The greatest British zombie rom-com in film history will return to theaters for another run to the Winchester in honor of its 20th anniversary. Focus Features announced that Shaun of the Dead starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will get another theatrical run starting on Aug. 29 for US theaters and Sept. 27 for UK theaters.
Shaun of the Dead tells the story of a British slacker named Shaun who gets dumped by his girlfriend Liz, played by Kate Ashfield, on the eve of an undead apocalypse. His best friend Ed, played by Nick Frost, takes him out for a night of drinking just as the zombies start to emerge to help him get over the breakup and remind him its not the end of the world.
They wake up to a George Romero-esque world overrun by lifeless, shuffling cannibals and a hangover that makes them blissfully unaware of the carnage surrounding them. The hilarious, continuous shot of Shaun walking from his flat to the corner store and back without once noticing the bloody state of the world around him is worth seeing on the big screen.
Shaun of the Dead is returning to US theaters in August and UK cinemas in September to celebrate 20 bloody years!For US tickets: https://t.co/Jgw0aZNTys For UK tickets: https://t.co/MQRs85fJmp pic.twitter.com/8ask97HwvZ Focus Features (@FocusFeatures) July 25, 2024
Shaun of the Dead became one of the sleeper hits of 2004 and marked the first film in the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy starring Pegg and Frost and directed by Edgar Wright. The trio first worked together on another British cult comedy with the two-season TV series Spaced when a zombie themed subplot line in an episode inspired them to make a proper British zombie comedy in the style of Romeros Dead movies. The action cop parody Hot Fuzz in 2007 and the alien invasion pub crawl adventure The Worlds End in 2013 rounded out the rest of the trilogy.
The ice cream refers to the flavors of Cornetto ice cream treats that make Easter egg appearances in each movie: the red strawberry flavor for Shaun of the Dead, the blue vanilla flavor for Hot Fuzz and the peppermint flavor for The Worlds End. The movie also sparked the start of Peggs acting career in America as an inspired Scotty in J.J. Abrams Star Trek film trilogy and Hughies father on the Amazon prime superhero satire The Boys.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/shaun-of-the-dead-will-stumble-back-into-theaters-for-its-20th-anniversary-213031726.html?src=rss
Ride-share companies scored a victory in the California Supreme Court, allowing them to continue classifying gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig-economy companies invested around $200 million in the passage of Proposition 22, which voters approved in 2020. The states highest court rejected a legal challenge from a drivers group and a labor union, ending their quest to bring full employee benefits to the states gig workers.
The California Supreme Court ruling affirms the states definition of drivers and other gig workers as independent contractors. Proposition 22, which received the support of 59 percent of voters in 2020, gives gig workers limited benefits like a baseline income and health insurance for those working at least 15 hours a week. However, it also allows the companies to avoid providing the broad swath of benefits full employees receive.
The Service Employees International Union and a drivers group sued to challenge the law after it went into effect in early 2021. Their lawsuit got an early boost from lower courts: An Alameda County Superior Court Justice ruled that year that Proposition 22 was unconstitutional and unenforceable, as the LA Times reported. The lower-court judge determined that the law diminished the state Legislatures power to regulate injury compensation for workers.
However, in 2023, a state appeals court ruled the opposite, that Proposition 22 didnt impede on the Legislatures authority. Thursdays decision upholds that ruling, ending the long saga and leaving the states gig workers with fewer benefits than theyd otherwise have. Proposition 22 remained in effect during the legal challenges, so nothing will change in how theyre treated.
Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig-economy companies fought tooth and nail to pass and uphold the law. Four years ago, they invested upwards of $200 million in campaigning for it. They even threatened to pull their businesses from the state if they were forced to classify drivers as employees.
The LA Times reports the decision could influence other states laws. Uber has lobbied for similar legislation in other parts of the US. A law in Washington state closely parallels it, and the companies recently settled with the Massachusetts attorney general to provide similar (minimal) benefits to gig workers in that state.
Uber framed the ruling as a victory for upholding the will of the people (well, apart from the gig workers who wanted more benefits and protections). The company described the Supreme Courts decision as affirming the will of the nearly 10 million Californians who voted to deliver historic benefits and protections to drivers, while protecting their independence.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/california-supreme-court-upholds-classification-of-gig-workers-as-independent-contractors-210735586.html?src=rss
The SAG-AFTRA union today called for a strike against several major video game publishers after failing to reach an accord over AI use. The action will take effect at 12:01 am on July 26.
"We're not going to consent to a contract that allows companies to abuse A.I. to the detriment of our members," SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said."Enough is enough. When these companies get serious about offering an agreement our members can live and work with, we will be here, ready to negotiate."
SAG-AFTRA performers working in games "deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the A.I. use of their faces, voices, and bodies," said the union's National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
The union has been lobbying the video game industry to agree to protections against its members' likenesses and voices being recreated with AI. SAG-AFTRA entered negotiations with the companies for the Interactive Media Agreement in October 2022. Other studios, such as Replica Games, have agreed to the union's contract. The union also secured a similar deal for animated TV shows earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the gaming companies included in the Interactive Media Agreement, Audrey Cooling, provided a statement on behalf of the businesses. We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations," she said. "We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions. Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRAs concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA. These terms are among the strongest in the entertainment industry."
The strike includes the following studios:
Activision Productions Inc.
Blindlight LLC
Disney Character Voices Inc.
Electronic Arts Productions Inc.
Formosa Interactive LLC
Insomniac Games Inc.
Llama Productions LLC
Take 2 Productions Inc.
VoiceWorks Productions Inc.
WB Games Inc.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/video-game-performers-will-strike-over-ai-concerns-201733660.html?src=rss
OpenAI on Thursday announced a new AI-powered search engine prototype called SearchGPT. The move marks the companys entry into a competitive search engine market dominated by Google for decades. On its website, OpenAI described SearchGPT as a temporary prototype of new AI search features that give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources. The company plans to test out the product with 10,000 initial users and then roll it into ChatGPT after gathering feedback.
The launch of SearchGPT comes amid growing competition in AI-powered search. Google, the worlds dominant search engine, recently began integrating AI capabilities into its platform. Other startups like the Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity have also aimed to take on Google and have marketed themselves as answer engines that use AI to summarize the internet.
The rise of AI-powered search engines has been controversial. Last month, Perplexity faced criticism for summarizing stories from Forbes and Wired without adequate attribution or backlinks to the publications as well as ignoring robots.txt, a way for websites to tell crawlers that scrape data to back off. Earlier this week, Wired publisher Condé Nast reportedly sent a cease and desist letter to Perplexity and accused it of plagiarism.
Perhaps because of these tensions, OpenAI appears to be taking a more collaborative approach with SearchGPT. The company's blog post emphasizes that the prototype was developed in partnership with various news organizations and includes quotes from the CEOs of The Atlantic and News Corp, two of many publishers that OpenAI has struck licensing deals with.
SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches, the companys blog post says. Responses have clear, in-line, named attribution and links so users know where information is coming from and can quickly engage with even more results in a sidebar with source links. OpenAI also noted that publishers will have control over how their content is presented in SearchGPT and can opt out of having their content used for training OpenAI's models while still appearing in search results.
SearchGPT's interface features a prominent textbox asking users, "What are you searching for?" Unlike traditional search engines like Google that provide a list of links, SearchGPT categorizes the results with short descriptions and visuals.
OpenAI
For example, when searching for information about music festivals, the engine provides brief descriptions of events along with links for more details. Some users have pointed out, however, that the search engine is already presenting inaccurate information in its results.
In ChatGPT's recent search engine announcement, they ask for "music festivals in Boone North Carolina in august" There are five results in the example image in the ChatGPT blog post : 1: Festival in Boone ... that ends July 27 ... ChatGPT's dates are when the box office is pic.twitter.com/OBwNgNcLto kif (@kifleswing) July 25, 2024
We reiterate: Please don't get your news from AI chatbots. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-unveils-searchgpt-an-ai-powered-search-engine-195235766.html?src=rss
Sonos seriously stepped in it a couple of months back when it released an overhauled first-party mobile app that shipped with a number of missing features. These included core functions like sleep timers and alarms. Many of the companys speakers would not appear as a pairing option and it became extremely difficult to precisely adjust the volume level of a paired speaker.Additionally, music search and playback were both negatively impacted by the change, leading to numerous customer complaints.
Now, the company has apologized for releasing the half-baked app. CEO Patrick Spence whipped up a blog post to address the significant problems with the new software.
There isnt an employee at Sonos who isnt pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority, he wrote.
Spence also wrote that the company had planned to quickly incorporate the missing features and patch up any errors, but these fixes were delayed by a number of issues that were unique to the update. He did confirm that Sonos has been actively pushing out patches approximately every two weeks to address a wide variety of concerns.
Additionally, he outlined the companys future roadmap for getting the app into proper working order. Upcoming fixes include increased stability when pairing new products and enhancing configuration options with regard to the music library. Volume responsiveness is also getting a refresh, as is the alarm clock. As a matter of fact, the entire user interface is getting a complete overhaul that is based on customer feedback.
All of these changes will be released via a number of app updates from now until October. Spence says he knows the company has work to do to earn back the trust of loyal Sonos customers. In better news, it did just release some nifty headphones.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonos-apologized-for-messing-up-its-app-and-has-offered-a-roadmap-for-fixing-everything-191528422.html?src=rss
Tesla car culture is full of hacks and shortcuts, some more effective than others. One, known as the wet towel trick, required the Tesla Charging department or whatever remains of it to publicly tell customers to knock it off.
The wet towel trick involves wrapping a damp, cool cloth around a Supercharger cable handle as a way to presumably speed up the charging time. The Supercharger has temperature monitors that keep it from overheating as it charges Tesla vehicles. Some Tesla owners believe that cooling down the charging handle will trick the temperature monitor into topping off their vehicles faster.
Here's the problem, at least in Tesla's telling: If the sensor in the charging handle believes that the temperature is lower than it actually is while its charging, the towel-wrapped charger can create a "risk of overheating or damage" according to the company.
This may sound like the biggest duh statement in tech news history but its taken more than two months for Tesla to warn its customers not to do the wet towel trick on their cars, even after it became a well known hack on other auto news websites and Reddit forums. The official Tesla Charging account on X posted a warning on Wednesday in response to an article from InsideEVs.com explaining the dangerous car charging trick.
Placing a wet cloth on Supercharger cable handles does not increase charging rates and interferes with temperature monitors creating risk of overheating or damage. Please refrain from doing this so our systems can run correctly, and true charging issues can be detected by our Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) July 25, 2024
This kind of epic communication breakdown is what happens when a major automaker doesnt have a public relations department. Tesla dissolved its entire PR team in 2020 and Elon Musk publicly refused to hire one on his X account the following year saying he didnt want to spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, according to Electrek.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-warns-against-wet-towel-charging-trick-two-months-too-late-190237430.html?src=rss
I rarely used WhatsApp before moving from the United States to the United Kingdom a couple of years ago, opting for the built-in messaging app on my iPhone or fellow Meta-owned platform Messenger. No one I knew in the US used it, and, in fact, I had to get friends and family members to download it when I moved so we could communicate without being charged you're welcome, Mark Zuckerberg. Well, that seems to be changing, with the head of Meta announcing WhatsApp has reached 100 million monthly active users across the United States with about 10 million in Texas alone. WhatsApp has more than two billion users worldwide.
Meta enlisted former Modern Family cast members for an ad in June that highlighted frustrations when some people have an iPhone, and others have an Android. Now, a very targeted PR stunt accompanies the 100 million user milestone, with Meta installing a 200-foot bubble between the Apple and Samsung stores in The Americana Mall in Los Angeles. Zuckerberg previously took aim at Apple, allegedly once stating, "We need to inflict pain" on Apple and claiming that his company's products were superior.
In my experience, it's true that WhatsApp creates a more streamlined experience between different phone models, with easier reactions and formatting and no worries about being charged when traveling internationally. Meta claims that a WhatsApp-commissioned survey found one in four Americans don't communicate with a close friend or family member as regularly due to incompatible devices. We can take a survey undertaken by a for-profit company that demonstrates why said company is good with a grain of salt. However, as a daily WhatsApp user, I am excited about the idea of more Americans using it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-hits-100-million-monthly-active-us-users-185541159.html?src=rss
AI company Runway reportedly scraped thousands of YouTube videos and pirated versions of copyrighted movies without permission. 404 Media obtained alleged internal spreadsheets suggesting the AI video-generating startup trained its Gen-3 model using YouTube content from channels like Disney, Netflix, Pixar and popular media outlets.
An alleged former Runway employee told the publication the company used the spreadsheet to flag lists of videos it wanted in its database. It would then download them without detection using open-source proxy software to cover its tracks. One sheet lists simple keywords like astronaut, fairy and rainbow, with footnotes indicating whether the company had found corresponding high-quality videos to train on. For example, the term superhero includes a note reading, Lots of movie clips. (Indeed.)
Other notes show Runway flagged YouTube channels for Unreal Engine, filmmaker Josh Neuman and a Call of Duty fan page as good sources for high movement training videos.
The channels in that spreadsheet were a company-wide effort to find good quality videos to build the model with, the former employee told 404 Media. This was then used as input to a massive web crawler which downloaded all the videos from all those channels, using proxies to avoid getting blocked by Google.
Runway
A list of nearly 4,000 YouTube channels, compiled in one of the spreadsheets, flagged recommended channels from CBS New York, AMC Theaters, Pixar, Disney Plus, Disney CD and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (Because no AI model is complete without otters.)
In addition, Runway reportedly compiled a separate list of videos from piracy sites. A spreadsheet titled Non-YouTube Source includes 14 links to sources like an unauthorized online archive of Studio Ghibli films, anime and movie piracy sites, a fan site displaying Xbox game videos and the animated streaming site kisscartoon.sh.
In what could be viewed as a damning confirmation that the company used the training data, 404 Media found that prompting the video generator with the names of popular YouTubers listed in the spreadsheet spit out results bearing an uncanny resemblance. Crucially, entering the same names in Runways older Gen-2 model trained before the alleged data in the spreadsheets generated unrelated results like generic men in suits. Additionally, after the publication contacted Runway asking about the YouTubers likenesses appearing in results, the AI tool stopped generating them altogether.
I hope that by sharing this information, people will have a better understanding of the scale of these companies and what theyre doing to make cool videos, the former employee told 404 Media.
When contacted for comment, a YouTube representative pointed Engadget to an interview its CEO Neal Mohan gave to Bloomberg in April. In that interview, Mohan described training on its videos as a clear violation of its terms. Our previous comments on this still stand, YouTube spokesperson Jack Mason wrote to Engadget.
Runway did not respond to a request for commeInt by the time of publication.
At least some AI companies appear to be in a race to normalize their tools and establish market leadership before users and courts catch onto how their sausage was made. Training with permission through licensed deals is one thing, and thats another tactic companies like OpenAI have recently adopted. But its a much sketchier (if not illegal) proposition to treat the entire internet copyrighted material and all as up for grabs in a breakneck race for profit and dominance.
404 Medias excellent reporting is worth a read.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai-video-startup-runway-reportedly-trained-on-thousands-of-youtube-videos-without-permission-182314160.html?src=rss
Blizzard has provided an update that will be music to the ears of many Overwatch 2 fans. The publisher plans to experiment with a range of team compositions beyond the role-locked 5v5 format that the game currently has. That includes a potential revival of six-player teams from the original Overwatch.
"The community has, juuuust once or twice, suggested a test," Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller wrote in a blog post. "Why not put various forms of 6v6 in the game in order to gauge the results? We agree, and based on your feedback, were exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results."
Keller is quick to point out that it may take some time before the team runs a 6v6 trial. Overwatch 2 was designed from the ground up for five-player teams, with hero balancing and map designs (and redesigns) taking into account the reduced damage mitigation from having one fewer tank on each side.
There are technical considerations here too, as features such as visual upgrades, more technically demanding hero kits and the ability to see outlines of allies through walls impact Overwatch 2's performance. As such, shifting from 10-player to 12-player lobbies could have a negative impact on performance, particularly on older or less-powerful systems.
"Overwatch is a fast-paced game, and maintaining a game that runs smoothly across all our platforms is important for the players experience," Keller wrote. "While a limited-time test could arrive sooner, the team is still investigating exactly how long it would take to permanently increase performance across the game. This would be a large effort that would most likely take at least several seasons to accomplish."
Blizzard Entertainment
The possibility of lengthier queue times is also a concern if 6v6 tests are a success and the format sticks around in some way for the long haul. Keller's blog post is a lengthy read, but well worth taking the time to check out if you're interested in how we ended up at 5v5 with players locked to specific roles in the core modes. One of the reasons why Blizzard ditched a tank from each team with the launch of Overwatch 2 two years ago was that it was the least popular of the three roles, with damage in first place and support in between. Having one fewer tank has helped to reduce queue times across the board.
Keller notes that his team does have some ideas about how to tackle potentially longer queue times if 6v6 returns for the long haul, but it wasn't a problem that was solved in the past and it's not a sure thing that the fresh strategies will work. "Is there a world where people are willing to live with long queue times to play this format? Maybe, but thats a pretty risky move to make," Keller wrote. "We also have tens of millions of new players that have only played 5v5. We want to be openly mindful not to frustrate those who like the game as it is today."
There are other reasons why Blizzard changed to a 5v5 format including that it wasn't necessarily fun to play against a team that used two shield-based tanks. Chokepoints could feel oppressive with two tanks blocking the path. Dropping one of them and placing more of an emphasis on things like flanking, individual impact and a little thing called first-person shooting (with more opportunities to actually shoot at opponents instead of barriers) was designed to make gameplay more fluid and fun. Team fights with multiple tanks on each side also were often a war of attrition until ultimate abilities became available, especially during the infamous GOATS meta.
Tanks for the memories Overwatch 2 will officially be 5v5! pic.twitter.com/npD6MLu9ZG Overwatch Esports (@OW_Esports) May 20, 2021
Still, many fans spent years playing the game in groups of six, and having to lose one of those from the gang with the shift to 5v5 sucked for a lot of people. Plus, the synergy of two tanks could make for really fun moments the Earthshatter/D.Va Bomb combo was always a personal favorite. Given that Blizzard has always prided itself on taking player feedback into account and fostering the concept of building Overwatch 2 together with the fans, it's great to see that the team is willing to at least test how 6v6 could work in the modern landscape.
However, 6v6 isn't the only alternate approach to the current team composition that Blizzard plans to try. "Besides running experiments with 6v6, wed like to run some that re-examine the ways we tried solving previous problems, specifically with the goal of bringing some of the freedom back to an Overwatch match without the severity of issues that accompanied it," Keller wrote. "For instance, we think there could be other ways of putting a team together that arent quite as rigid as a set composition, but not as loose as Open Queue." Blizzard will try at least one version of this idea in an experimental Quick Play mode during Season 13, which will take place this fall.
Any permanent changes to the current format, whether or not that means a shift back to 6v6, won't happen overnight. Blizzard would run any 6v6 tests for a few weeks at a time to gauge feedback from players, and then see how that format impacts the game beyond core gameplay, such as in arcade modes.
"Wed take the lessons from this playtest to see what we can learn about the mode within the current game ecosystem and for the future of Overwatch," Keller wrote. "We would reflect carefully on the learnings from whatever test we run and explore how to best give players what's being asked for. Whether thats a world of 5v5, 6v6 or even both, is for future us to figure out."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/overwatch-2-may-test-a-return-to-six-player-teams-180021753.html?src=rss
The long-anticipated Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has been delayed yet again, this time until November 20. It was supposed to come out on September 5. This is just the latest delay in a development cycle that stretches all the way back to 2010. Thats 14 years. The longest delay in gaming history is Duke Nukem Forever, at 15 years.
Whats taking so long? At first, it was funding issues. Developer GSC Game World nearly shut down, but managed to weather the storm. Next, the makers spent a whole lot of time perfecting various mechanics and features, including a new way to render human teeth.
Real world events intervened to continue the delay. Russia invaded Ukraine and GSC was based in Kyiv. The game was put on hold as the staff relocated to Prague, eventually picking back up on development in 2022. After that, the game was supposed to (finally) release in December of last year.
However, there were some kinks to work out, so the launch was pushed to September 5, 2024. It looks like the bugs are still popping up, because now its set for November.
We know you might be tired of waiting, and we truly appreciate your patience. These two additional months will give us the chance to fix more unexpected anomalies (or simply bugs as you call them), wrote Yevhen Grygorovych, Game Director at GSC Game World, in a press release. Were just as eager as you are to finally release the game and for you to experience it for yourself.
Who knows if itll actually come out this November, but its looking more and more likely. GSC also announced the pending release of a deep-dive video that will offer the most comprehensive look yet into the game," with a premiere date of August 12. This video will include developer interviews, new in-game footage and a full walkthrough of a story quest.
For the uninitiated, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a sequel to the hit 2007 FPS. The forthcoming follow-up brings some survival horror mechanics into the mix, which should be fun. There are plenty of trailers to check out which, you know, tends to happen when a game has been in development for 14 years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/stalker-2-has-been-delayed-again-until-november-20-173259981.html?src=rss
