Casely has reannounced a recall of its Power Pods 5,000mAh MagSafe E33A charger after dozens of people were injured and one even killed by the defective devices, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) announced. It’s recommended that you stop using the devices immediately, dispose of them safely and seek a replacement from the manufacturer.
A year ago, Casely and the USPSC published a recall of 429,000 units of the power bank with the model number E33A. That followed 51 incidents of the devices “overheating, expanding or catching fire” and burning users in multiple cases.
However, many of the devices have remained in use and are even more dangerous than initially thought. “In August 2024, a 75-year-old woman from New Jersey, was charging her cell phone with the power bank on her lap when it caught on fire and exploded,” the USCPSC reported. “The victim suffered second and third degree burns and later passed away from complications from her injuries.” In another incident this year, a 47-year-old woman was charging her phone on a plane when it caught on fire and exploded, giving her first degree burns.
As a result, the recall has been reissued due to “a risk of serious injury or death from fire and burn hazards to consumers,” according to the Commission.
The defective Casely Power Pods 5,000mAh charger is identifiable by the Casely embossed logo on the front and model number E33A on the back. It was sold at various online retailers including getcasely.com and Amazon between 2022 and 2024.
Casely is offering free replacement units as a remedy (it’s not clear if you can get a full refund). Those seeking one should write “recalled” on the battery pack in permanent marker and submit a photo, along with a second photo showing the E33A model number as pictured above. Owners are instructed to dispose of them by contacting a facility that handles lithium-ion batteries. Do NOT throw them away with regular household waste, recycling, or standard battery disposal bins due to the risk of fire and explosion.
Dive into a living medieval fantasy sandbox RPG where the world moves with or without you and factions rise and fall. Become a thief, hunter, or sellsword, survive alone or with a party, and shape your story in a fully enterable world where every building, cave, and road hides opportunity or danger.
Play solo or build your squad Create the heroes of your journey. Customize each member of your party’s appearance, hairstyle, physique, and background story to make your mark on the world. Every choice teaches you something. Earn experience through what you do and unlock skills that keep you alive. Go in loud with brutal weapons, or stay unseen, avoid fair fights, and end threats before they notice you.
Survive, Craft & Build The world won’t keep you safe; you’ll have to prepare. Stock up, craft gear, and choose how you live: settle in town by renting a house, or roam freely with camps you can set up between expeditions. Hunt, gather, and craft your loadout, then do whatever it takes to survive. We Gotta Go
Write Your Own Story Valorborn is built around player-driven stories, not a single scripted path. Start small and survive however you can. Steal and sell stolen goods. Live off the wilderness and trade pelts for coin. Take contracts and hunt the dangers stalking roads, ruins, and settlements. Tip faction conflicts in your favor, exploit the chaos for profit, or stay out of politics and carve your own path. Your choices shape your identity, your reputation, and your future.
In case you haven’t noticed, an architect is one of the few professions legally qualified to design a built environment. Today’s post helps you understand architect fees and hiring options for your firm at Cad Crowd. Related professions, such as engineers, designers, and contractors, are likely more involved in the construction process, but everything they do must be based on plans prepared and approved by an architect. Producing an architectural plan may seem like a simple, one-phase task, but it entails significant technical and aesthetic challenges.
In addition to structural integrity, an architect must consider safety, environmental impacts, project timeline, and cost efficiency, among other constraints. Not every project requires an architect. That said, hiring one is almost a guarantee of a durable, aesthetically pleasing structure with a highly functional layout. It is certainly possible to undertake an architectural project (whether a new construction or renovation) without involving an architect.
However, this also means that the project is running without their expertise in design, building regulations, construction management, and budget estimation. Hiring an architect doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive. AEC-specialized freelancing platform Cad Crowd can help you connect with hundreds of licensed architects from all over the world to handle your residential, commercial, industrial, and civil projects at an affordable cost.
With most professions, the cost for hiring their services is typically determined by the scope of work, complexity of the tasks, and the time required to do the job. Architects are no different for the most part. Broadly speaking, architects may calculate their fees using any of the following three methods.
Percentage of construction cost
Think of this percentage-based fee as a sliding scale that puts the size and complexity of a project in direct relationship with the estimated total construction (as opposed to project) cost. As the cost slide moves up, the architect’s fee increases accordingly. The most common percentage is anywhere between 8% and 20% of the cost. Say a renovation project has a construction budget of $80,000, and the architect’s fee is set at 15%. Remember that the percentage isn’t subtracted from the construction cost; it’s added to it. This means the actual project cost will be the sum of $80,000 plus $12,000 (15% of the amount) for a total of $92,000.
Architectural designers are more likely to use percentage-based fees when they’re hired to provide full architectural services, which typically entail five phases, including schematic, design development, construction documentation, bidding and negotiation, and contract administration (construction). Keep in mind that the percentage is calculated based on the definitive construction cost instead of the initial estimate. If, at the end of the project, the construction cost exceeded the estimate, the architect’s fee would be the same percentage of the adjusted cost (rather than the initial estimate).
For clients, a percentage-based fee is ideal when the project is reasonably large, but the scope of work isn’t clearly defined. It allows them to secure the architect’s fee early on, yet still leaves room for negotiation later on as the specifics become known. It’s worth noting that a percentage-based method may be used to include or exclude additional project-related services and consultant fees, such as structural and MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) engineering.
Lump sum
As simple as it can get, a lump sum is a fixed fee. It’s a practical way to compensate an architectural drafting expert for the services provided, as you don’t have to handle percentage calculations, cost adjustments, or additional expenses that may arise during construction. However, you must understand that architects are only willing to use the fee structure if the scope of work is clearly defined. In other words, they will not throw around a fixed fee unless they’ve already calculated the work hours, construction timeline, the design complexity, and other variables with a reasonable degree of accuracy – not to mention the knowledge that major changes are highly unlikely during the project.
In the rare instances of major changes to project parameters beyond the architect’s control, the “fixed” fee must be adjusted to reflect any additional services rendered. Clients like the lump sum method because it’s straightforward. Following a negotiation at the very beginning of a project to determine the architect’s fee, the amount that both parties agree to is (in the vast majority of cases) the money the client ends up paying to the architect when the project concludes. At the same time, the method feels somewhat reassuring because it may incentivize the architect to work as efficiently as possible, since the pay is fixed regardless of the number of hours they spend on the project.
Of course, the biggest challenge with a lump sum for a client is that you cannot afford to have any hint of uncertainty about what the project requires. It’s important to know what CAD drafting and design services you need, how long the project should be, all the expenses, and the overall construction budget; otherwise, you might not be able to negotiate the fee effectively.
Hourly rate
Among the most common fee structures across professions is the hourly rate. As the name implies, the fee is calculated by multiplying the base “fee per hour rate” by the total number of work hours an architect spent on a project. Bear in mind that the base rate may vary significantly depending on such factors as the architect’s experience, project complexity, and location. In the United States, for example, architects’ rates range from $80 to $250 per hour. It’s admittedly a massive gap, but it’s true nonetheless: high-profile architects in big cities with a higher cost of living may warrant rates at the upper end of the spectrum.
Some people even consider that an hourly rate between $175 and $250 perfectly acceptable. For the client, the biggest advantage of an hourly rate is flexibility. If you have only the slightest idea of what architectural plans design services the project requires, the hourly rate affords you the freedom to adjust or amend the scope of work without fee renegotiation. On the other hand, flexibility comes with uncertainty; the open-ended nature of the fee structure makes it a good practice to ask the architect for an accurate estimate of how much time they need to finish every stage of the project.
In any case, an hourly rate makes sense for architectural services that are not well-specified, conceptual design, small-scale renovation projects, specialist expertise (design consultant, analysis, etc.), or anything else that requires only a little involvement of an architect, such as representation with permit-issuing authorities.
Hybrid structure
It’s not uncommon for architects to use a combination of multiple fee structures rather than a single method of compensation throughout an entire project. This makes sense because different stages of a construction project are best served by different payment models as well; the idea is to offer the utmost cost efficiency to the client without sacrificing a healthy rate for the architectural detailing expert. For instance, during the process of acquiring building permits from the authority, the scope of work might be indeterminate in terms of complexity, but with a pretty clear timeline, which makes an hourly rate a sensible choice. As the project moves along and reaches the documentation stage, a fixed fee is ideal as it comes with a very specific scope of work.
Hiring options from Cad Crowd
Things are very different when you hire an architect through a freelancing marketplace. There are dozens of platforms you can use, but Cad Crowd sets a fine example of how to bridge a collaboration between clients and architectural planning and design professionals in ways that benefit both. Unlike the more generalized platforms, Cad Crowd specializes in the AEC industry with more than 15 years of experience connecting architects, engineers, and construction professionals with clients from all over the world. Cad Crowd offers three primary hiring models as follows:
Presumably, the most straightforward way to hire an architect on the platform, the direct hire model, is the closest you can get to the hourly rate fee structure. You start the process by posting a project, which can be as broad or specific as you want, and get matched with the most qualified architect for the job. For example, the brief may say “create a permit-ready floor plan and convert it into a 3D visualization” or simply “build an architectural plan for a residential home.”
Once Cad Crowd identifies several qualified candidates, you can discuss the project further with the architectural drafting experts regarding the rate. When you’re ready to start the project, you can purchase a block of 10 hours at the agreed-upon hourly rate. While the entire “price negotiation” matter is basically the same everywhere, Cad Crowd plays the role of a hub here to help filter through hundreds of available candidates, making the process much quicker.
Managed services
A small yet notable difference between Direct Hire (Hourly Services) and Managed Services is the scope of work. Cad Crowd makes this distinction that Managed Services are reserved for short-term projects with well-defined scope and budget. Also, any project under this service is completely confidential, meaning only you and the pre-qualified expert get to see the project brief and deliverables. Everything else is pretty much the same between the two hiring options. You can communicate directly with the architect via email, Skype, or TeamViewer.
Built on the idea of crowdsourcing, a design contest is excellent for conceptual, ideation, styling, or visualization phases. It’s also a great idea in case you need to hire a design engineering expert to help solving an engineering problem. As usual, you start by posting a project brief that best describes the services and the deliverables you need. You must set a prize money this time to attract the experts; a bigger prize attracts a bigger crowd. Although the platform offers private and invite-only contests where the project is visible only to select architects, it’s best to have it publicly accessible to try to receive as many submissions as possible. Pick the best design and give the reward to the winner.
How Cad Crowd can help
Cad Crowd gives you the peace of mind that the architect you end up hiring is indeed the best you can get for the project and the money. There might be some additional cost involved, such as the 3% platform fee and the 20% service fee for hourly and fixed-rate projects, but you get a guarantee of quality in addition to the 24/7 support team. Considering that Cad Crowd has some of the world’s most experienced and talented architects in the network, the quality of both the work and the service is worth every penny you spend. Contact us for a 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.
A brand new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday premiered at CinemaCon… introduced by none other than Robert Downey Jr.
In the two-minute trailer, we once again see the ruins of the X-Mansion. Professor Xavier watches in horror as flames appear in the sky. We hear who we think is Doctor Doom say, “Something’s coming, something we may not be able to deter…” The trailer cuts to the New Avengers tower, in which the Fantastic Four are introduced to Bucky, Ant-Man, and Captain America. Thor tells the group that they must stand together, or everything they sacrificed “will be for nothing.”
In another cool shot, Shang-Chi and Gambit face off, and Yelena appears to be fighting herself… though it’s quickly revealed to be Mystique. Thor charges at Doom, Stormbreaker in hand, but Doom catches it effortlessly. smashes Stormbreaker at Doctor Doom, who simply catches it with one hand. He emphasizes, “We’re going to need a miracle,” to conclude his speech. Steve Rogers appears, complete with some long hair and a beard, and manages to catch Stormbreaker with ease. The trailer ends with “12.28.26 is Doomsday.”
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During the Marvel presentation, Kevin Feige and the Russo brothers took the stage first, telling the crowd that Doomsday picks up right where Endgame left off. Downey, donning a Doctor Doom shirt, then introduced the aforementioned “Trailer of Doom.” Unfortunately, there’s currently no indication of when the trailer might make its way online.
The lengthy cast list includes:Anthony Mackie as Captain America, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto, and Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler – all of whom were absent from the trailer. Though we did get confirmation that Cassie Lang is back, so that’s, er, something.
Welcome to the 1.117 release of Visual Studio Code.
Happy Coding!
April 15, 2026
Add support for self-updating the Agents app on macOS. #308646
Copilot CLI sessions indicate whether they were created by VS Code or externally. #308543
In package.json files, the dependency hover now shows the currently installed version alongside the latest published version of a package. #307648
Images in JSDoc comments, including <img> HTML tags, now render correctly in hovers, completion details, and signature help for JavaScript and TypeScript files. #231792
April 14, 2026
The Autopilot permission mode now persists across sessions. You can configure the default permission level with the
When an agent sends input to a terminal, the terminal output is now automatically included in the result after a brief delay, saving an extra agent turn. #309509
Agent Host now supports auto-approve session configuration with three modes: Default Approvals, Bypass Approvals, and Autopilot (Preview). #309337
You can now switch back to the main window from auxiliary (floating) windows. #306571
Agent Host Protocol now supports subagents and agent teams. #305755
April 13, 2026
Agent Host sessions now support worktree and git isolation. #305325
Copilot CLI, Claude Code, and Gemini CLI are now recognized as shell types in the terminal. #290830
April 12, 2026
Copilot CLI now generates meaningful branch names based on the user’s prompt when creating worktrees for background agent sessions. #306191
We really appreciate people trying our new features as soon as they are ready, so check back here often and learn what’s new.
More than three years after the emergence of generative AI, AI-assisted coding remains by far the most popular and lucrative use case for the technology.
Although multiple companies — including Anthropic, maker of Claude Code, as well as Cursor and Cognition — are already vying for dominance, investors believe there is room for at least one more player.
On Wednesday, Factory, a startup developing AI agents for enterprise engineering teams, announced it had raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and Blackstone. Keith Rabois, a managing director at Khosla Ventures, joined the startup’s board.
Factory founder Matan Grinberg told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s key differentiator is its ability to switch between different foundation models, such as Anthropic’s Claude or Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. However, startups like Cursor also don’t rely on a single model to generate code.
Factory’s customers include engineering teams at Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, and Palo Alto Networks.
The startup was founded in 2023 after Grinberg, then a PhD student at UC Berkeley, cold-emailed Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire. The two bonded over mutual academic interest. (Maguire’s PhD from Caltech is in the same area of physics Grinberg was studying.)
Maguire convinced Grinberg to drop out and launch Factory, with Sequoia backing the startup at the seed stage.
Dozens of processes run in the background on your PC, and each takes a bit of memory.
Most are necessary and helpful, but some can be disabled to optimize performance.
Checking to see which ones load automatically is a good place to start.
PC feeling a little sluggish? There are myriad possible reasons, but one of the best places to start is checking what’s tying up your memory.
If you open the task manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and sort the programs by memory usage, you’ll find the usual culprits (your browser, Microsoft Office apps) at the top of the list, and a handful of others you probably can’t identify.
Unfortunately, many of these processes are necessary and/or inconsequential in terms of overall memory usage. But there are certainly some processes that can speed things up when killed — especially if you’re on a slower PC.
I recommend identifying the biggest culprits of memory leakage first: excessive browser tabs, bloatware from your PC’s manufacturer, and applications that start up on their own (whether you use them or not). There’s also a process called SysMain that preloads apps on your PC you may want to disable. Let’s walk through them.
1. Your browser
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
I’m willing to bet the app at the top of the list is your browser. Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are notorious memory hogs, especially when you have dozens of tabs open. One thing you may not be aware of: Chrome has its own task manager, so you can see exactly which tabs are costing your PC the most memory.
In the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, go to More Tools > Task Manager. Sort by memory footprint, and you’ll very quickly be able to see if there’s a particular tab that’s chewing through your RAM. Luckily, you can close them right here in the task manager.
Also, instead of making your PC manage dozens of tabs, utilize favorites and the reading list to save pages for later. Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of Chrome, go to Bookmarks > List > Reading List > Add to Reading List. Make sure you also click “Show Reading List” on that same menu.
2. SysMain
If you do any Googling of this topic, you’ll see some discussion of this one. SysMain (formerly known as Superfetch) is a Windows process that pre-loads programs it knows you use regularly. This results in tying up some memory, which could negatively impact performance on some PCs.
There is a lot of discussion on both sides. Some Windows users swear that disabling this process improved their PC’s performance, while others cite that it should have no real impact at all. If you’re looking for solutions, however, it’s worth a try. Here’s how.
Press Win + R to open the Run command and type services.msc in the dialog box. This will display all background processes currently running on your PC, complete with descriptions to help identify what they do.
Scroll down to SysMain, and double-click it. It’s currently running by default, so first click the Stop button. Then, locate the dropdown menu next to Startup Type, and select Disabled. Then click Apply, and OK. Windows will no longer preload apps, potentially freeing up some memory in the process.
3. Manage your startup apps
Nearly every app you install wants to launch automatically when you start your PC. While this makes sense for some, there’s no point in devoting system resources to programs you’re not using.
We covered how to check what apps start automatically in Windows 10, and the process is the same with Windows 11. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager, then go to the Startup tab (you may need to click “More Details” to see it). This list shows you all the apps your PC launches automatically when you start your computer.
Right-click the column headings to add details about how much of an impact auto-starting programs have.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
You’ll probably see a few apps that don’t need to be there, and you can disable these simply by right-clicking. Note that this doesn’t uninstall the programs; it simply relegates them to launching on your command.
Processes you disable should remain in this window, should you want to re-enable in the future. If you don’t see it, however, you can re-enable it in a command prompt. From the start menu, type cmd, right-click on Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator. Type the following: sc config “SysMain” start=auto & sc start “SysMain” and then restart your computer.
4. Bloatware
The previous step may have identified a few bloatware programs you’ve never used, but nonetheless have been running on your PC since you bought it. Most laptops come with proprietary apps that are often half-baked or not particularly useful, as manufacturers try to boost brand recognition and inflate the value of their PCs.
Fortunately, they can usually be easily removed, freeing up valuable space and memory. After removing them from the automatic startup menu, you’ll find them in Windows’ Add or Remove Programs menu, where you can uninstall them.
There’s a vision for combat in Ultimate Bug War that you can make out from a distance, but never comes into focus. Spray and pray weapons with what should be a stiflingly small ammunition capacity are often more than a match for Bug War’s generally low enemy density. The iconic warrior bugs don’t swarm with anywhere near the intensity seen in the film, and rarely do the other subspecies of arachnid work in tandem to overwhelm the player. There’s a perfunctory reload mechanic a la Gears of War that allows one to cut down their reload time by half, but rarely did I find myself in a teeth-gritting, life or death situation.
It’s a shame, as the gunplay is generally quite good, with a weighty, gas-fed ratchet to the iconic Morita assault rifle and its variants, each high caliber round impacting with a satisfying orange-blue sploosh when it penetrates bug chitin.
There’s a perfunctory arsenal of airstrikes that rain down with a satisfying swoosh, deployed from a low-poly Federation jets that fly five abreast like the Blue Angels, but this torrent of hellfire never quite gels with the sandbox—there are rarely enough active bugs in combat to justify calling in an airstrike, and the long deployment time and ease with which you can blow yourself up further negate the Fleet’s usefulness.
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Of course, that’s if you can find a bug. Ultimate Bug War largely consists of wandering around mostly empty maps devoid of significant enemy encounters and completing tedious scripted mission objectives, often recycled from mission to mission—this war is won by planting satchel charges on flak-bugs, defending besieged outposts, and clearing out the occasional bug nest.
These are occasionally broken up by a fine enough power armor romp or eye roll inducing turret-from-gunship-door section, but by and large, it’s a lot of trundling around through empty maps and squashing the occasional bug. There’s one notable exception to this, however: Klendathu.
Drop Site Massacre
Ultimate Bug War peaks with its first level, a low-poly rendition of the infamous Klendathu Drop—an open ended battlefield with multiple distinct objectives and hordes of bugs swarming from all angles. The dense winding canyons and trails of Klendathu, Warrior bugs surge forward from all angles, are an anomaly in a game that is by and large barren.
(Image credit: Auroch Digital)
Visually, Ultimate Bug War loves to reuse that flat stainless steel look of the 1997 film, though rarely does that translate to a similar vibe despite the attention to detail—remember Outpost 29? Well, you can now visit the dozens of nearly identical outposts across the Federation’s galactic holdings. The music is similarly dull, a banal MIDI-brass ensemble mimicking the soundcard soundfonts of old. There’s very little of note, beyond the baffling absence of the original theme—it’s bizarre hearing royalty free military brass in lieu of an iconic film score in a licensed tie-in game.
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Ultimate Bug War also lets you play as an “Assassin Bug”, introduced (and almost immediately forgotten) halfway through the Klendathu Massacre. This is billed as an equivalent mode to the Federation campaign, though my time hunting down the Federation’s finest with acid and claw left me borderline catatonic.
The Assassin Bug has three attack modes you can shift between, but in the face of swarms of nearly identical infantry that all go down in one hit, it’s never the case that you have to do anything more than mash left click to cut the Mobile Infantry to ribbons. Mission objectives consist of destroying small tents and generators, which is about as thrilling as it sounds. With no ambient dialogue, radio chatter, or mission-specific context, the Assassin Bug campaign feels decidedly tacked on, and is far and away the weakest element of a game that does little to distinguish itself.
(Image credit: Auroch Digital)
G.I. blues
Similarly off is the game’s commitment to recreating the propaganda lens of the film, with returning characters Johnny Rico and Sammy Dietz (played by their original actors) delivering suitably stilted, wooden dialogue in between-mission interviews, evoking the weirdness of Philips CD-i FMV games. Rarely does this set-dressing land, however. I think it’s supposed to be a riff on America’s Army, a now-ancient shooter series developed and published by the US Army in the early aughts with naked intentions to drive adolescent recruitment ahead of the Iraq War. Even still, the juxtaposition of bombastic patriotism covering for out and out fascism is hardly as biting nearly thirty years on from the original film, and is in fact far tamer than some of the propaganda X The Everything App’s “For You” page will randomly show you over breakfast.
I was under the impression that the Federation lost the bug war seen in the film, and badly…
Moreover, and this is an especially minor point in the very unserious world of “Starship Troopers canon”, but I was under the impression that the Federation lost the bug war seen in the film, and badly—that’s why the final propaganda reel before the credits shows child soldiers fighting alongside nuclear weapon equipped Mobile Infantry. By no means am I asking for playable child soldiers (though the thought of that is significantly funnier than any attempt at humor Ultimate Bug War), but it’s disappointing that we never get to see any indication of the Federation teetering on the verge of total collapse.
(Image credit: Auroch Digital)
Ultimate Bug War doesn’t even really seem to get what is going on in the Verhoeven film, which is riffing on the Heinlein novel’s thesis that the Federation’s soldier class and the Bug warrior caste are ultimately one and the same. What defines the relationship between the film and the book is a feeling of neural whiteout, a descending, brain numbing miasma a la Kafka’s metamorphosis that is completely absent here. With only trace hints of Verhoeven’s sardonic wit and none of Heinlein’s moribund set dressing, Ultimate Bug War’s satirical elements are way off-target, and land well short of screwball contemporaries Helldivers and Earth Defense Force.
Marred by oddball balance decisions, bad pacing, coma-inducing level design, and an eye-rolling adherence to a satirical playbook that would have been played-out in the first term of the Bush presidency, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War doesn’t do proper justice to the Federation’s finest.
The Mid-Market Supply Chain AI Stack: What’s Worth Building vs. Buying?
Most mid-market supply chainleaders have already looked at the big platforms. SAP Integrated Business Planning. Blue Yonder. o9. They have seen the demos. The capabilities look right. The implementation timelines look long, the price tags look like enterprise budget, and the fit to their actual data environment looks questionable.
So the question becomes: what do you actually build, and what do you buy?
USM Business Systems works with mid-market operations teams in manufacturing, distribution, and logistics to answer exactly that question. What follows is the framework we use.
Start With the Data Reality
The first thing that determines your stack is not your budget or your timeline. It is your data environment.
If your ERP is clean, your WMS is current, and your supplier data is structured and reliable, you have more platform options. If you are managing two ERPs from a merger, a WMS that exports to spreadsheets, and supplier lead times that live in email threads, most platforms will underdeliver.
The reason is simple. Enterprise supply chain platforms are calibrated to enterprise data infrastructure. Mid-market infrastructure is almost always messier. That is not a failure of the ops team. It is a function of how mid-market companies grow.
A platform that assumes a clean data model will give you clean outputs on the demo and noisy outputs in production. The question to ask in every vendor evaluation: what does this platform do with dirty data?
What Platforms Are Good At?
Off-the-shelf supply chain AI platforms are strong when:
Your data infrastructure matches their integration assumptions
Your use case is standard enough that their pre-built models apply without heavy customization
You have internal IT capacity to manage ongoing configuration and maintenance
Your budget and timeline can absorb a 6-18 month implementation cycle
For companies where those conditions hold, a platform makes sense. The vendor handles the model maintenance, the infrastructure, and the roadmap.
What Custom AI Agents Are Good At?
A custom supply chain AI agentis the right architecture when:
Your data environment is non-standard and a platform would require significant data cleanup before it could run
Your use case is specific enough that pre-built models would require heavy modification anyway
You want the agent trained on your supplier relationships, your SKU hierarchy, your actual demand patterns
You need deployment in weeks, not quarters
The tradeoff is that custom builds require an engineering partner with supply chain domain understanding. Generic AI development shops can build the software. They often miss the operational logic that determines whether the outputs are actually useful.
A Practical Framework for the Decision
The framework USM uses with every new supply chain engagement is a three-question filter:
First: Is the problem standard or specific? A demand forecasting problem at a food manufacturer with heavy seasonality and short shelf life is not a standard problem. A platform built for median demand forecasting will give median results.
Second: How clean is the underlying data? If significant data cleanup is required before a platform can run, that cleanup cost goes into the build-vs-buy calculation. Custom agents can be built to work with imperfect data.
Third: What is the decision speed requirement? If you need visibility improvements in 8-12 weeks, a platform with a 9-month implementation is not the right answer regardless of long-term fit.
The Hybrid That Works for Most Mid-Market Teams
Most mid-market supply chain teams land in a hybrid. They buy infrastructure at the commodity layer (ERP, WMS, TMS) and build custom at the intelligence layer, the agent that sits on top and synthesizes the signals into decisions.
That is the architecture USM deploys. The agent connects to existing systems via API or data export. It does not require an ERP migration or a WMS upgrade. It meets the data where it is and builds the visibility layer on top.
Deployment timeline: 8-12 weeks from scoping to first output. ROI measurement starts at week one.
USM offers a no-cost architecture consultation for supply chain and logistics leaders evaluating AI options. Book a session at usmsystems.com.
For the last couple of years, the Epic Games Store has given away free games every week through its PC storefront. With the company having launched its own mobile store, it has also started a second free games program on iOS and Android devices, kicking things off with a curated library of titles and weekly freebies. The app also features mobile versions of Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League Sideswipe.
To access these games you will need to create a free Epic account and install the free Epic Games Store mobile app and log in with your account, but once you do, you can start claiming your free games every Thursday through it. One other thing to note is that Android users can access the app via Android-based emulation devices like Retroid Pocket, as they aren’t limited to just smartphone and tablets.
For now, only iOS users in the European Union can install the app, but the app is available worldwide to Android device users and they have a wider selection of games to choose from in comparison. Like its PC counterpart, you’ll have one week to grab each game that’s offered. Here’s a closer look at what you can grab this week, and what the current mobile games library has to offer. You can also explore what the free PC games are this week on the Epic Games Store.
