Tag Archives: Media

The Morning After: What to expect at Samsung’s Unpacked 2024 event

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Samsung's latest Unpacked event will kick off on July 10th. The company has already released its latest flagship phones this year, unveiling the S24 family. But now it’s time for its spinoff smartphones: the foldables. That and the long-teased Galaxy Ring. The tiny wearable is slated to arrive “in or around August,” so it would be more of a surprise if the device didn’t appear at Unpacked. The ring will measure heart rate, movement and breathing to help track your sleep.  

I’m expecting the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 to appear, although with minor tweaks that might not warrant an upgrade from last year’s foldables. That said, rumors suggest that Samsung might use the same 50MP camera as the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S24 in the Flip 6, which has traditionally had less-powerful cameras than the other Samsung flagships.

On top of all that, Samsung is likely to offer refreshed smartwatches and possibly an update to its wireless buds. (Yes, there have been leaks.) Samsung is set to mimic Apple’s AirPods by adopting a stem design on its buds. That’s funny, because when Samsung revealed the Galaxy Buds Live in 2020, it trumpeted the lack of an “awkward stem.”

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Dune director Villeneuve casts scorn on Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket

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Marvel

A Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket will apparently appear alongside the movie, featuring the yellow Wolverine’s head, with a mouthful of popcorn. And people have opinions. Movie people.

“I’m not saying I don’t like the bucket,” Dune 2 director Denis Villeneuve said. “I’m just saying it was difficult to beat the Dune bucket. It was like one of a kind.” Until it came out. Theaters and studios produced special buckets for other movies, like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s ghost trap and ECTO-1 buckets, Wonka’s hat bucket and Inside Out 2’s core memory receptacle bucket. 

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Ubisoft boss, Yves Guillemot, revealed in an interview on the company’s website that Assassin’s Creed remakes are in the works. In the remakes, the company could revisit and modernize older AC worlds — something the first three games could benefit from hugely. I’m up for prettier raytraced Renaissance Italy. 

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag may be one of those remakes. This entry introduced naval battles, which were spun out (and mired in development hell) in Skull and Bones. Fun fact: I watched a demo of the pirate sim in 2017, played a demo in 2018 but the game didn’t come out till 2023. 

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Valve has added a list of the 100 most-played titles on the Steam Deck. You can sort information by the past week, month or year, and it will update daily. The top 5: Elden Ring holds the top spot after the recent DLC launch. Then, Stardew Valley and my new favorite deck-builder, Balatro. Intriguingly, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX is in fifth, beating out Fallout 4. 

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-what-to-expect-at-samsungs-unpacked-2024-event-111539176.html?src=rss

Dune director throws shade at the Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket

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There’s a war brewing in Hollywood and we’re not talking about how AI will inevitably kill us all by plagiarizing The Joker’s chaos plans from The Dark Knight. We’re talking about the popcorn bucket war.

The latest shot came from Dune director Denis Villeneuve in a red carpet interview in which he called the Wolverine & Deadpool popcorn bucket “horrific” and called the Dune buckets “unmatchable.”

Villeneuve did an impromptu interview with eTalkCTV where a reporter asked him about the feud that’s been brewing between him and Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds over their respective popcorn receptacles. The reporter showed Villeneuve a picture of the Deadpool & Wolverine bucket featuring the yellow Wolverine’s head and his gaping maw full of some of Orville Redenbacher’s finest. Villeneuve said he doesn’t have anything against the bucket but he thinks they are just riding the coattails he unfurled when the Dune sandworm popcorn bucket blew up the Internet.

“I’m not saying I don’t like the bucket,” Villeneuve said. “I’m just saying it was difficult to beat the Dune bucket. It was like one of a kind.”

He’s got a point. Popcorn buckets weren’t even a movie going craze until the release of the Dune 2 sandworm bucket, a popcorn tub that looks like a sex toy punishment designed by Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies. It sparked a whole new marketing trend for the struggling movie theater industry that’s been trying to fight the convenient onslaught of streaming media. Theaters and studios produced special buckets for other movies like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s ghost trap and ECTO-1 buckets, Wonka’s Willy Wonka hat bucket and Inside Out 2’s core memory receptacle bucket.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dune-director-throws-shade-at-the-deadpool--wolverine-popcorn-bucket-225500203.html?src=rss

Paramount’s strategy of purposeful digital rot doesn’t even make sense

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Sometimes as we navigate our way through the daily doom scroll that is our current news cycle, it’s nice to go back and remember how things used to be. Those times sucked too but a distraction is still a distraction. One of my favorite ways to look at the past was by going through old clips of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central’s website.

Paramount went on a content teardown this week and pulled old clips and episodes of its signature satire shows from the Comedy Central website, as well as content from cable channels like TV Land, CMT and the Paramount Network, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Those sites now contain a notice that tells views the clips are unavailable there, but that they can "sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of Comedy Central shows."

It’s a bizarre move because most of those old episodes aren’t available on its Paramount+ streaming service. Essentially, there's no longer a free, legal means to consume the archive of these shows. It wouldn’t be so insulting if you also couldn’t watch all of Carlos Mencia’s comedy specials on the platform.

If you’re itching to watch some of Comedy Central’s older shows, some are available on the streaming service and you can still purchase some episodes of The Colbert Report on AppleTV or the iTunes store. If you’re also like me and you still use DVDs, you can buy used copies of The Best of the Colbert Report and The Daily Show’s Indecision 2004 coverage of the presidential election from online retailers. Paramount can’t take away physical media… yet. But it seems likely some portion of these shows — as well as the entire MTVNews archive — are now effectively lost to time for no good reason.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/paramounts-strategy-of-purposeful-digital-rot-doesnt-even-make-sense-204613382.html?src=rss

YouTube Premium’s new features include picture-in-picture for YouTube Shorts

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YouTube has recently launched a bunch of new features for Premium subscribers, including a quick way to skip the more boring parts of a video. When users double tap on a video, it will now skip ahead to what YouTube has marked as the more interesting portions of it based on a combination of AI and viewership data. The capability is now live in the US for Android users, though it's rolling out to iOS users in the coming weeks, as well. On Android, Premium subscribers can now also watch Shorts while checking their emails, browsing social media or doing things on other apps in general with the new picture-in-picture capability. 

Paying users will get access to the video hosting website's latest experimental features, as well. One of YouTube's newest test features is smart downloads for Shorts, which automatically saves the service's short-form videos on users' devices that they could then watch offline. In addition, Android users now have access to a conversational AI experience that can answer their questions and suggest related content without having to stop watching whatever's playing on their screens. It's only limited to users in the US at the moment, however, and only for English videos that display an "Ask" button. Finally, Premium subscribers can access YouTube's redesigned watch page for the web that apparently makes it easier to find related content. 

YouTube Premium removes ads from videos and gives subscribers access to offline viewing, Music Premium and other perks. In February, the Google-owned video sharing platform reported that it hit 100 million subscribers for both Premium and Music offerings, but it's been trying to get more people to pay for its services. Aside from introducing new perks, it's also waging a war against ad blockers and recently started preventing ad-blocking apps on mobile from accessing its videos. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-premiums-new-features-include-picture-in-picture-for-youtube-shorts-150029102.html?src=rss

YouTube reportedly wants to pay record labels to use their songs for AI training

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Much of the conversation about AI has revolved around the use of copyrighted materials to train models. YouTube is allegedly taking steps to avoid this issue, offering major musical labels payment to license their songs for AI training, the Financial Times reports. 

Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records are all reportedly involved in talks with the Google-owned platform. However, it's unlikely the companies will get the last word as it would reportedly be up to each artist whether they participate.

Many musicians are far from thrilled about allowing AI anywhere near their work. In April 2023, over 200 artists signed an open letter stating, "We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists' voices and likenesses, violate creators' rights, and destroy the music ecosystem."

In November, YouTube launched Dream Track, a tool that allowed select creators to pull from the lyrics and voices of singers such as John Legend and Charli XCX. However, only ten artists participated in the tool's test, and YouTube apparently aims to have "dozens" participate in an AI song generator. 

Record labels have taken a stand against companies they see using their copyrighted content. On June 24, the trio of Sony, Universal and Warner filed a suit against music generators Suno and Omio for "massive scale" copyright infringement. They demand injunctions against further use and up to $150,000 per work.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-reportedly-wants-to-pay-record-labels-to-use-their-songs-for-ai-training-125052503.html?src=rss

Steam Deck gets a built-in game recorder

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While there's a bunch of third-party apps and services you can use to record your Steam games, you now have a native option that's built right into the Steam client. Valve has launched its own game recorder in beta, and yes, it also serves as a native recorder on the Steam Deck. You can either set the feature to start recording in the background the moment you keep playing or set it to only start (and stop) recording when you press a hotkey. If you choose to record in the background, you can specify the maximum of amount of storage recordings can take. Steam will overwrite old recordings once you hit the limit. 

A Replay capability will allow you to watch previous footage in the Steam Overlay, so you can see what you did wrong in case you lose a boss fight or take a wrong turn that gets you lost. You can even drop markers beforehand to make it easy to find clips you think you'd want to watch later. The new feature also makes it easy to send clips from your Steam Deck to your PC or mobile device if you want to share them with friends or to upload them online. 

Valve says the feature will only capture footage of your games and not your desktop, but it can include audio from voice chat programs. It will also work for most games, even non-Steam titles, as long as they support Steam Overlay. Since the feature is still in beta, though, you'll have to join a beta program to be able to access it. Go to Beta Participation in Interface under Settings to choose a beta program and then activate the Game Recording option that shows up in the Settings menu. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/steam-deck-gets-a-built-in-game-recorder-120019196.html?src=rss

Clickolding, from the I Am Your Beast devs, looks like a clicking nightmare

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There’s about to be a new clicking game in town, and this one looks like an absolute nightmare (in a good way.) Clickolding, which seems to derive its name from cuckolding, is described on Steam as a “dark incremental narrative game about thumbing a tally counter to satisfy the distressing masked man sitting in the corner of your hotel room.” Yikes.

There’s a trailer and it only adds to the whole unsettling feeling surrounding this game. There is indeed a distressing masked man sitting in the corner of a hotel room demanding that you click a tally counter. There’s something… violent and almost sexual about the whole thing. What happens when you click enough? Do you get a bag of money? Does he explode? Do you explode? Does it turn into a new entry in the Saw franchise? I guess we’ll find out on July 16, which is when the game is set to release on PC.

Of course, clickers aren’t exactly high art, but this one is developed by Strange Scaffold, the company behind El Paso, Elsewhere, I Am Your Beast and Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, among others. So we have some hope that the game could turn the simple clicking formula into something unique. It’s also being published by Outersloth, an indie game fund started by the creators of Among Us. With that pedigree, there’s no way Clickolding ends up being a standard clicker. Did we mention the creepy guy in the corner? He also has a gun.

It’s rare that a clicking game becomes a bona-fide phenomenon, but it's not unheard of. Just last week, one called Banana rose to the top of the Steam charts. That one didn’t have a creepy guy in a hotel room, but did offer the potential to make actual money.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/clickolding-from-the-i-am-your-beast-devs-looks-like-a-clicking-nightmare-180504296.html?src=rss

Forza Horizon 4 will be pulled from digital stores and Game Pass in December

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Another notable game is set to vanish from digital storefronts. Developer Playground Games says Forza Horizon 4 will be delisted from the Microsoft Store and Steam on December 15, making it no longer available for digital purchase on either Xbox or PC. You may still be able to snap up a physical copy.

Xbox will run frequent sales on the game on both storefronts until the delisting. The standard edition is currently 80 percent off on Steam ($12). Forza Horizon 4 will go on sale on the Microsoft Store on July 14.

Playground says the delisting is due to licensing agreements expiring. Forza Horizon 4 has digital versions of a ton of real-life cars as well as many licensed songs. It's a pity that it's being removed from sale — especially given Xbox's stated commitment to game preservation and that Forza Horizon 4 was well-received — but unless developers are able to snag licenses for deeply integrated aspects of their games in perpetuity, delisting is a sad inevitability. All the more reason to dive into the excellent sequel, Forza Horizon 5, if you haven't already.

The studio, which is busy working on Fable these days, has also announced that Forza Horizon 4's Festival Playlists are winding down. The last one will commence on July 25 when Series 77 goes live and it will end on August 22. This will be your last chance to earn achievements that are linked to the Festival Playlist. After Series 77 ends, it won't be possible to do anything on the playlist tab, other than to view the festival playlist history. Daily and weekly challenges will still be available, though.

All of the Forza Horizon 4 DLC, including a neat Lego one, has been delisted already, but there's some good news if you bought any of the expansions and you were playing the open-world racing title via Game Pass. If you had an active and fully paid (i.e. not discounted) Xbox Game Pass subscription on June 25 and you had purchased Forza Horizon 4 DLC, you'll receive a token that you can redeem for the base game. Playground notes that it might take a while for your code to hit your Xbox Message Center, but you'll have until June 25, 2026 to redeem it.

There's one other shimmer of light in the darkness here as the game's servers will remain online for the foreseeable future. As such, other than Festival Playlists, Forza Horizon 4 will remain playable as normal, including online multiplayer modes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/forza-horizon-4-will-be-pulled-from-digital-stores-and-game-pass-in-december-134510642.html?src=rss

Toys ‘R’ Us uses OpenAI’s Sora to make a brand film about its origin story and it’s horrifying

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The rise of artificial intelligence in our media and entertainment industries has raised a lot of concerns about programs like Open Al’s text-to-video maker Sora replacing the artistic endeavors and aspirations of humans. If those AI made movies are anything like a new brand film about the Toys 'R' Us toy store chain's origin story, the only thing we’ll have to fear is watching them.

Toys ‘R’ Us’s current owner WHP Global worked with the Emmy nominated creative agency Native Foreign to create a short brand film called The Origin of Toys ‘R’ Us using OpenAI’s text-to-video creator Sora. The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and can currently be viewed on the toy retailer’s website.

The Origin of Toys ‘R’ Us is only a little over a minute long but it’s a mix of confusing and eerie. The film features the young version of the toy store chain’s founder Charles Lazarus coming up with the idea for his signature retail creation and its giraffe mascot Geoffrey but almost the entire thing takes place in some kind of cosmic fever dream. It’s like someone tried to take the hollow behavior of M3GAN, dressed her up like Opie Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show and let it loose in the remnants of a toy store that blew up near the edge of the universe.

In the movie, Mini-Charles is a starry eyed kid hanging out in a bicycle shop owned by his father who looks like a cross between Billy Eichner and John Denver. Little Charlie falls asleep and has a weird dream about some of kind of Dr. Seuss planetarium where every kind of generic toy you can dream of sits on shelves and floats above his head. This magical place is where he meets Geoffrey the giraffe, the store’s iconic mascot, that looks like Sona used a different AI to generate it.

The film leaves out the part where Lazarus wakes up in an emergency room after accidentally doing “all the mushrooms” that caused him to have his retail fever dream.

Sora is a generative AI model that creates “realistic and imaginative scenes from text instructions,” according to the OpenAI website. OpenAI premiered its video generating model in February. Sora can generate videos that are about a minute long from text prompts. It’s not available to the public yet.

The current state of Toys ‘R’ Us isn’t as rosy as its brand film makes it out to be. The toy store chain filed for bankruptcy in 2018 closing all of its stores in one fell swoop. The acquisition firm WHP Global took over the brand’s parent company Tru Kids Inc. in 2021. Two years later, the firm announced plans to expand the toy store brand with new locations in airports and cruise ships starting with a location in Dallas-Fort Worth international Airport and locations of the department store chain Macy’s.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/toys-r-us-uses-openais-sora-to-make-a-brand-film-about-its-origin-story-and-its-horrifying-214730500.html?src=rss

Dead by Daylight’s next survivor is Lara Croft

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Behavior Interactive just announced another Dead by Daylight crossover that brings everyone’s favorite looter/archeologist Lara Croft into the game. The Tomb Raider expansion launches on July 16 and features the younger and grittier version of the character as seen in the newer titles collected in the Tomb Raider: Definitive Survivor Trilogy.

This is technically Croft’s first foray into horror, but she’s definitely no stranger to cold-blooded murder. Throughout the franchise, she’s ended the lives of around 3,000 people. She’s a bigger killer than Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers combined. She even signed up to fight in the Call of Duty franchise. In other words, Croft will be right at home fending off Leatherface, Pinhead and the other horror icons featured in the game.

Dead by Deadlight is currently embroiled in a chapter inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, complete with a murderous Vecna and plenty of new maps. So the addition of a non-horror character like Croft doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. There’s also a Castlevania-inspired chapter coming later in the year, with details to be released in August.

There’s only one problem with this Tomb Raider crossover. The survivors in Dead by Daylight are typically unarmed and, well, Lara Croft loves her pistols, knives and bows. It’ll be weird to control a terrified and unarmed Croft, right? I guess we'll find out on July 16. Also, for those wondering, the devs still haven’t added the long-requested Jason to the lineup of killers.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dead-by-daylights-next-survivor-is-lara-croft-184439686.html?src=rss