Mark Fischbach, the YouTube creator known as Markiplier who has spent nearly 15 years building an audience of more than 38 million subscribers by playing indie-horror video games on camera, has pulled off something that most independent filmmakers never manage — a self-financed, self-distributed debut feature that has grossed more than $30 million domestically against a $3 million budget.

Iron Lung, a 127-minute sci-fi adaptation of a video game Fischbach wrote, directed, starred in, and edited himself, opened to $18.3 million in its first weekend and has since doubled that figure worldwide in just two weeks, nearly matching the $19.1 million debut of Send Help, a $40 million thriller from Disney-owned 20th Century Studios. Fischbach declined deals from traditional distributors and instead spent months booking theaters privately, encouraging fans to reserve tickets online; when prospective viewers found the film wasn’t screening in their city, they called local cinemas to request it, eventually landing Iron Lung on more than 3,000 screens across North America — all without a single paid media campaign.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More than two years after Broadcom took over VMware, the virtualization company’s customers are still grappling with higher prices, uncertainty, and the challenges of reducing vendor lock-in.

Today, CloudBolt Software released a report, “The Mass Exodus That Never Was: The Squeeze Is Just Beginning,” that provides insight into those struggles. CloudBolt is a hybrid cloud management platform provider that aims to identify VMware customers’ pain points so it can sell them relevant solutions. In the report, CloudBolt said it surveyed 302 IT decision-makers (director-level or higher) at North American companies with at least 1,000 employees in January. The survey is far from comprehensive, but it offers a look at the obstacles these users face.

Broadcom closed its VMware acquisition in November 2023, and last month, 88 percent of survey respondents still described the change as “disruptive.” Per the survey, the most cited drivers of disruption were price increases (named by 89 percent of respondents), followed by uncertainty about Broadcom’s plans (85 percent), support quality concerns (78 percent), Broadcom shifting VMware from perpetual licenses to subscriptions (72 percent), changes to VMware’s partner program (68 percent), and the forced bundling of products (65 percent).

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Over the years, Apple Music has improved its algorithmic playlists. There’s now an AI DJ, and you can use ChatGPT to generate playlists. With iOS 26.4, which is currently in beta, Apple wants you to make playlists with its own AI tech. The upcoming update includes a feature called “Playlist Playground,” which lets you generate AI playlists directly in the Apple Music app—as long as you’re running iOS 26.4.

How to download and install iOS 26.4

I do not recommend installing and running beta versions of iOS on your primary iPhone. Beta software is unfinished, which means you could run into bugs and glitches that may impact how you use your iPhone, or even result in data loss. If you’re itching to try out new features, it’s best to ensure that you’ve taken a complete backup of your iPhone first. That way, you can always revert to an older installation in case something goes wrong. Even so, it’s safer to run test software on a backup iPhone as opposed to your daily driver.

With that said, if you’re sure you want to go ahead and install iOS 26.4 right now, you can go to Settings > General > Software Update on your iPhone. Select Beta Updates > iOS 26 Developer Beta. Now, go back to the Software Update page and wait until you see iOS 26.4 Beta 1 appear. You can now download and install the update to try this new Apple Music feature.

How to create AI-generated playlists in Apple Music

Once you’re on iOS 26.4, you can open the Music app to get started with this feature. Tap the Library tab in the bottom bar, and then select the New Playlist button in the top-right corner. You should see the Playlist Playground feature here. (Note that this feature may not appear on devices that don’t support Apple Intelligence, or if your Apple Account is from a region where Apple has restricted the rollout of AI features.)

Once you activate the feature, you’ll be able to generate playlists with AI. From here, you tell the AI what you want to listen to. You could get specific, with certain artists, songs, or genres, or ask for playlists that encompass a certain idea of mood. Apple has some pre-written prompts to get you started, such as “hip-hop party songs,” but you can use your own text prompts too. AI-generated playlists have 25 songs by default, and you do have the option to customize the playlist further after it’s created. You’ll also be able to edit the title, cover image, and the description of AI-generated playlists. These playlists can be shared with others or displayed on your Apple Music profile, just like other playlists you create on the streaming service. It’s similar in concept to other AI playlist generators on platforms like Spotify or YouTube Music.

Try AI-generated playlists without installing iOS 26.4

While Apple Music’s Playlist Playground feature is a good start, it’s not yet available to those of us who are unwilling to install developer beta versions of iOS 26. If that’s you, there are other options out there for AI generated Apple Music playlists. There’s the aforementioned ChatGPT integration, of course, but you could also use a third-party app, like PlaylistAI. It has many prompts for you to get started with, and can even generate playlists from music festival posters. The app does prompt you to get a subscription, but you can skip that prompt and use the free tier to generate a playlist quickly.

Imagine turning the key or pressing the start button of your car—and nothing happens. Not because the battery is dead or the engine is broken but because a server no longer answers. For a growing number of cars, that scenario isn’t hypothetical.

As vehicles become platforms for software and subscriptions, their longevity is increasingly tied to the survival of the companies behind their code. When those companies fail, the consequences ripple far beyond a bad app update and into the basic question of whether a car still functions as a car.

Over the years, automotive software has expanded from performing rudimentary engine management and onboard diagnostics to powering today’s interconnected, software-defined vehicles. Smartphone apps can now handle tasks like unlocking doors, flashing headlights, and preconditioning cabins—and some models won’t unlock at all unless a phone running the manufacturer’s app is within range.

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Netflix has been in the game adaptation business for a while now, but until recently most of its attention had been on adapting video games. That’s still very much happening, but the streaming giant is also now buying up rights for board game IP too, with the latest being Asmodee’s Ticket to Ride.

Netflix will look to greenlight a number of projects spanning TV, film and “additional formats,” it wrote in a press release. The first of these will be a feature film written by Ben Mekler and Chris Amick. Ticket to Ride creator Alan R. Moon will serve as an executive producer on the project, which will be the game’s first on-screen adaptation. Exactly what it will look like is not yet clear, but the internet already has plenty of theories.

Ticket to Ride is a train-themed turn-based strategy and route-building game first released over 20 years ago. Since then it has gone on to ship more than 20 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. It’s also been given the video game adaptation treatment before.

This is actually the second of Asmodee’s IP that Netflix has acquired the rights to, after announcing last year that Catan will also be making its way to screens in various forms. And it isn’t just interested in scripted TV and movie opportunities. In early 2025, the company also signed a deal with Hasbro to adapt Monopoly into a TV game show.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/netflix-is-adapting-the-board-game-ticket-to-ride-180505164.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader shares a report: A moderator on diyAudio set up an experiment to determine whether listeners could differentiate between audio run through pro audio copper wire, a banana, and wet mud. Spoiler alert: the results indicated that users were unable to accurately distinguish between these different ‘interfaces.’

Pano, the moderator who built the experiment, invited other members on the forum to listen to various sound clips with four different versions: one taken from the original CD file, with the three others recorded through 180cm of pro audio copper wire, via 20cm of wet mud, through 120cm of old microphone cable soldered to US pennies, and via a 13cm banana, and 120cm of the same setup as earlier.

Initial test results showed that it’s extremely difficult for listeners to correctly pick out which audio track used which wiring setup. “The amazing thing is how much alike these files sound. The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn’t,” Pano said. “All of the re-recordings should be obvious, but they aren’t.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The Anker Prime 20,000mAh 200W Power Bank is built for the moments when your phone is at 3%, your laptop is at 8%, and there is no outlet in sight. Right now, it is selling for $79.99 on Woot, down from its listed $139.99. That is a $60 drop, or about 43% off. The same model is also $79.99 refurbished on Amazon, so this price puts a new unit on par with what you would normally pay for a refurb. Also, it comes with a two-year manufacturer’s limited warranty. Shipping is free for Amazon Prime members, while others pay $6, and this deal runs for 11 more days or until it sells out.

Anker Prime 20,000mAh 200W Power Bank

$79.99

$139.99
Save $60.00

$79.99

$139.99
Save $60.00

This is a high-output power bank meant for more than topping off a phone. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, with a combined 200W total output. Each USB-C port can deliver up to 100W on its own, which is enough to charge two devices at full speed—Anker says it can boost an iPhone 16 Pro to 30% in 15 minutes. In practice, its 20,000mAh capacity translates to roughly three to four full smartphone charges or a significant recharge for a light laptop. Its digital display shows remaining battery percentage along with real-time input and output, so you can see exactly how much power is flowing in or out. When the battery itself runs low, it supports 100W input over USB-C and can recharge in about 1 hour and 15 minutes, provided you use a compatible high-wattage charger.

As for its portability, at 4.9 by 2.1 by 1.9 inches, it is compact for the power it offers, but it is still heavier than basic 10,000mAh banks. This makes more sense in a backpack than in a pocket. That said, it does not support app control, which may matter if you want deeper monitoring. For frequent travelers, remote workers, or anyone charging multiple devices at once, the performance matches the current price. For casual use, it may have more capacity and output than you actually need.

Earlier this month, Valve announced it was delaying the release of its new Steam Machine desktop and Steam Frame VR headset due to memory and storage shortages that have been cascading across the PC industry since late 2025. But those shortages are also coming for products that have already launched.

Valve had added a note to its Steam Deck page noting that the device would be “out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.” None of Valve’s three listed Steam Deck configurations are currently available to buy, nor are any of the certified refurbished Steam Deck configurations that Valve sometimes offers.

Valve hasn’t announced any price increases for the Deck, at least not yet—the 512GB OLED model is still listed at $549 and the 1TB version at $649. But the basic 256GB LCD model has been formally discontinued now that it has sold out, increasing the Deck’s de facto starting price from $399 to $549. Valve announced in December that it was ending production on the LCD version of the Deck and that it wouldn’t be restocked once it sold out.

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Web designers of the world: The Automattic-owned WordPress.com is further embracing AI on its platform. On Tuesday, it expanded its one-off AI site builder into a persistent AI assistant for editing and media creation.

In the site editor, the AI assistant can help with site-wide structure and design choices. For example, you can ask the chatbot to “give me more font options that feel clean and professional or “change my site colors to be brighter and bolder.” It also includes image generation and writing assistance, such as “rewrite this to sound more confident.” (Who needs learning when you have automation!)

The assistant can also now be integrated into your site’s media library. It can generate new images or make prompted edits to your existing ones. Examples include “update this image to be black and white” or “replace this stack of pancakes with waffles.” (Just don’t fake that if your business sells breakfast food, okay?) WordPress says the assistant understands your website’s look and brand and can tailor the media accordingly.

WordPress also added the AI assistant to the platform’s team chat, Block Notes. You can summon the chatbot from within your team chat threads.

The tool is available for WordPress.com’s Business or Commerce plans. (Or, if you made your site using the AI builder, it’s enabled by default, no matter which plan you use.) The feature works best with the platform’s block themes; it’s much more limited with classic ones. You’ll find the toggle to activate the AI assistant in your site settings under the “AI tools” section.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/wordpress-adds-an-ai-assistant-174719676.html?src=rss

With iOS 18, Apple introduced a feature that allowed you to set a charge limit on your iPhone. The goal was to extend the lifespan of the battery, by limiting how often you fully charge it up. Batteries age with each full charging cycle, so by preventing your battery from charging to 100% every time you keep it plugged in, you can slow down that aging process, which means your device will last longer in between charges.

Now, that same feature is coming to your Mac. Apple is currently testing the feature as part of macOS 26.4, which means you’ll soon be able to ask macOS to stop charging your laptop once the battery level hits a specific charge level. This feature is great for anyone that keeps their MacBook plugged in all the time while working: It’ll allow you to ask your MacBook to stop charging when the battery is at 80%, or at any charge level up to 100%.

Battery optimization is nothing new for macOS

Credit: Pranay Parab

To be clear, your MacBook ships with a battery optimization feature already, which is enabled by default. This feature automatically slows down your MacBook’s charging speed once the charge level reaches 80%. Based on your past usage habits, macOS waits to continue charging your MacBook until it thinks you’ll need to use the laptop again. So, if you plug in your MacBook at night, and you typically take it off the charger at 8 a.m., it might keep your MacBook at 80% until 7 a.m., then charge the extra 20% over the following hour.

You can check if it’s enabled by clicking the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your Mac’s screen, and going to System Settings > Battery. Click the i button next to Battery Health and you’ll see that Optimized Battery Charging is enabled.

But this is all automated, based on how you use your MacBook. What makes this new charging feature different is that you set the charge limit manually. That way, if you work with your MacBook plugged in all day, it doesn’t need to charge to 100% whenever it thinks it should. Instead, you can keep it at any charge limit between 80% and 100%.

How to enable charge limit on your MacBook

This new feature is available with macOS 26.4, which is currently available in the Developer Beta channel for Mac updates. I strongly recommend against installing this on your primary MacBook, as issues with the beta could mean losing data or bricking your laptop. Unless Apple decides to pull the feature, it should ship to everyone with the general release of macOS 26.4.

If you have a spare MacBook where you’ve installed macOS 26.4 beta, you can go to System Settings > Battery, where you’ll see the “Charge Limit” feature listed under Battery Health. Here, you can manually limit the maximum charging level between 80% and 100%.

Third-party battery management apps are better

While Apple’s methods to reduce battery aging are good enough for most people, you can do a lot more with third-party battery management apps. Those apps will allow you to do more than just set a charge limit. For instance, you can start charging the Mac when the battery hits 50% and stop charging when it’s at 80%, or stop charging if the battery is too hot.

Micron has begun mass production of the 9650 series, the industry’s first PCIe 6.0 SSD, capable of sequential read speeds up to 28 GB/s and random read performance of 5.5 million IOPS — roughly double the throughput of the fastest PCIe 5.0 drives available today.

The drive targets AI and data center workloads and ships in E1.S and E3.S form factors across two variants: the Pro, available in capacities up to 30.72 TB, and the endurance-oriented Max, topping out at 25.6 TB. Both variants share the same peak sequential and random speeds but diverge on mixed workloads and endurance ratings — the Max 25.6 TB carries a random endurance rating of 140,160 TBW compared to 56,064 TBW on the Pro 30.72 TB.

Power draw holds at 25 watts, unchanged from high-end PCIe 5.0 enterprise SSDs, though the 9650 is Micron’s first drive to support liquid cooling alongside air. Consumer platforms are not expected to adopt PCIe 6.0 until 2030.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Warner Bros. Discovery is giving Paramount one more week to make its best and final offer, leaving the door open for a deal that could upend its merger agreement with Netflix.

Officially, Warner Bros. is still committed to Netflix. The company today scheduled a special meeting date of March 20 and recommended that shareholders vote for the Netflix merger. But Warner Bros. is simultaneously opening negotiations with Paramount despite calling all of its previous offers deficient.

“Netflix has provided WBD a limited waiver under the terms of WBD’s merger agreement with Netflix, permitting WBD to engage in discussions with Paramount Skydance for a seven-day period ending on February 23, 2026 to seek clarity for WBD stockholders and provide PSKY the ability to make its best and final offer,” Warner Bros. said today.

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