One thing SEGA’s MegaDrive/Genisis and the Commodore Amiga had in common was–aside from the Motorola 68000 processor– being known for excellent music in games. As [reassembler] continues his quest to de-assemble Sonic: The Hedgehog and re-assemble the code to run on Amiga, getting the music right is a key challenge. Rather than pull MIDI info or recreate the sound by ear, [reassembler] has written a program called Sonic2MOD to automatically take the assembly file music from the MegaDrive catridge and turn it into an Amiga-style MODfile. He’s also made a video about it that you’ll find embedded below.

Of course how music gets made differs widly on the two systems. Amiga, famously has Paula, a custom ASIC designed for sampling, allowing you to play four eight-bit voices. The Sega, of course, has that glorious FM-synthesis chip from Yamaha synthesizing five channels of CD-quality sound and one channel of sample. It’s not as well known, but the Sega also has a bonus TI-compatible programmable sound chip (PSG) that can handle 3 square-wave tone channels and one noise channel. That’s ten total channels to the Amiga’s four, and CD-quality to 8-bit voices. Knowing all that, we were very curious how close to SEGA’s original music [reassembler] could get on the Amiga.

Before he could show us, [reassembler] needed to decode the SMPS files used on Sonic: The Hedgehog and many other MegaDrive games. Presumably he could have gotten a MIDI file online somewhere– there are oodles– but the goal was to reverse engineer Sonic from its cartridge for the Amiga, not download a lot of resources from the web. SMPS is a sort of programing language for sound, telling the Yamaha and PSG chips what to do.

In some ways, it’s not unlike the Amiga’s MOD format, which programmatically specifies how to play the sampled voices also stored in the file. Translating from one to another is a matter of reading the SMPS files, extracting the timing, volume, vibrato, et cetera, and translate that into a form the MOD file can use. Then [reassembler] needed to generate samples, which was an added hiccup because the Amiga can only handle 3 octaves vs the seven of the SEGA’s FM synthesizer. He’s able to solve this simply by generating multiple samples to span the Yamaha chip’s range, though, again, at only 8-bit fidelity. It doesn’t sound half bad.

What about the four-channel limit? That’s where a bit of artistry comes in; the automated tool produces MOD files with more voices, which MOD trackers can handle at increased computational load. Computational load you don’t need when trying to play a game. Scaling down the soundtrack to the Amiga’s limits is something [reassembler] already has practice with from his famous OutRun port, though, so we’re sure he’ll get it done.

All of this effort just to match the Mega Drive makes us appreciate what a capable little computer the Sega console was; why, you can even check your stocks with it! We’ve already featured [reassembler]’s Sonic port once before, but this music tool was interesting enough we couldn’t help ourselves coming back to it. The ability to play MOD files were pretty impressive when the Amiga came out, but nowadays all you need is a ten-cent microcontroller.

Although not really a cost-effective or a required skill unless you have some very specific needs not met by off-the-shelf power resistor options, making your own own wirewound power resistor is definitely educational, as well as a fascinating look at a common part that few people spare a thought on. Cue [TheElectronBench]’s video tutorial on how to make one of these components from scratch.

The resistance value is determined by the length of nichrome wire, which is an alloy of nickel and chromium (NiCr) with a resistivity of around 1.12 µΩ/m. It’s also extremely durable when heated, as it forms a protective outer layer of chromium oxide. This makes it suitable for very high power levels, but also requires the rest of the power resistor assembly to be able to take a similar punishment.

For the inner tube of this DIY power resistor a tube of alumina ceramic was used, around which the nichrome wire is wound. This resistor targets 15 Ohm at a maximum load of 50 Watt, this means a current of about 1.83 A is expected at 27.4 V. The used nichrome wire has a measured resistance of 10.4 Ohm, ergo 1.44 meter has to be cut and wound.

This entire assembly is then embedded in refractory cement (fireproof cement), as this will keep the wire in place, while also able to take the intense temperature cycling during operation. As a bonus this will prevent toasting the surrounding environment too much, never mind lighting things on fire as the nichrome wire heats up.

As explained in the video, this is hardly the only way to create such a power resistor, with multiple types of alternative alloys available, different cores to wind around and various options to embed the assembly. The demonstrated method is however one that should give solid results and be well within the capabilities and budget of a hobbyist.

An important point with nichrome is that you cannot really solder to it, so you’ll need something along the lines of a mechanical (crimping) connection. There are also different winding methods that can affect the inductance of the resistor, since this type of resistor is by its design also a coil. This is however not covered in the video as for most applications it’s not an issue.

Overall, this video tutorial would seem to be a solid introduction to nichrome power resistors, including coverage of many issues you may encounter along the way. Feel free to sound off in the comment section with your own experiences with power resistors, especially if you made them as well.

This week, we saw major decisions that could rock the tech world, as social media was called addictive in a landmark trial, and the US banned foreign Wi-Fi routers.

To catch up on this, as well as the latest reviews and other essential tech news stories, scroll down for our full ICYMI recap of the week.

Tozero’s plant outside Munich was set up in six months and is capable of producing 100 tonnes of high-purity lithium carbonate from old batteries each year.

German battery and raw materials recycling start-up Tozero has opened a new industrial plant for the production of domestic lithium and graphite, which it claims as a European first.

The new facility in Munich is capable of processing 1,500 tonnes of waste per year by turning end-of-life lithium ion batteries into domestic supplies of lithium, graphite and nickel-cobalt blends at an industrial scale.

Such materials are considered critical for use in electric vehicle, grid-scale storage and industrial electrification, but Tozero said that Europe and the US are currently massively reliant on materials imported from China.

It said its technology can give Europe “a domestic source of critical materials” for use by companies across construction, ceramics and lubricants, with further materials and industries to follow.

“Europe doesn’t yet have the critical raw materials it needs to build and scale its own energy transition and battery industry,” said Sarah Fleischer, co-founder and CEO of Tozero.

“Our technology, now scaled 10,000 times, changes this by enabling us to recycle end-of-life batteries and extract these materials at industrial scale for the first time.”

The plant at the Gendorf chemical park, outside Munich, was set up in six months and is capable of producing 100 tonnes of high-purity lithium carbonate from old batteries – which Tozero equated to “saving 6,000 electric vehicles’ worth of batteries from landfill” – each year.

The company said the Gendorf plant will now form the blueprint for a full-scale commercial facility, planned for 2030 and capable of processing 45,000 tonnes of battery waste per year.

“In just under four years, Tozero has gone from lab-scale experiments to industrial operations and we’re consistently proving that recycling isn’t just a pilot project – it can be delivered at a level capable of giving Europe a homegrown, circular supply of critical materials its future runs on,” Fleischer added.

The Munich-based company was founded in 2022 by Fleischer – a serial entrepreneur and mechanical engineer – and Dr Ksenija Milicevic Neumann, an expert in metallurgy.

Tozero claims a “proprietary, acid-free hydrometallurgy process” allows battery recycling to happen “in a single, superior cycle”, ensuring recovered materials are pure enough to feed directly back into manufacturing and creating a circular European supply chain.

It has completed pilots with companies such as BMW and works with partners in 10 European countries.

Last month, R3 Robotics – founded in Luxembourg but based in Karlsruhe, Germany – raised €20m to scale its automated disassembly of electric vehicles for preservation and recycling of valuable materials such as lithium batteries.

Updated, 2.15pm, 27 March 2026: This article was amended with updated figures for annual waste treatment capacity, Sarah Fleischer’s quoted scaling ratio of Tozero’s technology, and output equivalence of electric vehicle battery salvage numbers. 

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news. 

Netflix just raised prices across every subscription tier in the U.S., and at this point, nobody should be surprised, but that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. The ad-supported plan climbs to $8.99, the standard tier jumps to $19.99, and the premium plan now hits $26.99 per month, with extra member fees rising alongside them. Netflix says the increases support its push into new formats like video podcasts and live sports, which sounds ambitious until you realize your monthly bill is quietly funding the experiment.

What makes this one harder to ignore is the timing. Netflix walked away from the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount drama with nearly $3 billion for its trouble, and now subscribers are being asked to chip in even more. At the same time, the company is pouring close to $900 million into a massive new studio complex at Fort Monmouth, less than two miles from my front door on the Jersey Shore, and is set to open within the next two years. Growth is clearly the priority. Whether customers feel like willing participants or just the revenue stream is another story.

Netflix’s financials make the latest price hike feel less like survival and more like strategy.

The company pulled in $12.1 billion in revenue for Q4, edging past expectations and capping off a year where revenue climbed to roughly $45 billion with more than 325 million subscribers globally. Growth isn’t the issue here; Netflix is still printing money, fueled by higher subscription prices, a rapidly expanding ad business, and massive engagement driven by tentpole content. 

Advertising is quickly becoming the quiet co-star. Netflix’s ad tier continues to scale, with projections pointing to ad revenue doubling again to around $3 billion in 2026, which helps explain why the “cheaper” plan just got more expensive. 

And then there’s content—the real engine behind all of this. The final season of Stranger Things delivered a major bump in viewership and engagement, helping drive that strong quarter. But Netflix isn’t done squeezing that lemon. The company has already announced a massive (and not cheap) complete series box set, with internal expectations reportedly targeting over one million units sold. In other words, even as the show ends, it’s still being monetized like a Marvel franchise with a Hawkins zip code.

So when Netflix tells you price increases are about “investment,” they’re not wrong. They’re just not hurting either. Between rising margins, a booming ad business, physical media cash-ins, and a content machine that keeps feeding itself, this is a company operating from a position of strength and not desperation.

Which brings us back to the bill. The numbers say Netflix is thriving. The price hike says they’d like to thrive a little more with your help.

Warner Bros Drama Ends, Netflix Cashes the Check and Raises Your Bill?

Netflix thought it had Warner Bros. Discovery locked up late last year with an $82.7 billion deal focused on studios and streaming assets, marking a major shift from its long-standing “build, don’t buy” strategy. But that deal barely had time to breathe before Paramount, backed by Skydance and the Ellison war chest, crashed the party with a series of increasingly aggressive all-cash offers for the entire company. 

What followed wasn’t a negotiation, it was a corporate knife fight. Paramount kept raising the stakes, eventually landing at roughly $31 per share (about $110 billion total), a bid Warner’s board ultimately deemed “superior” thanks to its all-cash structure and clearer regulatory path. Netflix had a short window to respond and walked away, deciding the numbers no longer made sense. 

And just like that, Netflix went from presumed winner to spectator with a $2.8 billion breakup fee as a consolation prize. 

New 2026 Netflix Pricing

The Bottom Line

Netflix can frame this however it wants; investment, growth, evolving content strategy, but the math isn’t complicated. The company is profitable, growing, and sitting on billions from a deal it didn’t even complete, while simultaneously funding a massive studio buildout and expanding into new formats like sports and podcasts. None of that comes cheap, and none of it is being funded out of goodwill.

This is how it gets paid for: higher subscription prices, rising add-on fees, and a steadily more expensive “entry-level” tier that isn’t really entry-level anymore. Existing subscribers absorb the increase immediately, new subscribers enter at a higher baseline, and the ad tier quietly becomes more lucrative on both sides of the equation.

Netflix isn’t alone in doing this, but it’s doing it from a position of strength, not necessity. And that’s the distinction that matters. The service is still delivering value for millions of people, but the direction is clear: more content, more expansion, more revenue per user.

Who pays? You do. And unlike that Warner Bros. deal, there’s no option to walk away with a check.

Related Reading:

Switching between AI assistants has always had one deeply irritating flaw. No matter how polished the interface or how clever the answers, every new chatbot relationship begins with a bureaucratic ritual. You have to explain yourself all over again. Your preferences, your habits, your projects, your weirdly specific recurring requests, all of it has to be painstakingly reintroduced like you are onboarding a very enthusiastic intern with no notes.

Google clearly knows this is annoying, because Gemini has enhanced its memory features to make that process much less tedious. Gemini will help you bring over all the information another AI chatbot has accumulated about you in a couple of simple steps. That means it will import everything ChatGPT, Claude, or other platforms know about you and your preferences, so Gemini can feel more familiar with how you’d like it to behave. The company is pitching it as a smoother path for people who are curious about trying Gemini without losing the personalized feel they have already built up elsewhere.

I have used ChatGPT long enough that it has accumulated plenty of information about me, so I decided to see what Gemini could learn from it through the process. I clicked on the “Import memory to Gemini” button in the settings menu, and was offered the option of either uploading my conversations with an AI chatbot in a zip folder or using a provided prompt to gather the information.

Article continues below

Day 1 of the BGIS Grand Finals was spectacular. If you missed the games, our highlights should get you up to speed. We saw some amazing action from the likes of Soul, GodLike, and even VS, which topped charts. On the flip side, day one proved plenty challenging for teams like Nebula and TT, who struggled to find pace with the format. Day 2 is here, and it’s usually a day for comebacks in BGMI. Here’s what the schedule looks like for today.

BGIS 2026 Grand Finals Day 2 Schedule & Timing

Like yesterday, the live broadcast will begin at 12:30 PM IST. Fans can catch the games like on Krafton’s YouTube channel in Hindi, English, and a few other regional languages. Or, if you want to support your team live, head over to the Chennai Trade Center. Tickets are available on the Swiggy Scenes app, and there’s free entry available, too. Maps for today will include:

• Match 7 — Rondo
• Match 8 — Erangel
• Match 9 — Erangel
• Match 10 — Erangel
• Match 11 — Miramar
• Match 12 — Miramar

The BGIS Grand Finals format is pretty simple. 16 teams compete in 18 matches over three days. Points are awarded for each finish, and also for how long a team survives. In the end, the team with the most total points (position + finish) will be the winners.

BGIS 2026 Grand Finals Standings After Day 1

Acer is one of the top largest PC manufacturers in the world, perhaps best known for its gaming line and budget-friendly options. If you’ve already got your eye on an Acer product like a laptop or monitor, and are shopping at the company’s online storefront, you should be using one of these Acer promo codes and coupons to save some cash on your purchase.

Save 40% on Accessories When You Build an Acer Bundle

If you’re buying from Acer, you’re most likely shopping for either a desktop PC or laptop. With this discount, you can get a really solid deal on accessories if you bundle it with a mouse, laptop bag, or headset. When you go to purchase a PC, just click “Build Bundle” and you’ll see some of the eligible options, all of which are reduced by 40%. The Nitro Mechanical Keyboard, for example, goes from $50 to just $30. That 40% is a real discount, too, as that same keyboard costs $50 on Amazon when I checked.

Beyond peripheral add-ons, you can also save 10% off Acer Care Plus extended service plans or McAfee LiveSafe antivirus subscriptions. You can bundle up to five products together to save the most money. If you’re headed off to college (or have a kid in the family), a bundle like this can get you everything you need for a gaming or studying setup on the go.

Shop Rotating Weekly Deals on Monitors and Gaming Gear

Acer’s PC gaming offerings come in either the flagship Predator brand or the budget-tier Nitro. Acer offers rotating weekly deals on everything from monitors to gaming laptops, some of which are my favorites that I’ve tested in their given category. The Acer Nitro V 16, for example, was a budget gaming laptop that I recommended quite a lot last year because of its incredible price. The one I tested was the entry-level version with an Nvidia RTX 5050 inside, but Acer has the RTX 5060 model in its own storefront. It’s $100 off right now at $1,200, which comes with 16 GB of RAM and a terabyte of storage. In fact, it’s only $30 more than the RTX 5050 model, despite offering a significant jump in gaming performance. These discounts are reflected right on the product pages, so there’s no promo code, discount code, or coupon code required.

Acer has a wide selection of monitors available, too, whether that’s a massive 49-incher or a more modest 27-inch gaming workhorse. One of my favorite discounts I saw right now was the Acer Nitro XV2, a 27-inch 1440p display with a 300 Hz refresh rate. It’s 44% off at the time of writing, bringing the price down to just $250. Because these discounts are swapped out on a weekly basis, it’s worth checking back to see if the product you’re eyeing has a new discount.

Select Customers Can Get 15% Off Their Purchase

Acer also offers a number of added discounts at checkout, including 15% off for students. Students will need to verify through Student Beans or SheerID. Because a lot of the devices Acer offers are budget-friendly, they can be attractive for students, and the extra 15% off is the icing on the cake.

We tested the Acer Swift 16 AI last year and really enjoyed the high-resolution, OLED screen and impressively quiet performance. Acer has the smaller version of this same laptop available, the Swift 14 AI, which is currently $150 off. You also might check out the Acer Chromebook Plus 514, a laptop we liked quite a bit when we reviewed it in 2024.

Acer offers this same 15% discount for active duty military, veterans, and their families. It also applies to healthcare professionals, which can be verified through its healthcare discount portal.