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A Guide to Disney Parks Halloween, More Holidays, and the Frozen and Zootopia Lands
Holiday trips to Disney Parks make the best core memories and Halloween kicks off the end of the year vacation fun with spooky goodness. From now until new themed land openings inspired by Frozen and Zootopia abroad, fall festivities lead the way to end of the year Disney destination trips.
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Europe's Bumblebees Are in Big Trouble
The bumblebee’s days in Europe might be numbered. In new research out this week, scientists predict that as many as three-quarters of bumblebee species in the region will experience substantial population decline and territory loss over the next several decades due to manmade problems like climate change. While there…
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The Clone Wars Battles That Shaped Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka’s fifth episode, “Shadow Warrior,” puts its titular protagonist back into her own past, as she navigated her history at the front line of the Clone War. In doing so, we and Ahsoka alike are pressed back into 3 crucial moments from the war—conflicts from her past that still resonate as moments fundamental in…
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See the Aftermath of Severe Flooding in New England This Week
Heavy rainfall this week over Massachusetts and Rhode Island washed away roads, collapsed homes, and created large sinkholes throughout the region.
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Google Expands the Lifespan of Chromebooks With Promise of 10 Years of Software Updates
If you bought a Chromebook recently, you can now expect to hold on to it for at least a decade. Google announced Thursday that, beginning next year, any Chromebooks released in 2021 and beyond will get ten years of automatic updates. The company is also pushing for more repairability for its cloud-based laptops and…
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California’s Massive Right-to-Repair Law Leaves Carveout for Video Game Consoles
California might soon become the state to be in if you want to finally repair your home electronics, but your busted console will still be off limits, as a new law makes specific exemptions for all video game electronics.
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Doctor Who Casts Miriam Margolyes as Beep the Meep
In sentences that sound like shitposts but are in fact actual news, akin to Bryce Dallas Howard Is Yaddle, the BBC has confirmed that one of Doctor Who’s deep-cut villains for its 60th anniversary specials, Beep the Meep, will be suitably voiced for such a triumphant return by acting icon Miriam Margolyes.
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An Experimental Antibody Could Someday Make Organ Transplants Less of a Hassle
A lab-made antibody could one day make organ transplants less of an ordeal, recent research suggests. In experiments with nonhuman primates, the antibody appeared to be safe and effective at preventing the rejection of transplanted kidneys and pancreatic cells. Scientists hope that this treatment could reduce or even…
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Your Favorite TikTok Dietitian Might Be Paid Off by Big Food
TikTok is the next generation of information, for better or (usually) for worse. A new report reveals that some major TikTok dietitians are being paid off by the food industry to shape viewers eating habits.
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Lower Decks Isn't Wasting Time Teaching Its Heroes Some New Lessons
Last week’s season 4 premiere of Lower Decks kicked off the season with a big promise, even in the smallest form they can come on Star Trek: the tiny pip transforming our Ensign heroes into Lieutenants Junior Grade. But for as small a leap it is on the career ladder, it’s already giving the series great chances to dig…
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Webb Telescope Data Confirms ‘Hubble Tension’ Is Not Hubble Telescope’s Fault
The rate of the universe’s expansion has vexed astronomers for decades. Called the Hubble constant, the figure is quite different depending on how you get to it—fittingly, a source of constant befuddlement to astrophysicists.
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Here's an Aquaman 2 Trailer Breakdown, With Help From Director James Wan
The long-awaited first trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was finally released today and it’s a lot. Director James Wan is certainly not holding back in returning to the world of Atlantis and seems to even be upping the ante on every single level. But what exactly is going on? What are the intentions here?…
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Warner Bros. CFO Thinks You Deadbeats Have Been on a Free Ride for Way Too Long
Warner Bros. Discovery is coming off a high of its massive box office success from the Barbie movie, but it’s not enough. It’s never enough. In fact, it’s your fault things are not going as well as they should. Yes you, dear viewer, you’ve had it too good for too long. All that content you’ve been paying for has been…
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Massachusetts Wants to Ban Gun-Wielding Robots
Bad news for fans of gun-toting killer robot. Massachusetts wants to make your Black Mirror fantasy illegal. This week, two state senators proposed a first-of-its-kind bill that, if passed, would prohibit the manufacture, sale, or use of robots with mounted weapons. The bill would also put in place new safeguards…
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The First Trailer For the New Goosebumps Show Brings Back Slappy
Just in time for Halloween, a new show based on YA horror legend R.L. Stine’s world of spooky Goosebumps books is set to haunt Hulu and Disney+.
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What We Know About the 'Alien' Corpses Shown to Mexico's Congress
The internet is buzzing with images of tiny mummified bodies with three fingers and an elongated head, the alleged corpses of extraterrestrial life. A congressional hearing held in Mexico on UFOs is the latest to join a string of recent headlines on aliens, but are we any closer to finding out the truth of whether we…
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California Officials Approve Sweeping Emissions Disclosure for Big Businesses
California officials passed a bill this week that will require large companies to outline their annual greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to the climate crisis. This is the first mandate of its kind in the U.S.
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Our Flag Means Death's New Season 2 Trailer Is Here to Shiver Your Timbers
After that first teaser, accompanied by the perfect Prince needle drop, arrived late last month, Max has now released the full trailer for season two of Our Flag Means Death. Anything this show does has internet-breaking potential... and as you lovelorn swashbucklers might suspect, this new glimpse certainly fits that…
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Donald Glover's Lando May Return In His Own Star Wars Movie
Sorry, Lando, I’m going to have to disagree with you here. This news is getting better all the time. Weeks after it was revealed that Donald Glover and his brother Stephen had taken over the previously announced Lando Disney+ show from Justin Simien, now it seems it won’t be a show at all. It’ll be a movie.
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[gizmodo]

Netflix may be done sending people DVDs through the mail, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be satisfied with streaming all our movies. This week, one of the world’s largest independent DVD rental stores in the country announced it’s coming for Netflix’s scraps with its own over-the-mail DVD rental service,…
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Google Starts Offering Pixel Tablet Repair Parts Through iFixit
Google and its partners are offering more options for users to fix their busted products at home. iFixit has expanded the number of Google devices users are able to take apart and fix at home to include the Pixel Tablet.
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See Ahsoka's Clone Wars Flashback Stars, Without the Fog
Anakin Skywalker’s opinions on sand are very well documented. He thinks it’s coarse, rough, irritating, and gets everywhere. It also can be a real pain for visuals if you happen to be waging a war on a planet covered in it. That much was clear in the latest episode of Ahsoka which featured live-action flashbacks to…
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Caesars Entertainment Confirms Hack in Second Recent Casino Attack
If you’re a betting person, what are the odds of two casinos getting hacked in succession? Following an attack on MGM casinos, Caesars Entertainment just stated in an SEC filing that it was also the subject of a hack that occurred last month.
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Aquaman 2's First Trailer Is Fast, Furious, and Full of Family
You’ve waited almost five years but you’re now just seconds away from seeing the first trailer for Aquaman 2. The official title, of course, is Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and it picks up after the events of the 2018 original. Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is now the King of Atlantis. He’s married to Mera (Amber Heard)…
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France Says the iPhone 12 Emits Too Much Radiation
French regulators halted iPhone 12 sales on Tuesday over concerns that the devices emit levels of radiation over the legal limits. The government’s Agency of National Frequencies (ANFR) said it will send agents to Apple stores to ensure the devices aren’t being sold, and threatened to recall all iPhone 12s in…
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Webb Telescope—Galactic Paparazzo—Scores Image of Young Star’s Bipolar Jet
Space and the deep ocean have several commonalities, but perhaps the most obvious is the existence of structures that make you say “what the heck is THAT?”
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Russell T. Davies Responds to Concerns Doctor Who Is 'Erasing' Jodie Whittaker
Jodie Whittaker’s final episode of Doctor Who was a mixed farewell to a tenure beset by challenges—but as Doctor Who has barreled ahead since by mostly looking back, with its focus on the show’s 60th anniversary and the celebratory return of former showrunner Russell T. Davies and star David Tennant—it has felt in…
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Updates From Final Destination 6, and More
Get a look at Eddie Izzard’s Nina Jekyll in Hammer’s new take on Jekyll and Hyde. Chucky takes on the White House in a new Chucky season 3 clip. Plus, what’s coming on American Horror Story: Delicate, and the return of Shining Vale. Spoilers, now!

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The Usual Suspects of Big Tech Claim AI Will Kill Us All or End World Hunger
The U.S. federal government is still swimming in circles trying to form some sort of plan to regulate the exploding AI industry. So when the usual suspects of big tech again returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting on potential AI regulation, they came prepared with the same talking points…
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Belgium and Germany Are Now Reviewing iPhone 12 for Radiation Violations
Earlier this week, France announced that it would halt iPhone 12 sales over potential radiation emissions from the devices that surpass legal limits. Now, Germany and Belgium appear to be a bit spooked as well.
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Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io Looks Ominous in New Juno Image
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter for more than seven years, capturing some of the most iconic images of the planet’s swirling winds and tumultuous storms. In the most recent image from the mission, however, the gas giant poses alongside another familiar object that’s also got a lot going on.
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Blink-182's Tom DeLonge Made a Sci-Fi Film and It Looks Delightful
Blink-182 famously sang about all the small things, but now its lead singer is embracing some very big things. Things like aliens, conspiracies, and directing his very first feature film.
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The $5,000 HP Spectre Fold Aims for a True 3-in-1 Experience
Foldable phones promise us the 2-in-1 experience. There is Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 rolling out in the wake of Google’s first device with clapping screens, the Pixel Fold. Each vow they will be users’ phones and tablets, all inside your pocket. HP’s latest laptop takes the same sort of philosophy and expands it to a…
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A Robotaxi Was Blamed for a San Francisco Man's Death, But He Was Actually Hit By a City Bus
A couple of weeks ago, as San Francisco emergency responders attempted to pull away from a scene where a man had been seriously injured, a pair of Cruise robotaxis allegedly loitered in the ambulance’s path, not understanding that they were required to get out of the way. The man died not long afterward. It didn’t…
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Shelley Parker-Chan's Newest Book Brings Emo to 14th Century China
She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan’s debut novel, is “a kind of” coming of age story. The first book in the Radiant Emperor duology is “about people who were not allowed to desire things in the world that they were born into or told that what they desired was wrong,” said Parker-Chan in an interview with io9.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Universe Returns in a New Audio Drama
Two decades after Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired its finale, the show’s universe will take center stage in an new Audible series. Slayers: A Buffyverse Story is co-written and co-directed by OG cast member Amber “Tara” Benson, and will bring back stars from the beloved series like James Marsters (Spike) and Charisma…
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Starlink Earns $1.4 Billion After Elon Musk Projected $12 Billion
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service brought in $1.4 billion in revenue last year, a sizable jump from the $222 million it made in 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The revenue, while a significant increase from the previous year, fell short of billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s projections during…
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Mortal Kombat 1's Veterans on Forging a New but Familiar Future
Beginning with 2011’s Mortal Kombat 9, NetherRealm Studios has put a stronger emphasis on the narrative of its now 30-year-old fighting franchise. Compared to other big fighters, the series has always had a greater story bent, but the reboot trilogy went all in on that, with substantial events for major players in the…
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Hurricane Lee Is Moving Up to New England and Coastal Canada
Hurricane Lee is still churning out in the Atlantic Ocean. Since the storm formed earlier this month, it has not made landfall over the contiguous U.S. But it has continued to move northward and is becoming a legitimate threat to the Northeast.
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[gizmodo]

Scientists in Japan say they’ve discovered some new little guys—four new species of insect-like creatures called springtails, to be more specific. The animals were found living in decayed wood across various locations in the country. The most distinctive of these new species is a small, colorful, six-eyed blue bug.
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SEC Fines Austin Mahone and Soulja Boy Over Crypto Promotion
Soulja Boy and Austin Mahone are two names in music you may not have heard in a while. After a bid to stay relevant by chasing the crypto bubble before it burst, the two musicians are now in the crosshairs of the Securities and Exchange Committee after their efforts to promote Tronix cryptocurrency.
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Feast Your Eyes on a Treasure Trove of Baldur's Gate 3 Concept Art
Now that Baldur’s Gate 3 has been out on PC and PS5 for a little while, game developer Larian Studios has dropped a scintillating peek behind the curtain with the game’s very own Art Blast on ArtStation Magazine—giving us a ton of fascinating looks at concept art, model renders, and more from the game’s take on the…
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Apple Unveils Its iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9
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James Wan Discusses Batman and Aquaman 2's Murky Place in the DC Universe
When the trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finally graces your eyeballs later this week, maybe the conversation around the film will change. Until that happens though, when most fans discuss the long-awaited sequel, they have many, many questions about its production, its secrets, and its place in the DC…
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CVS, Walgreens Among Companies Flagged by FDA for Selling Sketchy Eye Drop Products
The Food and Drug Administration is warning several companies, including the retail chains CVS and Walgreens, to stop selling unapproved, potentially dangerous eye drop products. The agency claims that the companies have committed a number of violations in manufacturing or marketing these products. The FDA is also…
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Newly Discovered Spiders Get Star Trek-Inspired Names
Brazilian scientists have found some new species of spiders that will hopefully live long and prosper. Researchers with the Emilio Goeldi Paraense Museum have identified the three new species and named them after some iconic characters from Star Trek.
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Netflix's Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Lands Ramona Flowers a New Delivery Gig
In a new interview, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off executive producers Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski revealed that they had to make some adjustments to set this version of the graphic novel in a kind of suspended “Scott Pilgrim Time.” Edgar Wright, the director of the film, once described its setting as “the Améli…
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Apple's Own USB-C Peripherals Are Damned Expensive, But That Doesn’t Matter Anymore
There’s a lot to say about the newly announced iPhone 15 lineup, but the one thing that has everybody talking is Apple’s switch to the standard USB-C charging port. It’s the first time the company has moved away from a proprietary charging port for its wildly lucrative smartphone.
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Putin Promises to Help North Korea Launch Its Satellites
North Korea may soon be getting technological assistance to help launch its satellites as Russia vows to contribute to its space ambitions.
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Star Wars Release Dates: Where and When to See Upcoming Star Wars Movies and Disney+ Shows
“Star Wars! Nothing but Star Wars! Give me those Star Wars! Don’t let them end...” Just as Bill Murray said it in 1978, we’re still saying it today. Star Wars is everywhere these days, with multiple movies and TV shows in the works from Disney and Lucasfilm. This article will give you the most up-to-date Star Wars…
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[gizmodo]

Fans of The Muppets know that representation of the Jim Henson Company’s famed icons at Disney Parks or on Disney programming (The Muppets Haunted Mansion forever!) comes few and far between all the Marvel and Star Wars blockbusters. So when a presence was announced for Disney Parks’ International Food and Wine…
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The Original X-Men Are Coming Back, but Only One Is Staying
The X-Men turn 60 this year, and Marvel is celebrating in style by killing a bunch of them in a horrifying terrorist attack, kickstarting the downfall of an age of Mutant progress, and now by returning to an idea they first did a decade ago. Sounds about right for the heroes forever fighting for a world that hates and…
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Space Drugs Factory Denied Reentry to Earth
After manufacturing crystals of an HIV drug in space, the first orbital factory is stuck in orbit after being denied reentry back to Earth due to safety concerns.
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15 Fascinating Facts in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Making-of Documentary
There was a time when it didn’t seem like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would ever happen. Or, maybe it would happen, but without James Gunn directing it. Thankfully, after all sorts of ups and downs, Gunn not only made the film, he made it his, and his team’s, farewell to Marvel Studios, all in one package.
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Tropical Storm Nigel Has Intensified Into a Hurricane
Tropical storm Nigel formed in the Atlantic Ocean late last week and has quickly intensified into a category 1 hurricane. The storm system is not currently a threat to any community as it is far out in the middle of the ocean.
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Amazon Reportedly Hiring Microsoft's Product Chief, Just Hours After He Resigned
Amazon will reportedly hire Microsoft’s departing Product Chief Panos Panay, mere hours after he left the company. Panay will be heading Amazon’s devices group, which is in charge of the Alexa voice assistant, Echo smart speakers, and Fire TV streaming services, Bloomberg first reported.
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In Quantum Leap Season 2, Dr. Ben Song Returns to Pinball Between Decades
Like Scott Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett before him, Quantum Leap’s Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) is a time-traveler with purpose—popping up across history (or in the future, if you saw the season one finale) to help people in need. He’ll soon be back at it, and NBC’s released a season-two trailer to tease his upcoming…
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Doctor Who's Chris Chibnall Would've Done Things Differently With Its 'Unrequited' Romance
Although the unique bond between the two was clear almost from the get-go of Chris Chibnall’s tenure on Doctor Who, it took until the penultimate episode of Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Doctor to explicitly dive into her incarnation’s romantic feelings for Yaz—only for that romance to be cut short with her…
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Activision Hashed Out Details on a Nintendo Switch 2 In Closed-Door Meeting
The ongoing FTC v. Microsoft court battle over the tech giant’s $68.7 billion Activision merger isn’t going the way the Federal Trade Commission nor antitrust activists would necessarily like it to, but the attempt to block the merger has also allowed some juicy bits of gossip to leak down to us about some moves the…
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SpaceX Fires Back Against DOJ Hiring Discrimination Case With a Lawsuit of Its Own
In response to a lawsuit accusing SpaceX of hiring discrimination, the private space company is seeking dismissal of the case filed by the Justice Department for being unconstitutional.
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Rick and Morty's Season 7 Credits Absolutely Don't Address the Elephant in the Room
Rick and Morty fans know that the show’s opening credits are always some variety of “two truths and a lie.” Some of the wild scenarios glimpsed in the sequence are clipped from the new season, and some are just surreal misdirections. If you’re hoping season seven’s credits will offer any hints about the Adult Swim…
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California Sues Big Oil Over Climate Deception
California is suing some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world for years of climate science denialism while worsening extreme weather related to the climate crisis.
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Disney World Shut Down Half of Magic Kingdom After Actual Bear Snuck In
The Country Bear Musical Jamboree recently announced some changes for a new show in 2024—and apparently word got out to the bear community, because a real life black bear made a surprise appearance at Frontierland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
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Elon Musk Reportedly Looking to Deepen His Ties With Saudi Arabia
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly discussing opening a new manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, according to a report on Monday, which cited numerous sources close to the matter. Reports of the potential collaboration come only hours after Musk and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met in New York to discuss…
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TikTok Employees Recoil at Return-to-Office Tracker App
TikTok is reportedly deploying a new employee badge monitoring app as part of a renewed effort to pressure its workers to spend more days in the office, according to a recent New York Times report. The attendance app comes as other big players in tech like Meta and Google similarly continue to clamp down on flexible…
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Alien Feet Inflict Freaky Terror in Eerie No One Will Save You Clip
Based on what we see in this clip, the dissonant sound design for No One Will Save You—an upcoming Hulu release about a lone woman (Booksmart’s Kaitlyn Dever) facing an extraterrestrial home invasion—is enough to set you on edge, but holy Tarantino, those alien feet are nightmares come to life.
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Google Quietly Removes ‘Written By People’ From Suggestions for Website Owners
Google quietly removed the suggestion that the text of a website should be “written by people” from its guidance for site owners who want to do better in search results, a change first spotted by Search Engine Land. The change will likely accelerate the deluge of AI-generated content that’s already beginning to spread…
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Chucky's New Season 3 Trailer Promises 'the Bloodiest Halloween Yet'
Chucky’s invasion of Washington, DC commences in early October—and his namesake show will keep the murderous vibes going into election year. A new trailer for season three of Chucky gives us our best look yet at the killer doll’s latest power-grab scheme, and the “Kids in America” who will try to stop him.
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The Sea Brings Peril in Rebecca Roanhorse's Final Between Earth and Sky Book
Rebecca Roanhorse’s blockbuster Between Earth and Sky fantasy trilogy—“inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic”—began with 2021's Black Sun, and continued in 2022 with Fevered Star. Conclusion Mirrored Heavens…
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Upgraded Linear Accelerator in California Achieves First Light, Poised to Transform X-Ray Science
Engineers who have toiled on the world’s most powerful X-ray laser for over a decade have finally achieved first light with the instrument, meaning that science with the newly energized machine is nearly upon us.

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[gizmodo]

During a 15-second test flight, Stoke Space launched Hopper2 and landed the prototype upper stage in what is a major milestone in the company’s plans to develop a fully reusable rocket.
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Loki Season 2 Will Now Air on Thursday Nights
When Loki returns for a second season next month, it’s doing so a couple of hours earlier than expected. Disney has now confirmed that the sophomore season of the Marvel series will air on Thursday nights, starting October 5.

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Military Loses F-35 Stealth Fighter Jet, Asks Public for Help Finding It
The Marine Corps lost an F-35B Lightning II fighter jet following a training “mishap” on Sunday. Military personnel are asking for help locating the F-35 jet after the pilot ejected himself from the F-35 and parachuted safely to the ground around 2 p.m. near Charleston, South Carolina.
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Updates From Our Flag Means Death, Saw X, and More
John Carpenter has high hope for the Christine remake. Get ready for spooky season with a trio of horror trailers. Plus, what’s coming on FLCL Grunge. Spoilers, away!

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Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io Looks Ominous in New Juno Image
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter for more than seven years, capturing some of the most iconic images of the planet’s swirling winds and tumultuous storms. In the most recent image from the mission, however, the gas giant poses alongside another familiar object that’s also got a lot going on.
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Funko's New York Comic-Con Star Wars Exclusives Are a Galactic Gaming Treat
New York Comic-Con is almost upon us and Funko has exclusively shared some of their Star Wars Pop! and Loungefly lineup with io9.

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10 Subtle iOS 17 Features We're Excited About
Just in time for the iPhone 15 to go on sale later this week, Apple has officially released iOS 17 today. The new operating system version is compatible with every device released after the iPhone XR, including the iPhone SE (2nd-gen or later). If you buy the new iPhone 15, it will arrive with iOS 17 preloaded right…
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Unity Backpedals on Its Horrible Plan for Game Install Fees Amid Developer Backlash
Less than a week after the cross-platform game engine maker Unity announced its big plan to charge developers based on the number of installations and revenue, the company said it’s rolling back its plans to some extent, though developers may already be too burned to even consider what limp olive branch the company…
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Las Vegas Authorities Want to Know How Much Water Companies Use Before Letting Them Move In
If a business wants to move or expand to Las Vegas, it’s going to have to shell out information on its proposed water usage.
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Disney's Released Rogers: The Musical For You to Blast Into Your Ears
You usually go to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a lot of things, but memorable original music isn’t really one of them. But Rogers: The Musical—a corny Hamilton-alike that told a very condensed story of Chris Evans’ Captain America—is one of the more successful attempts at musically spicing things up for the…
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Terraforming Mars Publisher Calls AI 'Too Powerful' Not to Use
Throughout the year, there’s been ongoing concerns about the use of generative AI across various forms of entertainment such as film and TV. Every industry has their own stance on the matter, and in the case of tabletop games, it’s quite divisive: some in the industry have put restrictions on AI-made products, while…
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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Will End Where You Don't Want It To
Those who played the original Final Fantasy VII know that game like the back of their hand, but its 2020 remake changed things up in significant ways over the course of its runtime. Since the end of that game, there’s been plenty discussions online about what would be changed in future remakes and how those changes…
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DC's Next Comic Event is An Attack of The Fursonas
For Marvel and DC, event comics are intended as a good way to get readers attention once or twice (or more) per year. Some events clear the deck so a new status quo can be put in place for a year or two, others are meant to boost a character’s profile ahead of their jump to TV or film, and others just exist as a means…
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How to Use the Apps You Already Have to Find Meeting Times That Fit Everyone's Schedule
Meetings of some description are usually required to keep companies, organizations, and even families running properly—but trying to find windows of time in an increasingly busy world can be a challenge. As the number of people expected to turn up at the meeting rises, so does the difficulty in picking a time when…
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The Force Unleashed Was the Most Video Game-Ass Star Wars to Ever Exist
Star Wars has been a fixture of video games for decades, and spanned almost every possible genre and platform you could reasonably think of. There are certain ones that have resonated with audiences over time, like the current Jedi games from Respawn Entertainment and the Knights of the Old Republic series from…
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Black Manta's Scrapped Solo Movie Will Live On in Aquaman 2
Earlier in the week, Warner Bros. revealed the first trailer of Aquaman & the Lost Kingdom. When director James Wan talked to the press, he mentioned that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta would serve as the film’s big bad after being more of a henchman to Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson) in the original film. And part…
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Phantom Liberty's Cinematic Brings Idris Elba to Cyberpunk 2077
CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 seemed like it would be the big new thing when it released in 2020, and for the most part, it wasn’t to many. The developer’s spent the years since turning it into a truly solid first outing for a larger franchise, helped by the fact that the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners series was pretty…
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Bill Willingham Tries to Bring Fables Into the Public Domain
Vertigo’s Fables comics from Bill Willingham and a number of artists (such as Mark Buckingham and Lan Medina) is one of the most well known non-Big Two comics. While it officially ended in 2015, it still carries a lot of clout, which is what’s made recent events such a big deal: days ago, Willingham declared that the F…
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Here Are the Top AI Stories You Missed This Week
If you’re behind on what’s happening with the robot uprising, have no fear. Here’s a quick look at some of the weirdest and wildest artificial intelligence news from the past week. Also, don’t forget to check out our weekly AI write-up, which will go into more detail on this same topic.

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Paranormal Activity is Crossing Over to the Stage With a Play
Since 2007, Paramount’s Paranormal Activity movies have been scaring audiences straight time and time again. For the series’ next big step, it’s jumping over to the other kind of theater in the form of a stage play.

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[gizmodo]

• Some of the biggest names in tech met with Chuck Schumer in Washington D.C. this week for a close-door summit designed to inform future AI policy. The guest list included Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and other billionaires who stand to benefit from a lax regulatory environment.

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Monsters of California Exclusive Trailer
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Samsung May Have Leaked Its Upcoming Galaxy Ring in Its Wearables App
Samsung may have given away its “one more thing” too soon. Korean Samsung users found icons depicting what looks like a ring you’d wear on your finger in the Galaxy Wearable app this week. The discovery since sparked discussions about whether this means the Samsung Galaxy Ring will debut next year. I hope they do…
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Just in Time for Halloween Check Out This Wednesday Merch Drop
If you dream of being accepted into Nevermore Academy with Wednesday Addams this spooky fandom collection is for you.

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SpaceX's Vacuum Raptor Engine Aces Cold Space Test for Artemis Moon Missions
In preparation of landing humans on the Moon as part of the ongoing Artemis program, SpaceX recently ran a test of one of its lunar lander engines while simulating the cold temperatures of space.

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Tim Burton Doesn’t Seem Happy His Superman and Batman Appeared in The Flash
As impressive as it is when filmmakers like J.J. Abrams or James Gunn direct films in two, opposite, massive franchises, in the 1990s, Tim Burton almost beat them all. We all know he directed two Batman movies starring Michael Keaton but he also got very close to directing Nicolas Cage in Superman Lives, which fell…
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Get Ready For Halloween Early With Our Superhero and Fantasy Costume Guide
Hey, Halloween costumes have been getting better since cosplay hit the scene and in case you haven’t seen we’re drawing closer and closer to monster mashing in our fave fandom inspired looks.

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Arkansas Resident Killed by Brain-Eating Amoeba Caught From Splash Pad, Officials Say
A brain-eating amoeba has recently killed someone in Arkansas, local health officials reported this week. The unidentified victim seems to have contracted the incredibly rare, often fatal infection from a pool or splash pad at a country club. The club has since shut down these facilities, and health officials say…
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TikTok Slapped with $367 Million Fine Over Bungled Kids' Data
Everyone’s favorite app is definitely not in the good graces of the European Union. Irish regulators just hit the massive video-sharing platform with a $367 million fine for mishandling child users’ data and gave the app three months to fix it.
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Jonathan Frakes Wants to Be the Charlie's Angels of Rikers If a Picard Sequel Happens
Picard’s final season wrapped up earlier this year with a fond farewell to the cast of The Next Generation, but that hasn’t stopped audiences—or the cast themselves—pondering what ever could be next. Now it’s the turn of Riker himself, Jonathan Frakes, to imagine what might be next for him and his Imzadi.

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Did Elon Musk Regret Buying Twitter? | Walter Isaacson Interview
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[gizmodo]

Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher isn’t an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story. It is instead a reimagining of the entire Poe oeuvre, a resurrected corpus operis with all the bodies laid out on the table, given new, feverish life inside the framework of Roderick Usher’s legacy of doom.
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Futurama Season Finale Clips Tease the Ups and Downs of Living in a Simulation
The idea that the universe is just a simulation has become increasingly popular in sci-fi—and Team Planet Express will explore just that in the Futurama season 11 finale, “All the Way Down.” Hulu has released a trio of clips ahead of Sunday’s premiere to tease what’s in store.
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Generations: Blue Beetle Documentary Clip
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California Considers New Rules to Stop Insurers From Fleeing the State
Officials including Governor Gavin Newsom are working to stabilize the state’s insurance market. In an attempt to keep insurers in California, the state will allow insurance companies to consider climate change when setting prices.

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The Exorcist: Believer Teases How Its Demon Started Creeping In
We know The Exorcist: Believer is going to feature two girls being targeted by evil spirits after something happens to them while they’re lost in a forest, with demon-fighting veteran Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) coming to their aid. Thanks to a first-look clip from the film, we now have a better understanding of…
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An Experimental Drug May Help Prevent Bone Loss in Space
A team of scientists say they may have found a new way to mitigate one of the most dangerous complications of space travel: the steady and inevitable loss of bone mass. In new research published this week, the team’s experimental treatment was able to promote bone growth in mice living aboard the International Space…
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Hasbro's New Marvel Legends Toys Are Spider-Man: No Way Home Unleashed
Hasbro’s movie-based side of Marvel Legends is about to swing into high gear with a brand new wave based on Spider-Man: No Way Home—and if you were patiently waiting through the company’s past releases from the movie expecting certain heroes and villains, your wait is about to pay off... and so is your wallet.

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Unity Introduces New Pricing Model Following Developer Mutiny
Unity is backpedaling after a disastrous attempt to change the fees it charges developers to a model that would charge on a per-download basis, the company announced on Friday. Subscribers to the current Unity Personal platform will not be charged a new fee to develop games on the platform and it will change the…
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Courtship of Princess Leia Is the Most Important Star Wars Novel Around
In the last 11 years since Star Wars’ Expanded Universe faded into “legends” as a new canon for the galaxy far, far away was laid out, many elements big and small from its time as Star Wars’ ancillary text have made their way back into continuity. But one surprising book above all has had a huge influence on the…
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Halloween Event News From Disney Parks, Universal Studios, and More Fan-tastical Destinations
From Los Angeles and Las Vegas, to New York City and Orlando—Halloween is in full force across the country, and it isn’t even October yet.
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If You Resold Taylor Swift Eras Tour Tickets, the IRS Is Watching
Two of the hottest concert tours of the summer, Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour and Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, sparked a national conversation on the way online marketplaces and ticket resellers exploit diehard fans looking to have some fun. Now, the Internal Revenue Service is tightening its grip around ticket…
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Pilot of Crashed F-35 Fighter Jet Pleads for an Ambulance in Newly Released 911 Call
On a newly released 911 audio recording, the pilot who ejected from the F-35 fighter jet that went missing last weekend is heard requesting an ambulance from a South Carolina home. In the four-minute-long recording, the homeowner is heard telling the 911 dispatcher that the pilot parachuted into his backyard and…
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Teen Titans Go! Warner Bros. Animation Crossover for WB100
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NASA's Plan to Return Samples From Mars Is Pure Science Fiction, Report Finds
The findings from an independent review board suggest that NASA’s quest to return samples from Mars is riddled with challenges and seemingly impossible to accomplish under the current cost and schedule expectations.
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The Exorcist III Is Its Own Wonderfully Unsettling Beast
For many horror fans, much of their thinking about The Exorcist III is tied into That One Scene. It may be the scariest movie scene ever, and that’s saying a lot for a movie that’s the second sequel to what many call the scariest movie ever. But it’s not a meaningless “gotcha” moment; by the time The Exorcist III gets…
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Ahsoka's Mysterious Villains Are Getting the Action Figures You've Been Waiting For
Ahsoka has given us a bunch of very interesting Star Wars-y things to ruminate on so far, but perhaps few are as interesting or as immediately compelling as two of its new characters have been—the former Jedi turned sinister mercenary Baylan Skoll, and his apprentice Shin Hati. And now, as is Star Wars custom, these…
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Vizio’s Latest TVs Go All Quantum
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Tropical Storm Brewing Off the Carolina Coast That Could Head Up to New England
National forecasters are keeping an eye on a storm system brewing just off the coast of the Carolinas that is likely to move up to some states in the Northeast this weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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Webb Telescope Spots Carbon on Jupiter’s Moon Europa, Boosting Prospects for Alien Life
The Webb Space Telescope has made its latest significant discovery: the observation of carbon dioxide coming from a part of Europa, the frozen moon orbiting Jupiter which harbors a salty water ocean under its icy surface.
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Alien Invasion Thriller No One Will Save You Will Surprise and Challenge You at Every Turn
About 20 minutes into watching new sci-fi thriller No One Will Save You, I said to myself, “Wait, has anyone spoken in this yet?” Sure, there had been sound. Lots of very interesting, creepy sounds. And there’d been music too; evocative, atmospheric music. But little to no dialogue. Which is exactly when I realized…
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[gizmodo]

It was an unfortunate week for the rocket industry, with three distinct setbacks occurring and challenging the plans of three different aerospace companies across the globe.

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The New Toxic Avenger Is Stupid in All the Best Ways
No matter what your level of knowledge is when it comes to The Toxic Avenger, you basically know what to expect. It’s right there in the phrase “The Toxic Avenger.” Someone is avenging and they’re toxic. Is that literal? Figurative? It doesn’t matter. This isn’t going to be serious. This is going to be very, very…
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X/Twitter Is Shutting Down Circles Next Month
Twitter, recently renamed X, is shutting down its Circles feature. Circles allows users to share posts with select people rather than all of their followers but it seems Elon Musk would prefer people just put it all out there or keep it to themselves. The feature will be removed next month, just over one year after Cir…
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Amazon Restricts Authors to Self-Publishing Three Books a Day, a Totally Human Amount
As authors grapple with the anxiety of an impending AI takeover in the publishing world, Amazon wants you to know that it’s taking those concerns very seriously. The bookstore-turned-commerce giant has revealed a new self-publishing limit that cannot exceed three books per day.
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Updates From Rick and Morty, Loki, and More
Take a listen to creepy tracks from Saw X. David Duchovny talks Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. Plus, Upload prepares for season 3 with a new trailer, and what’s coming on Invasion. Spoilers now!

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It Looks Like Microsoft's Activision Deal Is a Go in the UK
Amidst a massive $69 billion dollar deal by Microsoft to purchase Activision—the largest deal in video game history—the tech giant has faced a good bit of turbulence. After UK regulators initially blocked the acquisition last spring, Microsoft scrambled to tweak the agreement and it’s now received preliminary approval.…
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Amazon Will Stick Ads on Prime Video Unless You Pay Up
Amazon has always handled its streaming video slate a little differently than the competition. Other companies have slyly introduced a cheaper ad-free option while slowly raising prices on non-ad-based subscription tiers, Prime Video is taking a different tack. The streaming service plans to hold ad-free watching…
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NSYNC Confirms They Were Jedi in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
In this, our year of 2023, NSYNC has broken the internet with a reunion and confirmation that three members of the group were in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. My ‘90s nerdy teeny bopper brain can’t process two of my core fandoms almost crossing over: boy bands and Star Wars.
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V/H/S/85 Trailer Promises Grainy Nightmares of the Highest Order
While we can’t really tell what’s happening in the trailer for V/H/S/85, based on the disturbing glimpses it gives—as well as our prior knowledge of the V/H/S series—we can assume it’s a lot of just godawful things, made even more terrifying as they’re rendered in grainy, retro-vintage formats.
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Facebook Now Allows Users to Link Separate Profiles
Facebook users can now create multiple personal profiles with unique feeds and relevant content for each one, Meta announced in a press release on Thursday. Historically, users had to create a completely unattached profile and log in and out to toggle between the two, but that is changing with the new feature.
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FAA Proposes Stricter Rocket Disposal Rules to Tackle Space Junk
As more rockets liftoff into the skies, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is trying to control how long those launch vehicles stay in orbit as floating space junk.
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Kagurabachi Is Big, But Not as Big as the Internet Wants You to Think
This week Shonen Jump launched one of its most anticipated new series of the season: Takeru Hokazono’s contemporary Yakuza/Fantasy swordsman series Kagurabachi. But while it’s already making big waves after just one chapter, the manga has become an altogether stranger hit online.

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iFixit Teardown Shows Off the Repairability of the iPhone 15 Pro
Are you thinking of buying the new iPhone 15 Pro? Take a look inside first. An unofficial teardown of the iPhone 15 Pro by PBKreviews is currently making the rounds. The ten-minute video shows a modular disassembly of components, which vibes with Apple’s promises of easier repairs. Still, this look at the relative…
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Telescope Spots a Sample-Laden OSIRIS-REx Returning From Asteroid Bennu
NASA’s $800 million OSIRIS-REx mission launched to space in September 2016 with a simple, albeit ambitious, objective: travel to a distant asteroid and bring back a sample of it. The spacecraft is now nearly home, and scientists spotted the it for the first time last week as it made its return.
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Terraforming Mars Creators Will Not Be Using AI in Their Next Project
Enoch Fryxelius, the CEO of FryxGames, took to Facebook today to defend the use of AI in the Terraforming Mars project, and announced that the company’s next board game will not be including AI.
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Snap Is Doing What Twitter Can’t
As Elon Musk threatens to charge all users with a monthly subscription to access Twitter, Snap is seeing a userbase more willing to pay to use the perks of its platform. Snap’s membership service Snapchat+ has reached a whopping 5 million users, which is officially halfway to its goal of 10 million.
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Deepest Virus Ever Detected Unearthed by Scientists in the Mariana Trench
In new research this week, scientists say they’ve unearthed a viral denizen from the depths of the Mariana Trench. The virus is believed to be the deepest of its kind ever discovered and preys on certain bacteria.
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Doom Patrol's Final Trailer Is an Off-Kilter, Butt-Filled Delight
“All good things are doomed,” warns the marketing for the final chunk of Doom Patrol episodes, but you can bet Max’s DC series about a misfit team of oddly powered superheroes isn’t going to say farewell without some high-stakes action—and at least one battle against “an ever-growing hoard of butts.”

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X/Twitter CEO Shares Video Ad That Features Tweets Dunking on Elon Musk
It seems Twitter—the company now calling itself “X” based on one billionaire’s nostalgic whim—can’t escape users’ dissatisfaction with the platform, not even in its own advertising.
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Lower Decks Is Making More Room for Its Underused Characters
Even four seasons in, it’s not a difficult argument to make that for all its aims of being a show with four primary characters, Lower Decks has been most focused, and at its strongest, on two of those characters in particular. But season four is working on a lot of the show’s weaknesses, and this week it takes that…
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[gizmodo]

Thrawn has finally arrived on Ahsoka and into live-action Star Wars media at large, and—as has become the tradition—Disney+ is marking the character’s debut with a snazzy new poster. All the major new faces in “Far, Far Away” got them, in fact, including some guy named Ezra Bridger.
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Watch Josh Hutcherson Discover Oddly Specific Time Travel in This 57 Seconds Clip
In his new movie 57 Seconds, Josh Hutcherson discovers the ability to travel through time... sort of. While undoing just under a minute of time and space might not seem like the most useful time travel, it’s still enough to blow someone’s mind wide open when they discover it, as you can see in this exclusive clip.

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Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse Spins the Wheel One More Time
Planescape has returned to Dungeons & Dragons. Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse includes three new books: the setting book Sigil and the Outlands; Turn of Fortune’s Wheel, the campaign book; and Morte’s Planar Parade, the bestiary.
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No, Travis Bickle Is Not the New Face of Uber
As Uber continues to tout driver and rider safety as a number one priority, reports that its new spokesperson will be Robert De Niro playing Travis Bickle from 1976's Taxi Driver definitely caused some head-scratching. Lucky for us, while Robert De Niro will be involved in a new Uber campaign, he will not be reprising…
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NASA Calls on Commercial Partners to Design a Spacecraft to Deorbit the ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting Earth for 24 years, hosting crews of astronauts and running experiments in the microgravity environment. By 2030, however, the space station’s reign in low Earth orbit must come to an end and NASA is figuring out exactly how to do that.
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Michael Bloomberg Is Throwing $500 Million at Efforts to Shut Down All U.S. Coal Plants
Billionaire, philanthropist, and former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week that he will invest $500 million into his campaign to shut down coal plants and halve gas use by 2030.
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Eli Lilly Is on the Warpath, Now Suing Pharmacies and Spas for Selling Compounded Mounjaro
The arms race over the next generation of obesity drugs is continuing to heat up. This week, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced it was suing several pharmacies, spas, and wellness centers in the U.S. for allegedly selling unauthorized copycats of its blockbuster drug tirzepatide, which is expected to be…
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Fox News Founder Rupert Murdoch Is Retiring
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch announced he is stepping down as chairman of News Corp. and Fox in a memo to staff on Thursday. He will officially retire in November and will pass the torch to his son, Lachlan Murdoch, who will also remain as CEO and executive chairman of Fox Corporation.

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YouTube Announces New Tools to Flood Its Platform With AI-Generated Slop
How many times have you watched a TikTok or YouTube short and thought “This is fun, but what if there were some strange pandas desperately trying to shove coffee from a morphing teacup into their nose or maw?” Great news.
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Vizio’s New Quantum Smart TVs Want to Stress Quality Color for Cheap
Vizio’s has built up television brand on trying to offer relatively strong picture display quality on a budget, and the company isn’t breaking away from that mold with its latest displays. Vizio announced its new Quantum and Quantum Pro Smart TVs on Thursday, promising relatively good picture quality at all angles for…
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Behold, Our Galaxy Visualized in Gravitational Waves
No space-based gravitational wave observatory exists…yet. But that hasn’t stopped a team of astronomers from demonstrating how the gravitational universe might look, using simulated data to create a “synthetic gravitational sky.”
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[gizmodo]

Last week’s “Far, Far Away” was a big episode for Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka—though not really a big one for Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) herself, since the Peridea-set action was given over to some other major story beats, including the arrival of two major characters: Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and Ezra (Eman Esfandi).
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Sleep No More Lives Up to Its Legacy in Immersive Theater
Manhattan’s McKittrick hotel looms nondescriptly while housing an entire world of mystery and intrigue inspired by Shakespeare’s Scottish Play. During Halloween season io9 was invited to its current run.
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Update: With a New Commissioner, FCC Will Finally Try to Reinstate Net Neutrality
Update 9/26/23 at 6:06 p.m. ET: On Tuesday afternoon, Federal Communication Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the agency would indeed be rolling up its sleeves and would finally attempt to reinstate net neutrality rules.
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You Can Install macOS Sonoma Now, but You Should Wait
You may have heard that macOS Sonoma is ready to download after a months-long summer beta. But you should hold off on updating to the new version of the operating system if you can. There have been complaints from app developers that their apps are bugging out on the new OS. It’s best to take a beat before jumping…
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There's Something in the Barn Pits Martin Starr Against Killer Elves
Sometimes even the most flawed movies deserve a tip of the cap for sheer ambition. Sure, it didn’t quite hit the mark, but wow that effort was incredible. And the new Norwegian movie There’s Something in the Barn fits that description. Lots of it is good, lots of it is not, but it tries to hit such a weird, specific…
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An Invasive Brain-Infecting Worm Has Made Its Way to Georgia
A parasitic brain-infecting roundworm primarily spread by rats and snails is planting down roots in more parts of the U.S., research this week suggests. Scientists appear to have confirmed the presence of the parasite within local rodent populations in the state of Georgia. While human cases are considered rare, these…
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'First Official Unity User Group' Disbands Over Company's New Developer Fees
The self-proclaimed oldest cohort of Unity developers—called the Boston Unity Group—has announced that it is dissolving shortly after the game engine developer created a firestorm with changes to how it will charge its users.
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The Big One: FTC Sues Amazon for Operating Illegal Monopoly
Federal Trade Commissioner Lina Khan is finally entering the ring with Amazon, her oldest antitrust nemesis. The agency, along with 17 other state attorneys general, is officially suing Jezz Bezos’s e-commerce baby for growing and metastasizing into a trillion-dollar anti-competitive monopoly, allegedly at the expense…
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Carbon Capture Tech Hype Is Fizzling Out, IEA Says
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released an updated road map this week for reaching zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The new report emphasizes that solutions like carbon capture technology and carbon credits have not lived up to their promise of removing CO2 from our atmosphere, while renewables have…
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Get a First Peek at General Strike, a New Comic Supporting the Hollywood Strikes
With hope on the horizon for an end to the WGA strike—and the SAG-AFTRA strike, too, fingers crossed—a new comic is here to celebrate the powerful Hollywood labor movement, with some big names attached.

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Meet Microsoft's New Surface Laptops
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U.S. Wants to Set Up a Hotline With China for Space Emergencies
As part of its efforts to watch over America’s assets in space, the United States Space Force is looking into establishing a line of communication with China in case of an emergency in orbit. It’s not clear, however, whether or not China will pick up the line.
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NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sets New Speed Records on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover, equipped with an advanced computer pilot known as AutoNav, has been making significant strides on the Martian surface, setting new speed records since its landing in February 2021.

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Amazon Is Using Your Conversations With Alexa to Train AI
Last week, at Amazon’s annual Fall hardware event, executive David Limp revealed the company would soon be upgrading the capabilities of its well-known voice assistant, Alexa, using the supposedly magical power of generative AI. Earlier this year, Amazon rolled out AlexaLLM, a large language model designed to be…
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Love Defies Science and Technology in Dystopian Tale Fingernails
Fingernails imagines a world where true love can be proven with the help of technology that ascertains what makes two people an ideal match. Sounds tidy, until a woman newly hired at a love-testing lab starts to fall for her co-worker... despite the fact that she’s already got a scientifically certified perfect…
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Scientists Are Closer to Finding a Test for Long Covid
Scientists may be closer to unraveling the mysteries of long covid. New research this week has found several potentially key differences in the blood of people diagnosed with the chronic ailment compared to those who were not. These differences could help scientists develop accurate diagnostic tests for the condition…
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Golden Globes Adds a Participation Trophy for Blockbusters
This January, expect to see two new awards handed out at the Golden Globes: “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement” and “Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television.” While the latter seems reasonable, and probably should have happened years ago, it’s the nature of the former award—which is similar to something th…
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Webb Telescope Data Suggests Ancient Galaxies Were Metal-Poor and Full of Gas
In the beginning, galaxies were lacking in chemical and metal abundances, according to a team of astronomers that recently used a telescope to study the ancient universe.
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The Animal Kingdom Is a Marvelous Movie About Mutants
If The Animal Kingdom was an average movie, you could figure out the whole story from just the premise. It’s a film about a world where humans have begun to mutate into animals. So, of course, it’s got to be about how most humans hate these mutants, treat them terribly, and we get to see how a small group of them…
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Tubi Adds ChatGPT for Your Recommendation Rabbit Holes
Tubi, an ad-supported streaming service, has rolled out a beta test for its OpenAI’s ChatGPT feature starting today, the company announced on Tuesday. The addition, titled Rabbit AI, will provide viewers with TV show and movie suggestions based on queries from the user.
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[gizmodo]

Science fiction is nothing without commentary on the modern world, but the developers of Cyberpunk 2077 are now apologizing for some commentary appearing in the Ukrainian version of the game that was maybe a little too close to the modern world.
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Martha Wells on Her Return to Fantasy—and What Murderbot Is Up To
Let’s start here: Martha Wells doesn’t have to prove anything. Her storied career, and her novels’ many, many deserved accolades, speak for themselves. Her first book, The Element of Fire, 1993, kickstarted her Ile-Rien series, the first two books of which will get repackaged and republished in 2024. If you don’t…
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Former Amazon Exec David Limp Could Be the Boost Blue Origin's Sluggish Progress Needs
After Bob Smith’s resignation as chief executive, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has appointed David Limp, Amazon’s former head of hardware and leader of the company’s Project Kuiper satellites, as the new CEO.
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The Creator Is Certainly as Good as You Hope It Is, But Not Better
My biggest problem with The Creator is that it didn’t make me cry. That seems like an odd thing to say, I understand, but let me explain. You see, I’m a softie. The kind of person who cries rewatching their favorite movies for the 500th time. Sometimes the nostalgia just hits me so hard, I can’t help but tear up. The…
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Video Game Actors Vote ‘Yes’ on Strike Authorization
Nearly 35,000 SAG-AFTRA members voted in favor of a strike authorization on the Interactive Media Agreement, the union reported last night. The Interactive Media Agreement covers members’ work on video games, which includes voice acting and live-action capture. SAG-AFTRA announced the strike authorization over…
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Google Is Killing Gmail's Basic HTML Version
Google is removing its Basic HTML view on all Gmail accounts starting in January 2024, according to a notice on the company’s Support Page. The company quietly confirmed the change on its site but did not provide additional information about why it is removing the HTML option.
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Celebrate 45 Years of Halloween With This Terrifying Art
45 years ago next month, movies were changed forever by a man in a white William Shatner mask. John Carpenter’s Halloween was released in October 1978 and shifted independent film and horror forever, introducing the world to Michael Myers and setting the stage for decades of similarly supernatural killers like Freddy,…
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Spotify Now Lets Up to 32 People Control a Single Playlist
Spotify is no stranger to breaking the golden rule of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Now, the music streaming service has bolstered its collaborative playlist offering with Jam, a new feature that allows up to 32 people to control a single playlist.
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The Art of The Creator Gets a Bespoke Insight Edition
The Creator, Gareth Edwards’ new sci-fi film, is getting a fantastic special collector’s set of the forthcoming artbook, The Art of the Creator. Inside the deluxe edition are three lithographic prints, True Love (a graphic novel used to pitch the film, previously unpublished), and a sketchbook of production designer…
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Todd McFarlane Will Wait for Spawn's Leading Man
This fall is really lining up to be an incredible one for sci-fi nerds. Dune is coming to Netflix in October, The Creator is releasing this week, and spooky season is coming. It’s a plethora of riches. Also, keep your eyes peeled for news of a SAG-AFTRA-supported Video Game Actor’s strike. Spoilers, clear your…
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How to Use FreedomGPT to Install Free ChatGPT Alternatives Locally on Your Computer
The number of ways you can chat with generative AI engines continues to grow, from ChatGPT to Claude to Google Bard to Bing AI, and FreedomGPT is one of the latest options you can add to your list of potential conversational partners. Here we’re going to take you through the key features that mark it out as being a…
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Report: Engagement with Foreign Propaganda is Soaring on Elon Musk's X
Once upon a time, Twitter (now renamed X) routinely tried to label what it deemed “state affiliated” news sites, in an effort to highlight potential government disinformation and propaganda. After Elon Musk took over the platform late last year, however, he decided to put the kibosh on that policy. Predictably, new…
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Dune's Denis Villeneuve Has Big Hopes for the Future of IMAX
Barbie—a movie so big it had already won the U.S. box office in August—is also a movie so big that on Friday, it made the leap to IMAX for a one-week run. As usual, Barbie is on the forefront of what’s in fashion, something Dune director Denis Villeneuve, who’s very pro-IMAX, seems to agree with.
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A Dream Demon Targets a Reluctant Mother-to-Be in Unsettling Nightmare
Nightmare has an unfortunately generic title, but it’s the word in its most literal usage, referring to the “Mare”—a creature from folklore thought to torment sleepers. In Norwegian writer-director Kjersti Helen Raasmussen’s new film, coming to Shudder this week, it takes the form of a particularly nasty dream demon.

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A Handheld History Celebrates the Time We Spent With Screens
Lost in Cult and Retro Dodo have collaborated to assemble dozens of essays on the art of the handheld device. From the hardware to the games themselves, A Handheld History: A Celebration of Portable Gaming is a gorgeous introspection into the decades of gaming that many of us remember from long rides on trains,…
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MasterClass Reportedly Spent $100,000 on a Replica of Bob Iger’s Office
Masterclass is becoming a shell of its former self as subscriptions dropped following spending thousands of dollars on A-list celebrities teaching the courses, including Disney CEO Bob Iger. The company even paid a reported $100,000 to recreate Iger’s office space with the total cost to hire Iger, build the set, and…
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India Continues Efforts to Rouse Its Sleeping Lunar Lander
India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover have been asleep on the surface of the Moon while efforts to revive the pair continue until the end of the lunar day.
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Viruses Found in Zoo Poo Might Help Fight Off Bacterial Superbugs, Scientists Say
One animal’s poo might be another person’s treasure. Scientists in the UK say they’ve discovered viruses that could be turned into a weapon against bacterial superbugs in a perhaps unexpected place: the feces of several endangered species at a nearby zoo. The team believes these viruses could be especially effective…
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How The Creator Became Gareth Edwards' Love Letter to Sci-Fi Movies
Gareth Edwards’ new film, The Creator, is filled with nods and winks to all of your favorite sci-fi movies: Star Wars, 2001, Aliens, Blade Runner, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, you name it. Some filmmakers might be coy about that fact, but Edwards is 100% unapologetic about it.
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Nicolas Cage Haunts Our Sleep in the Smart Sci-Fi Film Dream Scenario
Dream Scenario, the new film from writer/director Kristoffer Borgli, starts with a terrible yet tantalizing premise: what if millions of people all over the world started dreaming about one person? And not some famous celebrity. Just some normal professor at a small college. Why is this happening? How is it happening?…
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[gizmodo]

As if the hype around AI couldn’t get any more exasperating, Coca-Cola had to hop on the bandwagon. The massive beverage company has tapped an artificial intelligence to serve as its advisor in developing a new flavor of its titular soft drink. Naturally, Gizmodo had to get to the bottom of it (the soda bottle) and…
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Tom Blyth Became Coriolanus Snow After Hearing Rachel Zegler Sing
Francis Lawrence, who directed three of the four original Hunger Games films, is back in the director’s chair for the prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. He sat down with Entertainment Weekly to give an overview of what to expect from the latest franchise installment, and explained the appeal of watching a…
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Scientists Might Have Found a New Genetic Trigger for Parkinson's Disease
A team of scientists appears to have unearthed a previously unknown genetic trigger for Parkinson’s disease—one much more commonly seen in people with recent African ancestry. They found that those who were born with one or two copies of this associated variant were noticeably more likely to develop Parkinson’s. The…
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Is Making Ms. Marvel a Mutant a Boost or a Step Backward?
The last few months have been quite a time for Kamala Khan and her legions of fans. From her (initially leaked to widespread scorn) fridging and death in Amazing Spider-Man #26, to her resurrection and the not-so-shocking-yet-still-befuddling reveal that she is in fact a Mutant as well as an Inhuman, to the…
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After Delivery to Earth, What's Next for NASA's Asteroid Sample?


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Remote Workers: Here Are the 10 Most Affordable U.S. Cities for Renters
U.S. employees are fighting against return-to-office policies, with the majority of workers saying they are willing to switch jobs if it means they won’t have to commute. According to a survey by Bankrate last month, an overwhelming 89% of workers say they want to exchange working in the office for a fully remote or…
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The Last of Us Celebrates Its 10th Outbreak Day With New Artwork
Despite not having a game out this year, 2023 is an important year for Naughty Dog. HBO’s TV adaptation of its hit zombie horror franchise The Last of Us premiered and landed with such resounding success that it was clear a second season was coming before the official green light was given. And if that weren’t…
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River Is Japanese Groundhog Day, But Everyone Is Bill Murray
It’s been 12 hours since I watched River. I’ve seen three movies in the meantime, all of which I loved, and yet I still can’t stop thinking of River. It’s that good, that funny, that smart, that just plain awesome. It’s a flat-out phenomenal sci-fi comedy that everyone should see.
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Practically Everything About the Pixel 8 and Pixel Watch 2 Has Been Leaked
Little more than a week before Google is set to unveil the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel Watch 2 at its “Made By Google” event, practically everything we could possibly want to learn about the devices’ specs and launch promos is out well before the announcement date. This includes an eye-popping phone and watch combo deal,…
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Tinder Thinks Some of You Are Horny Enough to Pay $500 Every Month
Having trouble finding the love of your life on Tinder? Don’t dig deep and work on yourself, just fork over $500 every month to the platform to find your soul mate.
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All the Ways Rupert Murdoch Left His Grubby Fingerprints on Tech
The big, wrinkly brain at the head of the massive conservative News Corp media conglomerate, Rupert Murdoch, announced he’s finally stepping down Thursday. The 92-year-old multi-billionaire—who brought us Fox News as the centerpiece for a massive news and entertainment media empire—is finally slinking away to live the…
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[gizmodo]

Watching the Saw movies isn’t for everyone—across the now 10-movie franchise, audiences have seen people mutilate themselves in order to stay alive or die trying in some pretty grisly fashion. For those who loves these movies or to see people get messed up, that’s part of the appeal. But when you’re the one involved…
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Knights of the Old Republic Remake's Status in Question After Trailer Pruning
BioWare’s 2003 game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one of the most well-known video games to bear the franchise’s name, and players were delighted to hear it would be coming to the current gaming generation. But much like Star Wars Eclipse, whose existence had to be reconfirmed by developer Quantic Dream…
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The Marvels May Be the MCU's Shortest Film Ever
At a time when folks are tying a movie’s runtime as part of their interest in seeing it in the theater, blockbuster tentpoles can sometimes run fairly long. At two hours or more, superhero flicks can run long in the the tooth. So if such a thing matters to you, you’ll be pleased to hear that the upcoming The Marvels ac…
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Hazbin Hotel Checks In to Prime Video in January
In 2019, animator and illustrator Vivienne Medrano (aka VivziePop) released the pilot for her upcoming animated series Hazbin Hotel. Animation fans took the show fairly well and at time of writing, it’s racked up 90 million views on YouTube. The following year, A24 opted to pick up the pilot for a full-blown show, and…
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What Place Does Physical Media Have in Our All-Digital World?
There are few places in this world where dead things are offered such a promoted place among the living. If I had to arrange my mind to any, my first thought lands on the Catacombes de Paris, the old quarries turned morbid gallery for the shelves of anonymous bones. In that enormous memento mori, the skulls of…
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Super7 Debuts New Sesame Street, Pinocchio and Peanuts Figures
Get ready for some SuperSize collectibles from Super7, which are available as of today.

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A Look Back at the Best Spaceflight Images From September
The summer season has ended, but spaceflight continues to be hot, with new views of our Moon and Jupiter’s moon Io, the much-anticipated return of an astronaut and an asteroid sample, and important new rocket engine tests, to name just a few of the many moments that captured our attention in September.
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AI This Week: The Hollywood Writer's Strike May Have Ended, But the Battle Over AI is Far From Finished

• OpenAI rolled out a number of big updates to ChatGPT this week. Those updates include “eyes, ears, and a voice” (i.e., the chatbot now boasts image recognition, speech-to-text and text-to-speech synthesization capabilities, and Siri-like vocals—so you’re basically talking to the HAL 9000), as well as a new integration…

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Meta Quest 3 Shows Us the Metaverse Dream isn’t Dead Yet
Watching the Meta Quest 3 being announced by Meta made me realize something – the hardware available for virtual, augmented and mixed reality is finally catching up with the big idea pitches everyone had about this concept called the “metaverse” a couple of years ago.

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Orbit Is Curating a Series of Free Craft Talks With Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers
Orbit Books, an imprint of Hachette, has developed a free virtual event series for aspiring science-fiction and fantasy writers. Attendees can attend any of the 14 sessions—which are spread out over six weeks in October and early November—for free. The topics range from nitty gritty advice on worldbuilding to a panel…
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Universal Monsters and Blumhouse Horror Reign in These Halloween Collections
Universal Pictures has a long horror legacy that encompasses the original Universal Monsters films, Chucky, events like Halloween Horror Nights, and new Blumhouse terrors like M3GAN and the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s.
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The Microplastics Are in the Clouds Now
Nowhere is safe from microplastics. Tiny plastic pieces are in waterways, in our bodies, and now researchers have found microplastics in clouds on top of Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama.
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Japan's ispace Delays Lunar Lander Mission for NASA Design Update
From its new headquarters in the U.S., Tokyo-based startup ispace will develop its Apex 1.0 lunar lander to transport NASA payloads to the Moon in 2026.
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Castlevania: Nocturne's Gaming Music Moment Is as Great as Its Predecessor's
Nocturne, the new successor series to Netflix’s excellent animated Castlevania adaptations, plays with its legacy in some truly smart ways—both as a successor show metatextually, and narratively as its heroes navigate being part of a generational supernatural conflict. But one of its greatest moments is a fascinating…
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The Euclid 'Dark Universe' Space Telescope Is Off to a Faltering Start
The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope launched from Earth on July 1 and has since been getting set up to begin its investigation of the dark universe. But the instrument commissioning hasn’t been rainbows and butterflies, as the telescope’s engineers and scientists have worked to untangle several issues…
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Social Media Users Don't Want to BeReal Anymore, Report Finds
BeReal’s active users appear to be exiting the platform in droves, with the number of active users dropping by 18% since it peaked in November of last year. The app gained a substantial number of active users in 2022 but now has a shrinking userbase that’s far smaller than its social media counterparts, according to a…
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Doctor Who's New Theme Will Make a Symphonic Debut Next Month
A new era of Doctor Who means a new version of the 60-year-old series’ legendary theme song, and before fans hear it across the trio of anniversary specials set to broadcast in November, they’ll get to experience it in style... if they turn their radio on, that is.

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NASA Delays Launch of Psyche Asteroid Mission Due to Thruster Issue
A week before it was set to launch to a distant metal rich asteroid, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is forced to remain grounded until the space agency resolves an issue with its thrusters.
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Blue Origin and Sierra Space's Space Station Collaboration Hits Turbulence
Once among the star companies championing a deal to create a private successor to the International Space Station, talks between Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Sierra Space regarding the Orbital Reef project now appear to be souring.
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Kids These Days Get 4,500 Notifications a Day and Hate Facebook, New Study Says
The kids are not all right and are being subject to a firehouse of pinging in the thick of the Information Age. A new report reveals that children are getting upwards of 4,500 notifications a day and have some predictable favorite (and least favorite) apps.
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[gizmodo]

The feast and famine of Lego releases continues as, after last month’s Star Wars blowout, October is looking like a quieter month in terms of sheer volume of sets to tempt your wallet. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t heavy hitters among those to come!

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Hex & Co. Built a Beloved Gaming Community—Now It's Organizing
On Wednesday, the organized workers of board game bar/cafe Hex & Co. delivered a letter to one of the owners, Dr. Jon Freeman, asserting their right to collectively bargain, and asking him—and co-owner Greg May—to voluntarily recognize the union. They have given Freeman and May until the end of the month to respond.
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Letterboxd Owners Sell Out for $50 Million
Letterboxd owners sold a majority stake in their social film discussion and discoveryplatform to Tiny for a whopping $50 million, the company announced on Friday. Tiny, a Canadian technology investment and holding company, acquired a 60% stake in the platform, but the owners noted in a press release that they’ll…
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Updated: More Disney Lorcana Stock Is on Its Way to Local Stores
The Disney Lorcana trading card game arrived with a massive splash at Gen Con this year, with people staying in line overnight to get booster packs. The high demand continued after the convention, and now a Ravensburger spokesperson tells io9 that “additional booster product” will be arriving at local gaming stores in…
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10 Great New Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Films to Put on Your Radar
If you love genre films, there truly is nothing like Fantastic Fest. While most festivals play a more balanced slate of films covering all genres, this Austin, Texas-based fest plays only the good shit. Other festivals sometimes refer to them as “Midnight Movies,” but it’s always midnight at Fantastic Fest. Horror,…
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A New X-Men Movie Is in Its Very Earliest Stages at Marvel Studios
The mutants are coming! The mutants are coming! A new report suggests that now, with the writers’ strike over, Marvel Studios has put the wheels in motion to start taking meetings about an upcoming X-Men movie. This is the absolute earliest stage of the process—but it is the start of the process, and that’s saying…
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The First Toxic Avenger Trailer Is a Bloody Good Mess
Break out the mops, throw on the tutus, and slide that eye down to your cheek. The first trailer for the remake of The Toxic Avenger is here and it perfectly portrays the film’s irreverent tone and gory tendencies.
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Shell Galaxy Reveals Its Onion-Like Layers to Dark Energy Camera
Behold a galactic onion: the shell galaxy NGC 3923, spotted by the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory’s Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at a distance of about 70 million light-years from Earth.

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October's Huge List of New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books
The days may be getting shorter, but October’s list of new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books is as long as ever, with a seasonally appropriate emphasis on “horror.” There are witches, haunted houses, monsters, and more—plus celebrity cameos, like Star Trek icon Patrick Stewart, and a host of new anthologies, including…
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Florida and Texas Social Media Content Moderation Bans Heading to Supreme Court
The GOP’s biggest gripes with big tech content moderation will have their day in the United States’ highest court. On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments for Florida and Texas’ big bills that have tried to stop big tech companies from moderating disinformation or other speech. The outcome has the…
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Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 4 Review: E Ink and OLED Screens in a Single Laptop
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 4 hits a couple of my soft spots. It’s a hybrid PC with an inventive, risk-taking design, and it includes an E Ink display. And not just any E Ink display, but one of the only color E Ink displays I’ve seen in the real world. The other side of the display is a 13-inch OLED panel, which…
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This Prey Behind-the-Scenes Clip Explores the Predator's Weapons
Anyone disappointed that they didn’t get to see last year’s awesome Predator-prequel Prey in theaters will soon get the next best thing. The streaming title is getting its very own 4K/Blu-ray release next week and io9 has an exclusive clip from the special features.
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French Authorities Reportedly Raided Nvidia Offices
French authorities reportedly raided Nvidia’s local officesthis week to investigate the company’s suspected anti-competitive practices. The raid was based on a final opinion report by the Autorité de la concurrence which published a market study on cloud sector competition in June.
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NASA’s Parker Probe Shatters Records During Latest Solar Swoop
NASA’s groundbreaking Parker Solar Probe continues to set new milestones, diving continuously deeper towards the Sun, and offering insights into the star’s enigmatic atmosphere and how it affects space weather.

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Updates From Loki Season 2, and More
A new Fall of the House of Usher clip introduces us to its world. Chucky makes a threat in new footage from season 3. Samara Weaving’s new sci-fi action movie finds a home.. Plus, teases for Luca Guadagnino’s take on Lord of the Flies, and even more footage from Saw X and Exorcist: Believer. Spoilers now!

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The Saga of the High-Radiation iPhone 12 Is Finally Over
France may finally allow Apple to sell iPhone 12s in the country again after Apple has seemingly met the country’s electromagnetic radiation standards.
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All That Could Have Been: Apple Considered Buying Bing From Microsoft
As Google faces a massive antitrust lawsuit, revelations surrounding the case have presented us with a glimpse into an alternate reality. Microsoft reportedly discussed selling Bing to Apple just a few years ago, and if the deal went through, Google would have no longer been the default search engine on iPhone.
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Ohio State University Researchers Are Using AI to Understand Changing Biodiversity
A team of researchers from around the world, led by Ohio State University, will be gathering data to create artificial intelligence-informed models to better understand the long-term impact of the climate crisis on biodiversity.

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Disneyland Movie From David Gordon Green Is on Hold for Now
Filmmaker David Gordon Green’s Disneyland biopic centering on Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney is currently being held up... for now.
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Argylle, the New Spy Film By Matthew Vaughn, Looks Purr-fect
We may not ever see the end of Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman series on film, but his next movie looks like it fits right in. This February, the man who directed Kingsman, Kick-Ass, Layer Cake, and X-Men: First Class returns with his latest spy film, Argylle, and the trailer has to be seen to be believed.
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[gizmodo]

Balancing the need to bring a new but familiar sound to Star Wars while also playing in the footsteps of John Williams’ legendary music for the saga is a challenge for every composer who joins the franchise. Few have faced it as often as the Kiner family—composer and father Kevin, alongside his children Deana and…
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The Spotted Lanternfly Has Invaded Illinois, Squash 'em
The Department of Agriculture (DOA) has confirmed that a local sighting of the invasive spotted lanternfly was reported on Sept. 16, marking yet another state it’s migrated to since the colorful insect was first sighted in the U.S. nearly a decade ago. The Department of Agriculture did not disclose the lanternfly’s…
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Watch the First 10 Minutes of Blue Beetle for Free on YouTube
Blue Beetle delivered a solid DC superhero adventure with Jaime Reyes’ origin story, and you can now watch the beginning of the film on YouTube.
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Iran Launches Third Military Satellite to Orbit, Raising Tensions on the Ground
Iran claims it has successfully placed a third imaging satellite in orbit, a move that will likely garner more criticism from the Western world over fears that the Islamic republic is bolstering its ballistic missile technology.
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Privacy Fears Abound After Uber Eats Delivery Bot Shares Video Footage With LAPD
It’s only been about a year since Uber Eats began deploying food delivery robots throughout select parts of Los Angeles and, already, concerns have been raised that the squat little automatons could become a police surveillance tool.
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Gavin Newsom Under Fire From Teamsters Over Veto of Driverless Truck Bill
Big tech companies want to put big, driverless trucks on the road, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom is ready to help them reach that goal. Now the Democratic mainstay is taking a beating from unions who say he’s allowed unsafe 10,000+-pound vehicles onto the road without drivers.

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The Best Episode of Lower Decks Season 4 Yet Defies All Your Expectations
The last time Lower Decks truly surprised me was in season two’s remarkable tri-perspective episode “wej Duj,” a compelling experimental story that examined the plights of lower deckers across all sorts of Star Trek vessels, not just Starfleet. It’s fitting then perhaps that in surprising me this week, it does so by…
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Arecibo Observatory Prepares for Life After Astronomy
In December 2020, the Arecibo Observatory’s radio telescope was destroyed when a catastrophic cable failure caused its 900-ton platform to collapse onto the iconic dish below. Now, the National Science Foundation has named the stewards of the site’s future as an education center, marking the probable end of Arecibo’s…
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Patrick Stewart Wanted to Make Star Trek: Picard on His Own Terms
Star Trek: Picard ended earlier this year, and though the series could be messy at times, leading man Patrick Stewart always made it work. While the future of Jean-Luc and other Next Generation cast members is still up in the air after the show wrapped its three-season run, Stewart’s now reminiscing on how the show…
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Epic Games Is Selling Bandcamp and Having Not-So-Epic Layoffs
The video game company behind the massive battle royale game Fortnite is also fighting for its life. Epic Games is reportedly laying off 870 employees as well as selling some of its previous acquisitions.

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It's Not Just You and Your Friends: Some Elephants Are Better at Puzzle Solving Than Others
Just like people, some elephants might have more of a knack for puzzles than others, new research this week suggests. The study of wild Asian elephants at an animal sanctuary found that only some were willing and able to solve a puzzle box that offered food as a reward, and even fewer cracked all three types of…
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