A wedding was taking place in a sunlit hall deep in the heart of Turkey, complete with laughing, music, and dancing, as well as family gathering as close as possible. Guests lined up as expected, each eager to give the happy couple something unique. Envelopes containing cash and gold pieces were passed from hand to hand as usual, but one of the attendees did something unexpected.

He created a necklace of sorts with an MSI Suprim GeForce RTX 5090, one of the latest high-end GPUs, wrapped in white and fastened with red ribbons. The groom then wore the box around his neck like a nice chain. The card, one of the most desirable and astonishing high-performance graphics cards available, hung there proudly as the audience erupted in cheers and laughing.

Shortly after, the same guest approached the bride, holding a set of four DDR5 memory sticks. They were strung together with red ribbons, creating a makeshift necklace that she could easily wear. As the lights caught them, the memory modules appeared to be a string of high-speed memory, which was fairly cool given the theme of the day.

Another guest chipped in, adding an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K unlocked processor. The line made people laugh because it was sort of accurate, since the GPU, CPU, and RAM could definitely anchor a very serious PC build, even if they were missing a few components like a case, motherboard, and power supply.

Turkish weddings have always been a site where guests shower the happy couple with valuable presents to help them get started. Gold coins, cash, and the standard sorts of jewelry have all fulfilled that role for a long time, but PC components have recently increased in value so rapidly that they have begun to challenge some of the old classics in terms of value. High-capacity DDR5 and high-end GPUs have found themselves in that all-too-rare position where demand and availability intersect, making them not only logical but also pretty darn great presents.
[Source]

The first developer beta of iOS 26.4 is rolling out, and with it, Apple is flipping a major security switch for buyers. A security feature that was previously optional is now enabled by default for everyone, making it harder for thieves to change your iPhone’s critical settings.

We’re talking about Stolen Device Protection (first released with iOS 17.3), the feature that is designed to protect your Apple ID, saved passwords, payment methods, and other sensitive information, even if someone knows your iPhone’s passcode.

Changing critical security settings requires more than just a passcode

The feature asks for more credentials than your iPhone’s passcode (such as Face ID or Touch ID) for actions like viewing or using passwords or passkeys saved in iCloud, viewing an existing Apple card or applying for a new one, turning off the Lost Mode, and erasing all the content and settings.

Further, the feature also delays changing critical security settings, such as the Apple ID password, adding or removing trusted devices, changing the iPhone’s passcode, and adding/removing Face ID or Touch ID, for an hour.

It also requires biometric authentication, followed by a one-hour security delay and a second biometric confirmation before changes can be made.

Why this matters

Basically, by enabling Stolen Device Protection in iOS 26.4, Apple is making it harder for bad actors to exploit the critical information stored on your phone or to reset it and sell it for quick cash.

In other words, your iPhone will be more paranoid than usual, even when you’re using it, but it is better to have the feature and not need it than to need it and realize that you didn’t turn it on (which is the entire point of making it a non-optional feature).

Elsewhere, the iOS 26.4 developer beta also includes encrypted RCS messaging support, native video support in Apple Podcasts, and a new Playlist Playground feature in Apple Music. A full public release of iOS 26.4 is expected this spring.

Apple AirTags have speakers in them, and the speaker is not entirely under the owner’s control. [Shahram] shows how the speaker of an AirTag can be disabled while keeping the device watertight. Because AirTags are not intended to be opened or tampered with, doing so boils down to making a hole in just the right place, as the video demonstrates.

How does putting a hole in the enclosure not compromise water resistance? By ensuring the hole is made in an area that is already “inside” the seal. In an AirTag, that seal is integrated into the battery compartment.

Behind the battery, the enclosure has a small area of thinner plastic that sits right above the PCB, and in particular, right above the soldered wire of the speaker. Since this area is “inside” the watertight seal, a hole can be made here without affecting water resistance.

Disabling the speaker consists of melting through that thin plastic with a soldering iron then desoldering the (tiny) wire and using some solder wick to clean up. It’s not the prettiest operation, but there are no components nor any particularly heat-sensitive bits in that spot. The modification has no effect on water resistance, and isn’t even visible unless the battery is removed.

In the video below, [Shahram] uses a second generation AirTag to demonstrate the mod, then shows that the AirTag still works normally while now being permanently silenced.

Why would one want to permanently silence an AirTag, putting it into so-called “stealth mode”? That’s a good question. If you’re not familiar, one of the circumstances under which AirTags emit sound is if it is separated from its owner and has been moving with someone else for some period of time. Intended as an anti-stalking feature, [Shahram] points out that this behavior can also be a nuisance or straight up undesirable. For example, one may be using the tag on a pet collar, to track one’s luggage, or on a potential theft target like a bike. Modern phones in any case alert their owners if a tag they do not own appears to be moving with them, also as an anti-stalking measure.

In [Shahram]’s case, he has hidden an AirTag on his bike. He figures that if his bike should be stolen, a beeping AirTag would announce its existence to the thief and they would in all likelihood simply locate and discard the tracker. But if the tag is silent, the thief — still notified by their phone that a tracker is with them but unable to locate it on the bike — would be more likely to discard the bike instead, allowing it to be safely recovered.

Regardless, the process shows how a careful understanding of a device’s internals can allow for modifications that don’t require opening the whole thing, and the process is a bit reminiscent of drilling into a Stadia controller to permanently disable the mic.

Apple Music is following in Spotify’s footsteps with a new AI-powered playlist creation tool that lets users generate personalized playlists using text prompts. Apple has introduced the feature in the latest iOS 26 beta release, and it allows users to describe an activity, mood, or vibe to instantly build a custom playlist tailored to their request.

According to MacRumors, the Playlist Playground feature is live in the first iOS 26.4 beta and adds a text box to the bottom of the playlist creation page in Apple Music where users can enter their prompt. The app offers a couple of pre-set suggestions such as “morning coffee music,” “hip-hop party songs,” and “disco songs that defined the 1970s” to help users get started.

After selecting a suggestion or entering a custom prompt, Playlist Playground generates a 25-song playlist complete with a custom title. Users can further refine the mix by tapping the “Customize playlist” button at the bottom to add more prompts, change the title, or select a custom playlist cover.

It’s not immediately clear whether Playlist Playground takes a user’s playback history into account when generating a custom playlist. Spotify’s alternative does, allowing it to create mixes that more closely match the user’s taste. Apple is expected to share more details about how the feature works ahead of its stable release.

For now, Playlist Playground is limited to Apple Music users running the latest iOS beta build. The feature is expected to roll out more widely once iOS 26.4 hits the stable channel.

The report found that Irish jobseekers are applying for roles in strong numbers, compared to UK, French and German counterparts.

New data published by LinkedIn, exploring the European jobs market, has found that in comparison to other European nations, Ireland’s jobs market remains competitive. Trends in LinkedIn’s December jobs data found that there is candidate fatigue among European jobseekers, amid lower levels of hiring.

The UK recorded the largest drop in activity, down nearly 8pc year-on-year, followed by France at 5pc and Germany at 3pc year-on-year. By comparison, Ireland experienced a 2.4pc year-on-year rise in applications per candidate. 

Commenting on the data, LinkedIn Ireland’s country manager Cara O’Leary, said, “While many European countries are showing clear signs of jobseeker fatigue, Ireland is moving in the opposite direction. At a time when applications per candidate are falling in the likes of Germany and the UK, Irish jobseekers are switched on and still confident of finding their next role regardless of economic uncertainty.”

What was also discovered is that a candidate’s network is becoming increasingly important, as LinkedIn’s data showed that applicants are more than 3 times as likely to get hired if connected to an employee already at the organisation they are applying for a role at.

O’Leary said, “Our data shows who you know is just as important as what you know, with candidates significantly more likely to be hired when they know someone at the organisation, reinforcing the importance of relationships alongside experience. For employers, this highlights the growing influence of their own people in attracting talent, with referral schemes one option to incentivise staff.”

AI talent magnet

LinkedIn’s research explored how the global labour market is evolving in response to AI becoming more prevalent in the workplace and in broader industry trends. It said, “In the near term, AI is creating more jobs globally than it is replacing. In the past two years, employers across the world have created at least 1.3m ‘new collar’ AI‑related job opportunities, including data annotators, AI engineers and forward‑deployed engineers.”

Additionally, LinkedIn’s research explained that this demand for AI talent is outstripping supply in Ireland, as the country is further establishing itself as a net importer of skilled workers. 

AI engineering talent is 8 times more likely to move across borders than the average LinkedIn member and the data showed a 2.2 net increase in net migration of AI engineering talent to Ireland, placing the region second in terms of net beneficiaries globally. The UAE was the biggest AI talent magnet globally, with the top five rounded out by Germany, Australia and Singapore.

O’Leary said, “Demand for ‘new collar’ jobs continues to outpace supply, but Ireland is proving to be an AI talent magnet, successfully attracting more AI engineers to these shores than those departing. Given that many of these jobs simply didn’t exist five years ago, with the pipeline from the education system playing catch up as a result, companies need to realise that upskilling is the solution. 

“We have never seen higher levels of interest in AI content on LinkedIn, so people are clearly eager to learn. It is in employers’ best interests to give their workforce the opportunity if they are to seize a competitive advantage.”

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