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To a certain kind of person—namely, a GenX-er raised in the suburbs when metäl reigned supreme—each notification about the forthcoming horror picture Abigail triggers an immediate memory. It’s a shout, a howl, a cry from the very center of darkness. “AHHHHHH-ahhhhhhh-AHHHHHH-ahhhhhh!” may not look like much typed out for the uninitiated, but those whose paths have crossed with the terrifying Scandinavian messenger of demonic heavy metal known as King Diamond recognize it as the shocking squeal at the beginning of “Abigail,” the eighth and climactic track on the 1987 album of the same name.

It is therefore comforting to learn that I am not alone in this. Indeed, Abigail’s co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, e-mailing on behalf of himself, co-director Tyler Gillett, and producer Chad Villella, said that they listened to the song “Abigail” frequently during the editing process on their new movie. “In a lot of ways, it became our soundtrack during post,” he wrote. “We always tried to sing along but of course we could never even get close, apologies to our neighbors. King Diamond is one of a kind!"

One of a kind doesn’t even come close. Some metal vocalists sound like Cookie Monster. Some metal vocalists sound like Edith Bunker. Only King Diamond can sound like both. If you’ve never heard it, follow this link for “Abigail.”

King Diamond is among the most gloriously ludicrous acts from the golden age of heavy metal, and while he never had a gold or platinum album, his inimitable screech with thunderous drums, crunching guitars, ghastly stage presence (why use a microphone stand when bones will do the trick), and Tales From the Crypt-like subject matter are wildly beloved by the right kind of people. (Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and Slayer’s Kerry King have long discussed their fealty to the King.) Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne may have gotten there first, but King Diamond brought horror metal to its apogee, and Abigail, which Billboard cites as most likely the first horror concept album ever recorded, is his masterpiece.

Some metal vocalists sound like Cookie Monster. Some metal vocalists sound like Edith Bunker. Only King Diamond can sound like both.

I keep saying “he,” but King Diamond is a band. Unlike Pink Floyd or Jethro Tull, however, King Diamond is a band whose frontman is also someone called King Diamond. Confusing? Good. One should be dazed and disoriented upon entering the mighty King Diamond’s lair! Though for most, it's that “what is going on?” singing style that does the trick. Here, listen to “Arrival” from the album Abigail, and prepare to screech as you ready for a visitation from the dead.

King Diamond is the nom de guerre of Kim Bendix Peterson, proud son of Hvidovre, Denmark. His first band, Mercyful Fate, put out their debut album, Melissa, in 1983. It’s very much in the English/Euro style of the time, though King Diamond was already going all-in on corpse makeup, inverted crosses, singing into a human skull, defending Satanism, and being a projection of everyone’s most awesome nightmares. Metalologists will argue forever about whether Judas Priest’s Rob Halford or Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson is the better “operatic” vocalist, but no one had, has or ever will have more (oh, how shall I put this) oomph than King Diamond.

The King is hailed for his range, those low growls and the loping, go-for-broke falsettos. Reddit says he has a range of four octaves, but I’m not getting out the tape measure, I’m too busy rockin’ out. What I do know is that after two terrific albums, Mercyful Fate split, and King Diamond took part of the group with him to form… King Diamond. There he experimented more with multi-tracked harmonies (see the “AHHHHHH!” above), but also further expanded the horror narratives in his songwriting.

On King Diamond’s first album, Fatal Portrait, about half the songs are related to The Portrait of Dorian Gray. The follow-up, Abigail, was the first of several complete concept albums based on gruesome and dark original tales.

The album’s cover isn’t terrifying but it is… eerie. Two coachmen are huddled over in the cold, viewed from below at a Dutch angle, suggesting speed, beneath dark and menacing clouds.

Inside the coach (as you’ll learn as you listen) are Miriam Natias and Jonathan La'Fey—not LaVey, but that was sure easy to mishear! The year is 1845 and the couple are about to move into a haunted house, despite the warnings of seven horsemen. Why is the house haunted? Well, here goes: On July 7, 1777, a count who lived there discovered his pregnant wife was unfaithful, and shoved her down a flight of stairs, killing her. He then took the unborn child, mummified her, named her Abigail, and put her in a crypt.

After several scenes of spooky goings-on (a rotten smell, an empty cradle floating in the air), Miriam suddenly finds herself with a rapidly developing pregnancy. (Think of Counselor Deanna Troi in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Child.”) It is, however, no ordinary fetus. It is Abigail, and soon she possesses Miriam, leading to a wild and revolting conclusion.

A review of Abigail in Encyclopaedia Mettalum is straightforward. “Some albums transcend the mere boundaries of numbers or ratings and occupy the highest possible pantheon where they remain supreme and unshakeable in their ever-dominant stature. Abigail is one such album.”

Abigail’s value as art is up to you to decide. I will state, however, that once you spin these tracks a few times, they will crawl into your mind and you will start belting out those high falsettos as you listen along. For your sake, I hope you aren’t in public when it happens. Here’s the official video for Abigail’s “The Family Ghost,” where some of King Diamond’s persona is tamped down for MTV — but this music remains insane.

Abigail is King Diamond’s best-seller, though the follow-up, Them, is another dark tale of hereditary mental health woes. (The cover looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting, which is its own kind of terrifying.) In later years, King Diamond got back together with Mercyful Fate and now fronts both groups. No one band can tie down the King! In 2002, King Diamond delighted longtime fans by releasing Abigail II — The Revenge, and in 2022 King Diamond and writer Dan Watters collaborated with illustrator Damien Worm (what a name!) to publish Abigail as a graphic novel.

All of this is very much an acquired taste, but for me it represents a point in time when horror movies and heavy metal were aligned: It was art meant to drive away the weak, but tantalize the curious and adventuresome. As you make your way to the Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens-led picture this weekend, it is strongly recommended you blast this album on the ride to the theater. But a warning: You may find yourself singing along.

Be sure to also check out our Abigail review (the movie, not the album!).

Header image by Miikka Skaffari/FilmMagic

Just a week after its premiere, Prime Video has officially renewed Fallout for a second season, the streaming platform announced today.

“Jonah, Lisa, Geneva, and Graham have captivated the world with this ground-breaking, wild ride of a show. The bar was high for lovers of this iconic video game and so far we seem to have exceeded their expectations, while bringing in millions of new fans to the franchise,” Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke said in a statement.

“The cast led by Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Walton Goggins, and Kyle MacLachlan have knocked it out of the park," the statement continues. "We’d like to thank Jonah and Lisa and our friends at Bethesda for bringing the show to us, as well as Geneva and Graham for coming aboard as showrunners. We are thrilled to announce season two after only one week out and take viewers even farther into the surreal world of Fallout.”

"The bar was high for lovers of this iconic video game and so far we seem to have exceeded their expectations.

Set 219 years after the bombs dropped and turned the world into a radiated wasteland, the Fallout TV show follows Lucy MacLean, a young woman who grew up living in a fallout bunker, who goes to the surface to look for her missing father. The series also follows other characters, including Goggins' Ghoul character and Maximus, a member of the Brotherhood of Steel.

The Fallout TV series arrived on Prime Video on April 10 when the streaming service dropped all eight episodes from the first season concurrently. Following its debut, the series has been met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from fans and critics — particularly those praising Goggins for his portrayal of the gunslinging Ghoul Cooper Howard.

Though the series is not a direct adaptation of any Fallout video games, executive producer Jonathan Nolan has described the Fallout TV show as "a non-interactive version" of Fallout 5.

There had been speculation that Fallout would return for a second season; days before the series premiered, the production team was awarded a $25 million tax credit if the series opted to relocate filming from New York State to California.

With the show's success, IGN recently caught up with Bethesda Game Studios executive Todd Howard and executive producer and director Jonathan Nolan for a wide-ranging, spoiler-filled interview. In it, Nolan alluded to his plans for the future of Fallout.

"You want to have a plan, but you also want to be flexible enough and adaptable enough that you're not locked into that..." he said. "You try to make a terrific season and if you're lucky enough to go again, you make a follow-up, you leave enough material and you have enough of a master plan from the beginning that you know what the next step would be. We have been talking for some time now about the next steps for Fallout, and we're very excited about it."

In our review of the first season of the Fallout TV series, which we awarded a 9 out of 10, my colleague Matt Purslow wrote: "A bright and funny apocalypse filled with dark punchlines and bursts of ultra-violence, Fallout is among the best video game adaptations ever made."

For more on Fallout, check out our video, where we dive into the lore of Bethesda's beloved post-apocalyptic franchise. Or, if you have already watched the entire first season, check out our ending explainer.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Gearbox has revealed the post-launch roadmap for Homeworld 3, and there's a lot of content for the game coming just in its first year.

For the game's post-launch support, Gearbox will alternate between both free and paid DLC. In June, the first update is a free content drop that will add new challenges and artifacts. July will have paid DLC with a new playable faction, new faction starting fleets, a new faction emblem, and even more artifacts and challenges.

August has additional free challenges and artifacts along with new maps and systems. October will have the second wave of paid DLC which contains similar items that the first one did.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Google has fired 28 employees involved in protests against the company's "Project Nimbus" cloud contract with the Israeli government, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge. That follows the arrest and suspension of nine employees on April 16 and a previous firing related to the same project last month. 

Some of the fired workers were forcibly removed after occupying the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. Google head of global security Chris Rackow said that the company "will not tolerate" such incidences and warned that the company could take further action. 

"If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again," he told employees in a letter. "The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior — up to and including termination."

Behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it. It clearly violates multiple policies that all employees must adhere to — including our Code of Conduct and Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation, Standards of Conduct, and Workplace Concerns.

However, workers in the "No Tech for Apartheid" group organizing the protests called the dismissals "a flagrant act of retaliation." It added that the Google saying protests largely involve people not working at the company is "insulting," adding that the push to drop Project Nimbus is supported by "thousands" of their colleagues. 

"In the three years that we have been organizing against Project Nimbus, we have yet to hear from a single executive about our concerns,” it wrote in a Medium post. "Google workers have the right to peacefully protest about terms and conditions of our labor. These firings were clearly retaliatory.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-fired-28-workers-who-protested-israeli-government-cloud-contract-084444878.html?src=rss

Western Digital has created a new travel luggage carry case with 368TB of high-speed NVMe SSD storage with an Ice Lake server.

A fifth Matrix movie is on the way, Warner Bros. announced today, with The Martian and The Cabin in the Woods' Drew Goddard on board to write and direct.

It'll mark the first Matrix installment to not have Lana or Lilly Wachowski in the directing chair, although Lana Wachowski will executive produce. In its announcement today, WB did not reveal if any of the key cast members, like Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, will be returning, nor did it disclose any details about the plot.

“Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25-years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters," Warner Bros. Motion Pictures President of Production Jesse Ehrman said in a statement. "The entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making this new Matrix film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis’ spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.”

“It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life," added Goddard. "Lana and Lilly’s exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.”

Goddard began his writing career in the '90s on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and would go on to rack up a number of TV writing credits including Angel, Alias, Lost, Daredevil, and The Good Place. In film, he earned an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay for Ridley Scott's The Martian; worked on the screenplays for Cloverfield and World War Z; and served as screenwriter/director on The Cabin in the Woods and Bad Times at the El Royale.

The Wachowskis wrote and directed the first Matrix movie back in 1999, introducing a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, and following Reeves' hacker Neo as he uncovers that truth. It became a massive hit, leading to two direct sequels in 2003: Reloaded and Revolutions. Overall, The Matrix franchise has earned more than $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office.

The Wachowskis, however, were long hesitant to make another movie in the franchise, despite continued interest from Warner Bros. Nearly two decades would pass before the release of the fourth Matrix movie, 2021's The Matrix Resurrections, which was the first Matrix film to be solely directed by Lana Wachowski.

That film got mixed reviews and disappointed at the box office, grossing $159.2 million worldwide on a reported budget of $190 million. It's worth noting, though, that it was debuted while COVID-19 lockdowns were still affecting movie theaters, and it was one of the films to be released both in theaters and on what was then called HBO Max (now Max) on the same day.

IGN gave The Matrix Resurrections a 4/10, calling it "a bunch of really good ideas stacked together to make a bad — and sometimes ugly — film."

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.

One of the best trends in games in recent years has been a greater thoughtfulness in how diverse characters and stories are portrayed. While that work takes a number of different forms, one critical way developers are making this happen is through improved technology, specifically around animation and motion capture. One key example is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which saw Insomniac Games take advantage of a group of talented actors, consultants, and lots of fun little motion capture sensors to bring the Deaf character Hailey Cooper and her use of American Sign Language (ASL) to life.

Last week at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), a group of animators on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gave a talk entitled ‘Thwips and Hugs: The Animation of 'Marvel's Spider-Man 2.’ In it, the group discussed the intricacies and challenges of animating elements of the game such as the Sandman fight and various QTEs. But they kicked off with the story of Hailey, whose portrayal may be one of Spider-Man 2’s most impressive accomplishments.

Hailey was introduced as an original character in the first Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but got an expanded role in the sequel as she and Miles start dating, including a mission all her own. During the talk, associate animation director Lindsay Thompson explained the work that went into ensuring Hailey was an accurate and thoughtful portrayal of a young, Deaf, Black teenager growing up in New York City.

To start with, Hailey was portrayed and fully motion captured by Deaf actor Natasha Ofili, who herself frequently offered guidance and suggestions stemming from her own experiences. Insomniac also hired Deaf consultants from Hyper Nova to answer questions about Deaf culture, consult on scripts, and interpret the scripts into ASL.Thompson says the consultants went over every single scene and shot that had ASL in it to make sure the performances were clear and understandable.

For animators, getting accurate mocap data was critical. Insomniac ensured every hearing cast member had a Deaf body double on the mocap stage, and changed up how the actors would record different scenes depending on the complexity of the ASL being used.

“We had to figure out the best way to shoot our hearing cast's spoken performances, along with our Deaf body doubles that would work best for Natasha to play against,” Thompson said. “For [one particular scene], we ran them side-by-side so Natasha had signing people to play off of, but could still see Nadji [Jeter, who plays Miles Morales] and Griffin [Puatu, who plays Ganke Lee] doing their speaking performance. Each Deaf cast member had their own interpreter so we could all communicate on set. And we also had the Hyper Novas on stage to help determine the scripts with the cast and plan out signing performance.”

The scene Thompson showed as she explained this concept initially had all the actors standing side-by-side in a big crowd, allowing the animators to capture the body doubles’ signing performances as well as the main cast’s emotional performance simultaneously. She pointed out that the cast’s mocap gloves had far more sensors on them than is typical. Hands, she said, are normally a challenge for animators to capture very intricate movement. The extra markers allowed them to collect more accurate data.

We had to consider each character's experience and knowledge with ASL.

But having all the actors side-by-side at once wasn’t always the ideal formation. “Sometimes it made sense to have all of our Deaf cast standing and playing against each other. But other times, it was more important to have Natasha face-to-face with Nadji, while his body double would sign next to or in front of him, so Nadji could match his performance.”

Sometimes, the main cast would even perform the signs themselves. For longer conversations, the body doubles would perform the signing to ensure all complex signs and ideas were accurate. But for shorter chats, Insomniac decided it would be more authentic to have the actors themselves sign.

“Seeing as they were playing a more inexperienced signer, it was authentic for them not to be signing as fluently as a Deaf person would,” Thompson explained. “We had to consider each character's experience and knowledge with ASL. So Ganke, Miles' best friend, is working very hard to learn. Miles is probably the most comfortable and experienced when speaking with Hailey. Rio, Miles' mom, is clearly just beginning to learn because Miles has just started dating Hailey. So we made sure her double didn't sign as fluently and experienced.”

Thompson added that at the very end of the game, a certain character signs “It’s nice to meet you,” in ASL to Hailey. “We approached it as though he had literally watched a YouTube video before coming over and saying something to her. So our interpreter was like, ‘Well, that maybe wasn't quite it but that looks like somebody who's just trying to say a nice phrase to somebody.’ So yeah, it was pretty cool.”

Near the end of the talk, during the Q&A, Thompson added one parting thought about the importance of capturing as much data as possible from both Deaf and hearing performers to fully tell the story Insomniac developers wanted to tell.

“We're a performance forward studio, so we always want the most emotional and authentic performance,” she said. “There's where it comes into collaboration. Our Deaf actors and our main cast, they were treated equally on the set and we want both of their performances.”

Spider-Man 2’s impressive performances and animation are among the many things we loved about the game, which we gave an 8/10 and called “Insomniac’s best tale yet.” At GDC, it received multiple nominations for the Game Developers Choice Awards, and in a separate talk at the conference we learned that its acclaimed fast travel system was almost cut entirely.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Neuralink's first documented human patient uses the brain interface to control a PC, and explains how it works simultaneously in live testing footage.

Earlier this year, Elon Musk announced that the first human patient had received a Neuralink brain implant as part of the company’s first clinical trial. Now, the company has shared a brief public demo of the brain-computer interface (BCI) in action.

The company briefly live streamed a demo on X with a 29-year-old man named Nolan Arbaugh, who said he was paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident eight years ago. In the video, Arbaugh explains that after receiving the implant — he said the surgery was “super easy” — he had to learn how to differentiate “imagined movement versus attempted movement” in order to learn to control a cursor on a screen.

“A lot of what we started out with was attempting to move,” Arbaugh said. “I would attempt to move, say, my right hand left, right forward, back. And from there, I think it just became intuitive for me to start imagining the cursor moving.”

In the clip, which also features a Neuralink engineer, Arbaugh demonstrates the BCI by moving a cursor around the screen of a laptop, and pausing an on-screen music player. He said the implant has allowed him to play chess and Civilization VI. He noted that he has previously used other assistive devices like mouthsticks, but that the Neuralink implant has enabled longer gaming sessions, as well as online play. He said that he can get about eight hours of use before the implant needs to recharge (it’s not clear how charging works).

Arbaugh became the first human patient to receive the implant in January after Neuralink began recruiting patients last year. The company previously tested the BCI in animals, including chimps, and some of its animal testing practices have been the subject of federal investigations.

In the video, Arbaugh indicated his experience with the brain implant has so far been positive, despite some initial issues. “It's not perfect, I would say that we have run into some issues,” he said. “I don't want people to think that this is the end of the journey. There's a lot of work to be done, but it has already changed my life.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/heres-a-video-of-the-first-human-neuralink-patient-controlling-a-computer-with-his-thoughts-235659486.html?src=rss

Anker has released its Soundcore Sleep A20 night time earbuds, which it says deliver 3x stronger passive noise blocking than the previous generation Sleep A10.

And, by passive noise blocking, it means your partner’s epic snores that are probably keeping you wide awake at night. If you have noisy neighbours who like to party beyond reasonable hours, these should do the trick also.

Described as the ‘saviour of light sleepers’ the Sleep A20 has a four-point noise masking system with a snug fit in the ear canal, and an extra layer of protection at the entrance of the ear canal. There’s twin seal eartips, which the company says are 3x more effective at blocking out nose than your typical silicone buds. There’s the option to mask external sounds with white noise or something else from the sound library.

Side sleepers can wear them too, Anker says because of the low profile that lays flat against the inner ear. They’ll also track your sleep position and sleep quality and report back to an app, while they’ll deliver an alarm that’ll only wake you rather than the cacophonous snorer next to you.

If you fancy a really long lie-in there’s 14-hours of white noise during sleep mode. If you’re travelling, you’ll be able to get 80-hours from the charging case. Naturally, they’ll also play music too and there’s 10 hours per charge available there. Thankfully, that’s an improvement over the previous generation’s 6 hours.

The Sleep A20 buds are being launched on Kickstarter with a chance to get an early bird price of $89.99, which is $60 off what the proper asking price will be. They’ll be available to early birds from April 16 on Kickstarter while the public launch is on May 10 for the full price of £149.99.

The post Anker Soundcore Sleep A20 buds will drown out your snoring partner appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

The Las Vegas "Sphere" is run by Sphere Entertainment, who now shares more technical details on how The Sphere is run.

The organizers of the 2024 World Server Throwing Championship (WSTC) are calling for entrants. Scheduled for March 19, the bare metal vs. raw power event is set to become a must-watch experience of the annual CloudFest conference.

It’s not often you encounter a device that looks like it came straight out of a movie set. But Lenovo’s Project Crystal, supposedly the world’s first laptop with a transparent microLED display, is an example of sci-fi come to life.

Currently there are no plans to turn Project Crystal into a retail product. Instead Lenovo’s latest concept device was commissioned by its ThinkPad division to explore the potential of transparent microLED panels and AI integration. The most obvious use case would be sharing info somewhere, like a doctor’s office or a hotel desk. Instead of needing to flip a screen around, you could simply reverse the display via software, allowing anyone on the other side to see it while getting an in-depth explanation.

When combined with the camera built into the rear of the system, Lenovo says there could be possible AR applications. One example would be to use the camera to identify an object, similar to Google Lens. And with its transparent display, it should be possible to take that idea a step further by overlaying a diagram or schematic on top of the object for things like troubleshooting or repair.

But the best thing about Project Crystal, is that Lenovo bothered making it at all. Currently, even standard microLED displays are extremely expensive with those panels typically reserved for cutting-edge gadgets like Samsung’s The Wall or Apple’s Vision Pro. And, see-through versions have only been seen as concepts like on the transparent microLED TV Samsung showed off a couple of months ago at CES 2024.

In person, the transparency effect is bewildering. When closed or when its display is off, Project Crystal’s screen almost looks like an ordinary piece of glass with a slight brownish tint. But at a moment’s notice the whole thing lights up like a battleship. Nominal brightness goes all the way up to 1,000 nits, with Lenovo saying peaks can go as high as 3,000 nits, which would make it brighter than the new Galaxy S24 family. And despite being made of multiple layers, the panel is extremely thin, which helps blur the line being the digital and analog worlds. Lenovo says it's also considering adding some sort of contrast layer, so it can turn into a traditional opaque display at the touch of a button. However, for a relatively large 16-inch display, its resolution isn’t super high, so if you look closely you can see individual pixels.

Another design twist is that instead of a traditional keyboard, Project Crystal features one of Lenovo’s touch-based replacements similar to those on older Yoga Books. Unfortunately, it still suffers from a lot of the same issues. The most obvious example of this is that your hands drift while typing because there’s no tactile feedback, which leads to decreased accuracy. Lenovo says AI may be able to address that in the future by learning a person’s typing habits and then using that info to account for your hands straying from the home row. But right now, it’s still a problem.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The rest of the laptop is very much a work in progress, too. I only saw two ports on the entire system which would be a major faux pas for a notebook this big. Project Crystal is also based on a last-gen CPU, while other components like its hinge was so weak that its screen threatened to close anytime it tilted below 90 degrees. And for some reason, the laptop seemed to build up a static charge, as it sometimes shocked people who touched its display.

Project Crystal is a solution in search of a problem. A problem that does exist in niche situations and may be an issue worth tackling more seriously down the line. But more importantly, it’s challenging us to think about what is possible with emerging display technology and how it might fit into a laptop of the future.

Catch up on all of the news from MWC 2024 right here!

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lenovos-project-crystal-is-the-worlds-first-laptop-with-a-transparent-microled-display-230025521.html?src=rss

International law enforcement, led by the UK’s National Crime Agency, have disrupted ransomware gang Lockbit's operation. The group behind notable hacks against aircraft manufacturer Boeing, chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, sandwich chain Subway and thousands more had its site taken offline on Monday while authorities arrested major players behind the gang. "This site if now under the control of law enforcement," the website reads. According to malware repository Vx-underground, law enforcement took down at least 22 Lockbit-affiliated Tor sites.

"Through our close collaboration, we have hacked the hackers; taken control of their infrastructure, seized their source code, and obtained keys that will help victims decrypt their systems," National Crime Agency Director General, Graeme Biggar, said in a statement. “As of today, LockBit are locked out. We have damaged the capability and most notably, the credibility of a group that depended on secrecy and anonymity."

Lockbit admitted defeat, too. In a statement to Vx-underground, the group said "FBI pwned me." Operation Cronos, the name law enforcement used for their efforts, also resulted in the seizure of source code and other useful data related to Lockbit's operations. At the same time, authorities in Poland, Ukraine and the US arrested key members of the ransomware operation. There are sanctions out for two more Lockbit affiliates in Russia.

There's more good news for Lockbit victims, too: The operation obtained keys from Lockbit to create a decryption tool for victims to get their data back, according to US Attorney General Merrick Garland. The free decryptors can be found via the No More Ransom project. 

Since 2019 when Lockbit first entered the scene, it's squeezed victims for more than $120 million in ransomware payments, according to acting assistant AG Nicole Argentieri.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/members-of-ransomware-gang-lockbit-arrested-by-law-enforcement-144245076.html?src=rss

Around three million smart toothbrushes have been infected by hackers and enslaved into botnets. They caused millions of Euros in damages for a Swiss company, according to a newspaper report.

Amazon and iRobot, maker of the Roomba vacuum line, just announced that they would be dropping their proposed merger. The potential acquisition was announced back in August of 2022 and was immediately the target of antitrust watchdogs, particularly in the EU. The European Commission (the EU's executive branch) officially announced it was looking into the $1.4 billion dollar deal last July and it raised formal concerns over the potential impact on competition in November. 

iRobot also just announced a large round of layoffs now that the deal isn't going through. The company says it is laying off about 350 employees, which represents 31 percent of iRobot's workforce. Colin Angle, founder, chairman of the iRobot board of directors and CEO is also stepping down as chairman and CEO, effective today.

While the companies didn't mention the pressure from the EU specifically, Bloomberg notes that a veto looked likely. And while that might not have immediately killed the deal, Amazon and iRobot appear to have decided to shut things down completely rather than work through any proposed changes to make the deal more palatable to regulators. The deal was also said to be under scrutiny from the FTC here in the US, but it never quite reached the level of attention it was receiving from the EU. 

Unsurprisingly, Amazon's statement on the matter blasts regulators for the "innovation" that would come with Amazon scooping up yet another company. "This outcome will deny consumers faster innovation and more competitive prices, which we're confident would have made their lives easier and more enjoyable," said Amazon SVP and General Counsel David Zapolsky in a statement. "Mergers and acquisitions like this help companies like iRobot better compete in the global marketplace, particularly against companies, and from countries, that aren't subject to the same regulatory requirements in fast-moving technology segments like robotics."

iRobot's statement was more muted. "The termination of the agreement with Amazon is disappointing, but iRobot now turns toward the future with a focus and commitment to continue building thoughtful robots and intelligent home innovations that make life better, and that our customers around the world love," said former CEO Colin Angle.

Earlier in January, the European Commission was said to have warned Amazon that the deal was on thin ice. However, according to Reuters, the company declined to offer any potential remedies to soothe the bloc's concerns over the acquisition. As outlined in the original agreement, Amazon is paying iRobot a $94 million termination fee now that the deal is dead.

This isn't exactly the first time Amazon and the EU have butted heads. They previously squared off over the company's handling of third-party seller information. In 2022, the two sides reached an agreement over Amazon's treatment of third-party sellers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-abandons-14-billion-irobot-acquisition-after-eu-veto-threat-140155112.html?src=rss

Swarovski has turned up at CES 2024 in Las Vegas with its first ever pair of smart binoculars that will identify the bird you’re looking at. All you have to do is point the gear at a bird and make sure the view is in focus, and then press down an action button. Within a few seconds, the system will overlay a bird’s name over your view, using data pulled from the Merlin Bird ID database. That has over 9,000 species tagged, and will even let you know the degree of certainty it has if the bird in question is in an unexpected location. And if this was the only feature these binoculars had, it’d be enough to justify the purchase, but that’s only the beginning of what these things can do.

Between the eyepieces, there’s a function wheel similar to one you would find on a camera that lets you cycle between various features. That includes a Wildlife ID version which hooks into its built-in Mammal, Dragonfly and Butterfly ID databases. Plus, there’s a camera which lets you send pictures and video to a paired smartphone, which would similarly be plenty to justify the expense. But the system is also designed to be expandable, with the focus wheel including space for any future custom databases you might need. For instance, one idea could be to build a database for stars, or airplane types for aviation fans to spot the make and model of what’s flying overhead.

Then there’s the discovery sharing feature, which enables you to share something you’ve found with whoever you’re outdoors with. All you need to do is tag whatever you’ve found, and then hand the AX Visio over to them, where a series of flashing arrows will guide them to where you were looking. Even in the busy halls of CES, one of the company’s representatives was able to pinpoint a far-off fire exit sign before handing me the binoculars and asking me to find it. All you need to do is follow the arrows straight to what you’re meant to be looking at with a system that’s as elegant as it is useful. There's even a built-in compass that'll let you identify which direction you're gazing toward to help you navigate.

You might notice from the pictures that there are three lenses, with the central one holding the 13-megapixel sensor shooting HD-quality (1,920 x 1,080) pictures and video. There’s 8GB storage, which should hold up to an hour of video or 1,700 photos before needing to be cleared off. Beyond the smarts, the binoculars magnify up to 10x with 88 percent light transmission, thanks to the company’s high-end lenses. Swarovski says its glassware offers almost flat, distortion-free images with plenty of contrast and color fidelity.

Now, here’s the thing, my father-in-law is a serious ornithologist who is respected, at least among his peer group. His ability to spot the genus and species of a bird in flight is extraordinary and I’m often left bewildered at the depth of his knowledge. I don’t think I’d have the ability, patience or time to even get within a hundred miles of his capability. But, with a device like this, it might mean that I can at least vaguely keep up with him when we’re out on the trails.

The AX Visio is, however, not messing around with price, and Swarovski is charging €4,600 (around $5,000) for you to get this into your hands. While bird fans often have to be patient, this should start arriving at people’s homes at some point in February.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/swarovskis-smart-binoculars-identify-the-birds-youre-looking-at-173151637.html?src=rss

There are few things as American as watching football on a Sunday. If anyone needs further proof, NFL and Peacock have it: The January 14 Peacock Exclusive AFC Wild Card has set a new record for the United States' most streamed live event in history. According to a joint release from NBC-owned Peacock and Comcast, the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins game — the first playoff ever exclusively live-streamed — reached 27.6 million viewers.

Peacock also claims that the livestream is to thank for the most internet usage in a single day across the US, taking up 30 percent of internet traffic. However, the current data is courtesy of Nielsen's custom fast national live and same-day data, with official numbers coming out on Friday, January 19.

While the livestream was a good alternative to shivering in person during the fourth coldest NFL game in history, not everyone was happy about it. New York congressman Pat Ryan was among those who expressed their outrage over having to pay for another streaming service in order to watch a game that typically airs on cable. "How much more profit do [NFL commissioner Roger] Goodell and NBC need to make at the expense of hard working Americans?" Ryan wrote in a letter. "Congress granted the NFL an antitrust exemption in its broadcast deals with the expectation that you wouldn't use it to screw over fans. That was clearly a mistake."

The game was available to Miami and Kansas City viewers on local NBC affiliates. Anyone else interested in watching had to sign up for a Peacock subscription, starting at $6 per month. Peacock's plan to stream the wild card game was first announced last May, with NBC reportedly paying $110 million for the rights to it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/peacocks-nfl-wild-card-game-broke-streaming-records-103503762.html?src=rss

Fans of that galaxy far, far away were surprised by the announcement on Tuesday morning that a new movie starring and called The Mandalorian & Grogu will be the first Star Wars film since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. As if that wasn't enough, it was also confirmed that Season 2 of Ahsoka was officially in development.

We didn't learn too much about these projects, but that didn't stop the internet from sharing their excitement over the big reveals, and we're here to gather some of the best ones:

'My Heart Is RACING!!!'

Grogu has been a hit ever since we were calling him Baby Yoda, but fans have long wanted to see all that cuteness (and, sure, Pedro Pascal's Mandalorian too) on the big screen. Don't get us wrong, the TV format was a great way to introduce the story of The Mandalorian but, as Nicole Kidman said in that legendary AMC Theaters commercial, "We come to this place for magic." And Din Djarin and Grogu in theaters sure sounds like magic to a lot of fans.

"My heart is RACING!!!" @acrossthestars wrote on X/Twitter. "I can’t wait to watch The Mandalorian & Grogu on the big screen! The article also confirms Ahsoka Season 2! I’m thrilled! I knew that with the success of the show, it had to happen but it’s such a great feeling to know it’s official now."

My heart is RACING!!!

I can’t wait to watch The Mandalorian & Grogu on the big screen!

The article also confirms Ahsoka Season 2! I’m thrilled! I knew that with the success of the show, it had to happen but it’s such a great feeling to know it’s official now. https://t.co/6gG3Xzclcr

— Jenmarie (@acrossthestars) January 9, 2024

@djarinsaber is so excited they already want to plan outfits for the premiere - you know, like how we all wore pink for Barbie.

besties what are we wearing to the mandalorian movie premiere? pic.twitter.com/dohJQYZiIQ

— emily (@djarinsaber) January 9, 2024

@spoiler4you couldn't wait to go all Sherlock Holmes and get psyched about everything there is to know about The Mandalorian and Grogu. We're rooting for you to get that award, Ly!

me if going insane after every new crumb of the mandalorian and grogu content was an award pic.twitter.com/ddSWt6mlOs

— Ly 💫 (@spoiler4you) January 9, 2024

Even IGN's Ryan McCaffrey can't wait for The Mandalorian & Grogu to usher us into a new era of Star Wars.

"YESSSSSSS! The Mandalorian and Grogu," McCaffrey wrote. "Now THIS is what I'm talking about. Leave the Skywalkers behind! Let's get some NEW Star Wars on the big screen. I have full confidence in Favreau!"

YESSSSSSS! The Mandalorian and Grogu. Now THIS is what I'm talking about. Leave the Skywalkers behind! Let's get some NEW Star Wars on the big screen. I have full confidence in Favreau! https://t.co/nViWS3RifF

— Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) January 9, 2024

@jtimsuggs is not only excited about The Mandalorian & Grogu, but also the potential of what this film and all the others in the works at Lucasfilm mean.

"The best part about this news is that it shows with upcoming Star Wars theatrical projects, there’s quite literally something for everyone," @jtimsuggs wrote. "Fan of The Mandalorian? Here’s a movie about Din and Grogu together! Fan of The Sequels? Here’s a Rey film about her building a New Jedi Order! Fan of Rebels and Prequel stuff? Here’s a New Republic Era event film with Ahsoka as a leading character. Fan of the mysticism and origins of The Force and Jedi Order? Here’s a film all about the Dawn of the Jedi.

"If you’re going to pioneer Star Wars beyond the Skywalker Saga, I feel like this is the best possible option."

The best part about this news is that it shows with upcoming Star Wars theatrical projects, there’s quite literally something for everyone.

• Fan of The Mandalorian? Here’s a movie about Din and Grogu together!

• Fan of The Sequels? Here’s a Rey film about her building a New… https://t.co/t7ccKeBGNQ pic.twitter.com/amyfR0HZ7n

— jacob. (@jtimsuggs) January 9, 2024

Not everyone is convinced, however. Some are a bit confused, like @cap_rexofthe501, as to whether this means The Mandalorian Season 4 is now this movie or if it is something totally separate.

So Season 4 IS the movie? Or Season 4 separate?? 🤔#TheMandalorian pic.twitter.com/4lfVDIq0Gy

— ✨Jenna ✨ (@cap_rexofthe501) January 9, 2024

@ewansobi is also a bit upset The Mandalorian "gets a feature length film but not Obi-Wan." Never say never!

I’m sorry but the Mandalorian gets a feature length film but not Obi-Wan pic.twitter.com/xM6SUelNYZ

— mads !! (@ewansobi) January 9, 2024

Wait... Ahsoka Season 2 Is Also On Its Way?!

The big news of the day was obviously The Mandalorian & Grogu, but tucked away in the StarWars.com press release was the expected but still exciting confirmation that Ahsoka Season 2 is officially in development.

@AndyReveles took the timely video of Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift at the Golden Globes to portray their excitment over the news.

“#TheMandalorian and Grogu are going to the big screen AND we are getting #Ahsoka season 2” pic.twitter.com/uffFNMomEn

— Rev (@AndyReveles) January 9, 2024

@Lunaraie summed our reaction up perfectly when they said, "AHSOKA SEASON 2 CONFIRMED ALONGSIDE THE MANDALORIAN MOVIE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

While the excitment is high, @REYSKYGOAT wants to remind the show's creators that there will be trouble with Ezra actor Eman Esfandi's beard doesn't return in Season 2.

eman esfandi if that beard doesn’t return with you in ahsoka season two… pic.twitter.com/0ZdQMY330p

— peanut (@REYSKYGOAT) January 9, 2024

During Ahsoka's first season, many fans fell in love with Shin Hati and Sabine Wren and wished for nothing more for them to eventually get together. As it turns out, the actors themselves are all in for this #WolfWren relationship to bloom in Season 2, as seen in the comments of a collection of fan art Sabine actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo shared on her instagram.

Even Rosario Dawson took the time to leave a comment that says, "been obssed with everyone's obsession. More please! #WolfWren for the win."

@tjlyasalem echoed this excitement with the news, saying "AHSOKA SEASON 2 CONFIRMED. #WOLFWREN RISE." @milevengood is just very happy with the news and that, relationship or not, these two will be back.

Ahsoka season 2 has been renewed and very soon we will see these two together💜🤍#Ahsoka #wolfwren pic.twitter.com/q8kjmDX6ps

— 🎈 (@milevengood) January 9, 2024

@DonovanMeade is overjoyed for another reason, as they said, "The most important thing about this is that we’re getting more Huyang, which is all that matters!"

As you can clearly see, the excitment is high for both The Mandalorian & Grogu and Ahsoka Season 2. How do you feel about the news? Let us know in the comments below!

For more, check out every other upcoming Star Wars movie and TV show and our breakdowns of the endings of both The Mandalorian Season 3 and Ahsoka Season 1 so you can remember where we left off before we jump to the future!

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Netflix has finally released an in-depth look at its upcoming sci-fi series, 3 Body Problem, in a newly released trailer. Adapted from Liu Cixin's acclaimed Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, the show delves into the repercussions of humanity confronting an imminent alien invasion. The trailer premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and Netflix has made it available online as well.

Alexander Woo, one of the show's creators, emphasized the team's dedication to capturing the essence of Cixin's novels on screen. "What we are hoping to do is to convey the experience--if not necessarily the exact details--of the novel onto the screen," Woo told Netflix's tudum.com. "What stayed, we hope, is the sense of wonderment and the sense of scope, of scale, where the problems are no longer just the problems of an individual or even a nation, but of an entire species." Check out the trailer below.

Netflix also surprised fans with a character guide, introducing the actors behind the roles in 3 Body Problem for the first time. The ensemble cast features Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong, and Jonathan Pryce.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Luke Skywalker may never have the opportunity to meet his mother, but at least Mark Hamill could for him.

The 72-year-old actor, best known for playing the Jedi protagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy, posed for a photo after finally meeting his on-screen mother, Natalie Portman, at the 2024 Golden Globes: "Now I have finally met my "mother", thanks to the @goldenglobes," Hamill posted on X/Twitter the next day.

Now I have finally met my "mother", thanks to the @goldenglobes. pic.twitter.com/lkRZQgmLmp

— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) January 8, 2024

Despite both holding key roles in Star Wars films, the two actors never starred in the same movies, so their paths never crossed on set. That changed when Hamill and Portman were asked to present at this year's Golden Globes award ceremony.

To fans of the franchise, this meeting of minds is far more significant than a viral photo-op. For years, Hamill and Portman have been eager to get together in person, but it hasn't happened until now. And there's a comical long-running feud that goes along with it.

Back in June 2018, the official Star Wars Twitter account posted on Twitter wishing a happy birthday to Portman, who played Padmé Amidala in the prequel trilogy. In response, Hamill shared the post with the caption, "FUN FACT: I've never met this woman."

FUN FACT: I've never met this woman. https://t.co/YYIFku1CVQ

— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) June 9, 2018

Later that month, the Black Swan actor was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and didn't hesitate to clap back to Hamill's call-out — with the grace of a ballerina, of course.

"It's such a shame, I would love to meet him," Portman said on the talk show. "Mark, I would love to meet you, come over," she said, staring into the camera. Colbert and Portman then proceeded to laugh about how Hamill's message, although in response to a post about her birthday, neglected to actually wish her a happy birthday.

Promptly after the episode's release, Hamill took to social media again, apologizing for being a "thoughtless, ungrateful son."

SHAMEFUL FACT: "Center of the #StarWars Universe" Stephen Colbert @StephenAtHome revealed I neglected to wish Natalie a #HBD- Please forgive me Ms Portman.❤️ from your thoughtless, ungrateful son, mh 😳 #AGoodFirstStep https://t.co/vqpim0klc3

— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) June 15, 2018

A year prior, Hamill had the chance to link up with his on-screen father, Hayden Christensen at a 2017 Star Wars Celebration in Orlando. Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in Episodes I-III, and Hamill were among several cast members present from the first two Star Wars trilogies.

It's more than likely we'll never see Hamill reunite with his canonical parents again in future Star Wars films, as the actor has made it clear he is done with Luke Skywalker for good, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Christensen, on the other hand, has returned to the Star Wars universe for projects like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka and has expressed interest in doing more: "I'd love to get too continue with Star Wars," he told Entertainment Weekly in a December 2023 interview. Portman, too, is not opposed to the idea of returning to the franchise: "No one has ever asked me to return, but I'm open to it," the Academy Award winner told GQ last May.

Katie Reul is a freelance journalist whose entertainment reporting has been featured in IGN and Variety.

Football documentary Welcome to Wrexham took home five awards at the 2023 Creative Arts Emmys and Ryan Reynolds appeared in a thank you video dressed as Deadpool.

As reported by the BBC, a clip posted to Reynolds X/Twitter appears to be a heartfelt thank you video featuring Rob McElhenney — who stars in the documentary alongside Reynolds as the pair take over the small town Welsh football club — before none other than Deadpool appears with the award and dressed in a suit.

"Wow, an Emmy, what an incredible honour," McElhenney said. "There's so many people to thank. I've been waiting for this moment for 16 years so I've got a lot to say. I'd like to start by thanking..."

It's at this moment Reynolds, who plays Deadpoll in the trilogy of Marvel films, takes over in character. "First and foremost, Wrexham, we love you," he said. "Thank you for letting Rob and the other guy tell your story.

Welcome to Wrexham, Emmys.@WrexhamFX @hulu @DisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/heZeHFu4gt

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 8, 2024

"Cymru am byth, b***hes," he added, Welsh for "Wales forever, b***hes". Reynolds then continued with plenty of more jokes, embodying the spirit of the anti-hero character. "I'd also like to thank The Academy for this honour, and for not asking us to attend the televised awards show with the real celebrities.

"I'd also like to thank FX and Disney for their support and in exchange, Mr Lively promises to not f**k up my next movie." This referred to Deadpool 3, which will star Reynolds and Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman when it premieres July 26, 2024.

"Lastly, The Oscars, you're on notice motherf**kers," Reynolds added. "Maybe we can get a token VFX nod next year. The amount of work on Hugh and Ryan's face alone is at least worth a nod."

Welcome to Wrexham won awards for Outstanding Picture Editing For An Unstructured Reality Program, Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program, Outstanding Directing For A Reality Program, Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Reality Program (Single or Multi-Camera), and Outstanding Cinematography For A Reality Program.

HBO's The Last of Us adaptation was the only show to take home more awards, earning eight at this year's Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony.

These awards included Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series (for Storm Reid), Outstanding Picture Editing For A Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie, Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, and Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series (for Nick Offerman).

Image Credit: Ryan Reynolds on X/Twitter

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE drummer Brad Wilk says that the iconic band will not play any more shows. Earlier today (Wednesday, January 3), the 55-year-old musician took to his Instagram to write: "I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new tour dates for all the canceled RATM shows. I d...

Warning: The below article contains full spoilers for What If…? Season 2.

The December 30 drop of "What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?" marks the end of the nine-day event release of Marvel Studios What If...? Season 2. The daily release schedule was a first for the studio and Disney+ streamer, which gave audiences a last run of MCU stories for 2023.

Covering everything from period pieces to introducing the origin story of Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), an original indigenous superhero, What If...? Season 2 had plenty to offer, especially for those who have a soft spot for the underdogs of the MCU. To get some insight about how the sophomore season was constructed and any “what ifs” that didn’t make it into the final episode count, IGN got on the phone with Season 1 and Season 2 head writer/showrunner, A.C. Bradley (Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, Ms. Marvel), to get some exclusive stories about the making of the season.

Due to the long production cycle demands of animation, work Marvel Studios What If...? started way back in 2018. Bradley tells IGN they were already deep into Season 2 before audiences got to see Season 1 of the series. Thus working in a vacuum away from the fandom’s eyes, Bradley and, at the time, story editor Matthew Chauncey and script coordinator Ryan Little, approached the second season as an opportunity to get weirder while honoring characters that existed a bit on the periphery.

With Season 1, there was a push to use the headliners... But with Season 2, we had a bit more freedom.

“With Season 1, there was a push to use the headliners, to do the Tony Stark episode, to do the Black Panther episode and Doctor Strange,” Bradley explains. “But with Season 2, we had a bit more freedom. At the end of the day, we're not writing the big blockbuster, 100 million dollar movie. We're not even showrunning the live action TV shows. We're the scrappy, little animation show slipping under the Marvel machine radar. So, it was really subconscious but I think we veered toward the scrappy characters in Season 2. We started with the second stringers, the undervalued and overlooked, like Nebula (Karen Gillan), Darcy (Kat Dennings), and Hela.”

Season 2 was also fully the COVID season of the series, with all of the scripts being written between January 2020 and October 2020. They worked remotely for almost all of the script-writing, voice records, and animatic development, which inevitably impacted the tone of the second season.

“It felt like the world was already ending and we didn't need to add to it,” Bradley says. “And so it became kind of an escape and a fun release. However, I did write an episode, which is forever going in a drawer, that was very, very dark. I was calling it ‘Children of Men with Spider Man.’ “

Below, Bradley shares how all of the episodes took shape.

"What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?"

Writer: Matthew Chauncey

A Blade Runner-inspired noir episode, Bradley says the idea for the episode was born from the room’s love of Nebula actress Karen Gillan. “That episode came from Karen being the most talented and brilliant actress around,” Bradley says. “In Season 1, she came to play. And so going into Season 2, we definitely wanted to do an episode with her.”

The episode posits Nebula becoming a Nova Corps investigator with close ties to Nova Prime (Julianne Grossman), who tasks her with finding the murderer of Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker). “This idea of doing like a darker detective episode came into our minds and then Matt ran with it,” Bradley remembers. “It was funny; Matt was writing that episode during the early days of the pandemic and he called me at one point. He's like, ‘It's darker.’ The first draft was really dark. It almost ended in a tragedy. And then we lightened it up.”

"What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?"

Writer: Matthew Chauncey

“This was one of the episodes, and the loglines, I was given to pitch on the show to get the job,” Bradley reveals. She remembers being given a brief from Marvel Studios about them wanting to do an ‘80s version of the Avengers.

“The idea that Kevin [Feige] and the team already had was: Peter Quill comes to Earth and what happens next?” Bradley explains. “My take to get the job was that they needed to make it about Hope van Dyne. I said, ‘you already have the world and the heroes, what you don't have is the heart. You make it about two kids who just lost their mothers pretty much at the same time, which is all canon.’ ”

This pitch, amongst others, earned her the job but it ultimately didn’t make it into the Season 1 selections. “It was an idea that we loved from Season 1 that we got to revitalize in Season 2. Then Matt did the lineup. And I will say, he's admitted it publicly, that it was his idea to add Annette Bening's [Mar-Vell] because of his love of The American President,” she laughs.

And I said, 'Poor on the sugar! We'll have earned it by this point.'

For the villain of the piece, Bradley says they always wanted Ego (Kurt Russell) to have another go at taking over the universe. “And we definitely wanted Ego because it kept it simple. Peter and Ego, we know that story and therefore we can then focus on the ensemble of it all,” she explains.

Speaking of which, the final sequence, which features the triumphant alt-Avengers line-up breaking bread at Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) table (sans shawarma), was a visual culmination for this found family. “I remember the earliest we were talking about the episode and the ending, Matt and I had done another show together, so I said, 'It's a family dinner episode, Matt. Get them around the table.' He said, ‘It's gonna be a little saccharine-y.’ And I said, 'Poor on the sugar! We'll have earned it by this point,’ ” she laughs.

"What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?"

Writers: A. C. Bradley & Matthew Chauncey

“That was the episode that we were writing when the world shut down,” Bradley says, referring to pandemic lockdowns. “Actually, our last day in the office was [Matt and I] watching the Quentin Tarantino episodes, ‘The Box" (Parts I and II),’ of Alias. We had it on because we just both love Alias so much and it's kind of their dark Die Hard episode. So we were watching that as we were breaking the show, and that was literally our last time together.”

Bradley says because of that turmoil, they decided to write it together as an escapism exercise. They also had a mandate, direct from Jon Favreau, to write an episode where he could voice the comics character The Freak.

"He had a moment where he went, ‘Wait a minute, am I Hans Gruber?’

“He read the two episodes that he would be appearing in Season 1 and he called up and said, ‘I'll do the show. But here's the deal. I want to headline Season 2, and I want to be The Freak.’ And we're like, 'Okay! Let's figure this out,’ ” Bradley remembers.

“Honestly, I wasn't familiar with The Freak beforehand. It's a very deep cut,” she admits. “But as we were talking about Favreau and The Freak, we were like, ‘Favreau did Elf, one of the best modern Christmas movies, so we pitched it as Die Hard, and Marvel let us do this as a Christmas episode.”

Bradley also praises actor Sam Rockwell for getting the homage immediately when he returned to voice villain Justin Hammer. “He was so great,” she says. “I wasn't at his voice-records, however, I was told that while he was doing the record, he had a moment where he went, ‘Wait a minute, am I Hans Gruber?’ There was a slight reluctance to tell him that this was a Die Hard homage but they said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘Perfect!’ “

"What If... Iron Man Crashed Into the Grandmaster?"

Writer: A. C. Bradley

Also known as the “lost episode” of Season 1, this script was moved to Season 2 due to production delays. Bradley says the idea was born from their very early brainstorming discussions about having The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) be the villain of the second season.

“It was going to be ‘what if The Grandmaster got the Infinity Gauntlet?’ “ Bradley reveals. “But at that point, we were knee deep in the animation and we’d closed animatics for Season 1. Plus, this idea of bringing back Strange Supreme kept bubbling up, especially after we decided to do a Captain Carter arc.”

Instead, The Grandmaster was adjusted to be the bane of Tony Stark’s (Mick Wingert) existence after the wormhole keeps him from returning home post Chitauri victory. Meant to be a “The Odyssey” homage, the episode then bloomed into an action-centric mash-up of Death Race and Mad Max: Fury Road. “[Executive producer] Brad Winderbaum took [the pitch] to the Marvel Parliament and they suggested instead of the gladiator games, that it's some other kind of game. And I was like, ‘We'll do race cars!’ ”

"What If... Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?"

Writer: A. C. Bradley

This episode is a payoff to the Season 1 finale mid-credits cliffhanger where Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Natasha Romanoff (Lake Bell) discover the Hydra Stomper on a cargo vessel. Having loved crafting the friendship between the two women in the first season, Bradley says this expanded adventure for the pair came out of a work trip to France.

“I was on the train to visit our animation studio to see early stuff for Season 1 and I just kept thinking, what would the world be like if a woman ended WWII?” she explains. “What if we all grew up with a female hero, and not just like a female Superman, but if the real hero of our world was a woman? The Feminist Revolution would have happened two or three decades earlier. Plus, getting to show two strong women who have each other's back. Their relationship isn't fraught with anxiety or worry or anything. It's actually just based on fun and enjoying each other's company.”

I just kept thinking, what would the world be like if a woman ended WWII?

Their rapport in fact set up a perfect foil with the reveal of Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) as the orchestrator of an elaborate trap to lure the women to the Red Room. “The Red Room aspect actually came from Matt and I when we were in a small writers room that they had put together for Black Widow right before they started filming.”

Big fans of the Red Room storyline, Bradley says it revived her life-long obsession with spy novels and helped this episode take shape. “I actually have my undergraduate degrees in International Politics with a concentration on Eastern Europe and Ethics…because that really prepares you for a career in animation,” she jokes. “But there have always been stories of 1950's model Russian neighborhoods where they trained their spies. Our head of story was Aram Sarkisian, who led our storyboard artist team which was stacked with heavy hitters, and Aram really brought his own flair to it, especially when it comes to the fight with the robots.”

"What If... Kahhori Reshaped the World?"

Writer: Ryan Little

This episode marks the first time a What If…? series episode has introduced an original character into the MCU with Kahhori. But that wasn’t the initial goal when they first started breaking this episode.

“Even in the first days of Season 1, there were conversations about doing an episode that wasn't anchored around a character, but an MCU artifact,” Bradley reveals. “There were conversations of doing like a The Red Violin episode seeing the Tesseract history over 2000 years. Then for Season 2, we talked about what if the Vibranium meteor landed somewhere else? And so we combined those two ideas.”

Bradley says separately they talked about doing an indigenous story. In developing the idea, they decided to set it in North America so they wouldn’t step on the toes of Namor’s reveal in Wakanda Forever. Then they further drilled down on specifics based on their east coast origins.

“Ryan is from Pennsylvania and I'm from New York, which is a big part of Mohawk Territory,” Bradley says. “We actually grew up learning bits of their history during field trips. Then Ryan, during Christmas 2019, did some very rudimentary research back home in Pennsylvania and he came in and pitched the notion of The Sky World, the Fountain of youth and the Tesseract.”

"The last thing you want to do is repeat — however well-intentioned — mistakes of the past.

After writing an outline, they reached out to the Disney diversity team to seek actual indigenous collaborators. “Early on there was this moment where someone, none of the writers, but someone in the building mentioned, ‘Let's make our own version of Last the Mohicans.’ And that got scary because the last thing you want to do is repeat — however well-intentioned — mistakes of the past,” she says with candor. “So we called up Disney diversity and they called the Smithsonian the same day. And they had the Rolodex. Historian Doug George was our main consultant. But there were so many who stepped in because we also realized that we couldn't just have one person representing the Mohawk. We ended up needing a dozen people. We even had two to three separate translations of the script because no one knows exactly how Mohawk was spoken back then.”

Proud of how the story evolved to the final episode, Bradley says the intentions by Marvel Studios and writer Ryan Little to do the very best version of Kahhori’s origin they could gave the Mohawk nation the confidence to want to be involved collaborators. “They really helped with everything from music to design to costumes,” she says. “They were in the middle of it.”

As to the character’s future outside of the series, Bradley says, “My hope is that she is not a one off character. I believe that's also the hope of many of the people on the production. We fell in love with her. We fell in love with the Mohawk community and we hope she lives a long, beautiful, butt-kicking life.”

"What If... Hela Found the Ten Rings?"

Writer: Matthew Chauncey

Actress Cate Blanchett returns to give Hela her own story and a redemption arc next to fellow villain, Xu Wenwu (Feodor Chin). Bradley says this episode's idea was always about finding a story for Hela.

“When I was writing the Season 1 Party Thor episode [‘What If... Thor Were an Only Child?’], Hela’ name came up a few times, like ‘is there a way to put Hela in here?’ “ Bradley remembers. “Matt and I had both recently rewatched Thor: Ragnarok, which we love. However, our girl got done dirty,” she laughs. “We couldn’t get her in Party Thor because she doesn't belong in that world, so let's do a redemption story. It was pretty much a very quick thing of exploring what if she was banished, instead of banished to hell?”

"Matt and I had both recently rewatched Thor: Ragnarok, which we love. However, our girl got done dirty.

Bradley continues, “At the same time, we were starting to read the Shang-Chi script which was about to go into production but had been paused because of the pandemic. I gotta give a shout out to [Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings writer] Dave Callaham because his script was just so much fun and so brilliant. Now because the movie had actually been paused in production, we realized we had to set this in the past and we can't use the actual Shang-Chi. From there, you start playing around with the story and the visuals of getting to see this time period in China you don't often get to see.”

In their minds, getting Blanchett to return to voice Hela was always the make-or-break of this episode going into production. “She apparently signed on pretty fast. I sent her the script, and thank God, because I don't think anyone can play Hela. Not with her wit and darkness,” Bradley assesses. “With only using her voice, she gives you such a juicy character arc. So, we were very lucky she said yes.”

"What If... the Avengers Assembled in 1602?"

Writers: A. C. Bradley & Ryan Little

Many Marvel comics readers will know the Neil Gaiman 1602 story arc from 2003, but this episode is more of a riff than an adaptation. “1602 became a game of me and Ryan brainstorming fun things we wanted to write,” Bradley explains. “One of my hobbies is adapting Shakespeare, so part of the impetus for this episode was to see if I could get Tom Hiddleston to do his famous Hamlet soliloquy and he did!” she laughs.

“Then, weirdly enough, me and Ryan are both big fans of the original Robin Hood story,” she continues. “We both studied it in college, so this is us wanting to take the Robin Hood myths and play with them. It’s a loose adaptation of [the comic] 1602 because we would never be able to do the whole story in one episode, and the original does go more into the history, where we do not.”

“1602 became a game of me and Ryan brainstorming fun things we wanted to write.

It’s also the continuation of the Captain Carter cliffhanger that closed the “Hydra Stomper” episode. “I just love this friendship between Peggy and The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright),” Bradley explains. “He sees her as a friend. She's the one human that he has formed a bond with, because she never backs down from him. She's able to see the bigger picture — not quite as big as he's able to see — but she does. And she always tries to do the right thing and will intervene in places that he can't.”

And for those wondering about The Freak’s return in 1602, Bradley says that it was a “happy, joyous accident” that gave them the chance to bring Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk back. “We were storyboarding the Happy Hogan episode, which was so much fun, that we decided to throw him into this episode too, to have a Freak versus Hulk fight.”

"What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?"

Writers: A. C. Bradley, Matthew Chauncey, and Ryan Little

For Part 2 of the season finale, Bradley says it was an all hands-on deck collaboration with Matt and Ryan writing the first draft when she was in Atlanta producing Ms. Marvel.

“When we were talking about bringing back Peggy, there was also about Strange Supreme and where would his story go?” Bradley details. “I was very adamant that we wouldn’t redeem him because he's made his choices. And he's a tragic character; the Shakespearean definition of tragedy is that they never learn to make a different choice. They repeat the same mistake over and over again, which is what I wanted for Strange Supreme.”

That stands in juxtaposition with Captain Carter, who will always make a choice that she thinks is for the greater good. “She'll always make the choice, even if it's at her own expense, which is why she's the hero,” Bradley says. “And why she is the one who had to go up against Strange Supreme.”

“I was very adamant that we wouldn’t redeem him because he's made his choices.

Bradley says the surprise reveal of Kahhori as Peggy’s support against Strange was to show that she is part of the MCU now. “She's not just a one off, and she can hold her own against these villains, and alongside our greatest heroes,” she explains. “And I think she's absolutely amazing at it.”

The episode is also ripe with Easter eggs as the universe killers and heroes make appearances as Strange tries to remake a perfect universe for him and Christine. Bradley says being able to roll out so many cameos, from Killmonger to Surtur, is a perk of the animation medium.

“The fun part of animation is that the cost is always in the building of the characters,” she explains. “When it came to this one, we were like, ‘Just put them all in! Empty our file folders!’ We said let’s take every asset, design build, everything that even if we didn't get to use it as much as we wanted to or almost at all in the show, let's throw it in here. Let’s give it a big send off because we didn't know yet if there was going to be a Season 3.”

What If…? Season 3 Teaser

Bradley confirms to IGN that the What If…? Season 2 season finale is her swan song on the series, with Matthew Chauncey taking over Head Writer duties for Season 3. However, Marvel Studios released an extended teaser of the Red Guardian episode penned by her that was moved from Season 2 to Season 3.

“I ended The Watcher and Peggy relationship in a place I'm very proud of, and I'm excited to see where the show goes as a viewer,” Bradley says of the finale. “But I will say that the Season 3 episode is probably my absolute favorite episode I've ever written for Marvel. And not just because it features Alexei, who my cat is named after.”

What If… Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.

JAC Motors, a Volkswagen-backed Chinese automaker, is set to launch the first mass-produced electric vehicle (EV) with a sodium-ion battery through its new Yiwei brand. Although sodium-ion battery tech has a lower density (and is less mature) than lithium-ion, its lower costs, more abundant supplies and superior cold-weather performance could help accelerate mass EV adoption. CarNewsChina reports that the JAC Yiwei EV hatchback deliveries will begin in January.

Yiwei is a new brand in 2023 for JAC. Volkswagen has a 75 percent stake in (and management control of) JAC and owns 50 percent of JAC’s parent company, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Holdings (JAG). The Chinese government owns the other half of JAG, making for one of the auto industry’s stranger pairings.

JAC via CarNewsChina

The Yiwei EV appears to be a rebranded version of the Sehol E10X hatchback (above), announced earlier this year. CarNewsChina describes the Sehol model as having a 252 km (157 miles) range with a 25 kWh capacity, 120 Wh / kg energy density, 3C to 4C charging, and a HiNa NaCR32140 cell. When JAC revealed the Yiwei brand in May, it said it would drop the Sehol label and rebrand all its vehicles to either JAC or Yiwei, leading us to this week’s EV reveal. JAC hasn’t yet said whether the Yiwei-branded model will keep the E10X moniker.

In April, JAC showcased a separate EV called the Yiwei 3 at the Shanghai Auto Show. That model launched in June with an LFP lithium battery, promising the sodium-ion variant would launch later.

JAC via CarNewsChina

The new Yiwei EV reportedly uses cylindrical sodium-ion cells from HiNA Battery. JAC assembles the batteries in the company’s modular UE (Unitized Encapsulation) honeycomb structure, similar to CATL’s CTP (cell-to-pack) and BYD’s Blade. The layout can provide for greater stability and performance.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-first-ev-with-a-lithium-free-sodium-battery-hits-the-road-in-january-214828536.html?src=rss

Xiaomi, a Chinese brand once synonymous with affordable smartphones, is now attempting to make an even bigger splash with its first-ever electric car. Unveiled at a Beijing event earlier today, the Xiaomi SU7 — pronounced "soo-chee" in Chinese — is a sedan based on the company's very own Modena Architecture with HyperEngine electric motors of up to 21,000rpm, as well as chassis stamped by its die casting machines with a clamping force of 9,100 tons — beating that of Tesla's apparently. The line will come in two flavors: the dual-motor all-wheel-drive SU7 Max, and the single-motor rear-wheel-drive SU7.

It'll be a few more months before Xiaomi announces the prices, but it's already claiming that the SU7 Max has a range of up to 800km (497 miles; according to China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle aka CLTC), as well as a 0-100km/h acceleration of just 2.78s, both of which apparently beating Tesla's Model S and Porsche's Taycan Turbo. This is partly thanks to battery maker CATL's generous 101kWh 800V high-voltage platform, which offers a 220km range with just a 5-minute charge, or 390km in 10 minutes, or 510km in 15 minutes. The base model, however, only supports 400V charging for its smaller 73.6kWh battery, which has a range of up to 668km or 415 miles.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi hired talents from the auto industry to realize this project. Most notably, CEO Lei Jun claimed that Tianyuan Li, formerly of BMW's iX series and iVision concepts, offered himself to Xiaomi's auto design team. Li was also joined by James Qiu, who had previously worked on Mercedes-Benz's Vision EQXX design. They later recruited Chris Bangle, a BMW veteran, to be their design consultant.

The SU7 is about the same size as the BMW 5 series, coming in at 1,440mm tall, 1,963mm wide and 4,997mm long. You get three color options: the signature "aqua blue," gray or olive green. In his event, Lei highlighted the seemingly generous leg room as well as trunk spaces — 517L in the back and 105L in the front.

At the launch event, Lei highlighted details like the "water droplet" head lamps, each of which resembled the Chinese character for "rice" (which is the "mi" in "Xiaomi"), as well as the halo rear brake light consisting of 360 LEDs. The exec also pointed out that his team went with the half-hidden door handles, because the more flush handles are apparently harder to use in cold weather.

Xiaomi

Just as Xiaomi teased earlier, the SU7 offers a HyperOS in-car entertainment system, which is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8295 processor and takes just 1.49 seconds to boot. You can access your media, adjust your seats or even control your Xiaomi appliances via the 16.1-inch 3K central screen, as well as optional Xiaomi Pad tablets which can be mounted on magnetic ports (up to 22.5W output) behind the two front head rests. The UI on the central screen allows for up to three split windows for multitasking, and you can even cast your Xiaomi phone's screen to it for a seamless experience. As for music and video entertainment, it'll be complemented by the 23 internal Dolby Atmos speakers.

Lei also mentioned opening up the Xiaomi CarIOT ecosystem to third parties, with one example being a smart booster car seat which can remind you if its seat belt isn't fastened. The exec added that even iPhone users can tap into some of the Xiaomi car features, with support for wireless CarPlay and AirPlay connectivity, as well as iPad-mounting for rear passengers.

Much like Volkswagen, Xiaomi already knows that car owners still prefer to have some physical buttons, so it's kept a few for climate control, as well as two extra buttons — one for toggling the spoiler (Lei said this is largely for showing off), and one for adjusting the body height (to avoid scratching the bottom, if needed). You can also get an optional row of buttons mounted beneath the central display.

Xiaomi

The SU7 will have autonomous driving capabilities, too, thanks to its Xiaomi Pilot platform powered by up to two NVIDIA Drive Orin processors (the base model only has one) and an array of sensors. These include a top-mounted Lidar, with a visual range of up to 200m and pixel accuracy of down to 0.1m — the latter meaning better detection for thinner and smaller obstacles. In a series of video demos, Xiaomi showed how the SU7 could navigate through a busy live street with mixed obstacles, as well as performing valet parking on its own, and even parking itself in a robotic car park with tight spaces. Being a Beijing-based company, Xiaomi claims that the SU7's sensors can cope with snowy and rainy climates, too.

Lei added that his company aims to complete autonomous driving tests in 100 cities across China by the end of 2024, though it's unclear how soon the local authorities will open up autonomous driving nationwide.

In addition to future software updates, Xiaomi also teased its upcoming HyperEngine V8s with a record-breaking 27,200rpm, all tucked inside a stronger silicon steel housing to keep the motor in check. This is apparently already mass-production-ready, with plans to equip this in cars by 2025. The company then teased further with a next-gen electric motor tech based on carbon fiber, which will apparently be capable of a whopping 35,000rpm, but this won't be ready any time soon, apparently.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi has yet to share prices for the SU7 line, though Lei already hinted that they will be expensive — which is subjective, of course. We shall find out in a few months' time, and hopefully by then we'll know about availability outside China as well, but we wouldn't count on a US launch any time soon, if ever. Meanwhile, you can get the Xiaomi 14, 14 Pro smartphones and the Xiaomi Watch S3 eSIM in their limited edition colors — either aqua blue or olive green — to match the upcoming SU7.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xiaomi-says-its-su7-ev-can-outperform-porsche-and-has-more-tech-than-tesla-095637762.html?src=rss

This odd yet useful dongle takes advantage of USB Type-C's form factor to relieve mosquito bites and similar stings, controlled with an app made for both Android and Apple

The University of Technology Sydney demonstrated an AI system that translates brainwaves to text using removable headgear with sensors, showing a potential widespread use of this technology in multiple fields

The Hugo Award-winning The Murderbot Diaries books from Martha Wells are becoming a 10-episode Apple TV+ series starring Alexander Skarsgård, Apple announced. It will follow a self-aware "SecUnit" robot that must hide its free will in order to complete a dangerous assignment and comes from About a Boy creators Chris and Paul Weitz. 

"Murderbot is an action-packed sci-fi series, based on the award-winning books by Wells, about a self-hacking security android who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable 'clients,'" Apple wrote. "Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe."

The Weitz brothers will write, direct and produce the series, while Skarsgård will also serve as executive producer. Apple TV+ currently offers other sci-fi series including Silo, For All Mankind, Invasion and others. The streaming service needs to keep the content flowing as it has doubled Apple TV+ prices in just over a year. At the same time, Apple is looking for the right kind of content as it aims to avoid hot-button topics following the cancellation of The Problem with Jon Stewart. 

Several Murderbot chapters have made Engadget's gift guides and recommended reading lists. We called the Fugitive Telemetry novella a "banger" with "space intrigue and robotic mysteries" and recommended the earlier novella series in our 2019 holiday guide. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-is-adapting-the-hugo-award-winning-sci-fi-book-series-murderbot-115559433.html?src=rss

China Central Television reports that China has added another data module to the country's commercial underwater data center (UDC) off Hainan Island.