Month: June 2024
Blood Sugar Tracking Heats Up: FDA Clears 2 New Monitors, Another to Roll Out This Summer
Prescription-free continuous glucose monitors will be available in the coming months.
Prescription-free continuous glucose monitors will be available in the coming months.
New Marvel trailer for Deadpool and Wolverine teases an X-Men movie rematch that fans have waited 24 years for
Deadpool and Wolverine’s new trailer confirms the return of at least one Marvel villain from the first X-Men film.
Spoilers follow for Deadpool and Wolverine.
We’re less than a month away from Deadpool and Wolverine slicing its way into theaters – and Marvel has started the countdown clock on its arrival with the release of a new trailer.
If you’re already rolling your eyes about another teaser filled with footage we’ve seen before, though, you might want to actually watch this one. Why? Because the Marvel Phase 5 movie’s newest 60-second trailer actually contains plenty of new footage. In fact, I’d consider it to be a glorified teaser clip, because it primarily teases a rematch between two individuals who first locked claws in the very first live-action X-Men movie.
Yep, we’re getting another showdown between Hugh Jackman’s adamantium-clawed mutant and Sabretooth (real name Victor Creed), one of Wolverine’s most notable adversaries in Marvel comics. The duo faced off on the big screen in 2000’s X-Men, the first entry in Fox’s now-defunct cinematic franchise (read our X-Men movies in order guide for more details), which saw Wolverine overcome his arch-nemesis in the flick’s final act. 24 years on from that bout, we’re getting another showdown between the pair, albeit one that’ll be far more violent – Deadpool 3 will be R-rated – than their duel in the first live-action X-Men film.
If that wasn’t pleasing enough, the actor who played Sabretooth in that film – Tyler Mane – will reprise his role as the animalistic antagonist to Jackman’s similarly rage-filled mutant. We’re not just getting any old rehash of the duo’s fight from the first X-Men movie, then – we’re getting one that fans (Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) or otherwise) have waited nearly 25 years for. Color me excited.
An MCU movie leak that turned out to be true
New set photos from ‘DEADPOOL 3’ show Wolverine & Deadpool’s fight with Sabretooth. pic.twitter.com/b32PR56HsMDecember 3, 2023
Okay, if you’ve been keeping a very close eye on Deadpool and Wolverine‘s development, you might have known that Sabretooth was all but confirmed to feature as part of the movie’s extensive cast roster. Various X/Twitter fan accounts, including the X-Men Updates social media channel, posted a bunch of leaked images in December 2023 (see above) that revealed Mane would be back as Sabretooth. To those individuals, this grand reveal won’t as surprising as it is to those who are only learning about his return with this teaser.
Still, it’s nonetheless satisfying to see that Mane is back as one of Wolverine’s greatest enemies. And hey, if Marvel has decided to unveil Sabretooth’s return prior to the film’s July 26 launch, it means they must be holding back even bigger and/or crowd-pleasing cameos for the movie. Well, hopefully ones that I didn’t already pick out, or speculate on, from its other two main trailers – you can read my first Deadpool and Wolverine trailer breakdown for more on those, or another article in which I pointed out the six best Easter eggs in Deadpool and Wolverine‘s second trailer. As for potential character cameos I missed, Marvel fans are convinced they’ve spotted two big character Easter eggs in Deadpool 3‘s first official trailer, too.
We’ll see if anyone was correct in their assumptions when the film arrives in theaters next month. In the meantime, go and watch 2000’s X-Men film on Disney Plus right now, regardless of where you live. Alternatively, see which X-Men flicks made it onto my best superhero movies of all time list.
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US Presidential Debate: Why wasn’t crypto discussed?
The inaugural general debate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, held Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, did not address cryptocurrency issues,… Continue reading US Presidential Debate: Why wasn’t crypto discussed?
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The inaugural general debate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, held Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, did not address cryptocurrency issues, disappointing industry observers.
CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderated the 90-minute face-off between incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. While the debate covered various topics including the economy, abortion, immigration, and foreign policy, it barely touched on technology policy and completely overlooked digital assets.
As pointed out in a CoinDesk report, this omission came despite crypto’s recent prominence in campaign discussions, particularly following Trump’s statements about regulation and his promise to commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence. The Biden campaign has remained largely silent on crypto matters, though his administration recently expressed interest in collaborating with Congress on crypto legislation.
Economics not a focus
The debate’s economic segment was brief, with questions focusing on inflation, living costs, and national debt. Observers noted Biden’s subdued demeanor, attributed to a cold, while Trump appeared more animated but faced more scrutiny from fact-checkers.
The crypto industry continues to seek favorable legislation, repeating its substantial campaign spending from 2022. Major players like Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz have each donated nearly $50 million to political action committees supporting crypto-friendly candidates.
These efforts have yielded some success in primary elections, with industry-backed PACs funding ads against candidates perceived as less favorable to crypto interests. During the debate, a prediction market on Polymarket gave Trump a 68% chance of winning the November election, compared to Biden’s 29%.
The absence of crypto discussion in this high-profile debate highlights the ongoing challenge for the industry to secure a place in mainstream political discourse, despite its growing economic and technological significance.
Crypto’s partisan nature
Cryptocurrency regulation has become a largely partisan issue in the United States, with Republicans being more favorable to the crypto industry than Democrats. Still, as the presidential race heats up Biden slightly changed course.
After vetoing a bipartisan-crypto move that sought to repeal the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121). Following that move, Biden’s campaign’s increased engagement with the crypto community and is rumored to be in talks to potentially accept cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase Commerce.
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Best Elden Ring progression route: The fastest way to become Elden Lord
Elden Ring is, in a word, big. There are over 160 bosses (way more if you add the DLC) and… Continue reading Best Elden Ring progression route: The fastest way to become Elden Lord
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Elden Ring is, in a word, big. There are over 160 bosses (way more if you add the DLC) and it’s hard to know what exactly you need to do to beat the game. So, here’s our guide to the fastest progression route in Elden Ring – the bare minimum you need to do to become Elden Lord.
This won’t be as fast as an Elden Ring speedrun, which the best players in the world have down to less than an hour, but it should be enough to get you to the end of the game in just a few hours, depending on how much extra help you need to gather up as you go.
A note before we start – if you limit yourself to just the bosses on this list, the game will be extremely difficult. If you find yourself struggling, take a bit of time to get some extra levels (either by fighting some extra bosses or using a rune farm), consider upgrading your Flasks, or even level up a Spirit Summon.
Step 0: Planning
One of the keys to speeding through the game is to use a weapon you are comfortable with. A lot of the best weapons require stats above and beyond the starting character, so find out what stats you need to wield your weapon of choice and pick the starting class that gets you closest. You can also select the Lands Between Rune as your starting item to help get closer.
Iji is the best person to upgrade your weapon with. Image credit: FromSoftware
Important to note is that you will have a faster and easier time if you choose a weapon that uses Somber Smithing Stones to upgrade rather than regular Smithing Stones. You need far fewer of these materials than you do of the regular stones which cuts down on the time needed to gather them up, and the cost of performing the upgrades.
Take a look at the recommended route and decide at what point you’re going to go off and get your weapon in advance. If it’s quite a way in, it might be worth starting as a Samurai anyway, because the uchigatana is a powerful early-game weapon and can get you through the start of the game if needs be. It’s really a matter of preference.
Step 1: Kill two great rune bosses
Much of the latter half of the game is locked behind access to Leyndel: Royal Capital, for which you need two Great Runes. There are four options players can choose from – Godrick the Grafted, Renala Queen of the Full Moon, Starscourge Radahn, or Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy.
Godrick is the earliest and fastest to fight so for pure speed and to make the fastest progress, he’s definitely a good choice. You get the added bonus of his great rune which you can activate for a huge stat boost if you start having trouble later.
The other three have their own pros and cons. Rykard gives the player a huge ton of runes, but Volcano Manor is out of the way and you have to make your way through the Godskin Noble to get to him, a boss that can be a real roadblock to many.
Renala, Queen of the Full Moon. Image credit: FromSoftware
Radahn and Renala both require time to get to. Renala requires you to get through The Academy of Raya Lucaria and defeat the Red Wolf of Radagon to get to her, and Radahn requires you to run through Caelid and either fight an extremely tough miniboss (Leonine Misbegotten and Crucible Knight) or go to the Altus Plateau and get a grace to activate the festival before returning to fight Radahn.
Step 2: Get into the Capital
There are two ways you can get into Altus Plateau and from there into the Capital, and again it’s really up to you which one you do.
Option one is to collect the two halves of the Dectus medallion and go up the Grand Lift of Dectus. This requires a lot of riding around on Torrent but otherwise isn’t too challenging. There aren’t any bosses to fight on this route and it takes you near some useful upgrade items.
The first half of the medallion is in Fort Haight, in the southern area of Limgrave. Players can snag a Golden Seed right outside the fort, to add a charge to your flasks. The second half is in Fort Faroth, in the Dragonbarrow area of Caelid (take the teleporter from behind the Third Church of Marika in Limgrave to get there faster), and while there, you can grab the powerful talisman Radogan’s Scarseal, which boosts stats at the cost of taking a little extra damage. Then as you run down Bellum Highway towards the Dectus Lift, you can stop in the church along the way and grab a Sacred Tear to boost the potency of your healing Flask.
The second option is to go up through the Ruin-Strewn Precipice, a tricky vertical dungeon that culminates in a fight with Magma Wyrm Makar before you exit into the Plateau.
Step 3: The mid-game boss rush
After you’ve made it to Altus Plateau and secured your two Great Runes, the end of the game is essentially just a boss gauntlet away, starting with the Demonic Tree Sentinel at the entrance to the Capital.
After fighting the Demonic Tree Sentinal, make your way through Leyndell Royal Capital until you find your way to Godfrey, First Elden Lord (also known as Goldfrey to his friends). Beat him and run up to a battle against Morgott The Omen King. After this fight, make sure you head up to look at the thorns blocking the path to the Erdtree – this triggers Melina to come and give you the Rold Medallion.
Head back through the capital and up the huge elevator to the Forbidden Lands. Don’t get too comfortable as you just run straight through this area and to the Grand Lift of Rold. This will take you up to the Mountaintops of the Giants, where you need to do a ton more running.
Your next boss is Fire Giant, an extremely challenging boss. Remember, you can always go and get some extra upgrades to make things a little easier. An upgraded Spirit Summon or some consumables like Fire Grease can really make a huge difference in a tough fight.
Maliketh, the Black Blade. Image credit: FromSoftware
After dispatching Fire Giant, you have to talk to Melina again, who proceeds to burn down the Erdtree and teleports you into Crumbling Farum Azula. Make your way through this challenging late-game area and try not to get flattened by the Beastmen along the way. Fight the Godskin Duo (if you’re struggling with this fight, don’t forget that you can use Sleep Pots or arrows to put them to sleep and make the fight easier) and continue through to the area’s boss Maliketh, the Black Blade.
Step 4: The end-game boss rush
Well and truly into the end game now, defeating Maliketh will teleport you into the Ashen Capital. Just four bosses stand in your way of becoming Elden Lord from here.
The first is Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing. If you don’t manage to kill this boss first try the fight can get a lot harder, so grab your damage buffs and go to town before he can fight back.
Next is the two-stage fight with Godfrey, First Elden Lord, who becomes Horah Loux, Warrior in his second phase. This fight is fun and challenging, and winning it means you are ready for the final fight. It’s two bosses back-to-back so make sure you’re prepared before going through the crack in the Erdtree in the final step to becoming Elden Lord.
Radogan of the Golden Order is the first boss of the final duo. He hits hard and fast but has very clearly telegraphed moves and predictable patterns which means after a little bit of practice, he shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge.
The final boss is the Elden Beast, a huge monster of a boss who sails across the battlefield out of range and has a combination of tricky melee attacks and devastating ranged moves. The final fight is a challenge worthy of the end of a FromSoftware game and when you beat it, you will become the Elden Lord.
From here, you can either go on to enter the DLC and take on a whole slew of new bosses, or progress into New Game Plus for an even greater challenge.
Featured image credit: FromSoftware
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Philippines concerned that online casinos could be China-linked ‘Trojan horses’
Authorities in the Philippines are contemplating the future of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) after recent raids uncovered links to… Continue reading Philippines concerned that online casinos could be China-linked ‘Trojan horses’
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Authorities in the Philippines are contemplating the future of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) after recent raids uncovered links to criminality as well as China-related national security concerns.
Experts have warned that the industry, which supplies casino betting as well as card games and other online offerings, could pose a ‘Trojan horse’ threat to the nation which needs to be addressed immediately. The online gambling service is set up in the Philippines for customers in other jurisdictions, particularly China given that its ruling Communist Party has outlawed gambling on the mainland.
As reported by Nikkei, the murky setup is a tangled web as uncovered by Filipino authorities when raids in Luzon uncovered illegal employment, kidnapping, and torture linked to POGOs, as well as the involvement of foreign criminal syndicates.
The finding of a Chinese army uniform sparked national security fears, leading to public controversy, but this has been secondary to the spy fears emanating from the location of some Chinese casinos and POGO facilities such as those near the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, the Air Force headquarters in Pasay City, the Army headquarters in Taguig City, and the Navy headquarters in Manila.
Perimeter for espionage
Chester Cabalza, President and Founder of International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), told the First Post, “The POGOs are deemed as a Trojan horse that can stage a surprise attack in the Philippines for their unrestricted warfare.”
He added, “The key strategic locations of POGOs are also sensitive to our national security since it becomes a perimeter for espionage.”
The industry thrived during the previous Duterte administration in the Philippines with the economic benefit welcomed, but now many are saying the negatives outweigh any boost to the economy, with much more at risk.
Geopolitical tensions with China over the South China Sea add a further layer of sensitivity to security concerns, with Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr. warning that criminal syndicates posing as online casinos “operating out of our base” should be stopped as their activities “weaken our financial standing, our country ratings, and corrupt our society.”
Eduardo Ano, a National Security Advisor in the Philippines told Nikkei Asia that the situation “Is not yet a national security threat at the moment, but a national security concern,” calling for urgent action by the authorities and all illegal POGOs to be shut down.
It was reported the country collected 5.1 billion pesos ($86 million) from licensed POGO operations in 2023.
Image credit: Via Ideogram
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6 Foods You Should Never Cook in the Air Fryer
Learn from my mistakes and never put these foods in the air fryer.
Learn from my mistakes and never put these foods in the air fryer.
YouTube wants record labels to license music for its AI song generator
YouTube is reportedly locked in talks with major record labels, aiming to secure a licensing agreement to train their artificial… Continue reading YouTube wants record labels to license music for its AI song generator
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YouTube is reportedly locked in talks with major record labels, aiming to secure a licensing agreement to train their artificial intelligence tools on the artists’ content.
It is a highly controversial and emotive issue with many performers vehemently opposed to the influence of AI with fears that it could undermine their work, its value, and the future prospects of the industry.
YouTube courts the music industry over AI plans
Google-owned YouTube, which is trying new ways to stop ad-blockers, is attempting to win over the support of a very skeptical industry, and one of the ways it is doing so, is by offering upfront payments.
As reported by the Financial Times, three of the music heavyweights – Sony, Warner, and Universal – are believed to have been approached to open up their portfolio of audio content to be deployed by YouTube with its AI software.
Crucially, it has been stated the last word would reside with the artists and not the labels on this question, and if they would participate, individually.
In April last year, over 200 artists signed an open letter stating, “We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
Conversely, performers such as John Legend and Charli XCX agreed to participate in a YouTube pilot with the rollout of its Dream Track tool. The generative AI program enabled a select band of creators to pull vocals and lyrics from the artists’ catalog. Despite only 10 artists signing up, YouTube claimed to have “dozens” ready to collaborate.
Industry insider comments on the AI debate
It is a controversial, complex debate that isn’t going away as one executive at a large music label told the FT, “The industry is wrestling with this. Technically the companies have the copyrights, but we have to think through how to play it. We don’t want to be seen as a Luddite.”
The record companies will not hold back when it comes to protecting their interests, as was shown when major labels Sony and Universal were involved in the legal action taken against AI music generators, Suno and Udio, for mass copyright infringement.
Under the umbrella of the Recording Industry Association of America, the plaintiffs are seeking up to $150,000 per piece of work infringed.
Featured image: Ideogram
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