Get tricked into learning some history.You'll be able to read it for free and learn all about Basil I, the Byzantine emperor.

The company allegedly scraped a "lifetime of content" from YouTube, Netflix and more.

Whether youre familiar and need a refresh or youve never touched a Borderlands game, we're going to tell you all about the key players and locations from Borderlands 1 with a little sprinkle of Borderlands 2.

Pixel art is a staple of the industry, going back to the NES era. For more than a decade, this visual style defined the gaming industry, with Nintendo and Sega's early consoles making great use of 8-bit and 16-bit graphics to tell engaging stories and deliver addictive gameplay. Eventually, pixel graphics fell out of fashion with AAA developers as 3D visuals became the norm; however, the best pixel games on the SNES and Genesis have generally aged far better than most of the 3D projects that were considered high-tech during the '90s.

Image: Disney The Rift in Time expansion pass will also end with the August update Continue reading

Featherweight and ethereal, the ideal whipped topping is airy, yet firm, boasting the perfect stiff peak. And when it comes to tasty visual treats, the Stockholm-based design studio Crme Atelier cooks up a delicious and delightful play on soft serve ice cream with their delectable collection of colorful lights and an origin story equally as sweet. Originally inspired by the founders home renovation journey, the couple and creative duo conceptualized the Portable Soft Serve Lampswhimsical, meringue-like silhouette when imagining solutions for architectural niches in need of ambiance.Each luminary confection is made-to-order and manufactured in Sweden on demand through local 3D printing, which requires only six hours from start to finish. The concoctions entire swirling shape is made using bioplastic rPLA filaments extracted from corn starch and recycled food packaging pulled from Hollands waste stream in an additive process, layer by layer to avoid material spill. This method also leans into the forms organic nature, giving the final artifact textural richness and an ever-so-slight variation in hue through its ridges. This la carte business model not only keeps storage costs down for the brand while avoiding production in excess, it is also indicative of Crme Ateliers commitment to sustainability from cradle-to-cradle.A mlange of 11 saccharine colorways from sweet to savory will whet your appetite when selecting from the menu, which includes five tone-on-tone options aptly given the suffix sorbet, as well as six others that are an amalgam of white hats with colored bases.The Soft Serve Portable is part of a broader collection preceded by regular and grande corded editions already in the works. But this petite, pint-sized object stands roughy 9 inches (approximately 23 centimeters) tall, comes with a textile magnetic micro USB cable on the side, and utilizes an LED light source. This indoor device is rated for 10 hours of illumination when fully charged, with a roughly eight hour wait to reach a full battery, and is dimmable to three different levels of brightness: 100%, 65%, and 35%.Whats more, this design is highly lauded receiving numerous accolades including winner of German Design Award 2024 Excellent Product Design Lighting, Scandinavian Design Awards 2023 Detail of the year, Plaza Interiors Sustainability awards 2022, and Iconic awards 2024 Lighting.Hungry for more? Visit creme-atelier.com to learn more or pre-order, with deliveries scheduled for September 2nd, 2024.

Google wants to bring AI out of your pocket and into the living room, and its making its own take on the Apple TV to do it. Today, the company announced the Google TV Streamer, a set top box that replaces the Chromecast while also being a Gemini-powered smart home hub.An oval-shaped wedge, the freestanding device is 6.4-inches longnot large, but certainly less of a space saver than a small puck that just hangs from the back of your TV. Its meant to sit in front of your TV rather than behind it, and while you can probably mount it to the back of your screen with some well placed adhesives or zip ties, theres no mounting equipment included in the box.What you get with that bigger form factor is 32GB of storage space, 4GB of memory, enough power to run HDR streams at up to 4K@60 FPS, and an onboard thread radio for smart home integration. Like on higher-end Chromecasts, Dolby Vision and Atmos are also supportedand importantly, theres more room for ports, meaning you can now connect an ethernet cable rather than relying on wifi or clunky adapters. Credit: Google The included remote also has a slight redesign that now offers voice control, but the real difference here is in the software. Ditching the popular Chromecast brand for a set top experience is a bit of a risky move, and like many recent tech rebrands, theres two letters that explain it all: AI. Beyond fresh new looks and visual fidelity, the Google TV Streamer also boasts what Google says is about 22% more processing power, which is just enough to bring a few Gemini experiences onto the big screen.Did you want AI Overviews while watching House of the Dragon? Because youre getting AI Overviews while watching House of the Dragon. When selecting a TV show on the Google TV Streamer, youll now get AI-generated boxes that summarize topics like whats it about, what people are saying, and what to know. Credit: Google There are also promises of AI-curated content suggestions, although Google hasnt made it clear how those differ from the existing Google TV algorithm. A video advertising the Google TV Streamer shows a user asking for movies that feel like a vacation and being shown My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.When in ambient mode, youll be able to generate AI screensavers using voice prompts on the remote. Or you can display pictures from your Google Photos, if youd rather keep a foot in reality. Credit: Google Speaking of reality, the Google TV Streamers thread radio gives it Matter connectivity, but more importantly, access to the Google Home panel. From here, you can adjust connected smart lights or thermostats, or monitor connected smart cams. Like on Apple TV and Chromecast, youll be able to cast content to your Google TV streamer from your phone, as well as add it to speaker groups so you can play music from your TV.The Google TV Streamer is up for pre-order now and starts shipping on September 24. It costs $99 and comes in porcelain (white) and hazel (gray), although hazel is a Google Store exclusive within the United States.

Up until now, Googles Chromecast line has been largely focused on making it easy to watch shows and movies on your favorite big screen. But with the new Google TV Streamer, Google finally has a proper set-top box for binging content that also supports a much broader range of smart home controls. Design: From dongle to wedge Coming just a week ahead of Google's upcoming Made By event, perhaps the biggest change for the TV Streamer is switching from being a simple dongle that hangs off your TV to a truly standalone device that lives on your media console. Google says its wedge-shaped design is meant to blend in easily with your decor when sitting in front of your TV so that it offers better reception for its included remote and other smart home devices (more on that later). The Google TV Streamer will be available in two colors: porcelain white and hazel, the latter of which will be exclusively direct from Google. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Google has also given the Streamer TV a massive hardware upgrade compared to the Chromecast with Google TV from 2020, including a 22 percent faster CPU, double the RAM (4GB instead of 2GB) and four times more storage (32GB total). That might not sound like a ton, but considering that the previous model often ran out of space for downloading basic streaming apps, thats a much-needed improvement. Streaming resolution caps out at 4K/60fps, though you do get support for HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and spatial audio (when paired with Google Pixel Buds). Furthermore, theres an HDMI 1.1 jack, a powered USB-C port and a dedicated Ethernet slot for people who want peak bandwidth for streaming. Google also made the remote a touch longer while moving the volume rocker to the top and adding a customizable button that can be set to launch your favorite app, switch inputs or summon the new smart home control center. And just like before, theres a built-in microphone and a button for summoning the Google Assistant. Smart home: Becoming a proper device hub Here's a sample of what the Google TV Streamer's new smart home control panel looks like. Google This brings me to the Google Streamers improved smart home capabilities. Not only does it support Matter, it also features a built-in Thread border router for easily communicating with the other devices in your house. On top of that, the TV Streamer is getting its own version of the Google Home panel (which weve seen on previous Pixel phones and Nest Hubs) so that it's easier to adjust things like smart lights while also giving you the ability to view feeds from your security cameras and video doorbells. New AI features Finally, it wouldnt be a 2024 Google device without some new AI features. Thanks to Gemini, the TV Streamer can create custom recommendations based on the kind of content you watch and generate summaries, reviews or even season-by-season breakdowns for stuff you havent. Theres also an ambient TV mode that allows you to pull screensavers or memories from your Google Photos library. However, if you want something a bit more unique, you can also use AI to generate something fantastical. Meanwhile, if you lose the remote, you can ask the Google Assistant (not Gemini) to help you find it or you can simply press the dedicated button on the back of the box. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget So while I havent had much chance to dive into its features, with the new TV Streamer, at last it feels like Google has a significantly more capable smart home hub thats also a true rival to the Apple TV 4K and other Android-based boxes like the NVIDIA Shield TV. The Google TV Streamer costs $100 and is available for pre-order today with official sales beginning September 24. It will be available in two colors: porcelain white and hazel, the latter of which will be available exclusively from the Google Store. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/the-google-tv-streamer-is-the-next-big-upgrade-to-the-chromecast-line-130034951.html?src=rss

The prison management simulation game, Prison Architect 2, has been delayed indefinitely.

The huge plunge in the crypto market on Monday will test the resolve of investors new to the market through spot ETFs.