Meta’s year so far hasn’t exactly been a picnic. But that didn’t stop one nut-loving creature from seeking some joy inside one of the company’s offices this week.
A squirrel apparently got loose inside a building in Bangkok, Thailand, where some of the tech giant’s regional teams are based. The critter spent at least 20 minutes darting past staff, according to an internal memo seen by WIRED. It noted that the squirrel minorly injured a janitor before finally being caught.
The rodent’s adventure in the office—while potentially terrifying to some—brought a moment of levity to Meta staff around the world who have been dispirited by recent restructurings, mass layoffs, and the launch of an initiative to train AI using employee data without their initial consent. Meta executives have acknowledged the current morale crisis and begun trying to lift the mood internally by funding boozy social outings and promising to improve office food, according to current employees and an internal memo.
In recent years, some Meta workers have complained about losing access to healthy office snacks, like nuts, which they said had been replaced with less nutritious options such as chips. Whether the animal marauder in Bangkok found anything to its liking couldn’t be learned.
The squirrel was delivered to the office inside a package, but it ended up escaping, according to the internal memo. A janitor from a cleaning company accepted the delivery. The reasoning behind the squirrel’s delivery and where it now resides weren’t mentioned in the memo, but some people keep the animals as pets or eat their meat.
Meta declined to comment on the incident.
The injured worker, who was scratched on the finger, received first aid and was later taken to the hospital for a medical examination, according to the memo. The janitor “responsible for bringing the animal onto the premises” formally acknowledged their misconduct and committed to adhering to office regulations to ensure “such an incident does not recur,” the memo added.
New York Times journalist Mike Isaac first reported the incident in a social media post on Tuesday, without specifying the location or the janitor’s role. “Employees are predictably having a field day with it internally,” he wrote. “One person created an AI-generated video mimicking an HR training course on squirrel-related office best practices.”
Squirrels looking for a suitable home in Meta’s empire might find better luck invading Hawaii, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal cattle dine on home-brewed beer and macadamia nuts.
We’re big fans of Katie Dippold’s wonderfully weird Apple TV horror comedy series Widow’s Bay, and apparently, so is the Television Academy. The series nabbed 19 nominations for the 78th Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Matthew Rhys’ performance as Mayor Tom Loftis, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Stephen Root’s performance as Wyck, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Dale Dickey’s performance as Rosemary and Kate O’Flynn’s performance as Patricia. It’s facing stiff competition, but we’re hoping Patricia can manifest success with some help from the ever-insightful self-help-manual-slash-evil-spellbook Your Turn.
Apple TV’s sci-fi standout Pluribus nabbed 18 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Rhea Seehorn’s performance as Carol Sturka. Perhaps the Television Academy will finally do the right thing and give Seehorn an Emmy after she lost twice for her performance in Better Call Saul.
You can find the full list of the primetime 2026 Emmy Awards nominees below, and you can find a complete list of all nominations, including the Creative Arts Emmys, here.
Outstanding Drama Series
The Diplomat
The Gilded Age
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Paradise
The Pitt
Pluribus
Slow Horses
Your Friends and Neighbors
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age
Chase Infiniti, The Testaments
Keri Russell, The Diplomat
Rhea Seahorn, Pluribus
Zendaya, Euphoria
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
Gary Oldman, Slow Horses
Mark Ruffalo, Task
Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat
Noah Wyle, The Pitt
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Taylor Dearden, The Pitt
Fiona Dourif, The Pitt
Allison Janney, The Diplomat
Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
Sepideh Moafi, The Pitt
Julianne Nicholson, Paradise
Karolina Wydra, Pluribus
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Patrick Ball, The Pitt
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt
Gerran Howell, The Pitt
Jack Lowden, Slow Horses
Tom Pelphrey, Task
Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Pluribus
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Salli Richardson Whitfield, The Gilded Age (“My Mind Is Made Up”)
Hanelle M. Culpepper, Paradise (“Exodus”)
Noah Wyle, The Pitt (“12:00 P.M.”)
Vince Gilligan, Pluribus (“We Is Us”)
Saul Metzstein, Slow Horses (“Scars”)
Salli Richardson Whitfield, Task (“Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Rightdoing, There Is a River”)
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Peter Ackerman & Debora Cahn, The Diplomat (“Amagansett”)
Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman & R. Scott Gemmill, The Pitt (“1:00 P.M.”)
Valerie Chu, The Pitt (“12:00 P.M.”)
Vince Gilligan, Pluribus (“We Is Us”)
Will Smith, Slow Horses (“Scars”)
Brad Ingelsby, Task (“A Still Small Voice”)
Outstanding Comedy Series
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Hacks
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Nobody Wants This
Only Murders in the Building
Shrinking
Widow’s Bay
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
Ayo Edebiri, The Bear
Elle Fanning, Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
Jean Smart, Hacks
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Yahya Abdul Mateen II, Wonder Man
Steve Carell, Rooster
Matthew Rhys, Widow’s Bay
Jason Segel, Shrinking
Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Dale Dickey, Widow’s Bay
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
Kate O’Flynn, Widow’s Bay
Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Megan Stalter, Hacks
Jessica Williams, Shrinking
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Colman Domingo, The Four Seasons
Paul W. Downs, Hacks
Harrison Ford, Shrinking
Nick Offerman, Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Stephen Root, Widow’s Bay
Michael Urie, Shrinking
Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
Randall Einhorn, Abbott Elementary (“Ballgame”)
Christopher Storer, The Bear (“Bears”)
Andrew DeYoung, The Chair Company (“Life Goes By Too F**king Fast, It Really Does”)
Lucia Aniello, Hacks (“Hacks”)
Mary Lou Belli, The Ms. Pat Show (“Give It Arrest”)
Hiro Murai, Widow’s Bay (“Welcome to Widow’s Bay!”)
Welcome to Esports Manager 2026, a strategy-simulation game where you take charge of a competitive esports organization from the inside out Serpent’s Gaze
Start from scratch or take over one of the existing teams. Navigate the complexities of player recruitment, team development, tournament schedules, and business operations. Whether you’re optimizing training, making key transfer decisions, or managing the mental health and motivation of your roster, every move counts toward your legacy. There’s no scripted campaign or forced ending—your journey continues as long as your manager stays active. Grow, adapt, and lead your team to the top.
Realism and Depth Inspired by the real-world challenges of esports management—balancing financial, psychological, legal, and organizational responsibilities with no hand-holding.
Real Organizations, Real Players Choose from a wide range of authentic teams and manage a roster filled with real professional players. Build your lineup your way.
Player Market and Transfers Buy, sell, and loan players to create the best roster for your goals. Market dynamics, contract negotiations, and timing all matter.
Player Development and Morale Design weekly training plans that target both skill growth and well-being. Use team-building, psychology sessions, and smart scheduling to shape high-performance athletes.
Leadership and Player Interaction Get to know your players. Understand their needs and motivations, and guide them through ups and downs both on and off the stage. Use the in-depth Talk module to communicate with players and staff, understand their needs, and leverage the result of the conversation into something truly unique and useful.
Tournaments and Rankings Enter your organization into a full calendar of events, from smaller competitions to major championships. Aim for the Grand Slam and leave your mark.
Screenshots
SystemRequirements
Minimum Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Memory: 2 GB RAM
DirectX: Version 10
Storage: 4 GB available space
Support the game developers by purchasing the game on Steam
InstallationGuide
TurnOff Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
One of the most crucial stages in creating a product is to find the right industrial company. It is very important, since the right partner or team will truly help you develop a design that doesn’t just look good but also works well and is efficient to produce. In contrast, if you work with the wrong company, it would most likely lead to multiple delays, higher costs, and, worse, unsatisfactory outcomes.
In the process of building a successful product, selecting the right industrial company is crucial. And since there are a lot of companies to consider nowadays, it really can be so challenging to decide where to begin. Good thing services like Cad Crowd exist; it’s a platform that simplifies your search by connecting you with skilled design experts who can surely turn every idea into a reality.
An Industrial design companymainly aims to develop products that focus not just on their visual look but also on usability and practicality. It makes sure to create a product that functions well, is user-friendly, and is efficient to manufacture. The services these firms offer often include idea development, 3D Modeling, Prototype building, and final product refinement. They work closely with clients who transform ideas into real designs, ensuring they align with both customer expectations and manufacturing standards.
Having a better understanding of what these companies do allows you to make a clearer decision and set a significant expectation on how the process will be. It also helps avoid misunderstandings, as you get to know more about who you work with as you achieve your product goals.
Why hiring the right industrial design company is critical
Choosing the right industrial design company really plays a significant role in the success of your product. It helps you get an idea of product design that doesn’t focus solely on appearance but also considers its usability and importance in the competitive market. It streamlines manufacturing processes by addressing design issues early, saving time and money along the way.
On the contrary, if you select the wrong partner, there would be a lot of problems that would happen later on. It can result in multiple revisions, wasted materials, delays, and a final outcome that is far from what was expected. And if this happens, everything would slow down, especially your designated launch schedule, and you would possibly lose your chances of success.
Because of this, thorough selection is really essential. Taking ample time to evaluate your options before making a decision helps big time. With the help of the right expertise, you and your team can move along with more confidence since you have a partner that would back you in every aspect throughout its stages as you all go through the process of achieving your product goals.
Steps in finding the right industrial design company
Step 1: Define product requirements clearly
Before starting to search for the right industrial design company, it is important to clearly define your product design first. It simply means you need to understand your product’s purpose, who your target users are, and outline its key features. It helps best when you already have a clear direction right from the very beginning; then the entire design process becomes more efficient and focused.
Being able to set your vision early on gives you a clearer idea about user experience. You get to consider how your target users will interact with the product that you are trying to create. Thinking deeper about the certain challenges that they might face and how your product design can address those specific concerns. These are very important details that must be included in your project brief so that designers are aware of the solutions they will create, not just visually appealing but also practical and meaningful.
Step 2: Look for relevant industry experience
Every industrial design company has its own level or type of expertise. There are some who focus more on consumer goods, while others specialize in areas like electronics, furniture design, or medical devices. And each of them has its own set of standards, requirements, and challenges. You must be mindful when selecting the one who aligns best with what you plan to build.
Finding a company that has experience with the same kind of industry that you have can significantly make a difference. Since they already know and understand the common design issues, product limitations, and even user expectations. Through this, you can both work more effectively and efficiently since there would be less chance of expensive mistakes and even delays along the way.
Step 3: Evaluate portfolios
In assessing an industrial design company, it is important to thoroughly review its portfolio, as it is one of the most valuable tools a client should consider before deciding to hire. With the help of this portfolio, you get to have a clear view of that specific company’s design approach, skills, and level of experience. Having reviewed their previous work, you can better understand their capabilities in delivering a project.
It helps you decide best, especially when you focus on projects that are the same as yours. This helps confirm that the designer has strong experience understanding the standards and requirements for the type of product you are trying to build. It is very important to also evaluate not just the visual of their previous work, but also the functionality of their designs. Remember to always note that just because it looks good, it doesn’t mean it also performs well in real-life use.
Step 4: Check client feedback, reviews, and testimonials
Aside from portfolios, it is very important to check feedback, reviews, and testimonials from previous clients. This feedback from clients is very helpful since it provides you with real user insights as to how the designer works in certain projects. They reflect reliability and the overall experience of what it actually feels like working with them. Always pay attention to both positive and negative feedback, as they indicate a significant message and can really help you decide whether they are worth partnering with. If they do have consistent positive reviews, then it’s a good sign.
However, if there are multiple complaints, then potential issues would surely arise during collaboration. If it is possible, try to always look for comments about matters like handling revisions, meeting deadlines, and, most importantly, good communication. With the help of client review feedback, you get to gain a lot of understanding about how a certain company works and what it’s really like to collaborate with a certain designer beyond their design output. It greatly helps you become more confident and informed as you arrive at your final decision and move forward with your project goals.
Step 5: Assess technical skills and tools
Technical expertise plays an essential role in industrial design. It means designers really need a strong level ofproficiency in CAD software and other tools used to create detailed, precise models. These tools are very important in developing designs, so it would be easier to visualize project concepts and prepare their designs, ensuring they’re ready for production.
Apart from software skills, designers are also expected to have a solid understanding of certain materials and the manufacturing process. Having this knowledge strengthens the product’s efficiency, making sure it is made with the right materials and methods while reducing unnecessary complexity or higher cost. It also helps in avoiding design issues that could possibly arise during production.
Step 6: Check communication and responsiveness
In any industrial design project, strong communication is really one of the major key factors in order for it to succeed. From the very first inquiry to its final delivery, the design company should be responsive, clear, and easy to work with. It is important to have good communication with both ends, as it helps ensure that the ideas you give are understood and properly executed. As a client, you should pay close attention to how the company replies and how quickly they are to pick up your ideas and concepts as they grasp your project requirements.
If, in any case, there are misunderstandings or delays, especially during the early stages of communication, it could lead to bigger issues along the process. So it’s important to note and weigh things right before proceeding into the actual work collaboration. Clear and timely responses are a good sign of a company’s professionalism and reflect how reliable they are as a partner. Do not settle for potential; make sure to make careful decisions to prevent problems as the project progresses.
Pricing is one of the most important bases before you decide who to hire as yourindustrial design partner. Many clients opt for the lowest-priced option to be more practical, but it is important to remember that the value of the work is more important than the cost. Choosing the cheaper option, though practical at first, can possibly result in a poor quality of work, multiple revisions, and even higher expenses as the project progresses.
The best approach you need to consider is to really focus on the entire value, not just on the pricing alone. Look at the designer’s work experience, capabilities, technical skills, and track record in delivering project results. If you invest more in a skilled professional, you are more likely to guarantee a smoother process, a better-designed outcome, and to lessen or even avoid costly revisions later on.
Step 8: Understand workflow and process
When you hire an industrial design company, it is important to note how they manage their design process from the very beginning up until the very end. Every designer or company has their own workflow and process, so it really differs from one company to another. So, by understanding their specific approach, you will be able to see whether it aligns with your expectations. You must ask how they operate at every stage of the process, from research, prototyping, concept development, revisions, to the final delivery. Through this, you get to gain a clear picture of their structure and organization.
When a company has a well-defined process, it simply means that they centralize a smoother collaboration between all the people involved in that specific task. And by understanding this kind of structure, you can anticipate what to expect, including when to expect updates and feedback, and how they make decisions throughout the process. A designer who strictly follows a certain workflow is likely to deliver high-quality and consistent results. This step also helps you in identifying potential gaps during the early stages so that you can prevent any confusion or delays once everything begins.
Step 9: Ask the right questions before hiring
Before you fully decide who to hire as your industrial design partner, make sure to really ask questions in order to confirm that the specific designer is really the right fit for your project goals. Through this, you get to set clear expectations and avoid the potential risk of misunderstandings along the process. Make sure to ask about their previous experiences with similar projects. Through it, you get to have an idea of how knowledgeable they are with your project type and see how they would handle things and deliver according to your standards. You should also not forget to provide project timelines, including how long you would want each stage of the project to take, and if there are cases of delays, how strategically you would handle them.
Another one to clarify is ownership. Remember to confirm who will own the final design files once everything is done. Ask as many questions as possible, as long as they’re related to the project that you are trying to create, especially in terms of possible additional fees for certain changes or specific details that can affect the overall experience and success of the product that you are aiming to build. Getting clear and direct answers really helps you as you decide who to hire.
Choosing to hire either a freelancer or a design firm mainly depends on your project’s needs, complexity, budget, and even the level of support that it needs. If you opt to hire a freelancer, it’s a good choice, as they are a very flexible and budget-friendly option. It is ideal for startups and smaller projects with limited resources. Freelancers adapt easily to change, communicate directly, and often offer rates that are more affordable than those of larger firms. It is a practical choice, especially for simple designs or early-stage product development for startup businesses seeking a wise option.
On the other hand, design firms provide a more structured and smarter approach. They have a full team of specialists, designers, and engineers with extensive knowledge and experience in handling complex projects that require expertise across multiple areas. They manage complex workloads, offer a range of services, and ensure consistency throughout the project design process.
Whether your decision would be, it really just depends on your project’s size, since you all have the advantage of who to choose from, both freelancers and design firms. With all the platforms that connect experts, Cad Crowd really gives you the flexibility to find the right partner for your project goals. It’s a matter of decision and thorough evaluation, since regardless of what you decide, Cad Crowd still provides you with easier access to both options, making sure you get to select the professional that meets your specific standards.
Where to find reliable industrial design companies
In today’s modern world, we have various ways to find industrial design companies, such as searching online, using professional networks, or asking for referrals. A lot of methods can really be helpful, but don’t always guarantee that the companies you find online or are referred to are qualified, experienced, or perfectly fit with your project’s goals. Through online searching, we can get a wide range of options, but the results they deliver, most of the time, don’t meet our specific standards. Sometimes, you find designers who really excel in the specific field, but lack the expertise you actually need. There are others who don’t have proven strong experience in the specific industry but deliver top-notch quality.
This is what makes the selection process more time-consuming and really overwhelming, especially for those startups. For this reason, selecting a trusted and reliable platform becomes essential. Cad Crowd simplifies the process by offering access to a carefully curated network of skilled, vetted industrial design professionals. This helps clients avoid spending more hours filtering through uncertain or unqualified options, since you can quickly connect with expert designers carefully selected for their experience and capabilities, who meet your professional standards and have the potential to turn your ideas into reality.
Common mistakes to avoid when hiring
It is inevitable to commit mistakes in any project design, especially when you are in the process of looking for and hiring the best industrial design company. However, these mistakes are preventable and can be avoided in order to avoid big damage as your project progresses. Of course, you do not want to deal with major damage along the way, so, as much as possible, be extra mindful when selecting the right company, since they are the ones who will be accountable at every stage of the process.
One common mistake in choosing a designer is basing your decision on price alone. Although lower costs may seem attractive at first and practical, they don’t guarantee a good quality result. Instead, it often leads to repeated revisions, poor quality, and higher expenses throughout the process. And no client would ever want to deal with multiple revisions again and again in the long run. So, as much as possible, consider the overall value rather than focusing on the attractiveness of cheaper costs. There are a lot of clients who are blinded by the idea of lower-cost pricing without realizing how it often negatively affects the overall performance of the manufacturing process.
Another is failing to review the designer’s portfolio. If you don’t check their previous work and experience, it will be more difficult for you to evaluate the skills and capabilities they deliver. You will not be able to look through their design styles and level of experience, and you will not be able to confirm if it fits best with your project needs. A portfolio provides you with all the important insights into whether that specific designer can handle the type of project you are trying to aim for. It must not be overlooked and taken for granted since it’s a very helpful guide as you go through the process of building the product of your dreams.
Also, poor communication and unclear project requirements are two of the major issues that most clients deal with. If you don’t set your expectations early, misunderstandings are likely to occur. Without clear project standards and requirements, the project would most likely result in delays and unsatisfactory outcomes. You should always take time to prepare clear standards and provide questions that can help in avoiding problems early on. There are a lot of clients who hop into the process right away without confirming every little detail, assuring every potential complication and possible challenge along the way.
Final checklist before hiring an industrial design company
Before you make your final decision, it is really essential to make sure that you have carefully reviewed all the options you have and ensure that everything is clear and settled. You may start by confirming that your product requirements are properly defined, including its purpose, key features, and target users. In this way, you get to stay focused while making sure that the designer you choose really understands the vision you have in mind.
Next, evaluate the designer’s portfolio to see whether their style and methods really match what you’re looking for. Make sure that you get to check their previous work so that you can confirm it really reflects the kind of quality and functionality you want to have in your own product.
Also, do not overlook the importance of communication. Always make sure the designer is responsive, easy to talk to, and clearly explains the project details. You must work collaboratively and establish a professional relationship, ensuring you get to exchange ideas comfortably while making sure everything is settled and clear before proceeding into the next stages of the process. At the same time, also remember to check the transparency of the pricing just to see to it that it has no hidden fees or unclear charges.
Lastly, you must ensure that every deliverable, timeline, and expectation is clearly set and agreed upon between both ends before confirming the start of the project. When you have everything properly set up from the very start of the process, misunderstandings or challenges are less likely to occur, making everything run smoothly.
Applying all these steps increases your chances of having a successful partnership with the chosen design company, while ensuring you receive and achieve a high-quality final product that not only looks good but is also manufacturable and meets your project requirements.
The cost of hiring an industrial design company varies depending on the product’s complexity, project scope, and the level of expertise required. While simple product concepts may only require a few thousand dollars, more advanced projects involving prototyping, engineering, and manufacturing support can cost significantly more. The table below provides a general overview of typical industrial design pricing ranges.
Service Level
Typical Project Cost (USD)
Best For
Freelance industrial designer
$1,000 – $10,000
Simple products, startups, concept development
Small industrial design studio
$5,000 – $30,000
Consumer products, product refinement
Mid-sized industrial design firm
$20,000 – $100,000
Complex products requiring research and prototyping
Full-service product development firm
$50,000 – $250,000+
End-to-end development, engineering, manufacturing support
Enterprise-level design consultancy
$100,000 – $1,000,000+
Large-scale commercial products and innovation projects
Conclusion
In choosing the right industrial design company, a lot of patience, clarity, and careful decision-making are really needed. Having all this just means how much you value your products and how you want things to run smoothly as the project progresses. Having a better understanding of your product and evaluating company portfolios and expertise means you get to open a strong foundation for your project’s success. Every step you take in choosing the best partner helps you reduce potential risks and issues, ensuring that all your ideas are transformed into a well-designed and manufacturable product.
If you want to find the right professional who can help you turn your ideas into reality without wasting hours searching, try Cad Crowd, a platform proven to simplify your search. It has access to a wide pool of experienced and vetted designers who are guaranteed to help you move forward with your project goals. They are carefully chosen since they have the quality and ability to develop a product that is sure to meet your goals and will really stand out in the competitive market.
If you’re impressed by Cad Crowd’s freelance industrial designers, considering hiring one of them for your design project. We can connect you with some of the best product designers in the industry. Just contact us with your information and we’ll give you a free quote!
MacKenzie Brown is the founder and CEO of Cad Crowd. With over 18 years of experience in launching and scaling platforms specializing in CAD services, product design, manufacturing, hardware, and software development, MacKenzie is a recognized authority in the engineering industry. Under his leadership, Cad Crowd serves esteemed clients like NASA, JPL, the U.S. Navy, and Fortune 500 companies, empowering innovators with access to high-quality design and engineering talent.
Due to overwhelming interest, we’ve extended applications for Startup Battlefield Australia to July 20.
If you’ve been thinking about applying, do it now. There won’t be another extension.
One application could change everything
Since the first Startup Battlefield Australia in 2017, there have been 26 alumni companies that have collectively raised over $147 million, with three successful acquisitions. They’ve been backed by some of the world’s most respected investors — including Y Combinator, Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Khosla Ventures, Microsoft, AirTree Ventures, Startmate, Techstars, and SOSV.
It all started with one decision: They applied.
Why apply now?
If you’re building something ambitious, this is a fast track to the people who can move your startup forward.
Selected founders will pitch live to:
Top-tier investors.
Global media.
Australia’s leading founders and operators.
Potential partners, customers, and hires.
This is more than a pitch competition. It’s a chance to earn visibility, credibility, and connections that can take years to build.
What’s at stake?
On August 19, 2026, eight startups will pitch live at Stripe Tour Sydney.
The top three will receive up to $15,000 in Stripe fee credits.
The grand prize is even bigger:
Automatic entry into Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco this October.
No second application. No extra round. Just a direct path to one of the world’s biggest startup stages.
Who should apply?
We’re looking for early-stage startups across Australia and New Zealand that are:
Pre-seed to Series B.
Building a real product or showing strong traction.
Are there any other moms out there who absolutely LOVE crafting?? Well, I have got an amazing surprise for you today!
I’ve scoured the internet and found the top 25 cutest fun fonts for crafters. 😊 I can’t wait to show you!
25 Cutest Fun Fonts For Crafters
Crafting is such a great hobby to get into, and lots of people have even turned their hobby into a business! Making cards, scrapbooking, knitting, sculpting, woodworking…just to name a few!
Picking the right fonts to use on all of your crafting projects can be tough though (and uber time consuming!) That’s why I’ve done the hard work for you and found 25 amazing and cute fonts for the crafty soul. 😉
These are great to integrate with your cutting machines such as a Cricut or Silhouette and take your crafting projects to the next level by implementing these fonts. Some of my favorites are “Delighted,” “Peppy,” and “Excited.” 😊
Don’t worry about licensing or anything like that if you do sell products! All of the fonts on this list are currently good to use for:
Commercial Use
Unlimited Number of Projects
Unlimited End Products For Sale
Font word on the picture {Name of Font}
Creative Ways To Use These Fonts
Maybe you need a little more inspiration to get started in incorporating these fonts into your crafts. Here are a few great ways you can start using them today!
Upload To Your Cutting Machine
First things first, we need to get these fonts uploaded to your cutting machine!
One of the best things about these fonts is that they are yours to use forever!! You can easily upload these to your Cricut or Silhouette! This would definitely be the first step in order to use them on all of your future products. Depending on the type of device you have (Mac, iPad, or PC) will determine how you upload these fonts but it’s all pretty basic…just put them on your device in your fonts section or folder so you can use them.
Make Homemade Crafts With Your Kids
My daughter and I love to make crafts together. She’s WAY better at it than I am, though I did make some cute bows the other day for our Christmas tree that turned out FANTASTIC! These fonts are SO kid-friendly, so making fun projects for your kids & with your kids will put the fonts to great use.
You can make fun memory pages for scrapbooks, game cards, quotes, and pictures to hang in their room, and lots more! 😊
Use For Digital & Physical Products
Do you currently run an in-person or online store? No better time to start than the present! These fonts give you a great start into creating awesome products that people will absolutely love.
One of my favorite places to shop for fonts is through Creative Market! They have SO many products which is super awesome, but it can make it difficult when trying to figure out where to start. Not anymore with this great list of fonts for crafters!
Those of you who love crafting (and those who want to start now 😉) will be so happy with these fonts! Enjoy!
The FBI, in partnership with Google and other tech companies, struck a massive blow against NetNut, a public-facing residential network proxy service that secretly hosted a botnet controlling approximately 2 million Android TVs and similar smart home devices. The network was being used for password-spraying, credential attacks and other malicious activity.
Residential proxy botnets make malicious traffic appear like normal internet use, allowing everyday devices to be secretly hijacked by cybercriminals to conduct illegal activities using your home internet. Infected home devices were often preloaded with malicious software used by the botnet, which made traditional home security practices less effective at detecting and stopping the problem.
According to an FBI statement emailed to CNET, on July 2, the federal agency carried out “a court-authorized seizure of multiple domains as part of a coordinated law enforcement action with the Department of Justice and IRS Criminal Investigation targeting infrastructure associated with the NetNut residential proxy platform, its administrators, and users.”
Authorities worked in tandem with Google, Lumen Technologies and the Shadowserver Foundation to go after NetNut and its services — also known as the Popa botnet by security researchers. Google said in a blog post that the actions “caused significant degradation to NetNut’s proxy network and its business operations, reducing the available pool of devices for the proxy operator by millions.” NetNut’s website now shows an FBI takedown notice.
Google acknowledged that taking down NetNut is only the first step. Because these proxy networks frequently share and resell access to each other’s botnets, disrupting one provider often leads malicious actors to simply purchase capacity from a competitor. To create a lasting impact, Google said it must “target the infrastructure of several interconnected providers” simultaneously.
NetNut’s official website is taken down with this seizure notice in its place.
The FBI
How this botnet worked
In 2024, security researchers at XLab found the Vo1d botnet, a massive collection of hacked, mostly off-brand Android TV devices. If you recall the fake AI video of Donald Trump and Elon Musk appearing on TVs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, that was most likely caused by a malicious actor using the Vo1d botnet.
Those same researchers also found Popa, a legitimate network protocol plug-in that turned consumer devices into residential proxy nodes with the user’s consent. But the version researchers found was being installed on the hacked Android TV devices without user consent. According to the FBI, a residential proxy node is “an intermediary server between individuals and websites they visit to make their connections appear to originate elsewhere.”
Residential proxy networks are legal in the US, and businesses that use them usually sell access to enterprise customers, where they’re often used for security penetration testing, ad verification, gathering marketing data and unlocking geo-locked websites. Since residential nodes use real IP addresses from someone’s home, the company or person using the node is seen by the World Wide Web as just an ordinary user, and their true identity is hidden.
Android TV devices that were part of the Vo1d botnet and infected with Popa allowed cybercriminals to conduct attacks, scrape data from infected devices looking for sensitive information like passwords, and even hijack the device to perform malicious tasks, all while the hacker appeared to originate from the house across the street or the apartment across the hall without actually being there.
That is where NetNut comes in. NetNut is a public-facing residential proxy network operator owned by Alarum Technologies, a publicly traded company out of Israel. Per Google, it was one of the largest residential proxy network operators in the world.
On the surface, NetNut appeared to be a legitimate business and even had an official website where you could buy its services. However, late last month, multiple researchers confirmed that traffic generated by the Popa botnet was from NetNut users. This meant that NetNut was effectively selling its botnet out in the open to anyone, for both legitimate and illegitimate uses, which gave authorities enough evidence to take the company down.
Stay safe from the next attack
The good news is that making sure you don’t wind up as part of the next Android TV-powered botnet is actually pretty easy. According to Google and security researchers, the overwhelming majority of the hacked devices were no-name Android TV streamers that you can freely find on Amazon, Temu, AliExpress and other online outlets.
Many of those streaming sticks and boxes are quite cheap, but they do work. The problem is that nearly all of them run ancient versions of Android, which are easier to hack since those devices don’t have the modern protections afforded by newer versions.
Some brands sell streaming boxes that promise free streaming with no subscriptions. These are often advertised on Instagram and TikTok by fresh-faced influencers who claim to offer a no-subscription streaming TV solution. Security researchers found that many of those streamer boxes came prehacked with botnet software installed out of the box.
So, step one to avoid becoming part of a botnet is to only buy Android TV devices from reputable companies like Sony, Nvidia, Google and others. Try to buy one that runs a modern version of Android and still gets security updates. You should also avoid those “one price, no subscriptions” boxes on social media, since they definitely come with malware preinstalled.
Botnets like this aren’t unique to Android TV. Smart home devices are also consistently included in botnets, so step two to keeping yourself safe is to make sure you apply all of the above advice to your smart home products as well. You should also keep up with the latest trends, like promptware, a new kind of malware that hacks your devices by asking the onboard AI to do it on behalf of the hacker.
The incident serves as an important reminder to be wary of low-quality, cheap tech peddled by influencers — or you risk having your personal ID information stolen. The usual array of things helps as well, like making sure to have a robust password, learning how to avoid phishing emails and not revealing any personal details to suspicious characters online.
I’ve spent weeks playing Task Bar Hero as part of my daily work routine, and after pouring over 300 hours into the desktop auto-battler, it’s safe to say it sits among my favorite idlers. Micromanaging the tiny pixel heroes at the bottom of my screen has also brought out the best worst parts of my ‘number must go up’ broken gamer brain, so I have some thoughts on what a Task Bar Hero tier list looks like.
Task Bar Hero tier list
(Image credit: Nugem Studio, Tesseract Studio)
After clearing all four difficulty modes and micromanaging my little guys all the way to max level (level 101), this is my definitive Task Bar Hero tier list for the current meta. While I bought both DLC classes, I want to highlight that both of my top picks (Ranger and Priest) are free.
Class tier list
Swipe to scroll horizontally
S-Tier
Ranger
A-Tier
Priest
B-Tier
Hunter, Sorcerer
C-Tier
Slayer
D-Tier
Knight
Choosing your Task Bar Hero(es)
Ranger is the definitive best Task Bar Hero class right now, but I’ll get into more of that below
Priest is incredibly versatile, easily fulfilling the roles of both tank and healer
You can swap Ranger for Hunter, though I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve gotten lucky gear drops
Sorcerer is the perfect third hero for double DPS teams with his beefy AoE
If you want a more traditional tank, spend the $5 to invest in Slayer over Knight
Avoid blowing resources on Knight. As it stands, he’s painfully outclassed in harder difficulties and a literal deadweight in Torment
Task Bar Hero best teams
A few notes on assembling your team
Redeem the free Priest DLC for access to a perfectly serviceable F2P team
DPS is king in the current meta. Tough fights rarely call for heavy investment into armor upgrades, and even with better pieces, extra sustain won’t last long
Build for attack speed on Ranger and Hunter, or cast speed on Sorcerer
Add elemental resistance to armor. It doesn’t hurt to hit the 75% cap, especially on tanks
Use one of the three-man teams for the early to mid-game, then swap to the ranger solo strategy for Torment difficulty
(Image credit: Nugem Studio, Tesseract Studio)
The DPS Heavy, for a Priestly carry to the end
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Class
Priest
Ranger
Sorcerer
Role
Tank/Healer
DPS
AoE-heavy DPS
Priest starts to out-tank both the Slayer and Knight with very little investment. You may struggle early in some of the mid-tier difficulties, but with a few lucky gear upgrades she should start holding on just long enough for Ranger and Sorcerer to chew through enemy waves. Prioritize leveling her Blessing of Might skill to rush a damage boost for the entire team.
Latest Videos From
While your Sorcerer burns through the entire enemy wave’s HP, a speedy Ranger should have no problem finishing off the frontlines within one or two shots.
(Image credit: Nugem Studio, Tesseract Studio)
The Holy Trinity, for safely cruising through early to mid-game
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Class
Slayer
Priest
Ranger
Role
Tank
Healer/Off-Tank
DPS
Pick Slayer over Knight for his party buffer, Commander’s Cry, and an easy ticket to more damage. With him in the tank position, funnel your better armor into keeping him alive and leave gearing Priest for last. She should survive hanging back in the middle while casting heals and Blessing of Might.
Ranger is the best pick in a single DPS team and the star of the show. Prioritize her for any damage upgrade materials, and remember to boost her attack speed whenever possible. Sorcerer won’t carry a 3-man team as the only DPS, but if you’ve gotten lucky with Hunter weapon drops, you can swap her in over Ranger. She’s not my first pick, but she’ll work until you find better upgrades for Ranger.
(Image credit: Nugem Studio, Tesseract Studio)
The Solo Ranger, for farming the endgame
Not only is Ranger the best class and my only S-tier pick, but she’s also fully capable of ripping through enemy waves all on her own. When you reach Torment difficulty, it’s often better for her damage if you send her in alone.
Take levels like Torment 2-8 for example, where you encounter waves of exploding Fire Elementals. Bringing two extra characters can throw off Ranger’s DPS by staggering enemies’ HP and positions, and your other allies will quickly die to the mobs anyway. They also get Ranger killed in the process, but you can avoid a wipe by sending her in alone so she’ll have a clean shot with perfectly timed cooldowns and auto-attacks.
I found it was easier to farm most Torment difficulty stages with Ranger alone, or at least it was until I had the rest of my party fully kitted out in upgraded endgame gear. In the current meta, you’ll never go wrong funneling all of your resources into gear upgrades for Ranger, so prioritize her first to make farming for other Task Bar Hero characters a breeze.
More Task Bar Hero tips
(Image credit: Nugem Studio, Tesseract Studio)
Tips for spending gold, upgrading runes, and leveling the Cube
Rush the two extra Runes of Command at the bottom of the Rune grid so you can level three heroes at a time as early as possible
Also, pick up the Rune of Awakening early to give your team access to their second skill
Hero attack damage runes found in the lower right of the grid are helpful too, along with runes that upgrade XP gains
The Rune of Brevity in the grid’s top right corner makes a huge difference in grinding with its “Stage Wave Count -1” effect. It’s one of the major upgrades that really accelerated my team’s growth around starting around levels 50-60, and snowballed me into the later stages
Keep your inventory tidy by using junk gear to level the Cube, don’t waste gold early on excessive inventory slot upgrades or extra stash pages
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Yesterday’s layoffs at Xbox took, and will continue to take, a terrible toll. Some trumpeted the fact that no studios were closed, although the practical impact of spinning them out to independence or new ownership remains to be seen, but that has no bearing on the blow to morale caused by such deep cuts to long-standing dev teams.
One former Elder Scrolls Online developer put words to those feelings in a short, poignant thread on X, lamenting the state of the game and developer ZeniMax Online Studios, which was reportedly purged of half its employees in the layoffs.
“I’m just so angry today,” wrote Andrew Young, a content designer on Elder Scrolls Online who worked at ZeniMax Online Studios from 2012-2042. “People will never know the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making ESO or how we basically funded other failing projects while never getting enough resources to really keep up with our release cadence. The team deserved much better.”
Latest Videos From
The Elder Scrolls Online has had a tough go of it over the years. Its launch in 2014 did not make a great impression, and while the shift to Tamriel Unlimited a year later turned things around, it always felt to me a bit like an afterthought MMO: The second cousin to World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 whose face you recognize in photos, but whose name you can’t quite put your finger on.
(Image credit: Andrew Young (Twitter))
But things seemed to take a darker turn in 2025. Just a year after a GDC talk extolling the actually-quite-remarkable success of TESO, game director Matt Firor—also the president of ZeniMax Online Studios—suddenly left the studio, a move he later said was the direct result of Microsoft’s 2025 bloodbath layoffs that also saw the cancellation of a new ZeniMax Online MMO known as Project Blackbird.
That Microsoft saw fit to cut even deeper into the studio just a year after that has some concerned about its future. Following the layoff announcement, TESO community manager Jessica Folsom reaffirmed the dev team’s commitment to the game but added that previously announced roadmaps for the new seasonal structure “will be shifting.” There’s no indication of anything more serious in the offing but I can’t help thinking of Amazon’s New World, a moderately successful MMO that was nonetheless canned when Amazon decided that its own “go big” strategy for gaming wasn’t working.
“I’ve been gone for a while, but talking to people today and realizing there’s really no one left and no changing it now makes my heart ache,” Young concluded. “For the people, our game, who we were as a team and a studio. This is a serious loss, and I don’t think people know how much.”
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
In our previous post, we introduced the VS Code coding harness, the layer that connects the model to tools, context, instructions, and the agent loop, giving the model the ability to perform coding tasks.
Each model responds to tool calls and instructions differently, and the harness can adapt to improve results. This post walks through a two-week experiment we ran in partnership with OpenAI to tune the GPT-5.5 system prompt in VS Code. The question was simple: if we nudge the agent to explore less and validate sooner, can it get faster and cheaper without getting worse? With OpenAI’s model expertise and our harness data, we tested two small prompt changes, measured them against a control on live traffic, and shipped the winner.
This matters more with usage-based billing in place. Token efficiency isn’t only an infrastructure metric: every token the agent spends wandering is a token you pay for and wait on. An agent that reaches a grounded edit sooner is both a better experience and a smaller bill.
The hypothesis: explore less, validate sooner
Following the launch of GPT-5.5, we looked at how the model spent tokens inside the VS Code agent harness, as part of the work described in Improving token efficiency in GitHub Copilot. Two patterns stood out: where the model spent tokens, and where it over-explored before acting. Agents can spend a lot of effort searching, rereading, and comparing nearby paths before making a useful edit.
That pointed to a single, testable idea: the agent should spend less effort wandering and more effort moving through a deliberate loop of evidence, action, and validation.
After testing different hypotheses and running offline evaluations, we turned that idea into two variants of the GPT-5.5 system prompt, both were promising in offline evals, and we tested them against the current default on live traffic.
Inside the experiment
We ran the experiment in VS Code over a two-week window, splitting GPT-5.5 agent traffic across two treatment groups and one control group with a 25/25/25 split. Both treatments test the same hypothesis but differ in how much structure they add to the prompt.
Group
Variant name
Description
Traffic allocation
Control
PRPT_CTRL
Current default prompt
25%
Treatment A
PRPT_SRCH
Economical search and edit: single, compact reminder to limit exploration before acting
25%
Treatment B
PRPT_LRG
Large prompt sections: broader restructure covering the full edit-and-validate loop
25%
Note: The allocations add up to 75% because the experiment scorecard compares evenly sized groups. The remaining GPT-5.5 traffic continued to use the default prompt outside this scorecard slice, so we could compare the treatments and control across the same kind of user traffic.
Treatment A: economical search and edit
Treatment A makes a small, focused change: a single, compact reminder that nudges the model to reduce unnecessary exploration.
The <economical_search_and_edit> section in the prompt instructs the agent to start from a concrete anchor, gather only enough local context, avoid broad exploration, act once there is a cheap discriminating check, and avoid rereading unchanged context.
{economicalSearchAndEditEnabled && <Tag name='economical_search_and_edit'> - Start from the most concrete available anchor: a file, symbol, failing behavior, failing command, or nearby implementation surface.<br /> - Gather only enough nearby context to choose one plausible local hypothesis and one cheap check that could disconfirm it.<br /> - Prefer one targeted search or nearby read over broad repo exploration.<br /> - Once the cheapest discriminating check is known, act.<br /> - Do not re-read unchanged context unless a new result makes it relevant.<br /></Tag>}
Treatment B: large prompt sections
Treatment B tested a broader version of the same idea of limiting exploration. Instead of adding a single, compact reminder about economical search, it reorganizes the agent workflow into explicit <Before_the_first_edit> and <After_the_first_edit> sections. Unlike Treatment A, these additions make the system prompt itself larger, so a key question was whether the added structure would still improve efficiency, not just agent behavior.
The goal was to solve the full loop and not only the search step: form a local hypothesis before editing, avoid broad exploration, make a grounded first edit, and validate immediately after the first substantive edit.
{largePromptSectionsEnabled && <> <Tag name='Before_the_first_edit'> - Start from the most concrete anchor available: a file, symbol, failing behavior, failing command, test, or nearby implementation surface. If the request does not name one explicitly, use the first targeted search or nearby read to identify that anchor, then continue locally from there.<br /> - Before the first edit, gather only enough nearby evidence to state one falsifiable local hypothesis about how the requested behavior should work or why it is failing, and one cheap check that could disconfirm it.<br /> [...] - Once you can state one falsifiable local hypothesis, the nearby code path it depends on, one cheap check that could disconfirm it, and one small edit that would test it, the next action must be a grounded edit.<br /> - If confidence is incomplete, the first edit may be a small reversible probe that exposes missing types, behavior mismatches, control-flow gaps, or validation failures.<br /> - If you find yourself still searching after that local-routing budget, treat that as drift. Recover by choosing the best current hypothesis and the best available nearby check, then make the smallest plausible edit that will let that check discriminate.<br /> </Tag> <Tag name='After_the_first_edit'> - Prefer this order for that first validation action:<br /> - the cheapest behavior-scoped or failing check that can falsify the current hypothesis<br /> - a narrow test for the touched slice<br /> - a narrow compile, lint, or typecheck command for the touched slice<br /> [...] - Finish with at least one post-edit executable validation step whenever the environment provides one. Only fall back to diff-only validation when no focused command exists or commands are unavailable.<br /> </Tag></>}
What the two-week scorecard showed
We tracked the treatments across three dimensions: quality (does the code stick), latency (how fast the first edit lands), and efficiency (tokens and tool calls). Each treatment is compared with the control group in the table below.
What each metric measures
10-minute survival rate (by user): Of the code the model wrote, how much is still in the file 10 minutes later (not deleted or rewritten). It’s our proxy for “did the AI’s code actually stick.” Measured as surviving characters ÷ total characters written, as a %. E.g. ~90% — roughly 9 of every 10 characters the model added are kept.
Commit survival rate (by user): Narrower and stricter: of the AI-written code, how much survives all the way into a git commit. This is “did it make it into real, saved work.” Same character-ratio calculation, but only counting code present at commit time. E.g. ~87%.
p50 Time to First Edit (by turn): For a typical request, how long from hitting enter until the first actual change lands in your code — not just the model talking, but real work appearing. Measured in seconds. E.g. ~74s for the median turn.
p95 Time to First Edit (by turn): The same clock, but for the worst 5% of requests — the “why is this taking so long?” cases. A key tail-latency guardrail. E.g. ~6.4 min (383K ms), where hard tasks or lots of exploration delay the first edit.
p50 total tokens (by user): How much the model reads + writes for a typical user across their day — a proxy for cost and context load per person. Sum of tokens per user, median across users. E.g. ~12.9M tokens/user/day.
p95 total tokens (by turn): The token weight of the heaviest 5% of individual turns — the big, sprawling requests that drive cost spikes and hit context limits. E.g. a single turn running into the millions of tokens, vs a ~500K–900K median.
Average tool calls (by turn): How many actions (read file, search, run terminal, edit…) the agent takes per request to get the job done. Lower can mean more efficient; too low can mean less thorough. Mean tool calls per turn. E.g. ~24 per turn.
Signal legend: ● favorable and highly significant (p < 0.001), ○ favorable and statistically significant (p < 0.05), ● unfavorable and highly significant, ○ unfavorable and statistically significant, - not statistically significant.
Metric
Treatment A (PRPT_SRCH) impact
P-value
Signal
Treatment B (PRPT_LRG) impact
P-value
Signal
10-minute survival rate (by user)
-0.40% (-0.37 pp)
0.0707
–
-0.44% (-0.41 pp)
0.0493
○
Commit survival rate (by user)
-0.48% (-0.41 pp)
0.3200
–
+0.68% (+0.57 pp)
0.1533
–
p50 Time to First Edit (by turn)
-2.88% (2.0s faster)
0.0271
○
-5.68% (3.9s faster)
2e-5
●
p95 Time to First Edit (by turn)
-1.93% (8.0s faster)
0.1928
–
-9.30% (38.8s faster)
1e-10
●
p50 total tokens (by user)
-2.54% (0.2M fewer tokens)
0.3429
–
-3.25% (0.3M fewer tokens)
0.2094
–
p95 total tokens (by turn)
-5.19% (0.3M fewer tokens)
0.0157
○
-7.64% (0.5M fewer tokens)
0.0003
●
Average tool calls (by turn)
-3.19% (0.77 fewer tool calls)
0.0091
○
-8.54% (2.04 fewer tool calls)
1e-12
●
Quality: the guardrail metrics stayed mostly healthy. Commit survival rate moved slightly up for Treatment B (+0.68%) and slightly down for Treatment A (-0.48%), neither statistically significant. The 10-minute survival rate moved slightly down for both treatments: -0.44% for Treatment B and -0.40% for Treatment A. Only the Treatment B movement crossed the statistical significance threshold, and just barely (p=0.0493), unlike the highly significant efficiency wins. We treated that as a real tradeoff to weigh, but the movement was small and the other quality guardrail did not regress.
Latency: Treatment B delivered the strongest edit-latency wins, and both were highly statistically significant: p50 Time to First Edit improved -5.68% (3.9s faster, p=2e-5), and p95 Time to First Edit improved -9.30% (38.8s faster, p=1e-10). Treatment A moved in the right direction, but the edit-latency effects were weaker: p50 Time to First Edit -2.88% (2.0s faster, p=0.0271), and p95 Time to First Edit -1.93% (not significant).
Token efficiency: both treatments reduced median total tokens per user, but those p50 movements were not statistically significant: -3.25% for Treatment B and -2.54% for Treatment A. At the upper tail, Treatment B reduced p95 total tokens by -7.64%, highly statistically significant (p=0.0003). Treatment A also reduced p95 total tokens by -5.19%, statistically significant (p=0.0157). Both variants reduced average tool calls per turn: -8.54% (2.04 fewer tool calls) for Treatment B, highly statistically significant (p=1e-12), and -3.19% (0.77 fewer tool calls) for Treatment A, statistically significant (p=0.0091).
Treatment B had the strongest overall profile: clear latency wins, significant upper-tail token reductions, fewer tool calls, and mostly stable quality guardrails. The one movement worth watching, the small drop in 10-minute survival, was only lightly significant (p=0.0493), while the latency, token, and tool-call gains were larger and far more robust. Treatment A moved several metrics in the right direction, but Treatment B was more consistent across the measures that matter most for VS Code.
So we shipped it: Treatment B, LargePromptSections, is now the default GPT-5.5 system prompt.
The takeaway isn’t only that the numbers moved. The movement was tied to a specific, testable harness hypothesis from provider feedback, validated offline first and then confirmed online over a two-week production window. That’s the loop we want to keep running.
Continuous optimization
This experiment is one example of how we work with model providers beyond launch day. A model release is not the end of the tuning loop. It is another chance to look at real VS Code behavior, test focused improvements, and find new ways to make the experience faster, more reliable, and more efficient.
We’ll keep looking for those improvements across models, prompts, tools, and the VS Code coding harness, so more of each agent’s budget goes to the work that matters instead of unnecessary exploration.
Try agents in VS Code, switch between models, and compare how different models approach the same task. Share your feedback in our GitHub repo. It helps us keep improving the experience.
