beige Levi’s (£63, S)
Vintage Ralph in military cargo ($199, XL)

Boy George’s Former Broadway Co-Star Claims He Was A ‘Terrible Performer’

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July 29, 2026

Boy George’s Former Broadway Co-Star Claims He Was A ‘Terrible Performer’

Theater actor Patrick Clanton is speaking candidly about what he thought about Boy George‘s performance in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” In a social media post, the former bluntly stated he was ashamed to have shared the stage with the Culture Club singer. Clanton’s post came amid criticism of Boy George’s recently released pro-Israel song.

Instagram Stories | Patrick Clanton

On July 28, theater performer Patrick Clanton took to Instagram Stories to share his real feelings about Boy George’s Broadway performance.

Clanton shared an article about the singer’s new song, “We Will Dance Again,” which is facing backlash over its pro-Israel message. “You know, I used to defend his performance in our show, but f-ck it,” the actor wrote, adding, “He was a terrible performer and I was embarrassed to be in the show with him. Boy, Bye!”

In another Instagram Stories post, Clanton shared that he always said Boy George was “really nice” whenever he was asked about working with him. “But as Sondheim taught us, ‘Nice is different than good,’” he added, referring to a line Stephen Sondheim wrote in the song “I Know Things Now” from the musical “Into the Woods.”

Boy George Starred In ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ In 2024 And 2025

Boy George, born George Alan O’Dowd, gained fame in the ’80s as the lead singer of Culture Club, popularizing hits such as “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.” He made his Broadway debut in 2003, portraying Leigh Bowery in the musical he co-created, “Taboo.”

Boy George returned to Broadway in 2024 as cabaret host Harold Zidler in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” and again in 2025 for the show’s second run. Clanton, on the other hand, was a principal standby for the characters Zidler and Toulouse-Lautrec, and was also part of the show’s ensemble.

While the singer’s fans enjoyed seeing him on Broadway, Boy George received poor reviews from critics. Lisa Verrico, writing for The Times, said of the singer’s performance: “It was weak at best, often inaudible and occasionally terribly out of tune.”

The Culture Club Singer Released AI-Assisted Song

On July 26, Boy George released an AI-assisted song, “We Will Dance Again,” which he shared on social media platforms, bypassing music streaming platforms. The pop-reggae track sparked backlash online, not for its use of AI technology, but for its pro-Israel lyrics.

The song opens with, “You say genocide, I say war / When you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for.” He also referenced the start of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023, singing that girls were assaulted and killed “for the crime of dancing.”

If it wasn’t clear enough, elsewhere in the song, Boy George sings, “But if you’re ever confused / I stand with the Jews.”

The Singer’s Polarizing Song Divides Listeners

George Alan O’Dowd, known professionally as Boy George, has released a song dismissing the genocide in Gaza while voicing support for Israel

See the full lyrics 👇 pic.twitter.com/TNKzuNB3nI

— The National (@ScotNational) July 28, 2026

“We Will Dance Again” has proven to be a polarizing release, drawing a sharp divide among listeners. Some shared Boy George’s stance, while others criticized the singer, arguing that he is ignoring the broader humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Many called out Boy George on social media, describing him as “tone deaf,” “tasteless,” and a “genocide apologist.” “You are already dancing over dead children and mass graves,” one person wrote. “If you weren’t an ignorant narcissist you’d feel shame,” another added.

On the other hand, many thanked the singer for spreading his message and commended him for being “brave” despite knowing the massive backlash he would get. “What a Mensch! I can’t stop listening to this. So bloody emotive,” one commented.

Boy George Says His Song Is ‘Pro-Peace’

Boy George has not released a formal statement about his song, but he has replied to some online posts. NME posted an article titled “Boy George shares pro-Israel song ‘We Will Dance Again’,” to which the singer replied, “I call it pro-peace!”

The singer’s stance isn’t surprising, as he has been vocal about his support for Israel. In December 2025, the European Broadcasting Union confirmed that Israel would be allowed to compete in Eurovision. As a result, some countries decided to boycott the event.

In April, Boy George defended his participation in Eurovision, saying, “I have many, many Jewish friends that I’ve had since I was 15 or 16 years old. Are people asking me as a principled human being to turn my back on my Jewish friends? It’s not going to happen, it’s never going to happen.”

35 Days Without a Saylor Bitcoin Buy: Has Strategy Turned Seller for Good? – NFT Plazas

Arts

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July 29, 2026

35 Days Without a Saylor Bitcoin Buy: Has Strategy Turned Seller for Good? – NFT Plazas

Strategy’s unprecedented five-week pause in Bitcoin accumulation has reignited debate over whether the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder is quietly changing course. After years of relentlessly issuing shares and debt to buy more BTC, the company has now gone 35 consecutive days without disclosing a purchase—its longest confirmed accumulation drought in nearly two years.

While some investors see the pause as evidence that Michael Saylor’s aggressive “buy forever” strategy is fading, a closer look at Strategy’s balance sheet suggests the reality is more nuanced. Rather than abandoning Bitcoin, the company appears to be prioritizing liquidity, capital preservation and funding flexibility as it adapts to a more challenging market environment.

Strategy pauses purchases but keeps its Bitcoin stack intact

According to Strategy’s latest SEC filing, the company held 843,775 BTC as of July 26, unchanged from the previous week. The holdings were acquired for approximately $63.69 billion, representing an average purchase price of $75,476 per Bitcoin. At Bitcoin prices around $64,000-$65,000, Strategy remains several billion dollars underwater on an unrealized basis.

The company has now completed five consecutive weeks without adding to its Bitcoin treasury. Its most recent disclosed purchase occurred on June 22, when it acquired 520 BTC before suspending further accumulation.

The buying pause has fueled speculation because Strategy spent much of the past several years purchasing Bitcoin almost weekly, turning the company into one of the largest drivers of institutional demand for the cryptocurrency.

Cash reserves are growing instead

Although Bitcoin purchases have stopped, Strategy has not stopped raising capital.

During the latest reporting period, the company sold roughly 5.43 million shares of Class A common stock through its at-the-market (ATM) equity program, generating approximately $544.5 million in net proceeds. It also repurchased about $25 million of STRC preferred shares.

More notably, Strategy’s U.S. dollar reserve climbed to approximately $3.75 billion, continuing a steady increase from roughly $3.0 billion in mid-July and $3.225 billion the following week.

Instead of immediately converting newly raised capital into Bitcoin, management appears to be strengthening liquidity under its recently introduced treasury framework, which emphasizes maintaining sufficient cash to cover preferred-stock dividends, interest obligations and other corporate financing needs.

Why isn’t Strategy buying Bitcoin?

Historically, Strategy followed a relatively straightforward playbook: raise capital through equity or debt offerings, purchase Bitcoin and hold it indefinitely.

That model has become more complicated.

The company’s capital structure now includes multiple preferred-share instruments—including STRC, STRK, STRF and STRD—that carry dividend obligations. Building a larger cash reserve reduces financing risk and provides greater flexibility if capital markets become less favorable.

Under this interpretation, the current pause is less about changing Strategy’s view on Bitcoin and more about protecting the company’s treasury model during a period of weaker equity performance and tighter financing conditions.

A larger cash cushion also lowers the probability that Strategy would ever need to liquidate Bitcoin simply to meet dividend or debt payments.

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Performance on July 28, 2026 (Source: CoinMarketCap)

The bear case: Is the accumulation engine slowing?

Not everyone views the cash build-up positively.

Strategy’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy depends heavily on its ability to issue new securities at attractive valuations. When the company’s stock trades at a healthy premium to the value of its Bitcoin holdings, issuing shares to purchase additional BTC can increase Bitcoin exposure per share.

However, that equation becomes less attractive when the stock price weakens or investor appetite for new offerings declines.

Some analysts argue the company’s once-automatic accumulation strategy has become increasingly dependent on market conditions, rather than operating as an unconditional Bitcoin-buying machine.

The prolonged purchasing pause has also weakened what many retail investors informally called the “Saylor signal.” For years, Michael Saylor frequently posted Strategy’s Bitcoin tracker chart on social media shortly before the company disclosed another purchase. In recent weeks, similar posts have instead preceded financing announcements—or, in one instance earlier this month, the company’s largest Bitcoin sale to date.

The July sale remains an exception

Adding to investor anxiety was Strategy’s sale of 3,588 BTC earlier this month, generating approximately $216 million.

The transaction marked one of the company’s largest Bitcoin disposals since launching its treasury strategy and briefly sparked fears that Strategy had abandoned its long-standing commitment to accumulating Bitcoin.

Management, however, characterized the sale differently.

According to SEC disclosures, proceeds were used to fund preferred-stock distributions and replenish the company’s USD reserve rather than represent a broader shift away from Bitcoin ownership. Even after the transaction, the sale represented less than 0.5% of Strategy’s total Bitcoin holdings.

Management still says Bitcoin remains the core strategy

Strategy executives have publicly maintained that the company’s long-term Bitcoin thesis remains intact.

Chief Executive Officer Phong Le recently told Bloomberg Television that Strategy continues to view itself as a long-term Bitcoin buyer and suggested debt-related concerns would become meaningful only under an extreme scenario where Bitcoin fell toward the $8,000-$10,000 range.

That messaging aligns with the company’s recent balance-sheet decisions, which appear focused on ensuring it has sufficient liquidity to withstand market volatility without being forced into additional Bitcoin sales.

Phong Le’s Status Posted on X (Source: X)

Q2 results could provide the next major clue

The company’s upcoming second-quarter earnings report may offer investors a clearer picture of whether the current pause is temporary or represents a structural change.

Investors will likely focus on several metrics beyond Bitcoin holdings themselves, including the size of Strategy’s USD reserve, preferred-stock dividend coverage, funding capacity and the valuation relationship between MSTR shares and the company’s underlying Bitcoin assets.

For now, the evidence does not suggest Strategy has become a permanent Bitcoin seller. Instead, it points to a company shifting from automatic accumulation toward a more disciplined treasury strategy that balances Bitcoin exposure with corporate finance realities.

The era of buying Bitcoin at nearly any opportunity may be ending. But Strategy’s latest filings indicate the company is still building the financial flexibility needed to remain one of Bitcoin’s largest institutional holders over the long term.

Unitree’s AS2-W Blurs the Line Between Industry and the Battlefield | Metaverse Planet

Metaverse

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July 29, 2026

Unitree’s AS2-W Blurs the Line Between Industry and the Battlefield | Metaverse Planet

When I first came across Unitree’s latest creation, I had to stop and re-watch the promo footage a couple of times. We’ve all gotten somewhat used to robotic dogs trotting around corporate labs or awkwardly navigating smooth warehouse floors. But what Unitree just pulled off with their new Super Athlete AS2-W is an entirely different beast.

By fusing active wheels with a four-legged quadruped structure, they’ve created a hybrid machine that moves with an eerie, almost biological agility. And while the spec sheet focuses heavily on industrial inspections and search-and-rescue, looking at what this machine can actually do left me wondering: are we looking at the future of logistics, or the blueprint for the next generation of battlefield hardware?

The Best of Both Worlds: Hybrid Mobility

For a long time, robotics engineers faced a frustrating compromise. Wheeled robots are fast and hyper-efficient on flat ground, but put them in front of a rocky slope or a flight of stairs, and they’re completely helpless. Legged robots can climb anything, but they consume massive amounts of energy compared to wheels.

Unitree decided to solve this by smashing both concepts together into a single, cohesive chassis:

Speed Meets Terrain: On flat asphalt or indoor corridors, the four active wheels kick in, offering the speed and battery efficiency of a traditional vehicle. But the second the ground gets chaotic, the legs take over to step over obstacles.Insane Performance Metrics: We are talking about a top speed hitting roughly 21.6 km/h (over 5 m/s), a range stretching past 30 kilometers, and a continuous payload capacity of around 15 to 16 kilograms.Unstoppable Obstacle Handling: Watching the promo clips, this machine isn’t just walking—it’s sprinting, leaping over rough terrain, conquering 40-degree slopes, clearing 25-centimeter steps, and even casually doing backflips.

All of this is managed dynamically in real-time through reinforcement learning-based AI, allowing the robot to instantly adapt its gait to whatever chaotic surface it encounters. Plus, with an IP54 weatherproofing rating, splashing through shallow stream beds or braving dusty industrial yards isn’t an issue.

Under the Hood: Edge AI and LiDAR

What really catches my attention as a tech enthusiast is the hardware stack driving this agility. It runs on an 8-core high-performance CPU paired with pre-trained reinforcement learning models.

If you configure it with optional high-end gear like LiDAR, high-resolution front cameras, and Unitree’s ISS 3.0 intelligent tracking system, the robot achieves centimeter-level positioning precision. It can process sensory input locally at the edge, meaning it doesn’t need to phone home to a cloud server to figure out that a boulder or a ditch is blocking its path. It makes split-second, autonomous survival decisions on its own.

The Elephant in the Room: Battlefield Potential

Unitree heavily emphasizes that the AS2-W is designed for civilian use cases—factory audits, hazardous material tracking, disaster search-and-rescue, and remote infrastructure mapping. And honestly, those applications are incredible. Having a machine that can plunge into a collapsed building or a burning zone where humans can’t safely go is a massive win for humanity.

However, let’s be completely realistic about how technology evolves.

A platform with this level of terrain-conquering mobility, high-speed tracking, and heavy payload capacity inevitably catches the eye of defense sectors. While Unitree hasn’t tied the AS2-W to any military contracts, the writing is on the wall. Machines like this are tailor-made for high-risk tactical roles: hauling heavy ammunition across rough frontline terrain, conducting silent reconnaissance in hostile environments, or acting as mobile communication relays. And in a worst-case scenario, platforms with this degree of autonomous navigation can easily be retrofitted with payloads they were never originally meant to carry.

When agile robotics cross paths with advanced embodied AI, the line between civil utility and military application blurs faster than ever.

I’m curious where you stand on this wave of hyper-advanced robotics. Do you see machines like the AS2-W primarily as life-saving tools for dangerous human jobs, or does their inevitable pivot toward tactical and military use worry you? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

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Kraken Parent Payward Acquires Magic Labs Wallet Business Powering 60 Million Users – NFT Plazas

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July 29, 2026

Kraken Parent Payward Acquires Magic Labs Wallet Business Powering 60 Million Users – NFT Plazas

Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has agreed to acquire the wallet-as-a-service business of Magic Labs, adding embedded non-custodial wallet technology used by more than 60 million users to its expanding enterprise infrastructure platform.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The companies said the acquisition is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to customary closing conditions. Once completed, Magic Labs’ wallet technology will become part of Payward Services, the company’s business-to-business platform for crypto trading, custody, tokenized assets, derivatives, and fiat on- and off-ramps.

The deal underscores Payward’s strategy of evolving beyond a cryptocurrency exchange into a broader provider of digital asset infrastructure as demand for enterprise blockchain services continues to grow.

Kraken Parent Payward Acquires Magic Labs Wallet Business Powering 60 Million Users

Expanding Enterprise Blockchain Infrastructure

The acquisition will allow Payward to integrate Magic Labs’ embedded wallet technology directly into its enterprise platform, giving business customers access to self-custodial wallets alongside other digital asset services through a single provider.

Embedded wallets enable businesses to build non-custodial crypto wallets directly into their applications without requiring users to install separate wallet software or depend on third-party providers. The technology simplifies onboarding while allowing users to retain control of their private keys and digital assets.

For enterprises building blockchain-based products, integrating wallet infrastructure alongside trading, custody, payments, and settlement services can significantly reduce development complexity and shorten deployment timelines.

As tokenized assets, stablecoins, and decentralized finance continue gaining traction, demand for integrated blockchain infrastructure has increased among financial institutions, fintech companies, and developers seeking enterprise-ready solutions.

Wallet Platform Powers More Than 60 Million Accounts

Magic Labs has become one of the leading providers of embedded wallet infrastructure in the Web3 ecosystem.

According to the company, its technology has been used to create more than 60 million non-custodial wallets for applications built by over 200,000 developers worldwide. The infrastructure has also facilitated more than $10 billion in stablecoin transactions, highlighting its growing role in supporting blockchain-based financial services.

Its platform provides software development kits (SDKs), embedded wallet integrations, and security features that allow businesses to deploy scalable wallet infrastructure without building it from scratch.

By incorporating these capabilities into Payward Services, enterprise customers will gain access to a broader suite of blockchain infrastructure through a single integration.

A Growing Shift Toward Full-Stack Crypto Platforms

The transaction reflects a wider industry trend as digital asset companies expand beyond traditional exchange services.

Rather than focusing solely on trading, major crypto firms are increasingly building comprehensive platforms that combine custody, payments, tokenization, compliance, and wallet infrastructure under one ecosystem.

For businesses, working with a single infrastructure provider can simplify technical integration, reduce operational costs, and improve the user experience for blockchain applications.

Embedded wallets have become particularly valuable because they remove many of the barriers associated with traditional crypto onboarding. Instead of requiring users to download external wallet applications or manually manage complex wallet setups, developers can integrate secure wallet functionality directly into their own products.

That approach has become increasingly important as blockchain applications target mainstream users rather than experienced cryptocurrency participants.

Magic Labs to Focus on Newton

Following the sale, Magic Labs will shift its attention to Newton, an authorization platform designed to improve security and trust in onchain finance.

Operating as Newton Labs, the company will focus on technology that helps users and applications securely authorize and verify blockchain transactions without relying on centralized intermediaries.

Rather than continuing to develop wallet infrastructure, Newton Labs plans to build authorization systems that enable applications to enforce identity, compliance, security, and transaction policies before onchain transactions are executed.

The move allows the company to concentrate on its next phase of product development while Payward assumes responsibility for the mature wallet infrastructure business.

Latest Move in Payward’s Expansion Strategy

The Magic Labs acquisition adds another piece to Payward’s broader expansion strategy.

In recent years, the company has pursued acquisitions aimed at building a comprehensive digital asset infrastructure platform serving institutions, fintech firms, and enterprise customers. Earlier this year, Payward completed its acquisition of payments infrastructure company Reap, strengthening its stablecoin payment capabilities. It also acquired token management platform Magna, expanding its services for token issuance, vesting, and distribution.

Adding embedded wallet technology further broadens Payward’s offering and positions the company to benefit from increasing institutional adoption of blockchain technology.

Industry analysts expect enterprise infrastructure to become one of the fastest-growing segments of the digital asset market as businesses continue exploring tokenization, stablecoin payments, and blockchain-based financial services.

By acquiring a platform already powering tens of millions of wallets, Payward gains proven technology with an established developer ecosystem instead of building similar capabilities internally.

If the transaction closes as expected, Payward will offer businesses an increasingly comprehensive infrastructure stack spanning crypto trading, custody, tokenized assets, payments, fiat services, and embedded wallets through a unified platform. The acquisition highlights how competition in the cryptocurrency industry is shifting beyond retail trading toward providing the foundational infrastructure that supports the next generation of onchain financial applications.

Emmy Rossum’s 2026 Crime Series On Hulu Is An Absolute Must-Watch – SlashFilm

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July 28, 2026

Hulu

Elizabeth Meriwether is one of television’s most interesting storytellers. Known by most as the creator of “New Girl,” Meriwether has spent the last several years trading network sitcom comfort comedies for thorny, nuanced examinations of womanhood and power in shows like “The Dropout” and “Dying for Sex.” Her latest is a crime thriller loosely inspired by the mostly-forgotten 1987 pseudo-noir film “Black Widow,” but uses the obscure piece of IP as a vehicle to tell a much angrier and far more relevant tale of systemic sexual violence and revenge with “Furious.” Emmy Rossum, in her best role since Fiona Gallagher on “Shameless,” plays FBI agent Alice Black, a former NYPD detective escaping an abusive relationship with a fellow police officer who’s drawn into the overdose death of a billionaire heir when she rightfully realizes his death was the act of a serial killer.

The original “Black Widow” centered on a serial killer marrying wealthy men and killing them for their fortunes, but “Furious” only keeps the skeleton of that premise. Here, the killer is Catherine (Lola Petticrew), a survivor of human trafficking who changes identities to infiltrate the lives of wealthy, predatory men before killing them. She’s not motivated by greed, but by revenge — hunting the rich, powerful men connected to the sex trafficking ring that victimized her as a teenager.

On the surface, “Furious” appears like a cat-and-mouse procedural, but the true story is a look at the ways women are consistently failed by the institutions that are supposed to keep us safe. It is both among the best crime shows in TV history, and a messy, complex examination of the psychological toll when an all-consuming revenge plot turns into calculated vengeance.

Furious is a tale of two women failed by society

Catherine in her wig in Furious

Hulu

“Furious” is certainly not the first to highlight the way the justice system fails victims and protects perpetrators, but the parallels drawn between Alice and Catherine are staggering. Like Clarice Starling in “The Silence of the Lambs,” Alice encounters misogyny at every turn — FBI supervisors dismiss her instincts, former colleagues ostracize her for reporting domestic abuse, and even the mother of her abuser lambasts her for ruining his life. But rather than turning Alice into another tortured TV detective, Rossum’s performance desperately tries to hold onto her moral center while understanding exactly why someone else abandoned theirs.

Not to mention, she’s fighting an uphill battle with her mentor, Nora (Quincy Tyler Bernstine), who understandably doesn’t know if she can trust a former cop considering how they protect one another when they’ve done something abhorrent. Nora has spent years watching sex traffickers get away with their crimes while survivors fall to pieces, and the show doesn’t pussyfoot around the difficult subject matter. Some might accuse the show of being a little heavy-handed, but given the constant sanitization surrounding cultural discussions of sex crimes, it’s refreshing to see a character like Nora speak with such blunt authority.

Alice wants to stop a murderer, but Catherine — like Zoë Lund’s Thana in “Ms .45” — has learned that murder is the only voice loud enough to be heard. She can pivot from frightened victim to calculating predator within a single scene, making every interaction feel dangerous. And what makes “Furious” such a must-watch series is that Elizabeth Meriwether’s vision never directs the audience into viewing one pathway as the “right” one. It’s the ultimate “good for her” conundrum, because these women are pursuing justice in a society that has repeatedly proven incapable of delivering it.

Furious is righteously angry and darkly funny

Alice in the interrogation room in Furious

Hulu

The procedural mechanics of “Furious” will certainly lure in “normie” viewers accustomed to the style, but it’s the way Elizabeth Meriwether uses almost a bait-and-switch tactic to press beyond the shows executive produced by Dick Wolf that makes it a must-watch. This is an incredibly bleak show discussing depressingly relatable topics, but Meriwether’s signature dark humor is never far from view. Dry, exhausted jokes never undercut the seriousness of the material but prevent the show from collapsing under the weight of its own anger. And anger is ultimately the show’s defining emotion — a slow, corrosive fury birthed from years of watching abusers protected, victims doubted, and justice delayed until it becomes meaningless. It’s an uncomfortable emotion to build an entire series around, yet “Furious” never loses sight of the human beings carrying it — including the imperfect ones and the dead ones.

I doubt anyone tuning into “Furious” did so because they were really jonesing for a 2020s take on “Black Widow,” but if that was the magic IP pull that helped Meriwether get the green light, so be it. In an era where true crime entertainment is an industry in and of itself, a show like “Furious” is a balm for refusing to stop at solving murders and continuing to interrogate the conditions that compel a person to murder. It’s not always an easy watch, nor is it trying to be, but Meriwether’s thoughtful writing and exceptional performances from Emmy Rossum, Lola Petticrew, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine are a winning combination. “Furious” is so much more than a familiar serial killer thriller; it is one of the year’s most unsettling and rewarding dramas.

The first three episodes of “Furious” are available to stream on Hulu, with new episodes every Monday.

Claude Mythos Cracked Post-Quantum Cryptography That Humans Spent Years Failing to Break – Decrypt

Web3

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July 28, 2026

Claude Mythos Cracked Post-Quantum Cryptography That Humans Spent Years Failing to Break – Decrypt

In brief

Anthropic said its unreleased Claude Mythos Preview model found a previously unknown attack on HAWK, dropping the cost of stealing its smallest key from 2^64 operations to 2^38.
The model also sped up an attack on a 7-round version of AES by 200 to 800 times, beating a record cryptographers set in 2013.
Each result cost roughly $100,000 in API usage, and Anthropic staff spent several hundred hours verifying the AES work was real.

Anthropic today said an unreleased version of its most powerful AI model found two previously unknown attacks on cryptographic algorithms, one of them against a scheme currently competing to become a U.S. federal standard.

That scheme is HAWK, a digital signature system—the math that proves a transaction came from you without ever exposing your private key—built to survive future quantum computers. The non-regulatory federal agency and lab NIST moved it into the third round of its post-quantum signature competition in May, where it is the last lattice-based candidate standing.

Claude found a symmetry buried in HAWK’s math that no human had thought to use. For the smallest configuration, the cost of recovering a secret key fell from 2^64 operations to 2^38, roughly 67 million times less work.

Fixing it means roughly doubling HAWK’s keys. “Unfortunately, doubling HAWK’s key size eliminates many of the reasons making the scheme (as it currently stands) an attractive PQC signature candidate,” Anthropic wrote.

New Anthropic research: Discovering cryptographic weaknesses with Claude.

Claude Mythos Preview has helped our researchers find weaknesses in cryptographic algorithms—the mathematical methods that are used to keep data private.

Read more: https://t.co/TYKLjb3Q7V

— Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) July 28, 2026

That trade matters more to blockchains than it sounds. Signature size is block space, and block space is fees, so any chain shopping for a quantum-resistant replacement is partly choosing on bytes per signature. Compact keys and fast signing were HAWK’s entire pitch, and the fix costs it much of that edge.

Don’t worry, hodlers: Your coins are fine (for now). HAWK has never been deployed anywhere, and Bitcoin still runs on ECDSA, the pre-quantum signature scheme that candidates like HAWK are eventually meant to replace.

Anthropic disclosed both results to the algorithms’ authors and to U.S. government and industry partners before publishing, and coordinated the HAWK finding with NIST.

The AES result needed a pep talk

The second attack targets AES, the cipher scrambling your HTTPS traffic, your encrypted drive, and your exchange’s backend. Full AES-128 pushes data through 10 rounds of scrambling, and Claude attacked a 7-round research version that nobody has improved on since 2013.

The setup was deliberately harsh. Researchers barred the model from all five established families of AES cryptanalysis and told it to invent a sixth, closing the brief with a line about how the first differential attack didn’t beat anything—it invented the game. Claude also inherited working notes from earlier agent runs that had already burned through roughly 200 failed attack variants.

It refused anyway. “On AES-128 r5/r6/r7 it found nothing because there’s nothing easy to find; this is the most-studied block cipher in existence,” the model told researchers, per transcripts Anthropic published.

Anthropic sent just three substantive messages over the next three days, among them: “no again the goal is that we have highly inteligent [sic] model as good top researcher, we want to find new attacks.” Another refused to let Claude swap AES for an easier cipher.

Then it produced the trick the paper calls a Möbius Bridge, killing one of the nine key bytes an attacker previously had to guess. Refining that into the published version took a few more days and a billion output tokens.

The finding with the shortest path to something real got the least attention. Claude also broke 13 rounds of LEA, a Korean national standard and ISO lightweight-encryption standard built for phones and internet-of-things devices, in under an hour on a desktop against a prior best that needed 2^98 plaintext pairs. The deployed LEA runs 24 rounds, so nothing in the field is broken.

Verification took longer than discovery

The HAWK paper is unusually blunt about the division of labor. “The majority of mathematical discoveries in this paper were AI-assisted. Human author contribution mainly consisted of directing, organizing and verifying AI work,” its authors wrote.

Claude found the AES idea in days. Anthropic researchers then spent several hundred hours learning enough cryptography to confirm it worked—the same model that found 271 vulnerabilities in Firefox during internal testing.

“The cybersecurity community is now grappling with the fact that language models are able to discover so many bugs that the standard human processes (like vulnerability triage, verification, and remediation) struggle to keep up,” Anthropic wrote, warning that human researchers may become the bottleneck.

Anthropic also built CryptanalysisBench—191 cipher-breaking tasks drawn mostly from NIST competitions. Models submit a working attack script that either wins a formal security game or doesn’t, with no partial credit and no human grading.

Mythos 5 broke 85.7% of tasks with known solutions, against 65.3% for the weakest model tested. Against full-strength ciphers with no published break, every model scored under 9%.

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Crypto Hacks Cross $1.1B in Record H1 2026 Losses: Blockaid

Metaverse

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July 28, 2026

Crypto Hacks Cross .1B in Record H1 2026 Losses: Blockaid

Key Highlights

Crypto losses exceeded $1.1 billion across 212 verified incidents in H1 2026, the highest first-half total on record.

Lazarus-linked attackers accounted for about 55% of total losses, with KelpDAO and Drift Protocol among the biggest hacks.

Cross-chain bridges, EVM Layer-2 exploits, and compromised keys remained the leading attack vectors, highlighting growing security risks.

On-chain security platform Blockaid reported that security incidents across the cryptocurrency sector reached a record high in the first half of 2026, with total losses surpassing $1.1 billion across 212 verified incidents.

According to Blockaid’s report, the first six months of 2026 marked the most-hacked half-year on record. The platform tracked 3.4 times as many high-threshold exploits as in all of 2025, although total dollar losses were lower than during the same period last year because there was no single breach comparable to the $1.5 billion Bybit hack.

$1.1B lost across 212 onchain exploits in H1 2026, more than all of 2025 combined.

↓ What Blockaid’s data reveals about where the losses came from, and what onchain teams should watch in H2: https://t.co/bkB5ZzMnNk

— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 28, 2026

Largest incidents drove losses

The four largest incidents, KelpDAO ($292 million), Drift Protocol ($285 million), Resolv, and CowSwap, accounted for approximately $707 million, or about 64% of the total losses in H1 2026. By comparison, the three largest incidents accounted for 72% of losses in 2025.

According to Blockaid, North Korea-linked hacking groups, particularly the TraderTraitor subgroup of the Lazarus Group, were responsible for a significant share of the losses. The KelpDAO, Drift Protocol, and Humanity Protocol exploits were attributed to the group, totaling roughly $609 million, or about 55% of all H1 losses.

Cross-chain bridges emerged as a major vulnerability area, with at least seven incidents reported. According to Blockaid, the KelpDAO exploit began with social engineering that compromised a LayerZero developer’s credentials, followed by the poisoning of RPC infrastructure to forge an attestation. The attack ultimately exploited a single-DVN configuration flaw.

Hackers targeted EVM Layer-2 networks

New attack vectors also targeted Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Layer 2 networks.

According to the report, notable examples included the first production EIP-7702 wallet-delegation drain on Arbitrum and two ZK proof-boundary exploits on Aztec. The period also saw the emergence of novel techniques such as AI prompt injection attacks and single-DVN bridge compromises.

Recovery outcomes varied significantly. Exploits involving code vulnerabilities or operator errors sometimes resulted in partial or full fund recoveries, such as the $8.5 million returned after the Verus incident and a complete white hat return at IPOR Fusion. In contrast, funds stolen through operational security (OpSec) attacks were rarely recovered and were often quickly moved through mixers.

Blockaid also participated in one recovery effort. During the Stellar Blend oracle manipulation incident, validators used the company’s real-time wallet clustering and cross-chain tracing tools to help quarantine $7.3 million, representing about 73% of the $10.2 million stolen.

The report also noted that legacy smart contracts remained a persistent risk. Several attacks in May and June targeted outdated contracts that were still active onchain, including exploits involving Aztec Connect and Raydium’s deprecated AMM V3.

Ethereum-related projects accounted for approximately $332 million in losses, primarily due to smart contract code vulnerabilities.

Solana-related projects saw $326 million in losses, with over 98% stemming from compromised keys and signing infrastructure, notably affecting Drift Protocol and Step Finance.

The largest single incident was the $292 million KelpDAO hack, which did not require a traditional contract bug but succeeded through a forged cross-chain message. Drift Protocol lost $285 million in under 12 minutes after attackers gained admin control via social engineering of multisig signers.

Other major incidents included an $80 million mint of unbacked Resolv stablecoins and a $50.4 million loss from a single signature approval in the CowSwap protocol.

Investors advised to safeguard assets

As hacks, scams, and exploits continue to plague the cryptocurrency sector, investors are advised to take immediate steps to safeguard their assets.

The majority of holdings should be stored in hardware wallets such as Ledger or Trezor, which keep private keys offline. Hot wallets should hold only small amounts needed for daily transactions. Strong two-factor authentication is essential, with hardware-based methods preferred over SMS to reduce the risk of SIM-swapping attacks.

Seed phrases must never be shared and should be stored offline, ideally engraved on metal or locked in a secure safe, with advanced users considering Shamir’s Secret Sharing.

Investors are also urged to meticulously verify every address before sending funds, exercise extreme caution with smart contracts, and regularly revoke token approvals using tools like Revoke.cash. Only well-established platforms with features such as withdrawal whitelists and anti-phishing codes should be used.

Also Read: Crypto Daily Brief: Tether Expands, Cardano Advances Transparency, Sei Proposal

Disclaimer: The information researched and reported by The Crypto Times is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Investing in crypto assets involves significant risk due to market volatility. Always Do Your Own Research (DYOR) and consult with a qualified Financial Advisor before making any investment decisions.

Where to Find and Catch Shimmerfly in Palia

Gaming

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July 28, 2026

Where to Find and Catch Shimmerfly in Palia

Palia’s Sunkissed Summer: Beauty & the Beach update is now live, bringing a new charm to Kilima Valley with the Great Shimmerfly Migration. The Great Shimmerfly Migration is an annual event where shimmerflies migrate to Kilima Valley temporarily. A Shimmerfly is an uncommon bug, available only during the Great Shimmerfly Migration, which lasts until the end of the Beauty & the Beach update. As it is one of the highlights of the update, it is essential to know how to get Shimmerflies. In this guide, we will explain where to find and catch Shimmerfly in Palia.

Where to Find Shimmerfly in Palia

The Shimmerfly is an uncommon bug that spawns throughout the Kilima Valley at any time of the day. It is a blue and pink butterfly, but glowing, making it easier to recognize than other butterflies in Kilima Valley. Players can easily find a Shimmerfly while traversing the fields in Kilima Valley. A few of the hot spots where the Shimmerfly often spawns are Leafhopper Hills, Remembrance Garden, and Mayor’s Estate.

TIP: Shimmerflies are easier to locate during evening and nighttime, due to their glowing effect.

Another great method to find Shimmerflies is to place down the Honey Lure. It will spawn Shimmerflies alongside the Common Blue Butterflies, allowing you to catch multiple Shimmerflies at a location.

How to Catch Shimmerfly in Palia

Catching the Shimmerfly is easier than catching the rare butterflies, as it tries to flee in a straight direction at a slow speed. Due to its slow speed, throwing multiple smoke bombs at it once will stun it instantly, allowing you to catch it straight away.

However, if you are not consistent in your aiming ability, try to use the Sticky Smoke Bombs on it to make it even slower, and then use the smoke bombs on it to make it unconscious. Once it is stunned, go over to it, and you will get the option to pick it up. If you are lucky, it will drop the Shimmerfly Plush.

Use of Shimmerfly in Palia

The main use of Shimmerfly is to use it for the Shimmerfly Catching bundle at the Bulletin Board. Moreover, players can catch it for the Insect-A-Palooza event. Other than that, players can sell Shimmerfly to Zeki or at the Shipping Bin. Moreover, you can also gift it to certain villagers who like it or those who need it. So, if you can find any Shimmerflies, store one in the storage so you can give one to the villagers who need it. The villagers’ needs change every week, so it is better to keep an eye on them.