Salesforce has agreed to acquire Rune Technologies, a startup that builds AI software to help the U.S. military predict supply needs and manage logistics from the field, for $375 million in cash and stock, Resilience Media reported.
The acquisition underscores Salesforce’s push into defense tech through Missionforce, its business unit serving national security and defense agencies. Since Missionforce launched last year, its business has grown 80% year over year, driven in part by a new 10-year, $5.6 billion contract with the U.S. Army, the company said in a blog post. By integrating Rune’s frontline logistics data, Missionforce will extend beyond back-office administrative planning to support battlefield operations.
Since its founding in 2024, Rune has raised a total of $30 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Point72 Ventures, and IQT, a CIA-backed nonprofit venture firm formerly known as In-Q-Tel. The startup was last valued at $127 million when it raised a Series A led by Human Capital last year, according to PitchBook.
Salesforce has been on an acquisition spree this year. In addition to Rune, the CRM giant agreed to buy AI agent platform Fin (formerly Intercom) for $3.6 billion, bought Qualified for $1.2 billion, and signed an agreement to buy Listen Labs after the startup walked away from a $125 million Series C term sheet at a $1.5 billion valuation, as TechCrunch reported.
Salesforce didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Nvidia is in talks to guarantee billions in debt financing for AI cloud provider Nscale’s planned Anthropic data center in West Virginia, The Information reported Thursday. Bloomberg later corroborated the report. Anthropic has signed a $44.6 billion contract for the project’s first building alone, according to Nscale’s IPO filing. In essence, the chipmaker would be co-signing a customer’s loans, a sign of how hard the AI industry is working to keep its buildout plans afloat as investors grow jittery about the amounts of money involved.
The proposed arrangement would help Nscale secure financing for the electricity and construction costs of its West Virginia campus. Under what’s known as a residual value guarantee, Nvidia would step in if Nscale defaulted on construction payments, temporarily take over the facility, and help find a buyer and new tenant, according to The Information.
Nvidia’s earlier support for cloud providers has mostly covered leases and chip purchases, not construction.
The stakes are high for Nscale, which is seeking to go public at a valuation of up to $35 billion despite growing concerns about its ability to deliver on ambitious data center projects.
Anthropic’s contract with Nscale covers the first 460-megawatt building at Nscale’s West Virginia campus, which is expected to use Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips. The companies are also discussing a second deal worth roughly $45 billion for another building.
This month, Microsoft pulled out of a planned Nscale site in England after grid power for it was pushed into the 2030s.
Nvidia has been a major financial backer of the sector, extending roughly $170 billion in investments and credit support to neoclouds and large customers, according to The Information. That includes $1 billion in convertible financing committed to Nscale in September.
Neoclouds, which rent out AI computing power without a cash-rich core business behind them, have come under pressure from investors. Shares of CoreWeave, Nebius, and IREN had each fallen more than 30% in October as of last week, CNBC reported.
The proposed guarantee would deepen Nvidia’s financial ties to Nscale while helping secure a major customer for its chips. Anthropic, one of the largest buyers of AI computing power, has spread its infrastructure spending across multiple chipmakers. One investor told The Information that Anthropic’s involvement likely explains Nvidia’s interest in keeping Nscale’s project on track.
The discussions also come as Anthropic faces questions about how it will finance its own rapid expansion. The company filed to go public this week, but Blackstone has warned investors that Anthropic may receive a below-investment-grade credit rating after its IPO. A junk rating would raise Anthropic’s borrowing costs and could push it to keep relying on stronger partners to back its debt.
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How do you validate a product idea before prototyping? Most failures happen not because it’s poorly designed, but rather because it solves problems customers don’t really have or aren’t willing to pay for. Product Validation exists to address this kind of challenge. It is done before investing in expensive prototype design services or manufacturing, to check first whether people are genuinely interested in your idea. The simple feedback and comments can help in revealing areas of improvement so the design can be adjusted before manufacturing begins. To help you in developing a product with high-quality renderers and help in presenting the idea, browse Cad Crowd and connect with vetted professionals now.
What’s the cheapest way to validate a product idea?
One of the most doable and cheapest ways of validating a product is by researching your competitors and the market before spending money on prototypes or manufacturing. This can be done simply by looking at products that already solve the same problem and studying them. This can help in understanding what’s already available in the market and identifying gaps and opportunities where your idea could offer something better.
Search bestseller and review sections for gaps.
One easy way to validate the product is to search and explore best-selling products on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, or other industry-specific marketplaces. This can help in showing what customers are willing to buy and it shows what’s already in the marketplace. It is often misunderstood how a competitive market is deemed a bad thing. This is not really the case, it just means that customers are actively looking for alternative solutions.
Read 1-star and 2-star reviews on competing products.
Low-rated reviews are often left unread but it could be one of the best free sources of customer feedback. Reading these can give the new product designer a better understanding of how customers disliked the product. It shows problems like poor quality, missing features, confusing designs, or products that didn’t perform as expected. This helps in knowing what to improve in your product and not just focus on what it can do.
Looking for complaints that have been repeatedly posted across different brands can be helpful. This proves a universal challenge or struggle that customers experience and could be a real market gap that your product can solve. These reviews can give you a direction on what to do and not do. It helps in building a product that they’re willing to pay for instead of just assuming what customers need.
Analyze competitor pricing tiers.
It matters to check the competitor prices to compare products and features. It helps in positioning your product and in understanding what customers are already willing to pay for. Here, you’d have a better insight of the budget, mid-range, and premium products every brand can offer. Comparing the pricing tiers can actually help you in deciding how your product is positioned in the market. Here, you can decide to focus on being the more affordable choice, with extra features or create a premium product with a proven added value. It is important to understand the competitor pricing early to help in setting realistic expectations when it comes to profit margins. It helps in avoiding pricing too low or high.
Check search volume and trend direction.
To check in trends and demands in the market, you can use tools like Google Trends and keyword search. This helps to see whether people are actively searching for products like yours. It can show if there’s really a public interest in a product category. It shows whether it’s growing, staying steady, or declining over time. This helps in deciding and positioning your product to check if there are really potential customers. The search trends can also help you to understand when and where interest is strongest. It helps in providing information that can guide your product development, marketing, and launch timing. Even a strong product can fail in the market because of decreasing demand. This is why it is important to check the search trends before actually committing to the design development.
Scan past crowdfunding campaigns in your category.
You can opt to explore and browse Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other crowdfunding platforms to see how similar products performed. This helps in knowing how each campaign has reached its funding goals, how much it has raised, what rewards it offered, and how it presented its products. It can give you guidance and a better understanding of what attracts most customers as well as what kind of ideas gain support. Although reading only successful campaigns can be tempting and make you feel inspired. Reading unsuccessful ones can be valuable too. Doing this can help in better understanding what lessons were learned and what went wrong. It shows how the products struggled in the market. This platform also provides real purchase-interest data from people who were willing to spend money.
It also matters to list down the main competitors and do a comparison check based on key features and pricing. This can be done in a simple chart or spreadsheet. Doing this helps in seeing which products offer basic, mid-range, or premium features at different price points. With new product design services, this benchmarking makes it easier to understand where your product fits and how it can stand out from all those existing options. If you have observed a gap wherein there are only a few or no products in that category, it could be a great opportunity for you. However, it’s not always perceived as a guaranteed win. This is because sometimes the gap exists because the customers aren’t really interested in that combination of features and pricing. It is best to confirm and check whether the gap is a real opportunity or not.
How do you validate demand through customer interviews?
One of the best ways to find out the weak points, strong points, and opportunities for a product is to conduct customer interviews. It can help to talk to 10-12 people who closely match your target customer. This includes considering your ideal age group, profession, or lifestyle. According to research, this number can help in identifying common opinions and repeated patterns that can add value to your feasibility. (Statistics Solutions, 2025, citing Guest et al., 2006)
Recruit strictly from your target profile.
In doing customer interviews, it matters to stick to speaking with people who genuinely match your target customer. This is because their feedback can represent a greater number of target customers. Talking with friends and family may give biased data since they tend to be supportive. It may not be able to reflect what real buyers think unless they actually fit your intended market. To better do this, it is best to look for participants in places where your potential customers already spend time. This includes online communities, forums, social media groups, Reddit, or existing customer lists. Their feedback matters since they are likely your potential customers and could give you a clearer picture of their needs.
Ask about current workarounds, not your idea.
When doing the interview, it is best to avoid pitching the idea right away. The most ideal approach is to ask open-ended questions like, “How do you currently solve this problem?” or “What’s the most frustrating part of your current solution?” This can help in encouraging customers to speak their mind and talk honestly about their experience instead of just listening and reacting to your product idea. Before spending money on DFM services, it matters to understand what customers already do and know if they spend money to solve the problem. This can give a better signal of real demand. In the interviews, ask their daily routines, habits, frustrations, and workarounds. These can reveal whether the problem is important enough for people to pay for a better solution
If you pitch your product idea during the early part of the interview process, customers tend to be just polite rather than honest. It is actually best to avoid talking about the product early. Positive feedback does not necessarily always show signs of demand; it could simply mean they’re just supporting or encouraging you. Instead of just pitching your ideas, what could help is learning about their problems, habits, and current solutions first. Listening to them talk about their frustrations can introduce a way to talk about your product. This is a more natural approach and would be able to receive more honest insight about it.
Use “why” questions to find root causes.
During the interviews, as you talk with the customers, they can express their frustrations but may leave out the real symptoms of the problems. To reveal the real opportunities, it is best to ask follow-up questions “Why does that bother you?” or “Why is that important?” This helps in identifying what the actual pain points behind their frustrations are. When this question is revealed multiple times, it can reveal the root cause and how it can be solved.
Ask indirect willingness-to-pay questions.
Directly asking customers, “Would you pay $50 for this product?” can be misleading and would just make them say yes but never really purchase it. It is better for the product concept designer to ask questions first that reveal how customers currently spend money to solve the problem. Study what products or services they’re already using and how much they cost. It can give a more realistic view of their willingness to pay.
Look for patterns before concluding anything.
One positive piece of feedback can make you feel inspired to go on, but it actually does not equate to a winning product idea. This single person may just be excited to explore ideas or may be just a supportive person. It does not fully represent the larger target market. It’s best to look out for common patterns across multiple conversations. This can give a stronger signal that the problem is worth solving.
Turn Customer Feedback Into a Clear Product Concept
Turn your early interview insights into an attractive concept by hiring a freelance product designer on Cad Crowd. From sketches into concepts or visual prototypes before investing in full development, Cad crowd has vetted professionals for you. Check it now.
Can a landing page prove demand before you build anything?
A smoke-test landing page refers to a simple way of testing whether people are genuinely interested in your product. It’s not about asking directly what they think of your product; you create a basic page that explains the problem your product solves, shows a concept image or render, and asks visitors to take an action. This calls them to join the waitlist, sign up for updates, or request early access.
Build one page with a single, clear value proposition.
To create a good landing page, it should be able to communicate the product idea clearly. It should be easy to read and understand for the buyers and attractive enough for them to stop and look. Focus only on one main problem and one main solution. It does necessitate explaining possible features. The visitors should have a basic understanding once they see the page. It is important to send too many messages or different selling points as it could confuse them.
Use a short explainer video if the concept is hard to picture.
It is common to struggle in explaining a product in just words or images. This is why some landing pages would add a short explainer video to help customers see how it works. It is not necessary to build a full prototype; a simple demonstration using 3D animation services or sketches, or product rendering, can be enough to show the concept and the benefits. One example is Dropbox. Here, the founder just created a demo video to explain the idea before building the full system. It has helped potential users to understand and has expressed their strong interest. (Shortform, 2026)
Track email signup rate as the core metric.
A landing page should only provide valuable insights when the right people are viewing it. The most common misconception is trying to attract many people, but really, it is more important to only focus on reaching people who actually match your target market. Even though it’s only a small group, it is considered most valuable if they provide more useful feedback rather than having thousands of visitors who are not actually interested in buying.
Segment signups by traffic source.
It is usual to track numbers of visits in your landing page, but also pay attention to where those visitors come from. It is helpful to track signups by sources like social media, online communities, ads, search traffic, or email campaigns. This can be valuable information in knowing what channel or platform attracted people to take an interest in your product.
Test pricing or feature framing on the page itself.
The landing page can also help in testing more than whether people are interested in the product. It can also show what aspects or features of the product attract them the most. This can be done by testing different versions of the page with applied changes like headline, benefits, or key features. This can help the design for manufacturability company in seeing which gets the stronger response.
How do surveys reveal what people will actually pay?
Surveys can only work best after you have identified and understood your audience through an interview, research, or landing page. When this was done by sending out randomly. It could just create misleading results since respondents have no idea about your product.
Use the Van Westendorp price sensitivity meterT
Coming up with an ideal pricing can actually be a struggle because customers may give unrealistic answers when asked: “Would you pay $X for this product?” This can be fixed using the four-question method from Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter. The simple questions asked entail when the product feels too cheap, a good bargain, expensive but still worth considering, or too expensive to buy.
Survey your waitlist or interview list, not a cold audience.
It is important to only send out to a focused group of people who expressed interest in the product. This could be the group of people who are on your waitlist, landing page signups, or interviewed participants. These people would give more insightful responses and feedback because they have also shown interest and they know the relevant problems and solutions.
Ask people to rank features, not rate them all highly.
In a survey, avoid just having the customers rate each feature, as it could lead to them just rating everything highly. A better approach is to have them rank the features to know which one is their most prioritized feature. This forces them to choose and reveal what matters the most to them which gives the product engineer a good idea of the product concept. For instance, they can choose a longer battery life over lower cost.
Cross-tab results by segment.
The survey results can become even more useful when you look beyond the overall average. Customers have different needs, budgets and priorities. It is important to break down the responses by factors like age, lifestyle, profession, usage habits, or spending behavior. This can help in seeing which groups have shown the strongest interest in the product.
Treat stated willingness-to-pay as directional, not final.
Survey responses do not guarantee buying decisions. Customers can answer them, but they do it in a more hypothetical way. It is not always the reality when spending their own money. Manufacturing companies use survey results are used to identify a reasonable price range. It’s better used for understanding a customer’s expectation when it comes to pricing. The strongest validation comes from when the customers take real actions. This included joining a pre-order or placing initial deposits.
Are pre-orders and crowdfunding real validation?
One of the strongest ways to validate interest is pre-orders and crowdfunding. It can test the customers whether they’re truly interested and willing to make a purchase. This requires customers to take real action by committing money before they even receive the product.
Choose Kickstarter or Indiegogo based on your funding model.
When you launch a crowdfunding campaign, it is important to choose a platform that meets your funding needs and business strategy. Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing mode. This means you can only receive the funds if the campaign has reached its goal. This would create urgency and could show an even stronger market validation. The catch, however, is that when you miss the target, you won’t receive anything.
Understand realistic odds before you commit.
Crowdfunding can be deemed a power move, but it does not really guarantee success. In early 2025, only 42% of Kickstarter campaigns reached their funding goal. This means that more than half of the population did not meet their target and received nothing. Of the successful campaigns, the most successful raised the most money relatively, with many campaigns bringing in less than $10,000. (Statista, 2025; SearchLogistics, 2026)
What design fidelity does each validation step actually require?
Validation Stage
How Detailed It Needs to Be
Typical Deliverable
Competitor & marketplace research
None
Spreadsheet or notes only
Customer interviews
A simple idea sketch is enough
Hand sketch or simple concept board
Smoke-test landing page
A more realistic-looking design
Photorealistic 3D render
Surveys
Realistic visual is needed
Photorealistic 3D render or product photos
Pre-orders / crowdfunding
A near-final product appearance is needed
Photorealistic render or a working prototype to strengthen the trust
In here, you can observe that not all ideas would require a prototype right away. Early validation can be done and executed just with sketches and visuals. Detailed prototypes and realistic designs are only needed when money is required from the customers.
How do you score a go/no-go decision?
Area to Check
Go
No-Go
Cheapest Way to Check
Demand
3+ interviewees independently describe the same pain/weak points
People do not show a clear or repeated interest in solving the problem
Customer interviews with potential target market
Competition
A clear gap or underserved segment exists
Many similar products already exist and there is no clear reason customers would choose yours
Research competitors, reviews and marketplaces
Margin
Target retail price comfortably covers a 3-5x markup over landed cost
Production costs are too high, which leaves little profit even at a realistic selling price
Rough cost estimate vs. survey pricing
Acquisition cost
A believable, affordable channel to reach buyers exists
It is quite unclear how to find customers without spending too much on marketing
Test interest through a simple landing page and measure responses and feedback
Before committing to invest in a product, check the signals first. If there are two or more “no-go” areas, then it could be a signal to revisit the idea before proceeding to prototyping. This helps in avoiding spending money on ideas that are not likely to succeed.
Frequently asked questions
How many customer interviews do I actually need?
The ideal number is around 10-12 for a homogeneous target audience.
Do I need a working prototype to run a Kickstarter campaign?
Not really, most successful campaigns can successfully launch with photorealistic renders and not working prototypes. A prototype may help in building trust but it’s not necessarily a requirement.
What’s the difference between a survey and a smoke test?
A survey is more about asking people what they think they’d do. A smoke test, like a landing page with an email signup, is a channel for measuring what people actually do when given a real choice.
What if my product idea fails the go/no-go scorecard?
Treat it as valuable information and not actually a verdict. It can help in improving the design in a way that it can appeal to more buyers. It does not mean to fully abandon an idea.
Product validation is not really a single yes-or-no test. It’s not straightforward to know the answer. It is a step-by-step process that can be of help in reducing risks before committing to a design development. The practical approach is to start with the low-costs method before proceeding to more expensive ones like pre-orders and crowdfunding. The goal is to collect a stronger proof of demand. It does not need to be all expensive. It just needs clear visualizations to start. When you need a professional to test your concept or create clear visualizations for your surveys and landing page, Cad Crowd can help connect you with vetted freelancers to do customer-ready designs. Contact us for 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.
Responding to fears that Marathon’s future will dictate Destiny support, Bungie product head Josh Deane encourages players to support only the games they enjoy.
In a lengthy blog post sharing hopes for a “new forever Destiny” and “Destiny ‘Legacy'” project, Deane noted that, “we will all tell you that nothing can help bridge us into [the] future more than for Marathon to rapidly evolve and become sustainable.”
On the heels of some heady talk of business plans, milestones, and project progress bars, some readers interpreted this as a sign that the health of Destiny 2 hinges on the state of Marathon. While it’s surely true that greater success for Marathon would put Bungie in a healthier spot as a business, Deane stresses, in a series of tweets, that “in no way is the Destiny plan contingent upon Marathon.”
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“I understand my intent is being mistranslated here and that’s on me,” he says of his Marathon comments. “Play what inspires you, whatever it is. Mainly hoping we can accomplish our goals in both lanes with a stronger relationship with our entire community!”
“Just looking to serve players that love both/either worlds while we build the future,” a separate reply adds. “But definitely not asking players to support x to get y, and not building the plan that way. Just personally believe that there is an empowering force for that future if there is shared encouragement, and respect, as a Bungie community!”
Two additional replies narrow the focus. “Don’t buy Marathon as a donation or offer anything else,” Deane says. “It’s our job to show up for you.”
“Only buy or play a thing that inspires you from us / you think is cool!” he reiterates. “We will find our way back home with Destiny.”
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Now-former Marathon game director Joe Ziegler, another in a string of high-profile departures, previously told us that Marathon was never meant to replace Destiny 2, nor did the two games necessarily have a lot of overlap in player appeal. In urgent efforts to bolt on a compelling PvE mode, Bungie’s actively injecting a little bit more Destiny into Marathon today.
(Image credit: Bungie)
In September, Bungie acknowledged that Marathon “did not reach as many players as we had hoped.” The game’s active user base has collapsed since launch – down from a peak of 88,000 on Steam to a daily average in the range of 2,000 or 3,000. Some decline is expected for any live game post-launch, but Marathon is definitely struggling, and it has been for months with seasonal updates failing to rekindle the game.
The player response echoes a feedback loop also seen in Destiny 2 PvP: as lower-skill or casual players leave Marathon, lobbies become more grueling, queue times get longer, and getting into the game or making meaningful progress becomes more difficult with hardcore veterans pouncing on any fresh meat. Marathon’s unflinchingly harsh design philosophy already turned some people away at the door, and this spiral only made things worse. But the game’s problems, like offering compelling reasons to redo seasonal progression after mandatory wipes, run deeper.
Some people learned to love the pain, of course, as Andy does in our Marathon review. I also put 130 hours into the game in what now feels like a cough syrup fever dream. But after many costly years in development, Bungie’s going to need more than a small group of sickos to keep Marathon alive. So even if the two games are decoupled, the future of Destiny and Marathon remains uncertain.
I wanted to add a big of a longer blurb here for the video this week from Tim Runia.
That’s not because I wanted to dive into the complexities of creating videos but because there is a key message here that holds true regardless of what you are shooting or editing.
You can see how he takes a set of shots involving some rather mundane action and turns it all into something else entirely.
He walks through the decisions behind the transformation, from arranging foreground and background elements to create depth, to using contrasting clothing colors and controlling the light to help the subject stand out.
The real starting point here is deciding what the audience should feel, which gives each later technical choice a clear purpose.
The tutorial then connects those visual choices to filming and editing.
Tips such as a wide shot establishing the setting with medium shots and close-ups bringing attention to actions and expressions.
He demonstrates how holding a shot a little longer can create curiosity, how a subtle move toward the subject can build anticipation, and how room ambiance, footsteps, a zipper, and carefully chosen music make the scene feel complete.
For beginners, this offers a manageable exercise to try at home: take one ordinary activity and experiment with framing, light, shot selection, and sound.
Intermediate creators can use it to examine why technically competent footage sometimes lacks atmosphere or emotional impact.
Its value lies in showing how these skills work together, giving you a practical way to make your next sequence feel more deliberate and tell a clearer story.
Can Studio Lighting Be Ready in Seconds? – 60 Second Studio EP.2
This is Part Two of a series with Gabriel VIP tackling a familiar obstacle for all video creators: getting everything ready before you can press record.
As part of his 60 Second Studio series, this week he takes a look at how remote controls, lights that share the same control app, and saved lighting presets can speed up the process.
He shows how these changes reduce his lighting setup time from 70 seconds to just 17, including restoring the colors and brightness settings he changes when filming other footage.
These are all improvements that cost nothing, such as keeping the background tidy and preparing memory cards after footage has been safely backed up.
For any beginner and intermediate creator, it shows how the small, repetitive tasks that make filming feel like a chore can be streamlined.
Remember the key point here which is that replacing equipment is generally optional; the practical lesson is to build a repeatable routine that makes starting your next video easier.
Filmora 16 – Fix Shaky Footage for Smooth Camera Movement
The introduction of high definition footage into the hands of the average user was in itself a huge leap forward for all of us.
However, with that introduction came two technical problems.
The first was that even the slightest hint of a shot being out of focus was magnified by the high definition capture resulting in footage that looked terrible.
Fortunately with most modern devices, whether cameras or phones, the new breed of auto-focus systems have caught up.
The second problem has not been quite as simple to fix.
That problem is shaky footage.
Many, many creators these days are working handheld and that, combined with high definition, can result in footage that can be pretty hard to watch!
Whilst it is true that onboard stabilization features have improved and are improving all the time, we are still left with software stabilization as the final solution.
Currently there are two main types of stabilization available in most editing software.
One is the old school type that tries to analyze the footage, identify the unwanted movement and compensate for it.
In many cases this can be enough, but usually it means you as the operator to some degree need to understand what type of stabilization is needed in order to guide the software.
On top of that, there will always be some amount of cropping done to the image in applying the process meaning you lose of of your original full frame.
The other type of stabilization currently getting better and better is AI driven.
This form of stabilization analyzes the images of the footage, identifies what should be moving and what should not and applies the fix.
However it adds an extra step in that it “rebuilds” the outer perimeter of the image that would normally be lost.
You can see the Filmora version in action below.
How to Color Grade Specific Areas in Filmora 16 – Color Mask
A few weeks back Filmora updated to version 16 and as I mentioned at the time, they seem to have (mercifully) taken a little break from all the AI stuff!
One of the new features I liked was the greater flexibility being offered in the area of masking.
They have always had pretty good masking features but the new one is really good.
It allows you to apply multiple masks at the same time but more importantly, apply color correction and grading to each mask.
The video below show what you can do with it.
Techniques for Working with Highlight Effects in PowerDirector
This next video explores Power Director’s Highlight effects and how you can use them to draw the viewer’s attention to a particular part of a video or photo.
The tutorial demonstrates options such as glows, spotlights, flashlights, and masks, showing how each changes the look of the image or video footage.
It walks through the controls available for customizing these effects, including their position, size, feathering, shadow, and color.
As you can see for yourself, it seems to be a fairly specific kind of effect but possible worth having up your sleeve at any given time.
4 Cutting Tricks Every Video Needs in CapCut (Pro Editors Use Them All)
Agnes from Dina and Agnes takes over the helm for this week with a very helpful tutorial on editing cuts.
Bear in mind that Dina and Agnes work exclusively in CapCut and as a result all their tutorials are aimed at that editor.
However many of their videos, like this one, apply to any editing situation using any video editor.
With most editing jobs there is a lot of emphasis placed on effects and corrections and a bunch of other stuff but your core action as actually making cuts.
In this video Agnes runs through some great information giving an understanding of when, where, how and most importantly, why you should make a cut.
Basic Training for Adobe Premiere Elements 2027, Part 3 of 8
In part three of his Adobe Premiere Elements 2027 basic training series, Steve Grisetti explains how to assemble a video project and work with clips on the timeline.
He introduces the basic editing moves involved in placing and arranging footage, helping you understand how your individual clips fit together into a sequence.
The tutorial also explores ripple editing which is how changes to one clip can shift the footage that follows, and demonstrates how to remove unwanted gaps between clips.
This is probably the key video in his series given that you will spend most of your time editing working on the timeline.
This One Change Makes You Look Confident On Camera (Even If You’re Not)
As a person who absolutely hates being in front of the camera, I’ll take any advice going!
In this video Chris runs through some very handy tips for anyone wanting to appear confident on screen.
Year ago I was involved in the music industry and I remember seeing quite a big singer at that time just before he was going on stage to perform.
It is still a vivid memory because the guy was bent over a bucket at the side of the stage, throwing up violently!
Later I asked him what that was all about and he told me it was a pretty regular occurrence.
He also told me he had long since given up on expecting to feel totally comfortable while performing, but had mastered the art of appearing comfortable, and that was as good as it was going to get!
So the trick here is that even if you don’t feel comfortable, you should at least look comfortable.
Easy Picture In Picture for your YouTube Videos in DaVinci Resolve
One of the reasons I use DaVinci Resolve as a video editor is because of the Color page.
This is one of the most powerful features of Resolve and once you come to grips with it, it becomes easily the best in class for getting clips right.
However! One of the downsides of using Resolve is that it is aimed at pro editors.
The result of that is that the program seems to be pretty complicated from the outset.
In reality, it is not that complicated but when it comes to pulling off simple effects, it certainly can seem so!
The key to this is knowing how to do it in the first place because once you know, suddenly it is simple!
Here’s how to create a Picture in Picture effect using resolve.
Key Takeaways
Tim Runia teaches how to make ordinary scenes cinematic by focusing on audience emotions and utilizing techniques like framing and lighting.
Gabriel VIP shares tips for quick studio lighting setup, reducing preparation time significantly while emphasizing the importance of developing a routine.
Filmora 16 introduces improved stabilization options, both traditional and AI-driven, to fix shaky footage effectively.
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If you play Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail on your Android phone, sooner or later you’ll want diamonds, UC or crystals. Buying in-game currency is easy, but not every method is equally safe or good value. Here’s a quick checklist to protect your account and your wallet.
1. Never share your password
A legitimate top-up only needs your player ID (and sometimes your server or zone ID). Any site or “seller” that asks for your login, password or verification code is a red flag. Sharing credentials is the most common way accounts get stolen.
2. Double-check your player ID
Copy your ID straight from your in-game profile instead of typing it by hand. One wrong digit can send your diamonds to a stranger, and those purchases usually can’t be reversed.
3. Avoid “free diamonds” generators and modded APKs
Apps that promise unlimited currency are scams at best and malware at worst. Stick to Google Play, the official in-game store, or an established top-up service, and keep Google Play Protect switched on.
4. Compare prices before you pay
Official in-app prices include store fees, so dedicated top-up stores can be cheaper, especially during promotions. For example, VGTopup (https://vgtopup.com/) lets players top up popular titles like Mobile Legends, Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, Honkai: Star Rail and Wuthering Waves, as well as live-app coins and digital gift cards, often at discounted rates. Delivery is done with your player ID only, so you never hand over your login details.
5. Use a payment method with a record
Whichever service you use, pay with a method that gives you a receipt, and screenshot your order confirmation. If something goes wrong, you’ll have proof for customer support.
6. Watch out for fake event pages
Big events and anniversaries bring a wave of phishing pages that copy official designs. Check the address bar carefully, and don’t trust top-up links sent by strangers in chats or comment sections.
7. Set a budget
Gacha games and battle passes are designed to keep you spending. Decide on a monthly limit before an event starts, and use Google Play’s purchase authentication settings so nobody else on your phone can buy items without permission.
Final thoughts
Topping up on Android doesn’t have to be risky. Protect your login, double-check your ID, skip anything that sounds too good to be true, and compare a couple of trusted options before you buy. A few seconds of care keeps your account, and your rank, safe.
Target’s Black Friday 2026 sale is coming in hot, folks. Things kick off extra early this year, with the first official shopping event of the season on Nov. 5. In other words, you might want to get your lists ready ASAP.
While most holiday shopping is done online these days, Target still offers that classic Black Friday in-store shopping experience for those who want to soak it all in. The deals will really start to heat up as we get closer to Black Friday proper, but you can start checking off your lists as soon as today.
With every retailer holding major Black Friday events, it’s easy to get your wires crossed. To help you keep all the details straight and get ready to shop at Target on Black Friday 2026, here’s everything you need to know, including store hours, what will be on sale, and how to get early access to the best deals.
When is Target’s Black Friday sale?
Black Friday proper falls on Nov. 27 in 2026, but most retailers start dropping deals well before that. Target’s first early Black Friday sale kicks off on Nov. 5 and runs through Nov. 7, followed by new limited-time deal drops every weekend throughout the holiday season. The official Cyber Week schedule has yet to be unveiled, but Target has announced that its Deal of the Day program will return on Nov. 1. Shoppers can score a new featured deal each day until Dec. 24, with a one-day preview of the offers.
Here’s a breakdown of Target’s Black Friday schedule so far:
Mashable Light Speed
Nov. 1: Target Deal of the Day offers kick off
Nov. 5-7: Target’s first early Black Friday sale
Every weekend after: New limited-time holiday deal offers
What time do Target stores open on Black Friday?
You can shop Target’s Black Friday sale both online and in stores. Most Target stores will open their doors at 6 a.m. local time on Black Friday, Nov. 27. There may be exceptions to those hours, so double-check the exact opening hours for your local store. Target stores are closed on Thanksgiving Day.
Last year, Target made waking up early on Black Friday worth it, as the first 100 guests in line received limited-edition iridescent tote bags. Among those 100, 10 lucky shoppers got a surprise gift inside, ranging in value from $99 to $350. Those gifts included Target Circle 360 memberships, gift cards, a Ninja Slushie machine, and more. Target stores with Starbucks Cafés inside also offered samples of their Frozen Peppermint Hot Chocolate.
Target Circle 360 Black Friday early access
In 2025, Target gave its Target Circle 360 members early access to select deals during their Black Friday sales. It’s highly likely that members will get early access this year as well.
Target Circle 360 is the retailer’s paid membership program (separate from its free Circle membership). It costs $99 annually or $10.99 per month and offers perks like same-day delivery, free shipping, monthly freebies, early access to sales, and an extra 30 days for returns.
What will be on sale at Target for Black Friday?
Target has a wide assortment of Black Friday deals, ranging from toys to tech. We expect to see some steep discounts on toys and will definitely be keeping an eye on Lego sets and Pokémon 30th Anniversary products. In years past, we’ve also seen great deals on small appliances, TVs, headphones, floor care, and gift cards. Standout deals from 2025 included $69 AirPods, $600 off TCL’s The Frame TV dupe, 20% off gift cards, and a $49 air fryer.
Best early Black Friday deals at Target
While Target’s first early Black Friday sale doesn’t kick off until Nov. 5, there are definitely already deals floating around. We’ve found a few worth shopping ahead of time. Here’s a glimpse at some of our favorite early Black Friday deals at Target.
Your grandfather’s new auto-sorting spell backfired.Airport Contraband Every potion in the apothecary tipped off its shelf. Every finished potion unravelled back into raw essence, and the loose colors pooled together in one enormous pile in the middle of the lab. He chuckled. “Ah, it does that sometimes.” Then he pulled on his coat for the annual Alchemists Gathering and asked you to mind the place while he is away. He’ll be gone about a month. There is no rush at all.
Two puzzles Every potion needs two things done to it.
Decant. Pour the scrambled liquids from bottle to bottle until each one holds a single pure color. If you have ever played a water-sort puzzle, your hands already know this part.
Shelve. Carry the finished potion across the lab to the shelf it belongs on. Color gets you to the right wall. The sigil on its label picks the exact shelf. You can only levitate a few bottles at a time, so the two puzzles compete for the same hands. Pour greedily and you have nothing free to carry with. Carry too much and you have nothing free to pour into. Deciding what to hold is the game.
One laboratory. 4,160 potions. A gothic stone rotunda, two floors, tall arched windows and warm afternoon light. 52 shelved sections across thirteen families of potion. Every one of the 4,160 potions is in that pile from the moment you start. Nothing respawns, nothing refills, nothing quietly re-stirs itself behind your back. The mess only ever gets smaller. The room is the progress bar. The floor clears. The shelves fill and light up. A dark, dusty laboratory slowly becomes a glowing apothecary.
Relaxing is the whole point No timers. No pressure. No penalties. No fail state. There is nothing here you can lose. Warm window light, a quiet score, and the sound of glass and liquid. Put a potion on the wrong shelf and nothing scolds you. No buzzer, no shake, nothing taken away. Set a bottle down mid-pour, walk off, and come back next week to exactly where you left it.
Features
Two interlocking puzzles: water-sort decanting and tidy-up shelving
4,160 potions across 52 sections and 364 shelf rows, in one continuous laboratory of 2 floors
No fail state, no timers, no penalties
A 24-node skill board that hands you better tools and never plays for you
Full input rebinding, an FOV slider, and a HUD you can switch off
Autosaves after every pour and every placement
Unlike the free mobile versions of this genre: buy it once. No ads, no energy timers, no shop, no dark patterns.
Screenshots
SystemRequirements
Minimum Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-6600 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 570 (4 GB VRAM)
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 2 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 🙂
Indie horror game Mouthwashing is making the jump to film. Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired the rights to the game from developer Wrong Organ, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and Karyn Kusama, director of Jennifer’s Body and The Invitation, is attached to direct.
The project will be written by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, the screenwriters behind The Invitation, and produced by Scott Derrickson, the director of The Black Phone and Sinister. Sony is likely hoping the combination of horror talent and hit video game IP will repeat the success it saw with Resident Evil. Zach Cregger’s adaptation of Capcom’s survival horror series was not only a critical hit, but also a financial success.
Mouthwashing is much more grounded than Resident Evil‘s goofier flavor of horror. The game follows the crew of a stranded spaceship as they slowly lose their grip on reality. It isn’t chock-full of jump scares, but its heavy themes and surreal imagery make it an interesting choice for a film adaptation.
The film doesn’t yet have a release date, but the game has gotten a lot easier to play if you want to experience the story before you watch. Mouthwashing launched on PC in 2024 and as of today, it’s also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and through Xbox Game Pass.
T-Mobile isn’t interested in turning SpaceX into a wireless partner, and CEO Srini Gopalan isn’t exactly being subtle about it. While Starlink has larger aspirations to branch into mobile connectivity, the carrier says a deeper partnership would add little value to its business.
Speaking during T-Mobile’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call, Gopalan reiterated that the company has no plans to enter a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement with SpaceX. Such a deal would let SpaceX offer wireless services on top of T-Mobile’s existing cell network, paving an easier route into the U.S. mobile market for the satellite company.
Gopalan said T-Mobile evaluates potential MVNO partnerships based on whether they open up new addressable markets, distribution channels, or capabilities. He doesn’t believe a SpaceX deal will accomplish any of those things. The company would still consider a straight commercial or resale arrangement, but that’s a very different proposition to providing SpaceX access through an MVNO deal.
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T-Mobile thinks satellite has some catching up to do
The main problem is that T-Mobile doesn’t see satellite connectivity as a big alternative to its current broadband services. Gopalan described satellite internet as an inferior alternative to fixed wireless access (FWA), except in some remote rural locations, where traditional cellular coverage is harder to deliver.
That assessment isn’t entirely surprising. Roughly two-thirds of T-Mobile’s FWA customers live in densely populated urban areas, where the carrier believes there is plenty of unused network capacity to support more growth. Meanwhile, satellite connectivity is constrained in terms of beam size and available coverage capacity.
There is also little reason for the company to merge the two technologies when its current infrastructure can already cater to its largest customer markets.
SpaceX has bigger plans, but carriers aren’t buying in
SpaceX’s ambitions go way beyond satellite messaging. The company reportedly wants access to at least 80,000 U.S. cell sites as it seeks to build a more meaningful terrestrial wireless presence. It also has FCC approval to deploy up to 15,000 next-gen Starlink satellites that can connect directly to smartphones.
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That growth could put SpaceX in closer competition with established U.S. carriers. But T-Mobile isn’t the only major carrier keeping its distance. Verizon CEO Dan Schulman also dismissed an MVNO deal, and AT&T boss John Stankey downplayed the competitive threat.
That said, T-Mobile’s existing T-Satellite service already uses SpaceX technology, but Gopalan previously revealed that T-Satellite accounts for just 0.0002% of T-Mobile’s total network usage during normal conditions. It’s hardly a vote of confidence in satellite connectivity as a big growth driver.
Right now, T-Mobile would prefer to spend money on its own 5G network and get ready for 6G than to make a wider deal with SpaceX. The carrier sees more opportunity to squeeze more capacity out of its existing network than to bring a satellite operator into its wireless business.
