theverge--2020-10-17--Microsoft just force restarted my Windows PC again to install more unwanted apps

I stepped away from my computer for dinner , halfway through writing a story for The Verge .
When I got back , I couldn ’ t believe my eyes .
Windows 10 had restarted my computer without permission yet again — to install yet another forced OS update onto my solid state drive .
The craziest part : When my machine finished rebooting , it now contained the exact thing I ’ d been writing about before I was rudely interrupted .
Microsoft had installed unsolicited , unwanted web app versions of Word , PowerPoint , Excel and Outlook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s not as bad as when my entire computer screen got taken over by an unwanted copy of Microsoft Edge .
That was truly egregious .
No , this time Microsoft is merely sneaking unwanted web apps onto my PC — and using my Windows 10 Start Menu as free advertising space .
Did I mention that icons for Microsoft Office apps have magically appeared in my Start Menu , even though I ’ ve never once installed Office on this computer ?
These aren ’ t full free copies of Office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re just shortcuts to the web version you could already access in any web browser of your choice , which double as advertisements to pay for a more fully featured copy .
Because they ’ re web apps , it ’ s not like they take up any space on my computer , and I don ’ t really mind them in my Start Menu .
They ’ re among the least offensive bloatware I ’ ve seen , and I never really look at the Start Menu anyhow — my taskbar and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me .
These web apps are barely an annoyance , but think about the bigger picture Nonetheless , they ’ re the latest proof that Microsoft doesn ’ t respect your ownership of your own PC , the latest example of Microsoft installing anything it likes in a Windows update up to and including bloatware , and the latest example of Microsoft caring more about the bottom line than whether a few people might lose their work when Windows suddenly shuts down their PC .
Luckily , I didn ’ t lose any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mine recently did : Microsoft seems to think our computers are free advertising space , a place where it can selfishly promote its other products — even though they were told roundly in the ‘ 90s that even bundling a web browser was not OK. Now , they ’ re bundling a browser you can ’ t uninstall , and a set of PWA web apps that launch in that same browser .
( Yes , they fire up Edge even if you ’ ve set a different browser as default . )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ decisions like this undermine the one good argument Microsoft actually has for mandatory updates — that they provide important security patches that keep computers ( yours and others ) safe .
That ’ s a harder argument when the most visible difference after a new update is an attempt to make more money !
Like ZDNet veteran Microsoft reporter Mary Jo Foley notes , this isn ’ t just an experiment happening to some Windows Insiders .
I ’ m not signed up with the Windows Insider program on this PC .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Foley ’ s requests for comment yet , but let ’ s see if that changes next week .

I stepped away from my computer for dinner, halfway through writing a story for The Verge. When I got back, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Windows 10 had restarted my computer without permission yet again — to install yet another forced OS update onto my solid state drive.
The craziest part: When my machine finished rebooting, it now contained the exact thing I’d been writing about before I was rudely interrupted. Microsoft had installed unsolicited, unwanted web app versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook onto my computer.
Seriously, the story you’re reading right now started off as a news post about this happening to other people. Screenshot: Sean Hollister/The Verge
OK, it’s not as bad as when my entire computer screen got taken over by an unwanted copy of Microsoft Edge. That was truly egregious.
No, this time Microsoft is merely sneaking unwanted web apps onto my PC — and using my Windows 10 Start Menu as free advertising space. Did I mention that icons for Microsoft Office apps have magically appeared in my Start Menu, even though I’ve never once installed Office on this computer?
My new Start Menu contains shortcuts to Microsoft apps I’ve never installed Screenshot: Sean Hollister/The Verge
These aren’t full free copies of Office, by the way. They’re just shortcuts to the web version you could already access in any web browser of your choice, which double as advertisements to pay for a more fully featured copy.
Because they’re web apps, it’s not like they take up any space on my computer, and I don’t really mind them in my Start Menu. They’re among the least offensive bloatware I’ve seen, and I never really look at the Start Menu anyhow — my taskbar and search bar have long been enough for me.
These web apps are barely an annoyance, but think about the bigger picture
Nonetheless, they’re the latest proof that Microsoft doesn’t respect your ownership of your own PC, the latest example of Microsoft installing anything it likes in a Windows update up to and including bloatware, and the latest example of Microsoft caring more about the bottom line than whether a few people might lose their work when Windows suddenly shuts down their PC. Luckily, I didn’t lose any work today, but a friend of mine recently did:
Microsoft seems to think our computers are free advertising space, a place where it can selfishly promote its other products — even though they were told roundly in the ‘90s that even bundling a web browser was not OK. Now, they’re bundling a browser you can’t uninstall, and a set of PWA web apps that launch in that same browser. (Yes, they fire up Edge even if you’ve set a different browser as default.)
As I’ve argued previously, decisions like this undermine the one good argument Microsoft actually has for mandatory updates — that they provide important security patches that keep computers (yours and others) safe. That’s a harder argument when the most visible difference after a new update is an attempt to make more money!


theverge--2020-10-17--Simone Giertz built a selfie photo booth for her dog out of Legos and it’s perfect

Simone Giertz , the self-described Queen of Shitty Robots , has created a selfie photo booth out of Legos for her dog Scraps and yes it ’ s as cute as it sounds .
It helps that the dog is a VERY GOOD GIRL and extremely photogenic .
Giertz used a Lego Mindstorms kit and Lego bricks ( the video is sponsored by Lego ) to build the little booth , and rigged a pedal , distance sensor and circuit board to connect to a dispenser that drops a treat and snaps a photo whenever the dog presses the pedal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s a little pedal that she can push with her paw , it triggers a camera that triggers a treat dispenser , ” Giertz explains .
“ She gets a treat , I get a photo , everyone ’ s happy.
” She says she got the idea for the dog photo booth when she was trying to teach Scraps to scroll on a phone with her paw and take photos of herself .
Because who among us has not tried to get our dogs to take selfies ?
Giertz is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ robots that rarely do what they ’ re supposed to but which are completely hilarious .
Witness the overzealous lipstick-applying robot , the breakfast machine that gets Cheerios everywhere but into the bowl , the musical instrument made of teeth , and the wake-up machine that features a rubber hand slapping her awake .
In addition to building a very fun robot , Giertz showed off her new workshop in Los Angeles in the video ( with Scraps patiently hanging out and watching ) .
Check out the full video here .

Simone Giertz, the self-described Queen of Shitty Robots, has created a selfie photo booth out of Lego for her dog Scraps and yes it’s as cute as it sounds. It helps that the dog is a VERY GOOD GIRL and extremely photogenic.
Giertz used a Lego Mindstorms kit and Lego bricks (the video is sponsored by Lego) to build the little booth, and rigged a pedal, distance sensor and circuit board to connect to a dispenser that drops a treat and snaps a photo whenever the dog presses the pedal.
“She goes in there, there’s a little pedal that she can push with her paw, it triggers a camera that triggers a treat dispenser,” Giertz explains. “She gets a treat, I get a photo, everyone’s happy.”
She says she got the idea for the dog photo booth when she was trying to teach Scraps to scroll on a phone with her paw and take photos of herself. Because who among us has not tried to get our dogs to take selfies?
Get my good side Simone Giertz and Scraps
Giertz is known for her quirky, mostly useless robots that rarely do what they’re supposed to but which are completely hilarious. Witness the overzealous lipstick-applying robot, the breakfast machine that gets Cheerios everywhere but into the bowl, the musical instrument made of teeth, and the wake-up machine that features a rubber hand slapping her awake.


theverge--2020-10-17--Google says Chinese hackers who targeted Biden campaign are faking McAfee software

Google said in a new blog post that hackers linked to the Chinese government have been impersonating antivirus software McAfee to try to infect victims ’ machines with malware .
And , Google says , the hackers appear to be the same group that unsuccessfully targeted the presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden with a phishing attack earlier this year .
A similar group of hackers based in Iran had tried to target President Trump ’ s campaign , but also was unsuccessful .
The group , which Google refers to as APT 31 ( short for Advanced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to users which would download malware hosted on GitHub , allowing the attacker to upload and download files and execute commands .
Since the group used services like GitHub and Dropbox to carry out the attacks , it made it more difficult to track them .
“ Every malicious piece of this attack was hosted on legitimate services , making it harder for defenders to rely on network signals for detection , ” the head of Google ’ s Threat Analysis Group Shane Huntley wrote in the blog post .
In the McAfee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ email would be prompted to install a legitimate version of McAfee software from GitHub , while at the same time malware was installed without the user being aware .
Huntley noted that whenever Google detects that a user has been the victim of a government-backed attack , it sends them a warning .
The blog post doesn ’ t mention who was affected by APT-31 ’ s latest attacks , but said there had been “ increased attention on the threats posed by APTs in the context of the U.S. election.
” Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Google said in a new blog post that hackers linked to the Chinese government have been impersonating antivirus software McAfee to try to infect victims’ machines with malware. And, Google says, the hackers appear to be the same group that unsuccessfully targeted the presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden with a phishing attack earlier this year. A similar group of hackers based in Iran had tried to target President Trump’s campaign, but also was unsuccessful.
The group, which Google refers to as APT 31 (short for Advanced Persistent Threat), would email links to users which would download malware hosted on GitHub, allowing the attacker to upload and download files and execute commands. Since the group used services like GitHub and Dropbox to carry out the attacks, it made it more difficult to track them.
“Every malicious piece of this attack was hosted on legitimate services, making it harder for defenders to rely on network signals for detection,” the head of Google’s Threat Analysis Group Shane Huntley wrote in the blog post.
Google
In the McAfee impersonation scam, the recipient of the email would be prompted to install a legitimate version of McAfee software from GitHub, while at the same time malware was installed without the user being aware. Huntley noted that whenever Google detects that a user has been the victim of a government-backed attack, it sends them a warning.


theverge--2020-10-17--Facebook reportedly choked traffic for left-leaning news sites including Mother Jones

Facebook designed changes to its news feed algorithm in 2017 to reduce the visibility of left-leaning news sites like Mother Jones on its platform , the Wall Street Journal reported , and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had personally approved the plans .
But Mother Jones editorial director for growth and strategy Ben Dreyfuss wrote that in multiple meetings with Facebook executives in 2017 and 2018 , they reassured him that while traffic might go down , “ not in a way that favored or disfavored any single publication or class of publisher.
” According to the WSJ , some policy executives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pending changes to the news feed algorithm that they thought might have a larger impact on right-leaning news sites like the Daily Wire .
So engineers made changes to the algorithm that would have a bigger impact on traffic to left-leaning sites .
A Facebook spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal “ We did not make changes with the intent of impacting individual publishers.
” In 2019 , Mother Jones editors wrote that the site had seen a sharp decline in its Facebook audience , which translated to a loss of around $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bauerlein tweeted Friday that that decline meant the organization couldn ’ t fill positions or pursue some projects .
She added that she and others at Mother Jones didn ’ t think the site was being specifically targeted : “ one reason this is so enraging is that I ’ ve so long insisted on giving Facebook some benefit of the doubt .
I was convinced we were a random casualty of their broader trajectory , a fly on their windshield .
But it ’ s always , always worse.
” To say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the news business is an understatement .
Its ad business and the constant tweaks to its news feed have had a direct economic impact on the industry , particularly local news .
Its attempts to partner with the journalism industry have for the most part , been spectacular failures ; there was the Google AMP competitor Instant Articles and the huge push for original video that resulted in mass layoffs at digital media companies .
It turned out Facebook had inflated its video metrics .
In 2016 , Facebook was accused of having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in its Trending Topics section , which led to the removal of the section altogether , and opened the door to all kinds of questionable content from disreputable sources .
Mother Jones , an independent nonprofit site founded in 1976 , has led numerous investigations into political corruption , private prisons , and the environment .
In September 2012 , it was Mother Jones that broke the story about Mitt Romney ’ s “ 47 percent ” remarks .
A video showed the GOP presidential nominee speaking at a private fundraiser saying that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama paid no income tax and would support Obama no matter what .
Romney said the people were “ dependent upon government , who believe that they are victims , who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.
” Romney later said his comments were “ completely wrong.
” Facebook didn ’ t immediately reply to a request for comment from The Verge on Saturday .

Facebook designed changes to its news feed algorithm in 2017 to reduce the visibility of left-leaning news sites like Mother Jones on its platform, the Wall Street Journal reported, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had personally approved the plans.
But Mother Jones editorial director for growth and strategy Ben Dreyfuss wrote that in multiple meetings with Facebook executives in 2017 and 2018, they reassured him that while traffic might go down, “not in a way that favored or disfavored any single publication or class of publisher.”
According to the WSJ, some policy executives at Facebook voiced concerns in 2017 about pending changes to the news feed algorithm that they thought might have a larger impact on right-leaning news sites like the Daily Wire. So engineers made changes to the algorithm that would have a bigger impact on traffic to left-leaning sites.
A Facebook spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal “We did not make changes with the intent of impacting individual publishers.”
In 2019, Mother Jones editors wrote that the site had seen a sharp decline in its Facebook audience, which translated to a loss of around $600,000 over 18 months. CEO Monika Bauerlein tweeted Friday that that decline meant the organization couldn’t fill positions or pursue some projects. She added that she and others at Mother Jones didn’t think the site was being specifically targeted: “one reason this is so enraging is that I’ve so long insisted on giving Facebook some benefit of the doubt. I was convinced we were a random casualty of their broader trajectory, a fly on their windshield. But it’s always, always worse.”
To say that Facebook has a strained relationship with the news business is an understatement. Its ad business and the constant tweaks to its news feed have had a direct economic impact on the industry, particularly local news.
Its attempts to partner with the journalism industry have for the most part, been spectacular failures; there was the Google AMP competitor Instant Articles and the huge push for original video that resulted in mass layoffs at digital media companies. It turned out Facebook had inflated its video metrics. In 2016, Facebook was accused of having anti-conservative bias in the articles it promoted in its Trending Topics section, which led to the removal of the section altogether, and opened the door to all kinds of questionable content from disreputable sources.
Mother Jones, an independent nonprofit site founded in 1976, has led numerous investigations into political corruption, private prisons, and the environment. In September 2012, it was Mother Jones that broke the story about Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” remarks. A video showed the GOP presidential nominee speaking at a private fundraiser saying that 47 percent of people who supported President Obama paid no income tax and would support Obama no matter what. Romney said the people were “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.” Romney later said his comments were “completely wrong.”


theverge--2020-10-18--Google Assistant Driving Mode appears to be coming to Android at last

The Google Assistant Driving mode that the company first announced in 2019 has started appearing on some Android devices , XDA-Developers reported .
The UI looks somewhat different from what Google showed at its I/O developers conference last year .
XDA says it first noticed something was coming about two weeks ago , when users reported seeing a new navigation interface in Google Maps .
It ’ s not clear whether the rollout of this new mode is part of a test or will be coming for all users .
Mishaal Rahman at XDA said he saw the new driving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an Asus ZenFone 7 Pro , and an LG Velvet , and he surmises that the new mode will replace the Android Auto app on smartphones .
That seems consistent with what Google told The Verge last year .
Whether the new mode will include all the features Google described when it first unveiled the driving mode also isn ’ t yet clear .
It was meant to be available on any Android phone with Assistant , using a “ Hey Google , let ’ s drive ” voice prompt that would bring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other personalized recommendations .
And it would provide infotainment features to drivers whose vehicles aren ’ t equipped with touchscreen displays .
The voice prompt doesn ’ t appear to work yet even on devices enabled with the new mode , according to Android Police .
To see if your device has Assistant Driving Mode , open Google Maps and from the navigation settings menu , and select “ Google Assistant settings.
” If it ’ s not enabled , you ’ ll be taken to the main Assistant settings section .
Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ request for more information Sunday .

The Google Assistant Driving mode that the company first announced in 2019 has started appearing on some Android devices, XDA-Developers reported. The UI looks somewhat different from what Google showed at its I/O developers conference last year. XDA says it first noticed something was coming about two weeks ago, when users reported seeing a new navigation interface in Google Maps.
It’s not clear whether the rollout of this new mode is part of a test or will be coming for all users. Mishaal Rahman at XDA said he saw the new driving mode on a Google Pixel 4, an Asus ZenFone 7 Pro, and an LG Velvet, and he surmises that the new mode will replace the Android Auto app on smartphones. That seems consistent with what Google told The Verge last year.
Whether the new mode will include all the features Google described when it first unveiled the driving mode also isn’t yet clear. It was meant to be available on any Android phone with Assistant, using a “Hey Google, let’s drive” voice prompt that would bring up a dashboard with driving-relevant activities and other personalized recommendations. And it would provide infotainment features to drivers whose vehicles aren’t equipped with touchscreen displays.
The voice prompt doesn’t appear to work yet even on devices enabled with the new mode, according to Android Police. To see if your device has Assistant Driving Mode, open Google Maps and from the navigation settings menu, and select “Google Assistant settings.” If it’s not enabled, you’ll be taken to the main Assistant settings section.
A Google spokesperson didn’t respond to questions seeking more information about driving mode, but wrote in an email to The Verge Sunday: “We’re constantly experimenting with ways to make Assistant more helpful.”


theverge--2020-10-17--Simone Giertz built a selfie photo booth for her dog out of Lego and it’s perfect

Simone Giertz , the self-described Queen of Shitty Robots , has created a selfie photo booth out of Lego for her dog Scraps and yes it ’ s as cute as it sounds .
It helps that the dog is a VERY GOOD GIRL and extremely photogenic .
Giertz used a Lego Mindstorms kit and Lego bricks ( the video is sponsored by Lego ) to build the little booth , and rigged a pedal , distance sensor and circuit board to connect to a dispenser that drops a treat and snaps a photo whenever the dog presses the pedal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s a little pedal that she can push with her paw , it triggers a camera that triggers a treat dispenser , ” Giertz explains .
“ She gets a treat , I get a photo , everyone ’ s happy.
” She says she got the idea for the dog photo booth when she was trying to teach Scraps to scroll on a phone with her paw and take photos of herself .
Because who among us has not tried to get our dogs to take selfies ?
Giertz is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ robots that rarely do what they ’ re supposed to but which are completely hilarious .
Witness the overzealous lipstick-applying robot , the breakfast machine that gets Cheerios everywhere but into the bowl , the musical instrument made of teeth , and the wake-up machine that features a rubber hand slapping her awake .
In addition to building a very fun robot , Giertz showed off her new workshop in Los Angeles in the video ( with Scraps patiently hanging out and watching ) .
Check out the full video here .


theverge--2020-10-18--Google kills off app that let you check in on loved ones during an emergency

Google will discontinue its emergency location sharing app Trusted Contacts in December , and has already yanked it from the Google Play Store .
Instead , it ’ s directing existing users to try similar but less helpful features in Google Maps .
That ’ s a shame , because while Trusted Contacts could let you find a family member even if they don ’ t respond ( say , if they are unconscious or in danger ) , Google Maps requires them to proactively broadcast their location to you .
The announcement was quite abrupt : Google Maps has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sharing since 2017 , but again , you have to opt-in to constant tracking , sharing your location with other people all the time instead of only broadcasting it to loved ones if you don ’ t respond .
Trusted Contacts , by comparison , allows you to add people to your contacts who you ’ d like to instantly share your locations with in case of emergency .
If one arises , your contacts can request a status update to see if you ’ re alright and you can respond with your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t respond , the app automatically shares your last known location so they can send for help .
When Google originally launched Trusted Contacts , it created this GIF to show how it works : Folding other apps and features into Google Maps has been Google ’ s strategy for a while , but the Maps feature doesn ’ t feel quite as valuable .
And while it ’ s possible the Trusted Contacts app didn ’ t have a lot of users , those who were counting on it will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is ending support for the app in December , but you ’ ll be able to download your contacts from your Trusted Contacts page until the app is shut down .
Until then , you might as well get familiar with Google Maps ’ take on location sharing .

Google will discontinue its emergency location sharing app Trusted Contacts in December, and has already yanked it from the Google Play Store. Instead, it’s directing existing users to try similar but less helpful features in Google Maps. That’s a shame, because while Trusted Contacts could let you find a family member even if they don’t respond (say, if they are unconscious or in danger), Google Maps requires them to proactively broadcast their location to you.
The announcement was quite abrupt:
Google’s email announcement Ian Carlos Campbell
Google Maps has been able to do real time location sharing since 2017, but again, you have to opt-in to constant tracking, sharing your location with other people all the time instead of only broadcasting it to loved ones if you don’t respond. Trusted Contacts, by comparison, allows you to add people to your contacts who you’d like to instantly share your locations with in case of emergency. If one arises, your contacts can request a status update to see if you’re alright and you can respond with your location to reassure them. If you don’t respond, the app automatically shares your last known location so they can send for help.
When Google originally launched Trusted Contacts, it created this GIF to show how it works:
Folding other apps and features into Google Maps has been Google’s strategy for a while, but the Maps feature doesn’t feel quite as valuable. And while it’s possible the Trusted Contacts app didn’t have a lot of users, those who were counting on it will need to find something else.


theverge--2020-10-18--New Trailers: His Dark Materials, Fireball, Uncle Frank, and more

I finally got around to watching The West Wing reunion special and even though I was an ardent fan of the original show , I came away feeling a little frustrated .
Let ’ s get this out of the way first : it was amazing seeing the super talented cast slip back into these roles so easily— Martin Sheen was born to play Jed Bartlet , Allison Janney is still wonderful as CJ Cregg , and Richard Schiff is perfect as grouchy White House conscience Toby Ziegler .
Sterling K. Brown had the unenviable task of playing Leo McGarry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and he pulled it off beautifully .
Also : Does Rob Lowe age , ever ?
Same question for Janel Moloney , tbh .
But if the goal of this special performance was to encourage young people to vote , I ’ m afraid it may have missed the mark .
The cut-ins with “ why you should vote ” messages from special guests like President Bill Clinton , cast member Elisabeth Moss , and Lin-Manuel Miranda ranged from preachy to awkward .
Showing an encore performance of an episode of TV @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a relatively new paid channel like HBO Max doesn ’ t seem like the best way to reach young or first-time voters .
The audience was likely made up of olds like me who loved the original show , and let ’ s face it : most people tuning to an Aaron Sorkin political drama have already decided who they ’ re voting for .
I hope we ’ ll see a release of The West Wing reunion show to a broader audience .
Let Bartlet be Bartlet !
This week ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Empty Man , Season 2 of His Dark Materials , the Werner Herzog documentary Fireball and a new peek at The Mandalorian .
A documentary about meteorites and how they ’ ve affected human civilization— sure , why not ?
Directed by Werner Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer , Fireball includes interviews with scientists , religious leaders , and scenes from apocalyptic feature films like Deep Impact ( interesting choice , but I trust Werzog knows what he ’ s doing ) .
Fireball arrives on Apple TV Plus November 13th .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the Deep South in the 1970s returns home with his adoring niece and devoted partner to mourn the death of his father .
It boasts an all-star cast , and is directed by Alan Ball , American Beauty writer and creator of Six Feet Under .
Yes , that ’ s Paul Bettany as Frank ; I didn ’ t recognize him at first watch .
Margo Martindale , Judy Greer , Stephen Root , Steve Zahn , Sophia Lillis , and Peter Macdissi star .
Uncle Frank debuts on Amazon Prime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teenagers unwittingly unleashes some kind of evil force by chanting his name— stop me if you ’ ve heard this before ( also you could make a drinking game of how often the words “ the empty man ” are whispered in scary voices throughout the trailer ) .
James Badge Dale stars in this adaptation of The Empty Man comic series .
The Empty Man will be in theaters ( yes , really ) October 23rd .
This is the second season of the series adapted from Philip Pullman ’ s young @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and her daemon Pan who face off against a powerful religious group in an alternate universe .
Dafne Keen , James McAvoy , Ruth Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda star .
It hits HBO Max November 16th .
This second teaser trailer opens with Moff Gideon ( Giancarlo Esposito ) saying “ You have something I want , ” and ramps up from there : TIE fighters !
Jet packs !
Stormtroopers !
Baby Yoda !
The second season of the wildly popular show premieres on Disney Plus October 30th .

I finally got around to watching The West Wing reunion special and even though I was an ardent fan of the original show, I came away feeling a little frustrated. Let’s get this out of the way first: it was amazing seeing the super talented cast slip back into these roles so easily— Martin Sheen was born to play Jed Bartlet, Allison Janney is still wonderful as CJ Cregg, and Richard Schiff is perfect as grouchy White House conscience Toby Ziegler. Sterling K. Brown had the unenviable task of playing Leo McGarry in place of the late John Spencer, and he pulled it off beautifully. Also: Does Rob Lowe age, ever? Same question for Janel Moloney, tbh.
But if the goal of this special performance was to encourage young people to vote, I’m afraid it may have missed the mark. The cut-ins with “why you should vote” messages from special guests like President Bill Clinton, cast member Elisabeth Moss, and Lin-Manuel Miranda ranged from preachy to awkward. Showing an encore performance of an episode of TV that first aired almost 20 years ago on a relatively new paid channel like HBO Max doesn’t seem like the best way to reach young or first-time voters. The audience was likely made up of olds like me who loved the original show, and let’s face it: most people tuning to an Aaron Sorkin political drama have already decided who they’re voting for.
I hope we’ll see a release of The West Wing reunion show to a broader audience. Let Bartlet be Bartlet!
This week’s trailer lineup includes Uncle Frank, The Empty Man, Season 2 of His Dark Materials, the Werner Herzog documentary Fireball and a new peek at The Mandalorian.
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
A documentary about meteorites and how they’ve affected human civilization— sure, why not? Directed by Werner Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, Fireball includes interviews with scientists, religious leaders, and scenes from apocalyptic feature films like Deep Impact (interesting choice, but I trust Werzog knows what he’s doing). Fireball arrives on Apple TV Plus November 13th.
Uncle Frank
A gay man ostracized by his family in the Deep South in the 1970s returns home with his adoring niece and devoted partner to mourn the death of his father. It boasts an all-star cast, and is directed by Alan Ball, American Beauty writer and creator of Six Feet Under. Yes, that’s Paul Bettany as Frank; I didn’t recognize him at first watch. Margo Martindale, Judy Greer, Stephen Root, Steve Zahn, Sophia Lillis, and Peter Macdissi star. Uncle Frank debuts on Amazon Prime video November 25th.
The Empty Man
A group of teenagers unwittingly unleashes some kind of evil force by chanting his name— stop me if you’ve heard this before (also you could make a drinking game of how often the words “the empty man” are whispered in scary voices throughout the trailer). James Badge Dale stars in this adaptation of The Empty Man comic series. The Empty Man will be in theaters (yes, really) October 23rd.
His Dark Materials Season 2
This is the second season of the series adapted from Philip Pullman’s young adult fantasy series about orphan Lyra Belaqua and her daemon Pan who face off against a powerful religious group in an alternate universe. Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda star. It hits HBO Max November 16th.
The Mandalorian


theverge--2020-10-18--Samsung will reportedly debut its next Galaxy S phones in January 2021

Samsung ’ s next flagship phone could arrive in January 2021 , Android Central reported .
And new leaked renders show the camera bump of the Galaxy S20 will also feature in the forthcoming Galaxy S30 ( or S21 ; the name isn ’ t official yet ) .
According to reliable leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer ( aka @ OnLeaks ) , the Galaxy S30 standard model will have a 6.2-inch flat screen with a hole-punch front-facing camera .
The S30 Ultra shows a larger , curved screen measuring between 6.7 and 6.9 inches .
The leaks don ’ t provide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , however .
Android Central says three new Galaxy S models are expected in the January release , a standard , a Plus , and an Ultra .
The Ultra model will have an S-Pen stylus , Hemmerstoffer says , but there doesn ’ t appear to be a dedicated slot for the pen .
The camera bump on the Ultra looks to be twice as large as the standard model and may have up to four lenses , according to Hemmerstoffer ; he surmises that will include wide and ultra-wide lenses plus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flash on the Ultra will be housed within the bump .
If the new Galaxy S models do launch in January , that would be weeks ahead of Samsung ’ s traditional late-February timeframe .
And , as Android Central points , out , it would be the closest Samsung has timed the release of a new Galaxy S phone to a new iPhone release— the iPhone 12 models will be released later this month and early next .

Samsung’s next flagship phone could arrive in January 2021, Android Central reported. And new leaked renders show the camera bump of the Galaxy S20 will also feature in the forthcoming Galaxy S30 (or S21; the name isn’t official yet).
According to reliable leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka @OnLeaks), the Galaxy S30 standard model will have a 6.2-inch flat screen with a hole-punch front-facing camera. The S30 Ultra shows a larger, curved screen measuring between 6.7 and 6.9 inches. The leaks don’t provide detail about the phones’ internal specs, however.
Render of the supposed Galaxy S21 / Galaxy S30. Steve Hemmerstoffer
Android Central says three new Galaxy S models are expected in the January release, a standard, a Plus, and an Ultra. The Ultra model will have an S-Pen stylus, Hemmerstoffer says, but there doesn’t appear to be a dedicated slot for the pen. The camera bump on the Ultra looks to be twice as large as the standard model and may have up to four lenses, according to Hemmerstoffer; he surmises that will include wide and ultra-wide lenses plus a telephoto or periscope lens. The flash on the Ultra will be housed within the bump.
Render of the supposed Galaxy S21 Ultra / S30 UItra. Steve Hemmerstoffer


theverge--2020-10-18--Facebook VP says the platform rejected more than 2 million ads for trying to obstruct voting

Facebook vice president for global affairs Nick Clegg said the company has rejected 2.2 million ads across Facebook and Instagram because the ads were trying to “ obstruct voting ” in the upcoming US presidential election , Agence France-Presse reported .
The social media giant also has withdrawn 120,000 posts and placed warnings on 150 million posts for the same reasons , Clegg added .
Clegg made the remarks in an interview with the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche .
He said Facebook has used artificial intelligence that “ made it possible to delete billions of posts and fake accounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ users ” and noted that the company has partnered with 70 media outlets , including five in France , to verify information .
Facebook introduced that fact-checking program in the aftermath of the 2016 elections , and added it to Instagram last year .
The program has since expanded to include Facebook groups , where misinformation is frequently shared .
The fact-checking program has had mixed results , however , with early partners Snopes and ABC leaving the partnership .
And a report in the Wall Street Journal last week demonstrated how far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conservatives who frequently complain about perceived bias in its algorithm .
According to the WSJ , Facebook designed changes to its news feed algorithm in 2017 to reduce the visibility of content from left-leaning news sites like Mother Jones on its platform , with CEO Mark Zuckerberg ’ s approval .
Facebook has taken other steps to try to mitigate potential chaos on November 3rd and afterward .
The platform will ban ads that wrongly claim victory in the US presidential race , or ads that claim rampant voter fraud could alter the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will reject ads from Donald Trump or Joe Biden if either tries to claim a win prematurely .
And it ’ s banned new political ads the week before the election .

Facebook rejected 2.2 million ad submissions for targeting the US without completing its authorization process, Agence France-Presse reported. The social media giant also has removed 120,000 posts across Facebook and Instagram for violating its voter interference policies and placed warnings on 150 million posts debunked by fact-checkers.
Facebook vice president for global affairs Nick Clegg made the remarks in an interview with the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche. He said Facebook has used artificial intelligence that “made it possible to delete billions of posts and fake accounts, even before they are reported by users” and noted that the company has partnered with 70 media outlets, including five in France, to verify information.
And a report in the Wall Street Journal last week demonstrated how far Facebook has gone to try to appease conservatives who frequently complain about perceived bias in its algorithm. According to the WSJ, Facebook designed changes to its news feed algorithm in 2017 to reduce the visibility of content from left-leaning news sites like Mother Jones on its platform, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s approval.
Facebook has taken other steps to try to mitigate potential chaos on November 3rd and afterward. The platform will ban ads that wrongly claim victory in the US presidential race, or ads that claim rampant voter fraud could alter the results of the election. Facebook also will reject ads from Donald Trump or Joe Biden if either tries to claim a win prematurely. And it’s banned new political ads the week before the election.


theverge--2020-10-19--The ambitious effort to piece together America’s fragmented health data

From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic , epidemiologist Melissa Haendel knew that the United States was going to have a data problem .
There didn ’ t seem to be a national strategy to control the virus , and cases were springing up in sporadic hotspots around the country .
With such a patchwork response , nationwide information about the people who got sick would probably be hard to come by .
Other researchers around the country were pinpointing similar problems .
In Seattle , Adam Wilcox , the chief analytics officer at UW Medicine , was reaching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first US COVID-19 hotspot .
“ We had 10 times the data , in terms of just raw testing , than other areas , ” he says .
He wanted to share that data with other hospitals , so they would have that information on hand before COVID-19 cases started to climb in their area .
Everyone wanted to get as much data as possible in the hands of as many people as possible , so they could start to understand the virus .
Everyone wanted to get as much data as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people as possible Haendel was in a good position to help make that happen .
She ’ s the chair of the National Center for Data to Health ( CD2H ) , a National Institutes of Health program that works to improve collaboration and data sharing within the medical research community .
So one week in March , just after she ’ d started working from home and pulled her 10th grader out of school , she started trying to figure out how to use existing data-sharing projects to help fight this new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ landed on sounds simple : a centralized , anonymous database of health records from people who tested positive for COVID-19 .
Researchers could use the data to figure out why some people get very sick and others don ’ t , how conditions like cancer and asthma interact with the disease , and which treatments end up being effective .
But in the United States , building that type of resource isn ’ t easy .
“ The US healthcare system is very fragmented , ” Haendel says .
“ And because we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it also the case that we have no centralized healthcare data.
” Hospitals , citing privacy concerns , don ’ t like to give out their patients ’ health data .
Even if hospitals agree to share , they all use different ways of storing information .
At one institution , the classification “ female ” could go into a record as one , and “ male ” could go in as two — and at the next , they ’ d be reversed .
“ The US healthcare system is very fragmented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way of busting through norms .
“ Nothing like a pandemic to bring out the best in an institution , ” Haendel says .
And after only a few months of breakneck work from CD2H and collaborators around the country , the National COVID Cohort Collaborative Data Enclave , or N3C , opened to researchers at the start of September .
Now that it ’ s in place , it could help bolster pandemic responses in the future .
It ’ s unique from anything that ’ s come before it , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ No other resource has ever tried to do this before.
” Patient health records are fairly accessible to scientists — under health privacy laws , the records can be used for research as long as identifying information ( like names and locations ) are removed .
The catch is that researchers are usually limited to records of patients at the places that they work .
The dataset can only include as many patients as that institution treats , and it ’ s geographically restricted .
Researchers can ’ t be sure that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be equivalent to patient data in Alabama .
Using information from multiple places would help make sure the results were as representative as possible .
But it can be risky for institutions to share and combine their data , Wilcox says .
Moving data outside of the control of an organization risks a data breach , which could lead to patient mistrust , open the institution up to legal issues , or create other competitive disadvantages , he says .
They need to balance all those concerns against the potential benefits .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Is this a good idea ?
Do we want to participate in it ?
” Wilcox says .
Institutions often answer those questions with a “ no.
” They want to maintain ownership and control over their own data , says Anita Walden , assistant director at CD2H .
The pandemic changed that culture .
People who may typically be reluctant to participate in programs like this one were suddenly all-in , she says .
“ Because of COVID-19 , people just want to do what they can.
” “ people just want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ institutions to send in their data was only the first step .
Next , experts had to transform that data into something useful .
Medical institutions all collect and record health information in slightly different ways , and there haven ’ t been incentives for them to standardize their methods .
Many institutions spent hundreds of millions of dollars to set up their electronic medical records — they don ’ t want to change things unless they absolutely have to .
“ It ’ s like turning the Titanic at this point , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the team at N3C merging different institutions ’ data .
The companies that make the software for electronic health records , like Epic , also don ’ t make their strategies for storing data available to outside researchers .
“ If you want to practice open science with clinical data , which I think many of us do , you ’ re not going to be able to do that with the data formatted in the way that the electronic health record does it , ” she says .
“ You have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United Kingdom , which have centralized health care systems , don ’ t have to deal with the same problems : data from every patient in the country ’ s National Health Service is already in one place .
In May , researchers published a study that analyzed records from over 17 million people to find risk factors for death from COVID-19 .
But in the US , for N3C , it ’ s not as simple .
Instead of a COVID-19 patient ’ s data heading directly into a national database , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Let ’ s say a pregnant woman goes to her doctor with symptoms of what she thinks could be COVID-19 .
She gets tested , and the test comes back positive .
That result shows up in her health record .
If her health care provider is participating in the N3C database , that record gets flagged .
“ Then her health record has a chance to get caught by our net , because what our net is looking for , among other things , is a positive COVID test , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is looking for , among other things , is a positive COVID test ” Her data then travels into a database , where a program ( which had to be created from scratch ) transforms information about the patient ’ s treatments and preexisting conditions into a standardized format .
Then , it ’ ll get pushed into the N3C data enclave , undergo a quality check , and then — without her name or the name of the institution the record came from — be available for researchers .
Nearly 70 institutions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the enclave .
Data from 20 sites has passed through the full process , and data is accessible to researchers .
At the end of September , the database held around 65,000 COVID-19 cases , Pfaff says , and around 650,000 non-COVID-19 cases ( which can be used as controls ) .
There ’ s no specific numerical goal , she says .
“ We would take as many as possible.
” As some experts were working to get medical institutions on board with the project and others were figuring out how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still others were organizing to figure out what , exactly , they wanted to do with the resulting information .
They sorted into a handful of working groups , each focused on a different area : there ’ s one focused on the intersection of diabetes and COVID-19 , for example , and another on kidney injuries .
Elaine Hill , a health economist at the University of Rochester , is heading up a group focused on pregnancy and COVID-19 .
The first thing they ’ re hoping to do , she says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people had the virus when they gave birth — only a few hospitals have published that data so far .
“ Then , we ’ re interested in understanding how COVID-19 infection affects pregnancy-related outcomes for both mother and baby , ” she says .
Thanks to the database , they ’ ll be able to do that with nationwide information , not just data from patients in a handful of places .
That wide view of the problem is one key benefit of a large , national database .
Different places across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , different regulations around lockdowns , and have different demographics .
Combining them gives a more complete picture of how the virus hit the country .
“ It makes it possible to shed light on things we wouldn ’ t be able to with just my Rochester cohort , ” Hill says .
Some symptoms or complications from COVID-19 are also rare , and one hospital might only see one or two total patients who have them .
“ When you ’ re gathering data across the nation , you have a bigger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in those rarer conditions , ” Walden says .
Larger datasets can make it possible for analysts to use more complicated machine learning techniques , as well .
the project could offer a blueprint for better data sharing in the future If all goes well with N3C , the project could offer a blueprint for better data sharing in the future .
More than that , it can offer a concrete tool to future projects — the code needed to clean , transform , and merge data from multiple hospitals now exists .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s building pandemic-ready infrastructure for the future , ” Pfaff says .
And now that research institutions have shared data once — even though it ’ s under unique circumstances — they may be more willing to do it again in the future .
“ Five years from now , the greatest value of this data set won ’ t be the data , ” Wilcox says .
“ It ’ ll have been the methods that we learned trying to get it working .
”

From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, epidemiologist Melissa Haendel knew that the United States was going to have a data problem. There didn’t seem to be a national strategy to control the virus, and cases were springing up in sporadic hotspots around the country. With such a patchwork response, nationwide information about the people who got sick would probably be hard to come by.
Other researchers around the country were pinpointing similar problems. In Seattle, Adam Wilcox, the chief analytics officer at UW Medicine, was reaching out to colleagues. The city was the first US COVID-19 hotspot. “We had 10 times the data, in terms of just raw testing, than other areas,” he says. He wanted to share that data with other hospitals, so they would have that information on hand before COVID-19 cases started to climb in their area. Everyone wanted to get as much data as possible in the hands of as many people as possible, so they could start to understand the virus.
Everyone wanted to get as much data as possible in the hands of as many people as possible
Haendel was in a good position to help make that happen. She’s the chair of the National Center for Data to Health (CD2H), a National Institutes of Health program that works to improve collaboration and data sharing within the medical research community. So one week in March, just after she’d started working from home and pulled her 10th grader out of school, she started trying to figure out how to use existing data-sharing projects to help fight this new disease.
The solution Haendel and CD2H landed on sounds simple: a centralized, anonymous database of health records from people who tested positive for COVID-19. Researchers could use the data to figure out why some people get very sick and others don’t, how conditions like cancer and asthma interact with the disease, and which treatments end up being effective.
But in the United States, building that type of resource isn’t easy. “The US healthcare system is very fragmented,” Haendel says. “And because we have no centralized healthcare, that makes it also the case that we have no centralized healthcare data.” Hospitals, citing privacy concerns, don’t like to give out their patients’ health data. Even if hospitals agree to share, they all use different ways of storing information. At one institution, the classification “female” could go into a record as one, and “male” could go in as two — and at the next, they’d be reversed.
“The US healthcare system is very fragmented”
Emergencies, though, have a way of busting through norms. “Nothing like a pandemic to bring out the best in an institution,” Haendel says. And after only a few months of breakneck work from CD2H and collaborators around the country, the National COVID Cohort Collaborative Data Enclave, or N3C, opened to researchers at the start of September. Now that it’s in place, it could help bolster pandemic responses in the future. It’s unique from anything that’s come before it, in size and scope, Haendel says. “No other resource has ever tried to do this before.”
Institutional silos
Patient health records are fairly accessible to scientists — under health privacy laws, the records can be used for research as long as identifying information (like names and locations) are removed. The catch is that researchers are usually limited to records of patients at the places that they work. The dataset can only include as many patients as that institution treats, and it’s geographically restricted. Researchers can’t be sure that patient data in New York City would be equivalent to patient data in Alabama. Using information from multiple places would help make sure the results were as representative as possible.
But it can be risky for institutions to share and combine their data, Wilcox says. Moving data outside of the control of an organization risks a data breach, which could lead to patient mistrust, open the institution up to legal issues, or create other competitive disadvantages, he says. They need to balance all those concerns against the potential benefits. “The organization needs to approve it. Is this a good idea? Do we want to participate in it?” Wilcox says.
Institutions often answer those questions with a “no.” They want to maintain ownership and control over their own data, says Anita Walden, assistant director at CD2H. The pandemic changed that culture. People who may typically be reluctant to participate in programs like this one were suddenly all-in, she says. “Because of COVID-19, people just want to do what they can.”
“people just want to do what they can”
Getting institutions to send in their data was only the first step. Next, experts had to transform that data into something useful. Medical institutions all collect and record health information in slightly different ways, and there haven’t been incentives for them to standardize their methods. Many institutions spent hundreds of millions of dollars to set up their electronic medical records — they don’t want to change things unless they absolutely have to.
“It’s like turning the Titanic at this point,” says Emily Pfaff, who leads the team at N3C merging different institutions’ data. The companies that make the software for electronic health records, like Epic, also don’t make their strategies for storing data available to outside researchers. “If you want to practice open science with clinical data, which I think many of us do, you’re not going to be able to do that with the data formatted in the way that the electronic health record does it,” she says. “You have to transform that data.”
Countries like the United Kingdom, which have centralized health care systems, don’t have to deal with the same problems: data from every patient in the country’s National Health Service is already in one place. In May, researchers published a study that analyzed records from over 17 million people to find risk factors for death from COVID-19.
But in the US, for N3C, it’s not as simple. Instead of a COVID-19 patient’s data heading directly into a national database, the new process is far more involved. Let’s say a pregnant woman goes to her doctor with symptoms of what she thinks could be COVID-19. She gets tested, and the test comes back positive. That result shows up in her health record. If her health care provider is participating in the N3C database, that record gets flagged. “Then her health record has a chance to get caught by our net, because what our net is looking for, among other things, is a positive COVID test,” Pfaff says.
“what our net is looking for, among other things, is a positive COVID test”
Her data then travels into a database, where a program (which had to be created from scratch) transforms information about the patient’s treatments and preexisting conditions into a standardized format. Then, it’ll get pushed into the N3C data enclave, undergo a quality check, and then — without her name or the name of the institution the record came from — be available for researchers.
Nearly 70 institutions have started the process to contribute data to the enclave. Data from 20 sites has passed through the full process, and data is accessible to researchers. At the end of September, the database held around 65,000 COVID-19 cases, Pfaff says, and around 650,000 non-COVID-19 cases (which can be used as controls). There’s no specific numerical goal, she says. “We would take as many as possible.”
Using the data
As some experts were working to get medical institutions on board with the project and others were figuring out how to harmonize a crush of data, still others were organizing to figure out what, exactly, they wanted to do with the resulting information. They sorted into a handful of working groups, each focused on a different area: there’s one focused on the intersection of diabetes and COVID-19, for example, and another on kidney injuries.
Elaine Hill, a health economist at the University of Rochester, is heading up a group focused on pregnancy and COVID-19. The first thing they’re hoping to do, she says, is figure out just how many people had the virus when they gave birth — only a few hospitals have published that data so far. “Then, we’re interested in understanding how COVID-19 infection affects pregnancy-related outcomes for both mother and baby,” she says. Thanks to the database, they’ll be able to do that with nationwide information, not just data from patients in a handful of places.
That wide view of the problem is one key benefit of a large, national database. Different places across the US had different COVID-19 prevention policies, different regulations around lockdowns, and have different demographics. Combining them gives a more complete picture of how the virus hit the country. “It makes it possible to shed light on things we wouldn’t be able to with just my Rochester cohort,” Hill says.
Some symptoms or complications from COVID-19 are also rare, and one hospital might only see one or two total patients who have them. “When you’re gathering data across the nation, you have a bigger population, and can look at trends in those rarer conditions,” Walden says. Larger datasets can make it possible for analysts to use more complicated machine learning techniques, as well.
the project could offer a blueprint for better data sharing in the future
If all goes well with N3C, the project could offer a blueprint for better data sharing in the future. More than that, it can offer a concrete tool to future projects — the code needed to clean, transform, and merge data from multiple hospitals now exists. “I almost feel like it’s building pandemic-ready infrastructure for the future,” Pfaff says. And now that research institutions have shared data once — even though it’s under unique circumstances — they may be more willing to do it again in the future.


theverge--2020-10-19--Amnesia: Rebirth is an elegant sequel to a horror classic

When is a society — or a life — past saving ?
The reassuring answer is never .
But Amnesia : Rebirth , the latest game from Swedish studio Frictional , isn ’ t designed to be reassuring .
Rebirth is a successor to Amnesia : The Dark Descent , a 2010 horror classic defined by its shameless jump scares ; grotesque monsters ; and chilling story about guilt , cruelty , and memory .
Frictional has gone back to Amnesia a couple of times .
First with a short 2011 add-on called Justine , and again by publishing Amnesia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ separate game developed by The Chinese Room .
But Rebirth , which will be released tomorrow , is the first new , full-length game in the series .
Amnesia : Rebirth has an immediately familiar cadence .
Like The Dark Descent , it ’ s a game that torments players by delivering stretches of tense , dread-inducing exploration ; frantic chases ; and moments of revelation before they ’ re pushed back into the dark .
For me , it was a nine-hour-long cycle of dread , panic , and recovery , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all but explicitly referenced in the plot .
But Rebirth tweaks the original game ’ s design and themes in compelling ways .
An endless cycle of dread , panic , and recovery Rebirth is an oblique sequel to The Dark Descent .
It uses the same first-person design and gives players the deliberately awkward point-and-click interface that Frictional has used for over a decade .
It also has narrative links to the first game .
But it ’ s set in 1937 , several decades after the original , and it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Anastasie “ Tasi ” Trianon , a French draftswoman joining an archaeological expedition to Algeria .
After surviving a desert plane crash , Tasi wakes among the wreckage with gaps in her memory , a mysterious amulet around her wrist , and a trail of notes that her husband Sahim has left to mark a path .
Like The Dark Descent , Rebirth sends players to retrace a story that its protagonist has forgotten at least partly to save their own sanity .
The game is less lonely and quiet than Frictional ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into almost entirely abandoned worlds .
But it ’ s still an emphatically isolating experience .
The setting of Rebirth feels awe-inspiring in a way that The Dark Descent ’ s setting didn ’ t allow — not just horrifying or hostile , but grand and strangely beautiful .
Its chapters shift between desert sandscapes , underground ruins , and , in one of the game ’ s rare nods to its period setting , a French colonial outpost .
It also spends a lot of time in a different world altogether , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Though Amnesia is often described as Lovecraftian , Rebirth owes as much to the eerie , decaying grandeur evoked by Lovecraft ’ s weird fiction contemporary William Hope Hodgson , author of foundational dying Earth novel The Night Land .
It ’ s a story not about an individual monster — although you ’ ll meet plenty of them — but about an entire civilization that ’ s made itself monstrous by accepting pain as the price of normalcy .
The game ’ s story delves into places and concepts that the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mostly makes them creepier than they originally sounded .
Frictional ’ s last project Soma downplayed puzzles and other mechanical elements , even offering a feature that removed its monsters .
Rebirth swings back toward an earlier , more explicitly game-like style .
Its puzzles are simpler and a bit more organic than those of the first game , designed to get players poking around the edges of a level trying to figure out what they ’ re supposed to do .
But they still follow recognizable point-and-click adventure conventions .
There ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Descent ’ s trademark sanity meter , which drains in darkness and messes with players ’ perception when it ’ s low but can be boosted by lighting candles or using a lantern with limited power .
Amnesia ’ s horror has always been a complex sleight of hand , as the games evoke a palpable threat of failure without actually stalling or frustrating players too badly .
In The Dark Descent , this meant that sanity slippage was ultimately cosmetic — it produced creepy visual effects but , except in a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ launch , it couldn ’ t permanently damage you .
Without revealing too much detail , this is not true in Rebirth .
Its oppressive darkness is tangibly dangerous , and rationing matches and oil — a system that felt a little perfunctory in The Dark Descent — is a far more satisfying part of the game .
Meanwhile , instead of giving players a game-over screen , Rebirth ( sort of ) lets you fail forward if you die but at a subtle narrative cost .
The whole system is framed around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ sanity , ” and it ’ s become more elegant and interesting with the change .
There ’ s even a Death Stranding-esque mechanic that I can ’ t describe without spoiling a major plot element , but that works surprisingly well .
Rebirth ’ s story doesn ’ t require knowing anything about The Dark Descent , and it might actually be more compelling to discover certain elements for the first time .
But — to be somewhat vague — the series cleverly recontextualizes its original protagonist ’ s greatest enemy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ morality of gods Frictional has a long-standing fascination with humanity ’ s moral relationship to godlike beings .
Its early , deeply underrated Penumbra series is about an ancient civilization ( known as the Tuurngait ) that prizes extraordinary mercy and collective good , and a man who ultimately chooses to destroy them out of fear .
Rebirth inverts the relationship : it ’ s about discovering powerful , super-intelligent beings with distinctly human motivations for terrible atrocities .
Very little of this , it ’ s worth noting , has much to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ period or its setting in Algeria .
Similar to Penumbra , which used a name from Inuit mythology for a basically unrelated entity , Rebirth nods very lightly to Arabic folklore by way of H.P .
Lovecraft .
But it ’ s focused on Tasi ’ s own personal tragedies and their connection to a strange and ancient world , touching only glancingly on real events like the violence of French colonialism .
There ’ s a game to be made about that kind of horror , but its omission here feels like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ limitations lie — and avoiding shallowly exploiting territory that would require a far deeper and more nuanced exploration .
Amnesia : Rebirth doesn ’ t reinvent horror games the way The Dark Descent does .
But it refines one of the genre ’ s greatest entries into something more awe-inspiring and deftly designed , without abandoning its highest goal : making you shiver as you take your first step down a pitch-black tunnel .

When is a society — or a life — past saving? The reassuring answer is never. But Amnesia: Rebirth, the latest game from Swedish studio Frictional, isn’t designed to be reassuring.
Rebirth is a successor to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a 2010 horror classic defined by its shameless jump scares; grotesque monsters; and chilling story about guilt, cruelty, and memory. Frictional has gone back to Amnesia a couple of times. First with a short 2011 add-on called Justine, and again by publishing Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, a separate game developed by The Chinese Room. But Rebirth, which will be released tomorrow, is the first new, full-length game in the series.
Amnesia: Rebirth has an immediately familiar cadence. Like The Dark Descent, it’s a game that torments players by delivering stretches of tense, dread-inducing exploration; frantic chases; and moments of revelation before they’re pushed back into the dark. For me, it was a nine-hour-long cycle of dread, panic, and recovery, a loop so well-honed that it’s all but explicitly referenced in the plot. But Rebirth tweaks the original game’s design and themes in compelling ways.
An endless cycle of dread, panic, and recovery
Rebirth is an oblique sequel to The Dark Descent. It uses the same first-person design and gives players the deliberately awkward point-and-click interface that Frictional has used for over a decade. It also has narrative links to the first game. But it’s set in 1937, several decades after the original, and it’s focused on a different protagonist: Anastasie “Tasi” Trianon, a French draftswoman joining an archaeological expedition to Algeria. After surviving a desert plane crash, Tasi wakes among the wreckage with gaps in her memory, a mysterious amulet around her wrist, and a trail of notes that her husband Sahim has left to mark a path.
Like The Dark Descent, Rebirth sends players to retrace a story that its protagonist has forgotten at least partly to save their own sanity. The game is less lonely and quiet than Frictional’s earlier work, which sent players into almost entirely abandoned worlds. But it’s still an emphatically isolating experience. The setting of Rebirth feels awe-inspiring in a way that The Dark Descent’s setting didn’t allow — not just horrifying or hostile, but grand and strangely beautiful. Its chapters shift between desert sandscapes, underground ruins, and, in one of the game’s rare nods to its period setting, a French colonial outpost.
Not a monster, but a monstrous world
It also spends a lot of time in a different world altogether, thanks to Tasi’s amulet. Though Amnesia is often described as Lovecraftian, Rebirth owes as much to the eerie, decaying grandeur evoked by Lovecraft’s weird fiction contemporary William Hope Hodgson, author of foundational dying Earth novel The Night Land. It’s a story not about an individual monster — although you’ll meet plenty of them — but about an entire civilization that’s made itself monstrous by accepting pain as the price of normalcy. The game’s story delves into places and concepts that the first game only hinted at, and it mostly makes them creepier than they originally sounded.
Frictional’s last project Soma downplayed puzzles and other mechanical elements, even offering a feature that removed its monsters. Rebirth swings back toward an earlier, more explicitly game-like style. Its puzzles are simpler and a bit more organic than those of the first game, designed to get players poking around the edges of a level trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do. But they still follow recognizable point-and-click adventure conventions. There’s also a version of The Dark Descent’s trademark sanity meter, which drains in darkness and messes with players’ perception when it’s low but can be boosted by lighting candles or using a lantern with limited power.
Amnesia’s horror has always been a complex sleight of hand, as the games evoke a palpable threat of failure without actually stalling or frustrating players too badly. In The Dark Descent, this meant that sanity slippage was ultimately cosmetic — it produced creepy visual effects but, except in a “hardcore mode” that was added after launch, it couldn’t permanently damage you.
Without revealing too much detail, this is not true in Rebirth. Its oppressive darkness is tangibly dangerous, and rationing matches and oil — a system that felt a little perfunctory in The Dark Descent — is a far more satisfying part of the game. Meanwhile, instead of giving players a game-over screen, Rebirth (sort of) lets you fail forward if you die but at a subtle narrative cost. The whole system is framed around something more original and less reductive than “sanity,” and it’s become more elegant and interesting with the change. There’s even a Death Stranding-esque mechanic that I can’t describe without spoiling a major plot element, but that works surprisingly well.
Rebirth’s story doesn’t require knowing anything about The Dark Descent, and it might actually be more compelling to discover certain elements for the first time. But — to be somewhat vague — the series cleverly recontextualizes its original protagonist’s greatest enemy.
Frictional games are fascinated with the morality of gods
Frictional has a long-standing fascination with humanity’s moral relationship to godlike beings. Its early, deeply underrated Penumbra series is about an ancient civilization (known as the Tuurngait) that prizes extraordinary mercy and collective good, and a man who ultimately chooses to destroy them out of fear. Rebirth inverts the relationship: it’s about discovering powerful, super-intelligent beings with distinctly human motivations for terrible atrocities.
Very little of this, it’s worth noting, has much to do with the game’s historical period or its setting in Algeria. Similar to Penumbra, which used a name from Inuit mythology for a basically unrelated entity, Rebirth nods very lightly to Arabic folklore by way of H.P. Lovecraft. But it’s focused on Tasi’s own personal tragedies and their connection to a strange and ancient world, touching only glancingly on real events like the violence of French colonialism. There’s a game to be made about that kind of horror, but its omission here feels like Frictional understanding where its interests and its limitations lie — and avoiding shallowly exploiting territory that would require a far deeper and more nuanced exploration.
Amnesia: Rebirth doesn’t reinvent horror games the way The Dark Descent does. But it refines one of the genre’s greatest entries into something more awe-inspiring and deftly designed, without abandoning its highest goal: making you shiver as you take your first step down a pitch-black tunnel.


theverge--2020-10-19--YouTube’s biggest kids show is about to take over streaming services

Although The Umbrella Academy was all over Tumblr and people couldn ’ t seem to stop bingeing Cobra Kai and Lucifer , one of Netflix ’ s most-watched shows in August was a three-episode children ’ s program called Cocomelon .
Cocomelon , for those without children or younger siblings , is one of the most popular YouTube channels in the world with nearly 100 million subscribers .
The studio creates videos for young children that star an array of animated characters singing lullabies and telling kid-friendly stories .
Over the course of one month , Cocomelon ’ s videos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than any other YouTube channel and more than several content providers like Netflix and Disney Plus combined , according to Bloomberg .
The entertainment channel is now the keystone of a strategy by its owner , Moonbug , to dominate the massive and rapidly changing children ’ s programming space .
And so far , it appears to be working .
“ A key part of our strategy is to work with other platforms — and Netflix is a very important one.
” “ Most of our shows have a big audience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ head of Moonbug ’ s US operations and a former Netflix executive , told The Verge .
“ In fact , we have the biggest audience on YouTube , but a key part of our strategy is to work with other platforms — and Netflix is a very important one.
” In June , three-hour-long Cocomelon videos debuted on Netflix for the first time , and they quickly became enormous hits .
Cocomelon became the 10th most-watched show on streaming services in the United States ( including Netflix , Hulu , Disney Plus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racking up more than 336 million minutes during the last week of August , according to Nielsen , which ranks streaming shows by popularity weekly .
It was the only show with less than 10 episodes to make the cut and the only show predominantly targeted at preschool-aged children .
It has since been a constant on Netflix ’ s top trending row .
Although Nielsen ’ s ratings are sometimes contested by Netflix and only cover the US market , what ’ s clear from the inclusion is that YouTube ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Moonbug announced that as of October 13th , Cocomelon was one of the three most-watched shows on the streaming service in the United States , according to the company .
Moonbug formed in February 2018 and quickly bought up popular YouTube channels in an attempt to assemble a sort of next-generation streaming-focused kids network .
It acquired popular names like My Magic Pet Morphle and Dr. Poppy ’ s Pet Rescue , and recently , it added Blippi , a popular children ’ s entertainer , and Cocomelon .
Although the terms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disclosed , the acquisition came alongside an additional $ 120 million in funding for Moonbug .
When combined , Moonbug ’ s channels have 235 million subscribers and generate more than 7 billion views a month .
Moving into Netflix offers Moonbug the opportunity to find an untapped audience .
YouTube and Netflix have routinely over the last couple of years ranked as the top two platforms kids ages five to 12 spend time on , with a recent study from Morning Consult finding that 65 percent of kids that age pick YouTube @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 55 percent pick Netflix .
Their popularity may be contributing to a decline in traditional kids TV viewership , with Nickelodeon losing 44 percent of its overall viewership since 2015 , according to a Forbes report .
Cocomelon and Netflix ’ s partnership seems fruitful for both parties .
Around 60 percent of Netflix ’ s audience around the world is watching children and family-oriented content , Melissa Cobb , Netflix ’ s animation head , told The New York Times last year .
Netflix is spending billions of dollars on building @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ted Sarandos , Netflix ’ s co-CEO , recently told Variety that Netflix is planning to release six animated films a year — more than Disney or any other competitor .
The company eventually wants to have more original programming than licensed titles , but for the time being , it needs to license content — like Cocomelon — that complements its original programming , according to a person at Netflix familiar with the matter .
“ There ’ s some families that maybe don ’ t like their kids watching YouTube @ @ @ @ @ @ @ platform.
” YouTube isn ’ t a direct competitor to Netflix as a subscription service on demand per se , but it is arguably the most serious competition Netflix has within the family entertainment realm .
Reed Hastings , one of Netflix ’ s co-CEOs , told analysts last year during an earnings call that YouTube is one of Netflix ’ s biggest competitors for people ’ s attention in general .
Being on Netflix also helps alleviate one of the biggest issues Moonbug encounters with YouTube : ongoing concerns over children ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reports over the last few years about disturbing children ’ s content and predatory behavior on its platform , forcing the company to roll out new policies and product updates to try to counter the behavior .
Still , it hasn ’ t helped YouTube ’ s general image with parents , many of whom see YouTube as a site they don ’ t want their children — especially young children — to use .
Moonbug is in “ regular conversations with YouTube about their efforts to make it even more suitable for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moonbug doesn ’ t control YouTube .
“ We do see that there are some families where YouTube is the go-to platform in their household , ” Yeatman said .
“ And there ’ s some families that maybe don ’ t like their kids watching YouTube , and Netflix is their go to platform.
” Other popular YouTube creators have found success partnering with more traditional networks and streamers .
Nickelodeon partnered with Ryan ’ s Toy Reviews for a show , and HBO Max worked with Lauren Kobayashi Riihimaki , otherwise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a trend that ’ s likely to continue , Amdocs vice president of media , network , and technology , and industry analyst , Anthony Goonetilleke said .
Streaming services need a plethora of content .
And especially while production is shut down and harder to make , partnering with YouTubers or licensing their shows helps build these services ’ catalogs .
Plus , since YouTubers and popular YouTube channels already have built-in audiences , the goal is those fans will carry over to other streaming platforms .
“ A big part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the platforms holding the most attention , ” Goonetilleke said .
“ A big part of that equation is YouTube.
” Moonbug is in a promising position right now .
Production on many projects has slowed down or stalled completely , but Moonbug owns a number of properties — including Cocomelon — that can create new shows within their own smaller studios that are used to working on a faster timeline .
Alongside Cocomelon on YouTube , Moonbug also brought its popular YouTube children ’ s show , Blippi , to Hulu .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ everywhere kids are and then eventually develop even bigger projects .
“ We ’ re getting a lot of calls and having a lot of conversations about extensions , it ’ s very exciting , but we ’ re not rushing into anything yet .
”

Although The Umbrella Academy was all over Tumblr and people couldn’t seem to stop bingeing Cobra Kai and Lucifer, one of Netflix’s most-watched shows in August was a three-episode children’s program called Cocomelon.
Cocomelon, for those without children or younger siblings, is one of the most popular YouTube channels in the world with nearly 100 million subscribers. The studio creates videos for young children that star an array of animated characters singing lullabies and telling kid-friendly stories. Over the course of one month, Cocomelon’s videos garner more than 3.5 billion views — more than any other YouTube channel and more than several content providers like Netflix and Disney Plus combined, according to Bloomberg.
The entertainment channel is now the keystone of a strategy by its owner, Moonbug, to dominate the massive and rapidly changing children’s programming space. And so far, it appears to be working.
“A key part of our strategy is to work with other platforms — and Netflix is a very important one.”
“Most of our shows have a big audience on YouTube,” Andy Yeatman, head of Moonbug’s US operations and a former Netflix executive, told The Verge. “In fact, we have the biggest audience on YouTube, but a key part of our strategy is to work with other platforms — and Netflix is a very important one.”
In June, three-hour-long Cocomelon videos debuted on Netflix for the first time, and they quickly became enormous hits. Cocomelon became the 10th most-watched show on streaming services in the United States (including Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime Video), racking up more than 336 million minutes during the last week of August, according to Nielsen, which ranks streaming shows by popularity weekly. It was the only show with less than 10 episodes to make the cut and the only show predominantly targeted at preschool-aged children. It has since been a constant on Netflix’s top trending row.
Although Nielsen’s ratings are sometimes contested by Netflix and only cover the US market, what’s clear from the inclusion is that YouTube’s biggest channel also works on other platforms. Moonbug announced that as of October 13th, Cocomelon was one of the three most-watched shows on the streaming service in the United States, according to the company.
Moonbug formed in February 2018 and quickly bought up popular YouTube channels in an attempt to assemble a sort of next-generation streaming-focused kids network. It acquired popular names like My Magic Pet Morphle and Dr. Poppy’s Pet Rescue, and recently, it added Blippi, a popular children’s entertainer, and Cocomelon. Although the terms of Cocomelon’s purchase were not disclosed, the acquisition came alongside an additional $120 million in funding for Moonbug. When combined, Moonbug’s channels have 235 million subscribers and generate more than 7 billion views a month.
Moving into Netflix offers Moonbug the opportunity to find an untapped audience. YouTube and Netflix have routinely over the last couple of years ranked as the top two platforms kids ages five to 12 spend time on, with a recent study from Morning Consult finding that 65 percent of kids that age pick YouTube as their primary source of entertainment, and 55 percent pick Netflix. Their popularity may be contributing to a decline in traditional kids TV viewership, with Nickelodeon losing 44 percent of its overall viewership since 2015, according to a Forbes report.
Cocomelon and Netflix’s partnership seems fruitful for both parties. Around 60 percent of Netflix’s audience around the world is watching children and family-oriented content, Melissa Cobb, Netflix’s animation head, told The New York Times last year. Netflix is spending billions of dollars on building up its children’s programming library. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, recently told Variety that Netflix is planning to release six animated films a year — more than Disney or any other competitor. The company eventually wants to have more original programming than licensed titles, but for the time being, it needs to license content — like Cocomelon — that complements its original programming, according to a person at Netflix familiar with the matter.
“There’s some families that maybe don’t like their kids watching YouTube, and Netflix is their go to platform.”
YouTube isn’t a direct competitor to Netflix as a subscription service on demand per se, but it is arguably the most serious competition Netflix has within the family entertainment realm. Reed Hastings, one of Netflix’s co-CEOs, told analysts last year during an earnings call that YouTube is one of Netflix’s biggest competitors for people’s attention in general.
Being on Netflix also helps alleviate one of the biggest issues Moonbug encounters with YouTube: ongoing concerns over children’s safety. YouTube has faced multiple reports over the last few years about disturbing children’s content and predatory behavior on its platform, forcing the company to roll out new policies and product updates to try to counter the behavior. Still, it hasn’t helped YouTube’s general image with parents, many of whom see YouTube as a site they don’t want their children — especially young children — to use. Moonbug is in “regular conversations with YouTube about their efforts to make it even more suitable for kids,” Yeatman said, but Moonbug doesn’t control YouTube.
“We do see that there are some families where YouTube is the go-to platform in their household,” Yeatman said. “And there’s some families that maybe don’t like their kids watching YouTube, and Netflix is their go to platform.”
Other popular YouTube creators have found success partnering with more traditional networks and streamers. Nickelodeon partnered with Ryan’s Toy Reviews for a show, and HBO Max worked with Lauren Kobayashi Riihimaki, otherwise known as LaurDIY. It’s a trend that’s likely to continue, Amdocs vice president of media, network, and technology, and industry analyst, Anthony Goonetilleke said.
Streaming services need a plethora of content. And especially while production is shut down and harder to make, partnering with YouTubers or licensing their shows helps build these services’ catalogs. Plus, since YouTubers and popular YouTube channels already have built-in audiences, the goal is those fans will carry over to other streaming platforms.
“A big part of getting the most eyeballs is looking to the platforms holding the most attention,” Goonetilleke said. “A big part of that equation is YouTube.”
Moonbug is in a promising position right now. Production on many projects has slowed down or stalled completely, but Moonbug owns a number of properties — including Cocomelon — that can create new shows within their own smaller studios that are used to working on a faster timeline. Alongside Cocomelon on YouTube, Moonbug also brought its popular YouTube children’s show, Blippi, to Hulu. The goal is for Moonbug to be everywhere kids are and then eventually develop even bigger projects.


theverge--2020-10-19--AMC offers private theater rentals for as little as $99

The USA ’ s largest cinema chain AMC is making its screens available for private hire , allowing groups of up to 20 people to watch a film on the big screen without having to share an auditorium with strangers .
The move joins cinema chains Cinemark and Alamo Drafthouse , which SlashFilm reports started offering similar screenings earlier this summer .
AMC is offering a selection of new and old films to watch , with auditorium rental prices starting at $ 99 plus tax .
AMC ’ s new offering comes as its business has been hit hard by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to close , major films have been delayed , and cinemagoers have been wary of attending even when new films have been released .
Last week , AMC warned investors that the situation means it could run out of cash by the end of the year , after its second quarter revenues plunged by 98 percent compared to the previous year , Variety reports .
Films include new releases including Tenet and The New Mutants Private screenings theoretically offer a way to plug some of the gap .
Cinemagoers may be more comfortable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the room , and the lack of new releases is also less of a problem when it can re-show older movies on request , including horror films like The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 for the Halloween season , or family films like Monsters , Inc. and How to Train Your Dragon .
AMC is also showing a selection of this year ’ s movies , including Tenet and The New Mutants .
Prices to rent out a screen vary depending on how recent the film is , the theater ’ s location @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While older films start at $ 99 plus tax , newer films like Tenet cost between $ 149 and $ 349 plus tax to rent out a screen , according to AMC ’ s site .
AMC is also selling a host of extras .
Bringing in outside food costs $ 250 , while getting access to the auditorium beyond fifteen minutes prior to a film ’ s start costs $ 250 for each half hour .
A microphone to welcome guests costs another $ 100 .
The USA ’ s second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced it would be temporarily closing its doors in the US and UK , affecting around 40,000 employees in the US , and over 5,000 in the UK .
Reopening will depend on studio release schedules , the company said at the time .
If you ’ re interested in booking a screening , you can fill out an inquiry form on AMC ’ s website — you ’ ll be contacted within three days .
The promotion is available across most of the US , according to CNN , excluding New York @ @ @ @ @ @

The USA’s largest cinema chain AMC is making its screens available for private hire, allowing groups of up to 20 people to watch a film on the big screen without having to share an auditorium with strangers. The move joins cinema chains Cinemark and Alamo Drafthouse, which SlashFilm reports started offering similar screenings earlier this summer. AMC is offering a selection of new and old films to watch, with auditorium rental prices starting at $99 plus tax.
Films include new releases including Tenet and The New Mutants
Private screenings theoretically offer a way to plug some of the gap. Cinemagoers may be more comfortable attending when they personally know everyone in the room, and the lack of new releases is also less of a problem when it can re-show older movies on request, including horror films like The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 for the Halloween season, or family films like Monsters, Inc. and How to Train Your Dragon. AMC is also showing a selection of this year’s movies, including Tenet and The New Mutants.
Prices to rent out a screen vary depending on how recent the film is, the theater’s location, and extra add-ons, CNN reports. While older films start at $99 plus tax, newer films like Tenet cost between $149 and $349 plus tax to rent out a screen, according to AMC’s site.
AMC is also selling a host of extras. Bringing in outside food costs $250, while getting access to the auditorium beyond fifteen minutes prior to a film’s start costs $250 for each half hour. A microphone to welcome guests costs another $100.
The USA’s second biggest cinema chain, Regal, recently announced it would be temporarily closing its doors in the US and UK, affecting around 40,000 employees in the US, and over 5,000 in the UK. Reopening will depend on studio release schedules, the company said at the time.


theverge--2020-10-19--Repairing the iPhone 12’s ceramic-protected OLED display costs $279

Apple has announced how much it ’ ll charge to repair the new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro .
For the iPhone 12 Pro , the $ 279 screen repair price is unchanged compared to the iPhone 11 Pro last year , despite using new ceramic-hardened glass .
However the $ 279 cost of repairing the base iPhone 12 ’ s display has increased by $ 80 compared to the iPhone 11 , and the cost of repairing “ other damage ” has increased by $ 50 to $ 449 .
Repair prices for the iPhone 12 Pro Max @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced .
For the base iPhone 12 , that ’ s a substantial price increase compared to the $ 199 you ’ d pay to repair the iPhone 11 ’ s screen , likely because it now has an OLED rather than an LCD display .
However for the 12 Pro this $ 279 price is the same as what Apple ’ s charged for screen repairs since 2017 ’ s iPhone X .
The price of screen repairs covered by AppleCare Plus insurance plans is unchanged at $ 29 .
The new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ series , which Apple says is “ tougher than any smartphone glass ” with four times greater resistance to damage from drops , doesn ’ t appear to have caused a price increase for buyers , despite potentially cutting into Apple ’ s profit margins .
It ’ s a similar story when it comes to what Apple is charging to repair “ other damage ” like that resulting from liquid , for example .
The cost to repair the iPhone 12 Pro is $ 549 , which is unchanged from the iPhone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 12 now costs $ 449 , compared to $ 399 to repair the iPhone 11 .
The price of other repairs covered by AppleCare Plus remains at $ 99 .
All told , repair costs are unchanged for prospective iPhone 12 Pro owners , though it ’ s a shame to see the new baseline iPhone facing more expensive repairs .
Here ’ s hoping that Ceramic Shield cover protecting the displays is tough enough to prevent repairs in the first place .

Apple has announced how much it’ll charge to repair the new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. For the iPhone 12 Pro, the $279 screen repair price is unchanged compared to the iPhone 11 Pro last year, despite using new ceramic-hardened glass. However the $279 cost of repairing the base iPhone 12’s display has increased by $80 compared to the iPhone 11, and the cost of repairing “other damage” has increased by $50 to $449. Repair prices for the iPhone 12 Pro Max and 12 mini are yet to be announced.
For the base iPhone 12, that’s a substantial price increase compared to the $199 you’d pay to repair the iPhone 11’s screen, likely because it now has an OLED rather than an LCD display. However for the 12 Pro this $279 price is the same as what Apple’s charged for screen repairs since 2017’s iPhone X. The price of screen repairs covered by AppleCare Plus insurance plans is unchanged at $29.
Apple’s site gives a comparison of screen repair costs across its lineup. Screenshot: Apple.com
The new ceramic-hardened displays used in the iPhone 12 series, which Apple says is “tougher than any smartphone glass” with four times greater resistance to damage from drops, doesn’t appear to have caused a price increase for buyers, despite potentially cutting into Apple’s profit margins.
It’s a similar story when it comes to what Apple is charging to repair “other damage” like that resulting from liquid, for example. The cost to repair the iPhone 12 Pro is $549, which is unchanged from the iPhone 11 Pro. However, the iPhone 12 now costs $449, compared to $399 to repair the iPhone 11. The price of other repairs covered by AppleCare Plus remains at $99.


theverge--2020-10-19--Xiaomi is working on 80W wireless charging

Xiaomi has announced its next salvo in the fast charging wars , a new 80W wireless method that the company claims beats out any other competitor .
The 80W solution is said to be able to charge a 4,000mAh battery up to 50 percent full in eight minutes and 100 percent full in 19 minutes .
The video above shows it in action on a modified Mi 10 Pro .
Xiaomi already has the fastest wireless charging on a shipping phone ; the Mi 10 Ultra has 50W wireless technology that can fully charge its 4,500mAh battery in 40 minutes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that is said to be able to charge a 4,000mAh battery in 30 minutes , but the tech is yet to ship in a commercial device .
Fast wireless charging is much less common outside China , where companies like Huawei and Xiaomi have been working to outdo each other for a while .
The fastest option that ’ s widely available in the West is the OnePlus 8 Pro , which has an optional 30W wireless charger .
Apple ’ s new MagSafe chargers for the iPhone 12 line charge at up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announced when a phone with 80W wireless charging will actually ship , but it shouldn ’ t be too far off .
The company has consistently released phones with ever-higher wireless power specs over the past couple of years , with the Mi 10 Ultra only coming out a couple of months ago .

Xiaomi has announced its next salvo in the fast charging wars, a new 80W wireless method that the company claims beats out any other competitor. The 80W solution is said to be able to charge a 4,000mAh battery up to 50 percent full in eight minutes and 100 percent full in 19 minutes. The video above shows it in action on a modified Mi 10 Pro.
Xiaomi already has the fastest wireless charging on a shipping phone; the Mi 10 Ultra has 50W wireless technology that can fully charge its 4,500mAh battery in 40 minutes. Oppo recently announced a 65W solution that is said to be able to charge a 4,000mAh battery in 30 minutes, but the tech is yet to ship in a commercial device.
Fast wireless charging is much less common outside China, where companies like Huawei and Xiaomi have been working to outdo each other for a while. The fastest option that’s widely available in the West is the OnePlus 8 Pro, which has an optional 30W wireless charger. Apple’s new MagSafe chargers for the iPhone 12 line charge at up to 15W.