Dexter: Original SinCredit: ParamountI was a little nervous about Dexter: Original Sin when it was first announced, and wasnt sure if I even wanted to watch the new prequel series when it came out on Paramount+ earlier this month. I held off until last night, but enough of my readersall of whom have terrific taste when it comes to televisionhad told me they were enjoying the show. I couldnt sit on it any longer, so I set my fears aside and fired up the PlayStation 5.I binged the first three episodes in one sitting, staying up much later than I intended. I not only found the opening hours of the new series gripping enough to hold my attention, it also reminded me of how much fun Dexter was in its earlier seasons, before things went so far downhill. If it hadnt been so late last night, I would have watched the first episode of Dexter again just for fun.This is more than I can say for the last Dexter spinoff. I didnt hate Dexter: New Blood, but I didnt love it, either. And while the ending of that show didnt bother me as much as it did much of the community, it hasnt sat well with me since. Original Sin does a much better job at capturing the feel and style of the original series, with a younger, more inexperienced Dexter Morgan trying to find a little meaning in life. Or, well, in death anyways. Light spoilers follow.The show opens with an adult Dexter being rushed to the hospital after the events of New Blood. Showtime has to let us know right off the bat that he was only mostly dead at the end of that series for two reasons: First, Michael C. Hall is the narrator of New Blood, which is brilliant. More on that in a second. Second, Dexter: Resurrection is coming this summer, and you cant have a new show with the older Dexter if hes dead.The basic setup here is life flashing before your eyes and Dexter, in the hospital, thinking back to when he was young and first getting his hands bloody. Young Dexter, a pre-med student too young to buy beer, hasnt killed another human being yet when he first meet him. Hes a long ways away from becoming the Bay Harbor Butcher.MORE FOR YOUDexter Original SinCredit: ParamountHe still lives with his adoptive father, Harry, played here by Christian Slater, and his adoptive sister, Deb, played by Molly Brown. Im surprised at how involved Harry is in Dexters earliest kills. We knew he helped train Dexter and instilled in him something resembling a moral code, to ensure that A) he only killed bad guys and B) he didnt get caught. But Slaters Harry is more hands-on than I was anticipating.Curiously, we get a lot of flashbacks from Harrys point of view, mostly involving his own tragic past and his relationship with Dexters mother, Doris (Jasper Lewis) who he enlists as an informant against the cartel. We know how she dies, but now we know why Harry was so keen on raising Dexter as his own. The flashbacks are all shot in grainy, green and orange hue, which is another technique the shows creators use to make us feel like were watching Dexter again. Indeed, the way this entire show is filmed takes you right back to 2006.Another technique is using Halls narration for all the little internal monologue bits, the little winking one-liners that Dexter never says out loud. Youre watching everything play out with a younger Dexter, but you still get the internal voice of the older, more familiar Dexter. Im convinced that this is the cherry on top, the singular choice in the direction of this series that makes it work as well as it does. It certainly doesnt hurt that Gibson does such a terrific job acting like Hall, capturing many of his mannerisms and vocal patterns. Its about as close as you could hope for when it comes to casting a younger version of a character.Molly Brown does a great job as Deb as well, though shes not nearly tall or skinny enough (shes skinny, but Jennifer Carpenters height and long limbs just really accentuated her ganglynessshes 59 to Browns 53). Of course, playing a convincing teenage version of Deb means that shes also incredibly annoying and abrasive.Dexter Original SinCredit: ParamountThere are times, I admit, when the casthowever talentedfeels a bit like people cosplaying these characters. This is especially true when you get to Miami Metro. James Martinez does a terrific job as Angel Batista, but its kind of funny to see him wearing the exact same hat and outfit that his older self wears in the original series. Martinez is also 44. David Zayas, who played Batista previously, would have been 46 in the first season of Dexter. Batista should be in his early 30s in this show, not mid 40s, so when Harry asks him to show Dexter the ropes and says youre about the same age I rolled my eyes. Nobody would think a young 20-year-old and a guy in his mid 40s are about the same age and Batista does not look like a guy in his early 30s in this show.Alex Shimizu plays Vince Masuka and gets his character down perfectly, though he has a full head of hair and really does seem about the right age for a series set in 1991. Hes just as inappropriate and cringey this time around. And while shes only just been introduced, Christina Milian feels like a pretty spot-on recasting for a younger Maria LaGuerta, an up-and-coming police detective who wants to shake things up at Miami Metro, much to the chagrin of her boss, Captain Spencer (a mustached Patrick Dempsey).The addictive Dexter feedback loop is what really makes Original Sin tick. You get your monster of the week episodes, with Dexters dark passenger detective skills allowing him to identify the serial killers he encounters. He then investigates them to prove their guilt and make sure he doesnt kill an innocentall part of Harrys codeand then goes in for the kill. He hasnt perfected his methods yet, which makes his execution far clumsier than were accustomed to (not that Dexter was ever that good at what he did; his many mistakes were often what kept the original show so tense). Then there are the bigger mysteries at play. A home invasion killer leaving entire families dead across Miami. The kidnapped son of a judge. Possible links to the cartels. Its all very reminiscent of Dexters early seasons, from the structure to the cinematography. The nostalgia is strong in this one.Im often very critical of prequels, which I believe are mostly unnecessary cashgrabs or vanity projects. Too often, prequels over-explain events or lack tension because we already know what happens to the characters. Every once in a blue moon, a series like Better Call Saul will come aroundthe exception that proves the ruleand give us something fresh and compelling enough to justify its existence. One reason that show succeeded was its introduction of fascinating new characters and storylines that we didnt know anything about from Breaking Bad. For Dexter: Original Sin to work, well need the same thing. So far, at least, it seems to be on the right track. With 7 more episodes, it could go either way, but Im feeling pretty upbeat. My skepticism melted into cautious optimism and has now blossomed into genuine impatience for the next episode to come out this coming Friday on Paramount+.You can check out my weekend streaming guide right here.Have you watched Dexter: Original Sin yet? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently sat for an interview with Wired and dished on Apples focus in the foreseeable future. Health and wellness stood out as a recurring element. AirPods, which recently landed a hearing assistance facility, are visibly at the center of those ambitions. Now, Bloomberg reports that the earbuds will soon add cameras and health sensors to their arsenal.At one point in time, Apple was reportedly working on integrating cameras into the wireless earbuds, but the project was put on ice. It seems that the recent explosion of AI-based workflows across nearly every product category inspired Apple to revive the endeavor.Recommended VideosWith the company rallying around AI and its Apple Intelligence platform, the project was brought back to life, notes the Bloomberg report. Notably, Apple has tasked teams to work on it as a priority project, though it might take a couple of years to materialize.Chris Hagan / Digtial TrendsEven though it sounds like yet another first from Apple, the idea of cameras on audio gear is not exactly a novel concept. Moreover, Apple wont be the only player in the game and might even lose the race to fellow wearable and AI enthusiast Meta.Please enable Javascript to view this contentAccording to The Information, Meta is also working on earbuds with onboard cameras. Metas implementation, which is reportedly in development under the CameraBuds codename, will embrace generative AI chops for facilities like language translation and object identification.RelatedThere is already plenty of precedent for such facilities. Earlier this month, the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses received an update that introduced capabilities like Live AI, translation, and Shazam-powered music identification. Live AI is particularly impressive, as it relies on AI to make sense of the world as it appears within the onboard camera views.Visual Intelligence on iPhones relies on the camera to make sense of the world around them. Christine Romero-Chan / Digital TrendsApple already has such facilities ready for deployment in its software-hardware ecosystem. Take, for example, Visual Intelligence, which only requires users to point their camera and perform tasks such as translation, extracting text information, looking up details about businesses, and even launching a Google Search.In addition to putting a camera on the AirPods, Apple is reportedly working on adding biosensors into the mix. The priority is to somehow fit a heart rate sensor on the earbuds, but down the road, the company is hoping the earbuds can also measure temperature levels and keep an eye on physical activity patterns.MIT Media LabOnce again, those ideas are not wildly ambitious. Far from it, actually. The Sennheiser Momentum Sport and Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 earbuds can already measure heart rate, though their accuracy has been up for debate.The scientific community, however, seems pretty bullish on the whole idea. In a paper presented at the 2009 International Symposium on Wearable Computers, experts from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology detailed a heartphone prototype that integrated a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor in the earbuds.The device was rated as highly reliable and only resulted in an error rate of 0.63% during tests. A separate research note from the MIT Media Lab described a system that measures bilateral blood volume pulse (BVP). The system fits inside ordinary earbuds to provide measurements such as heart rate and beat-to-beat changes in heart rate variability (HRV), says the paper.MIT Media LabAnother paper describes how EarPPG can actually be used for identity verification as well. [Its] a new biometric modality that takes advantage of the unique in-ear photoplethysmography (PPG) signals, altered by a users unique speaking behaviors, says the research paper.Apple is considered one of the worlds wearable health pioneers, and the company certainly has the engineering acumen to pull off heart rate tracking (and camera vision) on the AirPods. Its only a matter of time before the company perfects the formula, but the ambition is definitely there, right at the summit, even.Its clear to me that if you zoom out way into the future, and you look back and ask what Apples biggest contribution was, it will be in the health area, Apple chief Cook told Wired veteran Steven Levy in the interview. Thats what I really believe.We just might have to wait a couple of years, or even more, for the aforementioned health and camera capabilities to appear in AirPods.Editors Recommendations

The last few iPhone updates have brought a lot of changes with them. Just take a look at iOS 18.2: It introduced a ton of AI-powered features that had never before been available. If you have an older phone, its easy to worry that its hardware wont be up to snuff for the next round of updates. For now, you can breathe easy: If your iPhone can handle iOS 18, then it should also work with iOS 19, according to a new leak.The news comes from the French site iPhoneSoft. Although Apple guarantees five years of support for its devices, some devices get supported for longer periods of time, but this tip suggests that any phone currently capable of downloading and installing iOS 18 will also work with iOS 19, although some features could be limited.Recommended VideosRestricting features to expand update compatibility is nothing new. Its already a part of the iPhone update cycle; this last update introduced Apple Intelligence features that only the most recent iPhones can use. Even an iPhone 14 is too outdated to handle it.Nadeem Sarwar / Digital TrendsThe leak says that any device from the iPhone XR or newer will be compatible. This includes the iPhone XS, XS Max, and the 2020 iPhone SE. It also includes the iPhone 11 and forward. However, some iPads will be left behind with the launch of iPadOS 19.Please enable Javascript to view this contentThe iPad Mini 5th gen, iPad 8th gen, iPad Air 3rd gen, and iPad Pro 2018 or later will all be compatible with the next update. Any devices that predate these will lack the power needed to run iOS 19.RelatedThe continued compatibility, even with phones as far back as 2018, suggests that iOS 19 might not be a major shift from what the current version can do. Its likely that Apple will steer more toward Apple Intelligence features, utilizing the existing platform.Editors Recommendations

Deku and friends story may be over, but Bones aint done with My Hero Academiajust yet. During this weekends Jump Festa, the animation studio revealed a nice little surprise for fans of the superhero manga: its spinoff series, Vigilantes, is getting its own anime in April. If you havent read it, Vigilantescomes from Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court, and also pulls double duty as a prequel set five years before Dekus story. Its hero is one Koichi Haimawari, a college student with the power to travel on any flat surface. He doesnt have a Hero license, but that hasnt stopped him from saving people. Koichi finds his life changed when he and high schooler Kazuho Haneyema get saved by saved by Knuckleduster, a vigilante who decides to take the pair under his wing. The manga concluded back in 2022, but it built up its own fanbase that enjoys it as much as the mothership series, and have been hoping for Vigilantesto get its own adaptation for a while. With My Heros anime ending, it makes sense for Bones to keep Vigilantes so close to the chest until now. Its short teaser shows the spirit of the original series is very much intact, and with some unique energy of its own as we see the three not-quite-heroes show off their powers. The world of My Herohas always been one of its biggest draws, and this show offers a different viewpoint its main series didnt really provide. How do unchosen heroes like Koichi, Kazuho, and Knuckleduster function in a society filled with protectors loved around the country? Well see when My Hero Academia: Vigilantespremieres in April 2025, while the main animes last season doesnt have a release window yet. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

It will be interesting to see which roles Marvel icons will be adapted into as Marvel Rivals evolves with subsequent patches and new characters. Thanks to leaks and at least one official tease, for example, it appears as if the Fantastic Four will be joining the roster at some point in the future and where theyre each sorted will hopefully have a fun and positive impact on creative team compositions. It may be easy to presume what role each Fantastic Four member may have, but theres always a chance that Marvel Rivals surprises players with how a possible character like Jean Grey, Ant-Man, Ghost Rider, or Colossus might be categorized.

Last year's Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is important for a few key reasons. For one thing, it's the revival of a franchise that many considered to be dead and buried, especially after FromSoftware doubled down on the soulslike formula in the 2010s. But its scope, ambition, and blending of classic design pillars with modern sensibilities says something much greater: that FromSoftware is still open to revisiting its older IP, regardless of market conditions, demand, or other similarly unexciting external factors.

Kingdom Hearts 4 has kept fans waiting for details, but one feature from its predecessor that particularly deserves a comeback is the Attractions summons. These flashy, ride-themed abilities added an extra layer of excitement and spectacle to battles in Kingdom Hearts 3, offering players a taste of Disney park magic while delivering powerful attacks. While theres no confirmation that Attractions will return, its hard to ignore the potential for how they could be expanded upon in Kingdom Hearts 4.

In Starcraft when an AI Player is attacking you what you have is a thin constant stream of units arriving at your base. What does it take to build an alternative? In Total Annihilation the AI player waits until a group of units has pilled up and then attacks. If the attack is unsuccesful the remaining attacking units retreat. The Total Annihilation approach probably works the same as Starcraft except the retreat. The maps layout in Starcraft probably causes the units to spread like a stre

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