MLCommons, a nonprofit AI safety working group, has teamed up with AI dev platform Hugging Face to release one of the worlds largest collections of public domain voice recordings for AI research.The data set, called Unsupervised Peoples Speech, contains more than a million hours of audio spanning at least 89 different languages. MLCommons says it was motivated to create it by a desire to support R&D in various areas of speech technology.Supporting broader natural language processing research for languages other than English helps bring communication technologies to more people globally, the organization wrote in a blog post Thursday. We anticipate several avenues for the research community to continue to build and develop, especially in the areas of improving low-resource language speech models, enhanced speech recognition across different accents and dialects, and novel applications in speech synthesis.Its an admirable goal, to be sure. But AI data sets like Unsupervised Peoples Speech can carry risks for the researchers who choose to use them.Biased data is one of those risks. The recordings in Unsupervised Peoples Speech came from Archive.org, the nonprofit perhaps best known for the Wayback Machine web archival tool. Because many of Archive.orgs contributors are English-speaking and American almost all of the recordings in Unsupervised Peoples Speech are in American-accented English, per the readme on the official project page.That means that, without careful filtering, AI systems like speech recognition and voice synthesizer models trained on Unsupervised Peoples Speech could exhibit some of the same prejudices. They might, for example, struggle to transcribe English spoken by a non-native speaker, or have trouble generating synthetic voices in languages other than English.Unsupervised Peoples Speech might also contain recordings from people unaware that their voices are being used for AI research purposes including commercial applications. While MLCommons says that all recordings in the data set are public domain or available under Creative Commons licenses, theres the possibility mistakes were made. According to an MIT analysis, hundreds of publicly available AI training data sets lack licensing information and contain errors. Creator advocates including Ed Newton-Rex, the CEO of AI ethics-focused nonprofit Fairly Trained, have made the case that creators shouldnt be required to opt out of AI data sets because of the onerous burden opting out imposes on these creators.Many creators (e.g. Squarespace users) have no meaningful way of opting out, Newton-Rex wrote in a post on X last June. For creators who can opt out, there are multiple overlapping opt-out methods, which are (1) incredibly confusing and (2) woefully incomplete in their coverage. Even if a perfect universal opt-out existed, it would be hugely unfair to put the opt-out burden on creators, given that generative AI uses their work to compete with them many would simply not realize they could opt out.MLCommons says that its committed to updating, maintaining, and improving the quality of Unsupervised Peoples Speech. But given the potential flaws, itd behoove developers to exercise serious caution.

In BriefPosted:1:55 PM PST January 31, 2025Image Credits:Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto / Getty ImagesHundreds of companies are blocking DeepSeek over China data risksDeepSeek took the U.S. by storm this week: the Chinese companys chatbot rose to the top of the Apple and Play stores, while major U.S. cloud providers like Microsoft began offering it on their platforms.But hundreds of companies especially ones with ties to government have blocked the service, Bloomberg reported based on interviews with executives from cybersecurity firms Armis and Netskope.The biggest concern is the AI models potential data leakage to the Chinese government, Armis CTO Nadir Izrael said.Bloomberg Law separately reported that a San Francisco law firm, Fox Rothschild, has blocked DeepSeek as well.According to DeepSeeks privacy policy, the company stores all user data in China, where local laws mandate companies share data with intelligence agencies upon request.The Pentagon has just started blocking DeepSeek, while the Navy banned it last week.Topics

In Louisville, Kentucky, an elevated event space referred to simply as the Belvedere has straddled downtown and the banks of the Ohio River since 1973. On special occasions the green space and its adjacent plazas are the place to be, thats not to say its really a sorry sight otherwise. A vision unveiled by Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg this week posits a new future for the aging parkspace. Greenberg shared that Heatherwick Studio is behind the design for the parks revamp. The city has also tapped Layla George to serve as project executive. George previously held the position of president and CEO of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy and brings extensive knowledge of landscape design to the project.The Belvedere opened in 1973. (Courtesy Louisville Mayors Office)Plans for the Belvedere first circulated in the 1930s, but work on the project didnt get underway until the 1970s. Part infrastructure project, part green space/public plaza, the site comprises a parking garage, the interstate, and 7 acres of park space. Over the years a lot of activity has taken place atop the Belvedere; a crowd gathered in 1974 to celebrate local legend Muhammad Alis World Heavyweight Champion win and then again years later for his funeral procession in 2016. In 1979 the Colonel Sanders of KFC lore celebrated his 89th trip around the sun with a big to do thereand thats not to mention annual festivities like World Fest and Thunder over Louisville that draw thousands to the patch of grass and its adjacent plaza.Early renderings shared by the city this week of a revamped Belvedere reveal a structure with an undulating form. Ribbon-like strips with a copper-colored metal edge the roofline of a pavilion of sorts envisioned for the site. As depicted, the building component could be located atop a cap that spans over Interstate 64 below. This cap and the roof of the structure are nearly completely sheathed over by a green space that appears to stretch from the extremities of downtown to the riverfront. The design seeks to better connect downtown Louisville with the Ohio River.The Belvedere is 50 years old and is crumbling. We have an opportunity to do something big and bold to create an iconic, world-class destination that will serve as Louisvilles front yard and connector, Mayor Greenberg said in a statement.Interstate 64 runs beneath the Belvedere, the highway separates the downtown and the riverfront. (Courtesy Louisville Mayors Office)Progress on the Belvedere thus far and the initial designs shared by the city are the result of three public meetings held in January that asked for community input. More feedback on the design is still being sought and the public can weigh in via this online form.In a recent meeting, Greenberg shared an anticipated timeline for the project that involves a conceptual plan that would ideally be ready by early May, and final designs by mid-2026, all so that construction can kick off before the close of 2026. The city has already allocated $10 million in bond funds for the Belvedere project, however a total cost will not be calculated until the design is finalized.

In Midtown Manhattan, two adjoining office buildings on 42nd Street are slated to be transformed into housing. The adaptive reuse project is by Genslers New York office. Metro Loft and David Werner are the development partners. The two existing buildings are at 229 East 42nd Street and 219 East 42nd Street; the former is 33 stories and the latter is 10 stories. The conversion is made possible by Mayor Eric Adamss Midtown South Mixed-Use program, a facet of his administrations Manhattan Plan.Robert Fuller, a principal at Gensler, sees the conversion as the start of something bigger underway in Midtown today, a CBD with astonishingly high office space vacancy rates. Conversions offer the promise of helping to transform more areas that were historically centralized business districts into vibrant, 24/7 neighborhoods,Fuller said.The architects will replace all 2,000 existing windows and the metallic skin with a new, much lighter facade. (Courtesy Streetsense)Although there has been a big focus on conversions in recent years, it really is not a new concept, Fuller added. New York City has a long history of repurposing outdated buildings to create new housing. All you have to do is walk the streets of SoHo or the waterfront in Brooklyn and youll see endless examples of old manufacturing and factory buildings converted to residential. We envision a future where office conversions in Midtown and the Financial District hold a similarly cherished place in the history of the city. Howd We Get Here?For decades, the anchor tenant at the site on East 42nd Street was Pfizer. The pharmaceutical company moved into its HQ in Midtown in 1961, around the same time it began uplifting its research operations to Groton, Connecticut. Pfizer commissioned a bespoke mural by Nikos Bel-Jon, a Greek artist, for the buildings lobby with renditions of Hippocrates and Louis Pasteur (an artwork which has since been safely moved). In 1998, the HQ was renovated by Hoffmann Architects + Engineers. That refurbishment yielded an expansive, rather nebulous piece of ceiling art by Brian Clark, a confidant of Zaha Hadid. In 2023, Pfizer relocated from 42nd Street to Hudson Yards, leaving its old base empty. Construction permits were filed for the project last summer, and Gensler just publicly shared renderings of the revamped buildings this month. After the conversion, the buildings will have 1,600 residential units, a quarter of which will be affordable. There will be a total 100,000 square feet of amenity space, including a rooftop pool and fitness center.The 33-story building is broken up into three volumes which interstitially step back from the street. The breaks happen at the eleventh and 15th floors. The rendering Gensler shared of the project shows a new, much lighter facade wrapped around the buildings that would replace the existing, metallic exterior we have today. All 2,000 existing windows will be replaced.The work underway on 42nd Street marks a significant addition to Genslers office-to-residential conversion portfolio. Its first foray into the typology was at Pearl House in the Financial District, another business hub struggling with high vacancy rates. Gensler told AN that its currently designing more than 5,000 residential units inside former New York City office buildings today.Residents should be able to move into the new 42nd Street housing complex in 2027.

The stripped-out ground floor of a 1960s villa forms the core of a new family home in FlandersThis project was shortlisted in the 2024 AR House awards. Read about the full shortlist hereVMVK II lies low in an affluent cul-de-sac in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, a bucolic commuter town in Belgiums Flemish region. Designed by Mechelen-based practice dmvA for clients VM and VK the family house is ideally situated along Belgiums major industrial and urban axis: 25 kilometres north is the port of Antwerp; the nations capital is a 50-minute drive south. Across the street is VMVK I: the clients previous home (and their second architect-designed new build), commissioned from dmvA 12 years before. A white zinc-clad barn with a multi-faceted roof profile, the original VMVK was envisioned as an icon in nature, designed to turn inward and stand out against the green. The couples requests for their newest residence, however, rendered the opposite image: light-flooded spaces and maximum connection with nature.VMVK II is one of few private homes in dmvAs recent portfolio. For the past decade, the practice has held a consistent focus on the urban, with most of their projects concentrated in Mechelen. By our definition, the city is the only environment where you can actually build sustainably, explains Tom Verschueren, one of the practice founders. As such, dmvAs latest projects have sought to liberate underutilised urban sites through perceptive, economic interventions, working into the existing to more efficiently and generously accommodate density, often for public clients.Met with a proposal from their former patron and an unremarkable 1960s summer home on their just-purchased plot of land dmvA sought to maintain something of their approach within the inherent parameters of the brief, bringing the clients round to updating the material on site rather than knocking down and building new as planned. While the basement and ground floor of the existing structure provided the foundations for dmvAs design, the former is unrecognisable in its successor, enclosed in reflective glazed walls. A staircase of concrete floor slabs extends its footprint outward on all four sides, each rising to offer the privacy required by the internal spaces, while minimising the impact on the soil below. The white-painted finish of the original house has been preserved and additions are differentiated in black, allowing the house to recede into its surroundings.As if in preparation for the clients next move, the architects designed the custom CLT frame of the house so it could be dismantled and reused. But rather than their reincarnation in VMVK III, Verschueren has civic aspirations for the timber elements: I hope that they will return to the city that we will get the opportunity to give them purpose in an urban context.The client, for their part, sees their future residence being an altogether different house. Well only live this way for another 10 years or so, VM explains. We want somewhere smaller and easier to maintain as we enter the later stages of life. Within the scope of the brief, though, the architect Verschueren sees his duties as having been achieved. Sometimes we have clients who want to sit on soil. But this was a high-budget house, with metropolitan owners. If Im honest, a more realistic hope is that the design gives more people a sense of responsibility around sustainability. For us, that was the design task. Whether or not dmvAs efforts persuade the couple to deviate from past behaviour, the architect and his client have, together, made progress.

All images Stephane Aboudaram | we are content(s), shared with permissionErnesto Neto Crochets an Enormous Snake to Slither Inside Le Bon MarchJanuary 31, 2025ArtGrace EbertIf Adam and Eve had not eaten the Divine Apple, they would still be in paradise, wouldnt they? And us? Where would we be? asks Ernesto Neto in relation to his latest project.At Le Bon March Rive Gauche in Paris, the Brazilian artist (previously) presents his signature crocheted installations. A 28-foot snake coils up through the atrium for Le La Serpent, a monumental project evoking the creation myth of Adam, Eve, and the snake.Rather than view the story from the perspective of sin, Neto chooses to see the animal as a life-giving force that transcends the Abrahamic story. Utilizing both male and female articles, the title positions the serpent as exceeding gender and instead as a joyful, spiritual force that can connect mind and body. The artist notes that many cultures, from Mesoamerica to Cambodian mythology to ancient Greek, viewed the serpent as god. Given that the Lunar New Year recently ushered in the Year of the Snake, the project also has a timely tie to Eastern traditions.Although Neto frequently incorporates bold colors into his installations, the yarn in this project uses white to celebrate Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut, the founders of Le Bon March who encouraged artists to use the color in their works in the 19th century.A collaborative, meditative space awaits visitors on the second floor. Neto composed a song that plays throughout the room, while a large tee stands at the center. Dried leaves, turmeric, and cumin fill the trunk, adding an earthy, spiced scent to the air. The chalkboard-style walls are designed for visitors to draw and leave notes for future viewers. I want to remind people that they have a bodythat they can feel it, the artist said. Scents activate memory and help us reconnect with our own essence.If youre in Paris, see Le La Serpent through February 22.Next article

Police have arrested three men and one woman over their alleged role in distributing Sky ECC encrypted phones used by organised crime groups across multiple countries.The Dutch public prosecutors office confirmed that the suspects were involved in the distribution of encrypted phones supplied by Canadian technology company, Sky Global, to organised crime groups. Police have also seized 1.4 million in cryptocurrency and property.The suspects, who have not been named by Dutch prosecutors, are accused of running a criminal organisation and laundering the proceeds of crime by taking money from criminal organisations to supply encrypted phones.French, Belgian and Dutch police infiltrated services belonging to Sky ECC, the worlds largest cryptophone network, and decrypted millions of messages between June 2019 and March 2021, leading to the arrests of drug gangs in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.Dutch police have used decrypted messages harvested from Sky ECC phones to bring hundreds of criminal cases in the Netherlands against people accused of drugs and arms trafficking, money laundering and violent crime.The owner and founder of Sky Global, which operated the encrypted Sky ECC phone service, Jean-Francios Eap, continues to run technology and a sushi businesses in Vancouver. He has denied allegations that the company knowingly supplied phones to criminal organisations.Dutch prosecutors confirmed that Spanish police arrested a 37-year-old from Amsterdam in Alicante, Spain this week. The man, part of a network of distributors and resellers used by Sky Global, was responsible for supplying Sky ECC phones to the Netherlands.Spanish police also arrested a 36-year-old from Arnhem, in Holland, on the Spanish island of Ibiza. The man, who was a shareholder and director of a large number of companies in the Netherlands, Cuacao, and Canada, was involved in distributing Sky ECC phones and software used by international criminals.Police in Amsterdam also arrested a 37-year-old man, described as a prime suspect in their investigation, and a 36-year old woman for allegedly profiting by distributing Sky ECC phones to criminal groups.Sky Global, based in Vancouver, supplied encrypted phones to 70,000 users worldwide. It installed sophisticated encryption software on iPhones, Google Pixel, Blackberry and Nokia handsets, which routed encrypted text messages through servers in France and Canada.The company advertised its Sky ECC messaging service as the most secure messaging platform you can buy. Phones fitted with the Sky ECC app offered self-destructing messages, secure audio messages, and a secure encrypted vault. Users communicated using anonymous handles or aliases.The Dutch suspects are believed to have been responsible for the distribution and management of about a quarter of the Sky ECC subscriptions worldwide, equivalent to 13.8 million in revenue and 6.8 million in profits.They maintained contact with resellers and agents, who sold the crypto phones to clients that paid 600 for a three month subscription. The distributors are believed to have placed a large part of their profits in crypto wallets and invested in real estate, including a holiday park.A number of those arrested this week, are listed among 30 Sky ECC distributors and resellers named in a French indictment.The only person involved in the distribution of Sky ECC phones in French custody, is Canadian businessman, Thomas Herdman who has been held for over 42 months without trial.Herdman, who worked for Canadian Sky ECC distributor LevUp, was arrested by Spanish police in June 2021 despite agreeing to cooperate with US law enforcement officials investigating Sky ECC as part of a proffer agreement.LevUp claimed to be the smallest of four major distributors that operated for Sky Global, accounting for only 4% of its market share.The Canadian businessman is charged in France with 22 offences, which he denies, including laundering the proceeds from the importation of drugs by organised crime as a result of distributing Sky ECC encrypted phones, and the lesser charge of supplying cryptographic equipment without properly declaring it.A grand jury in the Southern District of California originally indicted Herdman and Sky Globals Eap in March 2021. The indictment accuses the executives of racketeering and knowingly facilitating the import and distribution of illegal drugs through the sale of encrypted communications devices.In Holland, the investigation into Sky ECC cryptophone distributors is being conducted by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), which investigates financial crimes, the National Investigation and Interventions Unit, which investigates serious and organised crime and the Dutch National Police.The distributors arrested in Spain are due to be extradited to the Netherlands. The two distributors arrested in Holland were released on bail on 30 January 2025.

If you use ChatGPT for STEM tasks, you'll want to check out this faster and cheaper model.

ZDNET's key takeaways The Boox Note Max comes bundled with the pen and case for $649.It's thin and light, has a high-contrast display, and has a long list of features that make it a very versatile device.Theres no backlight, it's monochromatic, and there's a bit of a learning curve to use it to its fullest. more buying choices I went hands-on with the Remarkable Paper Pro last year and thought that was a big tablet. The new Boox Note Max takes things to another level with a 13.3-inch display, the size of a standard A4 piece of paper. It's almost as thin, too -- at just 0.18 inches, resulting in a physically impressive, premium device.Also:I gave away my Kindle and iPad within hours of using this tabletThe capacitive touch display is a smooth glass-covered Carta 1300 screen, unlike the slightly more textured surface on the Remarkable Paper Pro. I won't keep bringing up the Remarkable, I promise, but the comparison between the two has to be made since these two devices are the only premium e-readers on the same level in terms of performance and features.The Boox Note Max has a resolution of 3200 x 2400 (QUXGA) and features 300 pixels per inch. When combined with the thin form factor, this delivers a very high-contrast, sharp image with ink that appears very close to the surface, like paper. details View at Amazon The device itself is remarkably thin, weighing 615 grams (1.3 pounds), but it doesn't feel fragile. It's premium but rather neutral, with rounded corners and a clean white backing. The entire tablet feels like one single unit, without any bend or give between the components. The best part: when lying flat on a table, it resembles a piece of paper. Under the hood, it has 6GB of RAM and a 2.8Ghz Snapdragon A55 processor, with support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. The hardware results in fast-enough speeds when navigating through the windows, but it's not instantaneous, as there is a bit of a delay that's normal fare with e-readers. The on-screen keyboard, in particular, requires some deliberate finger poking to type with, but it is just one of those things you get used to. Also: This versatile e-ink reader almost replaced my Android phoneThe display is monochromatic, which means no color, and importantly, there's no backlight, which means you aren't really going to be able to use it in low light. The ultrathin and light form factor is the trade-off for these two features resulting in the device's ultrathin, uniform design. The plus side of this is that it looks great in bright light, so you could easily take it to the beach. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETThe writing experience on the Note Max is very satisfying. The pen is not as heavy as the one that comes with the Remarkable Paper Pro, but it has a cap and a precise tip with just the slightest bit of give when you write with it. The result, on the tablet's smooth surface, is immensely enjoyable and completely lag-free.Also: I'm struggling to replace my Kindle Paperwhite with other E Ink tablets because of this featureThere are a handful of brushes and pens to use, and the toolbar's sliding menus make brush adjustments easy. The pen, in particular, is the most true-to-life digital replication of a fountain pen I've ever seen. It has a responsive and tactile feel that directly corresponds to how hard you press the tip. There's even a little bit of "bleed" of ink when you really push down.The monochromatic display does let you choose "colors," but they're essentially just varying degrees of gray, useful for highlighting or creating some contrast on your designs. There are also a handful of 3D shapes you can draw, making for some interesting on-the-fly designs like charts, graphs, or mock-ups.One thing I noticed, however, is that the touch sensors on the Note Max are a little finicky. Resting your hand on the display while using the pen can result in repeated false inputs or activation of gestures. This is one of those settings that you're going to have to spend a moment adjusting. You can turn off or limit gestures or simply disable touch altogether and have it only recognize the pen.Also: The best digital notebooks you can buy in 2025: Expert tested and reviewedThe tablet also features built-in dual speakers and a mic, the former of which can get surprisingly loud. I never really considered streaming music from an e-reader, but it's absolutely possible -- easy, even -- especially with a Bluetooth connection. In fact, this is one of the first things I noticed about the Note Max: there are lots of features and settings, so much so that most users probably won't utilize all of them. The amount of granularity in virtually every setting on the device is even a little astounding, making this device really shine in the hands of engaged power users who enjoy discovering new ways to interact with it. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETFor example, there's a highly customizable split screen feature, completely freeform markup capabilities on text, translation features, read-aloud features, and a rich linking system that I appreciate as an avid note-taker. You can highlight a specific section, or even a single word, and link it to external webpages, but more interestingly, to your own notebooks and documents stored locally on the device. There's a Kids Mode, a screen recorder, the ability to use the device as a hotspot, a built-in file drop capability, and compatibility with most file types. Even the floating toolbar is completely customizable, allowing the user to drag and drop the features they use most and anchor and resize it to whatever part of the screen is most useful.Also:Why I prefer this E Ink tablet that runs on Android over the Kindle and ReMarkableSo let's talk about some of the drawbacks. One of the biggest concerns I had with the Note Max is visual ghosting. The Boox Note excels at generating text: it's crisp and high-contrast, even with the fast refresh setting on.But it has a harder time with pages featuring heavy graphics, especially full-page images from magazines, so much so that you can clearly read the previous pages' ink remaining on the display.No matter what setting you're in, there are light artifacts, but switching to the faster display settings greatly mitigates ghosting (just keep in mind that it will require more battery). Speaking of the battery on the Note Max, it is good, but it isn't one that you can simply forget about. Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETBoox states that the device has around 32 hours of battery life if used solely as an e-reader, but only around seven hours if used for more demanding tasks like writing.I found this to be about accurate. If you're using the Note Max primarily for drawing and note taking, but only intermittently, it will certainly last a few days, but not much beyond that. Luckily, it charges very fast: gaining about 50% in 30 minutes.Also:I tested the Kindle Scribe for two weeks, and its best feature isn't what I expectedLastly, I should note that there is the Note Max Magnetic Keyboard cover that can be paired with the device for $150, bringing the device more into laptop territory, particularly because the keyboard has its own trackpad. The keyboard and trackpad (like all the other functions on the Note Max) come with an extensive list of customizations and functionalities that I didn't have a chance to test out personally, but I would imagine is ideal for users working extensively with text documents and functional editing.ZDNET's buying adviceThe Boox Note Max is a powerful, versatile tool that can be many things. If you just want a lightweight big-screen e-reader, it does that exceedingly well. But if you want a highly customizable device for everything from document review to mock-up and sketch creation to extensive note-taking, it has an exhaustive list of features and settings to satisfy the needs of demanding power users.The only other device on the market (that I've tested, at least) that comes close to this level of premium note-taking is theRemarkable Paper Pro, which is thicker and heavier but has a color display and a backlight in exchange. In terms of features, the Note Max tries to do a little bit of everything, and the menus and settings tend to put themselves in front of your face in a way that might be frustrating for casual users.All in all, it's a fantastic device that reveals itself over time and one that I absolutely recommend, particularly if you don't need a backlight or color display. I appreciate that it comes with the pen and case for $650, which is certainly not cheap but well-priced for all it can do.Featured reviews

What to watch this weekend.Credit: Amazon / Hulu / NetflixAnother weekend, another batch of shows and movies to wile away the hours with. Today is the last day of January, so this is the first streaming guide of February, 2025. And there are definitely a few things worth checking out new to the myriad streaming services we all subscribe to these days.Every week, I search high and low for the best new TV shows, movies, comedy specials, documentaries and whatever else catches my eye and publish them here in this guide. Some Ive seen and reviewed. Others are just as new to me as they are to you. I also list the current ongoing shows that air each week that I think are worth watching.If you have any tips or I missed something, shoot me a message on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. You can check out last weekends streaming guide right here.Whats New & Notable This WeekendParadise (Hulu)MORE FOR YOUParadise is a new sci-fi political thriller from Dan Fogelman, the creator of the huge hit series This Is Us as well as Only Murders in the Building and the wildly underrated fantasy musical series Galavant (which I highly recommend). It stars This Is Us alum, Sterling K. Brown as the chief security agent for a US President, Cal Wildcat Bradford (James Marsden). The first episode is filled with mystery and one genuinely shocking turn that I wont spoil.Ive only seen the first episode and I thought it was pretty good, but not great. Good enough to keep watching, not good enough to sing its praises (at least not yet). The big twist has huge implications for the rest of the series, but Im not sure that I love it. We shall see. The first three episodes are out now, with more following every Tuesday for a total of 8 episodes. Critics and audiences largely agree on this one. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 80% with critics and 79% with audiences.Youre Cordially Invited (Prime Video)Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon star in this rom-com / comedy of errors from director Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors, Get Him To The Greek). The premise is simple: A bride and her father realize that the wedding venue theyve booked for her wedding has also been booked by another bride and her sister. Comedy ensues, though critics and audiences both give this one a Rotten score (45% and 39% respectively). Might be a fun popcorn movie, though.The Recruit - Season 2 (Netflix)This looks right up my alley, but I missed the first season of The Recruit when it came out so I have some catching up to do. The series follows rookie CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo) as he becomes embroiled in some good old-fashioned international espionage. Critics seem to like Season 2 better than Season 1, while audiences give it a slightly lower score on Rotten Tomatoes. Ill have to check it out.Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Disney Plus)X-Men 97 was a big hit on Disney+ so its no wonder were getting another retro animated series. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man brings back that old-school animation along with lots of fun adventure for our web-slinging hero. Critics give this a resounding Fresh score of 97% but audiences are more skeptical at 63%.Saturday Night (Netflix)Saturday Night follows a young Lorne Michaels and his crew as they prepare for the very first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Director Jason Reitman teamed up with Gil Kenan on the script. Some critics really hated this one, but overall its done well with both critics and audiences (who liked it more) and Ive been waiting for it to drop on Netflix. Fans of the original SNL castwhich included young Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chaseshould definitely give this one a shot. Matthew Rhys plays George Carlin who, you may recall, gave the very first ever opening monologue for SNL.Babygirl (VOD)Now out on Video-On-Demand, erotic thriller Babygirl from director Halina Rejin stars Nicole Kidman as CEO Romy Mathis. Shes unsatisfied with her sex life and turns to a younger man, Samuel (Harris Dickinson) to explore her submissive fantasies. I havent seen this, but I do find it funny that the actor who plays Kidmans husband is Antonio Banderas, which ought to make suspending your disbelief at this entire scenario pretty difficult!Dog Man (In Theaters)Beloved kids book series Dog Man is now a feature film from DreamWorks. Sounds like its fun for the whole family with a 79% Rotten Tomatoes score. Parents should at least consider doing their civic duty and take their kids, if only to remind them that movie theaters still exist and can be a lot of fun.Whats Streaming WeeklyAs always, a number of TV shows continue to air each weeknot everyone has adopted the Netflix binge model!and I list some of those here.Severance - Season 2 remains the best show on streaming at the moment so please, please do yourself a favor and watch it! You can read my spoiler-free review of the complete season here, and check out my Episode 3 recap here. Its worth getting Apple for this show alone, but there are lots of great Apple shows you should watch. New episodes drop Thursday evenings. (Apple).Prime Target continues airing new episodes on Apple. This spy thriller follows a math genius obsessed with prime numbers who heads down a twisty turny path of no return. I still havent started it yet, as I caught up on the first season of Lioness and then started rewatching The Wire. But Ill check it out soon. New episodes drop Wednesdays. (Apple)The Pitt just dropped its fifth episode Thursday though I havent had time to watch it yet. I loved the first four episodes (my review) and Im not even that into medical dramas. This one stars Noah Wyle of ER fame and takes on the 24 format where each new episode is another hour in the Pittsburgh ER. Its incredibly bingeworthy, so consider holding off watching as episodes air and then binge a few at once. New episodes drop Thursday. (Max)Traitors - Season 3 is the most popular reality TV competition show out at the moment and Ive heard great things, but as I am not a reality TV show fan, I have not watched it. I might have to break my own rules, however, just to see what all the fuss is about. (Peacock)Dexter: Original Sin is one of those shows where each time I remember a new episode is out I get really excited. Like right now, as I type this post I realize theres a new episode out because a new one drops each Friday. Maybe Ill go watch it after Im done writing this guide! Its so much fun and such a pleasant surprise. Heres my review. (Paramount)Further Reading From Yours Truly:Check out last weeks streaming guide here.One big question every Severance fan needs to ask themselves.I blame The Acolyte for killing Skeleton Crew hype. Star Wars fans are just tuning out more and more.The Rings Of Power saw a massive, crushing loss of viewers in Season 2, which bodes ill for Amazons lousy Tolkien fan-fic series.I have thoughts on the new Superman trailer.The Worst TV Shows Of 2024.The 24 Best TV Shows Of 2024.Dont forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel!What are you watching these days? What should I put on this list or add to my backlog? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.