Ferrum Audio arrives at CanJam NYC 2026 with a new iteration of one of its most talked about digital components: the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 DAC/Preamp. Building on the original WANDLA platform and the first GoldenSound Edition, the new model refines the design with updated processing features while retaining the core architecture that helped put Ferrum on the map with serious headphone and personal audio enthusiasts.
Can the Polish manufacturer stand out in a very crowded high end DAC category dominated by Chord Electronics, RME, TEAC, and Schiit Audio? Recent performance suggests the answer may very well be yes.
Since emerging as an independent brand in 2022, Ferrum Audio has quickly become one of the most recognizable names in high end personal audio to come out of Poland. The company made a particularly strong impression at CanJam NYC 2022, where its early products drew attention for combining advanced digital engineering with a modular ecosystem designed to work seamlessly with its power supply and headphone amplification lineup. The WANDLA platform continues that trajectory.
At its core, all WANDLA models share the same fundamental architecture:
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SERCE Module: Ferrum’s proprietary DSP engine designed for high performance digital signal processing and system control.
DAC Chipset: ESS Sabre ES9038PRO, one of the most widely respected DAC chips used in high end digital playback.
Hi-Res Audio Support: Native decoding of DSD512 and PCM up to 32-bit/768kHz.
Connectivity: A wide range of digital and analog connections including HDMI ARC, I2S, USB, coaxial and optical inputs, alongside both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA outputs.
However, the Gen 2 takes things a step further with significant upgrades to three key capabilities within Ferrum’s Sweet Spot Tuning platform: Impact+, Tube Mode, and Spatial Enhancement.
Sweet Spot Tuning
Sweet Spot Tuning is designed to give listeners greater control over the sound while preserving the precision, transparency, and musicality that define the WANDLA platform. The goal is straightforward: help listeners find their personal sweet spot.
Whether adding weight and authority in the low frequencies, introducing the warmth associated with classic valve designs, or expanding the sense of space within a recording, the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 offers a wider range of customization while maintaining the performance expected from a high-end digital to analog converter.
Impact+
Impact+ is Ferrum’s advanced low frequency enhancement system. In the original GoldenSound Edition, Impact+ used a carefully tuned bass shelf combined with an additional peak to deliver a more realistic and powerful low end presentation.
With the GoldenSound Edition Gen 2, the system has been expanded to include seven selectable sound profiles, allowing listeners to tailor bass response and overall tonal balance to their preferences or specific headphones and systems. The available profiles include:
Reference
Ref+ Smooth
Kick+
DD Comp
DD Comp+
Sub Bass
Each of the new profiles is designed to deliver a distinct combination of bass shaping and dynamic response, allowing the sound to be tailored to different headphones and speaker systems.
Rather than relying on a single fixed enhancement, listeners can select the profile that best suits their system and then adjust the overall Impact+ level from 10% to 130%. This makes it possible to fine tune the balance between subtle reinforcement and more pronounced low end impact.
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All processing is handled internally with 64-bit precision, ensuring that these adjustments remain smooth, controlled, and faithful to the original recording. With Impact+ and Ferrum’s Sweet Spot Tuning, low frequency performance becomes something listeners can shape with far greater precision.
Tube Mode
In the previous GoldenSound Edition, Tube Mode introduced the musical sweetness associated with second harmonic distortion, subtly enriching the sound in a way reminiscent of classic valve (tube) amplification.
Building on that concept, Tube Mode in the GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 has been expanded to allow users to match the WANDLA’s sonic character to the tonal signatures of specific tube types. Rather than simply adding a harmonic component, the updated Tube Mode now models the sound characteristics of five classic valve designs: EL34, KT88, 300B, 2A3, and 7062.
Listeners can also adjust the strength of each Tube Mode profile with a variable range from 10% to 200%, making it possible to apply anything from a subtle hint of warmth to a more pronounced tube-like character.
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With Tube Mode and Ferrum’s Sweet Spot Tuning, the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 provides a flexible way to experience classic valve tonality within a modern digital platform, giving listeners the kind of tonal shaping options often used in recording studios when shaping the final sound of a performance.
Spatial Enhancement
The next upgraded feature is Spatial Enhancement, Ferrum’s technology designed to expand the soundstage and improve the three dimensional presentation of music.
Originally, Ferrum’s implementation of Spatial Enhancement offered two dedicated modes, one optimized for loudspeakers and another for headphones. With the GoldenSound Edition Gen 2, Ferrum introduces a new spatial audio refinement called Transient Compensation, or T Comp, which fine tunes the spatial processing algorithm to better manage high frequency transients.
The result is a more convincing sense of depth and instrument placement, creating a clearer three dimensional soundstage without the imaging shifts often associated with traditional crossfeed systems.
Users can independently toggle the spatial processing, select the appropriate output mode for headphones or loudspeakers, and engage T Comp to further refine the spatial presentation.
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The Complete WANDLA Experience
Alongside these new capabilities, the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 retains the features that helped establish the original platform’s reputation. These include the SERCE DSP module, WANDLA’s fully balanced architecture, proprietary amplification stage, optimized digital inputs, carefully tuned digital to analog conversion, and Dynamic Digital Filtering.
Ease of operation remains central to the design thanks to the intuitive touchscreen interface, while Ferrum Streaming Control Technology ensures seamless integration into modern digital audio systems.
When paired with Ferrum’s HYPSOS power supply, WANDLA also benefits from 4TSD voltage sensing capabilities, further optimising performance.
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WANDLA Specifications Comparison
WANDLA GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 (2026)
WANDLA GoldenSound Edition (2024)
WANDLA DAC/Preamp (2023)
Product Type
DAC/PREAMP
DAC/PREAMP
DAC/PREAMP
Price
$3,295
$3,295
$2,795
DAC Chip
ESS Sabre ES9038PRO
ESS Sabre ES9038PRO
ESS Sabre ES9038PRO
DAC resolution
768 kHz / 32-bit, DSD512
768 kHz / 32-bit, DSD 512
32-bit/768k, DSD256
Digital inputs
USB Type-C (up to PCM 768 kHz / 32-bit, DSD512, DoP256)
4.65V RMS unbalanced at 0 dBFS, 1kHz Sine Wave – 9.3V RMS Balanced.
Frequency Response
10 Hz – 200 kHz +/- 0.1 dB (analog inputs)
10 Hz – 200 kHz +/- 0.1 dB (analog inputs)
10Hz to 200kHz +/- 0.1dB (analog inputs)
DAC THD
-121 dB (0.00009 %)
-121 dB (0.00009 %)
-121 dB (0,00009%)
DAC THD+N
-118 dB unweighted
-115 dB unweighted
-115 dB unweighted
Analog Input THD
-123 dB @ 2 VRMS
-123 dB @ 2 VRMS
-123 dB @ 2 VRMS output level
Dynamic Range (A-weighted)
Analog 127 dB Digital 119 dB
Analog 127 dB Digital 119 dB
Analog 127 dB Digital 122 dB
Crosstalk
-120 dB at 1 kHz, better than -100 dB for 20 Hz – 20 kHz
-120 dB at 1 kHz, better than -100 dB for 20 Hz – 20 kHz
-120dB for 1kHz better than -100dB for 20Hz to 20kHz
Output Impedance
22 Ω unbalanced 44 Ω balanced
22 Ω unbalanced 44 Ω balanced
22 Ω unbalanced 44 Ω balanced
Power Consumption
10 W idle, 15 W max
10 W idle, 15 W max
0 watts idle/15 watts max
Power inputs (22-30 VDC)
5.5/2.5 mm DC connector, centre positiveProprietary Ferrum Power Link (FPL) 4-pin DC connector
5.5/2.5 mm DC connector, center positive proprietary Ferrum Power Link (FPL) 4-pin DC connector
22-30 VDC proprietary FPL 4-pin DC connector (FPL) 5.5/2.5 mm DC connector centre positive
Power Adapter
100-240 VAC to 24 VDC
100-240 VAC to 24 VDC
100-240 VAC to 24 VDC
Remote control
Included
Included
Dimensions
21.7 x 20.6 x 5 cm
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8.6″ x 8.1″ x 2.0″
21.7 x 20.6 x 5 cm
8.6″ x 8.1″ x 2.0″
21.7 x 20.6 x 5 cm
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8.6″ x 8.1″ x 2.0″
Weight
1.8 kg / 3.97 lb
1.8 kg / 3.97 lb
1.8 kg / 3.97 lb
The Bottom Line
Ferrum Audio continues to make serious waves in the DAC and preamp category with the WANDLA series, and the GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 pushes that momentum even further. By expanding its Sweet Spot Tuning platform with deeper control over bass response, spatial presentation, and tube inspired harmonic shaping, Ferrum is giving listeners tools that are rarely seen in a modern digital component.
For headphone listeners and two channel enthusiasts building a high performance digital front end, the WANDLA Gen 2 offers a flexible control center that can feed external amplification, powered speakers, or a dedicated headphone chain. To get the most out of it with headphones, however, Ferrum clearly intends it to be paired with the Ferrum OOR Headphone Amplifier, which completes the company’s reference signal path.
It is not inexpensive, but for listeners looking for a highly configurable DAC and preamp platform designed to integrate into serious personal audio systems, the WANDLA GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 looks like a compelling option.
Price & Availability
The WANDLA GoldenSound Edition Gen 2 is priced at $3,295 (£3295 / €3295) through Ferrum and Authorized Dealers.
A video clip purportedly showing a place in England has sparked a lot of interest among Elden Ring fans. The streamer THROX posted some footage on TikTok after spotting some construction that looked suspiciously like certain locations from the game, and it’s no surprise; take a look at the stone walls forming a structure that bears a striking resemblance to the Churches of Marika found throughout the game world, and you can almost imagine the Dark Souls style architecture coming to life.
There’s also a statue of Marika in the middle, which appears identical to the one in the game. Then there are the props scattered around, such as wooden carriages and barrels that appear to have been ripped straight from the game. The entire area appears to be an open field, the type of environment that fans will immediately associate with the game’s starting regions. It’s understandable that production crews choose England to film this stuff, given the melancholy atmosphere created by the natural surroundings is unrivalled.
Alex Garland is in charge of bringing this project to life, and he is collaborating with A24 and Bandai Namco. He’s signed Ben Whishaw and Cailee Spaeny, though their roles are currently unknown. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game’s developer, was involved in the writing and approved it before filming began. This picture was announced in May of last year, which seems like a long time ago, and it’s evident that they’re now getting serious.
With sightings like this one, it appears like filming is well underway. More and more people are seeing the leaked footage and speculating on what these sets might wind up hosting, which is getting everyone a lot more enthusiastic and, let’s be honest, bringing the movie adaptation one step closer to reality. [Source]
As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, Apple employees can check out a private exhibition of products and key moments from the company’s history, all in Apple Park.
The exhibition in Apple Park – Image Credit: @AlSultan_Meriam/X
After weeks of public celebration in the run-up to the 50th anniversary, the festivities are now all internal for Apple now. In the latest event, it has been revealed that employees are now being able to look back at the products and hardware that helped build the company. Images shared by Meriam Al Sultan on X show a large room containing images and products in display cases. Described as a 50th anniversary exhibition, the shots are apparently in “Section 2” of Apple Park, but there are other exhibits on show in other HQ areas. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
LCLDIY set out to create a portable computer / laptop that embodied the gritty feel of a civilization being rebuilt after disaster strikes. That’s exactly what he’s accomplished with this monster, a massive, heavy beast of a device that appears to have been assembled from spare pieces gathered from the local hardware shop.
The exterior of this thing is a dead giveaway, a big 3D print job created from digital files by LCLDIY using a Nokia port of Blender. The walls are thick, and the edges are all sharp angles, as if someone simply duct-taped a lot of things together for an emergency fix, you know? The screen tilts, which is convenient, but the whole design seems robust while remaining portable enough to fit in a backpack.
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Inside, there’s a 10-inch electroluminescent display that lights up on its own and casts a nice glow throughout. The display is very stunning: a faint halo surrounding the active area adds depth, and the entire thing exudes an old-school vibe that’s ideal for the theme. These panels aren’t cheap; they either come from aerospace surplus stock or a specialized supplier, and LCLDIY chose the fancy-schmancy LJ64H052 or EL640.480 series after some testing because they’re expensive, but the light output is excellent for low-light environments, and it just feels right at home with the overall theme.
Driving that display is a different story, since regular GPUs aren’t well-suited to this particular technology, so LCLDIY had to think outside the box and create a unique open-source graphics card based on the obsolete CHIPS 65548/5 processor. You know what? It works flawlessly, and the design files are available online for anybody to use as a blueprint for customizing the display for future projects.
The rest of the system is rather simple, which is good given the overall ‘survivalist’ vibe. An old cash register motherboard does the heavy lifting, as it’s not exactly rocket science here, and keeping things basic keeps the power demand low and the internal architecture clean. Let’s be honest: the whole point of this device is to be robust, thus the system is meant to run quietly and cool, with no fans that might break the instant you take it out of the house.
Keyboard input is a laser projection device that pops out from the side, similar to having a little projector keyboard that displays a full layout onto whatever flat surface you require, and it even has mouse mode for cursor control. The best thing is that when you close the lid, all your valuables are safe and sound while you’re on the move. [Source]
Some weekends are for comfort, others are for chaos. This one? A bit of both. Whether it’s revisiting a gaming icon that defined an era, diving into a massively upgraded open-world epic, or trying out this generation’s cult classic title set to leave Game Pass soon, this lineup has range.
1. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
There’s something oddly magical about going back to where it all began, and Tomb Raider I-III Remastered absolutely leans into that feeling. This collection bundles the original adventures of Lara Croft with a fresh coat of paint, letting players toggle between classic visuals and modern remastered graphics on the fly. At its core, though, this is still the same methodical, puzzle-heavy platforming experience that defined the late ’90s with its deliberate jumps, environmental traps, and that constant sense of isolation.
Aspyr / Crystal Dynamics
What makes this worth playing today isn’t just nostalgia, but how distinct it feels compared to modern action-adventure games. There’s no hand-holding here. Levels are sprawling, secrets are genuinely hidden, and figuring things out feels earned. That slower, more thoughtful pacing can be surprisingly refreshing if most recent games have felt a bit too guided or cinematic.
Add to that, the remaster does a great job of smoothing out rough edges without stripping away the original charm. More importantly, the controls, while still rooted in the classic grid-based movement, feel far more approachable than they used to. Right now, this one’s a no-brainer if you’re subscribed to PlayStation Plus, where it’s been newly added. Otherwise, it typically sits around $29.99 in the US.
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2. Crimson Desert
Crimson Desert has been in the news, and on top of Steam charts, for what feels like forever, but recent updates have quietly transformed it into something far more compelling than its earlier previews suggested. Built by Pearl Abyss, the game blends large-scale open-world exploration with cinematic storytelling, placing players in a war-torn continent filled with political intrigue, brutal combat, and dynamic encounters.
Pearl Abyss
The core gameplay revolves around fluid melee combat, large battle sequences, and emergent world events. But what’s really started to click post-launch is how reactive the world feels. Recent patches have significantly improved movement and abilities, making traversal a lot more engaging, without wasting a lot of the player’s time. Performance has also seen noticeable gains. Earlier complaints around stuttering and inconsistent frame pacing have largely been addressed with optimization updates, especially on mid-to-high-end PCs.
At around $59.99 in the US, it’s positioned as a premium experience, and while it may not be perfect, it finally feels complete. This weekend is a great time to jump in, especially if the initial skepticism kept it off the radar before.
3. Grand Theft Auto V
Few games need an introduction quite like Grand Theft Auto V, but this weekend, it comes with a bit of urgency attached. The game is set to leave Xbox Game Pass later this month, which means this might be the perfect (and possibly last) excuse to jump back into Los Santos without spending a dime. Whether it’s revisiting the story or just causing absolute chaos in free roam, GTA V remains as easy to pick up and play as ever.
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Rockstar Games
At its core, the game follows three protagonists (Michael, Franklin, and Trevor), whose lives intertwine through a series of heists, betrayals, and high-stakes missions. But let’s be honest, most players aren’t coming back just for the story. The real magic of GTA V lies in its sandbox. It’s one of those rare games where simply existing in the world is entertaining enough. Even today, Los Santos feels alive in a way few open-world games manage.
And if the single-player doesn’t hook, there’s always GTA Online, which continues to evolve with new content, modes, and absurdly over-the-top activities. With a usual price hovering around $29.99 in the US, depending on the edition, getting access through Game Pass right now is a steal, especially with the clock ticking.
Instead of raising prices again, Netflix may have to lower its subscription costs in Italy. A court in Rome recently ruled that Netflix owed its Italian users a refund for price hikes between 2017 and January 2024 and a reduction to previous subscription costs. On top of the refunds, Netflix Italia would have to inform its affected subscribers of their right to a refund.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Movimento Consumatori, a consumer rights organization based in Rome. The group’s president, Alessandro Mostaccio, said in a press release that more than 25,000 Netflix users have complained to Movimento Consumatori that they’re not satisfied with the price increases over the years. According to the lawyers representing the consumers, Premium subscribers are entitled to a refund of roughly 500 euros, while Standard tier customers should get back about 250 euros.
Mostaccio also said that if Netflix doesn’t immediately reduce prices and refund its customers, the consumer rights organization would pursue a class action lawsuit to recover funds. A Netflix spokesperson told Reuters that it would appeal the Italian court’s ruling, adding that the company takes “consumer rights very seriously and believe our terms have always complied with Italian laws and practice.” On the other side of the world, Netflix again raised prices for its US customers, this time across all of its subscription tiers.
Microsoft wants to offer the ‘most complete AI and app agent factory’.
Microsoft has released three new AI foundational models, created in-house, in a move that places the company in direct competition with enterprise AI rivals, despite its deep ties with OpenAI.
The new foundational models target three of the most commercially viable modalities: transcription, voice and images. The models are already powering Microsoft’s products, including Copilot, Bing and Azure Speech, the company said, and will be available in a preview via the Microsoft Foundry and MAI Playground.
With this, Microsoft is furthering its goals of delivering “the most complete AI and app agent factory”, it said.
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‘MAI-Transcribe-1’ is a first-generation speech recognition model expected to deliver “enterprise-grade accuracy” across 25 languages at around 50pc lower GPU costs than its alternatives. The model scores lower than 4pc average ‘word error rate’ on accuracy benchmarks, while GPT-Transcribe is at 4.2pc and Gemini 3.1 Flash is at 4.9pc.
‘MAI-Voice-1’ is a speech generation model that, according to Microsoft, can produce 60 seconds of expressive audio in under one second on a single GPU.
Together, the two models are meant to deliver an audio AI stack capable of assisting in call-centre workflows and other voice-driven services, such as providing live captioning, automatic subtitling and converting interactions into structured data for research.
Microsoft’s second-generation image model, ‘MAI-Image-2’, is expected to offer artists a way to “explore” different visual directions. The model is created in “close collaboration” with artists, the company said, and is meant to help enterprises create branding and communication material.
Microsoft, valued at $2.7trn, already offers several AI-embedded apps and platform services. Its Copilot Studio lets users build agents, while the Foundry services offer a place to train and scale models.
In short:Anthropic has blocked Claude Pro and Max subscribers from using their flat-rate plans with third-party AI agent frameworks, starting with OpenClaw. The move, which took effect on 4 April 2026, shifts the cost of running autonomous agents onto users through a pay-as-you-go billing tier. The creator of OpenClaw, who joined OpenAI in February, called the decision a betrayal of open-source developers. Thousands of users now face cost increases of up to 50 times their previous monthly outlay.
Anthropic has ended a quiet subsidy that made its Claude models the engine of choice for the open-source AI agent community. Starting on 4 April 2026, users of Claude’s Pro and Max subscription tiers can no longer pipe their plan’s usage limits through third-party frameworks such as OpenClaw. If they want to keep using those tools with Claude, they must pay separately under a new “extra usage” billing system. Anthropic says it will extend the restriction to all third-party harnesses in the coming weeks.
The announcement landed as a jolt for thousands of developers who had structured their personal AI setups around the assumption that a flat monthly subscription was enough. For many of them, it no longer is.
The economics that broke the model
The logic behind the change is straightforward even if the timing was not. Claude’s subscription plans were designed around conversational use: a human opens a chat window, types a query, and reads a response. Agentic frameworks operate on a fundamentally different model. A single OpenClaw instance running autonomously for a full day, browsing the web, managing calendars, responding to messages, executing code, can consume the equivalent of $1,000 to $5,000 in API costs, depending on the task load. Under a $200-per-month Max subscription, that is an unsustainable transfer of compute costs from the user to Anthropic.
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“Anthropic’s subscriptions weren’t built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools,” said Boris Cherny, Head of Claude Code at Anthropic. “Capacity is a resource we manage thoughtfully and we are prioritising our customers using our products and API.”
The scale of the problem was significant. More than 135,000 OpenClaw instances were estimated to be running at the time of the announcement, and industry analysts had noted a price gap of more than five times between what heavy agentic users paid under flat subscriptions and what equivalent usage would cost at API rates. Anthropic’s subscription business was, in effect, quietly cross-subsidising a class of usage it had not priced for.
What OpenClaw is, and why this matters
OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent framework created by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger. Originally released in November 2025 under the name Clawdbot, it was a side project: Steinberger wanted to see what would happen if you gave a large language model persistent memory, tool access, and the ability to communicate through messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The answer, it turned out, was that an enormous number of people wanted exactly that.
The project was renamed twice in three days in late January 2026: first to Moltbot, after Anthropic raised trademark concerns about the phonetic similarity to “Claude,” and then to OpenClaw three days later. By 2 March 2026, the repository had accumulated 247,000 GitHub stars and 47,700 forks. It had become what many observers were calling the fastest-growing GitHub project in history, reaching 100,000 stars in under 48 hours at its peak. The framework supports more than 50 integrations and works across Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, and DeepSeek.Tencent built an enterprise platform directly on top of it, demonstrating that OpenClaw’s influence had already extended well beyond individual hobbyists.
A convenient timing problem
The restriction becomes more pointed given what happened in February. On 14 February 2026, Steinberger announced he was leaving his own project to join OpenAI. Sam Altman posted publicly that Steinberger would “drive the next generation of personal agents” at the company, and that OpenClaw would be moved to an open-source foundation with OpenAI’s continued support. Steinberger wrote in a blog post that “teaming up with OpenAI is the fastest way to bring this to everyone.”
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Anthropic’s restrictions were announced and enforced within weeks of that move, a timeline that has not escaped notice. Steinberger and fellow investor Dave Morin attempted to negotiate a softer landing, approaching Anthropic directly, but by their account only managed to delay enforcement by a single week.
“First they copy some popular features into their closed harness, then they lock out open source,” Steinberger wrote in response to the ban.
Whether the timing reflects competitive calculation or coincidence, the effect is the same. The most popular open-source agent framework, now loosely affiliated with OpenAI, has been effectively priced off Claude’s subscription tier.
The cost shock for users
For developers accustomed to unlimited agentic runs under a flat plan, the new billing structure is a significant disruption. Under pay-as-you-go extra usage, per-interaction costs are estimated at $0.50 to $2.00 per task, which makes heavy agentic use expensive in ways that a fixed monthly plan obscured. Some users report facing cost increases of 10 to 50 times their previous outlay. Hobbyist developers and solo practitioners, the cohort that built OpenClaw’s early adoption, are most exposed.
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Anthropic has offered two concessions to smooth the transition. Subscribers receive a one-time credit equal to their monthly plan cost, redeemable until 17 April. Users who pre-purchase extra usage bundles can receive discounts of up to 30%.
Users who want to continue running OpenClaw with Claude can do so either through those extra usage bundles or by supplying a separate Claude API key, which bypasses subscription limits but charges at full API rates: $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens for Claude Sonnet 4.6, and $15 and $75 respectively for Claude Opus 4.6.
Anthropic’s closing ecosystem
The decision fits a broader pattern.Anthropic committed $100 million to its Claude Partner Network in March 2026, formalising a web of enterprise consulting and integration relationships built around its own products. Separately,the company has launched a marketplace for Claude-powered software, allowing enterprise customers to purchase third-party applications without Anthropic taking a commission, but through channels Anthropic controls. The pattern is consistent: Anthropic wants the revenue, the data, and the governance that comes with owning the customer relationship, and it is making it incrementally less attractive to route that relationship through tools it did not build.
Claude Code, Anthropic’s own developer environment, is included in Pro and Max subscription plans and is not subject to the new restrictions. The message to developers is implicit but legible: build inside Anthropic’s ecosystem, or pay API rates to build outside it.
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Anthropic’s $3 billion raise in early 2026was accompanied by language about building “artificial super-intelligence for science” and expanding its research infrastructure. What it also reflects is the commercial pressure of running one of the most computationally intensive products in the world at scale. Compute costs do not flatten because users prefer flat subscription pricing. Foran AI industry that spent 2025 racing to acquire users, 2026 is increasingly about working out who actually pays for them, and how much.
Sometimes you can go into a bit of a panic when your car isn’t working and find yourself rushing to the nearest mechanic with an opening. However, it can sometimes pay off to take a deep breath, take out your phone, and use Google. That’s what one TikToker realized after his brake switch broke and he got a quote from Pep Boys for $280 — $80 for the part, $200 for labor.
“About $300 to get my car functional again? I thought, ‘I guess that’s pretty worth it,” TikTok user @joseroselloaesthetics said. “But you know what? Let me shop around a little bit.” And after a short Google search at home, he found out that the broken part was available on Amazon for just under $11. At this point, he figured he should see what it would take to fix himself. He found a seven-minute YouTube video with step-by-step instructions, which showed that the broken part was located underneath the dashboard and didn’t even need a tool to swap out.
I went to Pep Boys for a repair and was quoted $280 — $80 for the part and $200 for labor. After doing my own research, I found the same part online for $10.88. The fix required no tools and took less than 10 minutes. This is why it’s important to always double check mechanic quotes, look up parts online, and understand basic DIY car repairs. You can save hundreds of dollars by doing simple fixes yourself. Not all mechanics are bad, but being informed can protect you from overpaying. . #pepboys#carrepair#mechanic#diycarrepair#savemoney
The repair went from $280 to $11. All he could say was “Wow.”
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Is Pep Boys scamming customers?
Koldo Studio/Getty Images
Pep Boys was not setting out to scam @joseroselloaesthetics, nor are most mechanics — although some locations are rated better than others. In general, auto parts will be cheaper online or at an auto parts retailer than from a repair shop for a number of reasons beyond the mechanic hoping to make an easy profit.
First, mechanics order parts at wholesale prices, meaning buying parts in bulk. They will then charge you a marked-up rate of 25% to 50% above what they paid to make some money back. Second, mechanics often charge extra to cover the costs of running their business, including paying for garage liability insurance and certified repair technicians. Shops also take time training employees.
There are plenty of simple repairs you can learn to do yourself, but if you find yourself needing a mechanic for a trickier repair, you can always buy the part ahead of time and bring it to the shop. The price you pay will depend on where you buy the part and where you live, as well as whether you get original equipment manufacturers (OEM) car parts or aftermarket parts.
Prove said the roles would be across product, software engineering, research and development, and data science, supporting global product development and growth.
Digital identity verification platform Prove is to create 50 Irish jobs with a $5m investment in its Ireland-based operations.
The company said it sees Ireland as a central hub for the company’s product development, culture and international growth, having set up in the country in 2022 and increased Dublin headcount by 50pc in the past six months.
Prove said the new “high-value” roles would be across product, software engineering, research and development, and data science – with “many” to be available this year – and would support global product development and growth.
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It credited its existing Irish operations with playing “a critical role in the rapid acceleration of innovation” over the past year across several product and feature launches.
“The growth of our Ireland team has been an important chapter in Prove’s journey,” said Laura Brittingham, its senior vice-president of people.
“The talent we’ve found there brings deep technical expertise and a collaborative, innovative and dependable spirit that has led to an outsized impact at Prove. There is no version of Prove’s future that doesn’t include Ireland at its centre.”
Prove’s identity verification and authentication tools aim to “streamline onboarding, prevent fraud and deliver seamless customer experiences across channels”, according to the company, by “verifying real people, businesses and agents in real time without friction or guesswork”.
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Its customers are in areas such as banking, fintech, crypto, gaming, commerce, insurance and healthcare, and include Visa, Starbucks, Uber and DocuSign.
Prove’s expansion in Ireland is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
Its CEO Michael Lohan said: “Prove’s decision to expand its R&D and innovation footprint here highlights Ireland’s strength as a global hub for advanced digital identity, data, and technology development.
“This expansion underscores Ireland’s ability to support companies as they scale internationally, innovate at pace and serve global markets.”
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Prove was founded in 2008 as Payfone and rebranded in 2020. It employs more than 400 people globally – across hubs in the US, UK, Ireland and Brazil – and claims to verify 30bn transactions annually and own more than 200 patents in areas around identity and authentication.
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, TD said: “This significant investment and the creation of 50 new high-value roles reflect great confidence in Ireland’s talented workforce and in our strong environment for RD&I.
“Ireland is well-positioned to support companies like Prove at the forefront of digital transformation.”
Ari Motors’ engineers have been working on the Ari 458 Pro, a compact electric camper that is redefining people’s perceptions about short vacations. At only 12.5 feet long and 4.9 feet wide, this vehicle fits into a conventional parking place and can even fit into narrow roadways where larger motorhomes cannot. You can park it almost anywhere and yet have enough room to make a spontaneous stop at a lake or a forest clear-cut, without having to worry about hookups and whatnot.
It’s based on a delivery truck platform, but an insulated box added to the back transforms the entire structure into useful living space. Inside, you have around 6 feet of headroom and approximately 30 square feet of area. Ari ships the item very much bare, so you may customize it however you like. They do the wiring for you, so you’ll have electricity outlets, solar panels on your roof, and water hookups ready to go. Simply add your own bed, table, kitchenette, and other necessities, or choose for an ultra minimalist factory conversion in Saxony.
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The power comes from a single 15-kilowatt electric motor that produces around 20 horsepower. The top speed is a rather relaxed 43 mph, which is ideal for backroad cruising rather than highway driving. You may select between a 15kWh battery, which will carry you 75 to 112 miles, and a larger 23.5kWh pack, which can get you up to 143 miles. And the greatest thing is that electricity expenses are really inexpensive – approximately 4 Euro per 100 kilometers.
The front side features a modest interior with two seats, power windows, central locking, a digital display, a reversing camera, and Bluetooth. There’s even one cup holder thrown in for good measure. If you want to add air conditioning or a trailer to tow some light gear, that’s an option; don’t worry, it’s all L7e compatible, so it’s small and light while being safe for regular usage.
The Ari 458 Pro costs little over 30,000 euros including tax in Germany, making it much more accessible to anyone who want to get into camping. They even have a base delivery model that is slightly less expensive, but the camper setup includes all of the necessary accessories straight out of the box. Production takes place in Borna, just outside of Leipzig, with orders beginning in May. If you enjoy basic travel, you’ll appreciate how this thing is all about freedom rather than squandering your wallet on frivolous luxuries. [Source]
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