MacworldWhy does the ever-flowing content stream make us feel like we live in a desert? If youve watched everything on Max, Hulu, or whatever new streaming service popped up last week, MagellanTV is an established alternative to mindless binge-watching. And this week, a lifetime subscription is 30% off with code SAVE30.Not your average streaming serviceThis award-winning documentary streamer offers thousands of hours of ad-free content across history, science, crime, nature, and more. Whether youre looking for something more profound or need something interesting playing in the background, MagellanTV has you covered.Unlike traditional streaming services, MagellanTV offers a rich library of growing content that keeps you hooked. Explore shows like Diving with Sharks, The Last Secrets of the Titanic, and JFK: Making of a President. Or, dive into exclusive playlists like Wild Weather, The Stay-at-Home Travel Guide, and Mysteries of the Universe, Whether exploring ancient civilizations, unsolved crimes, or the wonders of the natural world, youll always find something new and fascinating.MagellanTV isnt just for solo watching stream across up to five devices and share your subscription with family and friends with no additional fees.Get your lifetime access to MagellanTV for just $139.97 (Reg. $199) and save 30% with code SAVE30 at checkout.MagellanTV Documentary Streaming Service: Lifetime Subscription $199.99See DealStackSocial prices subject to change.

Microsoft started the year off on a strong foot with an impressive Developer_Direct showcase in January, and is set to follow that up with another presentation, this time focused on indies. The company has announced an ID@Xbox Showcase that it will be premiering in collaboration with IGN on February 24, at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST.The showcase will include new announcements and updates on upcoming titles from several indie studios. Dont Nod is confirmed, which means well likely see more ofLost Records: Bloom and Rage.Similarly, 11 bit studios presence is confirmed, which meansThe Altersis likely to show up. Other studios that have been confirmed include Raw Fury, Team17, Thunder Lotus, Curve Games, and more. You can find a full list below.Meanwhile, IGNs post also confirms that the showcase will revealBalatrosnext big collaboration DLC.As per leaks, a State of Play presentation and a Nintendo Direct focused on upcoming Switch 1 games are also planned for February, which means the next few weeks are likely to be packed with new announcements. Stay tuned for more updates.List of studios confirmed for ID@Xbox Showcase:11 bit studiosBigFanCritical ReflexDaedalic EntertainmentGame Source EntertainmentNo More RobotsPanicPlaystackRaw FuryThunder LotusCult GamesTeam17Curve GamesAkapuraDont Nod

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthinfamously underperformed on PS5 despite widespread critical acclaim, though it seems to be enjoying better success on PC. Square Enixs open world action RPG launched for Steam late last month, and as early player numbers suggested, the game seems to have got off to a quick start from a sales perspective.Thats as per Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, who revealed on BlueSky that in the week that it launched for PC,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthtopped bestselling charts across physical and digital tracked data in the US. Whats more, third in the charts for the week was theFinal Fantasy RemakeandRebirthdouble pack that is also being sold by Square Enix. Clearly, the game is attracting a healthy audience on the platform.Leaks have claimed thatFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthand its predecessor are both also headed to Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2, which should presumably mean consistently growing sales for the duo for some time to come.Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthis currently available on PS5 and PC.Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth had a fantastic Steam launch. Across physical & tracked digital, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was the best-selling game of the week ending Jan 25th in the US market ($ sales), while the FFVII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack ranked 3rd. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-02-03T17:47:13.102Z

Tuesday, February 4th, 2025Posted by Jim ThackerLightWave Digital previews LightWave 2025html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"LightWave Digital has previewed LightWave 2025, the next major version of the 3D animation and rendering software.New features in the release, which is due out later this quarter, include new real-time preview rendering system RIPR, a new cel shading system, and updates to the character rigging toolset.The third major release from LightWaves new ownersLightWave 2025 will be the third major update to the software since late 2023.It follows a three-year hiatus during which development was suspended by previous owner Vizrt, which acquired NewTek, LightWaves long-time developer, in 2019.The softwares current owner, LightWave Digital, is a start-up whose management team comprises people who were closely involved with the software in its NewTek days, including former NewTek staff, plus key add-on developers and LightWave users.LightWave 2025: new procedural modeling, character rigging and rendering featuresLightWave 2025 features new tools for procedural modeling and both preview and final-quality rendering, and updates to the Rhiggit character rigging system added in LightWave 2024.Details can change during feature development, so well update this story once LightWave 2025 is released, but this is the summary that LightWave Digital sent to users last week:RIPRA real-time preview system designed for HDR-illuminated pre-visualisation. Seamlessly switch between VPR, RIPR, and GL previews without breaking your creative flow.Steppit, Handdit & PickkitThree powerful tools integrated into Rhiggit to help you bring characters to life more quickly than ever. Featuring automated walk cycles (with key framing), intuitive hand animation, and a streamlined joint selection system.LW ConstructAn instantaneous generator of stairways, bookshelves and decks with an intuitive user interface. Quickly create indoor or outdoor stairs, change the spindles, adjust the landing size and handrails, all with a click.Cel ShaderA post shading tool (visible in VPR) that offers impressive control over object and surface-based shading for a stunning stylised finish.For more details, you can find a recording of last weeks preview livestream on YouTube and a longer list of features announced during the previews on the LightWave Discord server.Price, system requirements and release dateLightWave 2025 is due out in Q1 2025. It is currently available to pre-order.The current stable release, LightWave 2024.1, is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 10.15+ (macOS 11.0+ for Apple Silicon Macs, and macOS 13.3+ to use the Octane renderer).New licenses cost 795 (around $980).Read an overview of the latest features in LightWave on the product website(No details of LightWave 2025 at the time of writing)Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsLightWave Digital previews LightWave 2025Check out the new features due in the 3D software, including the RIPD real-time preview, a new cel shader, and updates to character rigging.Tuesday, February 4th, 2025Check out the new features in the ForestPack 9.1 updatesLatest updates to the 3ds Max scattering plugin add new options to control the form of plants generated by 3D ivy generator ForestIvy.Monday, February 3rd, 2025See five great VFX breakdowns from the 2025 V-Ray showreelSee breakdowns of five key movies, TV series, cinematics and animated shorts created in V-Ray from Chaos's latest showreel.Monday, February 3rd, 2025Tutorial: Creating a Character for Games - Vol. 1Master industry-standard workflows for sculpting AAA game characters with The Gnomon Workshop's detailed new tutorial series.Monday, February 3rd, 2025How Vine FX created a parasitic underwater forest for The RigDiscover how the VFX studio used procedural growth simulation to create the environment for Amazon Prime Video's supernatural thriller.Friday, January 31st, 2025Boris FX releases Optics 2025Photoshop plugin and standalone app for applying cinematic looks to still images gets AI mask generation, Looks and new Particle Brushes.Friday, January 31st, 2025More NewsThinkinetic releases Pulldownit 6 for MayaAdobe launches unmetered access to Substance 3D AssetsAdobe releases Photoshop 26.3Check out free Android and iOS 3D scanning app RealityScan 1.6Free tool: Animation Render Time Estimator for BlenderChaos releases V-Ray 7 for HoudiniChaos releases V-Ray 7 for MayaAdobe releases Substance 3D Modeler 1.19Red9 ProPack gets new tools created for Sonic the Hedgehog 3JangaFX teases IlluGenCheck out the new features due in EmberGen 2.0Tutorial: Creating Runtime Cinematics in Unreal Engine 5Older Posts

PinnedJan 16Jay PetersHeres the Nintendo Switch 2Image: NintendoNintendo shared the first details about the Nintendo Switch 2 in a video published Thursday. Nintendo doesnt give a specific release date for the console besides 2025.The console looks a lot like the original, but its bigger. In the video, the Joy-Con controllers are black with colored accents, and they attach to the side of the console instead of sliding on and off. The Joy-Cons appear to snap on quite easily leaks have suggested they could be attached via magnets.Read Article >Today, 7 minutes agoThomas RickerNintendos Osborne effect.Earnings are out and sales of the Switch console have plummeted after the Switch 2 rumors and announcement, exactly as youd expect. Switch sales are now projected to hit 11.0 million for the year ending March, down from 12.5 million units forecasted. Nintendo has sold 150.86 million Switch consoles since launch, behind only the Nintendo DS which sold 154.02 million units over its lifetime.Nintendo posts profit miss as it slashes Switch forecast again ahead of console's successor[cnbc.com]Jan 21Jay PetersThe Switch 2 has a new trigger for disconnecting Joy-Con controllersA video on Nintendos Switch 2 website shows how the trigger (or is it a button?) on the back of the Joy-Con controllers disconnects them from the console, as spotted by Polygon.In the video, the trigger is pressed down a tad before a final push releases it from the console. As the Joy-Con moves away, you can also see a small cylinder receding back into the top part of the inside of the controller; to me, that indicates that when you push the trigger, youre actually pushing out that cylinder to help bump the Joy-Con out.Read Article >Jan 16Ash ParrishAll our unanswered questions about the Nintendo Switch 2Image: The Verge, NintendoNintendo has finally revealed its new console, debuting the Switch 2 with a short video that went heavy on visuals but light on information. The video was paired with a brief follow-up press release from Nintendo that also didnt go into much detail, with the company ostensibly saving all the juicy stuff for the Switch 2 Direct set to take place on April 2nd. While we wait for official word, here are the burning questions we still have about the Nintendo Switch 2.Perhaps the most glaring omission in the Switch 2 reveal was the fact that Nintendo didnt say anything about how powerful the new console is. We can see that the console is bigger, but whats the screen size? Is it OLED or LCD? Is the screen resolution still 720p? Is 4K resolution supported?Read Article >Jan 16Jay PetersThe Switch 2 is almost here but PC handhelds are giving it big competitionPhoto by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeThe first Nintendo Switch basically had the road to itself, and Nintendo instantly proved just how awesome a hybrid console and handheld could be, leading to massive success. We now know that the Switch 2 is set to launch in 2025, but it will be released into a world thats packed with very capable handheld gaming PCs that could present an interesting challenge to Nintendo, especially following news from CES 2025.Valves Steam Deck kicked off the handheld gaming PC push in large part because its Linux-based SteamOS makes playing your games just about as easy as it is on consoles. Thats why one of the biggest CES announcements is that Valve is going to let people install SteamOS on other handhelds as soon as April, potentially making the entire handheld PC gaming market a lot more appealing.Read Article >Jan 16Jay PetersThe Switch 2s bigger screen is just what I wantedImage: The Verge, NintendoNintendo has finally revealed the Switch 2 but it didnt reveal everything. Even still, the new console looks pretty much like a bigger, more refined Switch. Sure, thats the straightforward and expected move from Nintendo. But its also exactly what Ive been waiting for.The first Switch was a revelation. When it launched, I marveled over being able to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on my TV and then take the console out of the dock and play in handheld mode curled up on the couch. Nintendo absolutely nailed the execution of combining its console and portable expertise into one great device, and ever since, the Switch has been a constant companion at home and while traveling.Read Article >Jan 16Andrew WebsterThe Switch 2 is boring and thats exactly what Nintendo needsImage: The Verge, NintendoYou can always count on Nintendo for a surprise. This is the company that followed the Game Boy with a strange dual-screened handheld and broke out of its GameCube slump with a console focused on motion controls. Its the company that lost its lead with the Wii U and then gambled on another innovation the portable hybrid known as the Switch to ultimately get back on top. All of those were big, risky swings that seemingly exemplified the companys playful, experimental ethos.The Switch 2, on the other hand, is a bigger, better Switch. Its kind of boring. But its also exactly the right move from Nintendo. At a time when people expect their games and experiences to carry over between devices, the old console paradigm of starting over with a new generation doesnt make a whole lot of sense. And since Nintendo hit a home run with the original Switch, it has the runway to be a little bit boring this time.Read Article >Jan 16Jay PetersWhenever the Switch 2 comes out, itll have competition from handheld PCs.As I wrote earlier this month, it will launch into a world thats packed with very capable handheld gaming PCs that could present an interesting challenge to Nintendo.Yes, the Switch 2 will probably outsell most handheld gaming PCs by a wide margin. But nowadays, Nintendo isnt the only one offering great handhelds that can also connect to bigger screens.Jan 16Jay PetersThe Switch 2s snap sound is *chefs kiss*.Just listen, starting at about 1:20 in Nintendos video. I am guessing this is amped up for impact, but the sound might be the best part of the whole video.Jan 16Jay PetersHeres our video about the Nintendo Switch 2.I recorded this with a sleeping baby in the next room, so I apologize if my voice sounds a bit quiet. Its only just past 6AM here on the West Coast why did Nintendo announce its new console so early?Jan 16Ash ParrishEverything we know about the Switch 2s Joy-Con controllersImage: The Verge, NintendoThe arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2 heralds some much-needed improvements over its predecessor, especially its Joy-Con controllers. Heres a quick breakdown of what the announcement trailer showed us about the Switch 2s Joy-Cons.Before the official reveal of the console, there were rumors alluding to how the new Joy-Cons would work and their internal mechanisms. The most significant rumor was that they were held to the console via magnets, and in the reveal video, that appears to be the case. The video features the Joy-Con seemingly snapping to a cover as though attracted by a magnetic force.Read Article >Jan 16Andrew WebsterYoull be able to try out the Switch 2 starting in AprilImage: The Verge, NintendoWe dont know when the Nintendo Switch 2 will launch (aside from later this year), but we do know when you can get your hands on the hardware at least briefly. Nintendo is taking the Switch 2 on tour with a series of events its called the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience. Players around the globe will be able to check out the new console for themselves and presumably play brand-new games, like the just-teased next entry in the Mario Kart series.The events will span North America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe and kick off in April which is also when Nintendo will be hosting a Direct event to share more details on its new console. Heres the full schedule, and you can keep an eye out for tickets right here. Nintendo says the tickets will be made available through a free-to-enter, randomly selected drawing.Read Article >Jan 16Andrew WebsterNintendo teases a new Mario Kart for the Switch 2Image: The Verge, NintendoNintendo is finally making a new Mario Kart. While the official announcement of the Switch 2 didnt feature much in the way of game announcements, the company did tease the next entry in the Mario Kart series. We dont know anything about it really, though. Theres currently no title or details about the game. That should change later this year, as Nintendo is planning a Switch 2 Direct event for April.Its been a long time coming. Mario Kart 8 originally launched in 2014 for the Wii U, before an upgraded edition hit the Switch three years later, where it became the platforms bestselling title, moving more than 64 million copies. Of course, its not like fans have been without new content; the Switch version of Mario Kart 8 got a huge number of DLC add-ons, which doubled the number of available tracks. Nintendo also released a mobile spinoff called Mario Kart Tour in 2019, though it stopped receiving updates as of 2023.Read Article >Jan 16Ash ParrishNintendo announces Switch 2 Direct for AprilImage: The VergeNow that Nintendos reveal of the Switch 2 has put to rest years of anticipation and rumormongering, its time to hear more information about the console and, importantly, all the games. The company has announced it will hold a Switch 2 Direct scheduled for April 2nd.The Switch 2 reveal trailer showed footage that looks to be a new Mario Kart game, which is a good indication itll be a launch title. Theres speculation that the forthcoming Metroid Prime 4 might straddle both consoles the way Breath of the Wild launched on both the Wii U and the Switch back in 2017. The Switch 2 Direct might also reveal the follow-up to Super Mario Odyssey. Who knows?Read Article >Jan 16Andrew WebsterThe Nintendo Switch 2 supports original Switch cartridgesPhoto by James Bareham / The VergeNintendo has a new console on the way, but you can still hang onto those old games. The company has confirmed that the just-announced Switch 2 device will support cartridges from the original Switch.The news shouldnt be too surprising. Late last year, Nintendo confirmed that the then-unnamed console would be backward-compatible with the Switch. However, that original statement Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the successor to Nintendo Switch wasnt clear on whether that included physical games as well as digital. Now we know for sure. Additionally, Nintendo Switch Online, which includes a growing library of retro games and other features like a music app, will also carry over between the two devices for subscribers.Read Article >Jan 13Ash ParrishGet ready for the Switch 2 announcement this week.VGC reports that Nintendo will reveal its new console on Thursday, January 16th. This is according to claims from reliable video game podcaster Nate the Hate and supported by The Verges own insider sources.We believe the likely sequence of events will be an announcement on January 15th, with the actual reveal taking place the following day, so you better clear up your schedules.Nintendo will reportedly reveal Switch 2 this week | VGC[Video Games Chronicle]

Regression tasks, which involve predicting continuous numeric values, have traditionally relied on numeric heads such as Gaussian parameterizations or pointwise tensor projections. These traditional approaches have strong distributional assumption requirements, require a lot of labeled data, and tend to break down when modeling advanced numerical distributions. New research on large language models introduces a different approachrepresenting numerical values as sequences of discrete tokens and using auto-regressive decoding for prediction. This shift, however, comes with several serious challenges, including the need for an efficient tokenization mechanism, the potential for numeric precision loss, the need to maintain stable training, and the need to overcome the lack of inductive bias of sequential token forms for numerical values. Overcoming these challenges would lead to an even more powerful, data-efficient, and flexible regression framework, thus extending the application of deep learning models beyond traditional approaches.Traditional regression models rely on numeric tensor projections or parametric distributional heads, such as Gaussian models. While these conventional approaches are widespread, they also have several drawbacks. Gaussian-based models have the drawback of assuming normally distributed outputs, restricting the ability to model more advanced, multimodal distributions. Pointwise regression heads struggle with highly non-linear or discontinuous relationships, which restricts their ability to generalize on various datasets. High-dimensional models, such as histogram-based Riemann distributions, are computationally and data-intensive and, therefore, inefficient. Furthermore, many traditional approaches require explicit normalization or scaling of output, introducing an additional layer of complexity and potential instability. While conventional work has tried to employ text-to-text regression using large language models, little systematic work has been done on anything-to-text regression, where numeric outputs are represented as sequences of tokens, thus introducing a new paradigm for numerical prediction.Researchers from Google DeepMind propose an alternative regression formulation, reframing numeric prediction as an auto-regressive sequence generation problem. Instead of generating scalar values directly, this method encodes numbers as token sequences and employs constrained decoding to generate valid numerical outputs. Encoding numeric values as discrete token sequences makes this method more flexible and expressive when modeling real-valued data. Unlike Gaussian-based approaches, this method does not entail strong distributional assumptions about data, thus making it more generalizable to real-world tasks with heterogeneous patterns. The model accommodates precise modeling of multimodal, complex distributions, thus improving its performance in density estimation as well as pointwise regression tasks. By leveraging the advantages of autoregressive decoders, it takes advantage of recent language modeling progress while still retaining competitive performance relative to standard numeric heads. This formulation presents a robust and flexible framework that can model a wide range of numeric relationships precisely, offering a practical substitute to standard regression methods that are usually regarded as inflexible.The approach employs two tokenization methods for numeric representation: normalized tokenization and unnormalized tokenization. Normalized tokenization encodes numbers in a fixed range with base-B expansion to provide finer precision with increasing sequence length. Unnormalized tokenization extends the same idea to broader numeric ranges with a generalized floating-point representation such as IEEE-754 without the necessity of explicit normalization. A transformer auto-regressive model generates numeric outputs token by token subject to constraints to provide valid numeric sequences. The model is trained using cross-entropy loss over the token sequence to provide accurate numeric representation. Instead of predicting a scalar output directly, the system samples token sequences and employs statistical estimation techniques, such as mean or median computation, for final prediction. Evaluations are conducted on real-world tabular regression datasets of OpenML-CTR23 and AMLB benchmarks and compared with Gaussian mixture models, histogram-based regression, and standard pointwise regression heads. Hyperparameter tuning is conducted across various decoder settings, such as variations in the number of layers, hidden units, and token vocabularies, to provide optimized performance.Experiments show that the model successfully captures intricate numeric relationships, achieving strong performance on a variety of regression tasks. It attains high Kendall-Tau correlation scores on tabular regression, often outperforming baseline models, especially in low-data settings where numeric stability is essential. The method is also better in density estimation, successfully capturing intricate distributions and outperforming Gaussian mixture models and Riemann-based approaches in negative log-likelihood tests. Model size tuning at the start improves performance, with overcapacity causing overfitting. Numeric stability is greatly improved by error correction methods like token repetition and majority voting, minimizing vulnerability to outliers. These results make this regression framework a robust and adaptive alternative to traditional methods, showing its capacity to successfully generalize across various datasets and modeling tasks.This work introduces a novel approach to numeric prediction by leveraging tokenized representations and auto-regressive decoding. By substituting traditional numeric regression heads with token-based outputs, the framework improves flexibility in modeling real-valued data. It attains competitive performance on various regression tasks, especially in density estimation and tabular modeling, while providing theoretical guarantees for approximating arbitrary probability distributions. It outperforms traditional regression methods in important contexts, especially in modeling intricate distributions and sparse training data. Future work involves improving tokenization methods for better numeric precision and stability, extending the framework to multi-output regression and high-dimensional prediction tasks, and investigating its applications in reinforcement learning reward modeling and vision-based numeric estimation. These results make sequence-based numeric regression a promising alternative to traditional methods, expanding the scope of tasks that language models can successfully solve.Check outthePaper and GitHub Page.All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitterand join ourTelegram ChannelandLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our75k+ ML SubReddit. Aswin AkAswin AK is a consulting intern at MarkTechPost. He is pursuing his Dual Degree at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is passionate about data science and machine learning, bringing a strong academic background and hands-on experience in solving real-life cross-domain challenges.Aswin Akhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/aswinak/Top AI Coding Agents in 2025Aswin Akhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/aswinak/OpenAI Introduces Deep Research: An AI Agent that Uses Reasoning to Synthesize Large Amounts of Online Information and Complete Multi-Step Research TasksAswin Akhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/aswinak/Bio-xLSTM: Efficient Generative Modeling, Representation Learning, and In-Context Adaptation for Biological and Chemical SequencesAswin Akhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/aswinak/Can AI Understand Subtext? A New AI Approach to Natural Language Inference [Recommended] Join Our Telegram Channel

Its never been controversial to claim that Stranger in a Strange Land is the worst episode of Lost. The ninth episode of the shows third season was greeted with almost universally negative reviews shortly after it aired in 2007, and its reputation hasnt improved in the nearly 18 years since its debut. Its the second-lowest-ranked episode of the show on IMDb (and the lowest-rated overall episode) and has become a kind of shorthand for the series broader shortcomings. Even Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have blasted the episode in past interviews, with Cuse going so far as to call it cringe-worthy.Yet, Lost fans everywhere should be at least a little grateful for Stranger in a Strange Land. Not as a standalone episode, perhaps, but rather as an important piece of the overall series that is more significant than many other technically better, yet largely meaningless episodes gone by.Without Stranger in a Strange Land, Lost may have become something far worse. It not only helped save the show; it did so in ways that feel especially pressing at a time when more and more viewers are romanticizing the age of network TV-style programming.What Makes Stranger in a Strange Land So Bad?On paper, Stranger In a Strange Land doesnt seem worthy of widespread scorn. Its not some grand entry in the series that fumbled a big moment, nor is it a crumbling cornerstone of the shows mythology. Its just a side-adventure about Jacks time as a prisoner in the Others camp mixed with flashbacks about Jacks trip to Thailand that gradually help explain where the character got his tattoos.But if you find yourself thinking Wow, that sounds like a Jack-heavy episode, then youve put your finger on part of the problem. While the hate that Jack has received over the years has arguably been stretched past the point of reason, much of the disdain for Jack as a character is rooted in valid criticisms.In a show defined by how its characters grow and what we learn about their past, Jack remained a stick in the mud. Early on, he was placed at the center of the series ensemble cast, yet largely functioned as a voice of stubborn dissent while those around him had more interesting adventures. To make matters worse, Jacks flashback episodes often repeated the same talking points (Daddy issues and substance abuse? Gasp!) whereas many other flashbacks gradually revealed richer character tapestries. At the very least, they were often more independently entertaining.Those flashbacks are the main reason why Stranger in a Strange Land is despised rather than disliked. A shocking amount of the episode focuses on a trip Jack took to Thailand. There, he has a fling with a woman named Achara (an often-better Bai Ling) who claims to be able to tattoo people with markings that reveal their true nature. A sullen and increasingly belligerent (try to be surprised) Jack eventually goads Achara into giving him the supposedly mystical tattoos.While the episode captures the thrills of hearing about some dudes trip to Thailand (Bro, hell claim. Its wild), its the tattoo plot point that is most often remembered and ridiculed. Previews for Stranger in a Strange Land teased answers to three of Losts biggest mysteries. Two of those mysteries ended up being the whereabouts of relatively minor characters, while the third seems to relate to the origins of Jacks tattoos: a question few ever asked before the series suggested it was a significant part of the puzzle.There had been bad and largely forgettable episodes of Lost before Stranger in a Strange Land, but that tease truly upset fans who begged for the show to start delivering answers rather than more mysteries. A bad filler episode in a 23-episode season is one thing. A bad filler episode that teases something significant and delivers a wheel-spinning, Jack-focused adventure that validates most criticisms directed towards that character and the series up until that point is something else entirely.Even removed from those expectations, Stranger in a Strange Land is a particularly poorly acted, poorly written, and poorly paced entry in a series that was about to be firing on all cylinders. Unless you long to watch Jack fly a kite while nearly everyone else puts their plots on hold for a week, you can probably skip it.Mind you, many involved with the production of Stranger in a Strange Land have since stated that they knew the episode was going to be a low point for the series. Its not that they didnt care, but rather that the episode was largely the result of circumstances beyond their control. However, that doesnt mean they were above using that despised episode to their eventual advantage.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!How Stranger in a Strange Land Saved LostIn an interview with USA Today, Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof reiterates that he also feels Stranger in a Strange Land is a bad episode but asks people to be just a bit kinder towards it. According to Lindelof, the episode was the result of many different circumstances that contributed to it being as bad as it was. Said circumstances include a bad casting decision, a bad premise decision, and a bad flashback story.However, the biggest contributing factor to the episodes various woes was the fact that the shows creators still had to adhere to more traditional network TV production requirements that didnt benefit their more serialized series. They had asked ABC to allow them to set a firmer end date for the show that they could gradually build towards through fewer, more meaningful episodes. ABC disagreed and seemingly felt that more Lost was good Lost.That is until they saw Stranger in a Strange Land. In a 2009 interview with writer Alan Sepinwall, Lindelof recalls that he sat in on a notes call with the network regarding Stranger in a Strange Land and heard them say what many have since said: We dont like this episode. Lindelof offered the kind of candid response that you can only get away with when youre in creative control of the hottest series on television.We dont like it, either, but its the best we can do if were not moving the story forward, Lindelof said. This is the future of the show: how Jack got his tattoos. Everything weve been saying for two years about whats to come, is now all here on the screen. You argued that an hour of Matthew Fox in emotionally-based conflicts, it doesnt matter what the flashback story is, itll be fine. But now that were doing his ninth flashback story, you just dont care.Stranger in a Strange Land was the proof that Lindelof needed to convince the network that they needed to be able to set an end date for Lost. Without that end date, they and us were probably going to have to suffer through a lot more episodes like that. ABC eventually agreed and allowed the showrunners to share their outline for a six-season version of the series.The three seasons of Lost we got after that conversation are hardly perfect. Theyre filled with lesser episodes and build towards a finale that continues to divide fans to this day. Yet, we never really got anything as bad as Stranger in a Strange Land again. We never got an episode quite that pointless or quite that boring that was made even worse by the production circumstances of its superfluous existence. Losts worst episode ended up making a compelling argument that ABC needed to start looking at their golden goose as something a bit more precious.In a time of renewed network TV nostalgia when more people find themselves longing for a simpler form of second-screen entertainment, the filler episode has become a kind of rallying cry for a better or at least different way to do things. Yet, Stranger in a Strange Land reminds us that such episodes can cut both ways. While they can serve as the backbone of more bountiful shows that deliver standalone thrills on a week-by-week basis, they are also part of the reason why those in the industry once begged the networks to reconsider what TV can be.Such arguments for the return of that format should be taken with a grain of salt. Their enthusiasm for the idea of a thing often conveniently overlooks the reality of just how low even the best shows can sink over the course of 20+ episodes. Or, as Jack says regarding an interpretation of his infamous tattoos, Thats what they say, thats not what they mean.

Four years after the first AirTag debuted, Apple is planning to ship its successor later this year. When AirTag 2 arrives, it will include one feature in particular that could have the biggest impactfor both Apple and users.AirTag 2 feature improvements include speaker protectionAirTag has proven useful in a variety of ways since its launch, but its also come with some privacy issues, particularly around stalking.Apple has made improvements through various software updates to address those concerns, but even more changes are coming with AirTag 2.Mark Gurman writes at Bloomberg about the upcoming privacy improvements:[They include] making it more difficult for someone to remove the speaker from the AirTag. Since the device launched in 2021, some people have unfortunately used the product as a tool for stalking and removing the speaker makes it less likely for someone to discover a hidden AirTag.Its unknown exactly how Apple intends to accomplish this change. But if its successful, it will have eliminated one of the most used stalker tactics.AirTag 2 keeping its speaker in-tact means users can take greater assurance that theyre not being tracked without their consent.Some users might be concerned about this change, even well-intended ones. For example, Ive seen reports of users having their own AirTag play a loud sound at inconvenient times and locations. These noises can scare pets, interrupt business meetings, or otherwise have unintended negative consequences.Hopefully, Apple is keeping these possibilities in mind with its AirTag 2 development. Perhaps software changes can ensure that unwanted noise alerts become a thing of the past.If AirTag 2s speaker protection and overall privacy improvements prove successful, they will make a huge difference not only in keeping users safer, but also saving Apple from the negative PR the original AirTag has stirred up.What do you think of Apples AirTag 2 feature plans? Let us know in the comments.Best AirTag deals and accessoriesAirTag 1-pack for only $23 (down from $30)AirTag 4-pack for only $69(down from $100)TimeCapsule AirTag 10-year battery caseTimeCapsule AirTag 10-year battery case (2-pack)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