HBO's The Last of Us has returned for its second season, and series star Bella Ramsey believes the season's ending will leave viewers angry and emotionally traumatized.Speaking to Collider, Ramsey said by the end of the season, viewers will "feel like they've been on a pretty intense roller coaster.""I just hope that people keep their seatbelts on the whole time because it's pretty mad. I think that people will hopefully feel really satisfied by the journey of it. I hope people are slightly emotionally traumatized because it's supposed to make you feel it a lot," Ramsey said.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Though the Harry Pottertelevision series is still a ways off, fans have some exciting news this morning. Potterheads now have official word on six cast members joining the hallowed grounds of Hogwarts.

In the CScriptBuilder::ClearAllIt looks like the classMetadataMap isn't getting cleared.I discarded and started a new module, but it still contained old script metadata. It gave me incorrect metadata when calling CScriptBuilder::GetMetadataForTypeProperty.Once I added classMetadataMap.clear(); in the CScriptBuilder::ClearAll() it worked again.I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but it looks like an oversight that it's

NVIDIA is working with its manufacturing partners to design and build factories that, for the first time, will produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. Together with leading manufacturing partners, the company has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test NVIDIA Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas. NVIDIA Blackwell chips have started production at TSMC’s chip plants in Phoenix, Arizona. NVIDIA is building supercomputer manufacturing plants in Texas, with Foxconn in Houston and with Wistron in Dallas. Mass production at both plants is expected to ramp up in the next 12-15 months. The AI chip and supercomputer supply chain is complex and demands the most advanced manufacturing, packaging, assembly and test technologies. NVIDIA is partnering with Amkor and SPIL for packaging and testing operations in Arizona. Within the next four years, NVIDIA plans to produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the United States through partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn, Wistron, Amkor and SPIL. These world-leading companies are deepening their partnership with NVIDIA, growing their businesses while expanding their global footprint and hardening supply chain resilience. NVIDIA AI supercomputers are the engines of a new type of data center created for the sole purpose of processing artificial intelligence — AI factories that are the infrastructure powering a new AI industry. Tens of “gigawatt AI factories” are expected to be built in the coming years. Manufacturing NVIDIA AI chips and supercomputers for American AI factories is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and drive trillions of dollars in economic security over the coming decades. “The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency.” The company will utilize its advanced AI, robotics and digital twin technologies to design and operate the facilities, including NVIDIA Omniverse to create digital twins of factories and NVIDIA Isaac GR00T to build robots to automate manufacturing.

The first episode of Don’t Nod’s narrative adventure, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, ended with a hell of a cliffhanger: a massive discovery of something unknown, possibly malevolent, and a devastating revelation about one of the story’s central figures. As the second episode, or tape, of this player-choice-driven, nostalgia-powered story aims to draw things to their conclusion when Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 launches April 15 day one into the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, players have been left wondering what to expect. To dig deeper into the game’s ambitions and get some further insight on what to expect from Swann, Nora, Autumn, and Kat’s next escapade, we sat down for a chat with Michel Koch, Creative Director at Don’t Nod’s Montreal studio. You Oughta Know Koch was eager to tell us how this experience would differ from the first. “The first Tape, ‘Bloom’, is the nice and sunny part of the beginning of the summer, of you meeting and bonding with those girls. The second half is called ‘Rage’, which is mostly the aftermath of the cliffhanger at the end of Tape 1. We wanted Tape 1 to let the player find their own space within the group of friends, getting a feeling of a summer where you meet friends, but also giving hints of weird things. They’re finding the clearing. They’re finding the abyss. It’s a very natural story of four girls having a fun summer together before Swann moves away.” “But Tape 2 will focus more on this weirder part of the story. We know what happened at the end of the summer. We still don’t know why, but we know that they promise not to see each other again. We know about the weird box, we know about Kat, but we don’t know the consequences of this revelation. How do you continue to have a normal summer with your friends? And, of course, the continuation of what’s happening with those weird things they found in the forest. ​​ Those supernatural elements will be more important. Personally, I love trying to blend supernatural things and surrealism revolving around the story of our characters. You can create a darker, weirder mood while still focusing on the characters and then adding the characters. We create this vibe, and it will get stronger and play a huge part of the story’s resolution.” The pacing in this follow-up will be more brisk, as well. “Tape 2 definitely picks up the pace,” he continues. “We saw what happened with Kat and the end of the concert, and Tape 2 will start the next day with Swann having to face kind of the guilt, even if it’s not our fault, of putting friends in danger. We’ll advance through the month of August up to the end events. So yes, it’s faster paced, with higher stakes.” Koch also emphasized that players will see more of how their choices in tape one affect the overall narrative. “We had a lot of choices. Who you are talking to, who you are getting closest to, all those interpersonal relationships with the girls, and so on. What was the choice you made during the ritual? What did you do at the abyss? How did you react to Corey and Dylan in the times you were with them? Are you behaving in a more violent or unlawful way, or are you sometimes taking the route to be cautious?  A lot of those will change the course of what’s happening in Tape 2.” Girls on Film One of the most interesting features of tape one was the camcorder, which protagonist Swann carries with her everywhere to chronicle her life in Velvet Cove, Michigan. Players could tape objects of interest as in-game collectibles or just film whatever and edit it together to make mini-movies. However, the camcorder becomes a crucial plot and gameplay element at several points. We asked Koch about the role the camcorder will play in Tape 2. “We are expanding it a bit. We wanted to give you a tool that’s Swann’s ‘weapon’ or ‘shield.’ She’s filming people, but she’s also hiding behind the camcorder. We wanted to make it fun in a way that’s engaging like it was to film things in the 90s. We wanted to use these mechanics to link a lot of other mechanics of the game. So, in Tape 2, there will be a few more exotic moments: unlocking a puzzle or finding a solution to a clue or something you have to do. There is a twist with the camcorder and your videos that I don’t want to spoil, that hopefully will resonate with players. It will be the way you film the game that will be important at a point story-wise, and hopefully, there will be a strong connection between those pictures and your own journey.” Will Tape 2 also include more puzzles than the handful seen in the first half? Koch says yes. “There are puzzles that I really like in Tape 2. One is more like a narrative puzzle that’s still a blend of interaction, moving around, and dialogue. I think it’s very interesting because it uses all our narrative design elements, dialog options, and your knowledge about the characters to unlock situations, not just by finding objects but also by really knowing someone and using your main tools of dialogue and the camcorder.” Tonight, Tonight What about the other half of the narrative, the friends reuniting in a bar again 27 years later? “That part will still take place mostly in the bar,” says Koch. “We still need to finish remembering the past. We need to open the box, which will be an important scene. We have four different main endings at the end of the present-day portion, with variations on those endings based on your choices. During those endings, we will get out of the bar. You might discover a bit more of how the town is today, 27 years later.” The bar, he explains, is what the game’s whole concept was built around originally. “Our pitch was a story where we were trying to convey the feeling of meeting again with old friends you haven’t seen for a long time, having a discussion with them, where you would be remembering your past and seeing if you can reconnect with them today. I thought of having a moment in a bar, in a restaurant, or a room where you start to connect again, and sometimes you reconnect perfectly. Sometimes, it’s iffy, and you don’t know if you can still be friends. That was the interesting part for me, the narrative aspect. Within these walls, you’re forced to talk. You’re facing each other, so you are obliged to remember the past.” We asked Koch if he had any closing comments for fans. “I would say to the players, thanks for playing Tape 1, and I hope that Tape 2 will fulfill their hope of where the game goes. I also hope that Tape 2 will surprise them where the game goes, and that they enjoy seeing how relationship choice and morality choices they made in tape one play out. What will happen in Tape 2 will surprise, but also hopefully satisfy them, and they will love the end of the journey. For new players, I hope that they will love the characters, interacting with those girls, and engaging with this story, with us, with the summer.”

The Last of Us is all about big action. Disgusting zombie attacks. Failed protective acts. Successful ones that cost too many lives. But in the season 2 premiere, The Last of Us managed to give us its best scene yet with the smallest of gestures — and, in the process, tell us more about Joel than he ever could.  [Ed. note: This post discusses the scene in question, which is midway through the season 2 premiere.] The moment comes when Joel (Pedro Pascal) goes to talk to Gail (Catherine O’Hara), Jackson’s resident therapist, and someone who’s decidedly over his bullshit. As they talk, the animosity comes into focus: Gail is a few drinks in, sadly feeling her way through her first birthday without her husband of 41 years, after Joel killed him sometime between season 1 and season 2. She’s in no mood to be delicate about her feelings or his, and pushes him to be honest with her.  The scene itself is a great example of why you hire actors like O’Hara and Pascal. There’s a history communicated here, even if it’s the first time we’ve met her. She’s acerbic and curt, a controlled skid into feeling, then thinking her way through her emotions. But she hits her target: As Joel, Pascal is visibly moved, clearly overwhelmed by the freedom of the messiness of what she feels. It’s something he could stand to feel more — her mentions of how she “hates” him for “how” he killed Eugene as something she can’t forgive seem to reinforce his own image of himself as already compromised. With Ellie, he wants things to be simple and clear; he resents how she doesn’t see him “like a good guy — which I am,” but refuses to sit with the why of it all. And then when he stands up to leave, Gail flinches.  Gail’s motion is arguably small, and nothing about Joel’s movement makes it seem like he intends her any harm. But in that moment, it’s clear that she was scared anyway. According to co-showrunner Craig Mazin (who wrote the episode), Gail getting startled was all O’Hara’s idea in the moment. “Look, he is a patient, and there is the sense that she has some power over him, because therapists have authority,” Mazin recalls O’Hara telling him when they were filming. “But when he stands up, she reveals that he is also frightening to her, that she knows what he is capable of.” Ever since Joel went on his rampage in the hospital, the show has cemented this as the central moral question of the franchise. Could his violence, his skills, be justified? Maybe some could. But as Joel knows all too well (as does anyone who’s ever tried talking about the first game/season’s ending), it’s not a universal sense of justice. The Last of Us’ big trick as a game was removing the player agency in that scene. The show can’t use the same trick — so it has to find other ways to make Joel (and the audience) wrestle with it.  It’s clear he already is, try as he might to just avoid the subject altogether. Gail calls him on it, and demonstrates how freeing it is to just say your shit out loud. And the two end up opposite of each other: O’Hara communicates all the internal conflict Gail feels dissipating through a furrowed brow and relaxing her form. By contrast, Joel looks stricken, tears wavering as he wrestles again with his choices and what brought him there. And then, like a sky suddenly turning dark, he hardens himself. He says only that he “saved” Ellie, stands abruptly, and leaves.  Nothing about the rest of the scene is particularly a surprise; whether or not you think Joel was right, we can all agree that Joel is dangerous. This is the exact reason he was recruited to help Ellie initially, and the exact thing that saves her at the end of season 1. It’s something he doesn’t want to admit, but still accepts about himself, if only out of the psychological need to not confront how he’s making these choices. But in somewhere like Jackson, there’s not a lot of places for that danger to go, not if everything’s going right. The people of The Last of Us are looking for hope and safety — these are not things that cling to Joel as he charges forward.  The show is technically littered with scenes like this, of Joel or Ellie defining the boundaries of their tribe or their acceptance of violence. What makes this one so strong is that it shows us where Joel is at the same time it shows us who he is to people around him, even when he’s also the nice guy who helps with the books and construction. When Joel comes into Gail’s house, he’s already indulging himself. He sees Eugene’s shoes and turns his back to them, instead staring up at the painting of a lone horse rider. He bemoans how Dina treats him like a human being while Ellie treats him “like some asshole.” In his mind, he’s the wronged party here, and the main character that people should owe a little more courtesy to.  Gail cuts through the armor, and lets the show keep its thumb on the scale. Joel may be able to convince himself that he has done everything right so long as Ellie is still in the world and the people he considers “his” get to live right. But his instincts — for protection, for defense, for brutality — come at a cost, and not everyone will agree with them. Some people might even fear him. In a tale as bleak as The Last of Us (and certainly one as bleak as The Last of Us Part 2), it’s important to have that counterbalance: Joel may never flinch in the face of danger. But the people around him do.  New episodes of The Last of Us air on Sundays on HBO and Max at 6 p.m. PDT/9 p.m. EDT.

FiiO has carved out a niche for itself by blending modern audio technology with retro aesthetics – think CD players like the DM13 and high-res DACs (digital audio converters) like the KA15. Now, the company is tapping into that same retro-futuristic spirit through its new sub-brand, Snowsky, with the launch of the Snowsky Retro Nano – a compact, cassette-inspired music player and headphone amplifier that channels the spirit of the ‘90s. At first glance, the Snowsky Retro Nano looks like it was pulled straight from the era of mixtapes and Walkmans. With its boxy silhouette, tactile buttons, and even a removable battery compartment, it’s a deliberate throwback to classic portable cassette players like the Sony Walkman. FiiO takes the nostalgia even further with a light blue color option that screams ‘90s cool, along with a sheet of retro-themed stickers that lets users personalize their device to match the aesthetic of their youth – or at least their Instagram feed. Despite its old-school looks, the Snowsky Retro Nano is packed with modern hardware. It features dual Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC chips, capable of decoding audio at up to 24-bit/96kHz resolution. This means it’s not just a pretty face – it’s a serious audio upgrade for your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Connectivity options include Bluetooth and USB-C, and the device offers both 3.5mm unbalanced and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs, catering to a wide range of audiophile gear. Though FiiO refers to it as a “music player,” the Retro Nano doesn’t function as a standalone playback device – it needs a digital source. Think of it as a stylish DAC/amp combo that elevates your listening experience while adding a pop of retro flair to your setup. A standout feature is the removable battery, hidden behind a flip-open compartment reminiscent of old cassette doors. Unlike traditional AAA batteries, the included cell is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to resemble a AAA, though it’s proprietary and cannot be replaced with standard batteries. Still, if you prefer to bypass the battery altogether, the device can run directly off USB power, making it versatile for both portable and desktop use. In addition to its audio chops, the Retro Nano includes on-device controls for playback and volume, a built-in microphone for hands-free calls, and support for EQ customization via the FiiO Control app or a convenient web interface. Whether you’re fine-tuning your sound or just answering a quick call, the Retro Nano keeps things simple and functional. The Snowsky Retro Nano comes in two colors – blue and white – and is available for $62.99 on Amazon HERE. Photography courtesy of FiiO. This post contains affiliate links, so if you make a purchase from an affiliate link, we earn a commission. Thanks for supporting Design Milk!

To heal a body, you need a degree. To touch a heart, you need to be an interior decorator of perception.Continue reading on UX Collective »

Access to a high-quality webcam isn't always guaranteed: While decent options are now built into most laptops, they're not all of an acceptable standard. Maybe you've got a monitor without a webcam attached; maybe you want a different angle—there are numerous reasons why you might need another webcam.If you've got an iPhone, you've actually got a webcam, too. The process for setting up your iPhone as a webcam has gotten easier down the years, especially on macOS, though you can also use it as a connected camera on a Windows PC with a little more effort.Use your iPhone as a webcam on macOSMacs, iPhones, and other Apple gadgets all work fairly seamlessly together in a variety of ways now, from mirroring an iPhone on macOS to using your iPad as a second display. Included in this suite of cross-device tricks, under the name Continuity Camera, is the option to use your iPhone as a webcam for any app on your Mac.There are some simple rules for getting this to work. Both your Apple computer and your iPhone need to have wifi and Bluetooth enabled, and need to be signed into the same Apple account. The two devices must be within 10 meters or 30 feet of each other and meet the minimum requirements (in short, an iPhone launched in 2018 or later and running iOS 16 or later, and a Mac running macOS 13 Ventura or later). Choosing an iPhone as a camera in FaceTime. Credit: Lifehacker Assuming you've checked all those boxes, open up Settings on your iPhone, head to General > AirPlay & Continuity, and make sure Continuity Camera is enabled. You then need to get your iPhone in landscape orientation—you can change it around while you're using it, but the initial connection needs to be in landscape mode.Load up any webcam-using app on macOS, and you should then see your iPhone as an option for the video feed. With FaceTime, for example, open the Video menu and you should see it listed. You're able to move the iPhone and change its angle while it's in use, but you can't switch between the front and rear cameras: You can only use the rear camera for your webcam.This all works wirelessly over wifi and Bluetooth, but you can also connect your iPhone to your Mac via a USB cable too, if you want to—you might find you get a slightly more stable connection, and it also means you won't be draining your phone's battery while you're using it as a webcam. You can pause or disconnect from your iPhone screen. Credit: Lifehacker Click the video feed icon in the menu bar at the top of the macOS interface to access the various webcam features Apple now offers, including Portrait and Studio Light, though not all of them work on all iPhones: For keeping yourself in view via Center Stage, for example, you need an iPhone with an ultra-wide camera. You can also enable Desk View from this drop-down menu, which lets you create a top-down view of whatever's on your desk (very handy for sharing documents).While your iPhone is in use as a webcam, you'll see a Pause button on the iPhone screen, which temporarily stops the live feed. A second button underneath, Disconnect, turns off webcam mode completely. You can also close down the video app you're using or switch to a different webcam to exit out of webcam mode on your iPhone.Use your iPhone as a webcam on WindowsUsing your iPhone as a webcam on Windows is a little more involved, and you're going to need the assistance of a third-party app to get everything working. However, there are plenty of apps to choose from for the job, and most of them are free or at least offer the basic webcam functionality for free.One app that's been reliably serving users for a long time is DroidCam. You need to get both the Windows client installed on your computer, and the iOS app installed on your iPhone, and then all you need to do is launch them both—there's no need to register an account, and everything works over your wifi network. Using DroidCam on Windows with an iPhone. Credit: Lifehacker The application gives you a few settings and filters to play around with so you can get your feed looking exactly how you want it, and with DroidCam running, your iPhone is then available as a webcam option for any software running on your PC. It will simply show up as a webcam you can switch to.You can use DroidCam free of charge, but if you pay $4.99 a year or a one-off fee of $14.99, you get access to resolutions above 1080p and can remove the DroidCam watermark on your webcam feed. Paying for the software also adds a few more controls on both the Windows and the iOS side.Another option that I've found straightforward and reliable is Camo. As with DroidCam, you need to get the software set up on Windows, and on your iPhone via the iOS app. It couldn't be much simpler to set up, with no registration needed, and you can connect over wifi or by plugging your iPhone into your Windows computer with a USB cable. Camo offers a range of video effects and filters. Credit: Lifehacker Camo is much more of a software suite, with a range of features you can use with any webcam you like: From exposure and white balance adjustments to clever background effects. Once you've got your iPhone configured as a webcam inside Camo, you can then use it to deliver a video feed in any other app on Windows.Most of Camo's features are available to use free of charge, but there is a Camo Pro subscription level that will set you back $4.99 a month. The key benefits are video resolutions up to 4K (rather than 720p), support for variable frame rates, and access to a smart zoom feature that uses some clever tricks to improve zoom levels without losing image quality.

Apple TV+ has a ton of popular originals like Ted Lasso, Severance, Slow Horses, For All Mankind, Foundation and Silo. If you've been meaning to check them out, you can do so for less right now. Apple TV+ is on sale right now for $3 per month for the first three months, bringing the total cost to just $9 for the entire period. That saves you a total of $21 off the standard $10 monthly cost of the subscription that we consider to be one of our favorite streaming services. Apple's shows won 10 Emmy Awards in 2024, including a Slow Horses victory for outstanding writing in a drama series. Although its films weren't up for anything at this year's Oscars, it received 13 nominations in 2024, including Best Picture nods for Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon. Three months of Apple TV+ for $9 is available through April 24. Both new and qualified returning subscribers (those who haven't been subscribed for the past 30 days) are eligible. You also must sign up via Apple directly and not through a third-party provider or your mobile wireless provider. If you don't want to pay full price after three months, just remember to cancel before the renewal date. Check out our coverage of the best streaming deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/three-months-of-apple-tv-drops-to-only-9-193009187.html?src=rss