Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation by Ian Failes will be released November 5, 2025 by Lucasfilm Publishing and Abrams. By Lucas O. Seastrom It all began in May of 1975 with a handshake between director George Lucas and visual effects supervisor John Dykstra. Industrial Light & Magic formed as Lucasfilm’s visual effects division to work specifically on one project: Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). 50 years later, ILM now spans the globe with offices in five countries and hundreds of productions to its credit. Now in 2025, the 50th anniversary festivities have kicked off at an appropriate venue: Star Wars Celebration. ILM leadership and artists gathered at the beloved fan event near Tokyo, Japan to reflect on the storied occasion, as well as announce a new book: Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation, written by Ian Failes and coming November 5, 2025 from Lucasfilm Publishing and Abrams.A New Book Charting ILM’s Continuing Legacy Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation takes readers from day one at ILM in 1975 up to some of the latest projects and innovations at the company today. Packed with hundreds of rare archival images, author Ian Failes – the noted visual effects journalist at befores & afters – weaves insightful technical history with the beloved stories of ILM’s people.  “ILM has been part of my visual effects life for a long time,” Failes tells ILM.com. “I first ‘discovered’ so much about visual effects just as I left high school when I happened upon two things…. One was the industry magazine Cinefex, and the other was the incredible book, Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm, by Mark Cotta Vaz and Patricia Rose Duignan. I read that ILM book from cover to cover multiple times. It really was one of the things that inspired me to become a visual effects journalist. “So, getting the opportunity to go deeper into ILM’s history with this new book, but now with all the knowledge I’ve gained from time spent covering the industry, is just so rewarding—and fun,” Failes adds. Readers can look forward to many untold stories in 50 Years of Innovation. Failes identifies the transition from photochemical optical compositing to digital methods as a particularly fascinating era in the company’s history. “In the book there are some great details shared by key ILMers who were there at the time about many different aspects of the move to digital in terms of other areas like film scanning and digital compositing,” the author says. “Also, readers have never been able to explore so many exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from ILM’s history before,” Failes continues. “Having images from all different fields that highlight what is essentially the history of visual effects like modelmaking, optical effects, puppets, stop-motion, matte paintings, hand-animation, CG animation, virtual production, etc., all in one place, is something very special. I especially love some of the photographs that showcase the various VistaVision and motion control camera systems that ILM developed.” At the heart of ILM’s story is the spirit of creativity and innovation which has been defined by the company’s people over the decades. “Even back to its beginnings, George Lucas started ILM after identifying that no existing facility could deliver what he imagined for Star Wars,” Failes concludes. “It feels to me that a unique innovative spirit was born during the making of that first film, and never left the company. I think that goes both for technological developments and also cultural ones. ILM helped establish modern workflows inside a visual effects facility, and I think, really importantly, further set the standard for how to collaborate with filmmakers and other creatives.”Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation by Ian Failes is coming November 5, 2025 from Lucasfilm Publishing and Abrams. On the Stage at Star Wars Celebration As a special live recording of Lighter Darker: The ILM Podcast, the Star Wars Celebration panel included president and general manager of Lucasfilm business, Lynwen Brennan; head of ILM and general manager Janet Lewin; ILM executive creative director and senior visual effects supervisor John Knoll, ILM Sydney creative director and senior animation supervisor Rob Coleman; ILM lead CG modeler Masa Narita; and former ILM modelmaker Fon Davis. Lucasfilm’s senior vice president of creative innovation, digital production & technology Rob Bredow moderated. Lynwen Brennan came to ILM 27 years ago as the company ramped up for production of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999). Like many, she’d been inspired to join ILM after seeing Jurassic Park (1993) a few years earlier. “The minute I walked through the door, I just fell in love,” Brennan told the audience. “I knew I’d found my people…. It’s an incredibly spirited place. We have a lot of fun. There’s something so special about a place that attracts these mavericks who are not scared of doing anything new…. Sometimes when you find people who are real risk-takers, they’re not necessarily great team players, right? But this…is a place where you’ve got people who love taking those risks but do it in such a collaborative way. That’s a thing that really got me.” Janet Lewin started her ILM career some 30 years ago and has had a front row seat to the continuing changes and evolutions in the visual effects industry, much of it driven by ILM. “Back then, we were one studio in San Rafael, just a couple of hundred people, mostly working in the Model Shop and on the stage,” Lewin explained. “It was an exciting time right at that digital revolution. It was a big deal for us to juggle four shows at one time, and a big show was a couple hundred shots. And over my 30-year trajectory, the company has massively grown. We now have 3,500 employees, five global studios, and…we do visual effects work across every possible medium.” For Masa Narita, appearing onstage at Celebration in his native Japan was a full circle moment. A lifelong visual effects fan, he’d watched Star Wars as a teenager during its original Japanese release in 1978. But as he reached adulthood, Narita first chose a career in finance.  “I used to be a businessman, worked for a Japanese brokerage firm for over 20 years,” Narita said. “But I always loved movies and visual effects because I grew up with special effects pioneers like Ultraman and Godzilla. So my first childhood dream was to wear a kaiju suit and to smash miniature towns. Actually, I still want to do that. [laughs] As I got older, I realized that I wanted to create something special like spaceships and characters [that] I saw in the movies. So at the age of 45, I decided to follow my passion. I quit my financial job and moved to Hollywood and started at a CG school. So that was my biggest gamble in my life, taken with my loving wife and two children. Fortunately, one year later…I got [my] very first CG job, and eventually I came to my dream company, ILM.” Narita has since worked at the company for over a decade, contributing to productions like Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), The Mandalorian (2019-23), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). “ILM puts a lot of focus on innovation that makes the impossible possible,” Narita added. “So I feel inspired every day walking in a place with so much creativity and skill. I love what I’m doing and I feel I really achieved my dream. People say life is short, but I don’t think so. We have plenty of time to start over. It’s never too late to chase something new.”You can hear these stories and many more on Episode 17 of Lighter Darker: The ILM Podcast, coming soon to ILM.com. Watch the ILM.com Newsroom for the latest information about how you can purchase a copy of Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation, coming to bookstores everywhere on November 5, 2025. Light & Magic Season 2 is streaming now on Disney+. New merchandise celebrating the 50th anniversary of Industrial Light & Magic is now available on Amazon.com. — Lucas O. Seastrom is the editor of ILM.com and a contributing writer and historian for Lucasfilm.

Kia's EV4 debuts at the 2025 New York Auto Show.

Nintendo of America hasn't just uploaded its classic 1991 SNES TV advert to make you nostalgic - it's also recreated it entirely for Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025, complete with the original leading man, Paul Rudd. Read more

What just happened? The U.S. Department of Justice has argued that Google illegally built "monopoly power" through its web advertising business, manipulating online ad services across multiple sectors and forcing higher fees on publishers reliant on its technology. Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that the tech giant's anticompetitive behavior harmed publishers, and the DOJ contended that Google should be forced to divest its ad tech business. A federal judge handed Google yet another courtroom defeat on Thursday, ruling that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly in key segments of the online display advertising industry. This decision could pave the way for the government to break up Google's advertising operations. Google's ad server – formerly known as DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) – controls around 90% of the market and connects websites with advertisers. On the other side, Google's ad exchange, previously called AdX, runs auctions where advertisers bid for those spots. Both are now part of what Google calls Google Ad Manager. Judge Leonie Brinkema highlighted expert findings showing that Google's ad exchange holds a dominant 54% to 65% global market share, while the next biggest competitor has only 6%. This dominance allowed Google to take about 20% from each ad auction, while competitors earned significantly less. "Plaintiffs have proven that Google has willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising," the judge concluded. Google also leveraged its control to exclude competitors and grant itself preferential treatment through features such as "First Look" and "Last Look," effectively dominating both sides of the ad transaction. One Google employee likened this to a major bank owning the stock exchange. The judge ruled that these practices violated antitrust laws on three counts under the Sherman Act. This ruling adds to Google's growing legal troubles. Last year, the company lost a landmark case in which its practice of paying other tech companies billions to make its search engine the default on devices and browsers was deemed anticompetitive. // Related Stories The DOJ has recommended that the company sell Chrome – the world's most popular browser – and decouple it from Android, the most widely used mobile OS. Google might also be forced to sell Android. Additionally, the company faces similar antitrust action in Canada, the UK, the European Union, China, India, and Japan. Predictably, Google argues that a breakup would harm customers. Executives from its parent company, Alphabet, have also argued to the Trump administration that forced divestitures would pose a national security risk. Chrome's massive scale could complicate a selloff, as the only companies capable of acquiring it are other tech giants already under antitrust scrutiny. However, in what Google described as "winning half the case," Judge Brinkema ruled against the DOJ's claims concerning Google's conduct in the market for "open-web display advertiser ad networks." She also cleared the company of accusations that it had deleted internal chat records to influence court proceedings – an issue that had previously undermined its defense. Those findings were enough for Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, to declare that the company had won half the case. Google plans to appeal the ruling.

Image: Konami True love lasts forever – and so do some games. Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with You, the legendary dating sim from 1995, is hooking up with Switch next month to celebrate 30 years on the scene. Immaculately presented but bewilderingly complex, TokiMemo is a foundational piece of video game history that defined a whole genre, along with the increasingly universal mechanics of video game love. But for most players outside Japan, it fires nostalgia for someone else’s youth – and with no English release, it remains tantalisingly out of reach. Its arrival is part of a bigger story. Switch has been Nintendo’s ultimate comeback kid, climbing from the Wii U stumble to contender for best-ever-selling console in eight short years. Its life has also coincided with a swell of gamers hitting mid-life nostalgia and an industry finding that bets on “new” have longer and longer odds. The result? More comebacks. We’ve seen re-release after remaster after remake: Metroid Prime, Live A Live, Dragon Quest, Broken Sword, Link’s Awakening, Atari 50, Famicom Detective Club…. The list goes on, from niche to mega-mainstream. And now, Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with You – Emotional is here to beam people back to CD-ROM '90s Japan. Images: Sammy Barker / Nintendo Life Tokimeki Memorial has long been a prize of legend, at the same time unmissable and unobtainable. Revered for its groundbreaking social mechanics, emotional storytelling, intricate simulation, and (let’s face it) fascination with high school romance, it’s a seminal dating sim that remains tucked away behind a Japanese language barrier. eBay had it at the ready and, what’s more, I had learnt a bit of Japanese. Finally, it would be mine. Featuring writing by no less than Koji Igarashi (whose next project was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – the trailblazing entry in the series he went on to produce), it’s probably as widely experienced by word of mouth and hidden-gem lists as it is firsthand. And now, with a 30th-anniversary, Japan-only Switch port, the myth gets a new lease of life for another hundred million or so to wish they could play it. Even if you haven’t played Tokimemo, you’ve likely felt its notoriously far-reaching influence. If you’ve ever arranged a study date in Persona, fretted over gift-giving in Fire Emblem, or sweated a romance option in Cyberpunk 2077, a short queue of commentators will tell you that Tokimeki Memorial is to thank for it. And that’s why its reappearance on Switch is such a milestone: a wise old mentor is back. But does it have any more to say? Down Memorial Lane Images: Konami Like many of the luckier people during the COVID-19 lockdown, I found myself scouring eBay for retro games. Buying relics was an attempt to get my hands on something out of reach – the futile chase of nostalgia was a parallel to everyone and everything being physically inaccessible, no matter how nearby they seemed. Perhaps games in particular appealed because everything felt newly gamified by technology, from work to social interactions. Whatever was behind it all, for me, the bug that bit was the original PlayStation. Specifically, I discovered that about half of the PlayStation’s 4,000-strong games catalogue was released exclusively in Japan. I wanted to know what was out there. One Japan-only title was Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with You, the 1995 PlayStation version of the previous year’s Tokimeki Memorial on PC Engine. I think I half-remembered it from magazines as a kid, import reviews, or forum threads. That faint recollection of it sent my heart racing with wistful frustration, as Konami would surely never bring it to English-language audiences. But now, eBay had it at the ready and, what’s more, I had learnt a bit of Japanese. Finally, it would be mine. However, when I navigated Tokimeki Memorial’s menus and carefully picked through its layers of dialogue, moving my lips as I read, I quickly discovered that while I was over the language barrier, the gameplay itself was a labyrinth of hidden rules and secret look-up tables that left me feeling impressed, overwhelmed, and really quite stupid. With bungling date etiquette, forgetting homework, and panicking through stingily one-and-done sports day events, I couldn’t really object when the humiliating 'loser' ending rolled after my first three-year stint at Kirameki High. Images: Konami Even once I had got the hang of things and a girl confessed her love for me beneath the school’s tree of legend, where true love is destined to last forever, things were far from over. Beaming through the fog of digital teenagerhood is Shiori Fujisaki, the elusive, red-haired cover-girl-slash-final-boss. She’s inhumanly perfect, the Terminator of high school crushes Shiori demands perfection. Achieving the intricate mathematical balance of smarts, fitness, and popularity, wisely selecting your character’s blood type, avoiding rumour bombs from the other girls, and winning the three-legged race — all in one attempt — is like threading a needle on a bucking bronco. Shiori smiles and blushes, then just stares matter-of-factly at you with these astronomical expectations, like a fairground automaton waiting for you to insert a coin. She’s inhumanly perfect, the Terminator of high school crushes – teasingly close to being won over, only for rejection’s charred endoskeleton to crawl out of the tanker explosion of your teenage affections. As chance would have it, just as my fascination with the game took off, gaming celebrity Tim Rogers released a six-hour Action Button video review of Tokimeki Memorial, including two complete, translated playthroughs. His bottom line: “Tokimeki Memorial objectifies love.” He declared it a true cyberpunk artefact and deftly squelched any question of the propriety of high school dating simulation through comparison with Mortal Kombat fatalities. Quickly racking up a million views, hype for the OG dating sim hit a new peak. Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube809k This buzz no doubt spurred on the completion of a fan translation of the (non-voice-acted) Super Famicom version. Brilliant as this was, Rogers dismissed it in an email to Kotaku as “like watching a movie for the first time with the TV muted and two lines of subtitles displaying both the movie’s dialogue and the director’s commentary […] while waiting for your laundry to finish.” Playing without voice acting probably does deaden the heart-thumping impact of a confession of love, or the humiliation of a post-date brush-off condescendingly delivered. But you can’t help but feel that even a full localisation with English voices would be somehow inadequate for this ultimate connoisseur, locking the game permanently into “you had to be there” territory. You had to be there and you weren’t: this is a must-play game that you can’t play. Modern Love So what now, with the Switch hosting this revival? It’s on the Japanese eShop and importable, but will that actually bring it any closer to the average player? Well, one of Nintendo’s specialisms is to give you something to hold in your hands — from hanafuda cards to toys like Mario Kart Live and Labo — not just platform-agnostic software distributed digitally. Its dominance in handheld gaming is a big part of that, and placing TokiMemo in your hands on a nice big screen is not to be underestimated. Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube809k If there is one hint of international accessibility, it’s that you will be able to choose updated text, giving you higher-resolution kanji over the occasionally inscrutable clumps of pixels in earlier versions. Thankfully, this can be applied separately from the updated artwork, which at first glance makes the game look like one of its many modern descendants. The girls will say your name now, too, so that’s one word you can definitely understand. Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You – Emotional is more than a dating sim – it’s a time capsule from an era where gamified social interactions were new ground. Now, games are full of socialising, and socialising is equally full of games, from lockdown hang-outs in New Horizons to social media numbers going up, to just swiping right. Forever With You’s debut on Switch feels like a love letter still undeliverable after 30 years, an emblem of the persistent allure of unreachable classics, and yet now, maybe, a blip on the radar of an enormous global player base. Some things will always be just out of reach, but nostalgia is the true love that lasts forever. If you’ve ever felt the pull of retro collecting or the urge to relive youth — even someone else’s — this release is a call to reminisce, rediscover things, and perhaps even to try decoding one of gaming’s most mythologised puzzles for yourself. Image: Konami Time Extension"We could use people with hacking and debugging experience" Releasing in Japan on Valentine's Day Related Games See Also Share:0 2 Roland runs the micro-epic-concept-photoblog Arcade Tokyo while writing and photographing for web and print. He shot the cover photography and wrote essays for Supercade Volume 2 (2023) and regularly contributes to Nintendo Life, Time Extension, and Push Square. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Switch 2's Backwards Compatibility List Provides Updates On Two Titles Here's what you can expect

Hello, I’ve been making this piece for a while now, the idea is to make a water-based spell that would fit in an ARPG (Diablo, Path of Exile etc.) or a CRPG (Baldurs gate 3, Divinity etc.) for my portfolio. I’ve gotten to a stage where I am happy with it but I know there’s a ton of room for improvement and I want this to be as good as I can possibly make it so any and all suggestions are welcome ^^

Accidental gaslighting doesn’t always mean malice — it’s a lack of awareness. But with awareness ... More comes the chance to build a more compassionate, connected relationship.getty Relationships, whether romantic, familial or friendships, are full of nuance and complex emotional dynamics. While they may deeply value and care for one another, couples often unintentionally cross boundaries, miscommunicate or without realizing it, gaslight each other. Gaslighting is a form of emotional manipulation where one person makes another doubt their reality or perceptions. While this term is often linked with more severe forms of emotional abuse, it’s important to recognize that gaslighting can also occur in subtle, accidental ways in everyday relationships. When couples accidentally engage in this behavior without malice, it can lead to confusion, frustration and even self-doubt. But recognizing it is the first step to correcting it and building a healthier relationship. Here are five ways accidental gaslighting takes root and healthy ways to correct it. 1. The ‘That Didn’t Happen’ Denial Have you ever found yourself in a conversation where you recall something clearly — an argument, a comment or even a shared milestone — only for your partner to say, “That’s not how it went,” or “You’re just remembering it wrong”? While it might seem like a simple disagreement, this kind of dismissal can feel like a subtle form of gaslighting, especially when it makes you question your own memory. But here’s what psychological research tells us: memory isn’t a flawless recording of the past — it’s deeply shaped by our current emotional state. In a 20-year longitudinal study on marriage, researchers found that spouses’ recollections of earlier years in their marriage were consistently more negative than they had originally reported. Interestingly, this wasn’t a sign of faulty memory, but a kind of emotional editing. The distorted memories actually helped some wives feel more satisfied with their current relationship, suggesting that our brains sometimes rewrite the past to make the present more tolerable, or more meaningful. So, when one partner remembers a past event differently, it’s not necessarily because one of you is wrong. It may be that both of you are recalling the same experience through different emotional lenses, each shaped by how you’re feeling now and what your mind needs to believe to stay balanced. Instead of shutting down your partner’s memory with a firm “That’s not how it happened,” try saying, “It sounds like we remember that differently,” or “Maybe we both experienced it in our own way.” This doesn’t mean you have to agree — it just means you’re making space for two truths to coexist. And in long-term relationships, that mutual respect for emotional truth might matter more than nailing down historical accuracy. 2. Minimizing Or Dismissing Emotions When one partner expresses hurt or discomfort, a common response might be, “You’re overreacting,” or “It’s not a big deal.” While this may be intended to ease the situation, it often invalidates the other person’s feelings, subtly implying that they’re exaggerating or imagining their emotions. The issue with this is more than just a matter of hurt feelings. A 2011 study found that participants exposed to invalidating responses had higher heart rates, increased skin conductance and greater negative emotions compared to those who received validation. This happens because invalidation doesn’t just dismiss feelings — it heightens stress and emotional reactivity. Even if unintentional, dismissing a partner’s emotions can trigger heightened emotional responses due to the lack of emotional safety it creates. To correct this, it’s important to first acknowledge your partner’s emotions, even if you don’t fully agree with them. Saying something like, “I see you’re really upset, and I want to understand why,” or “Your feelings matter to me, let’s talk more about what happened,” creates space for open dialogue and emotional regulation. This approach not only helps your partner feel heard and validated but also promotes a healthier, less stressful emotional exchange. 3. Blaming And Shifting Responsibility When conflicts arise, it’s common for one partner to deflect blame by pointing out the other person’s flaws or behaviors. This can quickly lead to a cycle where neither person takes responsibility for their actions, leaving both feeling misunderstood or unjustly blamed. People naturally protect themselves from feeling guilty or wrong, often deflecting or projecting their own emotions onto the other. Unfortunately, this creates a harmful loop where no one is willing to own their part in the conflict. Research shows that the way blame is managed in therapy — that is by promoting “relational autonomy,” which balances individual responsibility with relational dynamics — helps prevent the cycle of deflection and promotes accountability. Similarly, in personal relationships, shifting away from accusatory “you” statements towards reflective “I” statements fosters an environment of shared responsibility. For example, saying “I felt hurt when X happened” instead of “You always do X” allows both partners to acknowledge their roles in the conflict without creating defensiveness. By working together as a team to resolve issues, couples can break the cycle of blame and focus on healthier, more constructive communication. 4. ‘You Always/You Never’ Statements Sweeping generalizations like “You always ignore me” or “You never listen” may feel like a release in the moment, but they often backfire. These phrases tend to invalidate your partner’s broader efforts, reduce them to a single negative trait and create confusion rather than clarity about the issue at hand. What was meant as an expression of frustration can easily be heard as an attack on character — shutting down communication instead of opening it up. Across five studies, researchers found that when a partner is seen as having a high negativity baseline — meaning they often express negative emotions — their concerns are more likely to be dismissed. Phrases like “you always” or “you never” A healthy correction involves ditching the hyperbole. Be specific and emotionally transparent. Instead of saying, “You never listen to me,” try, “When I was telling you about my meeting and you looked at your phone, I felt brushed off.” This approach keeps the focus on one concrete moment and how it made you feel. It not only avoids triggering defensiveness, but it also makes it easier for your partner to stay emotionally engaged and respond with care. 5. ‘I Was Just Joking’ As A Shield Humor can be a wonderful connector in relationships, but it can also become a mask. When one partner says something hurtful and follows it up with A study aptly titled “It’s in the way that you use it” found that avoidantly attached individuals often use sarcastic or mocking humor to create distance, while anxiously attached partners use self-deprecating humor to keep the peace. Though these styles feel safe to the speaker, they’re often perceived as hurtful — especially by distressed partners in emotionally charged moments. Don’t let humor hijack the emotional truth of a conversation. If your partner expresses hurt — even if you intended a joke — pause and validate their response. A gentle response like, “I was trying to be funny, but I see that it hurt you, and I want to understand why,” can preserve both connection and accountability. Humor should open hearts, not shut them down. It’s important to recognize that gaslighting in relationships can often result from miscommunication, unmet needs or past experiences shaping how we interact with our partners. The key to addressing these unintentional behaviors is creating a space of trust, empathy and open dialogue. And if these patterns persist, couples therapy can offer a safe, constructive path to change. Could you be unintentionally harming your relationship? Take the science-backed Relationship Sabotage Scale test to find out.

Forward-looking: The race to define the future of wearable technology is heating up, with smart glasses emerging as the next major frontier. While Meta's Ray-Ban collaboration has already made waves, tech giants like Apple, Samsung, and Google are rapidly developing their own projects. The latest development comes from Google, which recently gave the public its most tangible look yet at Android XR-powered smart glasses during a live demonstration at the TED2025 conference. Until now, Google's Android XR glasses had only appeared in carefully curated teaser videos and limited hands-on previews shared with select publications. These early glimpses hinted at the potential of integrating artificial intelligence into everyday eyewear but left lingering questions about real-world performance. That changed when Shahram Izadi, Google's Android XR lead, took the TED stage – joined by Nishtha Bhatia – to demonstrate the prototype glasses in action. The live demo showcased a range of features that distinguish these glasses from previous smart eyewear attempts. At first glance, the device resembles an ordinary pair of glasses. However, it's packed with advanced technology, including a miniaturized camera, microphones, speakers, and a high-resolution color display embedded directly into the lens. The glasses are designed to be lightweight and discreet, with support for prescription lenses. They can also connect to a smartphone to leverage its processing power and access a broader range of apps. Izadi began the demo by using the glasses to display his speaker notes on stage, illustrating a practical, everyday use case. The real highlight, however, was the integration of Google's Gemini AI assistant. In a series of live interactions, Bhatia demonstrated how Gemini could generate a haiku on demand, recall the title of a book glimpsed just moments earlier, and locate a misplaced hotel key card – all through simple voice commands and real-time visual processing. But the glasses' capabilities extend well beyond these parlor tricks. The demo also featured on-the-fly translation: a sign was translated from English to Farsi, then seamlessly switched to Hindi when Bhatia addressed Gemini in that language – without any manual setting changes. // Related Stories Samsung is preparing to launch its smart glasses later this year. Other features demonstrated included visual explanations of diagrams, contextual object recognition – such as identifying a music album and offering to play a song – and heads-up navigation with a 3D map overlay projected directly into the wearer's field of view. Unveiled last December, the Android XR platform – developed in collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm – is designed as an open, unified operating system for extended reality devices. It brings familiar Google apps into immersive environments: YouTube and Google TV on virtual big screens, Google Photos in 3D, immersive Google Maps, and Chrome with multiple floating windows. Users can interact with apps through hand gestures, voice commands, and visual cues. The platform is also compatible with existing Android apps, ensuring a robust ecosystem from the outset. Meanwhile, Samsung is preparing to launch its own smart glasses, codenamed Haean, later this year. The Haean glasses are reportedly designed for comfort and subtlety, resembling regular sunglasses and incorporating gesture-based controls via cameras and sensors. While final specifications are still being selected, the glasses are expected to feature integrated cameras, a lightweight frame, and possibly Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chip. Additional features under consideration include video recording, music playback, and voice calling.

Table of Contents Table of Contents What happens when your iPhone is stolen?  What next?  A new hope? Smartphones are the center of our digital existence. Not just because they open the doors for communication and social connection, but also due to their role as gatekeepers of our financial and professional lives.  Needless to say, a stolen iPhone can upend your life in many ways, but it’s even harder to recover those precious files stored on the device. A few victims of iPhone theft may finally have a chance, thanks to a lawsuit against Apple over not offering enough help in recovery efforts. Recommended Videos According to The Washington Post, an iPhone theft victim named Michael Mathews has filed a legal case against the company in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiff is seeking access to data worth two terabytes encompassing their “entire digital life, including that of his family,” alongside $5 million in damages.  Corey Gaskin / Digital Trends Mathews, a Minnesota tech executive, had his iPhone stolen in Arizona. The device contained not only personal data but also crucial information related to his tax filings and professional research. The stolen iPhone was a massive setback, leading to the shutdown of his tech consulting firm.  Related The victim claims that despite solid evidence of ownership, Apple has refused to reset the Recovery Keys of his account so that he could regain access to all his data. “In so doing, Apple perpetuates and aids the hackers in their criminal activity,” claims the court complaint.  For events where an iPhone is misplaced or stolen, Apple suggests that users should immediately mark it as “Lost” on the Find My dashboard. Doing so will automatically lock the device with a passcode and suspend all payment cards and passes in the Wallet app.  Digital Trends Apple also offers a tool called Stolen Device Protection. It locks sensitive tasks such as viewing stored passwords and banking cards behind Face ID or a fingerprint lock. It can also detect if the device is in an unfamiliar location, and accordingly blocks certain actions such as turning off Find My tracking, payment cards, and accessing the password keychain.  From the Apple account dashboard, users can also reset their password and update sensitive details such as trusted phone numbers, emails, and recovery methods. Next, users can choose to remotely wipe all the data stored on their lost iPhone. However, this is a permanent process, and the erased data can not be recovered. What next?  Deleting all the data remotely is not an option many users can afford, especially if it contains sensitive data related to work, legal, or financial matters. And that’s where it gets complicated because Apple doesn’t offer a universal method to regain access to the data on a lost device, unless all of it was backed up in the cloud.  “Under what basis do you get to keep your users’ data and not return it?” argues the legal counsel in the lawsuit filed against Apple. The road ahead won’t be easy. The gathering of evidence and its eventual legal review could take up to eight months, followed by a court order seeking compliance from Apple. Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends But even the aforementioned protections fail if the victim doesn’t take action quickly. A thief who has taken a peek at your passcode can go ahead and disable the safeguards that Apple has to offer. That includes changing the email address linked to an account and changing the recovery details, essentially locking the owner out of their own device.  That’s more or less the end of the road. “If you lose your recovery key and can’t access one of your trusted devices, you’ll be locked out of your account permanently,” says Apple. All the data stored in the cloud is still there, but according to experts, Apple simply chooses not to return it to the rightful owner whose iPhone was stolen.  Another problem is that not all iPhone users are aware of features such as Stolen Device Protection and Advanced Data Protection. The latter, for example, encrypts all the data stored on iCloud. That includes your device backups, messages, notes, photos, reminders, Safari bookmarks, and voice memos. Nadeem Sarwar / DigitalTrends This is end-to-end encryption we are talking about, which means even Apple can’t access it. So, if it is enabled, and your device is stolen, the only way to recover it all is to find the stolen device or take proactive measures before the bad actor can make any sensitive account changes. It’s a race against time, and a clever thief. Aside from the lack of adequate digital awareness, Apple’s self-proclaimed privacy-first approach often hinders recovery efforts for genuine victims. The only reliable route is through the involvement of local law enforcement authorities or a lengthy court battle. Not many can afford either route, but the latest lawsuit could be a glimmer of hope. Jon Breyer, the lawyer who is fighting the court case against Apple, has reportedly picked nearly a dozen other clients dealing with a similar situation. It would be interesting to see whether Apple simply agrees to help them all, or better yet, creates a more robust system to help victims of iPhone theft. Editors’ Recommendations

Ben Affleck weighed in on what can be done to stem the tide of film and television productions moving away from California.Speaking on the red carpet at "The Accountant 2" premiere this week, he said the state's film and TV tax incentive program was not sufficiently appealing to keep Hollywood in Hollywood."Other places will have better exchange rates or tax rebate deals that are meant to lure this industry there because they understand how stimulative it is for the economies," Affleck told The Associated Press."I think part of the problem with California is they came to take this industry for granted a little bit."FilmLA found that overall shoot days in Greater Los Angeles fell by more than a fifth in the first three months of the year. The film and television sector's annual production declined by 58% between 2021 and 2024, per the not-for-profit.The Los Angeles wildfires in January will have contributed to the decline in shooting days as multiple TV and film productions were paused.California officials have taken steps to stem the tide of directors, executives, and studios ditching the Golden State for other jurisdictions that offer more favorable tax rebates. In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed more than doubling support from $330 million to about $750 million for the 2025-26 financial year.However, Affleck argued that "the percentage of what you get back in terms of the actual budget doesn't compete with places like England, which is why you see a lot of these big, huge movies shoot in the UK." Film production in California is struggling. AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images Affleck, who is also a producer, writer, and director as well as an actor, listed several other states that he said offered "better exchange rates or tax rebate deals," such as Georgia and New Mexico, which both have no annual cap on their incentives programs.Despite this, "The Accountant" sequel, which was directed by Gavin O'Connor, was partially shot in Los Angeles, per The Hollywood Reporter. Affleck's upcoming Netflix project "Animals" was also filmed on location in LA.Affleck acknowledged that tax rebate programs were "controversial," but said they had helped lure productions away from California.Creative workers chasing their Hollywood dreams have also prompted some to relocate to other entertainment hubs. As Business Insider previously reported, close to 820,000 people left California between 2021 and 2022 — the most of any state in that period.On this, Affleck said: "If people move away, you know, that really hurts the industry. It's really the technicians and the crew that make or break your movie. You need the best people, you need good people. As a director, I know that to be true."Affleck's comments follow similar sentiments shared by Mel Gibson after he was named one of President Donald Trump's "special envoys" representing the interests of Hollywood.In January Gibson told Fox News he wanted to "fix" the problem of Californians ditching the Golden State, referring to both residents and those working in the entertainment industry.People "are going somewhere else because it's more cost-effective. There's just a lot of prohibitive regulations and things in the way that I think could be lifted," he said. "But I think it can be fixed."Gibson said that on one occasion, it had been cheaper for him to fly a crew to Europe and shoot for three days than it was to "shoot for one day just down the road."