Qodo launches a beta Azure DevOps integration that embeds its AI-driven, context-aware code review directly into pull request workflows. Read...

Trane Technologies will acquire liquid cooling specialist LiquidStack to bolster data centre thermal management for AI and high-density computing. Read...

Moderne launches Prethink, arming AI agents with structured insight into sprawling codebases to cut rework and improve software governance. Read...

NordVPN will use CrowdStrike threat intelligence to power its Threat Protection Pro tool, bringing enterprise-grade data to consumer security. Read...

If you don’t want to waste space with a laptop on your desk or with a desktop PC, then what you should consider is a mini PC. These days, a mini PC doesn’t mean compromising on performance—in fact, you can get more performance for less, if you know what to look for. Minisforum is one of the most trusted brands in the mini PC space, and right now the Minisforum M1 Plus is on sale for $559 (20% off). That’s a crazy price for this machine’s specs and the lowest price it’s ever been. If you don’t snag this deal, you’re gonna kick yourself. This tiny little computer runs on a powerful Intel Core i7-12800H CPU with 14 cores and a stunning 32GB of DDR5 RAM. With the ongoing RAM shortage driving up prices everywhere, that alone is worth the price of admission here. But you also get a speedy 1TB SSD, advanced thermal management to keep the device cool, and triple 4K/60Hz support via HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB4 ports. Need a true workstation crammed into a miniscule box? This is the one for you. Other noteworthy benefits of the Minisforum M1 Plus include two fast USB-A 3.2 ports, two USB-A 2.0 ports for peripherals, two 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports for fast and stable internet, VESA mounting to the backs of VESA-compatible monitors or even the wall, and ultra-responsive performance all around for Windows 11, file transfers, and more. With hardware prices expected to keep going up, now’s an excellent time to jump on this deal and get ahead of the chaos. Score the Minisforum M1 Plus for $559 and walk away a winner! This Intel Core i7 mini PC with 32GB RAM is crazy for $559Buy now via Amazon Read...

Your Walking Dead habit is about to cost you more, with AMC+ boosting its rates for the second time in a little more than a year.  Starting immediately for new customers, the price of AMC+’s monthly ad-supported plan will rise to $7.99 a month, a $1/month price hike, while the cost of the ad-free premium tier will also go up a buck a month, to $10.99/month.  Annual AMC+ subscription rates are going up too, spiking from $95.88 a year to $109.99 annually, a roughly 15-percent increase.  The price changes go into effect now for new AMC+ subscribers, and will kick in for existing members after March 13.   In a statement, AMC+ said it’s imposing the price increases to “continue delivering a collection of world-class originals, award-winning series, and exclusive movies” from the AMC+’s various content networks, including Shudder, Sundance Now, and the flagship AMC network.  The last time AMC+ raised its prices was just a little more than a year ago, when it boosted its monthly ad-supported and ad-free tiers by a buck a month each. Considering the latest increases, AMC+’s monthly streaming prices have gone up more than 20 percent over the past 13 months.  An AMC+ subscription gets you access to three streaming networks: the main AMC network, along with the horror-focused Shudder and the boutique Sundance Now service for independent films.   Also included in an AMC+ subscription are 6 live streaming TV channels, with ad-free subscribers getting the ability to download shows for offline streaming.  Among the top shows available through an AMC+ subscription are the various Walking Dead spinoffs, including The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.  Other AMC+ shows include Interview with the Vampire, Mayfair Witches, Talamasca: The Secret Order, Dark Winds, and A Discovery of Witches.  On the positive side, AMC+ does offer free 7-day trial, good for sampling the streamer’s goods or binging for a week before bailing. Read...

Emburse launches AI-powered Assurance tool to spot expense errors and fraud earlier, easing audit workloads and speeding reimbursements. Read...

Even after the cheapest model was retired, the Steam Deck handheld remains the most affordable, flexible way to get your hands (ha) on PC gaming hardware. But not at the moment. All three models of Steam Deck hardware are now showing as out of stock on Valve’s US page. Canada is also out of stock, but models are still available in the UK and EU, according to a quick VPN search. This isn’t the first time that the Steam Deck has been in short supply. But following the retirement of the original, $400 USD design, and after Valve admitted that it had to delay pricing and availability announcements for its upcoming Steam hardware, it’s a bad look. The Steam Deck is definitely the leader by a wide margin in the handheld gaming PC space, with its various imitators only garnering a fraction of its sales, even with the backing of huge PC manufacturers like Asus and Lenovo. Right now is the time that Valve needs to double down on Steam as a gaming platform, to get people excited for the console-adjacent Steam Machine. It’s also when people entering the PC gaming space need cheaper options than over a thousand bucks for a nominally “mid-range” desktop. Microsoft is feeling the heat as both gamers and regular users are fed up with Windows 11’s AI antics and overall bugs. If you’ll forgive the cliche, the iron is hot, it’s time to strike. Unfortunately, it’s also the time for incredibly expensive memory from the RAM crunch. The “AI” industry buildout is constraining memory supply and raising prices for tons of consumer electronics, especially high-memory PCs. The Steam Deck’s 16GB of shared LPDDR5 RAM isn’t exactly massive, but even that seems to be a lot to ask for these days — there are rumors that laptop makers will slide back the “midrange” standard to just 8GB, which is less than I recommend for Windows 11. That being said, I don’t think this indicates a large-scale production issue for Valve, at least not yet. With availability still showing in Europe (Valve only sells hardware directly in the US, Canada, UK, and EU), there’s no sign of a full worldwide shortage. It could just be that Valve has sold out a buildup of hardware from the holidays, and is a little slow to get it back up in a traditionally lax period of retail sales. Still, with all the other maddening woes of being a PC gamer in 2026, little grey buttons on the bottom of the Steam Deck store page are not a welcome sight. Read...

When you sign up for Netflix with a gift card, you might expect it to work like any other form of payment, allowing you to cancel and resume the subscription at any time. But that’s not the case. If you cancel Netflix while paying with a gift card, the subscription will continue every month until the balance is depleted. You can’t put the subscription on hold and save some of the credit for later. Disney has the same policy for Disney+ and Hulu gift cards, and NBCUniversal appears to have similar terms for Peacock gift cards. Spokespeople for Netflix and Disney declined to comment on the record about the rationale for their gift card policies, and a Peacock spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. No pause button These gift card policies aren’t new, but I became aware of them last month after hearing from Doug Wheeler, a reader who accrued a lot of Netflix credit from Christmas gifts over the past few years. Wheeler activated his subscription in September, and then cancelled in December with $151.37 worth of credit remaining. He planned to restart the subscription after several months of using other streaming services instead. To his surprise, Netflix continued to withdraw from the gift card in January and showed a message on his account page: “Your membership will be cancelled after your gift card is used up.” An email from Netflix confirming his cancellation said that the subscription would run through December 2026. Netflix’s account page, showing that an account can’t be cancelled with a gift card balance on it.Doug Wheeler According to Wheeler, Netflix’s phone support representatives refused to put the subscription on hold, citing the company’s gift card terms of service. But he points out that those terms weren’t disclosed on the digital gift card he received via Amazon. The gift card listings on Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy contain a URL for Netflix’s full gift card policy, but they don’t disclose the cancellation policy directly. Wheeler has since been trying to get the word out, contacting local politicians, news outlets, and the New York Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection. “Netflix may be able to steal my (at this point) $151.37, but I am determined to make it cost them a lot more to not do the right thing by their customers,” he said via email. Streaming gift card policies compared Netflix isn’t alone in barring users from pausing their gift subscriptions. The terms of service for Disney+, for example, state that “cancellation shall become effective when the Gift Card Credit is fully exhausted.” The Disney Store has a similar disclaimer on its Disney+ gift card page. The fine print when buying a Disney+ gift card through the Disney Store.Jared Newman / Foundry Hulu’s policy appears to be more drastic, stating that gift card balances “will be forfeited upon cancellation,” but a Disney spokesman says Hulu’s policy is the same as that of Disney+. Peacock’s policy is a bit more ambiguous, but implies that pausing a gift subscription isn’t allowed. (“Once the Gift Card is redeemed to an account, the entire Gift Card balance will appear as a credit to the account until used,” Peacock’s terms say.) By contrast, Paramount+ deserves credit for explicitly allowing customers to put gift subscriptions on hold, with terms that say any unused balance will remain “indefinitely” available until starting a new subscription. Apple and Amazon allow you to start and stop subscriptions with gift card credit as well. HBO Max, meanwhile, has avoided this whole issue by not offering gift cards at all. One happy ending At least for Doug Wheeler, the campaign to complain about Netflix’s gift card policy had a positive outcome. One month after writing to the New York Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection, he got an email response saying that Netflix had resolved his complaint. He then checked the email address associated with his Netflix account, and found six Netflix gift cards with a total value of $151.37, the same amount he expected to have after cancelling his subscription. Complaining to state officials can work.Doug Wheeler So, if a streaming service’s gift card policy catches you off guard, consider complaining to your state’s consumer protection office or Attorney General. The streamers may be willing to kick over some gift card credit to make the problem go away. As for Wheeler, he says he’s going to keep making noise about the issue regardless. “They are not changing their rules,” he says. “They simply gave me back my money, in a form I find acceptable.” Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...

Google has fixed 11 security vulnerabilities in the latest Chrome versions 145.0.7632.45/46 for Windows and macOS and 145.0.7632.45 for Linux. According to Google, none of these vulnerabilities are being actively exploited in the wild yet. Chrome 145 was actually scheduled for release last week. Google hasn’t given any reasons for the delay. Chrome usually updates automatically when a new version is available. You can manually trigger the update check via the menu item Help > About Google Chrome. Google will release Chrome 146 in early March. What’s new in Chrome 145? Chrome is now linked to Google Wallet, allowing the browser to automatically fill in forms with data from Google Wallet. On the browser’s What’s New tab after updating, Google highlights the productivity gains that can come from linking Chrome to Google Wallet, making it a lot faster to fill out addresses, payment methods, and other details when checking out. You can find the settings for this feature in Chrome under Settings > Autofill and passwords > Enhanced autofill. You need to be signed in to Chrome for “Enhanced autofill.” Security fixes in Chrome 145 In the Chrome Releases blog post, Srinivas Sista lists the 11 security vulnerabilities that were fixed in Chrome 145. These not only include vulnerabilities reported to Google by external researchers but all vulnerabilities (albeit with a one-day delay). Google is listed as the discoverer for 3 of the 11 security vulnerabilities. Two of those vulnerabilities are classified as high risk. However, neither the buffer overflow in the codecs component (CVE-2026-2314) nor the “inappropriate implementation” in the WebGPU module (CVE-2026-2315) are enough to explain the week-long delay in Google’s release of this new Chrome version. Google also classifies the use-after-free vulnerability in the CSS component (CVE-2026-2313) as high risk, which was previously reported in December. Meanwhile, Google classifies 6 other vulnerabilities as medium risk and 2 as low risk. The term “inappropriate implementation” appears several more times. Google has also released Chrome for Android 145.0.7632.45 and Chrome for iOS 145.0.7632.55. The Android version addresses the same vulnerabilities as the desktop versions. The Extended Stable Channel for Windows and macOS now includes Chromium version 144.0.7559.173. Further reading: Essential Chrome features you should be using Read...