When a startup announced plans last fall to recreate lost footage from Orson Welles’ classic film “The Magnificent Ambersons” using generative AI, I was skeptical. More than that, I was baffled why anyone would spend time and money on something that seemed guaranteed to outrage cinephiles while offering negligible commercial value.
This week, an in-depth profile by the New Yorker’s Michael Schulman provides more details about the project. If nothing else, it helps explain why the startup Fable and its founder Edward Saatchi are pursuing it: It seems to come from a genuine love of Welles and his work.
Saatchi (whose father was a founder of advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi) recalled a childhood of watching films in a private screening room with his “movie mad” parents. He said he first saw “Ambersons” when he was twelve.
The profile also explains why “Ambersons,” while much less famous than Welles’ first film “Citizen Kane,” remains so tantalizing — Welles himself claimed it was a “much better picture” than “Kane,” but after a disastrous preview screening, the studio cut 43 minutes from the film, added an abrupt and unconvincing happy ending, and eventually destroyed the excised footage to make space in its vaults.
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“To me, this is the holy grail of lost cinema,” Saatchi said. “It just seemed intuitively that there would be some way to undo what had happened.”
Saatchi is only the latest Welles devotee to dream of recreating the lost footage. In fact, Fable is working with filmmaker Brian Rose, who already spent years trying to achieve the same thing with animated scenes based on the movie’s script and photographs, and on Welles’ notes. (Rose said that after he screened the results for friends and family, “a lot of them were scratching their heads.”)
So while Fable is using more advanced technology — filming scenes in live action, then eventually overlaying them with digital recreations of the original actors and their voices — this project is best understood as a slicker, better-funded version of Rose’s work. It’s a fan’s attempt to glimpse Welles’ vision.
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Notably, while the New Yorker article includes a few clips of Rose’s animations, as well as images of Fable’s AI actors, there’s no footage showing the results of Fable’s live action-AI hybrid.
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By the company’s own admission, there are significant challenges, whether that’s fixing obvious blunders like a two-headed version of the actor Joseph Cotten, or the more subjective task of recreating the complex beauty of the film’s cinematography. (Saatchi even described a “happiness” problem, with the AI tending to make the film’s women look inappropriately happy.)
As for whether this footage will ever be released to the public, Saatchi admitted it was “a total mistake” not to speak to Welles’ estate before his announcement. Since then, he has reportedly been working to win over both the estate and Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the film. Welles’ daughter Beatrice told Schulman that while she remains “skeptical,” she now believes “they are going into this project with enormous respect toward my father and this beautiful movie.”
The actor and biographer Simon Callow — who’s currently writing the fourth book in his multi-volume Welles biography — has also agreed to advise the project, which he described as a “great idea.” (Callow is a family friend of the Saatchis.)
But not everyone has been convinced. Melissa Galt said her mother, the actress Anne Baxter, would “not have agreed with that at all.”
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“It’s not the truth,” Galt said. “It’s a creation of someone else’s truth. But it’s not the original, and she was a purist.”
And while I’ve become more sympathetic to Saatchi’s aims, I still agree with Galt: At its best, this project will only result in a novelty, a dream of what the movie might have been.
In fact, Galt’s description of her mother’s position that “once the movie was done, it was done,” reminded me of a recent essay in which the writer Aaron Bady compared AI to the vampires in “Sinners.” Bady argued that when it comes to art, both vampires and AI will always come up short, because “what makes art possible” is a knowledge of mortality and limitations.
“There is no work of art without an ending, without the point at which the work ends (even if the world continues),” he wrote, adding, “Without death, without loss, and without the space between my body and yours, separating my memories from yours, we cannot make art or desire or feeling.”
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In that light, Saatchi’s insistence that there must be “some way to undo what had happened” feels, if not outright vampiric, then at least a little childish in its unwillingness to accept that some losses are permanent. It may not, perhaps, be all that different from a startup founder claiming they can make grief obsolete — or a studio executive insisting that “The Magnificent Ambersons” needed a happy ending.
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The often-rumored budget MacBook is still expected to arrive at some point in the first half of 2026, as Apple prepares to compete directly with Chromebooks.
The MacBook should be cheaper than the MacBook Air at launch
Rumors have repeatedly insisted that Apple will bring out a MacBook with an iPhone chip running the show instead of an M-series chip. As more forecasts come in, it seems the rumor mill is more insistent than ever that it will launch this year. The latest volley, coming from Mark Gurman’s “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg on Sunday, the MacBook will be the centerpiece Mac launch for early 2026. Gurman doesn’t offer much new about the model, recapping previous claims about it, but he also doesn’t narrow down the timing to beyond the first six months of the year. Rumor Score: 🤯 Likely Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
A march supporting California’s billionaires didn’t exactly attract a huge crowd on Saturday — the San Francisco Chronicle counted around three dozen attendees, along with another dozen tongue-in-cheek counter-protesters.
To be fair, organizer Derik Kauffman had predicted attendance of only “a few dozen” beforehand. But the incongruous idea of the “March for Billionaires” has provoked an outsized response on social media. And according to Mission Local, journalists nearly outnumbered demonstrators at the event itself, where marchers carried signs with messages like “We ❤️ You Jeffrey Bezos” and “It’s very difficult to write a nuanced argument on a sign.”
The ostensible reason for the demonstration was to protest the Billionaire Tax Act, a proposed state ballot measure that would require Californians worth more than $1 billion to pay a one-time, 5% tax on their total wealth. If the measure actually passes, Governor Gavin Newsom said he will veto it.
Kauffman, who founded the AI startup RunRL and is not a billionaire himself, told reporters, “California is, I believe, the only state to give health insurance to people who come into the country illegally. I think we probably should not be providing that.” (Fourteen states offer health care to undocumented immigrants.)
One of the constants in consumer electronics is that designers will try to put as many features into a single device as possible, whether it’s a Walkman with a radio tuner or a new class of devices that crams a photo and video camera in the same enclosure as a music player. At the time that the Kodak MC3 was released this made it a rather unique device, with it in hindsight being basically a smartphone without the phone, as [Tech Tangents] aptly notes in his recent video on the device.
Six years before Apple’s iPhone would be announced, and eight years before the first iPod with a video camera, the Kodak MC3 was in many respects bleeding edge technology targeted straight at tech enthusiasts. For less than $300 you got VGA-quality images, CompactFlash storage, and MP3 playback capability. The videos it produced were 320×240 resolution, h.263 encoded MOVs with a maximum length of 4 seconds at 20 FPS, or 4 minutes with a 64 MB CF card.
The unit that [Tech Tangents] got used came with a 128 MB CF card, but couldn’t use a 2 GB CF card, which is a shame. The screen on it got a lot of flak for not not having a backlight, but this was common for the era, as were the poor viewing angles. Ditto for the poor video quality, as anyone who invested in consumer digital cameras in the early 2000s can attest to. In that respect this Kodak device was probably a bit too ambitious with its features for the era, maybe to compensate for it completely missing the boat on the rise of digital camera technology around the time.
The Super Bowl gifted us a new trailer for the upcoming Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu, and for that fact alone, we’re truly thankful. Pedro Pascal is back as Din Djarin (aka the Mandalorian), along with Grogu — or I suppose you could still call him Baby Yoda or The Child.
It’s been three years since season 3 of The Mandalorian ended on Disney Plus, so Mando’s return is a welcome one. The Mandalorian and Grogu will find the duo doing what they do best: Being best buds while traveling the galaxy. There’s a catch, though. They’ve been enlisted to protect the New Republic. The Galactic Empire may have fallen, but there are insidious evil-doers out there who threaten this new era of peace.
Sigourney Weaver also stars alongside The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White, who plays Rotta the Hutt (the son of Jabba), and Jonny Coyne, who plays an Imperial Warlord who leads a crew of those looking to keep the evil glory of the Galactic Empire alive.
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Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu was directed by Jon Favreau, who co-wrote the script with Dave Filoni. It’ll premiere in theaters on Friday, May 22.
The Mophie 3-in-1 Travel Charger with MagSafe, priced at $40 (was $150), sits quietly on your nightstand, desk, or kitchen counter, charging three devices simultaneously without taking up too much space. People who use this charger frequently reach for it, even when they are not on a trip. A few days in, it’s easy to see why: it just makes sense to have one compact accessory that can handle all of your gadgets rather than a mess of cables and individual pads scattered about.
When folded up, the charger is incredibly compact, measuring 3.3 by 3.1 by 1 inches and weighing less than half a pound, allowing it to nestle neatly in a drawer or backpack without being noticed. When you open it, you’ll find three small spaces waiting to be filled: one magnetic pad for your iPhone, a flip-up module for your Apple Watch, and a flat bit for your AirPods or AirPods Pro.
Mophie developed the entire thing with MagSafe in mind, and it’s also Qi2 certified, so any iPhone 12 series and up will just snap into place securely. That connection provides up to 15 watts of wireless power, quickly charging your phone from dead to “good enough to get through breakfast or a quick meeting.” The Apple Watch spot supports fast charging and even allows you to put it up in nightstand mode if desired. AirPods simply sit on the third pad and deliver up to 5 watts; it’s not rocket science, but it’s consistent and reliable.
The package includes a 40-watt wall converter, a USB-C cable, and a set of international plug heads for outlets in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia. People who travel will undoubtedly appreciate the global coverage, but the converter also works well for powering the charger at home. The entire package folds flat into a small travel pouch that keeps everything neat and safe.
Just set it on the bedside table, drop your iPhone on the MagSafe pad, flip up the Watch charger and pop the AirPods case below. By morning, everything is charged and you can just pick up your phone and go, with no miles of cables strewn across the bed to tangle in. Plus, the elevated iPhone pad is nicely oriented, allowing you to view your phone screen in landscape mode, which is a great small convenience.
VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 focuses on platform updates, adding USB 3.2 support, newer virtual hardware, improved Hyper-V detection, and compatibility with recent Linux releases like Debian 13, Fedora 42, and RHEL 10, plus a new dictTool utility for working with configuration files.
A very inexpensive and highly effective small modification you can make to your car, at least from a visual standpoint, is to debadge it. As the name implies, this involves removing the factory badging, typically on the rear hatch or trunk lid. You can either remove all the badging or just the trim level and model designations. As well as cleaning up the rear end and making it look nicer, you can also potentially mask up if you have one of the lower-end powertrains or trim levels for your particular car model, although you shouldn’t be embarrassed about that.
On occasion, some car owners also completely remove the front badging. Whether that means simply removing the badge or installing an aftermarket grille insert without it, a completely badgeless car is not uncommon. For the most part, debadging your car is 100% legal — you won’t face any repercussions for removing the SEL badge from your stock Jetta with GLI bumpers.
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Why is it actually legal to debadge a car?
Because the badging on a car’s exterior is purely for marketing and identification, it is completely legal to remove it. Only intentionally removing — or in some cases, adding — badging to make your car look like a different car because of various shady reasons can get you in trouble, but if you’re doing it for cosmetic purposes, you’re totally fine.
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Depending on what you drive, it might be a more or less involved process to remove the badges. Most older cars had screwed-in badges, which would require you to unscrew them, but then you’d be left with a cutout for a badge and two screw holes in the bodywork, which would have to be patched up.
Mercifully, most modern cars have glued-on badging; a little bit of heat and a very careful use of a plastic wedge or a string, then another wipe-down should give you that clean, debadged look. Just be careful when removing it, as it’s easy to damage the paint. Some people wax the area after the badging is removed, and you should err on the side of caution with that as well, since it might eat into the clearcoat. If you do decide on the car wax, make sure you get the right one.
Also, don’t get them confused — shaving the bodywork is different from debadging. While debadging simply involves removing all the exterior markings, shaving is often a much more involved process that requires smoothing out areas of the bodywork — often door handles and molding strips — to make them look as if they were never there. In any case, if you do decide to hide the fact that your Civic Si is an Si, you definitely won’t get in trouble with the law.
Microsoft is preparing one of its most consequential years for Xbox as the platform turns 25, lining up major game releases and platform updates aimed at restoring momentum after a challenging hardware cycle. The company’s internal roadmap centers on four flagship franchises – Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Fable, and Gears of War: E-Day – all targeting 2026 launches and representing a renewed push to unify Xbox’s messaging after years of mixed signals and declining console sales.
Reports indicate Forza Horizon 6 will arrive first on May 19th, with the new Halo reboot tentatively targeting a summer window. Fable and Gears of War: E-Day are slated for the second half of the year, though internal planning includes avoiding overlap with Grand Theft Auto VI, set for November 19th. Alongside the “big four,” Double Fine’s new Kiln game is expected in April, and Bethesda is preparing fresh Starfield content, with long-standing rumors of a PS5 release resurfacing.
A broader year of content, remasters, and long-term platform planning
Beyond first-party tentpoles, Blizzard’s 35th-anniversary roadmap includes new updates for World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo, while fans continue to speculate about remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Bethesda is reportedly polishing its Fallout 3 remaster carefully following the positive reception to the surprise Oblivion remaster.
HaloUnsplash
But 2026 isn’t only about games – it’s a reset year for Xbox hardware and software strategy. After Asus’ launch of Xbox-aligned handhelds last year, the new Xbox Ally X will debut AI-powered features like Automatic Super Resolution and AI-generated highlight reels. A redesigned Xbox PC UI is also in development, unifying console, PC, and cloud experiences with smoother animations and a new floating guide.
Industry watchers expect more clarity at GDC
This is where Microsoft traditionally outlines developer tools and long-term platform direction. While no new console will launch in 2026, AMD confirmed that work on the next-gen Xbox – built on a new semi-custom SoC – is progressing toward a 2027 release.
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Microsoft’s aggressive 2026 lineup signals an effort to stabilize the Xbox brand after years of uncertainty, leaning on legacy franchises while reshaping its ecosystem around PC, cloud, and third-party hardware. New next-gen controllers with Wi-Fi cloud connectivity, refreshed Xbox special editions, and early testing for ad-supported free cloud gaming are all designed to grow the platform beyond traditional console boundaries.
By the end of 2026, Xbox fans should have a clearer view of how Microsoft intends to steer the brand through its next quarter-century – and whether this ambitious slate can rekindle trust and enthusiasm across the broader gaming community.
When Seth Walker first walked into Lincoln High School’s new cybersecurity class, he felt out of place. “I didn’t have any IT experience, and everyone else seemed so far ahead of me,” he remembered. “So, I let that motivate me to learn the craft and keep up.”
His curiosity led him from a rural high school in Talladega, Alabama, to Troy University, where he’s studying cybersecurity and working on his CompTIA Security+ certification as a freshman. He credits high school internships and mentorship from his teacher, Brian Kelly, as the foundation that shaped his path forward. “I saw firsthand how cybersecurity looks in different environments,” Walker said. “It made me realize this is something I can really build a future in.”
A Regional Model for Rural Readiness
In 2023, Talladega County Schools joined Digital Promise’s inaugural Cybersecurity Pathways Cohort, part of a national effort to build regional workforce pipelines in high-demand tech fields. Soon after, the district joined neighboring Talladega City, Anniston City, Etowah County, Oxford City, St. Clair County and Sylacauga City school districts to form the East Alabama Regional Cybersecurity Alliance (EARCA), a collaboration with post-secondary institutions and industry partners in East Alabama working to grow local cybersecurity talent.
Together, the group created a student-centered Cybersecurity pathway reaching more than 33,000 students. EARCA is becoming a replicable model for regional pathways, offering shared curriculum, teacher professional development and employer partnerships that can be adapted anywhere.
The alliance strengthens the local economy by connecting education directly to employment, and preparing students for an evolving tech landscape where cybersecurity and artificial intelligence intersect. With 8,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in Alabama and 750,000 vacancies nationwide, schools like Lincoln High are preparing students for roles that pay an average of $90,000 annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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“The cybersecurity pathway gives students a clear direction and a chance to stay and work here in Alabama,” said Darian Simmons, career tech director at Talladega City Schools.
Building a Program From the Ground Up
For Kelly, the instructor who launched Lincoln High’s program, cyber had long been an interest. “I worked in IT doing help desk and network support, and always wanted to integrate cybersecurity,” he said. “When the opportunity came up to run the program, I jumped on it.”
Kelly saw this as a chance to hone his own skills as well. “My advice to other teachers is to just jump in. The more you’re exposed to AI and cybersecurity, the more comfortable you get. Learn with your students. Do the competitions. Figure it out together.”
This is the philosophy that shapes his classroom environment. Students work in small groups to solve problems together before turning to him for help. “That’s what cybersecurity is: creative problem-solving,” he said. Competitions like CyberPatriot and SkillsUSA keep students motivated and build confidence in their skill set.
Hands-On Learning and Flexible Tools
One memorable project for Walker involved a rubber ducky, a small, programmable USB drive that can access a device remotely. “It showed us how something simple can be powerful,” he said. “The same process can be used for harm or protection, so it all comes down to intent.”
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Students also use IBM SkillsBuild, a free platform offering self-paced courses and micro-credentials in cybersecurity, AI and digital literacy for teachers and students. For Walker, it was a turning point. “It was my best friend in that first semester,” he said. “There is no better foundation for hardware, networking and software basics.”
Kelly values the self-paced design for giving students flexibility and teachers built-in professional development.
How Talladega County Schools is transforming students’ futures with cybersecurity pathways
From PD to Practice
Through EARCA, Kelly meets monthly with other cybersecurity teachers for professional learning and resource sharing. The sessions create a community of practice where educators share lesson ideas, test labs and align their teaching with workforce needs.
At Lincoln High, Kelly turns those shared strategies into hands-on learning. His students analyze phishing emails, design defense strategies and complete local internships that connect classroom skills to careers.
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The lessons from Alabama echo in other regions. In Kansas City, full-stack instructor Shineta Horton applies similar principles through her own professional learning. “If we want students to use technology ethically and creatively, teachers have to feel confident exploring it first,” she said. “They see me learning as we navigate SkillsBuild together, and that changes everything.”
Both Kelly and Horton agree: career readiness extends beyond technical know-how. “The tools will continue to change,” Kelly said, “but adaptability, communication and persistence are what carry students forward.”
“Everyone should have access to this kind of learning,” added Walker. “It opens so many doors.”
Lessons for Educators
The EARCA model offers insights for schools expanding career readiness opportunities:
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Start small and learn together. Teachers don’t need to be experts; learning alongside students builds trust and confidence.
Connect with the community. Partnering with local businesses gives students exposure to how AI and cybersecurity operate in different settings.
Leverage free resources. Platforms like SkillsBuild provide accessible pathways for both professional development and student engagement.
Looking Ahead
For Kelly, the growth of the cybersecurity program represents a shift in mindset as much as curriculum. “We’re showing students that technology careers aren’t somewhere else,” he said. “They can build them right here in Alabama.”
For Walker, what once felt intimidating now feels essential. “Cybersecurity gives me a way to make a difference,” he said. “It’s not just about technology, it’s about protecting people.”
The story of East Alabama offers a blueprint for others: a regional alliance of schools and employers creating student-centered career pathways and a resilient local economy through education and collaboration.
