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Showing posts from November, 2024

Automation Leverage in Turnaround Strategy

Automation Leverage in Turnaround Strategy Turnaround work is often described as a crisis discipline: reduce costs, preserve cash, stabilize operations and buy time. Those moves matter, but they are not enough. A durable turnaround also needs leverage: better systems, clearer information flows and repeatable execution. For Livio Andrea Acerbo , AI automation is useful in turnaround strategy when it improves the operating rhythm of a company. The point is not to add tools. The point is to remove friction from decisions that must happen every week. From cost control to operating clarity Cost control can stop the bleeding, but operating clarity creates the next phase. Teams need to know which products are profitable, which customers deserve attention, where working capital is trapped and which workflows create avoidable delay. Automation helps when it turns scattered data into a management cadence. Dashboards, exception reports, document summaries, pipeline reviews and cash visibi...

20 Best Black Friday Coffee and Espresso Deals (2024)

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Strengthen your morning coffee game with stiff deals on espresso machines, handmade coffee machines, grinders, and more. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Elon Musk’s Grok: A Bold Leap into the Future of AI

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The world of artificial intelligence is abuzz with excitement as Elon Musk’s xAI prepares to unveil Grok, the innovative chatbot poised to redefine how we interact with technology. This isn’t... Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

261 Absolute Best Black Friday Deals (2024)

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The shopping season has arrived, and the WIRED team has all the best Black Friday deals and discounts for you. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Best Black Friday Deals for Beauty and Hair Tools (2024) | WIRED

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Mirror, mirror on the wall, these beauty deals are the fairest of them all. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Best Black Friday SSD deals for 2024: Discounts on gear from Samsung, WD, Kingston, Crucial and others

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Black Friday has brought a number of lower-than-usual prices on SSDs, portable drives and microSD cards we recommend. To help you separate the junk from the discounts worth your time, we’ve rounded up the best Black Friday storage deals we could find below. Before you dig in, note that storage prices have generally trended upwards over the past year, so many of the deals we highlight below aren’t quite all-time lows. That said, all of them are at least cheaper than they’ve been in several months. We’ll update this post if prices change and more discounts arise by the end of the day. WD Black SN850X (2TB) PCIe 4.0 SSD for $124 at Newegg ($66 off MSRP): The speedy SN850X is the top PCIe 4.0 drive in our guide to the best SSDs, so it’s a fine “default” choice for gaming or general use. This is far from the 2TB model’s best-ever price, but it’s the largest discount we’ve seen in 2024. If you’re buying for a PS5, a version with a heatsink is on sale for $9 more. And if you need (tons) more...

Amazon Black Friday deals include the Echo Buds for only $25

Our choice for best budget open design earbuds is currently discounted for Black Friday. Right now, you can pick up the Amazon Echo Buds for just $25, down from $50 — an all-time low price that makes an affordable option that much more accessible. Amazon released its most recent generation of Echo Buds in 2023 and impressed us with its level of quality for an open earbud option. The semi-in-ear style allows for more ambient noise and might be more comfortable depending on your ear shape. The earbuds have some solid perks such as multi-device connectivity and a solid five hours of music playback. You can increase their life by another hour if you turn wake word off. You'll get up to 20 hours of charge with the case. As an Amazon device, the Echo Buds are also equipped with Alexa, so you can ask the assistant to play music, call someone, set a reminder or one of the many other standard tasks. Plus, you can use the Alexa app to set tap controls for muting your mics and changing ...

Xbox Black Friday deal: Get the Seagate 2TB expansion card for $200

There are a bunch of deals on consoles and video games for Black Friday. But even if you buy physical copies, current-gen consoles require that games be fully installed onto internal storage to minimize loading times. If you have a lot of games, you may want to have extra storage space. As such, Xbox Series X/S owners may wish to consider picking up Seagate's storage expansion card. The 2TB variant is on sale at the moment. It has dropped to a near-record low of $200 for Black Friday. That's 46 percent off the regular price. Seagate's version is one of our picks for the best Xbox Series X/S accessories. The 2TB version should give you ample space — at least until you start filling it up with all of the huge Call of Duty games that have started hitting Game Pass. Let's face it, proprietary storage stinks, but the choice for Series X/S owners looking for more space is largely between Seagate's Storage Expansion Card and WD's Black C50. It's possible to s...

We’re Tracking the Best Black Friday Deals Live 2024

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It's the biggest and best shopping day of the year and WIRED is here to help you find the best Black Friday deals. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Branch Black Friday Sale (2024): Deals on Office Chairs

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Our top office chair and standing desk recommendations are on sale through December 2. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

European Commission ends state aid case against Amazon with no tax payout

Amazon won’t need to pay the European Union €250 million ($263 million) in back taxes. On Wednesday, the bloc’s executive branch said it was closing three separate state aid investigations, including one involving Amazon. The decision ends one of the company’s longest-running legal sagas. In 2017, the European Commission found that, from 2006 to 2014, Amazon had used an operating company in Luxembourg to pay substantially less tax to the European Union. The shell company had no offices or staff, and was, according to the Commission, used solely by Amazon to lower its tax bill. By the Commission’s estimate, the e-commerce giant avoided taxation on three quarters of all the profit it made from online sales in the EU during that period. In 2021, however, Amazon won an appeal against the ruling. Although the company changed its tax structure following the investigation, it argued at the time that the Commission’s decision was full of "methodological errors.” It also said the payments ...

Canada’s Competition Bureau sues to break up Google’s ad business

Canada's antitrust watchdog is suing Google to force the breakup of the company’s ad tech unit. In a statement published Thursday, during the US Thanksgiving holiday, the Competition Bureau said a “thorough” investigation had found that Google had abused its dominant position in programmatic web advertising to “maintain and entrench its market power.” Specifically, the watchdog has accused Google of giving its own tools preferential access to online ad inventory. The Competition Bureau alleges the company also took a financial hit on some transactions in an effort to disadvantage rival platforms, and that it even went so far as dictating the terms by which its own customers could do business with competing ad tech companies. Among other remedies, the Competition Bureau is seeking to force Google to sell two of its ad tech tools. The agency also wants the company to pay a penalty for its behavior. Google did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. In a statement i...

Amazon’s new Echo Show 21 is already $40 off in this Black Friday deal

Amazon isn't exactly shy about slashing prices on its own products during major shopping events like Black Friday. Not even when it comes to devices that it announced and released just days ago. To wit, the company has taken 10 percent off the list price of the Echo Show 21. The smart display can now be yours for $360. Amazon revealed the Echo Show 21 on November 20 and made it available to order immediately. No prizes for guessing that the device has a 21-inch screen. Of course, as with the Echo Show 15, this can be mounted on a wall. A countertop stand is available to buy separately. The Echo Show 21 has a 1080p display and an upgraded camera. Amazon claims this offers more than double the field of view of the original Echo Show 15 as well as 65 percent more zoom. As the presence of a camera suggests, Amazon is hoping you'll use this for video calls too. The company claims to have reduced unwanted ambient noise with this model. The Echo Show 21 is said to offer double t...

Amazon’s $8 Billion Bet on Anthropic: Claude AI and the Future of Artificial Intelligence

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In the world of tech, few companies wield as much power and influence as Amazon. Known primarily as the e-commerce giant that delivers everything from books to groceries to your... Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

From pond scum to premium skincare? Deep Blue Biotech is all in on blue-green algae to make better chemicals

Decarbonizing our economies in the race to fight climate change demands a wholesale overhauling of all sorts of production processes to make them as sustainable as possible. Greening chemicals, which are used as ingredients in all sorts of products, is where U.K. startup Deep Blue Biotech is putting its energies. The biotech startup founded in © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Financial inclusion drives M-KOPA to $400M in ARR

An African fintech that has grown on the strength of a 30,000-strong team of direct salespeople is moving into profit country by sub-Saharan country. Now, M-KOPA, the pay-as-you-go asset financing platform serving 5 million underbanked Africans, is racing toward a major milestone: surpassing an annual revenue rate of $400 million by year-end. The London-headquartered fintech © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

US to Introduce New Restrictions on China’s Access to Cutting-Edge Chips

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The new limits, which are expected to be announced Monday, are intended to slow China's ability to build large and powerful AI models. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Alibaba researchers unveil Marco-o1, an LLM with advanced reasoning capabilities

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The model uses more cycles during inference to generate more tokens and review responses, improving its performance on reasoning tasks. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Time spent online by adults in the UK jumped by nearly an hour in 2024 says Ofcom

Adults are spending an average of 4 hours and 20 minutes each day online across smartphones, tablets and computers in the U.K., according to figures from Ofcom’s annual Online Nation report diving into consumer digital habits. The figure is a big jump compared to 2023, when adults over 18 spent an average of 3 hours © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Pony AI’s valuation hits $5.25B after Nasdaq debut

The Chinese autonomous driving tech company will go public on the U.S. markets at $13 per share. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

11 Best Umbrellas (2024), Tested and Reviewed

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These are the best umbrellas we've tested. They'll protect you from showers and heavy rain and will hold up for the long haul. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

TikTok will block beauty filters for teens over mental health concerns

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Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images TikTok is placing age restrictions on some of its beauty filters to address concerns about how they impact the mental health of its teenage users. Some of the changes rolling out “in the coming weeks” include preventing under-18s from using certain appearance-altering effects, and expanding filter descriptions to specify what the filters adjust when applied. The press release says that age restrictions won’t apply to filter effects that are “designed to be obvious and funny,” such as adding animal ears or comically exaggerating certain features. The change likely aims to address beautifying effects like Bold Glamour that give users smoother skin, longer eyelashes, and slimmer faces — which can be more difficult to detect. As the announcement was made at TikTok’s European Safety Forum in Dublin and published on TikTok’s European newsroom, it’s unclear if these updates will be rolling out globally. We’ve asked TikTok to cla...

The latest Switch Online Expansion Pack update includes three classic Sega Genesis games

It’s been more than a hot minute since we’ve seen some new Sega Genesis classics in the Nintendo Switch online library, but we’re finally getting some today. The Switch Online Expansion Pack brings the frantic platformer VectorMan, the run-n-gunner Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS and the totally awesome ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron to the Switch’s classic games library. VectorMan from BlueSky Software is a 2D platformer with impressive graphics for its time that often gets overlooked in the long hallway of the Sega Genesis’ legacy. The protagonist is a robot made of floating left on a resource ravaged Earth to clean up the mess humanity made when one of the supervisor robots named WarHead connects to a nuclear weapon and holds the planet hostage. VectorMan must blast his way through waves of enemies to free the Earth from WarHead’s clutches. So just think of VectorMan as Wall-E with a deathwish. The game has a pretty notorious degree of difficulty, but the slick graphics and ...

Black Friday Kindle deals include the new Paperwhite for $30 off

The latest Kindle Paperwhite is barely a month old, but it’s already getting a discount for Black Friday. You can pick up the new ereader for $30 off, at a final price of $130. That’s a record low since the device’s debut, and it boasts faster page turns, a bigger and better screen and longer battery life. The sixth-generation Paperwhite has a seven-inch screen, noticeably bigger than the 6.8-inch one on its predecessor. Amazon also boosted the display’s contrast thanks to its oxide thin-film transistor display tech, which should help reduce eyestrain. It still has a warm light that you can tune to match your room’s lighting. The front light in the new model gets 25 percent brighter at its maximum level than the fifth-gen model. The new Paperwhite has 25 percent faster page turns than its predecessors, which Engadget’s Amy Skorheim found makes a marked difference in the reading experience. (The review was for the more expensive Signature Edition, but it has identical page turns.)...

Why an Offline Nuclear Reactor Led to Thousands of Hospital Appointments Being Canceled

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Radioisotopes are a vital resource for imaging patients’ organs and tumors—but these unstable elements also suffer from an unstable supply chain. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Eyewa now has 150 stores selling eyeglasses in the Mideast, and just raised $100M to add 100 more

Helping consumers find the perfect glasses is a booming global business, spawning giants like Warby Parker in the U.S. and Lenskart in India. In the Middle East, this market is producing its own rising powerhouse: Eyewa. Eyewa, based in Dubai and Riyadh, sells a wide range of eyewear products, including prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Figure 02 performing tasks autonomously

Robotics startup Figure released a video update showcasing their Figure 02 humanoid robot autonomously performing tasks at HQ for a BMW use case. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Trump’s AI Czar and the Wild West of AI regulation: Strategies for enterprises to navigate the chaos

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For enterprise executive decision-makers, the uncertain environment around AI regulation poses both significant risks and hidden opportunities, join us on Dec. 5 in Washington D.C. for a discussion delving into this. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Elon Musk wants to block the transfer of InfoWars’ X accounts to The Onion

The Onion, a satirical publication, won a bankruptcy auction earlier this month to purchase conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ website, InfoWars, and other related assets. However, that sale is now in limbo after a federal judge temporarily halted the deal. On Monday, Elon Musk threw yet another wrench in the works, objecting to the transfer of © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Uber is building a fleet of gig workers to label data for AI models

Uber is expanding its fleet of gig workers and creating a new category: AI annotation and data labeling. The ride-hailing company has started hiring contractors for a new AI and data labeling division called Scaled Solutions. These workers complete projects for Uber’s internal business units but are also serving outside customers including self-driving vehicle company © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

8 Early Black Friday TV Deals to Grab Ahead of the Madness

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TV brands are taking prices down a notch ahead of Black Friday for some of the best deals of the year. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Black Friday speaker deals for 2024: Save up to 55 percent off JBL, Marshall, Sonos, Echo and more

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According to my imprecise calculations, there are approximately a zillion speakers on sale for Black Friday but not all of them are good. We’ve tested and reviewed dozens of different models and put the best into buying guides for smart speakers, soundbars and portable Bluetooth speakers — and now many of those picks are on sale.  One of the best deals we're seeing is a new low price on JBL's Flip 6 which is $50 off (a personal favorite). Another is the same discount on the new Beats Pill, now $100 instead of $150.   Everything on this list comes from our recommendations and reviews so you don't have to guess if something is worth your money. If you need a new way to listen to music, a soundbar to help suss out the dialogue on your TV or a smart speaker to fulfill your demands, read on for the best Black Friday speaker deals from retailers across the web.  The best Bluetooth speaker Black Friday deals JBL Portable Bluetooth speakers make it easy for you to bring the music w...

The PS5 Access controller is on sale in a Black Friday PlayStation deal

There are a bunch of Black Friday deals on PlayStation products, but here's one that was perhaps a little unexpected. The PS5 Access controller has dropped to $59, which is a record low price. It's slightly over a third off the list price of $90. Sony created this controller to make the PlayStation 5 more accessible to a wider group of players. It released the Access controller last December. The Access controller comes with 19 button caps and three stick caps to help players find a configuration that works best for them. A button cap that takes up two sockets might be a better fit for someone compared with the standard one, for instance. There are 23 swappable tags for the button caps to help players identify which input they've mapped to each button. In addition, there are four 3.5mm aux ports, into which players can plug external buttons, switches and other accessories. It's possible to create as many as 30 profiles with different button and stick settings. Bu...

In court filing, Drake alleges UMG and Spotify artificially inflated popularity of diss track ‘Not Like Us’

The longstanding feud between rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar is heating up. Drake — via a business entity called Frozen Moments LLC — filed a petition yesterday in a New York Supreme Court accusing distributor Universal Music Group (UMG) of artificially inflating the popularity of “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s recently released “diss” track directed at © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

COP29 Agreement Says Someone Should Pay to Help Developing Countries, But Not Who

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Rich countries have agreed to pay developing nations $300 billion a year to help them with their climate actions—but the agreement doesn’t say who specifically should contribute or how. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Google Developer Program gains new features, but you’ll have to pay for them

In June, Google announced the Google Developer Program, a free program to give devs access to resources designed to help them build applications using Google services. Now that “millions” of devs have signed up (according to Google), the company is introducing a second, paid tier to commercialize the program. On Monday, Google launched the Google © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Rivian snags $6.6B conditional federal loan to build Georgia factory

Rivian said late Monday it has secured conditional commitment for a $6.6 billion loan from the Department of Energy, funds that will help the EV maker restart construction of a massive factory in Georgia. The funds will come from DOE’s Loan Programs Office Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program. Rivian said it expects to begin © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Marc Andreessen, Joe Lonsdale, and all the other VCs reportedly in the running for new Trump committees

With Elon Musk playing such a high-profile role in Donald Trump’s transition team, Musk’s buddies, many of them Silicon Valley venture capitalists, are reportedly being tapped to help out. For instance, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, and in particular co-founder Marc Andreessen, is repeatedly being mentioned. He, along with Antonio Gracias and Joe Lonsdale, are reportedly © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Anthropic releases Model Context Protocol to standardize AI-data integration

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Model Context Protocol, a new open source release from Anthropic, aims to eliminate the need to write code for every AI data integration. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Max Black Friday deal: Get six months of access for only $18

Max’s Black Friday deal gives you six months of one of the best streaming services for only $18 (billed monthly). The sale applies to new and returning subscribers. This is the Max with Ads plan, which usually costs $10 monthly, so you’re getting a 70-percent discount. Since the ad-free one costs $17 per month, perhaps that’ll make it easier to stomach some commercials before each episode of The Last of Us. The deal is only available in the US and will automatically renew during the six months — and beyond. If you don’t want to pay $10 monthly after the discount period, just remember to cancel before the renewal date. Max’s lineup has series and films like The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, Euphoria, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Penguin, Dune: Part Two, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Barbie. In addition, you get full series from HBO’s legendary archives, like The Sopranos, The Wire, Sex and The City, Game Of Thrones and Six Feet Under. It also includes current and old co...

South Korean prosecutors request 5-year jail sentence for Samsung chief Jay Lee

South Korean prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence and a 500 million KRW fine, equivalent to $375,000, for Samsung Electronics Chief Jay Y. Lee at an appeals court on Monday. The appeals case comes 10 months after Lee and 13 former Samsung executives were originally acquitted of manipulating stock prices and committing accounting fraud in © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Bluesky falling foul of EU rules by not reporting user numbers across the bloc

Bluesky, the social network that’s currently surging in popularity due to an exodus of users from rival X, is in breach of European Union (EU) regulations that stipulate all online platforms must regularly publish regional user numbers. The Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into full effect back in February, is an online governance framework © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Peacock’s Black Friday deal grants a full year of access for $20

Fans of random Love Island spinoffs rejoice! Peacock just dropped a doozy of a Black Friday deal. Customers can now sign up for a year-long subscription to the streaming service for just $20 or six months at $2 per month. That’s a discount of 75 percent, no matter which option is selected. The promotion is live right now, but ends on December 2. Peacock doesn’t have the name recognition of Netflix or Hulu, but it’s still home to plenty of good shows and movies. There’s a reason, after all, that the platform made our list of the best streaming services. Peacock isn’t just home to the aforementioned Love Island and other reality shows about love not set on islands. The streamer also airs some top-notch content like the AI-centric Mrs. Davis and the surprisingly-decent video game adaptation Twisted Metal. A Peacock subscription also allows access to SyFy shows like the underrated The Ark. Other worthwhile programs include Hysteria!, We Are Lady Parts and Killing It. There are a few...

Entrepreneur Marc Lore on ‘founder mode,’ bad hires, and why avoiding risk is deadly

Entrepreneur Marc Lore has already sold two companies for billions of dollars, collectively. Now he plans to take his food delivery and take-out business Wonder public in a couple of years at an ambitious $40 billion valuation. We talked with Lore in person in New York recently about Wonder and its ultimate aim of making © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Apple will never stop thinking about making a TV

It’s not exactly a secret that Apple has explored the possibility of building a television. Before his death in 2011, co-founder Steve Jobs famously told biographer Walter Isaacson that he’d “finally cracked it,” but no full-fledged Apple TV (as opposed to the Apple TV set-top box) has emerged in the years since. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Trailers of the week: Minecraft, Elio, and Alien: Earth

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A still from the latest A Minecraft Movie trailer. | Screenshot: YouTube This week, I went to a theater to watch a showing of the black-and-white version of Johnny Mnemonic, starring Keanu Reeves. Old-heads like me may recall it as a bad mid-90s cyberpunk film (written by William Gibson!) about a data courier whose brain is the storage medium, but who had to have his childhood memories erased to make space for the work. I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid, and you know what? It’s still not a good movie. But if you ignore the plot holes, mostly awful acting, and terrible pacing, it’s at least very cool to look at. Also, I had totally forgotten about Ice T’s turn as J-Bone, leader of the Lo-Tek underground. It was fun enough, but it was weird to hear the theater audience erupt with applause at the end, though, knowing how it was received almost three decades ago. At least some of the movies below, from the last week’s worth of trailers, are bound to be better. A Minecraft Mov...

Love, Music, and Meaning: Stories Behind Today’s Most Talked-About Celebrities

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In a world where celebrity stories are often reduced to headlines, a deeper look reveals something more captivating—moments of romance, artistry, and purpose that echo themes we all understand. Today,... Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Love, Music, & Secrets: Kendall, Taylor, Leo & Adele’s Big Moments Revealed #CelebrityNews

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Love, Music, & Secrets: Kendall, Taylor, Leo & Adele’s Big Moments Revealed #CelebrityNews, #PopCulture, #KendallJenner, #TaylorSwift, #LeonardoDiCaprio, #Adele, #ChrisEvans, #EntertainmentNews, #HollywoodGossip, #Greenground Discover the stories everyone is talking about! From Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny’s romantic getaway in the Bahamas to Taylor Swift’s surprise album drop that’s breaking the internet. Dive into Leonardo DiCaprio’s star-studded charity gala and Adele’s inspiring journey of health and self-love. Plus, a glimpse into Chris Evans’ private wedding with Alba Baptista. It’s a whirlwind of love, passion, and purpose!Stay tuned for exclusive insights and engaging commentary—don’t miss out on the hottest pop culture highlights. Like, comment, and subscribe to Greenground for more captivating stories. Details in the description, and feel free to ask us anything in the comments!Remember, if you want to stay updated with the latest trends, news, and tech reviews, don’t...

The Apple Watch SE hits a record low price of $169 for Black Friday

iPhone users who want the smartwatch experience without shelling out a fortune have a great option in the Apple Watch SE, and the wearable is cheaper than ever right now thanks to a Black Friday deal. The Apple Watch SE has dropped to $169 at Amazon. That's a discount of 32 percent or $80. This is a new record-low price for the 40mm GPS variant. However, it's an all-time-low only by one dollar. The wearable was on sale for $170 during the October Prime Day event. The Apple Watch SE is a good choice for iPhone users who have yet to hop into the smartwatch ecosystem or perhaps are clinging onto a much older Apple Watch but don't need a flagship model. If you're looking for something more advanced, you'd be better off with the Apple Watch Series 10, which is also currently sitting at a record low price for Black Friday and is our pick for the best smartwatch overall.  The second-gen Apple Watch SE is our pick for the best budget Apple Watch and we gave it a score...

‘Wolfs’ sequel canceled because director ‘no longer trusted’ Apple

It may be hard to remember, but George Clooney and Brad Pitt co-starred in a movie, “Wolfs,” that Apple released just two months ago. On Friday, the film’s writer and director Jon Watts said Friday that a sequel is no longer happening; in a follow-up interview with Deadline, he explained that he “no longer trusted © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

What to read this weekend: A visual history of Futurama, and more

New releases in fiction, nonfiction and comics that caught our attention this week. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-a-visual-history-of-futurama-and-more-193047965.html?src=rss Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Alien: Earth – The Prequel Series That Will Redefine Sci-Fi Horror in 2025 #AlienEarth

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Alien: Earth – The Prequel Series That Will Redefine Sci-Fi Horror in 2025 #AlienEarth, #SciFiHorror, #AlienPrequel, #Xenomorphs, #NoahHawley, #SydneyChandler, #WeylandYutani, #Summer2025, #AlienFranchise, #AlienTVShow Get ready to scream as Alien: Earth crashes onto the scene, bringing the terror of Xenomorphs to our very doorstep! In this highly anticipated prequel series set just two years before Ridley Scott’s iconic Alien (1979), Earth faces an unthinkable threat as alien horrors invade our world. Directed by Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion), this sci-fi horror promises an all-new breed of Xenomorphs, heart-pounding action, and a deeper dive into the sinister Weyland-Yutani Corporation.Starring Sydney Chandler as Wendy, Timothy Olyphant as Kirsh, and a powerhouse international cast, Alien: Earth takes the franchise to terrifying new heights. Expect mystery, evolution, and plenty of chills as we approach its Summer 2025 release on FX and Hulu.Hit play now for all the juicy details, terr...

Black Friday subscription deals for 2024: The best sales from Audible, Kindle Unlimited, MasterClass, ProtonVPN and more

We typically think of Black Friday and Cyber Monday as good opportunities to save on gadgets and pick up a few gifts at a discount before the holidays. But those savings extend to subscriptions and services in addition to tangible gadgets. Whether you’ve been thinking about trying a meditation app like Headspace or want to invest in a VPN service like ExpressVPN, you can do so during this time of the year for less thanks to Black Friday deals on subscriptions. To make it easier to find the services you want and need this year, Engadget has curated the best subscription deals you can get for Black Friday this year. Best Black Friday subscription deals Amazon Kindle Unlimited for $1 for three month ($35 off): Amazon's ebook subscription service gives you access to a catalog of thousands titles for unlimited reading, select Audible audiobooks to listen to and included magazines to read. Audible Premium Plus for $3 for three months + $20 Audible credit ($64 off): This deal gives you o...

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman warns against Elon Musk’s ‘conflict of interest’ in setting AI policies

Reid Hoffman, co-founder at LinkedIn and Inflection AI, shared his expectations for the incoming Trump administration in an opinion piece for the Financial Times. And while he appears hopeful that President-Elect Donald Trump could clear the way for more competition and faster innovation in the technology industry, Hoffman also expressed concerns around Trump providing certain © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Hyundai and Kia recall 208,000 EVs

Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis are recalling about 208,000 EVs in the United States due to an issue that could cause the vehicles to suddenly lose power, according to several filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall was first reported by Reuters. The problem originates with the integrated charging control unit (ICCU), which © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Sequoia marks up its 2020 fund by 25%

Sequoia says no exits, no problem. The Silicon Valley titan of venture marked up the value of its 2020 Sequoia Capital U.S. Venture XVII fund by 24.6% in June, at the end of a 12-month period, according to PitchBook, which ran analysis on data from the Regents of the University of California’s endowment. Sequoia’s markup © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The EV Buyers’ Guide to an Uncertain Future

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The Trump administration is likely to make big changes to US federal electric vehicle incentive programs. Buy or lease now, probably. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Thrive Capital’s Bold $5 Billion Bet: Reshaping Tech and AI Investments

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In the fast-paced world of venture capital, bold moves define the leaders from the followers. Thrive Capital, the New York-based powerhouse founded by Joshua Kushner, is making waves with its... Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

EU closes antitrust probe into Apple’s e-book and audiobook rules after complaint withdrawn

The European Commission (EC) has quietly closed a longstanding antitrust investigation into Apple over rules it enforces against third-party e-book and audiobook app developers. The EC opened the probe back in 2020 after receiving complaints over how Apple forced competing e-book and audiobook app developers to use Apple’s own in-app payment system, while also preventing © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Teen streamer dumped a meme coin for $30K, then things got weird

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The young streamer behind a viral meme coin called Quant was doxxed by the crypto community after he ripped off investors, as reported by Decrypt and The Crypto Times. During a livestream earlier this week, the kid giddily watched the price of his meme coin go up before selling his stake for $30,000 and flipping off viewers, causing its price to plummet. The young investor, who reports claim is 13 years old, started gaining attention after his post on X went viral. “Just made 2k before school. Lock in,” the post said, alongside a photo of the kid holding up his phone to show off his gains. When the boy later launched his token Quant during a livestream, investments quickly started coming in — until he pulled all of the money out of the token completely, Decrypt reports. BRO LMFAOOOOO pic.twitter.com/rLYWr2cxqB— BEEZY (@BeezyScores) November 20, 2024 But things started to turn strange and eventually ugly when members of the community...

16 Best Mattresses—I’ve Tested Dozens for a Week Each (2024)

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I’ve spent years testing dozens of bed-in-a-box hybrid, foam, and certified organic mattresses. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Apple is reportedly building a more conversational Siri powered by LLMs

Apple is developing a new version of its voice assistant, Siri, powered by advanced large language models (LLMs), according to sources cited by Bloomberg. This more conversational Siri is part of Apple’s attempt to catch up in AI, where competitors have released impressive features, like Google’s Gemini Live, that are far more natural to talk © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

New York Times Says OpenAI Erased Potential Lawsuit Evidence

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As part of an ongoing copyright lawsuit, The New York Times says it spent 150 hours sifting through OpenAI’s training data looking for potential evidence—only for OpenAI to delete all of its work. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

A company is now developing human washing machines

Forget cold plunges. The new flex could soon be human washing machines. According to one of Japan’s oldest newspapers, an Osaka-based shower head maker called Science has developed a contraption that’s shaped like a cockpit, fills with water when a bather sits in a seat at its center, and measures the person’s pulse and other © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Bill to ban social media use by under-16s arrives in Australia’s parliament

Legislation to ban social media for under 16s has been introduced in the Australian parliament. The country’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed the plan to curb the use of social media by kids earlier this month, and the bill has now been presented to lawmakers, Reuters reports. Many jurisdictions will be watching the proceedings with interest, © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are back on sale for $229 for Black Friday

It's been over a year since Bose released its QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Earbuds but we would argue they're still the best noise-canceling earbuds on the market. Now, for Black Friday, they're also back down to their best price, dropping to $229 from $299.  We gave the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Earbuds a 88 in our review thanks to features like — you guessed it — amazing active noise cancellation. We found these earbuds especially impressive when it came to blocking airplane noise so, if you have a long flight ahead, this is where to look. These earbuds also produced really great sound quality due to Immersive Audio and spatial audio technology. The clarity, detail and volume come together to create a natural sound that makes it feel as if you're not even wearing earbuds.  Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Earbuds also tout an impressive battery life (though using Immersive Audio really eats into it). We did find the earbuds to be a bit large, but the...

Blue Bear Capital lands $160M to back AI founders in climate, energy, and industry

The new fund swims against the prevailing currents in its sector, where funds that invest in hardware or a mix of hardware and software tend to dominate. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Threads rolls out its custom feeds tool after a quick testing phase

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The battle over who will get all of X’s users now that it’s an utter cesspool continues. Threads just began rolling out its own custom feeds feature to compete with rival Bluesky. Custom feeds have long been a hallmark of Bluesky and now Threads users can get in on the action. Meta announced it was testing custom feeds just last week, so those tests must have been successful. It’s either that or they want to stall Bluesky’s continuing momentum. Simply put, the feature allows users to pin topic-based feeds to the home screen of the app. This gives people the option to scroll through additional feeds beyond the algorithmic “for you” feed. This is a very good thing, as Thread’s current “for you” algorithm can be easily manipulated by just posting stuff like “who likes cats?” I have seen quite literally 400 posts like that in my feed, all looking for engagement. I like cats but, come on. In any event, users can create a custom feed by searching for keywords and taping the “...” menu to get...

India’s Arzooo, once valued at $310M, sells in distressed deal

Arzooo, an Indian startup founded by former Flipkart executives that sought to bring “best of e-commerce” to physical stores, has sold its assets in distressed sale to Moksha Group. The deal follows Arzooo engaging with several startups, including Bengaluru-headquartered Udaan, for potential merger opportunities, according to people familiar with the matter. Arzooo had raised approximately © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Fusion startup Tokamak Energy attracts $125M for its egg-like reactor design

Startups pursuing fusion power have benefitted from AI's insatiable thirst for electricity. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

UK open to social media ban for kids as gov’t kicks off feasibility study

The U.K. government is not ruling out further beefing up existing online safety rules by adding an Australian-style ban on social media for under 16s technology secretary, Peter Kyle, has said. Back in the summer the government warned it may toughen laws for tech platforms in the wake of riots that were perceived to have © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 is coming in 2025

Yesterday, at the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore, the company revealed Volume 3 of Star Wars: Visions. This anthology of nine short animations from nine separate anime studios is set to release next year. In keeping with tradition from prior volumes, each studio is allowed considerable creative freedom and will likely produce shorts with distinctive art styles that fans will recognize instantly. Based on the Star Wars website’s blog post, we can immediately see four returning studios: Kamikaze Douga, Kinema citrus Co., Production I.G and TRIGGER. These studios are responsible for anime adaptations of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Made in Abyss, Haikyu!! and Kill la Kill, respectively. To improve the diversity of styles, Disney invited five new studios to create the remaining shorts. They are ANIMA (collaborating with Kamikaze Douga), David Production, Polygon Pictures, Project Studio Q and WIT Studio. ANIMA is an animation studio specializing in 3D CG movies, and you may know it...

Anyone Can Buy Data Tracking US Soldiers and Spies to Nuclear Vaults and Brothels in Germany

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More than 3 billion phone coordinates collected by a US data broker expose the detailed movements of US military and intelligence workers in Germany—and the Pentagon is powerless to stop it. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

You have a few hours left to bid on this burned-out husk in San Francisco

Houses in San Francisco are notoriously expensive, with the average home price hovering around $1.26 million. It’s no wonder that a fire-ravaged shack priced at $299,000 in one of San Francisco’s southernmost neighborhoods saw at least 20 people tour the property this past weekend, according to The San Francisco Standard. Potential buyers were asked to © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Workbrew makes open-source package manager Homebrew enterprise-friendly

Workbrew emerges from stealth with the mission of mitigating the risks of "shadow IT" practices around Homebrew package manager deployments. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow .

Control Ultimate Edition comes to Mac computers on February 12

Remedy just announced that Control Ultimate Edition will be released for Mac computers on February 12, 2025. The developer didn’t say which Macs would run the title, but it’s a safe bet that the game will only work on M-series computers. Control Ultimate Edition contains the original game, post-launch patches and season pass expansions. It hasn’t been revealed if this version will include the updates for current-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. This information comes from the company’s Capital Markets Day, a meeting of investors. Remedy made some other announcements during the gathering, including that it’s still working on Control 2. The game was first revealed back in 2022 and we haven’t heard much since that original announcement. The developer did note that the sequel would be an action RPG. This is interesting because the first Control had some RPG elements, with various weapon and ability upgrades, but I wouldn’t call it a full-fledged action RPG. Remedy owns the...