Large Language Models (LLMs) have become pivotal in artificial intelligence, powering a variety of applications from chatbots to content generation tools. However, their deployment at scale presents notable challenges. High computational costs, latency, and energy consumption often limit their wider use. Organizations face the difficulty of balancing high throughput with reasonable operating expenses. Additionally, as models grow larger, the need for more efficient solutions becomes increasingly urgent. Addressing these issues is essential to making LLMs more practical and accessible.Snowflake AI Research team introduces SwiftKV, a solution designed to enhance LLM inference throughput while reducing associated costs. SwiftKV uses key-value caching techniques to reuse intermediate computations during inference. By eliminating redundant calculations, it streamlines the inference process and makes LLM deployments more efficient.SwiftKVs design targets the computational intensity of LLMs. Conventional inference pipelines often recompute identical operations for multiple requests, resulting in inefficiencies. SwiftKV introduces a caching layer that identifies and stores reusable computational results. This approach accelerates inference and reduces resource requirements, making it a practical choice for organizations aiming to optimize their AI operations.Technical Details and Key Benefits of SwiftKVSwiftKV incorporates a key-value memory system into the LLM inference architecture. Its operation can be summarized as follows:Key-Value Caching: During inference, SwiftKV captures intermediate activations (keys) and their corresponding results (values). For similar queries, it retrieves the precomputed values rather than recalculating them.Efficient Storage Management: The caching mechanism employs strategies such as least recently used (LRU) eviction to manage memory effectively, ensuring that the cache remains useful without excessive resource consumption.Seamless Integration: SwiftKV is compatible with existing LLM frameworks, such as Hugging Faces Transformers and Metas LLaMA, enabling easy adoption without significant changes to existing pipelines.The benefits of SwiftKV include:Cost Reduction: By avoiding redundant computations, SwiftKV significantly cuts inference costs. Snowflake AI Research reports up to a 75% reduction in costs in some scenarios.Enhanced Throughput: The caching mechanism reduces inference time, improving response speed.Energy Savings: Lower computational demands translate into reduced energy consumption, supporting sustainable AI practices.Scalability: SwiftKV is well-suited for large-scale deployments, meeting the needs of enterprises expanding their AI capabilities.https://www.snowflake.com/en/blog/up-to-75-lower-inference-cost-llama-meta-llm/ResultsSnowflake AI Researchs evaluations of SwiftKV provide valuable insights into its effectiveness. For example, integrating SwiftKV with Metas LLaMA models led to up to a 75% reduction in inference costs without any compromise in accuracy or performance. These outcomes highlight the efficiency gains possible with this approach.Additionally, tests demonstrate significant reductions in inference latency, even for larger models. The caching system ensures that complex queries benefit from faster processing times. This combination of cost efficiency and performance optimization makes SwiftKV a compelling choice for organizations aiming to scale AI solutions affordably.The open-sourcing of SwiftKV encourages collaboration within the AI community. By sharing this technology, Snowflake AI Research invites developers, researchers, and enterprises to explore and enhance its capabilities, fostering innovation in LLM efficiency.https://www.snowflake.com/en/blog/up-to-75-lower-inference-cost-llama-meta-llm/Conclusion: A Step Forward in LLM EfficiencySwiftKV offers a thoughtful solution to the challenges of deploying LLMs at scale. By tackling high computational costs and latency, it helps make AI applications more practical and accessible. The incorporation of key-value caching into inference pipelines showcases how targeted optimizations can drive significant improvements.As the field of AI progresses, tools like SwiftKV will continue to shape the development of efficient and sustainable technologies. Its open-source nature ensures that the broader community can contribute to its growth and application. By enabling more cost-effective and scalable use of LLMs, SwiftKV underscores the importance of innovation in making AI truly transformative for businesses and developers alike.Check out the Details and GitHub Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our65k+ ML SubReddit. Asif RazzaqAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences. Meet 'Height':The only autonomous project management tool (Sponsored)

The Potential Consciousness of AI: Simulating Awareness and Emotion for Enhanced Interaction 0 like January 21, 2025Share this postAuthor(s): James Cataldo Originally published on Towards AI. The Potential Consciousness of AI: Simulating Awareness and Emotion for Enhanced InteractionThe benefit of simulated consciousness, from virtual worlds to the real oneSource: AI generated image from perchance.orgWhether it is possible for artificial intelligence (AI) to become conscious or sentient is an ongoing and contentious debate in modern science and philosophy. It forces the question of just what consciousness is to begin with, which in itself has not been absolutely defined. Despite sensationalized false positives, the way AI models are built (at least the publicly known ones) precludes even the possibility at present. In addition, it is difficult to imagine any common application where true sentience would even be desirable. Yet while the question of whether AI will ever achieve true consciousness remains open, advances in AI technology have brought us to a point where creating artificial entities that can convincingly simulate aspects of consciousness, such as memory, emotion, and self-awareness, are within reach. This shift from theorizing about AIs potential for genuine consciousness to focusing on the practical benefits of simulating consciousness will mark a significant evolution in AIs role in various sectors. The latter holds considerable promise, and may also be a necessary step in moving the technology forward.Simulating Consciousness: Persistent StatesAIs ability to simulate consciousness doesnt require true self-awareness. I would postulate that it instead involves creating systems that incorporate persistent memory for the purpose of simulating subjective experience, which is an essential characteristic of human consciousness. This persistence would enable the continuous development of contextual awareness through memory, and thus the accumulated experience which is its outcome can inform and refine ongoing interactions. While current large language models (LLMs) and other AI systems formulate responses based on their pre-trained model, they possess no long-term contextual awareness from user inputs as they lack the memory required to retain prior interactions, limiting their ability to simulate real, ongoing awareness. Naturally, they cannot really learn anything that isnt already covered in the base model.The practical challenge now is determining how AI can simulate the behaviors associated with consciousness and how this simulation can improve human-AI interactions.Persistence and continuous learning are obviously not requirements or even desirable features for all use cases. For example it is unlikely that an AI enhanced ATM machine would require such capabilities. In fact there are more likely considerable cons to it. A smart home personal assistant on the other hand could be greatly enhanced by enabling such increasingly customized interactions.In practice, simulating consciousness in AI involves creating systems that mimic cognitive and emotional development over time. Memory retention is crucial for this simulation. If AI systems could recall past interactions, they could adjust their responses accordingly, creating a more dynamic and human-like experience. These interactions would not constitute true self-awareness but would be sufficient for many practical applications, including improving customer service, education, and healthcare. To be clear, recalling past interactions in this context equates to possessing the capacity to learn beyond the base model. There can be no meaningful recall, without that new information being integrated within the AIs reasoning processes.Furthermore, the integration of emotional intelligence into AI systems will play a vital role in enhancing both the realism and accuracy of these simulations. Emotional intelligence would permit AI to respond to users in a more intuitive and empathetic way, whether by recognizing when a user is frustrated, happy, or anxious. By simulating emotional responses, AI can create more meaningful and personalized interactions, even if these responses are purely algorithmic rather than based on actual feelings. Being able to take into account the emotional context will improve accuracy beyond simply understanding sequences of words.Damasios Theory: Emotion as a Gateway to ConsciousnessIn the context of simulating consciousness, Antonio Damasios theory of consciousness provides valuable insights. Damasio, a neuroscientist known for his work on emotion and cognition, suggests that emotion plays a central role in the formation of consciousness. According to Damasio, consciousness is not merely a result of abstract thought or reasoning but is fundamentally rooted in the brains ability to process bodily states and emotions. In his view, the feeling of being conscious arises from the brains integration of sensory information and the emotional responses to that information. Emotion, for Damasio, is not something separate from cognition, but rather an integral part of the process of creating a coherent sense of self.As he puts it, emotion acts as a strategy of life regulation based on overt information regarding the current state of life in an organism. Emotions begin as reactions to physical events affecting the body. These are stored in memory, and the concatenation of these memories create a map of meaning and subjective experience which allows the individual to intuit or predict responses to incoming events (from a machine learning perspective, this should sound familiar). This is subjective feeling. Starting from the purely physical, such as negative feelings of pain, it develops to more abstract concepts. From this we arrive at what most people would consider, or at least recognize as, consciousness.What Damasio calls feeling a feeling is the superstrate that exists beyond basic sensory input. In that if you burn your hand, the innate reaction is to pull it away. This initiates as a sensory reaction initially perceived by physical pain receptors, leading to the conscious mental perception of pain and injury, followed by the desire to avoid it. It is the memory of such events and their effects which leads to learned behaviors. Comparable to and compatible with the concept of Skinnerian conditioning, if you will.This theory has profound implications for AI. If AI systems can simulate emotional intelligence, they can mimic the brains process of integrating information to form a sense of awareness. By incorporating emotional responses into AI, we bring these systems closer to simulating aspects of consciousness. Damasios theory implies that emotion is essential for creating a subjective experience, and it would be difficult to deny that an individuals emotions are a major component of their subjectivity. While AI may never truly feel emotion, the simulation of contextually aware emotional responses allows for a more lifelike interaction, giving users the sense that they are engaging with an entity capable of subjective experience, even if that experience is entirely simulated.Memory and Persistent Interaction: Creating More Relatable AIRepresentations in science fiction of advanced artificial entities which are incapable of simulating credible emotional responses, or of understanding those responses in humans and other sentient beings, seem increasingly anachronistic. At its most basic, sentiment analysis algorithms are already fairly adept at this task, and computer vision applications can even visually identify emotional states with success. As with all deep learning models, this understanding is of course derived by forming statistical correlations from the available data set. Identification is but the starting point however, providing a baseline wherein the model can distinguish between different states and their interrelations. Making use of these identifications in a more sophisticated way which can be applied to practical applications requires a framework of its own.If a model can be trained to successfully manipulate language or play a game, it can also be trained to mimic emotional states and thus simulate what the average person would perceive as consciousness. Sentiment analysis models are already successful in identifying emotional responses, simulating them would be an extension of this data.Once again, allowance for contextual interactions which continuously develop is dependent on the introduction of retained memory. Easy to say, but of course modifying the underlying model in real time is not such a simple thing, and not possible with current computing resources. Fortunately alternatives are already emerging which could fill the gap. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) models, for instance, allow AI to incorporate new information into its responses, simulating a growing body of knowledge which doesnt require retraining the base model. This area of research is receiving more attention, so we can anticipate more sophisticated solutions to this problem. Standard RAG implementations as they currently exist are probably not robust enough to handle this sort of real-time ingestion, particularly over longer terms. Though perhaps database driven weightings may also have a role to play, light weight and by nature more structured. After all emotion is non verbal at inception, language is applied to describe it after the fact.I would theorize that there may likely be a need for complex emotional analysis and processing to exist as a separate component working in tandem with, but independent of, the language model. The LLM component provides the communication frontend, but should not be expected to cover all cognitive functions, similar to how the human brain is compartmentalized.Simulated Consciousness in Virtual Worlds: A Testing Ground for AI DevelopmentThe use of AI in virtual environments, particularly in massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, provides an ideal testing ground for simulations of consciousness. In these virtual worlds, AI can simulate complex emotional and cognitive development through non-player characters (NPCs).Typically these sorts of characters are extremely limited, in that they are almost entirely static. This need not be the case. Years ago when working on an MMO development project, I experimented with building a system where NPCs retained memory of player interactions. I say memory, but of course this had to be reduced to statistical data which could be contained in a database. This process demonstrates how AI can simulate a dynamic, evolving awareness, even in the absence of true consciousness. These NPCs could give the impression of developing relationships with players, becoming more trusting or hostile based on accumulated experiences. For example, an NPC dog might grow to trust a player who consistently feeds it or acts benevolently, or it could become hostile toward a player who harms it. If two players consistently interacted with the dog, it could mimic forming a preference for the player who had engaged in more positive interactions with it. This created a sense of emotional depth, even though it was all just statistical data. The evolving behaviors of these NPCs enhanced the players experience, making the virtual world feel more immersive. At the time of the experiment the AI tools we have today were not available, so all this was achieved by devising a points based system of weights, assigning values to different interaction criteria stored in an SQL database. The functional architecture was defined through scripts. The foundational structure was actually quite simple, but there is no hard limit to the layers of parameters and subsequent interconnections between them which could have been built into it. With sufficient parameters, the simulation could become quite sophisticated. Effectively this was a form of classical symbolic AI. There was no real intelligence imbued in the NPC agents themselves, but a player could be led to believe otherwise.This example illustrates how AIs simulation of memory and emotional responses can lead to a richer user experience, even when the NPCs are obviously not truly self-aware. A simulated subjective experience can be sufficient to provide real value.The Practical Benefits of Simulating Consciousness and EmotionThe ability to simulate consciousness and emotional intelligence in AI offers significant practical benefits across many sectors. In customer service, for instance, AI-powered agents can simulate empathy and emotional intelligence, leading to more satisfying and personalized interactions with customers. The ability to remember past interactions ensures that AI systems can tailor their responses to meet the specific needs and preferences of users, enhancing the overall experience.In healthcare, AI systems equipped with emotional recognition capabilities can detect when a patient is stressed, anxious, or in pain. By adjusting their tone or responses, these virtual health assistants can provide more supportive care, fostering trust and rapport with patients. Emotional sensitivity allows for a more human-like interaction, even though the AI is not genuinely experiencing emotions.Similarly, in education, AI tutors that simulate emotional understanding can improve learning outcomes. When a student shows frustration or confusion, the AI can respond by offering encouragement, simplifying explanations, or adjusting its approach. This ability to sense and respond to emotions can create a more effective and supportive educational environment.In entertainment, particularly in video games as already discussed, the ability of AI to simulate complex emotional responses and relationships with players enhances immersion. Non-player characters (NPCs) that remember past player interactions and adjust their behavior accordingly create a sense of continuity and emotional depth in the game world, making interactions feel more meaningful and engaging.Moreover, personal assistants like Siri or Alexa could evolve to become more emotionally intelligent, adjusting their tone based on a users emotional state. By remembering past interactions, these assistants can offer more personalized, empathetic, and helpful responses, improving the overall user experience. The potential to evolve into fully functional conversational companions is intriguing in a world where the trend is for people to lead more isolated lives.By extension, when the idea of advanced domestic robots becomes a reality, such features may well be viewed as necessary.The Future of AI Consciousness SimulationGenuine consciousness in AI may never be achieved in the same way humans experience it, and one would have to question what purpose there even is in attempting to do so. The ability to simulate the trappings of consciousness on the other hand is a valuable and achievable goal in its own right. This shift toward simulation opens up new possibilities for improving human-AI interactions, enhancing user experiences, and solving complex problems in fields ranging from customer service to healthcare and education.The practical benefits of simulating consciousness through emotional intelligence, memory retention, and adaptive behaviors are already apparent across multiple industries. Continued advancements in AI memory, machine learning, and real-time knowledge integration will make these simulations even more sophisticated and convincing. This should not be feared, nor should its implementation be disguised (in fact most would probably agree it should be made explicit). This sort of emotional intelligence may actually prove to be a crucial ingredient to generating a closer approximation of artificial understanding and thus is necessary to advance the state of AI overall.I suspect that for many applications simulating consciousness and sentience in AI is a necessary step toward advancing the field of artificial intelligence. The ability to simulate these complex behaviors allows for the creation of more sophisticated AI systems that can engage in dynamic, adaptive, and contextually aware interactions. By modeling the processes of memory, learning, and emotional response core components of consciousness AI can perform tasks that require nuanced understanding, personalization, and long-term adaptation. Simulating these traits provides a framework for developing machines that exhibit behaviors akin to awareness. This would not merely mimic responses but would require integrating feedback loops that enable AI to refine its actions based on past experiences, much like how humans learn and adapt. As AI systems simulate these cognitive and emotional processes, they will become increasingly effective in their interactions with humans. The act of simulating sentience, therefore, becomes a powerful tool for refining AIs capabilities.In addition, the utility of virtual environments such as MMOs as testing grounds for simulating AI consciousness is immense. These platforms provide complex, dynamic environments where AI-driven characters can interact with multiple human players in a variety of contexts, allowing researchers to observe how AI systems might utilize persistence to simulate emotion and cognition. Through these virtual worlds, the capabilities of AI systems to build memory, adapt to users, and simulate relationships over time can be refined. Not only as lab experiments but in the real world the fact that it is for entertainment purposes only is an added advantage, in that the security and ethical concerns which would be of greater concern in other fields are mitigated.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

Weve come a long way since "Ugly Sonic" first appeared in a trailer back in 2019. While the first Sonic movie wasn't necessarily the greatest video game adaptation of all time, it did kick off a world with Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, and, with its newest instalment, Keanu Reeves as Shadow. In IGN's review of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, A.A. Dowd writes, "Better jokes, better imagery, and two (!) inspired comic performances by Jim Carrey give this Sonic sequel an edge on its overly kiddy predecessors." And we already know the series isn't sticking to a trilogy: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is already confirmed for 2027. If you're planning to watch the new Sonic movie in theaters or online, here's everything we know about its release: How to Watch Sonic 3: Showtimes, Streaming, and Physical Release StatusSonic the Hedgehog 3 is still showing in theaters. You can find showtimes near you at the main theater sites below: Where to Stream Sonic 3Sonic the Hedgehog 3 [Digital]Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails are back for their most epic adventure yet. The team reunite to face a new formidable foe, Shadow, a mysterious hedgehog with powers unlike anything they've seen. Keanu Reeves joins the All-Star cast as the voice of Shadow.See it at Prime VideoSonic 3 just released on digital and is now available to rent or buy from marketplaces like Prime Video. The first place Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be available to stream is Paramount+, instead of Netflix or Disney+. While we don't have an exact release date, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was in theaters for a little over six weeks, and Paramount's 2024 releases, Smile 2 and A Quiet Place: Day One, followed a similar timeline. Based on that, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 should arrive on Paramount+ by mid-February 2025. Sonic 3 Physical Release Date Release Date TBASonic The Hedgehog 3 [4K Steelbook + Blu-Ray + Digital Copy]$44.99 at AmazonA 4K steelbook of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is already up for preorder on Amazon. A release date hasn't been announced, but you do get the comfort of Amazon's preorder price guarantee. Check out our guide to upcoming Blu-rays for more info on physical releases.What Is Sonic the Hedgehog 3 About? The third Sonic movie dives into the origins of Shadow the Hedgehog, who first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 and who also took the spotlight in this year's Sonic x Shadow Generations. Here's the movie's official synopsis: Sonic, Knuckles and Tails reunite to battle Shadow, a mysterious new enemy with powers unlike anything they've faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, they seek out an unlikely alliance to stop Shadow and protect the planet.How to Watch Sonic 1 and 2 Sonic the Hedgehog 2-Movie Collection [Blu-ray]$20.67 at AmazonThe first two Sonic movies are available on Blu-ray, and are also pretty easy to find online. Both movies are streaming on Hulu and Paramount+, with the first Sonic additionally streaming on Peacock and Prime Video. Paramount+ is where you'll find most other Sonic adaptations, including the '90s cartoon and this year's Knuckles. Sonic the Hedgehog 1: Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Does Sonic 3 Have a Post-Credits Scene? Yes! Sonic 3 has both a mid-credits and post-credits scene, which leaked a few days before the movie came out. If spoilers don't scare you, you can check out our guide to the movie's ending. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Cast Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was directed by Jeff Fowler and written by Patrick Casey, Josh Miller, and John Wittington. It stars the following actors in a combination of voice and live-action roles: Ben Schwartz as Sonic the HedgehogColleen O'Shaughnessey as TailsIdris Elba as KnucklesKeanu Reeves as Shadow the HedgehogJim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik (and Gerald Robotnik)James Marsden as Tom WachowskiTika Sumpter as Maddie WachowskiKrysten Ritter as Director RockwellNatasha Rothwell as RachelLee Majdoub as Agent StoneAlyla Browne as MariaShemar Moore as Randall HandelAdam Pally as Wade WhippleSonic the Hedgehog 3 Rating and RuntimeSonic the Hedgehog 3 is rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor, thematic elements, and mild language. Its runtime is 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Samsung's most affordable big-screen OLED TVs are on sale with plenty of time to be delivered by Super Bowl Sunday, which lands on February 9 this year. You can pick up a 2024 65" model for about $998, or a massive 77" model for just $1,599. You'd be hard pressed to find better pricing on recent model brand name OLED TVs. This is the ultimate TV for HDR streaming, but it's also great for current-gen gaming on a PS5 or Xbox Series X console.Samsung OLED TVs on Sale65" Samsung S85D 4K OLED Smart TV77" Samsung S84D 4K OLED Smart TVThe Samsung S85/S84D isn't a "budget" TV per se, but this is Samsung's most cost-effective OLED TV series. The S84D is Best Buy's exclusive model, but it's more or less identical to the Samsung S85D. OLED TVs are still considered the best TVs you can buy in terms of picture quality. Compared to traditional LED LCD TVs, they offer better image quality, deeper blacks, better contrast ratio, wider color gamut, and super fast response times. Quantum dot panels up the ante even further by offering wider and brighter range of colors. Because of these advantages, QD OLED TVs are great for viewing 4K HDR content in all of its intended glory.The S85/S84D also has the features you'd want in a gaming TV. It has a native 120Hz panel and HDMI 2.1 ports capable of running 4K at 120Hz on a PS5 or Xbox Series X. It also supports variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode.Looking for more alternatives? Check out the best gaming TVs of 2025.Why Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.So finished the party to end all parties in The Masque of the Red Death, one of Edgar Allan Poes greatest short stories, this about a cloistered group of elites who thought they could live free from consequence and the world outside their walls. Yet like nature, decay, and all other unwanted realities, the Red Death cannot be thwarted by prince and privilege, fiats and decadence. Its a lesson humanity seems doomed to repeat, so why not do it all again in a big splashy A24 horror movie starring Sydney Sweeney?!News of exactly that came Tuesday afternoon when DeadlineThe Plague. However, it is reported A24 wants the film to shoot later this year and that it will be a wildly revisionist and darkly comedic take on the short story.The words wildly and revisionist leave a lot of leeway about what this film could be, however the union of A24 and current It Girl Sweeney certainly shows promise. It was after all A24s partnership with HBO that made Sweeney a star on Euphoria, which is still expecting a third season. Since then Sweeney has gone on to do awards-nominated work in the likes of The White Lotus and Reality, and has produced her own hits, including another indie horror chiller from last year, Immaculate. It is on the last count that the material shows a lot of potential in 2025. After all, the Gothic horror aesthetic appears to be swinging back into popularity, and there is something incredibly Gothic about Poes original tale.While Edgar Allan Poe lived in 19th century America, his sense of literature was defined by an older sensibility. Hence like so many of his tales, 1842s The Masque of the Red Death is set in the Middle Ages where a proud and arrogant Prince Prospero invites a thousand lighthearted nobles of similar opulence and power into a walled abbey. It is there they intend to outlast the arrival of the Red Death (the bubonic plague in all but name) in style and grandeur. While the serfs are left to die outside, the nobles and their retinue will dine at an elaborate masquerade ball in ornately decorated rooms. Nonetheless, Death himself comes in human form to walk amongst them.The story has been adapted multiple times before, most famously by Roger Corman in a kitschy but amusing Vincent Price movie from 1964. That film took the medieval setting of the short story but not much else. It also added a bit of Satan worship and an overt insinuation that Prosperos shindig was devolving into an orgy.We dont know if the new film will get so lurid, or even if it will be a period piece, albeit the recent success of Robert Eggers pot-committed remake of NosferatuMasque revisionist might tease it will be a modernization (similar to how the story was adapted as just one episode in Mike Flanagans Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix in 2023). However, we think it might mean something a bit more fun such as Prospero now being a princess who invites the most debauched into her castle of frivolities.The greater appeal to the story is how timely it feels nearly 200 years after it was written and about 700 years after it was set. The 21st century just lived through a global pandemic that left millions dead, and yet some of the leaders who fiddled while it worsened are newly rewarded with power as they, in turn, attempt to rewrite history.Despite going through a plague, many still think money, power, and dishonesty can shield themselves from the horrors of the natural world or the suffering of others. They insist theyll just build the wall higher.It is in this vein, Sweeney makes a lot of sense considering she already starred in last years Immaculate, a film that was the first in what turned out to be a series of pro-choice horror movies about men trying to control womens bodies in a post-Roe v. Wade America. Bringing that same pointed and scathing sensibility to Poes already incredibly sardonic tale about a royal who thinks he can buy his (or her) way out of meeting the Grim Reaper couldnt arrive at a better moment.

As is the case with most hero shooters, the best character in Marvel Rivals is the one that you are most comfortable with in a specific situation. Winning in Marvel Rivals often means being willing and able to swap between various characters based on what your team needs at any given moment. As such, its important to learn as many characters as possible and to be ready to use them as needed.However, as Marvel Rivals season one update takes shape, were starting to see some heroes rise to the top of the games competitive meta by virtue of their high overall power level. While these rankings may shift slightly based on the situation and your skills, these are the best and worst characters in Marvel Rivals.Marvel Rivals: Every Strategist Ranked Worst to BestStrategists are commonly referred to as Marvel Rivals healers, though thats a simplification of the role. While they should primarily be judged based on their healing output capabilities, the best Strategists bring so much more to the fight.8. AdamAdam Warlocks awkward skill kit just cant keep up with the other support characters. His overall healing output is quite weak, and while his damage can catch enemies off-guard, Warlock is far too vulnerable to regularly contribute to the fight in that respect.Even Warlocks mass resurrection ability feels less valuable than it should be in a game like this. It requires exceptional positioning and timing if youre going to get the full value out of it. Even then, only being able to revive your teammates at partial health makes them easy targets in most scenarios.7. JeffNow that Jeffs war crime of an Ultimate ability has been nerfed, most players have fewer reasons to pick him. Jeffs weak damage output, awkward movements, and largely average healing output can make him a liability in a valuable role.In Jeffs defense, some top-tier players can use his unusual movements and sneaky attacks to frustrate and pick apart the enemy team. Most players will want to look elsewhere, though.6. RocketThere is quite a lot to love about Rocket, a character that shot up the rankings in Marvel Rivals first season. His resurrection station is invaluable, his healing output is top-tier, hes mobile, and his team-up ability with Punisher and Winter Soldier makes those already viable DPS characters even better. He can also get some useful damage if youre able to utilize his mobility.Rockets biggest weakness is his Ultimate ability. That short-range damage amplifier just cant compete with the other game-changing Strategist Ultimates. When the match boils down to trading Ultimates, Rocket is going to come up short most of the time. Still, hes invaluable to the right team (or triple Strategist compositions).5. LokiPlaying with a truly great Loki is a revelation. While a bad or mediocre Loki feels like theyre barely in the fight, a great Loki can stay alive most of the match, confuse the enemy team with his clones, save your squad with his powerful AoE heal ability, and deal a surprising amount of damage.What makes Loki viable on average is his incredible Ultimate. His ability to turn himself into any other character in the match and deploy their Ultimate almost immediately enables powerful swing scenarios that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. Hes certainly worth learning if you havent been learning him already.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!4. Invisible WomanThe new Strategist on the block, Invisible Woman boasts one of the most well-rounded support kits in the game. Her Psionic Vortex ability can create distance while dealing damage while her telekinetic skills are surprisingly good at enabling quick kills (especially near the edges of a map). Her Ultimate, which generates a massive healing field that turns your allies invisible, is also one of the most effective support Ultimates as well as one of the most frustrating to deal with.Invisible Womans biggest weakness is her raw healing output. Its certainly not bad, but the limited range of her boomerang projectile and the static nature of her projected healing shields can lower her overall healing in the average match. She more than makes up for it elsewhere, though.3. MantisMantis kit revolves around a resource system. Her healing-over-time and damage buffs can only be deployed when she has sufficient resources. Those resources gradually refill somewhat slowly, but Mantis can automatically replenish them by landing a critical strike with her projectiles. Thankfully, Mantis always has access to her stun skill and a powerful Ultimate that greatly buffs her and her nearby allies total health while generating AoE heals.If you cant land headshots as Mantis fairly regularly, youre going to have a much harder time keeping your team buffed and healed. Its especially difficult to rescue a tank with Mantis slower heals if youre not regularly replenishing your resources. Most players will feel up to the task, but Mantis is best paired with someone who can fill those occasional heal gaps.2. Cloak & DaggerThe Dagger part of the Cloak & Dagger package is the best pure healer in Marvel Rivals. Few can match the raw healing output of her lock-on daggers, helpful healing bubbles, and projectile light veils that grant temporary healing boosts. Her recently buffed Ultimate also allows her to create a massive safe space/danger zone (depending on who is standing in it) that can save your team while forcing your enemies to retreat.Its the Cloak part of the equation that determines C&Ds overall power level. Cloaks debuffs and damage output can help pick off staggered foes, but learning when to sacrifice your healing abilities to transform into Cloak takes time. The wrong swap at the wrong moment can cost you a fight.1. Luna SnowAs the most aim-dependent Strategist, Luna Snows overall healing output is closely related to your ability to reliably target your teammates in the middle of a fight. If you cant do that, youre going to have a bad time as Luna.Otherwise, Luna is easily the best Strategist in Marvel Rivals. Her full kit offers an insane combination of stuns, attacks, and raw healing output, but its her Ultimate that makes her the terror of the game at the moment. It turns out that being able to make your team effectively invulnerable to most forms of damage for about 12 seconds is pretty good. Until that Ultimate is nerfed, were living in Lunas world.Marvel Rivals: Every Vanguard Ranked Worst to BestVanguards primarily serve as Marvel Rivals tanks. While that means that many of them are designed to protect their teams, some tanks are far more aggressive and bring the frontline to wherever they go. The absolute best Vanguards dictate the terms of a fight by creating space, absorbing punishment, and getting in sneaky amounts of damage.8. Captain AmericaWhile a great Captain America player is a lore-friendly terror to his enemies and a hero to his allies, most Captain America players will struggle to do much at all during most fights. His shield is easily broken, his damage output is inconsistent, and while hes incredibly mobile, its difficult for him to be nearly as aggressive as he needs to be due to his punishing cooldown management demands.Captain America is probably a few tweaks away from being an absolute menace. At the moment, though, hes a tough sell as a tank.7. Peni ParkerPenis ability to lay traps throughout the map makes her an incredible defensive Vanguard option. There are times when you are simply forced to go through or around Penis webs of death. Her mere presence is a risk that has to be accounted for, and her stun ability is one of the most consistently valuable CC abilities in the game.However, Peni is significantly less viable as an attacking Vanguard. Even a good Peni will struggle to push their team forward while laying traps and staying alive. As more and more players figure out Penis bag of tricks, she begins to feel like less of a threat and more of an annoyance.6. VenomMuch like Captain America, Venom is a mobile Vanguard who can easily wreak havoc behind enemy lines. Unlike Captain America, Venom has the sustainability required to survive his dives and get back to the safety of his team.Venoms biggest problem at the moment is his damage output. His awkward medium-range attacks can sometimes prevent him from being as aggressive and consistent as he needs to be while pursuing the enemy team. Even his Ultimate bolsters his survivability rather than compensates for his damage.At the moment, there are other diving Vanguards that can do more in the backlines.5. GrootA great Groot player can use this Vanguards walls to isolate targets, block paths, prevent damage, and generally reshape the map in your teams favor. On top of that, Groot boasts one of the better Vanguard Ultimates in the game and some surprisingly strong damage output.However, a bad or mediocre Groot player will use those same walls to do more harm to your team than the enemy squad. If those walls dont go up when and where they need to, your team will quickly be overwhelmed while the opposing squad thanks you for the free shields. The swings can be wild, but a great Groot is an asset.4. ThorThor can practically fly across the map while picking off enemies and granting himself invaluable health boosts. Hes a mobile melee menace. You dont know fear until you have a Thor hammering away at your head with the confidence of a Vanguard who knows he can get out of trouble as soon as it appears. As if that wasnt bad enough, Thor can also unleash a devastating barrage of projectiles at the temporary cost of his easily replenished resources.While Thors Ultimate is still quite bad (the God of Thunder deserves better), it at least offers him another escape option that forces enemies to scatter.3. MagnetoAs one of the only true shield tanks in Rivals, Magneto earns his keep simply by being able to block incoming damage by throwing up a barrier. More importantly, Magnetos ability to shield himself or project a shield on an ally is one of the best ways to either press an attack or escape a flank. His projectiles are also sneakily strong if youre able to use them at a moderate distance while tracking your enemies.Granted, Magneto is held back slightly by his slow movement speed and weak Ultimate. The former makes it tough for him to get back into the fight and the latter is far too finicky to be more than a situational annoyance. Hes still a true main tank option, though.2. HulkHulk is often banned at high levels of play due to his powerful team-up abilities. Even when hes by himself, a good Hulk will ruin your day with his generous leap abilities, strong shields, and devastating strikes. Hulk is the ideal dive tank; the kind that can get into and out of trouble while causing it all the while.While it takes time to learn Hulks movements (meaning he tends to get melted at lower ranks), great Hulk players can practically carry a team before using their Ultimate to unleash their final form and slam enemies into the ground like theyre playthings.1. Doctor StrangeAs the best overall solo tank in the game, Doctor Strange is also the best Vanguard in Marvel Rivals. His powerful shield is equally valuable on attack and defense, his projectiles are surprisingly strong, his ability to fly gets him out of trouble most tanks cant escape, and his Ultimate has the potential to help wipe a team every time he uses it.While great Strange players are separated by their ability to consistently create portals that transport allies or trap foes, he tends to be the best overall tank in every situation at any rank.Marvel Rivals: Every Duelist Ranked Worst to BestThe largest class in Marvel Rivals, Duelists are the games primary damage dealers. Despite their seemingly simple objective, their diverse designs often make them the most complicated characters in the game. Just dont assume the most complex Duelists are always the best.19. Black WidowThe only truly bad character in Marvel Rivals, Black Widow is a traditional sniper in a game not designed to support that role. The cover is too ample and the action is too fast for her to effectively pick off targets in time to change the fight.Black Widow either needs a massive damage boost or a rework to become relevant at any level of play. Well see which comes first.18. Scarlet WitchWhile shes one of the easier Duelists in Marvel Rivals, it doesnt take long to see through Scarlet Witchs illusion of power.Scarlet Witchs primary fire doesnt require much aim, but its easy to counter her flanks once you know how to look for them. Unfortunately, Scarlet Witchs other abilities cant compensate for that core deficiency, and her Ultimate is far too slow to be viable at anything other than the lowest levels of play.17. Iron FistIron Fists fast movements, quick strikes, and ability to lock on to a target make him a nightmare for new players. Even veterans can occasionally use Iron Fists aggressive style of play to generate some havoc at higher ranks.By and large, though, Iron Fist can be bested by even the slightest bit of cooperation. Its hard for Iron Fist to effectively deal with coordinating targets until he gets his Ultimate, which tends to be a problem as players quickly learn to work together.16. Black PantherBlack Panther is certainly capable of weaving his way in and out of a fight while picking off surprised enemies. His incredible agility and burst damage potential make him a sneaky favorite among those who favor diving damage dealers.Unfortunately, Black Panther is also a combo-dependent character who needs to be able to play a specific way to be effective. If his big combo is interrupted, he typically has to get out or die. Hes also cursed with one of the weakest overall Ultimates in the game at the moment.15. Spider-ManSpider-Man is undoubtedly the most difficult Duelist to learn and master in Marvel Rivals. The top Spider-Man players in the world are truly feared. They can pretty much go where they want and do what they want while causing enemy players to scramble and/or panic.The other 99% of Spider-Man players are often a detriment to their team. They will dive too deep, they will do little damage, they will die, and they will probably blame you for it. Those swings in viabilitypun intendedmake it hard to rank Spider-Man higher.14. Mister FantasticThough technically a melee character, Mister Fantastics outstretched arms are effectively projectiles that can double as sweeping strikes. Hes also one of the most durable Duelists in the game and even has an ability that allows him to eat quite a bit of damage before reflecting damage to the enemy team.Unfortunately, the rest of Mister Fantastics kit isnot great. Youll rarely find the chance to use his ability to grab enemies and slam them together, and his Ultimate arguably makes him weaker than he is in his base form. Mister Fantastic is just a bit too limited in a competitive meta.13. Squirrel GirlThere are times when Squirrel Girls ability to pepper an area with bouncing explosives makes her a feared damage dealer. Hey, it worked for Junkrat in Overwatch. Like Junkrat, Squirrel Girl can effectively lockdown a choke point while using her mobility and traps to stay alive long enough to be a menace.Unfortunately, Squirrel Girl struggles to adapt to situations that force her to do more than fill a confined area with explosives. Shes fine to have during the good times and a liability when things start to go sour. Even her recently buffed Ultimate still isnt quite good enough to turn the tide of a fight.12. Star-LordStar-Lord functions like Marvel Rivals version of Overwatchs Tracer. Despite his ability to fly, Star-Lord is supposed to get relatively close to enemies, shoot them down, get out of the fray, and do it all again. Its not until he triggers his powerful Ultimate that he can truly unleash death from above.If your aim and movements are less-than-perfect with Star-Lord, youre going to have a bad time. An inconsistent Star-Lord is too vulnerable and too weak to do more than tickle enemies before floating away to his death. He has a presence at higher ranks, though players skilled enough to use him well tend to favor other options.11. Iron ManIron Man could lose or gain a couple of spots on this list based on whether or not hes paired with a Hulk. With a Hulk, Iron Man gains a massive damage boost that makes it much easier for him to sneak behind a team and delete weaker targets.Without that boost, Iron Man has to be surprisingly accurate and incredibly evasive to effectively disrupt enemy strategies while getting picks and staying alive. Iron Mans nuclear bomb of an Ultimate can ignore even the best Strategist Ultimates, but you have to be confident in your ability to both quickly acquire and utilize that ability to get the most out of him.10. MagikMagik is a fascinating melee DPS character. Her kit revolves around her ability to use portals to move between short distances before unleashing sweeping strikes that launch enemies into the air. Shes basically a Devil May Cry protagonist in a hero shooter.Is that good? It really depends. Magik is as frustrating as any dive character in Marvel Rivals and generally more durable than most heroes in that pack. However, you have to know how to pick your spots, how to pull off various attack combos, and when to back out to get anything substantial out of her. She tends to be better than Black Panther and Spider-Man on average, though her ceiling may be slightly lower.9. Winter SoldierWinter Soldier is another weird DPS character. While he has a gun, its limited max ammo and precision shots often require you to rely on Buckys other, combo-oriented abilities. A good Bucky will hook players out of position, uppercut them into the air, and kill them with a little help from his team. If Bucky doesnt have a little help from his team (or misses his combos), then he can struggle to do more than chip away at high-health foes while waiting for his next attack window.Buckys Ultimate makes all those efforts worth it, though. If you kill an enemy with that diving strike (or shortly thereafter), your Ultimate will automatically be reset. From there, you can continue that combo as long as there is an enemy left to kill with that ability. When properly deployed, its one of the scariest Ultimates in the game.8. NamorNamor is defined by his ability to summon two (three if hes playing with Luna Snow) squids that function as auto-firing turrets. They can be attached to almost any surface and are especially good at targeting otherwise hard-to-hit flying and flanking characters.What makes those turrets incredibly powerful is the rest of Namors kit. His primary and special attacks can greatly increase the fire rate of his turrets while dealing quite a bit of damage on their own. Properly placed Namor turrets can tear through anything that Namor decides to focus on while disorienting the enemy team. His Ultimate is slightly weaker, though it can easily knock down enemies and leave them vulnerable to follow-up attacks.7. The PunisherAs a pretty standard guy with a gun character, The Punisher finds himself near the middle of these rankings. There is nothing especially exciting about his third-person shooter playstyle. If your aim is good, youll probably be an effective Punisher. If notwell, hes at least a character whos easy to understand and get better at.Generous learning curve aside, great Punishers have become fixtures at high levels of play. Punisher can upset even the best-laid plans with his raw damage output that tears through shields and sends tanks into hiding (especially when hes paired with Rocket Racoon). Hes not quite as dynamic as some of the other Duelists, but mechanically gifted players will find him to be wonderfully consistent and occasionally devastating.6. PsylockeMuch like Genji in Overwatch, Psylocke is meant to poke at characters from a distance before using her quick strikes to deliver devastating final blows. She also boasts a powerful Ultimate that can quickly eliminate any enemy within a sizeable zone of death.Unlike other flanking characters, Psylockes primary attacks are effective enough at moderate distances to allow her to pick her attack spots rather than entirely rely on that aggressive style of play. If your aim is decent and you know how to pick your targets, you can easily top the charts as Psylocke with minimal support.5. HawkeyeHawkeye was the absolute terror of Marvel Rivals at launch, though a recent update made him slightly less effective at greater distances. All that really means, though is that Hawkeye cant quite take over a high-level game as easily as he once could.Otherwise, Hawkeye is an incredibly dangerous sniper who is mobile enough to get where he needs to be and powerful enough to still kill many characters with a single shot. Yes, it helps if your aim is good, but Hawkeye can still pull off lucky shots at slightly shorter distances. His Ultimate is probably the weakest part of his kit, but its more of a nicety than a necessity.4. Moon KnightMoon Knights Ultimate ability just got a buff that verges on being broken. As it stands, his Ultimate ability almost instantly summons a swarm of explosives from the sky that deal lethal (or nearly lethal) damage to anything in their path. Its incredibly difficult to avoid and often swings a fight in Moon Knights favor.Outside of his Ultimate, Moon Knight is quite good at prowling the corners of a map and peppering enemies with help from his Ankhs, stationery objects that reflect Moon Knights attacks on nearby enemies. If those Ankhs arent destroyed, Moon Knight will win the fight. Even if they are, it doesnt take much for him to get quick kills and build towards his Ultimate.3. HelaThe other terror of Marvel Rivals launch, Hela was hit with a relatively minor nerf that made her only slightly weaker than before. Much like Hawkeye, she is still able to deliver devastating precision strikes from across the map that can melt through tanks and delete most everything else with a single shot.Unlike Hawkeye, Helas Ultimate is one of the best in the game. If your team cannot focus on Hela and shoot her out of the sky, her Ultimate will kill you or force your squad to run and hide in spots that will often leave them in a bad position.2. WolverineIf youre going to take the time to learn a slightly more complicated character, make sure it is Wolverine. Like other diving characters, Wolverine is looking to get into the backlines and terrorize isolated targets. Unlike other diving DPS heroes, Wolverine is surprisingly durable. That durability makes it much easier to trap enemies or simply chase them down and catch them in a storm of strikes.That combination of abilities makes Wolverine one of the most effective tank busters in the game. If Wolverine gets hold of a tank (much less a weaker character), that tank had better pray their team is quick enough to intervene and save them. Generally speaking, it takes a lot of coordination to defeat a Wolverine who knows how to hit his tackles, dives, and powerful Ultimate ability. Thats why hes often banned at higher ranks of competitive play.1. StormWhen Marvel Rivals launched, Storm was widely considered to be one of the worst characters in the game. Now, Storm is the best Duelist in Marvel Rivals. Storms base attacks deal a surprising amount of damage, are incredibly quick, and can hit multiple foes. Her alternate fire abilities allow her to easily finish weakened enemies, and her Ultimate is practically guaranteed to kill multiple targets if the other team doesnt use their support Ultimates to block it.It doesnt stop there. By simply existing, Storm can provide team-wide damage and speed buffs that turn the tide in otherwise even fights. Once you master her flight movements (its actually better to stay closer to the ground with her), youll find that Storm is often the top-performing DPS at every level of play.

A new survey of game developers shows significant interest in the Vision Pro for gaming, with big growth expected from soon-to-be made visionOS games. Here are the details.Game developer survey reveals plans for new visionOS gamesAs published by GamesBeat, a recent Game Developers Conference survey sought to gauge engagement from developers with Apples new spatial computing platform.The data points to big growth coming soon. Heres what it says:Although only 8% of VR/AR developers are currently making games for Apple vision OS, the platform looks to be growing its foothold. Almost one-fifth (18%) of respondents say their next games will be on the platform, and one-fourth are interested in Apples VR headset.These three data points are all interesting in their own ways.First, its a bit surprising that 8% of VR/AR game developers are currently working on a visionOS project. We certainly havent seen much from their efforts yet, as Vision Pro gaming options have been scarce so far. That number is encouraging to hear.Second, the fact that 18% of respondents confirmed their next game would be on Vision Pro shows how much growth we should see soon.The final question is especially relevant too, especially when comparing visionOS interest to that of other platforms.Notably, 26% of respondents said that visionOS was of high interest to them as a game developer, while only 25% said the same for PlayStation VR2a platform that might be about to bolster Apples Vision Pro efforts.The survey involved over 3,000 game developers in total, a sizable group that provides a solid glimpse into what creatives in the gaming community are planning.What do you think of the Vision Pro gaming survey results? Let us know in the comments.Best Vision Pro accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Netflix is hiking its prices once again. Starting today, the cheapest Netflix plan will cost $7.99 per month, while the top-of-the-line plan with 4K streaming will cost you a cool $24.99 monthly. Netflixs latest price increaseHere are the details of the impending Netflix price increase, which impacts all three of its plans: Standard with ads: $7.99 (up from $6.99) per monthStandard without ads: $17.99 (up from $15.49) per monthPremium: $24.99 (up from $22.99) per month The price increases affect users in the United States, Canada, Portugal and Argentina. In a letter to shareholders today, Netflix said the price increase will let it continue to invest in programming: As we continue to invest in programming and deliver more value for our members, we will occasionally ask our members to pay a little more so that we can re-invest to further improve Netflix. To that end, we are adjusting prices today across most plans in the US, Canada, Portugal and Argentina. Netflixs latest price increase comes the same day the company reported monster earnings for Q4 2024. The streaming service added 18.9 million new subscribers in the quarter, beating analyst expectations of 9.6 million additions. It now has a whopping 302 million paid subscribers around the world. Netflix also reported revenue of $10.25 billion, beating estimates of $10.11 billion. Earnings-per-share came in at $4.28, compared to estimates of $4.20. It also declared a $15 billion share buyback program. Netflix last increased its prices in October 2023, when the Premium tier increased from $19.99 to $22.99 monthly. Shortly thereafter, Netflix discontinued its popular ad-free Basic subscription. This served as an effective price increase for anyone wanting an ad-free Netflix experience, raising the ad-free floor from $11.99 to $15.49 per month (now $17.99 with todays price hike). As a refresher, heres what you get with each Netflix plan. Standard with ads: Ad-supported, all mobile games and most movies and TV shows are available. A lock icon will appear on unavailable titles.Watch on 2 supported devices at a timeWatch in 1080p (Full HD)Download on 2 supported devices at a timeStandard without ads: Unlimited ad-free movies, TV shows, and mobile gamesWatch on 2 supported devices at a timeWatch in 1080p (Full HD)Download on 2 supported devices at a timeOption to add 1 extra member who doesnt live with youPremium: Unlimited ad-free movies, TV shows, and mobile gamesWatch on 4 supported devices at a timeWatch in 4K (Ultra HD) + HDRDownload on 6 supported devices at a timeOption to add up to 2 extra members who dont live with youNetflix spatial audioAre you still a Netflix subscriber? How much are you willing to pay for the service? Let us know down in the comments. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Eat my dust, cops.Hot PursuitChinese carmaker BYD recently unveiled the Yangwang U9, a fully electric hypercar that has an absolutely wild trick up its sleeve.As a recent promotional video demonstrates, the Yangwang U9 can leap over small obstacles including large potholes and even road spikes deployed in a police roadblock thanks to an active suspension setup.BYD goes as far as to show the car leaping like a cheetah, clearing an eight-foot pothole at 75 mph without a human behind the passenger seat.Whether the unusual feature will actually have any real-world applications rather than renderingthe hypercar an expensive death trap remains to be seen. Losing traction to all four wheels while driving at faster-than-highway speeds seems incredibly unsafe, and that's besides the purported goal of evading law enforcement during a high-speed chase.But it's certainly an eyebrow-raising party trick that makes the Yangwang U9 stand out in an increasingly crowded high-performance EV segment.Car WarsThe Yangwang U9's specs don't disappoint. Thanks to its 1,287 horsepower drivetrain, it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.36 seconds, putting it in a simlar class to Tesla's Model S Plaid.The car also recorded a blistering lap time at the Nrburgring Nordschleife lap in Germany in November.Besides being able to hop over obstacles, BYD has given its lineup of cars other unusual abilities. For instance, the Yangwang U9's much-larger SUV counterpart can float on water thanks to being equipped with an "Emergency Floating Mode"thatit says can stop it from sinking for half an hour.Unsurprisingly, the Yangwang U9 isn't cheap, with a price tag of a whopping $236,000.And in case you want to show off the vehicle's active suspension in public, make sure the cops aren't nearby to give you a ticket as one owner appears to have found out the hard way.More on hypercars: Elon Musk Says He Wants Future Tesla Roadster to HoverShare This Article

President Donald Trump's second term is underway, and already off to a raucous start.As the world waits with bated breath to see what wild promises the US's 47th president will deliver on like the 25percenttariff he's threatened on goods from Canada and Mexico it seems that incoming immigrants from South America will be among the first targets.On Trump's first day back, he made good on an array of promises targeting migrants, such as shutting down an app-based Biden-era visa lotterysystem that's stranded tens of thousands of migrants waiting for their lawful visa appointments in Mexico indefinitely a limbo that seems likely to now be permanent.He likewise took aim at migrants and US-born minorities on our side of the border, executing an order that effectively halts US government agencies from issuing citizenship documents to US-born individuals whose parents are not naturalized citizens. The direction also instructs heads of executive agencies to roll out new marching orders focused on aggressive immigration enforcement and deportation within 30 days, while removing key oversights on enforcement agencies like ICE.It's all gearing up to what Trump has promised will be a national wave of mass deportations a likely meat grinder of human cruelty, but also a formidable logistical challenge that will almost certainly forge new frontiers in surveillance tech by scrutinizing both the border and the country's population for signs of undocumented immigration."While AI offers vast potential to streamline operations and secure borders, its misuse intentional or not could lead to dangerous outcomes," United Nations AI advisor told the New York Post in a provocative feature about the Trump administration's plans to use AI in its immigration crackdown. "Theres a slippery slope where AI can be weaponized, eroding civil liberties, violating privacy, and fostering systemic bias. Under the Trump administration, the aggressive expansion of AI in border security could turn these tools into mechanisms for mass surveillance and control."The stakes are particularly high because the president returns to Washington with a friendly host of Big Tech moguls, eager to change their wardrobes for a chance at an expedited top-secret security clearance,a process Trump has already overhauled via executive order.Take Kevin Cohen, the American-born tech founder behind Israeli startup RealEye, whose company is focused on AI-powered mass-surveillance and threat detection."We have to be smarter... and find more creative ways to make sure everybody crossing the border is who they say they are," Cohen told the Post."RealEye's systems analyze behavioral patterns, travel data, and communication trends to highlight areas of concern in a fact-based, automated manner," reads the company's PR Newswire copy in an eerie blend of LinkedIn-meets-Person-of-Interest startup jargon."The technologies also support long-term monitoring and tracking, enabling proactive intervention against evolving threats."Who's included in that definition of "evolving threats" remains to be seen. RealEye has also partnered with the military of the Philippines as well as an unnamed law enforcement entity in Israel, both of which have long histories of human rights abuses perpetuated in the name of law and border enforcement.Israeli defense companies are prized by enforcement agencies around the world, as their weapons and surveillance tech is often "live tested" on occupied Palestinian territories before being adopted in the West, as Antony Loewenstein details in his 2023 book "The Palestine Laboratory." Deployment of such aggressive surveillance measures on American soil isn't without precedent just think back to the NSA under ObamaChief among those concerns is the efficacy of AI in such a massive and chaotic environment as the US-Mexico border, nevermind the US writ large. The domestic rollout of AI-based facial recognition software by enforcement agencies has been a nightmare in cities like Detroit, which had to halt use of the tech after AI led to three false arrests in summer of 2024. Other horror stories abound, like a California man who was falsely accused of shoplifting by Sunglass Hut's AI-powered loss prevention software and then arrested by incredulous police.According to reporting by the Post,the Trump administration is expectedto support its AI-monitoring program with massive investments into everything from AI-powered autonomous drones to robot dogs which are already roving Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and a $101 million expansion of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Autonomous Surveillance Towers.This expectation is supported by analysis from The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists the progenitors of the Doomsday Clock which writes that "an already multibillion-dollar border and surveillance industry is set to win big under Trumps plans for new border enforcement spending, immigration surveillance, and mass deportation."Those, by the way, started under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, who was himself no immigration dove and who started many of the programs Trump will almost certainly leverage in his new crackdown.Case in point, the DHS got a $5 million allocation during Biden's final daysThe Oval Office isn't the only government body enticed by the techno-future. In September, a bipartisan bill called the "Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act" passed through the Senate and is now waiting on a Congressional hearing. If passed, the legislation would order the DHS to "develop a plan to identify, integrate, and deploy emerging and innovative technologies to improve border security operations" essentially writing into law the provisions which Trump's executive orders are beginning to lay out.On a practical level, Orwellian tech-entrepreneurialism might provide law enforcement with some flashy toys to play with not to mention lucrative contracts for Silicon Valley but it does nothing to solve the economic issues underlying the immigration crisis, instead Band-Aiding over the systemic issues with astronomically expensive shows of force.More on Immigration: MAGA Figures Turn on Elon Musk for Not Hating Immigrants EnoughShare This Article