Getting butts into movie theater seats is an assignment Tom Cruise has taken upon himself, one cinema-revitalizing blockbuster at a time. In partnership with director-writer Chris McQuarrie, the star is hitting the screens with the latest thrilling chapter of the Mission: Impossiblefranchise, Dead Reckoning Part One.

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The Gaming Shelf Is a Furious, Godkilling Cocaine Owlbear
We’re switching formats! As I am incapable of saying no, this is an overstuffed edition. Soon I will start saying no. Or i’ll go weekly with this. One or the other.
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Cecilia Rose Gooding on the Writers Strike | io9 Interview
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‘Big Tax Prep’ Shared Sensitive Data With Meta and Google, Congress Says
Congress released a highly anticipated report on Wednesday detailing how major tax prep companies and big tech firms like Google and Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, “recklessly” shared the sensitive tax data of tens of millions of Americans without proper safeguards. The senators cited evidence from their…
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Tumblr Is in the Red and Losing $30 Million Every Year
Once the go-to spot for teens wearing Doc Martens and suffering from a taste in alternative music, Tumblr is apparently seriously in the red: The platform’s CEO claims that the company is losing $30 million annually.

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[UPDATED] Archive of Our Own Is Back Online After a Massive DDoS Attack
The Archive of Our Own—the largest digital library for fanfiction currently operating, and one of the highest-trafficked sites in the world—was temporarily unavailable after it experienced a large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack from a hacker group calling itself “Anonymous Sudan.” Ao3 reported the…
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15 Comic-Con Panels We're Excited for in 2023
This year promises to be a San Diego Comic-Con like no other, but maybe not in the best way. Over the past two decades or so, fans could count on Comic-Con to be one of the best places to find out the biggest news about all their favorite movies, TV shows, books, comics, video games, and more. This year though, while …
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A Decade Later, Pacific Rim Remains a Worthy Delight
You can always count on tentpole blockbusters to give bombastic spectacle and massive action. During the 2010s, audiences watched plenty of CG armies fall, crossovers happen, and superheroes rise to the challenge. But one niche that wasn’t exactly being filled at the time (at least in the West) was the giant robot…
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Samsung Unpacked is happening July 26 in Seoul: Here's How to Watch this Foldable-Centric Live Event
The next Samsung Unpacked event will come alive July 26 at 7 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, with the company hosting a live event at its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. At the same time, Unpacked should be livestreamed on the company’s website and YouTube channel. Based on the artwork for the event (and online rumors and…
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Elon Musk Launches Another Artificial Intelligence Startup, xAI, in Newest Bid to Stay Relevant
Elon Musk launched his newest venture, an artificial intelligence company called xAI, to compete with other AI developers including ChatGPT maker OpenAI (which he also founded) and Google’s Bard. Musk announced the launch on Wednesday, saying on the company’s website: “The goal of xAI is to understand the true nature…
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Super Pocket is the Perfect $59 Retro Handheld For Gamers Who Don't Want to Deal With ROMs
There are lots of affordable consoles on the market that will let gamers play thousands of classic retro titles, but most also require users to have a large collection of legally gray ROM files on hand. That’s where the new Super Pocket is different. It’s a Game Boy-sized handheld that comes with a small selection of…
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Sea Otter on the Lam Steals Hella Surfboards and Looks Cool Doing It
A large sea otter has been making rounds as the most notorious surfboard stealing sea creature this side of the Pacific Ocean. As of Wednesday, the aggro otter—herself a member of an endangered species found in central California—still remains at large, stalking the waters off the coast of Santa Cruz for her next…
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Sorry, Elon: Chinese Company Becomes the World's First to Launch Methane Rocket to Orbit
A private space company in China made aerospace history by launching its methane-fueled rocket to orbit, ushering in a new era of cleaner, safer rocket fuel that’s better suited for reusability.
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Superman: Legacy Adds Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho
Superman: Legacyis adding another superhero to its roster, and his name is Metamorpho.

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Lawyers Who Argued Supreme Court Cases Paid a Clarence Thomas Aide Via Venmo
While the rest of us were Venmo-ing our friends for the dinner check, an aide to conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was apparently receiving payments on the app from lawyers that appeared before the high court.

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NASA's Perseverance Rover Finds Preserved Organic Molecules on Mars
Researchers poring over imagery and data from the Perseverance rover on Mars have found evidence of organic molecules in the planet’s Jezero Crater, potentially providing evidence of the planet’s carbon cycles and its ability to host life.

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SAG-AFTRA Agrees to Federal Mediation, But Not to an Extension
As strike talk in Hollywood heats up, entertainment industry publications like Variety and Deadline are running multiple stories about the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, DGA, and the AMPTP every day. And, as a result of aggregating such articles, so are many other sites, including io9. But many of the trades’ sources have their own…
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Harvey Guillén on Guillermo’s Evolution in What We Do in the Shadows | io9 Interview
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Farmers Insurance Pulls Out of Florida’s Shaky Market
Farmers Insurance will stop offering insurance coverage in the state of Florida. This includes home insurance, auto, and policies that cover a combination of these. Apparently, the company made this decision in order to better manage its risk exposure in such a hurricane and natural disaster-prone state, CNN reported.
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New Fast & Furious Coaster Ride Coming to Universal Studios Hollywood
The long-rumored roller coaster for the Fast and Furious franchise has officially received the green light in the latest Universal Studios theme parks expansion.

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The Sony A6700 Brings Better Autofocus, Stabilization, and Video Capabilities to its APS-C Camera Lineup
It’s been almost four years since Sony introduced a new model to its popular, affordable, A6000 series of APS-C digital cameras. While the new A6700 isn’t a huge step-up over 2019's A6600, it arrives with more than enough new features and improvements for fans of the line to consider finally upgrading their gear.
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Watch: Chipotle's New Kitchen Robot Can Peel and Core 25lbs of Avocados In Half the Time It Takes a Human
In 1864, David Goodell revolutionized kitchen food prep with the invention of a hand-cranked device that could peel an apple in a matter of seconds. One hundred and fifty-nine years later, Chipotle is introducing the next innovation in automated fruit prep with Autocado: a robot that can halve, peel, and core a…
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Andor and Last Of Us Among Multiple Sci-Fi Projects to Score Emmy Nominations
We all love movies, but let’s be honest: television is where most of the best storytelling is happening these days. And today, nominations for the 2023 Primetime Emmys were announced, showcasing what voters think are the best of the best. And those voters apparently love genre.
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