In precious moments news, this is a video of the world’s tallest dog — Reginald, a 3’3″ (to the top of the shoulder blades) great dane that no kitchen countertop is safe from, meeting the world’s shortest dog, Pearl, a 3.59″ chihuahua that every kitchen countertop (and pretty much anything above the baseboards) is safe from. I only wish I could have been there for the meet and greet, because that looks like a good time. This weekend? I’m really hoping to have a good time, but realistically I’ll look back Sunday night and realize it wasn’t that great, and tomorrow is Monday. The hope though — that’s what keeps me going.

For Paul and Chris Weirtz, Murderbot — the upcoming TV adaptation of Martha Wells’ sci-fi novella All Systems Red — was an experiment: Can you have a hero who tries to do nothing?

The 10-episode sci-fi series, which debuts May 16 on Apple TV+, follows an anxious security robot (Alexander Skarsgård) assigned to protect a survey group on a planetary mission. As the mission progresses and deadly surprises emerge, Murderbot grapples with concealing its capacity for free will — an ability enabled when it hacked its governor module — and its insecurities around humans, all while navigating existential questions about its purpose in the universe. Above all, though, Murderbot wishes it could spend its days simply viewing the 7,532 hours of video content it secretly squirreled away in its system for entertainment — a true media junkie, like most of the show’s viewers.

Apple

Bringing All Systems Red to TV took years, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Writers Guild of America strike in 2023. But with support from Apple TV+’s head of worldwide video Jamie Erlicht, a fan of Wells’ work, Paul and Chris chipped away at the show’s scripts, sending every version to Wells for feedback. (Wells, as a consulting producer, ultimately weighed in on other aspects of the project, including design and casting.)

The series stays faithful to All Systems Red — the first of several books and short stories comprising The Murderbot Diaries — in most of the ways that count. The plot largely follows that of the novella, but also makes substantial additions. Members of the PresAux survey group which Murderbot protects, including Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni), Gurathin (David Dastmalchian), Pin-lee (Sabrina Wu), Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), Arada (Tattiawna Jones) and Bharadwaj (Tamara Pdoemski), now have more nuance and deeper backstories. 

The Preservation Alliance, an independent group of planets which the PresAux survey group hails from, is now eccentric, even downright bohemian. During Murderbot’s season premiere, PresAux holds hands in a meditative circle, eyes closed, deliberating over whether to rent the refurbished Murderbot for their mission. Soon after landing on the planet, they dance in the desert, their bodies heaving, arms waving to the music’s beat — little touches inspired by aspects of Chris’s two decades of experience with Burning Man. (Several members of the mission also find themselves navigating the particular dramas of polyamory.)

“We also wanted a sense of these people being out of their element and out of their social setting,” Chris told Engadget. “They’re in the corporation rim, which is a really brutal, extractive capitalist world, but these people are egalitarians from outside of that system. They are [seen as] freaks not just to Murderbot, but to the corporation flunkies who are upselling them.”

While Murderbot’s favorite TV series, The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon, is referenced in Wells’ novel, in Murderbot, the futuristic soap opera is its own fleshed out universe – a bonafide show-within-a-show. Intended as a parody of classic sci-fi, most obviously the original Star Trek series, Sanctuary Moon’s scenes are rife with heavily saturated sets and gaudy costumes. John Cho, as the captain of a starship, falls madly in love with a navigation systems robot (DeWanda Wise); Jack McBrayer portrays a navigation officer out of his depth. Their performances are comically over-the-top, but that’s the point.

“I have a theory that people think of good acting as being very restrained, and that is the case often, but my theory is that humans are emoting maniacs all the time. They’re hamming it up in front of the mirror, in their bathroom,” Paul said. “There was something great about being able to enter a David Lynch-like telenovela world and do the sci-fi version of those things.”

Casting the droll but irreverent character of Murderbot took time. Part-human, it experiences a full range of emotions but struggles with deep-seated social anxiety, and detests showing its face to humans — which may help explain why the character has become popular with members of the neurodivergent community. Skarsgård, whose diverse acting resume includes a Viking prince in The Northman, a ruthless tech CEO in Succession, the titular character in The Legend of Tarzan and a physically abusive husband on Big Little Lies, had traits and experiences Paul and Chris felt were essential for effectively playing the show’s central character.

As one might expect for a security robot, Paul Weisz noted Skarsgård is “physically imposing.” “You get the sense maybe he could kill somebody,” said Paul. But much like the titular character Paul felt this sometimes terrifying exterior belied something much more nuanced. “Alexander also has a really quirky sense of humor. His mind is very different from his body. He’s really unique.”

Bringing in Cho and McBrayer for their roles in the Sanctuary Moon scenes wasn’t nearly as intensive a search; Cho and the Weitz brothers had worked on several projects together over the years.

“It’s like a Faustian bargain when you work with us once, that we’re probably going to get your home cellphone,” Paul mused. “Jack McBrayer is best friends with Alexander, so that was the route to [him]. In terms of John, we worked with him first on American Pie, and I think we’ve done 12 things in different ways with him over the years. So it’s a little like The Godfather where it’s like, someday, I’m going to ask you for a favor.”

Apple

Filmed in Ontario, production started in 2024, lasting six months. Shooting the show’s planetary scenes meant scouring for locations like mining quarries, slag heaps and abandoned factories. Interior shots for scenes at Port Freecommerce, a vast star base, in the season premiere were filmed on soundstages in Toronto.

All along, Paul and Chris set out to present a far-flung universe seen less often on screen in recent years. Shirking the dark, grim aesthetic heavily favored in many more recent sci-fi TV and film projects, they worked with production designer Sue Chan to create a universe dominated by bright lighting, white and gray sets, light-colored fabrics and colorful patterns.

“We drew on the wellspring of science fiction we read when we were kids and on science fiction paperback covers of the 1980s, which always seemed to have such great concept design and a bright, interesting world in which to lose yourself,” Paul recalled. “Specifically, it seemed like since this was a world that was dominated by corporations, there’d be a lot of logos everywhere. There’d be a cheapness to a lot of what was manufactured. Also, if you look around, there are a lot of things that seem to have been extruded by giant 3-D printers. Even the food is extruded by 3-D printers.”

Designing Murderbot’s armor was a collaborative process with the costume department, led by costume designer Carrie Grace and specialty costume designer Laura Jean Shannon. To start, they looked at helmets from virtually every well-known robot depicted in military and sci-fi movies from the last 50 years. Initial designs resembled Star Wars stormtroopers, but Skarsgård “really pushed” for the robot’s look to be “something unique,” according to Paul. Drawing inspiration from The Little Rascals’ Petey, who had a large black circle around one of his eyes, the team built a large, distinctive black eye piece into Murderbot’s helmet visor.

Apple

Murderbot spends much of its time clad in armor, but it also has downtime when the armor comes off, revealing an impossibly smooth humanoid form resembling Mattel’s Ken dolls. To achieve that look, Skarsgård regularly waxed his entire body during filming.

“Alexander actually volunteered to have his body waxed, because he thought it was what would be best for the character,” Chris recalled. “I remember discussing it with him, and I said, ‘Listen, man, I don’t know if people are even going to notice, but it might make just a tiny bit of difference in terms of the believability of the character.’”

“[Alexander’s] like, ‘Yeah, I should wax myself,’” Chris continued. “Then for the next five, six months, he had to do that every week until he realized eventually that his next role was to play a hairy biker [in the romance drama Pillion].”

In Murderbot, Paul and Chris saw more than a quirky sci-fi novella — they saw a deeply human story wrapped in armor and deadpan humor. Their TV adaptation doesn’t just bring Wells’ world to screen with panache, it leans into the quiet radicalism of a character who resists heroism, craves isolation and struggles to navigate the messiness of human connection.

That emotional core — unexpected, thoughtful, and entirely sincere — is what makes Murderbot more than just another sci-fi romp. It’s a mirror for our most vulnerable selves, disguised as a robot who’d really rather be watching TV.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/how-murderbots-chris-and-paul-weitz-adapted-all-systems-red-for-tv-130034113.html?src=rss

FX’s highly acclaimed hit series The Bear returns to Hulu in June for its fourth season, picking up right after the events of season three, when Carmy received the Chicago Tribune’s review of his fine-dining restaurant. The main cast—Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Ayo Edebiri, to name a few—are reprising their roles in pushing The Bear forward. All 10 episodes will drop on June 25.

Call Her Alex (June 10) is a Hulu original docuseries following “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper in preparation for her first tour with a behind-the-scenes look at the events that shaped her journey. Similarly, Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything (June 23) uses archival footage to explore Walters’ life and career as a journalist and host in a male-dominated industry.

On the film side, The Actor (June 30) is a crime mystery based on Donald E. Westlake’s novel “Memory,” starring Andre Holland as an actor with memory loss and Gemma Chan as a costume designer in the small town he ends up in. Predator: Killer of Killers (June 6) is an animated action/adventure and Hulu original set in the Predator universe.

Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) Hulu in June.

What’s coming to Hulu in June 2025

Arriving June 1

• Adam (2019)

• Alien (1979)

• Alien 3 (1992)

• Alien Resurrection (1997)

• Alien vs. Predator (2004)

• Alien: Covenant (2017)

• Aliens (1986)

• Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

• Beasts Of The Southern Wild (2012)

• Before Midnight (2013)

• Betsy’s Wedding (1990)

• Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)

• Big Eden (2000)

• Big Fish (2003)

• The Big Hit (1998)

• Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (2011)

• Blue Jasmine (2013)

• Boy Meets Girl (2014)

• Breakin’ All the Rules (2004)

• The Bronze (2016)

• Bubble Boy (2001)

• Bugsy (1991)

• Cedar Rapids (2011)

• The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (2010)

• Cold Pursuit (2019)

• Cyrus (2010)

• Daddy Day Care (2003)

• Death on the Nile (2022)

• Deja Vu (2006)

• Delivery Man (2013)

• Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000)

• Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

• Elena Undone (2010)

• Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

• The Girl Next Door (2004)

• Grown Ups (2010)

• Grown Ups 2 (2013)

• Happy Gilmore (1996)

• The Heat (2013)

• Hitchcock (2012)

• Hurricane Bianca (2016)

• Idiocracy (2006)

• Independence Day (1996)

• The Joy Luck Club (1993)

• Just Go With It (2011)

• Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

• Let’s Be Cops (2014)

• Loving Annabelle (2006)

• Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018)

• Mamma Mia! (2008)

• The Mask (1994)

• Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (2015)

• Mirrors (2008)

• The Namesake (2007)

• A Perfect Ending (2012)

• Pineapple Express (2008)

• Predator (1987)

• The Predator (2018)

• Predator 2 (1990)

• Predators (2010)

• Pride + Prejudice + Zombies (2016)

• Prometheus (2012)

• Reno 911! Miami: The Movie (2007)

• Sordid Lives (2000)

• 28 Weeks Later (2007)

• The War of the Roses (1989)

• We’re The Millers (2013)

• Working Girl (1988)

• You Don’t Mess With The Zohan (2008)

Arriving June 3

• I’ve Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

• Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

• The Quiz With Balls: Season 2 Premiere

• So I’m a Spider, So What?: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

• Wise Man’s Grandchild: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

• Yuri on Ice: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

• Presence (2025)

Arriving June 4

• The Great House Revival: Complete Season 5

Arriving June 5

• National Anthem (2023)

Arriving June 6

• Not Her First Rodeo: Complete Season 1

• Predator: Killer of Killers: Film Premiere

• Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation … (2006)

• Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)

• Hot Shots! (1991)

• Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)

• Shallow Hal (2001)

• The Ringer (2005)

Arriving June 7

• Gypsy’s Revenge: Complete Season 1

• I (Almost) Got Away With It: Complete Season 3

• Kids Baking Championship: Complete Season 12

• Murder in the Heartland: Complete Season 1

• Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing: Complete Season 1

• Sister Wives: Complete Season 12

Arriving June 8

• Scream (2022)

Arriving June 9

• Beyblade X: Season 1B

Arriving June 10

• Call Her Alex: Complete Docuseries

• And Then We Danced (2019)

• Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)

Arriving June 11

• The Snake: Series Premiere

• Gran Turismo (2023)

Arriving June 12

• The 1% Club: Season 2 Premiere

Arriving June 13

• Atsuko Okatsuka: Father: Special Premiere

• Absolution (2024)

Arriving June 14

• 90 Day Fiance: Complete Season 5

• 90 Day Fiance UK: Complete Season 2

• Guy’s Grocery Games: Complete Seasons 32 & 33

• I’d Kill For You: Complete Season 3

• Joel McHale: Live from Pyongyang (2019)

Arriving June 16

• My Happy Ending: Complete Season 1 (Sub)

• Black Christmas (2019)

Arriving June 17

• SALLY (2025)

• Skincare (2024)

Arriving June 19

• The Quiet Ones (2024)

Arriving June 20

• The Bravest Knight: Season 2B

• Out Come the Wolves (2024)

Arriving June 23

• Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything: Documentary Premiere

• Helck: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

• My Instant Death Ability is Overpowered: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

• My Isekai Life : Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed)

Arriving June 24

• Survive (2024)

Arriving June 25

• FX’s The Bear: Complete Season 4

Arriving June 27

• F*ck Marry Kill (2024)

Arriving June 29

• The Bachelor: Complete Seasons 27 & 28

Arriving June 30

• Boonie Bears: Time Twist (2024)

• Texas True Crime: Complete Season 5

• The Actor (2025)

What’s leaving Hulu in June 2025

Leaving June 1

• Christmas with the Campbells (2022)

Leaving June 2

• The Amazing Maurice (2022)

Leaving June 4

• Intrigo: Dear Agnes (2019)

Leaving June 8

• Indemnity (2021)

Leaving June 10

• Here Before (2021)

• Warhunt (2022)

Leaving June 11

• Intrigo: Samaria (2019)

Leaving June 13

• The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Leaving June 17

• Ted K (2021)

• The Ledge (2022)

Leaving June 22

• The Burning Sea (2021)

Leaving June 24

• Big Gold Brick (2022)

• Gasoline Alley (2022)

Leaving June 25

• The Desperate Hour (2022)

Leaving June 30

• Transfusion (2023)

After winning a court case pretty decisively against Apple, developer Epic submitted Fortnite to the US App Store and suggested it would soon be back on iOS. However, according to the Fortnite team, Apple has blocked the game on both the US App Store and the EU’s iOS version of its own Epic Games Store.

Fortnite had been available on iPhones in Europe since August last year due to EU rules that allow third-party iOS stores.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggested that Apple didn’t have any particular reason to refuse the application. “Apple’s App Review team should be free to review all submitted apps promptly and accept or reject according to the plain language of their guidelines,” he tweeted. “App Review shouldn’t be weaponized by senior management as a tool to delay or obstruct competition, due process, or free speech.” Apple has yet to comment on the matter. 

To recap: this entire kerfuffle between Apple and Epic has been over, essentially, rent-seeking, and who gets to profit from it. Apple thinks it should keep getting a cut of sales through its App Store; Epic, naturally, would like to keep lining its own pockets. This fight initially opened up the option for developers to use third-party app stores for iOS apps, though a portion of their sales were still flowing back to Apple’s coffers. The most recent court ruling attempted to close that apparent loophole.

The latest Fortnite version submitted by Epic included payment systems for Apple along with external payment via Epic’s own store. Fortnite was originally banned from the App Store in 2020 after it submitted a version that included an external payment system that violated Apple’s rules at the time — a decision subsequently backed by a court decision in 2021. To that end, Apple may not be legally obligated to reinstate Epic, despite the fact that the rule originally broken by the developer no longer existed.

This fight is, of course, ongoing. Apple appealed the most recent ruling and asked the court to halt App Store changes until a final decision is made.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-is-offline-on-ios-around-the-world-131535163.html?src=rss

Acer has unveiled a group of new gaming monitors, including a pair of 26.5-inch QD-OLED screens under its Predator label. The Predator X27U F5 has peak refresh rate of 500Hz and a resolution of 2560×1440, while the Predator X27 X has a 4K screen and a 240Hz refresh rate. Both monitors offer AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technology to prevent screen tearing and support true 10Bit color. They are slated to be available in the third quarter for the EMEA region and China. The X27U F5 will start at €899 and the X27 X starts at €1,099.

The high refresh rate on the Predator X27U F5 is particularly notable. Samsung just opened limited pre-orders of its own 500Hz monitor over the weekend, which the company claimed was the first product to pair that refresh rate with OLED visuals in a gaming monitor.

Other Acer monitors in the lineup are part of its line of Nitro Google Smart TV monitors. The Acer Nitro GA321QK P is a 31.5-inch 4K screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, while the Acer Nitro GA341CUR W0 has a 34-inchultra-wide QHD curved display that refreshes at 240Hz. There’s also a portable option in the lightweight Acer Nitro PG271K, which has an adjustable kickstand. This 27-inch monitor can be a 4K display with a 72Hz refresh rate or a full HD one with a 144Hz refresh rate thanks to Dynamic Frequency and Resolution technology. No prices or timeline has been shared yet for the first two Nitro monitors, but the PG271K is projected to cost €499 when it arrives in the EMEA region.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/acer-introduces-five-new-gaming-monitors-130041537.html?src=rss

Summer is right around the corner, and while it is the perfect season for being outside in the sunshine, there’s nothing quite like returning home to a perfectly climate controlled space to cool off. The fourth generation Nest Learning Thermostat from Google can help you beat the heat with even more efficient air conditioning, and it’s on sale right now ahead of the Memorial Day holiday.

You can snag this smart home gadget for $50 off with the code ENGAD50 at Wellbots. That means you’ll pay just $230 for this tool to control the temperature in your house, because the deal also includes free shipping.

Google did an update to its Nest thermostat last August that increased the LCD display size of the gadget by about 60 percent. You can also customize the display with this version so that it will blend in with your own home decor, and the chassis is available in black, silver or gold options. 

As with so many Google products these days, the Nest uses AI to help take more accurate readings and make predictions to increase your energy savings. It can automatically adjust to your individual habits to create a temperature schedule if you don’t want to program it all manually. This version of the gadget is a particularly good option if your home has issues with cold spots, because the Nest Learning Thermostat comes with a wireless temperature sensor that you can place in that hard-to-heat area. If you need more, you can separately buy additional sensors for monitoring those hot or cold pockets of your house. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/googles-latest-nest-learning-thermostat-is-50-off-ahead-of-memorial-day-130027461.html?src=rss

Acer is updating its lineup of Swift Edge, Go and X laptops at Computex with the latest Intel chips, and in of one of these Copilot+ PCs, a unique matte display treatment developed by Corning, the glass manufacturer behind the Gorilla Glass covering millions of smartphones.

The beneficiary of that new display is the Swift Edge 14 AI. The laptop’s display has an anti-glare Gorilla Matte Pro finish that’s the first of its kind on a laptop, and is supposed to “reduce screen reflection by 95 percent” compared to alternative anti-glare glass. Acer introduced the original Swift Edge 14 AI alongside the parade of Copilot+ PCs that accompanied Microsoft‘s big push into AI last year. The new Swift Edge 14 AI benefits from those same AI features like Recall or Click to Do thanks to its updated internals. You can spec the Swift Edge 14 AI with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor with Intel Arc graphics, up to 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of storage. All of this components are packed into a white and relatively light (2.18 lbs) magnesium-aluminum alloy body, with a 14-inch OLED screen and a “soft-touch” stain-resistant keyboard.

For the new Swift Go 14 AI and Swift Go 16 AI, Acer lets you build the laptop with up to an Intel Core Ultra 7, up to 32 GBLPDDR5X RAM and up to 2TB of storage. On the Swift Go 14 AI you can opt for a 16:10, 1,920 x 1,200 resolution OLED and a similarly laid out 2,048 x 1,280 resolution OLED on the Swift Go 16 AI. Neither laptop is as sleek as the Swift Edge 14 AI — in terms of appearance, the Swift Go laptops seem like the kind you’d be assigned for work. Case in point, both Go models have 1080p, Windows Hello-compatible webcams and touchpads with built-in video conferencing controls.

Acer is also updating its Swift X laptops, the company’s go-to option if you’re looking for more graphical oomph. Both the Swift X 14 AI and the plain Swift X 14 include a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU, which should power you through all sort of video editing and 3D rendering tasks. You can pair the GPU with up to an AMD Ryzen AI 9 on the Swift X 14 AI or up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 on on the Swift X 14. Both laptops can include up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 2TB of storage. This year’s Swift laptops also feature a 14.5-inch 3K OLED displays and larger haptic touchpads that support tilt-enabled styluses for drawing and photo retouching.

Likely due to the unpredictable nature of global trade, none of Acer’s new Swift laptops have finalized pricing or availability in the US, though we can share the info Acer has for Europe. The Swift Edge 14 AI is expected to be available in June for €1,599, the Swift Go 14 AI a little bit later in July for €1,199 and the Swift Go 16 AI in August for €1,299.

The story is the same for Acer’s Swift X laptops. Both the Swift X 14 AI and Swift X 14 will be available in July for €1,799.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acers-new-swift-edge-14-ai-laptop-packs-in-a-matte-display-and-ai-features-130010112.html?src=rss

Acer is announcing a boatload of PCs and gadgets for Computex 2025. But among the sea of new tablets, monitors, productivity machines and more is the Predator Triton 14 AI, which just became my most anticipated laptop of the year.

The Predator Triton 14 AI tops out with an RTX 5070 GPU, but that’s understandable given its compact size (3.5 pounds and 0.68 inches thick). Aside from that limitation, this thing has practically everything I look for in a premium notebook. It sports a slick design, a bunch of fancy features and a gorgeous display — all in a surprisingly portable chassis. In some ways, calling it a gaming laptop is kind of a disservice, because it’s clear Acer designed this thing to do a whole lot more.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

For performance, the Predator Triton 14 AI features up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V chip, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage. Acer then turned things up a notch by equipping it with its latest sixth-gen AeroBlade fans (which are made of metal instead of plastic) and a vapor chamber. But the potential cherry on top is that Acer says the Triton is the world’s first laptop to use graphene thermal interface materials. The company claims this increases thermal capacity by as much as 14.5 percent over more traditional pastes.

Meanwhile, the Triton 14 AI also comes with a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and Calman Verified certification. So not only is it accurate, it also has a wide gamut that covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color spectrum. And unlike a lot of rival gaming machines, the Predator’s display is touch-enabled. For content creators, the laptop comes with a new haptic touchpad covered by Gorilla Glass with native stylus support (and the pen comes included). This means artists can use the track area as a mini Wacom pad (with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity) while traveling.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Honestly, the closer you look, the more impressive this laptop gets, because it feels like Acer paid attention to every little detail. Thanks to some help from AI, the Triton’s 1080p IR webcam offers human presence detection, which allows it to automatically lock itself when you walk away or dim the display when you’re looking elsewhere to prevent Peeping Toms from spying on your work. Acer even coated both the screen and the laptop’s deck with an anti-fingerprint finish to prevent it from looking greasy.

Despite its slim dimensions, the Triton also has great connectivity. There’s support for Wi-Fi 7 along with two USB-C ports (one of which is Thunderbolt 4), two Type-A jacks, 3.5mm audio, a microSD card reader and a full-size HDMI 2.1 connector. And because it’s a gaming laptop, it naturally comes with per-key RGB lighting.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Unfortunately, Acer has yet to release official US pricing for the Predator Triton 14 AI, which is almost certainly due to the ever-shifting tariff situation. But if European info is anything to go by, this thing won’t be cheap with a listed starting price of 2,999 euros. That’s steep, but it makes sense given the laptop’s impressive specs.

On the bright side, if you like the Predator Triton 14 AI, Acer is also making a more affordable sibling in the Predator Helios Neo 14 AI. It features the same display, a similar Intel Core Ultra 9 285H chip and up to an RTX 5070, but with a different (and less elegant) chassis, Wi-Fi 6E and older fifth-gen AeroBlade fans. Like the Triton, there isn’t official pricing for this one yet either, but with it starting at 1,699 euros overseas, it doesn’t present nearly as big of a hit on your wallet.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Besides gaming, the Triton 14 AI looks like it could be a great video editing station, featuring enough performance to blast through practically everything else you can throw at it. I’m going to be eagerly awaiting its release (along with the Helios Neo) sometime later this summer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/the-acer-predator-triton-14-ai-is-now-my-most-anticipated-gaming-laptop-of-the-year-130007910.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Patently Apple: It’s being reported in the Gulf region that a new 5GW UAE-US AI Campus in Abu Dhabi was unveiled on Thursday at Qasr Al Watan in the presence of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US. President Donald Trump, who is on a state visit to the UAE. The new AI campus — the largest of its kind outside the United States — will host US hyperscalers and large enterprises, enabling them to leverage regional compute resources with the capability to serve the Global South. The UAE-US AI Campus will feature 5GW of capacity for AI data centers in Abu Dhabi, offering a regional platform through which US hyperscalers can provide low-latency services to nearly half of the global population.

Upon completion, the facility will utilize nuclear, solar, and gas power to minimize carbon emissions. It will also house a science park focused on advancing innovation in artificial intelligence. The campus will be built by G42 and operated in partnership with several US companies including NVIDIA, OpenAI, SoftBank, Cisco and others. The initiative is part of the newly established US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership, a bilateral framework designed to deepen collaboration on artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. The UAE and US will jointly regulate access to the compute resources, which are reserved for US hyperscalers and approved cloud service providers. An official press release from the White House can be found here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Disney isn’t bringing a lot of new content to its streaming platform in June, but there a few original and exclusive titles on the lineup. Season five of Disney Channel’s animated comedy series Phineas and Ferb (June 6) will premiere with 10 episodes, returning for the first time since 2015. The show follows two stepbrothers trying to fill their time during the 104 days of summer vacation.

Disney+ Original Ironheart will launch with a three-episode premiere at 6 p.m. PT on June 24. The Marvel Television miniseries is set after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and tells the origin story of Ironheart—MIT student and inventor Riri Williams (played by Dominique Thorne).

Also premiering on the platform this month are documentaries Sally (June 17), about the first American woman astronaut, and Ocean with David Attenborough (June 8) as well as Disney’s Frozen: The Hit Broadway Musical (June 20).

Finally, female-led sports show Vibe Check will land exclusively on Disney+ sometime during the month.

Here’s everything coming to Disney+ in June.

Movies and complete series/seasons coming to Disney Plus in June 2025

Arriving in June

• Underdogs (Season 1)

• Vibe Check

Arriving June 4

• Pupstruction (S2, 6 episodes)

Arriving June 6

• Phineas and Ferb (Season 5)

Arriving June 8

• Ocean with David Attenborough

Arriving June 17

• SALLY

Arriving June 20

• Frozen: The Hit Broadway Musical

Arriving June 24

• Ironheart

Hulu + ESPN content coming to Disney+ in June 2025

As in previous months, Disney+ subscribers will also have access to select content from Hulu and ESPN. This includes live events like Day 1 of all PGA TOUR LIVE events, Day 1 of Wimbledon, and the Dallas Wings vs. Seattle Storm WNBA match-up. Here’s a sampling of what else is coming to Disney+:

• Snowfall

• 9-1-1: Lone Star

• Station 19

• Class of ‘09

• Cruel Summer

• Death and Other Details

• High Fidelity

• Alien: Resurrection

• A Real Pain

• Predators

• Prom Dates

• ESPNFC

• Pardon the Interruption

• The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny

• Full Court Press

• Vince’s Places

• P.K.’s Places

• 30 for 30

When it comes to headphones, we can’t shut up about Sony’s top-tier buds and over-the-head options. In each iteration, the company adds new features, develops better technology and hones its strengths in portable audio, and three years on from the WH-1000XM5, the sixth-gen model does it yet again.

Sony’s overhauled its flagship headphones in all the right ways. The WH-1000XM6 sound better, with improved active noise cancellation and convenient features that match the best-sounding and the most feature-packed rivals.

You should definitely check out Billy Steele’s full review. The headphones’ only major challenge remains a non-clunky naming convention.

— Mat Smith

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Even more tech news you might have missed

• Nothing teases the ‘all-in’ Phone 3 with a flagship price

• Mission: Impossible should never have gone full sci-fi

• The Lucid Gravity is the coolest three-row EV on the market

• DJI Mavic 4 Pro review: A new standard for consumer drones

• Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Less smartphone, more compromises

Android gets a young, vibrant makeover

It’s bright, it’s brash, it’s… bouncy? It’s Android 16.

Google

As spoiled by Google itself, Android is getting a major visual refresh. Dubbed Material 3 Expressive, it’s the latest evolution of the Material You design, adding customizable color swatches and, I guess, spicier fonts.

Google says the Quick Settings menu can now fit more actions, and there is an addition of live-updating notifications, similar to Apple’s Live Activities.

In Android 16 (and even Wear OS 6), expect more animation between menus and items, while notifications will jiggle and offer haptic responses to your touch.

Google is basing a lot of these tweaks on research: The company claims up to 87 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds prefer expressive design — a term hard to define. There’s a lengthy post on Google’s design blog if you want to get into all that.

Continue reading.

The Xperia 1 VII is here, with some Walkman inspiration

Sony still makes phones!

Sony

Sony has now folded in Hi-Fi sound from its Walkman series, as well as the company’s Bravia screen tech and Alpha camera smarts. The Xperia 1 VII has launched quietly with an array of new audio features, including high-end Walkman components. Unlike other smartphone makers, Sony has kept its headphone jack and improved wired sound via a premium-grade integrated circuit. The Xperia 1 VII supports Sony’s DSEE Ultimate AI sound upscaling technology, along with 360 Reality audio or Dolby Atmos formats.

The latest Xperia also features a new 48-megapixel ultrawide camera with a good-sized 1/1.56-inch sensor, significantly improving the specs of the Xperia 1 VI’s ultrawide. That’s on top of the main 48MP 1/1.35-inch 24mm camera and a 12MP telephoto zoom.

Sony is also trying to differentiate its smartphones through camera features, with improved Bokeh mode, real-time tracking, and even real-time eye autofocus. It claims low-light shooting is “in line with full-frame cameras, ” which is bold!

I’m wondering what other parts of Sony’s corporate machinery it will integrate next. Maybe Aibo dog ears?

Continue reading.

One year of Peacock Premium is on sale for only $25

The Memorial Day deal knocks off $55.

Want a cheaper sub for Peacock? You’ll need a code, but if you input SPRINGSAVINGS at checkout you’ll get $55 off the standard annual price of the Premium plan. It does include ads, however. The big draw for this particular streaming service is likely the long-awaited spinoff of The Office, called The Paper. That premieres in September, so you’ll be primed and ready to watch (and rewatch).

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-123515822.html?src=rss

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Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own. 

Baking bread isn’t for everyone, and I get it: Spending hours (or days) making one “simple” staple item that you could easily purchase at the store for a few dollars is arguably absurd. I fully accept that I may never be able to bring folks who feel this way over to the other side, and that’s fine.

But what about the home cooks who are intrigued, rather than bothered, by the idea of bread baking? Despite generations-worth of recipes and tips, yeast-raised loaves are notoriously finicky, and nothing will defeat your spirit quite like tossing your third dense and doughy sourdough attempt into the compost bin. That’s why I chose to spotlight Bread Baking for Beginners this week. This cookbook creates a safe space where you can build the confidence and know-how you’ll need for your illustrious future as a bread baker. 

A bit about the book

As you can tell from the title, Bread Baking for Beginners has clear intentions. Author Bonnie Ohara has been the owner and baker of Alchemy Bread since 2014, and her experience of slingin’ dough comes through on every page. She has a kind and teacherly way of instructing you on bread baking in this cookbook, and frankly, it’s a breath of fresh air in contrast to the aloof, know-it-all approach you’ll find all over the internet.

This cookbook has a somewhat curriculum-style progression, but without ever feeling like a textbook. It’s actually quite approachable: Starting with terminology and equipment, and then moving from simple no-knead breads over to kneaded breads, and proceeding to enriched breads and sourdough starters, Ohara teaches you how to walk before you run.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

A great cookbook for the wannabe bread-head

Being a beginner at something is a vulnerable state. A messed up loaf of bread is akin to rejection, and a lot of people can’t handle that feeling. That’s why it’s important to have a good teacher. Throughout the pages of Bread Baking for Beginners, Ohara is there to cheer you on, and I fully believe that kind of supportive encouragement is what can keep a new baker coming back to the kitchen after a failed loaf or two.

Ohara’s encouragement is never exaggerated or disingenuous. She has her own way of letting you know that perfection isn’t the goal. A little wiggle to your ficelle? It’s character! Your dough hasn’t risen enough? Don’t worry, it’s totally normal to adjust the proofing time on the fly. 

Every recipe is easy to start, with a short headnote and even shorter ingredient list, and the instructions are always clear. I appreciate that each recipe includes how to shape and how to check for proofing, because that can look and feel different depending on the type of bread you’re making. 

And what’s a lesson without a Q&A session? Common problems and helpful FAQs sections appear throughout. You’ll get likely answers for why your dough was too dense and why it exploded out of the bottom instead of the score mark. She’ll offer suggestions on what to do if your loaf is seemingly ruined. Of course this is helpful for next time, but it also normalizes the act of messing up: It’s all a part of learning. But unlike in math class, you can snack on your mistakes.

The bread I made this week

I don’t normally go for no-knead breads, but I think they are the most welcoming recipes for new bread bakers. Clearly Ohara agrees, because they’re in the first chapter. From her offerings, I made the Master Recipe for No-Knead Breads.

As may be expected, it is a classic four-ingredient lean bread. You can’t get simpler than flour, water, salt, and yeast. I’m not new to bread baking (you can peep my sourdough boule recipe here), so I was a little surprised to see all-purpose flour used. Bread flour is usually the go-to for its higher gluten content, which leads to better structure and increased elasticity.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

I flipped to the front to check out the author’s thoughts on the ingredient choice and she makes it clear that not only has she had success with regular all-purpose flour, but that it’s more accessible for most home cooks. I respect this choice. If a person can be successful with fewer obstacles, then they can make the switch on their own if and when they choose. However, a kitchen scale is also required (all of the measurements are in grams with no volume option), so there is still some expectation you’ll acquire the right tools before getting started. (Personally, I’d switch to bread flour for this type of recipe.)

Her no-knead bread is as simple as promised. I weighed my ingredients and mashed them all up with a wooden spoon as thoroughly as I could without it qualifying as kneading. As long as you aren’t using expired yeast, I can’t see this bread failing to come to life. Ohara is very clear about ambient temperatures and reminds you of the ideal conditions for the best rise. Even with that advice, and a decade of bread baking under my belt, I managed to overproof my no-knead dough, but I’m not mad about it. The loaf came out light and evenly aerated. It strikes me as a good sandwich bread. And it’s Bread Baking 101 that it takes a few trials to learn the personality of a new bread recipe. I’ll try it again soon enough. 

How to buy it

I normally grab the hardcover for cookbooks, but I actually went with the softcover this week. It’s a great price, and since it’s more of a learning cookbook than a display piece, I figure I won’t feel as bad if the pages get flour, oil, or water marks on them. If you haven’t been lately, take a walk to your nearest bookstore and see if you can find it on the shelves. 

Bread Baking for Beginners: The Essential Guide to Baking Kneaded Breads, No-Knead Breads, and Enriched Breads

$9.99
at Amazon

$19.99
Save $10.00

$9.99
at Amazon

$19.99
Save $10.00