Gizmodo

[gizmodo]

Nothing has made the tech industry cower quite the way ChatGPT has. While some have tried to hop on board asap, others—like Google—are attempting to compete. The tech giant has just announced its answer to the wildly popular chatbot, and it’s called Bard.

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Webb Telescope Spots a Small Asteroid From 62 Million Miles Away
One of the solar system’s 1.1-million-plus asteroids was recently spotted by the Webb Space Telescope, from a distance of about 62 million miles. The asteroid is relatively small, making it a showcase of the new space observatory’s sharp vision.
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Twitch Kicks AI-Generated Seinfeld Show Off Air After Not-Jerry Makes Transphobic Remark
After becoming the new hotness for fans of surreal insanity, the never ending AI-generated stream inspired by the 90s sitcom Seinfeld called Nothing, Forever has been temporarily kicked off the air. Just like some other famed comedians, the series main character “Larry Feinberg” was slapped down hard after making an…
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Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Pivot From Big Oil to Big Tech
The country of Saudi Arabia has scrounged up several billion dollars in investments from major tech companies, which are interested in building cloud computing centers in the region.

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I Know What You Did Last Summer Gets New Sequel With Original Cast
In 1997 slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer, Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character famously screamed, “What are you waiting for, huh?” Well, if she was talking to Hollywood, they were waiting for precedent. And now, now that they have it, the character and franchise are ready for a big-screen comeback.
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Curiosity Rover Finds Foot-Long Meteorite on Martian Surface
NASA’s Curiosity rover found a meteorite as it was trucking across Mars last week.
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Zuckerberg Confirms Meta Quest 3 VR Headset Will Have Full Color Mixed Reality
Mark Zuckerberg said in a recent earnings call that Meta’s next consumer oriented headset, speculated to be the Meta Quest 3, will include full color mixed reality features. This could be a major shift in the VR industry and the company’s continuing fascination with shared virtual spaces.
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10 Laptops That Were Too Strange for This World
Only in the last few years has laptop design evolved beyond its clamshell origins, with the introduction of dual screens, convertibles, and foldable displays, but some of the most fascinating features were found in the laptops that failed along the way. From Compaq and IBM in the ‘90s to Lenovo and Asus in more recent…
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The Michael J. Fox Documentary, Still, Is Lovely and Inspiring
Even if you aren’t a big movie fan, odds are you know a bit about Michael J. Fox. Fox was one of the biggest stars on the planet in the 1980s; with a hit TV show and the main role in a mega-franchise, the world was his oyster. But a few years later, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and his life completely…
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Elon Musk Says Actually 'Good' Bots Can Stay on Twitter for Free
In a not-so-surprising, sudden reversal, Elon Musk walked back on plans to completely end free access to Twitter’s application programming interface (API) over the weekend. The billionaire indicated that limited, cost-free API access would remain for “good” bots on the site, in a Saturday night tweet.

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AMC Theatres to Coax Moviegoers Into Undesirable Front-Row Seats With Cheaper Prices
The AMC Theatre conglomerate is taking a new stance on ticket pricing, changing the cost for moviegoers based on standard, prime, and value seating options. The change, called Sightline at AMC, will expand to all of its roughly 1,000 U.S. AMC Theatre locations by the end of this year.
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Derailed Train Carrying Hazardous Chemicals in Ohio Could Explode, Officials Fear
A 150-car train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in northeastern Ohio, and the local area is now at risk from the potential release of toxic substances as well as a potential explosion. The train was headed to Pennsylvania from Illinois and derailed on Friday night, NPR reported.

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Experimental Vaccine Would Be the First to Fight Off Fungi
The Last of Us, eat your heart out. Scientists at the University of Georgia say they’ve developed a vaccine that should be able to protect against a variety of dangerous fungi. In animal studies, the vaccine prevented severe infections and deaths from three types of fungi that often cause opportunistic illness in…
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Rolls-Royce Nuclear Engine Could Power Quick Trips to the Moon and Mars
Rolls-Royce Holdings is getting into the nuclear reactor business. The British aerospace engineering company says it’s developing a micro-nuclear reactor that the company hopes could be a source of fuel for long trips to the Moon and Mars.

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More Than a Third of All Plants and Animals in the U.S. Could Go Extinct
More than a third of animal and plant species in the U.S. could go extinct while more than 40% of ecosystems are at risk of collapse, a new report from a conservation group has found.

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Matthew McConaughey Brings His Drawl to Netflix's Agent Elvis Animated Series
Austin Butler and his carefully cultivated Elvis accent may still be angling for Oscar gold, but Netflix’s secret-agent spin on the King has just nabbed Matthew McConaughey as its hip-swiveling, high-kicking lead. The first teaser for Agent Elvis is here, and, well... is McConaughey just kind of doing his own voice…
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Cocaine, Cash, and Coders: Cops Arrest Dozens Who Allegedly Built App for Doing Crimes
Police shut down a shadowy encrypted messaging app Monday that was allegedly used by organized crime figures to facilitate the transfer of drugs, illicit cash, and firearms throughout Europe. Then they nabbed the people who allegedly coded it.

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After a Dozen Lawsuits, Apple Breaks Its Silence on Privacy Problems
In November, Gizmodo exclusively reported that Apple harvests data about its users even after they flip the switch on an iPhone privacy setting that promises to “disable the sharing of device analytics altogether.” Since then, consumers across the country have filed at least 12 different class-action lawsuits about…
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Guilt, Fear, and Violence | The Last of Us Review
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Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur's Cast and Crew on Bringing Marvel's New Hero to Animated Life
Marvel has been dominating pop culture for 15 years, but it arguably wouldn’t be as strong a brand if it didn’t have its animation slate. Cartoons like X-Men and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have helped define Marvel in the eyes of viewers. But for the last several years, many Marvel cartoons have focused on…
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A Meet-Cute Turns Malevolent in the Bittersweet Horror Romance Attachment
Fans of horror inspired by Jewish folklore are having a boom time between last month’s The Offering and now Attachment—the latter arriving on Shudder just in time for Valentine’s Day. From Denmark-based filmmaker Gabriel Bier Gislason, it’s the tale of two women who fall quickly in love but soon encounter some…
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Mapping Tech Deployed After Devastating Earthquakes Kills More Than 2,300 in Turkey and Syria
More than 2,300 people have been killed and thousands more injured in Turkey and Syria after a series of earthquakes hammered the region already beset by civil war and a refugee crisis on Monday, according to the Associated Press. Rescue workers and officials said that, as evening fell, hundreds more people remain…
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This Week in Spaceflight: Possible SpaceX Booster Test, ISS Cargo Mission, and More
The maiden voyage of India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle didn’t go as planned in 2022, but the country’s space agency is ready for a re-attempt, with the rocket slated to blast off on Thursday. Meanwhile, SpaceX is hoping to launch a communications satellite on Monday.

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Save Precious Desk Space With a Sliding Split Keyboard That's Also Your Mouse
There’s a long history of very good reasons for using an external keyboard instead of your MacBook’s, but it does put the laptop’s very useful trackpad out of reach. Instead of spending $149 on Apple’s standalone Magic Trackpad, Taliyah Huang designed and built a custom split keyboard with its own mouse and trackpad…
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The Last of Us Will Release Episode 5 Early to Avoid the Super Bowl
HBO really cares about the numbers for The Last of Us, apparently. In light of a certain football game that will likely dominate airwaves and streaming time on Sunday—during the same slot of time when The Last of Ususually gets released—the series’ fifth episode will instead premiere on streaming services on Friday,…
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Bankrupt FTX Asks for Its Political Donations Back
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is so desperate to repay its creditors that it is clawing back any and all money the company and its ex-execs used for political donations. The company has even implied it will go after charities and other nonprofits politicians said they donated FTX’s money to if it doesn’t get its money…
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Heartland Institute Sends 8,000 Teachers Climate Denial 'Textbook'
This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.”

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Keanu Reeves Confirms John Wick 4 Is More John Wick Than Ever
A new Stephen King story makes its way to the big screen. Star Colin Farell knows how many episodes he’ll be wearing gobs of prosthetics for the Penguin TV series. Plus, meet the crew of the USS Titan-A, coming soon to Star Trek: Picard season three. Spoilers will be docking... now.
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Dell Cuts 6,600 Jobs as PC Sales Drop
Dell is following in the footsteps of the wider tech industry and is laying off around 6,600 positions. The company is citing a reduced demand for PCs—as well as the economy—for the decision.

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Mutants, Mullets, and Masks Mark the Toy News of the Week
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's regular round up of the latest toy news. This week, Mondo’s X-Men: The Animated Series line continues with much jubilation, set phasers to stun with a new Star Trek replica, and Lego goes Disney for a new 100th anniversary celebration. Check it out!

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China Claims Ownership of Second Not-a-Spy Balloon Floating Over Latin America
The great Chinese spy balloon drama of 2023 is not over yet. As it turns out, there’s another not-a-spy balloon floating over Latin America and yes, that one also belongs to China.
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A Flying Motorbike Company Just Got Listed on the Nasdaq
A company that sells flying motorbikes just got listed on the Nasdaq, which means that we’re all living in The Jetsons now, basically.
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Police Arrest 24-Year-Old for Allegedly Stealing Monkeys From Dallas Zoo
After weeks on high alert, the nail-biting incidents at the Dallas Zoo may have finally come to an end. Dallas police arrested 24-year-old Davion Irvin on Friday and accused him of messing with several animal enclosures, which led to the escape of a clouded leopard on Jan. 13, and stealing two emperor tamarin monkeys…
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The Last of Us Gets Back on the Road and Introduces More Petrifying People
As we’re here to talk about the fourth episode of HBO’s The Last Of Us, I think it’s okay to start the recap with a bit of a fourth wall break. Sunday’s episode, “Please Hold To My Hand,” is great. There’s lots of character-building, new conflicts, solid action, and more. However, I feel the need to disclose…
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Brubaker and Phillips' Criminal May Be Prime Video's Next Adaptation
Right now, Prime Video is on a pretty good streak with adapting various properties to TV. Between Critical Role, Jack Reacher, and Invincible, plus its various original series, the streamer is good about finding something for a particular niche.

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Open Channel: What Twitter Bots Will You Miss After the API Change?
It probably goes without saying, but Elon Musk’s current tenure as Twitter’s CEO has been pretty chaotic, and not in the fun way. Between constantly changing things without any real warning and trying to get money any way possible, the popular social media site feels like it’s about to fall apart at any moment now,…
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SNL's New Skit Makes Me Wish Pedro Pascal Really Was Playing Mario
Ever since he showed up as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, Pedro Pascal’s rise to stardom has been pretty fun to see, because he’s just good in basically everything he’s in, even if that thing itself is a hot mess. And as the star of both The Mandalorianand HBO’s new prestige hit The Last of Us, it’s clear that…
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New Demon Slayer Trailer Highlights Japan's Most Powerful Demons
It’ll only be a couple of months before Ufotable’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba returns for its third season. Season two received high marks when it came out, and its theatrical Mugen Train movie was a box office hit. Now as that season’s being nominated for awards in the anime community, studio Ufotable and Aniplex…
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RIP Alleged Chinese Spy Balloon, Shot Down by U.S. Military Over Atlantic Ocean
As of Saturday, the giant white balloon that U.S. authorities claimed was sent over by China to spy on the country is no more.
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Avatar's Next Comic Gives Azula the Spotlight She Deserves
Anyone who watched and enjoyed the original Avatar: The Last Airbenderhas a particular villain that’s their favorite, and for many, that baddie is Zuko’s sister Azula. The princess of the Fire Nation was remains pretty intimidating even today, and is part of one of the show’s best moments.

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[gizmodo]

As the larger Disney corporation celebrates turning 100 years old this October, Disneyland Paris is reaching its own 30th birthday in April. To commemorate the milestone, France’s theme park currently has an Avengers-themed show for the parkgoers that stay through to the evening.

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The Flash Unveils the Final Returning Faces for Its Final Season
The CW’s Flash show has been running along for eight seasons now, with its ninth and final season hitting in just a few days. In what’s pretty typical for the final seasons of shows that know they’re going to end, the CW is bringing back as many actors from the show’s history as it can manage, and recently announced…
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Colin Trevorrow's Next Movie Will Go Underwater to Atlantis
For his next film, director Colin Trevorrow is going under the sea.

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7 Times AI Was Just Armies of Hidden Humans
In what feels like just a few short years, advancements in generative artificial intelligence have seemingly transformed “AI” from a buzzword slapped onto boring business to attack investor capital into an an actual tool with clear, real -world use cases. Writer and business have already begun using image generator…
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10 Class-Action Settlements That Could You Get Free Money
You hear about class-action lawsuits all the time, like this one filed against Apple (based on a Gizmodo story!), or this other one against Apple (or this one or this one). Part of the reason is they’re so lucrative for lawyers; a “class” is a group of people who have the same grievance against a company, which means…
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Vitamin D Supplements Linked to Reduced Risk of Suicide, Study of Veterans Finds
Taking vitamin D supplements was linked to lower rates of attempted suicide and intentional self-harm among former military members, new research found. In the study, scientists looked at data about a large group of U.S. veterans and determined that those given supplemental vitamin D were at lower risk for attempting…
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A Valentine's Day Gift Guide for Your Pop Culture-Loving Sweetie
As wise men once sang, “the power of love is a curious thing”—and for that special someone who loves pop culture, finding the perfect gift sometimes has to be a more-than-ordinary quest. Fandom-fueled festivities make my heart sing, and since Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us, here’s a pop culture curation of gift…
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Station Eleven Is Getting a Blu-ray (In Case It Ever Gets Booted Off HBO Max)
In this era of “sure, it’s still streaming on HBO Max... but for how long?”, it’s smart to turn to physical media to make sure you can always access your favorite shows and movies. With that in mind, good news for fans of HBO Max’s Station Eleven—of which there were many, even if the show didn’t quite become a…
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22 Ridiculous Tables From the 1979 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons DM’s Guide
Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons, really wanted to get his money’s worth when it came to the various dice used to play the game. That’s the only possible explanation for the overwhelming number of tables inside the AD&D 1st Edition of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Gygax wanted players to roll for practically …
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Another Vortex Hits Texas | Extreme Earth
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[gizmodo]

“Crypto? Oh, that’s right, cryptocurrencies. Those fake digital coins, right? I remember seeing them at last year’s Super Bowl. Larry David was in one. I thought that commercial was pretty funny. Say, how is that whole crypto thing doing?”

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Everything We Noticed During SpaceX's First Big Test of Starship Megarocket
It didn’t last for very long, but the first full-scale static fire test of SpaceX’s Starship rocket appears to have been a success, despite the fact that two of the booster’s 33 Raptor engines did not participate in the demonstration. Here’s what we learned from yesterday’s milestone achievement and what might happen…
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The World's 'Fastest Charging Phone' Can Go From 0% to 100% in 10 Minutes
I feel pretty good if I can get my old, decrepit Google Pixel 3 to go from 0 to 40% charge in half an hour. Though, if I’m using something much more powerful than the 18W adapter that came with it, I can get somewhat faster speeds. Still, I’m not going to have a good time if I forget to charge the old man at night,…
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Jimmy Choo Celebrates Sailor Moon's 30th Anniversary in Style
Celebrating 30 years of Sailor Moon, Jimmy Choo is setting up to release a limited series of shoes that correspond to major characters from the property. The five Sailor Senshi represented in this anniversary collection include Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus—the first five…
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Here's How Tech Is Shaping Super Bowl LVII
When the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles face off at Super Bowl LVII in Phoenix, there will be a contest happening behind the scenes: Tech companies have a long history of using major sporting events as a grand stage to show off their latest gadgets and gizmos. Sunday’s game is no exception.
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The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Adds More Potential Zombie Fodder to Its Cast
Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon is, obviously, the main focus of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, the Walking Dead spin-off that will follow the fan-favorite character (but not Carol) as he heads to post-apocalyptic Europe. We already knew that French actress Clémence Poésy (Tenet) was also in the cast. Now, we know a bit…
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Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and NASA Team Up for a Mission to Mars
NASA’s interest in sending missions to Mars and beyond continues as the agency just tapped private space company Blue Origin to help it reach the Red Planet.
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65 Looks Like the Best Jurassic Park Movie in Years
The first trailer for the new Adam Driver movie 65 revealed exactly what the title meant, in an amazing way. What starts as a futuristic sci-fi story reveals itself to be some kind of time-travel movie where a man with advanced technology finds himself on Earth at the time of the dinosaurs.
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Shareholders Sue Shell, Saying It's Too Obsessed With Fossil Fuels
U.K.-based environmental law firm ClientEarth is suing Shell’s 11-member board, saying they are failing to properly manage the business risks associated with climate change. The lawsuit, filed in England’s high court, claims that the company’s current climate strategy is inadequate, which puts Shell at a financial…
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This Pill Treats Constipation By Vibrating Its Way Through Your Body
If natural approaches like boosting your water and fiber intake don’t help to alleviate your constipation, a new pill that takes a radically different approach to constipation treatment could help those wanting to avoid medications. It instead delivers vibrations that help kickstart the body’s natural processes for …
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Lyft Shares Drop Despite Reported Revenue Growth
Lyft shares are underperforming compared to its main competitor, Uber, spiking concerns that the rideshare company may have to offset its losses with price gouging and cost-cutting measures. The company’s shares dropped by 32% on Friday, marking its worst single-day drop since its stocks fell by 30% in May 2022, the …
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Curiosity Rover Spots Clear Evidence of Ancient Water on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover recently spotted some of the most compelling evidence yet of ancient water on Mars, in the form of rippled rocks shaped by waves.
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Batman Looms Large in The Flash's First Poster
Fans won’t have to wait too long to get their first full look at The Flash:Warner Bros. just confirmed that the first trailer will be released Sunday during the Super Bowl. In the meantime, it’s released the film’s first poster and anyone who was worried that Batman wouldn’t be in it can rest easy.
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Consecration Contains Bloody Nuns and a Mystery That's Not Quite as Striking
One of the first images in Consecrationis a nun pointing a gun—an immediate indication of the film’s spooky religious themes, as well as its tendency to not be subtle about them. Fortunately, stunning Scottish scenery, a strong performance by Jena Malone, and a fairly intriguing mystery help balance that out.
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The ‘Last Ice Area’ Is Already Disappearing
This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.

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Pentagon Employees Are Too Horny to Follow National Security Protocols
Pentagon employees are using banned and unauthorized apps to find hookups, watch TikToks, and buy crypto on government phones and devices, according to a new Department of Defense investigation launched over fears surrounding TikTok. The list of what DoD employees are downloading in spite of bans includes dating apps,…
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Dungeons & Dragons Knows a Thing or Two About Game Nights
Although slated to air during the Super Bowl this weekend, a new trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has been released early, showing a few more snippets of the high-stakes, slightly goofy action that people have come to know and love in their own Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
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LG Is Now Making Giant LED Movie Screens to Replace Projectors in Smaller Theaters
With TVs slowly growing larger and larger, it was inevitable that, one day, they’d eventually replace the need for projectors, even in movie theaters. Projectors aren’t going away entirely just yet, but LG’s new super-sized Miraclass LED screens can replace them for smaller “intimate” theaters, which are becoming a…
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OkCupid Employs ChatGPT to Interrogate Its Users
Open AI’s ChatGPT has taken the internet by storm, and now it’s entering the dating world--just in time for Valentine’s Day. OkCupid has begun incorporating prompts generated by the large language model into its matching questions, as first reported by Mashable.

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Fast X's First Trailer Features Cars, Crashes, and a Vengeful Jason Momoa
Dominic Toretto isn’t the only person who has family. Sometimes, the people he kills have family too, and sometimes, those people get very pissed and try to kill him and everyone he loves.

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The Justice League x RWBY Movie Takes DC Heroes a-Hunting
Getting mysteriously transported to the monster-filled world of Remnant is basically a Tuesday for the Justice League. But getting mysteriously transported to a monster-filled world and somehow waking up as amnesiac teens? Yeah, even for the Justice League, that’s a bit more unusual.

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Getty Images Wants AI to Stop Copying Them
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[gizmodo]

Microsoft has AI fever, and apparently the only treatment is sticking its large language model, ChatGPT-like chatbot into practically every end-user program it has going.
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Here's How the Godzilla TV Series Will Connect to the Movies
Paramount has confirmed that Star Trek: Prodigy is coming back in 2023 in a new promo that also has some sneak peeks at the second season of Yellowjackets and the final season of Star Trek: Picard. An old face returns in a new role in the new Flash episode, and we’ve got a sneak peek at the next episode of the…
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Australia to Rip Out 900 Chinese-Made Security Cameras From Government Buildings
The Australian Defense Department will rip out more than 900 Chinese-made security devices from government buildings over fears they could enable spying by China.
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The 10 Hungriest Super Bowl Tweets of All Time
This weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl, the world’s most hotly anticipated Sunday of the year. But on the internet, an even fiercer event is set to take place: the battle of food brands on Twitter, hungry for attention. They’re duking it out to win our hearts…
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Sorry ChatGPT, Some Problems Will Always Be Too Hard for AI
Empowered by artificial intelligence technologies, computers today can engage in convincing conversations with people, compose songs, paint paintings, play chess and go, and diagnose diseases, to name just a few examples of their technological prowess.

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Reddit Says It Was Hacked But That You Don't Need to Worry About It. Probably.
Reddit says that it was hacked earlier this month, in a security incident that compromised some company data. However, the company says that Redditors have no need to fear because user data was not impacted by the episode—at least, that the company knows of...“so far.”
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A Man Discovers His Girlfriend's Peculiar Home Life in the Delightfully Macabre Peaches & Scream
Thomas is excited to visit his girlfriend Anna’s family home for the first time—but is startled to realize that a) it’s a freaking castle, and b) Anna’s dead relatives are still, uh, in residence. From Danish writer-director Adrian Kirk Ejsing, horror short Peaches & Scream takes an original idea and runs with it in a…
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Elon Musk Seems to Think His Own Employees Are Shadowbanning Him
Elon Musk loves Twitter so much, he spent $44 billion buying it. But now, under the billionaire’s leadership, the site isn’t doing so hot. Between layoffs and quasi-voluntary departures, Twitter has lost more than an estimated three-quarters of the staff it once had.

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The Chicken Sandwich Wars Have a New Contender: Cauliflower
Christian conservative chicken chain Chick-Fil-A is well known for its advertising mantra “eat more chicken,” but the restaurant’s latest experiment will eschew animal products in favor of a “plant-forward” alternative. On Monday February 13, Chick-fil-A will test a new cauliflower sandwich in three markets; Denver,…
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Scientists Will Pay You Over $4,000 to Chug a Diarrhea Drink
Would you be willing to potentially endure a week’s worth of diarrhea for some cold hard cash? If you said yes, then you’re in luck. Researchers at Emory University are now recruiting healthy volunteers to take part in a trial that will test an experimental oral vaccine against Shigella bacteria, which cause a common…
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FBI Finds New Information About Chinese Spy Balloon
We’re learning new information about the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said the balloon was able to collect communications and data via a satellite and had “multiple antennas” in addition to other equipment used…
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Amazon Scores FCC Approval to Deploy Over 3,000 Broadband Satellites
The Federal Communications Commission has granted approval to Amazon subsidiary Kuiper Systems to deploy its constellation of 3,236 broadband satellites. The approval comes with the caveat that Amazon must retire satellites seven years after deployment and report satellite launches to the FCC on a regular basis.

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James Gunn and Zack Snyder Talked, Everybody Panic (Nobody Panic)
Tweet anything about James Gunn or DC Films and you’ll see it. Passionate fans fed up that the DC films Zack Snyder helped usher in over the past decade are being all but forgotten. “Restore the Snyder Verse” is one battle cry. “Fire James Gunn” is another. And a third was so ridiculous, it made Gunn publically reveal…
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WHO Warns Bird Flu Could Jump to Humans
The World Health Organization has issued an ominous warning about bird flu. In a Wednesday press briefing, the international agency’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that the disease’s current trajectory leaves humans worryingly exposed.
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How Kang Became Marvel's Next Supervillain and Why Phase 4 Sets It All Up
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has reached its turning point. After two years of introducing all sorts of characters and concepts, the upcoming release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniashould begin to put everything back into focus, and on a path that aims right at two more Avengers movies.
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Yahoo Says It Will Cut More Than 1,600 Employees
Yahoo, the legacy site that’s seen its ups and down over the years, is definitively heading toward a down. The company confirmed that it plans to let go of more than 20% of its global workforce in an apparent shift of its ambitious advertising platform that looked to compete with the biggest players in ad tech.
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Investigation Reveals What Caused Fatal Tesla Crash and It Wasn't Autopilot
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTBS) concluded its investigation into the deadly Tesla car crash in Texas that killed two men in 2021. The investigation report released on Wednesday said the men, who were identified by KHOU11 as Dr. William Varner and Everette Talbot, entered the vehicle with Varner getting…
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Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures Will Premiere May the Fourth
The Mandalorian will soon be back on Disney+, but for younger Star Wars fans—or any Star Wars fans who just can’t get enough of the galaxy far, far away—there’ll be even more to watch when Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures premieres on that most auspicious of dates, May 4.
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10 Wacko Moments From Republicans' Hearing on Hunter Biden's Laptop
When Republican lawmakers took over the House of Representatives late last year, they made immediately clear their intent to hold up alleged tech censorship of conservatives as a top 2023 issue. They kicked off what’s looking like a long year’s worth of hearings and investigations into tech companies this week by…
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Does Poker Face's Charlie Have a Kryptonite to Her Power?
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[gizmodo]

Oldowan tools are some of the oldest known in the archaeological record; made of conveniently shaped rocks or crafted from knapped stones, these tools made it possible for hominin species to survive in a hostile world.
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Now That Hydra’s Gone, the Crypto-Based Dark Net Drug Trade Is Still Trying a Comeback
Fraudsters and illicit digital dealers made much less money last year than they did in 2021, though 2022 was still a record year for total stolen in crypto hacks.
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How to Pick a Sensor When Buying a Digital Camera
If you’re shopping for a digital camera, sensor size is one of the first things you’ll hear about. Chances are you’ve seen terms like “crop sensor,” “full frame,” and “micro four-thirds” thrown around, but what do those terms actually mean? And is camera sensor size actually important?
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Iconic Disney Princesses Get a Modern Reimagining, Thanks to the Artists of CreativeSoul
CreativeSoul Photography rocketed to viral success by taking fairytale looks from beloved Disney Princess characters and re-envisioning them as children from the African diaspora. The gorgeous series, which features young Black girls as Rapunzel, Cinderella, Tiana, and Snow White, earned accolades that garnered the…
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Donald Trump Is Officially Back on Facebook and Instagram
Former President Donald Trump’s official Facebook account is back online, along with his Instagram. The accounts had been suspended from both platforms for over two years, following Trump’s role in instigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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Chloë Grace Moretz's Twisty Sci-Fi Tale The Peripheral Will Return for Season 2
There were a lot of things to enjoy about season one of Prime Video’s The Peripheral, including its sleek but gloomy vision of the future (both near and far-flung) and its strong protagonist in Chloë Grace Moretz. Not so great was its tangled season finale—but with today’s news that the show’s getting a second season,…
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California Lost 36 Million Trees to Drought Last Year
Extreme drought and hot weather killed millions of trees in California’s forests last year, according to a new report from the U.S. Forest Service.
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NASA’s CAPSTONE Moon Probe Makes Strides Despite Incessant Problems
The NASA-funded CAPSTONE probe has been working in a unique lunar orbit since November 13, 2022, where it’s setting the stage for a future space station and related space-based technologies. The $33 million cubesat appears to be getting the job done—no small miracle, given the endless issues that continue to plague…
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Elon Musk's Neuralink May Have Transported Dangerous Primate Pathogens Illegally
Neuralink is facing new allegations of malpractice from animal rights advocacy group, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). The organization claims that the Elon Musk-owned biotech company improperly and illegally transported hazardous materials, potentially contaminated with dangerous primate…
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AI-Controlled Fighter Jet Flies 17 Hours Without Pilot's Help
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced it has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm for a self-flying F-16 fighter jet less than three years after creating the control simulated F-16 jet.

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Grogu Will Be Forging His Own Star Wars Journey on The Mandalorian
Grogu will not follow the path of the Jedi. That much was clear after the character’s appearance on The Book of Boba Fett, where he chose to leave with the Mandalorian rather than train with Luke Skywalker and wield Yoda’s lightsaber.
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Instagram to Kill Its Live Shopping Feature in March
Instagram is nixing the “Live Shopping” feature that’s allowed creators to directly tag products and promote links in their live broadcasts for the past couple of years. On Tuesday, the company announced the change in a Help Center post, and noted the feature’s official funeral is set for March 16, 2023.

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Addiction, Suicides, and Cyberbullies: Senate Confronts Kids’ Online Horror Show
“The last search on his phone before Carson ended his life was for hacks to find out the identities of his abusers,” said Kristin Bride, the parent of a child suicide victim and a social media reform advocate. Bride testified before a panel of senators about the cyberbullying that led to her son’s death and the other…
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NASA's Artemis 1 Megarocket Launch Was Really, Really Loud
NASA’s new lunar program is in full swing, thanks to the successful launch and return of the Artemis 1 mission in late 2022. Physics researchers recently determined that the roar of the Space Launch System megarocket was louder than anticipated—but not so loud as the NASA launch that sparked an urban legend.

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A New Spider-Man Film Is Being Written, Harrison Ford Is the President, and More Marvel Updates From Kevin Feige
When Kevin Feige speaks, news about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be made, and it just happened again. In a new interview, the president of Marvel Studios said that there are ideas of how to continue the story of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and that writers are getting to work now. He also thinks Marvel…
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Send Love Across the Multiverse With Our Nerdy Valentine's Day Cards
It’s the most romantic time of the year once more, and as always, io9 has got your back if you need to tell someone you love them through the medium of genre film and TV, and questionable puns. Let your heart skip a beat and stroll through our handcrafted nerd Valentines, from Star Wars to Marvel and beyond, from G/O…
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Bring Tabletop Games to Your Phone With Role's New Mobile Features
Role, an integrated tabletop play experience—the company shies away from using the term “virtual tabletop,” hoping to convey a more holistic offering—is now going to be fully available on mobile app. The press release states that this will provide “seamless game room support across smartphones, tablets, desktop, and…
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Is a Slick, Slightly Empty, Sci-Fi Adventure Film
An evil ruler with a legion of faceless soldiers at their disposal. A band of heroes, traveling across vast new worlds filled with evocative and wild creatures. Transports that look like giant stingrays. Enormous battles across towering technological wonders. A cantina. Yup, that all sounds like Star Wars, but it’s…
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Google Launches Way for Android Apps to Track You Without Tracking You
Google unveiled a beta version of its “Privacy Sandbox” for Android Tuesday, part of a years-long effort to transform the business of the internet and make it harder for companies to feast on the buffet that is your personal data. Paradoxically, Google says the goal is to track everything you do online in a way that’s…
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I'm Hating It: McDonald's AI-Powered Drive-Thru Sucks
McDonald’s AI-powered drive-thru ordering system is apparently missing the mark, at least according to social media. Videos posted to TikTok are illustrating just how woefully ill-prepared automation is at taking fast food orders, and how woefully ill-prepared humans are to deal with it.

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Spacecraft Leak Postpones Russian 'Lifeboat' Mission to ISS
For the second time in two months, a docked Russian spacecraft at the International Space Station has sprung a coolant leak. Investigators don’t yet know the cause of the latest leak, prompting Russia’s space agency to delay the launch of a ‘lifeboat’ that’s meant to secure the safety of two cosmonauts on board.

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Meta's Oversight Board Will Now Fast-Track Case Reviews
Meta’s Oversight Board announced it is introducing new measures to expedite case reviews to ensure urgent cases receive a quicker response time. Each case will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will separate into summary decisions and urgent cases.
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The First Batch of Super Mario Bros. Movie Toys Includes a Fire Breathing Bowser
We’re just a few months out from The Super Mario Bros. Movie hitting theaters on April 7, which means it’s time for the hype train to officially leave the station and get up to speed. Following an amusing teaser released over the weekend reviving the Mario Rap from the live-action Super Mario Bros. Super Show, we’re…
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BuzzFeed’s New Quiz AI Really Wants Me to Cuddle a Cactus
A decade ago, BuzzFeed was mostly known for popularizing the listicle format and for its bevy of weird quizzes. Hell, there’s even listicles of weird quizzes there to keep users scrolling forever. But with the AI craze flooding the internet, BuzzFeed is trying to carve a new niche for itself in the often-surreal and…
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'Nightmare Isn't Over:' Senators Are Hopping Mad and Demanding Answers for the Crypto Collapse
Lawmakers from opposing parties disagreed over who and what was truly to blame for a devastating crypto crash that left customers collectively burnout out of billions in losses during a Wednesday Senate Banking Committee hearing. While Democratic lawmakers and crypto skeptics warned of the dangers presented by a lack…
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Anthony Mackie Teases His Own Kind of Captain America In New World Order
Mischa Collins’ Harvey Dent arrives in new Gotham Knights footage. Bo-Katan takes control in a look at The Mandalorian season 3. Emma Roberts and Laurence Fishburne team up for a tense new sci-fi thriller. Plus, a new look at Hideaki Anno’s Shin Kamen Rider. Spoilers get!

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Twitter Delays API Changes Amid Developer Outcry
Elon Musk’s Twitter has announced another delay in plans to end free access to its application program interface (API). The postponement came from, where else, but a tweet from the platform’s official developer account posted on Monday afternoon.

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Staffing Crisis Clashes With Expanded Mission at EPA
This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.

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[gizmodo]

Federal prosecutors are squinting pretty hard, trying to keep an eye on what the failed FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been doing while he’s been ordered by the court to live under his parents’ roof. The young crypto founder has reportedly been accessing the internet using a VPN, and the U.S. Attorneys Office is…
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Tesla’s Autopilot Workers Tell Elon They Want to Unionize
Today, Tesla Autopilot workers in the company’s Gigafactory in Buffalo, New York have officially kicked off the union push with a letter to management, formally announcing their bid to unionize.

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Pentagon Employees Too Horny to Follow Rules
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Elon Musk’s Tweets Are All Over Twitter, Which Is What He Wanted All Along
After throwing a hissy fit last week because his tweets weren’t getting enough views, Twitter CEO Elon Musk seems to have finally gotten what he wanted: Musk-filled feeds.
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ChatGPT Is a Great Tool–You’re Just Using It Wrong
It doesn’t take much to get ChatGPT to make a factual mistake. My son is doing a report on U.S. presidents, so I figured I’d help him out by looking up a few biographies. I tried asking for a list of books about Abraham Lincoln and it did a pretty good job:

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T-Mobile Says Service Is Operating at ‘Near Normal Levels’ After Outage
T-Mobile said on Tuesday that it was operating at “near normal levels” after it suffered an outage that affected swaths of users across the U.S. on Monday night.
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ChatGPT Passed a Major Medical Exam, but Just Barely
Anyone anxiously holding their breath for a competent robot doctor may need to wait a bit longer. A group of AnsibleHealth AI researchers recently put OpenAI’s ChatGPT to the test against a major medical licensing exam and the results are in. The AI chatbot technically passed, but by the skin of its teeth. When it…
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Which Super Bowl Movie Trailer Was the Best?
Sure, the drama between the Chiefs and Eagles on the field was great, but the drama across multiverses and galaxies was probably even better. Super Bowl LVII had a ton of great movie trailers and commercials scattered throughout, from The Flash and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, to Indiana Jones and the Dial of…
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Bella Ramsey Says Last of Us Haters Can Stay Mad–It’s Their Loss
Bella Ramsey—who identifies as non-binary and uses all pronouns—is entirely unsympathetic to the plight of the homophobe who wants their media to remain as straight as an arrow. The third episode of The Last of Us, which many critics praised for its storytelling and the post-apocalyptic queer romance at the center of…
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Breaking Down the End of the DCEU in The Flash's First Trailer
Before the the new DC Studios’ Chapter One: Gods and Monsters begins its slate of films under new co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, there’s going to be a complete reset in the The Flash.
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Apple May Make You Wait Another Year for The Next iMac
For those who love the slimmed down, 24-inch experience of an iMac sitting pretty on top of your desk—no tower necessary—you may need to keep on keeping on with the current build. A credible analyst told readers Sunday to sit tight if they want any more info on a new version of the iMac line.
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Could Critical Role Go Independent in the Future?
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The White House Wants You to Believe Those UFOs Weren’t Aliens
Unfortunately for the dedicated alien conspiracy theorists among us, the time is apparently not yet nigh to don your tinfoil hats. The Biden Administration has declared that the recent instances of unidentified aerial objects being shot down over U.S. and Canadian territory are not related to extra-terrestrial life.

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Train Sparked Miles Before It Derailed in Ohio, Videos Show
Videos of the Norfolk Southern Railway train that went off the tracks in Northeastern Ohio show that the train was on fire miles before it derailed on February 3 and caused an ongoing hazardous chemical disaster.
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Amazon's Zoox Robotaxi Has Made Its Way to Public Streets With Passengers
Zoox’s robotaxi service is making its way to the streets of Foster City, California in a first-of-its-kind trip for the company since it was created 9 years ago. Zoox was purchased by Amazon in 2020, and it has since worked tirelessly to create an entirely autonomous experience for riders.
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Hacked iPhone 12 Mini Has Ports For USB-C and Lightning
We’re all waiting for Apple to bring USB-C to the iPhone. But wouldn’t it be neat to be able to put all those old lightning cables to use even after the company switches to USB-C?

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Watch the First Episode of Marvel's Awesome Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
With the huge, global popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s sometimes easy to forget Marvel is much more than that. It’s comic books, obviously, but also video games, toys, TV shows, and excellent animation. Case in point, this week marked the debut of a brand new Marvel show on Disney Channel and it’s…
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What to Know About the H3 Rocket, Japan's Ticket to the Moon
Following a series of technical delays, Japan’s H3 rocket is set to make its much-anticipated debut this week. Here’s what you need to know about the medium-lift rocket and its inaugural mission.

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Scientists Observe Long, Curvy Jet Coming From a Quasar Across the Universe
The Event Horizon Telescope, which brought us the first-ever image of a black hole and the first view of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, has inspected a much brighter target: a quasar. Quasars are extremely luminous objects that are powered by matter spiraling into huge black holes. These…
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The Inescapable Inevitability of Fan Service Fatigue
The superhero film industry—and the larger entertainment industry more broadly—runs on the knowledge that fandom is a powerful factor in its longevity. It’s what’s led the Marvel Cinematic Universe to billions of dollars in success, it’s why non-superhero franchises like the Star Wars and Fast series have endured for…
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Upcoming Axiom Space Mission to Include Woman Commander and Two Saudi Astronauts
Axiom Space’s second mission to the International Space Station officially has a crew. Four astronauts will head to the ISS during a launch planned for this spring, and the newly sanctioned crew will feature a woman commander and two Saudi mission specialists

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[gizmodo]

Merchants on Amazon Marketplace are paying the company a commission fee of more than 50% of each sale. A new report by Marketplace Pulse revealed Amazon raised the total cost sellers are required to pay out toward storage fees at company warehouses, packaging and delivery, and advertising on the site.
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Voice Actors Say AI Is Being Used to Fuel a Nightmarish Harassment Campaign
Sure, there’s been a lot of attention being paid to deep fakes of celebrities and major public figures. Still, with the advent of free or cheap AI-based voice synthesization software, anybody who has had their audio uploaded to the internet runs the risk of being deepfaked.
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Man With Brain-Eating Amoeba Infection Saved by Old UTI Drug
An old drug used to treat urinary tract infections may have a new trick up its sleeve. In a recent case report, doctors in California say they used it to stop a brain-eating infection caused by an amoeba. Though the infection is very rare, it’s almost always fatal.
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Breaking Down Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's Heartstring-Pulling Super Bowl Trailer
There is precisely one joke in Guardians of the Galaxy 3's new trailer, so either the movie’s going to be a 2.5 hour fever dream of a depressive episode, or they’re saving the good zingers for the theater. James Gunn’s final Marvel movie certainly has style going for it, so let’s see what else the new head of DC is…
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Turkey Earthquake Did Not Damage Famous Göbekli Tepe Site, Archaeologists Say
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated south-central Turkey and northern Syria did not damage the ancient site of Göbekli Tepe, according researchers there.
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Google Hopes to Inoculate Internet Users Against Misinformation with Expanded 'Pre-bunking' Campaign
Google plans to expand a campaign against online misinformation to Germany this week, and later India, as first reported by the Associated Press. The strategy, known as “pre-bunking” or “attitudinal inoculation,” aims to train people on how to recognize false information and manipulated facts on the internet before…
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These Flash Posters Are Here To Tell You There’s a New-Old Batman in Town
The cowl is back on Michael Keaton in a new batch of The Flash posters. Warner Bros. dropped the trailer for the DC Studios release on Super Bowl Sunday and we couldn’t be more pumped. I mean, did you see those shots of all of the bat-suits in the trailer?
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Exxon Gives Up on Much-Hyped Algae Biofuels
It’s the end of an algal era: Exxon is backing out of a biofuel effort that the company has for years centered as part of its work in clean energy.

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A Second Russian Spacecraft Has Sprung a Leak at the ISS
Not one but two Russian vehicles docked to the International Space Station have leaky radiators, the latest being a Progress 82 freighter that arrived last October. Russia attributed the first leak, which happened in December, to a micrometeorite, but the unusual parallels between the two have investigators wondering…
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The Last Of Us' Bloaters Just Got Even Scarier
In The Last of Us, few enemies are as terrifying as bloaters. They’re like clickers, but with the shape and size of a professional wrestler, so when you see one it’s scary and you know it’s gonna be a battle. That same fear translated to HBO this weekend when a bloater made its debut on the TV version of The Last of Us
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[gizmodo]

Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes series is one of the most well known comic strips around. Even though it went out of publication in 1995 and Watterson retired (mostly), the strip has managed to live on thanks to being frequently reprinted consistently over the decades.

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Daredevil's Mark Steven Johnson Looks Back on the Divisive 2003 Flick
Before Charlie Cox fought dudes in hallways and made frequent blind jokes in the MCU, 2003's Daredevil movie hung over Matt Murdock for years. The Ben Affleck-led film could probably be considered a cult classic these days in some respects, but it doesn’t really come up in conversation, unless someone wants to say…
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Yep, a New Hellboy Movie is Coming
Big Red is coming back to theaters. Deadline confirmed that a new Hellboy movie, subtitled The Crooked Man, is about to start production. Earlier in the week, rumors began swirling around about its existence courtesy of Discussing Film, but distributor Millennium (which bought the film rights for Hellboy in 2018)…
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The Worst U.S. Chemical Disasters Caused by Train Derailments
People living in and near East Palestine, Ohio have been suffering with more than two weeks of uncertainty after a train derailed there, releasing toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride. The disaster has ignited a national interest in disaster management and response, including in railroad safety in transporting…
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Liam Neeson Has No Interest in Star Wars' Spinoff Phase
Star Wars has always been a commercial brand from the start, but you could really start to feel that over the last few years. Between spinoffs focused on Boba Fett and Obi-Wan, the incoming one for Ahsoka Tano, and a spinoff originally meant for Cara Dune, the franchise has an obsession with shedding as much light on…
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Emails and Texts Show What Fox News Hosts Really Thought About 'Rigged' Election
Fox News needs to present a specific face to its audience. It’s one of grievance and hurt, of a changing world that is changing too damn fast. Though all too often, the entire network strays into the absurd, whether it’s guests going on about “climate vaccines” or its hosts like Tucker Carlson going off about being “…
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The First-Ever International Killer Robots Summit Was a Human Rights Flop
When delegates from 50 countries met in the Netherlands this week to discuss the future of military artificial intelligence, human rights activists and non-proliferation experts saw an opportunity. For years, rights groups have urged nations to restrict the development of AI weapons and sign a legally binding treaty…
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A Student Used ChatGPT to Cheat in an AI Ethics Class
A student used ChatGPT to cheat on an essay in an AI ethics class, according to a report from NBC Bay Area. To quote the scorpion in a famous fable, “lol. lmao.”

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Disney's Live-Action Lilo and Stitch Remake Adds Zach Galifianakis
It was only a matter of time before Disney’s live-action adaptations moved from fairytale classics to the studio’s more modern hits. The live-action Lilo and Stitch just lined up a comedy get with Zach Galifianakis (A Wrinkle in Time, The Hangover), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Details on his character are not…
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The One Piece/Dragon Ball Z Crossover Finally Crosses to the U.S.
The heroes of the manga anthology Shonen Jump—Luffy from One Piece, Deku from My Hero Academia, Goku from Dragon Ball Z, Naruto from Naruto, Ichigo from Bleach, etc., etc.—aren’t exactly strangers to each other, having appeared in countless video games and promotions together. But strangely, the manga anthology’s two…
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Samsung Just Rolled Out a New Way to Protect Your Galaxy's Texts from the Web's Biggest Creeps
Back in the day, you had to be foolish enough to click on a sketchy link to get your phone riddled with viruses. These days, cybercriminals can hide sophisticated malware inside of plain looking image files, the likes of which will royally screw with your phone without you having to lift a finger. The so-called “zero…
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The Beyond Confusing Lives of Kang the Conqueror
When Jonathan Majors made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Loki, he was merely “He Who Remains,” an enigmatic being who claimed to be policing the timeline to prevent other incarnations of himself from wreaking havoc. Once he was murdered (by Loki variant Sylvie’s hand), however, those other incarnations were …
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What a Health Risk Scientist Still Wants to Know About the Ohio Train Derailment
In the two weeks since a 150-car train carrying toxic materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, officials are still working to determine the risk to nearby residents and the local environment. With a lack of fast and reliable facts, misinformation and conspiracies have spread through social media and even mainstream…
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SpaceX Gets a Slap on the Wrist for Breaking FAA Launch Rule
In August 2022, SpaceX violated a Federal Aviation Administration safety rule that’s meant to prevent collisions in low Earth orbit, but the proposed fine of $175,000 will hardly serve as a deterrent for a company owned by one of the richest people on Earth.

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Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra Is Great, but It Would Be Better if It Folded
I struggle to look at any other Samsung smartphone now that I’ve been living with its foldables. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 has effectively changed how I use Android. Most of the time, I’ll only bother with my Google Pixel 7 if someone is calling the number linked to that phone. Otherwise, you’ll see me primarily on…
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Amazon CEO Says Employees Must Return to Office Starting May 1
Work from home flexibility is coming to an end for Amazon employees. Though most of the company’s ~1.5 million full and part-time workers labor in warehouses or as delivery drivers—the e-commerce giant also employs hundreds of thousands of corporate and tech staff.
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Learning Sign Language for The Last of Us
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NASA Images a Weirdly Long Asteroid
Six radar observations made of an asteroid swinging by our planet have revealed an unusually oblong space rock. The object is three times as long as it is wide—an irregular shape, as far as asteroids are concerned.
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Apocalyptic Horror Friend of the World Asks: What's the Price of Survival?
When the world ends, as it no doubt will someday, would it be better to survive and try to rebuild, or simply perish with the masses? Sci-fi horror indie Friend of the World, which at 50 minutes hovers between a short and a feature, examines this quandary through the lens of two very different characters.
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See National Geographic's 2022 Photos of the Year
An Icelandic volcano sends molten rock into the air. An owl silently snares its prey. The glow from mountain climbers’ headlamps travels miles across the wilderness on a starlit night. Bald eagles spat for a perch amid Alaska’s salmon season.

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[gizmodo]

Of course Disney’s centennial involves special releases celebrating its animation legacy. With the Disney100 collections, all manner of fans will find something to suit their fancy, including merch featuring Walt’s original cartoon Oswald the Lucky Rabbit alongside Mickey and friends. There will also be collectible…
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Sam Bankman-Fried Using a VPN, McDonald’s AI Drive Thru Fails, Buzzfeed AI Quizzes Suck | Editor Picks
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Stockholder Sues Virgin Galactic, Alleges Richard Branson Lied About Spaceplane After Botched Flights
A Virgin Galactic stockholder is taking the company’s execs to task, saying their penchant for covering up major failures encountered during tests of its Unity spaceplane have tanked investors’ chances of winning big in the commercial space race.

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Zuckerberg's 'Year of Efficiency' Could Mean More Layoffs After Dismal Performance Reviews
Meta may be gearing up for yet another round of layoffs as employees report receiving lower-than-average performance reviews this week. Tech industry layoffs have become the norm in recent months, with Meta having laid off 11,000 employees in November, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 would be the “year of…
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Why Star Trek: Picard's New Main Ship Looks Like the Classic Enterprise
When we first met the U.S.S. Titan in Lower Decks, it was a Luna Class starship—but in its leap into live-action with this week’s premiere of Star Trek: Picard’s final season, she now looks very different... and more than a little familiar.

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24 Republican-Led States Sue the EPA to Overturn a Water Protection Rule
A group made up of 24-Republican led states has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over a rule that decides which bodies of water receive federal protection. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in North Dakota this Thursday.

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Viz Puts Hundreds of Anime Episodes Online for Free
Viz has uploaded hundreds of episodes to YouTube for free viewing. The catch is, of course, that these episodes are only available in the U.S. due to licensing restrictions. While that is a bummer for the rest of the world, American audiences get to enjoy seasons of classic anime without much standing in the way. If…
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The New Shadow and Bone Trailer Lights Up the Darkness
The highly anticipated second season of Shadow and Bone is right around the corner (March 16!) and we’re finally getting some new footage. After the sneak preview images a few months ago and the excellent New York Comic Con panel, my hype for this fantasy series is at an all time high. Shadow and Bone, based on the…
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IBM CEO Says It's a 'Good Thing' if AI Takes Your Job
Once, IBM was the world leader in AI, trotting out robots to face off against chess grand masters and Jeopardy! champions in televised media stunts. Now AI is back in the limelight, but IBM is nowhere near the front of the pack. The company’s chief executive Arvind Krishna sat down with the Financial Times for an…
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GM Invents Self-Cleaning Touchscreen Displays That Make Fingerprints Disappear
Like it or not, touchscreens that replace physical buttons in cars aren’t going away any time soon. In fact, one day your vehicle’s entire dashboard will probably be one big screen covered in weeks’ worth of greasy fingerprints. To make them less of an annoyance, instead of having to wipe them clean with some…
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The Marvels Gets a Great New Poster to Announce Its Delay
Good news and bad news. The good news? We have our first official look at Marvel Studios’ The Marvels, starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris. The bad news? That first look reveals that the film, originally scheduled for release July 28, has been moved to November 10.
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The Vox Machina Vinyl Gets the Whole Party Back on Track
Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina—brought to animated life by Titmouse and based on a tabletop campaign by the actual play group Critical Role—is getting its very own zoetrope vinyl soundtrack. When you play the vinyl you’ll be able to see short clips play out on the track itself. The vinyl literally gets the…
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Portugal Says No More Golden Visas and No More Airbnbs
Portugal’s government passed a package of new laws and regulations on Thursday aimed at combatting the country’s housing crisis. Among the changes: No more short-term rental licenses are to be granted in the nation’s urban centers—meaning no more new city Airbnbs.

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M3GAN's Hom3 R3l3as3 Includ3s an Unrat3d Cut
M3gan, th3 surpris3 hit of—ahem, sorry. Let me start over. M3gan, the surprise hit of 2022, has long been said to have had a more adult director’s cut than its PG-13 theatrical release entailed. Now, not only do we have confirmation it exists, but it’s coming your way as an extra feature (literally, in this case!) on …
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Twitter Closes Two Offices in India as Musk Struggles to Pay the Bills
India is down to one Twitter office after CEO Elon Musk surprised employees in two of the three offices when he told them to work from home. The New Delhi and Mumbai offices were affected while the Bengaluru office located in Southern India was permitted to remain open.
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How the Brains of Fighter Pilots Can Help Us Prepare for Prolonged Missions in Space
A new study investigates whether F16 fighter pilots demonstrate brain connectivity changes that could be expected in astronauts, based on similar exposure to changes in g-forces. The study found that the pilots showed key changes in brain connectivity and they may function as suitable test subjects to learn more about…
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SEC Complaint Says Do Kwon Transferred 10,000 Bitcoin From Terra to a Swiss Bank
Do Kwon, the erstwhile CEO of Terraform Labs and its infamously unstable stablecoin Terra, now has another reason to remain on the lam. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged he and his company transferred 10,000 bitcoin worth hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Terra/Luna project before it…
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Doctor Who Teases Another New Costume For the 15th Doctor
Toho’s next Godzilla movie isn’t setting up a new kaiju universe. Even more John Wick 4 posters tease its massive, lethal cast. The Flash’s final season is bringing back two more familiar speedsters. Plus, what’s coming on Kung Fu. Spoilers now!

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Researchers Are Turning Taxidermied Birds Into Drones
A reliable approach to creating a machine that can walk, run, swim, or fly like an animal is to simply copy Mother Nature’s work. There’s a good reason Boston Dynamics’ SPOT looks like a dog. But to create drones that fly, move, and even look like birds, researchers from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and…
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FBI Hit With Some Sort of Hack Attempt, Says Incident Is 'Contained'
The FBI has reportedly been dealing with a malicious hacking attempt on its systems. It’s still unclear just which systems were compromised and for how long.
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Homes in Flood Zones Are Overvalued by Billions, Study Finds
This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.

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[gizmodo]

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a helium-fueled nightmare here to steal all our national security secrets!
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The Feds Are Launching a Hack Back Squad
The U.S. says it’s punching back in the digital cold war over emerging technologies with a new “Disruptive Technology Strike Force.”
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Let's Talk About the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania End Credit Scenes
When it was announced that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania would not only star Kang the Conquerer but kick off Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you had to believe not only would it have end credit scenes, but that those scenes would be bangers. And the film does not disappoint.
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The Last Count of Monte Cristo Brings Afrofuturism to the Classics
Alexandré Dumas’ classic The Count of Monte Cristo gets an incredibly vibrant sci-fi update as author Ayize Jama-Everett and illustrator Tristan Roach take the novel out of the 1800s and into the far future. Inspired by both the original novel and Dumas’ own Black heritage, the graphic novel explores a world that has…
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500-Year-Old Leonardo Da Vinci Sketches Show Him Grappling With Gravity
A team of engineers studying the 500-year-old, backward writings of Leonardo da Vinci have found evidence that the Italian polymath was working out gravity a century before its foundations were established by Galileo Galilei.
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What to Know About the New Marburg Virus Outbreak
A new outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus has infected a suspected 25 people and potentially killed nine in the Central African country of Equatorial Guinea, the World Health Organization announced this week. There have been 15 previously confirmed Marburg outbreaks, according to data from the Centers for Disease…
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Teen Titans Go! Discover the Power of Merch in This Exclusive Clip
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Tile Hopes $1 Million Fine Will Deter Stalkers From Making Their Trackers Untrackable
After months of reports of Bluetooth tracking devices like Apple’s AirTags being used to stalk people for miles, one of the first companies to popularize these trackers, Tile, is adding a feature that will make its devices “undetectable” to the company’s own app that scans for nearby unwanted devices.
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Biden Says 'Nothing Suggests' the 'Balloons' Were From China
President Joe Biden responded to senators’ calls for more information about the three unidentified flying objects that were shot down in the last week. He spoke to the American people in an address meant to alleviate fears but may have raised more questions about the unknown objects.
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Michelle Pfeiffer's 12 Best Genre Roles (So Far)
Michelle Pfeiffer has been acting since the late 1970s and became a star in the early 1980s thanks to Scarface. In her long career, she’s played a wide range of characters, including several rather fantastical ones. To celebrate her latest Marvel turn in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, here are our 10 favorite of…
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[gizmodo]

Artifact, the self-described “personalized news feed powered by artificial intelligence,” is now live and ready for use by the public. The app was previously introduced last month and seeks to aggregate news stories from top outlets using artificial intelligence.

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What You Need to Know About NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 Mission to the ISS
A new astronaut crew is getting ready to cohabitate in low Earth orbit while conducting dozens of science experiments and research during a six-month period on board the International Space Station.
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Shazam: Fury of the Gods Merch Parades the Shazamily With New DC Studios Gear
The newest gear for DC Studios’ upcoming release Shazam: Fury of the Godsis beginning to hit stores—including the exclusive DC Shop online as well as Hot Topic and other retailers—with fandom fashion, Funko figures, and more!
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54,000-Year-Old Stone Points Are Oldest Signs of Bow and Arrow Use in Europe
Hundreds of stone artifacts and 54,000-year-old human teeth have been found in a rock shelter in the south of France, pushing back evidence for Homo sapiens wielding the bow and arrow in Europe by 10,000 years.
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Donald Trump Is Using Facebook’s Geo-Targeting to Trick Nikki Haley Voters
An organization supporting Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign used location data to send misleading ads to people who attended campaign events for Nikki Haley’s nascent presidential run.
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Your Lego Minifigures Can Play Doom by Moving This Motion-Sensing Lego Computer Brick Around
The ever-growing list of random electronic devices that can play Doom—which already includes pregnancy tests, Christmas tree ornaments, and even farming equipment—grows slightly longer with James Brown’s functional Lego computers now being able to actually play the classic first-person shooter using motion controls…
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The Timely Way Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Ties Into Loki Season 2
The era of Kang is upon us, just as He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors as Kang) promised at the end of Lokiseason one if Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) didn’t agree to keep his sacred timeline intact.

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Bin Laden, Burglars, and Banks: The Supreme Court Considers Twitter's Role in Terrorism
Supreme Court justices whipped out their dictionaries and a deep bucket of metaphors Wednesday in a cumbersome attempt to understand whether or not social media companies can be held legally liable for promoting ISIS videos under anti-terrorism laws. Stolen jewelry, banks, imaginary burglars, and a young Osama bin…
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Samsung’s Bixby Will Clone Your Voice to Answer Calls for You
Bixby Text Call is one of the more exciting parts of the Galaxy S23 series, allowing users to type messages that are converted to speech for phone calls. Unfortunately, it wasn’t live when I reviewed the Galaxy S23 Ultra. But Samsung now says a Bixby update will be available for Samsung Galaxy users this month, and …
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Metal Sphere Found on Japanese Beach Prompts UFO and Dragon Ball Z Theories
A metal sphere, which many are calling Godzilla’s egg, washed up on the shore of Enshu beach in Hamamatsu, Japan. Authorities responded to the scene where a woman reported that she had stumbled upon the sphere while out for her morning walk.
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The Pope's Exorcist Doesn't Look Like Your Typical Exorcism Movie
In life, we can count on a few things. Death. Taxes. And Hollywood making innumerable, nearly indistinguishable exorcism movies. Every year it seems we get two or three of them and even when they’re good it’s hard to get excited because they always look the same. So it would make sense to see a title like “The Pope’s…
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Los Angeles Under Ultra-Rare Blizzard Warning as Freak Weather Swarms the U.S.
It’s a weird weather week nationwide. Amid widespread, below-average cold temperatures across the western and northern U.S., parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties are under a blizzard warning from Friday morning through Saturday afternoon—and it may be their first such warning in history. Southern California’s…
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Activision Got Hacked but Didn't Tell Its Employees: Report
This week, gaming giant Activision revealed that a cybercriminal had managed to get inside of its network late last year. How did the hacker do that, exactly? Better take a guess. Is the answer...
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The Canadian Super Pigs Are Here
Incredibly intelligent. Jaw-droppingly massive. Able to elude predators by burrowing for hours under the snow in freezing temperatures.
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Ingenious Technique Could Make Moon Farming Possible
Lunar astronauts might have to get their overalls ready, because the Moon could be the next great frontier for agriculture. The European Space Agency and Norwegian lunar agriculture company Solsys Mining have teamed up on a project to study how lunar soil could be used to produce fertilizer.
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‘Boba Fett Is Always Gone’
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AI-Generated Simpsons Episode Plays Out Skinner's Steamed Hams Saga Infinitely
Ever wonder how else the forever-scheming Seymour Skinner of The Simpsons could have played out the famed “steamed hams” situation? Well, AI may have the answer, at least in the form of an incredibly awkward Twitch stream that plays out the main beats of the much-memed episode, but replaces everything else with the…
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Diarrhea-Causing Outbreak Sickens Hundreds of Island Tourists Staying at 5-Star Hotels
A trip to the scenic island country of Cape Verde off the coast of Africa has turned into a queasy nightmare for hundreds of tourists returning home. A multi-country outbreak of Shigella bacteria, a common but sometimes serious stomach bug, has been traced back to travel from the island since last fall. Over 200 cases…
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Webb Telescope Spots Mature Galaxies Strangely Early in the Universe
The Webb Space Telescope has spotted six pinpricks of reddish-orange light that scientists say are actually galaxies as mature as the Milky Way—despite being billions of years younger.
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You Can Buy Everything Everywhere's Real Raccacoonie and More
Everything Everywhere All at Oncemay or may not win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but it remains one of 2022's greatest movies. So chances are you wouldn’t mind owning one—or more!—of the movie’s most iconic props, especially if the money you spent on it was going to a great cause. Or, even more especially, if…
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Amazon Employees Ask Their Boss Not to Make Them Come Back to the Office 3 Days a Week
Amazon employees are petitioning CEO Andy Jassy to cancel his return-to-office mandate and calling out his about-face on remote work. In a petition to Jassy sent late Tuesday, Amazon workers decried that their trust in the company’s leaders had been “shattered.”
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Microsoft Wants ChatGPT to Control Robots Next
On October 26, 1984, Orion Pictures released The Terminator, a movie about genocidal AI-powered robots unleashed by a tech company. Unfortunately, the executives at Microsoft must have been doing something else that day. As part of an ongoing partnership with OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, Microsoft’s next plan is…
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[gizmodo]

With a third season of The Mandalorian a week away, it might be a little wild for Star Wars to already be talking about the future beyond it. But always in motion, the future is, a wise little green goblin once said—and it’s going to be especially so when the series is joined by two more contemporaneous series.

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SpaceX Is Closer Than Ever to Starship's First Orbital Flight
After completing a static fire test of Starship earlier this month, SpaceX has nowhere else to go but up. A company official says it’s now in a position to perform the first orbital flight test of its much-anticipated megarocket, pending a launch license.
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Tesla Tweaks Onboard Cameras Following Allegations of Privacy Invasion
The Dutch safety watchdog decided on Wednesday that it had concluded its investigation into Tesla and wouldn’t issue a fine against the company for its vehicle’s security cameras. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) carried out an investigation over concerns Tesla vehicles could be violating privacy laws with its…
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Fire Roars and Penguins Chill in National Geographic’s Photos of the Year
An Icelandic volcano sends molten rock into the air. An owl silently snares its prey. The glow from mountain climbers’ headlamps travels miles across the wilderness on a starlit night. Bald eagles spat for a perch amid Alaska’s salmon season.

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A Supplement Company 'Hijacked' Its Amazon Reviews to Boost Sales, According to the FTC
Vitamin and supplement maker, The Bountiful Company (owned by Nestlé), has to pay a $600,000 fine to the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly misrepresenting numerous products online. According to the FTC, Bountiful—which makes Nature’s Bounty supplements along with other brands—engaged in “review hijacking” on…
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40 Years Later, the Original Casio G-Shock Watch Is Back With Solar Power and More Accurate Timekeeping
April will mark the 40th anniversary of Casio releasing one of the most recognizable and enduring brands in digital watches: the G-Shock. And because everything old is new and cool again, to commemorate the occasion, the company will be releasing an updated version of the original DW-5000C G-Shock model with some …
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The New Hellboy Movie Wants to Be a Creepy Appalachian Horror
Scream 6 co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin teases how the movie’s easter eggs tie into its murderous villain’s plot. Helen Mirren teases her fury of the gods in the new Shazam. Plus, meet Jack Crusher in a new clip from Star Trek: Picard. To me, my spoilers!

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Uber Plans Workforce Turnover as Part of 'More Rigorous Approach' to Performance Reviews
Uber is reportedly pursuing an unorthodox approach to performance reviews at the ride-share company. While Uber says it has no plans for broad layoffs, so to speak, it does have plans for upcoming performance reviews to include potential cuts to the company’s workforce.

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Sony’s PSVR 2 Would Be My Favorite Headset... If It Worked With PC
Sony’s Playstation VR 2 is the most convincing mid-range VR hardware I’ve ever used. I’ve always had a shaky history with entry level standalone headsets like the Meta Quest 2, and that experience has left me unwilling to invest in four-figure solutions like the Quest Pro. But the PSVR 2 strikes a perfect middle…
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Actually, Everyone Loves Censorship. Even You.
This week, the Supreme Court is hearing two cases that could upend the way we’ve come to understand freedom of speech on the internet. Both Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh ask the court to reconsider how the law interprets Section 230, a regulation that protects companies from legal liability for…
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Microsoft Meshes AI Into Bing Mobile and Skype, Even as It Rolls Back Capabilities
The very artificial yet not so intelligent Bing AI is getting even more integrations into Microsoft products. All the while, the tech giant is busy playing hot potato with how much power it’s willing to give its sophisticated chatbot, a problem the company has been evidently dealing with more more than a year.
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Hasbro's Latest Retro Indiana Jones Figure Chose Wisely
With Dial of Destiny on the way this summer, Hasbro is ramping up its veritable giant rolling boulder trap of Indiana Jones toys to spring onto people—even if, right now, most of those toys are for the classic trilogy of original movies than either Dial or its predecessor Crystal Skull. That includes its revival of…
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Spotify's New 'AI DJ' Mimics the Worst Parts of Listening to the Radio
Spotify has unveiled a new feature to help curate your music that is fueled by artificial intelligence. The company’s new AI DJ, aptly named “DJ,” helps guide you through your listening experience by feeding you music it thinks you’ll love along with computer-generated commentary on what makes those songs great.

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The Only Thing I Can Buy From Loewe’s Crazy Expensive Howl’s Moving Castle Line Is a Candle
All of sudden, it seems like luxury clothing brands have fallen head over heels for anime. The brands’ devotion is so profound that, of course, they have to pay homage to their favorite shows via new purses, shoes, capes, and cardigans. The resulting lines are, of course, glorious—too bad they’re so expensive that the…
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In Today's Grooviest News, Horror King Bruce Campbell Is Going on Tour
Bruce Campbell may not be appearing in Evil Dead Rise(though the once and forever Ash Williams is producing the movie, which hits theaters in April), but the much-loved horror icon is still finding a way to interact with the masses this spring: “Bruce-O-Rama,” an evening of entertainment hitting up 22 cities…
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Would the Cast of Star Trek: Picard Actually Go to Space?
It’s right there in the name: Star Trek. It’s a show, world, and franchise about trekking through the stars. But do the actors on the show have any interest in making like their onscreen counterparts and boldly going where no person has gone before?
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Magic: The Gathering's Lord of the Rings Set Won't Be Hobbit-Sized
It seems like Wizards of the Coast announced it would be releasing a Lord of the Rings-themed edition of its venerable Magic: The Gathering trading card game back in the First Age, but in fact, it’s only been two years, and other than a peek at a little of the art, we’ve learned little about it. Now, we—well, we don’t…
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A DNA Testing Company Forgot About 2.1 Million People’s Data. Then It Leaked.
A prominent DNA testing firm has settled a pair of lawsuits with the attorney generals of Pennsylvania and Ohio after a 2021 episode that saw cybercriminals steal data on 2.1 million people, including the social security numbers of 45,000 customers from both states. As a result of the lawsuits, the company in…
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Take Us to the Future if It’s Going to Look Like Meow Wolf
Santa-Fe based immersive experience pioneers and art collective Meow Wolf have a surprising fairy godfather of sorts: Game of Thrones creator and New Mexico resident George R.R. Martin, a key early investor in the project. Meow Wolf now has more outposts—including Las Vegas’ Omega Mart—and plans for more.

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Apple's iPhone 15 Pro Will Reportedly Catch Up to Samsung with Memory
The iPhone 15 Pro won’t be available until nearly the end of the year, but there is already plenty to report from the supply chain overseas. The latest bit comes from Taiwanese supply chain research firm TrendForce, which claims Apple has upped its RAM order on the iPhone 15 Pro.
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[gizmodo]

Billionaire Elon Musk may be clutching his pearls a little tighter as a Delaware judge left serious doubt whether his multi-billion Tesla pay package was done without Musk’s intervention.
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New NASA Images Reveal the Grim State of China's Mars Rover
China’s Zhurong rover appears to still be snoozing since entering into hibernation mode a little less than a year ago. The Chinese robot was supposed to wake up in December but recent images captured by a NASA orbiter reveal that the rover hasn’t moved from its position on the Martian surface for months.
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Jean-Luc Picard Really Needs to Change His Password
“The Next Generation,” the opening episode of Star Trek: Picard’s third and final season, is teeming with a nostalgic love for Star Trek’s past, from metatextual gags and references to a thematic examination of the weight that past hangs over its characters. But I’ve not been able to stop thinking about one reference…
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Republican Operatives Are Astroturfing Opposition to Solar Power
Several grassroots groups opposed to solar projects in local areas may have one thing in common: a Virginia-based group with powerful GOP connections advising them on strategy. National Public Radio and environmental news collective Floodlight published an expose Friday on a group called Citizens for Responsible…
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Another Person Cured of HIV After Stem Cell Transplant
A fifth known person has likely been cured of HIV following a specialized stem cell transplant. According to the man’s doctors, he has lived essentially free of the virus for about a decade. Though the treatment isn’t practical for the general population living with HIV, the knowledge gained from these patients may…
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NASA Will Launch Israel's First Space Telescope, Set to View Fleeting Events Like Supernovae
Israel’s first space telescope is set to reach geostationary orbit in 2026, and NASA is going to get it there, the agency announced Tuesday. The mission is called the Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT), and it will scrutinize short-duration events like supernovae and stellar mergers.
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Tumblr’s Blue Checkmark Parody Actually Made Them Money
Tumblr created a shakeup in the digital world this week when it reported an 125% revenue increase from iOS in-app purchases—from what seemingly started out as a simple parody. The company introduced its double blue tick option which was initially meant to show that using subscriptions for verification serves no real…
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Ohio Train Latest: Clinic Opens for Residents and EPA Demands Payment
Ohio’s Health Department is opening clinic today to address growing health concerns from East Palestine residents after this month’s toxic train derailment.
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Lamar Johnson Loves Beyblades and Pokémon
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