In tech thriller Companion, the perfect girlfriend breaks free from her programming. Iris (Yellowjackets Sophie Thatcher) is the AI robot companion to Josh (The Boys Jack Quaid); over a holiday weekend with friends, she mysteriously glitches out of her role. io9 sat down with Harvey Guilln (What We Do in the Shadows), Lukas Gage (Smile 2), and Megan Suri (It Lives Inside) to talk about the very real future in which companion robots might be normalized like in the film. They exist right now, Guillen and Suri exclaimed about current real-world prototypes like the Tesla Bot. Maybe not as realistic of an extent that it seems like in this movie, Suri added. Her character, Kat, is the most apprehensive of Sophie Thatchers Iriseven before the robot begins to malfunction. The trio play witness to Iris gaining control of her programming, which if sci-fi stories are any indication will lead to certain danger. Its so scary, Gage said when we described the possibility of cute characters in theme parks being released into the environment as entertaining meet and greets. Its scary and its terrifying, Suri added.Its exciting but terrifying sometimes, Guilln admitted, and Gage piped in, The Tesla bots. Those things are just terrifying. Suri concurred, and Gage added, Yeah, theyre just I can even look at those.We pointed out that at least the robots weve seen at theme parks have been cute and non-threatening, like the Star Wars droids at Galaxys Edge. We also mentioned that wed be okay if Guillns beloved Perrito from the Shrek Universes Puss in Boots: The Last Wish became a robot dog roaming DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios Floridasomething the actors all agreed would be fun (rather than scary) to see. Companion is out now in theaters. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

VFX artist Anton Pasichnyk continues the series of effects he did for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. This time, he let us have a closer look at the wildlife he made with Unreal Engine.Most environment effects have dynamic parameters like time of the day, biome/region, and player position, and Pasichnyk made sure birds, bees, and other animals would react realistically. The crows fly away when the player approaches, butterflies swing from one flower to another, and spiders drop from their webs, waiting for their victims. There is also aSilent Hill 2 Easter egg.If you want more, Pasichnyk has shared the weather destructions he created for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.These and more can be found on his ArtStation. Here are some other works to entice you:If you love the franchise, youll be happy to learn there are talks of a TV adaptation. While you are waiting for information, join our 80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Closer Look at Wildlife VFX in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl appeared first on CG SHARES.

Mario might be Nintendo's main mascot, but as well know, Kirby is the real king of that company. The cute pink blob has starred in some terrific games over the years, and if you'd like to add the adorable eater of worlds to your collection, Nendoroid has several new Kirby figures available to preorder right now, ranging from an adorable Chef Kirby and Waddle Dee waiter, to figures based on iconic Kirby powers like Beam Kirby and Ice Kirby. While these aren't as articulated as your regular Nendoroid figure--due to the perfect design of Kirby--you'll still be able to strike a pose with each collectible and they feature a neat magnetic trick to help the icon grab various accessories.You can read more about all the upcoming Kirby Nendoroid figures below, or browse them all at Amazon. Kirby Cafe: Kirby Nendoroid Figure $43 | Releases August 13 Kicking things off is a Kirby who is pursuing the culinary arts. Priced at $43, the Kirby Cafe Kirby Nendoroid features the little fella dressed to grill with his adorable chef hat. You're also getting multiple expressions and a wide range of accessories like the aforementioned chef's hat cafe sign, fork, Japanese cream soda, a kettle, and a piping bag. How does Kirby hold all of these when he has no fingers? Using the power of magnets placed throughout his body, you can easily pose him with his cooking utensils. Preorder at Amazon Kirby Cafe: Waddle Dee Nendoroid Figure $43 | Releases August 13 Of course, Kirby can't run a cafe on his own, and you can recruit some help for him with this Waddle Dee figure. Like Kirby, there are magnets situated throughout the body of Waddle Dee, and these can be used to equip the orange fella with a chef's hat, apron, frying pan, Waddle Dee's Naptime Omurice dish, a cup, and a splash of cream. You'll also get two interchangeable faceplates, including a standard expression and a surprised look. Preorder at Amazon Beam Kirby Nendoroid Figure $39 | Releases November 12 Straight out of Kirby's greatest adventures, you can get a Beam Kirby that's sporting the original yellow power-up color. This doesn't come with much in the way of accessories, but you are getting four faceplates and several beam optional parts that attach to the magnets in the body. Preorder at Amazon Ice Kirby Nendoroid Figure $39 | Releases November 12 For a cool Kirby, check out this variant of the unstoppable blob decked out in ice-blue colors and a crown to match. That headpiece is removable and the figure comes with four swap-out faceplates and various effect parts. Preorder at Amazon Pikmin Bulborb Nendoroid Figure $48 | Releases July 9 Along with these Kirby figures, Nendoroid is also launching a new Pikmin collectible based on the Bulborb enemy from the series. Despite the critter's soft, round design, it's actually a formidable foe infamous for eating through entire armies of Pikmin, as any fan can attest to.If you want to add this guy to your collection, you can preorder the Pikmin Buldborb Nendoroid figure for $48 at Amazon ahead of its July 9 release. It comes with interchangeable faceplates, several Pikmin to terrorize, and it has an impressive range of articulation. Preorder at Amazon More Gaming, Tech, and Entertainment Deals & Preorders Monster Hunter Wilds Preorders - Where To Get Steelbook Edition And Best Deals GeForce RTX 50-Series GPUs Launched Today, But It's Not Easy To Grab One Alienware RTX 50-Series Gaming PCs Are Up For Preorder For A Small Fortune + Show More More Gaming, Tech, and Entertainment Deals & Preorders Links (5) Assassin's Creed Shadows Preorders Include Post-Launch Story Expansion These Discounted And New Lego Sets Would Be Perfect for Valentine's Day Chainsaw Man & Hello Kitty Headline New Series Of Lego-Esque Construction Sets Dead Space Books And Graphic Novels Are Getting Reprints This Year Dark Souls Graphic Novel Slipcase Box Set Is Nearly 50% Off At Amazon

While The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was among the first games I truly loved and Final Fantasy VII was the first to profoundly impact me, The Sims was the first to utterly consume me. Despite it being a good decade or so before the phrase "no life-ing" hit the internet, there is no better way to describe my relationship with the game. Every night--after I had finished my homework, dinner, and familial obligations--I would slink my way over to the family computer and live out my countless virtual lives in The Sims. On weekends, it would take a stern lecture from my parents to pry me away from the uncomfortable wooden chair that seemingly every family owned going into the new millennium. I was a woman--okay, seven-year-old girl--obsessed.25 years later, EA has finally re-released a direct port of the iconic title as a part of its anniversary celebration. I approached the game with the same zeal and delight as I did all those years ago, eager to see if it held up. Although this might be surprising to hear, and might seem somewhat refuted by the time this article concludes, in some ways I truly believe it does. Despite going through multiple iterations since, the core gameplay remains essentially the same: You chug away at a career, struggle with work-life balance, save enough money to buy things that help you better attain said balance, then repeat. I know that sounds miserable, but it's a grand time.I was shocked by the fact that, despite feeling threadbare in comparison to later Sims titles, The Sims remains clever, well-designed, and fun. That said, I think a large part of why I had fun with the game was because it completely kicked my ass.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Overpowered or "OP" becomes a dreaded term when used to describe a protagonist of any story. Why bother exploring the story of a character already at the top of their game, right? Fortunately, some anime that feature OP main characters still shine thanks to ridiculous shenanigans or overwhelming threats that will make any audience root for protagonists.

With different mobs constantly being added to Minecraft, it is hard for players to keep up with which mobs are added and which are upcoming in the game. For players who may not know, mobs are an acronym for a few things such as mobile entities or mobile objects.

Bluesky has steadily been replacing X (formerly Twitter) for me, but I've really missed the ability to bookmark posts for future reference. While X still has Twitter's old bookmarks feature, the only way to save a Bluesky post is to like it, since you can access a list of your liked posts on your profile page. That's not always convenientwhat if you dislike something, but want to be able to find it again later, say if it's an article about bad but important news? That's where Kyst comes in. It's a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that lets you save Bluesky posts in one click.Installing Kyst and signing in Credit: Pranay Parab I've previously written about Bluesky's app passwords feature, which allow you to authorize third-party apps to access your account without having to give them your real password. Kyst doesn't use app passwords, preferring OAuth (short for open authorization) for authentication instead. OAuth is how most social networks allow you to connect third-party apps. The app requests access to your Bluesky account, and when you authorize it, it still cannot see your username or password. In theory, this is a great move, as Bluesky plans to get rid of app passwords eventually. In practice, though, things are a little complicated.At time of writing, Bluesky doesn't yet allow you to view which apps you've authorized using OAuth, and that means you can't quickly revoke access to apps you don't want to use. This is expected to change over the coming months, as Bluesky rolls out OAuth more broadly. For the time being, if you want to stop using Kyst, you'll have to sign out of Bluesky and delete the browser extension. The developer told me in an email that they're also working on allowing people to delete their Kyst accounts in the future.Once you've installed Kyst on Chrome or Firefox and authorized the extension, you can start using it via the official Bluesky website. It adds a small bookmark button below each post and shows one button on the right side of the screen that displays or hides a sidebar.Using bookmarks on Bluesky Credit: Pranay Parab Once Kyst is set up, Bluesky posts on your browser will show a bookmark button next to the like button. Click once to bookmark the post and click again to undo. The Kyst button on the right side of the page opens up a sidebar to let you view your bookmarks.The extension is as simple as that, and it works fairly well. If you're away from your browser, you can also visit https://kyst.app/bookmarks to see and organize your bookmarked posts. For that organization, both the Kyst sidebar and Kyst's website allow you to add tags to your bookmarks, which makes it easy to categorize saved posts and find what you're looking for. The extension also lets you filter saved posts by date, type of post (regular posts vs threads), or by the media attached to the post.As a writer, I love using Kyst to save posts that give me story ideas, but there are a few rough edges. On both Chrome and Firefox, the extension has a bug that makes it show massive thumbnails for saved posts. On Firefox, I noticed the sidebar also wasn't displaying any posts, so I had to switch to the bookmarks page to see the posts I'd saved.

The grand Samsung Galaxy S25 unveiling was also the first time anyone got a good look at One UI 7, Samsung's take on Android 15it's now available on the Galaxy S25 handsets, and will be making its way to older models as well in the coming months. Among the many new features the software update ushers in, one of the most useful is the Now Bar.The Now Bar works a bit like the Live Activities shown on the iPhone's Dynamic Island, which was introduced with iOS 16. It builds on the existing persistent notifications feature that Android already hasthose notifications that stick on screen if you've got music playing, for example, or if you're running a timer. The Now Bar sits at the bottom of the lock screen. Credit: Samsung The Now Bar is designed for the same sort of job, appearing at the bottom of the lock screen so you can keep up with live information from inside your apps. A variety of different panels can be shown, including workouts being tracked in Samsung Health, directions you're following in Google Maps, and playlists you're listening to in Spotify.The Now Bar sits at the bottom of the screen, whereas iOS Live Activities appear at the top; another difference is that the Now Bar isn't visible when the phone is unlocked. If you're using your Galaxy phone and it's unlocked, the Now Bar information will be displayed in the same way as it currently is: as a persistent notification you can get at by swiping down from the top of the screen. You can use the Now Bar to control apps like audio players. Credit: Samsung With both the Now Bar and Live Activities, you can tap the live notification for a bigger view and some interactive controls (starting and stopping timers, for example)on iPhones, the Dynamic Island grows and shrinks as needed. There's no Dynamic Island on One UI 7 or on Galaxy phones (at least not yet.) "By offering instant access to important notifications, Now Bar reduces the need to constantly unlock the device and allows users to engage with key information effortlessly," Samsung says. "Now Bar will transform the lock screen experience, which will continue to evolve with more intelligent experiences in the future."Supported apps and settingsNow Bar integration depends on developer support, of course. There doesn't seem to be a definitive, official list of apps that support the Now Bar, but based on user reports we know Google Maps and Spotify are two of the third-party apps that now work with the feature. No doubt support for more apps will arrive in the future, at least in apps where the Now Bar makes sense (Uber, for example).Samsung has already got several of its One UI 7 apps ready to work with the Now Bar, including Bixby, Clock, Emergency Sharing, Interpreter, Samsung Health, Samsung Notes, and Voice Recorder. For many of the otherslike the photo gallery app and the web browseryou don't really need live updates on the lock screen. Samsung has also demoed sports scores from Google appearing on the Now Bar. Some Now Bar updates can appear automatically. Credit: Samsung You can have multiple Now Bar panels running at once too, just in case you're playing music and jogging and running a timer. They'll stack up on top of each other, and you're able to swipe up to cycle between them. Samsung's promo videos also show smart AI alertstelling you when to leave for an appointment, for exampleappearing on the Now Bar interface.You can see some of the existing Now Bar integrations in this promo video from Samsung. For example, start a run in the Samsung Health app, lock your phone, and you'll see your current time and distance displayed at the bottom of the lock screen. Tap the Now Bar to make the widget bigger, and to get controls for stopping the tracking. Accessing the settings for the Now Bar in One UI 7. Credit: Samsung The other apps work in a similar way. With Voice Recorder, you're able to start a recording from inside the app and then switch to the Now Bar on the lock screen. There you'll find a timer showing how long the recording has been going, plus controls to pause recording and to stop it completely.If you've got access to One UI 7, you can customize the Now Bar by heading to Settings, then tapping Lock screen and AOD > Now Bar. From the next screen you can choose which apps are able to pipe live notifications to the Now Bar, as well as choose whether or not you want daily briefings delivered to the Now Bar too.

You'll finally be able to download all the episodes in an entire season on Netflix with just one tap if you're on iOS. The streaming service introduced the capability on Android years ago, but it remained a "much-requested" feature for users on iPhone and iPad until now. It's not unusual for Netflix to give Android users access to a certain capability first it took a year for Smart Downloads, which automatically deletes downloaded episodes you've already seen and then downloads the next one in a series, to be available on iOS."We've heard that downloading episodes one-by-one has been a pain point for iOS members something we're now addressing with this rollout," a Netflix spokesperson told Variety. It's certainly great to have if you like stocking up on shows you can watch for long flights or cross-country road trips.The option to download entire seasons is available for all the shows currently on the streaming service. To download multiple episodes all at once, find the button for the new feature next to the Share option on the series' page in the Netflix app. While tapping the button will download all the episodes in a season automatically, you can still manage individual episodes under the Downloads section in the My Netflix tab.NetflixThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-finally-lets-ios-users-download-an-entire-season-with-one-tap-133025196.html?src=rss

Microsoft is closely associated with OpenAI's ChatGPT AI model, but the software giant has no qualms about playing the field. Microsoft announced that it's bringing the DeepSeek-R1 AI model to Copilot+ PCs soon, starting with Snapdragon X devices and following later with Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Ryzen AI 9 PCs. The DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B model will arrive "soon" on Microsoft AI Tookit for developers, with more powerful 7B and 14B variants coming later.The 1.5B (base) model isn't powerful compared to the higher-tier 32B and 70B models, but MIcrosoft points out that the models are "NPU-optimized" for Copilot+ PCs. The minimum configuration for such computers is 256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM and an NPU with at least 40 TOPS (trillions of operations per second)."These optimized models let developers build and deploy AI-powered applications that run efficiently on-device, taking full advantage of the powerful NPUs in Copilot+ PCs," Microsoft wrote. It added that it implemented systems to take advantage of low-bit processing to ensure the R1 models could run locally on NPU hardware.At the same time, Microsoft is bringing DeepSeek's R1 model to its Azure AI Foundry platform, The Verge reported. It joins other AI models on that service, including GPT-4, Mistral AI, Meta-Llama 3 and others. That comes as a bit of a surprise, given that Microsoft is reportedly probing whether DeepSeek used OpenAI's technology in an unauthorized manner.AI pundits have also expressed concerns about privacy issues around China-based DeepSeek, something that Microsoft addressed in a Marketplace Community post. "DeepSeek R1 has undergone rigorous red teaming and safety evaluations, including automated assessments of model behavior and extensive security reviews to mitigate potential risks," wrote Microsoft senior product marketing manager, Justin Royal.DeepSeek shook up the AI world with its R1 model, which doesn't require nearly as much computing power as competing models. That spooked markets yesterday, causing a selloff in chip giant NVIDIA and other AI-adjacent stocks. OpenAI, which has been sued by multiple newspapers and publishers around the world for copyright infringement, recently accused DeepSeek and other Chinese AI startups of "distilling" its models.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/deepseek-is-coming-to-windows-copilot-pcs-130041096.html?src=rss