An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Amazon will start charging sellers who use its shipping services a 3.5% “fuel and logistics” surcharge later this month, joining the ranks of shipping companies raising prices as the war in Iran pushes oil prices higher. The fees take effect on April 17 for customers of the company’s Fulfillment by Amazon service — which is used by many of the independent sellers who list their products on Amazon’s retail sites — in the US and Canada. Items shipped by Amazon on behalf of merchants who sell on their own sites or at other retailers will carry the surcharge beginning May 2. “Elevated costs in fuel and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry,” Ashley Vanicek, an Amazon spokesperson, said on Thursday. “We have absorbed these increases so far, but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated we implement temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs.”
Vanicek notes that the fee will apply to the sum Amazon charges to ship an item, not the product’s sale price.
The Dell Alienware AW2726DM makes OLED gaming more accessible than ever with its aggressive $350 price point, while still delivering excellent motion clarity, deep contrast, and 240Hz refresh rates.
The 20-year-old filmmaker Kane Parsons has risen to the top so fast that he’s had zero time to process how far he’s come.
“It’s been go, go, go,” Parsons tells WIRED. “Even the tiniest bit of a break,” he says, would give him some better perspective on everything that’s happened over the past few years. But for the moment, he’s soaking up the limelight—and thinks it’ll be at least another month before he has the space to reflect on his big break.
Backrooms, a moody horror piece that stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, is a cerebral expansion of Parsons’ atmospheric YouTube web series of the same name. It marks his feature debut as A24’s youngest director to date, at the helm of a movie long anticipated by a huge and hungry internet fan base. You could hardly ask for a better kick start to summer blockbuster season.
Yet Parsons makes his meteoric success sound like something of an accident. “I never went into making that first short or making the series with the intention of, ‘I want to do this so I can prove to Hollywood that this is an engine that is viable for a film,’” he says.
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That original nine-minute video, titled “The Backrooms (Found Footage)” and uploaded by Parsons in 2022, was inspired by—of all things—a sinister 4chan meme that spawned a collaborative mythology. The 2019 post on the notorious image board’s /x/ forum included a disquieting photo of an empty hallway bathed in sickly light. An anonymous user described being transported into “the Backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old, moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in.”
“God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you,” the 4chan user added.
Other people took up the concept, creating spinoff imagery and stories on various social platforms. Parsons encountered these, as well as then-popular memes about surreal liminal spaces—the Backrooms being a paranormal extension of this phenomenon. He was intrigued by what this material evoked but felt it hadn’t been fully explored.
“It was clearly scratching something that I didn’t really see much other media scratching,” he says. “I think there was an element of like, I wish there was more for me to engage with here.”
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To that end, Parsons decided to see whether he could conjure an immersive vision of the Backrooms with Blender 3D graphics software and Adobe After Effects. That initial video, in which a person is chased through the Backrooms by a malevolent life-form, went massively viral, with viewers marveling at Parsons’ technical skill and the chilling suspense he’d created. Fans excitedly speculated on the larger mythology of the uncanny setting. Within a month, studios were approaching Parsons with hopes for a full-length movie.
Although still a teenager at the time, Parsons knew enough to be wary of the offers. “I was very distrustful of pretty much everything that was happening, just because I feel like it’s a very common experience for that sort of event to turn into nothing,” he says. “Or you end up with less than nothing.”
Ultimately, however, he got what a young filmmaker dreams of: the chance to pursue his vision, in this case with top talent at his side. The feature film has a script by Homeland and Westworld writer Will Soodik, and its producers include horror maestros Osgood Perkins and James Wan.
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Milwaukee Tool has long been celebrated by worksite professionals and staunch DIYers for producing some of the most powerful and durable devices available on the consumer market. So much so that the brand is regularly singled out as one of the best in the entire power tool arena.
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Indeed, if power and battery life are features you value highly in cordless tools, Milwaukee is a brand that should be on your radar, as its M18 lineup of powered tools and devices has earned a reputation for delivering serious on-the-job punch. Just like many other cordless tool lines with shareable power sources, Milwaukee’s M18 shingle has several models of rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery packs to choose from.
If you’re looking to make the most of those M18 tools, the battery packs bearing the Forge label would seem to be the best way to do so, with Milwaukee claiming that those batteries are designed to deliver not just maximum power to your tool, but also provide longer running times and faster charging times than other M18 power packs. Unfortunately, Forge batteries are priced on par with those desirable capabilities. Still, shoppers looking to buy a new device with a Forge battery should know that Milwaukee offers combo packages that include both the tool and the battery at a more palatable price point. Here are a few you should be aware of.
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1. M18 FUEL 7-1/4 in. Circular Saw Kit with One Forge Battery, Charger and Tool Bag
For the record, yes, Milwaukee’s M18 Forge battery packs are designed to outperform even the brand’s M18 High-Output offerings. When paired with the brushless motors powering many of Milwaukee’s M18 tools, those batteries can boost performance beyond even the most fervent fans’ expectations. As noted, you do pay a premium price for that 12.0 Ah power upgrade, with a single 12 Ah Forge battery selling for upwards of $229 these days.
Still, if you have a shiny new Milwaukee M18 Fuel Circular Saw on your current power tool want list, you can package it with a Forge battery at The Home Depot for $449. That package set comes with an M18 rapid charger that also works with M12 batteries, and even a handy Milwaukee Tool-branded tool bag.
As for the saw, the 7 1/4-inch cutter is, of course, fitted with an 18V brushless motor and also boasts Milwaukee Redlink Plus intelligence to bolster performance and protect against malfunction. It’s also got a Magnesium shoe and guards to increase durability, as well as an integrated dust port and vacuum adaptor. According to Milwaukee, with an M18 Forge battery on board, it can perform approximately 750 cuts on a full charge. Customers seem to back up its overall quality, rating the saw 4.7 stars and largely praising it for being powerful, lightweight, and easy to use, even as some noted concerns about power and toughness.
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2. M18 FUEL 16 in. String Trimmer with Forge Batteries and Charger
While lawn care equipment has not, historically, been Milwaukee’s bread and butter, the brand has developed a few impressive cordless devices over the years. If its 4.8-star user rating is any indication, its M18 Fuel 16 in. String Trimmer is just such a device, particularly when it’s paired with a Forge battery. And if you’re looking to add the string trimmer to your current arsenal of lawn care gear, The Home Depot is selling a combo kit that includes the tool, a couple of 8 Ah Forge batteries, and a rapid charger for $519.
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In terms of cost, the 2 batteries and charger alone would put you close to that total, so this looks like a pretty good deal on paper, especially given the user rating. The only real knock against this kit is that the 8 Ah battery will reportedly provide only up to 24 minutes of use for the brushless motor powering that string trimmer. Even so, a pair should provide more than enough runtime to handle most trimmer tasks you can throw at the device in your backyard. Users seem to agree, praising the trimmer for its power, performance, variable speeds from its brushless motor, and ease of use.
Many also note that the QUIK-LOK feature — which allows for 13 interchangeable heads to be attached to the power arm — is a major plus. All in, that potentially makes this one of the more versatile offerings in M18’s Forge-compatible lineup.
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3. M18 FUEL Super Sawzall Reciprocating Saw with FORGE Battery Pack
In the annals of construction history, few power tools have proven quite as game-changing as the reciprocating saw. That is particularly true for the Milwaukee Tool brand, as the Wisconsin-based outfit actually invented that tool back in the 1950s. That cutter hit the market bearing the name of Sawzall. More than seven decades later, it still goes by that name and remains a staple in Milwaukee’s power tool lineup, and over that span, it has received all the modern upgrades you’d expect, including the ability to couple with M18 Forge battery packs.
The M18 Sawzall has been widely embraced by those who’ve purchased it, with more than 1,600 users giving it a 4.8-star rating. That number speaks volumes to the quality of the device itself, which uses a variable 5-speed brushless motor, a QUIK-LOK blade clamp, and on-off orbital action, among other features. Though a couple of users noted durability concerns, the reviews for the device are overwhelmingly positive.
They also claim that the Forge battery is a massive boon to the already popular saw, providing major upgrades in power, run time, and performance. Now for the bad news: this kit includes just the Sawzall and a single 8 Ah Forge battery, so if you don’t have a charger on hand, you’ll need to invest in one. The good news is that The Home Depot is selling the combo pack for just $528, so the price point is still pretty inviting.
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4. M18 FUEL Hammer Drill/Impact Driver Combo Kit with Forge Battery, Red Lithium Batteries, Charger and Case
Drills and drivers are about as essential as it gets for many a pro job and backyard project. It is such that pretty much every manufacturer in the game features several types of those tools available in their stable of devices. That list obviously includes Milwaukee Tool, which offers standard power drills and drivers, as well as more heavy-duty options like a hammer drill and an impact driver. If you’re looking for those latter two tools in the M18 mold, you should know that The Home Depot is offering a combo pack of both M18 drivers for $678.
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That pack includes more than just a Hammer Drill and an Impact Driver, of course: a pair of 5 Ah battery packs, one multi-voltage charger, and a hard-shell carrying case big enough to hold both drivers. Oh, it comes with one 12 Ah Forge battery as well, making this a pretty comprehensive set of gear. Almost 1,800 users agree, rating the set 4.7 stars and largely praising both the devices and the batteries for their overall quality.
As for the tools themselves, both drill and driver are outfitted with brushless motors. The hammer drill is also just 6.9 inches, making it suitable for use in tight spaces. So too is the impact driver at just 4.47 inches in size. Stature aside, the driver is powerful too, delivering 2,000 in-lbs of torque and up to 3,900 RPM.
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5. M18 FUEL Dual Battery 18V Blower with M18 Mower Kit, 12.0 AH FORGE Batteries, and Chargers
Circling back to lawn care, here’s a combo kit for the big ballers out there looking to keep their green scapes in tip-top shape with Milwaukee power. First, we should tell you we weren’t kidding with the “big baller” statement, as this combo pack is selling for $1,649 through The Home Depot. It does, however, include big-ticket M18 items: a 21-inch self-propelled lawn mower, a dual-battery blower, two 12 Ah batteries, two 12 Ah Forge batteries, one rapid charger, and one six-port Packout rapid charger.
The 21-inch mower accounts for roughly half the cost of the set, but when paired with the blower — which can deliver up to 145 MPH and 600 CFM of airflow — it’ll go a long way toward keeping your green spaces looking good. And yes, the M18 Forge batteries are designed to help ensure those devices are powered up when it’s time to touch up those spaces.
We should tell you, however, that users have rated the kit at 4.3-stars. That number is hardly damning, of course, but the primary issue seems to be that Milwaukee may still have some work to do in its lawn mower makeup. More precisely, the mowers may have durability issues, with one user noting they were woefully unimpressed with their plastic components. So that is one of several factors to consider before ponying up for this kit.
The ‘Cheap Yellow Display’, or CYD, is becoming a staple in these circles, and with good reason: just like the name says, it’s cheap, it has a display, and of course an ESP32 microcontroller to give it lots of brainpower. What it doesn’t come with is a lot of RAM, which was a problem for [DynaMite]’s project. What was there to do but solder on more PSRAM so the CYD could become a mini TV for retrogaming?
Depending what you want to play, you might not need the extra memory. In [DynaMite]’s case, he wanted to run Retro-Go, which opens up a lot more than just the standard NES emulator you can run on an unmodified CYD — including 16-bit systems like the SNES and Sega Genesis/MegaDrive or even DOOM. Adding the PSRAM is just a matter of getting the little chip onto an unpopulated footprint on the board, cutting some traces, and adding a bodge wire. It’s not nothing, but it’s not impossible.
While he was slinging solder, [DynaMite] also took the time to swap some resistors in a step that apparently does great things for the CYD’s sound output, which is… not great, from stock. For really good sound, you really need to break out I2S, but for a tiny game system this is doubtless good enough.
The whole thing goes into a lovely retro TV case that takes its design cues from The Simpsons, which is available via the link as a STEP file as well as STLs. He’s also got a vibe-coded video player application — think of it like the VCR, maybe —and a launcher that will switch betwixt that and the emulator or any other applications stored as .bin files on an SD-card. Check it out in action in the demo video below.
MasterDimm AC features what Cooler Master describes as “noise-optimized” blower fans that operate relatively quietly, with a maximum noise level of 35 dB at full speed. The companies claim that the patent-pending design can reduce operating memory temperatures by up to 15°C, helping ensure sustained performance, improved signal integrity, and… Read Entire Article Source link
The race to build the next great affordable laptop is heating up, and Acer thinks it has a strong contender. The company today unveiled the Swift Air 14, a thin-and-light Windows laptop that combines a premium design, AI-ready hardware, and impressive battery claims for a starting price of just $699.
At a time when even mainstream laptops are creeping toward four-figure price tags, Acer’s latest machine feels refreshingly straightforward. It’s aimed at students, remote workers, and anyone who wants a laptop that looks and feels expensive without draining their bank account. The Swift Air 14 is powered by Intel’s new Core Series 3 processors and delivers up to 19 hours of battery life. That’s the sort of endurance that could realistically get many users through a full workday and beyond without scrambling for a charger.
Acer is focusing on things people actually notice
Laptop makers love talking about processor benchmarks, but most buyers notice other things first. How heavy is it? Does it look good? Is the screen nice to use? Can the speakers fill a room? That’s where the Swift Air 14 appears to have its priorities in order. The laptop weighs just 1.19 kg and measures only 12.9 mm at its thinnest point, all while using an aluminum chassis that should feel significantly more premium than the plastic-heavy designs common at this price point. Acer is also bringing some personality to the lineup with four color options: Sage Green, Frost Blue, Blossom Pink, and Lilac Purple.
Acer
The display sounds promising as well. Acer has equipped the Swift Air 14 with a 14-inch WUXGA panel featuring a 120Hz refresh rate and 100% sRGB color reproduction. For students, creators, and everyday users, that’s a welcome upgrade over the dull screens that often plague budget laptops. Then there’s the audio. Acer says the laptop includes a quad-speaker setup with DTS:X Ultra support, a feature rarely highlighted in this segment but one that can make a noticeable difference when streaming movies, joining video calls, or listening to music.
The Swift Spin 14 AI raises the stakes
Acer wasn’t finished with just one Swift launch. The company also introduced the Swift Spin 14 AI, a more premium convertible aimed at users who need additional flexibility and performance. Powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 386H, the laptop features a dedicated NPU capable of up to 50 TOPS and up to 100 platform TOPS overall. It also supports stylus input through Wacom AES 2.0 technology, making it a potentially appealing option for artists, designers, note-takers, and hybrid professionals. Its 360-degree hinge allows it to switch between laptop, tablet, presentation, and display modes, while features like Wi-Fi 7, a 5MP IR camera, Copilot+ PC capabilities, and up to 26 hours of battery life round out a very ambitious package. Still, the more fascinating device may be the cheaper one.
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Acer
The Swift Air 14 arrives at a moment when buyers are increasingly questioning whether they need to spend MacBook money for a great everyday laptop. Acer’s answer is clear: offer a premium metal design, long battery life, AI-powered features, and a modern display at a price that feels far easier to justify. The Acer Swift Air 14 is scheduled to launch in North America in August 2026, while the Swift Spin 14 AI will arrive during the same timeframe.
Acer is going straight after the MacBook Neo crowd
The comparison to Apple’s MacBook Neo feels impossible to ignore. Both laptops are targeting the same audience: students, first-time laptop buyers, and people who want something premium without spending MacBook Air money. Apple’s answer was a $599 machine with an aluminum design, an A18 Pro chip, up to 16 hours of battery life, and the familiar advantages of the macOS ecosystem.
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends
Acer, however, is taking a different route. The Swift Air 14 undercuts many of the compromises associated with entry-level laptops by offering a 120Hz display, more connectivity options, a larger battery, quad speakers, and a wider range of color choices, all while staying in the same affordability conversation. According to Acer’s specifications, the laptop packs a 70Wh battery, dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a 120Hz WUXGA panel — areas where it arguably looks more ambitious than Apple’s budget MacBook on paper.
The real battle here isn’t Windows versus macOS. Which company can convince buyers that spending less no longer means settling for less?
Activision is ending Call of Duty: Warzone support for PS4 and Xbox One later this year, drawing a line under the battle royale’s last-gen era at a moment when the cost of upgrading to current hardware has risen sharply for players who have held off.
The game will be removed from PS4 and Xbox One storefronts on 4 June and will no longer be available to download, with Activision removing the in-game store on both platforms on 25 June before Warzone becomes fully unplayable once Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 season 1 begins later this year.
The timing adds friction for remaining last-gen players, as both Sony and Microsoft have raised console prices over the past year, leaving the PS5 and Xbox Series X each sitting $150 above their original $499 launch prices.
Activision announced the Warzone changes on the same day it revealed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which will launch on PS5, Xbox Series S and X, and Nintendo Switch 2, marking the first Call of Duty title to appear on a Nintendo platform following the 10-year deal Microsoft agreed with Nintendo as part of its Activision Blizzard acquisition.
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What happens to last-gen players
Players on PS4 and Xbox One will need to move to a PS5 or Xbox Series S or X to continue playing Warzone once season 6 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 concludes, with Activision confirming the full cutoff is tied to the Modern Warfare 4 season 1 launch window.
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The deprecation reflects a broader industry shift away from last-gen hardware, with developers increasingly unwilling to maintain split builds across console generations as the PS4 and Xbox One user base continues to shrink more than four years after their successors launched.
All of that remains subject to change in terms of exact timing, however, with Activision yet to confirm a specific date for when Modern Warfare 4 season 1 will begin and last-gen support will officially end for those already playing.
SpaceX won a $4.16B Space Force contract for missile-tracking satellites. Combined with a $2.29B deal from Tuesday, it holds $6.45B in Golden Dome work.
The US Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract on Friday to build satellites that track foreign aircraft and missiles. The programme is called Space-Based Advanced Moving Target Indicator, or SB-AMTI. It is part of the Trump administration’s $185 billion Golden Dome missile defence initiative.
Two days earlier, the Space Force awarded SpaceX $2.29 billion for the Space Data Network Backbone, a secure communications layer built on Starshield satellites. Combined, SpaceX now holds approximately $6.45 billion in Golden Dome contracts. That figure exceeds the combined prototype awards given to every other company in the programme.
The AMTI satellites are designed as an interconnected system combining space-based sensors, secure communications links, and AI-enabled ground processing. The system will detect, track, and alert for airborne threats from orbit. The US has historically relied on ground-based sensors and military aircraft for this function.
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Placing detection capabilities in space eliminates potential blind spots that ground-based systems cannot cover. The Space Force described the architecture as designed to “drive closer cooperation across the government space industrial base.” SpaceX must integrate the AMTI sensors with the data transport backbone it is already building under the separate $2.29 billion contract.
The scale of SpaceX’s Golden Dome position is unprecedented for a commercial contractor. The programme has distributed more than $3.2 billion in prototype contracts across SpaceX and 11 other firms, including Anduril, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and True Anomaly. SpaceX’s $4.16 billion AMTI contract alone exceeds that entire prototype pool.
SpaceX filed its IPO prospectus last week, targeting a valuation of more than $1.75 trillion. The company is expected to raise approximately $75 billion in what would be the largest IPO in history. Every new defence contract adds to the revenue narrative that underpins the listing.
The timing is notable. Two major Golden Dome contracts awarded in the same week as a Starship V3 test flight and an IPO roadshow preparation creates a cadence that looks orchestrated to maximise pre-IPO momentum. SpaceX held more than $22 billion in government contracts as of 2024. The Golden Dome awards add meaningfully to that base.
The Golden Dome programme’s total cost has risen to $185 billion, up $10 billion from the original estimate, after the programme director approved an acceleration of space-based capabilities in March. The fiscal 2027 budget request includes initial Golden Dome funding. Full-scale procurement is expected to begin post-2028.
The conflict-of-interest concerns that have surrounded SpaceX’s government contracting are amplified by the Golden Dome awards. Elon Musk is simultaneously the largest financial backer of the sitting president, the CEO of the company receiving the contracts, and the owner of a social media platform that shapes public discourse about the programme. The IPO prospectus acknowledges government contract risk but does not address the political dimensions directly.
Friday’s Starship V3 test flight demonstrated that SpaceX can deploy satellites from the vehicle, even though the Super Heavy booster was destroyed after separation. The AMTI constellation will eventually require launch capacity that only Starship can provide at scale. The contract, the IPO, and the rocket programme are three legs of the same strategy.
Two contracts, $6.45 billion, four days. SpaceX is not just participating in Golden Dome. It is becoming the programme’s commercial backbone. Whether that concentration of national security infrastructure in a single pre-IPO company is a strategic advantage or a systemic risk is a question the Space Force has implicitly answered by signing the contracts. The market will answer it again when the IPO prices in June.
Apple is preparing to overhaul Siri at WWDC 2026 in ways that go well beyond a simple feature update, and we’ve just had our first look at the redesigned UI.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has published an early preview of the company’s redesign of the iPhone’s interface, placing its Gemini-powered AI agent at the centre of everyday use.
The redesign moves Siri into the iPhone’s Dynamic Island, where it will remain accessible via voice, the power button, or a new downward swipe from the top centre of the screen that opens a “Search or Ask” interface drawing on elements from iOS 26‘s existing Search experience.
That interface brings together familiar features like Siri Suggestions alongside new functionality, with Gurman reporting it will support app launches, text messages, calendar appointments, note searches, and more, with results surfacing in a rich text card that expands directly from the Dynamic Island.
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Image Credit (Bloomberg)
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Swiping further down opens a full chatbot-style conversation view inside a dedicated Siri app, which Apple intends to position as a direct competitor to ChatGPT and Claude, supporting text and voice input alongside photo and document uploads and persistent conversation history.
Interface and camera changes
To accommodate Siri’s new prominence, Apple is moving Notification Centre access to a pull-down from the top left of the screen, a small but consequential shift that reflects how central the assistant has become to the iPhone’s navigation logic.
Image Credit (Bloomberg)
Camera and Photos also see significant changes, with a new mode set to replace Visual Intelligence by combining Google reverse image search with third-party AI analysis, while the Photos app gains Reframe and Extend tools that use AI to alter image perspective or generate content beyond a photo’s existing frame.
Underpinning all of it is a Siri that can search the web and draw on-screen context and personal data to complete tasks, with Gurman noting the assistant will be able to cross-reference a user’s calendar availability before scheduling anything.
All of that remains subject to change, however, with Gurman noting Apple tests multiple designs internally and the final version shown at WWDC on 9 June could differ from what Bloomberg has illustrated, with a release expected as early as September.
The European Commission has announced its second fine ever against an international company for violating the Digital Services Act. Temu, the controversial Chinese online marketplace for low-cost products, was found to have played a role in the sale of illegal goods that could have harmed consumers in the European Union. Read Entire Article Source link
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