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‘A Long Winter’ review: Fred Hechinger fronts a beautiful, unmissable queer drama

Posted on September 14, 2026 by faz_business

There’s a unique heartbreak to realizing our parents aren’t who we imagined. A Long Winter is about that agony, and how one might grow from it.

From English writer/director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, All of Us Strangers) A Long Winter centers on a quietly queer protagonist, who comes to understand himself and what he wants through the hard, cold lesson of who his parents really are. And the result is elegant in its heartbreak.

What is A Long Winter About?

Fred Hechinger and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in “A Long Winter.”
Credit: TIFF

Adapted from Colm Tóibín’s short story of the same name, A Long Winter is set in the brutally cold mountains of Colorado, during the early 1950s. There, despite the hard work of maintaining the house and farm animals, Mike (Fear Street‘s Fred Hechinger) enjoys a rather blissful existence, relishing the time with his younger brother (Heartstopper‘s Kit Connor), his mother (Outlander‘s Caitríona Balfe), and father (The Bear‘s Ebon Moss-Bachrach). However, once his brother takes a job far away, Mike witnesses another side of his parents, one tarnished by regret and recrimination.

As another winter approaches, his mother Louise’s smiles turn to snarls. Her empty water glass reeks of alcohol, and her fury at her hard-headed husband Lester boils over. One day, she wanders off with their dog Sandy. Hours later, a blizzard turns the familiar hills to treacherous, frigid white. Where did she go? Could she have survived?

For months, Mike will seek her out in the not-so-near town, an abandoned mine, the home of his posh uncle (a terrifically festering Martin Freeman), and again and again in the long, blank expanse of the mountain.

In his search, he has time and space to reflect, and so comes across a better understanding of who his mother was, who his father is, and what he wants for his own life. Mike also makes a new acquaintance in Jimmy (Reservation Dogs‘ D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), an abandoned teen Lester brings on to do the “women’s work” on the property that neither he nor his son has any talent for.

Fred Hechinger delivers his best performance yet in A Long Winter.

Fred Hechinger in “A Long Winter.”
Credit: TIFF

Hechinger first hit my radar in 2021, playing the chaotically charismatic Simon in Fear Street: Part One – 1994. Where others in the film had to deliver the horror of the slasher’s slaughters, Simon was reliably and warmly the comic relief. Hechinger brought Matthew Lillard vibes, offering an unapologetically gawky confidence and sharp comedic timing.

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From there, he’d earn praise for his role as Quinn on White Lotus Season 1. Then, in 2024, he popped up in a string of movies, taking on wildly different supporting roles. In Thelma, he was a doting grandson. In Nickel Boys, he was a friendly face amid a squadron of abusive school staffers. Gladiator II gave him a chance to play a villain, opposite his onscreen twin emperor Joseph Quinn. Then, in Kraven The Hunter, he played the title character’s demure younger brother, Dmitri “Chameleon” Smerdyakov, who used his power to sing like Harry Styles, Ozzy Osbourne, and Tony Bennett.

Simply put, Hechinger has swiftly established himself as an actor who is exciting at every appearance, because you never know where he might go.

In A Long Winter, Hechinger packs away his goofy grin and playfulness for a more restrained yet brilliantly alive performance. In the first act, Mike recounts to his brother about how, when he went away for contracted work, he missed home, reminiscing in his childhood bed about his family and the meals his mother made. In these scenes, his voice has a folksy touch, while his word choice is simple. But after weeks without his mother and months without his brother, with Jimmy in the bed beside him, Mike’s accent has softened, and he’ll use words like “cope,” which feel out of place in his father’s idea of mountain masculinity. These simple diction shifts reflect how Mike’s vision for himself has become less reliant on his father’s example, even as his is the only one around.

Frustratingly, Moss fumbles in his role as the tough guy, much like he did in Broadway’s Dog Day Afternoon. His bluster feels flaccid, making the years his wife submitted to his demands a bit perplexing. In scenes where Moss and Hechinger face off, A Long Winter struggles when the former cannot match the latter in onscreen intensity, even though the younger actor is playing openness rather than rage.

Hechinger, who has been a stellar supporting player, proves his leading man chops by shouldering A Long Winter in scenes of delicate dialogue, earnest confrontation, and moments alone, where it’s just Mike and the wilderness that has likely consumed his lost and loved mother.

A Long Winter works as a sister film All of Us Strangers.

Caitríona Balfe and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in “A Long Winter.”
Credit: TIFF

Make no mistake, A Long Winter won’t be as gut-wrenching or as hot as Haigh’s last film. Yet both share a common core. Both center on a gay man learning to trust himself and his desire, while making sense of who his parents are/were. The intensity of All of Us Strangers perfectly encapsulates the first stage of such scary journeys, enhanced by the ghost story elements that make the film a soft horror movie.

In A Long Winter, the arc is less rigorous because Mike — unlike Andrew Scott‘s hero — is not alone. All of Us Strangers plays, in some respects, like a haunted house movie because of its protagonist’s isolation. While Haigh will bring in some surreal and spooky elements to A Long Winter, it’s not horror. Instead, he lets the reality of a scene bend to reflect the yearning of his hero, who’s coming to realize that death — like winter — is a part of life that is unavoidable, but not inherently bad.

There’s a profound maturity in Haigh’s latest, as he trusts Hechinger to infuse mood and growth without genre flourishes or the actor’s signature mirth. Keen performances by Balfe, Freeman, and Woon-A-Tai bolster their vision of this world, cold but wondrous. It is not a tearjerker, but a rapturous and meditative look at growing up and growing into ourselves.

A Long Winter was reviewed out its Canadian Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

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YouTuber gets classic Tomb Raider running on a chip that sips a mere 1 W of power

Posted on September 14, 2026 by faz_business

Modern PC gaming may not be the most energy efficient hobby. Even as someone who would sooner play yesteryear’s favourite over this month’s shiniest new game, I dread to think just how much smaller my electricity bill might be if it wasn’t for my gaming rig. Thankfully for retro gaming fiends, energy efficient hardware isn’t hard to come by.

Case in point, hardware creator Alejandro Villegas Alonso shared a clip of classic Tomb Raider running from a low-power chip. The SoC in question is the ESP32-P4 microcontroller, a lightweight 32-bit RISC-V processor featuring two 400 MHz cores which sips a mere 1 watt of energy according to the data sheet (via Tom’s Hardware).

It’s not the kind of chip that would usually be used for anything like gaming, rather more for simple tasks in embedded devices such as cameras—that makes it all the more impressive that Alonso has got Tomb Raider up and running on it. It’s particularly appealing given you can pick one of these up for very little cash.

Fortnite Confirms Kingdom Hearts Collab Release Date, and It’s Bigger Than Expected

Posted on September 14, 2026 by faz_business

Fortnite has brought characters and items from many video game worlds onto the Battle Royale island. Teased at the start of the current season was one of the most anticipated collabs: Kingdom Hearts. Even though there were some unfortunate delays, the time is finally here. This week, Sora is joining the roster of skins in Fortnite, alongside his trusty Keyblade.

Epic Games was able to turn Fortnite into a sort of video game multiverse with the Chapter 7 Season 4 themes of gaming and hacking. Chapter 7 Season 4 hasn’t been live for long, but it’s already gone down in Fortnite history as one of the most memorable seasons due to its exciting collaborations, fun items, and nostalgic landmarks, and that is all thanks to its focus on video games.

Though the Chapter 7 Season 4 Battle Pass was somewhat lacking in terms of video game collabs, the Item Shop has been packed with fan-favorite characters, such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. We’re still early in the season, and there are plenty more video game characters coming to Fortnite. According to a recent post by the official Fortnite account on X, Sora is next in line.

The teaser gave players a detailed look at Sora and the Keyblade. Fortnite followed it up with several quotes from other Kingdom Hearts characters, namely Roxas, Kairi, and Riku. Although this doesn’t confirm their appearance in Fortnite, it suggests that they might be coming to the Item Shop in the near future as well. This would be a pleasant surprise, as Sora was the only expected skin in the Kingdom Hearts collab.

While revealing that Kingdom Hearts cosmetics will be released this week might seem vague, there is an update scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 17. It is likely that Kingdom Hearts assets will be added to the game files with the patch, and that the skins and cosmetic bundles will be available in the Item Shop once downtime ends or when the shop resets at 8 p.m. ET.

Epic Games might not reveal any more information about this collab to keep some of its details a secret. Gamers who are interested in knowing more should keep an eye out for leaks after downtime begins on Thursday.

Best Indoor Garden Systems I’ve Been Testing All Year (2026)

Posted on September 14, 2026 by faz_business

Honorable Mentions

Image may contain Flower Geranium Plant Flower Arrangement Leaf Potted Plant Ikebana Food and Food Presentation

Click and Grow Smart Garden for $125: Click & Grow Smart Garden’s seed pods come in a Nespresso-evoking plastic three-pack with a tear-off cover. (A three-pack of pods starts at around $15.) Put a nutrient-packed “smart soil” seed pod in one of the Click & Grow’s cups with the wicking bottom, fill the reservoir, and that’s it. It was one of the simplest watering systems I tried: a wick at the bottom of the cup brings water up to the pods, and the roots stay in the cups. A little bobber on one end tells you when the water level is low and needs a top-off simply by floating lower than the growing surface. It’s also small, so you can plop it on a shelf or countertop. (Note that the 9, pictured above, is currently out of stock, but you can sign up to be notified when it’s available.) At the same time, this was also one of the slowest-growing gardens I tested—it took weeks to get even one lettuce leaf. One of my lettuce pods didn’t even sprout at all. Still, this isn’t a terrible option for busy people who are interested in growing something like flowers, where yields aren’t a concern.

Modern Sprout Garden Jars for $20: These cute Mason jars are as simple as it gets: Rinse the included gravel, then add seeds and water. They’re guaranteed to sprout in five to ten days and make a fun hostess gift with a tea towel and/or a bottle of olive oil. However, they are definitely more for looks than harvests—I have had the basil, cilantro, and rosemary versions on my windowsill for a little over a year, and I’ve only seen a few usable leaves.

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Lettuce Grow Counterstand Set for $149: New from the makers of the flashy Lettuce Grow Farmstand (8/10 WIRED Recommends), this simple, no-pump setup consists of three amber beakers that look straight out of a high school chemistry lab, plus an 18-inch LED lamp that runs on a 16- or 18-hour timer. It relies on the Kratky method of hydroponics, invented by horticulturist Dr. Bernard Kratky, where the plant sits in a cup above a nutrient-enriched water source. In the Counterstand’s case, a wick draws water up to the seedling until its roots can grow into the water. Included with your order are three credits for live seedlings of your choice—I picked parsley, basil, and butter lettuce. This setup is stylish, but the yields are tiny for the counter space it takes up—maybe a small handful of leaves a week.

Vego EZ Microgreens Planter (2-pack) for $60: This system for growing nutrient-packed microgreens for salads, smoothies, and sandwiches isn’t smart, but it is nifty enough to warrant a mention. Just fill each half-gallon reservoir (made of food-safe plastic) with water, and then cover it with the optional humidity dome. From there, bamboo-fiber capillary grow mats on top will absorb water to germinate your microgreen seeds (not included). Set it near a sunny window, use a grow light, or add Vego’s 10 x 20 dome with a built-in grow light ($80), which fits over both planters. I placed my planters on a Ferry-Morse pop-up plant stand with a grow light from LetPot and had consistent success across multiple grows.

Not Recommended

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Plantaform Smart Indoor Garden for $900: Plantaform is “the world’s first smart indoor garden that uses fog to grow plants,” according to the company’s press release, and it has definitely garnered attention, winning an Innovation Award at CES 2025. The “fogponics” technology, ostensibly building on NASA-developed aeroponics, delivers water and nutrients to plants’ roots via an ultrafine mist. We were certainly captivated by the futuristic look of the egg-shaped planter. But when WIRED contributor Lisa Wood Shapiro tested it to grow lettuce, she found that you can’t combine different types of plants (i.e., you can only grow lettuce at one time, or tomatoes, or herbs), and the machine also degraded her indoor air quality, as tested with an air quality monitor. Users are to add an included fertilizer mix to the water, with the resulting concoction being what’s aerosolized in the container, which, as Wood Shapiro found, was not airtight. She suggests limiting the Plantaform’s use to a basement or another space where air quality isn’t as much of a concern. But it’s probably best to hold off on this one until Plantaform can work out some more kinks.

LetPot Smart Seed Starter for $84: There are many grow-light–enabled seed starters on the market, but LetPot’s Smart Seed Starter has more features than most, including a sensor for soil temperature and EC and a 24-watt heating pad underneath. A plastic lid with adjustable vents on either end sits on top. I love the concept, but sadly, quality control is lacking. On my test unit, the power adapter makes a high-pitched sound when the lights are on, the EC sensor only works intermittently, and auto-mode erases whenever it’s unplugged. After about six months of regular use, the light stopped staying on, and to get the unit to cooperate, I had to unplug and replug it repeatedly.

FAQs

In the simplest terms, hydroponic gardening means growing plants without roots in soil. Sometimes plants are suspended in water, like in the Rise or Gardyn; sometimes they’re in pods attached to a wick, like in the Click & Grow; and sometimes water is sprayed or misted onto their roots, like in the Lettuce Grow. Usually, this process works alongside an artificial light source, either indoors or in an outdoor enclosure.

What Are the Benefits of Hydroponics?

In addition to the obvious plus of cleaner produce without mud, dirt, or synthetic pesticides, hydroponic systems use much less water than conventional growing methods, since all the water used is either recirculated or taken up by the plants. Some farmers also say they get higher yields from hydroponic systems, as the variables of weather, light, and nutrients are far easier to control. And, because of these variables, farmers are also able to grow varieties of plants in just about any season or region. And there are no weeds!

What Kinds of Things Can I Grow in a Hydroponic Garden?

Just about anything you can think of! I asked FX Rouxel, creator of Gardyn, if there was anything you couldn’t grow in these systems, other than ground-dwelling plants like peanuts or potatoes. “All the things that have big roots,” he said—like carrots, parsnips, and so on. “Otherwise, mostly things that are too big, like apples or lemons.” So, there you have it: No long roots, no trees. But anything else is fair game to try.

What Are the Downsides of Hydroponic Systems?

First of all, it’s no secret hydroponic systems cost more than just planting some seeds outside in the dirt. Then you’ve got to worry about power outages, pump maintenance, algae, and just general maintenance. And if you’re not careful, water can harbor some nasty stuff, even if that’s just fertilizer, as WIRED contributor Lisa Wood Shapiro found when she reviewed the Plantaform. Some also claim that hydroponically grown herbs, greens, and vegetables have less flavor than their soil-grown counterparts, but I personally have not noticed a difference. I’ve grown perfectly flavorful snap peas, cauliflower, shell beans, salad greens, and even strawberries in just nutrient-infused water. In fact, one of the best cucumbers I’ve ever had in my life came from my Gardyn Studio, of all places.

Will I Save Money by Growing My Own Vegetables?

In short, no. The ready-made systems simply remove a great deal of hassle and guesswork from the process, and usually look pretty cool in the process. It’s also nice to have warranty and tech support in the event something goes wrong, and as is often the case with anything filled with water, when something does go wrong, it goes really wrong. (Speaking of, be sure to check out our guide to the Best Water Leak Detectors.)

How Much Can I Really Grow in These Things?

It largely depends on what you’re growing and how many individual plants can fit in your system. My yields have ranged from a handful of lettuce leaves in the Click & Grow to huge bagfuls of salad greens per day in the Rise—more than my family could possibly eat. As a rule, lettuces and other greens tend to grow faster, while fruiting plants like tomatoes and peppers grow slower and sometimes need pollination to produce. (For instance, with strawberries I have to use a small paintbrush to brush the flowers each morning.)

Where Can I Put Them in My House?

Most of these systems take up only a square foot or two, so space isn’t as much of a consideration as lights and pump noise. Lights for these gardens typically need to be on around 16 hours a day, and they are bright, so if this schedule would be disruptive, you may want to place them away from a bedroom or any other room where darkness is needed. On a related note, many of these gardens, like the Lettuce Grow and Gardyn, have loud pump cycles, while Rise’s pump runs continuously. I wouldn’t recommend placing a garden with a noisy pump cycle near a TV or office, where the noise could be disruptive during certain times of the day. If any noise is a concern, for instance, when living on the top floor of an apartment, you may want to consider a totally silent garden like the Auk or Click & Grow.

How Much Do They Cost to Keep Going?

Gardens with subscriptions and/or proprietary pods, like Gardyn and Click & Grow, are obviously going to be more expensive over the long run than a truly DIY system like the LetPot. On the one hand, with proprietary pods, you won’t have to source seeds or sponges; you can be assured the seeds are appropriate for that system and hydroponics in general, and if something doesn’t germinate, you will be able to get a replacement or refund. But on the other hand, this is a recurring cost that will reduce any savings you gain from growing your own food or flowers. As for power, systems with a continuously running pump, like Rise, are going to cost more than ones with no pump, like the Auk. However, I haven’t noticed a significant bump in my electricity bill while testing these gardens, except for one period where I had seven (yes, seven) going at one time.

I unboxed, assembled, and set up each garden exactly as described in the provided instructions, using the seeds, pods, or seedlings that came with the garden. I paid attention to ease of setup, ease of use, maintenance needs, how much space each system required, and how well (or not well) the plants did and why. I noted what was or was not included with each system, and allowed all of the plants to grow to the harvest stage, paying attention to bolting, yields, and general health. I’m a full-time working parent, so I also paid attention to maintenance needs, light schedules, and any general hassles that came up and annoyed me.

How I Chose Which Gardens to Test

I am genuinely passionate about indoor gardening and have an eye on what’s going on in the landscape: what’s new, what’s hot, what’s working for people, what’s not working. I’m always on the lookout for interesting new devices that I personally think are cool and that I believe WIRED readers would appreciate. Affiliate status does not factor into my decision about what to test and write about. If you have a unique, tech-forward indoor garden you like that I haven’t featured, please let me know in the comments.

How Do I Acquire Gardens to Review?

Most of the gardens I receive to test are samples provided by the companies, with no guarantee of coverage or expectation of what that coverage will look like. Some of the gardens are kept by WIRED in order to perform extended testing, while others are donated locally.

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Moss developer Polyarc share that they’re shutting down just two months after releasing a VR-less port of the beloved mousey adventure games

Posted on September 14, 2026 by faz_business

Another sad one today, unfortunately. Back in July, Polyarc released Moss: The Forgotten Relic, a new version of the original two games combined together that ditched its VR headset origins. Now, unfortunately, it sounds like the studio is shutting down, as the developer’s LinkedIn page shared a message this week noting it’s ending “active development.”

“Today is the end of an era for Polyarc,” reads the statement. “After nearly 12 years riding the joyous rollercoaster of emotions that is making video games, our time together has come to an end. As we wind down active development, we are saying our farewells to each other. Working together over all of these years has been an honor. Bringing surprise and delight to those who played our games has been a privilege. Thank you to everyone at Polyarc, our work is now finished.” A link to a spreadsheet containing contact information for the whole team was included as well for studios that may be hiring.

Founded in 2015, Polyarc’s first game was Moss, a VR adventure puzzle game about a mouse called Quill who’s out to save her uncle that was released in 2018. A sequel, Moss: Book 2, released in 2022, with both games being met with critical acclaim. Prior to the release of the pseudo-remaster The Forgotten Relic, Polyarc also released an online, competitive strategy VR game set in the same world as Moss last year called Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss. Unfortunately, based on the very few reviews the game has, it does not appear to have sold all that well.

Presumably The Forgotten Relic did not perform well enough to keep the studio afloat either, but the lack of details regarding the studio’s closure makes it hard to say. The world of VR has never been the big hit that many wanted it to be, but at the very least Polyarc did manage to stick it out for over a decade, and that’s commendable. Solidarity with those affected.

Insight Partners’ Devin Parekh on why the firm is diversifying while everyone else bets the farm on OpenAI and Anthropic

Posted on September 13, 2026 by faz_business

Devin Parekh has co-run the heavyweight investment firm Insight Partners for 26 years. Unlike many VCs who are loud on X and seem to live on podcasts, Parekh and Insight Partners tend to lay low.

In this sit-down with TechCrunch at its StrictlyVC event on Thursday night in New York, Parekh was refreshingly candid about some of the firm’s wins (it has led and co-led numerous rounds in Databricks, for example, and owns stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic); the deals it hasn’t won, including buzzy AI legal-tech company Legora; conflicts of interest in venture investing; and why Insight has stuck to a diversified strategy even as VCs have piled into the frontier AI labs.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

There’s a researcher who’s become the big story of the week — do you think that concerns about AI risk amount to hysteria, or do you have real concerns?

Sure, there’s a risk some non-state actor gets access to an open-source model and creates a biological weapon. But there’s an even higher probability we get a massive decrease in the time it takes to develop new drugs and cure diseases. I’ll take that bet.

I’m on the board of NYU Langone — what AI is already doing with patient data is amazing. We can look at 50 million patient records and tell someone walking in for something unrelated that they have a 25% chance of a heart attack. Net-net, I think this is highly positive.

There are risks, sure, just like there are risks with next-generation drone warfare. Every generation has new risks, and somehow, over time, the world still raises living standards. We’re going to need AI to scale healthcare — the population is aging and there aren’t enough medical professionals to go around.

Insight has $90 billion in assets under management but seems comparatively quiet compared to firms of similar size. Is that purposeful?

Every venture capitalist thinks they’re an expert on everything now — epidemiology during COVID, geopolitics during the Iran war. I’m not sure we’re all experts on everything. Our attitude has been: Let the portfolio do the talking. We’re investing in founders and companies. We have to communicate enough that people know who we are, but our performance should speak for itself — and that’s driven by the portfolio, not by us being loud.

You do early-stage, growth, buyouts, and presumably secondaries. What’s the split?

It’s temporal, not fixed — we invest globally, so there’s no set geographic or strategy allocation. Look at our last seven funds and you’d see different percentages of early-stage, growth, and buyout in each. Buyouts aren’t great right now — rates are high, debt markets aren’t receptive to software, exit multiples have come down. We haven’t done a major buyout since 2024.

On the venture side, valuations are rising at a pace we saw before, in 2021 — and that didn’t end well. Normally, a follow-on round means more data, so you pay a higher price for lower risk. Right now, rounds move so fast there’s almost no incremental data, so you’re paying more without reducing risk. The logical response is to go earlier. With a scale fund, you can make smaller bets — write a $20–25 million check instead of $500 million — and double down on the winners. That’s where our returns have disproportionately come from. With Wiz, we wrote a Series A and kept writing checks, so our gain was much larger than if we’d stopped at the first check. And if Wiz hadn’t worked out, it would have barely dented a fund our size.

As a global investor, what percentage of your deals are regional versus concentrated somewhere like the Bay Area?

Talent has gone flat globally. We competed for Legora — my partner Jeff Horing flew to [Stockholm] to pitch the company, because that’s where the founder was. We lost that one to General Catalyst.

That said, AI infrastructure talent is genuinely concentrated in San Francisco — my 23-year-old son, also a VC, is moving there because he says you can’t invest in AI without being there. But talent density varies by vertical: Ramp is financial services, and that talent is concentrated in New York. So vertical AI investing can be more geographically diverse than pure AI infrastructure.

Why did you lose Legora to General Catalyst?

I don’t know the specific reason, but I think they sold their value proposition better than we sold ours that time. There are plenty of examples where it went the other way. It’s a big world; we don’t need to win every deal.

You’re invested in rival companies — OpenAI and Anthropic. That was once taboo in VC. Did that cause any anguish inside the firm? Did you worry about what founders would take away from this?

The internal debate was more about whether we should have gotten into earlier rounds. It’s very stage-dependent. Khosla did OpenAI’s Series A, and there’s no way they could have then invested in Anthropic, and if we’d done Anthropic’s Series A, we likely couldn’t have done OpenAI either. Once you’re at a later stage, off the board, not driving governance, you’re just buying a great stock.

We saw OpenAI as the dominant consumer play and Anthropic as having a clear enterprise strategy; that’s shifting in real time. As these companies needed to raise $30–$100 billion, they stopped being able to dictate exclusivity. That said, at the Series A/B stage, we do have information-sharing restrictions and we don’t invest in directly competing companies, though some founders are sensitive even to 2% revenue overlap.

Are you getting more aggressive on physical AI?

Physical intelligence companies are still largely science projects. It’s not that they won’t become real businesses, but you’re making a bet on when robotics adoption happens, layered on top of a bet on whether it happens at all. We’re watching, but we’re not there yet. My son thinks it’s the hottest space around and that I’m crazy to ignore it, which is exactly what I’d expect from a 23-year-old.

OpenAI and Anthropic raised roughly half of all VC dollars in the first half of this year. Do you think LPs worry about concentration risk?

We’re not overly concentrated, so it’s not an issue for us. But I’m an LP in other funds, and I know two funds right now — raising their entire fund in a month — whose pitch is literally “35–40% of this fund is going into one of those two companies.” I’m not saying OpenAI and Anthropic won’t do well. But this business has always rewarded diversification over a long horizon. We’re on fund 13, so we have to think in terms of ten funds, not one.

In this particular moment, if 25% of our fund were in Anthropic, our returns would look better. But data over time doesn’t support excessive concentration, and most LPs don’t want that exposure either — though firms like Founders Fund and Thrive have done very well running concentrated strategies. There are always going to be exceptions who execute that well.

Secondaries are attractive right now, given how much capital was raised in 2021–2023. How are you thinking about these?

The bigger issue is a lot of funds raised a lot of money and haven’t returned any of it to LPs. Many first- and second-time funds won’t raise a next fund because they didn’t prioritize liquidity. I tell fund managers I advise: if Anthropic’s going to triple from here, fine — take your basis out anyway. LPs want to know you can turn positions into cash; that’s the job.

We were guilty of this early on, too. As one of the biggest LPs in most of our own funds, we’d think, “Why sell if it could double again?” But LPs don’t get paid that way. Over the last two years we’ve returned more than $20 billion to LPs through strategic sales and IPOs, with a few billion more coming. DPI matters, even on fund 13. Secondaries are really a liquidity mechanism, often for early venture investors more than employees. Nobody complains about a 10x that stays a 10x, but if it drops to 5x, people ask why you didn’t sell.

VC Elad Gill has argued there’s a narrow window — maybe 6 to 12 months — where a company’s valuation will never be higher, and founders should sell into it. Do you have that conversation with your founders?

We’re always having that conversation, though founders listen to me about as much as my kids do. It’s case by case, but when a founder gets an offer at a frothy valuation, I ask them what happens when the market corrects, because it will, even if I can’t tell you when. If I could time it, I’d be on an island managing my portfolio, not talking to you. You don’t have to sell everything; de-risk 10 or 20%.

Right now valuations are rising so fast people assume the trend continues, but you can’t compound $40 billion at 50% every two months for two years without becoming the world economy. That math doesn’t work.

Anthropic will likely file to go public soon, with OpenAI presumably behind it. What does that IPO mean for the industry?

Anthropic is already larger than Salesforce and it’s four years old — the fact that they can go public doesn’t necessarily mean much for everyone else. You’ll have three companies — SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI — going public within six to eight months, each north of a trillion dollars in market cap, and the market absorbed SpaceX just fine. The real question is when the next tier of companies goes public, and what bar that sets. If you’re a public-market investor watching something go from zero to $65 billion in four years, “double, double, triple, triple” no longer looks that exciting by comparison. But that 10x growth rate can’t continue forever. Eventually even these companies become normal-growth companies, and you need public markets for that. I think we’ll see more of these IPOs over the next 18 months.

With so much capital locked up, will all this LP money finally flowing back sustain the frenzy?

We all do this in our personal lives — stay out of an expensive market until we can’t stand it anymore, and pile in right when we should be pulling back. LPs do the same thing at a macro level; everyone wanted in before 2021, pulled back after, and now the same LPs are piling back in. That boom-bust cycle is hard to avoid. Venture-growth funds of $6 to $10 billion used to be rare; now they’re common.

How long do you give a company with a bad cap structure before deciding whether to double down or walk away?

It varies enormously. Wonderful [an enterprise AI agent platform] was created less than two years ago; we did two rounds and it’s now at a $5 billion valuation — a very fast double-down. On the other hand, some 2021 investments went nowhere for three or four years before finding product-market fit. That’s part of why we do portfolio reviews — we recently went through 300 portfolio companies over three days, checking not just on the big positions but looking for the ones showing an inflection point worth doubling down on, buying secondary in, or in some cases pulling back from.

Our best example is Armis, a security company. We lost the initial deal to Sequoia, but my partner kept the relationship alive with a $5 million check out of an $11 billion fund. Eighteen months later, we bought out the entire cap table, including Sequoia, for a nine-figure check, and sold it to ServiceNow this year for $7 billion. Sometimes you make money with small checks, sometimes with big ones. The goal is finding the best founders in the best markets.

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Free Printable September Maze (Cute Kawaii Activity Page)

Posted on September 13, 2026 by faz_business

There’s a chill in the air, it’s starting to get crisper in the mornings, and you’re bouncing back and forth between your A/C and your heater, never knowing what to put it at to stay comfortable. 😬

Not sure that you’re ready for summer to end, with the beautiful sunshine and the longer daylight hours, but also looking forward to the calmer, more chill and peaceful, warm drink mornings and turning colors of the leaves and everything that fall has in store for us. Can you say…holidays! 🤗💖🎉

This beautiful free printable September maze worksheet will get you and your kiddos right on track and transitioned over to the new sweater weather, looking forward to the fun times that await us in this season!

Cute September Activity Sheet for Puzzle & Coloring Fun

This September games printable came out SOOO cute!!! 😍🍂

It has all the cozy little September details packed into one fun activity page: a sweet fox in a scarf, a girl holding a warm drink, a pumpkin patch sign, an adorable hedgehog gathering leaves, a cinnamon roll, falling leaves, hearts, AND one seriously twisty maze right in the middle of it all!

Kids can solve the easy September maze printable first and then color the entire page afterward, so you’re basically getting a puzzle and coloring sheet activity all in one. 🎉

It’s such a cute way to celebrate the month of September during homeschool, classroom quiet time, morning work, after-school downtime, or anytime you need a simple screen-free, fun learning activity.

Download the Kawaii September Maze for Kids PDF here.

Creative Ways to Use This September Printable Activity

September Puzzle For Kids: Two Tone Trail Challenge

Transform the winding maze lines in this cute September coloring maze into an artistic fine-motor exercise and use as a September quiet time activity.

Instead of simply solving the maze with a single grey pencil line, have them color-code their movements. Follow these simple rules to build hand-eye coordination:

Use one bright color for all left turns
Switch to a second contrasting color for every right turn

Once they reach the bottom, have them color the rest of the hand-drawn characters.

September Homeschool Printable: Real Cinnamon Scratch and Sniff Finish

Rub a swipe of a glue stick right over the swirl of the smiling cinnamon roll at the bottom of this monthly maze printable.

Dust a tiny pinch of real ground kitchen cinnamon on top and tap off the extra.

Now your kids can race their pencils down through the winding trails to reach a fresh-scented finish line.

It gives the page an unexpected sensory twist that fills the room with cozy autumn smells. 😍

September Classroom Activity: Blindfold Partner Steering Challenge

Sit side by side for a hilarious teamwork game that gets everyone giggling together with this September morning work printable.

Have your students pair up and close their eyes while placing their pencil tip right on the cozy fox. Another student can act as their sweet voice navigator to guide their hand through the winding trails:

Call out soft steering directions like “slow curve left” or “gentle slide down.”
See if they can steer them all the way through without their pencil bumping the walls. Then trade seats so they can practice steering each other with their own directions.

This would also work as a September early finisher activity for those done with their work early.

What sets your printables apart?

• Other printables are either functional OR cute. I bridge the gap between the two. Since I’m a single mom and don’t have time to mess around and am a kid at heart, I love something that actually propels me forward and gets the job done quickly, while still having that super cute vibe I’m known for.
• I’m a graphic designer FIRST. This means my printables, whether free or paid for, will always be of the highest quality and print crisp and clear on any printer.
• I love what I do and I do the work myself. I’m not hiring these out. This is my life, my hobby, my passion, my heart.
• My fans are obsessed with my work. To date, I’ve made over $23M on printables alone (organically) in the past 8 years.

Is this printable free to download?

Yes! Except for some large binders, all printables on the blog are 100% free for personal use. I make these because I genuinely want you to have something cute and helpful right now without having to spend a dime. You deserve a life that feels more peaceful, more organized, and more you, and if a simple printable can make your day feel lighter, I am so happy to give that to you.

All printables are for personal use only.

Printables, graphics, backgrounds, SVGs, fonts, and design elements on this site are for personal use only. You may not alter them or redistribute them for free or monetary gain without written consent from the author, Sarah Titus. If you want to share these resources with others, please share the link to the blog post. Teachers & Churches: You may share these with your classes, colleagues, and congregation as long as they are not edited in any way.

Can I use these printables for my classroom or church group?

Absolutely! You’re welcome to print as many copies as you need for your own students or church groups. I only ask that you do not edit them in any way (leaving the full copyright line in tact) or sell them or host the digital files on other websites. Please always link back to this post to share with others.

What’s the best way to print these high-quality printables?

• For best results, I recommend using standard 8.5″x11″ white paper. Since these are professionally designed as high-resolution PDFs, they’ll stay crisp and clear on any printer. To print, simply download the PDF to your device and open your printer settings. Select “Fit to Page” to ensure the printable looks perfect.
• If you’re printing stickers, I have a tutorial here.

Apple May Pivot the Beats Brand Into a Way of Marketing Less Polished Products, Starting With Gamer Gear

Posted on September 13, 2026 by faz_business

Did you ever drive a Scion? Status-obsessed people may have scoffed at your budget-friendly car, but you probably knew at the time it was just a Toyota with a different nameplate on it. According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple may be looking to turn the Beats brand into a similar repository for lower-priced goods.

A couple weeks ago, hidden code was found, seemingly exposing a secret Apple project aimed at developing gaming controllers—perhaps not unlike some of the cool and fun-to-use third-party accessories that already exist. And Gurman now says his anonymous inside sources have told him Apple “has indeed been working on gaming controllers for the iPhone for a bit over a year.”

However, Gurman claims, the controllers Apple has in mind may never carry Apple branding. The controller idea is being developed under the aegis of Beats, Gurman writes. At the same time, he says, Apple has begun to use Beats as a potential spigot for experimental, un-Apple-like product possibilities.

You may recall that Beats began as a headphones brand at one time owned by music executive Jimmy Iovine and AI-loving rapper and music producer Dr. Dre., and Apple bought it in 2014 for $3 billion, (in a transaction that was not without its share of drama).

Beats does indeed make a ton of good headphones that don’t get quite as much press as AirPods. But Gurman says Apple increasingly sees Beats as a way to “capitalize on the third-party accessories market” more broadly, without impacting the Apple brand.

Did you know, for instance, that Beats, and therefore Apple, makes an $18.99 woven USB-C cable?

Marketing a gaming controller is tricky if you’re Apple, Gurman says, because in order to sell well, it can’t exactly require the consumer to be at, let’s say, the Vision Pro income level. That means Apple may steer clear of premium materials and high-status finishes that make an Apple product read as an Apple product the second you see it.

“The culture and lifestyle around gaming controllers also could fit naturally under the Beats umbrella,” Gurman claims.

BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony: Starcraft Returns, Diablo V Announced, Warcraft news and more

Posted on September 13, 2026 by faz_business

I’ve been at Blizzard a long time, and I’ve got a bunch of BlizzCons under my belt. Do you know how hard all these announcements were to hold in as we prepared for BlizzCon 2026? I can’t even believe this is real, man, like…okay, sorry, I’m locked in. Whether you’re watching it all unfold live or just catching up later, here is everything from the BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony and where to go next for each one.

StarCraft Is Back, and It Is Not What You Expect

From the farthest reaches of the stars, a new mission calls. StarCraft returns in 2030 as an original open-world shooter.

There is really only one thing to say to that, and we said it from the stage and the halls in Anaheim, California: it’s about damn time.

Diablo Turns 30, and Sanctuary Falls

Diablo V is coming in Spring 2029, and it opens somewhere the series has never let us stand: after the loss. Sanctuary has fallen. Diablo has won. The question the game asks is what we become when the world we knew is gone.

Closer to now, Diablo IV‘s Season of Hell’s Legacy lands September 15 (that’s this Tuesday!) to mark 30 years of Diablo. It brings back the Prime Evils, the Lord of Terror included, along with Deckard Cain, Nightmare Rifts, anniversary rewards, and gear pulled from every era of the series.

A little further out, the Amazon joins as the next Diablo IV class in the first half of 2027, javelin in hand. And if you are at the show or playing from home, Moophisto has returned to terrorize the unsuspecting. He is as udderly malevolent as you remember. Heh.

XBOX players can save 75% off Diablo IV and up to 30% on Diablo II: Resurrected content now through September 22^nd. Everything coming to Sanctuary is on the Diablo website.

Overwatch Turns 10 and Immediately Looks Forward

Ten years of Overwatch, and the team spent its anniversary talking about what comes next. Season 5’s new Support Hero is Doctrine, a life-draining, vampire-inspired healer who sends out bat-like drones. You can play him at BlizzCon right now, and from home for a limited time.

He arrives alongside major reworks for Sombra and Roadhog, plus a new map, Watchpoint: Grimsvotn. Season 5 also closes out The Reign of Talon, the first year-long story arc in Overwatch history, and it does not end quietly. The next Overwatch Spotlight follows in February 2027 with the team’s plans for the year.

Two things worth clearing your weekend for: YOASOBI plays BlizzCon’s first-ever halftime show during the Overwatch World Cup, and LE SSERAFIM returns to the Main Stage as the closing act, with a new in-game collaboration live now. Then there is QuestWatch, a live Overwatch tabletop RPG one-shot written by Matt Mercer and the Overwatch Narrative team. For those playing on XBOX while you’re streaming at home: play one match to earn a Mythic Voucher and choose an eligible Mythic Hero Skin!

More detail on all of it lives on the Overwatch website.

Warcraft Goes Backward and Forward at the Same Time

We are at the midpoint of The Worldsoul Saga. World of Warcraft‘s next major update, Eclipse (12.2), has Xal’atath closing in on Azeroth’s Worldsoul, and where that goes is up to us. We also got a look at The Last Titan, the final chapter of the Saga, which brings more than two decades of Warcraft storytelling to a close and sets up whatever comes after. More on that early next year.

Then a genuine surprise: for the first time in over 23 years, there is a new Warcraft III: Reforged story. The Forsaken Kingdom campaign takes you back to the fall of Lordaeron and its turn into the Undercity, and it ships with the 3.0 update, which brings a substantial graphics overhaul and a revamped World Editor. It is playable today. We dropped it like a Beyonce album. Warcraft III: Reforged is available with XBOX Game Pass, so you only need to pick up the DLC to jump into the new campaign

And then we went home. World of Warcraft: Forever is a third way to play alongside Modern and Classic, set in the Vanilla era, with room to explore corners of Azeroth we never got to see the first time: three new zones, over 1,000 new quests, nine new dungeons, two new raids, and the new Skyborne race. It launches November 4, 2026, with Beta starting September 17.

The full Warcraft rundown is on the Warcraft website.

Hearthstone Opens a Journal and Meets the Old Gods

The overhauled Journal pulls every quest, achievement, and event into one place, tied together by the story of each expansion. It keeps a record of where you have been and grows as you keep playing.

Reign of the Black Empire hits the Tavern October 20 and takes Hearthstone to the earliest age of Azeroth, long before the Old Gods were imprisoned. Its new keyword, Assemble, merges two cards into a stronger one, which is going to produce some combinations nobody planned for. Before that, on September 22, Battlegrounds adds a new minion type called Aberrations, grown out of Old God corruption and experimentation.

Looking further out, the Monk arrives in March 2027 as the game’s first new playable class in six years, fluid and adaptable in the way the class has always been.

A New Hero Enters the Nexus

Xal’atath joins Heroes of the Storm on September 28, playable on the PTR starting September 14. This one belongs to those of you who never stopped playing. There may even be another hero ahead? What year is this?

Stories Beyond the Games

An animated series set in the world of Diablo is in development with Netflix. More on that later, and it is not the only thing taking shape.

There Is Still a Weekend Left

The BlizzCon livestream runs all weekend with deep dives, panels, and a halftime show, and the full schedule is on the BlizzCon site so you can plan what you want to watch.

If you only take three dates with you: Diablo IV‘s Season of Hell’s Legacy launches on September 15, World of Warcraft: Forever Beta opens September 17, and Forever itself launches November 4.

Dude, we’re so back.

How Android Apps Keep Live Data Synced With Remote Servers

Posted on September 13, 2026 by faz_business

Contemporary Android applications may give the impression that they are always wirelessly connected to the web.

Messages are received and displayed right away; prices are altered in real time, dashboards are renewed automatically, and users can verify their account activity without updating the application manually.

This experience is based on a set of technological systems that allow mobile applications to be synchronized with remote servers and use as little battery, data, and processing resources as possible.

In general, developers apply the following technologies to create live synchronization: push notifications, always-on connections, polling, WebSockets, and Android background services.

Push notifications are one of the most efficient solutions that notify an Android device about the new information.

Unlike forcing an application to make a request to the server every second, the server is able to send notifications whenever important information appears.

In Android, this is done with the help of modern systems like Firebase Cloud Messaging.

For instance, the messaging application will not have to keep asking, “Is there any message for me?” since the server will send a message to the mobile device when there is a new message.

Then, the application can get data necessary for its operation from the server.

Persistent Connections Facilitate Real-Time Communication

Certain applications need to have a stable connection for an extended period of time.

For example, in cases such as the trading dashboard, multiplayer game, chat program, or cloud control service, it is necessary for the data to be transmitted right away instead of waiting until it gets requested at specific points in time.

The same rule can be applied to any web-based service like SHR Minor, where the user has access to the remote information about his/her account and system.

In such cases, the application can create a constant connection to the remote server.

Unlike the typical web-request when the connection is made, data is transferred, and the connection is terminated, persistent connection can be maintained for longer periods of time.

Following this, the server is able to transmit any new data, when something changes, to the Android application.

WebSockets Make Two-Way Communication Possible

The technology of WebSockets use has become very popular when it comes to applying the persistent connection technology.

The WebSockets technology allows the Android application and server to share the information with each other via the same channel of communication.

In this connection, WebSockets are very handy for those apps that constantly have the data changing.

For example, the user is using a cloud solution that can show the real time statistics of a server and prices of a cryptocurrency, gaming activities, or the cloud-mining performance.

Instead of copying the whole screen every few seconds, the server is able to transmit only those numbers that have changed.

Thus reducing the possibility of delays and making apps work faster.

Not all apps need a continuous connection.

Polling is another common method. Polling means that the android app contacts the server on a fixed schedule to see if there is anything new.

For example, an application may be set to ask the server for updates on the account status every 30 seconds or so.

In spite of its ease of implementation, polling is still not without its disadvantages.

If the app polls too often, it will waste battery and mobile data. If it polls too infrequently, then users may not receive the latest updates.

That is why developers have to strike a balance between newness and efficiency.

Synchronization often needs to continue even when an application is off the screen.

Android has various ways of creating background work.

For example, developers may create work where the application downloads something, uploads something, refreshes and synchronizes data.

There are tools like Android’s WorkManager that help applications schedule background jobs without the app being active.

However, Android imposes a lot of restrictions on what applications can do in the background.

If every application was allowed to run all the time, the phone would hardly last much longer than a couple of hours.

This is the reason for various battery-saving qualities, like Doze service, limits on background execution or application standby.

Thus the developer should not presume that the application will be always in active mode.

The Aim Is Permanent Data Without Ongoing Functionality

The finest Android cloud programs give the impression of always being active, however the device’s operating system controls the activities of the cloud app at the backend.

Various platforms, such as messaging applications, cloud gaming services, blockchain and cloud mining services like SHRminer.com rely on a combination of APIs, backend servers, scheduled synchronizations, and web services among other technologies to keep its users updated.

Important events are dealt with using push notifications; real-time communication is handled using WebSockets, while polling is a convenient way of checking for updates and background services run scheduled jobs.

Thanks to the use of these technologies along with Android’s battery management system, app developers are able to synchronize their apps with remote systems while at the same time ensuring that the smartphone is not involved in constant networking work.