Month: February 2024
How Should Broadcasters Document the Moment When Fans Storm the Court?
“There’s no question it’s a good visual on TV, which is enjoyed by a lot of viewers,” said one announcer. “But to me, the risk outweighs the reward.”
“There’s no question it’s a good visual on TV, which is enjoyed by a lot of viewers,” said one announcer. “But to me, the risk outweighs the reward.”
Will Forte sends love to cast and crew of scrapped ‘Coyote vs. Acme’
Will Forte, who stars in “Coyote vs. Acme,” shares his thoughts on the film, which Warner Bros. plans to scrap for tax purposes.
The saga of Coyote vs. Acme is one of the bleakest in entertainment today.
The Looney Tunes-based film, a hybrid of live-action and animation directed by Dave Green and written by Academy Award nominee Samy Burch (May December), is being scrapped by Warner Bros. Discovery for tax purposes, even though it’s completed. It’s the same fate that has befallen films like Batgirl and Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, and it’s the latest in a disturbing trend of entertainment companies removing movies and TV shows from their slates in order to make back a quick buck.
As reported by The Wrap, Warner Bros. was looking to sell the canceled Coyote vs. Acme to other companies like Netflix and Amazon. However, it rejected other streamers’ offers, as it was seeking $75 million to $80 million. In the same report, sources revealed that the executives who decided to axe the film — including Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav — hadn’t even seen a final cut of the flick.
On Feb. 29, Coyote vs. Acme star Will Forte took to social media to tell the cast and crew that he was proud of the film, even if he hated the situation it found itself in. He wrote:
To the Cast and Crew of Coyote vs. Acme —
I know that a lot of you haven’t gotten a chance to see our movie. And sadly, it’s looking like you never will.
When I first heard that our movie was getting “deleted,” I hadn’t seen it yet. So I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: This thing must be a hunk of junk.
But then I saw it.
And it’s incredible.
Super funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant in a very earned way. As the credits rolled, I just sat there thinking how lucky I was to be a part of something so special. That quickly turned to confusion and frustration. This was the movie they’re not going to release?
Look, when it comes to Hollywood business stuff, I don’t know shit about shit. Even when a movie tests very well (like ours), there’s no guarantee that it’s gonna be a hit. And at the end of the day, the people who paid for this movie can obviously do whatever they want with it. It’s doesn’t mean I have to like it (I fucking hate it). Or agree with it. And it doesn’t mean that this movie is anything less than magnificent.
You would be so proud of it — a movie that should be seen, but won’t. Please know that all the years and years of hard work, dedication and love that you put into this movie shows in every frame.
That’s all folks,
Will Forte
Will Forte isn’t the only Coyote vs. Acme star to speak out about the choice to shelve the film. Eric Bauza, the voice of Wile E. Coyote, demanded that Warner Bros. “release Coyote vs. Acme!” during a speech at the 2024 Annie Awards.
In response to Forte’s letter, Bauza tweeted:
AI optimism sends Nasdaq to new post-Covid high
Investors expect artificial intelligence to unleash a new wave of growth.
Investors expect artificial intelligence to unleash a new wave of growth.
Apple’s 2024 M3 MacBook Air Refresh: What to Expect
Apple updated the MacBook Pro line with M3 chips late last year, but the MacBook Air has yet to be refreshed with the new hardware. That could change as soon as late March, with rumors suggesting an iPad and Mac-centric event is in the works.
We’re expecting new versions of the MacBook Air, and this guide highlights everything we know about the upcoming machines.
Size and Design
As of last year, the MacBook Air is available in two sizes instead of one. Apple makes a 13.6-inch MacBook Air and a 15.3-inch MacBook Air, so consumers can choose between favoring portability or screen size.
Apple is going to refresh both versions of the MacBook Air. The look of the MacBook Air was last updated in June of 2022, and there are no rumors of design changes this time around. Apple will continue to use the same flat MacBook Pro-style body that was introduced in 2022, with full-size black Magic Keyboard, large Force Touch trackpad, dual USB-C ports, Touch ID, Thunderbolt charging, slim bezeled display, and aluminum chassis.
The only difference between the two models in terms of design will be the display size.
Right now, the MacBook Air is available in silver, space gray, starlight, and midnight, which is a new dark blue color. We could see the three standard colors and another special color, or a whole new color lineup.
Updated M3 Chip
With no design changes planned, chip updates will be the main focus of the refresh. The current MacBook Air models use the prior-generation M2 chip, with Apple planning to upgrade the machines with the M3 chip that was first introduced in the MacBook Pro.
The M3 chip is built on Apple’s next-generation 3-nanometer process, which basically means that it offers better performance and power efficiency than the 5-nanometer M2. For context, there are 25 billion transistors in the M3 chip, up from 20 billion in the M2.
CPU benchmarks indicate that the M3 is approximately 17 percent faster than the M2 when it comes to single-core tasks, and 21 percent faster at multi-core tasks. GPU performance is up approximately 15 percent, but there are other GPU improvements that give the M3 chip a notable boost.
The M3 chip has a new GPU architecture that uses Dynamic Caching, which basically means that tasks use the exact amount of memory that they need and adapt in real-time for maximum utilization. The result is improved performance for GPU-intensive apps and games.
For games and 3D software, the M3 chip supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading. Hardware-based ray tracing is faster than software-based ray tracing, so any game or app that uses ray tracing will perform better. Complex lighting effects won’t take up as many system resources, speeding up rendering times.
It is worth noting that almost all Mac games do not support ray tracing, so for gaming, this is a feature that will be useful in the future rather than immediately. For 3D tasks in apps like Blender, there will be speed improvements.
There’s a new media engine in the M3 chip that supports AV1 decode. AV1 is a video codec that streaming platforms are using for higher-quality video content at a low bitrate. AV1 is becoming increasingly popular for 4K and 8K videos, and AV1 decoding is another good future proofing feature to have even for those that don’t need it immediately.
Other Upgrades
The next MacBook Air models are likely to get Wi-Fi 6E support, allowing them to connect to the 6GHz Wi-Fi band offered by compatible 6GHz routers. There’s a good chance battery life will be improved thanks to the upgrade to M3 chip technology.
Worth Updating?
If you have an M2 MacBook Air, it’s not going to be worth updating to the M3 version because the improvements aren’t notable enough. You won’t see design changes, and while the M3 is better, it’s not that much better.
Most people who have an M1 chip may not want to update either, but there’s more to gain with the M1 to M3 upgrade both in terms of performance and in design. The M1 machines used the prior MacBook Air design, so updating to M3 gets you the sleek new look.
For those coming from an older Intel-based MacBook Air or another Intel-based machine, the M3 will be a radical improvement.
Launch Date
We’re expecting to see new M3 MacBook Air models introduced sometime in March or April, and signs right now point toward a launch at the end of March. We don’t yet have details on a potential Apple event, but we should be hearing more in the next few weeks.Related Roundup: MacBook AirBuyer’s Guide: 15″ MacBook Air (Don’t Buy), 13″ MacBook Air (Don’t Buy)Related Forum: MacBook AirThis article, “Apple’s 2024 M3 MacBook Air Refresh: What to Expect” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Apple updated the MacBook Pro line with M3 chips late last year, but the MacBook Air has yet to be refreshed with the new hardware. That could change as soon as late March, with rumors suggesting an iPad and Mac-centric event is in the works.
We’re expecting new versions of the MacBook Air, and this guide highlights everything we know about the upcoming machines.
Size and Design
As of last year, the MacBook Air is available in two sizes instead of one. Apple makes a 13.6-inch MacBook Air and a 15.3-inch MacBook Air, so consumers can choose between favoring portability or screen size.
Apple is going to refresh both versions of the MacBook Air. The look of the MacBook Air was last updated in June of 2022, and there are no rumors of design changes this time around. Apple will continue to use the same flat MacBook Pro-style body that was introduced in 2022, with full-size black Magic Keyboard, large Force Touch trackpad, dual USB-C ports, Touch ID, Thunderbolt charging, slim bezeled display, and aluminum chassis.
The only difference between the two models in terms of design will be the display size.
Right now, the MacBook Air is available in silver, space gray, starlight, and midnight, which is a new dark blue color. We could see the three standard colors and another special color, or a whole new color lineup.
Updated M3 Chip
With no design changes planned, chip updates will be the main focus of the refresh. The current MacBook Air models use the prior-generation M2 chip, with Apple planning to upgrade the machines with the M3 chip that was first introduced in the MacBook Pro.
The M3 chip is built on Apple’s next-generation 3-nanometer process, which basically means that it offers better performance and power efficiency than the 5-nanometer M2. For context, there are 25 billion transistors in the M3 chip, up from 20 billion in the M2.
CPU benchmarks indicate that the M3 is approximately 17 percent faster than the M2 when it comes to single-core tasks, and 21 percent faster at multi-core tasks. GPU performance is up approximately 15 percent, but there are other GPU improvements that give the M3 chip a notable boost.
The M3 chip has a new GPU architecture that uses Dynamic Caching, which basically means that tasks use the exact amount of memory that they need and adapt in real-time for maximum utilization. The result is improved performance for GPU-intensive apps and games.
For games and 3D software, the M3 chip supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading. Hardware-based ray tracing is faster than software-based ray tracing, so any game or app that uses ray tracing will perform better. Complex lighting effects won’t take up as many system resources, speeding up rendering times.
It is worth noting that almost all Mac games do not support ray tracing, so for gaming, this is a feature that will be useful in the future rather than immediately. For 3D tasks in apps like Blender, there will be speed improvements.
There’s a new media engine in the M3 chip that supports AV1 decode. AV1 is a video codec that streaming platforms are using for higher-quality video content at a low bitrate. AV1 is becoming increasingly popular for 4K and 8K videos, and AV1 decoding is another good future proofing feature to have even for those that don’t need it immediately.
Other Upgrades
The next MacBook Air models are likely to get Wi-Fi 6E support, allowing them to connect to the 6GHz Wi-Fi band offered by compatible 6GHz routers. There’s a good chance battery life will be improved thanks to the upgrade to M3 chip technology.
Worth Updating?
If you have an M2 MacBook Air, it’s not going to be worth updating to the M3 version because the improvements aren’t notable enough. You won’t see design changes, and while the M3 is better, it’s not that much better.
Most people who have an M1 chip may not want to update either, but there’s more to gain with the M1 to M3 upgrade both in terms of performance and in design. The M1 machines used the prior MacBook Air design, so updating to M3 gets you the sleek new look.
For those coming from an older Intel-based MacBook Air or another Intel-based machine, the M3 will be a radical improvement.
Launch Date
We’re expecting to see new M3 MacBook Air models introduced sometime in March or April, and signs right now point toward a launch at the end of March. We don’t yet have details on a potential Apple event, but we should be hearing more in the next few weeks.
This article, “Apple’s 2024 M3 MacBook Air Refresh: What to Expect” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
Wikipedia downgrades CNET’s reliability rating after AI-generated articles
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Cheap Doorbell Cameras Can Be Easily Hijacked, Says Consumer Reports
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Video doorbell cameras have been commoditized to the point where they’re available for $30-$40 on marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, Temu, and Shein. The true cost of owning one might be much greater, however. Consumer Reports (CR) has released the findings of a security investigation into two budget-minded doorbell brands, Eken and Tuck, which are largely the same hardware produced by the Eken Group in China, according to CR. The cameras are further resold under at least 10 more brands. The cameras are set up through a common mobile app, Aiwit. And the cameras share something else, CR claims: “troubling security vulnerabilities.”
Among the camera’s vulnerabilities cited by CR: – Sending public IP addresses and Wi-Fi SSIDs (names) over the Internet without encryption – Takeover of the cameras by putting them into pairing mode (which you can do from a front-facing button on some models) and connecting through the Aiwit app – Access to still images from the video feed and other information by knowing the camera’s serial number.
CR also noted that Eken cameras lacked an FCC registration code. More than 4,200 were sold in January 2024, according to CR, and often held an Amazon “Overall Pick” label (as one model did when an Ars writer looked on Wednesday). CR issued vulnerability disclosures to Eken and Tuck regarding its findings. The disclosures note the amount of data that is sent over the network without authentication, including JPEG files, the local SSID, and external IP address. It notes that after a malicious user has re-paired a doorbell with a QR code generated by the Aiwit app, they have complete control over the device until a user sees an email from Eken and reclaims the doorbell. “These video doorbells from little known manufacturers have serious security and privacy vulnerabilities, and now they’ve found their way onto major digital marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart,” said Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, in a statement. “Both the manufacturers and platforms that sell the doorbells have a responsibility to ensure that these products are not putting consumers in harm’s way.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Video doorbell cameras have been commoditized to the point where they’re available for $30-$40 on marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, Temu, and Shein. The true cost of owning one might be much greater, however. Consumer Reports (CR) has released the findings of a security investigation into two budget-minded doorbell brands, Eken and Tuck, which are largely the same hardware produced by the Eken Group in China, according to CR. The cameras are further resold under at least 10 more brands. The cameras are set up through a common mobile app, Aiwit. And the cameras share something else, CR claims: “troubling security vulnerabilities.”
Among the camera’s vulnerabilities cited by CR: – Sending public IP addresses and Wi-Fi SSIDs (names) over the Internet without encryption – Takeover of the cameras by putting them into pairing mode (which you can do from a front-facing button on some models) and connecting through the Aiwit app – Access to still images from the video feed and other information by knowing the camera’s serial number.
CR also noted that Eken cameras lacked an FCC registration code. More than 4,200 were sold in January 2024, according to CR, and often held an Amazon “Overall Pick” label (as one model did when an Ars writer looked on Wednesday). CR issued vulnerability disclosures to Eken and Tuck regarding its findings. The disclosures note the amount of data that is sent over the network without authentication, including JPEG files, the local SSID, and external IP address. It notes that after a malicious user has re-paired a doorbell with a QR code generated by the Aiwit app, they have complete control over the device until a user sees an email from Eken and reclaims the doorbell. “These video doorbells from little known manufacturers have serious security and privacy vulnerabilities, and now they’ve found their way onto major digital marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart,” said Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, in a statement. “Both the manufacturers and platforms that sell the doorbells have a responsibility to ensure that these products are not putting consumers in harm’s way.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Here’s your first look at Tron: Ares, premiering in 2025
Image: Disney
The third Tron movie is nearing release. Disney announced that production on Tron: Ares — a follow-up to Tron: Legacy, which itself was a sequel to the 1982 original — began in January and that the plan is for the film to premiere in 2025. As part of the announcement, the first image for the film was also released. It definitely has Tron vibes but also wouldn’t be out of place as a skin in a shooter like Destiny or Fortnite.
Here’s the full thing:
Image: Disney
According to Disney, the new film is about “a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with AI beings.” It’s being directed by Joachim Rønning, who previously worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and the sequel to Maleficent. And while we don’t know much about the characters, the cast includes Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson.
Of course, the real unanswered question is who will be doing the soundtrack.
Image: Disney
The third Tron movie is nearing release. Disney announced that production on Tron: Ares — a follow-up to Tron: Legacy, which itself was a sequel to the 1982 original — began in January and that the plan is for the film to premiere in 2025. As part of the announcement, the first image for the film was also released. It definitely has Tron vibes but also wouldn’t be out of place as a skin in a shooter like Destiny or Fortnite.
Here’s the full thing:
Image: Disney
According to Disney, the new film is about “a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with AI beings.” It’s being directed by Joachim Rønning, who previously worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and the sequel to Maleficent. And while we don’t know much about the characters, the cast includes Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson.
Of course, the real unanswered question is who will be doing the soundtrack.